Driving Fast is Fun

This morning mom and I had our last breakfast of the trip. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet (sorry if I have) but I am shocked by how much Chocolate Europeans eat at breakfast. There were a bunch of chocolate cereals, chocolate danishes, and most importantly, Nutella, at every single buffet. I don’t know why I haven’t had much Nutella in my life until this trip. I mean... putting what is basically chocolate sauce with a hint of hazelnut on bread for breakfast? That’s brilliant! And only made better by adding jam too. There have been a few other things from the trip that I’ve failed to note as well.

I apologize for this blog not being nearly as entertaining or funny the one with dad from SE Asia. Mom doesn’t believe in free speech, at least not as it applies to her, me and my travel blog. Some of the best (funniest) stories were banned, so feel free to ask me about them the next time you see me. If mom’s not around I might tell you.

The most overused phrases of the trip were “Damn VAT Tax” and “I found a hoop in moat!”. The former is mom’s, the latter is mine. Mom is not a huge fan of unnecessary entitlement programs and the VAT tax that funds them throughout Europe. I am still pumped about finding a hoop in a moat. A week later I am still randomly announcing that fact.

Driving fast is addictive and fun. My typical autobahn speed was 160 km per hour or 100 mph. I didn’t break my speed driving record but I got close. Unfortunately I learned later that evidently there are some cameras on a lot of the Autobahn’s and occasionally they send people tickets in the mail. Hopefully I don’t have one or two of those coming my way in the near future.

I comment on this every time I go to Europe but I still don’t get the lack of ice throughout the country. It cracks me up when you do finally get ice and there are two cubes in the glass. We also didn’t find a single grocery store that gave out bags. It seemed like most people brought their own but in the event you needed or wanted to buy one, they were expensive (30-50 cents). The bottle deposit on soda bottles was also expensive. The one time I noticed it broken out it looked like it was .25 euros per plastic container.

Some of the places we went and stayed in during this trip were so far from US code, it was hilarious. The best example of this was the castle we stayed in. When the woman checked me in, she told me that my key would work to the front door as well as to my room. Mom had left something in the car so around 10 pm I went to get it for her. I went down the stairs to a totally dark eating area and kitchen. I managed to finally find a light switch that provided enough light to help me make my way to the front door. The front door was locked. It could only be opened with a key. I could barely see the key hole and it took me, literally, a few minutes to open the door. If I was running from a fire, I most certainly would have been dead.

I am currently writing on our flight from Frankfurt to SFO. We are upstairs on a 747. This is the first time I have flown in United’s new Business Class Suites. They are awesome. The seats can lie completely flat. The seats may not be perfect for a person much over 6’ 4” or a really wide-person but they are heaven for a person my size. I spent the first hour of the flight playing Tetris. I am now watching my second movie. Mom is even comfortable, which is really saying something. She actually has done so well on this trip that I forgot I was going to keep the mommy barf count. Believe it or not, she hasn’t thrown up once. She only has to make it 12 more hours and she will have made it the entire trip without barfing or needed a headache timeout. Well done mom.

I’m going to get back to my movies and games. I’ll send off this last post from the Red Carpet Club in SFO...

... We’re now in the club after a momentarily lost passport episode. Thankfully we had a plenty long layover and even with the delay still have an hour to kill. It’s nice to have FREE Internet and ice in my DP. Once I land in Eugene I will have no plane tickets booked. Anyone want to go somewhere?

Until the next adventure,
Katy