Yesterday United Airlines grounded all 777 aircraft to provide time to make a safety check they ignored the first time. Luckily, I’m flying a 747. Damn. This trip nearly never got off the ground. Literally.
A Guess of an Intinerary
Everyone keeps on asking me where I’m going to visit on this trip. I keep on telling you people, I have no idea! But that’s not exactly true. I do have a bit of an idea. Here are a few of my way points.
Infection Bonanza
I stumbled upon the “Infectious Diseases” section of my helpful Lonely Planet guide. I’m taking this book with me to the travel clinic tomorrow to check off the shot/pill that I need for each of them. I most certainly will not be letting a monkey bite me.
Pre-planning (Or: Logistics)
I woke up this morning with my usual routine: brush my teeth, take a shower, a good ass scratch or two, on with the nice shirt and off to work. Along the way I realize something. Holy shit I own a round-trip ticket to a third-world nation full of mosquitos and malaria and hepatitis and penis fish and velociraptors and kinds of crap! And my plane leaves in 14 days. I’ve got a lot of work to do.
Anchors Aweigh!
Just today I purchased a round-trip ticket to Saigon (AKA Ho Chi Minh City.) I’m leaving on April 3 and coming back on April 30. What am I going to do out there? I have no earthly idea. But I’m going to find some trouble to get into.
More to come…
Oktoberfest Pictures
I expect some torso-convulsing laughter out of the four guys that are in these pictures when they are first seen. For the rest of you, I’ll try and explain at least some of the funny shit that is going on here. And at the least, you should check out some of the movies I mention below. All of the pictures are hyperlinked to the originals.
Home At Last
I got home on Sunday afternoon with urgent need for spaghetti, TV, and serious couch-time. At least one of these goals was subverted when my Tivo’s hard drive hit the under on its mean time to failure. But the rest went well, and I now am back into my usual schedule. But not without a few hiccups.
Account Overdrawn
My body has served as a reservoir of energy and curiosity from which I have generously deducted for the past two months. Each experience subtracted some of that liquid exuberance and replaced it with a diamond memory. As the tank fell to its bottom level and I scraped the jewel-laced dregs in these last few weeks, I have finally come up dry. The account has been overdrawn.
One Shitload of Beer
Just a few minutes ago Rich and I were trying to reckon the number of beers that we drank last night. They serve beers at Oktoberfest in one liter glasses and there is no smaller size. We estimate that each liter contained about three bottles of beer. And then multiplied by the number of those glasses we drank we came to the conclusion that we drank One Shitload of Beer. That is a unit of the English measuring system, I believe.
The Town That Was Saved By Poverty
Rich and I are currently finishing up our only full day in Rothenburg, on way to Oktoberfest in Munich. This destination was chosen thanks to Rick Steves’s write-up and has not disappointed. But it is a sleepy village that only happens to be near more exciting locations. As such, I am hoping that is serves as a springboard to the pinacle of the second half of my trip: Munich. But I am getting ahead of myself.