New Groove

So Carly and I are managing to slowly but surely attempt to find our groove again back here in what we call the Great White North. We found ourselves a car, and we’re thoroughly enjoying our stay at Hotel Burrus (or as I lovingly like to refer to it: Hotel Inlaws).

Das New Car (2003 Honda CR-V)

Hotel Inlaws

Carly is busy applying for various positions with school districts, and I’m ramping up projects in my ongoing attempt to never-get-a-real-job. Things are going alright so far. We’re enjoying being back home with family and friends. I’m sure there’ll be more to follow, but no more world travels – instead – you’re gonna be seeing Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.

Trip Expenses

Are you curious to know what a 7 week Europe holiday might cost?

Here is the expenses breakdown for a comfortable two person trip. This trip was a balance of backpacker and B&B accomodations as well as a combination of cheap street or grocery eats and lovely dining experiences. We tried to be health conscious and so we ate well (which usually meant spending a little extra for the fruit and veggies). We saw what we really wanted to but didn’t always or often do the “should sees”. One museum here and there was more than enough for our tastes, but the extra splurge for a weekend in a tuscan villa was a must!

Total $12 400 CAN
Countries visited: Jordan, Israel, Italy, Austria and Germany

Flights
$3 800

Other Transportation (trains, buses, taxis, camels, etc.)
$1 150

Accomodation
$3 500

Food
$2 500

Tours/Entrance Fees
$800

Laundry
$45

Gifts/Miscellaneous
$600

The Surprise Arrival Home

How to surprise Dad and Mom? Shall we show up on the doorstep to ring the bell or will we call and say we are standing on the front lawn? I could let myself into the house and be having a cup of coffee when they get up in the morning. Cancel that, Dad is a house prowler and I likely wouldn’t make it even to the kitchen. Not to mention the sprinkler, designed to get the wildlife rummaging around in the yard, would certainly soak me before I even got to the back door! Hmm, we could be lying in Krista’s car trunk and she could ask Dad to help her carry some stuff in and SURPRISE. But, heart attacks don’t usually make for a nice family reunion. I know! A pizza surprise.

From the get go of planning our trip home Daniel and I had decided to return August 1st. Actually, we had this flight home booked all along with our other flights and much of our accommodation. We aren’t really the “fly by the seat of your pants” travellers. Besides, Europe is expensive and if you don’t book the cheap hostel they are often full and you might be left with only a more expensive option.

I had always wanted to return home unannounced and so we had told Mom and Dad that we didn’t know when we’d arrive other than it would be sometime mid to late August. They thought we were planning as we went, but of course that was a little uncomfortable for Dad who likes to track us! Dad kept asking me for more and more information so finally I sent the fake itinerary to keep him busy! Naughty daughter that I am. It was tricky keeping track of where they thought we were (emails, blog postings) vs. where we really were. Kim and Krista were let into the secret prior to our departure from Singapore. They were to be excellent accomplices! Not to mention, the holders of the real itinerary and contact information in case of emergency. Responsible daughter that I am.

This part of the plan is what I like to call WHEN THE SURPRISE ALMOST WENT DOWNHILL. LTU airlines charged half the flights to our credit card when we booked the flights that would take us from Germany to Vancouver on Aug 1. We thought perhaps this was a mistake, but didn’t worry about it. Apparently though, they charge the rest of the flight cost a few weeks before the flight. Trouble was that the card was nil after being stolen in Tel Aviv. So, what is an airline to do? They call our home phone, which is of course now our parent’s address in New Westminster. Thankfully, the message they left on the machine was all in German and Dad and Mom were away camping. Sister Kim intercepted, emailed us to let us know about the call and deleted the message. Funny though, when Dad returned he saw a strange phone number in the call log and thought perhaps we’d been trying to reach him…what an investigator! Dan called LTU and gave them our new credit card information so they could charge the rest of the flight. But…

We’re arrived now at the part of the story entitled WHEN THE SURPRISE TOOK A NOSE DIVE. LTU had also sent a letter in the mail to our “home” address regarding our flights. Dad opened up the letter and wondered… it was all in German. Dad scanned the letter and emailed it to us in case it was important. Safe still right? Nope. Dad put the letter through babel to try to translate it. The translation wasn’t great but it sure did seem to give away some important tidbits including that date of Aug 1, a monetary amount and words such as Dusseldorf and Vancouver. At this point, Daniel was pushing me to just “give it up” and tell Dad and Mom about the arrival home but …what the heck, I just told a few more lies in hopes to put Dad off our tail again. I believe I said something about researching flights and costs for various dates in August etc. I also told Dad to please not worry about the mail and stuff. Everything was under control and I would certainly be letting them know when we’d arranged our flight home.

Dan got an email from LTU. Finally, they send some information to a place where it is useful. It looked like they were changing our flights. We’d be flying with Air Berlin now for the first leg of the journey from Munich to Dusseldorf before flying LTU into Vancouver. We’d now need new tickets. We called LTU and were told we could pick up our new tickets once we’d arrived in Munich. They failed to mention..

Here we are at WHEN THE SURPRISE PLAN FLAT LINED AND WAS PAST THE POINT OF RESUSCITATION RIGHT? LTU sent our new tickets to our “home”. Yes, that is correct. Our one-way tickets for Germany to Vancouver were sent to Vancouver 6 days before we were to take the flight! How they possibly thought we’d get ourselves from Vancouver to Germany to use these one-way tickets less than a week before the flight is beyond comprehension. This was not a pretty scene when I read this news in an email from Dad. I guess the surprise is over then huh? But, when you are deep into your lies, what do you have to lose? Either they buy another lie or they don’t and the surprise is out anyways. I wrote an email to Dad about how crazy this airline was – what a mistake! We hadn’t booked any flight. They were off their rocker – we’d be calling them about about this. Dad didn’t say anything more which made me sure that he new our plan and just decided to keep quiet and let it happen.

Krista, Kim and Jason (Kim’s boyfriend) met us at the Vancouver airport just after 1pm on Wed, 1 Aug. After a much needed Starbucks purchase, they whisked us away to Krista’s place. A great place to chill on my own couches and everything because she has been taking care of all our stuff while we’ve been away. We enjoyed showers, nachos, margaritas and much much chatter. Kim and Jason’s cover for the day was that they were at the beach. Complete with Kim taking her swimsuit and towel along. Krista was supposed to be at work but had taken the day off for us. Krista had called Mom the week before and asked if Dad and Mom would like to join her and her boyfriend Yoon for pizza at Me and Ed’s (family’s favourite) Wed night when she got off work. Kim and Jason were to also join. So as to not rouse suspicion (like where wasn’t already!), Kim and Jason went home from Krista’s, pretending to arrive back from the beach, and accompanied my parents out to the restaurant. Kim sent a text message to say they had arrived. The targets were in place.

We sent Krista into the pizza place first to join the table. Dad and Mom were right there in front of us! I actually felt a little nervous. As we walked in, Dad was peering around Krista to look for Yoon, but he wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t make it. But who is this?! Dad squinted a bit more, a bit more. I smiled. I think Mom said “Carly?” “No”…. Dad got up. What a great hug. I whispered in his ear, “you knew didn’t you?” Yup, he’d suspected and had even thought maybe he’d come out to the airport to get one up on us if we really were coming in on that flight. But, we’d created enough reasonable doubt with the fake itinerary. “How could we possibly be coming back before reaching Germany?” Mom wondered. By the way, Mom hadn’t moved yet. She was still sitting there. Someone (maybe myself, I can’t recall now) said, aren’t you going to hug them? Such shock. For the next 30 minutes or so her jaw was open and the wheels of how this happened were turning. Honestly, she was also thinking of how she’d hadn’t made up the bed for us yet or vacuumed today etc.! What a Mom! We of course had been in Germany already – Mom really got a kick out of that fake itinerary and made a humorous point of ripping it up later when we reached home.

So, we ate pizza and drank coke. And that is the beginning of the next chapter of our lives.
Cheers.

Munich, Germany

I think it’s safe to say that we love Munich. Between the friendly Bavarian folks, the super cool train station and public transit (I heart trams), and the absolutely amazingly cool beer gardens scattered throughout the city – this is a place where I would love to return. It’s a ton of fun walking all throughout the Marienplatz area (as long as it’s not the weekend ). There are huge pedestrian-only areas that give the city so much character, along with huge parks, fields, rivers, monuments, art galleries and food, that I’m not too sure what else you might want in a city.

Glockenspiel

Glockenspiel with scaffolding, and music that doesn’t work.

New City Hall (I think)

We’ve had all sorts of excellent highlights including a bike tour through some of the major sites (Note: Mike’s Bike Tours. Do It.). We also went on a brewery tour where we hit up the Weisses Brauhaus whch serves up beer from Shneider Weisse (I tried an Eisbock here which packs a mean 12% – interesting stuff), following a stop at a Paulaner microbrewery and restaurant for some more tasting and dinner before we ended up at the world-renowned Hofbrauhaus.

Chinese Tower Beer Garden

Maypole

Yum.

Many of the beer gardens (including the Hofbrauhaus), don’t even sell beer by the pint. If you want a beer, you’re drinking it in Liter form. They don’t call ‘em Maßbier’s (pronounced “mass”, but means “measure” in German) for nothing.

People surfing on the river. Yes. Surfing. For Real.

The best apple strudel ever.

Augustinerkeller is the oldest beer garden in Munich, and of the ones we’ve been to, it’s also the nicest. Of the German folks we’ve talked to, it would seem that the Helles (lager-ish) produced by Augustiner seems to be the favorite of the masses. Described as liquid gold and sweet apricot nectar – these people love the stuff, and I can’t say we’re any different.

Enjoying a good time at Augustinerkeller (beer garden)

An interesting thing about the beer gardens here is that they are absolutely gorgeous. Trees and forest, nice shady areas. Also, you’re allowed to bring in food from outside (just not drinks). So if mom wants to pack a Sunday picnic for the kids and head down to the beer garden to eat up, and drink a couple liters, you can head on down. Sounds like it’s not uncommon, either.

I (Daniel) headed on my own one day to the Deutsches museum which was out of this world. Probably the best museum I’ve ever been to (and easily the largest). No end of huge displays on everything from naval navigation to U-boats to electricity, aeronautics, astronautics, nuclear power, physics, tools, engines and a pile of other things I can’t even remember.

Aviation section of the Deutsches Museum with replica of the Red Baron’s triplane near the center.

Munich is a town I’d love to come back to. A great place to relax, friendly people, and terrific culture.

And now I guess, the whirlwind adventure has come to a close. Carly and I are back in Vancouver, having left Munich on 1-August and now settling in back in Canada. The next adventurous pictures might be of Vancouver restaurants, or um, buying a car, or something.

It’s been a pretty fantastic two years, with more experiences and adventures that neither of us can probably even begin to remember them all. But now the adventure continues in a different form, and since the photos might not be as exciting, I might have to resort to more good old fashioned sarcasm and attempted wit to keep everyone entertained.

At any rate, we hope that anyone who reads this blog (if anyone actually does read it) enjoyed whatever bits they did read. I think we’ll keep writing here, but obviously it’ll take different turns.

So um, signing off for now.

Ingolstadt, Germany

There really isn’t much to see in Ingolstadt. I brought Carly up here one afternoon while we were staying in Munich. I was here quite a few years back with my Grandma. This is her hometown where both she and my Dad were born. Just a nice little trip for nostalgia sake.

Overlooking the Danube River, with Ingolstadt’s castle in the background.