Day One and a Half: We’re in Friggin Rome!
June 22, 2008
Goodness goodness goodness. Everything still feels totally surreal. Am I to believe that since the last time I slept in a bed I’ve: biked around San Francisco, had breakfast at Tartine with Eric, got on a plane with Leslie, visited Dublin with Leslie and Marika, got back on a plane in Dublin, flown to Rome, found my way through Rome, eaten my first truly Italian pizza, and finally ended up sitting in the computer room of my hostel (with a Diet Coke that’s far too small and an Internet connection that’s far too slow) writing up a quick post about our first few hours in Rome (before I take some hard core pills and induce some sleep… all so I can get up in about four hours and walk across town to the Vatican at 6am)?!?! Really?!
Well, it’s all true!!
We flew into Rome this evening and from the window of the plane I could tell it was going to be quite different from Dublin. Whereas I’d say the colors of Dublin were green, grays, and blues, the colors of Rome at sunset are warm hues of oranges, reds, yellows, browns… and cement (if that can count as a color).
So we got off the plane and made our way through the terribly long line to get my second passport stamp ever! Two in one day! While in line there was a couple in front of us and, not to be a downer, but I’ll say two quick things. First, when I have children they are not going to behave like that. And, secondly, when I get married, I sure as hell am not going to marry a man like that kids father either! Ugh!
But moving on… we we were totally exhausted, having been awake for pretty much 24 hours straight. But, we made our way through the passport line and then we were in Rome. Crowded, hot, humid, alive, and significantly more dirty, Rome. And right away the gods of travel lessons were ready to provide us with our next “gift”. So Leslie, being by far the more organized and systematic of the two of us, did the smart thing and printed out our reservations for all the hostels. On these reservations we’ve got directions listed from whatever mode of transportation we’ll be taking to get to that city. So, in this case, on our reservation to our hostel in Rome we had directions from the airport. So, we arrived and Leslie looked at the directions and let me know that we were to look for the Blue Coral bus and take it to this place (I’ve forgotten the name, we’ll call it “hell”). Well the first thing I noticed was that there was a train that said it went to Rome and so I asked Leslie, “Leslie, my dear girl, why not just take the train directly??” But she assured me that that just wasn’t the plan. Fair enough, I thought. So we exited the airport and were outside looking for this bus. I SWEAR TO THE GODS we went up and down the terminals at least five times – imagine walking up and down the different terminals for the different airlines at SFO or LAX. Imagine walking up and down to ALL OF THEM. Now imagine doing it with a serious backpack on your back. And in flip flops. And with no sleep. So we did this because we could not, for the life of us, find this bus stop. We asked for help and looked at signs, but when one person said left the sign said right. Finally, after walking around for at least an hour, two nice guys ended up giving us coherent directions. Naturally we’d passed this area about four times, but I was over it. The blue bus came, we got onboard, and Leslie asked the guy if it’d take us to where we needed to go. He, to my surprise, said “No.”
“No?!” I screamed in my head. How can this be?! We’ve looked for you forever. We just found you! You’re our only hope blue bus driving man! Our only hope!
At this point we put our heads down and got off the bus. I looked at the map and was in a state of confusion. I didn’t even see this place Leslie said we had to go to.
And then it hit her.
“Oh god… what airport are we at?”
“I have no idea… the Rome one”
“Yah but are there are like more than one? I was reading directions to our hostel from airport x (we’ll say). But what if we’re at airport y?!”
“…”
“Oh my god we’re at airport y!!!”
At which point we both laughed. We’d been going back and forth for a very very long time asking everyone for help finding a bus that basically didn’t exist. When we arrived in Rome it was light. Now it was pitch black.
We then made our way to the train.
Yah, that’s right – the train.
And, thankfully, from there we made our way to the Termina station and only got slightly lost on our way to the hostel. When we arrived we were greeted by a most friendly front hostel-desk guy that has yet to (and we’ve been here for quite a few hours now) actually charge us for our room. At one point he was about to, but told us to go get a drink and food instead. No doubt in the end they’ll figure it out, but would it not be the coolest thing if he let us stay for free?! This guy also recommended a restaurant down the street – which we went to and had our first Italian pizza 
and the most delicious bruschetta (which was only one euro!).
After dinner (which was at about 11:30PM local time) Leslie and I walked up and down a few streets and then decided to call it a night. She’s currently taking a shower while I write this up and pray to the download gods that my friggin videos get uploaded!!! But the connection is so slow!!!
Tomorrow we’re getting up at 6AM to walk to the Vatican and do all that. Should be fun!!
More to come!! Oh and to see all our pictures from this day, go here.
*Oh random exciting update: Because I’m paying for Internet by the hour and it took an hour to friggin upload the first video for the Dublin day that meant my Internet ran out while I was uploading video number two. I then had to get up and talk to the guy at the counter to get that fixed. After I paid I got change back and decided to buy, yet another, baby-sized diet coke from the machine. The machine is a piece of crap and won’t actually give you the soda… which means the guy comes over and shakes the machine to get it out (though there’s a sign on the machine telling me not to do so). I made a smart ass comment about this and computer-lab guy said some small thing back. I then decided I had to be brave and strike up a conversation. I’m in Rome! I’m staying at a hostel so I can meet other explorers! So I said, “Hi! I’m Heather!” and then we’ve been talking for a bit. This guy is totally having the best trip ever. He’s been here for, I think he said, 22 days now. The first week and half he was traveling with his friend up in Eastern Europe but ever since then he’s been on his own! He recommended I check out Cinque Terre on one of my Florence days. He then explained some stuff about each of the little islands (Cinque Terre I gather is Italian for five islands). In two days he’s off to Greece! This guy went to school in Chicago and is going to go back to do something related to financial investing. How cool! My first hostel-homie!! I’m so proud of myself! He’s going to Vatican city tomorrow, too – maybe Leslie and I will bump into him there!? Who knows – we’re traveling gypsies, baby!*
Day One: We’re in Friggin Europe!!!
June 22, 2008
Hello world I’m beyond excited (while beyond exhausted) to be writing this from my seat on a plane from Dublin to Rome!
Let’s dive right in… so - SFO. Leslie and I said our “goodbyes” to Anthony, Leslie’s boyfriend (and our purported number one blog-reading fan!) and her mom, a nervous wreck (hehe – kidding [not really]) and we went through security. For some reason in all the excitement I had the idea that they were going to stamp my passport right there– so I was quite excited about all that business. However, I quickly realized that that wasn’t the case and we continued on our merry way…
Next stop: the waiting area. And guess what happened there? We were getting ready to board the flight when all of a sudden I hear an excited yet slightly confused, “Heather?!” – I turn and look to my right and seated there, also waiting for the same flight, I see Marika – our fellow Googler! And, not just any Googler, but as luck would have it – the Googler who, in a sense, brought Leslie and I together three years ago. Marika was a recruiting coordinator for the college team and was basically in charge of Leslie and I when we were HR/staffing interns together. 
We told Marika we were going to have a six hour layover in Dublin and, since she was staying in Dublin for work, we decided we’d hop in her cab and go hang out for a bit.
But of course…there was the nine and a half hour flight to get through first. This was the longest flight I’d ever been on (the longest previous to that being a flight between SFO and NYC) and I have to say- overall, not so bad. They played a few decent movies and Leslie and I chit-chatted away for most of it. And… truth be told (and just between you and me) I think the real reason the flight wasn’t so bad was because the flight attendants all had Irish accents and were wearing cute green outfits! I was convinced the male one, who had taken to calling me “Rupunzel” (which sounds great with the accent, I’d like to add), was secretly a leprechaun who had decided to escape from the shire and explore the world via flight attending – so (as I’m sure you can imagine) thinking up all the adventures he must be having consumed quite a large chunk of time.
The only negative I experienced in-flight (and by negative I’ll say “lesson learned”) is expressed in the first video – so take a look! The other, I’ll say, not-so-good part was that we didn’t really sleep that much. I maybe got in two hours of sleep and Leslie didn’t get any at all. This was problematic because for us (on California time) we arrived in Dublin at midnight. However, for all the mischievous leprechauns we arrived at 8am! And, perhaps worst still, we were to stay in Dublin until (Dublin time) 2:30PM and arrive in Rome at 7:30PM (which, for those keeping track, would be like 9:30AM Sunday morning for us!! To solve this sleep-schedule problem we’ve brought lots of sleepy-time drugs that we will be consuming when time comes to sleep in Rome (though I doubt that we’ll need them)
So anyways! We made it to Dublin safe and sound (though we did have an exciting landing where we sort of landed on one wheel and then tipped over to the other and then back again). The weather was cold, rainy, and super windy. Leslie kept calling the weather “shit” but this confused me so. Like I said… it was cold, rainy, and windy. I’m slightly concerned that this signals some sort of fundamental defect in our ability to communicate, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.
Oh and I should say! When I knew we were descending my eyes were absolutely glued to the window. I wanted to mentally capture the very first time I would set eyes on European soil… and I so did! It was green and lovely and I tried to keep my view fixed 
out the window and not blink as I fingered my way through my bag to grab my camera (I wanted to take a picture and say it truly was a picture of my first view of Europe) but there was too much light outside so the picture wouldn’t work. Dangit! Instead I had to settle with holding up the line getting off the shuttle so Leslie could get a picture of my feet as they touched Europe for the first time.
Once out I finally did get my passport stamped. I was going to take a picture of it but Marika quickly informed us that picture taking in that area isn’t allowed. I find this silly and have decided that all these photo rule makers are big bullying memory-stealers. hurrrmpumpf!
Marika then let us know that the best exchange rate was going to an ATM (which I wouldn’t have thought of) so I headed over with her and got out 100 Euros. Which, after already having been in Dublin for the day, costs me a lot but doesn’t get a lot. Life in Ireland is expensive!
At that point we caught a taxi and were taken to Marika’s hotel so she could dump off her stuff. 
Our next stop was Grafton street – which is this super cute area with lots of shops and little cafe things. We only had a few hours and I was starving (see video one for why). It was cold and windy and wonderful and I would have been glad sitting out in all its Irish glory all day long but Marika and Leslie were, strangely, against this so we found an indoor cafe to get some food. And then we ordered. The only funny thing I have to share is a mini story I’ll call “What do you do when even the Irish think you shouldn’t drink!”. And it goes… Leslie decided that she wanted what’s called an “Irish coffee” with her breakfast which is coffee with Bailey’s and I think cream. But the key part is the Bailey’s. So Leslie tells our waitress she’d like one and the waitress comes back and informs her that they can’t serve alcohol until 11:30am. At this point I laughed aloud. The Irish let me down! Sure it’s technically 9:30am on a Sunday, but come’on! Leslie got a cappuccino and orange juice instead.
For the rest of the afternoon we just walked around looking at shops (which, I’m telling you, are infinitely cuter and filled with more adorable and “me” clothing than I’ve ever seen in the US) for most of the rest of our time. We were all so tired and spacey that we thought some sort of sugar rush was in order – so we stopped at a crepe place Marika knew to be delicious and got some 
seriously yummy treats. Leslie and I split a nutella, strawberries, and cream one and Marika got one with sugar and jam. Yummy!
After a bit longer Marika was running on way below low and decided it was time to part ways and head back to her hotel. We gave our hugs goodbye and then Leslie and I were, for the first time, on our own. We decided we had just a wee bit of time left (say that last bit with an Irish accent to get the effect that’s going on in my head right now) before we’d have to either magically figure out the bus system or hail a taxi. However, we got a bit sidetracked when we stumbled upon the Dublin castle. So we walked around there for quite some time before realizing we really needed to get going.
Our taxi driver ended up being an old man named Simon and I’m happy to report that he filled our entire drive to the airport with lovely conversation. We were told a bit about Leslie’s family’s surnames and where they might be from in Ireland and some history (we wanted to hear why, while all the houses looked very similar, each door was uniquely colored. Marika had been told before that it’s so when the Irishmen 
stumble home from the bars at lord knows what hour, they can figure out which house is theirs. Simon didn’t confirm this but did say that in the inner parts of Dublin the city basically tells you which color to paint your door now!). So that was all well and good but it came to our attention that we were sitting in the taxi when our flight was departing 40 minutes later (see video two for another lesson we learned)!! So we ended up paying him early and running to the terminal (there was a lot of traffic). As a side note: I never get to airports late because it stresses me out like no other. So I don’t know what the heck I was thinking here (I blame Dublin castle and our first taxi driver)…
Anyways, we made it and in time to take a video! So please enjoy and feel free to view our entire gallery of Dublin photos. And now, to Rome!!
[PS: There is a second video… but I’ve been sitting here for two and a half bloody friggin hours, paying like $10, to get it to upload to YouTube and, pretty much, no dice. It’s 2.5 minutes… so that might be part of the issue. So for now you only get video one. I’ll try again with two later tomorrow. Sorry ‘bout that 
However… the reception guy has decided to give me a few shots to make up for my troubles. I’m going to go drink those now. And then try and sleep for like two hours before Vatican time!]
Europe Blitzkrieg Extravaganza: Entry Uno (or, if you prefer, jednom or jeden)!
May 25, 2008
Here I am, sitting on my cushy couch snuggled up in my big ole’ PJs after an awesome night filled with the entrancing tunes of Terry Riley (at none other than the Disney Concert Hall), bringing you my very first Europe Blitzkrieg Extravaganza post!! And, because this is such a special event, you get not just one video, but two!!
So first things first - you might be wondering what this Europe Blitzkrieg Adventure business is all about. Well, here’s the plan: Leslie and I (who Leslie is is explained in the Intro video below) will be leaving June 21st and returning July 5th. Now, in those two weeks we will be visiting six countries and at least eight cities. The countries are (in order): Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, and then Ireland again. The cities are (again in order): Dublin, Rome, Florence, Venice, Zagreb, Budapest, Vienna, Prague, and then Dublin again.
The whole Ireland thing might seem random, but it’s where we have our layovers. And, because we’re wild and crazy like that, we purposely gave ourselves an overnight layover in Dublin on the way home. We’ll fly in to Dublin from Prague and have from around 10PM till 9:40AM the next morning to party like rockstars! We’re actually thinking about sending an email out to all our fellow Googlers in the Dublin office and seeing if any of them want to take us out and show us the best Dublin has to offer at night. I think that sounds like a blast!
As for the planning of the rest of the trip - Leslie really deeply and desperately wanted to go to Italy and I super duper badly wanted to explore Eastern Europe. So, we compromised (not like anybody was really sacrificing anything here). For one week we’ll be in Italy and for one week we’ll be traveling all over lots of gorgeous and culturally rich places in Eastern Europe.
I’m so very excited about this trip - it’ll be my first time in Europe and my first serious vacation in four years (interning every summer really cuts into one’s explore-the-world plans) 
So enjoy the Introductory video and then the first (of many) videos you’ll see of Leslie and me together.
Oh and please note: I am really sick in the Introductory video (as elsewhere explained, I seriously needed an IV of Theraflu at that point … but, like the trooper I am, I took one for the team (ppssss: the team is you!) and made the oh so needed intro video.
Ok now you can go ahead and enjoy!
