I'm With Stupid

Pictures!

noreply@blogger.com (dpm) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:22:00 +0000

Sorry for the delay...have been swamped at work since getting back. We've finally uploaded our pics. Check out our Picasa Web Albums and let us know what you think!

Also, a quick update. American Airlines did finally get me my bags, albeit four days late. Last I heard Mikey was still waiting over a week later...airlines were not the best part of our trip.

Miguel y Danny en Espana

Michel et Danny à Paris

Mikey and Danny's Night in London

Clothesless in Miami...

noreply@blogger.com (CBK) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:03:00 +0000

So, last you heard from the 2stupids, we were leaving Paris (much to Danny's shagrin), and heading home. There should be no story to be had there... but it's us, and stupid shit to us it like assholes to women (somehow, someway, its attracted to us) So we leave Paris again on one of the most uncomfortable airlines ever to be created (Easyjet), and arrive back in madrid. Now, this was one of the not so fun parts of our trip, because we booked two completely different flights, both international: one from miami to madrid and back with an overnight layover in London, and then another from Madrid to Paris. We had to go through customs in madrid, security, then get our bags from luggage claim, then check BACK in, go through customs and security AGAIN, and get on another flight from Madrid to London. Yeah... Paris was worth it, but it still sucked.

So we get through the madrid airport fine, which is a great airport if you ever go there, or stop over there. We then fly over to London, where our night would begin. We land, we dont have to worry about getting our bags because there being put on the flight to Miami automatically, and then we pay some bag guys 7 pounds each to hold our backpacks until the morning. Why would we do that? Cuz we got 8 hours to kill, and a hotel would cost the same as seeing one of the greatest cities in the world for hours without sleeping. So... in classic fashion, we stroll out of the airport, having just spent close to 350$ for 160 British pounds, and a head on our shoulders to see london.

We had many misconceptions about the capital of the UK. We thought for sure that the first time we needed direction, it was gonna be so comforting to hear our own language. After getting our money, we go to the baggage drop place, and ask the guy how it all works, and it was then that i learned a very valuable lesson: American needs to be considered a language, because we CERTAINLY dont speak english. I understood the SPANIARDS better then this guy. It was bad.

The second misconception was that London would be alot like Paris. It wasnt. It wasnt a bad looking city by any means, but it was much more like New York then Paris. The buildings were not as nice looking, the architecture not as detailed, and just the over all feel not the same. Now, this is not to say that we didnt like London, but i guess lets just say that when you are at one of the most amazing cities in the world for four days, the next ones gonna have a lot to live up to. Maybe it was just the followup effect that made it seem that way. We went to Buckingham palace, we walked to Big Ben, saw the Eye of London (a huge ferris wheel lit up blue by night) as well as all the government buildings. The highlight of Danny's night was the Gordon Ramsey hotel. Apparently this guy, who I've never heard of (me being much less cultured than my counterpart) is a very famous chef.

There should be nothing else to that. We see the hotel, take a picture, and leave right? ... Wrong... So as we are taking the pictures, two ladies, whom we believe to work there are standing outside, having a conversation, and decide to ask us why the excitement over the hotel. These women then, for some reason or another, decide they want pictures with me in front of it, so danny takes a picture. They then decide to start flirting with me, taking off my hat and putting it on, etc. This lasts for a good ten - fifteen minutes before we escape back into the night. Danny, behind the camera was lucky, for though the 30 yr old was cute, the 40 something was the friskier of the two... and to say the least, i was violated...

We end up back at party central, but too late to drink, as the last drink in London is served at 3am every night. So we go to a cafe where we end up playing hero to two 19 yr olds being harassed by this drunk older guy (probably close to 30). He was trying SO HARD to get with them, but he was just so BAD at it. Like, i know of surgery tables with more game then this guy. So finally, I invited the girls to come sit with us before they ended up fighting the guy (which they threatened repeatedly) And we ended up befriending them. One was a daughter of a famous mtv vj in the UK, and the other a soon-to-be-fellow traveler, so we talked and ate, and afterwards, as we were heading back to the plane, The Maloney once again came out with one of his all time classic lines that he is known for....

"Mikey, only you could get hit on by two girls in one night... one of which who could be the other ones mother..."

Then, its back to the airport for the flight home. We get there, check in, get on, and as danny passes out, i proceed to watch Transformers, Rush Hour 3, and Ratatouille, instead of intelligently sleeping. We arrive 8 hours later, make it through customs, and go to baggage claim. Heres where this should read, "We picked up our bags, left, and lived happily ever after... The End". Should.

Our Bags Are Gone. No where to be found. This sucks.

We try to get multiple people to help us, to no avail, and even end up getting lied to about them showing up an hour from our arrival time on another flight, which we ended up having to wait close to TWO hours for just to figure out we were lied to.

To update you, it is now Tuesday, around 4 pm, and Dannys luggage has been found and is being delivered to him in Cali. Mine is still MIA (if only that meant the airport code) and no one seems to know at American Airlines how to find a lost bag, as all im told is "hopefully it shows up, cause we have no way of tracking them sir. The bar codes we put on them is just for looks"

Not to leave a sour tast in your mouths, aside from the luggage screw up, This trip was one of the greatest times of my life, and one of the most memorable experiences ive ever had. I can't speak for my counterpart, but this trip will be looked up to as the mark that all my future endeavours must meet. I couldnt have picked a better Travel buddy, or a better friend to go with. Thank you Danny for taking part in what can only be described as a phenomenal experience. Thank you all for reading this, and if any continuations are added, we'll be sure to let you know

Coming at you from the good ol' US of A, This is Mikey, hoping not to have to go shopping soon...

Much Love Guys, Peace

PS... pics and vid coming soon, pics just need to be uploaded, and the vids are in dannys lost suitcase, being delivered sometime in the next few days... Stay tuned to Myspace and Facebook for the updates, as we'll set up a photobucket or something to hold it in for you guys...

LOUUUUUUUUVRE

noreply@blogger.com (CBK) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:27:00 +0000

(To the tune of soulja boy`s crank dat)

Louvre Boy up in it (OH!)
Watch Me paint It
Watch Me sculpt
Watch Me do Dat Louvre Boy,
Then DA VINCI Dat (OH!)
Now Watch Me LOUVRE
(Paint and sculpt it)
Now Watch Me LOUVRE
(Paint and sculpt it)
Now Watch Me LOUVRE
(Paint and sculpt it)
Now Watch Me LOUVRE

Sorry....

So, Paris, day 4:

We were straight cultured out. (Danny asked me to put a translation in for that last line: We went to museums). Big, BIG ASS museums. Im talkin nine football fields long. and that was only the first one. Of course as most of you have guessed, i am talking about the Louvre. That place was Ginormous. We easily walked 5 to 10 miles in that thing today... and did i mention that was only the first museum we hit?
The Louvre was amazing: So many priceless pieces of art and sculptures that youve only read about in history books and humanities classes in college. I would love to go into it all, but seriously, neither of us have enough time for that. The building itself was a piece of art. Every nook and cranny was covered in a picture, or a carving, or anything else that is considered art that you could possibly think of. After we left there we headed over to the Musee D'Orsay, which though smaller than the Louvre, still contained more priceless art than i could count. Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Renault, Toulousse, Van gogh, Pissaro, and I swear to God thats only the beginning. Marble floors adorned pricless art on the walls and ceilings. To say the least, now you hopefully understand what i meant when i said...."We were straight cultured out"

We started the day at about 8am (fuckin maloney) and ended our culturings around 6 pm. We went back to the room, and got ready for the REAL culturings (if you ask me) THE CABARET!!!

Crazy Horse Paris: The only REAL crazy horse in the world. Thats how they bill themselves. A real french Cabaret with Beautiful Dancing and Great Champagne, which all surrounded our very good seats. It was an amazing venue, and one I would suggest for everyone. The weird thing about it was i went into this expecting something a little sleazy, i wont lie, but there were more business people and high class citizens of paris at this event then probably i ever could have expected. To say the least, we were under dressed for the occasion. It was an amazing show thought, not dirty or sleazy in the least, as every dancer mustve taken ballet since like, before birth, to do some of the shit they did. I didnt know what to take from this, but dannys favorite part of the show was the two tap dancing guys that came out and did a 1950's style comedy-tap routine early chaplin-esque. Yeaaaaah... Moving on...

So after retaking in a few sites after the show, we are now back in the latin quarter, chillin out, relaxing all cool and all, when a couple of guys that were up to no good, started makin trouble in my - ... sorry. So were gonna be chillin for the rest of the night, and then its Au Revoir Paris. We have so many pictures and film that its almost insane.

We've Loved havin you guys with us on this trip, glad we could keep all of you up to date, and even more happy with the fact that people actually took time to read it. We will have much more coming at you from stateside on sunday once we get back, but this will unfortunately be our last blog of the trip, as we wont be blogging from London as we only have one night there, and then we're back in the states by 1pm sunday. Once again, Much love to you guys, we miss ya, and we will see you soon

Ladies and Gentleman: Thanks for coming out, God Bless you, good night...

PS. LOUUUUUUVREEEEEEE
MPS. (Maloney Post Script): We do have video of Mike doing the Crank dat IN FRONT of the pyramid at the louvre... can you say YOUTUBE?!?!

Sacre Coeur!

noreply@blogger.com (dpm) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:12:00 +0000

Another big day running around Paris! Today had by far our most favorite moment yet, a visit to the Basilica Sacre Coeur. You know it was amazing because Mike loved it, despite walking up 2-3 hundred stairs to get to the ground level. The Basilica is set atop the butte Montmarte, Paris' highest point, and has BREATHTAKING views of the entire city, especially at night, when you can see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame de Paris and Arch de Triumph lit up in all their glory. The Church itself is gorgeous inside and out, but is also deceiving in so many ways. From afar it looks enormous, like a Parisian Taj Mahal off to the north. Up close it actually looks kinda of small, but when you get in and realize just how high the domes are, the size sets in...then you realize that the massive pubilc area you're in is only a fraction of the full building.

We were also pretty pumped, because we did some Davinci Code style sleuthing and learned a lot from clues we saw in the building, like that it was once a palace and fortress that was set to defend Paris to the north. We thought it was built around the 1500-1600s and had seen numerous attacks and used to be set higher, with a moat, until a new road and hill was built around it. Turns out we were wrong on all accounts. Oh well, guess we're not quite Robert Langdon quality. Check out the wikipedia link above for the real history.

Otherwise, we did a ton today. Cruised up and down the Seine, went inside Notre Dame [which was disappointingly toursity], walked the Champs Elysees and Rue de St. Antoine and saw La Bastille, the Arch de Triumph, the Jardins des Plantes and accompanying museums, Les Vosges, the Moulin Rouge, Crazy Horse, Pigalle, Opera de Paris and Pompidou Centre. I got another delicious crepe and we had our first truly French meal at a nice restaurant since we got here [my tummy is happy]. The chocolate cake almost killed us; but if had, it would've been a great way to go!

We've gotta go rest up for tomorrow; we've got the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay on tap, so it'll be a pretty full and early day. Oh, and Mike's mom says we need to get croissants, so we'll do that, too. Can't wait though!

FELIZ ANO

noreply@blogger.com (CBK) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:15:00 +0000

So our new years consisted of meeting droves of people, Pouring champagne on hundreds, starting a huge cheer, and then there was everything not in the thirty minutes prior to 2008... Let me explain.

So, when you last heard from us, it was new years eve, upon which we decided it best to figure out which was better, American McDonalds, or Spanish McDonalds: Spanish in a heart beat. After our gourmet meal, we headed off to begin the celebrations. We walked most of the city that day, so we rested as the square filled. Now, this was NOTHING like times square, which you have to show up to like 24 hours before just to be able to be uncomfortable; no sir, it was 9pm and there was more than ample walking room. This was a dirty trick by those spaniards, as i thought Maloney was gonna kill me for booking a shitty New Years destination. Ten O`clock rolls around... the square is filled, but not packed... we go down because if theres plenty of space, then theres no need to be up in the room. We make friends easily, as we have for most of the trip, and around 11 decide to bring the stuff down. I go to walk the maybe 400 ft back to hotel to get it, and notice how friggin quick these Spaniards are: The square, and everything around it is packed. I go back, get Danny, and head up to the room.

In the room, awaiting us were our preparations: multiple bottles of champagne, and 12 grapes each, as is custom in Espana (thats spanish for spain). In the next ten to twenty minutes, we watch tens of thousands of people descend on the Puerta Del Sol from the safety of our sanctuary. Now i know what most of you are thinking... "WHAT PUSSIES!!!". Let me remind you the coolest people at mardis gras are the ones above the streets (sadly, we didnt think to get beads). Yeah, now youre feelin me. Back to the action...

So as we jam out on the balcony, dancing, singing along with all the american songs theyre playing, yelling at the passers by and wearing our wigs (you might remember danny telling you about this weird shit... well, we gave in, as we found the coolest wigs imaginable. Yup, you guessed it, the Wendy's guy wig [from the commercial... keep up dammit]) we prepare: the bottles are opened, the glasses are cheersed, and the grapes prepared.... as the countdown lessened, our popularity increased as we kept all the people below us up to date on the time. With one minute left, we told our fans, and started a HUGE cheer in the puerta del sol, definitely one of the coolest things ever, as the entire square began to cheer. At midnight, the grapes were eaten one at a time, and the fans either decided to love us or hate us as i popped multiple champagne bottles from 3 stories up and proceeded to make it rain.

FELIZ ANO MADRID!!!!

We then proceeded to have fun with the crowd over the next hour, as it never died down; with people dancing and singing and drinking everywhere. Now, this isnt official, but i think we also set a record for highest champagne pour, as i attempted to make it into the mouths of two fun loving patrons of the square (to be honest, i didnt try too hard, as it was funnier watching them, mouths agape, arm in arm, under a waterfall of suds) We got all this on tape, dont worry.

Eventually, the party died down around our hotel, so we went into the square, and proceeded to make more friends, dancing with people, getting lots of comments for you guys back at home, partying with brazilians, eating weird cookies with mexicans (i know, it sounds bad, but i promise, they were clean [and dont ever let maloney find out the truth people ;p]), buying beer from a chinese lady, and even got caught up singing kanye west with italians. Then a beautiful young lady comes up to me, and proceeds to ask

"YOU FROM BALCONY?"

[IM A STAR...] "HELL YEAH"

She then says...

"ALL THIS SHIT ON JACKET FROM YOU!!!!"

hmmm, not the adoration i expected, but all i could say was...

"THATS AWESOME... HAPPY NEW YEAR BABY"

Happy New years guys, more coming soon, from Paris

PS She ended up loving us and taking pictures after we met... I SWEAR!!!
PPS Her boyfriend, however, did not...

Bonjour!

noreply@blogger.com (dpm) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:03:00 +0000

That's about one of ten words we know in French, yet oddly it hasn't been so hard to get around, perhaps because we've been uber touristy thus far. It's been a pretty busy 2 days in Paris; we even almost forgot to blog!!

Today we went to the Tour Eiffel. Having been up the Empire State, Top of the Rock, etc...I really wasn't all that excited about it, but now that we've been...oh my goodness! A) it's a lot of fun going up the lifts, B)we met fellow Floridians (if Tampa counts) ahead of us in line and C) from 900 feet in the air, Paris is beyond breathtaking. It lived up to all the hype...and made the 2+ hour wait in the below-freezing cold seem inconsequential. I can see now how Paris came to be known as the most romantic city in the world. (Megan, we've gotta come here together!)

My second favorite site thus far was probably Notre Dame by night. We're staying nearby in the Latin Quarter and I wanted to see the Seine on our first night; needless to say, I never expected the eyeful that I got when we turned the corner and bam! We see this! The cathedral, which is unbelivably detailed given it's gargantuan size, took ~180 years to build, but was worth every second. It's really kind of absurd, because we're finding random gorgeous buildings every way we look. It's made me realize just how much of a newbie we Americans are from a historical perspective. Maybe we should build some palaces or cathedrals or something.

Running out of time in the internet cafe...eeks! So some other quick highlights:

1. I got Mike to try a crepe! I lied and told him it was a burger to do so, but it worked!

2. Today we found the Musee du Vin. My heart was all aflutter until we discovered it was just a cleverly named restaurant, not a true wine museum.

3. They're big on comics here...Star Wars and Simpsons memorabilia everywhere...

4. The history of Franco-American friendship is strongly evident in Paris. We've already stumbled across a smaller replica of the Statue of Liberty, Avenue de President Kennedy and Avenue de New York.

5. Our first hotel room (we've relocated to a bigger one) had exposed original wood beams, kinda like exposed brick in Boston. Thought it was weird at first, but now I think I liked it...

6. Parisian macarons...omg!

7. I think the tiny Smart cars are fun. Let's get those puppies in the States!

Coming up: To the Louvre! The Arch de Triumph, The Moulin Rouge, Cruising the Seine, Sacre Coer and much much more!

Feliz Año Nuevo!

noreply@blogger.com (dpm) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:27:00 +0000

Mikey´s typing on the computer right next to me, so hopefully we won´t overlap too much. Sorry for the dueling posts, but there´s lots to write and little time!

It´s about 3:30 now on New Year´s Eve and we´re gearing up for the big night tonight. Our hotel is right on the Puerta del Sol, which is like Spain´s Times Square. So tonight we´ll be surrounded by Ricardo Clarko´s Nuevo Año Rockin´ Eve. The tradition here is to eat 12 grapes at midnight for good luck in the next year (or perhaps 12 years...couldn´t quite translate the explanation perfectly) and, of course, drink champagne to toast the new year. It´s going to be a good time...and we know this first hand because we were around yesterday for the practice...yes, ¡they practice for New Year´s! That´s how seriously it´s taken here. And the crowds stayed out til 3 or 4 am afterward...actually, was still some noise in the street when we woke up this morning. This morning we went to the store to buy our cans of 12 grapes (brilliant marketing by the grape industry, as they get triple the price per grape), a bottle of champagne to drink, and two bottles to spray all over the crowds beneath our hotel room. =) Hey, when in Rome...or Madrid...

We also made an exciting find yesterday- other Americans! We were hanging out in the Puerta listening to some Mariachis when we met two teachers from America, Brooke and Evelyn, who were able to give us some good tips on what to do and see in Madrid. I especially liked one piece of advice: ¨drink lots of vino.¨ Well, okay! They were also able to clue us in on why we keep seeing people walking around in multicolor wigs all over the place. Apparently it´s a New Year´s / April Fools´ Day (celebrated here Dec. 28- the day we two fools departed for Spain) tradition, so we´ll have to find some wigs big enough for our American heads and join the fun!

Some other quick tidbits:

- After avoiding eating at a KFC in the US for 24 years, I finally broke down and tried it last night, since we couldn´t leave the Puerta and make it back in time for the New Year´s practice if we ate elsewhere. It was $20 for 7 pieces of chicken and some fries...kind of wishing American things weren´t such a novelty here!

- ¨Google¨ has also become a verb in Spanish: Googlear = to Google something (no joke)

- Spanish people like being happy and having fun...and they dance whenever possible. At the New Year´s practice, we learned a few songs, including the Spanish Hokey Pokey and ¨Quando te toco, vas loca¨ (When I touch you, you go crazy), a dance that spreads virally, because every person who´s touched by someone doing it has to join the fun.

Okay, that´s my update for now...be back soon, possibly next time from Paris! We leave tomorrow afternoon, SPT...eeks! Better learn French soon!

¡Ciao!

Siesta, Fiesta, repeat...

noreply@blogger.com (CBK) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:23:00 +0000

Alright people, Mikey here, on day three of our trip. I gotta tell you, its kinda cool being the minority. We´ve run into all sorts of language barriers, and conquered most of them, but not elegantly. We´ve had some interesting experiences too. Lets start from the end of day 1...

After the usual arrival, walking around, and gathering our collective wits that first day, we decided to do something cultural, in case we were too incapacitated. Enter the Reina Sofia Museum. We saw original works by Miro, Picasso, and Dali. It was an amazing place, and the city around it embraces the museum as two others are in the vicinty, and it is known as the art district. However, you dont wanna know about that... Lets get to the good shit...

So after we finish blogging for you guys the other night, we decide to leave the cafe, and go get something to eat. We went to a place known as VIPS... nope, not pronounced v.i.p`s, but VEEPS. We get there, and the store the restaurant is in has another restaurant, AND a convenience store... all in one. We eat, (they had good burgers :) )and decide after wards to go enjoy a night out. We hear about this club thats held in an 18th century palace, and are WAY too curious. As we approach this monolith of a building, we look on to nothing but three bouncers out front. Upon approach, we get into line, which at 12:30, wasnt bad at all, seeing the clubs dont start filling until 2 or 3. 15€ to get in (you know your impressed i found that sign on this weird ass keyboard, dont lie) and it comes with a drink. So we ascend the marble staircase into what can only be described as a mansion of the 7 sins. Nicer than any club ive ever seen in America, this place had it all: at least 12-15 different rooms, all with bars, as well as hallways adorned with mirrors and beautiful bodies every where the eye could see (btw... fat people are very scarce in madrid... to say the least, im easily found when lost.) We get our free drinks, and begin to enjoy. This place also kept almost all of the original decor, so its like partying in Wayne Huizengas crib. A night of dancing and fun runs into a commercial break when i go for my second drink. Not remembering i didnt pay for the first one, i order the same red bull and vodka. She then takes half of my wallet and smiles. It was a cute smile. But it didnt change the fact that i just paid 11€ for my drink. Well, to make a long story shirt... that night was expensive, but worth it. We partied in a friggin mansion guys... yeeaaahh

We wake up.. the room is dark, as we have no windows, only a double door heading out to the balcony, and so as we awake, we open it to find the city bustling with busy bodies... Wow Madrid wakes up early. Upon closer examination i find that it is not early at all... 2 pm. SHIT! That went fast. So we get up, get ready, and head for the tour bus. Madrid Vision. That stands for Madrid Vision for all you laymans. We take the bus all around Historic Madrid, seeing the Prado Museum, a whole buncha old shit, and danny ducking tree limbs as the bus would occasionally hit a few. (please see video for more from the Vision Tour. ) So now i will relinquish to Danny for the second part of this two part blog (for time purposes) BTW, he got to write about all the cool shit, so enjoy his... ill get the cool shit tomorrow...

PS. The videos lookin to be pretty friggin cool, so read up on here, but know that the best is yet to come.

¡Hola de Madrid!

noreply@blogger.com (dpm) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:30:00 +0000

Mikey and Danny here in the city que nunca duerme. The reason why we steal the title from nyc is simple: the clubs here dont even OPEN until midnight, and stay open til the sun comes up, and in some cases til 10AM. Take that, big apple. That said, after an overnight flight where we landed at 3am our time, we did sleep. Siestas rock.

So far on our voyage, we have learned a few things. Here´s our top 10 so far:

uno) Much like Miami, everyone in Spain seems to know exactly three words of English

dos) "OMG" translates to "QMD¨(Que Mi Dios), as we learned from a teenage girls' gossip magazine

tres) Two things in life are certain: Hot Dogs and Starbucks

cuatro) Spain Hearts Ham

five-o) Waitresses are NO WHERE near as friendly when they dont work for tips, ultimately shooting down Mikeys theory that all waitresses love him for him :(

seis) The drinking age over here is 16, and the legal age of consent is 13...don´t ask how we know this

007) Danny Hearts Siestas...and ham

ocho) Spaniards live like college students: midday naps, late-night meals, party til dawn and work if you have time

nueve) Madrid loves gambling, demonstrated by half-mile lines for lottery tickets and casino cafes on every block

the big 1-0) Judging by how we´ve struggled in a country where we´ve studied the language, in France...We´re f*cked

So its just past 9 o´clock SPT, (Spanish people time) and we gotta go get ready for dinner, then wé´re hitting up the bar and club scene, so expect a much more exciting blog tomorrow. Hasta Luego Peoples

PS. We are also making a documentary on our travels to bring back for everyone, so our stupidity is on record. Dont expect blue planet or anything, but hopefully it´ll be a good insight into our trip. PAZ!

In defense of disorganization....

noreply@blogger.com (dpm) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:58:00 +0000

So Mikey's a bit of a planner; I'm definitely not, much to the chagrin of my travel companion, my girlfriend Megan, my family and pretty much everyone else who's had to live with me in a non-professional setting. However, for a trip like this, I think there's something to be said for improvisation.

Yes, we're two ignorant Americans who have never been to Spain, France or the UK before and barely speak any of the native languages, English included.

And yes, we have little clue how to get anywhere aside from that the Paris subway is supposed to rock and I can generally walk without hurting myself. Plus, I'm pretty sure "taxi" is pretty universally understood.

But to two complete newbies overseas, we have the benefit that everything is new. Made a wrong turn? Oh, look, another awesome new street to explore. Can't find the cafe we were pointed to? Probably another around the corner. Can't find our hotel again? Sleep is overrated anyway.

Or perhaps my lonely planet Paris guide book put it better:

Above all [Paris] is a city to discover...Leave [the book] in your hotel or packed away in your rucksack from time to time, and go out and find your own Paris. Jump on the metro or a bus and gt off at a place you've never heard of. Wander through a neighborhood where French mixes easily with Arabic, Bengali or Vietnamese, poke your head into little shops, invite yourself to play basket (basketball) in a park or just lounge on a cafe terrace with a glass of wine and watch Paris pass by. It won't be long before you fall in love with your own Paris and discover that it is enchanting almost everywhere, at any time...

That's how I like to roll.

That said, it's T-3.5 hours and I should probably go pack.

Momma told me...

noreply@blogger.com (CBK) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:46:00 +0000

So far, im about 19 hours out from leaving for my first international trip, and ive accomplished about as much as a quadripalegic in the high jump. I was supposed to be doing something with my boy, but his girl went all psycho again, so i got sold out, and dpm is over at his place arguing with his tivo, named fido. We have nothing planned for the trip, except stupid shit we wish to accomplish: ordering freedom fries instead of french fries, etc. We dont even know how we're getting to the airport tomorrow. I can think of better ways for a trip to start, but heres the positives: I have two great and beautiful tour guides if i have any problems while over there, and both of which have bank accounts that i can beg for access to, My boy dpm looks to be more relaxed then ive seen in years, so hopefully that continues into the trip, and Besides a power converter, ive bought everything a guy could possibly want for a trip to Europe, or at least i think... SO, Since most of the people who would read this have probably traveled more than I, i shall use you guys to my advantage: Here's a list of everything i plan to pack so you can inform me what i am missing....

Jeans, T-shirts, dress shirts, slacks, Leather Jacket, 2 sweat shirts, pair of sleeping shorts, 2 pairs of sneakers, underarmor, boxers, thermal underwear, socks, Ipod, Ipod wall charger, Ipod extra battery, headphones, passport, deoderant, toothbrush, toothpaste, hairgel, sudoku book, comfort stuff for plane, sleeping pills for plane, 480 in Euro, camera, celly, celly charger, magazine, gum, and a partridge in a pear treeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

So, i ask the audience (yeah, im using one of my lifelines, screw you for judging me) what in the hell am i missing. Also, if you guys know of anything i should go see while over there, fill me in, with nothing planned and the continent of Europe at my disposal, im thinking i might need some advice... Fill me in people, i would love for yall to lend a hand before the fun REALLY begins....