London - BREXIT Time for Our Vacation

Considering I had been to London 3x prior to this trip, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Would I be an expert and really enjoy it? Would I be a bit bored since I've spent (relatively) so much time there? This dynamic was complicated by the fact that Rachel had never visited London so we would need to spend time seeing all of the touristy sites. As it turns out, and it pains me to say this because London was the first place I ever traveled, I was a bit bored during our time there.

We only had 2 days in London and our time there went fast. After spending 2 hours getting from City Airport to our flat because the DLR was shutdown, we went for a stroll in the neighborhood (our flat was right near Hyde Park and a 5 minute walk from Paddington station). It's mostly residential and there wasn't too much to do so we took the Tube down to the south bank of the Thames so we could tour the Globe Theater. The whole area down there has been built up significantly since my first trip in 2007 and is populated mostly by young professionals, so it was no surprise to me when I ran across PwC's office right in the middle of things. The Globe tour was pretty cool, especially since I didn't realize it's an outdoor venue. Not sure that's the greatest idea given London's weather, but that's how things happened during Shakespeare's time. The most memorable (and disgusting) part of the tour was witnessing a father and son who easily could have been mistaken for lovers with all the creepy touching that was going on. I initially thought they were a couple until Rachel pointed out that they were in fact, a family, and the mother and other son weren't much better with their touching habits. It brought to mind the famous line uttered by Mr. Rooney in 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' after he sees Sloan kissing her "father" - "so that's how it is in their family." Totally creepy, and I still haven't been able to get away from the icky feeling almost 2 weeks later.

 

The next day we criss-crossed London hitting up all of the touristy sites the city had to offer - Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, 10 Downing, Piccadilly Circus, Abbey Road, etc. To get to all these places, we spent a lot of time in the Tube and I noticed that the Tube station smell (you know it if you've traveled on it) was significantly less pungent than my last few times in London. It's not a particularly bad smell, and I actually grew a bit nostalgic wondering what had changed in the 5 years since my last trip. We also managed to spend some of the afternoon at a proper tea time (Rachel's request) which can be a very expensive experience. Tea time (which usually occurs between 3-5 PM), not only includes tea but also scones, small sandwiches, and bite sized pastries and desserts as well. Everything comes out on a fancy tray that makes the "meal" seem way more grandiose than it actually is. When all was said and done, we paid $60 for an unfulfilling late lunch, but it could have been worse as some tea times cost £60 (about $80) per head! The food was good and it was a cool experience, but don't expect to leave satisfied after you're done.

 

On our last day, we visited the Imperial War Museum of London which is dedicated to, you guessed it, war. I'm a history nerd at heart and wars tend to define history so I was right at home in this museum. The museum occupies all 5 stories of a large building on the south bank of the Thames near Elephant & Castle. There are sections dedicated to WWI, WWII, the Holocaust, modern warfare, and some traveling exhibits. Admission is free, but they do ask for a completely voluntary £5 donation. We spent 1.5 hours at the museum because we had to catch our flight home, and we didn't even make it through all of the WWI exhibit. The WWI exhibit was extremely interactive, did a great job of telling the story of WWI from a British perspective, and even contained a full 50 foot long replica of a WWI trench which was an awesome site to see. It was definitely a disappointment that we had to miss the rest of the museum, because it was one of the finest ones I've visited. 

After the Imperial War Museum, we stopped for a quick bite at Nando's chicken (can't miss it while in London), hopped on the Piccadilly Line and headed to Heathrow to conclude our trip. Heathrow is still just as much of a clusterfuck as I remembered with people everywhere. Thankfully we didn't have to spend too much time there as our flight was on time. I was able to sit back, relax, and watch Room (really good), Money Monster (mediocre at best), and London Has Fallen. If you really want to see it, stop reading now because I'm going to give away spoilers that show how ridiculous this movie is. 

British PM dies in office (we later find out he was poisoned). When all of the world leaders come for the funeral, they are all assassinated (Canada, Germany, France, Italy, others) by HUNDREDS of terrorists disguised as British police officers and Queen's Guards members. Luckily, the US President has a badass secret service agent protecting him (Gerard Butler) who is indestructible and knows how to kill dozens of men by himself. At the end, Gerry is able to save President from being assassinated live on YouTube by killing all the terrorists. In the epilogue, the terrorist leader gets killed by a drone strike organized by VP, Morgan Freeman. America wins. The end.

After arriving home, we utilized our Global Entry privileges to bypass all of the immigration lines and were on our way home within 30 minutes of touching down. Seriously, sign up for Global Entry if you're going to travel abroad. It also gives you TSA Pre-Check on domestic flights.

And that's all folks. Thanks for reading.

Jeff

Ireland - Is That Going to Fit?

One of my favorite parts about traveling the world has been learning about different countries, cultures, and understanding more about the world. Of all the places we traveled, I learned the most about the Philippines and Ireland.

Ireland is a beautiful country with a magical type of charm to it. We first touched down in Dublin and stayed in an Airbnb on a quaint, pretty street that is about a 10 minute walk to the city center. 

That evening, I wanted to give Rachel the authentic Dublin experience so we ate at a pub and I ordered a pint of Guinness. Much to my surprise, Rachel really enjoyed the beer. In our entire relationship, I think Rachel had consumed a total of 2 beers. By the time we left Ireland, I think she had polished off about a dozen Guinnesses. Later that night, we visited Temple Bar, the party area of the city, with the hope of seeing some good live music. The first bar we went to was solid, but the real jewel of the night was a singer named Jake Hallam performing at the Auld Dubliner. This dude has a great voice and played mostly popular songs from the 90s in mashup format. Since Rachel and I had a few Guinnesses in our bellies by that point, we sang our faces off and had a great night.

The next day we toured Dublin and saw all the most popular tourist sites - Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green, and of course, the Guinness factory. I thought Rachel would be bored and we'd last maybe an hour, but to my surprise, we spent over 4 hours at the factory drinking Guinness, learning about beer, and watching Irish folk music and dancing. After the Guinness factory, we were lucky enough to catch a performance of Once, the musical adaptation of the movie of the same name. Once is a very simple love story, about both people and the city of Dublin. The music in the movie/musical is incredibly powerful. In addition, the performance we saw included the entire cast playing traditional Irish music for 30 minutes before the show with an on-stage bar where viewers could grab a drink and mix with the cast. A truly awesome experience.

 

 

The next day we packed up our stuff, went back to the airport, and picked up our rental car - a super small silver Peugeot. I was a bit terrified to pick up the car for three reasons: the last time I drove in Europe (in Barcelona) was the scariest hour of my life, Ireland is a left side of the road country, and I had heard the roads were extremely narrow. Nevertheless, we soldiered on and made a pretty uneventful drive from Dublin to Galway. With a boost of confidence from the drive (which was all highway), I decided the worst was behind me and driving in Ireland wasn't a big deal. That was a mistake.

The next day we decided to drive on the Wild Atlantic Way, which is a series of roads on the west coast of Ireland that overlook the Atlantic Ocean. It's basically Ireland's answer to the Pacific Coast Highway, if the PCH was half the size and contained even more hairpin turns. There are sections of the road that look like they will only fit one car (total, not each way), but 2 cars somehow manage to fit through. There are bridges that really only fit one car, and you have to cross them blind and pray that another car won't be coming in the opposite direction. And then there are sections of road where you and another car get to play a game of chicken to determine who is going to back up into the field and let the other car pass. Why would anyone put up with this nonsense?

This.

 

This.

 

This.

 

And this.

 

Driving around Ireland unlocks its true beauty. From the Cliffs of Moher to the Burren to the Dingle Peninsula (yes, that's its name and yes, the name is hilarious), all of Ireland is just a beautiful, green, raw, picturesque postcard. I was truly jealous of Rachel because while I was navigating hairpin turns and snapping twigs avoiding other cars, she had the best view of Ireland's tremendous beauty. During the 6 days we spent driving around the country, we pulled over to the side of the road multiple times a day to just stop and take in what we were seeing.

Back to the beginning about learning about a people and a place - as we explored Dublin, especially on the hop on, hop off bus tour, we would hear snippets about the country's history. After a few days, I knew there was a rebellion in 1916, the country officially became a Republic in 1921, and that there was a civil war immediately after the formation of the Republic. I was trying to piece this all together with my limited understanding of the politics here - which was basically that Ireland (Catholic) and Northern Ireland (Protestant) were 2 different countries and that they really didn't like each other. That's where Cyril and the Irish Folk Storytelling come into play. Cyril was our bed and breakfast proprietor in Cork. He's about 60 years old and knows everything about Ireland. I used our 3 breakfasts together to pick his brain about Irish politics and gain a better understanding of why things are the way they are there. I won't bore you with the details about the Irish fight for independence and how Ireland and Northern Ireland came to be split, but the learning is already paying off. Last night, I was driving home from the Phillies game when 'Zombie' by the Cranberries came on the radio. I've heard this song 1000 times over the past 20+ years and never gave a second thought to what it's about. When I heard, "it's the same old theme, since 1916," I figured I was onto something. As it turns out, 'Zombie' is about an Irish Republican Army (IRÁ) bombing that killed 2 kids in 1993, and served as a plea for peace between Ireland and Northern Ireland/Britain. Shortly after the song was released, the IRÁ ended 25 years of hostilities towards Northern Ireland and the British. It's moments like these that make learning fun.

The learning continued our last night in Ireland when we returned to Dublin to experience Irish Folk Storytelling which is way more interesting than it sounds. Our storyteller, Mike, was about 60 years old and had a fantastic Irish accent. During the show, I was transported back to my childhood when I would sit on my grandfather's lap and he would tell me and my brother stories from his childhood. We would hang on every word and couldn't wait to hear what he had to say. Mike had the same effect on me, but luckily I didn't have to sit on his lap. During the course of his stories, I learned that Ireland's population is less than 6 million, but its diaspora (people of Irish descent) is about 100 million strong worldwide. Those are crazy numbers and become even wilder when you realize that the population of Ireland was at 8 million before the potato famine in the 1840s and still hasn't come close to recovering to pre-famine levels nearly 200 years later.

We were very sad to leave Ireland as it was one of our favorite stops on the trip. If I had to pick one city we visited to live in, I would pick Dublin. The intangible charm of the city is incredible and you will never meet a more friendly group of people. Sure, I'd have to buy some thick sweaters as the temperature didn't reach above 65 in the middle of August, but that can all be worked around - there's plenty of Guinness to keep me warm.

 

Jeff

Barcelona - Chasing Gaudi

Barcelona was a whirlwind 4 days that seemed to go faster than any other part of the trip. With the finish line in range (we have 10 days to go), I imagine this will continue until we land in Philly next Sunday. 

For the first time on this trip, we spent time in a city I had previously visited. It had been 5 years since Barcelona captured my imagination with its perfect weather, vibrant nightlife, and breathtaking architecture. Architecture is far and away my favorite form of artwork and expression, and I've spent many hours this trip with my head in the sky staring at magnificent structures. If you've ever been to Barcelona, you know that the architecture scene starts and ends with Antoni Gaudi. The best way I can describe Gaudi's architecture is that it's a cross between Salvador Dali's surrealist painting and a Tim Burton fantasy world. Gaudi created his most famous works in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and even though most of them are over 100 years old, they still look and feel very modern.

Since Rachel had never been to Barcelona, I planned most of the itinerary here, which was heavily slanted towards finding and admiring Gaudi's most famous structures. This involved lots of walking (over 40 miles in 4 days) but was a great way to explore the city. In the end, we visited almost 10 Gaudi structures and explored the inside of 3. Rachel was a trooper and didn't complain about the crazy demands placed on her feet.

The first on the list was Gaudi's home of 20 years in Guell Park, a large park he designed in the far northern section of the city. His home was only mildly impressive, but we would find out later this was a mere appetizer on the larger Gaudi menu. The best part of Guell Park was the Flamenco/Spanish band (Tablao Sur) we found playing live music. These 4 guys were amazing and drew a sizable crowd. They threw in a few Beatles covers with a Spanish twist and were a blast to watch. We even spent the 10€ and bought a CD - well worth it. If you ever spend a dinner at our home, expect to hear the sweet sounds of Tablao Sur playing in the background.

After Guell Park, we took a cab down to the waterfront and experienced the sights and sounds at the end of La Rambla, Barcelona's most famous pedestrian street/park. It's extremely crowded and touristy, so we ducked out quickly to the Gothic Quarter, which houses Barcelona's Old City. We found a little place, La Fabrica, selling Argentinian empanadas, which are by far the best type of empanadas. Spain's empanada game up to this point was extremely weak and disappointing, but La Fabrica more than made up for it. When all was said and done, we visited La Fabrica 3 times in 4 days and tried about 8 different types of empanadas. Surprisingly, the best one was not with beef or chicken, but an eggplant and provolone masterpiece. 

After walking through the Gothic Quarter, we walked up the Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona's 5th Ave, and visited the Casa Batllo, an apartment building Gaudi created around the turn of the century. I'll let the pictures do most of the explaining, but visiting this structure and learning about it really helped my appreciation for the man's work. There are almost no straight lines in the entire building, every piece of the building has a specific function (including the door handles), and Gaudi took all of his inspiration from nature. It's not surprising then, that Casa Batllo has an ocean like feel to it. Pretty incredible structure, but just a warmup for what was to come next.

 

The next night, we decided to check out the Sagrada Familia, the church that Gaudi designed and has been under construction for 133 years and counting - and no, that's not a typo. When I heard about Sagrada Familia, I was skeptical - how could a building take almost 150 years to complete? After we took a look inside, I was a believer. Let's start with the outside, which is all we saw on the first night.  You immediately notice two things when looking at the church, the amount of detail adorning the facade and the brightly colored crosses and fruit bowls (yes, fruit bowls) topping the towers of the church. You could stare at the church for hours and you wouldn't come close to picking up all of the detail. Each side has a different theme, focusing on the birth, life, and death of Christ. After taking in the church (it's actually a basilica now, as Pope Benedict consecrated it as such in 2010) for about an hour, we walked home in amazement. We only had 1 more day in Barcelona, and with a tour of Montserrat planned, we weren't sure if a tour of the inside of the Sagrada Familia would fit into the schedule. I asked Rachel to look at some pictures on Google of the inside to see if it was as impressive as the outside. She told me that it looked "pretty amazing" and we should try to go. When she told me she'd be willing to miss a beach day to go, I knew we were in for something incredible.

 

We walked through the doors and took our first look at what I can only describe as the most impressive structure I've ever laid eyes on. The inside of the church climbs to about 250 feet and is adorned with pristine artwork and bright stained glass. It doesn't look like most churches - dark, gloomy, depressing, and instead gives a welcoming and cheerful feeling. The columns which support most of the weight of the structure look like giant trees reaching up to the sky. Each "tree" has "branches" that provide additional support. The stained glass is green and blue on one side of the church and red and yellow on the other. The doors state the Lord's Prayer in 50 different languages. The stairs look...unique. I could go on and on, but I'll let the pictures tell some of the story. Seriously though, they don't do it justice. Go see the Sagrada Familia. By the way, it's expected completion date is 2026...and the tallest tower isn't even raised yet. I can't wait to see what it looks like when completed.

 

 

With all this talk about Gaudi, I almost forgot about our adventure to Montserrat, a mountain range about 25 miles northwest of Barcelona. Rachel and I wanted to visit Montserrat mostly for its "Stairway to Heaven," a sculpture of 8 rotating steps on the edge of a cliff that overlook the villages below. We were planning to take our Barcelona YOLO picture from the top of the structure...but it wasn't meant to be. First, we thought Montserrat was in Barcelona, not far outside the city so that pushed us back a day. Then, the night before we planned to go up there, we found out the workers who operate the funicular and the train (the only 2 ways up besides driving) would be striking the next 3 days. Then we called a tour company to take us up, but they were sold out of group tours for the day we wanted to go up, our last day in Barcelona. With renting a car completely out of the question after my last driving fiasco in Barcelona, we resorted to plan Z, a private tour up to Montserrat. Sure, it was expensive and more than we wanted to pay, but we were going to get the BEST YOLO picture ever. Our driver, Armando, an extremely knowledgeable and borderline nationalistic Catalonian picked us up at 8:30AM for our journey up to Montserrat. After an hour of back and forth with me asking Armando why Catalonia wanted to secede from Spain and Armando asking me questions about America to understand my level of American ignorance (I felt like I was a contestant on a bizarre game show at times), we arrived at Montserrat. 

Armando insisted that we see the church at Montserrat before doing anything else. We waited in line, touched the Lady of Montserrat's hand (it's supposed to be good luck) and moved on to the Stairway to Heaven. We got there and found a giant moose with a sign that said "Wally World Closed 2 Weeks to Repair America's Favorite Family Fun Park." Then I punched the moose in the face and picked up a BB gun from a sporting goods store and forced my way up the stairs. Ok, so it wasn't exactly like Vacation, but the structure was closed. Apparently, some kid fell off the stairs a few months ago, had to be rescued by a helicopter, and the authorities decided to no longer allow tourists to climb the structure. No wonder Armando was quizzing me during the ride out to Montserrat, it was probably an American who ruined the party for everyone. So much for our YOLO picture.

 

 

In all seriousness though, the views from Montserrat were amazing and the mountain range is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Apparently, the entire range was underwater millions of years ago and rose up from the ocean when the plates shifted, creating the Montserrat of today. Despite the disappointment of not being able to climb the Stairway to Heaven, we still had a great time.

 

Barcelona was amazing and still ranks as one of my favorite cities in the world. It's a bit touristy, but it's understandable why the region gets so many tourists. We definitely enjoyed ourselves.

Now, onward to Dublin! 

Jeff

PS - Vueling was 75 minutes delayed on the way out today. That puts them at a grand total of 5+ hours of delays for 4 hours of flying (2 flights). The rest of the trip we've flown about 40 hours and experienced maybe 2 hours of delays (6 flights). They suck.

TravelHacks

Below are some of the most valuable lessons I've learned over the past 40 days of traveling. Enjoy!

Let Google Know Your Deepest, Darkest Secrets - One of the most useful tools I've had access to during our trip has been Google Maps. When you stay signed in during your searches and also have a Gmail account, Google consolidates all of the relevant information and displays it to you in a useful format. For instance, when I look at a map of Barcelona, I know my what date and time my flight takes off. I also know where I'm staying and the dates of my stay. This feature holds extra value when you're working offline (we don't have a data plan here) and regularly navigating a new city. Because of Google, we always know where home is. 

 

The other extremely useful feature of Google Maps is the little direction arrow that displays where you are. This feature displays even when you're offline and also lets you know which direction you're moving. I can't tell you how many hours this has saved me over the past month. 

 

Since privacy is a relic of the past anyway, you may as well give Google all the access it wants so it can at least provide some utility while you travel. 

Travel on Sundays

Most of Europe is dead on Sundays, which makes it the perfect day to travel. We've been in transit 3 of the last 4 Sundays and it's worked out really well. There's nothing to do, most shops and many restaurants aren't open, and you can't fully experience the city. Better to spend a large chunk of the day on a plane/train so you can take full advantage of the city the other 6 days of the week.

Bank Tips

Some credit/debit cards in Europe will give you the option to pay in the local currency or USD. This seems like a really nice service for their customers until you calculate the exchange rates they charge to pay in USD. You will pay at least 10% more in USD than by choosing the local currency. In one eye opening experience, I was asked if I wanted to take out cash from an ATM in Euros or USD. I was pulling out 200€ and selected to pull my money out in local currency. The ATM informed me that the only way to "lock in" my exchange rate would be to charge in USD instead of Euros, where the exchange rate could be anything my bank wanted to charge. I knew better so I pulled out in Euros, but the language was ominous enough that I imagine most people would choose USD. I checked my statement when I got back to our apartment: the final tally - my Euros cost me $221. If I would have pulled out in USD to "lock in" my exchange rate, they would have cost me $255. I can only imagine how many millions of dollars the banks are scamming off of unsuspecting customers on vacation. Now it makes sense why most banks don't charge foreign transaction fees on credit cards anymore, they figured out a way to make more money and be "customer friendly" at the same time. Be alert for this deceptive practice when traveling abroad.

One post note, of all the cards I've used while abroad, American Express seems to be the only company that is not participating in this deceptive practice. Unfortunately, most European merchants don't accept AMEX. Kudos to AMEX for staying true to great customer service. The same cannot be said for Chase (with Visa) or CapitalOne (with MasterCard).

Use Airbnb

One of the other great finds from our trip has been Airbnb. I was a little skeptical of using Airbnb before this trip as I've been spoiled with dozens of free hotel rooms from all the traveling I've done for work over the years. I would have continued to stay in hotels for the duration of this trip but after about 11 free nights, I was fresh out of points. Hotels, especially in Europe's biggest cities, can be expensive, so Rachel and I decided to give Airbnb a shot. So far, we have had an overwhelmingly positive experience and have loved most of the places we've stayed. You feel more like a local and it's easier to assimilate into the culture of a new country as most owners provide local recommendations which are far superior to anything you'll get from a concierge at a hotel. We've discovered great neighborhoods, met interesting people, and most importantly, had access to washing machines! And we did all this at a fraction of the cost of a hotel (about $100/night all in). And if you really want to do Europe on the cheap, Airbnb gives you the option to stay in a private room in someone's apartment who lives there. Rachel and I chose this option in Switzerland and had a fantastic experience. Sure, you could land a creeper or a pain in the ass, but it just adds to the intrigue and could provide a great story down the road. 

The only real downside to Airbnb is that the check in/check out process requires a little more coordination. You need to figure out when you're going to pick up the keys which usually requires an in-person meet up. We haven't had any problems with this and our hosts have been more than accommodating, but I'm sure there have been people stranded outside for long periods of time with luggage who just want to get inside and relax. 

 

It amazes me how powerful of a market Airbnb unlocked. The "sharing economy" is certainly alive and well. 

Create Your Own WiFi Network

Rachel and I decided we didn't want to be connected that much during our trip, and that the WiFi in the hotel/Airbnb would suffice. However, there are times when we've needed WiFi in the middle of the day to find out where a restaurant is, look up train times, or get directions. This is where leveraging past WiFi networks becomes valuable. Multiple times on this trip, we simply walked past a restaurant or bar we connected to previously and used the WiFi again. It's great when you just need a quick connection. Also, if you're really desperate, go to a department store. They almost always have free WiFi and you don't have to buy anything. 

Anything I missed? Anything you would recommend? Feel free to comment.

Jeff

Ken Griffey Jr. - The Induction of a Legend

 

Today my childhood idol, Ken Griffey Jr. is going to get inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's bittersweet for me, because for years I had planned on attending his induction, but was unable to do so because of our trip this summer. Absolutely no regrets - you always pick your own experiences over admiring someone else's. But it would have been a truly special day to celebrate the induction of someone I idolized as a kid.

To understand why Griffey means so much to me, I need to explain a bit about my childhood. Maybe even more so than now, I was obsessed with baseball as a kid. I played little league, I collected tens of thousand of baseball cards (all of which still reside in my parents' basement), and watched games from around the league. While now I'm much more focused on the Phillies, as a kid the Phillies sucked, so I was much more focused on the whole league and its stars - and Griffey shined far brighter than any other. So before there was Chase Utley, there was Ken Griffey Jr.

Griffey was the super cool, laid back guy with the majestic lefty swing who wore his hat backwards. His nickname, "The Kid," was so appropriate because when you watched him play, you felt like you were watching a kid on the diamond - having fun without a care in the world. He appeared in Nike commercials that I still remember to this day that made him seem even larger than life to an adolescent boy.

 

As such, this adolescent boy did everything in his power to take in as much of Griffey's stardom as possible. I collected his baseball card more aggressively than any other player. When it was all said and done, I probably amassed over 200 Griffey cards. I named my AOL screen name (Grifjr) and first email address (grifjr2002@yahoo.com) after him. I had posters hanging on my wall. I bought his jersey and countless t-shirts, all of which are still sitting in a box in my parents's house. His number, 24, was and still is one of my lucky numbers. I was fortunate enough that my Dad let me stay up late one night in October 1995 to watch the Mariners epic ALDS victory over the Yankees where Griffey scored the winning run and ended up on the bottom of a pile of his teammates, grin from ear to ear. That image is one of the most enduring of my childhood.

 

So congrats to The Kid on entering the Hall of Fame today in Cooperstown, NY. You had one hell of a career, one that I will never forget. You're a legend, and legends never die. Thanks for the lifetime worth of memories.

Jeff

Valencia - ¡Hablamos Español!

Over the past week, our trip has shifted dramatically from non-stop tourist jaunt to fully integrated cultural experience. We arrived in Valencia last Sunday with the plan to stay here for 2 weeks. Rachel had been doing some research on Spanish schools in the area and found a good one about a mile from our hotel. While the idea of taking 4 hours of class, 5 days a week originally didn't sound like the most fun activity, I quickly warmed to the idea.

The next challenge was actually enrolling in class. Most people enroll well in advance of their trip here because they have a schedule and a plan like normal people. We just decided to show up unannounced 30 minutes before classes started on Monday and told the folks at Taronja (our school) that we wanted to enroll. The team at Taronja could not have been any more accommodating. They gave us a placement test right away, and as soon as we finished, they had 2 teachers (one of whom is the head of the school) interview us to determine our Spanish competency. After the interviews, Rachel and I were placed in the same class and were told to show up at 3:00 for orientation. This whole process took less than an hour. Nice.

 

The classes we are taking are taught entirely in Spanish, and all of the people at the school speak nothing but Spanish. It's a bit intimidating at first, especially since I haven't taken a formal Spanish class since 2004, but after spending a few minutes in the classroom, you feel immediately at ease. All classes are no more than 10 students, are taught by young teachers (no one over 40, most under 30), and include students from all over the world who are in Valencia to learn Spanish. In our class alone, we have 3 Swiss, 2 Germans, 2 Americans, 1 Kiwi, 1 Canadian, and 1 Brit who works in Philly and has lived in SJ for 30 years. Who knew!

The classes last for just shy of 4 hours per day Monday-Friday, and everyday there are different social activities that you can participate in at your leisure. This week we had a paella cooking class, a beach party, a pool party, a swing dance class, a flamenco performance, and Cuban concert. While we didn't participate in all the activities, we had a great time meeting people from all over the world and practicing our Spanish when we did. The classes also focus on real world learning. We're not sitting there all day learning conjugation and and different tenses. We're having conversations with each other and learning important real world vocabulary like how to say:

Drunk - borracho

Tipsy - estar piripi

Fuck - joder

Clumsy - torpe (a must have when your wife is as 'torpe' as Rachel)

Bald - calvo (Rachel's favorite)

These classes are really fun and don't feel tedious or boring like Spanish classes I've taken in the past.

 

The experience has also been awesome for Rachel and me. Rachel and I always like to have a project to work on together. Whether it was planning our wedding, figuring out this trip, searching for a house, etc, it's fun to have a common goal to work toward together. Up until now, we had a bit of a vacuum between trip planning and house buying, and this Spanish experience has helped to fill that void. We practice with each other after class, quiz each other on vocabulary, and have added to our code language to discreetly talk about people when we're people watching.

 

The other rewarding part of this experience has been seeing how much improvement each of us has made in our Spanish over the past week. Being immersed in a language for 20 hours a week of class plus practice time and experiencing the culture outside of class really expedites the learning process. In my entrance interview on Monday, I could hardly pull together my thoughts or speak properly. Less than a week later, I sat through Purge 3, dubbed in Spanish without subtitles and understood the entire plot of the movie and what was going on. While the Purge isn't the most dense subject matter, it still felt good to be able to watch a movie in a foreign language and follow along.

 

I will say that the last week has probably been my favorite part of the trip. While certainly not the most sexy or headline grabbing, it's definitely the most rewarding. Rachel and I have been able to share in something together that allows us to improve ourselves. You can only experience so many tourist attractions before they all start to run together. This part of the trip will last well beyond when we return home in 3 weeks.

With that said, we enrolled in one more week of classes next week, so hopefully week 2 is as beneficial as week 1.

Hasta luego!

Jeff

PS - the rest of the post is rated NC-17.

When you have a minute, look up "comer el conejo" on Google, not the literal translation either. Rachel and I discovered this one while watching "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse" dubbed in Spanish on TV one night. Based on the ~30 minutes of the movie we saw, this has to be one of the most ridiculous, over the top things I've ever seen. Check it out if you want to have some mindless fun and be grossed out for 2 hours.

Madrid - It's Getting Hot in Here

When our flight touched down in Madrid (this one was on time), I took a minute to reflect - have we really been to 7 countries in 3 weeks? Before this trip, I had been to 5 countries outside of the US, and now I dwarfed that number in 21 days? The trip has been such a whirlwind so far, taking us across continents to many different places. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was looking forward to things slowing down over the next 3 weeks where we remain in one country.

After spending a few hours in Madrid, I realized the slowing down would have to wait. While the city is relaxed and down to earth, there is a definite energy and everything here happens late - very late. Dinners regularly begin around 10pm and the clubs stay open until 6-7am, and they don't even get crowded until 3am. I had experienced this several years ago in Barcelona, but I guess the change of pace hits you harder at 30 rather than 25.

Our location in the city is absolutely perfect. We're about a half mile from Retiro Park, one of the largest in Madrid. This beautiful park is filled with statues, lakes, manicured trees, and plenty of shade to relax on a warm day. We're also within walking distance of just about all the big tourist attractions in the city and we didn't even use the Metro after 4 days here. We just walk everywhere. Our street is quiet, mostly pedestrian, but is steps from tons of local bars, restaurants, and cafes. The best part is we're far enough away from the big tourist traps you'll find in Madrid that most of the people we interact with are locals.

 

Our first night here, our friend Dain hooked us up with 2 of his friends from his time studying abroad in Madrid, Ana and Isa. We got tapas and swapped stories about America and Spain. We learned that Sevillians speak a strange form of Spanish and that it would be hot as hell when we got there, which was a big reason why we cancelled our trip. It was in the 90s for most of our time in Madrid, and another 10-15 degrees was just not going to be comfortable. We also learned about the prominence of the European kiss in France, which is apparently mandatory when saying hello to people, even at work. Can you imagine kissing your boss everyday? In a related story, I, of course, botched this process when we said hello to Ana and went for a handshake instead of a kiss. Whoops.

We spent most of the night speaking in English, as their English is better than our Spanish. As usual, Rachel was confused for a local as they gave her a menu in Spanish and then asked which of the rest of us wanted an English menu. Her future career as a spy looks promising. 

 

One of the challenges for me in Madrid is that the country is obsessed with pork (plenty of "Museos de Jamon" throughout the city) and the backup is shellfish or anything else from the sea. Since I don't eat any of those, I'm left scouring the scraps of the menu for chicken or beef, which isn't nearly as prominent here as it is back home. Even the tomato soup caused a problem with bacon bits sprinkled on top of it. I persevered and still was able to find plenty of delicious food throughout the city. I wonder how a vegan would survive in this city because just about everything that doesn't have fish or pork in it is loaded with cheese.

 

 

Once again, the people in Madrid have been more than hospitable. Rachel and I have been speaking our broken Spanish to just about everyone we interact with, and while it becomes obvious rather quickly that we'd be more comfortable in English, most people have had the patience to deal with our attempt at Spanish. In another recurring theme, most people in the city speak at least some English, but the English in Madrid is not as good as that of Portugal.

Rachel and I also stepped a bit outside of our comfort zones and went to Kapital (no relation), one of the biggest clubs in Madrid. Kapital advertises itself as having 7 floors and different music on each one. In reality, it's more like 4 floors as some of the floors utilize the same DJ. Regardless, we had fun dancing until 3:30AM, right around the time the club started to get really crowded. The best part of the Kapital experience is that there was no BS at the front door. There was a short line that moved quickly (we were in the club in less than 5 minutes), no VIP list, you could prepay for 2 drinks at the front door for an extra €5, the patrons weren't judgmental, and the bartenders weren't stuck up. So basically, it was the opposite of every club in NYC. Very positive experience despite being the oldest people in the club.

 

The rest of our time was spent walking around, eating, and relaxing. We spent a couple hours in Retiro Park watching kids play on what can only be described as a next-gen seesaw (it allows for spinning to the sides as well as the normal up and down motion). We were able to appreciate watching these youngsters play and enjoy themselves, and since kids speak slower and with a leaner vocabulary than adults, we could understand a good deal of what they were saying.

Right now, we're on a high speed train to Valencia where we'll spend the next 2 weeks. The train hit 301km/hr so far (about 188 MPH), and I'm hoping to see faster numbers as we go. A truly awesome way to travel.

 

¡Buenas tardes!

Jeff

O-Ma-Ha

Peyton may have retired to write letters to famous athletes but that doesn't mean Rachel and I aren't throwing out audibles on our trip. When I planned the trip, I purposefully left open a week without booking hotels or transportation. This week was to take place after Sevilla (which we visit after Madrid) and was loosely planned as a road trip around the Spanish coast to Cordoba, Malaga, Valencia, Mallorca, and finally up to Barcelona to finish off Spain. 

We ran into an issue when we arrived in Madrid and checked the forecast for Sevilla.

While the sun will certainly be nice, temperatures over 100 degrees don't bode well for being a tourist and experiencing a new city. Also, we went to dinner with some friends in Madrid last night who told us that in Seville (and most of Andalusia for that matter) the locals speak a strange form of Spanish that is very difficult to understand. Those 2 facts led us to quickly change plans and make alternate arrangements. 

 

We're now planning to take a train on Sunday directly to Valencia and skip southern Spain. While I'm extremely upset about missing out on some of these destinations (most notably the Alhambra in Granada - the site of Dorne in Game of Thrones!!), I'll get by with some fresh squeezed orange juice and much more reasonable temperatures. 

 

This will also allow Rachel and I to assimilate into one place and feel like "locals." We're planning to take Spanish classes there and join discussion groups that will allow us to practice the language. Now I just need to figure out where we're staying for the last 9 days (I burned the last of my SPG points to get our first 5 nights at the Westin!)

Hopefully I'll be able to visit Ilaria Martell and the rest of the SandSnakes in due time. The setting of Dorne is certainly better than the plot line.

Jeff

Portugal - The Secret is Out

For years, Portugal has been flying under the radar as a top tourist destination. It doesn't pack the name power of some of Europe's top destinations and with its tiny size it can be largely overlooked. Based on my experience over the past 3 days, the secret is out of the bag and tourists are discovering Portugal in a big way - and it's easy to see why.

Portugal's capital, Lisbon, lies a few miles east of the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Tagus River. The capital city is very old and evidence of its age is aplenty. Lisbon is a zigzagged maze of streets, especially in the Alfama neighborhood with buildings covered in different pastel colors or intricately designed tiles. Peppered in the middle of these streets are elaborate churches and palaces, many from the 1400-1500s. It's almost like the city hasn't changed very much since Portugal sat atop the "world's throne of power" 500 years ago (huge shoutout to the 2 people who might understand that reference) during the Magellan and da Gama era. What's left is a unique fusion of modern and history that leaves you in awe and frequently lost in a maze.

My favorite tourist attraction is Lisbon is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoverers). This is a 10 story monument that juts into the water featuring all of Portugal's top explorers setting sail on a voyage into the Atlantic. It elicits feelings of awe when thinking about what these men discovered and the risks they took to reach these goals. Today we have Google Maps, GPS systems, and road signs everywhere you look and we still manage to get lost. These guys thought the world was flat and found lands completely unknown to most Europeans for thousands of years. If you choose, the monument allows you to take an elevator to the roof for only €4 providing incredible views of all of Lisbon. Padrão dos Descobrimentos sits in the middle of the historic Belem District which also features the Torre Belem (Belem Tower) and the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jeronimo's Monastery). The Torre Belem is by far the most popular tourist spot in the city. There was a 45 minute line, a huge crowd of people, and not nearly enough space. We skipped it and don't have any regrets about the decision.

Our last day in Portugal we took a train out to Sintra, about 15 miles northwest of Lisbon which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The entire city is a UNESCO Historical Site and has some incredible attractions including a Moorish castle, caverns, and a 90 foot well that you can walk through, but the Palacio Peña is the unquestioned jewel of the city. This palace that used to serve as the summer home for Portugal's royal family sits atop a humongous hill that allows for breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, the hills of Sintra, and basically the entire greater Lisbon area. The palace's exterior design has Portuguese and Moorish elements and varies between yellow, blue, and red colors depending on the wing of the castle. If the views from the top of Sintra didn't top the views of Interlaken in Switzerland, they certainly came pretty damn close.

Some of the other highlights of Portugal:

- The prices are incredibly reasonable. Even without the favorable exchange rate with the Euro right now, you can do Portugal on a budget.

- The people are all extremely friendly and laid back (possibly still aglow from their Euro title). As an added bonus, everyone speaks English - and not just broken English like in Switzerland. The Portuguese people have been the most fluent we've encountered thus far.

- The weather. Low 80s and not a cloud in the sky the entire time we were there.

- The music. The Portuguese are famous for their fado music which can be heard throughout the city. It's fun and chill and instantly puts you in a good mood.

- If you like carbs, Portugal is the place for you. The people love their pastries, especially the pasteis de nata (which is a custard filled pastry that has the consistency of a croissant) and the toast is over an inch thick. I would give my opinion on these pastries, but don't want to be banned from the country as they are a source of national pride.

- The sangria was fantastic. Best enjoyed with a view of the water.

If you're visiting Western Europe and want to escape the craziness of some of the most popular tourist cities, I would highly recommend Portugal. Get there before everyone else figures out how beautiful this country is.

Jeff

Looking for Jason Bourne

One of my main goals in Switzerland was to feel like I was in a Jason Bourne movie. I wanted to hear those famous European police sirens, see fake passports from all different countries, and witness crazy car chases as I moved throughout Zurich. Unfortunately, real life isn't quite as exciting as Hollywood makes it out to be. Zurich is a beautiful city with typical Swiss charm but there isn't really much action, especially on a Sunday. The city is relatively quiet with people strolling through or riding their bikes across many of the bridges that line the city. I was able to hear the police sirens and did get really excited until I realized it was just an ambulance slowly driving through the city. Also, no Matt Damon, Franka Potente, or Clive Owen to be found.

The US News just released a report on the most expensive cities in the world. To my surprise, we're hitting 5 of the top 7 on our trip (Singapore, Zurich, Hong Kong, New York, and London). Singapore didn't feel that expensive to me because it reached its ranking from its exorbitant costs to own a car. Hong Kong was expensive but could be done for cheap with relative ease. London makes the list because of its crazy housing prices (same with New York). Zurich? Well they make the list because of the price of their everyday items, and that really hurts when you're traveling. Food prices are regularly about 30-50% above where you expect them to be. For example, an extra value meal at Burger King (or whatever it's called now) costs $16. 2 salads at a normal, run of the mill lunch spot cost $50. Even the kebab joints were charging $14 for chicken fingers and fries. No shortage of sticker shock in this city.

Other random observations from Zurich:

- The people here are really tall. Or maybe we're just used to the short people in Asia - I'm not sure.

- German is the common tongue here but just about everyone speaks English. It's pretty easy to get around.

- Why do European men (and Rickie Fowler) like those pants with the scrunchy elastic material around the ankles? I don't get it.

- While on the topic of fashion, Swiss people LOVE jorts. There is no shortage of denim that ends above the knee. 

- Swiss chocolate really is that good.

- Ronaldo is the biggest drama queen I've ever seen. No NBA or NFL player ever gets carried off the court/field on a stretcher after he was running around for the prior 5 minutes. It hurt me to see him win.

- Swiss public transport is amazing. Everything runs on time, the train stations are gorgeous, and Zurich has a badass tram system that was very pleasant to ride.

All in all, Zurich was really nice but didn't blow me away. I much preferred Lucerne and the incredible region at the base of the Alps.

Portugal is up next (after a 4.5 hour flight delay!)

Jeff

Never Fly Vueling Airlines

I need to do something productive with my time while I wait for our bags, so I figured I'd take a few minutes to eviscerate a terrible company. If the title of my post didn't make it clear, I'll repeat, Never fly Vueling Airlines. Vueling is the discount carrier of Iberia Air, Spain's largest airline. And they suck at everything they do. A 4 hour delay for any reason is bad, but when you get zero explanation as to why, that makes it worse. It's also really shitty to tell your customers they can pay to ensure they choose their seat on the plane and then change last minute to an open seating policy 10 minutes before boarding. 

It also must be very convenient for them to have 2 bag check staff while the queue to check bags grows infinitely longer by the minute, extending  deepinto the train station. And let's not forget about their staff who didn't exude the slightest bit of hospitality and were downright rude at times as well.

To top it all off, and to ensure the journey completely sucked from the first minute to the never ending last, it took 45 minutes from the time the plane arrived at the gate until a bag showed up at baggage claim.

Look, I've flown discount European airlines before and understand the no-frills approach to flying. But the operational miscues from start to finish are completely inexcusable for any business. 

So I urge you, never fly Vueling Airlines while in Europe. I promise you'll regret it if you do. 

Jeff

PS - can't wait to fly with these guys again in a few weeks to Ireland!

The Trip Explained

This probably should have been the first thing I posted, but I'd rather post late than not at all. Many of you have asked about the rationale, origin, and purpose of this trip. In short, when you get the chance to travel the world you take it, right? The end.

It's actually much deeper and more meaningful than that. The origins of this trip really started almost 10 years ago when I went to visit my friends in London who were studying abroad for a semester. I had the most amazing time with them, and while the trip only lasted a week, it opened up a lifelong passion for travel. It also made me realize I had made a huge mistake by not taking a semester to live abroad. Pitt had even provided me a global research stipend to travel abroad and I never took advantage of it. I decided after that trip I would never miss the opportunity to travel abroad again. And if I ever got the opportunity, I would live abroad as well.

In the nearly 10 years since that first trip to London, I've been abroad 3 times - another trip to London with a stop in Dublin, a third trip to London with 4 days in Barcelona, and the all important trip to Israel 3 years ago. Shortly after Rachel and I met, we discussed our aspirations to live/travel abroad. We decided that living abroad wasn't really going to work for us because of Lea and our desire to spend as much time as possible with family. Instead, we created a bucket list of places to visit and kept it in our back pocket. About a year later, I started to set the wheels in motion to get enough time off of work that we could take a trip of this magnitude. PwC is creative with employee benefits and will work with long tenured, loyal people to help them meet their life goals. I had a conversation with my partner about my desire to travel abroad, and we agreed that I could go on unpaid leave the summer of 2016. Fast forward about 6 months to when I was considering moving over to Comcast, and I thought I might have hit a snag - how would I be able to take my trip when I was moving over to a new company with no tenure built up? I brought up my trip to my future boss and told him how important it was to me, and that if I was going to change companies I still wanted to go. Luckily, I work for a pragmatic, understanding boss who also has a passion for travel and without hesitation he told me we'd make it work, shook my hand, and that was that.

When Rachel and I were planning the trip, we went through a long, sometimes painful process to figure out where we wanted to go. Since our bucket list was so varied (Australia, Machu Picchu, Thailand, Italy, etc.) we had to figure out how to visit countries we wanted while not creating a logistical and financial nightmare for ourselves. We eventually figured out that it would be really cool if we could travel around the world. I looked into those around the world passes that the airlines offer and found them extremely expensive and while the flexibility of being able to fly whenever you want is nice, the inflexibility of having to use partner airlines really blows. I knew there was a better way and I used our secret weapon to get there.

Since we had been planning this trip for about 2 years, I decided to sign up for a bunch of credit cards with great travel offers as enrollment bonuses. On many cards you can get miles, points, etc. that can be redeemed for free flights on premium airlines if you play your cards right. Playing the credit card game could be a totally separate post, but if you're interested, visit www.thepointsguy.com to learn more. When I was ready to book, I reached out to my buddy Shri who has mastered the credit card game and regularly travels abroad a few times a year. Shri helped us find the right sites to do research which allowed us to maximize the value of our points and miles. When all was said and done, Rachel and I signed up for 5 credit cards and had enough points/miles to pay for all of the flights (10 each) except for about $2000 for some short flights, taxes, and booking fees. I say all this because I want all of you to realize that with a little planning and an assist from the credit card companies, you can travel abroad for way less than you think. It seemed like an impossible dream at first, but it just required some patience, research, and confidence to book everything without assistance.

This brings me back to the beginning as to why we took this trip. Rachel and I both wanted to take a trip that didn't just feel like a short vacation but also allowed us to feel like we were living abroad. This is not something you can do in a week or two. That's why even though we're jumping from country to country for most of the trip, we decided to take almost a month of time in Spain. While in Spain, we're taking some time to live at a home stay with a woman who teaches Spanish lessons. During this part of the trip, we're not going to be rushing around to see as many sites as possible, but instead will make a concerted effort to converse with the locals and get to know the people. Our hope is that beyond coming home with tons of pictures and a few souvenirs, we also come home with a greater appreciation for the Spanish culture and an ability to communicate in Spanish. It's crazy that in every single country we've visited so far, we've been able to converse in English, even though English isn't the first language in any of these countries (except Singapore). When we return, our Spanish should be much better than it is now, and we hope to continue to practice going forward.

One of the other reasons for the trip (and more Rachel's than mine) is so we can sample the cuisines in every country. We've had a food list in every place we've been, and it has been fun and delicious to knock these items off the list, especially when that list includes Swiss chocolate. There's also the YOLO pictures. You can't have a Kaplan vacation without YOLO pictures. Rachel actually bought us some updated t-shirts that we'll be debuting on the trip. For those of you who don't know, Rachel and I bought these obnoxious YOLO T shirts on our first trip together to Puerto Rico. It's been a tradition ever since to wear them at famous tourist sites wherever we go. So far the YOLO shirts have been to the Golden Gate Bridge, Bourbon St, Newport, Firefly Festival, and many others. It will be a lot of fun to look back one day at all the places we've been to in our crazy shirts.

Finally, there was an element of timing to this trip that can't be underscored. We both just turned 30 and it's no secret that at some point relatively soon, we'll want to start a family. You can't take 3 months away from your job and visit 9 countries when you have kids - it doesn't really work. When we began planning this trip, I vowed that I would let nothing get in the way of completing it. There would always be excuses not to go - need the money for a house, busy at work, etc. But if we didn't go now, we wouldn't be able to for another 25 years, and life is too unpredictable to take that chance. So we plowed forward and made it happen, and I'm so glad we did.

We miss everyone back home and can't wait to tell you about our adventures when we return. Zurich awaits!

Jeff