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!