Take a Vacation

[PaloAltoCougar]

Our Dutch host/friend said that there are tons of Trump fans in Europe. Mainly the ones scared of all the immigrants.

We were in England during summer solstice, and we were visiting the Rollright Stones in the Cotswolds. One of the people who had just performed some type of ritual there came up to us and started chatting. He basically opened up the same way, and I blurted out that we can't stand Trump. He of course was a huge Trump fan. Yeah, that was awkward.

Depressing, but undoubtedly true. To cheer myself up (and I'm sorry to steer this thread toward another Trump bash--I'll stop after this, honest), I went back to one of my favorite quotes from Trump, this one in response to a question about is favorite scripture, where he sounds yet again like the kid who gets called on in class without having done the reading:

“Well, I think many. I mean, you know, when we get into the Bible, I think many. So many,” he responded. “And some people—look, an eye for an eye, you can almost say that. That’s not a particularly nice thing. But you know, if you look at what’s happening to our country, I mean, when you see what’s going on with our country, how people are taking advantage of us, and how they scoff at us and laugh at us.”

“And they laugh at our face, and they’re taking our jobs, they’re taking our money, they’re taking the health of our country,” he continued. “And we have to be firm and have to be very strong. And we can learn a lot from the Bible, that I can tell you.”

And Evangelicals bash the vastly more devout Buttigieg because of his sexuality, while supporting the adulterous, female-groping Trump.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Depressing, but undoubtedly true. To cheer myself up (and I'm sorry to steer this thread toward another Trump bash--I'll stop after this, honest), I went back to one of my favorite quotes from Trump, this one in response to a question about is favorite scripture, where he sounds yet again like the kid who gets called on in class without having done the reading:

“Well, I think many. I mean, you know, when we get into the Bible, I think many. So many,” he responded. “And some people—look, an eye for an eye, you can almost say that. That’s not a particularly nice thing. But you know, if you look at what’s happening to our country, I mean, when you see what’s going on with our country, how people are taking advantage of us, and how they scoff at us and laugh at us.”

“And they laugh at our face, and they’re taking our jobs, they’re taking our money, they’re taking the health of our country,” he continued. “And we have to be firm and have to be very strong. And we can learn a lot from the Bible, that I can tell you.”

And Evangelicals bash the vastly more devout Buttigieg because of his sexuality, while supporting the adulterous, female-groping Trump.

Take heart, my friend. I am sure Uncle Ted can find a democrat saying something kind of, sort of related that will put us all at ease.

[Lost Student]

The Isle of Wight was in our district. I was working down there one afternoon in the summer, and I remember walking down a boardwalk near a beach. We passed a couple women sunbathing topless. I don't think that was the most effective area to find people to each.

And yet from then on, you spent all of your tracting time on the boardwalk. Go figure.

[PaloAltoCougar]

And yet from then on, you spent all of your tracting time on the boardwalk. Go figure.

That reminds me, I meant to ask BD for the exact location of said beach. To make sure I avoid it, of course.

[Bo Diddley]

That reminds me, I meant to ask BD for the exact location of said beach. To make sure I avoid it, of course.

Looking at Google Maps, I'm thinking it was Ryde Beach.

[CardiacCoug]

Our Dutch host/friend said that there are tons of Trump fans in Europe. Mainly the ones scared of all the immigrants.

Yup.

The people in rural England/Europe look and think a lot like people in Payson UT.

If they travel to London or Amsterdam or Paris (or if a dude from Payson travels to NYC) they are often thinking WTF is happening to my country? Nobody looks like me.

We are all deeply tribal — it’s the environment in which we evolved.

Trump is the hedgehog who knows one thing: people want to unite against a foreign enemy — we can’t help it — it’s in our DNA.

[wuapinmon]

I got tickets from DC to Copenhagen from june 30 - August 7 for $2773 on Virgin Atlantic for all five of us.

The plan is, thus far:

Denmark = 8 days
UK = 7 days
Dubrovnik, Croatia (with side trips to Bosnia and Montenegro = 7 days
Istanbul = 3 days
Helsinki = 5 days
Tallinn, Estonia = 3 days
Copenhagen = 5 days

I've got airfare to the UK and to Croatia already booked, as well as lodging both places--one-way tickets in Europe are dirt cheap--it cost me $312 to fly us all to Croatia from the UK, direct flight from London to Dubrovnik. I also have the end in Copenhagen booked in a hotel. The rest is still up in the air. You have to have visas to go to Turkey, and the kids' passports still haven't come back, so we're in limbo still. It's been 3 weeks, which sucks because they already had old ones, and they're 12 and 10. That should be a formality.

Anyhow, if we don't get them inside a week, we're gonna just go to Finland, and then maybe go to Latvia and Lithuania after Estonia.

On a separate note, I'm taking students to Costa Rica from May 21-31. It's my first trip since my best friend died. I don't how it's gonna be, when he's not around. I've never been to Costa Rica without spending all my time hanging out with him, traveling around, cooking meals together, staying at his house. I can't allow myself to be morose missing him, so I'll internalize it, but, he was just one of the best people I've ever known, and half the fun of going there was him. His absence hurts.

[falafel]

I got tickets from DC to Copenhagen from june 30 - August 7 for $2773 on Virgin Atlantic for all five of us.

The plan is, thus far:

Denmark = 8 days
UK = 7 days
Dubrovnik, Croatia (with side trips to Bosnia and Montenegro = 7 days
Istanbul = 3 days
Helsinki = 5 days
Tallinn, Estonia = 3 days
Copenhagen = 5 days

I've got airfare to the UK and to Croatia already booked, as well as lodging both places--one-way tickets in Europe are dirt cheap--it cost me $312 to fly us all to Croatia from the UK, direct flight from London to Dubrovnik. I also have the end in Copenhagen booked in a hotel. The rest is still up in the air. You have to have visas to go to Turkey, and the kids' passports still haven't come back, so we're in limbo still. It's been 3 weeks, which sucks because they already had old ones, and they're 12 and 10. That should be a formality.

Anyhow, if we don't get them inside a week, we're gonna just go to Finland, and then maybe go to Latvia and Lithuania after Estonia.

On a separate note, I'm taking students to Costa Rica from May 21-31. It's my first trip since my best friend died. I don't how it's gonna be, when he's not around. I've never been to Costa Rica without spending all my time hanging out with him, traveling around, cooking meals together, staying at his house. I can't allow myself to be morose missing him, so I'll internalize it, but, he was just one of the best people I've ever known, and half the fun of going there was him. His absence hurts.

The airfare is cheap, but how much is lodging for 40 days?

[wuapinmon]

The airfare is cheap, but how much is lodging for 40 days?

About $6k or so. It's the biggest expense by far.

[falafel]

About $6k or so. It's the biggest expense by far.

Sounds like an awesome trip.

[falafel]

About $6k or so. It's the biggest expense by far.

Also, are you up early, or up late?

[wuapinmon]

Also, are you up early, or up late?

Leg cramps. For some reason if I drink milk before bed, I often get hellacious cramps. Since my entire family is in Utah, and I'm alone, I didn't have anyone to help me stretch the cramp out, so I was in serious pain for about 10 minutes, and after that the adrenaline kept me up.

[wuapinmon]

Sounds like an awesome trip.

I hope so. My wife has to work, so that complicates things a bit. I'm fearless when it comes to language, but my wife's got some serious apprehension about going to everywhere but the Uk and Croatia (a colleague at Coker from Croatia is meeting us there). I just know that I've never had a problem communicating and you can usually find someone who speaks one of the other languages I speak. The only time in my life I've ever had a problem was in Innsbruck, Austria in 1995 at 5AM on a Sunday morning. We left the train station and not a one of the taxi drivers spoke English. When I asked, "Sprechen zie Spanglich?" they looked at me like I was the dumbest person on the planet. We had to walk a few miles to find somewhere open where someone spoke English, because my German was limited to "Bitte, ich moechte ein zimmer" and stuff like that. We were trying to catch a bus to Liechtenstein and that was beyond my skill set.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Sounds like a blast, wuap.

[Moliere]

I got tickets from DC to Copenhagen from june 30 - August 7 for $2773 on Virgin Atlantic for all five of us.

The plan is, thus far:

Denmark = 8 days
UK = 7 days
Dubrovnik, Croatia (with side trips to Bosnia and Montenegro = 7 days
Istanbul = 3 days
Helsinki = 5 days
Tallinn, Estonia = 3 days
Copenhagen = 5 days

Sounds like an incredible trip.

Will you do Airbnb or hotels or something else? Any planned car rentals or will it all be trains and public transport?