Mini Mini-Van

Hello,

Renting a car in another country is always a strange experience.  As hard as it is in some countries to get a license or pass through their barrage of required lessons, pay a bunch of money or attach giant letters to your trunk for some number of years telling everyone to stay away from this guy, all you really need is $20 a day and a license from some other country.  Because obviously all the other countries are equally as strict right?

20 minutes after landing in Madrid, my 26th straight hour of being awake, I was settling in to my Opel mini mini-van because 17 years ago in Las Vegas I was deemed a driver that was good enough.  After the usual finding the mirrors button and plugging in the phone GPS I was ready to go.  Two issues with this seemingly perfect start:

The first was the stick shift had one of those buttons to get it into reverse which would protect you from accidentally placing the car in reverse.  On this car the reverse gear was before first gear.  My stick shift that I drive at home does not have one of these modern and likely very common buttons so not wanting to put the car in reverse, I mistakenly put the car firmly in 3rd gear.  This requires a surprising large amount of rpms to not stall out.  The kind that people look over to see what is going on.  Probably should have been a signal that something wasn't quite right with my method but again, this was hour 26.

The second issue is that thanks to T-mobile, all international data is now free in most countries leading me to confidently tell the person at the Enterprise Madrid rental car stand, "No, I won't be needing a GPS."  My phone had some different thoughts about this.  I thought by the time my little race car sounding mini mini-van got out of the parking lot, it would all be ready to go.  Instead it was telling me I was somewhere in a 15 mile radius of the Madrid airport.  This isn't ideal given the number of freeways converging on the airport.  This led me to try to wing it to get out on the right highway.

"Winging it" includes: trying to get the car from not stalling in my decidedly bad gear placement, turning on my windshield wipers to announce my upcoming turns, leaving an airport parking lot that I've never been to while dodging wandering airport people and their luggage (basically me 5 minutes prior which I can confidently say they have no idea where they are going), and trying to use as many context clues as possible to decide what is legal combined with a very real fear of being the first car in line at stoplights, roundabouts or anywhere really.

Leaving the airport consisted of a series of three roundabouts which on all three occasions I would get up to yield to cars, start off with my high rev rpms, stall the moment I got into the circle and then drift off in a straight line with my engine off until getting the car back on and into gear to make my turn.  It looked kind of like what I would imagine the moon would do if it decided it was no longer happy going around the earth.

There must be an easier way to get from the airport to the highway that I needed but my bumbling method proved effective and 10 minutes later I was on the right road out of Madrid.  About 5 minutes after that my phone locked on to GPS confirming I was in fact going in the right direction.  At about 9pm (or in Spain, dinner time if you were a small child and had to go to bed early) I arrived at my hotel in Olite.  Thankfully not many people were out for dinner because per the hotel sign, I was instructed to go down a street the width of a mini mini-van where I would find parking for my hotel, as indicated by the blue P next to the hotel name.  Sounds easy enough.

I happen to be good at Excel style math - numbers, relational formulas and things.  What I am incredibly not good at is geometry.  When you have a geometry problem that consists of a street that is as wide as your car, the entrance to the parking garage is as wide as your car at a 90 degree turn, the scraped walls from the previous peoples attempts of getting into the parking entrance looking right at you, and both the front beeper sensor and the back beeper sensor are yelling at you at the same time (surprisingly with two different tones), I have a hard time solving this equation especially with this problem given to me on my 30th awake hour.  Thankfully by this point I had already discovered 1st gear earlier at a truck stop and my beeper filled 12 point turn set me at the perfect angle to go down the parking ramp.

The next morning however, my quick glance at the medieval city map telling myself to drive down this road, take a quick right on this street and a left on this one to get out of town nice and easy, was not the wisest plan.  About 3 minutes into driving I realized no streets are labeled, the map was a suggested artistic resemblance and not drawn to scale, and allowing cars on most of these streets must be Olite's version of my quickly checking Youtube every time it snows in Portland (those crazy fools crack me up).

Thanks to some gracious soul in Olite that carved out a hole in the stone wall at the perfect height of a mini mini van mirror, I was able to make the final turn (lets call it a 15 point turn as long as we can round down) out of the city.  The rest of the trip of driving around Spain was mostly uneventful minus the confusing Murcia massive roundabouts which somehow had both stoplights and yields.  I am sure I did not handle these correctly.

Looking forward to the next country!

your friend,
chad

bum knee

Hello,

I thought there was a problem with the internet when I was trying to post but went with it anyway. Then the next day I saw what I typed wasn't posted or in the drafts. gone away somewhere i guess. that's okay, but for some reason i can't type again what i typed before because it feels staged.

so a quick summary that will likely turn into its own post:

knew i could count on you, ryan! sorry amy, should have counted you in on the short list. thanks laurie, i don't think you're a cheater. just waiting for jasmine now...

really liked kaikoura. my knee not so much. after saturdays little jaunt (10k run) through the bush in Sydney with Jose my right knee was doing some pretty weird things. then the walk around the peninsula in kaikoura secured my thought that going down was bad. only to go 1602 meters (5,250 ft) up to the top of Mt. Fyffe and then 1602 meters (5,250 ft) back down to the bottom. further confirming that going down is bad.

it is just plain weird to be in Nelson again. Kaikoura was a new place for me but it feels like too many ghosts are here in Nelson. i walked into a grocery store tonight to look at some of the pricing of the food for work and realized i was in this grocery store before. when i was more hungry, in grubbier clothes, and not able to buy so much. i drive by the bridge that we walked over to meet katja, pauline and hayley at the bar. or see the hostel where Thomas and i had a half can size of rice pudding because the grocery stores were closed for some holiday. actually he had food, and i had the half can size of rice pudding for dinner but a full bag of salt, olive oil, and butter which made me think i had plenty of food to eat. whenever you hear someone say, "this is just a taste, i'm traveling to so many places to see where it is that i want to go back." kind of a specific thing to hear but I have heard it so much. tell them, "no, don't come back, go somewhere new."

the only exception to the above rule is italy. everyone should go back to italy as much as possible.

crazy day tomorrow: early flight to Auckland, some meetings during the day (world's best hot chocolate which by some amazing weird chance is one block away from one of my meetings), over night flight to Hong Kong, flight to Beijing, then drive 5 hours to somewhere. Don't think it is actually in the region of Mongolia because 5 hours drive time in China doesn't really get you that far. So either I'm not going to Mongolia and just nearby it, or the drive will be much longer than 5 hours. If it were any other country I would put my money on the first one, but since we're talking about China, i think we're at 50/50 here.

28 days down, 4 more to go. looking forward to going home again.
your friend,
chad

14 hours

Hello,

Yes! This thing still works. Now normally this would not work in China but thanks to the ol' remote desktop it thinks I'm over in California. That is definitely a hole in China's tight web of security.

I've decided the main reason why I like flying. it forces you to spend long hours of time with yourself. take-off, talking with the guy next to me that looks and sounds like one of the doctors from MASH, and settling myself into the nest of blanket, snacks, pillow, bottle of water, laptop, kindle, ipod, and more wires then are needed all takes about an hour. Then you have to come up with things to do for the next 13.

One netflix film killed off the partially charged laptop, a spacious but inconveniently placed seat on the plane canceled out the chance to really get into any of the six films but an attempt was made, and sleep always erases a few here and there.

But in the end I have time to think. and I think about how I need to make more time to think. lay on a blanket in a park and think, find someone with a giant trampoline and lay on it and think. for some reason i always picture clouds along with this thinking. and i see in my mind all the people i need to contact to say hi or the goals that need to be pursued - how am i going to make egyptian food for jamie? how do i get enough addresses to hand write letters to? why are the italian lessons going so slow? what would i write about on the old travel blog and there's only two people that read it anyway?

then, with enough hours come the answers. just use epicurious, buy the stuff and make it, people eat in egypt everyday, they must make something. i have a few addresses, that's all the start I need. it only goes slow when i don't listen to them. write something, i have never known what to write, ever. just start and try not to over think it.

(to ryan and jasmine)
your friend,
chad

Happy Christmas!!

Hello,

I hope everyone had a happy Christmas!

The trip to the airport to come back to Las Vegas was interesting enough for me. With me refusing to take a 20 dollar bus ride (and cursing the no change given rule), freezing my face enough to slur my words, and finally being picked up by a bus that shouldn’t have stopped, paying the right price, and the bonus of having my pockets full of gummy bears and beef jerky (had to make change for the 20).

It has been another good Christmas with the Mom and brother. I am eternally grateful for the London Christmas with my Mom in 2002. I think it has set the right example of the meaning of Christmas in my mind at least. One of the best things was seeing my friends, with the wish that someday all of these people could live in one place again, and the reminder that it will probably never happen. It is always a battle for me of enjoying the seasons of having certain people in your life and then being able to let go when it is time to move on.

I’m looking forward to going back to the snowy Seattle. I’ve got a few ideas of sledding that I need to give a try. It looks like it might be rain for the moment, but I hope the snow makes another appearance. Although, 40 degrees does sound pretty good compared to the dang 20s it was when I left. But I do love the nonsound that the snow makes when it is falling, if that makes any sense at all.

My goal of meeting all of my neighbors has been extended one month. I’ll be getting my new professional mixer in the mail soon so I can properly deliver goods to all the organic, healthy eaters in the neighborhood. How could I tell them the cinnamon rolls came from a can, when I know some of them probably have not stepped foot into a Safeway for a few years on the chance they might buy something that isn’t pesticide free, free range, or grown by farmers that put their first names on the packaging. I can’t do that to them. So we wait for the copper Kitchen-Aid Professional 620 Mixer. I don’t know how big six quarts is but I’m guessing I can make a lot with it.

So, two goals/new things for January. 1. Bring proper goods to neighbors. 2. Start the Argentine Tango dance class with Jamie. I don’t feel like I’m going to far out on a limb to say I am not the best dancer. And so far, word on the street is that Tango isn’t the easiest thing to do. Also, I’m not exactly sure how many different kinds of Tango are out there. I am hoping Argentine is the most fun kind.

have a good day
your friend
chad.

store bought cinnamon rolls

hello,

finally, one week later, the jet lag has been conquered. In a way it has been nice getting rid of the desire to go to bed at 4pm, but I think I will miss the feeling of wanting pasta first thing in the morning. although that might not have been so much of a jet lag issue, but more of a carbohydrate addiction issue.

now, the only flight plan for the rest of the year is going home for christmas. looking forward to family time and ryan's annual christmas gathering. not many other plans beyond that.

my goal for december is to meet all of my neighbors. its been four months now but i have either been away on a trip or preparing for the next one. i was hoping to make everyone cinnamon rolls with a new kitchen aide professional mixer but instead used the miles for my flight home for christmas. next up will be the mixer, but for now the neighbors will have to be ok with not perfect cinnamon rolls.

its time to dive into another winter round of making hot chocolates that will likely make me sick. the body can only take so much heavy whipping cream. it will pay off eventually and the reward of a perfect hot chocolate will be glorious.

italian dinner night with brian and allison! i'm going against everything in my body to not make pasta. going to try the risotto this time.

have a good day
your friend
chad

do not walk on the black marble

Ciao from italia!

its been good fun in the italia the last week. we just got back from going to Martina's graduation. I didn't really understand a whole lot of what was going on (not too keen on the law words), but apparently the thesis presentation was a success, so she is on to the graduate school part. last night was watching their salsa dancing class and some very very good bruschetta.

the places so far:
venezia: walk, walk, walk, walking. bridges and churches and squares. we found a great place for lunch that was right off the main street and not made or priced for the tourists. and the indiana jones church, which is no longer a library but is currently housing the ever touring da vinci machine exhibition-i saw it about three years ago with my mom somewhere else in italy. very nearly falling into a canal; if it wasn't for a small piece of rope attached to the side of a wall, it would have been all over, with camera number four gone in a year. lesson learned, do not walk on the black marble. it is slippery.



milano: a communist union party rally and, later in the same square, TRL (mtv's total request live) Italia. the great duomo and some quick thinking to get onto the roof (you can't tell us its closed). the last supper; way bigger than i thought. and whoever thought it would be genius to put in a giant door into the last supper wall, didn't put a lot of thought into it. it really is unbelievable. The city is quite the land of fashion and i was finally able to buy the european jacket that i've had in my mind. next up a backpack (invicta to be specific for the italian fans), but it is a strange thing. every single person has one, but they are not sold anywhere. seriously, nowhere. looks like it will have to be www.ebay.it for me.




verona: be the first into the arena, don't trust the city maps, and buy the day passes for all the sights. juilette's balcony was actually kind of cool. for some reason nobody goes into any of the places, so it felt bad standing out on juilette's balcony while every else was trying to take a picture from the ground. they obviously did not purchase the day pass. the most impressive for me was the castle. i like to imagine the places i go as how they were when they were made. with things like the gladiator arena it takes more imagination on my part and is probably not very close to how things really were. but the castle made it easy to see things from long ago. something about walking the castle walls at night with all of the bow and arrow slots. the imagination didn't have to work very hard. we also tried climbing the hill to a castle that over looks the city. it was a good walk up, but by the time we got to the top we were engulfed in cloud, so not much to see.




it's great seeing Mattia's home and family and friends. they are all good people. the chocolate is perfect. i am determined to purchase a proper hot chocolate machine. i think that is the only way to go.

have a good day
your friend
chad

Ladas still exist?

Hello,

Man, with this hour change it gets dark way to fast. and it always makes you realize how many clocks you have. right now i'm running at about 40% changed to the correct time.

The work travels have been good. Guatemala was good, but not enough time in Antigua. I think I could eat that Limoncello icecream thing every night of life. I was most excited about Ecuador. I only went to Guayaquil this time. As a city, not so much going on. But the people were a it-would-have-been-creepy-if-it-had-been-somewhere-else kind of good. Nearly every single person I met, wanted to know what I was doing there, how long was I in town for (not just to ask a question, but they were trying to figure out their schedules to see we could hang out), did i speak spanish, what did i think of the place, when was i coming back again (again, to schedule time to hang out), and more and more questions. I could understand running into a slightly strange person every once in a while that would ask these kind of questions. But this was everybody. Hotel people, store people, icecream people, water people, juice people, other water people (by the afternoon i realized i don't think i could live on the equator every day of the year), the lady that made my lunch, the guy picking up the finished lunch tray. everyone i met really.

i always wanted to hire a cab for awhile and go to a few places, so it was fun to give that a try. the car was a barely staying together russian lada. the seat belt might as well been a rope tying me to the seat. but Felix seemed like a good guy so he drove me around all over the place, swung around to the hotel to pick up my bag and then off to the airport. all for ten bucks. the lada didn't go very fast and nearly every car was passing us wherever we went, but for ten bucks, well worth it.

so i'm taking a break from the work travels and going to italy on wednesday with jamie. no plans at all. just hanging out with Mattia and his family near Milan (although i think he has quite the itinerary planned). borrowing Brian and Alison's camera so i am praying the camera curse for this year does not continue. real hot chocolates, scooters and the greatest country in the world, here we come!

have a good day
your friend
chad