Monday, May 30, 2011
Fighting a cold in Bangkok
Humid and polluted air aren't making things easy for Miranda. Fortunately the incredibly spicy food seems to be on her side. One more meal and I expect her sinuses to be clear for at least another few years.
One night in Bangkok
Marathon done. Stockholm to London to Bangkok legs of the trip are done. About 13 hours of flying in total. British Airways definitely gets a thumbs up from us. The flight to Bangkok was about half full, so we had three seats between the two of us (the 747 had a 3/4/3 layout), so we could stretch out and sleep.
Two scares though. Miranda's confirmed case of bronchitis and sinus infection lead to some pretty unpleasant landings for her. The 20 minutes in London without any hearing and the subsequent pain of popping her ears to regain that sense led to a lot of anxiety about the second flight. It went better, but was still a rough.
Another scare - went to withdraw money and the ATM ate my debit card. After completing my transaction with PIN code, amount, confirming the extra fee, etc. it briefly flashed a message that said "card suspended" and on the next line "card retained". No money, no receipt, no card, nothing. Had to call my boss, get the bank's telephone number, and was getting worried for a bit. Not fun to be in a foreign airport, unable to pay for the 30 minute ride into the city. And of course we didn't want to use Miranda's card for fear of it being taken too. Seriously, I can understand "transaction denied", but "card retained" really had me worried. Thoughts of sleeping in the airport for 8 days just didn't sit well with me.
Turns out I had lent my card to Miranda last week to finish a purchase, and she didn't notice it was my card since they look identical. She used her PIN code, and after two tries the bank automatically blocked my card. The error on the machine just said "chip not working" which is a common error, so we just switched cards to finish the transaction. I usually use a credit card, not a debit card, so I didn't even notice it wasn't working the last few days.
Anyway, we're now settled into the hotel. Nearly 6:00 PM here, very hot. Dark clouds rolling in. Guess we might have to spend the night checking out the hotel's pools. I think one of them is indoor at least.
Two scares though. Miranda's confirmed case of bronchitis and sinus infection lead to some pretty unpleasant landings for her. The 20 minutes in London without any hearing and the subsequent pain of popping her ears to regain that sense led to a lot of anxiety about the second flight. It went better, but was still a rough.
Another scare - went to withdraw money and the ATM ate my debit card. After completing my transaction with PIN code, amount, confirming the extra fee, etc. it briefly flashed a message that said "card suspended" and on the next line "card retained". No money, no receipt, no card, nothing. Had to call my boss, get the bank's telephone number, and was getting worried for a bit. Not fun to be in a foreign airport, unable to pay for the 30 minute ride into the city. And of course we didn't want to use Miranda's card for fear of it being taken too. Seriously, I can understand "transaction denied", but "card retained" really had me worried. Thoughts of sleeping in the airport for 8 days just didn't sit well with me.
Turns out I had lent my card to Miranda last week to finish a purchase, and she didn't notice it was my card since they look identical. She used her PIN code, and after two tries the bank automatically blocked my card. The error on the machine just said "chip not working" which is a common error, so we just switched cards to finish the transaction. I usually use a credit card, not a debit card, so I didn't even notice it wasn't working the last few days.
Anyway, we're now settled into the hotel. Nearly 6:00 PM here, very hot. Dark clouds rolling in. Guess we might have to spend the night checking out the hotel's pools. I think one of them is indoor at least.
Friday, May 6, 2011
One step closer
Round-the-world tickets are booked and paid for. Need to get Australian visas (no problem), travel insurance (just need to order and pay), figure out baggage restrictions, start digging into some travel books and then start to figure out what we actually want to do in Thailand and Australia. We know what we want to do in Hawaii - some hiking, mostly beaches!
Miranda visited the wonderful travel section at the Stockholm public library. Now it's time to do our homework. Bad timing though, I'm really starting to get into Män som Hatar Kvinnor (Men who Hate Women), better known by the US title The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I really don't want to put that book down. It's especially exciting because even though Miranda has been reading Swedish novels for over a year now, this is my first attempt, and I know that I'm missing a lot of details, but it's no problem to stick with the plot, and it's quite rewarding to realize just how much of the language I actually know.
It's kind of funny - I was ashamed of my Swedish until we went to Germany in March. Then I realized that I was able to communicate in Germany with an active vocabulary of 25 words that I've retained from my studies long ago. I figured if I could get by with so little knowledge of a language, the thousands of words I knew in Swedish had to be good for something. I'm still hesitant to speak Swedish if I know the conversation topics will move outside of my comfort zone quickly, but I've spoken more Swedish in the last six weeks than I had in the previous three years combined. Wish I had stumbled upon this realization years ago.
This post ended up a lot longer than I intended (like usual). It's 11:00 on a Friday night and I have a lot of work to do tonight and tomorrow. I just don't want to do it, so here I am typing away. The distraction is horrible, especially considering we need to do a 20 mile run and about six loads of laundry tomorrow, so working isn't going to get any easier. Bummer.
Miranda visited the wonderful travel section at the Stockholm public library. Now it's time to do our homework. Bad timing though, I'm really starting to get into Män som Hatar Kvinnor (Men who Hate Women), better known by the US title The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I really don't want to put that book down. It's especially exciting because even though Miranda has been reading Swedish novels for over a year now, this is my first attempt, and I know that I'm missing a lot of details, but it's no problem to stick with the plot, and it's quite rewarding to realize just how much of the language I actually know.
It's kind of funny - I was ashamed of my Swedish until we went to Germany in March. Then I realized that I was able to communicate in Germany with an active vocabulary of 25 words that I've retained from my studies long ago. I figured if I could get by with so little knowledge of a language, the thousands of words I knew in Swedish had to be good for something. I'm still hesitant to speak Swedish if I know the conversation topics will move outside of my comfort zone quickly, but I've spoken more Swedish in the last six weeks than I had in the previous three years combined. Wish I had stumbled upon this realization years ago.
This post ended up a lot longer than I intended (like usual). It's 11:00 on a Friday night and I have a lot of work to do tonight and tomorrow. I just don't want to do it, so here I am typing away. The distraction is horrible, especially considering we need to do a 20 mile run and about six loads of laundry tomorrow, so working isn't going to get any easier. Bummer.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
May never seemed so scary.
It's May. The background on this blog isn't up to date, stupid snow. Then again, neither are the posts. We're leaving Sweden in less than four weeks. We're leaving in May. Two days ago I woke up and stretched out, saw the sun coming through the windows, and in a happy moment I thought, "happy May Day." Then my brain stopped for a second and the next thought was, "oh shit." That's when my mind started to race. Yes, the arrival of May was scary.
In that four weeks, we're going to do the following things (in this order):
1) Run a lot.
2) Cram everything we haven't done in the Stockholm area into just four weeks.
3) Schedule dinners with all of our friends in Sweden that we've been meaning to meet up with.
4) Take a week-long trip to Barcelona.
5) Continue with the daily running, dinners, museum visits, etc.
6) Plan a "round-the-world" trip through Thailand, Australia, Hawaii and ending in California.
7) Wrap up a million loose-ends at work.
8) Pack up to move.
9) Pack up for the round-the-world trip.
10) Send away most of our stuff on a boat heading west.
11) Clean our apartment.
12) Run a marathon.
13) Hop a next-day flight heading east.
So, that's our May.
June and early July look like this:
1) "Relax" for three weeks while fighting constant jet-lag and trying to most of our trip even though we won't actually put any work into planning anything more than flights and hotel stays. Oh yeah, it'll be the start of monsoon season in Thailand. Let's hope we beat the rains.
2) End our trip in California just in time for my sister's wedding in San Diego.
3) Celebrate in royal fashion (hopefully with a tan and no bags under our eyes).
4) Enjoy southern California for a few days, then drive from California to Minnesota, taking in as many sights in the west as we can fit in, rushing through eastern Colorado and Nebraska, then stopping in Iowa. Miranda doesn't know this, but I've already nominated her to drive through Nebraska in it's entirety, that way she can learn that the three and a half hour drive from the Minnesota border to my parent's place in Iowa is pleasant, not boring.
5) Dig my rusty old car out of storage and make sure it's road worthy.
6) Celebrate the 4th of July at the Miranda's family's cabin in Minnesota.
7) Return to work on the 5th.
8) Start thinking about life in Minnesota (how long do we want to remain homeless, do we need a second car, job applications for Miranda, how are we going to pay down the credit card debt we just wracked up, how much longer can we live out of suitcases, etc.)
There are probably a number of important things up there that I missed, but you get the idea of what's to come. As much as I'd love to blog about these experiences, I can say with near certainty that it isn't going to happen. Our lives are approaching a complete state of chaos. If there's one thing that I learned from the move to Sweden, our subsequent travels and all of the challenges that we've faced along the way, it's that everything works out alright in the end. At least, that's been the case so far. My eternal optimism says it's perfectly okay to be overwhelmed, but there's really no need to worry. Plus, Miranda will worry enough for the both of us.
I may be steering this crazy ship, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm still just going to enjoy the ride.
Wish us luck.
In that four weeks, we're going to do the following things (in this order):
1) Run a lot.
2) Cram everything we haven't done in the Stockholm area into just four weeks.
3) Schedule dinners with all of our friends in Sweden that we've been meaning to meet up with.
4) Take a week-long trip to Barcelona.
5) Continue with the daily running, dinners, museum visits, etc.
6) Plan a "round-the-world" trip through Thailand, Australia, Hawaii and ending in California.
7) Wrap up a million loose-ends at work.
8) Pack up to move.
9) Pack up for the round-the-world trip.
10) Send away most of our stuff on a boat heading west.
11) Clean our apartment.
12) Run a marathon.
13) Hop a next-day flight heading east.
So, that's our May.
June and early July look like this:
1) "Relax" for three weeks while fighting constant jet-lag and trying to most of our trip even though we won't actually put any work into planning anything more than flights and hotel stays. Oh yeah, it'll be the start of monsoon season in Thailand. Let's hope we beat the rains.
2) End our trip in California just in time for my sister's wedding in San Diego.
3) Celebrate in royal fashion (hopefully with a tan and no bags under our eyes).
4) Enjoy southern California for a few days, then drive from California to Minnesota, taking in as many sights in the west as we can fit in, rushing through eastern Colorado and Nebraska, then stopping in Iowa. Miranda doesn't know this, but I've already nominated her to drive through Nebraska in it's entirety, that way she can learn that the three and a half hour drive from the Minnesota border to my parent's place in Iowa is pleasant, not boring.
5) Dig my rusty old car out of storage and make sure it's road worthy.
6) Celebrate the 4th of July at the Miranda's family's cabin in Minnesota.
7) Return to work on the 5th.
8) Start thinking about life in Minnesota (how long do we want to remain homeless, do we need a second car, job applications for Miranda, how are we going to pay down the credit card debt we just wracked up, how much longer can we live out of suitcases, etc.)
There are probably a number of important things up there that I missed, but you get the idea of what's to come. As much as I'd love to blog about these experiences, I can say with near certainty that it isn't going to happen. Our lives are approaching a complete state of chaos. If there's one thing that I learned from the move to Sweden, our subsequent travels and all of the challenges that we've faced along the way, it's that everything works out alright in the end. At least, that's been the case so far. My eternal optimism says it's perfectly okay to be overwhelmed, but there's really no need to worry. Plus, Miranda will worry enough for the both of us.
I may be steering this crazy ship, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm still just going to enjoy the ride.
Wish us luck.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)