7 countries, 17 days - EuroTour 2011

50 Days or,
7 weeks or,
1200 hours or,
72000 minutes or,
4,320,000 seconds to departure...

Can you tell I'm excited!?

I have been planning this trip for the past year and as the days start to creep up the excitement and wait is unbearable.

Ah! Another trip to Europe except this time it isn't a lay over, or a quick visit, its a rekindling of sorts. The initial reason is because my little Godson, Tristan, celebrates his big birthday - He turns 1!!; as my days of planning went on, my gorgeous friend, & travel companion decided to join me on my trip and co-incidentally the Sr. Louzados' decided to do the same. And so off I go to Europe, looking forward to enjoying best of both worlds; During the day its all the Tourist fun stuff with me Mum & Dad, and in the evening, enjoying Europe's' wild nights with my best friend, Vanessa.

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Itinerary so far:
We're first off to pay a visit to Ms.Bethy & watch the Changing of the Guards. Madame Tussuad will await our presence and Hamleys has promised to keep it's arms wide open for me. The one thing of course, that was first on our list was a visit to our oldest and dearest friend Kim, her lovely husband Amith and her beautiful baby girl Keesha - of course, I'm looking forward to the delicious chappaties she makes but sshhh she thinks I'm coming to see her beautiful face!

My mummy enters a new decade that weekend, though, she doesn't look a day over 40!

We head to the land of tulips & wooden clogs next, my cousin Tooty & her hubby Renee will be eagerly waiting for us and I can't wait to meet my little godson. After driving her mad for a few days we take off to Dublin, right in time for St. Pats parade and geer beer. Then onto Lisbon & Madrid, 4 fairly low keys days and then...comes the highlight of my trip. I can't begin to tell you how my excitement reaches it's peak at the thought of George V; I'll be going to Paris with room in my suitcase to bring back a pair of Christian LouBoutins, ones I have been dreaming of for the past year. I've made reservations at L'Ami Jean, and bought my Paris pass to check out places like the Louvre among many...
After 3 days in Paris we're back to spending some more time @ the Leemkers and back home not to long after.

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The only thing this trip will be missing is my sister, she's the bee to my honey, my sunshine on rainy days, my ...wait...who am I kidding...I'll be in Paris

My next posting will be in 49 days...à bientôt

Every day I check www.timeanddate.com to see if by chance, by some time-traveling luck...I've slept thru the 'waiting' days and its' finally time to depart - though, truth be told I'm just as nervous as I am excited.

The only thing we haven't finalized is our travel within Europe - nothing I can't handle of course!

I'm counting down to the day when S and I will rummage through my closet and pick outfits I'll wear to London for mums birthday, and in Madrid when we go wine tasting, or in Paris while visiting the Eiffel tower. S lives vicariously through my travels, the day she and I start packing to head out on our adventure together is the day I'm looking forward to!Lets face it...I don't think I will have half the fun as S would should she be going on this trip - I know for a fact she wouldn't be pinning down each and every detail of the journey but hey! I never argued about me not being the anal one in this family.

My dreams are full of Parisien food, hhmm chocolate eclairs for dessert, the entree of choice: Blanquette de veau all...after I've had the most amazing day soaking in the culture, history and snottyness Paris is famous for; Two nights ago I dreamt of Bocata de calamares, while I drank the most delicious wine from my tour of the Ribera del Duero region, all while watching my mum and dad show the Spanish what flamenco dancing is all about...and you thought I didn't have a vivid imagination!!

So travel update: Vs' heading to Zurich while the Louzados' will be in Lisbon.
note to self: Remember to make her bring me some swiss chocolate...Danke V!!

38 days and counting...don't you wish you were me? à bientôt.

A few days ago I posted a note of Vs' FB page today - it read:

"4 sleeps till vacation time, Doo-Dah, Doo-Dah. 4 sleeps till vacation time, Oh, Doo-Dah Day'!!!

I can't believe its' here so quickly, it seems like only a few days ago we confirmed dates of tentative departure, and requested vacation days...

With only two sleeps to go my nerves are starting to get the best of me...plus getting the Gift of the Cold from people whos shall remain nameless *cough* S *cough* hasn't helped either.

2 sleeps to go!

Are we there yet?

If the next 15 days are going to be anything like what the last two days have been, well, I don't know if I'll want to come home!

Our journey from Vancouver to London (via Amsterdam) was a disaster to start with: Amsterdam doesn't allow duty free alcohol to be taken out of the country (that isn't bought from the AMS airport), hence our idea of buying Amit a great Canadian RYE shot! KLM FAIL! Next V gets split and no longer is sitting with me on our journey! wth! KLM double Fail! course, would I remain quiet? After a big noise, we journeyed together, side by side yay! AMS to London flight was a breeze, the 45min flight was glorious and not to mention the free Champagne we received for the mis-hap during the first flight?

We got into London and headed straight to the neeSimons residence. I can't express to you our time here without thinking of words like homey, wonderful, fun-filled. Let me tell you about Little Miss Keisha: think cute, huggable, social butterfly, chubby cheeked doll who'll have the boys wrapped around her finger just like she has her Papa (sorry Amit). Going to see Kim, Keisha and Amit was a great start to our trip and a great way to bring in mums big birthday. On the dot of midnight Kim bought out an amazingly delicious chocolate cake, I haven't see my mum giggle like that in ages. Did I mention she made us the most amazing dinner too chappaties and dhal!! Thanks Kim, you have set the bar for this trip! We will miss you guys esp Ms.K. Xo

That was yesterday - now for our fun filled adventure today - here we go:

We checked into our hotels by about 1130ish and split from the Sr. Louzado. Off we went - our first stop, Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately we missed the changing of the guards however, V did spot them exercising - that will have to do...for this trip. Our next stop was Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, and London Eye. We continued to walk toward the Parliment houses and while on 10 Downing Street we came face to face with 2 guards who were on two beautiful horses. My highlight was V's 10ft jump when the horse turned to face her to say hello! Lol! Guess what she's getting for christmas! Ha!

Dinner with the folks and A.Phil and U.Winston was great; and unfortunately due to lack of communication I wasn't able to meet my cousin for drinks however V and I ventured to find a pub and end our first city visit with a drink. FAIL! Apparently nobody goes to a pub on Sunday night - why? Cuz' it's a working day next! ppsssttt! People!!!! So we resorted to the Hotel Lounge only to be rushed out of there by two creepy +40yr olds yyyesshhh!!!

Tomorrow is off to Amsterdam: I will admit the nerves are starting to kick in...I finally get to see my godson yyyaaayyyy!!!!

FYI: Visit Fails
No washrooms @ Starbucks! WAT!
Average choices of beer on a menu: 3
no Sunday night Pub nights!!!!
Londoners can't read a map!

Do you miss me yet?

On boy! I really cannot believe that it is only Tuesday!

We got to Amsterdam safe and sound and was greated by a tall handsome man who had a bouquet of red flowers in hand...dont worry J - it was only Tootys husband Rene and the flowers were for Mum! The Leemkers live 40mins away from the airport and as every minute went by my nerves were acting up - this was it, I felt like a kid in a candy store. We arrived and out they walked, Tooty looking beautiful as ever - turns out the European sun does a person good - hhmm...and my little Tristan. He is a mini version of Tooty and Rene, white as a sheet, big brown eyes and curly brown locks. We spent most of yesterday just hanging out and getting Mr.Tristan used to us. This morning we ventured out into Utercht, its the 4th largest city in Holland; its full of culture, canals and tourists. The sun was shining, everyone was out and about. We then got to see the country side of Amsterdam, fields full of sheep, horses and grass greener than I have ever seen it before.

When we got back; my cousins husband had to drop my cousin for her Dutch exam & I got my first taste of parenthood. Tristan is not used to not having both his parents not around at the same time so off Tooty went and passed him to me. While my mum was cooking, Dad & Vanessa watching a football game I had to stop Tristan from crying - or I would go deaf. After 30mins of showing him birds and all sorts of toys I finally - yes! single handily - managed to calm him down! (you can start applauding now!) ppphheewww...kids...I don't know if I want to venture there - Schanell, you are it!

We met the Sr.Leemkers later in the evening; lovely people who I have managed to crack a deal with - I will teach Mrs.Leemker speak English, if she in turn teaches me dutch...Pretty fair trade I would say.

Tomorrow shall be an eventful day:
Tristan turns the big O N E
and We head to Dublin...

In the meantime - its night time for me:
So to you - who it is the same: Slaap lekker - Sleep well,
and to you whos' day is just beginning: Haede Dag - Good day!

(I apologize for the lack of punctuation - laptop is a bit wonkey)...