We're Booked!

Probably shouldn't make that big a deal of it, but going home at Christmas is now the next thing. Heading back on the 18th of December, to return on New Year's Day. Kinda sucks about the return part, but getting a non-stop flight was a bit of a challenge, otherwise we might have tried for say the 2nd or 3rd.

Whatever.

Meanwhile, we had been invited to a late lunch on Saturday afternoon at the home of one of Gabe's associates from the company that cannot be named.
Had a sampling of East Indian food. Pretty good stuff actually, even though I realise that the Mrs. had toned it done somewhat in the spice department. (these guys like it hot!)
What's the deal with folks from the hot climates liking hot food? I did have a couple moments there where the sweat did jump out on my scalp.

Yikes.



Before getting there though, we had to stop in to a children's clothing store in Hengelo for a couple things for a new niece that we had the pleasure of seeing when we were home in September.

 That's Clara Bea,  who was born on September 2nd.

She's a keeper.


 I couldn't seem to find a website for the clothing place,  but you get the idea if you go to the link... Lief!

Any gentlemen out there reading along will agree with me when I say that,  buying children's clothes is one of those things that a lot of women really,  really ....really like to do.   I'm sure we could do a study on the release of endorphins in the female human brain right at that moment when they pick up some tiny little plush garment and gasp,  "Isn't that just the dearest?"


....to which one dutifully replies,  "yes,  dear."





Now,  out of consideration for my tolerance,  my travelling companion was at least a little more matter of fact,  but just observe when two women folk are shopping together.....you'll see what I mean.

I'm just saying.


Anyway, the folks that we were visiting have a couple boys, and the story is that the younger guy is pretty active, so Dad very wisely went out and bought him a little train set to keep him occupied during our stay. Pretty good strategy actually. He was pretty determined to run the wheels off that thing...

 

When it came to the food,  it was a mix of pretty danged hot,  with a few things thrown in to "bring down the heat",  as our host explained.  The stuff in the bowl there was a chicken dish which reminded me of babi-pangang,  which is an Indonesian dish,  but this was chicken and not pork.

 Hey,  what do I know?

All in all the afternoon was an enjoyable experience,  with the exception that,  we once again discovered,  as we did in Puerto Rico,  that we've befriended some very nice people,  and are about to leave the country.

We did at least invite them to Vienna,  with the idea being that they could use the apartment when we are in Canada.  We could possibly have an overlap there for a brief visit. 

The "or not" part of Stressfree travel.

Now that Gabe is safely back here in Kikkerland,  I figured I'd add a few little snippets on the other side of the story.
See,  she had to head to the airport on Monday morning,  and while the original plan was for me to simply drive her there,  we had this notion that it would be way better for her to take the train.  There's a non-stop to Schiphol at 7:07 I think it is.

All was going to plan,  except for the minor annoyance of not having a ticket ahead of time,  which had always been the practise for business travel up to this point.  So that meant trying to extract a ticket from one of the ticket machines at the station,  since the office for ticket sales hadn't yet opened when we got there at around 6:50. 
If you do happen to go to that website,  I'd just like to say that I don't totally agree with the first statement,  since the machine doesn't accept any other credit card other than some sort of "maestro master card"  and a bank card from a Dutch bank....
That's it.   No Visa,  no other master card,  and certainly not American Express.   Can't say I'd blame them on that last one,  since dealing with Amex can get pricey.
Needless to say,  I've never ever had a great deal of success getting tickets out of the darned things.
Turns out,  last Monday morning was no exception.

Just so happens I had left the house without a set of glasses,  and since I'm the only one of the two of us who has the slightest clue what's going on in Dutch, we made a fine pair.
After a couple attempts,  we managed to get what looked like a ticket to come out of the thing,  but by then it was time to head for the tracks.  There was then the question of which train was the right one,  so in spite of being parked in a not so very good location (they've moved the "kiss and ride"  way over on the side!)  we raced together for the tracks,  one flight up.
Fine,  that was easy,  it's clearly marked,  so I decide to go.
My "job" for the day,  was to get some funds into our Dutch bank account,  since it was dangerously low.  It did seem a little odd that there was even enough money in there to purchase a first class train ticket,  but  no matter,  we did get a "ticket"  to come out of the machine.
Well,  not really.
It was just a little slip of paper (looked exactly like a train ticket!)  saying we didn't have enough money in the account.
It's a wonder the conductor didn't kick her off,  but I guess the genuine look of surprise on Gabe's face when she handed over her "ticket" was met with a certain amount of compassion.  Besides,  there was no ticket checking until she was almost at her destination,  so she was told she could go and pay for her ride once she got to the airport.

Ah, ya.  We'll get right on that.


As far as I know,  the rest of the day went fine.  I mean,  I did my banking,  Gabe caught her train to Vienna, and I didn't hear from her until much later in the evening.
Turns out there was some sort of convention or other in Vienna,  and hotel rooms were
 hard to come by.  If there's an Austrian equivalent of the Day's Inn,  my guess is that it would be this place. The MÜLLNER Landgasthof
First of all,  there's a difference between a "hotel"  and a "Gasthof".  It can be sometimes a slight one,  but sometimes it's a big difference.  A Gasthof is usually family run,  and most usually frequented by locals.  In any case,  it should be clean enough so that you don't feel you need to keep your socks on all night.....

No matter how hard I looked,  on Tripadvisor or Booking.com,  I couldn't find one single person who had stayed there.  The only reviews I did find,  were on one site called "trivago",  which I had never seen in my life, and the one and only reviewer on that site spoke of having to brush the ants off her legs when using the WC in the morning.  I think you get the idea.
Oh,  and it's a good thing she grabbed those two bananas on the way out the door in the morning,  since there was nothing on offer at the "hof".
They didn't even have anyone at the desk after eight p.m.,  and when Gabe had packed up and was going to leave in the morning (she was supposed to stay there all week)  there wasn't even anyone there then either!  Her leaving was most likely precipitated by the fact that there was no place to eat,  and then there was a mysterious knocking on her door late in the evening.
In the grand scheme of things,  all of this could have been nicely avoided if there hadn't been quite so much foot dragging (might have been knuckle dragging,  now that I think on it)  on the part of the various entities that were supposed to get us to Austria in a timely fashion.  We should have moved already!
Honestly!  The new job started in July.   It's now October.

And don't get me started about the Day's Inn either.


It just so happens that she has another office up in Shrems,  and one of the marketting guys was headed there for a couple days,  so she decided to tag along.  Turns out there are a couple nice little hotels in Shrems,  and they also offer something to eat when you get there at the end of the day.

Amazing.

The things you bring.

First of all, I have to say that there will be far more interesting posts once we get established in Vienna.
This is just one of those things that I'm sure nobody really thinks about, but it's kind of along the lines of the deodorant entry I did way back when.
Just over a year ago, to be exact.

Not long after moving in, I came to realise that I'd need to kill off the odd fly now and again. There's not a lot of flying bugs here, but there are also no screens on the windows....

So off I go, in search of a vliegenmepper, and managed to find such a critter at a sort of a dollar store type of place at the far end of town. Mind you, some things were considerably more than just a couple Euros, and I'm pretty sure I paid two or three for the pitiful thing I ended up bringing home.

What an abomination.

Who thought they should reinvent the flyswatter? How much cheaper can you get than a metal stick with some rubber on the end?
The pitiful thing on the left is what they use around here. It has a plastic handle. Just doesn't develop enough "moment" to really whack the crap out of a fly.


So....... I brought a proper one over in my suitcase. It's the one on the right. See? Wire handle.

(I would so dearly love for customs or whoever to go through my stuff, so I could tell them in no uncertain terms just why I have to bring my own contraptions.....)



This wasn't something I "planned" or wrote down on a list, it's just one of those things that, when I spotted the thing hanging by the back door where it's been for many years, it was going in the suitcase.

Hey, if the kids let any flies in the house, they're on their own. Sorry.

Now I know you're shaking your head and thinking, "Crap, this guy is getting desperate", but it sometimes can be the little things that can make the difference. By that I mean, the difference between relative sanity and becoming a complete nut case.
I do recall the deodorant entry struck a nerve with a fellow Ex-pat. You just have to be here.

The other thing that "went in the suitcase", was a particular dust collecting sweeping device that I'm pretty sure we have two or three of, so buying another one over here was out of the question.
Not only that, but my daughter is now selling these nifty little covers that are reuasable, since the problem with these "dust collecting sweeping devices" is, the dust covers are normally disposable.
I've never been keen on the "disposable" part, which is why I would tend to use them until the bitter end. (nasty)

Here's new and improved:

I'm not about to mention any trade names, but you can gather what I'm talking about if you click on the link and have a close look.
I wouldn't be advocating these covers if I thought they didn't work, and at first I was slightly sceptical, but there's something about the fabric that makes them real dust magnets, and when they get dirty, can be removed, washed and reused. Not only environmentally sound, but perfect for an old el cheapo like me. (hate buying those swif....oops, almost said it, "throw-away dust covers"!)

What follows is a shameless plug: You too can have your very own environmentally sound dust magnet sweeper cover thingies by going over to her site on Etsy and making a purchase.
Just click the link and follow the instructions. I think she's even still shipping for free in Canada, but you'd better check on that.

Now, in case you figure that's too hard to manage, I'll even put in a link to the page that the items are on.....here
Does that work for you?

OK, so the little flowers are some sort of "chick" thing, and I could probably do with out them, but really, you're sweeping the floor with it. Who cares?

Besides, it's a one handed operation, so if you feel you need assert your masculinity, you can always sweep with some sort of libation in the other hand.....