#and technically germany but only in a layover

[loptgangandi]

OH BOY GUYS HAVE I GOT A MUN-DAY STORY FOR YOU

( tl;dr I was refused entry into my mom’s home country, spent the night in an airport terminal during a pandemic, made friends with the son of one of my mom’s colleagues who just so happened to be in the exact same situation because the universe has a sense of humor, and was eventually allowed into the country because I had understood the regulations properly and the border guards had not.)

So it all started on Thursday, when my mom -- an epidemiologist working on COVID -- told me to come home ASAP because Switzerland (where she lives) was about to close its borders and had already restricted entry to anyone from neighboring states: first Italy, then Austria, Germany, and France as well.

I had already booked tickets for early April, so I called the airline, and they helped me rebook for the end of March -- the earliest I could come without paying huge fees. 

Cut to Friday. I wake up to 4 missed calls and a zillion texts from my mom informing me that she had booked me on a flight for the following day -- Saturday.

With a layover in Germany.

As I had spent a good 40 minutes the previous day on the phone trying to avoid layovers in France and Germany, I was a little miffed. And worried. But the airline had assured my mother that:  a) the new restrictions on Germany wouldn’t go into effect until Sunday, and  b) since airport terminals are international territory, I technically would not have actually been in Germany.  After some deliberation, I agreed to come home immediately. As in, Saturday. As in, the next day. The 21st. A day before Switzerland’s travel restrictions on Germany were supposed to go into effect (according to the airline, and I’m not sure what their source was).

You might already see where this is going.

I arrived at Frankfurt airport after a frankly very surreal trip -- both the flight and the original airport, which was a ghost town -- and was told by the gate agents that I couldn’t board the plane because Swiss border control would refuse me. After a bit of back and forth -- during which I switched from English to German, which got them to be a bit more helpful -- they realized that yes, indeed, citizens and residents of Schengen countries (excluding Germany, France, Italy, and Austria) were exempted from the border restrictions. This included me, as I’m a resident of Sweden. 

They let me on the plane, but I was seriously worried -- because given the general environment of confusion, I had no faith that Swiss border control would know more than the Frankfurt gate agents. You’d assume they’d be informed on some things, but lets face it -- uniformed and armed people tend not to be very good at subtlety and legal minutiae, so who could know. 

The one thing that can be said for the overwhelming, anxious rage I felt when the Swiss border control told me I couldn’t enter the country was that it absolutely K.O’d the part of my brain that tends to overthink my language skills and inhibit my ability to speak languages I’m not fluent in -- and I made my case in very good French. I have never spoken French so well as when I was talking to the cop I’d been palmed off to and explaining to him why I was right and they were all wrong. My mom also insisted on talking to him, and after some hesitation -- which probably had less to do with touching my potentially virus-infested phone and more to do with being on the receiving end of a middle-aged mom’s wrath -- he took the call. I offered to put it on speaker and hold it so he wouldn’t have to, but he took the phone, and argued with my mom all the way through the airport. 

He seemed basically sympathetic and like he wanted to help, but his mantra was always the same: “I have my orders, I don’t know anything beyond what I’ve been told and I can’t disobey my orders.” He told mom the name of the organization to call to help out with this, but didn’t have a number for them, and couldn’t provide any other support. He was polite enough, but “polite” wasn’t going to get me home.

Where it got me was locked down tight in the airport international terminal with 10 other people who have also been turned away. 

Luckily, the terminal is massive, so there was plenty of room to maintain distance. 

The cops assured me that they would handle my suitcase and took my documents -- passport, Swedish residency card, and boarding passes from my trip (so they could make my flight reservations, they said, but there was probably more to it) -- and left me there.

An international airport at midnight during a pandemic is pretty much the definition of a liminal space. Every other seat in the gate waiting areas had a strip of red and white police tape running over it, back to front, and tied off at the top of the seat back to ensure that people would maintain proper distance and not sit next to each other. The music was on at a volume that, during the day, was probably appropriate to be unobtrusive over the ambient sounds of a living airport, but which in a locked-down terminal was unbelievably annoying. The lights were dim enough that there were still dark corners, and you could look around without your eyeballs melting out of your face. The only sounds (apart from the music) were the hum of the vending machines (our only food and drink options until the cafe opened at 5:30 the next morning) and the soft shuffling of people trying to get comfortable and get some sleep on the rock-hard, probably COVID-contaminated seat rows. 

We were given nothing. No hand sanitizer, no water (apart from what you could buy from the vending machines), no blankets or pillows. Nothing. We had access to bathrooms with hand soap, but you had to touch the dispensers with the heel of your hand. The paper towel dispensers also weren’t automatic, so you had to touch them to get the paper towels out. There was one janitor who came in around 1 AM to clean the whole terminal, which obviously wasn’t sufficient. 

I’m tough. I’ve been in some incredibly crappy situations, and at least we were warm and safe inside, and I wasn’t physically uncomfortable. I had some money to buy water, food, and later in the morning, coffee, and I figured out how to wash my hands without touching anything. But the fact that we were left in an almost certainly contaminated public space with no precautionary measures and no support for an extended amount of time -- 9 hours in my case -- was absolutely infuriating. And dangerous. And I am almost definitely going to get sick, probably because of that. 

Which only made me more determined to get home. If I was going to get sick, I was going to do it in a place where I could be taken care of and nursed back to health, instead of someone else’s apartment where I just rent a room and would have had a much larger radius of contamination (my landlady/flatmate has kids and grandkids and is still going to work). 

The issue, as the immigration cop had told me, came down to the fact that I had flown in from Germany. 

Even though I hadn’t set foot on German soil, I had been in a German airport, and that was apparently enough. If I had flown in from any other Schengen country (apart from France, Austria, or Italy), I could have entered with no problem, since I have Swedish residency. 

There was an obvious loophole there: while Sweden had no flights to that city for the following day (Sunday), Netherlands did. Brussels and Czechia did. 

So while my mom contacted the immigration authority in Bern, I booked a refundable flight for 9 PM Sunday evening from Amsterdam to my mom’s city, and would request that they send me to Amsterdam instead of Stockholm. The plan was basically to make a big loop and enter through a country they deemed acceptable. The irony wasn’t lost on me -- that I would risk further contamination by city-hopping in order to loop around and end up back where I started -- but the police had prevented me from just getting into my mom’s car and self-quarantining at her apartment, which had been the original plan, so I didn’t have much of a choice.

All that was left now was to wait -- in a non-sterile, contaminated airport terminal playing the most mediocre pop album-filler of the ‘70s and ‘80s. 

The only thing that made it bearable was that I made a friend. 

Around 1 AM, a 20-something Japanese dude in dress pants and a polo shirt shows up on our side of the terminal from the opposite end, wanting to know if we were also bothered by the music and if he should call someone about shutting it off. He wouldn’t bother if it was just him, so he wanted to see if it was collective. I agreed, and after a few failed attempts, we miraculously managed to reach someone who said they would do what they could to turn off the music. 

We got talking (and moved away from the people trying to sleep), and it turns out that it’s a small world and we were in an even smaller city, because our mothers work in the same department, were extremely close colleagues about 10 years ago, and still work together occasionally. I immediately recognized her name.

Turns out, this dude and I had both gone to school and done the IB in the same city. We both have moms working on COVID, dads living in our countries of origin (Japan for him, US for me), and younger sisters. He had also been turned away, despite having documentation that should have given him leave to enter. So there we were, stuck in that situation together, waiting to be deported and with our passports held hostage by the authorities.

We talked for six straight hours about every topic we could think of. Travel, food, relationships, siblings and family in general, COVID, electric cars, how our respective countries are reacting to COVID, racism and xenophobia (worsened by COVID -- he had an example from that same day), bosses and managers and how our offices are (and, in my case, had been) run, the pros and cons of wearing medical masks if you’re not showing symptoms of COVID, dry hands from all of the washing to avoid COVID, politics, our respective cultures and business cultures, depression and mental illness, natural disasters we had lived through, etc. “Ah fuck I’ve got COVID in my eye” became a bit of a running joke throughout the morning, as we became increasingly tired and our eyes increasingly dry, prompting runs to the bathroom to clear them out and wash our hands. We had both basically resigned ourselves to catching it -- it was just a matter of trying to pass it on to as few people as possible, preferably 0. 

Around 7 AM, my new friend -- let’s call him Mike -- points out that a guard is making a beeline towards us, and he’s not holding his passport. I look, and it’s mine, and I prepare myself to argue for them to send me to Amsterdam instead of Sweden. He tells me he had just come over to see me and make sure that I was still there (??? he had my passport where was I going to go??), and he would be back in 15 minutes to let me know whether or not I could enter Switzerland. 

I was completely baffled, because that option hadn’t even crossed my mind. I had been operating 100% on the assumption that I was going to be put on a plane. And Mike was happy for me, but also pretty miffed, because they had already booked a flight for him but our circumstances were pretty much identical. He had documentation proving extenuating circumstances, and I have Swedish residency and never set foot on German soil. The only difference between us is that he’s Japanese, and I’m white. I agreed that it was almost definitely a xenophobia thing, and told him that if I got in, I’d vouch for him. 

15 minutes later the cop (this one was very compassionate and borderline sweet compared to the ones we’d dealt with the previous night) comes back and tells me I could go through. I gather my stuff, and explain to him about Mike. The cop looks puzzled, but promises that he’ll make some calls and try to sort it out, and I should come with him. He takes me through to get my suitcase and escorts me to the exit, where he welcomes me to Switzerland with a big smile. 

I called my mom and settled in to wait for her to pick me up. Ten minutes later, Mike tells he’s also been allowed through. My mom (who had literally rolled out of bed in her pajamas, thrown on a coat and shoes, and jumped in the car) and I offered him a ride, but he had called his mom immediately and she was coming to get him. I didn’t see him again -- my mom arrived before he came through -- but we’ve been in touch, and both of us got home safe. 

Now my mom and I are completely self-quarantined with the cats, and honestly, it’s wonderful. We’re not leaving the house except for the occasional walk. I slept 12 hours last night. My mom is plying me with tea to make sure I’m hydrated as we wait for me to get sick, and I spent the 6 hours recording this whole nonsense saga for posterity.

tl;dr I was refused entry into my mom’s home country, spent the night in an airport terminal during a pandemic, and made friends with the son of one of my mom’s colleagues who just so happened to be in the exact same situation

[fromthedeskofelizabeththird]

ABOUT ME TAG!

I was tagged by @flatsuke!!! 

the rules are:

1. Tag the person who tagged you

2. Answer the questions.

3. Tag 10 people

•How tall are you?

I’m about 5′5...a hobbit!

•What color and style is your hair?

Wavy brown hair with a fringe/bangs for all you Muricans. It’s basically the exact same style and colour as every otome heroine ever lmao.

•What color are your eyes?

Brown and I’m salty about it, since everyone else in my family has such beautiful eyes-my grandma had hazel eyes, my other grandma has blue eyes, my mum has green eyes and in the end I inherited my dad’s dfgdgfd.

•Do you wear glasses?

Yes, and I might as well be blind without them. I can’t see my laptop/phone screen or my face in the bathroom mirror without them. Sometimes I open my apps when I’m just waking up and to see the screen I have to basically hold my phone an inch or so from my nose.

•Do you wear braces?

I did! I had a top and bottom set when I was a teenager. They hurt so BAD.

•What’s your fashion sense?

Mostly loose, comfy clothes and heavy boots.

•Full name?

Well my first name is Louise. My surname is technically wrong because my paternal grandpa was adopted and so we took on the name of his adopted father. His real, birth one is weird and unfamiliar and my paternal grandpa was a major asshole so we never use it, but it’s Cardwell or Cardingwell or something like that.

•When were you born?

April 18th 1989! I’m told it was snowing around that time.

•Where are you from and where do you live now?

I’m from England and begrudgingly still live there

•What school do you go to?

I don’t anymore, but I used to attend DeMontfort university in Leicester, which is pretty infamous now for being a five minute walk from where they found the body of King Richard III

•What kind of student are you?

Honestly I was fucking weird and a massive procrastinator, so nothing much has changed :P

•Do you like school?

I didn’t at the time but I miss it so much now. I wish I could go back and do my first degree again.

•Favorite subject?

It was Creative writing- so much so that I took it as my major 

•Favorite TV show?

I don’t really have a favourite, but I just finished Umbrella Academy and really enjoyed it.

•Favorite Movie?

Pan’s Labyrinth!

I also have a soft spot for the Brendan Fraser version of The Mummy (though only 1&2), the LOTR/Hobbit movies and the very first Avengers movie. It’s kind of a running gag that when me and my best friend aren’t sure what movie to watch we always pick Avengers.

•Favorite books?

Company of Liars or any of Philippa Gregory’s tudor court series, probably.

•Favorite pastime?

Writing, playing vidya games and watching TV.

•Do you have any regrets?

Oh boy yes.

•Dream job?

I’d love to be a food/hotel critic or a travel blogger. Imagine being paid to stay in five star hotels and advertise scuba gear. That sounds awesome, I’ll take twenty.

•Would you ever like to be married?

Not really. I mean, my parents aren’t married and they’re like the only couple in my family who’ve stayed together so they must have done something right.

•Would you like to have kids?

Honestly, I’d rather just get a dog or something

•How many?

None

•Do you like shopping?

Online, yes. In person, no. Well. I guess it depends on the place, since me and my best friend went into every shop in Disneyland and I loved it

•What countries have you visited?

Including layovers:

Australia, Belgium, Brussels, Canada, Dubai, France, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Thailand, USA, Wales 

•Scariest nightmare you have ever had?

I don’t really have nightmares very often, but I have had a recurring dream for the past ten years about being out somewhere and unable to get home.

•Any enemies?

Hmmm, not really lol. I mean there’s people I really don’t like, but I feel like calling them an enemy is a waste of energy on my part.

•Any significant other?

Nah lol, unless you count otome boys, but for the most part I prefer it that way.

•Do you believe in miracles?

Yes, I do

•How are you?

I’m exhausteD My best friend and I did so much walking and climbing towers and things in Paris and then I got my period the day we went to Disneyland and caught a pretty bad cold like. Two days later. LMAO. So I’m still catching up on rest from all of that.

Tagging....anyone who wants to do it :D

[snow-slayer]

2017 in Review

I know it’s almost the end of January 2018, but better late than never??? Too bad, here’s some highlights.

First off, for those who were wondering, these hands have typed the word “babe” (in fanfiction) 1,251 times (and “baby” 93 times) in 231 pages of Scaramouche trash. I don’t know what you want to do with this information, nor do I know what I’m going to do with it, but those are the statistics.

I started off the year strong by knocking out my first 1,500 puzzle with @nah-young, which is good practice since my graduation present to myself if a 40,320 Disney puzzle. The box itself is huge ... 

As January came to an end, I managed to somehow get through finals. Plus, one day, I was “2% pancake” (lol, thanks again @arrowhearts for being my transportation as I donated blood for the first time!). I also played Mario and Luigi Superstar (compliments of @arrowhearts).

February was more grinding through classes. I was supposed to be a part time student, but the way I took classes was basically like a full time student? I survived, somehow (barely). Also completed my first redraw! I think I improved a lot since the first version of Yu-Gi-Oh. On a side note, it’s funny because I started working on what I thought was my Halloween costume, but in March ...

I became obsessed with Scaramouche. I don’t have cable, so I was watching the return of Samurai Jack on YouTube. The way the episode was cut, I heard Scaramouche utter two words before the video cut off. I thought I hated his voice, and then he said it again and I feel in love and adopted him as one of my evil sons. Also, there went my Halloween plans as I scrapped them for Scaramouche. I don’t think I’ve ever changed in the middle of the year. Also, we had a warm day and I don’t know if I was at the height of my accounting carreer, or the lowest point, but I watched my lecture videos sitting out on the back porch, dog in lap, margarita in hand. Is this not the life of an accountant?

April brought on the landscaping season. Still busy as usual, plus with new clients. The good news: I found an old chimney cover at one of my job sites that they were going to throw out and it was perfect for my Scaramouche costume.

Wow, was May busy. I went to my first ever comic con (don’t judge me if it was at a high school hosted by my library system. I churned out the Scaramouche costume in two months for it and won most creative costume). Also, I traveled out of the country for the first time in my life! I went to France! It was part of my global residency, but it was so much fun. My unique cheeses eaten to churches visited ratio was 10:9 and I was the “metro master” in my group (I got seven of us to the Eiffel tower with three train switches and back!). Had an extra day in Germany because I missed my layover on the way home and someone decided to smoke in the hotel room at 2 am X) ...

June left me so busy. I worked with my dad a lot (even though he terrified me by making me seal a deck that was on the second story, and the only way to reach it was to climb a ladder and swing your legs over the railing to get on it. FYI, I’m terrified of heights). 

I took an actual vacation in July. Went down to the beach with my parents and drank a few margaritas on the beach while people shot off fire works way to close to us. 

August and September was a frantic rush to work on my costume. I don’t know what my coat was made of, but it took three cans of spray paint and two bottles of dye, and still wasn’t purple enough. Is it sucking it to a different dimension? Also, bratjedi0 got me hooked on Franmouche. I haven’t had a new OTP in years, but I’m obsessed.

October :) Scrambled enough to get my costume together. A remade version of Scaramouche hit campus and the streets on Halloween. 

Tried to write in November and failed. Also, I had to deal with a tax professor who didn’t know how to write a syllabus, answer email, or get due dates right. Oh what fun ...

The tax professor saga continued into December. Somehow, miriacously (and after he switched the grade weights three times) I ... passed? Technically? But not really. I’ll take it, but ... no. I did turn 23. Spent the day in kindergarten, then spent the weekend before Christmas partying with some friends!

[justforustravel-blog]

The Most Complicated Airports In The World 10 - #Airports, #AmsterdamAirportSchiphol, #ClarkAirport, #DomodedovoInternationalAirport, #DubaiInternationalAirport, #EiffelTower, #FetchTheStringOfKnottyAirport, #FrenchAirport, #GuarulhosInternationalAirport, #JFK, #JFKAirport, #LouvreMuseum, #ManilaNinoyAquinoInternationalAirport, #MoscowSheremetyevoAirport, #NewJersey, #NewYorkSJohnFKennedyAirport, #OrlyAirport, #ParisCharlesDeGaulleAirport3Terminal, #RioDeJaneiro, #SabihaGokcenAirport, #SaoPaulo, #SaoPauloCongonhasAirport, #ViennaAirport, #ZurichInternationalAirport

New Post has been published on http://justforustravel.com/2017/10/05/the-most-complicated-airports-in-the-world-10/

The Most Complicated Airports In The World 10

a large part of modern pilgrims performing their journey on the plane now. Each aircraft engine or have the equipment, even though not much power to say the same thing for Airports. We have made a list of the most complicated airports in the world, with a slight change of plan and no time to go to the front of negative experiences travel by plane, don’t hate.

  1) New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK)

The”New World” your dreams before you even start if you do not want to turn into a nightmare, stay away from the airport regardless. Approaching full-day delay, lost baggage, and perhaps a visa for detailed control by the police “waiting room” to hear happy stories about this airport such as power alikonulmak temporarily…almost…

I don’t recommend even if you are only going to transfer from JFK Airport. Miss your flight during a short transfer time, it can ruin your trip.

alternative: Definitely Newark Liberty (THIRD)! Don’t mind that technically is in the state of New Jersey (there is a direct train service to New York City) is half an hour journey and extend your holiday enjoyable but the start/end.

2) Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport 3. Terminal (CDG)

fell in their way, all those pictures in your head of Paris; the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Notre Dame Church and go to the bridge cafe and sip your wine by looking at the “fink of throw you want. You’re making a completely false start. Because CDG 3. The name probably Terminal “3. Takes from the world. (Wrong, don’t get 3. We don’t have a problem with the world, but this is the only French airport terminal planners “very hoslasmad” they are the citizens of the country and you want to remove the problem at the entrance is allocated.)

if you insist on it still, however, the horrors of the passage that you will use to switch to the lower main terminal, and bus journeys of the “excitement” I’ll leave you to it.

alternative: Orly Airport (ORY) both silent and calm. The distance to Paris it’s not that bad.

  3) Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO)

That does not include entry to the airport, the airport is able to understand why on the list: the rest of the airport terminal that will create delays that are so far away you think or don’t think. Get your reservation now key. A lot of people ply vodka this airport.

alternative: at Domodedovo International Airport Nearby try. More about him “less bad”, you can be sure that you will.

  4) Zurich International Airport (ZRH)

is one of the world’s least crowded and most expensive airports. Depending on the time of Flight, You may have to walk alone through an entire hallway. In the food court food is tasteless, although only a soup, be sure to review at least 30 pounds.

alternative: don’t come to Zurich by plane. Basel (BSL) buy a cheap tickets for trains leave the rest. Note that you are free to watch trains comfortable Alpine scenery.

  5) at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)

An airport that closes at midnight bears the burden of the world’s weather how is it possible? Especially if you have planned a trip to Amsterdam you will arrive at night, the Netherlands full minutes, you may have to sleep on the street to kidnap one of the trains and the shield. Also the duty-free area in some areas in infamous you can be with your money. Even if you don’t have a ticket because they don’t sell the water transfer.

alternative: serious question, when Amsterdam Schiphol can be an alternative. If the transfer if you are going to Frankfurt might be an option. Other than that, we recommend a flight in the morning. Comfortable chairs and plenty of leisure time to the airport…

  6) Dubai International Airport (DXB)

one of the busiest airports in the world, although it’s not even possible to sit here almost without money. Internet service was slow, and the food is incredibly expensive visiting the city during a long layover out of pocket for $ 90 visa, you need to remove the money, close to. Yes, there’s even a swimming pool in the airport, but only if you have the money. It’s not enough Turkish Lira, dinar hundreds is barely good enough.

alternative: If you think of it as a transfer if you prefer direct flights, perhaps it may be more economical. If you’ve come to Dubai so special, “sweat into the bath than saying” We don’t have any other advice unfortunately.

  7) Vienna Airport (VIE)

The Small, tedious and expensive. It’s too bad the lounge. Also not comfortable. And, unfortunately, it’s not quiet such as Zurich. Also after check-in, you are unable to eat or drink nothing, let me remind you that the cafe is not found in the area. If you want to share your travel photos, without check-in outside (in the cold or heat), you’ll have to hang out.

alternative: note that it is almost 1 hour away from Bratislava to Vienna. Enjoy hitting two birds on a plane. In Germany, uncle/uncle ones he might try to come in Via Munich.

  8) Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)

stands in front of you in one of the world’s most dangerous airports. Manila is the capital of the Philippines into the world of the main air gate of this herb, which when the roof collapsed in 2011, 2 people were injured. According to the saying of those who travel, the toilets of the airport theft events that are happening and often doesn’t work well.

alternative: Clark Airport in Manila Again.

9) Sao Paulo Congonhas Airport (CGH)

Airlines flight 3054 full does it ring a bell to anyone? From the runway at the airport in 2007, an Airbus A320-233, by entering into a hangar 181 passengers and 6 cabin crew cost the lives of 19 employees as well as full. This accident, made history as the largest airline disaster in Brazil. Also, it was the deadliest accident caused an Airbus A320 worldwide. By all accounts, the airport’s runways are a little short, since the takeoff and landing problems are still happening.

alternative: Sao Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). Or instead, you can start your trip from Rio de Janeiro.

  10) Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW)

(on my most recent flight, describing the density of a square.)

finally, maybe we need to sink our own packing. Cheap flights Ataturk Airport travelers are often made in hopes of easing the burden of the throne in the heart of many modern setupthis tiny Airport now, unfortunately, the transportation to be very difficult (even hours to find the service from the center of Istanbul, arrival times and the traffic situation), on the capacity of the passenger by accepting to be constantly crowded, vicious and steadily growing queues for a passport, duty-free doesn’t deserve a little criticism with options?

alternative: from the standpoint of price on overseas flights there aren’t alternatives. Maybe in the Off season to travel can be considered. Campaign for domestic flights at Atatürk Airport, a flight can be traced.

fetch the string of knotty Airport

– plan your trip very well. Prepare by calculating intervals for the transfer.

– cheap airline tickets the ticket may not be always the most profitable. By paying only a little more, or wait for hours in front of the airport you can get it adversely.

– create a travel kit for yourself for any situation. Check out what you can do to convey.

[touristguidebuzz]

Amazon Echo Hears a Challenge From Google in Voice-Powered Travel Search

Okay, Alexa and Google: Which voice-enabled speaker will win the travel search wars? Skift

Skift Take: Despite the hype, neither the Amazon Echo nor the Google Home is delivering the goods yet for voice-command travel research. Google's effort has the most promise, though.

— Sean O'Neill

On Tuesday Amazon aimed to retain its dominance in the sales of voice-powered Internet devices by beginning to take orders for a new device, Echo Show, which has a screen and basic video-conferencing features.

Amazon leads the market for voice-activated personal assistants. Analysts estimate that the company has sold between 8 million and 11 million of its speakers since all-but-pioneering the device category in 2014.

But Google has gained ground since it launched a competitor device, Google Home, last November. Earlier this week research firm eMarketer estimated that Google has already gained the second-highest market share, at 24 percent.

Last month Google added several flight-search commands to Google Home. Users can ask general questions, such as how much flights to a particular city or country cost.

In Skift’s tests of Google Home and Amazon Echo, neither device wowed. The biggest drawback is that none of them yet allow voice-powered flight or hotel booking.

Google’s interface offers some advantages over Amazon’s.

For instance, a person can say, “Okay, Google, how much are flights to Montreal?” and get baseline results from one’s local airport. Google Home will ask questions about the person’s preferred dates of travel and will offer to set up email alerts to track flight prices for a general location or date (though not yet a specific flight or airline).

Amazon depends on third-parties to develop its travel “skills,” or basic functions. Kayak has the best of these, in Skift’s tests. But a person must speak the awkward phrase, “Alexa, ask Kayak how much are flights to Montreal?” and then be guided through prompts to name ideal travel dates.

Kayak offers helpful context, such as the difference in starting prices for flights, breaking out nonstop flights from flights with layovers. But it doesn’t offer email alerts via Echo.

One way that Google Home has an advantage over Amazon Echo is in the ability to tap into other data if a consumer is a user of Google services like Gmail and Calendar. Google Home can pull up itinerary information saved in those services, which makes it faster to check on flight status for a particular trip — regardless of whatever website the trip was booked through.

In contrast, Kayak can only find and fetch information on trips booked through its website or mobile app.

Google’s edge

If Google can get its act together, then it will leverage the data it has collected and analyzed as a search engine to provide superior results at the travel inspirational level (such as when consumers are deciding where to go given a budget) and at the practical, day-of-travel level (such as what’s the status of the flight a traveler is taking today).

A year ago, the Mountain View, CA-based giant said it was making a large investment in conversational interfaces and the artificial intelligence that lies behind such interfaces.

Presumably Google Home will soon incorporate the destination recommendation advice that the search giant rolled out a year ago.

Comparing vacation package prices, something Google is experimenting with among some desktop users in Europe, might also lend itself well to the rough-and-ready, total budget type of estimates a person using a voice-enabled device may want while washing the proverbial dishes.

Amazon’s pervasiveness and early lead

It’s a truism is that people’s favorite device is the one they use the most, not necessarily the one with the best features. Witness how camera phones have all-but-replaced digital cameras with more powerful lenses and other features.

In that context, Amazon has positioned itself well when it comes to sales of voice-based assistants, particularly in the U.S., the UK, and Germany.

It’s curious how travel, so far, has not been a popular planning activity among the users of Echo devices. As of today, travel doesn’t make it into Amazon’s list of the most popular Alexa skills.

One problem is that most of the 250 “travel and transportation skills” listed are wastes of time, in Skift’s testing and judgment.

Screens May Be a Travel Game-Changer

Amazon’s move to add a 7-inch touch screen to the Echo may mean that its partners such as Kayak will be able to add search results in response to user queries in a more digestible fashion.

Given the complexity of travel, having more than just one or two results to a query can improve the confidence of the user that the results are worthwhile.

For example, in a test today of the non-screen Echo, we asked Kayak, via Alexa, for a hotel recommendation in Miami for this June. Kayak, via Echo, suggested just one hotel, across a half-dozen searches for different dates, in some sort of software glitch.

Via Kayak, Echo says, “Looking for rooms in Miami from June 16 to June 18, a top result is the Mandarin Oriental, Miami, a five-star hotel close to the city center with excellent reviews for $293 per night. Would you like to do another search?”

As the example shows, the voice-based nature of Echo’s results limits how many listings are named, which reduces a customer’s confidence in the quality of the results.

Yet the screen on the new Echo Show could provide a handful of search results, if Kayak and other partners choose to build the capabilities to supply those results. That might improve a user’s confidence in the narrowed down recommendations.

More importantly, travel inspiration is visual in nature, and the ability to offer images of a destination or of products, such as the type of car being offered for rental, could help improve people’s interest in doing voice-powered travel searches.

A lot of work to be done

Without a screen, travel companies will have to work harder at exploring the best way to make voice-powered search work for consumers.

The results so far have been weak for what is, admittedly, an enormous technical challenge to translate human speech queries into commands and to deliver easy-to-comprehend, useful responses.

Kayak’s Alexa skill has received 70 ratings, with a 2.5 out of 5 star average review.

Price-comparison rival Skyscanner has an Alexa skill, too, but it has fewer and worse ratings. In our tests, it did not perform as well as Kayak’s skill in answering basic questions, though both promise to deliver comparable answers in their marketing materials.

Expedia waiting in the wings

Given that Expedia’s Bellevue, Wash., headquarters and Amazon’s Seattle headquarters are so close by, and given that Expedia was early to embrace Alexa, many industry people expect the company will do more testing with voice-powered search soon.

Last October, Expedia chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi peered into his crystal ball at the Skift Global Forum and predicted that voice-powered search would become a key consumer expectation in the coming years.

Last November, at Expedia’s conference for key vendors and agencies, president for Brand Expedia Group Aman Bhutani echoed Khosrowshahi’s thoughts about the devices, noting that the Echo is a beloved device in his household by his kids and relatives.

So far, Expedia’s Alexa effort has not yet matched the hype. Last November, Expedia debuted Alexa functionality that enables customers of the online travel agency to check on flight reservations booked on Expedia via an Echo device.

Several months on, Expedia’s Alexa skill has only 20 reviews, and an average rating of only three stars out of five.

So far, in our tests today, Expedia’s functionality on Echo was not able to provide the same level of inspirational information about whether some destinations are more affordable to visit than others with the same ease as Google Home and Alexa’s Kayak-powered service.

That said, a review of the types of positions it has advertised for since then shows a preference for engineers who can develop voice-based systems for handling customer service complaints rather than powering Echo-style search.

It seems like that Expedia’s “skill” on Alexa will be enhanced later this year, but it appears unlikely that there will be a quantum-level improvement beyond matching what Google and Kayak already do.

There are other players in the voice-powered game, of course. Microsoft’s voice-enabled Cortana software is powering Harman’s Invoke speakers, which will debut this autumn.

Apple may use its voice-activated Siri technology in fresh new way soon, too, with possible travel implications.

Overall, eMarketer forecasts that, by the end of this year, 35 million Americans will be using a voice-activated assistant device at least once a month.

The question many consumers may be asking is how long it will take before high-quality travel search comes to these voice-powered assistants.

[nigelwenttofrance-blog]

“She Has A Tendency To Pee On Things That Are Older Than America”

Welcome back!

As I type these words, I’m very much in my happy place aboard a TGV flying towards Nîmes from Paris at almost 300 kph (~180 mph), and reminiscing on my past 3ish weeks. Lemme tell y’all, I’ve been just a traveling FOOL, and I’m not mad about it!

There are multiple trips recounted in this, so it’s split into three sections for the three different trips: 

Berlin & Hamburg ✔️

Rome ✔️

Rotterdam ⁉️ (yes, I went back again) ✔️

Berlin and Hamburg 

So as I said at the end of the previous post, I had planned a trip for me, by me to Germany as a birthday present to myself from, you guessed it, me, but also funded by my loving and incredibly generous parents. This was actually the first journey I’d ever taken completely on my own (apart from, you know, moving across an ocean to a foreign country all alone), and to say that I was nervous would be putting it mildly. I was genuinely scared that spending an entire weekend alone, going to a country I’d never been to before, without anyone who speaks English or French to help me if I get lost...let’s just say that my maternal paranoia (but also, in my case, my sororal paranoia) was kicking in. But, I had already booked the tickets and there were no refunds to be spoken of because lol #ryanair, so I pushed the fears to the back of my mind, and I’m really glad I did: it was an incredibly successful trip!

The journey started off in Toulouse after a train ride that was too early, even for me. Toulouse is a city I’d heard some good things about, and I was glad to be able to check another French city off my list, but I was really only interested in it because there was a makeup store that I’ve wanted to go to for the past couple years—Kryolan. Since I only had a few hours of a layover between train and plane, when I arrived in Toulouse, I wandered around aimlessly for an hour or so, found the makeup shop and got what I needed (banana setting powder, in case anyone was curious) and made my way to the airport.

You are crazy, my child. You must go to Berlin! — Franz von Suppé

Now, I have to say, as excited as I was for this trip as I was planning it, I’m not entirely sure what I was thinking when I decided to go to northeastern Germany in late January, especially after having lived in the south of France for 4 months. It vaguely occurred to me as we were landing that Berlin wouldn’t have the exact same climate as Nîmes, but I was very much unprepared for the gust of actual-winter air that greeted me as I walked off the plane. And what’s worse, there was SNOW. Again, not sure what I was thinking.

All that said, Berlin has definitely been added to my list of favorite cities! I stayed at an Airbnb (well technically it was a “MisterB&B,” which is basically Airbnb, but for gay men 😂  but for all intents and purposes, it was an Airbnb), but I barely spent anytime in the apartment, even though the hosts were very friendly and had ridiculously cute home—one of them was an interior decorator. #fulfillingstereotypes

Anyway, I chose the apartment/MisterB&B because I wanted to experience a city from a “gay” perspective, and the apartment was in the gay district of Berlin, Schöneberg. But when I got to the apartment it was well after sunset (AKA 5:15), so I decided to stay close to home so I could see the rest of the city in the daylight the next day. Schöneberg was still pretty lively when I finally left the apartment to explore. I wandered around the streets for a while, popped into a view stores, and eventually stopped to look at a menu outside of a burger joint that seemed pretty promising. I was just deciding to go in, when I turned to my right, and there was a man straight up staring at me. I quickly realized, however, he wasn’t really staring, but more waiting for me to respond as he had asked me a question that went unheard over the roar of Beyoncé in my ears: he had asked me to grab a drink with him. I contemplated the idea...this was incredibly random and sure enough, I felt my maternal/sororal paranoias coming into play, telling me no, go home, you don’t know him, or where he’s been, or what his motives are... but at the same time, I was very flattered. Isn’t this the kind of thing that happens in movies? Could this man be the man of my dreams? Would we fall in love and live in Berlin and raise babies* together (babies*=puppies)?! My paternal/fraternal “eh, why not?” sense had kicked in and I shrugged and said “Sure! Why not? Free alcohol is not something I’m opposed to!”

His name was Chris, and we walked around until we found a nice bar and we sat and chatted the night away. He was German and actually from Hamburg, in Berlin for work (but don’t ask me what he does, I’m sure I don’t remember.) Anyway, come midnight or so, he decided to call it quits as his train was leaving really early in the morning, and I was falling asleep as it was, having been awake since 4.30 in the morning. Alas, Chris did not turn out to be the man of my dreams, but it was still nice to have some human interaction after traveling alone all day, and I did say I wanted a gay experience, didn’t I? #success. And beyond that, like, how bold of him! I know only like 4 people read this, but how many of you would, if you weren’t married/in committed relationships, walk up to a stranger you found attractive and ask them out? Even though you almost most definitely won’t ever read this, I applaud you, Chris, for your boldness, keep it up and teach it to the world.

But so traveling; Day TWO in Berlin was dedicated to actual, tourist-trap sightseeing. I started out with the Fernsehturm de Berlin, which is a huge TV tower in the city with an observatory at the top that has panoramic views of Berlin. I had planned to do other things before this, but in retrospect, I’m glad I decided to go there first because that line was long, and then once you finally got inside the building from the numbing wind, you were just buying a placeholder to go up to the observatory at least two hours later. It ended up working my favor, though, because after buying the tickets, I made my way to the East Side Gallery, a section of the Berlin Wall that’s still intact and covered in beautiful artwork. Now again, as it was January and also 20º, this particular adventure was mostly “take a picture, admire artwork for 2 seconds, and keep walking before my legs succumb to frostbite” as opposed to actually taking and admiring the artwork. 

While it might not have been as fulfilling as it could’ve been, it ended up working perfectly because by the time I got back to TV tower, it was time to...wait in another line 🙄 . But it didn’t last long and in no time, I was getting the view of Berlin from the top. Yet again, however, the lack of planning for this trip in terms of the weather/season, coupled with the fact that I went up during sunset, proved to be rather troublesome, and the haze from the setting sun made it incredibly difficult to see the city through the windows of the observatory. I was mildly disappointed after having done all the waiting and whatnot, but, as I looked out over Berlin, I saw a skyscraper facing the TV tower which was clearly sporting an observatory deck, sans windows. I remembered that I had read that there was a hotel that also offered panoramic views of Berlin, but of course, being myself, after reading about it, I promptly forgot. So I made my way down from the top of the TV tower—which was good timing anyway as most of the children up there had been given entirely too much liberty from their parents—and ascended the top of the hotel, and caught some absolutely gorgeous shots of Berlin with the setting sun. I’m never one to brag about my photography skills (especially not landscape photography), but I was really proud of these shots! 

So, alas, the sun had set, and so had the temperature by what felt like 10ª, so it was time for me to no longer be outside. 

Over the past few years, I had gone back and forth about getting a tragus piercing (fyi: a tragus is that funny little nubbin of cartilage toward the front of your ear) because it’s small, cute (and also not my earlobe since that trend has definitely ended). Once I finished taking pictures on the top of the hotel, I decided, spur of the moment, that this would be the trip to do it because it was the first trip I’d made solo and wanted to do something to remember it, so why not? Coincidentally, as I was meandering through Schöneberg that first night, I stumbled upon a piercing parlor, and figured it would be perfect, especially since it was in the gay district. When I got there I talked to the man in the parlor about what the whole process would be, and I quickly gathered that he was American. We of course had to chitchat for awhile about what brought us to Europe, our thoughts about the different cultures, blah blah blah and 30 minutes later, I had my ear pierced! Woo! It wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it might be, and the worse part of the whole process actually ended up being the fact that I could hear the needle going through my cartilage with two little pops. *shivers* But it was done! I’m really happy with it, I think it adds just the right amount of extra flare to my style.

So the next day, Day 3 in Germany! I traveled to Hamburg, and I of course decided to take the ICE train (which is basically the German version of the TGV), and needless to say I was fangirling the whooooole time. But then, after I boarded, to my own surprise, I slept through the entire journey...😐 . I was thoroughly shocked when I woke up to realize that we had arrived. But, oh well, it’s still another famous train ticked off my list! 

Now Hamburg was a part of this adventure I was particularly worried about because in addition to the whole traveling alone thing, it would be my first time staying in a hostel and sharing a room with up to 5 other random humans, and those who know me well enough know that I am not very fond of other humans in my day-to-day life. That being said, I made a really good connection while I was there: When I entered the room, heart pounding, fully expecting to see some gross man cutting his yellowing toenails on the floor, instead there was a girl sitting in the windowsill on the phone and speaking American English. Once she hung up, we instantly started chatting about this and that, and I learned that her name is Daunt’e and that thanks to being a military brat, she had traveled quite literally all over the planet, and was in the process of traveling for another 3 months, just cuz. Needless to say, we had plenty to talk about. We walked around Hamburg for a few hours and then grabbed some burgers at a restaurant called Burgerlich which, in addition to being delicious, was super innovative because you did everything, from ordering your food to getting more napkins, with iPads that came out of the top of the table. We ate and drank and continued our chit chats until it was time for me to go to the place that was, if I’m being honest, the entire reason for this trip to Germany:

Miniatur Wunderland: The World’s LARGEST Model Railroad.

—NOBODY PANIC, I KNOW IT’S EXCITING, BUT I NEED EVERYONE TO CALM DOWN—

Okay, so once I got all the voices in my head to chill, I basically ran to this place and even with the hype I’d heard (hype I’d heard from, again, the voices in my head), this place was so far beyond what I could have expected.

It. Was. Incredible.

When you first walked in, you were greeted with a wall full of TVs each displaying one section of the layout, and a few guys sitting in front of what looked like incredibly intense control boards. Once past the TVs, I realized that they divided the layout into different sections based on countries or regions. They had Germany, America, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Italy and a few other places. As you walked along, you saw the different trains (duh), landscapes, architecture, culture, you name it, it was there, of each region. They had wide, open fields, an absolutely enormous replica of the Alps that was well over 10 feet tall, they even had actual water with an ACTUAL CRUISE SHIP THAT ACTUALLY MOVED AND TURNED BY ITSELF TO AND FROM AND IN AND OUT OF THE PORT; they had the mountains of the Western USA and in every region there was just...an almost painful, annoyingly precise attention to detail. Every. Single. Aspect. of Every. Single. Region was thought of and executed perfectly. They even had cars and buses and trucks that drove along the road BY THEMSELVES. They had working stoplights at which the various vehicles would stop, while using their working brake lights! And then of course, they had just a stupid amount of miniature people in the miniature worlds as well, and I swear, you could spend full months in there and you’d still find a miniature person doing some crazy, whacky things that you never noticed before. Seriously!  I’m actually kind of at a loss for words when I try to think of a way to properly describe all the probably thousands of different scenarios they had set up. One of the most impressive was a rock concert they had set up that had to have had at least 500+ miniature humans ALL doing DIFFERENT things. 

The most impressive feature of the layout had to have been the working airport. I had read about this thing online and still couldn’t believe it was real while I was looking at it. Y’all, they built an entire working model airport. With planes that quite literally land and take off! And on top of that, once the planes landed, they actually moved, by themselves, to the terminals! And when they were all full of “people,” they backed up, again, by themselves, drove to the runway, and took off. JAW: DROPPED AND SUBSEQUENTLY SHATTERED. The terminal itself was huge, and, just as the rest of the layout, filled with what had to have been thousands of individual people. 

Looking back, this place was so realistic and so well thought out,  I wouldn’t have surprised, nor mad had the miniature people actually started moving. Ugh.

I just. 

I. JUST.

I went to bed the happiest of Nigel’s that night. 

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and the next day, I flew back to Paris and caught my train back to Nîmes. But! Obviously not before I made my way to Chipotle, and ended up getting a FREE burrito because the French are apparently yet to have mastered the fine art of wrapping a burrito that’s the size of a newborn child. I must admit, I doubt it’s an easy skill to learn. Regardless I was not mad about it, y’all! 🌯

Rome

Post-German adventures, after a few days of relaxation and tutoring in Nîmes, I joined my roommate Carrie and her friend Dom (a different Dom than last time!) halfway through their own European adventure of Paris, Rome, and ending in Barcelona. When I heard about their plans I figured it’d be a perfect opportunity to finally go to Italy, as I thought it was pretty strange that I studied opera and lived in Europe for two years and still hadn’t been to Italy. What?

So day 1: The Dom, Carrie and Nigel Main Attraction Marathon 

On this day, we did all the major touristy, you-have-to-go-see-this-if-you’re-in-Rome” attractions: the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, etc. Carrie’s Fitbit kept track of all our steps and I think this day was our highest! 

We did take a break from the marathon tour at one point between sight-seeing. We decided we wanted to stop and just soak up and enjoy the Italian sun and the beautiful weather that had graced our first day. We pulled up our maps and found the Villa Borghese Gardens, a park in the western part of the city and rented one of those multi-person cab/bicycle machines and drove through the park, terrifying everyone around us as we yelled in English from fear of hitting a passing pedestrian... #oops. But no one died, so I call it a successful adventure, and our sight seeing marathon continued afterwards.

Our dinner plans for each night ended up being very consistent with the exception of our first night. On this night, we decided a little too late to eat, and found ourselves getting to restaurants just as they had closed their kitchens. Carrie, however, came to the rescue with her favorite restaurant in Rome (she’s been to Rome about six times and knew the good places to go), that she had been saving for our last day. She had somehow (read: drunkenly) made friends with the owner of the restaurant, and even though it was about 6 years ago, they still remembered her and were always overjoyed to see her whenever she came back. 

The food was, of course, delicious. All three of us ordered the Cacio e Pepe, which is basically spaghetti in a spicy cheesy sauce, and what blew my mind was that they literally made the pasta in the restaurant while we drank the wine and waited! What?! Maybe it’s common practice in Italian culture, but I couldn’t believe it! 

The next day, Day 2 in Rome!, we all went to our separate corners for most of the day. Dom, who was doing her very first European trip, and who had been sick while in Paris, needed a day to recover; Carrie, being the health-nut that she is, went on a very long run and if I’m not mistaken got very lost; and I grabbed my bag and my camera and kinda just wandered around the city for a few hours. We met up later for a group wander around the city, but didn’t see anything too exciting (relatively speaking of course, this is Rome we’re talking about). But as dull as Day 2 might seem, it was the night we had our first Italian aperitivo which we ended up doing this every night for the rest of the trip because of its genius. It’s basically like the American happy hour, but with a brilliant twist: it’s 10€ for one glass of wine or cocktail as well as an all you can eat buffet that’s unique to each restaurant. GENIUS.  This ended up being a fantastic way to go to a variety of restaurants without breaking the bank and might be one of the things I miss the most about Rome.

Day 3 in Rome! was what most people would consider the big day if you’re in Rome: we went to see St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican and its many, many, many museums. It goes without saying that everything was beautiful. And even more beautiful, the longest wait we had was only about an hour and a half! True perks of sight-seeing during the off-season! It was so uncrowded, that we actually walked straight into the Vatican museums, no lines, no wait! Carrie, having been to Rome multiple times, said that she had once waited for 4 hours to get into the museums and was stunned that Dom and I just waltzed in as if we were going to Target. Carrie also, citing that she had been multiple times, declined to join us into the museums. I didn’t understand at first, especially since she had already toured the Colosseum with us, but it didn’t take long for me to get the picture.The Vatican Museums have just an insane amount of artwork, having been in the process of collecting over centuries by the various Popes. I can only imagine that after waiting in line for up to 4 hours, walking around and trying to absorb the thousands of pieces of art for another 4 hours would be nothing less than exhausting. 

Dom and I decided to leave the Sistine Chapel for last, knowing full well that if we started there, we’d probably just leave afterwards 😂. And of course, not being art buffs as well as already feeling the past 2.5 days of walking in our feet, were not stopping to admire every single piece, so we had what I’m sure a lot of other tourists would consider a speedy pace through the museums, and yet it still took us about 3 hours. 

So now, here’s a point where I realize, as I type, that there’s a potential for an #unpopularopinion: I was rather underwhelmed by the Sistine Chapel.

Lemme explain.

Every time you hear about the Sistine Chapel or see anything about it, you see or hear about The Creation of Adam, so I thought that that painting would be the main focus, or the biggest part of the ceiling. I was quite mistaken. While it is very much in the center, it was the same size as the rest of the paintings, and it actually took me a hot second to find it! All that said, the Chapel (as well as the entire Vatican and its museums), was breathtaking, but definitely does not look like it does on the box... I guess what I should say is that I was going into the experience expecting something very, very different.

But so okay, world renowned piece of culture and art officially checked off my list! Woo! 

Carrie, again with her traveling prowess, had compiled a list of restaurants that we had to try while we were there, and so after St. Peter’s Basilica, but before the museums, we went to check one out. Usually, the list had details about the restaurant listed such as recommended dishes, best times to go, etc. but the restaurant we went post-Peter, Bonci, had only one thing written: GO. Knowing Carrie, this was no joke, and sure enough, it wasn’t.

 Bonci is a “pizzarium” that uses all natural ingredients and makes handmade pizzas. It was a “street restaurant” and so once you had your pizza, you sat outside and enjoyed the Roman sun while your mind was absolutely blown by the delicious pizza. The pizzas they make are very square (literally, not metaphorically), very large, and basically in HD. I’ve never seen so many pizzas in so many bright and vibrant colors that all looked so good. Needless to say, I got seconds...and then went back the next day for thirds.

The next day, Day 4 in Rome!, we three musketeers disbanded yet again for the morning and went our separate ways for a few hours. I had found an article online about interesting things to do and see off the beaten path in Rome, and read about a canon that’s apparently fired everyday to signal that it’s noon. This is apparently done to help all the churches and cathedrals in the city know the exact time so they can set their bells to toll at the same time. When I got to the top of the massive hill, sweaty and dehydrated, I was surprised to find a sizable crowd there, and even more surprised to hear that the majority of the crowd was made up of Italians. They were all lined up along the edge of a hill and at the bottom was the cannon and three soldiers. Out in the distance was a gorgeous panoramic view of Rome that really took my breath away. But so, the cannon was indeed fired, and my ears indeed started to ring because I was, indeed, standing too close to it. #oops. But alas, that was my last day in Italy, and after another night of aperitivo, the next day I was on my plane back to France, while Dom and Carrie continued on Barcelona. And, yes I was, indeed, jealous.

Rotterdam

So if you haven’t gathered the idea yet, I really, really, really enjoy the Netherlands, and decided after visiting this summer that I’d go as often as possible while doing TAPIF. Something about the culture and of course the friends I’d made there make every trip I’ve made so far just incredibly successful, and this time was no exception. 

Well, there was actually one exception to this non-exempt trip: to keep things cheap, I usually take the TGV from Nîmes to Paris, and then take an 8 hour bus ride from Paris to Amsterdam. For some, 8 hours is entirely too much, but to me, after having done 8 hours to and from CT and Pittsburgh in college, it was quite run of the mill, and even better, the bus from Paris to Amsterdam is usually relatively empty and quiet. On this trip however, that was not the case.

First off, I don’t know WHAT was going on with the bus driver, but homeboy could not drive in a straight line and we literally swerved from one side of the lane to the other the whole way from Paris to Brussels. But, in reality since it was a giant coach bus, we were actually swerving from one side of our lane to the other side of the lane next us. We finally stopped in Brussels and thankfully changed drivers, but now the bus was suddenly full of people. I, somehow, miraculously, still had two seats to myself. So, as the bus started to roll along, I put my headphones back in and let most likely Beyoncé sing away the next however many hours...until I heard that dreaded sound. The sound of logs being sawed in half, the sound of a manual car’s gears grinding as you fail to shift gears, the sound of a motorcycle idling at a stop light: snoring. LOUD snoring.

I took out my headphones in disbelief that someone’s lack of nasal strips could penetrate the beauteous sounds of my Queen🐝 , and I turned and saw a dark-skinned, heavyset man in a very bright yellow shirt, mouth agape, eyes shut, sounding like he was leveling a FOREST.

So, to give you some context, I really hate snoring. Like really, really, really hate snoring, and become irrationally angry irrationally quickly when I have to sleep in a room with someone who snores. In my sleep deprived mind, I get so jealous that they get to sleep while I get to SUFFER. But this time, I wasn’t even trying to sleep, and I learned I don’t just hate snoring when I’m attempting to sleep, but in more of a general sense, in any and all forms. Thankfully, my stop, Rotterdam, was before Amsterdam, so I didn’t have to spend the entirety of the remaining bus trip contemplating violently shaking the man awake. I may be used to 8 hour trips on the road, but I have limits, y’all!

All snoring aside, this trip to the Netherlands, while successful, was definitely much more relaxed than my last three. I stayed with my friend Gert-Jan, the founder of the queer youth center The Hangout010 in Rotterdam whom I met this past summer. When I arrived, I went straight to The Hangout and had some dinner and caught up with Gert and some other friends, and happened to have arrived while some American college students were visiting Rotterdam and The Hangout while studying abroad. We had a really engaging conversation about sexuality and gender and then went to grab some drinks at a local gay bar. 

The next day was a true Nigel day: I wandered around Rotterdam for a few hours and grabbed some lunch at the Markthal, took the train to Amsterdam and then just wandered around my favorite city until it was too cold to be outside (and I of COURSE went back to the Foodhallen and spent entirely too much money). 

On day 2, I visited my Couchsurfing host from my last Dutch excusrion to Leiden, Christiaan, in Deventer, a very cute little town in the eastern part of the country. It was filled with quirky little shops, including some that sold model trains (that I somehow refrained from purchasing), one that only sold stamps, and another that had three or four enormous trays so full of postcards that I thought they were selling CDs. They had postcards of literally anything you could think of: animals, people, naked people, buildings, trains, chairs, beds, anything and everything. Needless to say, I got one from the train section.

After our mostly window shopping, Christiaan and I went back to his apartment and were thinking of what to make for make dinner, and decided on ginger pumpkin chutney with some cheese and bread, as well as pumpkin curry that ended up being a lot better than I thought it would! The chutney, too, was outstanding, and within a half an hour, both were completely demolished. 

I got back to Rotterdam late that night, and the next day, unfortunately had to leave until who knows when! 😫  😖  😭

The Journey Home

“Nigel, why in the world would you write about the journey home, it couldn’t have been that exciting.” I know, I know, but this one ended up being really funny! (And also the source of the title 😉 ).

Well I got on the bus in Amsterdam. I sat down. A very handsome man sits down next to me (and was I mad about it? Y’all know I was not!). But, as it was 8.45 in the morning, I didn’t really try to strike up a conversation. 

Until!

I realized I had left all the food I had for the trip in my bag which was now in the overhead bin. Not thinking, I asked him in English if I could get out and he looked at me in shock. As it turned out, even though he was indeed French, he had spent a year abroad in California, and had been dying to find an American with whom he could practice his English. His name was Cyril. We got to talking and I heard about his time in SoCal and I told him about my being a teacher blah blah...and then we got to talking about what we were doing in the Netherlands. We had both only gone for the weekend, and both had gone for the sake of seeing good friends. And then, almost to himself, he mentioned that the bus ride to Amsterdam had been awful. I commented that mine had been pretty awful too, the worst part being the snoring man...Cyril stopped me: “was he like a bigger guy with a really crazy bright yellow shirt?” I looked at him curiously...and asked him if the first bus driver had been just completely incompetent at driving in a straight line, and it was confirmed: we had been on the same bus! We laughed about it for a while and once we got to Paris, we exchanged Facebooks and went our separate ways. 

For the train ride home, I was hoping for a quiet ride so I could write this blog post. Just as the train was leaving, I realized no one had sat down next to me, and was very thankful for the extra space, and settled in to recounting my adventures. But then of course, a woman sits down next to me. Womp. Oh well, I told myself, no biggie. So I try and get some typing done until I realize, this woman is fiddling with a very thick and very long, purple rope. What? I do my best to inconspicuously see what it leads to, but with no luck. Until the other end of the rope suddenly...moves! It was a dog! And a beautiful one at that. Now again, as is the case when I see any dog, my mind just shut down and I started speaking to her in English about her dog. Thankfully, she was American too, and we talked the whole ride down.

Yvette, I learned, was from Colorado (Denver, I think) and just so happened to also be doing TAPIF in a town called Béziers, not too too far from Nîmes. We gabbed about life abroad and what is was like to be a teacher (she’s a primary school teacher, too) and so on. Eventually, her dog, Kaya, got tired of being on the floor in the aisle and decided she’d be more comfortable between Yvette and myself which I, of course, had no problem with. I asked her what it was like to have your dog with you while living abroad, and Yvette explained that, while it certainly had its perks, it could be frustrating when it came to traveling: the TGVs never had enough space for everyone’s luggage let alone a dog, and keeping an eye on the dog proved to be difficult when your eyes are seeing the sights: 

“I have to be very mindful of her when we go sightseeing,” she told me. “I’ve realized that Kaya has a tendency to pee on things that are older than America. We went to some ancient church in Béziers, and I looked up to admire it, and then looked down to see Kaya peeing on it.”

Needless to say, I cackled and promptly retitled this blog post.

Alas, that was the last day of my vacation. Since then, it’s back to the grind here in Nîmes with teaching and tutoring in full swing. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous as the perks of living the south of France have made themselves apparent with 60º+ weather and days full of sunshine.

Et c’est tout! Thanks to those who read all of my ramblings, this one in particular was a doozy, but I really appreciate it! Next post(s) will be hopefully a trip to Portugal and Madrid for April vacation (omg I’m so excited I can’t even, I can literally only odd), and maybe a weekend trip or two during the vacation-less month of March!

Until next time!