Um, Where's the Ice?! - A July 2012 European and DLRP Adventure*UPDATE 12/15 Pg.29*

[IheartDDuck]

Oh my dear friends. My absence from these boards has been horrible. If you've followed along on my other TR's or my PTR, you'll know what has been going on. But, I am back! And I'm ready to get this party started.

This is a retelling of my trip with my Mom and Dad to Disneyland Paris, Belgium, the Netherlands, and London. There were ups and downs (the down mostly being the fact that I suffered from a perforated ear drum 9ish days into the trip), but dangit, I don't care! Introductions? Don't mind if I do!

Me - Danielle.....goober extraordinaire. Trying to look all cool here in my sunglasses. Ppppfffffttttttt. I am thirty *cough*. Sorry, forgot the second number.....

Mom - Jackie. She's not extremely goobery....at least not in a way that I can actually capture on camera very often. She's our Belgian guide, as that's her home country. It's always handy to have someone along who speaks the language.

Dad - Rick....the genes behind my gooberness.

A.K.A the sleeping goober.

A.K.A the man behind the title of this TR. I'll fill you in now. It will be easier.

My Dad is an iceaholic. Like, he needs to go to ice eaters anonymous, because this man eats it non stop. I ask him constantly if he wants any soda with his ice, because his cup is all ice, no soda. He even has a cup of ice next to his bed at night, just in case he gets a hankerin'. Really.

So Europe. Well, it's not the land of ice, in a similar manner it's not the land of free refills. So about two days into the trip, he was ready to have a meltdown. Hence.....

Um, Where's the Ice?!



So come along for the party. I hope you'll have a good time.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Chapter 1: Remind Me to Send Out Another Memo About Personal Space

Chapter 2: Who Takes a Sleeping Pill and DOESN'T Sleep? Oh, Right.....ME!

Chapter 3: Dear God Will This Day Ever End?!

Chapter 4: Dude, There are Tollways Everywhere

Chapter 5: What....Bell Services DOESN'T Expect a Tip?!

Chapter 6: Best Haunted Mansion EVER!!!!!

Chapter 7: Let's Shop.....MeMom Style!

Chapter 8: Finally.....A Disney Place That Doesn't Serve NesCrappe!

Chapter 9: Tiny Update

Chapter 10: Captain Hook....Screaming in French

Chapter 11: That Bride is........Scary!

Chapter 12: Espana! Espana! Espana!

Chapter 13: Crush my Coaster!

Chapter 14: Yzma, Put Your Hands in the Air!

Chapter 15: We Are From Antwerpen, So We're Automatically Cooler Than You

Chapter 16: Food!

Chapter 17: More Antwerp

Chapter 18: More Antwerp Continued

Chapter 19: Well I Fried My Hair.....

 

[PlutosRHM55]

I'm here Danielle! Love the title! Can't wait to hear all about the trip!

 

[burly]

I'm here....

 

[IheartDDuck]

Departure Day Thursday June 28 and Friday June 29, 2012

Yes, departure day can span across two days. Especially when you’re flying to another country, that flight takes eight hours, and you don’t leave your home country until 6pm. But that’s just a tiny detail.

I woke up bright and early on Thursday June 28th. Work was to commence for me at the ungodly hour of 6am. Yup. 6am work arrival, 6pm flight after that. Thus began the longest travel day of life.

I haven’t actually had a 2 week vacation in about 5 years, so this was super exciting for me. Although, I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit apprehensive about being gone for two weeks. I didn’t know if my team would stage an uprising, or if my boss would have a meltdown. Whatever. Not my concern for two weeks. LOL.

Neither of my parents had to work, lucky ducks. So they took me to work that morning, so that I didn’t have to bother with my car at all. Jason, my brother, would be taking us all to the airport straight from our work.

I am a firm believer that any good vacation starts with food. Mine started with McDonalds. Not great food to some, but their breakfast is my favorite thing EVER! However, I just don’t understand why they can’t serve breakfast all the time. Is a McMuffin that much harder to make than a Big Mac? I think not.

So Egg McMuffin, hash brown, and Coke Zero in hand, it was off to work. Ooooo, ooooo, I do have a funny story to tell though. It was from my trip to work the prior day (not relevant to this, but it was humorous, so go with it people!!!!). So, I go through the Dunkin' Donuts drive through for some coffee (because we all need it. It is the coffee of life), and this lady in front of me angles herself at the drive through like so (drivethrough \). Imagine the backslash is the woman’s car. So, when she collects her goodies, she proceeds to drive her car forward and RAM IT IN THE SIDE OF THE DRIVETHROUGH! Seriously. And then she's all like "did I do that?" Urkelesque. When I pulled up there, I asked my poor Dunkin' Donuts guy if he was afraid for his life. He said "nah, I have the building to protect me." The moral of this story. No moral, just that there are stupid people everywhere, but I think you knew that already.

Now that that little anecdote is out of the way, the workday just flew by. I said my goodbyes to my peeps and it was out the door at 2:30pm, with Jason driving my parent’s Armada (they had come to work with the truck and the luggage). Remember, Jason works with me so it was the perfect scenario. Plus, we’re cheap, so if we can avoid paying for parking dagnabbit, I’m going to!
The trip to the airport was uneventful. But you could totally tell my Dad was super excited to get where we were going. Why? Because he totally felt that every person on the road was an idiot. Because he was yelling at them constantly, sounding more like me than him. “Seriously?! Can you drive?! You JACKWAGON!!!!”

We reached the airport by 3:15pm. Pretty good timing. We said our goodbyes to Jason, and Dad promptly told him that if he dented the Armada, he would have to make his car payments for him.

Oh, and random? Here is my pedicure for the trip. LOL.

And my gel manicure. Did it last two weeks? We’ll see!

We found the Virgin Atlantic desk, and my first (of a few) surprise of the trip happened. Apparently, they weigh your carryon luggage.

Um……what?

I’ve never had that happen in my life. Not that our carryons were overfull, but that carryon was supposed to be my saving grace for bringing things home! And to boot, their weight limitation? 6 kilos...or 13 pounds?! Seriously? Seriously.

So, Mom and I had to pull a few things out of our bag and throw it in our backpacks. Souvenir plan. Shot!

Which brings me to:

International Travel Tip #1 – Make sure you check the weight restrictions on baggage. As I just found out and wasn’t aware of, they may limit the weight on your carryon as well.

On to…..the atrocious TSA line. This is why we arrived almost 3 hours early. It took us almost 45 minutes just to get through the ticket and passport check. All the while, there was a group of people close by that kept on getting all close. Personal space folks. Personal space. I just sent that memo out last week! And, we had record breaking like over 100 degree weather in Chicago that day. I thought I was going to melt. It could have been because people were transferring their body heat to me by being so FLIPPING CLOSE!!!

Don’t I look melty?

International Travel Tip #2 – Remember to give yourself ample time at the airport, as passport control can be unpredictable. We gave ourselves almost three hours, and we reached some nervous points.

Mom was grateful to be out of TSA too.

So we found our gate and settled in.

And did what any self respecting traveler would do…take the items that we had to stuff into our backpacks and put them back in our carryons. Take that Virgin!

Sorry, I just found the restriction a little ridiculous.

Finally, boarding began. And we were in the last boarding group. Wah wah wah.

So we get up to the gate, Mom gives her ticket, and it doesn’t scan. She’s told she needs to go to the desk and get reticketed.

Wwhhhaaaaatttt?????!!!!! Oh dear lord……

And mine does the same thing, and Dad’s. Dear God, please let us be on this flight. I am never booking through Vayama again if it’s all screwed up. OMG OMG……You suck Vayama!!!

This is my brain at that exact moment. I was so confused.

So then we give our tickets to the lady at the counter, and she says “oh, looks like you got a complimentary upgrade”.

*silence* *epic silence*

Upgraded? That never happens to me when I don’t pay for it! We were upgraded to Premium Economy. Good thing I wore clean clothes. Look out people, because I’m a beer drinking, burping contest chick! Dad is convinced that they upgraded us because he’s so cute.

We got settled in.

And some gooberiness came out to play.

Only mildly better.

Pre-flight champagne? Don’t mind if I do.

Up next: How was the flight? How was London passport control?

 

[wdwgirl03]

I'm here!

 

[jecskc]

I'm here !! And laughing already !! YAY for a flight upgrade !! So happy you got this TR rollin'. Can't wait to read more !!

 

[marDgreen88]

I'm here! YAY I'm glad you finally started.

First of all, I must say that I'm like your dad... in that I have an addiction to water. (Ice is just frozen water, after all. ) But I totally get it. Hahah.

They seriously weigh your CARRY ON? What on earth? That is ridiculous, but yall are hilarious. Good thing they don't weigh it again once you board! "Just double checking."

UPGRADES!!!!!! I'm a fan.

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm here Danielle! Love the title! Can't wait to hear all about the trip!

Hi Timmy! Glad you like the title.

I'm here....

Hi Kim!

I'm here!

Hi Sarah! Glad you're here.

I'm here !! And laughing already !! YAY for a flight upgrade !! So happy you got this TR rollin'. Can't wait to read more !!

Glad I got you laughing already! Guess I haven't lost my touch.

I'm here! YAY I'm glad you finally started.

First of all, I must say that I'm like your dad... in that I have an addiction to water. (Ice is just frozen water, after all. ) But I totally get it. Hahah.

They seriously weigh your CARRY ON? What on earth? That is ridiculous, but yall are hilarious. Good thing they don't weigh it again once you board! "Just double checking."

UPGRADES!!!!!! I'm a fan.

Dude, seriously the weight limit on the carryon thing was crazy! I never heard that before. But now I've learned my lesson and I'm always going to check in the future!

I was concerned they would weigh it too, but when I saw the absence of a scale in the area, I figured we were safe.

 

[Poolrat]

Here and looking forward to it.

 

[onelilspark]

Joining in!

Yay for upgrades! Delta upgraded us for our honeymoon flight from JFK to Rome, but then promptly told us they shouldn't have done us and we had to fly stand-by instead...grumble grumble grumble...

I totally agree about McDonald's. Though it's probably good that they don't, I would lose all self-control. Usually it's around 11 and I think "I could really go for McDonald's breakfast right now...but oh, it's too late. Drat."

 

[IheartDDuck]

Here and looking forward to it.

Yay, glad you're here!

Joining in!

Yay for upgrades! Delta upgraded us for our honeymoon flight from JFK to Rome, but then promptly told us they shouldn't have done us and we had to fly stand-by instead...grumble grumble grumble...

I totally agree about McDonald's. Though it's probably good that they don't, I would lose all self-control. Usually it's around 11 and I think "I could really go for McDonald's breakfast right now...but oh, it's too late. Drat."

OMG, I don't know what I would do if that happened to me! I would be furious and tell them I didn't care that it was their "mistake", but the fact is that it was their mistake and they should honor it.

I agree about the McDonald's thing though. It's totally better that they don't serve it all the time, because then I would eat it far too often.

 

[shan23877]

Joining in the fun!

I've said it before and I'll say it again--I heart your dad.

Yay for an upgrade!!! WOOOO HOOOO!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[zanzibar138]

Yay for the free upgrade

Um I think you guys are spoilt Pretty much all flights in Australia have a 7kg carry on limit. They usually don't bother to weigh it unless it looks overweight, but depending on the airline, you definitely need to be prepared for having it weighed.

I'm curious, where were your backpacks? When I first read your story I assumed they were checked in. But if you had them with you at the gate, I'll have to assume they were cabin baggage too. And if they were cabin baggage too, how did simply transferring your things from one bag to another help with the weight limit - am I missing something?

 

[burly]

Yeah for the upgrade......................probably cause some idiot weighed your CARRYONS!


Champagnee, in a sweet no stem cuppy thing. weeeeeee!

Up late...good to get another installment to keep me company..thanks.


KIM

 

[Pluto_fan]

Yea! You're off to a great start...and I'm laughing already!

The "no personal space" people were probably practicing for when they got to europe...

My DH sympathizes with your dad. We've been living in Belgium for three years, and I think the thing DH misses most about the States is having an ice maker in the freezer!

 

[Nermel9]

I'm here! Great start! I love your nails, I hope they last through the whole trip!

Yay for being upgraded, that must have been nice on such a long flight!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[Lil'Mermaid75]

Personal space - pet peeve. Why do people feel the need to stand on top of you....ewwww. Yeah for the upgrade. Your haircut is super cute..... And I think I need to say your dad is great! I love those facial expressions. Can't wait for the next installment.

 

[onelilspark]

OMG, I don't know what I would do if that happened to me! I would be furious and tell them I didn't care that it was their "mistake", but the fact is that it was their mistake and they should honor it.

I agree about the McDonald's thing though. It's totally better that they don't serve it all the time, because then I would eat it far too often.

Oh I created quite a scene. Eventually they some how found seats on the plane for us, but not upgraded. We got there. And I got $375 worth of vouchers each for both my husband & me...which is being put to good use next week to fly to Disneyland!