10/02/04 Antigua Cruise

[Viking]

OK,
I'll add our non-US vacations as well:

-More or less all parts of Germany
-Netherlands
-France
-Belgium
-Switzerland
-Italy
-Turkey
-Spain
-Canary Islands
-Tunisia
-UK
-Ireland
-Denmark
-Austria
-Bahamas
-US Virgins
-Mexico (Cozumel)
-Grand Cayman
-St Marteen
-Vatican (Yes, it is a souvereign country!!)

Talking about doughnuts: Anja & I prefer Dunkin' Donuts, but unfortunately the only location they serve in Germany is Berlin But this may be good for our health and shape
We're hoping that the DD at Picadilly Circus is still in business. My co-workers in Denver are also Krispy Kreme fans and so I had a lot of them while in Denver, but I still prefer DD.

Friends, be careful on offering rooms for us: We may accept

Anja loves dogs, especially retrievers and labradors - and so do I.

 

[ARLO1]

Dont shoot me down..I prefer Dunkin Donuts over KK.

By the way, only NY has the true NY bagels...

Arlene

 

[jeanneg]

Originally posted by ARLO1
Dont shoot me down..I prefer Dunkin Donuts over KK.

By the way, only NY has the true NY bagels...

Arlene

Oh, Arlene, you are so right about that.....I'd sell my soul for a New York bagel! When Jenni comes home from PA she always brings a dozen bagels which are alot closer to the NY product than what they sell here.

Viking: you're welcome to come here but you'll have to act quickly.......right now we have 6 bedrooms and 5 full baths (in fact, I could probably host the whole mini-meet!). But since I don't enjoy cleaning (and don't feel comfortable having someone else tend to my dirt), I can't wait to ditch this place. You'll have to eat KKs, though. You can wash them down with sweet tea, the official drink of the south, and REALLY get a sugar rush!

 

[bettemom]

Arlene, you are so right... Only NY has the true bagel. I am a guest speaker at a convention the first weekend in april ( so I would never be able to make DC now) and then I have a day in Manhattan... Guess what I am bringing home ???

On to more serious matters...

Ok we lost out on the Krispy Kreme shops,
and we lost out on the hot tub,

But... We have a yellow lab dog. Of course we also have a Newfoundland and 2 miniature shelties.
We really do have indoor
plumbing just ignore Peter, just cause he thought we were serious about the tree on the neighbors lawn .

But we do have 2 special things in New Hampshire,

Eric, you and Anja like to shop, we have NO sales tax on anything.
And we have about the cheapest liquor, all our liquor stores are state owned.


Peter, Peter... you're up!!!!

Bye, Kim

 

[cdnmickeylover]

I don't know Kim -- even we here in the great white north (or wet north today since it's raining) have KK's. We don't eat them but we have them. I prefer Tim Horton's (or Timmies). It's a big sacrifice to travel to the US because there are only 2 Timmies on the way to WDW.

Travel

British Columbia
Alberta
Manitoba
Ontario
Quebec
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia -- lived there for 5 years
Prince Edward Island

Europe

England
France
Germany
Netherlands
Spain
Morroco
Italy
Vatican -- Eric's right it is a separate country
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Finland

US

Maine
New Hampshire
New York
Vermont
Massachussets
Ohio
Michigan
Kentucky
Virginia
Rhode Island
Tennesse
Georgia
Florida
Nevada
California
North Dakota
South Dakota

We took driving trips when I was a kid and basically went all across the US and Canada. I would love to Northwest Territories, Alaska and Australia and New Zealand.

Fiona

 

[piglet33]

Ok, guess it's my turn.

The only Krispy Kremes we have are at Costco or BJ's Wholesale Clubs - NOT THE SAME since they come in a box and not HOT out of the ovens.

Don't have a hot tub either

We have one cat - Tabatha (had two cats, but lost Patches after Haley was born).

We don't have any dogs, but we do have one very precious little HALEY .

Renee'

 

[piglet33]

I almost forgot my been there list:

Canada

Montreal
Ontario

US States

Arizona
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York
Nevada
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
Washington, DC

Non-US

Bahamas
Grand Cayman
Cozumel - Mexico

It's not as impressive as everyone else's so I guess that means more travelling so I can get a better list

Renee'

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Duh -- Looked over my list and realized that I missed Switzerland where I actually lived for 10 months while going to school. Nope wasn't a finishing school but was the last year of high school.

How could I forget fondue and racquette (spelling is probably wrong), the Fetes des Vendages (wine festival after the picking of the grapes is over). It's the only time that the Swiss let go.

Fiona

 

[Viking]

Originally posted by cdnmickeylover
Duh -- Looked over my list and realized that I missed Switzerland where I actually lived for 10 months while going to school. Nope wasn't a finishing school but was the last year of high school.

How could I forget fondue and racquette (spelling is probably wrong), the Fetes des Vendages (wine festival after the picking of the grapes is over). It's the only time that the Swiss let go.

Fiona

You spelled fondue perfectly, but the other word is raclette. Switzerland is fun, we spent a week there when my ex-wife and her hubby worked there. But if the word expensive didn't exist, you would invent it there Everything is so expensive you won't believe it.

Jeanne & Kim,
we haven't made plans for next two years so far, but thanks a lot anyway. We can talk on the ship about it. And you can then ask the Twins how the Germans behaved, because we're visiting them this year in Charleston and in PCB

 

[cdnmickeylover]

You're right about Switzerland being expensive but the chocolate is great and cheap. I brought back chocolate and candy that you can't get here (Sugus -- again spelling is probably wrong) but we loved them. They are like frutella but better. We even visited the factory where they were being made as well as lots of chocolate being made which smelled amazing. The customs official couldn't believe that I was actually declaring $300 worth of chocolate and candy!!! It was a great feast when my trunk finally arrived home with all the goodies.

I was actually quite lucky to go. After school ended I traveled with a girlfriend for 2 weeks and then my brother came over and we backpacked through Europe for 6 weeks. Haven't been back since (this was summer of 1984) but really want to.

Fiona

P.S. Thanks for the correct spelling.

 

[Viking]

Fiona,
friends of ours gave us an electric raclette-set for six persons about 5 years ago and since then we're trying to get the six of us together to have a nice evening feasting. As you may remember doing a raclette is a kind of social event, which may take 3 or more hours. It requires a lot of preparations, cutting all the stuff etc. But in the end its worth it. We're planning on using it perhaps on Friday 13th of August this year as this is our 11th anniversery. We usually celebrate it alone, but if it falls on a Friday we make it a party as we deliberately married Friday 13th of August 1993. We even had to marry at 815am in the morning, because that was last avaible slot - Our guests loved us for it Getting all dressed up that early wasn't exactly fun, especially as the offical fest started at 6pm But after the ceremony in our 900 year old city hall we had a very lengthy brunch. Then my Dad took all the out-of-town folk onto a guide tour through our historic downtown.
The only problem this year: 08/13/04 is also the day of the official opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games Athens and with Greece being in the same timezone we -and-our firends don't intend to miss it. Perhaps we plan the party 'around' the broadcast.

 

[Viking]

BTW,
the chocolate is about 50% cheaper over and as yummy as in Switzerland. And even the original Swiss stuff is about 30% cheaper.

 

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

Eric...I desperately want one of the exotic pole dancers..can you arrange??

BTW...We have a Dunkin Donuts one block from our house...can't tell you the last time I was in there though as I prefer Krispy Kreme's (but only buy when the hot sign is on!!)

 

[Viking]

I just checked out the forecast for London: It starts with 10°C/50°F on Saturday and then it becomes 1°C/2°F warmer each day til Tuesday with no precipitation

Fiona,
I found a funny Canadian band on the internet: 'The Arrogant Worms' and for the last three days I've been listening to them in my car on the way to/from work. But it's kind of dangerous as I sometimes have to laugh so hard that it's difficult to concentrate on the traffic - Especially when they're making fun of those strange people living South of you

 

[Viking]

BTW, Fiona,
what's RRSP?

 

[piglet33]

Just saw a post with tentative dates for MNSSHP for this year. The dates came from a Castmember. They haven't been released yet, but supposedly are in their system.

Oct. 1, 3, 8, 12, 14, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31

If these dates are right, then I get to go on Oct. 12. Yippee!!! I think the tickets went on sale April 30 last year. I can't wait for this.

Renee'

 

[Twinave]

Ok...Here's what we have at home in PCB:
A Krispy Kreme with a "Hot Now" sign.
Hot and cold running water.
2 full bathrooms.
2 cats, one golden retriever, 1 turtle, and some "ditch" fish.
5 minutes from the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.
6 hours by car from Orlando.
We don't have NY bagels. Or a hot tub. But we do have LOTS of fresh seafood, long summers and short winters. And NO snow!
Later, Ave'

 

[cdnmickeylover]

RRSP = Registered Retirement Savings Plan I believe it's similar to the US 401K?

You pay money into the plan for your retirement. The good thing is that you don't have to pay tax on the earnings of the money in the plan and you get a tax deduction for the amount you put in. I think you can put up to 18% of your income into an RRSP every year to a maximum of like $13,000. I do put money away but no where near the maximum -- hey like I have to live.

You get to keep it until you turn 69 and then you have to turn it into a RRIF -- registered retirement investment fund (I think). This is where you have it turn into an annunity to pay out the money to you which is then taxable but the idea being that your tax rate is lower because your income is lower.

Fiona

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Have not heard of the band "The Arrogant Worms" but don't doubt that it is funny when making fun of those to the south of us.

There was an entire program here where Rick Mercer (a comedian) went to America and asked Americans questions about Canada. Quite funny. No offense to Americans and I'm sure they edited out the people who got the answers right but no we don't ski all year, we don't live in igloos, all Mounties do not ride horses, yes we do have television, yes we do have telephones. It was absolutely amazing the answers that people gave.

Fiona

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Like the dates for MNSSHP -- was actually just speaking to the lawyer who will cover for me. He was looking at our file list and said are you sure you want to go away? Looks pretty busy in the fall. Just looked at him and said hey when your hearing starts I'm on a boat. He was asking how long and I said well maybe just the week and then a couple of days, depends on MNSSHP (at which he looked at me blankly). He started to actually think about when I'm away and said you know it's like 2 weeks you'll be away and I just laughed. He hasn't figured out yet that I'm leaving at month end.

I won't have a problem getting the time off though because it's been booked for months and he's taking at least a month off this summer.

I would have trouble taking time off during the summer but during the fall/winter/spring is not a problem except Dec. which is year end.

Not a bad place to work in terms of vacation.

Looks like the 12th for us too I hope.

Fiona