The Most Expensive Free Trip Ever - TR Link is Up! Pg. 164

I went when I was 16. Remember VERY, very little. The wine was flowing free, and the cruise ship wasn't carding. Ummm.... stupid!!!! (Those were the "stupid days" Cherie and I were talking about last week.)

I was with my parents, so I couldn't get too stupid. One of the memories my dad has mentioned of that trip is his teenage son sitting next to him at a bar and ordering a beer! :rotfl: That was the night of B's parents' anniversary (when he ran out of gas).
 
Nice Holland post. Our former teammates were Dutch, and our home office for our NGO is based in Holland as well. One year they held the annual conference there, so we spent a couple of weeks there. The conference was on the coast in the north (cold!), then we got a "holiday" home in Ermelo for a week. My favorite was touring Utrecht (colder); the cathedral was AMAZING! We also got to tour a really cool castle in Muiden. We drank copious amount of hot choco too! The 1/2 day boat tour we took (coldest!)amongst the windmills and polder was very liberal with it! :thumbsup2
 
I'm not sure, but actually "our" language MAY have stolen it from Russian. I just know that's what it's called all over the former CIS. :confused3 and the Russian speakers use it with a slightly different pronunciation.

I went when I was 16. Remember VERY, very little. The wine was flowing free, and the cruise ship wasn't carding. Ummm.... stupid!!!! (Those were the "stupid days" Cherie and I were talking about last week.)

Wow I had a trip like that at 16 too.....

And it ended with a cruise that sounds like the same boat? Did you go on the same band trip I did?

:rotfl:
 
Wow I had a trip like that at 16 too.....

And it ended with a cruise that sounds like the same boat? Did you go on the same band trip I did?

:rotfl:

No, it was an educational trip where we were supposed to see basically ALL of Europe, have lectures at a bunch of museums, blah, blah, blah. It was certainly educational. :sad2: The chaperoning was nil. They were completely naive! We'd stay out until 3:00 AM STEALING wine from cafe kitchens, and generally being naughty. :scared1: It was a wonder we didnt' get thrown in jail.

On the bright side, I did learn A LOT about European history, cathedrals, architecture, cuisine, and all that. Fun, but maybe too much.
 

Nice Holland post. Our former teammates were Dutch, and our home office for our NGO is based in Holland as well. One year they held the annual conference there, so we spent a couple of weeks there. The conference was on the coast in the north (cold!), then we got a "holiday" home in Ermelo for a week. My favorite was touring Utrecht (colder); the cathedral was AMAZING! We also got to tour a really cool castle in Muiden. We drank copious amount of hot choco too! The 1/2 day boat tour we took (coldest!)amongst the windmills and polder was very liberal with it! :thumbsup2

You've gotten to experience a lot. That's great.

Wow I had a trip like that at 16 too.....

And it ended with a cruise that sounds like the same boat? Did you go on the same band trip I did?

:rotfl:

Another educational trip, I see.

No, it was an educational trip where we were supposed to see basically ALL of Europe, have lectures at a bunch of museums, blah, blah, blah. It was certainly educational. :sad2: The chaperoning was nil. They were completely naive! We'd stay out until 3:00 AM STEALING wine from cafe kitchens, and generally being naughty. :scared1: It was a wonder we didnt' get thrown in jail.

On the bright side, I did learn A LOT about European history, cathedrals, architecture, cuisine, and all that. Fun, but maybe too much.

Wow. You've experienced even more than I originally thought. Where were those chaperones?
 
I guess that came across....wasn't sure I'd mentioned it enough. That picture where Judy is standing on a bridge, she was not happy with me. Oh, CYNTHIA....that would be a picture where we're not "glowing"! She was so cold, and I asked her to pose, and she was like, "Just take the stupid picture!"

But, yeah, isn't it interesting how Amsterdam looks so different from Antwerp? And Vienna will be much different too.

Ok...she isn't glowing but isn't glowering either..She's got the "good sport" look happening...

It's so pretty but you guys do look cold.

No, it was an educational trip where we were supposed to see basically ALL of Europe, have lectures at a bunch of museums, blah, blah, blah. It was certainly educational. :sad2: The chaperoning was nil. They were completely naive! We'd stay out until 3:00 AM STEALING wine from cafe kitchens, and generally being naughty. :scared1: It was a wonder we didnt' get thrown in jail.

On the bright side, I did learn A LOT about European history, cathedrals, architecture, cuisine, and all that. Fun, but maybe too much.

sounds like a very similar trip. Ours was supposed to be educational under the guise of a band trip, we performed all over the place. First night, in London we sneak out to a pub. Everyone has a pint and...

In walk our chaperones.

Who proceeded to order a pint themselves and sit down with us.

Did I mention the head guy was a friend of my parents who went to our church? Talk about seeing someone in a new light....

The cruise ship was the only part out of control though....all I can really remember about that was...

Smith and Kerns.

and bad disco music

and crazy italians cheering for the world cup, they'd leave their shoes outside their doors and we'd steal them... it's a wonder we didn't cause a riot.

Still. Some amazing memories.

and my first "real" boyfriend.
 
I can't believe all of those chocolates all in one place! Heaven...:cloud9:

Amsterdam looked pretty, the shot with 7 bridges was realy cool.
 
I totally cracked up at the "The things I do for you (readers)!" comment. We are worth it! And we do thank you. You probably don't even remember what the heck that is in reference to, so I'll let you go do the leg work and find it.

You were so on top of your FiPs!! I'm duly impressed!

My kids favorite show in ALL the parks was LMA! They still talk about it every time WDW comes up.

So how were the Pizza Planet bathrooms?? How would Jordan have rated them?

I think I may have needed a bathroom in the Star Tours line if the Storm Trooper had snuck up on me!

Too funny James ran into that classmate!! It's a small world after all. ;)

Note to self: Check poncho sizes before leaving!!
 
and crazy italians cheering for the world cup, they'd leave their shoes outside their doors and we'd steal them... it's a wonder we didn't cause a riot.

Still. Some amazing memories.

I have some stories like this that I'd never want my kids to find out about.

I can't believe all of those chocolates all in one place! Heaven...:cloud9:

Amsterdam looked pretty, the shot with 7 bridges was realy cool.

I knew you guys would like that chocolate shop. Good thing I took the picture before I stuck my face against the window and got drool all over it.

I would like to visit that chocolate shop :)

It's on a side-street near the Antwerp train station. I'm being funny, but you can just walk around the city and it won't be long until you run into one just like it. They're all over the place.
 
I totally cracked up at the "The things I do for you (readers)!" comment. We are worth it! And we do thank you. You probably don't even remember what the heck that is in reference to, so I'll let you go do the leg work and find it.

I think it may have been from looking like a weirdo in front of my SiL and taking pictures of plates of food?

You were so on top of your FiPs!! I'm duly impressed!

My kids favorite show in ALL the parks was LMA! They still talk about it every time WDW comes up.

Gotta work the FPs. We like the LMA! show too. DN hadn't seen it before so we wanted to make sure he did. We've seen it a couple times now so may skip it this year.

So how were the Pizza Planet bathrooms?? How would Jordan have rated them?

I'm trying to recall....I think they were okay, but not stellar. Jordan uses a 4 flush system, with 1 being best and 4 being worst, right? These would probably be a 2 to 3. I'd probably lean toward a 3, not because of cleanliness issues, but because of the amount of traffic going through there. I like to find the calm, out of the way places, where I have the place to myself! But who doesn't?


Too funny James ran into that classmate!! It's a small world after all. ;)

Note to self: Check poncho sizes before leaving!!

Yes, Mr. Social.

Those dang ponchos were heavy too. She got heavy-duty ones so they could be re-used. I think we decided that lighter, disposable (even though we'll try for a couple of uses) ones would be a better choice. Even though it feels like you're throwing your money away on those. Truth be known, you're still throwing your money away on the heavy-duty ones.
 
wOW! I thought that the architecture was beautiful - but those pyramids of chocolate.....sigh.

You really remember a lot of details about your trip - did you take notes at the time, or do you just have an iron-clad memory?!

I love the description of your visit with B's parents - they looked like such genuine 'folks' - Seems like you can get a much better feel for a foreign land by spending time with locals.

Your answers to Liesa's posts made me want to go back and read your other report - but I have to get caught up on all these PTRs first, including my own!:headache:
 
You really remember a lot of details about your trip - did you take notes at the time, or do you just have an iron-clad memory?!

Oh, no, my memory's pretty bad! I basically wrote my trip notes (no pictures) to send to my parents and siblings because I was getting so many great stories and I was afraid I'd forget them. (Back then I hadn't found the DISboards yet.) Recently I located the CD with the pictures and the Word document of the trip report was on the computer so it was pretty easy for me to just merge the pictures into the text I'd already written to post here.

I love the description of your visit with B's parents - they looked like such genuine 'folks' - Seems like you can get a much better feel for a foreign land by spending time with locals.

That was a great visit. E is actually B's stepmother. F was widowed a number of years ago. We got to meet B's mother back in 1980 when we visited with them. She was a hoot also. We were there over their anniversary (I've mentioned that B ran out of gas that night). When the two of them, F and B's mother, appeared, ready to go out for the evening, he was wearing her wedding dress and she was wearing a tux. I don't remember him wearing a wedding dress the rest of the night, so they must have changed before we all went out.

Your answers to Liesa's posts made me want to go back and read your other report - but I have to get caught up on all these PTRs first, including my own!:headache:

Oh I completely understand. There are so many threads to keep up on. I hope you do someday though, I think you'll like it. I confess, I need to check in on yours....you've been very faithful here -- thanks!
 
B helped us meet up with C and her new husband, then he left. I asked B what C’s new guy’s name was, and he said something that sounded like “wart”, only with about 5 A’s in the middle. Anyway, the guy introduced himself as E3 so I don’t know what B was talking about – just focusing on the second syllable, I guess. I had told Judy that she would need to help me make conversation tonight because I had only met C once, back in 1992, when she and B visited the U.S. Judy had met her then too. It turned out we needn’t have worried, we had a great night, full of conversation. C told me that the girls slept last night with their new blankets that Mom had made.

We met at an Irish pub, but they drove us a little way to the restaurant. They wanted to check it out, in comparison to their restaurant.

(in the pub.)
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They really treated us that night, let me tell you. I think the restaurant was called the Brasserie. They started with champagne, and it was really good (and probably expensive). Then, Judy and I were going to split an appetizer, but they wouldn’t let us, so we each got shrimp croquettes. They ordered a bottle of white wine for Judy and I, and they got a red. I had a chicken dish with asparagus in a white cream sauce, and Judy had tuna. Oh, I should mention that I tried some of C’s appetizer, beef carpaccio, which was a raw beef, sliced almost paper-thin. Then, for dessert I ordered a crème brulee and Judy ordered a piece of cheesecake. They wanted to see this special chocolate dessert that the restaurant had created for its 15th anniversary, so they ordered that too.

(Sorry DISers, I wasn't a DISer when I went on this trip so didn't know to photograph ALL of the food. I did capture the desserts though!)
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For themselves they ordered a cheese plate. They told us that cheese is sometimes served for dessert with a special, aged balsamic vinegar. The aged balsamic vinegar is so good (apparently), the Belgians say “it is like an angel peeing on your tongue.” (Cleaned-up version) Okay. I guess that’s good. Somehow, they made Judy and I eat the chocolate dessert in addition to what we ordered. We were so stuffed! It was 11:30 pm and they asked us if we could go for a nightcap – we couldn’t because we had an early flight in the morning. B would be picking us up at 5:15 am. They wouldn’t let us pay anything toward the meal, they were treating. I felt like such a glutton from all I had eaten, I was afraid I was going to get sick during the night, but everything stayed down. Earlier in the day I thought I might make one last pomme fritte run, but now there was no way!

Link to next chapter
 
I had heard that about the basalmic before from our Dutch teammates- so funny! Yeah, you did clean it up. :lmao:

What a meal! They really treated you with some fancy schmancy hospitality!
 
I don't care if it is an angel...I don't want anything peeing in my mouth.:sick:

I forgot to mention all the signs in English in Amsterdam..I wouldn't have expected that.
 
I had heard that about the basalmic before from our Dutch teammates- so funny! Yeah, you did clean it up. :lmao:

What a meal! They really treated you with some fancy schmancy hospitality!

They sure did, but I have never been so full in all my life. Not even on a Thanksgiving.

I don't care if it is an angel...I don't want anything peeing in my mouth.:sick:

I'm with you on that one.

I love hearing the different expressions that people use.

I forgot to mention all the signs in English in Amsterdam..I wouldn't have expected that.

Yeah, but I still knew I was in a foreign country.
 
I love hearing the different expressions that people use.

Here's a couple funny ones from here:

When one is bored the literal translation is "My stomach cooked."

When you are being forgetful: "My brain opened up."

To refer to a good friend: "My liver."
 
Here's a couple funny ones from here:

When one is bored the literal translation is "My stomach cooked."

When you are being forgetful: "My brain opened up."

To refer to a good friend: "My liver."

The forgetful one is so much more tasteful than our "brain fart".
 














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