I fear I have succumbed to assimilation. When I first arrived in Germany it was suppose to be short term, just a trial run so to say, in order to see if me and the German would work out. Plus I was thinking that it was in the center of Europe, and therefore how bad could it be? After living there however for 3 months and making less pretax and deductions than I had previously made after tax and deductions I concluded that it could be very bad indeed. And when one of my middle aged students threw a pen across the room while screaming that in his "40 years of learning English I have never heard of a phrasal verb" and therefore, obviously, I must be making it up in an effort to upset him, all of a sudden I was awash with nostalgia for Asia and a plane ride out was sounding mighty fine.
Mittwoch, 25. August 2010
Freitag, 20. August 2010
Scratch The Hype, You Are NEVER Alone In Iceland
Even without the scary tourist information man's speech of the impending doom that awaits all those who dare venture into the badlands of Iceland's interior, the place had already been hyped to us by guidebooks as an isolated, only for the hardcore and the brave, zone. Although not entirely untrue, (I am in fact very glad our trip was canceled last year, as I think the roads of the interior would have had me hauling off my helmet, slamming it into Patrick's face, and then sitting down and crying at the futility of it all), neither is it quite Thunderdome's "2 man enter, 1 man leaves." And isolated it is not! Although it is very true that Icelanders tend to leave the place alone, Germans in particular are drawn to it, as are the French.
Seriously, on the one hand you are told to be prepared to die alone should you venture in there, on the other hand just TRY to pee without someone seeing you. The place is a desert, but as soon as you pee, someone is driving around the one bend you managed to find. (Or cruising through a river, jumping out and rubbing his hands together, and exclaiming in a thick German accent "It always AMAZES ME where these mopeds of yours end up. You know you took a wrong turn somewhere to be on THIS road, correct?") Wargle.
Even when we took the "are you mentally unbalanced" path by accident on the way to Kverkfoll, I was still unable to pee! And then there was the incident of the nail....
Welcome To Iceland! Too Bad I Hate It Here....
The road to Kverkfjoll
Picture this: Us, bright eyed, enamored with Iceland, so much so that our first day we never made it out of our first fjord because we could not comprehend that Iceland was not just all we thought it would be, but in fact much much more. (And we were not even in Lonely Planet land yet, just a slight recommended detour for those with too much time on their hands). We were in 7th heaven. We had 4 weeks stretching in front of us, and we wanted to make the most of them.
So we venture into the local Tourist info to get "the local know how" on what roads would be the best option for us, especially for Sherrie as she is not an experienced off roader. (Try, actually, not one at all, she had a 1 day course and declared she hated it). But we thought that this was perhaps not the best info to share, but rather of the sort to keep to ourselves in case they try to discourage us.
Perhaps one of our brighter ideas, as when we told the guide we wished to venture forth to Kverkfjoll, which had a road rumored to be sent from the devil himself, well let us just say we met one of his minions at the tourist info. When we asked about the road he puffed himself up, sneered at us in disdain and declared that "I, MYSELF, have never been there, I for ONE, am not into this Hemingway crap, but that road will eat you up and SPIT you out. I am much more a London or Paris person myself."
And then he rolled his eyes at us.
Freitag, 13. August 2010
Because You Can Find Us Everywhere...
.... and not just around the world but also all over the web. We also blog over at Journizer, the same people who did (and are still doing, the episodes continue to come out!) our Journizing Turkey podcasts (I know technically vodcasts, but I just can't bring myself to say vodcasts, I am a creature of habit and the habit says podcast!). Either way, we write a logbook over there, and when we have time our pictures go there as well (I double post to Flickr, Patrick posts only to Journizer). A logbook means a general summary of our day rather than the type of post we write here. But if you are actually interested in the details, then there is where you want to go! It has a rather neat map (yes I wrote neat, herrrrr) and when we have the time we retype our daily notes there and back date them. So far there are only a couple of entires for this trip, but more will go there. But we have one laptop and 2 computer geeks, and it makes it hard to get everything done. Especially since we are here to ride Iceland and not to spend it on the internet! That is for when we get back! (This was an autopost written on Friday!)
In Iceland & Already The Camping Card Has Paid For Itslef!!!
We made it! 2 days and 2 nights on a ferry (we arrived here the morning of the thrid day!) and finally yesterday morning we arrived! We took our bikes off the boat, and decided to check out Skalanes, a 20 km ride on a 4 wheel drive trek (we thought we might as well jump in feet first) and then we would decide from there what we wanted to do. 10 hours later we had covered all of 40 kms (20 in and 20 out), we were back in the ferry port, and we were grinning from ear to ear. Gone were the memories of the ferry ride when we debated pucking off the others limbs just to hear the other scream in an effort to alievieate the boredom. THIS is what we came for, this is pure bliss, and whatever the costs, it would be worth every penny! For the reason we took so long was not the difficulty of the riding, but rather how spectacular the scenary was!
And financial wise we made a smart decsion on the ferry. We bought the 2010 camping card that lets us stay at selected sites for free. We worked it out, and after 5 stays on a site it had paid for itslef. We plan on staying in a tent as much as possible, so even with wild camping and the use of the hot springs, we figured we would still require 5 showers. And then we discovered how much internet costs (try 2 Euros per half hour). And then our campsite has free internet. And just from being able to access the internet the card has paid for itself. If you are coming to Iceland to camp buy one of these!!!!
Dienstag, 10. August 2010
Samstag, 7. August 2010
"Iceland Bound", Or "Better Late Than Never", Or "Does This Seem Familiar To You?"
2 days late is better than never! (3 if you want to really argue it, but Thursday evening was never really a plan, just a “what if”, so we are 2 days late and that is my story and I am sticking to it. Plus I worked Thursday evening, it cant be considered a real departure date). I would love to say that the stress of the past 2 days was unusual and new, but lets be honest, we never leave on time. We always leave at least one day later, and 3 seems to be the norm. It's a combination of the fact that I am always way too optimistic on how much time we actually need, and the fact that since we ride our bikes we do not normally have a time pressure of taking off at a set date and time. But now the bikes are packed, everything is strapped, and the only cost is that we wont get to be tourists in Hamburg. I can accept that for 4 weeks in Island with our motorcycles! And so I leave you with the third episode of Journizing The Throne of The Gods, where we were also 2 or 3 days late before we actually left. :-P
Mittwoch, 4. August 2010
Iceland Bound....The Packlist
Patrick's note: If you are here for the packlist, and just the packlist, and not for Sherrie's round about way for talking about anything and everything, click here to find our Iceland Pack List as a stand alone page, otherwise, enjoy the rather convoluted path she takes to talk about what we want to pack.
In just a couple of days we will be “unterwegs” and Iceland bound. And with a 6 week “mini” break coming up fast and furious you would think we would be scrambling to get everything ready. We are scrambling, but we don't seem to be doing so well on the getting things ready (this could in fact be due to the fact that we are doing everything BUT getting ready for Iceland, rather we are finishing up work and uni projects and going to weddings and bachelor/bachelorette parties, as well as traveling around Germany with visitors from Canada).
This lack of organization is not a problem for me, I am chaos and I think its fine to pack the morning of departure, it is a little more distressing for our German engineer friend (my mother may have something else to say about my apparent coolness as she witnessed me jumping on my suitcase screaming obscenities and threatening to destroy said suitcase at 3 am in the morning, about 8 hours before my flight back to Germany, but really, all that sugar after Christmas would make anyone scream and cry and smash the things that are so obstinate that they refuse to bend the laws of physics and just accommodate whatever it was that I was trying to fit into the damn case.) But I digress.....
How things tend to look when I pack...
Then I was over on Nomadic Chick and she did her Gypsy Wednesday post on her packlist for girls. Patrick has said to a million times that our next post should be on our packlist for Iceland, and she has inspired me to get my butt into gear. Not for actual packing, but at least a coherent list that will keep us from screaming at each other come Friday (as we frantically run around cursing the irresponsibility of the other) when we plan to pack the bikes in order to ride off into autobahn madness on the morning of the 6th. (We figure we commit to one day of autobahn hell in order to have a stopover in Hamburg, I have never been and Patrick has a cousin who is awesome there, win win!).
A packlist means we can cross everything off as we attach it, strap it, or stuff it onto the bikes. It may even help one of you in the future, and we promise to review it when we get back, which will probably help you more, as even after 5 years of traveling together (and longer apart) we still tend to overpack.
Last (ahem) quick comment before the list, it is fair to say that you can commit as much effort or as little effort into planning and packlists as you wish. When we took off for the Ukraine 3 summers ago we talked lots, did nothing, and then the morning of grabbed everything we thought we needed and headed in a general eastward direction. It was an awesome trip, and as we had planned nothing and had no expectations, we ended up in Romania after about a week in the Ukraine. Western Romania remains one of my fav places to bike, so there is nothing wrong with trying to leave room for spontaneity in your adventures! Showing up without your passport however is rather silly. (And Ive done it, so I can say it's silly!)
Packlist For Iceland:
This list is not so different for our longer trips, it seems like if you go for a weekend or a year, you bring more or less the same stuff. And so without further adieu the list! (Actually I lied, one further comment, note the use of categories, that is because Patrick is German, I just make chaotic notes that I hope cover everything, and then curse and swear as I backtrack over the apartment and curse the difficulty of living in Germany, as I have now decided all problems can be blamed on my adoptive land!)
PACK LIST!
Documents
Passport
Bike Insurance
Credit card
Drivers License
Health Insurance Card
Schutzbrief ADAC (magic thing that Germans have where they call ADAC when they are in trouble with their car or bike and they come rescue them. Makes the ADAC one of the best loved companies in the land as it strikes at the center of the German heart, fast, efficient, reliable and most importantly, it focuses on the light of their life, their car!)
Backups (Just In Case Stuff)
Copies (photos) of all important papers, cards, and numbers as a backup in dropbox and in our email accounts.
Second key exchange with each other
First Aid kit
Travel guide
Map
Compass (Patrick had his with him the entire world trip and never used it, but as we are going without a GPS so we figure better safe than sorry. Of course if we have to use it it probably means we are already sorry. )
Camping Gear
Tent
Sleeping bags
Air mattresses
Headlamps
Toiletries (basics for our shower, teeth cleaning, and to the best of our abilities, underarm needs. This may be futile if its really hot and your offroading, which is why sometimes its nice to ride your own bike, you both stink equally).
1 pot, 1 plate, and one fork, knife and spoon each
Cooker (How to know you have not been in your own country for a long time, I don't even know if cooker is the right word for it, but it is not a proper kerosene stove. We will put some pics up later and review it after Iceland, but basically its a little gas thing that is super small, and can run on gas from the bikes if we need to use it. Its real name, I need to find out.)
Wind shield for cooker (our German hero has made one in 10 mins out of an old license plate, I love it because its reusing old crap that is meant for the garbage, buy less ride more and be nicer to the planet while doing it)
Metal cups
Muesli, Rice, coffee (you can normally buy this anywhere, and on most trips we pick up food and supplies that we need daily, but it is our intention to buy it before we go to a notoriously expensive island. You may mock us for this, but there is a reason why we are able to afford 6 weeks in Iceland, and its not because teaching English in Germany is such a lucrative job.)
Soup packages (instant powder variety)
Emergency chocolate (when all other food is gone and I am thinking about what Patrick would look like after Ive plucked out his eyes)
Clothes
Rain Gear (LOVE the rain pants that zip on and off from the sides, so much easier to get into the damn things, I think I will actually write a post before the week is out on how much I love my side zipped rainpants, and how my 1983 chic rain jacket was worth every penny as well)
pants
shorts
bathing suit
7 pairs underwear and socks
2 t shirts
1 hoodie (for those of you who speak German I almost wrote pulli instead of hoodie, and then thought with horror that not only is German sneaking into my English, but I cant really speak German, so Im just losing my ability to speak either language, and opening myself up to the mocking of what “packing a pulli” might mean).
Flip Flops
Longjohns for Patrick and leggings for me (so much more comfortable than riding with jeans on or bare skin)
Other Stuff
Gloves
Earplugs
Sunglasses
Lighter
First Aid Kit
Mini Pharmacy Stuff (anti-diarrhea pills, sunblock, burn cream, blistex)
Disposable books (normally guilty pleasures that we don't mind trading, losing, or getting wet)
Tiny laptop (for blogging, emailing, and maintaining some kind of income on the road)
Cameras