THE END...

Gina pointed out that I never actually finished the vacation blogging. I came close since I made it to the end of Dubrovnik, but never finished the whole trip, so here I am...

Leaving Dubrovnik, we had to get up super early to meet Luca who was going to take us to the airport. We were to meet him at the Ploce Gate. That means we had to get our luggage out to the Ploce Gate. Holy cow. And think, at this point, we've bought more souvenirs. I bought two big bottles of wine. That stuff weighs you down. So we are trying to make our way out of the old town making as little noise as possible. We actually carry our bags down the stairs, but we can't help the rolling on the cobblestones. And by the way... if you're ever there... try to get up early one day during sunrise.. it's purdy and you'll get pictures without random strangers in them.

Anyhow, we make it to the gate and Luca manages to get all the luggage into the wagon. I pay him when he drops us off and then we go in to check in. He comes back 10 minutes later because he says we didn't pay him enough money. I tell him we did and he takes it out and counts it. It's all there. Apparently he's not a morning person. hehee. He looks really embarassed, but no harm done. Now we wait around for our check in counter to open and decide to weigh bags at an empty counter. I am over. Oh well. I'm ready to pay. We luck out and the counter we're weighing our stuff at happens to be our check in counter. We luck out even more when the check in lady doesn't charge us for our over weight baggage. Woohoo!

We grab some breakfast, then board our plane and head back to Bratislava. That's right, back to Bratislava for a fun filled 8 hour lay over. We were all ready to check in our bags, rent a car and sight see. However, it was not meant to be. We land in Bratislava and once again, there's rain. LOTS of rain. Also, our luggage can't be checked in until two hours before the flight. I suppose we could take it with us, but the rental cars in Bratislava aren't that big. So we hang out at the airport. We see the restaurant staff change shifts, watch the gift shop lady come and go, read books, watch movies, and try to nap. You can tell which one of us is NOT the only child. I think Gina and I just accepted we'd have to sit tight for eight hours and I think we're rather used to entertaining ourselves. Vuong on the other hand seemed like she was ready to kill herself. Apparently her brothers always entertained her during those long road trips. Anyway, in addition to the airport being only about the size of Long Beach Airport, it's FREEZING in there. And they have metal chairs!

Then, aside from the boredom, we face another dilemma... we only have my 30 euros to last us the day. They use different money in Slovakia and we're not about to pay fees just to pull out some Slovakian crowns. 30 euros to feed three people all day. What will we do? Well, if you've ever seen Eurotrip... you'd know we needn't have worried. I went up to the counter and asked if they took Euros and they told me yes... I said, how much for the Pizza and 3 drinks in Euros? She tells me... 6 euros! Wow. We can live like kings. hehe.

Finally we get on the plane and we get a stinky guy behind us. At this point, we've been re-wearing some of clothes so many times, we're paranoid we're the stinky ones. Gina doesn't help by telling Vuong she actually does think its her that stinks. heehee. So now we're on the plane and they're sniffing around like hound dogs. I assure them its the guy behind us. Great, its not one of us. Nevertheless, we still have to smell it. Sucks. Thank goodness it's not too long of a flight.

We get in and it takes quite a while for our luggage to come out. I've made dinner reservations at Nobu because I'm desperate for some good food and we're celebrating Gina's birthday a little early. I call from the train to move our reservations back, then we check in at the Waldorf and get washed up and changed. We go to Nobu and the place is like a club. Much more happening than the Nobu in Malibu or NY. Downstairs there's a big bar so it looks like a club and the restaurant is upstairs. I would have liked to hang out at the bar or even check out a club down the street called Mahiki, but everyone's pretty tired, so we just head back to the hotel.

The next morning we get up and head out to Gatwick. This time, I'm just going to check in two bags and travel with a light carry on. Yay! I'll have to say, it's nice flying to and from Dallas and Gatwick because the plane isn't nearly as full. I've done the LA to Heathrow direct, and that plane is packed. On our flight, there were lights of empty spaces so that people were able to spread out. The flight actually went by pretty fast and we got into John Wayne early. No more vacation. Booooooo.

SICKO

I have finally succumbed to the office germs. Yesterday, I thought I had really bad allergies, so when I got home, I took some allergy meds, but it didn't help! I went to bed congested and woke up the same way, so I had to face facts and admit that I was sick. I just took a full shot of Nyquil. :-) I have lots to do tomorrow, after all.

It must have been all the partying this weekend. The old body is just not used to it. I was up til 3 a.m. on Friday night, then on Saturday, I met Aya for lunch at South Coast, walked around the mall for about three hours, then had dinner with Gina and Vuong. Dinner was early, so Vuong and i decided to go out after and we went up to Manhatta Beach to the Side Door, Towne and Petros. I even ran into Eric on the street after leaving Petros! Anyhow, that night, I think I went to bed around 2 a.m. and still had to go to Laryna's baby shower the next day. I was so dead tired. After I got back from Laryna's shower, I fell asleep on the couch. I still forced myself to get up Monday morning to go to the gym, but I just couldn't manage it today. Hopefully the drugs kick and kick some germy butt.

PARTY ANIMAL

Yep, that's me. I am a paaartay animal. OK, not really, but last night I went down to Newport for Bill's party. I got there early to hang with the guys, so around 7:30, and was one of the last to leave at 2 a.m. I know. I'm amazed I was able to stay awake too, since I got up at 5:30, but everyone was so entertaining, that the time went by really quickly.

Of course, today I feel like booty. I've been on this couch for the last hour and ten minutes and I'd be happy to lay here all day, maybe go back to sleep, except that I am hungry. I definitely don't recover as quickly as I used to.

Having lunch with Aya today who is visiting this weekend and dinner with Gina and Vuong. Yay. Then tomorrow we have Laryna's baby shower. Lots of fun this weekend!

GOOD LUCK

CHUCK! I finally got to see it tonight. Good thing because I don't think it'll be in the theatres much longer. Nowadays, if you don't see it that first week, you'll have to hussle to find a place to watch it. I went with Lin who is super picky about what theater he goes to, but he had to suck it up and go to his not-favorite, the Pacific Theatres on Rosecrans. He likes the purdy Regal up in PV. I, myself, don't care so long as the theatre isn't ghetto and all dirty and stuff. So we thought we'd be the only people watching, when it was just the two of us when we walked in, but more people came, and more people came...and before you know it, there was six of us. hehe.

Anyway, back to the movie. i have to say, it was pretty funny. I laughed out loud. I covered my eyes. I cringed in horror. I actually expected to see all the boobies because the co-workers had informed me as such. I didn't expect the last set of boobies that were shown. You'll have to see the movie to find out what I'm talking about. All in all, it was pretty laugh out loud. For me anyway. I do have that stupid, kind of sick and retarded sense of humor. =P (Yes, a guy's sense of humor.)

Alright, time to sleep. I think the co-workers have infected me with their germs, so now I'm left to fight the good fight. Airborne here I come. Good night!

FINALLY!

I finally got into Boneshia's spin class. It only took about 3 tries. Of course, now that I'm finally there, I'm thinking I'll put a dollar down to save myself a spot in the class next week... and it turns out she's going to be off for the next two Tuesdays! bummer! Oh well, at least I got my spin on tonight, so I can eat anything I want tonight and not feel bad. =P

STILL IN THE BITTER BARN...

So this weekend, I searched and searched online to try to find a journal comparable to the one I bought in Salzburg that the thieving bastards at Cheesecake Factory Newport Beach stole, but no luck. I even remember the brand but I still couldn't find it online. I know! I thought Google knew everything too. Oh well.

This past weekend, I had to be substitute soccer mom for Sean since my aunt and uncle were up in SF. Thus far, I've been Linley's substitute mom at Mommy & Me, and now Sean's "soccer mom." Really, do I need to have my own kids? Anyhow, the little guy is pretty good. When he gets that ball on a fast break, noone can catch him. 'm hoping one day he'll go pro in Europe and I can just sponge off of him. He's such a big boy now!



After the soccer game, I went back home, and the Ryans came over witih dinner as they were taking grandma to the airport. We had a nice banana berry pie from King's Hawaiian for dessert, and since Linley's birthday had just passed on Tuesday, she had us sing to her again to relive the happy memories of last Saturday (her family party) and Tuesday (her kiddie party). Princess Linley turns 3:

CROATIA HERE WE COME

From Vienna we travelled to Dubrovnik in Southern Croatia. We got our tickets from Sky Europe, essentially a European Southwest, so we had to take a 2 hour bus ride from Vienna to Bratislava. Yes, Bratislava. It was actually such a comfy bus ride that we all passed out and woke up close to the airport. We had to wait a bit before we could check in, and once again, we were AOP ("Asians On Parade").

When we landed in Dubrovnik, our landlord's son picked us up. Instead of staying in a hotel, I chose an apartment within the old city walls that I found online (http://www.dubrovnik-area.com/eng/details.asp?vla=371&SmjestajID=SG-A-0547). Luckily, Luca had brought a mini station wagon, and even then he struggled with the luggage a bit. So we're driving and I notice we're going past the city and he tells us he has to go pick up his dad from work. Umm.. OK. Are we gonna get groceries with your mom too? He tells us he needs his dad to help with the luggage. OK, this guy is like, mid to late 20s. Decent sized guy. What the heck?

So we pick up Stijepo from work and he hops in the car to drive, while Luca hops out and gets on a scooter. This guy is hilarious. Talk talk talk, yell at other drivers, talk talk talk. Now we're closer to the old city and we go past again! I'm thinking, "Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have gotten an apartment. We're gonna get ripped off!" However, I was wrong. The old city is protected by the old city walls, so it's like being in a fortress, and no cars are allowed. We have to unload the luggage and pull/carry it all in. No wonder he needed help. We enter through the Ploce Gate (pronounced ploh-cheh) and trudge through the town with the bags. The poor guys who carried most of the stuff were sweating buckets. I felt bad for them, but really had to hold in the laughs, because they looked so unbelievably tired. Luca even asked if we were moving to Dubrovnik given the amount of stuff we had. (Obviously we are not backpackers.)

Gina and Vuong in front of SOME of the steps we had to climb up to get to apartment.

Once we arrived at our apartment, we were very happy with it. It's an old building, but inside is completely renovated. I wonder if it was completely thrashed during the war, which is why they had to re-do it, but I guess we'll never know. So all is well with the place, then I ask Stijepo how we should pay him, as he did not ask for a deposit or anything before hand. He said, "Oh, you can leave it on the table when you leave, or you can just leave it there whenever during your stay, as we have a key and can come in and out of the apartment any time to clean up or whatever." Me: "Oh. OK." In my head, "Hmm.. you can come in ANY time?" Now I'm picturing myself sleeping only to wake up with this guy or his son in my face.

In front of our apartment door.

In the apartment there was a pull out queen sized bed downstairs and a regular one upstairs. In Prague, they didn't want to sleep alone so I took the master. This time, I insisted that I not be alone downstairs, so Gina said she'd stay with me, but then Vuong didn't want to be alone upstairs either. Yes, we are wusses. So we decide to all sleep in the bed upstairs together. Vuong gets to sleep bitch since we figure, she can practically sleep standing up, what's the difficulty in sleeping in the middle?

Now, mind you, everywhere we have gone, it has rained. Now we are in Dubrovnik, which is essentially like a sunny Mediterranean town. They tell us that it's been so hot and dry for months that they've even had brush fires. Until the weekend we arrive when they are scheduled to have a big storm. Yay.

So we unpack and grab dinner at Marco Polo off of Lucarica street. This place has THE BEST food. It's in a little alley way so it's easy to miss, but the landlord highly recommended it. He also told us not to go to Prijeko street. At first I think Gina and I both thought, "Great, there's a dangerous neighborhood here?" But he meant don't eat at any place on that street as they are all tourist traps. We are just in love with the menu because it's seafood and we've been eating meat for nearly 2 weeks straight. Vuong and I get the scampi dishes and Gina gets the mixed plate. Then I also ask for calamari. The owner looks at me like, "Also?" I say, "Yes, in addition to my scampi." He looks like he's thinking, "Umm... OK, but that's a lot of food." Well you know what? It was and we ate it all. That's right, nothing left but the bones. I think we impressed him enough with our appetite that he called his wife out to take a look at the Asian girls who apparently haven't eaten in weeks.

After dinner we walked around a bit, searched for Topfen gelato, checked out an Irish bar, and another bar called Fresh (www.igotfresh.com) that was recommended to us by a random Asian guy standing on the street who was passing out fliers. Then we head back home, stinky smelling from all the smoke, showered up and got to bed. I think we all passed out since we had a few drinks and got up early that day.

Then, in the middle of the night, I hear bam-bam, bam-bam. The storm is in full force and the window shutters which we had left open downstairs were banging like crazy due to the winds. At first I think I'm the only one creeped out by this, so I try to ignore it, but can't. I get up and go to the bathroom. When I come out, Gina is awake and we agree to go downstairs together to secure the windows. The banging stops, but the wind is still howling like crazy, and I just can't fall asleep, so I watch t.v. the rest of the whole freaking night.

The next day, we get up, search out some healthy pizza and coffee for breakfast, then begin our tour of the city walls. If you ever go to Dubrovnik, you MUST see the city walls and the view from them. Absolutely gorgeous. When I was researching for vacation, I read that Restaurant Nautika was the best in town. We asked our landlord and he agreed. To save money, we went there for lunch after our tour of the city walls.

Restaurant Nautika (http://www.esculap-teo.hr/restaurant_nautika.html) is just outside the Pile Gate (pronounced Pee-lay) by the water. The view is absolutely amazing, and since we had just had the big storm the entire night before, we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day. So we sat out on the terrace and ordered lunch. The menu wasn't like what I saw online, but whatever. We sit, we eat, we try to pay and find out they don't take credit cards. Well, not on Terrace Penatur. On Terrace Lovrijenac, where they have the full menu they do. Nuts. Gina and I leave Vuong as collateral and go looking for an ATM. We had to go all the way back into the middle of the old city to find one. Four actually. Side by side. But not one outside. You know the waiter thought the shady Asian chicks were gonna make a run for it. But we do return, our fists filled with cash. All in all, a nice experience, but for the price, I'd rather go all out and sit on the other terrace and get the full expensive menu, or just go back to Marco Polo.

After lunch, the salad queens are determined to shop, but given my lack of sleep, I decide to stay in and take a nap. When they get back, I'm refreshed and awake, and we head off to Locanda Restaurant for dinner. This restaurant is right by the marina where the water taxis take off to go to Lokrum Island. By now, it is dark and the winds are blowing again, as if it is going to rain later and we are cold. But we suck it up and sit outside, mainly because you have no choice it seems. I get a pot of fried shrimp. It is an entire pot. Literally. I can't even get through half of it. Vuong also got an entire pot, although she shared with Gina since Gina shared her squid ink paella with her. Afterwards, we walk around the town a bit more, then check out this stylish lounge we had seen from above during our walk on the city walls. We stop and get a drink to enjoy our last night in town before heading back to re-pack our stuff. At this point, most of our stuff is dirty and stinky, and we're all probably over the 20 kg weight limit the European airlines have.

As you can see, we like to travel light.

DAMN THIS OLD AGE...

It appears that in my old age, my hearing is definitely going. Bad enough I'm already super near-sighted, but now I can't hear. Last week, they had all these commercials for "Survivor China." More than once, I thought they said, "survive vagina." Now they have commercials on for the show "Cavemen" and I keep thinking they are saying "K-Fed." Not only is it sad I can no longer hear clearly, but that K-Fed pops up when he really isn't there.