365 Back in the USA!!

Mid March will mark one glorious year back in the US and since I have not had the chance to see everyone and let them know that I did indeed make it back home and what I am currently up to, I figure a post is the easiest way to get the word out.  That, and I can write about what has been going in my life the last year.

March 2014- July 2014- I did nothing............

Ok, that is not totally true.  I did put the weight I lost traveling back on.  I did search for jobs for ten minutes to 5 hours a day.  And I did watch a shit load of tv shows. Sooooo, not a complete waste of time!

Let's start with the important stuff.....tv.  I finally finished Gossip Girl, and started and have since completed Parenthood, Dexter....done, True Blood has been slayed, and a bunch of movies that were on my bucket list.  For the most part these were good shows that went terribly terribly wrong somewhere, but being a true TV connoisseur, I watched them all start to finish.  Oh yeah, Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards too.

As for the job hunt, I wanted to get it right this time.  A good part of the reason I left was because I was very dissatisfied at work.  Hour after hour after hour searching company websites, linked in, indeed and anywhere else where jobs are listed, was leaving me a little discouraged about the state of the market, or me as a candidate.  Do you know how freaking long it takes to fill out individual cover letters and company applications..........bout 5 months (amount of time I was unemployed).

I had some great interviews at some good companies, Costco offered my $12/hr for the 5am shift in the call center, so I told them where to stick it.  Some tech start ups I was not qualified for, a recruiting job I was not qualified for and then I got a job I was over qualified for.  Slanging high end cruises to exotic Norway, Greenland and Antarctica.  That lasted 3 months and I jumped ship to go work for the travel and expense reporting powerhouse that is Concur.  But, that is getting ahead of myself a bit since that job started in December.

A Dawg Abroad

Eurotrip 2015.

Real life sometimes gets in the way, that and laziness.  I bet we could chalk about 75% of it up to laziness, at least in my case this has to be true.  The only thing that could get the blog out of retirement is a 12 day whirlwind trip to Europe for a little Australian family reunion and a 10 hour flight home.  I don’t know how long it will take me to put it all up, but it shouldn’t take too long…how many different ways can you write up “we went out and got drunk and had a great time”?

Having said that, I am going to hit the highlights, the lowlights (surprise surprise, I get lost in a foreign country) and some thoughts along the way.  I even took pictures and have some videos, so we will see how those turn out as well.  In all the trip consisted of 3 countries, 5 cities, 5 flights, 8 Australian travel mate reunions and a hell of a lot of trains.

Seattle-Frankfurt-Heidlberg

I have been doing fairly well at work recently and have won a few American Express gift cards.  They will become a reoccurring theme of the trip, but just to say that I brought over $1,700 in worthless pieces of plastic is an understatement.  This is where I have to hastag, #americanexpressisagreatcreditcardunlessyouwanttouseit!!!!!!!!!

Last time I was able to use the card was getting lunch in Seatac.  Maybe I will grab dinner there when we land.

10 or so hours after leaving Seatac I land in Frankfurt, Germany and have to take the train to meet up in Heidelberg.  I did not put nearly the amount of research into this trip as I have in past as I was staying with friends up until the last leg.  I sincerely pay the price for this along the way and Frankfurt was stop #1 of many.

Top 8 (I could not think of 10) features of my flight from Seattle to Germany

8.  Movies cost 8 euros a viewing, so F that.

7.  I played nearly 10 hours of candy crush and listened to Adam Carolla Podcasts the whole way there.

6.  The inflight what not to do in the air video featured a very tan white man dressed as a tribal chief smoking a piece pipe while his embarrassed white companion looked all embarrassed

5.  Turtlenecks and B.O.

4.  No free alcohol

3.  Middle seat and the kid in front of me reclined into my knees roughly 20 seconds after take-off

2.  NO FREE ALCOHOL!!!!!

1.  My laptop battery died before we flew over Canada…technically this was my fault, but screw you Condor Airlines for not having an outlet in the seats.

Ok, back to the trip.  I land in Frankfurt and knew I had to get to Heidelberg via train….that was all I knew.  After the super helpful gentleman at the information station told me that I should catch the train to Heidelberg in order to get to the Heidelberg train station (NO SHIT), I was able to get on the wifi and found out I needed to take the train to Manheim, in order to get to my ride.  I was nervous the whole way, got lost more than once, but managed to arrive at the correct station to my English friends shouting “U-DUB!!!” as we did every day I arrived home from work while in Australia.

The rest of that day consisted of touring a German Castle, a fantastic steak dinner, drinking at some local pubs,  “do you take American Express?”, blank stares, more drinks and to bed early for tomorrow’s Main Event….The Oktoberfest!!! 

Oktoberfest in Stuggart

We need to be on the train at 8am sharp to get to Stuggart.  The girls set their alarms for dawn in order to be ready on time.  The boys wake up at 7:20 and had time for all three of us to take showers and are the first ones out the door.  The hell you poor women go through to each day, but on this day, it was worth it.  Not knowing how long we were about to be on trains (almost 2 hours), we each bought 1 beer and were on our way.  Several borrowed beers and some of the most uncomfortable trains ever; we arrive at the ‘fest.

This tent holds roughly 5,000 people, and there were 6 of these going on at the same time on the fairgrounds.  I have checked with several people and we all pictured what Oktoberfest would be like the same.  A bunch of huge tents in an enormous field out in the middle of nowhere.  This was nothing like that.  It’s a big indoor facility with roughly 200 10-person tables, along with space for several bars, and standing room for the people that did not pay for a table.  There is a large stage up front where the band plays and a small area in the back for the bathrooms.

Almost immediately we are discovered not to be German, I don’t know if its cause we were wearing street clothes, looked completely lost or were only speaking English to each other, but the Germans snuffed us out fairly quickly.  To the point that two young men from Cologne found out I was in fact an American, and we can’t drink.  We proceeded to the “Schnapps bar” and as quickly as you can say, “I don’t really like Schnapps” in some half-German half English hybrid, we had already done 5 shots.  Really warms the belly up for the mugs of beer I was about to drink.  This did not happen to the English guys or Irish girl with us, just the lucky American.  Man people really don’t like us abroad….jokes on them though, I loved it!

To say that we were seated close to the stage would be a joke on the word close.  We were so close I could identify the lead singer’s balls in an all testicle lineup.  The seats were amazing, but it really put the spotlight on ole Patriotic Scott.  I had to learn the songs quickly and participate in everything.  Luckily I had a German guide that spoke excellent English and was more than happy to describe what the songs were about to me.

Basically on stage

                        My translator and I singchanting…. The next picture is my favorite!!!

                     All about timing!!!  The other slice of bread in this sandwich is English Matty

Top 5 songs that rocked the tent the hardest

5.  A German song about the exploits of a night in Amsterdam

4.  A German song about drinking at Oktoberfest

3.  A German song about having to stay drunk so your date doesn’t get ugly

2.  Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”

AND  #1…………..The Backstreet Boys “Backstreets Back”  Brought the effing roof down

Rather than go on and on about the event and how great it was I will skip ahead to the exciting part of this tale, getting home.  Now the tent I described was a madhouse pretty much from start to finish.  It’s not like people were getting more sober as the night went on.  Trouble was when it’s over, it’s over… you go out the exit and that is that.  The problem with that is there are 5 other identical tents ending the same time as ours, causing pure chaos on the grounds and leaving roughly 20,000 people that all have to go to the bathroom searching for one that does not have a 1-hour line.  Well, I found that bathroom and was in and out in seconds; however, I lost my group in the process.  Now I have been lost many many many times in my life.  The Bellingham Mall, The Disney Hotel, and Disneyland itself just to name a few.  I was quite young in for the time in Disneyland, but really kept my cool.  Lost at Oktoberfest in Stuttgart, among 30,000 drunk idiots like me, where I don’t speak the language and it took us 2 hours and 3 trains to get there was the most UNcool lost Scott had ever been.

My strategy: walk as fast as I can until I find someone I recognize….and it worked!!!  I run into two of the girls that shared a table with us and didn’t leave their side for the entirety of our 3 hour journey home.  Fast forward to them taking me to a local pub for some post fest pizza and more drinks.  Fast forward another 3 hours and I am sitting at the “locals” table talking about bands, ripping shots, and not worried at all about where I was going to sleep that night.  Around midnight all of a sudden the door opens and 3/4ths of our Oktoberfest crew walking in the bar and I am saved.  Turns out the pub was less than 30 feet from the house I was staying at, but since I didn’t know the address or really much of anything I figured I was in a whole different village altogether. 

         The older gentleman that adopted me as their drinking buddy

The rest of Germany was an all too quick amazingly fun blur.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story:

  Snapshot from the day 1 castle.  Beautiful country that Germany

       Some of our group, not sure what’s up with the photo quality.

German local that tried to drink me under the table when he found out I was America….ps guy, I drank those beers left on the table before the night was over.

    .   A little slice of home for an authentic German shot of something….tasted like burning.

   Sammie, Me, Matty, Jimmy and our lovely hostess…Anna

  SAP arena for all my Concur folks

                           One of my favorite things about Germany, no matter the weather people still congregate outdoors and drink.

That’s about it.  Huge thank you to Anna and her wonderful family for letting us stay with them.  The German girls that saved me from being lost at Oktoberfest forever, mainly you Samira!  And to Sammie, Jimmy, and Matty for picking up right where we left off in Sydney.  You are all very special to me.  Part II, England....pending

Thailand, as advertised

Back in the US and it has been quite an adjustment.  I once thought that jetlag, much like back pain and technology being confusing was for weak minded whiners, who just needed to put a label on another reason to complain.  I am finding this out more and more as I get older, but I was wrong.  Jet lag is very much real and I have been unable to sleep except for small 4 hour chunks at a time.  I hope getting on another jet to Tucson will counteract this curse, or Sunday's daylight savings will be the magical cure.  Until then, if you need someone to talk to at 4 am, I am most likely awake trying to catch up on True Detective.  (Its pretty good, but not Wire good)

As promised, here is a photo blog entry of everything that I can share from Thailand.  The rest will appear roughly a few months later when I release my UNcut Thai blog entry for $4.99.  (Its not worth nor does it exist.)

My first Asian meal.  .27 cents American

We will be revisiting this place later....the tigers are NOT drugged up

So in the land of $5 cab rides I still walked over 5 miles from the middle of Phuket to the beach

Essentially the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign of Thailand

At $2 per, these babies go down easy, pretty much how I gained the weight I lost in Australia back

That girl holding the gun is about 6.......makes me want to shoot some guns

Lemur with laser eyes

The TV screen in Phuket where I watched the greatest football game of all time

$9 a night to sleep in a pod, I called it home for about 13 days and loved them all.

My two favorites

Random Thai Island I saw on my way to another random Thai island

More random island action

Part of the island where they filmed the movie "The Beach"

Swimming and Snorkeling and Stuff

They charge you money just to walk on to the island, sneaky

Ko Phi Phi Island, I think that means "Where tourists come to be set on fire"  You will get it in the next few photos/videos

Boats, boats, boats

Old school travel

New school

 My $12 a night accommodation, right on the beach

A shot of Ko Phi Phi at night during low tide

The whole shot all at once

Watched this for hours, people jumping until the fire eventually gets them

 Loved these, hypnotizing

People jump through the ring of fire, seemed pretty straight forward until people dove into it instead of      through it.  Again, watched for hours

A local showing people how it is supposed to be done, jump till the fire goes out

Same song, same rope, but a tourist, wonder what is going to happen..................

Most amazing thing I might have ever seen in person, watch it twice

Second hotel in paradise, this one was poolside

Krabbi- about the most exciting thing we saw there.  Indiana Jones Elephant

 Next time you need Ice, Oats and souvenirs, one stop shopping

Pretty cool traffic lights in Krabbi, the timer tells you long you have until 35 Thai cars and scooters all run a    solid red

Obligatory scenery shot

Same shot, plus me, per usual I look pissed off

A nice little temple, these pop up all over the place

Picture #2

The inside of the Temple

They have these all over the place, usually riddled with strawberry soda and water, no one could tell me   why

This goose was pissed off

Lil Brit all tucked out on the bus to Koh Samui- Bus $8 for a four hour ride

The beach, with a nice cold Chaing, Thailand's finest $1 beer

The beach, also with used needles, so don't walk around barefoot

This was the thing that supposedly converts the shower water to hot, 10 days with only cold showers will        change a person

This is the face you make when you see what he and you are just about to see

That was the Brittney Spears impersonator, nice package

Just four dudes chilling after the show.....4 dudes

The tongue says it all

The site of the Full Moon Party, Koh Phangan

A mirror pic in infinity, since my room was covered in mirrors, no pants either

Can't tell what those are, dragons, duh, gotta get tatt'd up before the big party

May look funky but the kid got a lot of compliments on the joker brows

This was insanely hard to get off, not worth it no matter how much I love Django

The Issaquah posse in full effect, Wes must have been taking the picture.  That guy in the orange has silver hair with sparkles in it

This is used in lieu of toilet paper in the bathroom.......for exactly what you think.  Nasty!

 

Mid Spray

                                                                         

Muay Thai fights

No Americans were fighting so we rooted for Vlad the Russian face smasher

This got chopped up, but ended up being better that way.  This was what we saw after Vlad                         smashed the other fighter in the face, causing him to be dragged off in a stretcher.

Just a snippet of a fight.  They play that crazy background music the whole time

Finally got Mykel to eat some street food.  For $3 this man will make all US Thai test like crap for the rest of  your life.  It is a good and bad thing that we had so much of it.

Wes and his $14 bowl of ice cream, even in the land of cheap everything, leave it to Wes to get ripped off!!!

The Koh Samui airport, free internet, free food, and a whole lot of comfort

Our meal on Bangkok Air

And what I thought of it

                                                                       

This is to show that these tigers are up and moving.  Nice to get them all riled up before we got in the cage

Laying with one of the mighty beasts, cautiously happy

Change in facial expression after the tiger took a swing at me

Tiger back to happy, I go back to happy.  We have a lot more of these, but they are on about 4 different       cameras and its hard to consolidate

This is where the magic happens, we spent hours in here bartering and trying on black market Nike's, talked  them down to about $28 a pair for the Air Max style

 So many shoes, one pair I was a size 11.5 and the other a 13, so you know they are good.

Just took a shot, focusing

Not happy

They guy who got us to a show that you can only see in Thailand, Mykel missing from picture either cause he took it or from the previous two.  I think it is actually the former

Jokes aside this is one of those creepy pervs that you hear about, I did not like this guy or any of the guys     like him.  They are pretty easy to spot

There is a school right in the middle of this madness, poor kids, but also.......awesome??

Various Lays chip flavors.......or as they call them abroad, crisps

Crab

Seaweed

Mexican BBQ

???????????

Magic toilet, I did not play with the buttons, but I bet its crazier than half the rides at Disneyland

The reason I was very nervous the power was going to go out during the Superbowl.  Its worse than this in   other areas

My whip home, I am back now, let's grab a drink and catch up