The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

Three Days in Vienna

Yes, it is still a teaser (Erin style) although unlike my last un-teaser-like teaser, it doesn’t have a bunch of rambling writing in it! We spent three days in Vienna, and as you can see, I was still wearing the brace and carrying my trekking poles. Vienna was basically a very big city, in the flatter part of Austria, and was expensive and …well…I’ll save that for the real blog. Some things about Vienna we loved.

It is a city to explore if you have a lot of time and money and love high fashion, music, and art. A favorite moment was the short ride on the Prater Ferris Wheel and learning about its historical significance to the city.

I arrived home last night after more than 24 hours of traveling. Jet lag is worse from east to west I think, and I am still all strange and spacy and exhausted. Many photos to process and memories written on the iPad to capture.

Three Days in Hungary (teaser)

I am writing from the hotel in Vienna, where we arrived yesterday afternoon. It is about 55 degrees F and overcast. This is only the very beginning of the story, but I thought it might be nice to at least check in a bit. I originally had half a dozen photos in this post and Blogsy keeps saying “1 photo cannot be found on the iPad, delete these photos and post again”. So far I have deleted all of them, so we will see if the dang thing posts this time. If so, I might go back and try again! Of course you can always check out the current stuff over on the Picasa or Google plus link to the left. Maybe something will be there, who knows. HA!

Our hotel in Budapest was the Marmara Hotel, on the Pest side of the Danube, in what is considered the more modern part of the city. Although the hotel is very close to a large metro station, it is also close enough to the Danube River and the hub of the city that it was easy for us to walk almost anywhere we wanted.

Arriving in a big tourist bus is always a bit daunting, and this was no exception. The bus eased its way down the narrow street between parked cars slowly enough that shopkeepers came out to watch and be sure that their parked cars were unscathed.

The hotel itself is decent enough, but we were surprised to find a lumpy rollaway bed pulled out into the room. The main bed was enough for us and we used the rollaway simply for spreading stuff out and storing luggage. The room was adequate, with a door that opened to a small balcony, but the balcony opened only to an atrium and we were surrounded by cement above and below us. Still it was good to have fresh air at least after being cooped up in an airplane for so long.

After settling in, Melody and I immediately took advantage of the central location and the sunny afternoon to go walking and begin exploring our surroundings. Both of us had walked these streets on Google Earth so things looked a bit familiar, and we had a small map to understand the lay of the land. The buildings are very tall, though, and it is hard to actually figure out where you are on the map and which direction you are walking!

We found our way to the Danube, and to the Parliament buildings, and then found a great little coffee shop in the basement of the National Museum where we had our first of several good cappuccinos that we would enjoy in the next few days. Once fortified with some caffeine to keep us going we stood on the banks of the Danube. After 24 hours without any sleep to speak of, both of us were a bit loosey goosey, and we knew it was important to stay awake until a regular bedtime to keep from extending the jet lag thing into the next da. We returned to the hotel without getting lost and again, as I look back from this vantage point I see really now little ground we covered that first afternoon, but it seemed like a lot at the time.

At 5:30 we met downstairs in the atrium for an orientation meeting with our guide and the group. That is always an interesting part of the trip, seeing just where everyone is from and who might be fun to know and who might be good to avoid. There are always both kinds. Lorena, our trip leader, is from Argentina, but relocated to Berlin 13 years ago and has been leading Go Ahead Tours for almost as long. She is personable and pleasant, quite lovely, and seems to do her job well. There are a few prickly folks who showed their colors right away and it was interesting watching Lorena handle them so gently.

The restaurant was nice enough, but they didn’t seem very well prepared for a group of 30 people. There are vegans, lactose intolerant, wheat intolerant, and vegetarian folks along who have special dietary needs and this seemed to throw them a bit. Our one vegan companion wasn’t difficult at all, and decided that the fried cheese they gave her was just fine.

We, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the Hungarian Beef Goulash with Spaetzle. I used to make a midwest version of this dish back in the days of kids and casseroles, and believe me, it wasn’t the least bit related. I especially loved the spiciness of the paprika. Dessert was some kind of a sponge cake which I believe is also traditional, covered with a bitter chocolate sauce. I know European desserts are not sweet, but to me this was mostly just plain boring.

Back at the hotel, Melody was relieved to find that she could hook up her iPhone to wireless in the lobby at least. She really needed that connection to her kids and her husband and was happy that they could all communicate via facebook and skype without it costing a fortune as it would have without wireless availability. whew

I have no idea how late she stayed up, but when I fell into the moderately hard bed it didn’t bother me in the least. I slept like a rock. My cold was getting worse, but my knee seemed to be holding up well so I was grateful. Sometimes when I am that tired I can’t sleep at all, so I took an Ambien from my hoarded stash and didn’t wake up till morning. Best cure for jet lag is a good night’s sleep!

Here in Vienna, I am still trying to figure out how to get photos from my phone onto the iPad, and ready for the blog. I did manage to upload a bunch of photos to my Picasa albums, but I have no clue if they are the edited photos or the originals. Sometimes there just isn’t a substitute for a good old laptop! It seems as though even after I do some fine tuning of the photos using my iPad app, when I attempt to access them for the blog they are in their original format. I have written about each day, but it may be a bit of time before it all comes together and the photos are in the blog and all the towns are spelled correctly.

Some news is better then no news, right? Melody, on the other hand, has written volumes and posted a ton of stuff in FaceBook. I can’t even begin to keep up with her on that one! Tonight we are off to the Prater Ferris Wheel and tomorrow we will wander around the central city of Vienna on our own. So much to tell! Stay tuned.

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FLIGHT

Seasoned Travelers

There is something that happens after a certain number of hours on an airplane. Giddiness sets in. Melody and I aren’t exactly acting like the seasoned travelers who sit quietly in our seats and don’t disturb anyone. At the moment we have been flying for ten hours or so, and we are giggling. Uncontrollably.

The seasoned traveler who is sitting next to Melody is not amused. I don’t think he has smiled once throughout this entire flight. He does speak English, as we know, because he informed me gruffly that the button that turned on the overhead light was in the remote by my seat and not next to the light. Ok Ok. I have flown in lots of airplanes where the dang button is over my head. I am not completely stupid. Really. Except I spent the first half hour of this flight trying to operate said remote in the seat arm before I discovered that, oh, the remote unhooks and I could hold it in my lap. oh. Melody figured this out when she turned to Grumpy and saw the remote in his hand.

Then of course, I had a remote that didn’t actually work, and after trying to hit the button repeatedly to the left to WATCH THE DAMN MOVIE, I used said remote to call the flight attendant. I had paid my 2 bucks to watch “Newsroom” on HBO, but the sweet attendant said, “Can’t you watch something else? I am very busy right now.”

Now we are approaching Amsterdam and my little seat monitor says we will be there in 1 hour and 04 minutes. It has said that for some time now, and Melody’s flight tracker says we will arrive in 41 minutes. I guess she will get there before I do. There is something a bit disquieting about small computer glitches on a very big airplane that is 41K feet or so in the air, especially when NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE! Of course, acting like a seasoned traveler is a bit difficult when I have Melody grabbing my arm and looking terrified every time the plane does a dip or a drop. Somehow I never imagined she would be afraid to fly.

By the time we reached Amsterdam Melody was a bit more calm, but landing in the rain and fog on bumpy clouds didn’t do a lot for her. Amsterdam is a very nice airport, and the map on the internet and in the Skye magazine made it seem a very simple place to get around. We had almost an hour and a half to find our gate, from G to D81. Once we started following the signs however, things were a bit less clear. Add to the interest with the secret that my daughter likes a smoke now and then.

She did well, not smoking for 24 hours and two a day is about her limit, But then when her limit is reached she is READY for a cigarette. We found signs but couldn’t find the smoking area until a gentleman helped with the very nice comment, “down there in the black box”. When Melody arrived at the black box, she quickly did a turn around and said, “nnyuh uh!” The Black Box was literally that, about 8 foot square filled with several very large Middle Eastern men with very big bellies all jammed in there and smoke so thick you couldn’t see. She opened the door, took one look and backed away immediately. Great way to quit smoking!

Once again in the air on Dutch KML airlines, we flew the short distance from Amsterdam to Budapest, with most of the window view obscured by clouds until we were almost over the city. We had a lovely window seat this time and I could lean over Melody to peer out the window and the beautiful Danube River winding through the countryside below us. I think that is the moment that I first felt the excitement of the trip.

The landing was smooth, there was a gentle warm sun creating an early afternoon glow around the city, and the half hour drive from the airport to our downtown hotel was delightful. We are staying at the Maramar hotel, just a few blocks from the river and Parliament in one direction and a few blocks to city park and the Szechenyi baths in the other direction.

After settling into our room, adequate but interesting with a truly nice bath and thank goodness a balcony door that we can open, we decided to go for a walk. I knew we shouldn’t sleep, even though we were both seriously rummy from 24 hours of traveling. We wandered toward Parliament and the River, confident that we wouldn’t get too easily lost with as much time I have spent virtually walking this area on google earth.

At 5:30 we met downstairs in the Atrium to visit with our tour guide and to meet our fellow travelers. That is always an interesting time, with people coming from many different places and backgrounds, blending their personalities into some kind of cohesive group, or not. I guess we will find out as the days progress.

Lorena, our guide throughout the trip is charming, a young Argentine girl who emigrated to Germany and has led tours with Go Ahead for the last 13 years. After out get together, we all walked the few blocks to our dinner spot, the Red Pepper. We had a great meal of red beef paprikash, spicy and rich with Hungariam paprika, and spaetzle, started with some warm bread and a perfect light creamy chicken mushroom soup. The three ladies at our table opted for wine, something I read about in advance, and they were quite jealous of my large frosty glass of good beer as they sipped there 3 ounces of chardonnay.

Today we will begin to see the city in earnest, with a morning tour of both Parliament and the Castle Hill before we take off for an afternoon at the Szechenyi baths on our own. Both of us are feeling much better today after a good night’s sleep on the somewhat hard, but surprisingly comfortable bed, down comforters and all. I am still working on my somewhat limited skills at putting photos where I want them with blogsy, but hopefully I’ll get better at it as we go along. Erin suggested some alternative blogging platforms, but somehow I never managed to actually have the time to find them, download them, or learn them, so for the time being, Blogsy it is!

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Finally!

When I first thought about retiring, I knew that traveling would be one of my priorities. Years ago, traveling with my kids meant making a big bed in the back of the Volkswagen van and driving all night while they slept, completely unrestrained of course. Later it involved car camping trips and sleeping in tents and sleeping bags on the ground. We managed a trip to Disneyland once, a bit of cross country car camping as migrant workers in the 70’s, and once my life settled down a bit I did manage to take a kid or two to San Francisco for a big city visit. We lived in rural Idaho at the time, and “the city” was an exciting destination.

As years passed and I managed to grow from eking out a meager living as a waitress to actually making a real living as a soil scientist, my travel time grew as well. However, by then, my kids were all grown and in the process of eking out their own modest livings and raising their kids. We managed a few local family reunions here and there, and in 2006 when Melody got married, we shared a family cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

My big goal was to manage at least one “big” trip for each of my children. I know that some folks do the big thing with the entire family, paying airfare and hotel for offspring and their spouses and kids and extended families. I don’t think I could even manage a second mortgage for that much money, so my dreams were a bit more modest. No spouses, no kids, just me and one child at a time going to the place of their choice, almost anywhere in the world that they would choose to go. Well, Australia was out since that was just beyond affordable to me, but most other destinations were up for grabs.

Almost two years ago my oldest daughter claimed her trip and we shared a charter Legendary Blues Cruise to the southern Caribbean. Which brings me to today. My youngest daughter was the one who chose to go next and eighteen months ago I paid for this trip to Eastern Europe, and Melody and I have been planning and dreaming about it ever since. It is Melody’s first trip off the continent. It is mother/daughter time at its best, with no distractions of friends, spouses, children, responsibilities. To say we are excited is an understatement.

My first trip to Europe was with Mo, a seasoned traveler who has been to more than 36 countries. I was as giddy and excited on that trip as I expect Melody will be on this one. I have traveled with Mo on several cruises, to Thailand, to Turkey, to Malta, across the US and Canada, and as tough and smart as I think I am, I know how much I depend on Mo’s travel skills and take-charge abilities. I realize that on this trip I will be the experienced one. I won’t have Mo to fall back on…Melody will expect to be able to fall back on me. After all, I am ‘Mom”. I managed a complex life for nearly 60 years before I met Mo so I am sure I should manage just fine!

I have followed Kevin and Ruth across eastern Europe lately, marveling at their resourcefulness, their willingness to search out destinations on their own, to couch-surf and use public transportation, seeing the countries in ways that aren’t limited to the views most tourists get. I, on the other hand, have chosen the tourist route, decidedly and willingly! After traveling with Mo using Grand Circle Tours and Go Ahead Tours, I learned my old ideas about tour travel were just plain silly. It is GREAT not having to worry about all the details. It is GREAT having my luggage show up at my hotel, getting a quickie tour of the city and then having a couple of days on my own to go back to the places I want to explore more deeply. goahead trip

I decided on GoAhead Tours, mainly because they seem to cater to a younger clientele. I would have loved to do an OAT “(Overseas Adventure Travel) tour, but they are a lot more expensive and I decided against it. Go Ahead does a great job for the price, not fancy, but not cut rate either.

I could easily go to Turkey or Thailand again on my own, once I have been there, but for a first time trip to just about anywhere, I really like having the luxury of a tour. Especially with limited time available, because of course my daughter is still working, I want no hassles. I want to give my daughter the opportunity to see a different part of the world, to expand her horizons, but to do it with just a bit more safety factor than I would feel out there loose on my own.

The photos on the right and below are of the hike to Vernal Falls in Yosemite that I made with my kids back in the 70’s. Melody was 4 and as you can see, most of the hike she was on my back. Hopefully on this trip she will be the one I can lean on instead of the other way around.

Today Melody and I both woke up at 3:30 am, at 4:00 am, all packed and ready with nowhere to go. We sent each other text messages and emails, and laughed about how silly it was. We are driving north to Albany today so that we have an easy commute to Portland tomorrow for our 1:30 departure from PDX for the ten hour flight to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam we will take a short flight to Budapest, spending three days there before traveling the 150 miles to Vienna. Three days in Vienna, with another day to drive to Prague for three more days and the quick 11 day trip will be over.

My knee is functioning rather well, and the brace and trekking poles should help with cobblestone streets and lots of stairs that I expect to climb in these beautiful old world cities. The trekking poles are in checked luggage, in spite of the encouragement of the doctor and the travel agent, too many websites said they could be a problem on the airlines. I decided not to take the chance and will simply lean on my daughter if i need to!

My little girl and I are off to see the world!

Problem Solved

Tuesday afternoon in Rocky Point 75 degrees F and Sunny

Just what do you do if you live in snow country, are not a full timer, and are not especially into the half time snow birding thing either? It is a quandary, one that we have worked with repeatedly in the last few years since we started traveling in the MoHo. There have been several solutions. For the years prior to my retirement, when I worked in California from 2006 to 2010, we paid the monthly fee to store the MoHo in the gated yard in my mobile home park in the Sierra Foothills. At least we didn’t have to winterize, and the occasional frosts weren’t too much of a worry. Mo would drive the 400 miles from Rocky Point to Sonora and we would take off for lakes and deserts both near and far. I love looking back at our photos of those short little camping trips.

When I retired and moved back to Rocky Point, things got a bit more difficult. What to do? If we left the MoHo right here in her big shed we still would have to winterize against the single digit temperatures, plow some pretty deep snow to get out, and then chain up to exit the valley over whichever pass we chose to travel. In 2011 we decided to rent an RV storage in Redding, California, just a quick 3 hour drive over the mountain, and even when we left here in a blizzard and icy roads, Redding was usually sunny and open. Some of you long time readers may remember the sad result of THAT choice. $179 per month for top notch security didn’t stop the vandals from breaking into our storage bay and ransacking the MoHo.

Next plan: Winter of 2012 we decided instead to rent another enclosed $180. per month space over on the Oregon Coast. It was a nice plan, with only 4 hours to get to the MoHo, but still it felt too far away sometimes, and we did get a bit tired of having to drive north or south on winding Highway 101 to get just about anywhere. Jeremy is a good enough traveler we didn’t even have to put a cat box in the Tracker for the trips from home to coast, but still it got pretty tight in that little car with dog, cat, food, washed laundry, firewood, and whatever else we couldn’t keep in the MoHo all the time.

Another plan: Leave in October, head east and then south to Florida and come back in April when the passes open up and the roads are clear. That is a plan that could still happen one of these years, maybe even next year. But then, what to do about Christmas with the family, which I love, or winter in Rocky Point, which we both actually love as well. Just not all the time.

New plan: Buy a place somewhere over the mountain and store the MoHo there. Easy access to Interstate 5, which my trucker daughter reminds me also gets snowed in now and then, but still not that often. We have spent the last several months making an untold number of trips to Grants Pass trying to find the perfect place. Grants Pass is in Josephine County, and is blessed with a nice winter climate (zone 7 which is almost a perfect match for the Sierra Foothills), and the lowest property tax rates in the state of Oregon. Grants Pass is also just about half way between here and our favorite coastal town of Brookings which is a plus. We even looked for property in Brookings for awhile but decided that maybe living with the salty damp air could get old.

In March we found a perfect little place on a terrace in Grants Pass, with an old house on a lot just less than an acre. Newbies that we were back then, we thought of course there would be something better, but after many months and many visits to many strange properties, the little house on the little lot with the great big old oak trees won out, and at a better price than the first time we looked at it.

The reason this got to be so difficult had to do with land use laws and building regulations. We couldn’t buy an empty lot and build an RV shed without actually building a living dwelling with the associated permits. If you buy a big enough lot with an existing house you can build an RV shed. Of course, a lot with a house usually costs more than is reasonable to pay for simply an RV storage, right? So we specifically wanted an OLD house, preferably not completely falling down, but at least old enough to be cheap.

Bingo! The nearly level lot is perfect, the RV shed is in the works, the deal is closed and finished, and all that is left is the WORK! Oh My. The old house built in 1926 is basically just an extra, a space that makes the RV shed possible, but it still has some nice qualities, especially the light. It also has some interesting qualities, like a very old septic tank, a well with only a little over 2 gpm and some salt problems, and a lot of strange old broken down sheds, including something that looks like a chicken coop or maybe a rabbit hutch. For some reason, the previous owner thought that salvaged carpet made a great outdoor ground cover, and our first job was picking up the dirt encrusted, critter infested pieces of carpet for the first of what I am sure will be many dump loads.

But! The Big Problem is solved. No more exorbitant rental fees putting money into someone else’s pocket to store the MoHo. No worries about winterizing and when we want to get out of the snow in Rocky Point we will just head over the mountain the way we always have. Except of course, we can stay a day or a week or a month if we want to, sleeping in the MoHo, or in the funky little house, and enjoying all the delights of living on a terrace with a view above town and a short 3 mile jaunt to the grocery store. Somehow the funkiness of the little house is fun, especially when I know I have my beautiful, clean, comfortable Rocky Point home to return to. I can enjoy the delights of town living without giving up the dark forest nights of the mountains.

I know, I know, most folks would have Rocky Point as their summer place and “live” down in town out of the snow. We are doing just the opposite and it makes me really happy inside. For a bit of time we considered eventually selling this place and actually moving down the mountain when we got old (or older I should say). Now that decision is behind us. No moving down the hill at all. Rocky Point is home and we will continue traveling in the MoHo as long as we can manage it, which I certainly hope is at least a dozen more years.