Showing posts with label London. Show all posts

Wednesday August 15, 2012

Our plane was scheduled to leave at 9:40pm, lucky for us, we managed to board the plane going unnoticed with our oversized carry-on luggage. On the plane we were informed that there was a fog over Venice, too dense to take off in – so we sat waiting for it to clear. While waiting, the cheery captain with a British accent came over the loudspeaker and informed passengers because of our delay he was allowing any curious passengers to come on down to the cockpit for a tour! His ability to keep a light mood, the friendly stewardesses, and cheap fares has made EasyJet our favorite European airline. The flight to London was short, we arrived at Gatwick around 10:45 (gained an hour with the time change) overwhelmed, exhausted, and unfortunately we still had to find a bus to our hotel.

We didn’t appreciate how glad we were to be back in an English speaking country until we got off the plane, easily found a bus, and were able to ask for clear directions to our hotel! Strolling through the streets of Crawley with luggage was all too familiar – it seems like we’re constantly hauling luggage around the UK. The hotel was easy to find, located in the middle of downtown on a pedestrian only street. Walking up we were tempted to stop in next door at “OCOTPVS” for a pint, but after a 12-day cruise we agreed liquid calories were the last thing we needed. Megan had booked our room at the Ramada Crawley Gatwick hotel simply because it was the cheapest hotel close to the airport – but when we arrived we were in for a big surprise.

This particular hotel was part of the Ramada chain, but it was originally “The George Inn”, a historic inn, thought to be built around 1579! The best part – it’s a haunted hotel! Although we didn’t see any ghosts, we did get a good 4-hour night sleep, hot showers and free Internet. We woke early the next morning for our trek back to the airport to catch our flights home to the US. Of course as soon as we walked outside it started raining, but we were glad to have it, the Med was dry, and the temperature back home was projected to be around 110ºF. The journey home was relaxing, and the ten hours seemed to pass quickly. We had a layover in Las Vegas before finally touching down in Phoenix, ironically we are probably the only people we know NOT happy to fly into Vegas.

There's no place like home.
Nothing beats the blazing heat and really good Mexican food with family and friends on your first night back in town! …Although our 80-day adventure was an unforgettable one we don’t recommend doing everything we did in one shot, unless you’ve obtained the proper gear. Because we had originally planned on spending all our time abroad in London we loaded our luggage with jackets, boots and raincoats. Kyle had to pack “fashionable” for castings, go-sees and auditions. In the end we found we had hauled around way more junk than necessary, and found ourselves without essential items – like swimsuits for our month on Tenerife! Go light, nothing was worse then attempting to get around Europe lugging a hundred pounds of luggage. Of course we wouldn’t trade-in any of it; our new friends and experiences made the trip well worth the effort – but man was it was good to be home!

Xo,
M&K

Throwback Thursday!

Bouncing around between Internet cafés, apartments, and hotels it’s hard to find the time to post about everything that we love. One of our favorite places in London that really left an impact on our stomachs is Flat Planet! It a small café style pizzeria, serving organic spelt-flour flatbreads. The menu is small, and showcases their attention to detail. Translation: FLAVOR!

This place first caught Kyle’s eye as he passed it on his way to a casting and noticed the chef in the window making dough, and the long line of hungry patrons that wrapped around the block. Our first time stopping in we decided it would be best to share a single pizza. Megan ordered a Garlic Chicken flatbread; “Free-range chicken with lemon and thyme, sun-dried tomato, rose harissa, smoked chilli, with house-made garlic sauce and a handful of rocket on top.” It was large enough to split between two people, but too good to share! Within a minute or two it was gone, and Kyle was up at the counter ordering another one. This time we indulged in “El Diablo.” At only £4.50 a piece we felt like we were stealing… but didn’t feel too guilty because it was actually healthy!

Like many places in London, Flat Planet gives you the option of “Eat In” or “Take Away,” but we encourage you to eat in and enjoy the atmosphere and cute décor. Some of our favorite adornments were a guestbook yearning to be signed, antique World Map, the hodgepodge of chairs, unique lighting and a downstairs seating area, complete with a piano that insists on being played. We managed to eat here every time we were around Carnaby Street, and made excuses as to why we had to frequent the area whenever we were on the Central or Victoria Lines.

Our only regret is that we were unable to go back for one last “munch session” before our flight to Tenerife.

Xo,
K&M

Throwback Thursday!

Spending any holiday without the company of friends and family is always a little disheartening. In America we have a few "big" holidays where it is customary to come together and celebrate: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and the Fourth of July to name a few. This is the second "Fourth of July" we have spent together abroad - it also seems to be one of the most awkward holidays to celebrate from another country, because it's exclusively an American holiday. Now that have a few "Fourth of July's" abroad under our belt, we feel qualified to discuss what to do as an American overseas for this occasion!

For those of you who do not know, July 4th is our Independence Day in the United States. We celebrate by having BBQs or picnics, waving Old Glory (our flag), and wearing red, white, and blue. In the evening we watch firework displays around the city, on TV, or set off our own! Of course outside of United States, July 4th is just another day on the calendar.

Two years ago we were in London when July the 4th rolled around. For some reason, Megan seems to think not celebrating this holiday is devastating... probably because she has a degree in American History. Either way, to satisfy our patriotic obsession we Googled "4th of July events" that were happening in London. Ironically there are a lot of festivities planned for Americans to celebrate in the UK. We ended up finding a group of University of Texas Alumni who was planning on meeting in Regent's Park to picnic.

Walking through a local Sainsbury's, we grabbed the quintessential 4th of July goodies - any "American" food and drink we could get our hands on! We settled on Budweiser's, Oreo's and Doritos, then grabbed hot dogs and hamburgers from a nearby food truck. Google had informed us that the group of Texans was meeting somewhere in the park, but anyone who’s ever been to Regent's Park knows that it's not a small place; so we walked around scanning the horizon for our fellow patriots. After about twenty-five minutes of searching Megan spotted a backwards Texas hat... GAME ON!

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the park listening to Country music, eating, drinking and tossing around the old pigskin, a "real" American FOOTBALL! If you know your world History, the irony in all of this is that we were celebrating our independence from England, in the heart of central London! Although we didn't have fireworks, we have some great pictures and memories of our first, Fourth abroad.

As you all know we are in Tenerife right now, so yesterday was another fabulous Fourth away from the USA. Once again we did our research, looking and hoping to find a group of Americans meeting up somewhere on the island. Unfortunately we came up empty handed, and haven't been able to locate a single American in the eight days we've been here.

We decided the best way to celebrate our lonely 4th of July in Tenerife was to take some traditional American food down to the beach. Pacing the Supermercado in search of true "American" food was not easy - we once again found American beer, this time MGD's and Budweiser's, we also scored with a big juicy watermelon, Doritos, sunflower seeds, and the traditional BBQ foods - hot dogs and hamburgers! When we got back home we realized we had no access to a grill, so we made the hamburgers and hotdogs on our electric stovetop, packed up a picnic and headed to the beach. Soaking up the sunshine and munching on our American food brought big smiles to our faces. Despite being 5,300 miles from home we still managed to have a fantastic Fourth of July!

Xo,
M&K

We’re writing this with no Internet, in Microsoft Word, from the seventh story of our apartment. Below us the people of Tenerife are going crazy, feverishly waving flags, hanging out of their cars while honking their horns, yelling, screaming, taking their clothes off… Spain just beat Portugal in the Semi-Finals of Euro2012 and despite it being after midnight on a Wednesday the city of Puerto de la Cruz is in full celebration!

Fast-forward a few hours: Today began with a slow lull. Knowing that in just a few hours we would be taking off for an island paradise made sleeping Tuesday night impossible, turning us into zombies. We woke at 4:30AM, hoping to give ourselves enough time to catch the tube to Victoria Station, then on to the Gatwick Express, and finally to Gatwick Airport where we could board our 10AM flight to Madrid. As most world travelers know, days of travel rarely go entirely according to plan. There always seems to be something that goes wrong, gets forgotten, or makes the journey “extra special,” we are no exception to this rule – especially today. Needless to say we were both exhausted from lack of sleep, and had difficulty with even the simplest of tasks – reading signs, checking tickets, looking at flight numbers, answering simple questions, keeping track of our items, etc. On top of all that we were flying into a non-English speaking country; Megan’s Spanish is NONEXISTENT, and Kyle throws on an accent, but his words are useless at best (he basically speaks English with a “wannabe” Rico Suave twist).

Our first hang-up was in London when the man at the AirEuropa ticket check-in couldn’t find our flight, despite having confirmation numbers, Passports and credit cards. Eventually he was corrected by a colleague, which saved Megan from tears thinking she had done something wrong, like managed to book us on a flight that didn’t exist. Our next shortcoming was the inability to recognize the time change from London to Madrid, which shortened our layover time from what we believed to be an hour and a half to HALF an hour. Couple that with the primitive layout of the Madrid Airport, their non-functioning bus system, a barely English speaking “siesta” bound staff, and finally, Kyle getting stopped at security because of his suitcase frame (putting us on the later bus route), almost taking another bus to the wrong terminal, trying to get on the wrong plane due to misinformation; we were destined to miss our flight. Luckily, we had youth on our side as we picked up our bags and sprinted through the airport, arriving at the right place seconds before the gate closed. The flight to Tenerife was way more relaxed; a plane full of people vacation bound makes for a pleasant atmosphere! Arrival in Tenerife and the journey to Puerto de la Cruz was fairly seamless.

Next obstacle, hopping off a bus on a street you can’t pronounce, in a place you’ve never been with people that can’t speak your language… what a nightmare! We had a few names and addresses written down, but with Kyle’s broken ‘Spanglish” we couldn’t manage to locate our contact to pick up keys… as luck would have it, smiles and hand gestures once again managed to get us back on track. We finally located our contact, Mikel, got the keys to our apartment, which were in a bakery shop two doors down from his office – and acquired in a drug deal type transaction. About an hour later we dropped our bags and headed out in search of basic necessities and WiFi (not available in our apartment).

During our exploratory journey we ended up getting sidetracked and roped into watching the Spain vs Portugal match in a public square on the patio of a Spanish-German tapas bar. Needless to say, we still have no Internet or cell phone. We did however manage to buy a pre-paid Spanish SIM card for our British phone… that still needs to be “unlocked” to work… OOPS! But of course, these are the things that we love about traveling; getting ourselves into situations that makes us think on our feet and force us to acquire new skills… Can’t wait to see what awaits us on our first whole day on the island!

Xo,
M&K

Whenever we're having a rough day we turn to food - usually sugary, fatty, greasy delicious comfort food. Kyle calls this "eating our feelings," and it works beautifully until the guilt sets in. Then we're upset, and we feel guilty; but still, we indulge.

Prior to the "Passport Fiasco," was the MacBook hangup. Megan, feeling guilty as ever decided that she needed something sweet to curb to the pain of killing Kyle's computer. Ice cream would do the trick! However, Kyle turned ice cream into gelato, and we were off feverishly scouting Covent Garden to further fuel our addiction.

We came to a cute little shop - La Gelatiera. Walking in the place smelled orgasmic, like fresh waffle cones and sugary heaven. Not to mention it was cute as a button, with homemade cakes, muffins, biscuits, and merengues covering the counters. As well as a selection of milkshakes, tea, and Italian coffees. But it was the large case of gelato filled with intricate flavors like "Cheshire Cheese and Blackcurrant," "Morogoro Stracciatella from Tanzania", and "Chocolate Sorbet Chili" that really sold us on this place! Valeria, the sweet counter girl let us each taste two flavors. Kyle chose to abstain from the gelato eating because of his job in Nice the next day... that decision lasted for about half a second after he tasted the "Honey-Rosemary and Orange Zest" gelato.

We both chose to have two scoops, it was just too good to say no! Megan had one scoop of "Sicilian Almond Vegan Sorbet" (part of the Slow Food UK Movement), and a scoop of "Milk Chocolate." Kyle *indulged in one scoop of "Basil and Chili" and one scoop of "Pear-Yogurt Parmesan Cheese." We sat and enjoyed our amazing treats, the great atmosphere, and the awesome smells. Valeria was even kind enough to bring us another taste of the Flavor of the Day, "Vanilla from Mananara" - another Slow Food UK flavor... and another amazing tasting one as well! We would recommend that anyone hanging around Covent Garden for the day stop in and try this scrumptious place - you will not be disappointed! :)

XO,
M&K

We decided the best way to tell you this story was to include both versions:

and

Xo,
M&K

Pimms from Traveling In The Moment on Vimeo.

Okay, we lied... not that kind of SPAM, email "spam."

Every now and then it's a good idea to click on the spam email box, just to see what kind of garbage we're collecting... mostly travel offers, promos, and discounts on trips. Yesterday evening an email from TravelZoo popped up in the spam folder, it was on cruises. Discounts for the 2012-2013 cruise year for Alaskan cruises, Caribbean cruises, Mediterranean cruises... Naturally curiosity led us to see what Mediterranean offers were available. Wouldn't you know, there is a 12-Day Grand Mediterranean Norwegian Cruise on their ship "Spirit," scheduled to leave the port of BARCELONA on August 2. Coincidence that we will be in Barcelona at that same time?!

We joked about it for a second, and then crunched some numbers... Shortening our AirBnB stay in Barcelona would save us almost $600. Deducting that from the total price of a 12-day cruise (which is already half off) actually SAVES US MONEY! The only down side is it leaves Barcelona, and finishes in Venice, Italy... bummer we now have to find a room in Venice for the night!

First thing this morning we decided to: adjust our stay in Barcelona from 19 days to six, book the Grand Mediterranean cruise, change our EasyJet flight to take us from Venice to London instead of Barcelona, and book an AirBnB room in Venice for the night. Here is our cruise itinerary (click to expand):



Xo,
M&K

IMG_0379.MOV from Traveling In The Moment on Vimeo.

Kyle's currently shooting a job for Men's Health Magazine right now off Broadwick Street in SoHo, so I'm taking the time to share with you about my day - and my mild heart attack...

Today began great, I woke up feeling better than I have the past few days, coughing much less and not so "stuffy." Together Kyle and I took the tube to Leicester Square and walked towards SoHo where he had a 2PM job. During our walk he got a call from Leesa, his agent at Premier. She asked him his thoughts on France?... Apparently Kyle booked a job shooting an alcohol commercial in Nice, France. It shoots this Friday - Saturday!!! Looks like we're headed to Nice, I hear it's nice :)

To celebrate his booking we had "conveyor-belt" style sushi at a place called Yo!Sushi, for lunch. Afterwards he dropped me off at a pub around the corner from his job so I could wait out the four hour shoot and get some research done for our next post. I sat for about an hour, enjoyed a pint of Guinness and searched for WiFi. Turning up short I settled on reading Fifty Shades Darker (my current book series obsession) and finished my pint. After that I proceeded to browse the amazing shopping on Carnaby Street... I have avoided shopping for clothes so far because the conversion rate makes things more pricey but I figured with the job today, and the job in Nice, £15 wasn't too much for some cute shirts that I can wear on Tenerife!

As I proceeded to hand the girl my shirts at the checkout I got an email:

From: Kyle Ledeboer
Date: June 18 2012 14:59
Subject: Fwd: You have a message from Pepe during June 28, 2012 - July 13, 2012 Studio-Loft with nice views!!
To: megangonzales89@gmail.com

GET ON AIR BNB ASAP AND LETS FIND A NEW FLAT LOVE
PRIORITY ONE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Airbnb
Date: Monday, June 18, 2012
Subject: You have a message from Pepe during June 28, 2012 - July 13, 2012 - Studio-Loft with nice views !!
To: kyleledeboer@gmail.com

Hello Kyle,

The requested dates, 28 de Junio - 13 de Julio de 2012, are unavailable. I'm so sorry for the delay Kyle, I've been out for some days and without internet access. Unfortunately it's not available. Thanks for your interest and for your time. Hope you find a good place to stay. If you need some help just ask!

Regards,
Pepe.

MY HEART SANK.

After all the hard work planning and booking, the apartment we had in Tenerife for a month was GONE!... The girl at the checkout even asked me if everything was "okay." I guess it was written all over my face, I have a serious problem. Trains booked, flights booked, buses booked... how can it be that all of a sudden after charging my credit card and "Accepting" my offer for the apartment that Pepe just changes his mind?! I had to get to a WiFi connection FAST and find a new place for us to stay in Tenerife. I practically ran to the Shakespeare's Head, it's a Taylor Walker (chain of London pubs), where I knew I could access internet. Browsing AirBnB once again was becoming stressful, less than half of the properties visible last Thursday were still available. As I searched and came up empty handed I simultaneously typed a letter to Mr. Pepe, about to reprimand him for first accepting, and then declining our apartment offer. I collected his contact information from my email...

But wait, MY email. The reservation was booked through MY AirBnB account! Obviously he would email Kyle telling him the room was off the market - someone named Megan had already booked it!!! I could feel the knots in my stomach coming undone, whew... tag-teaming apartment searching can have it's upsides, and clearly it's downsides. So as it turns out, we DO have a place to stay in Tenerife :) Here are some pictures Pepe took from him apartment, the place we will be staying from June 27th through July 26th.

Traveling can be stressful, not knowing who to trust and not knowing your final destination is sometimes scary. Having faith in people and believing everything will be okay can get you through!

Yours Truly,
Megan

As you know, we have a tendency to do things at the drop of a hat, or "IN THE MOMENT." Today we looked at each other and decided that London is starting to really burn a hole in the pocket-book! [Kyle's agency informed him that during the Olympics, the local market would slow, castings would cease, and it would end up being much harder to book work with a few more million people in town.] After crunching the numbers, we realized that we could make our money go much further if we left town. As of right now, we're spending entirely too much for way too little.

Solution! In a three hour time frame, drink an entire bottle of wine, throw back a few pints, and feverishly begin stalking AirBnB, Kayak, and SkyScanner. Compose a list of places we would like to go based on flight and rent expenses and have a "proper" vacation :)

Options:

Winning out based on rent pricing were Tenerife (IMAGES) and Barcelona, both places we can habla Espanol - and enjoy better weather! Flights were also pretty cheap, on average $125 per person, per flight.

The New Plan:
Leave Camden on June 27th early in the morning. Head to Victoria station and catch the Gatwick Express train to the airport. Fly Air Europa, layover in Madrid, arrive Tenerife North, take a bus to our new place in Puerto de la Cruz (thanks AirBnB) and enjoy warm weather and black sand beaches for an entire month! 

With our sun soaked skin, and our hair full of sand, leave Tenerife and catch a Vueling flight to Barcelona. There we will be staying with Elsa in another AirBnB location for the remainder of our Spanish expedition. Due to the fact we couldn't change our Virgin Atlantic flights back to the US, we will fly EasyJet to Gatwick one last time, stay a night at the airport and head back to the US on August 16th.

Xo,
M&K

We are currently sitting at Nando's in the Westfield London shopping center in White City. Those of you from Arizona may know of a Nando's Mexican Restaraunt - but this is completely different! Nando's here in the UK is a Portuguese restaurant chain that primarily serves peri peri chicken. They begin by taking a whole "fresh, never frozen" chicken and marinating it in one of six sauces for a minimum of 24-hours and then grilling it over an open flame. Customers may order a 1/4, 1/2 or WHOLE chicken, meal platters, chicken burgers, pittas or wraps in any of the marinades. They also serve appe"teasers," sides, desserts, hot drinks, and wine. There are many Nando's locations across London and the UK. Between our London trip two years ago and now, we've managed to make a trip here about twice a week.

Today we were lucky, they honored our card that expired in December 2010 which rewarded us with a free half chicken, so we happily paid for a large salad and coke. We choose to eat here often because the food is not only delicious, but also very healthy! Finding food is a mission when it comes to feeding a working male model... no white carbohydrates, no added sugar, no preservatives, low in sodium, high in protein, no dairy - the diet is VERY strict, so we end up eating at home A LOT! Nando's is great because Kyle can stay within his diet... and Megan can get her sugar fix on "Bottomless Frozen Yogurt," which literally says in the menu "No bottom, not fat, no guilt!"

Xo,
M&K

My addiction to espresso began in New York, and of course has continued to follow me everywhere I've traveled. I'm just not the same person without it. When you have time to kill between castings, you usually end up finding a coffee shop, or pub, pullout your laptop and get down on some free WiFi. Today the pub seemed a bit too extreme, I didn't want to be walking in to meet a client a few pints deep by noon, so I did what any self respecting model would do, I found a crepe place around the corner and ordered a macchiato, the problem now is that I've already had a latte this morning, with an extra shot I might add.
The little cafe I'm sitting in, "Crepe Affaire" is on the corner of Wardour and D'Arblay in W1 London. I'm killing time waiting to walk into my Remington casting. Thus far in the UK it has managed to rain an impressive 80 percent of the time, leaving a fresh clean smell in the air and my trousers (you have to call pants trousers because in the UK pants literally means underwear) and shoes soaked completely through.
I'm going to walk into my casting in a few minutes shaking uncontrollably and attempt not to jump out of my own skin. This casting is for a TV commercial so if I book it I'll have something pretty cool to share on the blog... not to mention a much needed influx of cash to continue to fund the "traveling in the moment" experience.
Wish me Luck,
Kyle

P.S. Megan is home in bed sick, so send her some love!

POST UPDATE:
Thoughts after the casting - Imagine walking in and greeting the studio secretary with a smile as you fill out the casting information form and without a pause stripping down to only your "pants" (underwear) then walking barefoot, iPad in hand, into a small room filled with people. You smile and introduce yourself, then make a joke about being practically nude to break the ice. You walk over and stand in front of a video camera and "slate" (where you simply say your name followed by your agency, then show your profiles, right side, left side, etc.) as you watch them analyze you, do a little turn around and throw them an EXTRA LARGE smile to try to seal the deal on your first impression. You booked it! They loved you! Or did they???

That's what it was and is like almost always like every single time you go on a casting, plus or minus the underwear part. I got a really good response from the client, so we shall see what happens. I also may be shooting for Mens Health at the end of the week.

-Fingers Crossed-

Nearly two weeks in and it finally feels like life as usual here in the UK. We have a group of friends we see on a regular basis, an agenda of events to attend, and finally a system of spending worked out -- and it is AWESOME!... We've even caught ourselves talking in slight British accents so we don't come off as SO American ;)

Kyle has been good friends with a guy named Sei since first coming to London in 2009, Sei is a club promoter here in London. Two years ago he took us to Jalouse for a night of crazy fun, and last night he invited us to Maddox for dinner and clubbing. Going out with Sei is so intense, they roll out the red carpet, models galore, beautiful people, celebrities, free drinks - the funny thing is though, whether we party in New York, Los Angles, Scottsdale or London it is the same drinks, same music and same crowds of people!

Today we watched the UEFA Euro Cup matches at Sei's new flat, in the Shoreditch area, near the Liverpool street tube station. He had about fifteen people over to watch Denmark v. Netherlands and Germany v. Portugal. Here girls know so much about Football (Soccer), in the states you rarely find a girl who knows all the games, stats, players, rules, etc. We had about five bags of crisps (potato chips) and a spread of different beers to share. Sei let his two ferrets run about the living room as we snacked. It was rather difficult watching the matches, while simultaneously keeping the nosey little critters out of the food and away from our beer.





Needless to say, the Euro Cup is a huge deal here in the UK! Two matches a day for the next month, and a hodgepodge of people to watch them... everyone in London is an immigrant which makes every match that much more entertaining to watch. Tomorrows Euro matches are Spain v. Italy and Ireland v. Croatia. We have plans to watch Spain v. Italy at an Italian restaraunt called Arancina in Notting Hill with Yara whose Italian friends have booked a table... it's going to be especially intense considering that Kyle will be cheering for Spain.

Xo,
M&K

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."
- Plato

The house we're staying in is massive, five floors, eight guestrooms, and the landlords suite. Our landlord Lekha lives on the bottom floors with her three kids. Three double room suites crowd the third floor, two double rooms and a large kitchen are on the fourth floor, and three single rooms with a shared bathroom on the top floor. Two nights into our stay at Primrose Gardens we met Yara and Eros, a couple from Northern Italy. Yara is doing an internship with an international business firm here in London, and her wonderful boyfriend Eros came to visit for the Jubilee Holiday!



We initiallly met Yara and Eros in the communal kitchen on Saturday night, they stuck up a conversation with us and we all decided it was a good idea to head to the pub for a pint! Funny part about chatting over drinks was that their primary language is not English :) It was amazing to see Eros, who spoke the least amount of English, intently focusing to stay up to speed with the conversations we were having. At times Yara filled him in, using their native Italian, on certain words and phrases - but overall we all learned that it was easiest to speak with gestures and smiles!





A few days later the four of us went to Buckingham Palace to watch the Queen's Address to her people in honor of her Diamond Jubilee, and to the Science Museum. We had an amazing time out on the town as two couples who despite cultural differences, and a slight language barrier played like old friends. What we failed to realize earlier in the day was that unfortunately Eros would be leaving us in the morning, so we all decided that after a breif nap that we would join up in the kitchen for our last dinner before his return to Italy. Shortly after dinner Eros returned to the kitchen asking for glue... in his hand was a 'flapping' dress shoe. Unfortunately for Eros, the sole of his shoe had completely separtated from the leather. We watched in amazment as he proceeded to fill a spoon with sugar and melt it over the stove for use as a bonding agent. He smiled at us and attempted to say he was "Macgyver" with a rough Italian accent. Luckily his Macgyver skills seemed to pay off - as he left the kitchen with two shoes on his feet!













It is astonishing to us that many Americans only speak one language fluently - English, while over here in Europe most people speak two or three; and then there's Yara who has the ability to converse in over ten. Together we have set a goal of learning the basics of a few new languages, something that will surely help in our travels. We are both eagerly looking forward to meeting new people and sharing more fun times with travelers.

Xo,
M&K