Dresden, Prague, cold, and exhausted…

April11

After Berlin, we headed to Dresden Germany for a week, and then to Prague for a week.

I forgot to mention our valiant steed that is powering this journey. We are driving a Ford Tournen Connect (which I LOVE). It is quiet, has great gas mileage, super smooth driving, has huge windows, is great for a tall person, and the seats are upright and keep my back happy. The bike rack setup is not optimal, but everything else is well done.

I haven’t been to Dresden since my German high school trip in 1998. I was so busy and burned out that I didn’t do much this trip beyond two long bike rides and a lot of work. I did an amazing forest ride in Dresden which was one of the best rides I’ve done yet. I hope to see more of the city and museums in the future.

After that, we headed to Prague!

I love these pictures of my son. He was super excited to get a jean jacket, it is something he has been asking for for years. And, he def hit some walls on traveling and needs some downtime as well. He had some good times at museums with Lindsey.

 

I am utterly exhausted. My body hit a wall in Prague so I just rested, watched tv/movies, read, and stayed home (a big cold front hit as well). I didn’t do any bike rides and struggled to work past lunch as I couldn’t focus on anything. I walked around the old town one day and Calico and I went to the Natural History Museum which was fun.

We’ve been traveling for 9 weeks to look at possible cities to move to. My son starts school next year so we are trying to figure out where we want to be during this next stage of our lives. My natural state is nomadic so the thought of being in one place is scary :). We’ve visited Montpellier, Karlsruhe, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Dresden, and now Prague. We are now in Graz… and then we are going to a small rural village for a month to breathe and think deep thoughts about surviving in the dark icy sunless north.

Part of our rush for this trip was we found out my wife was pregnant and we wanted to find a home in time to have the baby there. Unfortunately, we found out the pregnancy wasn’t viable 1 week before we were leaving on this trip. So the last 9 weeks have been tough in so many ways.

posted under 2022 - Europe Roadtrip, Family & Marriage, Travel | Comments Off on Dresden, Prague, cold, and exhausted…

Berlin is an amazing city!

March27

We had a great time in Berlin and a huge thank you to Marton and Vero for showing us around.

Berlin was the first real international trip I did. I went as part of an exchange in high school and it was a life-changing trip. I was back years later for a work event, but I was so busy I didn’t see anything but the hotel. And, I got a cold during the event so I just stayed at an Airbnb afterward as I was exhausted. This time was better, we saw several neighborhoods, I got two bike rides in, and we ate a lot of delicious Asian food. Work has been intense so I didn’t get to see much more than that. Calico and Lindsey saw a ton of museums and I hope to join them when I get a little more time at future stops.

Lindsey celebrated her 40th birthday while we were in Berlin! I got her a really nice hotel room for two nights so she could have some alone time, relax, do whatever she wanted. The hotel room had a hammock in each room (which I think is amazing). We plan a lot more little celebrations for her as we continue our trip :).

posted under 2022 - Europe Roadtrip, My Thoughts | Comments Off on Berlin is an amazing city!

Düsseldorf Germany!

March16

Düsseldorf is an incredibly cool city, and we loved it (even more than Karlsruhe). It had the nicest grocery store I’ve ever been in, and we had several rounds of Vietnamese food (so good).

I had some beautiful rides down the Rhine and even took a ferry across on one big ride.

posted under 2022 - Europe Roadtrip, Travel | Comments Off on Düsseldorf Germany!

Karlsruhe Germany!

March2

We are in the midst of a road trip and over the next 6 weeks we are going to explore 4 cities in Germany, then Prague, and finally Graz :). After that we are not sure, but going to take a look while we relax in Graz.

We are in Karlsruhe now and it is amazing. I am always blown away at the biking infrastructure and the attention to detail. It is a little intimidating as everything feels like it just works. We had some really good Syrian food yesterday and Calico is loving the parks (best parks I’ve ever seen). It is much colder than we are used to. Lindsey bought an amazing jacket before we left and we bought a new one for Calico this week.

I’ve gotten a few bike rides in to explore the town, nearby forests, and yesterday I made it to the Rhine!

posted under 2022 - Europe Roadtrip | Comments Off on Karlsruhe Germany!

End of our 2020 European road trip :)

August8

We had a great trip :).

We got back on August 6th to Valencia Spain so a good 36 days out in nature. We did two long days of driving to get back a little early as France was about to get hit by a heatwave and we were struggling to find places to stay. August in Europe is a big vacation month and we didn’t plan that far ahead :).

Notes for next time:

  • Book a minimum of 7 days in each place. We found it much more chill and easy if we stayed at least 7 days in a place. It gave us the space to get settled, do some day trips, and relax. We did a few 5-day stays and it was too short. We really enjoy longer stays too we’ve found.
  • Plan ahead if in the midst of summer :). We had good reason not too because we wanted to stay flexible in the face of Covid and uncertainty there.
  • We did pretty well, but making sure we plan activities for Calico is key. Whether that is the playground, swimming, hiking, but something for him is important.
  • We spent ~$125 USD a night on average. That is pretty good for summer and some of the last-minute bookings we made. It does remind us why we like the offseason though as it is quite a bit cheaper than peak summer.

Some of my fav family pics :)

posted under 2020 Europe Roadtrip | Comments Off on End of our 2020 European road trip :)

Salzburg Austria and Freiburg Germany

August8

We spent a little less than a week in both Salzburg and Freiburg. I went on some amazing bike rides and I was blown away by the biking infrastructure in Austria. I am pretty sure I could bike to Vienna on purely bike path.

Salzburg
We had a short visit with Salzburg on our trip with Lindsey’s mom in 2015. It was great to see more of it, especially in summer and when we were able to bike. Very fun time at a gorgeous lake too.

Freiburg
I spent the month of August in Freiburg in 2013 and it was really cool to spend 5 days here again. We also managed a short visit from Strasbourg via train when Calico was 6 months old. It is a beautiful city in the black forest.

posted under 2020 Europe Roadtrip | Comments Off on Salzburg Austria and Freiburg Germany

Christmas Munich Trip!

December25

We spent a week in Munich Germany and we had a blast! The Christmas markets were amazing and we had a great time. We lucked into going to the Medieval Christmas market on Saturday and they had events all day, jugglers, fire juggling, jesters, short plays, etc. Calico had so much fun. One of the jesters looked like Chappe’s older brother :).

I did a 3 hour 3rd Reich walking tour that was fascinating. It was super creepy to be in the same room where Hitler unveiled the Nazi flag or painted a watercolor. The stories the historian told felt a little too real at this current moment in world history.

posted under Travel | Comments Off on Christmas Munich Trip!

Vienna Austria & Alps Roadtrip

December26

I love Vienna, it is a beautiful city and feels like a Germanic Paris. I highly recommend a visit :).

What is one of the best things about Vienna Austria? The below is called an ubersterzer newmen or something auf deutsch :). It is a giant ball of real whip cream along with a double espresso. A man in a fancy white waiter jacket will even pour it for you which makes it all the more ridiculous :). If you are in town I highly recommend Cafe Museum (it is our favorite cafe).

IMG_4669

IMG_4670

Christmas markets!!! They are like a farmer’s market but with only Christmas stuff.

Lindsey’s mom came into town mid December and we did a big road trip along the lower Alpine road. This took us from Vienna to Salzburg to Innsbruck to a ton of German mountain towns. It was a fantastic trip and a ton of fun! Here are some pictures!

posted under Travel | No Comments »

Freiburg Germany, Trails, Mountain Biking, and Culture Shock

September5

I spent August in Freiburg Germany exploring the Black Forest. Some pictures below:

German Trail System…
The German trail system is the most amazing I’ve ever seen! I biked over 120 miles and ran 100+ miles and I barely touched what was available. Beautiful dirt/gravel trails with off shoots everywhere for smaller harder climbs. I really hope more cities in the USA start expanding their trail networks through nearby national parks, rail lines, and canals. The closest thing I’ve seen in the USA is the DC canal path that goes up to Maryland. IMO, the most important part is that the trails are away from cars, you get so relaxed and meditative when running in the quiet of the forest.

Mountain Biking…
I really enjoyed Mountain Biking and it was a nice switch up as you can only run so many days before you need a break. Freiburg has some steep climbs though, sometimes I would be climbing thousands of feet for an hour or more. It sucks when you look at the odometer and realize you can run faster than you are going up the hill. Of course when you are going 30mph down the other side you realize you can’t run 30mph… Near the end I figured out it was a lot more fun to find small difficult tracks and go up those for a 30 min climb and then back down as fast as possible without injuring myself too badly. I’m looking forward to doing a lot more moutain biking back home and hopefully coming back to Freiburg since I docked my bike there for a year.

I didn’t get in as many rides as I wanted, but I forgot how sore your ass gets from a bike seat when you haven’t ridden one in over a year :).

Culture Shock…
Funny enough Germany was the first place in many many years I exp some culture shock. How? In Freiburg no stores are open on Sunday, and they close really early during the week. Quite a few times I was left eating almonds for dinner because I didn’t plan out groceries and nothing was open. And since I do a lot of phone calls in American hours it usually was too late by the time I finished to grab something. The only thing open in the entire town was a Turkish pizza place (luckily really really good just not very healthy)… Every other place I’ve visited in the last 5+ years has grocery stores or at least corner stores where I can buy some eggs and bread near 24/7. Or at least a sandwich. Germany/Freiburg is definitely more protective of their workforce but also somewhat annoying to an American not used to planning out his grocery shopping times…

I also spent an absurd amount of time trying to find Clean & Clear face wash with these little micro beads, I have developed a serious addiction to the stuff and its about the only thing I require when traveling… Germany doesn’t seem to have it available and I’m guessing it is illegal due to the micro beds (they stupidly make them with plastic instead of sand which is causing problems in lakes with fish)? Regardless it was quite weird given that I’ve been able to buy them in Peru, Panama, Argentina, Chile, Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa, Romania, etc etc.

All these things might sound ridiculous but when you are someplace new its a bit of a weird feeling when something so routine is so different. Plus, IMO Germany is one of the few places that has defended itself against the rise of the new “global culture”. Places like Croatia, Australia, and South America have such a strong immigrant population or tourist focus or global business outlook that large swaths of society have tapped into the new global culture. And when traveling to those places it is much easier to feel at home if you don’t deep dive under that layer. Freiburg is a smaller town and feels a lot more “German” than Berlin or Frankfurt or Munich too.

Going To Sea + Other Adventures (Croatia=Awesome)

July27

I had an “awesome” birthday week, and hopefully Rose is as well :). Since I had to work so much the first 3 weeks I was in Croatia I took 3 days off to see more of the country and do some touristy type trips. I got rid of as much stuff as possible after Australia so I only have my old iphone 4s for pictures. And thus, the quality of photis is not great.

Sunday, a friend & business associate invited me to join his family and friends on a huge ship off the island of Vis for 2 days. It was a fantastic trip filled with a lot of great Croatian wine, absolutely amazing food, and good company. I was particularly proud that I slept on a boat, and that I didn’t end up puking everywhere given some bad seasickness experiences I had as a kid :). The water around the island is crystal clear, and I swam all over along with a little bit of snorkeling. I’m hoping to come back in a year and bring my flippers and snorkel gear to do more.

After waking up we headed to the Blue Cave. You might think the below photo is faked but it is 100% like this when you enter, incredibly surreal experience. You expect mermaids to start jumping out of the water at any moment.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Later that day we did an amazing tour of a few military bases on the island of Vis. I highly recommend the Alternatura tour/guide as his english was great and he explained everything + knew the history of the island. I love military history and climbing through old tunnels and abandoned gun turrets is like a dream come true. Plus I got to go in a submarine base which has been a dream ever since watching indiana jones :). Best tour ever, and hopefully in a few years I can go explore some of the old Russian bases that have been abandoned too. A few pictures too…

And then I woke up really early on Tuesday to drive up to Bosnia and see Mostar and a lot of other stops along the way. The group on the trip were fun and we had some nice 10am grappa shots + a cold swim to end the day at Kravice.

And on Wednesday Dubrovnik, I think I found a few places they filmed Game of Thrones too. When I left split they were just about to start filming there and screening for extras for season 4!

And on Thursday I flew & trained to Freiburg Germany where I’ll be for a month. It is near the black forest with an amazing trail system and I should be getting a bike to use next week :)

IMG_2950

posted under History, Travel | No Comments »

Why I Love Germany (One of many reasons)…

March21

So I got to Frankfurt Germany yesterday and made it to Europa Park by about 2pm. Yes, the work conference is at a theme park. And of course with it being Sunday there was no food easily accessible. So being super tired and jet lagged I crashed with no food. I slept around 10 hours and read for a while before departing for German breakfast…

So why do I love Germany so much? German breakfast is fucking awesome. And what is even more awesome, they literally were serving the same breakfast rolls I had when I was in high school on a trip to Berlin and my host mom served breakfast (which I love (they are so good)). Here is what I ate for breakfast:

Coffee (rare for me but jet lag)
1 Breakfast Roll
1 Wheat Breakfast Roll
1 Whole Wheat or something slice of German Bread
1 Piece Bacon
1 Piece Wurst
1 Piece Random Pig Something
1 Egg
1 Random thinly sliced pig something.
1 Another random thinly sliced pig something (also delicious)
1 piece Swiss cheese.
1 glob of 3 fruit jam.
1 glob of real butter.
2 pieces of Bree cheese.
Apricot Yogurt
Raisins
Fruit Salad that had MANGOs!!!!
And, 1 of the most delicious cinnamon bread hunks I’ve ever had.

I can’t wait for breakfast tomorrow, because there is even more to try.

So after I ate this awesome breakfast I accidentally invaded Poland, I just couldn’t help it, I had so much energy and I just accidentally took it over. Oh well. If anything the Versailles treaty should have limited the awesomeness of the German breakfast, no way would WW2 have started.

And later I ran 15 miles, longest yet! Awesome trails through this area and got to see a lot of the surrounding country side. And made it to some small town that had a cool church.

Holy Shit! When did it turn February? And Happy Chinese New Year!

February3

Wow what a jam packed January! Work has been insanely busy and slowly our new business project is coming together. Just have to keep mumbling to myself that slow and steady wins the race :).

This last weekend I went to NY and had a blast with friends, although I’m feeling the effects as I spent the last 24 hours getting over a cold. I’m hoping to go again in the next few months and actually see a play and the insides of a few museums. Somehow managed to run 10 miles through central park which was great! I can’t wait to run outside again once spring comes!

Upcoming Travel
February – SuperConf in Miami
March – SXSW in Austin and WHD in Germany + Short Vacation
April – Paga Ultimate Tournament Italy + Short Vacation
May – Fayetteville for Jasmine’s Graduation.

Possibles
June – WHD Conf in Thailand
August – San Fran WordCamp and Fayetteville for a wedding.
November – PubCon Vegas
October – Octoberfest maybe?

This is bwb’s personal blog, so he can share his thoughts with the world, however scary or silly they might be. Plus family and friends can track what I am up to, and where I am in the world.

I am pretty simple. I love Mangos. I love the ocean (although mostly at sunset, as I’m a ginger). I love to travel, eat exotic food, do long bike rides, read, and use my imagination. At some point, I decided it was better to be a pirate captain than an admiral. I am a globalist and see the entire world as my responsibility and playground. And I am married to an amazing woman who makes life even more fun :)! And we are now the proud parents of Calico Jack :).


Archives