Randy's Travels to Europe and Africa 2009 » Europe

By the Numbers

Randy McCracken — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:13:35 +0000

A few numbers from the trip.
(The table formatting is off but I think you can figure it out.)

24	Days in travel status
21	Nights in hotels
7	Different hotels

24,896	Miles: Air miles flown (runway to runway)
24,901	Miles: Earth’s circumference at the equator
14	Number of flights (different planes)
8	Different airports

7	PPTs given, written, or helped to write

3	Countries visited (spent over night – not just airport stops)

13	Geocaches found
2	Fish caught

77	Blog posts (including this one)

unknown	Cups of coffee consumed

Friday: Hotels and Coffee

Randy McCracken — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:17:26 +0000

Moving to my 7th different hotel this morning. Sometimes, it just feels like what I know best is how to keep moving.

Gotta find some coffee to take back to Asheville. I hear that Sanka is very popular with the locals.

OK, seriously. I am a “black coffee” kind of guy. Love it. But wow…. cappuccinos are fantastic – if they are done right!

Royale with Cheese

Randy McCracken — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:14:00 +0000

Vincent: you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?

Jules: What?

Vincent: It’s the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over there that we got here, but it’s just – it’s just there it’s a little different.

Jules: Example?

Vincent: All right. Well, you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don’t mean just like in no paper cup, I’m talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris, you can buy a beer at McDonald’s. And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?

Jules: They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?

Vincent: Nah, man, they got the metric system. They wouldn’t know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.

Jules: What do they call it?

Vincent: They call it a “Royale with Cheese.”

Jules: “Royale with Cheese.”

Vincent: That’s right.

Jules: What do they call a Big Mac?

Vincent: A Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but they call it “Le Big Mac”.

Jules: [in mock French accent] “Le Big Mac.” [laughs] What do they call a Whopper?

Vincent: I don’t know, I didn’t go into Burger King.

St. Petersburg

Randy McCracken — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:28:58 +0000

I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change

A few days ago I saw a sign for St. Petersburg. The Sones Lyrics came to mind and so this afternoon’s music is from The Rolling Stones- Live at Rock’n'Roll Circus, 1968.

Finland

Randy McCracken — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:49:58 +0000

I have safelty made it to Finland. 37 hours after leaving my last hotel I have arrived at my new place in Helsinki. *whew* umm…. I’m kinda glad I leg of the trip (from Malawi to Finland without stopping ) just so I can tell the story – but I DON’T recommend it.

Unfortunately there was a problem with the hotel reservation but I have convinced the folks to let me stay here at least one night. Well, 8 hours….. It is midnight local time and we’ll have to straighten things out in the morning or I will go packing again.

I just saw the US lost in the finals of the Confederations Cup. Damn…… I hope that I did not take the good luck away from my fellow countrymen when I left the continent!

Gotta sleep. More tomorrow after I take care of where I will stay in Helsinki and, most importantly, after I take care of some critical work stuff for Michael Weldon, Edward Mundy, and Tamara Jenner. Gotta keep on top of the FS work!