Neo
Au revoir..
Posted on: 03/15/2014 12:18
I'm not leaving the Cafe, but rather leaving for a trip to Europe tomorrow.
It was one year ago that I was diagnosed with stage 3 bladder cancer, where the surgeon gave me less than two years if I didn't do anything about it. As most of you know I did have my operation in April last year and it was a total success. So much so that I would've never guessed that a year later I would going on a trip like this.
I'm going to Europe with my son and the travel club at his high school, which means I'll be one of a handful of adults travelling with over 20 teenagers! Sounds crazy, and likely will be. The trip is all arranged for us, with all of our accommodations, travel arrangements, tours and even our breakfast and dinners included in the cost. A tour guide will be travelling and staying with us for the 10 days.
We're landing in Germany but heading straight for Amsterdam from there. We've been told that regardless of the laws of the land, there will be no drugs, no alcohol, and no tattoos. This apparently applies to the chaperones too. :(
From Amsterdam we head to Vimi Ridge, and then Paris and then we take the Chunnel to London. We have all sorts of tours lined up, apparently with no waiting. I expect to be doing a lot of walking. My son says he wants to see Jim Morrison's grave site in Paris and Abbey Road in London (he's such a chip off the old block).
So cheers everyone, I'll be offline for a while.
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GeoFee
Posted on: 03/15/2014 12:25
Hi Neo...
.
Travel well....!
.
George
gecko46
Posted on: 03/15/2014 12:45
Happy travels, Neo. Sounds like a wonderful trip.
Beloved
Posted on: 03/15/2014 13:56
Glad to hear you are doing so well!!!!
Have a wonderful time . . . thank goodness you won't be coming back with any wierd tattoos
.
Travel safely!
Mendalla
Posted on: 03/15/2014 17:05
Have a great time, Neo. Sounds like a great tour, if a rather full agenda. Take care of yourself and the kids but have some fun, too.
Mendalla
Pilgrims Progress
Posted on: 03/15/2014 17:12
Have a great trip!
One of the positive aspects of facing serious illness and death is that it gives you an opportunity to re-assess your life priorities.
Kimmio
Posted on: 03/15/2014 17:15
Have a great time, Neo! I look forward to hearing about it.
Neo
Posted on: 03/15/2014 17:29
Thanks everyone.
One of the positive aspects of facing serious illness and death is that it gives you an opportunity to re-assess your life priorities.
You know it Pilgrims, life has a whole new meaning when the end of it is faced.
crazyheart
Posted on: 03/15/2014 18:01
safe Home Neo.
Arminius
Posted on: 03/15/2014 18:05
Have a great trip, Neo, and give my regards to Jim Morrison.
kaythecurler
Posted on: 03/15/2014 18:11
Its great to hear that you are well enough to take this trip. Wishing you safe travels and many good memories.
stardust
Posted on: 03/15/2014 20:34
Neo.....!!!!
I'm so happy for you. You'll have a wonderbar time......go for it.....
.
seeler
Posted on: 03/15/2014 21:09
I'm envious. I've always dreamed of a trip to Europe. Enjoy the trip. Enjoy sharing it with your son (and all the other kids).
Neo
Posted on: 03/15/2014 23:50
Thanks everyone.
Santé
carolla
Posted on: 03/16/2014 00:02
Bon Voyage! Travelling with teenagers can be such fun - I hope your trip brings you lots of amazing adventures and memories to cherish! What a difference a year makes eh?
Northwind
Posted on: 03/16/2014 01:41
Safe travels! Have fun in spite of being outnumbered by hormones.
revjohn
Posted on: 03/16/2014 08:04
Hi Neo,
I'm not leaving the Cafe, but rather leaving for a trip to Europe tomorrow.
Till we meet again then.
Enjoy your trip.
Grace and peace to you.
John
chansen
Posted on: 03/16/2014 08:17
Have a great time.
waterfall
Posted on: 03/16/2014 09:20
Have a great time. Looking forward to hearing all about it when you get back.
Neo
Posted on: 03/27/2014 11:33
I'm back from my trip and it feels good to be home. The kids were awesome, we did a lot of walking but didn't hear one complaint about it. There was no ill behaviour but when we got home last night my son did admit that in the last day in London the boys, during their free time did manage to get into a local pub and order a beer with their dinner, which was news to me.
In Amsterdam we did tours of the canals and the Anne Frank house. We had some free time on one of days so one other adults and I took a trip through the red light district, which we figured was as a much of "need to do" thing in Amsterdam as anything else.
We spent a night in historical town of Ypres and took part in the Menin Gate ceremony that night and then a tour of Vimy Ridge the next day. It was, needless to say, a very emotional 24 hours.
From there we went Paris, where we lost our personal bus and driver and had to take the Metro several times from our hotel. We went to the Louvre, did a Paris by night tour and another tour down to the great Palace of Versailles.
From Paris we took the fast train to London where we spent the last four days. We took the Underground, aka "the tube", several times in London, which is definitely a challenge in itself, let alone with a party of 22 teenagers.
We did a bus tour of London and a tour of the London tower. We also took another tour bus to the ancient Roman city of Bath and then to Stonehenge, which was very cool.
All in all, it was a great trip. The kids were great, the weather was great (no real rain to mention), and our tour guide was fantastic.
Arminius
Posted on: 03/27/2014 12:53
Hi Neo:
Good to hear that you had a great trip. Welcome back (just in the nick of time to vote for a name for the successor of wondercafe.ca :-)
crazyheart
Posted on: 03/27/2014 14:04
Welcome,Neo. How did your health hold out with all that walking?
Neo
Posted on: 03/27/2014 15:41
Hi Neo:
Good to hear that you had a great trip. Welcome back (just in the nick of time to vote for a name for the successor of wondercafe.ca :-)
Thanks Arm, but while I did my survey monkey duty I'm a little confused by this whole renaming thing, is the site being resurrected and re-hosted?
Neo
Posted on: 03/27/2014 15:50
Welcome,Neo. How did your health hold out with all that walking?
It held up well Crazyheart, at least enough to keep up with a large group of teenagers. It must've been that tlacote water I ordered from London last spring hey? {wink,wink}
InannaWhimsey
Posted on: 03/27/2014 17:12
Neo,
did you experience any UAP?
How much in Paris for a baguette of french bread now?
Did you get to see any of those trippy playgrounds in the city where you have to pay? They might not be around anymore...I went to Paris in the 80s...
did you get to experience the wonders of the bidet?
gecko46
Posted on: 03/27/2014 18:32
Welcome back, Neo. Sounds like a wonderful and memorable trip for the students.
Glad everyone is safely home.
Pinga
Posted on: 03/27/2014 18:44
Neo, welcome back. Sounds like you had an awesome trip as did the kids. Note: did you also happen to smoke anything while walkign through that red light district? That can also be a thing to do in Amsterdam...
Neo
Posted on: 03/27/2014 21:59
Pinga, one couldn't help but smell that aroma everywhere in Amsterdam, and head-shops were everywhere, especially in that district. But no, we didn't even see anywhere obvious where you could go in and "partake", and nor would we if did find those kind of shops, we were after all chaperoning teenagers to whom we had already given the drug talk to. It would've been bad on us to do so at the time.
Pinga
Posted on: 03/27/2014 22:05
lol, fair Neo.
I remember walking down a street in amsterdam with 3 coworkers. Two much younger than I and who didn't know me. You could tell the two younger were chatting about something which they weren't sharing with me. The one then approached the fellow my age and the conversation continued to be kinda on the side. He laughed out loud and said "they want to know if you mind if they smoke a joint -- clearly they dont' know you."...and that was that. We laughed with/at them for a while.
But, you are right, fair enough. Huge difference in chaperoning teens.
Neo
Posted on: 03/27/2014 22:19
Neo,
did you experience any UAP?
How much in Paris for a baguette of french bread now?
Did you get to see any of those trippy playgrounds in the city where you have to pay? They might not be around anymore...I went to Paris in the 80s...
did you get to experience the wonders of the bidet?
No Inanna, no UFO or bidet sightings while in France, though it's still pretty common to pay for using the toilets there. Even outside the main entrance to The Louvre, it cost 60 cents and they were also unisex toilets, where the woman had to walk past the urinals to a stall.
We sat in a side walk cafe just down from the Arc de Triomphe and had a beer and a small cheese and meat plate, which cost me close to 30 Euros. It wasn't cheap, but it was a sunny day and we paid for ambiance.
Pinga
Posted on: 03/27/2014 22:18
Did you eat horsemeat? What did the youth find different or startling?
Neo
Posted on: 03/27/2014 22:21
Horsemeat? God, I hope not!
Neo
Posted on: 03/27/2014 22:22
I think those unisex toilets were an eye opener
Beloved
Posted on: 03/27/2014 22:22
Glad you are back safely, Neo - and glad you had a great time.
Sounds like you were busy and saw lots of places and took in a lot of things.
What was your favourite part of the trip?
carolla
Posted on: 03/27/2014 22:25
Sounds like an amazing adventure! Now to write the memoirs of the week :-)
chemgal
Posted on: 03/27/2014 23:26
Sounds like a great trip! Good to see you back :)
qwerty
Posted on: 03/27/2014 23:30
No tatoos? My gosh! How are you going to remember you were there?