Travel Blogs (264)

(this was a gift frome a friend btw, I know who this is, I just felt very... identified).


I am a sick man. ... I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased. However, I know nothing at all about my disease, and do not know for certain what ails me. I don't consult a doctor for it, and never have, though I have a respect for medicine and doctors. Besides, I am extremely superstitious, sufficiently so to respect medicine, anyway (I am well-educated enough not to be superstitious, but I am superstitious). No, I refuse to consult a doctor from spite. That you probably will not understand. Well, I understand it, though. Of course, I can't explain who it is precisely that I am mortifying in this case by my spite: I am perfectly well aware that I cannot "pay out" the doctors by not consulting them; I know better than anyone that by all this I am only injuring myself and no one else. But still, if I don't consult a doctor it is from spite. My liver is bad, well--let it get worse!

I have been going on like that for a long time--twenty years. Now I am forty. I used to be in the government service, but am no longer. I was a spiteful official. I was rude and took pleasure in being so. I did not take bribes, you see, so I was bound to find a recompense in that, at least. (A poor jest, but I will not scratch it out. I wrote it thinking it would sound very witty; but now that I have seen myself that I only wanted to show off in a despicable way, I will not scratch it out on purpose!)

When petitioners used to come for information to the table at which I sat, I used to grind my teeth at them, and felt intense enjoyment when I succeeded in making anybody unhappy. I almost did succeed. For the most part they were all timid people--of course, they were petitioners. But of the uppish ones there was one officer in particular I could not endure. He simply would not be humble, and clanked his sword in a disgusting way. I carried on a feud with him for eighteen months over that sword. At last I got the better of him. He left off clanking it. That happened in my youth, though.

.... goodbye my friend. You have been the one for me.

I'm cooking pasta.

Fjuck Yeah.

Also [Blog Detail] must contain at least 50 characters, I entered 33. FML.

July is typically a month for vacation. I didn't take one this year because my field manager took a vacation, two of my designers took vacations, an associate took a vacation and one of the installation managers was out having surgery.

All my staff having vacations put a overload on my workload that I cannot see light at the end of the tunnel.

I have finally met my goal regarding the amount of dollars that I am bringing with me to the US, since I went and got $600 today, bringing my total up to $1003. In my last blog on the subject, I falsely claimed, that I only needed $550 to reach $1003, but that was because I was convinced, that I had $453. I only had $403, so that's a mistake on my part.

Either way, I am now finished with all my monetary preparations. Now begins the tedious, and frankly expensive, preparation for what I am bringing with me. I need to pack clothes, but what else do I need? A toiletries bag would be nice. I am not packing shoes, since I plan on buying some when I arrive in the US. The same goes for clothing. I might just pack two sets of clothes, and then buy the rest when I get there. All you really need to bring, when you travel are:

Phone, passport, visa (unless you can travel visa free), money and boarding pass - everything else you can buy on the way there, or when you get there.

More updates to follow soon!

I am slowly getting things in order for my trip to New York next year. I have gotten a confirmation where I am going to stay: At my friends place.

That means that I am going to have to cook some Danish style food for her and her baby, and I know just the thing to make! I hope she eats pork, since Danish food is very pork based. If she doesn't, I am gonna do some tweaks to the food I want to prepare for her.

I am gonna collect the rest of my money for the trip tomorrow. I plan to get at least $550, which means I will have $1003 in total. I have also decided to add a suitcase to my trip, which will cost me $60 each way, which is a price I am willing to pay.

I also had a look at what was included in my plane ticket, since I bought a "basic economy" fare. From what I have read, I am now allowed to bring one carry on bag with me on the plane, as well as a personal item of my choice. I am also getting a comfortable seat in the Main Cabin and enjoy free snacks, soft drinks and inflight entertainment. So it's not gonna be a complete spartan experience, which I was worried about.

So far it's looking good. I am well prepared, which is a first for me! I am usually very last minute, but because I bought my plane ticket almost 10 months in advance, I have time to really prepare.

Now we are just gonna plan what we are going to do for the entire week I am there. But it shouldn't be hard to do, since there are a lot to do, apparently.

Now I just need it to be May 1st, so I can leave!

So, I woke up, look at my garden and see this:



Snow in June July! Of course, living on the opposite side of the planet this is normal. Oh well, I've been stuck in my home since last saturday because we had the yearly super duper snow that makes the whole place frozen for weeks, with -10ºC temps and lower.

So I was thinking I should get back to blogging, or something else.

PS: Yes, we have Xmas in summertime!

I know that some of you might be tired of hearing about my travel-preparations, so I am starting to name my blogs "New York Trip Preparations - Part (blank)", starting with this blog. That way, you can just skip those blogs, and read something else.

With that out of the way, it's time to dive down into the blog!

I went to the exchange agency again for the second time this week, to get some more US dollars for my trip next year. I ended up with $353, and with my $50 from earlier, I am now at $403. 40% of the way to my goal, which seems like it's manageable to reach.

If i am careful with my spending here, and if I can put away DKK400 every month for 9 months, that means I will get $56 every month. $56 times 9 is $504, which puts me at $907. I do have some saving that I can use as well, so I am confident I will hit the magical $1000, which was my goal all along.

I am also slowly preparing my list for the week I am going there. My friend has volunteered to take me to New York City, which I will not turn down. She suggested that we found a hotel for a night, making it a 2-day trip. I am not going to complain at all. It's gonna be awesome! I really want to see the American Museum of Natural History. I want to get up close to a T Rex skeleton! That is one of my dreams! Luckily there is an exhibition of that, that runs throughout August 2020. There is a $23 entry fee, which I will gladly pay. I also want to visit Ground Zero. So many plans, and so little time, I feel. I will just have to come back at another time.

I have bought myself a travel bag. It's called the Haglöfs 40, and it's supposedly a very spacious bag. Hopefully I can fit a weeks worth of clothes into the bag. I might just bite the bullet and get myself a carry-on bag, and pay the fee to have it in the cargo hold. I am not allowed to store it in the overhead bins, which is total f*cking bull.. Anyway, where was I.. Oh yeah..

That bag I bought was on sale. 30% off, which was a welcome surprise. Particularly since I am travelling on a budget. Regarding the budget - I sent mine to my friend that I am visiting, and I asked her if I was totally wrong, or if I was on the right track. She said I should raise it by $100 at least, and have as close to $1000 with me, in order to get some more wiggle room for souvenirs and such.

Next thing for me to do is to get a job, so I have something to tell the CBP officer when I land in Newark next year!