On the Road

The American in me gets frustrated at times when working in Europe. Hotels with no air condition. Double-Decker tour buses and I don’t mean the tourist ones, I refer to the ones we sleep on while traveling in Europe. Buses with incredibly narrow spiral staircases. Stairs one must climb in order to get in and out of the bus. A bus with no luggage space, no refrigerator space, a bus where you cannot stand straight up and walk in. The toilet on our bus is so tiny & ever so smelly, it’s actually worse than ones found on airplanes. In order to use them, you must walk in backwards to sit down to then close the door. There’s no turning around in there - it’s impossible unless you are Mini Kiss. A toilet space so small, the crew boys must sit to pee. He he

Poor service in restaurants. Horribly slow & stupidly expensive internet - that rarely works, unless you are in Germany. Everything & everyone seems to work there. Inefficiency appears to run rampant as everyone is enjoying yet another day off because of “a bank holiday.” Which basically equates to a day off in a pub somewhere or another lazy afternoon in the garden with a cup a tea. And while that seems lovely - its not very lovely when you need to get shit done.

Streets emit a whiffy scent of urine. Especially nice when sitting at a sidewalk cafe. Nothing like the wafting of wee to compliment the best cappuccino you’ll ever have. Europeans do right by their tea & coffee and for this I applaud them!

But then I must STOP. I catch myself in a spiral of negativity.

I STOP. I SMILE.

Suddenly, the moody American disappears and the World Traveler in me returns. Back to enjoying this journey.

Yes, I want to be efficient at my job, which is the purpose of my trip. But I cannot stress at the expense of missing out on taking in the city I’m currently in. I do embrace the cultural differences and certainly adapt well but it’s a matter of discovering yet another way to accomplish the tasks at hand. No single culture is better - we’re simply different and one must shift the mind set accordingly.

Pee pee may permeate the sidewalks, which are full of the cutest cafes, with terrific coffee and the best vantage point for people watching…. but I’m ordering another cappuccino and I am going to breath it all in - it’s part of the experience.

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