Wedding images to come.

Posted from San Diego, California, United States.

Me, Gabe, and Matisyahu

It was great! He was very calm and spoke extremely clear. We thanked him and went inside to our seats. High off the thought we watched him rock the audience with his reggae, rap, metal tunes. Great night!

I also cam back with a new outlook on “vacations”. I’ve never really been able to stop and relax. I learned! Well… I had a good teacher too.

1. Be organized and not a moron. Don’t delay me because you have been too busy watching the Kardashians for the last five years to know that you can’t fucking bring liquids on a plane. And yes… Sun block is a liquid.

2. When the plane lands and the bell rings, this is not your queue to shoot to your feet, grab your Wal-Mart bought carry-on and place your ass in my face for the 15 minutes that it takes to exit the plane. It’s just like the schools bus (some shorter than others) when you were a child. First on/first off.

3. Do NOT. And I stress, do not use my seat back to lift you bloated big gulp chugging ass out of the seat behind me. This could result in a swift punch straight to the neck. And no one wants that.

4. When boarding the plane, put the before mentioned bag up or down and step out of the isle. If your in seat 9A it’s safe to assume that you’re on the right. Now MOVE!

5. When at the baggage claim, don’t huddle around the carousel. Now this doesn’t usually apply to me but in the rare case I am asked to check my one and only bag I have to deal with you jack holes. it’s simple… If you all clammer tightly around the damn thing no one else can see the baggage. And when someone does win the baggage slot machine, they can’t lift it and move it out. So stop, take five steps back and relax.

Keep in mind I’m writing this from the floor of a crowded airport in Phoenix. Waiting for my delayed flight to leave. A couple more small tips on whether or not toeven travel.

- If you haven’t showered in a week, don’t travel.
- If you weight a metric ton, don’t travel.
- If you have more smaller less intelligent life forms than you have arms, don’t travel.

I started the day with a true “English Breakfast”of eggs, toast, beans, and bacon.  The real bacon that you cut with a knife.  The weather was clear and bright but very windy.  I took advantage of the canal bus again, traveling out to the outskirts of town.  Wandering through the street markets.  To take advantage of the weather I chose not to do the Van Gough Museum.  Instead I tried to get as much of the city in frame as I could.  The illness however, had other plans.  I missed the bike tour but rented a “MAC”bike for the rest of day.  This is truly a great way to get around fast.  Just make sure you rent the 3 speed other wise you’ll be huffin’it pretty good.  I have a new respect for the Amsterdamers.  They make it look easy cruising around.  I had a hard enough time getting this 210 lbs. frame up to speed.  I found myself going the wrong way and crossing streets when I shouldn’t be.  I guess the good news was, only one car door opened into me.  If anyone is pondering a Europe trip, I recommend Amsterdam.  It’s a very easy city.  Most all signage is in English.  And most everyone speaks it as well.

Well… 5 Cities, 2 Countries, and 7 hotels.  It’s been a blast.  I’ve sampled some great Belgium beer and put many many miles on the dogs.  I’ve learned so so much about these wonderful cities and their way of life.  I’ve also successfully rebooted the mind and soul.  I’m ready to come home and get back to work and life.  I miss my friends, family, bed and my truck.  I’ve typed this before but I feel this is my last trip alone.  I invite any of you to join next time.  Put a flight on the credit card and take a chance on an adventure you will not soon forget.  It’s so hard to really appreciate the simple things in life until you are away from them.  Explore and see how other parts of the world spend their days.

Thank you everyone for following along.  I’ll be on a flight home leaving Thursday at 10:30am local, 1:30am in S.D.  See you soon!

The city of Amsterdam was originally “Amstel” then after a Damn was built it was also added to the name.  I’m gonna breeze through the Wikipedia info as I’m typing in a crappy smelly internet cafe paying by the minute.  There are more canals and bridges than Venice Italy.  The water is mostly salt water with one canal being fresh.  They say the canals are 3 meters deep…  One meter water, one meter, mud, and one meter bikes.  You can’t imagine the amount of bikes in this town.  One must be careful when walking as it’s very easy to get smacked by a cruising Amsterdamian.  I’ve been hit once but it was my fault and everyone was unhurt.  The streets are built around the two-wheeled mode of transportation and definitely have the right-of-way.  The Central Train Station has a 3 story bike parking lot that holds 2,500 bikes and it’s full.  They’re working on a new structure to hold the other 9,000+ bikes left around the station.

I woke this morning to the sound of rain on the slanted roof top hotel room window.  And it has continued to be a miserably wet day.  With my naked skull and jacket, I am pretty weather proof, however, the camera is not.  And this isn’t the type of rain I can shoot in.  Even if I expose the camera the images is gray and soft.  If you know me, you know that I have a hard time sitting still and a real hard time not shooting but my weather luck had run out.  I spent time at the Anne Frank House/Museum.  What an incredible story.  The foundation has done an incredible job restoring and educating.  The tour ends with an exhibit in a dimly lit room with the actual museum.  Then it was back on the covered water bus that I took to the Heineken brewery “experience”.  This is truly the Disneyland of beers.  It’s a self guided tour quickly through the brewing precess and history then it’s on to the packaging, marketing, games, and advertisements.  Complete with a simulation ride and a chance to make your own beer commercial.  What they don’t tell you is that the beer is crap!  No one in Holland drinks it.

The rain has really taken it out of me.  One of my hardest days exploring.  I have one more full day tomorrow.  I plan to visit the Van Gough museum and if the weather holds up I might rent a bike.  My hotel has no connectivity so no pictures for the rest of the trip and no more phone calls home.  I’ll check in for my final post tomorrow.  I miss you all and look forward to coming home.  Talk to you tomorrow.

I’m getting pretty run down but should be able to relax once I get into Amsterdam.  I’m still a little worried that I have a defective passport.  I shouldn’t have trouble on the train but getting through the airport on Thursday will be the test.   Talk to you all from Amsterdam!