Air & Style

When I was working at Limmerick Bill's Irish Pub while living in Innsbruck, Austria, I was never able to attend Air & Style. Which for those of you who do not know is an annual winter Snow Boarding Festival and competition where snowboarders from around the world compete and live music is performed. The reason I was never able to go before was because I worked with a bunch of Snow Board enthusiasts who ate, breathed and lived snow boarding 24/7. They literally moved to Austria just to snow board and get drunk all the time, nothing else! So they naturally requested to have time off during the festival and were given the days off Air & Style took place, forcing me to work and miss all three festivals that took place while I lived in Europe. Shortly after the festival moved to Munich, but it didn't do as well as in Innsbruck and eventually moved back.




Which is why this past winter I made it a point to travel all the way to Europe, just to attend Air & Style for the first time. Despite it having been years after having lived and worked in Europe. The bands playing the winter year I went were Mando Diao and Deichkind, which I have actually both seen before at Roskilde and Frequency respectively. I almost didn't make it because I didn't actually have a ticket, mainly because a (former) friend of mine waited too long to get one for me and they subsequently sold out. In fact our friendship ended partially because of Air & Style. To make a long story short I gave my friend money to get a ticket for me and he waited a week to try and get it and it sold out during the time he procrastinated. He then proceeded to lie to me about when he actually tried to get me a ticket, but I was able to verify the actual date he attempted to get me a ticket and it was a week later than he said. Which really, really pissed me off. Luckily I was able to buy one off of someone just before the event and attend the show, which was really, really cool, but also really really cold!




Although the Vodka I brought with me did help me stay warm to a certain degree, which was nice. As was being surrounded by crisp, clean whiteness as far as the eye could see. For Austria really is beautiful during the winter, and I really do miss the actual seasons and especially being able to have a white Christmas! The event lasted for several hours and usually ends close to midnight or earlier if the weather gets really bad, though this time it was a normal sort of winter I guess? Hey, how the hell should I know having been born and raised in the constant sunshine of California all my life?






I even bumped into some old friends and co workers that I have not seen in awhile which was really nice. Especially since not everyone knew that I was going to be there that winter, as it had been years since I was last in Austria during the winter. Sometime around 2003 to be exact as I spent most of the winter of 2004 in Les Deux Alpes France, which let me tell you was absolutely horrible, but that is a Blog for another time my friends. If you are a fan of snowboarding or winter sports, I would strongly suggest that you attend if you can.

The Bogen: Nothing but Bars, back to back to back

I was never much of a drinker, even in college. Though once I moved to Innsbruck, Austria, and started working in an Irish Pub, all of that changed. I started to drink on a pretty regular basis, and probably reached alcoholic levels, without being an actual alcoholic. For I would drink several pints of beer in a sitting or maybe a liter of Vodka with red Bull throughout the night. Usually 3 to 5 days a week, after I finished working at the Pub which would be around 2,3 or 4am on any given night.


And the majority of my excessive drinking would take place along th Bogen, which is actually the name of a street for those of you who are not familiar with Innsbruck, Austria. Said street is literally one bar after another for the entire length of the street, and most of them are open until 4, 5 or 6am. So everyone in Innsbruck heads to the bogen pretty much on a nightly basis, or at least when the other regular clubs and bars close. There is a bar for just about anyone's unique drinking taste or style, from tough biker bars, trendy bars serving exotic drinks, bars with strippers, all the way to bars that serve food like all you can eat Spaghetti.


Usually me and my friends ot co workers would go to Plateau

Travel Tip: Number 2

Eurail Passes: Make sure to get the most for your money

Eurail Train passes are a great way to get around (most of) Europe, especially since the train system in Europe is extremely comfortable, easy to use and for the most part very, very reliable. But it's not always the cheapest way to get around, depending on where you are going or how often you will be traveling by train. Though if you plan to travel through Germany for almost any length of time, I would recommend getting a Eurail Pass. Any 1st class travel anywhere in Germany is very, very expensive and the pass literally pays for itself as a result of such journeys!


For those of you who do not know, Eurail passes are train passes that are specifically for Americans traveling in Europe. They come in three different classes, Child, Student and Adult. For the purpose of this post I will be mainly talking about and referring to the Adult pass, as I am well past 26 years old, which is the age limit on the student Eurail pass. Plus the Student Eurail pass is only a 2nd class ticket and not a 1st class ticket like the adult pass. Said Eurail pass allows the bearer to travel for a certain number of days, in a certain number of countries in 1st class. No reservations need to be made ( unless the train you are taken specifically requires it, and even then it usually just late night or direct rush hour trains), you just pick your train, get on and go! The number of days you want to travel and the number of countries you wish to travel in is all up to you. Which is why it is important to kind of know what you plan to do and where you plan to visit beforehand. For there have been a few times that I purchased more of a pass than I actually needed, and ended up wasting a few days. Though since I always travel though Germany via 1st class, I still end up saving quite a lot of money. For most travel through Germany via a 1st class ticket costs several hundred Euros, and with the exchange rate being what it is, that is close to double the price in US dollars. hence my annual trip from Innsbruck, Austria through Germany to Roskilde, Denmark, via 1st class, would cost me over 500 Euros alone or around 750/800 dollars!

Travel Tip: Number 1

Check Baggage Fees: Make sure you know before you buy your ticket

Unfortunately in today's economy a lot of companies are downsizing or essentially charging more for less. In terms of air travel this means no food on certain flights, or being charged for your meals. It also means paying more for your baggage as well as being able to take far less with you to begin with. Which really affects those of us out there who travel abroad quite frequently, as most airlines reduced the weight limit on checked luggage by 20 pounds or more per person or started charging up to $50 for additional checked bags.


Recently I bought a round trip ticket to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and I paid just a little more than $400 for a round trip flight. Which was only a little less than Southwest Airlines, but it was a direct flight unlike Southwest. Little did I know that the airline I had chosen to fly with would be charging me an additional $20 per bag per way, adding up to an additional $40 for the flight and that is if I only take 1 checked bag with me ( which I plan to do now because of the baggage fee). Making my initially cheaper flight the same price as Southwest. If I had known ahead of time I would flown with Southwest to begin with since they still do not charge for checked baggage and one stop flight is only slightly longer than the non stop flight I I could have just read a book or played PSP). Which is why it is important for you to check to see if the airline you are planning to use charges for bags or bags of a certain size or weight? Most airlines are actually charging for all checked baggage now, and only a very few of them charge only for the 2nd checked bag. This applies to both domestic and international flights, though it is slightly better for international flights since you are already paying more for your flight.

Europe: Travel plans for 2010

Even though in my private every day life, I am not what you would call very organized. I am pretty on the ball when it comes to my annual summer trips to Europe and other places. Hence this is just a general list of events I plan to attend and/or places I plan to visit during the summer of 2010. Every summer I visit my friends in Sweden, as well as attend the Zurich Street Parade, and for the past 3 years I have been attending Roskilde (Which is something everyone who likes music and parties should really try to attend at least once in their lives). This list will be altered, updated and whatnot throughout the coming months, as plans change and events possibly get canceled ( Like the Love Parade, which they unfortunately have done more than a few times in the past due to the faltering economy). if you have any suggestions as to places I should go or events I should attend, please let me know.


FLY TO EUROPE: June 23rd, 2010
Roskilde Music Festival: Roskilde, Denmark June 27th-July 4th, 2010
The B Parade: Sometime in early July, 2010 if they do not cancel again
The 2010 Love Parade: Ouisburg, Germany in July/August 2010 unless they cancel again
Sweden Trip #4: Gothenburg, Sweden sometime in July/August, 2010 for 2 weeks
The Zurich Street Parade: August 7th, 2010
Frequency Music festival: August 18th -22nd, 2010
RETURN TO THE US: August 25th, 2010

Smokers: The bane of Existence

I have never liked cigarette smoke in general, even as a little kid. My parents used to smoke as we drove to our cabin in Lake Tahoe and I would be slowly suffocating in the back seat because they kept the windows rolled up the whole way there. But I didn't actually have a problem with cigarette smokers themselves until I lived in Europe for a few years. For it amazed me how stupid and inconsiderate most smokers can be, especially during the time I worked in an Irish Pub in Innsbruck, Austria. For the 3 story (if you count the basement disco) Pub didn't have any ventilation at all. The only places where fresh air could possibly come in or out was from the front and back door, which incidentally were almost always closed, and that is it! There were no open windows in this place or event the smallest of vents, yet people continued to smoke in what essentially was a gas chamber. And one would think that Austrians would know a thing or two about a gas chamber and would try to avoid creating such things. Alas no, for they even had the balls to complain about the air quality and how stuffy it was, which they were completely responsible for! What kind of special brand of idiocy does stuff like that?! To me that is like running someone over with your car, and then complaining that they got blood on your front grill.

Needless to say, because I worked there for so long, I developed some lung and breathing problems when it came to being in any sort of smoke filled environment. Which has followed me to this ad, as i have had several coughing attacks from being around smokers and breathing in passive smoke, even here in California where it is greatly reduced because of all the laws prohibiting public smoking.

Back from Europe Malaise

I recently returned from Europe and have been somewhat out of it ever since. Although that is pretty much the norm with me when it comes to such trips. You know that strange or odd feeling you can get, akin to dread, that comes over you when you return to someplace you have haven't been to or seen in awhile. Where you know things will not be the same as you left, or in some cases exactly the same...Though said feeling is nowhere near the strange kinds of feelings I was having after having lived in Europe for 3 years non stop. As that was really an ordeal coming back to the US, and just in time for E3 ( You would not believe how quickly one can get used to not having a lot of noise or flashing lights on a semi daily basis. Which made E3 almost a painful experience as there is a lot less noise and light pollution in Europe!)

Anyway Europe was fun, but it is not the same as it was. In fact it is getting a little bit worse. Most of my friends are of course older and naturally have girlfriends/boyfriends, wives/husbands, kids and a lot more responsibilities. So it is harder and harder to see my friends, and I spend less and less time with people I actually knew from before. Which while understandable is also a little bit depressing. Plus I can't stay out all night drinking everyday like I did before and found myself recuperating for longer and longer periods of time in between drinking and party sessions. I also just don't enjoy taking trains everywhere, staying up all night and sleeping in tents during music festivals in the pouring rain and mud like I used to. So I have to wonder how many more Europe trips I have in me. After all I went to Europe a total of 3 times within a 365 day period, which I haven't done for about a decade now. Plus the economy sucks! I hate losing 30 bucks for every 100 I spend! That is 30% and it quickly adds up. It wasn't that bad when it was within 10% as you can write that off mentally to tax or something, but 1/3 of your money going to exchange fees is ridiculous! All that wasted money was at least a mini vacation's worth somewhere in Ibiza or Majorca and I could have definitely enjoyed myself if that was possible!

Romeo and Juliet's Balcony: Verona, Italy

It has been over 10 years since I was first and last in Italy. I went to visit a friend in a very small village-esque part of Italy and have never returned since. Despite the fact that for years I lived only 20 minutes away from the Italian borders. So this summer I made it a point to see something I had always wanted to see, Romeo and Juliet's balcony.

Roskilde: Let the drinking begin!

How does one describe Roskilde to someone who has never been before? Well it's huge, kind of it's own community and simply amazing to behold, especially the first time you go. For me that was the summer of 2007, perhaps the worst weather Roskilde has ever experienced as it rained non stop almost the entire time. Which normally would put someone like me off, but I enjoyed myself so much despite the weather I came back again and again. This summer being my 3rd time in a row and so far the weather has been beautiful! Normally you arrive at the Roskilde main train station and get to the East or West camping area anyway that you can. You can either walk, take a taxi, bike, hitch or even the special festival train, though the festival trains don't actually start running til Sunday afternoon. The festival really begins on a Thursday and ends late Sunday night. But most people come early ( like me) for the warm up days and arrive the previous Saturday night to wait in line to exchange their tickets for wristbands. Normally no one gets their writsbands until after midnight, so technically Sunday morning.


This summer they started to give out the wristbands earlier at the local Tivoli, sometime around noon on Saturday. Since all my trains from Austria to Denmark were late, I didn't get there as early as I had planned or wished to. Hence a lot of my friends who were a lot coser to Roskilde, Denmark than me got their wristbands, while I had to go to the actual festival grounds and wait in line to get mine. One of the worst aspects of the Roskilde Music festival, waiting in line for hours and hours. Though because of the early Wristband exchange my waiting in line actually took less than 30 minutes total, compared to my waiting for over 3 hours last year in th rain. When I got to the ticket booth I was even recognized by the ticket taker for posts I had apparently made on the official Roskilde site, which was pretty amazing since over 80,000 people come to Roskilde most years and I am but one person. But better than that I actually bumped into some Swedish guys I was hoping to meet up with again, as we partied a lot together in the past. In fact we met waiting in line to get our wristbands, just like we did the 1st time back in 2008. So this years festival had a little bit of kismet thrown since the odds of us both being in line again on the same day at the same, albeit at a different time than last year is pretty amazing if you ask me.


Once everyone has a wristband they are led to another temporary camping area where they wait until the fences of the main camping area are scheduled to be taken down around 8 or 9am Sunday morning. Though what usually happens is someone breaks down the fences around 3am Sunday and everyone rushes the camping areas to set up their respective tents. This year someone started a rumor that the other camping area had torn down their fences already, which in turn made the side that started the rumor in the first place tear down theirs. This happened at 9pm this year, about 6 or 7 hours earlier than when it normally happens. Which actually gave me, my fellow camp mates and everyone who showed up at Roskilde Saturday night almost a whole extra day of camping and partying! As for the camping during Roskilde itself. There are two main camping areas, East and West. I have only camped in West as far as I know...I cannot recall where I was exactly in 2007 because of the weather and the fact that I was drunk most of the time. West is more relaxed and tends to have more non Danish campers, while East is more of a party area and full of Danish people. I prefer West because I like my friends and company to be varied, and there is less noise and less theft than in East. I have heard a lot of horror stories about tents being broken into at East or tents being slashed and even set on fire. Though that tends to happen the last day of Roskilde.

Europe: Almost time to start drinking!

Something that is rather sad, is that I look forward to my Europe trip all year long. So much in fact that I kind of coast through life in the US purely in anticipation of my yearly summer spent partying in Europe. Seeing friends, traveling around, being somewhat naughty and getting very, very drunk! As I really do not touch a drop of alcohol in the US, but in Europe I drink like a fish and am definitely a binge drinker. Which is supposedly worse than being an alcoholic! But in Europe it's pretty much anything goes in terms of Alcohol as it's definitely a Pub culture. I also find I am a lot more active or social while in Europe, and I definitely do a lot more things there than I do in the US. Such as this summer I will be in Roskilde, Denmark for their annual 10 day Music festival featuring over 150 bands from around the world, as well as Gothenburg, Sweden for the 4th time to visit friends, Switzerland for the Street Parade, Innsbruck, Austria and close to Vienna for Frequency ( Another outdoor Music Festival), along with stops in Germany, Bulgaria, and possibly Italy and a few more places. I have not decided yet, but after my planned trips I will have an extra 5 days of unlimited 1st class travel in all of Europe to use. So most likely I will be taking a day trip to Italy or somewhere else close to Austria by train. Perhaps Hungary so I can go to Prague for the first time?

Roskilde, the Rain & Mud and Drunk in Europe

Well my friends, I just woke up after my very first black out in Europe...Though I am sure there will be many, many more to come. Roskilde was not as fun as I imagined it would be and the weather was mainly the cause. It rained every single day and there was just mud and urine drenched filth everywhere! I really never felt so physically uncomfortable in my entire life! My feet are still absolutely disgusting as being moist for a week straight does hideous things to your skin! Hopefully next year will be a lot better. I will post more as more happens. Right now I am trying to upload 2,000 pics and it's taking forever.

SWEDEN!

Well folks I am in beautiful Sweden at the moment. It is my first time ever in Scandinavia and I love it! It has not been the best weather since my arrival last week, but it is still very nice and purty here. The people are also not as tall or as blonde as I had imagined they would be, and sadly I have not found myself a giantess to bear my unholy brood of monster children (How better to take over the world). But I did attend a crayfish party in the forest on Saturday that involved lots of alcohol and late night nudity. Which as you know is always a plus with me. I plan to return next year when I have more time and more money to properly enjoy myself, as sadly that is not the case this year. Plus it is also towards the end of my European trip and I am getting a bit burned out on Europe in general. It happens every time I come here as I think 2 months is just getting to be a little too long for me at my age. More on my European vacation later on when I have some more time to write. Peace!

Europe and all that it Implies

Okay, I have been in Europe for awhile now and what have I accomplished thus far? Well for starters, I have been drunk several days in a row and I seemed to have burst a blood vessel in right eyes. I either did this while vomiting or taking a rather strenuous dump. Though my money is on the vomiting since I have done that more than I have gone to the bathroom. Now I look like I am the victim of domestic violence. I have also said and done several rather inappropriate things while intoxicated. Nothing I haven't done before, but I am trying to behave myself this time round. Though some of the pictures I have taken with my new digital camera do nothing to belie this fact. Actually I managed to upload a bunch of my photos to my Kodak Galleries, so I will have to send all my friends the link. But they are all jumbled right now and I have not had the patience to go through each of them and arrange them in the proper order or by days. I will do this at a later date as the computer lab here is filled with visiting American college students and they annoy me for some reason. I also don't seem to have an attention span long enough to do anything useful on the computer. I tend to just check my emails and take off, which kind of makes sense. I mean why would I fly all the way to Europe just to spend hours at a time on the computer. And with that my friends, I am outta here!