Travis in Berlin

My brother and his friends all grow mustaches in March and call it "Mustache March." I don't know where the tradition dates from or why. Whatever the reason, I think this guy's got them beat!

Labels: Berlin, europafest, Germany, mustache

Episode 3 is a couple days late but I'd hate to have you miss the special footage from this weekend's activities. Week two was filled with some sporadic spring Berlin weather, also.

To download episode Drei Three, ctrl+click here.

PS- By the way, I should mention these only play in iTunes.

Labels: Berlin, europe, Germany, itunes, travel

Well, thought I'd just highlight a couple pictures I took and one culture shock moment from last week. First off, on our trip to the Tierpark, this Ferrari and Lamborghini were zigging and zagging past us through the busy Berlin streets, and I had a total guygasm. I managed to snap a couple pictures:






And don't leave your Lambo parked illegally in Berlin because, I kid you not, the Germans have a truck, with a crane, that will literally pick your car straight up out of it's parking spot and put it on a flat bed. I couldn't whip my camera out fast enough to get this Beemer mid-air but you can make out the mechanics of this thing. Wild.

Labels: Berlin, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, parking, travel

Uploaded the second episode of The Todcast (all thanks to Levi Ratliff for the name, as I got an IM about it ending in "h8h8h8"). It's a little longer as I didn't pre-record part of it like I had before and took forever to edit. I'm going to work out a middle ground here soon.

To download episode zwei two ctrl+click here.

Labels: podcast, todcast

Well, I ventured out yesterday to the supermarket to kind of explore and get my bearings. All the packaging for foods you'd want are the same, just the names are impossible to pronounce on the first try. So, it's pretty easy to get what you're looking for. Just figured I'd take some pictures to give you a taste of some of the unusual things I saw along the way.


Beer anyone? Mostly Pilsner...und...und Becks?


I know what you're thinking, "They totally stole the Budweiser name and screwed up the typeface." Well, my friends, this Budweiser is the original Budweiser from the Czech Republic. In fact, the two (American and Czech) have been in copyright disputes for years. And in this tasters honest opinion, hats are off to the Czechs.


Don't worry, there's still some options for you American sissy drinkers. Granted, these were buried somewhere in the back of the store.


Cigarette Advertising in Germany is alive and well! Marlboro has even taken over the grocery store conveyor belt dividers.


Lastly, I have no idea. Jsut thought the concept was hilarious.

Labels: beer, Budweiser, food, Germany, groceries, Kaiser's, Marlboro, travel

... why, "Blue Steel" of course. Needed some Duschgel shower gel and saw this for €.99. Just had to get it. Maybe now I'll start working on my "looks."

I posted the first episode of my podcast yesterday. It's my first attempt at this sort of thing and is still kinda rough. I forgot to write down a script and was kind of being rushed by my lovely girlfriend who was cooking dinner for me (you can hear her singing in the background). I promise they'll get better as I work more things out.

To download it, ctrl+click here.

Labels: podcast, todcast

Well, sorry to everyone who followed my previous post. If you did you probably noticed that my flight from Jacksonville didn't take off until after my flight from NY had left. Luckily, I looked at the departure boards in Jacksonville with enough time to realize this. Apparently it decided to snow in the busiest travel sector in the country yesterday.

When the flight to La Guardia was delayed 3 hours and was supposed to take off before mine to JFK, I became a little suspicious. I asked an unbelievably helpful Delta employee by the name of Annette Ellis (thank you so much!) what the deal was and even though she was getting ready to go home she stuck around to re-route me so I could avoid the mess up North.

My new plan of attack included a stop in Atlanta, and then to the dreaded Paris Charles-De-Gaule airport before finally making my way to Berlin. Luckily Annette finished my re-routing just in time for me to board the flight to Atlanta.

Can't say too much about the first two legs of the flight other than I didn't sleep much and that the brand new Delta 737 was pretty nice, with in-seat entertainment consoles. First I'd heard of these was from the Feb. 8^th Diggnation but that was on the (soon to be) new Virgin America. Basically you get a little touch-screen TV in your seat, right above the tray table on which you can choose movies and television shows to watch, and even play games. The games feature is pretty cool as some of them you can go head-to-head with other people in the cabin. I got a high score in Trivia (just for you Jason), and watched Man of the Year and some Arrested Development (for you Chad and Greg).

I arrived in Paris with a ton of ecstatic old ladies finally getting to visit Paris for the first time and their supportive husbands. I hadn't had much sleep as I can never sleep on moving vehicles but surprisingly didn't feel too bad.

Now, I'd never been, but I've heard horror stories of the Paris Charles-De-Gaule airport. The place is immense. It's like it's own little city. But it wasn't too hard to figure out where to go. Just look at the board, find your gate number and then follow the signs. What was weird was that I had to go to through passport control to get to my other plane. I didn't think much of it as I was just trying to connect, but it turns out this saved me from explaining myself to passport control in Berlin.

I made my way immediately to my gate and eventually my plane boarded in a much less orderly fashion than state-side travelers would behave. One more point up against the French, eh? On this flight I pretty much passed out. I had a sweet seat by the emergency exit which provided me first-class-like leg room, and I was able to doze off a couple times.

Then we arrived in a gray-skied Berlin. I wasn't too concerned about that as the weather still seemed pretty warm and all I really wanted to do was nap for several hours. I could see Sofie grinning ear to ear through the glass at the gate and was immensely relieved to see that all my luggage had made it even with the re-routing!!! Kudos again, Delta!

I packed my stuff into the back of Sofie's room mate's borrowed car (as it was bigger than her mini). Oh, and I guess I should mention we were blocked in as some popular boy band, US5 got out of their charted van. Sofie said any girl in German under 14 years old would have killed for that random meeting. Lucky me.

Well, das ist alles fuer jetzt (that is all for now). Stay tuned for my podcast!

Labels: Atlanta, Berlin, Charle-de-Gaule, Delta Airlines, Paris, travel, US5

Well, here I am sitting in the Jacksonville International Airport terminal, A1, awaiting my flight to JFK. I got through security fine (even though I carried on my playstation. I figured all those wires must be suspect, but seems they were just concerned with water bottles and body lotion.) Somehow my entire life fit in the back of a Volkswagen GTI and is now on it's way to Berlin in the belly of a Delta 737.

Flight Numbers

DL5200 - JAX to JFK
DL78 - JFK to BXL (Berlin, Tegel)
(for those of you with widgits)

Thanks again for everyone's well wishings! It really means a lot to have so many great friends supporting me. Pretty calm and reflective morning. I did one last walk up to beach to tell the ocean I'd see it on the other side. Thanks to Chad for this sweet pair of noise-canceling headphones I woke up to as a going away present! I didn't expect that at all. You're an awesome friend!

Well, not much else to report. I'll catch you guys on the other side!

Labels: Delta Airlines, flying, JIA, travel

Well, as with most exciting adventures, the realization of the magnitude of the event is something that usually occurs in an instant. You always remember why and when "it hit you."

That finally happened to me yesterday. This trip is like nothing I've ever tried to do before. For that reason it was hard for me to actually conceptualize the magnitude of moving my entire life to Berlin.

But yesterday Lauren moved into my old room. I spent the day organizing my things and hanging out with my brother. But it was when I came inside from our back porch and realized I didn't have a room to go to, that's when it hit me.

I no longer had my own space here. I don't belong here anymore. Boom!

So, now my nervousness is ramping up and I've got some butterflies, but everyone keeps assuring me it will be an amazing time and I'm inclined to believe them. Having to say goodbye is hard and since I've been doing it all day, I wanted to highlight a couple more people:

• To all the crew at Robin Shepherd, I really want to say thanks for being some of the coolest and most talented groups of people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Especially the IT team, Kendrick, Zwicker, Clif, Kaz, Paul, too many to name...Thanks again for keeping me on board part-time!

• To my family, I love you. Thank you for being so supportive of everything I do and for continuing to send your love an help to me in my crazy adventures. I know my brothers will always have my back.

• To my room mates, sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you guys on the cusp of what promised to be an amazing summer. Greg and Chad, you guys were the best. I hope Lauren works out and I hope you guys keep smiling and having fun. It has been great living with you and thanks for being understanding!

• To all my Florida friends, Jason, Wessels (all of you!), Alex, Leslie, Pete, Mike, you guys have always been there for me, and even when things got rough you were true friends. I can't say thanks enough.

• Finally, to Sofie. Thanks for taking me in and being my translator, cook, councilor and ambassador. You're amazing!

Alright I gotta stop before I get too blubbery. Here's to old friends and new beginnings! Cheers, ya dobers!

Labels: goodbyes, travel

Hey all you Mac users! Can't wait for OS X Leopard? Or don't want to pay for it? Well, get some sweet new plugins for your iChat now, including my favorite, tabbed iChat windows.

Thanks to Chad for bringing this neat little app to my attention: http://www.ksuther.com/chax/

To my other friends and family, sorry for the nerdy post, but get used to it!

Labels: Apple, Chax, iChat, Mac