I was a wreck of course before the trip. Anxious, irritable and pre occupied. I think starting to pack 5 days in advance helped but I guess I can't help being a mess before a trip. I'm always worried that things will be different somehow when I haven't seen hubby for a long time. What if he doesn't love me anymore? What if we don't click like we used to? What if we aren't attracted to each other anymore? As always my worries were totally unfounded. As soon as I saw him in Barcelona at the airport it was just like it always is. He's my baby and I love him to death.
We got back from Europe on Thursday. As soon as we got back we unpacked, took showers and then relaxed. I did laundry the next day. Europe is awesome! We went to Barcelona, Aix En Provence, Canne, Nice, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Paris and Amsterdam. The Cathedrals were breathtaking. Just walking around these beautiful charming cities was amazing. I loved it! It was exhausting sometimes with all the traveling because we were up early every day and always on the move to explore the next city. We stayed in one cruise ship and four hotels throughout the trip. A lot of my obsessive planning did not pan out. I map quested stuff naively thinking it would work but street signs in Europe are not always so clear. My sense of direction is terrible. My husband had his phone thank goodness with GPS to help us get around plus he has an awesome sense of direction. He can find his way to and from anywhere. Sometimes it was frustrating because I was the one who planned everything and yet I was always lost. I felt like I was letting him down because some of my information was not right and I couldn't figure out how to get us where we wanted to go. I never knew where we were going or how to get train tickets or where to catch our train. I'm a planner for sure and I did a pretty good job of it but the execution part was mostly an epic fail. Sometimes he wouldn't explain stuff to me fully. He'd just set off and I'd be wondering how he knew something or where we were going and why. How can I blame him? Half the time he'd tell me something and I still didn't understand. It could be frustrating for us both. How do you know that this is our train? How do you know this is the right way to go? I felt like a complete idiot more then half the time. Then, I tend to get distracted by the sights and not pay as much attention to where I'm going. He'd let me walk half a block before I realized he wasn't there. It was so annoying but I was annoying him by wandering off. So, he'd hold my hand and I told him to just speak up if I'm going the wrong way. He tries to tell me all low that I'm going the wrong way but how could he expect me to hear that on city streets?
One day he got all mad at me because he was hungry and wanted to eat in Canne. I was hungry also but we could see our ship so it made more sense to me to eat on the ship for free instead of off. I thought we were saving most of our eating out for Italy's Pizza and then of course when we were off the ship and had no choice. We were totally not communicating well. Apparently he was that hungry that he thought even going to the ship was too far and I thought we were just looking for a cheapo little place which we didn't find because Canne by the harbor is not cheap. So he said forget it and we walked to the ship. He basically ignored me for two hours until he was no longer mad. That's what he does-instead of arguing which can be a good thing except there is no real closure. I was still all sad and upset because I knew he was upset with me but so even when he was over it and started talking to me it was upsetting that he was mad at me before and we hadn't even talked about it. He wants to ignore me for two hours and then just have everything be hunky dory. Anyways, I brought it up later that night and we talked about it and it was all good. That was our 3rd night of the cruise and other then that we got along perfectly. I was starting to get defensive and irritable about being such a bumbling fool and not being able to figure anything out. From not being able to figure out why and when I could use my phone for free while we were international to getting lost on the ship every day I was just lost. I started getting annoyed when he would try to tell me how to do stuff or where to go. I think he really does think I'm stupid but I really can't say that I blame him. Anyways, I kind of had to put a lid on that and not take it out on him. He can't help it if he's a whiz and I don't think he was trying to talk down to me or anything it was just annoying being the "stupid" one all the time. We were together every second of every day aside from when we were in the bathroom for 14 days and were exhausted sometimes so I'd say we did really well getting along overall.
No sex the entire trip. We still haven't had sex. Mind you, I hadn't seen him for 6 weeks before the vacation. To be honest most of the time I was just too exhausted. I think he was too. We'd get up at 7:30 or 8:00 and spend 8-10 hours taking trains and walking around a new city. We'd come back exhausted, take a nap and then get up to go see our shows on the ship or have dinner and then fall back to bed again. It was a pretty grueling schedule. There was one day that I had finally acclimated to our schedule in Paris and wasn't wrecked at night that I was in the mood but I'm terrible at initiating so of course it didn't happen. I know that people will probably think that there is a definite problem in our relationship because of this but I don't think so. I do think we should do it more, clearly but I don't see it as a sign of trouble in our relationship.
The food was amazing of course. I gorged myself on the amazing bread, wine and of course the Pizza in Italy. By this time, I just don't care. I wanted to enjoy myself and so I did. No working out. I was just too exhausted by our long days and again; by the time I got on vacation I just really didn't give a damn. It's not like it would make a dent in any of the food so screw it. We'd drink a whole bottle of wine between us for dinner and each eat a whole pizza. Their Pizza is to die for. I spent about 1k dollars on train tickets, food, and a little bit of shopping while we were there. We also ended up doing on shore excursion for Florence/Pisa which cost $99 bucks each. I'm kicking myself for not doing a shore excursion for Provence because we spent more on our own trying to get there then the $55 tour. It was the one that I was considering the tour for because I knew it would be close but didn't do it. I did a spa massage and facial and because of my stupid mistake had to spend $165 on parking. Me stupid again! Right off the bat too. I grabbed the wrong parking key card so instead of using the free parking at hubby's job I had to park at the airport. I am so annoyed with myself over that. Oh well right? I knew this was going to be an expensive trip. We already get screwed with the dollar to Euro conversion so it's just the way it goes. I just hate throwing away money and I feel like because of two errors on my part (parking and not doing the tour) we basically did.
There was rain in our first 3 stops in France which kind of sucked because I HATE the rain. It's basically a day ruiner in my book but I do realize that we need it for the survival of the planet and that I have to tolerate it. I just hate it when it interferes with my plans. It was pouring in Barcelona when we got on the ship but that was okay because we were leaving. It was light rain in France and then thankfully we had mostly sun for the Italy stops. After the ship we did Barcelona for a night, Paris and Amsterdam on our own. It rained in Paris but mostly just light rain and we just had to deal with it. We couldn't let it stop us from enjoying our vacation.
All in all it was a fantastic vacation!!! I love Europe. The people there weren't rude but I do notice that it's not customer service oriented which is fine with me. There is too much butt kissing in retail and food service in the US if you asked me anyways. Just give me what I need and we're good. On Sundays shops are closed and some on Mondays even. They close by 6 in a lot of places. I like it that they aren't trying to work themselves to death in Europe. I WISH the US would jump on the band wagon with that one for sure but I know that's never gonna happen. It's just so beautiful there! My favorite city? I don't know!! I'd say the smaller more quaint ones. Rome was so dang huge that we really couldn't see much but in Naples and Amsterdam you could walk around and just relax instead of hoofing it all over the place trying to see everything. I was most intrigued by the red light district in Amsterdam. The ladies are behind windows. Basically like a store front in their own little booths and it's just right off the street. We didn't see anyone open one of the doors but clearly it happens. Our night train was so tiny!!! we both slept on one bunk which was probably a mistake but it was okay. We got to lay down at least and it made the 8 hour train right from Amsterdam to Stuttgart go pretty fast. We took showers, got our stuff organized then slept for half of it. Plane rides to and from were awful! I hate long plane rides. It's like pure torture sitting upright for so many hours and trying to sleep sitting up. At least they feed you on international flights and there was a good assortment of movies. I watched 3 on the way home.
Having a 14 day vacation was amazing and then 18 days away from work is making it really hard for me to wrap my head around going back to the girnd. I'll just have to get back in that daily work routine mindset again. I definitely want to go back to Europe despite the expense. It won't be for at least 2 years though and we're thinking Venice ('cause I gotta get me some more Pizza) and Greece. Aside from that it'll just be mini weekend get aways and whatever we can get for free using our time shares. We need to save up money again. Hubby needs to accumulate more vacation time too.
Of course I gained. Four whole pounds in 14 days. Hubby has already managed to lose the 4 that he gained. He was in Europe for a total of 8 weeks and I gained the same as him. I suck! Me? Not so lucky. I know I can't compare myself to a man really but it's still very frustrating. I hate feeling so fat and hating my body so much. I can't believe my jeans still fit. We got back Thursday and I went to the gym Friday morning. Saturday there was a house warming party and after mostly starving all day I over ate and gained back a little that I had just lost. Hubby's been eating pancakes for breakfast (he's making them again right now and they smell amazing but I can't have any!) and he's already lost his weight. I try so hard not to be bitter about it but it's so hard! It's just not fair. Anyways, I'm not breaking my neck in the gym every day this week. I got my hair done Saturday and I know that it's no use anyways. My body is so damn stubborn and I hate it. I'll just have to take it day by day and try to deal with these feelings of self loathing. Sigh.
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