When to chuck it in the fuck it bucket and move on

When it's 95 degrees and you have no AC.  That is all.

Random tricks and tips for travel in Europe

There is such a tough little formula to change Celsius to Fahrenheit so it was with gratitude that I discovered this trick on the Fodor's travel site.

"Double the Centigrade temp, subtract the first digit of the result from the result and add 32. It works pretty well; you’re usually right on but you’ll never be more than 1 degree Fahrenheit off."

For example, 23 C equals 74 F.
23 C x 2 = 46;
46 – 4 = 42;
42 + 32 = 74 F

This is a lifesaver because most of us can do this math in our heads!  And most of us remember 32 F is freezing point.  Close enough for government work and I am thrilled to be able to sort it out on my own.

When you go to a new country, buy yourself a small extension cord that allows multiple plugs.  It's so much easier to have one outlet charging all your thingies.  Nearly all stores will sell them in home electronics area, including grocery stores.  

Add Google Translate as an app.  Use the photo icon and carefully hold your camera over items to see immediate translation into English!  Only when it's not a fancy font:)  Most ingredients list and instructions are in easily translatable fonts.

If you stay for a week or more and have a kitchen, save your glass jars for leftovers.  Some countries don't sell plastic containers, and some don't have Ziplocs.  Everyone has glass jars.  Likewise, plastic film comes in useful.

In the Airbnb world there is a large discrepancy in what is provided to you.  It may or may not have hand soap, cleaning supplies, salt/pepper, spices, kitchen utensils, storage containers, good knives, a pair of scissors, etc, so get used to an immediate trip to the store for basic essential items.   Also, don't buy liquid hand soap, shampoo is the same thing and cheaper.  Plan in advance on a $20 shopping list and it won't upset you when something is missing.  Alternatively, always ask hosts to provide things you would like to have, because it never hurts to ask and save that money for your next museum entry!

We've asked for and gotten kitchen knives, pots with lids, hand soap and can openers, for example.  In other cases I have purchased those items myself, particularly in lower cost airbnb's.  

Research in advance or ask the host how to get to a place to purchase reloadable public transportation cards or tickets, depending on your length of stay.  Most Airbnb hosts are happy to help and it's the very cheapest and easiest way to travel in Europe. We used Uber when we went to and from Ikea and sometimes to and from the airports though.  Cabs are always more, as are the hosts offers of transportation.  Plus you never know how a host drives.  Our German host of a Cancun trip drove us to the airport.  The car was dirty, a mustang convertible and the ride was white knuckled.  On the reverse, our Budapest host was willing to pick us up at 4:30AM, so we used him.  His car was great, his driving pristine. It's a crapshoot though.  More so than Uber in our view.  We used Google to find a few of the ticket offices, but mostly the hosts are great sources of information.  And remember, google maps don't always accurately note bus stops, so look for the bus signs and the people standing and waiting in groups on the street, who are a dead give away.

Ask hosts for the name of nearby grocery stores and location/day/times of fruit/veggie markets as well.  We missed out on markets in a few towns, simply for not asking.

Another cool thing is to join local Facebook groups to find out about happenings in your area while you are there.  Don't forget to check your favorite group's concert series, it's highly likely they play in Europe!  

Buy reusable shopping bags as souvenirs.  You will always find them handy and some stores do not provide bags at all in certain countries.  Likewise, table linens, clothes and scarves are great, unbreakable mementos.

Don't bother with travel laundry soap.  If you can't find a laundromat to do your clothes for you, then just use shampoo in the sink.  Along those lines, most European homes don't have dryers, so ask for the location of the drying rack.  And wash your clothes early in the morning to be sure they dry by the next day in the more humid countries.  Place clothes directly on radiators if it's in the colder months.  Just check often and turn often.  

If you're uncomfortable, do what it takes.  We've bought lawn furniture chairs with a pad if there's no comfortable place to sit.  We've bought more air mattresses than I can count if the bed sucks the big one.  And I've let the owners know when the bed is beyond repair.  You can buy a cheap twin mattress for $80, there's no excuse not to when you're renting your place out for $1200 monthly.  

And most recently, we bought a second airbnb for three nights that has AC because it's 95 degrees here now.  *sigh*

Birds, dogs and cats of Romania

The stupid pigeon call is back.  Morning, noon and night, this four note call repeats incessantly.  Originally, the hubs thought it was an owl.  Who-whowho-who?  But I've heard owls before, this wasn't right.  I thought about the doves we used to use a BB gun to shoot and eat in the desert of Tucson.  Only in season, of course.  This was that noise.  This ongoing plaintive call belongs to the male collared dove, aka the pigeons of Romania.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYwSX-L1ixI

It's a male on a nest calling for the female to come back please.  Ha!  Your turn to watch the kiddos mate, she's gone for a glass of wine!

There are actually many different bird calls in our "tree house" of a home.  We are on the second floor, so in the US that would be the third floor as ground is zero here, not one.  But the pigeon call dominates.  Sorry, "dove" call.  I'd like a BB gun please, and then some grilled dove breast with a sliver of jalapeno, wrapped in bacon and marinated in Italian dressing.  Tasty and delicious.

There are many dogs here, lots of Husky's, but even more smaller breed fluffy dogs.  White, brown, black, etc, they seem well loved and cared for.  The cats, not so much.  They appear stray, and most have a semi starved look to them.

Adventures in Romanian language, cooking and other stories

Adventures in language and cooking.  First, some advice.  Take mine, I'm not using it!  If you are using a new spice in a new language in a new country, you may want to taste it first before adding it to your dish. Case in point, chili powder. Added two whole envelope/packages to my pot of chili. FIRE IN THE HOLE! I literally have tripled out the recipe today with more stuff from the store, and also added a kilo of pasta for chili mac. It now just "barely" burns my lips. 

Oh, and to add insult to injury? I confidently bought Smantana, KNOWING that it is sour cream. I bought one that is made from goats milk, I thought.  Surprisingly, it's not bad altogether, but not like any other chili, ever.  Further investigation reveals this sour cream is from Vaca or cow. It is pasteurized. Here's the difference in taste, in the US it's 14% milk-fat. The one I bought is FORTY (40)% milk-fat! Um, we are learning to like it.  And it may be fermented instead of soured in the US tradition.

One of the things I like to do is look up local recipes and make them in this country.  Layers of polenta and feta topped with bacon and sausage and fresh tomatoes. Mm.  Random recipe memory from last week.  

I try to go to the little "market" grocery on an almost daily.  The other day I held the door for the woman walking a bike down the two flights of stairs in our apartment building on my way out. I'm walking to the market to pick up a couple of items and I'm actually thinking "Boy, I really feel very safe here in Bucharest". There are the usual couples, single women, single men, a baby in a stroller being pushed down the street. 

It's a very domestic group today. I'm smiling as I pass an elderly man, with the ubiquitous shopping bag on wheels. You see them everywhere in Europe. And I meet his eyes. He is stone cold mean looking and there's a recent gash on the right side of his head. He gimps past me with his cane as my smile fades....Twenty feet down the road, there's another elderly man, sitting in a splayed fashion, leaning against a light pole with his grocery sack next to him. A women in a small car stops and asks him questions, to which he replies negatively. She drives off when others honk behind her on our small one lane road. I keep walking. I realize how incredibly imaginative we all are, because I have made up this whole story of these two geriatrics duking it out. Cane man won.

Recipes I have made and love.  Also, I freeformed feta, diced tomato, apple cider vinegar, olive oil salt and pepper. Yum.

http://www.daringgourmet.com/traditional-hungarian-goulash-gulyas/


http://www.jocooks.com/main-courses/traditional-romanian-polenta-with-feta-cheese-and-bacon-mamaliga-cu-branza-in-paturi/
http://www.uncover-romania.com/about-romania/romanian-recipes/soups/ardeal-cabbage.html




In a grocery store in Bucharest. Pretty simple things on the list. I put seven potatoes into a sack. The scale in the produce section has a sticker machine. I infer that you put your things on the scale, select the produce you are buying and the sticker comes out, because I saw someone else do it. I'm smart like that:) I put my bag of things on the scale. I then punch in the UPC code, 94. Nothing happens. I then hit what I believe is the cancel button. Home screen shows up. I then look at the pretty pictures to find the potatoes I am buying. By now, there are two people behind me. The one right behind me is helpfully repeating over and over again, something in Romanian. I'm not sure if it's "Stupid woman, hit the right button", or "Hey, try this!". Either way, I step aside and wave her over. I say "Please?" and smile. She helpfully spells potatoes with letters that don't begin with P. It spits out my sticker. Next time, google translate potato BEFORE hitting the scale. Also, smiles work. Happy Potato Pentacost Sunday!


We're on a bus. It's fairly empty. But there's a guy seated that I sit next to, as we are only going a few stops. Richard sits across. The man says something in Romanian and gallantly stands up to exchange places with Richard and allow us to sit together. The next few jarring moves are like a puzzle board, shifting the pieces around the square to get us all seated without falling on our asses as the bus is moving. Then the man sits. A minute goes buy and he crosses himself and then he gets up at the next stop, only to move across the aisle from us. I could have made that mean that I have the evil eye. Or that I stink, or that he doesn't like Americans. But I don't. And within a few more stops, I realize EVERYONE crosses themselves every few blocks. Whenever we pass a church, they all cross themselves. Happy Pentacost Sunday folks!

Random things that happen: So we rented the place in Bucharest for a month. An unbelievable rate, with a bedroom, full kitchen, washing machine and an elevator. All things we screened for. Lightening quick internet. No Air Conditioner. We didn't know we had to filter for that one. We expressed concern before we got there, she reassured us it was fine with just the fan. And it was. The whole month. Until 3 days ago. We had been hanging in the Gare de Nord train station here, in an air conditioned coffee shop we found. Today, we gave in and rented a different Airbnb for the final 3 nights here. An embarrassingly low amount to be comfortable and to be able to work for the final four days here in this lovely city. The people in Bucharest are wonderful. What I've learned is that the ones who speak the least amount of English are the most eager to be helpful. *sigh* The security guy at the mall trying to point us to the tram in the wrong direction, for instance. By the way, the mall had a "final showing week discount" for ""Guardians of the Galaxy II, two thumbs up by both of us. How does this all connect? Our new Airbnb is directly across the street from said mall.

Shopping in Europe (Romania today)

Where to shop for what in Europe.  JC Penney's owns Primark over in Europe.  They apparently offer "fashion forward" clothing like an H&M and are more popular than IKEA for home goods in France right now.

A lovely store with larger clothing sizes up to women's US size 22 is owned by the Netherlands, it's called C&A and the logo looks suspiciously like our C&H sugar logo.  Hmmm.  They also have

men's and children's clothing.  
We are traveling to IKEA today to sample the store, pick up a 7.99 end table and eat cheap Swedish meatballs.

There's a Home Depot type store called Adeo, or you can shop at any of the Kingfisher group of stores, depending on location in Europe.  http://www.kingfisher.com/index.asp?pageid=23

For stores that sell everything and anything, you can always try Asda, the UK brand of Walmart.  Or google "Hypermarket" in any country for a local version.  These hypermarkets sell groceries to garden supplies and are styled after our own mega stores.

For us, we usually try to go to the local mom and pops first, then the local chains.  Support local stores can be a global goal:)