Gobble Gobble

Forgot to mention in my earlier post that I’ve changed my URL. It is no longer http://rulesofaroadwarrior.blogspot.com. I randomly clicked on that site the other day, after I had changed it to http://laurabsadventures.blogspot.com and found that my previous address has already been put to use, displaying a selection of incredibly odd, semi-inappropriate videos. I don’t know who’s the author behind the content, but it just goes to show that there are some weird people out there!! Anyway, just be sure to go to the new URL: Laura B’s Adventures (super creative, I know)

In other news.....

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all participated in national stuff-yourself-silly day and took time to reflect on all that you are thankful for... food on the table, a warm home, friends & family, a steady job, good health... yes, we are all so lucky. And speaking of luck, I am lucky to have been able to be in MN for the holiday. I felt guilty for about a nano-second since many of my colleagues were staying on-site in The Netherlands and working but I needed a break and darn-it, I deserve it! I arrived in the states on Wednesday and after an interesting experience trying to get through customs (which is a story in itself) the guards finally let me through. I was exhausted of course, but couldn’t miss out on dinner with Caroline & Michael and the fam at Lord Fletchers so what do I do? Get a cappuccino of course and I’m good to go! The walleye was fabulous and what a treat. Thanks C&M! and oooh I will definitely be reading up on my guidebooks that yall got me! (Say a prayer that I will get a weekend off to explore :) )

Then it was Thanksgiving which was delish. My schedule for the day: rest, relax, eat, relax, rest, repeat. Love it. I used my willpower to not check work email and just enjoy the day and I did well for the most part. Ok maybe a couple slip-ups. haha.

Friday was of course national shopping day, also known as black friday. I woke up at 4am since I was still extremely jet-lagged. I waited for mom to get up at 6 and we were at the mall around 8! Let’s just say that we did our parts to stimulate the economy. I hope you all did your parts as well. We need to kick some serious recession butt and the only way to do that is to start spending! Of course we did not go overboard, but I did find some amazing things at Banana. And at 40% off on outerwear, cashmere, and more, you really can’t go wrong. I also enjoyed a starbucks grande xtra-hot skinny caramel latte. mmm. It was a wonderful day and some much-needed mother-daughter time :)

Saturday... spa day! ok spa morning, but still. Cort and I had 8:30am massage appointments at the Aveda institute. After our rub-downs, we grabbed a light breakfast and finally got a chance to catch up which consisted of laughing for a few hours since life is, well, so funny sometimes and even when it’s not, you just gotta laugh. Oh and we decided that we are taking snow boarding lessons together around Christmas. Will we be any good? Time will tell! But first things first, she is leaving for vay-cay in Aruba in 1 week! so jelly. And btw, she has a super cool blog HERE. She is probably the girliest girly girl I know, yet she's a walking sports encyclopedia. Like you know how guys can name sports statistics or list so-and-so's name, team, jersey number, position and complete bio out of thin air? She can do that!! It's craziness. Read her blog and you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, it's after 9pm and well past my bedtime... yawn. I am so lame, but yes I am serious. It’s my attempt to stay on (near) euro-time. bye!

my blog is now by invite-only

In order to get access to my blog, you need to be invited... by me! So if you're reading this, you've most likely made the invite list. But, if you know of others that want access or if you have a different email address that you'd like to use, send it over to me and I'll add it to the list. Also, you don't need a gmail account or a blogger account to sign in. Let me know if this is confusing...

Day 3, 4, 5, & 6

Hi all!
If you’re new to my blog, welcome. This is a place where I’ll be recording my travel stories and trying to give you a little insight into what it’s like to be a consultant. Some of my posts may get long or too detailed so feel free to skim, but I know Mom and Dad will want the whole picture so bear with me :) Please feel free to leave comments when you stop by too! You can do this at the end of every post. I’ll also try to post some pictures. Oh and I'm a pretty terrible writer so be prepared for spelling and grammar errors!

Day 3
Friday snuck up on me this week since my flight on Tuesday threw me off my routine schedule. But on top of that, it didn’t really feel like Friday since we were expected to work Saturday. Regardless, the day went by pretty quickly and Friday night was upon us. We’ve all been way too tired to go out (as in OUT out), but one of my colleagues and I have been wanting to visit Utrecht, one of the other big neighboring cities. Turns out, several other people from the project were up for it as well so we journeyed over to Utrecht for dinner. I would have liked to have eaten somewhere in the Centrum so that I could have really seen the center of Utrecht, but we ended up at an asian tapas place that was actually quite the happening spot. All the tables were packed when we got there so we headed back to the lounge area where we kicked off our shoes and sprawled across these leather couches. We ordered some very delicious cocktails including a European mojito and then proceeded to order enough tapas for a small village. In Europe, everyone eats very small portions and one of the first things the local clients say about us Americans is that they don’t know how we can eat so much. Well, I’m sure the staff at this restaurant was wondering what the heck we were doing ordering so much food! haha. It was yummy though and an awesome ambiance too...



Day 4
Saturday. Work day. More rain. A little snow. You can tell how super excited I was about working on Saturday. I thought it was pretty dumb since no one from the business side in Europe volunteered to work thus we had to do all the business stuff ourselves which was way out of formal process. The U.S. was working too, but only because in the U.S. we’re allowed to demand the business to work so they didn’t really have a choice. I think the U.S. should adopt the work laws that Europe has in place. Aaanyway, our project team did end up having fun; we joked around a lot and even found some beer at the office to drink. Lol. We all got pretty slap-happy near the end of the day and finally left around 5:30 back to the hotel. Then it was down to Amsterdam that night for a team dinner. We met for pre-dinner drinks at the Barbizan Palace where I had the most delicious Irish Coffee with stroopwafel (Irish coffee = amaretto + coffee):

...and followed that with an Indonesian dinner at Sarang Mas in the heart of the city. That’s another cool thing about being on business… it’s a great opportunity to try different foods! I don’t think I’ve ever had Indonesian before. It was actually quite good, a mix between Indian and Asian flavors. Oh wait, is that why it’s called INDO-ne-SIAN? I can’t say I know where Indonesia is on a map. ha. Here's a group picture though:

After dinner, I really wanted to make myself go out, but we were all too tired so those of us staying in Amersfoort headed back to the Klepperman. I actually hailed a cab for us. I’m not sure if you hail cabs in Europe like you do in NYC, but I did. And it worked!

Day 5
Finally a day off!
Woke up early today (still haven't caught up on sleep) to head down to Amsterdam with my client boss and another consultant that had never been to the city. The consultant and I were actually moving hotels too since we wanted to be in the city where all the action is. So we checked out and headed over to the 'Dam. I was the tour guide for the day! I was actually very impressed with myself by how well I knew my way around. It was a little stressful because I felt like I had to plan the day and entertain my boss, but I think it went really well despite the weather. It got really chilly and started snowing around mid-day and continued into the evening. It didn’t stop us though… we started off with a walk down Damrak (main-drag), saw some interesting creatures (Amsterdam is a PERFECT people watching city - even in low-season/winter), and then took the tram down to museumplein. Saw the IAMsterdam sculture the moment we got down there which was funny because I had been looking all over the city for that last August (found out that it was under construction). Here's a pic... not the best angle, but I can go back later to get another shot. I am standing in the "m" and if you click on the picture, I think it enlarges.

My boss wanted to go to the Van Gogh museum. I am not a museum person and I even contemplated going to the Diamond museum while the other two went to the Van Gogh, but I decided what the heck, it's her day. It ended up being really amazing! And by the way, Van Gogh is pronounced Van-Gaw or Van-Gawk(gotta get the Dutch accent to say it correctly). I got the recorded commentary which helped explain everything so well. I enjoyed hearing about the artist cutting off his own ear, but wow what a sad and crazy life he had. Oh and I saw his famous Sunflowers painting (one of them anyway - there were 5):

After the Van Gaw, we did a little shopping, ate a late lunch in Dam Square, and really just tried to stay warm. I bought a hairdryer (I wonder if I can expense it...) and made note of all the clothing and shoe stores that I need to go back to when I have free time :) We wanted to finish the day with the Anne Frank house, but never got to it since it would have been a long and cold walk up to the northwest side of town. Ended the big day in Amsterdam with hot drinks at my (new) hotel bar across from Centraal station... yes, I had the Bailey's & coffee and it was SO good. My new favorite thing is to get coffee + alcohol drinks at bars since all of the bars in Europe have espresso machines behind the counter. yummy. Maybe this can be my new Starbucks drink? haha.

Day 6
Monday. uggh! Day started off pretty terrible! Our train was cancelled so we had to take a Stop-Train aka the SLOW train so we didn't get in until 8:45am. Boss was not happy that we were 15 minutes late. oops. Half of us commute from Amsterdam though and it was out of our control! She got over it. Oh and the train station was a big embarrassment. I bought a smoothie, bottle of water, and crossaint beforehand, put then in a paper sack. So I was trying to get on the train and the doors were closing. I thought I would stick my paper sack full of my breakfast between the 2 doors (like an elevator) to keep them open. No sensors! Bag went squish and bottles fell into the train while I was outside on the platform. I panicked for a few seconds until my colleague found the button to re-open the door. Nice dutch people picked up my breakfast from the floor and handed it to me. sad times! Oh and then there was drama drama between the U.S. and Europe teams and I had to be in the middle of a very uncomfortable situation/conversation. Good experience I guess? Boss not in a good mood the entire day; luckily though, I think I am still on her good side because I majorly backed her up during all the drama!

Only one more day to go and then it's a few days off.:) HOO-RAY.
Now it's almost 11:30pm. Sleep time!

Day 2

So exhausted that I can barely see straight, but thought I'd post a quick run down of day two. Day started off very well, went down to the lobby to check out breakfast and it turns out De Klepperman had a continental baffet. Actually very delish! I stayed away from the milk since one of my colleagues said it was some sort of sour goat, but enjoyed some dense brown bread with jam and some fruit. Realized it was 18 euro after I ate, but I didn't care since it'll be billed to the client. The glory of being on business...

Made it into the office around 8:30 and pretty much just worked straight through only stopping briefly for a bite to eat. oh and found out that we are going to have to work the weekends. Actually, under European laws, we can only ask the business to volunteer to work the weekends, but all of us on the management team don't really have a choice. Luckily Barbara tried to get us all one day off so it may just be Satruday that we'll have to work. It sounds like this may be a regular thing while we're in this testing cycle which kind of ruins my plans to Paris. bummer!!! The thing is though, the management team can work all we want, but if we don't have backing from the business in NL, we won't be much good. hmm.. Anyway, made it through the day (exhausted since I woke up at 3am this morning) and decided to go along with the group to dinner in the Amersfoort square. The square is very cute... lots of shops and cafes, although we could tell that it wasn't nearly as crowded as it was in August. We ate a neat restaurnat called de 3 Vrienden which was kind of like tapas, but in a dutch sort of way. food was quite good! All of the locals are so so so nice and I love the accents. I finally made it back to my hotel at 10pm and I am beat!

Day 1

I have arrived. And I’ve even made it through day one which is usually the hardest day when traveling internationally. It seems as if Wednesday came and went in a flash which is no surprise since I was en route to the Netherlands for 12 hours (including an hour and a half layover in Memphis) and on top of that, I lost 7. For some reason, I was a little nervous before the flight. Pre-flight jitters maybe? It was a weird feeling since I fly every week, but I think I was just worried about the trip from every angle. Luckily I got two seats to myself on the plane and was able to lie down for most of the ride and even sleep a bit. We landed around 10:30am Netherlands time and once I got off the plane, I bee-lined it straight to the bathroom to change into my work clothes and freshen up before cabbing it to the office (my boss had already called me asking if I was on my way or what). I luckily brought along a refreshing Evian travel spray for face and/or body... have you seen this stuff? I think it says on the bottle that it “moisturizes, tones, and refreshes,” but I don’t think it’s any secret ingredient except water. Nonetheless, it did the trick (can't really explain it so here's a pic)

After brushing my teeth and applying some light makeup, I looked good as new again (or at least presentable). Who says I’m high maintenance???

I went over to the “baggage hall” as they say in Holland and was so happy to see that my luggage had made it safely. I think I actually packed light. Yes, it was 60 pounds and yes, I had to pay 50 extra bones to get it there, but I am so prepared for any and all weather and activities, and yes, I DO need 3 pairs of boots, and I even put a little duffel bag in there in case I do any weekend excursions. So I'm exiting Schipol and the only Starbucks in the Netherlands is at the Schipol airport, but lo and behold with my massive suitcase, backpack, briefcase, and purse, I did not have an extra hand for a latte :( Dutch coffee at the office it will be.

I grabbed a taxi and was off to Amersfoort. It was probably a 30 minute drive and cost me $130 euro! Yep, I am definitely in Europe. Luckily, the day went by rather quickly as there was a ton to do so I didn’t have a chance to realize how badly I needed a shower and a nap. I stopped briefly for lunch with my client boss, at the café and it was exactly how I had remembered it months earlier – small, plain, boring, and sometimes gross, but good enough considering the alternatives (a Home Depot sandwich shop, McDonalds, or Ikea).

Now I’m back at my hotel which by the way is cute and comfy (better than the Hilton in Soest) and I'm completely exhausted, but adjusting to it all. I have done quite the 180 from under a week ago when I was asked (read: told) that I would be in the Netherlands for 5 weeks. I may have broken down in tears and contemplated all the excuses in the world to keep me in the U.S., but I am ok with it now. I would even venture to say that I am looking forward to the next few weeks. I think I take change really well when I can prepare for it, but this was so unexpected and out-of-the-blue, and I don’t appreciate when things pop up that I can’t plan for, especially if it means clearing my calendar for 5 weeks and giving up things that I've already committed to or gotten myself excited for. Then again, I know that God does not always give us what we want, but he does give us what we need. So maybe this is exactly what I need…
Until tomorrow.. good night!!!

10 Things...

In light of leaving the country today, I thought I’d compile the top ten things I’ll miss the most over the next five weeks… here they are in no particular order

1. My Dallas friends!
I am sad to be missing out on the holiday party and any other fun weekend extravaganza in Dallas. Please save all the stories for me until I get back

2. Talking on the phone to friends and family.
I have become quite the Chatty Cathy as of late as evidenced by my cell phone bill. Just think, 5 weeks without long phone convos? I mean, if most companies do business on a global scale, then why is it that the phone companies have yet to offer an unlimited global calling plan?? It's a mystery to me.

3. Starbucks!
I am a Starbucks addict. It's rather sad to say, but if given the choice between buying lunch or Starbucks, I would pick the latter. Did I mention that I am now a goldcard member? There are no substitutes for Starbucks in The Netherlands; Dutch coffee is just not the same.


4. Breakfast… and skim milk, whole wheat bread, a ginormous salad, and fish without bones – who would have thought to take these things for granted?
Europeans don’t exactly take food on-the-run which in the U.S. is the whole point of break.fast. So basically, no breakfast for me :( And note-to-self, if you order fish in the Europe, you will most likely get the whole fish staring back at you on a plate, bones, scales, eye-balls and all. Here’s the picture from my August trip to the Netherlands as proof that no, I am not exaggerating:

5. My car
I looove driving my car. It’s the feeling of freedom that I can go anywhere… and it often takes me to the mall! I also love Sirius Satellite radio!

6. My wonderful bed
I am all about saving money, but I think a bed is one of those things that you need to splurge on. Don’t we spend like 1/3 of our lives sleeping? Well, probably more around a quarter in this day and age. But anyway, I’ve become quite the bed snob now that I’ve stayed in my fair share of hotels so it was only natural for me to want/need a nice mattress. I will miss! Oh and I recently got this lovely duvet cover + shams from West Elm. Looove it….

7. Paying with credit card
Apparently Europe has not quite adapted the American standard of “put everything on credit.” This will make it impossible to do my expenses. Greaaat.

8. Working out
Oh wait, I haven't done that in ages. Whatever happened to free time?

9. Flexible Fridays
I will unfortunately be working ALL 5 days of the workweek while I'm there

10. Tanning
No, not in a tanning bed, silly! I'm talking about mystic tanning... the sunless, 10-second tan that offers instant gratification. It's genius, really.

In denial?

I think I am seriously in denial about leaving tomorrow. Perhaps in the back of my mind, I have convinced myself that I am flying to San Jose instead. But then I get a lovely picture of me sitting on the plane tomorrow in a bright blue coach seat, eye mask and ear plugs in one hand, sleeping pills in the other. unable to sleep. Please please let me sleep tomorrow! That's the only way the 9 hours will go by semi-fast. Then I could wake up refreshed and ready for the work day since I'll be heading straight to the client once I land in Amsterdam. This time, I will NOT be renting a car... I am cabbing it all the way! This means that I will not be getting lost for 2 hours every day, I will not be pulled over by the cops (twice), and I will not get 3 speeding tickets, all of which happened last time. So anyway, I thought what better way to spend my last day in Dallas than to do a few of my favorite things that I would not get to do for awhile. This involved kicking off the day with Starbucks - tall espresso brew coffee w/ spenda and half & half - and ending the day with Mexican food & margaritas with a few of my favorites. I have been anti-tex mex for quite some time ever since I rolled off the Dell project down in Austin (we ate it EVERY day), but I am finally coming back around to the deliciousness. We tried a place I had never been before called Matt's Rancho Martinez. Nothing like a margarita, chips & salsa, and hot fajitas before I leave the country.

Here's the website if you want to check it out:
http://www.thetexmexchef.com
And it was great to see the girls again one last time before leaving too. Bree is thinking about visiting the 'dam. Hopefully she'll be able to swing it!

Feeling a bit better

Hello! So I've allowed everything to sink in over the weekend and I've come to terms that I will be leaving Dallas/the country for nearly 5 weeks. As my mom says, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade! And that is what I will set out to do. Not that I'm exactly being handed "lemons" with this business trip to the Netherlands, but well, it will be tough mentally, physically, and emotionally and it's terrible timing. But back to the lemonade, I'll hopefully be able to travel on the weekends with some colleagues to Paris or Brussels or elsewhere, AND some of my friends might visit! But before I leave in 2 days, I had to have one last hurrah weekend in Dallas. Which brings me to the other reason I may be in a better mood - I had a great weekend, mostly in part to my amazing friends! Yes, they all threw me a 'going away' party yesterday night and we had so much fun! Allison, Bree, Nancy, Elana, and Vivian all hit the town with me and, while it may be fun to spend Saturday night with guys, a solid girls night out is highly underrated these days. And as always, when we go out together, we always end up VIP. obvi. It was a good last night out in Dallas. Except that Allison left her debit card at the bar. haha. Luckily she went back today to pick it up. We also got late night food at 3am at Cafe Brazil. I can't even remember the last time I did that. wow. Oh and I must not forget that we kicked off the night with dinner at Village Burger Bar. They have my most favorite salad in town, called the chopped salad. Yes, I venture to say that it may even top Eatzis! They also have a full bar and make a mean margarita. And did I mention that I can walk there? It's literally right across the street from me!


In other news, I have been frantically packing and wondering what else I need to buy in order to be prepared for anything and anywhere my European adventure takes me. I decided that I needed a pair of tall, flat boots to keep me comfortable, warm, and stylish since I will probably end up doing a ton of walking over there. Since I didn't want to break the bank, I headed to DSW, my new favorite shoe store after my friend (and fashionista) Cortney, mentioned awhile back that she had found some great purchases there. Sure enough, I found a pair of tall suede slouch boots in a pretty grey color. Perfect! For some reason, I can't find an exact picture of them online, but this one comes pretty close:

The only difference is that mine have a slight built-in 1-inch hidden wedge. I was so happy to find them. While I love love love my classic black pumps, they are not so friendly to my feet and the cobble-stone streets in Europe are not so friendly to the stiletto heels.

Eurotrip. T-minus 3 days

I thought I might as well start a blog since I won't be able to talk on my cell phone for about 5 weeks. You see, apparently I'm going to Europe. For. five. weeks. At least that's what my boss told me 2 days ago. Stay tuned for more updates once I get to Europe. I've got some packing to do.