32 Hours- James Franco Ain't Got Nothin On Me

WORST. FLIGHT. EVER.

No homo. Literally the worst travel experience of my life.

It all started innocently enough at Sea-Tac airport. I brought mini-shots for my flight and had 2 hours to kill at the bar before I left. I tossed a couple beers back, blogged and hopped on my plane at the last minute. I reserved an aisle seat and was sitting next to an attractive young asian girl. Yes! This is going to be a great start to the trip. I tried sparking up a conversation...

Me: "Hey, do you know if the plane has internet?"

Her: "No Engrish"

Just my luck. So my dreams of becoming heir to an Asian throne is crushed.

Once we are on the runway I pop on the Dre Beats (best investment of the trip thus far) put on my world famous sleep mix playlist and passed out. I didn't wake up until the end of the flight. I slept for a solid hour and a half on the way down to LAX. Not too bad of a start...

I had a 3 hour lay-over at LAX because my plane arrived over a half-hour early. I hit the bar once again for a couple drinks. We board the flight and I am sitting next to a couple that is heading down to New Zealand for a Dragon Boat Race. My curiosity gets to me and I ask what a Dragon Boat is... turns out it is a boat that is shaped like a Dragon haha

The plane is huge and they serve us dinner a couple hours in with one free alcoholic drink. As I drink my Whiskey Seven and eat my vegitarian ravioli I am read to fall asleep. I down two more shots and then pop a melatonin (over the counter sleep pill) and sleep the plane ride away. Melatonin is NOT Ambien!! I fell asleep for an hour and then woke up feeling like crap and couldn't fall back asleep. I am 3 hours into a 14 hour flight... awesome. I would tell you what happened the next 11 hours but it was a combination of trips to the bathroom, drinking water, and watching a couple movies.

We finally land in Australia at 5:30 AM and my flight doesn't leave until 9 and I cannot leave the terminal. Then we it's finally time to board we are told it's going to be late 15 minutes but didn't actually get on the plane until 2 hours later. Once we finally leave I am sitting on a window seat and actually had no one sitting in the middle seat. The lady sitting in the aisle didn't speak English because she was French which was coo because I didn't want to talk to her anyways. The flight is about 3 hours and then we arrive in NZ. I'm finally here! Just got to clear customs and then meet my host that is waiting for me.

Some sweet photos I took from the plane as we were coming in for landing

I'm making my way through customs and finally arrive at the agent. They ask what I'm doing in NZ and I explain that I am teaching at a school. Then it's a whole process of trying to figure out what type of visa I need. I try and explain that I don't need a visa (because I've researched the crap out of that I don't actually need one). After 20 minutes of explaining to the customs agent that I don't need a visa she asks for my return ticket.... I don't have it on me.

I get pulled off to the side by an immigration officer, taken into a back room and questioned again about my stay in NZ. Explain again that I don't need a visa. Then he tells me that I need a return ticket. I don't have the information on me but I can pull up my email and show him but of course I cannot access the internet while being investigated. Awesome. I have to call the airline and ask for my return flight number, while I'm on the phone Virgin Australia figuring out my predicament the V Australia is trying to sell me a credit card for frequent fliers... WTF!?

I finally clear immigration and luckily my host is still waiting for me even though I'm over 3 hours late. She is so sweet and takes me to her car to drop me off at my host families place. All said and done it was over 32 hours of travel with no more than 4 hours of sleep during the whole flight. UGH!! Thank god I don't have to do that flight again for another 3 months.

...And So It Begins

Well the time is finally here. After a year of planning, countless hours of paperwork, 3 quarters of graduate classes and saying too many goodbyes I'm finally going to New Zealand. Even as I sit here in Sea-Tac it's hard to believe that in 27 hours I will be in NZ. Looking forward to 70 degree weather and spending time with some of the friendliest people in the world.

The whole trip is 3 months or 89 days. Anything past 90 days requires a visa so I stretched this trip out as long as a could. So far I don't know much about what exactly I will be doing in NZ. I know I'm in a suburb of Wellington (the kiwi capital) and I will be teaching high-school level students. I don't know what subject as of yet... my guess is History or Geography or what specific age. I'm living with a family in which the wife is a Math teacher at the school I'll be teaching at.

This is going to be the furthest and the most time I've spent from the great state of Washington. Gonna miss family and friends dearly. I was able to spend quality time with family during the Snow-Pocalypse of 2012 as I was snowed at my parents for 4 days. And was also able to make it up to Bellingham one last night to hang out with my best friends and meet some new ones. Thanks to the girls of 1121 for the hospitality!

Now that I'm sitting in the airport bar drinking my favorite Pyramid Hef beer and thinking about this trip I just want to make sure that I will take advantage of the 89 days I have in New Zealand. I am so fortunate to have this opportunity and such great support from family and friends. Thanks ya'll!!

Keep checking back in with this blog to keep up with all the latest Schmidt gossip! Experiences and photos will be provided and hopefully some great stories which I'm always good for. I'll post my address once I learn it later and hit me up on Skype!! erikbschmidt

Endings and Beginnings

"Is this real life?" -David at the Dentist

To say that this was just a normal weekend wouldn't be doing it justice. It meant something. Some big thangs went down:

First of all it was my birthday. Nobody likes you when you're 23. The big 2-3, tres-dos, three-and-twenty... whatever. I'm getting up there I realize this, probably should have that 401k started like 6 years ago yeah, yeah, yeah. But thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I had an awesome time with all my friends, and even had some come up from Seattle. Thanks Derek, Kyle and Sam had so much fun.

Second of all it was Graduation Weekend at WWU. So epic. Big shout outs to my Euro-trip friends who finished up: Alan, Brenna and Katie!! Way to go kids and keep the focus on school after a summer in Europe, not easy to do.

Third of all it was an end to my time in Bellingham. I'm all finished up with classes. The rest of my degree completion is going to be student teaching in New Zealand. Many of the friends I saw this weekend aren't gonna be in my life for the next couple months. So I really wanted to take the combo of my bday/grad weekend and spend it with the gals and guys i appreciate so much. Thanks ya'll!

As far as travel news to New Zealand I just booked my ticket a couple of weeks ago and were all good to good. I have a 90 day student visa to NZ and my plane ticket is for exactly 90 days. 1/23/12 to 4/23/12 haha. I can't wait to get the most out of this experience. I want to say the same thing when I was asked if I was happy I came to Western... Wouldn't have done it any other way.

Peace,

Erik

New Zealand, eh?

Holy-cow am I excited. Student-teaching in New Zealand, the NZ as the locals call it, god that sounds awesome right now. First of all I will miss a Northwest/Bellingham winter. It will be summertime when I am down under and will definitely not miss the hurricane force winds and sideways rain as I walk on South Campus. Those of you who go or went to WWU can testify to the hellacious-ness of the weather in these parts. BUT that does mean I am going to miss the most epic winter at Mt. Baker, but this is a consequence I willing to accept.

I'm going to be staying in Wellington, NZ. This is the capital city and located on the southern tip of the North Island:


Wellington, from what I understand is a really awesome city. It is in a great location because it is located on the North Island, but only a short ferry ride away from the South Island... and yes I will be visiting both. Lord of the Rings tour? I'm thinkin so.

The capital city is located in a bay that is absolutely beautiful. It kinda reminds me of Bellingham (without the tropical appeal) because the city and surrounding suburbs are located within the bay itself:

Pretty flippin' sweet huh?

I will know more int he coming weeks about my living situation and where/what exactly I will be teaching. New Zealand is setting up to be a crazy/fun adventure and I am so ready to both travel to a new country and to teach in another location. I can't wait to learn and experience something different. Washington, you are great and I love you dearly, but it's time to experience something new.

Later,
E

The Blog is Back!!

Oh snap, Schmidt's at it again. By popular demand the blog is back. But instead of filling you in about my travels around Europe with my seven best friends, I will be describing my adventures to New Zealand! NEW ZEALAND! YESS!

"How did Erik manage a trip to Middle Earth?"

"Isn't he still in school?"

"How did is he paying for this trip, he ain't got no job..."

Well all you haterz, let me catch you up with my life. I'm currently in my last quarter of classes at WWU for my teaching degree. All I have left to finish up my program is a 10 to 18 week internship aka student-teaching. I have decided to take this internship abroad and go to New Zealand. Leaving in mid-January and coming back end of April/early May. About to buy my ticket here any day and trying to decide on where to visit.

List of potential places to visit when in the Southern Hemisphere:

-Australia (no way this one doesn't happen)

-Thailand (strongly considering)

-Japan

-India

-China (probs not tho)

-Fiji (strongly considering)

-Hawaii

Any suggestions? Lemme know plz i appreciate any insight that you might have. Oh boy, such a big post. I'll be updating you with more information like what city I'm in and my trip prep. Plus I gotta fix this blog and tidy it up to fit my new adventure. Check out my old Europe posts to get a preview of what is to come!

Prague

My, oh, my. Was Prague awesome. We arrived mid-afternoon at the Prague train station. We were all really tired because we stayed up late drinking with some hilarious Belgians our last night in Berlin. We weren't in a rush to get off the train and only Brenna, Jonny and myself got off at the stop that we should have. Everyone else was trapped on the train as the train took off. We thought they were on their way to Bratislava or some distant Eastern European city. But actually the next stop was in the central station that was right next to our hostel... just their luck.

Nick passed out waiting for the train lolz

We all took the longest nap ever once we arrived. Like 4 hours. Our hostel was a very interesting place. It is a school. Like an elementary school with their art decorating the walls. Our room was a converted classroom with all the furnature pushed to one end of the room and beds sprinkled where ever there was space. It was pretty cool actually. We were the only ones in our room so we didn't have to share it, and there was so much room for activities. We played a ton of drinking games.

The hostel was only 8 euro a night which was nice on our budget. It is called Hostel Olet and I recommend it to anyone going to Prague. We were there on the second day it opened so it was really empty. The staff was very friendly, Joseph is the man, and they have cheap beer and snacks to buy. Joseph was telling me that when late July and August comes around every guess says it is one of the most fun hostels they have ever been too.

On our first day we walked into town and it was raining the entire time. I didn't pack a jacket for the trip because I wanted to save space, but 3 weeks into my month long adventure I had to dip into the pocket and buy a sweatshirt. But at least I bought a cool one. And we also had to buy umbrellas because it would poor for 20 minutes then stop for 20.

We did another free tour and was placed with a tour lady that had a very thick accent. You had to really focus to listen to her, but there was loads of good information and was nice to know what exactly you are looking at.

That night we wanted to go out, maybe go to an absinth bar, but just go around Prague because it is supposed to be the party capital of Europe. We met up with the girls from San Diego and went to an Irish pub after so much searching. But we soon learned that Sunday nights are super dead. Like no bars were open and we ended up going home pretty early because nothing was going on.

No big deal, we needed the rest anyway because the next day was the Fourth of July!!! We woke up and just had a lazy monday. We walked around a little but it was still crappy weather out. We had a pretty chill day and I read most of the day or played games. But then! We met up with some friends from WWU. Lauren and Jill are studying in Prague this summer so we had planned to meet up, do some dinner, and hit the bars!

We went to dinner at this very, very good Asian Resturant. And headed back to their apartment to drink some more before going out to the bars. They live with a few other Americans so we show up and there is already a party going on. We have 9 kids from WWU, 2 that are from WA but went to San Fran for school, 2 from New Jersey, 2 from WA DC, and a couple others sprinkled about. This was such a fun group of people and there everyone was chill and easy to talk to.

A few of the kids from Western. We were having a little bit of fun haha

To the left is our friends from Jersey and to the right are the hand twins

(Had to mooch some pictures of facebook, I didn't upload the pictures on my computer before my camera got stolen... that story comes later though)

We partied our butts off and had the craziest adventure getting back. Lauren and Jills apartment was like a five minute walk to our hostel, so convenient. We ended up paying for an extra night in our hostel because we didn't leave until midnight on the fifth. It was only 8 Euro so it was totally worth being able to sleep in because of the night before. We met up and did dinner with Jill and Lauren before leaving.

Prague was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the city. It's so historic but has this awesome energy around the city. On the hour you can hear bells ringing from every section of town, the food is sooo good and very filling, and it is a pretty cheap city so it's good place to go on the budget. There was dirty parts of the city but you'll have that where ever. I'm jealous of Lauren and Jill for studying there. Seems like an a great place to stay for the summer. Though I'm not so sure that I would get much done.

Off to Vienna. The home of the goveranator!

Berlin... More like Burr-lin

Just a short train ride from Amsterdam is Berlin, about 4 hours. But just getting to the bus station was a problem. We woke up early and had plenty of time to get to the station. We heard there was going to be a transportation strike at 9 AM but our train left at 9 AM so we should be fine. We got to the Central Train Station, ate breakfast, chatted a bit, but our train wasn't being shown on the reader board. Finally, someone checks the ticket and realizes that we are at the wrong train station!!! How did it 7 people that long to realize that we were at the wrong train station??? ...I don't know.

We asked the taxis but they couldn't get us there in time so we were forced to use public transportation. We made it about 2 stops on the metro and then the metro stopped. Buses stopped. The only transportation running was taxis and trains. In the midst of this Brenna is near fainting so we decided that it was already too late and we would just take our time getting to the station.

We finally arrive and the ticket operator informs us that we will need to ask the train conductor if we can get on the next train or else we would have to travel to the airport to buy new international train tickets. Luckily the conductor lets us aboard and we are only 2 hours behind in our journey. Wow... lucky. But the crazy journey does not stop there!

We are about 2 hours into our 6 hour train ride and then the conductor comes over the intercom and informs us that there is a train accident and we must get on the tracks immediately. And there would be around a 2 hour delay. The first thought that comes to my mind is are we on some sort of Final Destination senario? Did I just cheat death? Is death going to follow me? What are the chances that I could meet Ali Lalter?

We are delayed in some Eastern Dutch city for a few hours until we hope aboard our train and continue our journey to Berlin. We finally arrive a few hours later and what should have been a 6 hour train ride turned into a 12+ hour ordeal with death close behind.

We slept well that night and the next day we were set to go on a Free Walking Tour. Well actually it was about a 4 hour tour around the city to visit some awesome monuments and sites. Our tour guide was a young english fellow who was getting his History Doctorate at Humbolt University which is not in Northern California as I previously thought.

So what is the first thing we do when we get to Berlin's most historic plaza?

...We Ice Jonny!

The free tour was awesome (actually it's not free but you tip like ten bucks when you're done). We had an awesome tour guide who was English and pretty funny. It was about 3 hours long and we traveled in the most historical part of the city. 90% of the city was destroyed during WWII so only a few historical buildings actually remain. So it is actually the most American looking city we were in. Everything is new and from the 1970s or earlier. But there were still a few monuments and buildings, the coolest ones are from the imperial age in my opinion.

Berlin is such an interesting city. A very large portion of it was under Soviet control until the fall of the Berlin wall. And yes, it is actually true and well known that he was there the night of the collapse and did sing and was well liked. I mean I know I'm love history, but I found everything to be so interesting and so cool.

All traffic lights in East Berlin are different from West Berlin. They all have a guy with a hat on but in every other part of the city it is the same one as every other traffic guy in America.

We actually like the tour so much that the next day we went on another tour. We went to a concentration camp about 45 minutes outside of Berlin. Our tour guide was not as like able as the day before but it was still a great experience. This tour costed 12 euros to go on. It was a totally new experience. It was a concentration camp at one time that held every minority group the Nazi's were after... good thing Brad Pitt was around.

Not sure why they are smiling before going into a concentration camp... pshh! Americans

The camps name was Sachzenhausen and was primarily a labor camp for the Nazi's. It wasn't strictly a death camp like Auschwitz but there was a death section of the camp that did kill thousands during its operation. Once it was shut down when the Soviets came to Germany after the war, they used it as a military training center for many years. So only just recently has the old camp been open for tourism. They are just starting to get facilities and put money into the memorial, so in a few years time I think it will be an even better.

We all were craving Authentic german food and really wanted to go to a huge Beer House and drink some oversized beer. It was so good, wieners and schnitelzs and sauerkraut and potatoes and beer. I love German food! Best dinner decision up to this point of our trip.

The hostel we stayed in Berlin was.... interesting. We stayed in the GENERATOR HOSTEL. And our first impression of the place was on the subway. Brenna is chatting it up with some old people on the Metro... typical Brenna. And they end up getting off at the same stop as us. Now I'm in the back of the group and just see us following some old people so I assume that they are just showing us the way. Turns out they are staying at our hostel, which isn't to weird as I write this but I literally havent seen anyone above the age of 25 in a hostel yet.

(This is just a preview to thee interesting Eastern European Hostels we stay at, just wait for more posts).

But the old people weren't the crazy part. It was the massive amounts of 16 year olds that were drinking and chain smoking all around the hostel. Like crazy amounts. All German teenagers that were on a class trip to Berlin or something. Sounds like no class trip that I've ever been on. But it was so weird seeing all the teenagers drinking, I mean I am going to school to learn how to teach this age group. I don't want to drink with them!

The way the rooms got spit up was actually pretty funny. We were supposed to be in a room with each other but we ended up having to get split up in a group of three and a group of four. So the guys and girls split up. The girls were put in a room with 3 to possibly 4 Italians. They were all 18 and named Leonardo, Lapo, Fabio and some other name haha. And they absolutely loved the girls. It was hilarious because the girls just ate it up. Their little Italian Stallions ;)

We ended up with these two girls from San Diego. They were super fun girls with great senses of humor. Like the girl who called Nick- Gay, twice within just the first two hours of meeting him... haha purrfect! But they were heading to Prague next as well and we decided that we had to meet up to celebrate the Fourth of July as real Americans.

Our time in Berlin was short but it was a great experience. I learned so much of history from different perspective than an American version and everyone enjoyed themselves. I could definetely live in Berlin. It is actually a pretty young city and is pretty cheap place that is affordible to right near the fun and historical parts. It is not a very historically Bravarian city like Munich is but it offers something different. Its hard to explain but I know the next time I come to Germany it will not be for three days in one city. I would spend like 2 weeks in a few different cities. So much to see and do and try. I want to go to Octoberfest so if you are reading this and wanna make plans to go with me next September, lets start planning!

Off to Prague, Czech ya later!