Antidisneyfamily

Where is the sun? Plus a trip to Berlin.

So, I finally have a little time to write about our life here in Germany….here goes:

Where is the sun? The sun comes up at 8:25 and sets at 16:28, which means that it is dark for 2/3 of our days and don’t mistakenly think that we have 8 hours of sunshine, no, we have 8 hours of gloomy mist that doesn’t feel like daylight at all.

It’s okay though, after a while you get used to the cold and…

The family and I are totally enjoying living in Germany and after 2.5 months here, I am ready to write about some of my observations. I am going to start with the cons, seeing as there are not nearly as many of them.

People still smoke like there is no tomorrow here. It’s like the 1960s all over again. It is the one thing that I would absolutely change about here. There are literally hundreds of…

Deutschland….2.5 weeks after arrival

Well, we made it to Deutschland. When we got on that Delta plane, we had no real idea of what we were letting ourselves in for, yeah, sure, the husband and I had lived here for a little while years ago, but coming as an expat family…..whoa……totally different ball game.

We got off the plane in Frankfurt, grabbed our 17 bags and headed to the rental car place. The people there took one look at us…

15 days until the big move…..

We are down to just 15 days until we move to Frankfurt. ES IST KAUM ZU GLAUBEN:  I can hardly believe it.

Over the last two months, we decided to just chuck everything in here in Georgia and go and live overseas. Luckily, the husband got offered a new job near Frankfurt, but we were also looking at some other options that included London and Dubai. After living in Germany for a while many years…

Be careful of Mexican TV shows and toilets.

During our trip to Mexico last month, we discovered a couple of important things. There is often a sign in the bathrooms advising the visitor that he or she should not throw the toilet paper in the toilet, rather in the conveniently placed bin beside it.

Obviously, this is not the only country in the world that has somewhat dubious plumbing, but it was the first time that I have seen this. What…

Kinder Surprise eggs

My kids love Kinder Surprise Eggs and right now they have Minion toys inside them….of course I CAN’T BUY THEM HERE IN THE UNITED STATES. We did however buy some in Mexico.

These precious little eggs turned my three little bulls in a Chedraui (the Mexican version of Walmart) into patient, docile, little mommy’s helpers, so eager to please in the store, that I thought I had walked into some sort…

Gringos and mopeds in Cozumel.

In Cozumel, Mexico, most people get around their beautiful island on mopeds. In fact, there are probably about 10 mopeds to 1 car there and the people that ride on them have some serious skills. They are able to whip in and out of traffic with ease, while holding onto multiple babies, kids, pets, shopping bags, giant water dispensers, we literally saw it all.

Now for the scary part; when the…

The World of Coca-Cola

Summer break is in full swing, so as part of our “fun things to do with the kids” program this summer, we decided to visit the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta today.  I did not expect it to be as entertaining as it was. As soon we approached the museum, we saw that there was an area outside where they had vending machines set up that were putting names on cans. This is the one and only time, I will…

Theme parks are scary places.

Alright, so I know that my blog is about travelling to places that the masses don’t usually visit, but I was talked into going to an amusement park for my son’s 9th Birthday. He chose a trip to Carowinds, which is located on the border of North and South Carolina and is also now home to the tallest Giga Coaster in the world, Fury 325. However, this in no wayadds to the excitement level for me. I…

Pet pigs in strollers.

A few weeks ago on our Spring Break trip to California, we were at Pier 39 in San Francisco checking out the sea lions. We decided to go on a boat trip and I picked the Rocket Boat Tour through a company called Blue and Gold Fleet. It was a great 30 minute tour of the bay area on a super fast boat that zoomed around to 90s rock music.

Anyway, back to my story, as we were waiting in line for this…

Charleston billboards, toilets, and more walking.

This past weekend boy 1 had a soccer tournament in Charleston, South Carolina. Of course the whole family always attends these events and we stay at a hotel with the rest of the team families. It is all great footie fun!

After the games were played and we had eaten out with some team mates we were driving back to the hotel and a rather creepy billboard jumped out at us. It was apparently for a…

The Allure of Train Tracks.

Growing up in England, I rode trains all the time as a kid and I never thought anything of them to be honest. Train tracks were just another part of the murky, rainy scenery that is so prevalent there.

  However, for suburban American kids, such as mine, train tracks are apparently fascinating. Their little bottoms are driven around everywhere and occasionally flown to far flung places, but…

During our California vacation, we also went to Muir Woods, which is about 12 miles away from San Francisco. It is home to the most amazing redwood trees imaginable. Parking was a nightmare, we had to park on the road about a mile away from the entrance. What can you do though, it’s a popular tourist attraction! When we got to the official parking lot and entrance we found a park ranger at a…

I live in the South, where ‘The World of Coca-Cola’ in Atlanta is just a couple of hours drive for me. I LOVE Coke, all types of Coke. However, I was at a complete loss when I found out that Californians don’t like selling it quite as much as we do in the South. The day my family and I hiked around San Francisco, I couldn’t find any real Coke. The city-run tourist cafes and stores, such as The…

11 mile hike around San Francisco.

Nothing about our Northern California trip was planned out in advance. Hotels were booked on Hotwire on the fly, after we landed in San Jose, so it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that we decided to stay in San Francisco for two days and just do whatever popped into our heads. Our new hotel, after leaving San Jose was by the San Francisco Airport, so we thought it would be fun to ride the BART…

Pink Camouflage and Hippie Hill.

Our trek through California led us to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, which is so vast, that we thought it would be a good idea to rent bikes to see as much of it as possible. The closest bike shop to the park is the Golden Gate Park Bike and Skate shop. We got there right at opening time and the young guy working there helped us to find suitable bikes. Boy number 3 was dismayed to find out…