The Old World (NSFC)

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Disclaimer! We've decided to mark these as SFC (Safe for Children) or NSFC (Not Safe for Children) by request. My entries will be mostly NSFC. Rindi's, not so much. So if for some reason you decide to read these out-loud to some minors, be forewarned.

Olá! It's been a bit since the Super bowl. Apologies to the four people reading this for no news between then and now. Been kinda crazy. Bunch o shit's happened so far. I'll break it down:

New York

I don't know if that picture posted right. I'm still figuring this site out. It's not very intuitive. I know, I know, I'm a computer nerd -- figure it out, you say. Give me time, ass-hole! I'm tired.

New York was rad. We were only there for two days. Stayed in a hostel in Long Island City just over the Queensboro bridge. It was comfy, close to the subway and quiet. Which was pleasant cause that city is loud. We ate delicious dumplings, soup dumplings and drank beers out of coffee mugs at a place called the Back Room. I like New York. I could see myself living there someday, maybe. Rindi already did and said she'd go back. We'll see.

Massachusetts/Maine

Rindi's family and friends are awesome. They put us up for a week and a half, fed us Mark West Pinot Noir and gave us a classy private rooms to stay in free of charge. Obviously. Rindi's friend Jen cooked a four course meal with stuffed mushrooms, delectable pizza and fine wine. Alex, my new mortal enemy/best friend took time out of her and her husband Huck's hectic and stressful work schedule to entertain us for the last weekend we were in the states. Beautiful people. John, Rindi's brother and his wife Paula decided that they were going to come meet us somewhere and we all decided Iceland was the ticket in June. Hopefully it wont be -16C. See what I did there? Using the metric system is better for everyone. Also, take note: someone is coming to meet us somewhere. Be inspired. Follow their lead. Pro tip -- Southeast Asia is cheap. We'll be there in July.

Portugal

We started in the Azores. Small chain of volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic, basically. Hello foreign language #1. Similar to Spanish in some ways, worlds different in many more.

The first day we walked a shit-ton around Ponta Delgada, the main city (capital?) of the Azores. Like, a lot. My measly I.T. legs haven't seen so much use in a while. Good coffee. Old. Everything is contructed from volcanic rock. Jet black and super porous. Molded into stairs and columns and... everything. Pretty neat.

Day two we decided to go to some hot springs on the other side of the island. . Did I mention that these islands are fucked-up beautiful? Cause they are. Link to the full set we took in the Azores: Clicky!

Then we were off to mainland Portugal on Ryanair. Another tip; if you ever use Ryanair, print your boarding pass or have it handy on your phone before you get to the airport. That was a €30 mistake. They nickle-and-dime the shit outta you. We flew into Porto and spent the next two days at a pretty kickass three story Hostel downtown called the Spot. The staff was very friendly. They continued to be even when the internet/cable went down right before a futbal match between their local team and some German team that happened to be going on in the city yesterday afternoon. The Germans were obnoxious. Drunk by noon and congregating outside the metro station in the hundreds before heading to the game. There were full on riot police hemming them in. No violence, though. Just drunken singing Germans. I'll upload pictures of Porto later, as the internet in this Hostel isn't the best and it's taking a while to get that first set up.

Today we took the train from Porto to Lisbon. It was exceedingly relaxing to take a train in stead of a bus or a plane. If I hadn't been so rested I probably would have fallen right asleep. The WiFi on the train was pretty shitty, though, so we just listened to Pearl Jam and enjoyed the scenes. We got to Lisboa and checked into the Hostel, went out and found some crazy delicious local cod, sardine and octopus tapas, then came back to the hostel and I decided it was time to talk to you all. That's where we are now. Hopefully this is formatted correctly and looks normal. The previews are looking... not so good. Waiting for these last photos to upload to goog drive before I submit this. Then its almost bedtime.

OK two more beers.

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Comments

[Korinne]

Love the update!
Sounds like you guys are having a blast! Keep the updates coming!

[Sir Jon of Allen]

Idk
1st and 3rd pictures came through! Your nerd skills are showing. Just do whatever you did there more! Excellent first post. I enjoyed it enough to come out of lurker mode and say so.