ericdontigney
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General Eric Update (Nothing crucial)
🕑 Added 2024-07-08 20:14:03 +0000 UTCSince I know I am an endless fount of mystery to you guys, I figured I'd let you in on what kinds of things I've been up to recently. Today, at the grocery store, I bought sweet potatoes so I can try oven roasting them. Why? Well, apparently roasted sweet potatoes are a thing in Korea, and I saw it on Korean TV show I was watching...well, I say watching. It was more like reading but whatever. Anyways, I saw it and decided to try it for myself. This is an experiment that I attempted to make happen before, but I got distracted, forgot I bought the sweet potatoes, and they were no good by the time I remembered.
In other news, I am now one step closer to venturing to Europe and other points abroad. Abroad being a relative term based on where one is situated globally. There are vast oceans between me and most of the places I'd like to visit so pretty much everything is abroad for my purposes. For anyone dreaming of visiting America, one star, do not recommend. Unless you mean to visit the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, in which case you should totally do that. They're amazing places.
Anyhoo, I submitted my passport application. It's been on my to-do list since last summer, and I finally got my act together. I filled out the application form, gathered the necessary documents, made copies of the necessary documents, found my checkbook (because the US State Department apparently doesn't accept newfangled things like debit cards), wrote a check, visited a passport application acceptance facility, got a terrible picture taken, and now the package is off to be processed. So, in somewhere between 3 and 8 weeks, I will have a passport book in my grubby little paws. Yes..my very own...my preciouuss.
My very, very vague plan is to, sometime next year or maybe the year after, do a little trip to Europe. My highly detailed checklist of things to do include Visit Germany because my brother said it was beautiful, and Visit France because people I'm related to came from there a long time ago...and also it's supposed to be a beautiful place. Also, Visit Wales because there's a little town there has lots and lots of bookstores and how can any writer possibly resist tourist bait like that? As you can see, I obviously have a master strategist's flair for planning.
Also, as part of that trip, I figured I would try to migrate to some central-ish location and do an unofficial little event where people can meet me, and I can sign books. Denmark, maybe? Is that in the Schengen Area? Honestly, I'm not sure what would be reasonable for people or what would qualify as central. I also know that, as an American, I have a distorted sense of distance. There are states in this country that where you can drive for 8 straight hours and still be in the same state. Driving across the country takes like five or six days if you're being very intentional and motivated about it. I'm given to understand that kind of scale doesn't generally apply in Europe.
Clearly this master plan of mine needs a lot of fine tuning before it'll be ready to go. But, having a passport will make it feasible and pressure me to actually make it happen, rather than being a pipe dream I think about every so often. However, if anyone has a super awesome do-not-miss European location that is not also a massive tourist trap filled with other Americans, let me know. I'll be making a list and seeing how reasonable it is to go to places like that once the time is a bit closer.
In other news, I got a gym membership because sitting at desk all the time helps to make you fat. I'm not quite beyond hope on that front, but I'm definitely heftier than I would like to be. I've been eating better, but I simply need more structured physical activity in my life than I've been getting. So, Planet Fitness is going to loan me one of their treadmills or ellipticals several times a week. Once I boost my core strength a bit, I'll start thinking about doing some resistance training. All of which should also improve my ice skating performance. Hurray!
Okay, I think that's probably enough boredom inducement for everyone. Fresh Isekai Terry chapters will be forthcoming later.
Comments
Captain Nuclear
Krakow, Poland. Beautiful and historic.
smile egbai
Stop by Vienna, Austria after you visit Germany, it's an amazing city
Dead Patriot
Take a day or two to visit the sites in Paris, but I recommend spending most of the time in France in the French countryside. I was not impressed by Paris, but I found the French countryside beautiful and the people friendly (as opposed to Paris). Paris is the same as most major urban areas the world over, fair warning. Germany is great, lots of castles and wineries. Had a great time.
sjturner79
Roasted sweet potatoes are awesome. Sweet potatoes do anything normal potatoes do, but better.
CipherFTW
While in Germany, visit the nurburgring. 10000% If you aren't comfortable driving it and going fast, get a taxi lap. Trust me, ittle be a BLAST. I'm hoping to visit Germany sometime soon and rent a car to drive it myself lol
Eric Dontigney
Oh, I don't think every French person hates Americans. Nothing in life is that cut-and-dried. But Paris has a really terrible reputation as a travel destination for Americans. The general consensus that I've seen is that, unless you have a deeply compelling reason to go there (like a lifelong dream to visit the Louvre or Notre Dame), it's best to just avoid the place. On the other hand, the rest of the country generally gets good marks. So, for me, I'd like to see the Arc de Triomphe or visit the Musee D'Orsay, but it's like my desire to see Neuschwanstein Castle. It'd be cool, but I won't feel like I've truly failed at life if it doesn't happen.
NaiculS
Switzerland is unfairly beautiful, winter or summer, with great trains for getting around.
Newbie_101
Take trains! They actually take you places you want to go!
Guessed
My wife is from Berlin so I've been spending a fair amount of time there as you might imagine, it's certainly got a lot of history (much of it horribly depressing as you'd expect) but the weather can be a bit rough and the food isn't as amazing as I've come to expect from most of the rest of Europe. For my money, I'd highly recommend Amsterdam if you want to spend time in a city and potentially as a place to meet up, it's really walkable and absolutely chockablock full of amazing food, plus it's got some really cool museums and it's easy to take a train out of town for an afternoon if you want to see a castle or something.
CentaureHeart
There are a lot of great spots in Normandy ! (Also D-Day beaches which are really a sight to see) And I speak for myself and pretty much everyone I know, but we don't hate americans ^^
Eric Dontigney
Yeah, there's stuff in Paris I'd really like to see, but I'm not terribly interested in visiting a place known for hating Americans (however justified it might be). I was actually thinking I'd want to check out the coast in Normandy. Supposedly, that's the general area where my ancestors came from. (Don't ask. I'm not a genealogy person. I got that straight from my mother, who is a genealogy person.)
Nim
Sweet potatoes good. Oven roast, split open, optionally drizzle with a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil. Yum.
CentaureHeart
As a French I recommend everything because my country is amazing. On a more honest note, there are a lot of things worth doing in Paris but they will be filled with tourists. If you want to enjoy nature I would recommend the west coast though.
Art
That entire area is relatively quiet, mostly small village roads, if I was you, i’d fly into the UK via Cardiff, then go by train to Hereford (1h ish journey) and rent a car there, before heading to hay/etc0 v which is a 30-1h drive along slow, calm village roads. Hereford is large enough to have car rental places unlike the surrounding areas, and is a lovely quaint English city, but is small enough that you don’t have to immediately deal with unfamiliar British roads. By the time you’ve gotten to Hay, you’ll be able to decide if you’re confident enough to continue driving, if so you can continue onwards, and if not, back to Hereford, and then use the train from there to the rest of the country. The rail networks in the uk, whilst somewhat dated, are more than usable to travel between most major cities, and outside the major cities, the roads are relatively calm, British drivers are (in my opinion) some of the best of Europe, only behind the nordics (Sweden/Finland/Denmark/Norway) PS: once inside mainland Europe, you can travel anywhere inside mainland Europe visa free for (I believe) up to 3 months. PPS: Switzerland and Austria are outstandingly beautiful, highly recommend checking them out. I took the train to Austria via Berlin and the views are incredible along the way.
Nefraak
If you want to drive for a long time and not getting anywhere, I recommend Norway😃
Eric Dontigney
Honestly, I'm a bit nervous about driving in Wales. That's my one reservation about going to Wales, or anywhere else in the UK for that matter.
Art
Hay on wye is lovely, highly recommend driving over the hills of the beacons if it doesn’t rain when you’re there.
