Six Flying Piggies

We were going to begin this post by saying "hello" in Dutch, but realized we haven't gotten any more proficient at the language after 2.5 days here.

We found out about Michael Jackson's death (R.I.P.) on our last night in London and insisted that all the DJs play his music to commemorate him.

The crew landed after a pleasant hour long flight from London. To give you a visual image, we went straight from our favorite club to Katie's house to pick up the backpacks for the airport. Val was still wearing the shirt she went out in.

Once we landed in Amsterdam, we needed to navigate the train system. One minor distraction ensued... we met one of our favorite rap artists, Slug from Atmosphere. We were by the ticket dispensers, strapped into our packs, looking like hell when Val thought she spotted a vaguely familiar face. The two of us looked at each other in utter shock, and took off running. He was slippping away slowly, and we realized we couldn't casually approach him so Maddie yelped, "Slug?!". He turned around, looking displeased, and gave us a wave...we weren't satisfied. Val stuttered something along the lines of, "We're such big fans!" and he looked rather pissed, then walked away. We proceeded to reenact the chase for the rest of the day, and still do periodically. We thought it was very appropriate that Slug welcomed us to the awesome city of Amsterdam.

Once at our hostel, The Flying Pig, we realized the extra 5 euros we were paying per night were totally worth it. There is a bar and smoking lounge in the lobby, where we've made many new friends. The rooms are tidied daily, and we even have our own bathroom with a shower. The best part of our hostel is that people are congregated in the main areas 24 hours a day....literally. We will be out to a club until 5am and there will always be people to meet, play pool with, or have a drink with when we get back. Not to mention, the place is INFESTED with beautiful men. As is all of Amsterdam.

Okay, we need to gush. Walking through the streets is a painful, painful experience. We can't whip our heads around fast enough to take in all the attractiveness. We've had full blown conversations about how there could possibly be this many drool-worthy gems in this such a concentrated region. If any one can enlighten us, we'd love an explanation.

Moving on. We spend most of our walking time in pairs, linked at the elbow, ambling through crowds, taking in the architecture. On our first day in Amsterdam, we wandered around without a clue where we were going, grabbing cheap eats and coffee shop treats along the way. We had Asian fusion food for dinner, which was damn greasy. Every night before we go to the clubs, we take a 3 or 4 hour nap (all 6 of us in our bunks) and set an alarm to wake up around 8pm. The clubs here are a lot of fun, although there are some creepy ass old dudes...especially in the Red Light District. It breaks our hearts to see those girls dancing in the windows.

Yesterday, we didn't do much of anything but went barhopping then clubbing. Maddie and Kelsey opted to have a lowkey night at the hostel. It felt bizarre to have only a 4 person crew, although by other standards, that's still a large travel group.

Today everyone woke up around noon, much to Doobz's dismay, and trekked to the Van Gogh museum. And by trekked... we mean TREKKED. It took about an hour each way. The museum itself featured contemporary art nouveau by a slew of artists and late 19th century Van Gogh pieces. We all enjoyed the exhibit a lot, though we did not enjoy the $12.50 entrance fee.

On the way back, the two of us fell into a trap... a shoe sale. Maddie got some cool sneakers and Val got a pair of flats. Once we reprimanded ourselves and got on our way, we quickly realized that we were pleased with our purchases.

Now we're back at the hostel gearing up for our daily nap and night out.

Love and miss you all,
Val and Maddie

Brit Chicks

We always knew it would be interesting to travel with six girls, but for some reason,

I didn't expect it to be quite so....girly.

Of course I anticipated us piling into Kelsey's aunt's small bathroom in a flurry of foundation, mascara and lip gloss in the evenings, but the moment we stepped off the plane I was made acutely aware of the fact that I am female. That all SIX of us are female. While we have been hollered at (which is considerably less sleazy in British accents), people on the street seem more surprised than excited to see six, rambunctious, American tourists taking up the entire width of sidewalk wherever we go.

Yesterday we hit up our favorite British clothing store, Topshop, and let me tell you... it was quite a sight. We walked in the massive store, spun our heads around, and attacked. We decided to meet up an hour from our arrival and see how we felt from there, but when we found each other again (all of us laden with far too many clothes) we had hardly scratched the surface and decided to continue shopping. I'm serious guys...the amount of cute semi-affordable (though not quite inexpensive) clothing was painful. It hurt my soul to walk out purchase-less... so I decided not to.

That evening, we had our first real night out at the clubs in Leicester Square. We were all a little concerned about paying the expensive cover charges, especially if we weren't sure how fun the club would be, but apparently...we did not have to be. It turns out, club promoters are fairly lenient about charging six girls...we did not have to pay a single time as we hopped from lame Metra to a trendy hip-hop club, Penthouse.

Today, we hit up London's famed Spitalfield's Market to check out the undiscovered-designer stalls. Once again, couldn't walk away empty handed. Val, Liz and I grabbed some pretty awesome accessories. Girls will be girls...

Though we didn't want this trip to be a shopping trip (and no worries, we can't afford for it to continue to be), it will be nice to have some great souvenirs. Besides...we ARE saving a considerable amount on those cover charges...

Love and miss you all!

Maddie

P.S. We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and even shelled out 8 pounds to see a fabulous Dali exhibit...don't worry, we're not completely cultureless.

Unexpected Emergencies, Train Stations and Foreign Keyboards

If you are wondering if our trip began swimmingly, and by swimmingly you mean drenched in a pile of vomit.... then yes. Here's the depressing, foul and pity-invoking tale of how I yakked before even taking off.

After making it past the gate (which almost failed since Liz left her pillow in the terminal) we thought we'd seen the worst since the plane smelled like salmon and felt like an incubator. Maddie and I desperately grasped at what we thought should be the air consul, but apparently was not. We realized we were having the lives sucked out of us by recycled air. Then the true debacle began.

As we were taxiing, I looked over at Doobz and saw her puking into a barf bag, then silently hand it to a flight attendant. I immediately felt sick and asked Maddie to look for a bag. She desperately thrashed around, searching for something to give me and the best she could find was a plastic earphone bag (note: it was extremely delicate). I told her I would only use it if "worst came to very worst." It did. I found myself repeatedly blowing chunks into the tiny, transparent plastic bag. Fellow British Airways passengers looked displeased that I was holding a bag of my own vomit just moments before takeoff was to occur.

Maddie frantically began pressing the flight attendant button, to no avail since they were all strapped in to launch. Taking matters into her own hands, Maddie began badgering Lizzy and Kelsey for sturdier bags. Unaware of the desperate situation, Lizzy halfheartedly searched for something, finally handing Maddie a small paper bag. Here is the KICKER. As I attempted to place the clear bag into the paper one, like a water balloon, the entire plastic bag burst open onto my lap, iPod and US Weekly (which I had been saving for the plane).

Deborah, Maddie and I looked at my lap, at each other and began to simultaneously gag and giggle. Meanwhile, I hear the surrounding passengers remove their safety instructions and begin fanning away the oppressive smell of my stomach acid and AG Ferrari sandwich.

Maddie and I stared at each other for roughly 20 minutes, my lap growing warmer by the moment. I wasn't sure what to do. You could say I was paralyzed with confusion. It wasn't even embarassment... that ship had sailed. I knew the situation could not have been any worse. But riddle me this.... should I have walked past everyone to the bathroom to change? Or should I have just changed in public? I chose the latter. Doobz and Maddie held a blanket over me and I shimmied into some PJs a horrified flight attendant handed me.

And I sat. For eight hours, I sat without moving my legs for fear of what I'd find. I literally just closed my eyes and did not move for EIGHT HOURS. Poor Maddie and Doobz.... we used all of the accessible handwipes, tissues and towels, but the smell lingered.

I would now like to apologize to the Davis and Goldschmidt families. I truly put your daughters through an ordeal. I hope you forgive me. As Maddie scratched my back comfortingly, her face was smashed against the window and she was gagging. Bev, I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to say. I feel like I've hurt your child.

Okayyy moving on. We arrived safely with all of our baggage in tow. We boarded a train to Paddington station, where we hurried to the closest coffee vendor. The bagels were subpar, but edible, and the coffee was delish. It only took us 3 more Subway trains and a 10 minute walk to arrive at Kelsey's aunt's house. We even encountered two jolly Englishmen who hollered at us to "put our backs into it" as we shuffled pathetically through Clapham Commons. Props to Kelsey for navigating us there.

When we arrived, Kelsey's aunt Katie greeted us with homemade scones and fresh towels for our stanky bodies (and a washing machine for Maddie and my vomit encrusted clothing).

The good news is that the travel cannot get any worse. We're all excited to be here and to start our trip. For the rest of the day, we plan to explore the neighborhood and spend time with Katie's children.

We love and miss you all!

Love,

Val (with help from Maddie and Lizzy)

Let's do it...

I am currently sitting in the comfort of my bedroom at 1:37am on the day we leave, and I feel the need to post before I sleep in an Egyptian cotton, cocoon sleeping sack instead of my familiar queen-sized bed.

I'm freaking out a little bit...how is it possible that the Lumina Crew, arguably the laziest, most scatterbrained group of teenage girls I know, is setting off on a whirlwind Eurotrip? Obviously I mean no offense, and only a few of us fully embody that description... namely, yours truly.

Well guys, it's because we picked ourselves up off our asses this winter and made it happen. We ACTUALLY earned this one...

I guess I just want everyone to know how proud I am of my best friends in the world. We deserve this trip and there isn't a group of more incredible, beautiful, smart, capable (albeit sometimes lackadaisical), girls I'd rather spend the next 2.5 weeks with. 

Let's live it up (safely, of course, Mom). 

Love, Maddie

HELLO EVERYONE

Hello Friends and Family,

This will be the blog for the "Lumina Crew Euro Trip 2009."  Hopefully we'll be able to upload pictures while on our trip and we're certainly going to post frequently about our whereabouts, how many times Doobz has gotten lost, and what our favorite moments have been.  We hope you'll all tune in after June 22nd.

Love,

Kelsey

Maddie

Mattison

Lizzy

Deborah

Valerie

a.k.a.

The Lumina Crew