We Made It!

A hearty hello from Luxembourg! Or better said 'Moien!'

Leaving Alexandria - Man we got a lot of sh#t

The trip over was exhausting, and happily no one is terribly bad off after the 30+ hour marathon. Things were going so smoothly as well. Fortunately our worst nightmares weren't realized, but our greatest frustrations were. We loaded up around 1:30pm EDT on Sunday October 8, and headed out to Dulles International Airport to have the boys pre-boarded as freight on the plane we were taking to Geneva, Switzerland (pay attention here because this will be on the quiz). This process only took about one and a half hours. All the while our wonderful cab driver, Josef, waited patiently. Yeah, United, I'd really like some of that money back...yep I'm calling them out. United Airlines really bites.

The flight over was uneventful, and we heard no yipping or howling from the hold of the plane. Kind of makes you wonder if the dogs even made it on board...anyway, the flight would have been nearly perfect if it hadn't been for the Coven in the tail of the plane cackling over their bubbling brew. These harpies were ruthless and cold. If there were any issues in the cabin, nothing was the fault of Weird Sisters. Our neighbor's radio was not working - tough, 'I'm not an engineer'. Can you make sure my dogs are on the plane? - Sure let me glance at your seat assignment, and never get back with you. They gleaned their greatest pleasure in telling passengers in the loudest most obnoxious unison, 'The seat belt sign is on!' Anyone whose flown long distance knows the captain leaves this on overnight as a precaution. These horrible people just wanted us all to suffer. The worst customer service I've ever seen from an airline, and that's saying a lot...but I digress.

We landed in Geneva, and, as it was, United never printed (or planned to print) boarding tickets for the second leg of our journey. Nevertheless the great folks at Luxair (and Swissport - the real heroes) gave us a pass code with the instructions to haul ass to our awaiting flight and 'insist they let {us} on board'. We did as we were told and navigated the Geneva Airport like a couple of sleep deprived and half drunk OJ Simpsons. We made it with plenty of time to spare. Now all we had to do was hop on the bird and fly right into Luxembourg. I did mention things were going smoothly didn't I?

...the trouble I've seen.

As we queued up to board our 8:40am CET (now October 9) flight, we were pulled out of line. Apparently the baggage personnel at Luxair could not locate our dogs. Huh. After a desperate shuffle of papers and a few phone calls, everything became clear. True to their word, the JACKASSES at United shipped our dogs freight, and now Toby and JoJo were sitting in a Swiss loading dock about a mile from the main airport terminal. What's really mind-numbing is the fact that the dogs had to be driven right past our gate in order to be dropped off at cargo. Needless to say, they asked if we'd like to pull off of the early flight to wrangle our dogs. Of course we did. This was, however, no easy task. We could walk there and lug the crates back...that was a sh#t plan. And besides, you'd have to go through the shadiest and darkest tunnels in all of Geneva (sorry no photos - stress factor +10). No cabbies wanted to drive a mile away from the airport

Not CDG - but might as well be

and loose their spot in what was quite honestly the most chaotic scene this side of Charles De Gaulle Customs. After spending hours trying to navigate this terrible situation, I finally plead our case to Swissport, and they agreed to drive the dogs across the tarmac and let us pick them up in the arrival area. We finally rescued the boys and were promptly booked on the next flight to Luxembourg...at 5:50pm CET. For those of you keeping score, that's NINE HOURS at an airport with all of our luggage, two dogs and shipping crates the size of small Euro-sedans. That sucked.

Arrival at Luxembourg Airport a mere 30 hours after we began!

We finally arrived around 7pm CET, and to our surprise the boys were in great spirit. We thought for sure the crates would be full of liquids too nasty to describe here. Or that they'd had cut their gums and/or paws to shreds trying to escape. That was not the case. The dogs proved to be quite good little passengers. Not that we'd subject them to this again in a loooong time. One bright spot was dinner last night. After the trials of intercontinental flight with two dogs, we just decided to order in. These Luxembourgers can cook a mean meal...an Omelette with French Fries for dinner? Genius!

oh, yeah...that is a cheese tray with local wine to boot.

Day #1 has been a day of getting our bearings. Poor Jeni had to report to work first thing this morning...more to come on that :) The boys and I walked quite a bit. This city is really lovely, and we can't wait to explore more. Here are a few photos of our first day in our new home.

The view from our room!

The Cathedral - again from our window.

The Petrusse River - more or less a drainage gully to prevent further erosion

The Alzette River - The glass and steel building at the top center is our hotel!

The Viaduct from along the Petrusse River

Geronimo!

Climbing the rungs has been completely nerve wracking. 

We've completed the final clean-up of the Alexandria house, shipped our household goods along with the Mini and most importantly ensured that our pooches will make it to our final destination. Whew!

Inching our way to the end of the platform...toes curling over the edge.

Someone please Photoshop this purple!

We spent our last Saturday at home removing the final debris and painting the walls. Our tenants are due to move in the following Sunday (i.e. the next day!). Tidying the garden, a final walk through and we're gone! Our Mini Cooper (now the Family Truckster) was shipped from Baltimore Harbor with only a modest delay. YO DUNDALK! You'd think people in the business of shipping stuff around the world would have at least heard of Luxembourg.

Nobody knows....

By far the most challenging undertaking has been coordinating with the airline to guarantee that our boys will, indeed, make it to Luxembourg. We spoke to no less than five representatives from a carrier whose name may (or may not) rhyme with 'Flew-knighted Chair-lines' about shipping dogs to Europe. And after hours spent on hold (apparently our calls were very important to them) we received five quotes ranging from $125 each dog to $790 per pooch.  Every agent representing 'Flew-knighted' expressly said they were only responsible for getting Toby and Jonas into the European Union. Once we were inside the EU, we were on our own to get the dogs to our final destination...eep! Funny because our luggage will somehow magically make it there. We called a freight forwarding service to have the boys shipped as cargo. No dice. Apparently no one flies freight into Luxembourg. Airport's too small, so trucks are the preferred method. We contemplated changing our arrival airport to Brussels, Belgium and driving into the Grande Duchy. Brick wall once again. DoD computer said 'No'. We must fly into Geneva Switzerland, and driving six hours across the Alps is a non-starter. We finally decided to fly the boys with us to Geneva and hope for the best. 

Speaking of 'the best', we called Luxair (our connecting flight into Luxembourg) just to see about adding Tob and JoJo to the flight. Lo and behold the dogs were already booked on the manifest! WooHoo! Talk about a hassle! It's called training and follow through 'Flew-knighted'! Wish our boys the best on a marathon journey this weekend. 

Lean forward and let the inertia pull us toward our future!

Here we go!!!

Purge and Party

All that's left is to strap Granny to the roof and head to Beverly!

Today's title refers to the lamer, more grown-up version of 'Boot and Rally'. 

We just spent the past several days getting rid of tons of junk and hanging with friends. Many thanks to everyone at our most recent send-off....I know how many send-offs can a couple have. We do have amazing friends and families. I guess the continuous delays have allowed us the luxury of multiple farewells. Fear not, dear reader, we have completed the final dump of 12 years of hording and we're on our way! Believe it or not, we've done this twice before. And, yes, we do recycle and donate. 

Free ball from the hotel - yeah that lasted 5 minutes

Just a one OMG moment

The moving crews descended this week. We've been scrambling to get out of our current home. The shear speed at which we're working brings a whole new meaning to 'wait and HURRY UP!!' We've temporarily holed up at the Hotel Monaco in Old Town Alexandria before our flight out. The boys are still adjusting to the Waldorf-Astoria lifestyle, but generally they are doing fine.  JoJo has even found a way to visit the neighbors through a most unorthodox method.

 

Steel Bars Do Not  A Prison Make

Again a HUGE thank you to all of the folks that came from near and far to wish up well once again! We had an amazing time this past weekend. The surprise guests were the la cerise sur la gateau! A special thanks to Dee and Chris for making it down. And a super special - you are too good to us - THANK YOU to our party hosts, Angel and Mike. The food and booze were unparalled!

The Gang's all here!

We truly are blessed, and we'll miss everyone.

Edging ever closer...

 

Let me first thank my wonderful sister, my awesome brother, my amazing brother-in-law and marvelous sister-in-law for traveling across the mid-Atlantic and for missing out on all sorts of fun activities to create a Super Sunday Send-Off. Most of our fabulous east-coast nieces, Lauren, Hailey, Jane and Emmy along with our stellar nephew Chris – Derek and Lexi (both of whom are equally as tremendous) weren’t able to come due to work obligations - descended upon the home of my stupendous parents for a day of food, family time and general ‘filling-in-of-details’ regarding our pending move. We’re really grateful for all the well wishes. Their support means a great deal to us!

Whew...I was running out of adjectives

Now onto the beach:

 ‘Unbridled Joy’ best describes Jonas’ first foray to the beach.

Tob Man and The Sea

Toby is an old pro at the shore, but Jonas had never seen anything like it. On his first visit to the coast he made sure to let anyone within sprinting distance know how utterly amazing this wide-open stretch of sand, salt and smells truly was.

OMG OMG OMG OMG

We had a delightful time in Duck, North Carolina. Taking strolls twice a day with the boys along the beach was great, and the overall lack of stress was much appreciated before the penultimate purge ahead of moving day!  Our vacation rental home was enormous…as most tend to be these days. With five bedrooms and three baths, we maintained our residence on the upper level only. Everything down there is super-sized nowadays (definitely not our rental unit by the way). Believe it or not, ours was the most cost-effective, dog friendly place we could find in our preferred location. What we love most about the Outer Banks is the slow pace. We only dined out a couple of times using the full kitchen to cook in most days. Duck has evolved tremendously since my first visits back in the 1980’s (don’t worry I won’t go back there). The town now has a great boardwalk that connects all of the shops (too numerous to detail).

Five years! See we really are a happy couple.

I must thank the folks at Elizabeth’s Café for a fabulous dining experience on our wedding anniversary. As you can imagine, most restaurants along the ocean concentrate on fresh seafood…and rightly so. Elizabeth’s Café is a French style fine dining restaurant specializing in a wine-pairing menu. When asked if they could accommodate our vegetarian diet, they didn’t hesitate. In fact they were most accommodating. They served up two (yes two) vegetarian options sized up to become proper entrees with great sides and wonderful wine.  Don’t let me forget the Belgian Pot-au-crème for dessert! The laid-back beach life melded seamlessly with a ‘Maison’ experience. Fine dining in flip-flops…it just doesn’t get any better. No photos of the food, sorry. Popping a flash in the dim candlelight would have been a real Rube thing to do. 

Surprisingly not un-mediocre

 

The Salty Dawgs!

The discovery of sand crabs!

They're not allowed to do this at home - Vaycay is for everyone!

We'll be back!

A Brief Interlude

    Greetings from the land of 1980's paneling! Just a quick post while we're celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I'll follow up with a full recap when we return to Alexandria. Just taking in one last bit of sun and surf before heading to rainy Luxembourg.

The view from our deck is amazing!

Grateful as we are for this wonderful vacation spot...the paneling is overwhelming. More to come :)

Wait there's more

Howdy Pardner!

It's absolutely everywhere! Like an M.C. Escher gone wrong.

Just look at the faces on this lovely couple!

Still wildly excited about the future!

Why do I do these things?

"Because it's FUN!! And I LIKE IT!" - Russell Edgington.

Just making the rounds to visit friends and family before we begin the arduous task of packing up and shipping out. I recently returned from Wise, Virginia. If you ever feel the need to drive to the end of the line, Wise County - touted as the 'Safest Place on Earth' - is a great destination about one hour northwest of Abingdon, VA (mm 19 on Interstate 81). JUST DON'T CLICK ON THE "Safest Place on Earth" banner as it has been labeled an 'ATTACK SITE' by my browser. I just love irony.

My best friend Tyler, who've I've known since the fourth grade, lives and works in Wise. Which is great since it's tucked into some of the most rugged mountains in the Appalachian chain.

Tyler and his Family - So much blonde hair!

As outdoor adventure is something we share a passion for, we decided to go for a backpacking trip at the Mt. Roger's National Recreation Area. This is a unique area that remains as one on the southernmost outposts of the Northern Arboreal Forest - think Canadian wilderness on the same latitude as Virginia Beach. During the last Ice Age, the peak of Mt Roger's (5,729 ft above sea-level) and some of the other 5,000 - 6,000 foot mountains in the area were the only bits of land trees and animals could cling to above the glaciers. As these ice sheets receded, the spruce-fir forest were left behind and survived at these high altitudes. This makes for some stunning scenery and awesome hiking.

If you look Closely, you can see Thomas Knob Shelter in the center of the photo

My favorite feature of the Highlands is, of course - The Ponies! These herds were originally wild horses that escapes the mine shafts in the late 19th century. These rugged 'mini-draught horses' were once used to haul ore and coal out of the mines that pock the hills of southwest Virginia. Because of their toughness and the harsh terrain they lived in relative peace up on the windswept alpine slopes. Now the herds are managed by State and Federal wildlife officials. These little guys make the horses of Chincoteague look like pikers! The males of the herd are rounded up and auctioned off each fall in order to maintain a healthy herd population. Perhaps I'll buy one when we return from Luxembourg and sell veggie-dogs from a horse drawn cart in Old Town Alexandria. I do need to think about the future!

After a 40 mile hike and two nights in the backcountry, my poor legs are going to get a much needed rest!

Brian with a very pregnant mare - that's last years colt behind. Hot Dogs anyone?

One of Virginia's newest designated Wilderness areas is within MRNRA