Faded Boxers

Before anything I’d like to take a moment to talk about a few things that people may forget to tell you about their respective Eurotrips; a few things that our pictures fail to convey.

Our trip lasted for no less than 12 days during which we had at least 9 locations in 7 different countries. And I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that we spent 40% of that time on the road.

Our typical day consisted of us getting up at 6am, eating breakfast at 7am, and hitting the road by 8am. Would spend an average of 4-6 hours before we reach our first stop, where we get anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to roam around and take pictures. We’d hit the road again for a couple more hours for our second stop with the same amount of time for pictures and exploration. Lunch is usually taken during this time. Then we’d hit the road again for around 4 more hours for our next destination—which was usually a different country. At one point in our journey, we had breakfast in Amsterdam, lunch in Brussels, and dinner in Paris.

Life on the road isn’t that hard to imagine in the Philippine setting where you can make bathroom stops whenever you want. But when you’re in a continent where they generally look down on public urination, you have to learn to hold it in. Our bus driver was required to make bathroom stops after every 2 hours, and usually, a lot of us were able to last just as long before we really had to go. But some of those in our tour group had to make do with relieving themselves in mineral water bottles for the guys, and plastic bags for the girls. And if you must know, none of my family were guilty of that.

And if holding your water in for 2 hours at a time wasn’t bad enough, we had to deal with irate maintenance workers of the gasoline stations where we’d make our bathroom breaks. We learned the hard way that not all bathrooms in Europe were free.

You’d rush in the bathroom (which they call Water Closets over there, or W.C. for short), do your business, and attempt to go outside to enjoy the sights and the nice cool weather. I say “attempt” because more often then not, you’ll be intercepted by a maintenance worker who points to a dish containing a few Euro cents. You could have sworn that the worker, nor the dish with the coins weren’t there when you went in, but there they were just the same. Staring at you. Mocking you. Shaming you into paying for the right to pee.

You could do what my sister did and feign ignorance. Sometimes you can get away with it. Sometimes you won’t. You could try another favorite trick of my sister’s and plead poverty. Again, it’s a hit and miss affair. Sometimes, the maintenance worker begrudgingly waves you past. And sometimes you’ll get a very colorful, and lengthy tirade which can be approximately translated to “WHY YOU COME TO GERMANY IF YOU HAVE NO MONEY?! PTOOO!” And when my sister got tired of doing that, she and a group of other girls simply ran screaming like bats out of hell from the ladies’ bath—excuse me, the ladies’ Water Closet.

Me, being blessed with an underabundance of a backbone, had to pay the equivalent of Php30.00 almost every time I peed in Europe.

Anyway so we’re now in Austria. On this leg, we visited such places like the Mirabell Gardens which is famous for the Do-Re-Mi scene from The Sound of Music. We also visited Mozart’s house. Unfortunately he wasn’t home. What a gyp.

Anyway if there’s another detail I forgot to mention, you can be sure my mom will be reminding me through the comments section in my Multiply.

To see the rest of the pics, click on the picture of me checking out Mozart’s dick.

Stay tuned to find out how I survived 2 weeks in Europe with only 4 pairs of socks and 7 pairs of boxer shorts.