2014 Round Up

If 2013 was the year I never saw coming, then 2014 was the year I looked forward to with huge anticipation and many many expectations. It more than exceeded them.

This year I got to take part in 3 trips, 2 sites and one festival.

My favorite trip of the season - the RS

I visited 6 new countries (and am going to my 7th on Friday!) and took upwards of 100 people around my old favourites. I ate and cooked many new foods, including reindeer, Florentine steak, strange assortments of smoked fish and Rhubarb grown on the seaside of the most northerly part of Norway.

Mick preparing some Norwegian Salmon

I have been covered in snow, sweat, wine, charcoal and pasta sauce this year. I have danced under the moon, on the bar, with a table in my mouth and most of all, in the kitchen. I met up with friends I haven't seen since I was 16, friends I made last year who I had been hanging out to see again and of course the amount of new friends made this year which is impossible to count.

Sangria fight

So glamorous

Some parts of the year were not as fun.

When it wasn't raining it was glorious!

Pamplona - aka the running of the bulls, was held at the end of June/ start of July and whilst our passengers would only be with us for 4 days, the crew were at the campsite preparing for them and packing down for just over 2 weeks. It was 2 weeks filled with ups and downs. All of the ups were the people I got to work with, from Caity, the other chef with me, to Shae the festivals manager and all the ground crew working their asses off VOLUNTEERING and still having a total blast. The downs started with the weather which was raining whenever the passengers weren't around, causing mudslides in our kitchen and emergency floors having to be put in (read: spare bits of old carpet put on top of the mud). The crazy amount of driving in a van I don't love didn't endear me to the situation, on the first day Bogdan and I did 17 hours driving, it only got slightly better for the next 2 days. The work itself was not hard, it was the pressure and amount of it that made it hard. Breakfast for 450 people? A BBQ lunch for 450 people on the same day? It's no wonder that at the end of that particular day when a passenger came up to Caity and started asking her for dessert and then abusing her when there wasn't any that she got upset and I have never felt more like knocking someone's lights out.

What's the most pasta salad you have ever seen?

Back to the good bits.

I ticked off 4 of the destinations I had aimed for this year, with a possibility of visiting Morocco in the next week as well, I'm off to the Canary Islands on Friday!

I broke one bone and fell for one boy. At the same time.



Self explanatory

Fun in Rome

I got to enjoy Rome for 5 whole weeks whilst I worked their on site. I went back to Venice site twice this year making it 4 months total that I have worked there. Just when I thought I had exhausted all of it's delights I find that in this delightful city, there is no end! Susie helped me to find Octopus, Sardines, Polenta and Squid ink gnocchi washed down with Prosecco and Bellini's everywhere we went. In other food related conquests, I had pizza in Napoli, found a new favorite gelato shop in Florence, ate Norwegian Salmon and consumed more tapas than you could wave a matador's cape at.

The delights of Venice's Burano

Pizza in Naples

New experiences I had were-

1. Every single day of my Red Star Special trip. Snowball fights at the arctic circle, polar plunging  in Norway, having to stop the bus because of the reindeer crossing in our path, 24 hours of daylight for about 2 weeks!
2. Sangria fights in Pamplona and watching the running of the bulls from inside the arena.
3. Watersports fun in Greece - high speed, sunshine and blue, blue water.
4. Exploring the abandoned theme park in Berlin, made more fun by the security guards we were dodging.
5. Dressing up in a Dirndl and doing a walking tour of Munich.
6. Behaving like teenagers with Erin and going to get our ears pierced in Amsterdam.
7. Getting to go under the colosseum.
8. Getting cozy in a cottage in the west of Ireland.
9. Watching the World Cup Soccer final in Barcelona. As Tom and I hurried from one bar to the next the hush on Las Ramblas was eerie, only made more strange by the explosion of noise that came when a goal was scored.
10. Having a boy fly to another country to see me. An intense but awesome first date.

Now that Topdeck has finished for another season  what am I doing? I decided long ago that I was staying over this part of the world for winter. It has been about 4 or 5 years since I last had a full winter so it's about time to man up and stay put for the season. I have bagged myself another dream job (for me) Au-pairing for an Italian family living in a tiny, tiny town in the foothills of the Dolomites. They are also only about an hour from Venice so I wont feel too far from home :P I met them a few weeks ago and their English isn't great which is why they are bringing me in, to teach their 5 and 9 year old boys as well as help out with looking after them. It will hopefully also be great for my Italian skills! I am starting with them on the 7th November and they want me until June next year, but it will depend on when Topdeck wants me back as to what happens there.

A new season, a new challenge. Also new things to look forward to! It is less than 2 months until Mum is landing in Paris to visit and I have been looking forward to this ALL YEAR. Tom will join us in Italy and I get shivery excited thinking about how much they are going to love my favorite country.

My love goes out to everyone who made this year amazing.

Travel safe and stay curious.

Warm in the west of Ireland

Underneath the Colosseum

Erin and I in our Dirndls

 

Lunch with the girls in Rome

I feel like I became a professional at Tiramisu

Snow angels at the Arctic Circle

Mick starts a fight

At the most northerly point of Europe

About to plunge in to a freezing Norwegian river

In the arena at Pamplona

The last leg

Coming in to Berlin we visited the soviet monument at Treptow park. We were the first there and as we waited coach after coach pulled in behind us. There were going to be 8 groups all together in Berlin and the convoy had begun in Dresden. The plan was that during the driving tour I would be dropped in front of the supermarket to shop and picked up on the way back, however we had only just hit the city when our way was obstructed by about 5,000 people on bikes who seemed to be protesting something. We took a detour away from the supermarket but as soon as we got to the city center we found more streets closed off and ourselves in a gridlock of confused traffic and bikes. We gave up and apologizing to the passengers said that we would do the tour in the morning. We were still stuck in the confusion for a good 20 minutes after that but we got back to the hostel about 5pm. Dinner was at 7 in their restaurant and we met up with all the other crew who had also turned around on their driving tour.

Bike Jam

After dinner Erin wanted to show us a cool bunch of clubs in the industrial area nearby but we had to wait till 11 to go or nothing would be happening. We drunk and talked smack in the hostel bar until it was time, then rugged up, but still nowhere near warm enough, we walked down the street to the club. The industrial area was basically a heavily graffittied and abandoned looking area where the streets were dark and muffled bass came through boarded up windows. The place we were going to specifically had a jazz night on. The walls were graffittied with crazy and imaginative images and the seats were mismatched. The band members had names like Tibolt and Mattais and were older and looked like hip cats. Unfortunatly I could not get into the jazz music and it wasn't too long before Zsolt and I were walking home. I had said to him and Erin that I would be up the next morning for the driving tour where we could once again try dropping me off at the supermarket. They said no no no, this is your chance to sleep in so we will do the tour and come back and pick you up and we will all go shopping together. I thanked them very much for that treat.

 

So the next morning I got picked up about 10am and we went to the Metro supermarket. 3 other coaches were already there shopping and we had fun with them, seeing what the others were buying and what fun stuff we could get. Things like dates wrapped in bacon and fortune cookies can really make a picnic lunch.
 

Berlin was COLD

Back at the hostel Erin and I made munchies packs for our guys to eat whilst they are in Amsterdam. They are crammed full of sugar which brings you down from a high, I take care of my guys! I skyped dad for a while before people got antsy for something to do and we caught a coach in to the city to go shopping. We 3 with Andrei and Leish had lunch in the food court and shopped for boots and chargers and prizes. The rest of the day was quiet. Spent in our dark room, Erin napping whilst I entertained myself on the internet and did some accounts. Dinner was down in the restaurant and we met our passengers for the nights entertainment of a pub crawl. We were having a scribble party for ours where if our passengers turn up with a white shirt, we provide the markers for everyone to write messages on one and other. It's never long before rude and inappropriate messages start turning up, everyone is a teen with their mind in the gutter at some level. It was so so cold, the whole day but especially that night. The crawl takes us to 3 different pubs and then to a club that is right opposite the hostel, a convenient place to roll home from.

"Berlin, Poor but Sexy"

It has begun

Erin and I didnt spend long at the last club and were in bed and asleep by 2 to wake up for 6:30 this morning to begin our biggest day of driving. The scenario today is that the drive from Berlin to Amsterdam is 600km, the longest drive of the trip. We are trying to make it to the cheese and clogs shop before the other 7 coaches, so we can get through, set up camp and make it to an earlier Sex show tonight. There is a bit of politics going in to this because we have it harder because we are staying outside the city and need to be dropped of, but some of the hotel trips are also staying a little way out and have to catch a ferry in, so who should gets the good timed sex show? The race is on. All 8 trips left somewhere between 7 and 8, there is no point in us all going at the same time as it will only get congested when we stop at service stations, and if we all show up at cheese and clogs together we will just have to wait anyway. About 11am we got stuck in traffic. We might have gone 10km in 2 hours, I don't know but it was bad. We decided to stop for lunch (where we saw 4 other coaches) and when we got back on the road the traffic had dissipated. We still haven't had great traffic though and at this point we are postponing cheese and clogs until our departure day so that we can make our 9:30 sex show.

Just try and overtake our coach!

We got in to camp at 7:15 and had to do a quick set up so we could go straight in to town. Zsolt had run out of driving hours so we caught the tram in which is not far at all. From there it is a lovely stroll down to the red light district. I find the reactions of people really interesting here. One of our girls asked (of the girls in the windows) 'Can I look at them or is that rude?' I remember thinking the same when I first came here, not sure of what the protocol might be. But they doing their job and they expect to be looked at. It's general human protocol, don't be rude or lewd or disrespectful. Smile and don't screw up your nose, and above all don't take photos!

The sex show was it's usual mix of hilarity and shock. Yes there is live sex on stage between a real life couple, and yes there is audience participation during some of the acts. No matter how many times you say this it still surprises some people. Erin and I took a night time stroll afterwards before heading back to camp. Amsterdam is a beautiful place at night, all the warm lights from the houses are doubled by their reflections in the canals and it is such a busy city that there is always a comforting throb of activity happening around you.

Amsterdam

Our last breakfast of the trip was pancakes with bacon and maple syrup and then we went straight in to the city for their bike tour. Erin and I left them to it and hid in cafes whilst it drizzled outside. Amsterdam is almost always raining but it is also the master of 4 seasons in one day so I was sure our passengers would have some moments of sunshine during their day as well. We were spending time in the cafes because we were waiting for a particular piercing parlor to open up, when it did we had a consultation with a guy so pierced and tattooed and scared that he looked like a movie prosthetics model. He was also to hungover (his words) to deal with our questions and concerns and so handed us over to a colleague. For all Erin's concerns the process took all of a minute and we were laughing as we walked out of the shop with ears throbbing. The icy wind blowing on them was appreciated.

Just a little bit worried :P

Our Amsterdam souvernirs

Back at camp we finalized our accounts and slept until a huge thunderstorm woke me late in the afternoon. Our cabin was shaking with the force of it all and I found out not much later that the passengers had had to take shelter in my cook tent as their own were not up to the task.

The Sea Palace in all her majesty

Fabio loves chines!

That night was the big finale dinner. We were off to the Sea Palace, a floating Chinese restaurant up near Centraal station. Dinner here is an all you can eat feast of Chinese food and our guys really went to town on it. A wise move because from there we went to a river cruise  with an open bar. At least their stomachs were lined. Our guys thought critically about this bar business and captured the table that was so near to the bar, they didn't even have to stand up to get a re-fill. Thinkers.

Last dinner together

Cole could barely stand upright in the boat!

We had a good cruise, dancing, singing and making speeches and ended up in Leidersplein at a bar that Erin knew that had a live band playing (this girl knows all the hot spots!) They were playing old bluesy classics and had us up and dancing. Chris and Jess who had left the trip in Rome landed in Amsterdam that night and met up with us at the bar which was really cool as they had been missed. It was one of my favorite nights in Amsterdam

Canal Cruise

The last morning I would get up with the group had the most spectacular sunrise. Some days I think 'wouldn't it be nice if my job included some sleep in's' then I realize that I get to see things like this, and start each day with breakfast in the fresh air. How good is that? Drinking my tea watching the fog rise off the river next to my tent made me think of all those breakfasts I had in a windowless office lit with fluorescent lights 2 years ago and I gave a little thank you to the forces that led me here.

Worth it

Our only stop on this drive was at cheese and clogs where the passengers see just as it sounds - cheese and clogs being made. The farm is right on a canal and smells and sounds like cows. How authentic :)
We got to Calais at about 2.30 and waited for the 3.30 ferry, kicking the soccer ball around and eating all the leftover snacks I had. Final hugs and photos were taken and Zsolt and I waved goodbye and drove back north from where we had just come from.

Soccer at the docks

As we drove we de-briefed. We talked over the highs and lows of the trip, what we had learnt from it and what we would change. We laughed about our favorite moments and sincerely wished that all trips could be this easy and fun! The 3 hours drive back flew with such good conversation flowing and by the time we had unloaded all the cooking gear and cleaned the coach it was 8 and we went home to cook dinner for everyone.
This trip was a brilliant one, and as always, it is the people that make it. Crew and passengers, so thank you to all you guys who were involved and made it a treat to be on.
Keep travelling and keep your eyes open.
Gemma xx

These guys

We went to Oktoberfest! Almost.

In Venice I made a quick dinner of gnocchi with a creamy mushroom and bacon sauce and a communal starter of cheese with caramelized walnuts. I had no idea who was working on site there and was thrilled to find out that both Laura's and Stevie were there. That night was a pretty quiet one in the bar and after a skype chat I went to bed.

 

I didn't mention, we went to Verona!

The day in Venice is always a pretty quiet one for me. The passengers go in to the islands which are about 15 mins away and I just stay at camp to potter and get what I need done. In the morning I went shopping after breakfast and then went with the girls to the new shopping mall across the road for some fun shopping and lunch. Normally its also a chance for me to go swimming but as I had thought this trip was going to be cold, I hadn't brought any swimmers!

That night was Alex's chicken paprikosh for dinner and one of the new guys said that he 'hoped he would throw up tonight so he could taste that dinner again' one of the strangest compliments I've ever had.

We had a traffic light party that night where passengers wear red, green or yellow depending on their relationship status. Subtle hey?

The drive to Vienna the next day was pretty uneventful. Beautiful mountains and scenery makes it a really pretty drive at least. And we wanted it to be uneventful because we had an aim for that night. If we could run everything as fast and smoothly as possibly we might have time to go to Prater Park (an amusement park) after dinner. So after we set up camp I stayed back to do dinner and the next days lunch whilst they all went for the driving tour. We managed to make good time and were heading to Prater park at 9pm. We all kind of stuck together at the park, starting off at a ride that is chairs on chains that swing around and then are lifted really high. Like really really high. I'm not much of a rides person and this one gives me enough adrenalin but the next one was the scariest thing I've ever done. It was a big arm that swung in a total circle, holding us upside down for way too long at the top. Erin and I were screaming 'make it stop!' and 'put us down!'. Passengers were yelling 'I can taste your dinner Gemma!' and 'you are the worst trip leader for doing this to us Erin!' and I felt my stomach churning. I was shaken after it so we slowed down for the next ride and we went on the go carts. I won that race but apparently I was a bit rough on some of the passengers, may have rammed one....

We slept in the luggage lockers of the coach that night, we couldn't quite get the doors right and so locked ourselves in and called Zsolt in the morning to let us out. It was pretty cold but breakfast burritos made it a bit better. I went in with everyone for the drop off into the city and after Erin, Zsolt and I went to the Metro to go shopping. It was a fun shopping center and Erin even managed to get at Dirndl to wear in Munich. It had a terrible payment system though.... I feel like I've seen enough shopping centers to have an opinion on this!
 

Tasting at the Schnapps museum

At camp it was a casual day of cleaning and packing and general stuff like accounts and clothes washing until it was time to pick up our pax. We took them straight to the Schnapps museum where they got to learn about distillation and the history of schnapps in Austria as well as try a whole lot of different flavors and types of schnapps.

We took them back to the campsite to get dressed up for the night and then back in to the city. 4 of our passengers were going to 'Sounds of Vienna' a classical concert in a beautiful building, the Kursalon. The rest of us went to a restaurant to eat ribs. It turned in to a dangerous night of riddles being shared up and down the table that got tempers high at some points. Erin and I shared a plate of ribs and it was goooood.

Ribs!

Mathausan

Yesterday was our drive to Munich. We stopped at Mathausan and the passengers were quite moved by it. Zsolt, Erin and I sat up on a rise looking over the town of Mathausan and over to the alps and talked about things like communism. At some point during a trip I will always find myself having a deep conversation about communism. Every time I learn something new. At the campsite in Munich we were very excited to see all the people there working for Oktoberfest. A whole lot of drivers, cooks, management and ground crew were there and I had to drag myself away to get ready into my Dirndl. We were certainly not the only people in Munich dressed up and of course once we got to the Hofbrauhause there were heaps of people in costume. We had more riddles, tried lifting as many steins as we could (3 was my record) and ate pretzels and many different meats as we could. It was a loud, warm night. Back at camp we had more chats with all the crew before sleeping in a tent. This morning the crew at the camp were excited for their first day of Oktoberfest which was good because we were getting to the tired point of the trip and needed some of their oomph!

Lets talk communism

Erin and I in Munich

Prost!

Billy the Kid, master of the riddles

23/9

We got in to the campsite at 2:30 which is just ridiculously early and so the passengers had heaps of time to get ready before we headed in to the city. Most had upgraded to cabins as well which was nice. We catch the tram and the train in to the city from the campsite which takes us around half an hour. In the main square I had time to get a Trdlenik and a cider for the walk and the weather was lovely for us for the whole of the walking tour. We had had a little stress about where the restaurant was that we were using tonight. Erin had been once before and I hadn't ever been. It took us a while to find it on google maps back at the camp and we had memorised the directions but it was still a relief to get there and find that we were right. It is a new restaurant that Topdeck is using this year called Pivo & Basilico and I was very impressed with the food. A soup for starter that was thick and rich (Vegetable soup), main was chicken stuffed with cheese and spinach and wrapped in bacon with melt in your mouth potato wedges and vegetables and finally ice cream and berry coulis for dessert. We were so full afterwards that my table decided to try out the digestive spirits menu. Erin and Nicola tried a herbal one that smelt much to like Jaeger for my taste, I had a plum spirit that tasted like it could light fires and I bought an Absinthe for Vincent and the waiter brought it with sugar and lit it and all. Vincent has been buying us all shots at all the bars we go to and people are trying to get him back by randomly surprising him with Absinthe anywhere they can.

On the Charles Bridge

By about 8pm we were finished with dinner and wandered back across the Charles bridge to a bar called Propaganda. It is decked out with old communist posters and decorations and you sit on pommel horses and the drink of the night was a Moscow mule. Vegetables in a drink makes it healthy right?

The next bar we went to is called Double Trouble and has a good little dance floor so was just the place to get warmed up for the 5 story nightclub. Here we ran in to most of the other groups in town. When we left to walk to the club the heavens opened on us and we had to shelter in doorways from the downpour. Luckily it didn't last long and we made it to the club not too drenched. The 5 story nightclub is something of a legend in Prague. Everyone has heard of it as the biggest club in Europe, and it is fun but its not as good as you might want. Each level has a different theme. Radio hits, Dance, Oldies, R'n'B and Hip Hop and the ice bar. I have spent most of my time here on the Oldies and R'n'B floors and they are fun. We weren't out ridiculously late before people got hungry and most of us were across the road at the kebab shop and in a taxi home by 1.30.

The group on the Charles Bridge

The next morning we had a late breakfast at 9 which was scrambled eggs and sausage surprise (Sausages cut up, tinned tomatoes, tinned mushrooms and baked beans- season). I left some snacks out for them for the rest of the day and cleaned up before hopping back in to bed for another 4 hours. Our beds were comfy and the wifi reached to our rooms so it was difficult to see why we should leave. There was a fair/market thing on at the camp, I think it was something for a charity. There were stalls selling crafts, you could join in on kids art and there was music playing loudly and a trapeze set-up that I never saw used. There was also a little Vespa show going on in a corner! Unfortunately it started to rain and it got packed down but it was pretty cool. We 3 went for dinner at the restaurant up the back and it was cheap and delicious! I had a mushroom risotto and the others had goulash. Some of our boys joined us as well having come back when the weather had turned. After dinner Zsolt and I went for a long walk around the lake near the campsite that I had never realised was there before. It was good to stretch my legs after a lazy day and we had good chats in the silence of the dark woods surrounding the lake.
 

Walking by the lake

Our next drive was to Berlin. We stopped at lunchtime at Dresden. It was solidly raining and the walking tour was very short - in relation to our passengers complaints. We took them to Curry24 for a chili eating contest. It sells 7 levels of curry wurst with number 7 rating at 1.000.000 on the official scoville scale. We had 4 boys participating in the challenge, they had to finish a number 7 and the bread roll it came with first. Rob smashed the competition out of the water and with eyes watering raised his hands in triumph. Everyone else had a much lower number on the scale for a more pleasurable lunch (I had a 2 and it was just enough spice for me) then they voted to keep on driving rather than have free time in the city because the rain was still coming down.

Curry wurst