Budgets Truly Are a Thing of the Past

So you think that our obsession with keeping track of our budget started with this trip? How wrong you are.

Since we have some, uh, free time during our days, we have been cleaning out our apartment and getting rid of stuff that we just don’t need. (Hey, that was one of Mike’s goals!) We’ve scoured our bookshelves, and one book we’ve decided to give the heave-ho to is an Italy guidebook from years ago. As we picked it off the shelf, two sheets of paper fell out. (Click on each photo to enlarge.)

Hanna’s Daily Expenditures.

Mike’s Daily Expenditures.

We were very confused at first because neither of us fully remembers jotting down what we spent on our Thanksgiving 2005 trip to Italy. Hanna has a vague memory of creating this spreadsheet, but it made us chuckle that we actually took the time to keep track back then.

Some things stick out:

• Mike spent waaaaaaaaay more than Hanna. The apocalypse is coming.
• Please note that we had gelato every single day…sometimes more than once.
• We guess Hanna was going through a stage of calling Mike “Michael.” Ah, young love…
• We definitely didn’t stick to a US $100 a day budget on this trip as it doesn’t include hotels.

While we are trying to downsize as much as possible, it’s fun to conjure up past memories you don’t even remember.

Guest Post: Why Mike Won

Note: Since we are on the road again and don’t feel like writing blog posts, we are now accepting guest posts. The first (in what obviously be a ridiculously long series) is by Kiwi Mike, the very cause of Mike’s win in the senior pic poll. Yes, Kiwi Mike exists. No, he is not a figment of our imagination that Mike has used as a scapegoat for his unlikely win. Enjoy. (If you have something to say, email us your guest post. We only charge US $1,500 for us to post your brilliant prose.)

It was me. I did it. I voted for Mike, and I voted for him a lot. I wanted to do it because he is my friend. But it’s more complicated that that, and I am here to share my story. This is my story.

My name is Mike, but you may know me as Kiwi Mike. That’s because I am a Kiwi, well, not an actual kiwi, but I’m from New Zealand, and that’s what us New Zealanders are called. I mean, you didn’t seriously think I was an actual kiwi? You’ve seen photos of me. I’m way too tall.

My mother calls me Michael, never Mike. Michael was the name she gave me. She gave it to me when I was born, which was lucky. I don’t know how she knew that was my name. I guess it’s a mother thing.

I was born in a small midwest country town famous for its corn. Mom was an artist. She specialised in tractors and was world-renowned for the paper mache John Deere JTR-450. You may have seen it. They have it at the Met. It’s been there since 1982. It’s next to that painting of the soup can.

Dad was in a scooter gang when I was growing up. It was all the rage at the time at the height of the Oil Crisis of ’73. All the motorcycle gangs traded in their big, fuel-hungry bikes for scooters and roamed in big, angry, wasplike packs around the suburban streets. They didn’t do the interstate thing back then because the gas cost too much.

Dad would ride off to their clubhouse…well, they had to downgrade that as well. They had meetings at the local Boy Scout hall in between Scout meetings. They would go down there and plan their next big caper and drink sodas. It was a huge step back from their own clubhouse. They weren’t allowed to drink beer there because the Scoutmaster would tell them off. He’d say, “Hey, that’s our beer…bring your own!” Those Boy Scouts really liked their beer. Dad didn’t want to get on the wrong side of them because they could tie some big knots.

My early years were spent either helping Mom with her art (I was often a model for her) or cruising around on the back of Dad’s scooter causing havoc with him and his gang. I mean, you know how much havoc a man on a scooter with a small toddler strapped to his back can cause. The stares that he would get would cut through a block of butter.

Wait, you don’t want to hear about all of that. That’s got nothing to do with why I voted for Mike. Actually none of it is true. I made it up. Well, everything except for the being Kiwi part. That is totally true.

So why did I vote for Mike? He has answered that already. He knows why I voted for him because I told him why when I told him that it was me that voted for him. I voted for him. Did you know that?

I voted for my friend Mike because he seemed sad that he wasn’t in the top three. I wanted him to win because I liked his photo because he looks so special. I voted for him a lot. I voted for him at work. I voted for him on my laptop. I didn’t vote for him on my iPhone, my other computer, Kylie’s iPad, or anything else. I just voted at work and on my laptop. I did vote so much that my computer told me I couldn’t vote anymore.

I thought I voted about 200 times. I was wrong. I voted about 600 times or thereabouts. I voted a lot. I would come home from work and turn on my laptop and start voting.

I did that for about three days. I wanted to do it for the whole week, but I wasn’t that dedicated. Imagine if I had voted for seven days. That would have been seriously funny. But that is a pipe dream now.

I have no remorse. I did nothing wrong. There were no limits imposed on voting. I believe the exact words were get in and vote for your favourite now. I voted, and my guy won. And deservedly so.

He has got a great name just like me. And a winning personality, also like me. We could be brothers, except for the fact that we only met in Japan. Oh well.

I will answer your questions and comments now. I will not be answering death threats, bags of poo on my doorstep, or any other such silliness.

Good-day…

How Mike Won

One of the biggest sources of controversy on our blog was the senior pic poll. It started out as a friendly competition, but then it got ugly. Mike’s dad and mom battled it out for first place with Hanna a close third…and then Mike started gaining votes. Lots of votes. We kept laughing as Mike darted into first place with no signs of stopping. When we closed the poll and saw the results, we couldn’t believe them. Neither could many of you, it seems. Mike received threatening emails and comments from his family that accused him of cheating, but he maintains his innocence.

During the entire poll, we claimed that neither of us ever voted. We still claim that. We hoped that Mike’s biggest supporter would come forward. The blog was quiet for a few days, and no one admitted the truth.

A few nights ago, we Skyped with our Kiwi friends in Australia, and the poll came up. We now know that Mike won because of this guy:

Kiwi Mike. Don’t Bother Him While He’s Playing Bingo.

Kiwi Mike read our post that Mike was crying himself to sleep because he wasn’t in the top three of the pool, so the Kiwi decided to help his similar-named friend out. That guy voted…a lot. Being a dorky techie guy who has an unhealthy obsession with his iPhone, his wife’s iPad, and his massive hard drive full of TV shows, Kiwi Mike figured out a way to have his computer vote multiple times. That’s why Mike got so many votes. He didn’t do it himself and had no knowledge about who was voting for him.

Kiwi Mike was quite amused with himself, and all you Jan/Joe/Hanna supporters can blame him for Mike’s win. Retract your comments of hatred towards Mike. Thanks.

The Winner

Get off your pins and needles. The time has come to announce the winner of our senior pic poll.

Exactly 1,550 votes were cast, and we solemnly swear that neither of us voted once. Not once. The original competition was consistently a contest between Mike’s dad Joe, Mike’s mom Jan, and Hanna. Somewhere along the way, the competition changed, and Mike snuck his way into the top 3.

And now…the anxiously awaited results:

No, we couldn’t believe that Mike won either. We truly don’t know how. Even he admits that his picture isn’t the best. We’re still big fans of Mike’s parents’ pictures. Mike’s sister Jodi was a dark horse who had a last-minute run herself.

The prize for this contest was to feed and house us for a week. Since Mike unexpectedly won, that award will go to second place instead–Joe. Feel honored.

Please solve a mystery for us: who have you been voting for? We truly want to know where the votes for each person came from.

Final Week of Voting

We have gleaned many hours minutes of enjoyment from looking at the results of our senior pic poll. Over 350 votes have been cast…and we think there have been a lot of repeat voters. We’re fine with that. Three contenders have emerged, and they are fighting to the death. Let’s just name names here: Hanna, Jan, and Joe. (Mike cries himself to sleep every night because he’s not currently in the top three.)

It’s been quite funny hearing Mike’s parents battle it out and claim that they have the best senior pic. These two haven’t been in high school for about forty years (sorry to age you guys…deal with it), but they are feuding like two popular girls seeking the prom tiara and sash.

We have decided to cap the voting next week, and you’ll notice that we have hidden the results of the poll from our faithful readers. (Ooooooh, tricky.)

YOU HAVE UNTIL 5:00pm ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14 TO VOTE.

Vote for your favorite senior pic as many times as you want. The winner gets to house us for a week and buy us dinner.

Click here to view the pictures and vote.

Rewind: Italy Senior Pics

So we left Amsterdam yesterday, had a few hours to spend in Brussels, and then took the Eurostar to London. We’re gonna take a few days to settle into life in bloody ol’ London. While we are busy eating our weight in candy from Tesco, you’ll get some random posts about our trip. Real-time updates to come in a few days…

While we hung out in Tuscany with Mike’s family in April, we constantly joked about taking senior pics everywhere. We even got Mike’s sister and brother-in-law to take some. By the end of the trip, however, we forced the whole gang to don their most awkward look.

Our question to you: whose senior pic is the best? Scroll down, enlarge the pictures, and vote.

a) The Head Cheerleader–Amy

b) The Mathlete–Chris

c) The Best Dressed–Hanna

d) The Class President–Jan

e) The Teacher’s Pet–Jodi

f) The Science Nerd–Joe

g) The Bullying Jock–Mike

h) The Prom King–Pat

Vote early, and vote often:

Final Thoughts: Italy

We debated not writing Final Thoughts for all of the European countries we are visiting because we’re only traveling to one or two cities in each. Mike doesn’t want to write them for each country, but Hanna does. We arm-wrestled, and Hanna won. She is the boss, and she always gets her way. We compromised a bit and decided that we didn’t each want to write our own Final Thoughts. You’ll be getting joint entries from here on out. That’s life.

We have each been to Italy three times before, but we were looking forward to this trip because it held something a little different: a vacation with family. We’ve learned that there’s a big difference between backpacking for a year and having a week’s vacation. (We are starting to prefer the latter because of the small luxuries it includes.) Putting Hanna’s carsickness aside, getting to explore Tuscany by car was a real treat because we probably would not have ever done that on our own.

Our favorite parts of the last week were eating our weight in gelato, playing bocce with the whole family, morning sun tanning sessions overlooking the beautiful vineyards, picnic lunches of fresh mozzarella and prosciutto, and laughing with our family while consuming many bottles of wine. (Mike is trying to forget how annoying his allergies were in Tuscany.) This week was priceless to us because it gave us a chance to recharge, spend time with loved ones, and eat really good food. We want more of that mushroom risotto.

We always enjoy visiting Italy and will be back again someday to finish our quest to find the best gelato flavor ever.

Days Spent in Italy: 9

Total Money Spent in Italy: US $658.66
(This amount seems totally high for having a free week of accommodations, right? About a third of this figure is train travel from Berlin to Florence. Nuts. The rest is our gelato consumption, two nights’ of hostel before they all arrived, a few train tickets, wine, and groceries.)

Average Spent Per Day in Italy: US $73.18
(We really did not spend much money per day because Mike’s parents are quite generous for providing a week of family fun. Stupid train price for bumping everything up.)

Average Spent Per Day for the Whole Trip: US $73.25
(Our average went down a few cents. Hey, as long as it goes down… We haven’t wrapped flights into our cumulative average, but now that train prices are a lot higher than anywhere else, we don’t foresee our average decreasing by any significant amount going forward.)

The View of the City from Piazzale Michelangelo. It Was Either This Picture or a Photo of Gelato.

Leaving Tuscany

With Jodi and Chris gone, the six of us remaining spent yesterday doing nothing but relaxing at the villa. We’re not complaining. Hanna’s throat was hurting, and her nose was running. Mike may now have a sty in his right eye. We’re nothing but good health here, huh? We’re hoping that it’s just allergies from being out in the Tuscan countryside and that all symptoms of feeling like poop go away quite soon. Otherwise travel for the next two months won’t be too fun.

Mike’s parents took us to the train this morning to head back into Florence. We said goodbye to Mike’s parents, Pat, and Amy and are extremely thankful for this week of food and family fun. It’s finally hit us that our big trip is almost over as this week in Tuscany always seemed so far away. It’s now over.

We have truly enjoyed our time with Mike’s family, and it’s crazy to think that we have spent 35 out of the last 54 days with friends or family. That’s about 65% of time spent with people we know. (Mike can count and do percentages. Aren‘t you proud?) While we are excited for the last seven European weeks of our trip, this week with family has made us realize that we are now okay with going home. Meeting new people in hostels and exploring cities satisfies our sense of excitement, but nothing can replace hanging out with family and friends (especially when you‘re playing bingo in Australia, hosting a bocce tournament in Tuscany, or singing your way through Turkey). We also have a couch at home that is calling Hanna’s name.

We have the whole day in Florence today to wander around and eat gelato, and then we hop on a ten-hour overnight train to Vienna tonight. Good times.

JWOWW’S Birthday Surprise

Yesterday was our last full day with the eight of us all together. (Jodi and Chris flew home this morning, and we are not at all jealous of their 6:30am flight.) We had a lazy morning yesterday and then headed back into Castellina di Chianti to pick up some groceries for lunch and (more importantly) more wine.

We sat on the terrace overlooking the vineyards and devoured our lunch of fresh Tuscan bread, cheese, ham, and fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and basil:

The Villa Cat Amy Is Looking at Has Been Christened “Gnocchi.” Another Cat That Is Wandering the Grounds Has Been Named “Nutella.”

We lazed about some more and then continued our wine-and-bocce tournament. We don’t need to say any more about this round because we didn’t win…and that’s all that matters. What made us laugh, however, is Pat’s new nickname for Mike’s mom Jan: JWOWW. Lots of “Come on, JWOWW! Snuggle that ball in there!” and “JWOWW, drop a deuce!” were yelled. (Full explanation: “dropping a deuce” became the official term for getting two points in a round because both of your balls were closest. Lots of ball jokes ensued as well.)

Nothing Better than Wine, Bocce, and Fake Nutella.

JWOWW’s birthday is in a few days, so we plotted to surprise her at dinner at the villa restaurant. We arranged with Roberto (the villa owner whom Mike‘s dad is obsessed with) to have a birthday cake for dessert. The lights went off, and the staff started singing “Happy Birthday.” Mike’s mom thought the birthday surprise was for someone else in the packed restaurant, and it was only until the cake was in front of her face that she realized it was for her:

Birthday by Candlelight.

Let’s take a moment to talk about the cake.  We don’t know was it was called, but it was basically filo dough with vanilla custard and chocolate inside and powdered sugar on top:

We Want More.

The cake immediately disappeared from all of our plates, and we were annoyed that Roberto did not give us the other half of the cake that was left. It was that good.

We returned to our villa after a delicious dinner, and Hanna and Jodi had quickly decorated the kitchen with a few balloons and streamers while Mike’s mom was out playing bocce. She walked into the kitchen, somehow did not notice the decorations, and was utterly confused when all of us laughed at her lack of observation. She spun around and finally saw the decorations and presents:

Utter Surprise.

We’re glad that our family could be together to celebrate JWOWW’s birthday. If only we bought her skimpy tops and heels for the Shore this summer…

Art and Gelato

We basically pick a Tuscan town to visit every day, but we visited the granddaddy of them all a few days ago. (No, we haven’t written about things in chronological order at all. Deal with it.)

Mike’s mom had purchased tickets for the Accademia for 9:30am, and we’re about an hour’s drive from downtown Florence. We wanted to make sure we had enough time to get there and find parking, so we left the villa at the glorious time of 7:30am. Both cars stayed in a line for most of the ride, but once we hit Florence, it was every man for himself. All we can say is that we are very thankful that Mike’s dad and Chris are the drivers. We’re glad that we conveniently don’t know how to drive stick. Both men have done an amazing job, but we are quite happy we don’t have this responsibility.

The hordes visiting the Accademia were there for one thing only…to see this guy:

No, You Are Not Allowed to Take Pictures of David. Mike Did Anyway.

Dave sends his love to Hanna’s mom.

We ducked into the Duomo to see the inside and then made a big decision. Wrangling eight people in a major city is often a hard task, so we split up into couples for the day. This was a good choice because we didn’t want to be that loud, obnoxious American family. We love the small streets and compactness of Florence, but the entire city seems to be full of American high school groups or families visiting their kids who are studying abroad. You definitely hear more American accents than Italian…

Since we have been to Florence a few times before, we have our favorite pizza place, so we ran over there for lunch:

So Delicious. It Reminds Us of Mike’s Grandma’s Pizza.

We sat in a piazza people-watching for a long time and took our obligatory self-portrait:

Ready for Gelato.

Since we had an entire day in Florence, we obviously got three rounds of gelato at the beloved Festival del Gelato. First up was chocolate and Ferrero Rocher for Hanna, while Mike enjoyed green apple, mascarpone with pear and Nutella, and Kinder.

Festival of Perfection.

While scarfing down the first round, Pat and Amy wandered into the store and laughed because they completely expected us to be sitting there. We wandered around for a few minutes and then decided that it was time to head back for round two: Nutella for Hanna, and amaretto and Bacio for Mike.

As it has become obvious, we enjoy just sitting, so we relaxed in Piazza della Signoria waiting to meet up with the rest of the family:

Neptune.

Faker.

At 2pm the entire family regrouped once again, and we headed into the Uffizi for some more culture. Anyone who knows Hanna knows that museums make her tired, so she moved at a quick pace but definitely caught the highlights (including “The Birth of Venus”). Mike was left in her dust but enjoyed his third trip to the museum nonetheless.

View of Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi.

Round three of gelato was next on the agenda. Hanna got chocolate and strawberry, while Mike got hazelnut and another nut flavor (the name of which he’s not exactly sure.) We then strolled back to the Duomo to take some pictures as the light was perfect:

Amazing Front.

Bell Tower.

The day was quickly waning, so we stood around for a long time trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Jodi, Chris, Pat, and Amy decided to stay in the city, while Mike’s parents and we decided to head back to eat near the villa. We were quite happy with our decision because we ate this.

Our fifteen-hour day of art and gelato came to a close. We could definitely have eaten more gelato…