A few years ago, I first encountered the term decision paralysis. Even though I had experienced it plenty of times, I never had a good name for it. As you can infer, decision paralysis is when you have so many choices that you can't decide, so you do nothing.
We've never been minimalists when it comes to packing. The thought of going on an impromptu camping trip and just throwing a tent and some sleeping bags in the back of the van sounds robust and romantic, but we've never done it that way. We make a list. It includes everything we could possibly need to make sleeping in the woods a comfortable experience. And we still wind up forgetting things. I'll admit that it's great to have packed a broom and dustpan for sweeping out the tent before we strike camp, but the price we pay for that kind of preparation is spending a loooong time making that list and checking it twice before setting out for the great outdoors.
We bought a rooftop cargo carrier the first time we drove from Arizona to Florida. Our van is a 1997 Honda Odyssey, when they still made 'em small. It's almost sedan-size. It's only got four cylinders, for Pete's sake. But we love our little van. We've put over 200,000 miles on it, and we have no plans to get rid of it. By this point it's a part of the family. It will be a sad day when it eventually goes to the automotive netherworld. (Maybe that's why so many people have broken down cars gathering rust in their yards...they can't emotionally let go.) The rooftop carrier, henceforth known as "the attic," was the best travel investment we ever made (well, second maybe to our Garmin GPS). The struggles of five traveling within the relatively small confines of our old Odyssey were lessened with the attic, capable of being packed with more stuff than you would think could fit.
And now we're going to Europe.
And we'll be in a rental car. For about 8 weeks.
Car. Not van. And no attic.
We are forced to minimalize. Yes, we could have rented a van, but the cost was about twice as much, and we're already on a shoestring budget. We've road-tripped to North Carolina in our even-smaller-than-the-Odyssey Subaru, and lived to tell the tale (although we also had the attic). We can do it. We have to.
I recently watched a video on Facebook for clean drinking water that had people from third world countries reciting first-world problems, like I hate when my house is so big I have to have two wireless routers. It's a powerful video (you can watch it here) and all the first world "problems" that our culture complains about become glaringly apparent after watching the video. And no doubt, complaining about forced downsizing because our rental car will be smallish is a first world problem. So I will attempt not to complain.
Knowing that we will probably be in cars about the size of our Subaru, we had an ambitious plan. We would pack for Europe during Spring Break (back in March), pack the bags into our Subaru to see how they fit, and adjust as needed. I was the only one who actually packed a bag during Spring Break, and because I didn't want to unpack it and pack again in June, I left the bag packed. So I've been packed for Europe since March. Woo hoo!
Now we're 6 days away from leaving. The packing is fully underway. Not only is space going to be limited in our rental cars, we're also limited by the fact that two inter-European flights on lowfare airline Easyjet required payment for any checked bags. To minimize expenses, we paid for only 4 bags. So our goal is to pack for 5 people in 4 bags for 8 weeks. For some people, that sounds easy. But for most people with kids, traveling to an area where it will occasionally get chilly even in June or July, they recognize the challenge.
The reason we didn't pack during Spring Break is the same reason we typically wait til the last minute to pack for a trip. Decision paralysis. We (thankfully) have so many clothes that it becomes overwhelming to choose what 5 or 6 outfits you want to wear over and over for 8 weeks. Ever hear of the 80/20 rule? The 80/20 rule says that we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. So this should make it easier to pack. Nah. Because suddenly, the palette for choosing clothes becomes 100% of the wardrobe. So many choices. And we have six more days. I think I'll check Facebook. Or blog.
All I know for sure is that in six days, we'll be on our way to Europe. And we will have bags with us. The details are yet to be determined.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Couchsurfing Update!
It can be challenging to find couchsurfing hosts for a family of 5!
First of all, when you're looking for a couchsurfing host, you can filter the prospects for things like number of surfers they'll host, age, smoking vs. non-smoking, etc. But of course, the more filters you add, the smaller the pool of possibilities.
Because there are more people who will host 4 people than 5, I've started filtering for 4 and then asking in my request if they wouldn't mind hosting 5 (Bella is small...she should only count as a half!).
Another tip: if you ever become a couchsurfer, pay attention to people's reply rate. If they don't have 80% or better, it's almost pointless to request. Chances are you won't hear back from them. I think a lot of people hear about couchsurfing, love the idea, sign up, create a profile, and then promptly forget to ever do anything with it. We've had our spells of inactivity, but at least I reply to everyone who requests. My favorite person to send a request to has a 100% reply rate and has been logged on in the past week. Chances are pretty good they'll reply, even if it's to decline your request.
So now for the update!
We have 11 nights I'm trying to get couchsurfing hosts for. I've sent 24 official requests, which may not sound like very many, but each one is personalized...cut and paste jobs don't get as many replies. It takes a while.
I've heard back from 12 of the 24. I've had 5 "declines," 3 "maybes," and 4 "accepts." 8 of the 11 nights now have hosts! We're getting there!
Our first couchsurfing nights will be in London. Still no host yet, though we have one "maybe." I have 5 London requests who haven't responded yet, but I should try a few more requests. It's a bummer to find one that sounds perfect (to me, a perfect host is another family with kids who has ample room) and then they decline because they have other plans. It's helpful to not get your hopes up about any potential host, and then be pleasantly surprised when one accepts.
Our next need is Liverpool/Manchester. We've had good luck there, with one Liverpool maybe and two Manchester acceptances. Both are a bit off the beaten path, but that's okay. We'll have a rental car, so we have flexibility. We're leaning towards staying with the one that's more rural, but keeping the other host on standby. Just in case.
After a couple of nights with Steve, we want to head somewhere in Scotland while we still have a car. We got a 3-night acceptance from a family in Insch, a little village in the northeast part of Scotland. They have two kids, so we're really looking forward to that visit. Then we return to Edinburgh for another week with Steve.
The next couchsurfing need is a few weeks later in Germany, and we've got a host. 3 nights in Frankfurt.
I sort of botched the end of our trip by requiring the return of our rental car in Copenhagen the day before we fly home. Which means we need a place to stay in Copenhagen our last night in Europe (or sleep in the airport, which would not be ideal). Still waiting on those requests.
So we're only lacking two nights in London and 1 night in Copenhagen. We're almost set!
We need to figure out some thank you gifts to bring our hosts. Something distinctly American and/or distinctly Florida. Hmm. Any ideas?
First of all, when you're looking for a couchsurfing host, you can filter the prospects for things like number of surfers they'll host, age, smoking vs. non-smoking, etc. But of course, the more filters you add, the smaller the pool of possibilities.
Because there are more people who will host 4 people than 5, I've started filtering for 4 and then asking in my request if they wouldn't mind hosting 5 (Bella is small...she should only count as a half!).
Another tip: if you ever become a couchsurfer, pay attention to people's reply rate. If they don't have 80% or better, it's almost pointless to request. Chances are you won't hear back from them. I think a lot of people hear about couchsurfing, love the idea, sign up, create a profile, and then promptly forget to ever do anything with it. We've had our spells of inactivity, but at least I reply to everyone who requests. My favorite person to send a request to has a 100% reply rate and has been logged on in the past week. Chances are pretty good they'll reply, even if it's to decline your request.
So now for the update!
We have 11 nights I'm trying to get couchsurfing hosts for. I've sent 24 official requests, which may not sound like very many, but each one is personalized...cut and paste jobs don't get as many replies. It takes a while.
I've heard back from 12 of the 24. I've had 5 "declines," 3 "maybes," and 4 "accepts." 8 of the 11 nights now have hosts! We're getting there!
Our first couchsurfing nights will be in London. Still no host yet, though we have one "maybe." I have 5 London requests who haven't responded yet, but I should try a few more requests. It's a bummer to find one that sounds perfect (to me, a perfect host is another family with kids who has ample room) and then they decline because they have other plans. It's helpful to not get your hopes up about any potential host, and then be pleasantly surprised when one accepts.
Our next need is Liverpool/Manchester. We've had good luck there, with one Liverpool maybe and two Manchester acceptances. Both are a bit off the beaten path, but that's okay. We'll have a rental car, so we have flexibility. We're leaning towards staying with the one that's more rural, but keeping the other host on standby. Just in case.
After a couple of nights with Steve, we want to head somewhere in Scotland while we still have a car. We got a 3-night acceptance from a family in Insch, a little village in the northeast part of Scotland. They have two kids, so we're really looking forward to that visit. Then we return to Edinburgh for another week with Steve.
The next couchsurfing need is a few weeks later in Germany, and we've got a host. 3 nights in Frankfurt.
I sort of botched the end of our trip by requiring the return of our rental car in Copenhagen the day before we fly home. Which means we need a place to stay in Copenhagen our last night in Europe (or sleep in the airport, which would not be ideal). Still waiting on those requests.
This is not me. But it could be.
So we're only lacking two nights in London and 1 night in Copenhagen. We're almost set!
We need to figure out some thank you gifts to bring our hosts. Something distinctly American and/or distinctly Florida. Hmm. Any ideas?
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Couchsurfing
We are not hardcore couchsurfers, but we've stayed with one before.
If you don't know what couchsurfing is, here's a quick education. It's an online social networking tool for finding people to host you, or to offer your guest room (or couch) to others, for free.
When I tell people that my family occasionally couchsurfs, I often hear something along the lines of "That would make me nervous," or "I could never do that," or "Maybe when the kids are grown and on their own."
First, what are the advantages of staying with friends or family while traveling? A free bed? Home-cooked meal? Sharing a genuine connection with your company? Getting the true local flavor of an area? Wouldn't it be nice if you could stay with friends or family no matter where you went?
When eBay first started up, some people were nervous about buying from strangers. Specifically, the idea of sending someone money before they mail you a product was uncomfortable. But when you buy something off eBay, there are mechanisms designed to help you trust the transaction. Feedback is the main one. Before you purchase, you can look at the seller's feedback. If they've got a hundred positive transactions and no negative ones, and the reviews are things like "this seller was great to work with, fast shipping, item exactly as described," you can trust that your transaction will most likely go off without a hitch. On the other hand, if some of the feedback is negative, or even if some of the positive reviews include hints like "item arrived later than I thought, but basically fine," you can decide not to do business with that seller and look elsewhere. And if a seller has no feedback at all, it might be too much of a gamble.
Couchsurfing employs the eBay model of trust-building, which is critical for something as intimate as sleeping in a stranger's house.
Let's say we're driving to Phoenix from Florida. 2000 miles. It would be nice to break it up over several days. Options: stay in hotels or youth hostels, camp, stay with friends/family if possible, or couchsurf (I suppose sleeping in your car is also an option, but not one I'd take at this stage in my life).
I go to couchsurfing.org (where I already have established a profile) and enter the city that I'd like to find a couch. I briefly describe why I'm visiting and how many are in my group. Then, I get a list of possible hosts. I can read their profiles and feedback from other people who have hosted them or stayed with them. If I like what I read, I send them a request, which is basically a message I write that gets to them through the couchsurfing website. When they read it they respond (hopefully) with a yes, no or maybe. We can have a dialogue, back and forth, to "meet" each other, discuss all kinds of issues (arrival times, food, plans of what to do while there, sleeping arrangements, shared interests, etc.). By the time we actually arrive at their house, we feel like we already know them. Much of the time we spend with them, we'll most likely hang out, chat, share stories, and get to know each other better. By the time we leave, we have a new friend.
The challenges: Couchsurfing attracts people who like to travel and meet new people and experience other cultures, but it also attracts a lot of young people who, for lack of a better term, like to party. It's no surprise that there are a lot more 20-year-olds, less encumbered with the responsibilities of adult life (careers, family, paying bills, getting enough sleep), who are willing to host. So when reading through the profiles, I tend to skip these. Hosts who offer space for a family of five do exist, but they are fewer.
In my experience, couchsurfing folk can be broken down into three main categories of people, with lots of exceptions in between. Over-generalizing is never a good thing, so excuse the names of my categories, which, in keeping with the concept of over-generalization, are not entirely accurate:
THE PARTIERS
They're either college students or just a few years out of college. They are high on life and the novelty of adulthood. They almost always mention in their profile the substances/beverages they enjoy that add to their happy state, with a generous invitation to partake with their guests. Profile picture is often them in a club, holding a drink.
THE HIPPIES
They're any age, generally 20's to 70's. These folk are great, probably more similar to us than most would think, but the tricky thing with the hippies is that their definition of comfort can be...alternative. It's not uncommon to read things like "You can sleep wherever you want, but you might be sharing a room with three other guys, two dogs, a parrot, and my kombucha vats." I love the hippies because they're so open and accommodating (although I've never met any couchsurfer who seemed close-minded about anything). Nothing is weird. It's all good. Peace and love.
THE CULTURE JUNKIES
These are usually hardcore travelers. They list the countries they've visited and you have to scroll down to read them all. They host a ton of people. They know how to haggle in the markets of Marrakesh and discuss the intricacies of Scandinavian art. Their worldwide network of friends and acquaintances is breathtaking. They are, to steal from the Dos Equis marketing campaign, the most interesting people in the world. That hardcore couchsurfer at the start of this post that I said I'd stayed with? He fit this category.
THE PROFESSIONALS
Adults in the truest sense, they work a lot, and use couchsurfing as a means to meet new people amidst their busy lives. They often mention in their profile that they may not have a lot of time to show you around, but they'll try their best. They tend to be more likely to have kids.
THE DREAMIES
I call them the Dreamies because their situation sounds so amazing, its almost like a dream. "I have a 5 bedroom house near downtown. You can use four bedrooms, stay as long as you want, use my washer and dryer, borrow my car, and I'll cook gourmet meals for you. And if I'm not there, I'll leave the key under the mat." Wait, what?! Dreamies are rare, but there are more Dreamies hosting people than you might think.
Like I said, there are plenty of people who don't fit these categories, or are blends of more than one (personally, I think we're a blend of hippie, culture junkie, and professional). Runners-up categories include retirees, families, expats, and outdoors junkies.
In terms of our European summer, I'm trying to line up 11 nights of couchsurfing (not consecutive) in London (2), Liverpool (2), Scotland (3), Frankfurt vicinity (3), and Copenhagen (1). It's still quite early, so I haven't gotten any acceptances yet. The kind of people who use couchsurfing are also the kind of people who travel a lot themselves, so often a request gets turned down because they won't be home, or they'll give a maybe because they don't know what they'll be doing in 3 months. The key is patience, requesting to people who have a high percentage response rate, and putting out as many personalized requests as possible. We'll see what happens.
This will be our first couchsurfing abroad. I'm looking forward to it.
If you don't know what couchsurfing is, here's a quick education. It's an online social networking tool for finding people to host you, or to offer your guest room (or couch) to others, for free.
When I tell people that my family occasionally couchsurfs, I often hear something along the lines of "That would make me nervous," or "I could never do that," or "Maybe when the kids are grown and on their own."
First, what are the advantages of staying with friends or family while traveling? A free bed? Home-cooked meal? Sharing a genuine connection with your company? Getting the true local flavor of an area? Wouldn't it be nice if you could stay with friends or family no matter where you went?
When eBay first started up, some people were nervous about buying from strangers. Specifically, the idea of sending someone money before they mail you a product was uncomfortable. But when you buy something off eBay, there are mechanisms designed to help you trust the transaction. Feedback is the main one. Before you purchase, you can look at the seller's feedback. If they've got a hundred positive transactions and no negative ones, and the reviews are things like "this seller was great to work with, fast shipping, item exactly as described," you can trust that your transaction will most likely go off without a hitch. On the other hand, if some of the feedback is negative, or even if some of the positive reviews include hints like "item arrived later than I thought, but basically fine," you can decide not to do business with that seller and look elsewhere. And if a seller has no feedback at all, it might be too much of a gamble.
Couchsurfing employs the eBay model of trust-building, which is critical for something as intimate as sleeping in a stranger's house.
Let's say we're driving to Phoenix from Florida. 2000 miles. It would be nice to break it up over several days. Options: stay in hotels or youth hostels, camp, stay with friends/family if possible, or couchsurf (I suppose sleeping in your car is also an option, but not one I'd take at this stage in my life).
I go to couchsurfing.org (where I already have established a profile) and enter the city that I'd like to find a couch. I briefly describe why I'm visiting and how many are in my group. Then, I get a list of possible hosts. I can read their profiles and feedback from other people who have hosted them or stayed with them. If I like what I read, I send them a request, which is basically a message I write that gets to them through the couchsurfing website. When they read it they respond (hopefully) with a yes, no or maybe. We can have a dialogue, back and forth, to "meet" each other, discuss all kinds of issues (arrival times, food, plans of what to do while there, sleeping arrangements, shared interests, etc.). By the time we actually arrive at their house, we feel like we already know them. Much of the time we spend with them, we'll most likely hang out, chat, share stories, and get to know each other better. By the time we leave, we have a new friend.
The challenges: Couchsurfing attracts people who like to travel and meet new people and experience other cultures, but it also attracts a lot of young people who, for lack of a better term, like to party. It's no surprise that there are a lot more 20-year-olds, less encumbered with the responsibilities of adult life (careers, family, paying bills, getting enough sleep), who are willing to host. So when reading through the profiles, I tend to skip these. Hosts who offer space for a family of five do exist, but they are fewer.
In my experience, couchsurfing folk can be broken down into three main categories of people, with lots of exceptions in between. Over-generalizing is never a good thing, so excuse the names of my categories, which, in keeping with the concept of over-generalization, are not entirely accurate:
THE PARTIERS
They're either college students or just a few years out of college. They are high on life and the novelty of adulthood. They almost always mention in their profile the substances/beverages they enjoy that add to their happy state, with a generous invitation to partake with their guests. Profile picture is often them in a club, holding a drink.
THE HIPPIES
They're any age, generally 20's to 70's. These folk are great, probably more similar to us than most would think, but the tricky thing with the hippies is that their definition of comfort can be...alternative. It's not uncommon to read things like "You can sleep wherever you want, but you might be sharing a room with three other guys, two dogs, a parrot, and my kombucha vats." I love the hippies because they're so open and accommodating (although I've never met any couchsurfer who seemed close-minded about anything). Nothing is weird. It's all good. Peace and love.
THE CULTURE JUNKIES
These are usually hardcore travelers. They list the countries they've visited and you have to scroll down to read them all. They host a ton of people. They know how to haggle in the markets of Marrakesh and discuss the intricacies of Scandinavian art. Their worldwide network of friends and acquaintances is breathtaking. They are, to steal from the Dos Equis marketing campaign, the most interesting people in the world. That hardcore couchsurfer at the start of this post that I said I'd stayed with? He fit this category.
THE PROFESSIONALS
Adults in the truest sense, they work a lot, and use couchsurfing as a means to meet new people amidst their busy lives. They often mention in their profile that they may not have a lot of time to show you around, but they'll try their best. They tend to be more likely to have kids.
THE DREAMIES
I call them the Dreamies because their situation sounds so amazing, its almost like a dream. "I have a 5 bedroom house near downtown. You can use four bedrooms, stay as long as you want, use my washer and dryer, borrow my car, and I'll cook gourmet meals for you. And if I'm not there, I'll leave the key under the mat." Wait, what?! Dreamies are rare, but there are more Dreamies hosting people than you might think.
Like I said, there are plenty of people who don't fit these categories, or are blends of more than one (personally, I think we're a blend of hippie, culture junkie, and professional). Runners-up categories include retirees, families, expats, and outdoors junkies.
In terms of our European summer, I'm trying to line up 11 nights of couchsurfing (not consecutive) in London (2), Liverpool (2), Scotland (3), Frankfurt vicinity (3), and Copenhagen (1). It's still quite early, so I haven't gotten any acceptances yet. The kind of people who use couchsurfing are also the kind of people who travel a lot themselves, so often a request gets turned down because they won't be home, or they'll give a maybe because they don't know what they'll be doing in 3 months. The key is patience, requesting to people who have a high percentage response rate, and putting out as many personalized requests as possible. We'll see what happens.
This will be our first couchsurfing abroad. I'm looking forward to it.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Why? How? When? Where?
Why?
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Mark Twain
As a family activity, we like to travel. We've taken road trips to North Carolina or across the country, extended trips to Costa Rica, and to a lesser extent, Europe. We've only been to Europe as a family once, in 2003, to Scotland for 3 weeks. Cristina has been to Germany a few times by herself or with Alex (once). Costa Rica is cheaper, both the flight and the living expenses.
Years ago, we began planning what kind of summer trip we should do when Sofia graduates. She's loved Greece since studying Greek mythology, so that seemed a natural choice. But after hosting Ida, our Danish student, the number of friends we'd like to visit in Europe hit critical mass and Europe was the logical choice.
“Whoever created the world went to a lot of trouble. It would be downright rude not to go out and see as much of it as possible.” Edward Readicker-Henderson
How?
People who know us know we have raised our family on a public school teacher's salary. It hasn't been easy. We've gotten help from family at various times, we've had plenty of debt, we lost a house because we wanted to move closer to family during a time when houses in Phoenix were not selling, and we've even filed bankruptcy. So how in the world is a family like that going to Europe? The short answer is cheaply.
When we travel, we never stay in hotels or resorts. We only travel where we have friends or family who are willing to let us temporarily live with them.
We eat like the locals. As much as I'd love to try a new restaurant every day in a foreign country, our budget doesn't allow for that. So we shop in grocery stores and farmer's markets like the locals, and we cook our meals like we do at home.
We're not big shoppers, so we don't bring suitcases of new clothes and trinkets back with us. So the main expense is getting there and back.
I only claim 1 allowance on my W4, instead of 5, which means my employer withholds a lot more tax than they should. I know, I know, I'm giving the government an interest-free loan, since I'm going to get most of the withheld tax back in a refund. But I see it as a year-long savings plan that I can't dip into when the brakes need replacing or the kids have a field trip to pay for. The amount that I get back in a tax refund is significant enough to do something big with, like put braces on someone's teeth, or travel to Europe.
I also spend a lot of time (probably an obsessive amount of time) researching the best, cheapest flights. That involves running checks on various cities and dates. Over and over and over. I started this process in December (it's hard to find fares for flights more than 6 months ahead of time). On an almost daily basis, I checked fares, knowing I wouldn't have the money to purchase until mid-February (I file my taxes on the first day possible). My goal was to find airfare to Europe for $1000 per person. It was disheartening at times. At one point in January, I couldn't find anything cheaper than $1350. That doesn't sound like that big of a discrepancy, but remember that you have to multiply everything by 5 family members. So $350 extra becomes $1750 extra, which is a budget-buster. I knew I was getting about $5000 back in a tax refund.
Patience pays off. About a week after my tax refund was safely in my checking account, I found a flight from Orlando to Copenhagen close to the perfect dates, for $1014 per person. I bought.
When?
Some people justify the low pay teachers get with the fact that teachers have summers off. What people don't realize is that teachers don't get paid for those summers. So we have to take our already low pay and budget it to get us through the two months of summer when we don't get a paycheck. Many teachers work other jobs, tutor, or teach summer school to make some extra money. From 2006 to 2010, I worked summer school, 5 years in a row. Hell, in 2005, I worked at IKEA throughout the summer. A veteran teacher with a Master's degree selling sofas for $8 an hour. But I loved it.
The bonus, of course, is having that much time to do other things, if you can afford to not work the whole summer. This is when we've done most of our traveling. Those years when I taught summer school, the rest of the family usually started a trip without me and then I joined them after summer school was over. Not ideal, but sometimes a financial necessity.
Once Sofia got to high school, our summers were shortened by band camp. The first band camp is during the first week of summer break, and the second band camp is two weeks before school starts. So our 8-week window has been shortened to 5 weeks for the past four summers. With her graduating, and Alex still a year away from high school, we have before us a beautiful full summer, an eight week canvas on which to paint our European masterpiece. We decided to use as much of it as possible. Sofia has an exam after graduation (weird, I know, but that's the Cambridge program) and the cheapest flights were on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we purchased tickets flying out on Tuesday, June 17 and returning Tuesday, August 12. August 12 is two days into teacher pre-planning, but I'll use some leave days.
Where?
Getting to Europe turned out to be the easy part. Deciding what to do in Europe has been considerably harder. We have longtime friends in Germany and Scotland, so that seemed like the priority, the starting point. I've wanted to visit Denmark for years, and now with Ida in our lives and an invitation to stay with her family, that seemed like a no-brainer (plus the cheapest flights were to Copenhagen).
It seemed a shame to go all the way to Europe and not visit our Swiss friends who also invited us to stay with them, so that made its way into our plan.
The distances throughout Europe are short compared to traveling around the US, but I have news for those who think it's cheap to travel all over Europe by train. It ain't. I guess it's relatively cheap if you're a single student backpacking from country to country, but for a family of 5 with a necessary degree of luggage, trying to go to as many places as we are, trains are cost-prohibitive. Even as expensive as gas is in Europe ($8-$9 a gallon) the cheapest option is to rent cars and drive wherever we need to go.
The filmmaker Guillermo del Toro said, “The saddest journey in the world is the one that follows a precise itinerary. Then you're not a traveler. You're a f@@king tourist.” I disagree. When you have a family of five trying to visit four countries on a shoestring budget, a precise itinerary is required for solvency and sanity. We're far from tourists, as we'll probably not stay a single night in a room that we pay for. And while our itinerary is precise, we have no plans for what we're doing at each place we visit. That can unfold as it occurs.
So the cars are hired. The flights are booked. Only thing left is the packing and the going. Here's the breakdown:
PART 1: DENMARK
June 17 - depart Orlando
June 18 - arrive Copenhagen, rent car, drive to Hals, Denmark to visit Marion and family (German friends on vacation in Denmark)
June 22 - drive to Vordingborg, Denmark to visit Trine and family (Danish-American friends)
June 25 - return car in Copenhagen, fly to London
PART 2: UNITED KINGDOM
June 25 - arrive in London, stay with Couchsurfing hosts (TBD)
June 27 - rent (sorry, hire) a car, drive to Liverpool, stay with Couchsurfing hosts (TBD)
June 29 - arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland, settle in with Steve and family
July 1 - tour Scotland while we still have a car
July 4 - return car in Edinburgh
July 10 - fly to Switzerland
PART 3: SWITZERLAND
July 10 - arrive in Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (technically France, but who's counting). Rent a car in Freiburg, Germany, drive to Langenthal, Switzerland (Elisabeth and family)
July 16 - drive to Lenk im Simmental, Switzerland to visit Karin and family
July 21 - return car in Freiburg, rent another car in Freiburg (it's an insurance thing)
PART 4: GERMANY
July 21 - spend a few days in Frankfurt with Couchsurfing hosts
July 24 - spend a few days in Blomberg with Marion and family
July 27 - drive to Hamburg, stay at Martin's flat (one of our previous couchsurfing guests)
July 28 - return car in Hamburg, I fly to Copenhagen, rent car, drive back to Hamburg
July 29 - drive to Aarhus, visit with Ida and family
PART 5: DENMARK
July 29 - visit with Ida and family
August 8 - drive to Nykobing Falster, decompress at Trine's house
August 11 - return car in Copenhagen
August 12 - depart for Orlando
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Mark Twain
As a family activity, we like to travel. We've taken road trips to North Carolina or across the country, extended trips to Costa Rica, and to a lesser extent, Europe. We've only been to Europe as a family once, in 2003, to Scotland for 3 weeks. Cristina has been to Germany a few times by herself or with Alex (once). Costa Rica is cheaper, both the flight and the living expenses.
Years ago, we began planning what kind of summer trip we should do when Sofia graduates. She's loved Greece since studying Greek mythology, so that seemed a natural choice. But after hosting Ida, our Danish student, the number of friends we'd like to visit in Europe hit critical mass and Europe was the logical choice.
“Whoever created the world went to a lot of trouble. It would be downright rude not to go out and see as much of it as possible.” Edward Readicker-Henderson
How?
People who know us know we have raised our family on a public school teacher's salary. It hasn't been easy. We've gotten help from family at various times, we've had plenty of debt, we lost a house because we wanted to move closer to family during a time when houses in Phoenix were not selling, and we've even filed bankruptcy. So how in the world is a family like that going to Europe? The short answer is cheaply.
When we travel, we never stay in hotels or resorts. We only travel where we have friends or family who are willing to let us temporarily live with them.
We eat like the locals. As much as I'd love to try a new restaurant every day in a foreign country, our budget doesn't allow for that. So we shop in grocery stores and farmer's markets like the locals, and we cook our meals like we do at home.
We're not big shoppers, so we don't bring suitcases of new clothes and trinkets back with us. So the main expense is getting there and back.
I only claim 1 allowance on my W4, instead of 5, which means my employer withholds a lot more tax than they should. I know, I know, I'm giving the government an interest-free loan, since I'm going to get most of the withheld tax back in a refund. But I see it as a year-long savings plan that I can't dip into when the brakes need replacing or the kids have a field trip to pay for. The amount that I get back in a tax refund is significant enough to do something big with, like put braces on someone's teeth, or travel to Europe.
I also spend a lot of time (probably an obsessive amount of time) researching the best, cheapest flights. That involves running checks on various cities and dates. Over and over and over. I started this process in December (it's hard to find fares for flights more than 6 months ahead of time). On an almost daily basis, I checked fares, knowing I wouldn't have the money to purchase until mid-February (I file my taxes on the first day possible). My goal was to find airfare to Europe for $1000 per person. It was disheartening at times. At one point in January, I couldn't find anything cheaper than $1350. That doesn't sound like that big of a discrepancy, but remember that you have to multiply everything by 5 family members. So $350 extra becomes $1750 extra, which is a budget-buster. I knew I was getting about $5000 back in a tax refund.
Patience pays off. About a week after my tax refund was safely in my checking account, I found a flight from Orlando to Copenhagen close to the perfect dates, for $1014 per person. I bought.
When?
Some people justify the low pay teachers get with the fact that teachers have summers off. What people don't realize is that teachers don't get paid for those summers. So we have to take our already low pay and budget it to get us through the two months of summer when we don't get a paycheck. Many teachers work other jobs, tutor, or teach summer school to make some extra money. From 2006 to 2010, I worked summer school, 5 years in a row. Hell, in 2005, I worked at IKEA throughout the summer. A veteran teacher with a Master's degree selling sofas for $8 an hour. But I loved it.
The bonus, of course, is having that much time to do other things, if you can afford to not work the whole summer. This is when we've done most of our traveling. Those years when I taught summer school, the rest of the family usually started a trip without me and then I joined them after summer school was over. Not ideal, but sometimes a financial necessity.
Once Sofia got to high school, our summers were shortened by band camp. The first band camp is during the first week of summer break, and the second band camp is two weeks before school starts. So our 8-week window has been shortened to 5 weeks for the past four summers. With her graduating, and Alex still a year away from high school, we have before us a beautiful full summer, an eight week canvas on which to paint our European masterpiece. We decided to use as much of it as possible. Sofia has an exam after graduation (weird, I know, but that's the Cambridge program) and the cheapest flights were on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we purchased tickets flying out on Tuesday, June 17 and returning Tuesday, August 12. August 12 is two days into teacher pre-planning, but I'll use some leave days.
Where?
Getting to Europe turned out to be the easy part. Deciding what to do in Europe has been considerably harder. We have longtime friends in Germany and Scotland, so that seemed like the priority, the starting point. I've wanted to visit Denmark for years, and now with Ida in our lives and an invitation to stay with her family, that seemed like a no-brainer (plus the cheapest flights were to Copenhagen).
It seemed a shame to go all the way to Europe and not visit our Swiss friends who also invited us to stay with them, so that made its way into our plan.
The distances throughout Europe are short compared to traveling around the US, but I have news for those who think it's cheap to travel all over Europe by train. It ain't. I guess it's relatively cheap if you're a single student backpacking from country to country, but for a family of 5 with a necessary degree of luggage, trying to go to as many places as we are, trains are cost-prohibitive. Even as expensive as gas is in Europe ($8-$9 a gallon) the cheapest option is to rent cars and drive wherever we need to go.
The filmmaker Guillermo del Toro said, “The saddest journey in the world is the one that follows a precise itinerary. Then you're not a traveler. You're a f@@king tourist.” I disagree. When you have a family of five trying to visit four countries on a shoestring budget, a precise itinerary is required for solvency and sanity. We're far from tourists, as we'll probably not stay a single night in a room that we pay for. And while our itinerary is precise, we have no plans for what we're doing at each place we visit. That can unfold as it occurs.
So the cars are hired. The flights are booked. Only thing left is the packing and the going. Here's the breakdown:
PART 1: DENMARK
June 17 - depart Orlando
June 18 - arrive Copenhagen, rent car, drive to Hals, Denmark to visit Marion and family (German friends on vacation in Denmark)
June 22 - drive to Vordingborg, Denmark to visit Trine and family (Danish-American friends)
June 25 - return car in Copenhagen, fly to London
PART 2: UNITED KINGDOM
June 25 - arrive in London, stay with Couchsurfing hosts (TBD)
June 27 - rent (sorry, hire) a car, drive to Liverpool, stay with Couchsurfing hosts (TBD)
June 29 - arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland, settle in with Steve and family
July 1 - tour Scotland while we still have a car
July 4 - return car in Edinburgh
July 10 - fly to Switzerland
PART 3: SWITZERLAND
July 10 - arrive in Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (technically France, but who's counting). Rent a car in Freiburg, Germany, drive to Langenthal, Switzerland (Elisabeth and family)
July 16 - drive to Lenk im Simmental, Switzerland to visit Karin and family
July 21 - return car in Freiburg, rent another car in Freiburg (it's an insurance thing)
PART 4: GERMANY
July 21 - spend a few days in Frankfurt with Couchsurfing hosts
July 24 - spend a few days in Blomberg with Marion and family
July 27 - drive to Hamburg, stay at Martin's flat (one of our previous couchsurfing guests)July 28 - return car in Hamburg, I fly to Copenhagen, rent car, drive back to Hamburg
July 29 - drive to Aarhus, visit with Ida and family
PART 5: DENMARK
July 29 - visit with Ida and family
August 8 - drive to Nykobing Falster, decompress at Trine's house
August 11 - return car in Copenhagen
August 12 - depart for Orlando
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Firing the Blog up Again
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been over a year since I last blogged.
And in the meantime, I've gotten 36 comments on old posts. Most of those were spam. So it goes.
I first blogged before there was something called a blog. I called it a travel journal. We spent about 7 weeks in Costa Rica in 1994 and I kept a journal every day.
Hold up. Back up eleven years.
Technically, my first travel journal was in November 1983, when I traveled to Israel with my mom and aunt. My grandmother worked at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa, and we stayed with her for about 3 weeks and went on Baha'i Pilgrimage. Since I missed so much school, my teachers assembled a packet of stuff for me to complete. A daily travel journal was a requirement for my Language Arts teacher (probably...honestly, I don't remember who wanted what. I think my math teacher, Mr. Klauder, wanted me to research the Israeli currency and do a report for the class. Shekels.)
This sixth grade travel journal was a place to record the things I noticed, things I ate, places I went. I remember my dad criticized that I primarily logged the mundane day-to-day things ("This morning I ate corn flakes for breakfast") but the beauty of a journal or a blog or a diary, whatever you want to call it, is that you write it for yourself. You write the things that are meaningful to you. So, yes, I was on a religious pilgrimage in a foreign country, and there were undoubtedly an overwhelming number of cultural differences to take in, but for an 11-year-old, sometimes you want to log the corn flakes.
1994. Costa Rica. I'm not even sure I had a computer yet and laptops were still years away. I wrote my travel journal the old-fashioned way...long hand on a legal pad. Years later, I typed it into a Word document.
By 1998, when we returned to Costa Rica, my father-in-law had a computer. For the first time I typed my journals (usually while two-year-old Sofia was napping), and for the first time, I could email them to family members. Dial up, baby. I remember it was expensive to connect during the day, so we had to wait until evening to send emails. Ha.
My first travel blog was our 2006 trip to Costa Rica. The biggest advantages to blogging were that I could include photos (we bought our first digital camera in 2005) and people could read my blogs at their leisure, instead of waiting for an email.
I've blogged each trip abroad since then, although that's not as impressive as it sounds, since we've only traveled abroad one other time since then, to Costa Rica in 2009.
Until now. Until this summer.
We're going to Europe. Details to come.
And in the meantime, I've gotten 36 comments on old posts. Most of those were spam. So it goes.
I first blogged before there was something called a blog. I called it a travel journal. We spent about 7 weeks in Costa Rica in 1994 and I kept a journal every day.
Hold up. Back up eleven years.
Technically, my first travel journal was in November 1983, when I traveled to Israel with my mom and aunt. My grandmother worked at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa, and we stayed with her for about 3 weeks and went on Baha'i Pilgrimage. Since I missed so much school, my teachers assembled a packet of stuff for me to complete. A daily travel journal was a requirement for my Language Arts teacher (probably...honestly, I don't remember who wanted what. I think my math teacher, Mr. Klauder, wanted me to research the Israeli currency and do a report for the class. Shekels.)
This sixth grade travel journal was a place to record the things I noticed, things I ate, places I went. I remember my dad criticized that I primarily logged the mundane day-to-day things ("This morning I ate corn flakes for breakfast") but the beauty of a journal or a blog or a diary, whatever you want to call it, is that you write it for yourself. You write the things that are meaningful to you. So, yes, I was on a religious pilgrimage in a foreign country, and there were undoubtedly an overwhelming number of cultural differences to take in, but for an 11-year-old, sometimes you want to log the corn flakes.
1994. Costa Rica. I'm not even sure I had a computer yet and laptops were still years away. I wrote my travel journal the old-fashioned way...long hand on a legal pad. Years later, I typed it into a Word document.
By 1998, when we returned to Costa Rica, my father-in-law had a computer. For the first time I typed my journals (usually while two-year-old Sofia was napping), and for the first time, I could email them to family members. Dial up, baby. I remember it was expensive to connect during the day, so we had to wait until evening to send emails. Ha.
My first travel blog was our 2006 trip to Costa Rica. The biggest advantages to blogging were that I could include photos (we bought our first digital camera in 2005) and people could read my blogs at their leisure, instead of waiting for an email.
I've blogged each trip abroad since then, although that's not as impressive as it sounds, since we've only traveled abroad one other time since then, to Costa Rica in 2009.
Until now. Until this summer.
We're going to Europe. Details to come.
Monday, February 18, 2013
My Movie History - Part 5: Filmmaking, Snot, and Other Pursuits
Snot Man
In 1991, to promote the movie The Rocketeer, the Oaks 10 had a contest. Patrons were invited to create their own superhero and make a short film. Entries would be judged by management and the winners received prizes. The grand prize was a skydiving trip for two. Riley was the assistant manager in charge of the promotion.
There was one problem. The deadline was approaching, and Riley only had one submission. He was desperate for the promotion to at least appear to be successful (bonus pay may have been on the line).
I still had my parents's Handycam, and the guys and I already made short films for fun in our spare time. Riley knew this and asked if I would enter the contest, even though I was an employee. Like I said, he was desperate.
I took some footage Burt, Dom and I had already shot (some of our random late-night craziness) gave it a bit of editing, and added some cheesy voiceover. The impromptu footage--showing Burt apparently stopping a moving car with his bare hands--became the superhero film Average Man. The name Average Man seemed to fit the fact that our hero (Burt) wore street clothes instead of a costume. The editing was rough, the footage dark and shaky, but I entered it.
Another guy I worked with, Roc (his name was Rob but a misprint on his name tag kind of stuck), wanted to make an entry called Snot Man, about a superhero who has amazing sinus abilities. It was silly and fun, and I agreed to help him. I starred as the bad guy, Jack Weasel, donning a jester's hat and some goofy bat glasses we'd found in an empty movie theater. Riley even helped us. We shot the whole thing in one night. I think about 5 or 6 theater people were involved in some way. The climax of the 4-minute film had Snot Man snotting on me (to the death) in a post office parking lot. The snot was a random mixture of salad dressing and other condiments.
Despite the graphic death-by-bodily-fluids of Snot Man, it only finished in third place (out of three entries, i.e. last place). I blame the editing, which was so horrible it was practically unwatchable. In 1991, no one had editing equipment, and digital editing on a computer was still close to 10 years away. Hell, I didn't even own a computer yet. So I had to edit the primitive way: with one VCR playing and a second VCR manually recording and pausing as needed. It was crude as hell, and the finished product looked it.
The one legitimate entry (it was pretty bad too) won second place. And Average Man won the grand prize! Riley never got around to hooking us up with the skydiving trip though. Major letdown.
Snot Man 2
Average Man disappeared into the mists of obscurity, but Snot Man became legendary. Everyone at the theater knew about it, and if anyone hadn't seen it, they wanted to. All Average Man did was stop a car with his hands. Snot Man killed the bad guy with his snot! Rumor always makes things better than they actually are, right? Soon, I decided to make a proper sequel. Unlike the make-it-up-as-we-go technique, I actually planned out a story using various locations around Gainesville. I maintained some of the bits from the original (as per the official crappy sequel formula) such as a work-out scene, and a climactic snotting.
Snot Man 2, with Roc as Snot Man and me as Jack Weasel, was also filmed in one night. To avoid the crappy post-editing, I edited mostly in-camera (that is, I'd start shooting exactly where I wanted the shot to begin, and if we messed up, I'd back the tape up to the same spot and do it over. Tedious, but it produced a much cleaner final product).
Part of Snot Man 2 was filmed in my parents' apartment (they were living in Gainesville too). We shot those scenes in the middle of the night, and we couldn't be too loud for fear of waking my parents up. So even though it's the big climactic fight scene, we never really raise our voices. Comical.
After a bit of post-production (mainly sound related) we scheduled a party just to premiere the 18-minute long Snot Man 2. It was a good excuse to have a party (by this time, Dom and I were sharing an off-campus apartment). I suppose getting people together to drink alcohol and watch the latest Snot Man movie helped cement the love of these movies in the hearts of dozens of Oaks 10 employees.
That fall, I shot a 20-minute horror film (starring Dom and Karla) for a Halloween party. It's hard to make a scary movie (much easier to make something funny) without coming across as cliched or cheesy. But I think I almost pulled it off with Death and Redemption, about as well as a 19-year-old with crappy equipment can.
Snot Man 2 had intentionally ended as a bit of a cliffhanger, so towards the end of 1991, the calls to complete the trilogy were growing strong. I started writing Snot Man 3 after Halloween for an intended premiere at a Christmas party (or New Year's party...can't remember). As the script got more and more ambitious, I knew I wasn't going to be done in time. I would have had full-fledged revolt if I didn't have something, so I made a 3-minute trailer for Snot Man 3. Just a teaser, really, with the revelation that there would be a new bad guy (I wanted to write my character out so I could concentrate on shooting and directing).
Snot Man 3
In early 1992, I had a completed script for my epic masterpiece Snot Man 3. I didn't know how long it was going to be, but I knew it was longer than the first two combined. The script was a shooting script. That is, I had each shot described. Like a written storyboard. Not sure why I didn't actually storyboard it out. Too lazy, I guess.
Filming was complicated for a number of reasons. The cast was all theatre employees, most of which were also college students. So finding times when the actors were free was tricky. The locations included the mall parking lot, suburban neighborhood streets, the North Florida Regional Hospital duck pond, various apartments, a parking garages, and a few locations on the UF campus. The bulk of the third act was shot at night, so finding locations with decent nighttime lighting was also a challenge. I did it all with the Handycam, editing in camera.
Dom turned in an inspired performance as the new bad guy, Twisted Larry. His death-by-snot was as over-the-top as you'd expect. Of all the principle actors in Snot Man 3, the one I've lost touch with is the main star, Roc, who played Snot Man. I have no idea where he is today. I need to look him up on Facebook.
The final product took about 4 months to complete and came in a little over an hour long. The Snot Man 3 premiere party was one for the ages. The movie was so popular among the theatre employees that our general manager, Chuck Dewitt, knew about it and wanted to see it. AMC had a rule that managers were not supposed to fraternize with employees, and I had at least 2 managers with acting roles in Snot Man 3 (and several more who eventually became managers). So I refused to let him see the movie. He eventually sweetened the deal by offering me a birthday package at Aladdin's Castle (an arcade across from the theatre in the mall). A birthday package at Aladdin's Castle consisted of (if I remember correctly) cake, balloons, and game tokens for 8 people or so. I took it. I let him watch Snot Man 3 for cake and game tokens. I suppose you could say that was my pay for making the movie. His only comment after watching it was "pretty good." As far as I know, no managers received any discipline for fraternizing.
Post-Snot Man
I met my future wife about 2 months after Snot Man 3 premiered, and for the next few years I devoted my energy and time to building that relationship, graduating from college, and planning a post-college life, which involved grad school. So the moviemaking took a backseat. My experiences making little movies with my friends, combined with what I learned in Journalism school, would come full circle years later when I taught TV production at GHS.
In 1991, to promote the movie The Rocketeer, the Oaks 10 had a contest. Patrons were invited to create their own superhero and make a short film. Entries would be judged by management and the winners received prizes. The grand prize was a skydiving trip for two. Riley was the assistant manager in charge of the promotion.
There was one problem. The deadline was approaching, and Riley only had one submission. He was desperate for the promotion to at least appear to be successful (bonus pay may have been on the line).
I still had my parents's Handycam, and the guys and I already made short films for fun in our spare time. Riley knew this and asked if I would enter the contest, even though I was an employee. Like I said, he was desperate.
I took some footage Burt, Dom and I had already shot (some of our random late-night craziness) gave it a bit of editing, and added some cheesy voiceover. The impromptu footage--showing Burt apparently stopping a moving car with his bare hands--became the superhero film Average Man. The name Average Man seemed to fit the fact that our hero (Burt) wore street clothes instead of a costume. The editing was rough, the footage dark and shaky, but I entered it.
Another guy I worked with, Roc (his name was Rob but a misprint on his name tag kind of stuck), wanted to make an entry called Snot Man, about a superhero who has amazing sinus abilities. It was silly and fun, and I agreed to help him. I starred as the bad guy, Jack Weasel, donning a jester's hat and some goofy bat glasses we'd found in an empty movie theater. Riley even helped us. We shot the whole thing in one night. I think about 5 or 6 theater people were involved in some way. The climax of the 4-minute film had Snot Man snotting on me (to the death) in a post office parking lot. The snot was a random mixture of salad dressing and other condiments.
Despite the graphic death-by-bodily-fluids of Snot Man, it only finished in third place (out of three entries, i.e. last place). I blame the editing, which was so horrible it was practically unwatchable. In 1991, no one had editing equipment, and digital editing on a computer was still close to 10 years away. Hell, I didn't even own a computer yet. So I had to edit the primitive way: with one VCR playing and a second VCR manually recording and pausing as needed. It was crude as hell, and the finished product looked it.
The one legitimate entry (it was pretty bad too) won second place. And Average Man won the grand prize! Riley never got around to hooking us up with the skydiving trip though. Major letdown.
Snot Man 2
Average Man disappeared into the mists of obscurity, but Snot Man became legendary. Everyone at the theater knew about it, and if anyone hadn't seen it, they wanted to. All Average Man did was stop a car with his hands. Snot Man killed the bad guy with his snot! Rumor always makes things better than they actually are, right? Soon, I decided to make a proper sequel. Unlike the make-it-up-as-we-go technique, I actually planned out a story using various locations around Gainesville. I maintained some of the bits from the original (as per the official crappy sequel formula) such as a work-out scene, and a climactic snotting.
Snot Man 2, with Roc as Snot Man and me as Jack Weasel, was also filmed in one night. To avoid the crappy post-editing, I edited mostly in-camera (that is, I'd start shooting exactly where I wanted the shot to begin, and if we messed up, I'd back the tape up to the same spot and do it over. Tedious, but it produced a much cleaner final product).
Part of Snot Man 2 was filmed in my parents' apartment (they were living in Gainesville too). We shot those scenes in the middle of the night, and we couldn't be too loud for fear of waking my parents up. So even though it's the big climactic fight scene, we never really raise our voices. Comical.
After a bit of post-production (mainly sound related) we scheduled a party just to premiere the 18-minute long Snot Man 2. It was a good excuse to have a party (by this time, Dom and I were sharing an off-campus apartment). I suppose getting people together to drink alcohol and watch the latest Snot Man movie helped cement the love of these movies in the hearts of dozens of Oaks 10 employees.
That fall, I shot a 20-minute horror film (starring Dom and Karla) for a Halloween party. It's hard to make a scary movie (much easier to make something funny) without coming across as cliched or cheesy. But I think I almost pulled it off with Death and Redemption, about as well as a 19-year-old with crappy equipment can.
Snot Man 2 had intentionally ended as a bit of a cliffhanger, so towards the end of 1991, the calls to complete the trilogy were growing strong. I started writing Snot Man 3 after Halloween for an intended premiere at a Christmas party (or New Year's party...can't remember). As the script got more and more ambitious, I knew I wasn't going to be done in time. I would have had full-fledged revolt if I didn't have something, so I made a 3-minute trailer for Snot Man 3. Just a teaser, really, with the revelation that there would be a new bad guy (I wanted to write my character out so I could concentrate on shooting and directing).
Snot Man 3
In early 1992, I had a completed script for my epic masterpiece Snot Man 3. I didn't know how long it was going to be, but I knew it was longer than the first two combined. The script was a shooting script. That is, I had each shot described. Like a written storyboard. Not sure why I didn't actually storyboard it out. Too lazy, I guess.
Filming was complicated for a number of reasons. The cast was all theatre employees, most of which were also college students. So finding times when the actors were free was tricky. The locations included the mall parking lot, suburban neighborhood streets, the North Florida Regional Hospital duck pond, various apartments, a parking garages, and a few locations on the UF campus. The bulk of the third act was shot at night, so finding locations with decent nighttime lighting was also a challenge. I did it all with the Handycam, editing in camera.
Dom turned in an inspired performance as the new bad guy, Twisted Larry. His death-by-snot was as over-the-top as you'd expect. Of all the principle actors in Snot Man 3, the one I've lost touch with is the main star, Roc, who played Snot Man. I have no idea where he is today. I need to look him up on Facebook.
The final product took about 4 months to complete and came in a little over an hour long. The Snot Man 3 premiere party was one for the ages. The movie was so popular among the theatre employees that our general manager, Chuck Dewitt, knew about it and wanted to see it. AMC had a rule that managers were not supposed to fraternize with employees, and I had at least 2 managers with acting roles in Snot Man 3 (and several more who eventually became managers). So I refused to let him see the movie. He eventually sweetened the deal by offering me a birthday package at Aladdin's Castle (an arcade across from the theatre in the mall). A birthday package at Aladdin's Castle consisted of (if I remember correctly) cake, balloons, and game tokens for 8 people or so. I took it. I let him watch Snot Man 3 for cake and game tokens. I suppose you could say that was my pay for making the movie. His only comment after watching it was "pretty good." As far as I know, no managers received any discipline for fraternizing.
Post-Snot Man
I met my future wife about 2 months after Snot Man 3 premiered, and for the next few years I devoted my energy and time to building that relationship, graduating from college, and planning a post-college life, which involved grad school. So the moviemaking took a backseat. My experiences making little movies with my friends, combined with what I learned in Journalism school, would come full circle years later when I taught TV production at GHS.
Monday, February 11, 2013
My Movie History - Part 4: College
My Weekend Education
When I went to college, I was craving knowledge: cinematic knowledge! While I was well-versed in the Spielberg-Lucas oeuvre and the cheap slasher-flick canon, I was really a cinematic novice. My thirst for a wider experience was partially instigated by an issue of Premiere magazine I bought in 1989 or 1990 (the magazine was relatively new then). The issue was devoted to the top 100 films of all time, and I realized that while many of the titles sounded familiar, I hadn't actually seen very many of them. The write-ups for each one piqued my interest. They were brief and avoided boring summary. Things like "Dr. Strangelove: Stanley Kubrick has been ensconced in his English house for so many years it's easy to forget what a firm grasp he had on the American psyche when he made this black comedy." Kudos to that writer, since I still remember the gist of his words over twenty years later.
My first semester at UF, high school buddy Burton Meahl was my dorm roommate but spent most of his weekends back in Inverness, Steve had moved back to Scotland, Dominick was mostly working at Red Lobster in Ocala and still living at home (I think), and Damian was at UCF in Orlando. Since UF was so big, and I've never been that adept on the social scene, I spent many weekends alone in my dorm room. So one of the first things I did was buy a VCR.
In 1990, Gainesville had a music and movie store called Spec's that rented VHS tapes. They had a large "classics" section. Having whole weekends to watch whatever I wanted, with no one else's tastes or opinions to consider in the selection of movies, allowed me to stock up on films that would, to most 18-year-olds, seem like lame, boring choices. I spent many weekends ensconced (like Kubrick in his English house) in my dark dorm room, watching Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, Dr. Strangelove, The Birds, Raging Bull, Touch of Evil, Rope,... pretty much every Kubrick, Hitchcock, and Scorsese movie I could get my hands on. Instead of going to Gator football games on Saturdays, I was eating corn flakes with George Roy Hill and tuna melts with Orson Welles. It was bliss.
I'll always have fond memories of those weekends alone in the dorm room, watching so many great films for the first time. That was as much a part of my education as the classes that I went to during the week.
By the time Spring semester came around, three things happened that changed my weekend habits. First, Dom moved to Gainesville, as did Burt's girlfriend. Dom was much more available to hang out with, and Burt was in the dorm a lot more often on the weekends. Second, I took a class called "Writing About Film." After my semester-long film gorge, I felt much more competent, but the class still opened me up to directors I hadn't yet gotten to, like Zeffirelli and Kurosawa and Jacques Tati. Thirdly, I got another job at a movie theatre, this time at AMC in the Oaks Mall. Not only would this broaden my choices for seeing current movies, it would also give me the social network I lacked during the fall. Suddenly, I had people to hang out with, and they all loved movies as much as I did.
One more memory about that film class. The professor showed most of his films on a 16mm film projector rather than a VCR. During the first week of class, he asked for a volunteer to thread up the projector each week. I told him I had worked as a projectionist in a movie theatre back home. I got the job.
That class was one of the best classes I ever took. Unfortunately, I got a B+, only because I skipped one of the film viewings. Steve was visiting from Scotland, and besides, I'd already seen the film. But missing a viewing dropped your grade one letter grade. Oh well.
Laserdiscs
During that first year of college, I had educated myself about aspect ratio and mise en scene, enough to a) know that you lost a lot of the picture when you watched a movie on your TV and b) to care. There was a new format of home video just becoming popular that appealed to cinephiles like myself: laserdisc.
Even before everybody's TV was widescreen, most laserdiscs were released widescreen, and the audio and visual quality was far better than VHS or Beta. I saved up my money and got a laserdisc player in early 1991. My friend Damian worked at a Service Merchandise in Orlando. I gave him the money to buy my laserdisc player with his employee discount. It was a basic, no-frills model. Pioneer. I think I paid $325 for it.
The first laserdiscs I bought were the Star Wars trilogy. I got them through a mail-order movie/music service called Columbia House for something like 49 cents each (with an obligation to buy 3 more in the next year...you probably know the drill). Dom, Steve, and I (Steve was visiting from Scotland) inaugurated my laserdisc player by watching all 3 Star Wars movies, in succession, together. It was the first time any of us had seen the Star Wars movies widescreen since seeing them in the theater.
Over the next 5 or 6 years, I amassed a laserdisc collection of about 100 movies. When DVD came out in the late 90's, I knew laserdiscs' time was up. Luckily, I sold almost all my laserdiscs on eBay before DVD became fully entrenched. I got pretty good prices for them too. Definitely broke even. In 2003 or so, I finally sold my laserdisc player (still working fine) to one of my students. For sentimental reasons, I kept the Star Wars trilogy, an REM concert that Steve and Dom had bought me for my birthday, and a Paul McCartney concert film.
The Perfect College Job
Wanted: a young person who can stay up late, occasionally work hard with plenty of slow times where he can surreptitiously study, and get paid slightly more than minimum wage. Perks: free movies, popcorn, and soda. What college student wouldn't want that job?
Unlike my theater job in Inverness, I was now working with college students. A whole new ball game. It didn't take long before I had a big group of friends who I spent most of my free time with. Many of these people I'm still friends with today.
Within my first month working at the AMC Oaks 10, I asked a girl from my film class, Laura, to see Silence of the Lambs with me. It was the first time I'd asked a college girl out since being in college. Ten years later, Laura would work at GHS at the same time I did. Yep, Gainesville is a small town.
The summer of 1991 was glorious. Dom started working at the Oaks as well, and we spent most of the summer with Tesa and Karla, two of our co-workers. It was all platonic, but we'd work together, and spend many an evening together at someone's house, watching movies, cooking, and sleeping. College life at its best.
At some point, Burt also got a job at the Oaks, and when Steve came to visit in the summer of 92, we had enough pull with some of the managers to get him hired just for the summer. For the first (and probably last) time ever, Dom, Steve, Burt, and I worked at the same place.
I kept that job until the birth of Sofia in 1996 (my notice of resignation was for 4/30/96: Sofia's due date), though by then I was only working an occasional shift, mostly to retain free movie privileges. It was awkward to work there while student-teaching at P.K. Yonge, where invariably I would find myself selling popcorn to one of my students. I never got into management, like Burt did. Although when I neared graduation in 94 and wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I considered going the management route. But booth supervisor and then Senior Staff (which was the step right below part-time manager) was as far as I went with AMC. It was a good run, but I'm glad my life took a different turn.
I admit, though, that I occasionally miss working in a movie theatre. I still feel nostalgic when I see the projectors through the windows, or even when I see the ushers standing at the back, waiting to clean up, as the end credits roll.
When I went to college, I was craving knowledge: cinematic knowledge! While I was well-versed in the Spielberg-Lucas oeuvre and the cheap slasher-flick canon, I was really a cinematic novice. My thirst for a wider experience was partially instigated by an issue of Premiere magazine I bought in 1989 or 1990 (the magazine was relatively new then). The issue was devoted to the top 100 films of all time, and I realized that while many of the titles sounded familiar, I hadn't actually seen very many of them. The write-ups for each one piqued my interest. They were brief and avoided boring summary. Things like "Dr. Strangelove: Stanley Kubrick has been ensconced in his English house for so many years it's easy to forget what a firm grasp he had on the American psyche when he made this black comedy." Kudos to that writer, since I still remember the gist of his words over twenty years later.
My first semester at UF, high school buddy Burton Meahl was my dorm roommate but spent most of his weekends back in Inverness, Steve had moved back to Scotland, Dominick was mostly working at Red Lobster in Ocala and still living at home (I think), and Damian was at UCF in Orlando. Since UF was so big, and I've never been that adept on the social scene, I spent many weekends alone in my dorm room. So one of the first things I did was buy a VCR.
In 1990, Gainesville had a music and movie store called Spec's that rented VHS tapes. They had a large "classics" section. Having whole weekends to watch whatever I wanted, with no one else's tastes or opinions to consider in the selection of movies, allowed me to stock up on films that would, to most 18-year-olds, seem like lame, boring choices. I spent many weekends ensconced (like Kubrick in his English house) in my dark dorm room, watching Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, Dr. Strangelove, The Birds, Raging Bull, Touch of Evil, Rope,... pretty much every Kubrick, Hitchcock, and Scorsese movie I could get my hands on. Instead of going to Gator football games on Saturdays, I was eating corn flakes with George Roy Hill and tuna melts with Orson Welles. It was bliss.
I'll always have fond memories of those weekends alone in the dorm room, watching so many great films for the first time. That was as much a part of my education as the classes that I went to during the week.
By the time Spring semester came around, three things happened that changed my weekend habits. First, Dom moved to Gainesville, as did Burt's girlfriend. Dom was much more available to hang out with, and Burt was in the dorm a lot more often on the weekends. Second, I took a class called "Writing About Film." After my semester-long film gorge, I felt much more competent, but the class still opened me up to directors I hadn't yet gotten to, like Zeffirelli and Kurosawa and Jacques Tati. Thirdly, I got another job at a movie theatre, this time at AMC in the Oaks Mall. Not only would this broaden my choices for seeing current movies, it would also give me the social network I lacked during the fall. Suddenly, I had people to hang out with, and they all loved movies as much as I did.
One more memory about that film class. The professor showed most of his films on a 16mm film projector rather than a VCR. During the first week of class, he asked for a volunteer to thread up the projector each week. I told him I had worked as a projectionist in a movie theatre back home. I got the job.
That class was one of the best classes I ever took. Unfortunately, I got a B+, only because I skipped one of the film viewings. Steve was visiting from Scotland, and besides, I'd already seen the film. But missing a viewing dropped your grade one letter grade. Oh well.
Laserdiscs
During that first year of college, I had educated myself about aspect ratio and mise en scene, enough to a) know that you lost a lot of the picture when you watched a movie on your TV and b) to care. There was a new format of home video just becoming popular that appealed to cinephiles like myself: laserdisc.
Even before everybody's TV was widescreen, most laserdiscs were released widescreen, and the audio and visual quality was far better than VHS or Beta. I saved up my money and got a laserdisc player in early 1991. My friend Damian worked at a Service Merchandise in Orlando. I gave him the money to buy my laserdisc player with his employee discount. It was a basic, no-frills model. Pioneer. I think I paid $325 for it.
The first laserdiscs I bought were the Star Wars trilogy. I got them through a mail-order movie/music service called Columbia House for something like 49 cents each (with an obligation to buy 3 more in the next year...you probably know the drill). Dom, Steve, and I (Steve was visiting from Scotland) inaugurated my laserdisc player by watching all 3 Star Wars movies, in succession, together. It was the first time any of us had seen the Star Wars movies widescreen since seeing them in the theater.
Over the next 5 or 6 years, I amassed a laserdisc collection of about 100 movies. When DVD came out in the late 90's, I knew laserdiscs' time was up. Luckily, I sold almost all my laserdiscs on eBay before DVD became fully entrenched. I got pretty good prices for them too. Definitely broke even. In 2003 or so, I finally sold my laserdisc player (still working fine) to one of my students. For sentimental reasons, I kept the Star Wars trilogy, an REM concert that Steve and Dom had bought me for my birthday, and a Paul McCartney concert film.
The Perfect College Job
Wanted: a young person who can stay up late, occasionally work hard with plenty of slow times where he can surreptitiously study, and get paid slightly more than minimum wage. Perks: free movies, popcorn, and soda. What college student wouldn't want that job?
Unlike my theater job in Inverness, I was now working with college students. A whole new ball game. It didn't take long before I had a big group of friends who I spent most of my free time with. Many of these people I'm still friends with today.
Within my first month working at the AMC Oaks 10, I asked a girl from my film class, Laura, to see Silence of the Lambs with me. It was the first time I'd asked a college girl out since being in college. Ten years later, Laura would work at GHS at the same time I did. Yep, Gainesville is a small town.
The summer of 1991 was glorious. Dom started working at the Oaks as well, and we spent most of the summer with Tesa and Karla, two of our co-workers. It was all platonic, but we'd work together, and spend many an evening together at someone's house, watching movies, cooking, and sleeping. College life at its best.
At some point, Burt also got a job at the Oaks, and when Steve came to visit in the summer of 92, we had enough pull with some of the managers to get him hired just for the summer. For the first (and probably last) time ever, Dom, Steve, Burt, and I worked at the same place.
I kept that job until the birth of Sofia in 1996 (my notice of resignation was for 4/30/96: Sofia's due date), though by then I was only working an occasional shift, mostly to retain free movie privileges. It was awkward to work there while student-teaching at P.K. Yonge, where invariably I would find myself selling popcorn to one of my students. I never got into management, like Burt did. Although when I neared graduation in 94 and wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I considered going the management route. But booth supervisor and then Senior Staff (which was the step right below part-time manager) was as far as I went with AMC. It was a good run, but I'm glad my life took a different turn.
I admit, though, that I occasionally miss working in a movie theatre. I still feel nostalgic when I see the projectors through the windows, or even when I see the ushers standing at the back, waiting to clean up, as the end credits roll.
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