English Thread

[America_Crazy]

I am not planning on flying with Air France again. The simple reason is not the airline itself but the airport in Paris. I remember that when we were flying back into Paris coming in from New York in March 2004 the plane was taxing around for 20 minutes until we finally reached our gate. There was no bus service available and we had to run like crazy to get our connection flight just to find out 45 minutes later that we missed our plane. At least we got something to drink and to eat at the airport for free which included a beer but of course it was not nice having to stay for 5 more hours at the airport. It´s been a walking situation each time we flew into and from Charles de Gaulle. I remember us having to walk like crazy couple of times. I will try to avoid that in the future.

[Redwingfan]

Yes it will be the first time.

I wanted to go last year but i had to go to south carolina for work.  

I will ride from Chicago to Sturgis on a Electra glide classic. Last year my girlfriend and i went to the last ride of the year: Tomahawk,WI. There we went without a bike. It was allright, but i was missing a bike. I dont know, i would not go to a rally without a bike again.
A friend asked me if i wanna take his bike to tomahawk, but the extra 250 miles from tomahawk to Milwaukee was too much. So we decided to drive the car and go direkt to Minneapolis after the rally.  

redwingfan

[Crimson Tide]

Hi, Y'all!

It's time to resume or to take up the English thread again!
I'm soooo excited!
The first round of severe Spring thunderstorms will pass through our state tomorrow!
I have already loaded my camera but also I have prepared my emergency box with our Passports and other important papers.

The reason to take the weather pretty seriously is not only the warm, nearly hot stream from the Gulf of Mexico, or the cold air from the North,(which comes over the warm air as the producer of strong thunderstorms,hail, wind and tornadoes), or the jetstream,or the huge low from the West,(everything fits together!), but also I don't trust our wooden houses!  
What, if really happens something bad....
That is sometimes our concern here!  
But my love of weather phenomenoms is always sronger than my fear, so I hope again for great pictures from a rotation of a cloud. These strong Thunderstom-Supercells are sometimes just beautiful!
(Of course, without a touchdown and the following destruction, that is really NOT necessary!   )

However, the weather is going to demonstrate again, how little the human beings are!

[Stephan_]

Hi CrimsonTide,

I'm looking forward to your pictures. I'm very curious how your pictures of thunderstorm will look. I think it might be difficult to get good pictures, but let's see

stephan

[galah]

great, an English thread!

Just wanted to say Hi - great forum you have here! I haven't been to the States yet - but we're going in October, so this forum is great to gather information on what to do and where to go! We're flying into LA, and out of St Louis - and have two weeks inbetween - I'm truly excited at this stage!

Keep up the good work, talk to you guys later!
galah

[Crimson Tide]

great, an English thread!

Just wanted to say Hi - great forum you have here! I haven't been to the States yet - but we're going in October, so this forum is great to gather information on what to do and where to go! We're flying into LA, and out of St Louis - and have two weeks inbetween - I'm truly excited at this stage!

Keep up the good work, talk to you guys later!
galah

Hi, Galah!
Welcome to our forum, and, especially, to our English Thread!  
Have fun with the planning of your first trip to the USA!
I also think, you have found the right place for finding help and getting tips for your route!

And you are living in Irland! Wow! That is, for example, one country, I haven't seen yet and it is at the top of a wish list where we want to go first for vacation after returning to Germany in August!

See ya!
Monika

[Elmo]

Hey guys,

you mind if I join you?
Let me introduce myself, I´m Marcel, a 23-year-old US-fanatic, though I haven´t been there yet. Here you can see my yet unrealized plans for the summer and you might want to throw in your two cents worth. Besides, anybody here who is looking for a travel mate?  

@Crimson Tide: I´d rather have one thunderstorm a week than this "disgusting" weather here. Every day it´s cold, it rains or snows. Ugh! If I finally get to come to one of the Carolina´s, I think I´ll stay there.  

[Crimson Tide]

Hey guys,

you mind if I join you?
Let me introduce myself, I´m Marcel, a 23-year-old US-fanatic, though I haven´t been there yet. Here you can see my yet unrealized plans for the summer and you might want to throw in your two cents worth. Besides, anybody here who is looking for a travel mate?  

@Crimson Tide: I´d rather have one thunderstorm a week than this "disgusting" weather here. Every day it´s cold, it rains or snows. Ugh! If I finally get to come to one of the Carolina´s, I think I´ll stay there.  

Hi, Elmo!
Welcome to our thread, too!

We have power yet!    Nothing got destroyed, but the wind and the rain was hurricanelike!   ...and no tornadoe around us...just in the North (about 100miles away) was a lot of damage, some roofs are gone and a few mobile homes!

And the lightening, wow, Elmo, I don't know if it would be really better to have a thunderstorm like this every week!
Especially when you have a wooden house with thin walls, and not such a stonehouse like in Germany.  That is always a little thrilling!
The next round of severe weather will come at Monday!

And the Carolinas are beautiful, you gonna like them! It's a little bit like Black Forest there! Just with an Ocean!  
I've seen your trip before! That is a great trip! I can imagine that you are very excited! The first trip to the USA!

[galah]

hey you guys!

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Crimson Tide - so, what are you doing in the States? It says in your profile you're on "a 3 years' vacation" - nice! Why are you moving back to Germany?

I must say, the weather here has been rather nice lately - fairly cold, but mostly sunny, and blue skies to go with it...Unusual for the West of Ireland, I can tell ya!

Righto - better get going - have a nice weekend, catch ya on Monday!

[Crimson Tide]

hey you guys!

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Crimson Tide - so, what are you doing in the States? It says in your profile you're on "a 3 years' vacation" - nice! Why are you moving back to Germany?

!

Hi, Galah!
That sounds nice,at  the first moment-- 3years vacation--but it is not always nice-it can be boring in between "real" vacation with my family together!    For Example, I will never be a good housewife, not in this life! There are some women who like to clean their houses day by day, oh my God!     That's really not my thing!  So I felt sometimes superfluous, or considerd myself useless, unnecessary!   My two Girls are nearly grown up, they don't need me really! But now it's enough with wining and complaining!  

Altogether I had a really wonderful time. Finally, the three years will be the most exciting time in my entire life!
I used the time as an opportunity to improve my 25 year old school- English, especially my grammar was pretty bad!   (I hated my English teacher, and I took Latin and canceled English. That was crazy, I know it today!  

 Here you can see the reason why we have been in the USA for 2 1/2 years now:  http://www.usa-reise.net/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=964&start=135

The contract will be over at the end of August, so we come back to Germany, whether we want to go, or not, we have to go!
But it is ok!
Our house and my garden are waiting for me to get renovated    :wink.

[Elmo]

We have power yet!    Nothing got destroyed, but the wind and the rain was hurricanelike!   ...and no tornadoe around us...just in the North (about 100miles away) was a lot of damage, some roofs are gone and a few mobile homes!

And the lightening, wow, Elmo, I don't know if it would be really better to have a thunderstorm like this every week!
Especially when you have a wooden house with thin walls, and not such a stonehouse like in Germany.  That is always a little thrilling!
The next round of severe weather will come at Monday!

Okay, okay, you convinced me. I realize you can´t really compare European thunderstorms to the American one´s.
But one thing is a little strange. Why don´t they build stabler houses when they know about this severe weather? Is it a tradition or is it just the lack of money (maybe wooden houses are cheaper?)?

And the Carolinas are beautiful, you gonna like them! It's a little bit like Black Forest there! Just with an Ocean!  

Have you been there before? I don´t know about the inland, I was rather thinking about the shoreline with pine groves, countless creeks, beaches and picturesque small towns and palm trees in the south. Okay, I´m dreaming again...  
And yes, I´m excited, but I don´t know if I will take the trip, ´cause I´m not the kind of person who likes doing things alone. And besides, a trip alone is a lot more expensive.

[americanhero]

Hi everyone,

After calming down for a while due to a lot of work, I´m back here again.
And I´m enjoying my weekend off my job, that sounds really great. Here in Kiel we have again a heavy snowstorm with new snow up to 7 inches. The old snow was also there and so we have at the moment about 10 to 11 inches of snow, maybe more within the snowdrifts. That´s awful, I want springtime and sun and springflowers. I´m really pissed off that f... weather.

@ Crimson Tide: Maybe you can bring some of your thunderstorm pics with you to our meeting in Las Vegas? I´m really interested in them. I´m looking forward to our vacation an dour meeting, only two months and two weeks, so far.



@ elmo and @ galah:

nice, you both joined our English thread to keep it alive.


@ all:
Hm, I need some luck tomorrow, ´cause there is our meeting of that board in Celle. And I´m not sure how much it will snow tonite. I will go by train and very often there are delays due to bad weather conditions or the connections are cancelled. I hope they won`t .
So after the weekend I can tell you more about it.


Greetz,

Yvonne

[Crimson Tide]

@ Crimson Tide: Maybe you can bring some of your thunderstorm pics with you to our meeting in Las Vegas? I´m really interested in them. I´m looking forward to our vacation an dour meeting, only two months and two weeks, so far.

. I will go by train and very often there are delays due to bad weather conditions or the connections are cancelled. I hope they won`t .
So after the weekend I can tell you more about it.

Greetz,

Yvonne

Hi, Yvonne!
Nice to see you again, writing in our English thread!

Yesterday I created a film report about the whole story of an afternoon with "Severe Thunderstorm Warning"----before and after!  
And then, with the Warning, came my favorite meteorologist, James Spam.  
He is always so excited when the squallline of the thunderstorms approaches and he is looking for any rotation in that line, he lives up with that weather, his eyes are rolling! At first, he opens his jackett, then he take it off, and you can see his beautiful suspenders, he always wears!
He can tell you exactly, what time the rotation is over which town, county, even which road!
I filmed him, too!  
Then the rain came, very heavy rain, and strong wind ! I don't like,when I don't hear any loud thunder, like it was yesterday!  
 I have the feeling, the bigger is the chance of a tornadoe after the rain, when it is so silent, and you see only lightening without an end!   But we were lucky, nothing happened this time!

And thunderstorm pics, yes, I can bring you some, from my garden, changed to a see, and a pic of hail, 2cm thick! And then I have a wonderful pic of a thunderstorm cell in colors of the sunset behind our house!

Oooh, and I'm ´really jealous, I would like to come to Celle,too!  
Celle is very near to my fathers town (and my town from my 9th to my 19th year of living). Have you ever been in Celle? It's a beautiful City!
The castle, the horses, the old historical downtown, wonderful!
Have a nice time there!
And the train should not have problems   : because.....

"DIE BAHN FÄHRT---- BEI JEDEM WETTER!"

Wasn't that a slogan of their advertisement once???

[ratlady]

Hey @all  

Haven't been "around" here for a couple-three days, and now find the English-thread thriving again - that's great! And even "bigger and better" -
welcome "on board" Elmo & galah! Hope to "hear" more from you here in the future!  

But one thing is a little strange. Why don´t they build stabler houses when they know about this severe weather? Is it a tradition or is it just the lack of money (maybe wooden houses are cheaper?)

Hm, good question... I've sometimes been wondering about that myself but never really took any "action" researching the matter... It may be cheaper, or it may just be easier and faster to built - or it may just be the availability of materials and expertise to "do the job". We do have other houses in the area though - stone mansions in the old Southern style... needless to say they're not really what I'd call "affordable"...   My gut-feeling is, it's probably indeed mainly a question of money... Most of the "wealthier" neighborhoods really don't look like they were "wooden" (even though it might be deceiving, I don't know).

However, at least down along the immediate coast (where you have to factor in flooding), there's another aspect to the matter - building on pilings... and there's actually a "building-code" for that, too.

Last not least, just because a house is "wooden", doesn't necessarily mean it's "unstable"... even a wooden house, if built right, can withstand hurricane-force winds of more than 120-130mph!

@Crimson Tide -

whow, that does sound really "exciting" (or maybe rather "scary"....?)! Down here, we didn't even see a drop of rain all day Thursday (in spite of all the "warnings"), and only this morning had several hours of rather mild Thunderstorms... mainly rain. I guess the major part of the system stayed well to the north of us... Same for Monday, forecast doesn't say anything at all...

@Elmo -

nothing wrong with "dreaming"    - but I think you should go ahead and "do it" anyway. I've always travelled alone (as a girl!), and actually preferred it that way... you don't have to make any "compromise" when it comes to where to go and what to do, and I also found it was better for me personally 'cause I was "forced" to go and "communicate" myself... that helped me a lot, not only with the language, but also with "socializing with strangers". Plus, sometimes you'll find it's easier to get to make new "friends" on the way, too... But of course, everyone is different. My brother, for example, has done as much or more travelling as myself, but hardly EVER alone... some, yes, but I think he still prefers going with friends. I myself, now, the little travel I do isn't alone any more - and sometimes I miss it, sometimes I don't. I don't think either way is "better" - just give it a try, be open-minded and excited, and I'm pretty sure it'll work out  

Financially - well, depends... I found that I actually spent less money if I was by myself than travelling in a group but I don't think you could "generalize" that... Especially if you rent a car or share hotel rooms it'll probably save more money than otherwise. I hope you'll be able to realize your plans!!

@americanhero:
My fingers are crossed!! Good luck!  

[Anonymous]

@ratlady: Do you live in the States, too? Your English seems pretty fluent.

As for the wooden houses: Maybe they are just easier to rebuild after a hurricane hit the land? But those are just assumptions, what we need is an expert at this subject.
Stable or not - those houses are highly combustible (forest fire..).

And yes, there are advantages and disadvantages to travelling alone. As you said, you are out there alone, forced to do all the communication with natives alone. I guess it´s after all a good life experience when you coped all the little problems facing you in a foreign country. And of course, you are never going to forget all these impressions of a wonderful country.
When travelling in a group, you don´t need to do all the communication (unless you´re the only English speaking person) and your skills will not be improved that much. BUT, a really important point to me, you have another person you can share your experiences and memories with.