I Came, I Saw, I Played, I Ate a Lot Of Schnitzel

Traveling is an exhilarating experience. Many I know have never ventured out of the continental US, let alone outside their home state.  At an early age I had the fortune of traveling the world and thank my family and friends for every opportunity that I’ve encountered abroad. I have not been to such popular locations such as Hawaii, Mexico, South America and then some, but I have had the pleasure of visiting western Europe on several occasions and Southeast Asia.

I left the country for the first time when I was the ripe old age of nine. My older brother Tung was studying abroad in Oxford for a year and my parent’s sponsor who brought them to the States decided it would be a fun time to go. Highlights from that trip are seeing Stonehenge, visiting the British museum, visiting a castle that has a painting that still creeps me out to this day, and walking into a tree en route to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. But those stories are for another time.

My next adventure across the pond came five years later in the summer of 1998. Two years previous, we had celebrated my parents silver anniversary and the big present we had decided on was to send them to the Paris. On both sides of the family we have relatives that found home in Western Europe after everybody had fled Laos back in the 70s. Well when we phoned said relatives to let them know the parents were coming, they threw a hitch in our plans and notified us that all of them were actually their own trip stateside. So my parents delayed the trip a year and decided to make a family trip which was amazing. That would put us in France during the time of the World Cup. That was the year that the French National team took it all. It was my first exposure to the passion and culture that is European football. It was surreal. Family, food, and soccer. I couldn’t have asked for more.

A year later the family hit the road again as we embarked on a journey to Southeast Asia. We would be returning to the village where my parents met and grew up. We would also have a chance to visit the clinic where my brothers were born. It was a venture that served as a culture shock to me and has shaped my perception of the world that I hold today. I remember my other brother Tri making the comment, “man this is crazy. Think about it…we could be waking up in a rice paddy…Van you probably wouldn’t even be here!” True and true.

Three years later my love of soccer would take me back to Western Europe. For three weeks, a group of folks from my hometown of Missoula, and other folks from Idaho, Washington, and Utah made a team to tour around playing the beautiful game. Our travels took us to Spain, Paris, Hamburg and finally Denmark. Along the way, we got spanked by one of the best teams in our age division, in the WORLD, did a week-long home stay in Germany where we ate a lot of bratwurst, took pictures with cute Danish girls and befriended an interesting group of Danes that brought us post game snacks of chips and Coke that had stickers asking us to follow Christ on the cans.

Alas all these flashbacks are not the point of my post today. Let’s jump ahead 9 years or so to this summer.

As many of you may or may not have known, back in October I was approached by the planning committee of the Tacoma Concert Band to see if I would be willing to join them and play Saxophone for a trip through Central Europe. I would have to pay my own way like everybody else, but the band was looking for folks to fill out empty spots of those who could not make the trip. I had to think about it for a while. The cost would be a little tight, but in the back of my head I kept telling myself this was an opportunity of a lifetime that I shouldn’t pass up. So I said I’M IN!

As I started to make payments I just built up anticipation for a trip that was one I won’t forget. Having never been to Central Europe, I was in store for some fun. Our trip would take us to Prague, Salzburg, Vienna and Budapest. Some of the most beautiful cities in that part of the world. The trip would last 11 days and during that time we were scheduled to have 6 performances in various locations. I couldn’t wait.

Through all my travels I have never taken a journal. All I have are the pictures and memories that I still have and I’m sure that some of those have been lost. So many times I’ve heard that it’s a good idea to take a journal and write down thoughts and experiences at the end of each day. I think in the past, it never occurred to me to do such a thing and to preserve the adventures I had travelling abroad. Well this time I was prepared. I didn’t really write each day, but every night before bed, I managed to take a few moments to jot down bullet points about thoughts and things we did. Over the next few weeks I hope to be able to put more prose to my notes and tell the story of the whirlwind jaunt that I had across Central Europe.

I had some really fun and entertaining experiences, and I hope that you all enjoy them. Below are some pictorial highlights: