One of our life goals is to appear on either The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report:




Close enough! (Gossamer appears roughly at the one 1:19 mark).

While we are giddy over this, the scandal discussed is a serious matter...But *omg,* did you see Gossy!?!

Well this is embarrassing. We went on an amazing trip to Argentina but have hardly any pictures to show off. We know it's not important but it's a fun project for us.

What happened was we were on the bus towards our school and it happened to be extremely crowded. We were dumb-dumbs and had our camera in the back pocket of Steffie's backpack. We got off the bus and a friend noticed a pocket was open. Of course, it was the pocket with the camera in it.

So yeah, it got stolen. Awesome.

Regardless, it was an amazing trip!

The objective of this trip was to study Spanish. We can safely say we really didn't accomplish much of this. Don't get us wrong, we learned a lot. The problem was we were learning two versions of the language. First, we were learning the classroom version. It's all about grammar and spelling. Then there's the social version. Argentinian Spanish is a bit different from Mexican Spanish (which we're quite used to). We had to figure out the slang and different pronunciations. In the end, our brains were mush.

The important thing was we passed the class and had a fantastic trip!

For the most part, we stayed in Cordoba. The second largest city in Argentina with a huge college scene. So much partying... (After we finished studying of course...) The whole club and bar scene really isn't our favorite but we adjusted well enough!

Our favorite bar there was the Don't Worry Bar (Av. Rafael Nuñez 5824). It was so fun there and the owner was beyond nice to us and our classmates. It has a cool, 60's vibe and cheap drinks.

We also had a four day trip to Buenos Aires. Now that is an amazing city. We instantly fell in love with Chifa's Peruvian-Chinese restaurant. Argentina is surprisingly lacking in spicy foods and Chifa was a perfect remedy for that.

Buenos Aires had such a strange and fascinating vibe to it. People watching at cafes were our favorite pastime while there. Tip: Try a Submarino! It was chocolatey goodness!

Before our camera was stolen (along with two weeks worth of photos) we did manage to upload some pictures we took on the first couple of days. For example, this fine gem of a lemon pie with meringue:





There was hardly a dessert we didn't try. Dulce de leche was our friend as well as our enemy. If our blood could be replaced with anything else, we would vote for dulce de leche.

As for drinks, we have to discuss what keeps Argentina ticking: mate. Now, when we first saw mate, our thoughts were "our school is taking out to take drugs?"





Mate may look like something our hippie friends would drink but it's basically just tea and yummy tea at that. We're addicted to sugar so we always add a little before drinking it.

When it comes to booze, it's all about Fernet. We loved Fernet... and were one of the few Americans who did. It is best to mix it with soda considering how strong and bitter it is.

All in all, five weeks was not enough time to truly explore the city. We had to make due with exploring when we didn't have class. It was an interesting experience though and we made so many friends. Next time we return, it will not be as students.

Never in our lives did we EVER think we would willingly spend over $3 for a taco. It just seemed so silly! Oh, how things have changed...

Torchy's Tacos is a devilishly awesome business here in Austin, TX. It also just happens to be located down the street from where we work. We were skeptical at first. We only tried it because our boss ended up buying some Torchy's for a co-worker's birthday. We took a bite of The Democrat taco and that's all it took.

Our world changed.

Once we were so naive about spending over $3 on tacos. Now we wonder if they are willing to take payment in the form of our first born child.

Yes, they are that good.

Over the past few months we have been trying random tacos from their menu. We were given gift cards so we didn't mind going crazy with ordering.

We have two favorites:



The Democrat: Shredded beef barbacoa topped with fresh avocado, queso fresco, cilantro, onions and a wedge of lime.


Mr. Pink: Guajillo seared Ahi tuna, cabbage fresca, cilnatro, queso fresco, lime wedige, and served with Chipotle Sauce.

We're drooling just thinking about it. Torchy's has seriously become one of our favorite places. Beware of trying to park in some locations though. For some reason, Austin parking lots seem to defy logic... but that's another story.

Links:
- Torchy's Tacos

We love traveling. We love it so much, we have dedicated this blog to it. The world is full of adventures and we just want to write about s few of ours. Unfortunately, not all of our adventures are fun and amazing.

Our most recent trip was not for pleasure but to see a sick family member who is passing away. This journey was going to be difficult but we were optimistic.

The trip began easy enough. We love airplanes and airports despite all the fear, security, and drama concerning the TSA. People are fascinating to watch and we've always adore the Austin, Texas Airport. It can get busy and stressful during the check-ins and security lines but we've grown accustomed to it. While waiting for our plane, we usually get to hear live music to keep our spirits up. Plane rides are amazing too. We little humans and monsters are traveling roughly 500 mph at 36,000 feet in the air. It's fantastic!

We decided to save a little money and fly with Southwest Airlines to Buffalo, NY. Southwest has always been a quick and cheap way to get anywhere we needed on a bind. We have not had many problems with them... until now. After flying all day, we were ready to hit the road and see our family. The drive to see our family was going to take a little over an hour so we wanted to leave quick. To our delight, our first two bags came out quickly. I should mention we were traveling with some other people. Anyways, we waited...

...and waited.

...and waited.

Our other bag never appeared.

Nothing. The last bag never came out. Of course, this was the bag full of clothes and all the essentials we needed. We reported the bag missing and had no other choice but to leave.

It's about 11 PM at this point and we needed clothes and a few supplies. The only store open was Wal-Mart. We usually avoid that store like the plague but we had no choice.

It was 1:30 AM by the time we reached our family's home.

It was difficult to get up in the morning but it had to be done. We spent the day mingling and visiting family and friends. We eventually got the glorious phone call that our bag was found and that they'll deliver it by the end of the day.

Crisis adverted but the story is not over yet.

Visiting the family was emotionally and physically draining. Our grandfather is not doing well and we tried to spend as much time with him as possible. We also had the duty of keeping our seven cousins entertained, all who are younger than 13. All that running and emotion overload was a lot to take in.

After a few days, it was time to leave. At the airport, a horrible announcement was made. The flight to Baltimore was going to be delayed. In order to get back to Austin, we had to take a connecting to Baltimore. A few minutes later, another announcement listed several cities. If your connecting flight was to any of those cities, you would have to rebook your flight. Our stomach lurched when we heard Austin on that list. We would have to wait another day before we got home.

We could stay in Buffalo or fly to Baltimore and stay there for the night. We choose Baltimore and after seven hours of waiting, we were on a plane again. The strange thing is that the Southwest employee would not help anyone get any other flights. He simply refused to talk to anyone and no one could change plans until it was too late. We knew there was a flight to Dallas that we would have taken instead but we were never allowed to discuss that option. The guy was just so rude and the least helpful human being we have come across. He simply shooed anyone away who tried to adjust their plans.

We were sent to the Westin Hotel once in Baltimore. We have to admit, it was a nice place. Huge comfy beds with blankets that just nicely melted onto the body. It was a nice sanctuary even though it only lasted a few hours.



We didn't have our luggage with us. To speed things up the following morning, we didn't request them. We were told that they would be in Austin before us. We woke up about 4:30am and got picked up by the most wonderful shuttle bus driver. He was just the right amount of sweetness which was refreshing.

The security line was quick enough and we made it a point not to get in the line with the X-Ray machine. Those things freak us out a bit. Once past that, we ran into the first gift shop we saw. It was full of the most tackiest shirts we've ever seen, but we were desperate. The moment we land in Austin, we would have to go straight to work. We looked like disgruntled tourist. Fun.

We went to our gate only to find out that our tickets were incorrect and had to go to the other side of the airport. Our first flight sent us to Nashville. It was short and sweet and we slept most of the way.

As I wrote the first draft to this, we were FINALLY landing in Austin. We were tired, angry, and ready to strangle the kid who wouldn't behave but we were home!

Our luggage wasn't there when we landed. They eventually found our luggage and delivered it to our home.

This horrible adventure was finally over.

Thanks for nothing Southwest Airlines.

Every so often we volunteer for a friend at the Dallas Sci-Fi Expos and FanDays. This year, we helped them out with the StarTrek themed show and it was pretty fun.

Since we were working at the show, we really did not have a lot of time to actually go to any of the panels or Q&As with the attending actors. We did get to meet a lot of really awesome people, including Tom Felton! Unfortunately, we couldn't get a picture with him, but alas the memory of it all is pretty nifty.

Who DID we takes pictures with though? Let us show you:





This is Lil' Chewbacca! His owner couldn't make the show so he was taking pictures of all the nifty things and folks he saw. (Like us!)




That's Grego of Bean Pot Toiz. He's cuddly!!




This is artist Matthew Warlick.




And this is another artist, Halo Seraphim! She drew a picture of Lil' Gossamer for us!

And finally, the greatest discovery at the show:




We found Waldo!!!


Links
+ Dallas FanDays
+ Bean Pot Toiz
+ Matthew Warlick
+ Where's Waldo

In Austin, Texas there is an amazing film festival called Fantastic Fest! We didn't go to that. Lil' Gossamer and I headed over to it's videogame offspring known as Fantastic Arcade. We even spoiled ourselves by getting the $60 VIP pass! We regret that decision.

Fantastic Arcade is brand new and still in it's experimental phase. That may have been the main reason why it was so hard to get information on the shows over at the Alamo Drafthouse. We even had to go through an hour-long shuffle act with the volunteers, all who were trying to figure out if we needed a ticket or not to get into the shows. One minute we did, the next we didn't, and then we did after all! The volunteers for the most part were nice. Sadly, we kept dealing with the rude ones who were beyond not helpful. We even missed a panel because we were given bad information.

Over at The Highball, things were different. We made lots of friends like Tien!



Vintage arcade games mixed with unreleased games! There was a private area for badge holders to compete in game tournaments, play some independent games, and kill some zombies. At night, we enjoyed dance parties until closing. It was all so amazing... the first day. By the final day, we've played all the games, beat a few (we totally kicked Shredders butt in the Ninja Turtle game), and already slayed a lifetime worth of zombies.



The $60 we spent were not worth it. If we do go back to Fantastic Arcade, we'll just get a day pass or one of the other cheaper options. Don't get us wrong, we did enjoy ourselves. There was just a lot that could have been improved on. Fantastic Arcade is still growing and we look forward to see what future events have to offer!

Best Stuff We Saw or Played
- Super Meat Boy
- Canabalt
- Alamo Drafthouse campaign map in Left 4 Dead
- Red VS Blue Season 8
- Machinarium

Over at William's Bloody Hell, there is a sweet idea called an Interview Swap. We have been reading William's blog for the past few months are finally decided to take the time and ask him a few questions. Here is what he had to say!
---

Gossamer's Travels (GT): Where is your favorite place in the world?
William the Bloody (WB): I know this is going to sound like a cliche, but right now my favourite place is New Hampshire, my home. I love the mountains, the autumn leaves, the winter snow, the fact that it never really gets TOO hot... I will have to admit that I am not really very well traveled, so that may have some bearing on this answer.

GT: What is one thing you never leave the home without? Why?
WB: My keys? Because then I wouldn't be able to get back in

GT: What is one goal you wish to accomplish?
WB: Oooh, this one is a toughie, innit? There are many "reach for the stars" type of lofty goals I would love to do such as meeting some of my idols or going into space, etc... but realistically? I think I would love to have collected the entire The Cure discography on vinyl. I love music and The Cure is my absolute favourite and there is nothing like hearing their stuff on a record. I'm about half way there!

GT: If you could go on a road trip with any person, dead or alive, who would it be and where would you go?
WB: After considering many dead musicians (Joe Strummer! Ian Curtis!) I do believe traveling with writer Neil Gaiman would be fantastic. I would have him take me on a driving tour of the USA, where we would visit all of the stops in his book American Gods.

GT: What is one thing you wish people knew about you?
WB: I don't know! How about that online, I'm actually very approachable? I may be "goth"-ish, but I'm a pretty friendly guy. I love getting random e-mails from people I don't even know and answering them! I also enjoy drawing, but sometimes don't know what to draw, so people writing requests to me is a very welcome thing! If you write to me, I WILL write back, and if you make a request there is a 90% chance I'll comply out of sheer boredom. Does that count as two things? Oh well.

Thank you so much William for taking the time writing back! If you would you like to read more about William the Bloody (and his rants), check out his site WilliamsBloodyHell.com

Updates William has just updated his site with my interview! Yet another reason why you should read his site. Go now. Like, right now.

And we're not stalking his site... more like, creepily observing it. Oh, that means the same thing doesn't it? So yea, we're stalking his site.

:)

Before websites, Twitter, and Facebook, we have always written our thoughts down in journals and notebooks. To this day, we always have a notebook somewhere within reach.



Top Row, Left to Right:
Flowery Red, Blue, and Cream Journal from Barnes & Nobles: This journal was a gift to Steffie... from Steffie. She thought she deserved something pretty for herself when she turned 23. Right now it is full of random notes purely about books. Whenever she buys or finishes reading a book, she writes notes about it in there. Weird? Yes, but it works for her.

Little Nemo Journals by Eeboo: These are three 5.25 x 7 notebooks with illustrations of Little Nemo in Slumberland. These are used for EVERYTHING. We always have one of these little guys near by. Here's a better look at some of the designs:


We bought the one with the band recently at Half-Priced Books in Round Rock, Texas for only $2.95. We thought it was cute to begin with and thought the art looked vaguely familiar. Once we realized it was Little Nemo, we bought it on the spot. Then we looked online if there were anymore available. There was but for $7.95. Yea, we weren't spending that much. The next day we went to the Half-Priced Book in Austin, Texas (on Palmer) and found the other two. Ever since we've bought them, every note, idea, obscure thought goes into them. The only thing we did not like about them is that they were not lined. We usually don't draw in our journals and rely heavily on lines to keep things neat. We did a find a solution though! We drew our own lines with all the color pencils we could find.



Composition Notebooks: We have roughly 8 of these. These are used for when we start insane projects or for school. Mostly the insane projects.


Union Jack Journal: We got this during our trip in London for a very specific reason. We are quite lazy but also very creative. For our family and friends who want to see the pictures of our trip, we are making a book about it. That way, we don't have to constantly explain all the pictures. It has more personal details than what we allow on this site. Silly things like rude comments about people we didn't like, drawings of events about those people we didn't like, the numbers of all the dudes who hit on Steffie and she said she would call but never did, and drunk pictures of Steffie and Lil' Gossamer in pubs.

Bottom Row, Left to Right:

Butterfly Journal from Barnes & Noble: This was the journal we used while in London. It has notes from classes, badly drawn comics of our adventures, and rants about the tours we were forced to take. The picture below has drawings of horses by all the people in our little Study Abroad group.



Basic 1-Subject Notebooks: We are pretty sure we have over a gazillion of these. We mostly use these for school since they are so cheap. They don't last long and usually fall apart because of all the stuff we put them through.

Big Flowery Journal: We don't really like this journal. It's too big for taking around and a bit awkward to write in sometimes. Right now it is mostly filled with obscure NaNoWriMo ideas.

It is safe to say we have a bit of a notebook/journal obsession.

:)

Shakespeare was a constant theme throughout our trip whether we liked it or not.




Our favorite Shakespeare spot, without a doubt, was the Globe Theatre. This picture was taken just across from the theatre at a fancy little restaurant called The Swan. We usually love showing off what we eat at places but this happened to be our last day of having any money for the next few days. All we had was a tomato an onion salad.





Yea, that is totally Gossamer on the Globe Theatre stage. He was allowed on it. His faithful human best friend who feeds and takes care of him, was not. (*sigh*)



There was no way we could continue on without at least seeing one play at the famous theatre! We were lucky enough to see an AMAZING showing of Macbeth. It was seriously the best version we had ever seen. The groundling area (the cheapest tickets where you stand throughout the play) was covered in a weird, black rubber thing. The audience members could poke their heads out of the black thingy as they watched the play. They just had to be careful of the witches and random dead bodies poking them.




Some time later we had a bit of fun being escorted out of a tube station by some fireman. This is basically what happens when a "Mysterious Package" is delivered.




It is no secret museums are not our favorite places to visit. On one our class tours, we had to visit the Tate Modern. This picture shows Gossamer at his favorite spot at the museum: outside the museum. We separated from the main group and hid on the balcony for a while. We eventually had to go back inside and that's where we discovered a wonderful new game!




We had just passed a sculpture that literally looked like poo and noticed the scene above from a window. Gossamer wanted to pose in front of the window, but we couldn't get a decent shot. Instead, he asked me just to take a picture of all the people having fun outside. As I was doing this, Gossamer noticed something strange: people were staring at us. Not just us though, they were trying to see what we were taking pictures of. We pretended not to notice and continued taking tons of photos of the outside. A nice little group started forming behind us. When we finished we walked away mumbling, "Amazing... I can't believe I got the shot." People went to the window, unsure of what had just happened.



We had to post SOME pictures of food. We are not exactly sure what this is or where we got but we do remember it was very yummy. We downed the whole plate and wanted seconds.



On one of our days off, we took a trip to Canary Wharf. It was pretty quiet since it was Sunday, but still a nice trip. We went to some parks, got lost, picked a random destination on the tube station, got lost, found some more parks, and went back through Canary Wharf.



At the end of the day we wanted to see Big Ben at night and explore the area.



Our biggest regret was not remembering the name of where we got this cupcake. We are huge cupcake fans. It was just a basic red velvet cupcake with cream cheese buttercream frosting and it was amazing.



On our last day we had a few major stops. The first was The Crypt. I thought it would be a creepy, grotesque cafe. It was actually very pretty and looked just like the cafe in several museums we visited. I did not care how it looked though because we bought some delicious strawberries with whipped cream and some tea. It was pretty awesome. The second was Buckingham Palace. We didn't get to really see it the first time and wanted to get a good look. It is actually really pretty up close than trying to sneak a peak from a distance.

We also went to the National Portrait Gallery. We do not have any photos because we managed to escape from that tour. We were looking up information on the Blind Traveler, James Holman while we waited. We couldn't find the drawing we wanted so I asked for help. Long story short, a lady helped us set up a meeting with a man who could take us into the National Portrait Gallery Archives. He showed us the original drawings and pictures of James Holman and gave me information I needed to get into other places. Unfortunately, I will not be able to use that information until I go back to London.



For our last meal of the trip, we went to the King's Cross station and did some people watching! (It's like bird watching... but with people). We meant to show a picture of our chocolate croissant before we ate it but forgot... We remembered right before we finished it! Just for the record, it was very tasty.




Two and half weeks had passed and it was time to go home. The trip was over. We said our Goodbyes and made the voyage back home to Texas.

Our trip led us to Startford-Upon-Avon for a few days. The train ride there was roughly an hour long.



We were beyond surprised how wonderful it was. It was such a change from the hustle of London. It was a bit odd that there was not that much excitement anywhere. It was just so quiet. We actually were able to sleep!! No 2am drunk singers here!

Anyways, after some strolling, we did make some good friends. First, we meet some nice Swans.




There was also a giant bear. He dreams of being a Shakespearean actor someday. For now, he guards a toy store.




We spent most of our nights at the Courtyard Theatre. First to see Cleopatra & Anthony and then to see Morte d'Arthur.



The major theme of this little trip was definitely Shakespeare! Considering it's his hometown, we can see why. Here's even a picture of Lil' Gossy in front of Shakespeare's home.



There was also a weird, little museum that we had to explore. It was cheesy.




We couldn't help but laugh at all the "information". We'll give you a few examples of something of the comments we kept hearing.

"And here, we have a ring that probably belonged to William Shakespeare."

"In this display is a book he may have read. This is not the actual copy, but one from the school we believe he went to."

"None of this was around in Shakespeare's time. This was later added on in-"

So yea, we got a kick out of it but for all the wrong reasons. Oh, they also had pictures of famous people who performed in any of Shakespeare's play. A Shakespeare museum is not complete unless there are pictures of hunky heart throbs there to show you how really cool it all actually is. *dreamy sigh* Oh Leo...




Outside of the Shakespeare-ness, the town is beautiful! We were surrounded by parks, gardens, and cute little houses!




The food was decent. You just have to take a chance and order something random. We forgot what this thing was called, but it was pretty good!



We LOVE street performers. We had got to watch some folks perform random scenes from Shakespeare's plays by request. On the creepier side of performers, we saw living statues!



Along the way we managed to complete a life goal we did not expect to do on this trip: Help in an Archeology dig! There is a site where some famous house used to be at. For the past few months, people have been digging up the area. Shakespeare does have a connection with the site along with other notable people... whose names we have forgotten.



It really is a silly and random goal to accomplish! We are still giddy they let us help out. Sorry, no pictures of that though. We were having too much fun getting our hands dirty!

Overall, Strarford-Upon-Avaon was a wonderful little town to visit. A sweet break from London but enough quirkiness to keep you entertained!

We've been back in the United States for a good couple of weeks now... and already miss London. We had so much fun but did not get to see everything we wanted. It was a Study Abroad class so our options were a bit limiting. Here are some highlights though:

We had a bit of a money problem half way through our trip. Basically, we had money, just no way of accessing it. All we had for about a week was just the cash we had on is... which was not a lot. We discovered that margherita pizzas were amazingly cheap and pretty filling. Oh... and so yummy!



Advice: Have at least two money back-up plans in case the first one fails... Trust me.

Anyways, did we mention the food we had was amazing?



We later found The Sherlock Holmes. It's a pub. Literary nerdiness and drinking all combined into one. We were in love!



While at the British Museum, Gossamer was misbehaving so I tried feeding him to one of the stone cats.



For the first week, there were elephants EVERYWHERE. We just realized Gossamer did not take a picture with any. I think he was scared they might come to life and trample him. A totally reasonable fear.



We tried to go to Hogwarts. We couldn't get through because we're monsters and muggles. Someday we'll make it... Someday...



Here's a man. He's in a cow suit.



We got to go inside a Beetle House. Gossamer felt right at home!



Yea... more Sherlock Holmes stops. We couldn't help ourselves.



Then we decided to literally stop and smell the roses.


While at the London Zoo, we made friends with a goat and family of Meerkats.




The Number One thing we learned about London: They have a REALLY bad history with fire. Seriously. This picture is Gossamer in front of the monument dedicated to the Great Fire of 1666. I think maybe a total of 2 places we visited were not burned down at one point or another...



To finish off for the day, we give you this:





A Baby Tardis! If you don't know how insanely awesome that is, then we feel really bad for you.

We'll have at least two other post soon. One more about London and one about Stratford-Upon-Avon. Stay tuned and Toodle-Loo!