Adventures in travel
Wednesday, 5 July 2023 10:49![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elusivekParents have arrived Vienna, and gotten to Dad's hometown, and Mom is already complaining (haha)
She sent us some photos of the view of the street from the apartment they are staying. "There's no one out there! There's no pedestrians! It's Tuesday! For some reason no restaurant is open on a Tuesday! This is a dead town!"
Well...
With the thing about it feeling like a ghost town because "nobody's out walking and there are no pedestrians," .... we've known this for a fact since 30 years ago, Mom. It's hardly news to us. Why do you think I hated visiting Dad's hometown with the family when I was a kid?
(Granted, when I visited again a couple years back with my friend, it was completely different and I actually liked it - probably because we had planned activities every single day and would be seeing different things every single day.)
They also complained about the guy that sold them their SIM cards knew nothing about SIM cards. Before they left, Mom wanted me to teach her how to work her dual SIM function. I said I can't exactly show her step by step, because she had to have the second SIM in order for me to be able to simulate the steps to her, but there's no second SIM.
Since their mobile phone plans are under my plan and I'm paying for their phone plans, I said "Just subscribe to the Europe traveling plan and be done with it!" But nooooo they can't do that, because it's super expensive, and she needs a local number in Portugal because she has to get in touch with an old lady in Portugal that doesn't have WhatsApp and will not dial international numbers, so she MUST use a local SIM card when there.
So, next thing we suggested was to get an Austrian SIM card when in the airport, but nooooooo it's more expensive that way (but then we countered that they would most likely know how to deal international phones and what to do and probably how to explain it to you). No. They decided to go to the local supermarkets Billa or Spar or whatever MediaMarkt, I don't even know. That didn't speak English, so Dad couldn't even translate for Mom (coz he very likely doesn't understand half of what the guy says). I hope. I HOPE! When they are in Portugal and have to swap the Austrian card out, they would not swap the wrong card out (fingers crossed and prays).
Oh, and the newest "complaint" from Dad is, "his phone doesn't have the weather app!" I don't really want to teach them over the phone because, it's over the phone, and they are technology-numb. And although I had set Dad's App Store to not need password input when downloading free apps, he hardly ever uses the App Store so I'm not sure if that setting has expired and it will still ask to input a password. And then he'll go all scheisse, schreiklich, and whatever else. Dad, just look at Mom's phone if you want to know the weather. Or better yet. Switch on the local TV. Or the radio.
Oh yeah, the apartment Dad's brother helped him rent is situated on the first floor, and Mom's complaining "there's 18 steps to go up." It seems like she's now planning to stay the remaining 14 days in the apartment and not going out because there's nothing outside anyway, and there's this flight of steps for her to climb, that she can't climb everyday.
There's going to be a BBQ party in "the garden" (small plot of land rented for small gardening or outdoor activities). Mom took a video and wow, Onkel definitely outdid himself. It used to have a small wooden cabin-style house/hut (just living room and the outside patio), a small gardening plot and an outdoor toilet. Now, they've made an outdoor kitchen, and have a pond/water feature. It looks larger too, and yes, Onkel managed to rent the next-door plots because the original renters dropped it. I remember as a kid looking for slugs around the garden and pouring salt or sugar (forgot which, but by rationale should be salt I think) on them to kill them.
She sent us some photos of the view of the street from the apartment they are staying. "There's no one out there! There's no pedestrians! It's Tuesday! For some reason no restaurant is open on a Tuesday! This is a dead town!"
Well...
With the thing about it feeling like a ghost town because "nobody's out walking and there are no pedestrians," .... we've known this for a fact since 30 years ago, Mom. It's hardly news to us. Why do you think I hated visiting Dad's hometown with the family when I was a kid?
(Granted, when I visited again a couple years back with my friend, it was completely different and I actually liked it - probably because we had planned activities every single day and would be seeing different things every single day.)
They also complained about the guy that sold them their SIM cards knew nothing about SIM cards. Before they left, Mom wanted me to teach her how to work her dual SIM function. I said I can't exactly show her step by step, because she had to have the second SIM in order for me to be able to simulate the steps to her, but there's no second SIM.
Since their mobile phone plans are under my plan and I'm paying for their phone plans, I said "Just subscribe to the Europe traveling plan and be done with it!" But nooooo they can't do that, because it's super expensive, and she needs a local number in Portugal because she has to get in touch with an old lady in Portugal that doesn't have WhatsApp and will not dial international numbers, so she MUST use a local SIM card when there.
So, next thing we suggested was to get an Austrian SIM card when in the airport, but nooooooo it's more expensive that way (but then we countered that they would most likely know how to deal international phones and what to do and probably how to explain it to you). No. They decided to go to the local supermarkets Billa or Spar or whatever MediaMarkt, I don't even know. That didn't speak English, so Dad couldn't even translate for Mom (coz he very likely doesn't understand half of what the guy says). I hope. I HOPE! When they are in Portugal and have to swap the Austrian card out, they would not swap the wrong card out (fingers crossed and prays).
Oh, and the newest "complaint" from Dad is, "his phone doesn't have the weather app!" I don't really want to teach them over the phone because, it's over the phone, and they are technology-numb. And although I had set Dad's App Store to not need password input when downloading free apps, he hardly ever uses the App Store so I'm not sure if that setting has expired and it will still ask to input a password. And then he'll go all scheisse, schreiklich, and whatever else. Dad, just look at Mom's phone if you want to know the weather. Or better yet. Switch on the local TV. Or the radio.
Oh yeah, the apartment Dad's brother helped him rent is situated on the first floor, and Mom's complaining "there's 18 steps to go up." It seems like she's now planning to stay the remaining 14 days in the apartment and not going out because there's nothing outside anyway, and there's this flight of steps for her to climb, that she can't climb everyday.
There's going to be a BBQ party in "the garden" (small plot of land rented for small gardening or outdoor activities). Mom took a video and wow, Onkel definitely outdid himself. It used to have a small wooden cabin-style house/hut (just living room and the outside patio), a small gardening plot and an outdoor toilet. Now, they've made an outdoor kitchen, and have a pond/water feature. It looks larger too, and yes, Onkel managed to rent the next-door plots because the original renters dropped it. I remember as a kid looking for slugs around the garden and pouring salt or sugar (forgot which, but by rationale should be salt I think) on them to kill them.
