Author: Troups

The End is Near and We Deserve It–The Top 12 Reasons Earth Deserves Annihilation

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Originally posted on Kristen Lamb's Blog:
Thank you Hypervocal for this week’s forecast. It is December 20th! Technically, this is our last day, folks, so I figured I’d squeeze in one final blog. If the Mayans are indeed correct about this being the end of the world, then I have good news and bad news. Good news is I don’t have to do laundry *happy dance*. Bad news is, we probably asked for this *sad face*. Don’t believe me? Well, here are the Top 12 Reasons Earth is begging for annihilation. 12. Bad Driving Texting while driving. Obnoxiously passing others at high speed…only to have to stop at the red light. Tailgating. Road rage. Basically, life forms who can’t be trusted to park, can’t be trusted with a planet. So, YOU! Homedude! The one who’s driven the past fourteen miles with your turn signal on? Thanks. Thanks a lot. 11.Unauthorized Should-NEVER-Have-Been-Authorized-Biographies Yes, the end is near and we asked for it. You can partly thank The Big Six, or was it The Medium Five? Spiffy…

The Gift

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Traveling can bring out the best and worst in you. It can break you and lift you in ways you never imagined.  There are some days when you feel antsy and the materialistic side of you overpowers your brain …you realize you miss your tempurapedic mattress bed, clean, crisp sheets and even your uncomfortable couch at home.  But, there are days when you feel alive and free when you hike for hours surrounded by towering cliffs and incomprehensible natural beauty.  And then, there are days you feel connected to strangers that you talked to for a brief passing moment. You get overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of people. People like this young brother and sister from Korea who were travelling outside their country for the first time. They were in the same room as us in the hostel for one night. We only talked to the sister since the brother was shy, quiet and couldn’t speak or understand English.  It was no different conversation than we had with several other travelers we met along the way. “Where …

Hiking in Grindelwald

Grindelwald: Another day, Another Hike

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If someone could just pay me to be a full-time hiker and wander around in the mountains, the deep valleys and the lush forests all day, I would be in heaven, literally.  I wonder if I would ever get bored or tired of a job like that. Will I wake up in the morning and say, “Oh damn, I have to go to work again and climb these annoying mountains and look at this beautiful scenery yet again” and “My life is so hard. I wish I had a desk job.”  

Naan and Curry at the Top of Europe

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I knew a lot of Indian people visited Switzerland, thanks to Bollywood. What I didn’t realize was the scale of it all.  When we first arrived in Zurich, we didn’t see a lot of my people. But, as soon as we stepped outside the Interlaken train station, we saw a sign for Indian Dinner Cruise on Lake Brienz.  It was the only sign for a cruise on that lake. It amazed me ‘cos I didn’t realize how many Indian people have started travelling abroad specifically to places such as Switzerland which are really expensive even by American standards!  The Switzerland government gets it and totally capitalizes on the situation. Hell yeah, I would too!  So, when I found out that there is an Indian restaurant called Bollywood at the top of the Jungfrau peak (also called Top of Europe. BTW, it is not the highest mountain in Europe), I wasn’t surprised.  Apparently, there has been a 25% increase year over year in people visiting Switzerland from India.  Even though we hold the title for the tallest …

Suls – Lauterbrunnen Day Hike

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The first hike in Lauterbrunnen had not only left an indelible mark on us (in a good way) but had also left our bodies severly sore. We woke up late the next morning and decided to take a break and just walk around the town. By 2pm, we were itching. We visited the grocery store multiple times, tried to kill time gazing at swiss cheeses at the local cheese shop, and wondered what people do all day in this town if they are not hiking or skiing. Although our bodies revolted, we decided to torture them further by doing another hike.. It was going to be a mere 3600+ ft elevation gain with 5 hours of sunlight….nothing that our already destroyed quads couldn’t handle!  Entertaining myself at the coffee shop by taking glamorous shots of Dan

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland: Hike to Frozen Tundra

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The first hike in Lauterbrunnen had not only left an indelible mark on us (in a good way) but had also left our bodies severly sore. We woke up late the next morning and decided to take a break and just walk around the town. By 2pm, we were itching. We visited the grocery store multiple times, tried to kill time gazing at swiss cheeses at the local cheese shop, and wondered what people do all day in this town if they are not hiking or skiing. Although our bodies revolted, we decided to torture them further by doing another hike.. It was going to be a mere 3600+ ft elevation gain with 5 hours of sunlight….nothing that our already destroyed quads couldn’t handle!  Entertaining myself at the coffee shop by taking glamorous shots of Dan

Jersey Trampin

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So, at the start of our little world adventure, we decided that if there is an option to get from point A to point B for ‘almost’  free then we’ll take it. Unfortunately for us we took on this mission outside a long term storage facility in nowhere South Jersey to park our car for the next 4 months. We decided to take the NJ Transit train back to Hoboken from the storage facility. The pudgy guy with likeable face behind the counter pointed down the road and said, “Just walk up the road a little ways and hang a right by the movie theater, and the train station should be on your right..probably like a 20 minutes walk” An hour later after crossing 3 major highways, and passing four taco bells we began to question the dudes estimation skills. My guess is that there is not a lot of walking done in these parts of Jersey. Hell there is not even a good pedestrian walk way on the road and after 15 mins we …