European Vacation

Arrival

After attaining cruising altitude Lulian settled into his seat and watched as the jet started across the channel leaving England behind. It had been a fun week but now he was starting out on the real reason for the European vacation. His trip to Brasov Romania and to finally meet Tassa in person.

"Are you going to be getting off in Austria", the older lady next to him asked?

Lulian responded to her inquiry happily, "No I'm going to be getting off in Bucharest and then continuing to Brasov."

"The airport just opened there last year, oh I'm sorry my name is Julia Stewart. I'm a clothing buyer all across Europe", the lady informed him as she was looking for a flight attendant.

"My name is Lulian Vasilescu, and I'm going there to meet a relative that I've never met but we have been talking to each other by email, and letters for the last 3 years.

"Really, my that sounds so exhilarating. I've talked to lots of people in my trips across the channel but I don't think I've ever talked to anyone that was going to meet a relative that they've never met before. No wait don't tell me I'll just bet she is a girl?"

Lulian had to admit that she was, "Her name is Tassa, here are some pictures of her", Lulian pulled out his phone and the wallpaper was a picture of Tassa, and he just began scrolling through some her best images.

Julia admitted that she was very beautiful and told him that just as soon as she got a drink she would love to hear the back story, especially how a young man like you could afford spending so much to come all the way over from America?

Julia got her drink and Lulian explained that it cost 3 times more to fly to the U.K. than what it would cost just to fly to Bucharest. Lulian continued, "I always wanted to come to England and since I was going to be on a holiday, I thought why not?"

"Well why not is that it costs a bunch of money, so how did you come by having a relative in a country you've never been to before", Julia asked him sensing an intriguing story?

I began to tell her about my great grandmother and her stories of her Romania before she came to America. While I was just a small boy sitting on her lap, and then later sitting at her feet. She was a hundred and one when she died and she had lived so much. Her stories of her fighting the Germans with the underground, and the fact that she was a spy added to her mysteriously exciting stories.

"She relived her life through me and told me of all her relatives that she left there and how much she missed them. She showed me the letters and pictures of all those people that she still spoke with. You know she had to leave when she did, so that the Germans wouldn't catch her. She met an American in Paris and they were married and came back to Los Angeles. She was a real hero and was actually awarded a medal. When she died 3 years ago she was still communicating with a relative that was her grandniece or something. I knew that I had to write to her. I wrote to her telling her that she died. I tried to find an email or phone number that she had for anyone that she was writing to but I couldn't find one. My mother told me that I shouldn't worry about that, most of those people don't do emails and phones she would say. Your Bunica (that's Romanian for grandmother) never even had a cellphone. My mother tried to get her to use a flip phone and she just wasn't having any of that."

"I went ahead and took pictures of her funeral and with a lot of other pictures I had taken with her and sent the whole bunch of them to Illiana Iliescu, her grandniece", Lulian explained. I had to wait until Julia had purchased another drink before I continued, "After 10 days I got my first email from somebody named Tassa and she told me that her grandmother, Illiana didn't write so well and she asked for her to write to me. Tassa told me that she was very thankful for me writing to her.

"So are you like one of those old money families I keep reading about in the tabloids, or did your Bunica leave you a small fortune", Julia asked.

Lulian answered, "No she didn't leave us anything and when she moved in with us she gave my parents all her money as we took care of her. I'm actually paying for all this trip myself"

Lulian smiled and shook his head as he sat and stretched back enjoying the room of the first class cabin before he continued. "No I'm paying for all of it all by my lonesome, and it is costing quite a penny, but since I'm in for a penny, I might as well be in for the pound. It's nice to have money, it's a wonderful thing money is."

We both broke up at the joke and laughed and she wanted to get another drink before I continued. Lulian told her, "Don't worry about it let me get you one, I just turned 21." I held up my hand motioning for the flight attendant and as they were waiting for him to get there she asked, "Please, I'm just so curious as to how you are paying for all this?" The flight attendant took their order and brought her drink and he continued, "In my freshman year in college in my computer mobile coding class I created the Uni-Uni App."

Julia almost dropped her drink and astonishingly asked, "Are you kidding me? I use that all the time. It is so easy. If I see a product that I want to tell 4 or 5 people about I just open the app, take the picture and choose who gets it and it goes to all of those people."

Then Lulian picked it up next, "Or you can just send it to all of your social media accounts at one time, a great time saver, huh?"

Indeed it is young man, and to think I'm sitting right next to the person that saves me so much time each day. She grabbed her purse and from a side pocket pulled out a card and handed it to me, "Here is my card with my international mobile on it if your meeting with your Tassa doesn't measure up. You know that when I first saw you sitting here I thought for a moment that you were the model Aldo. You know that male super model, I mean with your long hair you look a lot like him. He has the same long shoulder length hair, but then I saw that you weren't as tall or as well built as he is, but you are very handsome, but with more gentle features. He is really very rugged and I guess that is why he is very popular with the ladies.

The two travelers shared tidbits and rarebits of their lives with each other seemingly knowing that they may never meet again until with screeching tires the jet landed in Bucharest. They continued through customs together and then Julia told Lulian that it had really been enjoyable sharing their flight together and she offered, "There is an old saying in Romania that goes, the past and the future share the same house." They parted just outside the custom queue and Julia went to find a taxi, and Lulian went to find his next flight.

The flight to Brasov was in a small commuter turbo prop and barely took an hour flying deep into the mountains and seemingly deeper into the past. I finally landed at a very modern, but yet very small airport where you had to walk from the plane into the airport building where you presented your baggage claim tags to an official that then pulled your bags off of a gondola and handed them to you. After claiming my bags I used my phone to ring Tassa and tell her that I had arrived. Happily she made sure that I had her address and said to just give that to the taxi driver and he'll bring you to me. It is in an older section to the north of the city and that they shouldn't have any problems getting me there. She then apologized again for not being able to meet me at the airport, and I assured her that it was fine, and that I could manage after the ordeal at Heathrow that morning.

The day was ending and the light fading as I stepped out carrying my 2 cases with my shoulder bag slung, and found the taxi line. I approached the first cab and holding out the address, the driver just looked at it and shook his head. He said something to the other driver standing next to him and he looked at the address and then at me and asked me something. I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders in what I thought was universal for I have no idea what you're saying because I don't speak Romanian. He repeated the same thing but this time louder. If I didn't understand it at a lower volume, did he really think I would understand if he spoke louder? Another man walked up in some sort of a uniform and they talked and then he turned to me. At first I didn't realize that he was speaking English as it was so heavily accented, but then I understood what he was saying. "Yes, I really did want to go there, and I know it is in the old section of town, but there was someone waiting for me there, and yes I did know them."

He spoke with the two men and then using not only verbal words, but also a wealth of hand gestures finally reached some sort of plateau and turning to me again in a heavily accented voice told me, "This address is in an older section of the city and not a place that tourists usually go. Are you sure you know someone that lives in this section and I assured him that I did and in the back of my mind something was saying that maybe I should check this out, so I called Tassa again and this time I gave the phone to the man in the uniform. He spoke with her for a few minutes and then gave me back the phone. He turned back to the 2 drivers standing there and this time you could see the dawning of reason return to their heads. There was another discussion of something which I learned was which one was going to take me, since the first one declined to drive me to begin with. Finally the second driver won out or they decided on something and I had to load my bags into the car and we started off. It was different and the city was much like other cities but there were differences, the most obvious was that I couldn't read any of the signs.

We drove on regular paved roads, but without the shoulders that I was accustomed to and then we went on roads that were so different than any I had ever ridden on in my life. In an old taxi with shocks that were not very good when the car was new, now after years of carrying people and their bags here and there the experience was jarring to say the least. Now when people mention cobblestone streets I'll relive this bumpty jumpty ride. All the buildings now were very old and the buildings were right next to the street and there were no sidewalks to speak of and the lack of street lights, not being able to converse with the driver, and having no idea in hell of where I was, where I was going, or even if I was getting close did nothing to ease the bumps of the street. Being shaken around achieved a semblance of normal jarring, and suddenly the car slowing and then turning to the left in a moment of headlight wash on an opening in what could only be described as a wall of closely grown shrubs we drove through a short tunnel of stone. Just as quickly we were now on a circular drive and the car stopped in front of some very large steps heading up to two very large doors.

Through out my life there had been only been a few times that I was appreciatively of my short stature and riding in that small back seat had been one of them. I stepped out and then dragging out my bags the driver that didn't help me with the bags made sure that I had closed the door to his taxi collected his fare. I think he was wanting a gratuity for not helping and I was sure that I had paid way to much but he happily took the Euros that I had offered and then collected more until the one of the huge doors opened. We both quickly looked up and he quickly left me standing there as he drove off. I looked back to the doors and I could see Tassa for the first time in my life illuminated by the warming light from inside of her house.

Lulian! She warmly greeted me as I lugged my bags up the steps to the house and I set them down. Pictures maybe worth a thousand words, but they are still only 2D and her allure was all encompassing and surrounding me as she moved like the sweet scent of flowers as her lithe body moved towards me slinking in a long black dress that hugged her every curve, and we hugged for the first time. Her arms around me confiscating my being, my will to resist, and yet she already had that. Her voice was something else that I didn't expect as it didn't match what my mind had conjured nor could my mind ever conjure the sound of a siren that was so deep and full bodied. This wasn't a voice that could never be duplicated, and I never heard it until she spoke. Never the less she held the door and I carried my bags in the large entrance way as she invited me in and then pulled the door shut behind us and once again apologized for not being able to meet me at the airport. Her face was alight and warmed my heart as we hugged again.

"So am I what you imagined I would look like", she asked me. I told her that she was much more beautiful than any vision that I had. She smiled sweetly, and motioned me to follow her. The inside of her old house was very large and the room seemed to spread out past the foyer. She led the way into the house and I could see why it seemed so big on the outside as it was very large on the inside. Being from America our houses are small in comparison to this old large house. I think she instinctively saw this and explained, "This is an old house and has been in our family for over a hundred years. It isn't one of those small dwellings that people live in today, and I guess you could call it a mansion, but it is still just a house."

I agreed with her that it is big and then quizzed her as I followed her into the what could only be called the living room. Do I live up to your minds eye of what I would look like, and she turned and smiled saying, "Oh yes you look exactly what I thought you would look like except for your clothes, but then those are probably just for traveling in I would imagine." Passing through the living room I commented on the large fireplace and she told me that winters can be very cold here and it was a place that a large group of people could gather. We went into another room that had a large very sturdy looking table and she told me to just set my bags down, asking if I was hungry. I told her that I had a meal on the plane but I was supplementing it with some energy bars that I had brought with me. Offering me a place at the table she said that she would bring some food for me. I looked around at the eclectic decorating style and mentioned to her that she needed to get a decorator to come in and help her decide on what style she was wanting to strive for. I stepped through the door and saw that the kitchen area was more to what I had expected.

There was modern appliances that made me feel more at home. She was pulling out food that smelled wonderful and said that, "I hope you have a good appetite as I have Sarmale Cabbage Rolls, Mici a kind of sausage, Balmos which will fatten you up if you aren't careful, and Jumari which is a kind of smoked bacon. Of course I have wine which I buy from the winery's in this area, and there is always bread. So would you like to eat here or out in the dining room proper." In answer to her question I pulled out a chair from the table that ran the length of the kitchen. She turned about with a large plate of food and as she set it down I grabbed her and hugged her and she hugged me back as I said, "It's so good to finally be here and have you in my arms." I tilted my head and kissed her for the first time and she kissed me back and we spent a few moments exploring each other mouths with our tongues. She was as tall as I was and about the same size and she laid her head on my shoulder and softly kissed my neck. Whispering in my ear, "It's so good to finally see you. We have talked for so long and we have lived each others life through words and pictures but nothing like feeling your body next to mine. But now time to eat and then we can get you settled in."

We talked while I ate and I knew that she owned a dance club in the city, the "Sange de viata", and she talked a lot about that and all the aspects of managing the night club. She told me that she would take me there tomorrow and show it to me. I reminded her that I had seen pictures and she told me that the pictures weren't anything like seeing it in real life. It was always filled with young people from the university and the tourists that filled it after enjoying the days soaking of sights. I knew that it was about the only place in the city for people to go and meet others that liked modern music. EDM or electronic dance music was what moved the throngs. It was very popular since it was so far removed from the old picturesque city which was a big draw in the spring and summer months. "Why don't we go tonight", I offered, and Tassa responded that tonight was our night alone. Our night that we can share together, so now eat and then we will be settled in for the night.

After I finished eating and I followed carrying my bags up the stairs. Oh I must say something about the stairs as this was the first stone staircase I ever climbed. What I found most interesting is that there was no railings, and you didn't want to make a misstep as falling down could really be an ouch. But the following up the stairs was very enjoyable. Her dress that hung all the way to the floor gave her the impression of kind of like a snake that slithered around undercover. I somehow envied that dress being able to hug her every curve undulating with her slightest movement. I followed behind her down the hallway that seemed kind of close compared to the large rooms that we just came out of and when she opened the door on one side I noticed for sure something that I thought I saw but wasn't sure of, and something that wasn't mentioned in the three years of pictures or emails. Tassa didn't shave her underarms. I don't think I ever saw a woman that didn't shave her underarms. I only mention this as it was something that I wasn't accustomed to in my capsule of existence.

The room was obviously so big because it had stolen some of the room from the hallway and it needed to be big so that the bed would fit inside of it. It was a huge massive bed and I was sure that it took all the wood from at least a whole tree to manufacture. It was all real wood and not that cheap pressed board that so much furniture and been reduced to in our culture today. She came over and after setting my bags down she led me to a bathroom and showed me where I could freshen up after my trip. I pulled out a toothbrush and a clean shirt I went in and after washing away the dust and brushing away the remnants of the hearty but delicious meal I turned and went back out into the bedroom, a sight I will never forget. The first thing I noticed was the black dress shed on the foot of the bed and Tassa sitting in the middle of the mattress leaning back against the headboard with the sheet pulled up covering her breasts. She smiled and said it was customary to welcome travelers from afar graciously. I came and stood at the side of the bed looking at her before sitting on the side of the mattress and then taking her in my arms. The sheet fell as was its destiny and I looked into her deep dark brown eyes before taking her in my arms and resuming our kiss from downstairs.

The kiss spilled out of her mouth and covered all her cheeks, ears, and neck as I entwined myself all around her before dribbling down on her shoulders. I wasn't hungry, wasn't hungry for food, but this was a different kind of hunger three years in the making and I was starving, and I wasn't going to stop until well satiated. I felt her removing my shirt and I was glad that she was saving me time so I could concentrate on my devouring escapade. I laid next to her as first the sheet and then my pants were shed and our hands were exploring the expanse usually covered by clothes. Her naked secrets thrilled me and I was set free to enjoy her welcome. Laying next to each other kissing, licking, nibbling, and sucking you might think that we were jumping the gun, but we had spent three years in foreplay and there was nothing else that needed to be said. This was just lust, lust for life and lust for each other.