And just like that, its officially finished

Pretty self descriptive title that states it all!

After my last update, I spent a few more days hanging out in Paris and finally made my way to London via the Eurostar chunnel. To be honest, I was disappointed at what 100+mph would feel like on a train, and I was especially disappointed at what the chunnel portion of the ride would be like. I think I hyped it up and imagined that the conductor would come on the loudspeaker and announce (in a spooky tone) we might not make it through and the water may leak into the tunnel and accompanying music would play in the background. Thats what I thought it would be like. Instead, what really happened was a boring conductor announced we were entering the tunnel and it would be approximately 20 minutes to get through. Shortly after, it became dark except for the faint glow of the train lights in the cabin. Pretty boring story eh?!

Well, I arrived in London by mid afternoon, and being the smart ass that I was, I decided to WALK to my hostel with my pack hoisted over my shoulder instead of doing the sensible thing - stepping onto the tube. My reasoning was that a single ride costs 4 pounds, and I would much rather eat than pay that ridiculous fare in riding (what I thought) was a few short stops. So of course I started another mini-adventure, but I was well prepared since I had a good overall built in map of London from being there in March. For those who know, I got off at Waterloo Station (near the London Eye) and my hostel was at South Kensington Station (across from the Natural History Museum). And in my above statement, by "prepared", I meant I didn't really know if the walk was going to take 20, 40, or 60 minutes! To be honest, it didn't end up being THAT bad but took a good hour to walk. No worries though, the weather held out perfectly and was overcast and cool.

The next day, I checked out of the hostel by 10AM and had them hold onto my luggage while I ventured out. I was going to visit the Tate Modern Museum but in the end decided I couldn't stand another paintings museum...even if it was modern art. Instead, I just went across the street and entered the Natural History Museum. It had dinosaurs, it had stuffed animals, earth and rocks, and a wide range of interactive displays designed for kids. No worries, I felt like a big kid in there and read up on a WHOLE bunch of interesting (but most likely useless) facts. For instance, there are three evolutionary steps to an efficient walk. In the first stage, the legs are bent at right angles and walking is achieved by throwing weight back and forth. Apparently, this is very inefficient. Next, the legs begin to straighten; finally, they are straight and distribute weight blah blah blah better. I can't remember it all, but I feel if this question were to ever come up in a quiz game show, I would dominate with a pretty good answer!

The last day of my travels was interesting. Truthfully, it was a day filled with a mental tug of war game between wanting to get back home (and wear clean clothes) versus to stay traveling and continue to explore and see the world. I think I have made it clear that living out of a backpack looses its appeal after a month or two when you realize ALL you have to wear is the same few dirty shirts. On the other hand, traveling offers some of the GREATEST opportunities that you normally don't get. It was a tough day as I reminisced on the past 3 months and also did the countdown for when it would JUST END. I ended up spending 4 or 5 hours in the museum looking at all the cool exhibits and reading for a couple hours at Kensington Park. Mainly, I had to go to Kensington Park so that I could take off my shoes for a while and let the stink air out. Lets keep it simple: my shoes STUNK. I actually started to air them out while in the museum only to have a group of school kids stop right near me as their teacher talked about a certain exhibit. I heard a few kids remark that the whole area smelled like cooking butter! I think the cooking butter was better described as my shoes that I'd worn day in day out for the duration of the trip! I quickly and nonchalantly slipped the shoes on and made a 007 style exit!

By late evening (and after reading some more at the hostel lounge), I made way to London Heathrow airport. Earlier in the day, I purchased a single ride ticket from the attendant to use to get me to the airport. OF COURSE though, when I put the ticket in, it doesn't work. Not only does it not work, but there is no one working now, and I do a mini "freak out". I feel London didn't want me to leave! Somehow a maintenance worker was passing by and I pleaded with him to open the gate and let me through. I thought, "wow, that was lucky, now it'll a nice, easy, and smooth trip to the airport". But again, London didn't want me to leave. The first train, after a half dozen stops announces the central train conductor has called the train back to central London. I'm forced off and have to wait for another. The next comes, I get in, it travels 2 stops and then announces that it won't be going to Heathrow anyone, but only to the next stop. Once again, I have to get out and wait. They say threes a charm though, and it was because the third train was finally able to get me there.

I had a flight out from London Heathrow at 8:30AM to Toronto. Does this sound familiar (if not, read an EARLY entry about the time I stayed up all night at the airport and vowed to never do it again). Yet for some reason, I do the same thing. I get to the airport around midnight to discover there were no check in attendants working. That meant I had around 6-7 hours to kill before the windows were reopened. Side note: airport seats might be one of THE worst places to try to sleep on. First of all, the elbow rest doesn't lift up. Secondly, there is no neck rest. Finally, the seat SUCKS. I quickly discover I'm not the only one with this idea as there are quite a few backpacking groups doing the same thing. Long story short, I hung out at the airport all night.

In total, this is how my day breaks down:

1. Woke up at 9AM on May 22nd
2. Wasted/reminisced
3. Read my book
4. Got on tube and arrived at Heathrow by midnight May 23rd. At this point, I've been awake 15 hours.
5. Wait until 6AM to check in. Wait until 8AM before flight leaves. Now, I've been awake for 23 hours.
6. Fly to Toronto. Unfortunately and fortunately, there were mini touch screen monitors on each headrest that allowed you to watch movies, tv shows, listen to music, etc. I was totally going to sleep the entire flight over and arrive into Toronto at 11AM refreshed, but the damn movies kept me going the whole flight. Lets see, flight took off at 8AM and arrived at 11AM. There was a five hour time difference, making it an 8 hour flight. That means, at this point, I had been up for 31 hours.
7. Wait in Toronto until next flight. During the flight, I met two guys from London who were going to Seattle to pick up a custom made amp for their band. They said it actually worked out cheaper to fly from London and stay in Seattle for a week than to have it sent over. I don't know how it works out, but thats a PRETTY hefty price to send a guitar amp in my opinion. Anyways, I hung out with these two at the airport bar watching Liverpool vs. AC Milan instead of taking a nap at the airport. My flight took off from Toronto at 4PM. At this point, I have been awake for 36 hours.
8. Fly to Raleigh. I admit, I fell asleep for a little bit...actually, before take off! But it was only a brief nap, so for all intensive purposes, I'm going to tally it on my "hours spent awake" adventure. The flight was roughly 2 hours, so that makes my total 28 hours.
9. Rest of the day. Got in safely at 6PM, got a ride home, had some dinner, hung out with the family for a bit. I was feeling pretty awake the entire time until after dinner. At around 9PM, I felt a little sleepy and tried to keep plugging away at this blog! At around 9:01PM, I could barely keep my eyes open and went to lay down. It was one of the best and deepest sleeps I've ever had. That makes my total, umm...39 hours!! I'm pretty amazed at myself, and you should be too =) (If anything stated in my blog doesn't make sense, its because I wrote it in my state of delirium)
   

And now...back to normal life! I think I need a vacation from my vacation...

I curse you, Weather Gods of Paris

This is it folks, most likely the last update of my European trip. Did you like it as much as I did?! Hopefully you got a sliver of the action and have become inspired to buy me some drinks as a form of gratitude for all the entertainment I have provided. Let me just tell you, and I'm not doing this to throw a guilt trip, but my fingertips have become bloody from typing so many blogs. Seriously, I may have to go on disability...

Nonetheless, Paris:
Paris is grand, its unique, and its a fun place. I just wish I would have come here earlier in my trip to have appreciated it a bit more. Not to say I'm not wowed, but I feel I'm not as wowed as I should be since I have heard so many people refer to it as their "favorite city". I think I can sort of pinpoint why I feel this way. The weather. Plain and simple. From my previous blog, you'll know that I unwisely boasted about all the good weather I've had along the way. Seems like the Weather Gods have had the last laugh though. They've sent rain showers, mist, sprinkling, and any other type of rain that is enough to deter you from wandering around the streets.

For instance, today appeared GORGEOUS outside. Actually, it was the first day I've woken up to good weather. I explored the city for a few hours only to be hit with a passing shower. Drove me inside for a good hour. Then, BAM, its perfect again outside. (I think the Weather Gods are enjoying this). Of course I take off for more exploring, only to get SOAKED by another passing storm. I actually ducked under a store awning (I was copying what other people were doing) and attempted to wait it out. Then I started looking at the clouds and realized, "its only going to get worse". Made a mad dash for it, only (you guessed it) to see the clouds break up AS I'm about to get inside. So I say this, "DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU WEATHER GODS".

I've got a Saturday and Sunday left. Lets see if there might be any good weather.

You are probably dying to know what I'm done so far in Paris instead of hearing about bad weather for so many paragraphs. Don't worry, I'll explain!

First of all, let me tell you where I'm staying! I'm staying in the 10th district. I don't really know how the districts are organized except to say that the 10th is pretty centrally located. That must mean paying out the ass for a place right? Well, NOPE, not for a V.I.P. like me. I'm actually staying with a friend all week for a sweet price of FREE NINETY NINE. Thats what I call a good way to conclude a long backpacking adventure! My only complaint is that her shower head has practically no water pressure, and my normaly puffy hair has sat against my head all week, giving me the famous "Legoman" look. If you aren't familiar, just look at a picture of the Lego people toys, and you'll understand!

Okay, so now, what have I done:

• I've ate! This shouldn't be surprising, but what is surprising is that I've gone away (mostly) from kebabs and other street vendor foods. Its so much easier to go to a sit down restaurant when you have someone who can translate the menu for you. PS - don't always trust the restaurant translations either, as I found out "crusty of goat" is also what we call goat cheese. The whole time, I thought it was...well, nevermind. So I've had french food which to be honest I couldn't really pick out if I was blindfolded and doing a taste test. I could pick out crepes though, and I've learned along the way there are two styles. One is a darker color and used for salty stuff like ham, cheese, etc while the other is lighter and ate with sugar, or Nutella, or something else sweet. To me, its sort of tastes like brown bread and the other tastes like white.
• I saw the Louvre. I was actually going to go in, but once I saw the lines, I realized it wasn't for me. I even somehow made it into the pyramid section only to discover a bamillion (yes, that is not a word, I know) people trying to buy tickets. I sat there for a while and admired I.M. Pei's work but decided the Mona Lisa could wait until next time.
• I snuck into the Museum Orsay. Well, technically I snuck in since I didn't have a ticket, but I found out through my guidebook (thanks Rick Steves) that you can go in for FREE NINETY NINE one hour before it closes. It gave me enough time to see the majority of the impressionist art but not enough time to get bored.
• I went to Notre Dame. Weather wasn't good so I didn't go up top to look at the Gargoyles, but the inside of the church was pretty cool. While there, they started playing organ music, and man, that junk was LOUD! At first, I thought God was going to speak to the church after the intro from the organs, but then I realized it was not He, but just some guy up there doing practice or something.
• I almost had a bag of Belgian chocolates stolen from me, by a gypsy girl. This actually happened when I first arrived at the train station. I couldn't figure out how to get through the turnstyle for the metro, and this gypsy girl must have caught sight of my wonderful chocolates. Luckily I also caught sight of her approaching and positioned myself (along with my backpack full of stinking clothes) between her and the metaphorical treasures. I won, mostly in part because my backpack was smelling foul.

Speaking of dirty clothes, I now know when its dangerous to wear dirty socks. Not when they change color, not when they smell funky, but at the point that they become crusty after you take them off and let them dry out, that is when (a) you throw them out or (b) heavy duty wash them ASAP.

Very random last blog, I know, but read up anyways. Now...I'm going to poke my head out and see if the weather has turned nice again...

Brugge, such a love-hate relationship

I believe this may be my second to last update while in Europe. How have you enjoyed my blog?! haha.

Since Thursday night, I have been in Brugge, Belgium. Its located in northern Belgium and is a TRUE fairytale type city. It has amazing architecture, nice people, beautiful parks, and yet, I've developed a love-hate relationship with it.

hate
When I first got into the city, it was raining. This normally wouldn't be a big deal but I have been incredibly fortunate my whole trip and not had ANY rain days. OF course I jinxed this while boasting about my good fortunes in Amsterdam, only to get rain the last three days there, and rain everyday in Brugge so far. So when I got off the station and knew I would have to walk a decent distance to my hostel, I developed the first of my love-hate relationship. Also, this was the first time where I got lost attempting to get to the hostel. Coupled with the fact that I was lugging around a huge backpack, I thought it was going to be a long couple of days here.

love
The city center and surrounding areas are amazing! I can't really begin to describe it, but one of the people at the hostel said, "every corner you turn, you are continually amazed"! Its true. I guess this area never got destroyed, or has been meticulously put back together, but it is what I thought "Europe" would be like before I left. I believe it was awarded the title of Europe's cultural capital, for what its worth.

hate
The rain. It has rained every single day. EVERY SINGLE DAY. Luckily it hasn't been for the entire day, but its been enough to be very annoying. I've had to lug around my jacket shell with me each time I go out to deal with the unpredictable weather. (I hope it doesn't rain when I go to Paris).

love
Such friendly people. Such amazing sights. I took a brewery tour of one of the remaining Brugge brewers; I believe the beer is called Brugge Zot. Amazing beer if you can get your hands on one. The tour was really funny and was hosted by this women who had the DRYEST humor. She would make jokes that would normally be pretty cheesy and rehearsed, but by the end of it, I was rolling around laughing become she would deliver punch lines and have absolutely no reaction.

Also in terms of love, the beer here is WOW. I believe I was told there are in the neighborhood of 700 beers in Belgium! To top it off, they are snobs here and use different cups for just about each. Not sure if it affects taste that much, but its interesting to see the assortment of glasses at the bars.

• SIDE NOTE: I learned (from another beer tour) the way to tell if a beer glass is actually clean. After you have finished your glass, there should be rings of head/foam residue left over on the glass. If you have this, then your glass is clean, if not, then you had a dirty glass. Supposedly glasses need to be cleaned at least weekly with some soda water mix?! Why is this that important? Well, I've been told that "dirty" beer glasses make the beer flat quicker and take away from the taste! There you go, something educational!

hate (the ultimate one)
I went to the ATM yesterday, and it ATE my bank card. I was so surprised I didn't even know what to do. It was really the last thing on my mind, but of course, it happened. Damn you karma...I've even been saying "thanks" and having good thoughts, and helping old ladies cross the roads...well not exactly. Anyways, the people in front of me didn't have problems, the people behind me didn't have problems.

I inserted the card, the machine accepted, but it just NEVER prompted me for my PIN number. As a matter of fact, it didn't do ANYTHING. Luckily I have some cash on me, and a backup credit card to use for the last week, but still, VERY annoying. Tomorrow, I will have to show up to the bank and pray they can fetch it out of the machine and give it back to me. I plan on bringing EVERY document I have to prove my identity...we'll see if it works.

Later on I found out that every bank card in Belgium has a chip on it, but mine doesn't (it only has the magnetic strip). Therefore, the machine couldn't read my card. I buy the excuse, but it should have just returned the thing...not kept it! For those who go to Belgium, BEWARE!

And that concludes my love-hate relationship of the city. Actually, I think if it wasn't for a lost bank card, this would be one of my top three cities to visit.

Tomorrow, I make way to Paris. 10 days left of traveling, and then back home! I'm rather looking foward to sleeping on my own bed!

Sin City

Why do they call Las Vegas "Sin City"?! The name should belong to Amsterdam!

A brief recap on my week. Location: Amsterdam

Hostel
Arrived last Thursday and found out I had somehow booked a Christian hostel. I'm not picky or anything, and it was a nice experience, but I can truthfully and honestly say I didn't go to Amsterdam to strengthen my faith...
Anyways, the first hostel was outside the city center (in the Jordaan district) but I made a switcheroo the next day and went to the one located in the HEART of the red light district. Just imagine this scenario, you are walking down the red light district and there are prostitute booths left and right. Then, out of nowhere, a Christian youth hostel...seems out of place to me. The hostel in itself was actually pretty nice, good groups of people, and bible study every night. The bad was: a 2am curfew, no smoking, and no drinking. This was a double edged sword though...on one hand, it made a great sleeping place when you got tired (minus the last night when I think there was a devil-possessed grizzly bear snoring next to me) but yet, it felt like it deflated half the fun of going to Amsterdam. Whatever, good location was what mattered to me!

Drugs
Drugs were everywhere. You had your soft drugs that were "legal" including weed and mushrooms. Pot was sold at "coffeeshops" and 'shrooms were sold at "smart shops". So after taking a tour of the city, I learned that both of the above mentioned drugs are technically still illegal, but yet no one has been busted for it in 30+ years. The cops and city allow it to happen but focus all of their attention towards the hard drugs. Another surprising tidbit of information: only around 9% of the Dutch population actually smokes weed! This is an incredibly small percentage compared to other places such as 33% in the US and 44% in New Zealand. For Europe alone, its not even one of the top five smoking nations and you can buy it EVERYWHERE!!

At night, there were "Charlie" guys roaming the streets. I'll enlighten since I didn't know what Charlie was. Charlie = cocaine. These guys would wander around at night and approach you discreetly in attempts to sell coke, X, etc. By discreet, I mean, they'd whisper (annoyingly) into your ear as you walked by. I have more to say about this, but I need to first set up the story.

On the first night, I met these two Welsh guys and went out with them to get some drinks and stuff. By the end of the night, I realized they were much crazier than I but since there was no one else I had met yet, I chilled with them. By the end of the second night, one of them lets slip that he's a coke head and needs some "sniff" (these are all new words I learned...haha) and buys some off a guy on the street. He said it was really good and cheap stuff. BUT when I took a tour of the city, the guide explained that the majority of the guys selling stuff sell baking soda and random stuff. That is why it is actually very hard for the cops to do anything since they technically aren't drug dealers!

Alcohol
The Heiniken (sp?) Experience is in Amsterdam. Its a self guided walking tour through the old brewing factory. Very interactive tour such as a ride called "The life of a Heiniken bottle"! In the end, I was completed brain washed to only ever drink Heiniken though. Oh, along the way, you get 3 free beers as well as a gift at the very end!

Otherwise, alcohol was expensive in the city center. I'm talking around 5 Euro for a half liter of beer. I spent way too much money.

Prostitutes
Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam. The ladies operate behind these glass booths with, you guessed it, a red light on top! Not really sure why they use red, but it is what it is. The area consists of (I believe) over 300 booths! This is how it works: the ladies pay between 75-150 Euros for a 8 hour shift at a booth which depends on location, time of day, weather, etc. They charge around 50 Euro for 15 minutes, but this includes alot of upsell once inside. Think: used car salesmen tactics. How do I know this...I would like to clarify I didn't do anything, I took a tour of the red light district for educational purposes only!

Now of course I wandered the red light district at night with people. It was fun, but somewhat degrading. Anyways, the girls can't be naked because that would imply they are prostitutes...so they are clothed in the smallest outfits possible. There are usually different areas for different type of girls. You have the fat girls, foreign girls, REALLY hot girls, and of course, the girls that are only girls from the waist up. I didn't get this at first, but I'm going to put it bluntly, they have dicks. At one point, I found this street, and I have been scarred for life. I don't think I ever walked so fast out of there.

Finally, about the girls, I got harrassed twice. In what is known as the premiere alley (for the hottest girls), there is an indoor building that is all booths. Inside this building, the girls are allowed to be outside of their booths and...interact...I guess. The first time I walked through here, one of the girls tapped me in my...well...you know. It hurt pretty bad and she laughed at me. I stumbled out with the people of my group laughing ahead. The second time (why did I go back, I don't know...) I was with another guy and this girl just GRABBED me and wouldn't let go. If I were smooth I would have been like "baby, I'm going to have to charge you 10 Euros for my time" but instead I was like a deer caught in headlights! Thats as close as I got to the ladies of the night for all those wondering!

Misc
Stroopwafels are delicious. They are basically two flat waffles fused together by caramel. You can find these at the AH grocery stores all around town. I ate so many I think I have new cavities.

I took a diamond tour (suggested by my tourbook). It basically sucked because the lady wouldn't pay me any attention. I wonder if that was because of my smelly and dirty clothes along with my massive bed head?! Either way, her loss. I was about to drop 300,000 Euro for their biggest rock. Instead, I guess I'll save it and buy some other petty toy.


Thats all for my update. Oh, I also went to Rotterdam for a day, but it wasn't all that great. I didn't know what to do and the receptionist at the hostel didn't either. I ended up just wandering around and found some crazy architecture!

Have fun reading =)

Dresden and Berlin

Oh my, how the time flies! I just realized I have lacked some updates for a while. In my defence though, I´d just like to say I have been having too much fun to get on a computer =)

Lets see, well, after Prague, I purchased a train ticket into Germany. To clarify, the Eurail pass does not include the Czech Republic, so you have to purchase your own way in, and your own way out. Now the original plan was to shoot straight into Berlin, but after finding out it would cost nearly 60 Euros, I opted for the closet border town in SE Germany along the rail line, and that ended up being Dresden. I spent a whole two days there in what turned out to be the major hippy side of town. How do I know I was in the hippy side of town? Well, there were an assortment of stores named "THC Headshop" and "Purple Haze", not to mention the extreme number of people who walked around without shoes and looked baked to hell! It was a fun part of town though.

On the first night, I was really hungry (this shouldn´t be any news) and wandered into a Cuban restaurant to eat. I was extemely indecisive about where to sit (outside vs. inside) but eventually settled for the biggest table I could find. Then of course, the place starts to fill up and I feel like a jackass for taking the table of 20 when I´m only a party of one. No worries though, this German couple asks if they can sit at my table (its only actually a four person table, I felt I had to exaggerate for emphasis) and they do. We start chatting and it turns out the lady used to live in San Fran for a couple years and speaks pretty fluent English. The guy though, he´s German through and through! He was involved in an unfortunate motorcycle accident that has put him in the hospital for the last 6 months and is super excited to have a visitor (the lady) who was able to check him out of the lock down house and out for a party! He had broken English to start - I have zero German except to say "Nein, das is mein hamburger" which means "No, that is my hamburger" which I learned from some drunk Aussies in France...nevermind though...his English started getting worse and worse as he was pounding back Mojitos and even occasionally throwing in some Spanish here and there. LUCKILY the lady was there and able to do translations back and forth. Makes me kind of sad though that I can go anywhere in the world and rely on English. I feel like it sort of cheapens my trip, and if I were have been forced to learn and use a foreign language, that I´d have a richer experience. No worries, next time...!

During the daytime, the hostel, Lollis Homestay, had a free bike rental program. Free ninety nine...I´m all over that junk. So I ended up renting a bike and riding throughout the city, weaving in and out of traffic with such precision that the Germans would have been proud. It was an awesome experience, I mean, come on, when was the last time you can honestly say you´ve ridden a bike around for me? Try it, its guaranteed good times! The only problem was, I took the bike for the day and wanted to make the most of it, so I biked around for roughly eight hours and learned the hard way the next day how sore your ass can get when riding over cobble stone for that long! In between riding, I also polished off "Into Thin Air" which is a journalists account of the 1996 Everest Expedition that lost many many lives. Good thrilling read if you get a chance!

Dresden overall was luke warm in terms of fun, but I was ready to get on with the main attraction...that being Berlin.

I arrived in Berlin care free and first impressions were, "This place is HUGE". I had very vague instructions on how to get to my hostel from the train station. The actual instructions (not ver batim) was something like, "From Zoo station, take the 110 bus until ______, transfer to 115 bus until _____, exit and walk to end of street. Turn left at end of street and continue to walk until dead end. Hostel is right there". If you´ve been to Berlin, you´ll know that the Zoo station is a pretty central hub, so I assumed the hostel couldn´t have been far. Can you see I´m trying to build up the story here? I eventually found a city map and was attempting to find the street needed in small circles starting out from the Zoo in hopes of being able to walk to the hostel, catch some sight seeing along the way, and enjoying the beautiful day. No, I´m not gay. Well, after 10 failed minutes, I start looking for bus routes and notice the hostel is not ANYWHERE near the station. Its on the farthest SW corner of the map. As a matter of fact, I´m still not even sure it was within city limits. Needless to say, I managed to find the place after multiple bus rides and transfers only to realize the hostel is located in the forest. Yes, IN the forest. In order to get there, you do the bus transfers as noted above, you walk to the end of the street as they say, but the kicker is that when you turn left, you are surrounded by trees and walking on a dirt path that leads to the hostel! And when I say the hostel is in the forest, I really mean I could hear some wild animals making noises...and brief thoughts of getting eaten and making international headline news did flash across my mind! The hostel ended up being really nice but just was not my style so I ended up staying one night and moving on out to the sister hostel located IN the city.

Now, this other one, called JetPak City, was INCREDIBLE. On top of being new and extremely clean, they provided free internet access via Macs, iPod chargers and iPod speakers in each room, and one of the most amazing showers I´ve ever used. I´m not picky by any means for showers, but this had a seat, a shower head, some other over the top sprinkler, and some insane side jets that would...well, I´m not exactly sure what they were for, but the looked cool!

I almost immediately made a group of friends and ended up wandering out to take the "New Berlin Tour", another event that was free ninety nine (it is tip based but you don´t have to pay anything up front). I don´t know if I´ve mentioned them before, but very good quality tours for getting your feet wet! Actually, much better than the majority of paid tours I´ve even taken. It turned out to be extremely hot that day and I was somewhat dragging along towards the end, UNTIL we took a lunch break at Schlotschi´s (that is horribly spelled) Deli. Why...well, because they had FREE refills on drinks, which is the first one I´ve seen in Europe while I´ve been here. Normally I don´t even care that much for soda, but that day, I must have drank 5 cups of mouth satisfying Sprite! Okay, to sum up, the tour was great, it was just too hot outside.

Now on top of the "free" tour the company offered, they also have some paid trips and of course, a pub crawl. A group from the hostel got together and decided to check this thing out. Lets say, it was intense and wore me out the next day. It was also a little out of my element...maybe I´m getting old, but a group of around 100 drunk American college students trying to outdo each other the whole night became tiring. And I felt bad that I was lumped in with the group at times! Regardless, we hit up 3 bars and 2 clubs so it was a great chance to see the nightlife of Berlin. One of the bars in particular, I think its called Zapata, located near Orienburger (I call it Orangeburger) street, looks like an abandoned five story builing with graffiti throughout. What I think it is, is a place used by artists as studios and whatnot. It had a sand filled outdoor area with an assortment of items including a section of a helicopter, a VW van, movie theater seats, large metal welded alphabet letters, and almost anything else you can think of. Quite a cool place and I actually went back later to take pictures! The pub crawl ended at a club called "Matrix" located on the FAR east side of Berlin. I thought the area was sketchy and at this point realized if I got separated from the hostel group, I´d have to sleep under the stairs or on a park bench in East Berlin. Lets say, I feel extremely lucky to have made it back to my own hostel bed at the end of the night!

Overall, Jetpak was really cool and had a great group of people. I hung out with a good number of them and they were mostly real chill people! As a group, we went out at night and checked out this awesome local rock band that was jamming hard. Good times! There was however two girls, one of who I only heard about and didn´t really talk to, that were nicknamed psycho girl, and bitch girl. Haha...I thought that was funny!

But now, I unfortunately decided to move hostels and try out a new section of Berlin. I seem to have bad luck, because I booked a hostel and ended up pretty far in the middle of nowhere again! Spent the night there but luckily ran into a friend during the day and checked out a funky Jewism museum along with the parliament building (has a clear dome that you get to go up) and the Sony Center (just think of a futuristic plaza with a Sony store, Legoland, an interactive VW store, and an IMAX theater). Back to the hostel situation though...(its Monday morning) and I´ve decided to move out. I went hostel shopping for half a day yesterday and feel I´ve found some really cool ones! But officially, I have hostel-homeless right now because I don´t have any reservations. Thats pretty cool, I´m homeless!!

The plan is to spend 3 more nights in Berlin and move onto Amsterdam by Thursday. Spend a week there, and move on, eventually landing me back home to North Carolina by late May. I think I´m ready to start winding down and eventually get back to some structure in my life!

I´ll check in soon, have fun in the meantime!

Praha

Praha has been next to amazing! I was originally semi-skeptical about coming here because of how much it was hyped up. But now I understand the hype, its gorgeous. For the last couple of days, I have wandered throughout the city center and taken in the finely preserved architecture and other sights.

Initially, the week started off very slowly as I arrived and failed to instantly surround myself with a group. To be honest, I started to get a little down since I felt like "that" outcast traveler that no one wants to associate with. But of course, the tide changed and I met a great group of people to hang out with.

Of them, met a cool Aussie couple who have purchased a car and, instead of taking trains around Europe, have decided to do the adventure while driving. They were in my original dorm room! Also met two guys from London through a walking tour and ended up hanging out with them for a day.

So instead of boring you with all the sights I've seen, I'm instead going to focus on the adventures of today:

It all started off with a cool idea to see the "Bone Cathedral" located 75km east of Prague. The two English guys, along with the Aussie couple decided to make the trek together. Started off mid day, and instantly, it was action packed. We started off by almost missing the train to Kutna Hora (the town where the Bone church is located). We basically had to RUN to the correct platform after purchasing our tickets last minute. Of course though (because of the perfect day) the train was delayed by 10 minutes...to wait up for us! Once we got to Kutna Hora, we walked to the Bone church. For those of you who are not familiar, this gothic style church is decorated with the skull and bones of 40,000 people. Supposedly, the area had holy soil spread on it and became a very popular burial ground. Later on, the plague hit, leaving MANY dead people...actually too many for the small cemetary. They contemplated what to do with all the human remains and decided to decorate the inside of a church with the bones! Included are two large cups (made of bones) along with a chandelier made with every part of the human body. It was pretty creepy in my opinion, but definitely worth the trip out for.

After, we heard of another gothic church that was supposed to be fantastic. Since we already made it out so far, it was a no brainer to also check this one out. We attempted to get the train to the city center, but after waiting at a shady train station (it completely looked like the train station from Eurotrip when the main characters were in Bratislava), we decided to talk along the train tracks in order to find the church. This was pretty amazing, as we were able to follow a path off the main road, along a stream, all the way into the old town center.

Constant jokes were thrown out about how it was such a perfect day and perfect situation that it MUST be the start of a horror movie! Of course, the foreign looking guy (which would be me) always dies...so I was semi-worried if the plot was going to develop as planned. As we elaborated on each others stories, we eventually decided there were going to be ninjas hidden along the path who were hiding but would asassinate us in our journey. Luckily, it didn't pan out and we safely made it to this AMAZING hilled and walled in church area. Of course, instead of going to check out the church, we nestled ourselves in this quaint little restaurant overlooking the city and ate some fantastic food (was very cheap too). After the meals and beer, we finally made it to the church only to discover it was already closed.

Eventually we trotted our way back to the city center station and found a way back to Prague. In order to get to the main Kutna Hora station though, we had to ride this crazy single carriage "train". Of course, we made it safely and arrived at the main Kutna Hora station only to find mass confusion on how to best get back to Prague. During our confusion, we were on one train, got off, decided to get back on, and jumped off at the last minute! And I really do mean we jumped off. Somehow the doors don't lock as the train moves, and in our last minute group decision, we figured it would be best to try another train. By now the train has left the platform and is picking up speed. One by one, we jump off a moving train in our attempt to switch trains. For some reason, I laughed so hard about what we did, and it was the definite highlight of my trip.

The rest was pretty smooth and we arrived back in Prague before nightfall! In our day long adventure, EVERYTHING just went perfectly and I realized that the majority of the memories I'll have of Europe will not be of the museums I've seen, great squares I've lounged in, but instead, the people I've hung out with, and all the stupid stuff we do along the way! I guess you really had to be there with us...I can't even describe all the events in the detail they deserve, but it was just 100% perfect in every aspect!

The near future plan is to get out of Prague by Tuesday morning en route to Dresden, Germany. Whats in Dresden...who KNOWS?! Who cares...its just one more opportunity to meet people, hang out, and experience some amazing journies!

Until next time...best to you!

Bratislava, and beyond

How do I begin to describe Bratislava? Well...lets start by how it is different from Eurotrip!

How its different:
-its not completely run down. The city center area is actually meticulously clean with work crews going back and forth to pick up all litter.
-it wasn't that scary. Even though I have never seen "Hostel", I had at least a dozen people ask me about it when I mentioned I was going to Bratislava. Now even though I didn't see the movie...I still got the jist of it though, being that there was a lot of gore, violence, etc. and 100% of it being taken out on the hostelers. To be completely honest, I was semi scared to go out after night fall, but in the day time, it was completely safe!
-SOME people are very up to date on fashion. Again, in the city center, I found all the high end shops you'd expect in a big fashion capital. But then again, I also found some clothing that seemed to come from...Walmart + Thrift Store + years or not washing clothes + anything else weird you can think of. It was strange...
-it was NOT cheap to find housing. In it, they book a five star hotel for a nickel. I booked a hostel not even in the city center for 15 Euro!!

But of course, it also has similar elements to Eurotrip:
-drinking is dirt cheap
-there are quite a few run down buildings that look like they were were the shooting locations of the movie
-there are WEIRD people. When I got off the train and was looking for the hostel, I saw a drunk man with his pants down, facing the bush, taking a leak. About 50m ahead, this old lady (in an open space) pulled down her pants and hiked up her dress and popped a squat, and there were MULTIPLE old drunks staggering around. This was when I was semi-scared...because the sun was going down and I started whining and bitching, instead of just looking and seeing the huge sign for the hostel!

But either way, I'm glad I went to Bratislava; I'm also glad I have left. Today, I have safely arrived in Prague, Czech Republic. I plan on logging a week here before moving on! This place seems cool, and I'm excited to explore every nook and crany it has to offer. Suggestions always welcome.

Until next time...

...and then I got horribly sick...

The rest of Budapest was excellent. I feel like I can claim the award for "most slack traveler" since I really didn't do anything except hang out, eat, and drink. Thats a pretty amazing way to spend an entire week in my opinion.

I think I left off stating I was going caving. Well, on the brochure, it mentions that you will be on your hands and knees, crawling through holes, etc. An overall suit and helmet (with headlamp) was going to be provided. WELL, for some reason, that didn't really register in my mind. I always imagined a guided path to walk along, maybe lit the majority of the way, and definitely something with a hand rail to guide visitors along. BOY was I surprised! Lets just say, I feel like I experienced some REAL caving. For 2.5 grueling hours, I was crawling through TINY holes, worming through rock "slides", scrambling up and down large boulders, and using muscles I never knew existed! I feel the brochure should start using some bold font when explaining that you will be crawling, ohh...about 75% of the time! But regardless, I went with a group from the hostel, and it was an incredible time shooting the shit and laughing in there even though I was scared I was going to fall into some unknown crack and get stuck forever. To top it off, one of the girls that came along was clautraphobic, and KNEW it ahead of time, but she tackled those caves like it was no ones business.

Eventually, Budapest came to an end, and I moved onto Vienna, Austria. Ended up that three other people from Budapest were also making way to Vienna so we all became an improv posse and hung out in two different countries. If thats not ballin', I don't know what is! About the night before departing though, I hung out with a bunch of hostel people and just about all of them had some sort of cough going on. I'm come to grips with this, but my immune system sucks. By the end of the night, I start to get the sniffles, by next morning...a slight runny nose. By the end of a three hour train ride into Vienna, I feel a full on cold developing. I'm thinking, "well, nothing you can do. I'll just drink lots of fluids, pop a few Advil, and life will go on". Unfortunately, by mid afternoon, I start getting a bit of a temperature and decide to take a nap before going out to explore. I know something is wrong after I wake up and have sweated through my sheets though, but by this point in time, my temperature feels normal again. The group (from Budapest) minus one girl who had to leave decides to go to the Opera House and catch an opera or ballet show. I probably should not have gone but decide this is one of the MUST DO items in Vienna, so I tag along.

The ballet performance was very unique and cool, and well worth the experience. Tickets were cheap also, running us only 3.50 each for the standing section. I obviously have no clue how long a ballet takes, and assume it CANNOT be longer than 1.5 to 2 hours. Long story short, by the end, I'm feeling like absolute shit, hungry, and exhausted. The ballet was called "Manon" and about some love triangle scenario. I was in a half delerious state near the end, and all I really remember was that the main woman was supposed to die (I read the synopsis between the acts), but she kept on fake dying, getting up, prancing around, rinsing and repeating! It was near maddening to see her get up repeatedly. I was thinking, "DIE ALREADY SO I CAN LEAVE". Finally, she dies, the play is over, and I'm about to leave. But of course, now there is a 10 minute curtain call process where everyone stays and claps. Since I'm with the group, I stay and clap...blah blah blah, finally, we leave.

After I get back, I crash almost immediately and sleep 12 solid hours. Next morning when I wake up, I somehow manage to feel WORSE. Now I'm definitely running a temperature, I feel extremely dehydrated, and I can't hold ANY food or water down. Long story short, I spend the ENTIRE day in bed in a state of extreme dehydration, exhaustion, profuse sweating, runny nose, massive headache, runny shits, and the whole 9. I honestly can't remember the last time I got sick that bad. I felt like I was going to die at one point!! About midway through, I somehow stumble to the pharmacy and mutter to the attendant that I need some fever medicine. Whatever he/she gave me was incredible and made me all better by the next morning! In the end, I feel I have learned an important lesson. Lesson being, don't eat kehabs, drink beer, and wash it all down with a McD's ice cream for lunch...followed by a huge Hungarian dinner, beer, and more ice cream...concluded by more beer. The human stomach cannot handle that much stress and will quit on you at some point in time (that time, I figured out the hard way, is roughly one week).

Basically then, I saw just about none of Vienna except the inside of my dorm bed. I made it out this morning and took a brief walking tour with the one remaining Budapest friend and made the most of the day. I think I will be eating bland foods for the next week, and drinking ZERO beer to give my system a little time to refresh and reset.

I have already left Vienna and now arrived in Bratislava, Slovakia. I would have never came except that I watched Eurotrip and it sort of inspired me to give it a try! All I have to say on first impression that it is somewhat similar (in terms of dirty)...but yet very different (in terms of price). They grossly exaggerated when they only had $1 and lived like kings. For f*ing sake, the hostel costs 17 Euro a night!! To top it off, right when I got off the train station, I saw a large group of homeless people chilling out, followed by a dude pissing on the bus stop pole, FOLLOWED by a homeless woman popping a squat at the intersection! Luckily I found my hostel relatively pain free because I was starting to freak out, and it was NEAR sun set!

I'll check in soon...if I don't get killed in Bratislava!!

Pest, Buda

Budapest has been great. Thats about the only way to describe it. Ive spent close to a week bumming around the city now and have still barely seen any of the major sites! Thats not really because there is just THAT much to do, but instead, Ive taken part in alternative activities such as caving, bathing, and drinking.

Met a whole bunch of cool people at the hostel (Vamhaz Hostel) and have mainly lounged around with them in my adventures. For instance, yesterday, we went the the bath house - which is very famous in Budapest. I tried to be a badass and suggested we stay there for at least eight hours (understand though, I was completely joking). Well, we got there, and after two hours, I sort of start to wonder if people have taken me seriously! After three hours, I am burning up and antsy and ready to go. Around three and a half hours into it, Im starving, dehydrated, and worried. After four hours, we finally left! During those four hours though, we tested out 38C natural hot springs, 34C, 60-80C sauna (I almost died), and other sets of medicinal hot springs! Even though I was itching to get out, the whole experience was extremely relaxing...a natural high you could say!

(This is out of chronological time order, but just follow me) The day before yesterday, the hostelers and I got this great idea to check out this dodgy area of town called Chinese Markets. Lets just say, its located next to a set of abandoned railroad tracks in a shanty town environment and beside a cemetary. Does that give you any idea what it might look like? It was supposed to be filled with stolen items, designer knock offs, and for some reason, lots of weird looking underwear! I had a great time, though I think of the the guys was scared shitless...

Today in the afternoon, Im going caving under Budapest! Tell me that doesnt sound like a dangerous idea. Im not sure of the exact details...but...we are all required to wear a hard hat, and the brochure explains that we will be crawling, scrambling, and be exposed to a real sense of adventure!! Im pumped!

Finally to top off my alternative sight seeing adventure in Budapest, Ive decided to skip museums and art galleries in favor of interesting, unique bars and extra filling restaurants! I have ate like a king and drank like there is no tomorrow =)

Until next time...enjoy your workday, school, or whatever activity that takes up your day!

The unthinkable has happened...

...I lost my bank card. To put it into better perspective, I feel like I have lost my leg. Not just from the knee down either, it feels like I have lost the entire leg.

Why am I blogging about this and not frantically trying to solve the problem? Well, I thought you (my dear readers) can live vicariously through me and experience the raw feelings I am going through. Just kidding, chill out, I have already called and canceled the card, and a new one is on the way. The only damage done is a 16 dollar service fee...

Now story time, and the question to be answered, "how did you lose it"? Let me start by saying I wasnt mugged, conned, or raped. Instead, this was out of my own stupidity really. Ive heard for a while now that you shouldnt carry your bankcard in the wallet since (1) its not used everyday anyways and (2) if the wallet gets jacked, so does the card. With this in mind, I finally decided to change locations, and of course, when I arrived in Budapest, I thought, now is a good time. After arriving to the hostel, I quickly meet a group of people and we all head to dinner. Before leaving, I take my bank card out, and secretly place it in with my camera case, and lock both up for the night. After dinner, I feel pretty exhausted and fall asleep almost immediately. The next morning (today) I woke up bright and early, ready to take about a million and one pictures of the city. What I forgot was, the card was in the camera case now. Actually, I forgot about it all day, and it wasnt until I was looking through my wallet that I realized, "OH SHIT". Im sure my poor card is laying out on the street getting trampled on, bent, broken, or maybe, even attempted to be used!

Ive hard such good times with my card, so good that I even just memorized the number. Now, I have to stew around, and wait until Wednesday when the new card should arrive. Please pray, do the rain dance, or whatever else and hope that it arrives safely! Ill keep you updated...

Munich...the summary

Sorry for the absence of posts lately, I was in Munich and out and about so much that I didn´t get time to update the blog. Actually Im not really sorry at all =)

For those of you who got lost, Ill give you a brief summary of how I even ended up there (and please bear with the bad grammar and missing symbols...all these keyboards are weird). The original plan was to go to Salzburg, Austria and never into Munich, but because I travel day to day and really without a plan, I just assumed there would be availability. Of course during the last day of Florence, I finally muster up the idea to book a hostel only to find there is NOTHING. Partly, this is due to tourist season starting to pick up, but mostly, I believe it was due to Easter holidays for the Europeans. Either way, Salzburg was immediately eliminated (and I really wanted to do the Sound of Music tour too), and an alternate destination was pondered over. My thoughts were to get OUT of Italy since I had already been to Rome, Cinque Terre, and Florence, and getting too far East on a "last minute" scamper didnt seem like the most logical move. Somehow though, my eye caught MUNICH, it sounded cool, so I just booked a place and jetted out of Florence the next day. Now the only reason why Munich was a problem was because my guidebook doesnt have ANYTHING about the city...DAMN you Rick Steves and your Best of Europe Guide. No, Im only kidding, that book has been my bible. Anyways, I arrive in Munich in the early evening with NO clue how the city looks, how far away my hostel is, etc. This may not be a big deal for groups of travelers, but for a single traveler, this could mean disaster, and getting mugged, and conned, and forced to sleep under a bridge...for the rest of your life! Fear not though, I found my hostel without too much of a problem, and it was sweet 3 star hostel! How does a hostel get rated so nicely - well for starters, they give down comforters, sweet ass beds, 24 hr reception, and breakfast which for some odd reason has sandwich meats and cheeses!

Okay though, enough about GETTING to Munich. While there, I participated in a lot of drinking at night, and also drinking during the day. What can you do though, its basically one of the beer capitals of the world. Well during the days, I actually kept very busy despite not having a real tour book to guide me along.
Day 1: took the New Europe Tour of Munich (free ninety nine in cost) that lasted 3 hours and walked around the city center of town. Also drank at some beer gardens for 30 minutes in between and munched on brats.
Day 1 night: met two girls from the hostel, and went across the street to the Augustiner brewery restaurant and consumed about 2 liters too much beer. I asked for something local for food, and got half a crispy pork leg (bone hanging out) and a 1 liter beer to start...it was overwhelming and I felt like a barbarian...it was cool. It was adventurous afterwards...if I know you, Im sure Ill tell you the complete story at a later time. Lets just say, it involved too much drinking and an attempted hike that lasted into the wee hours of the morning.
Day 2: took part in a FREE bike tour of the city. Free ninety nine is the theme of my trip. This may have been the best worst idea ever. The tour was good and dandy, but the potential problem was, halfway through zigzagging through the city on some bikes that didnt have brakes (only had the kind where you reverse on the pedals), you end up at the Chinese Beer Garden and drink massive amounts of beer, and then get back onto the bike and ride around for another hour. In hindsight, Im extremely happy that I have all limbs in tact and functional...not very smart, but so cool when you are doing it. During this tour, we went through this huge park called English Gardens, and they have a nudist area. Of course we rode around it, and I almost crashed as I was riding by this old lady (who at this time had her bathing suit on) but decided to strip butt naked and jump into the river JUST as I was riding by. I was completely caught by surprise.
Daz 3: took a serious tour, of Dachau concentration camp. This was the only tour that cost money up front (the others were tip based...dont worry, I tipped them!), but it was probably the BEST tour I have ever taken. For those of you not familiar, Dachau was one of (if not) THE first concentration camp to be opened and used as a model for all the other future ones. It is in amazing condition whereas others were torn down or destroyed along the way. Anyways, our tour guide was absolutely amazing and had infinite ranges of wisdom about the camp, and about the whole subject in general. If anyone goes to Munich, I strongly encourage you to take it...you wont regret it at all.
Day 4: left Munich, should have stayed a little longer though!

Overall, each city I have been to has been so differnent, yet the same at the same time. Munich felt most like an American city just because of how new everything was. A large percentage of it was bombed during World War II but yet they rebuilt it and kept much of the old architectual style in tact. It was very clean (compared to Italy). People didnt jay walk AT ALL...not even if it was the smallest cross walk, as long as the walking light was red, they waited. Everyone spoke English and most people even apologized for the "little" bit of English they spoke, which of course turned out to be PERFECT. Lets see, what else...oh, people drink beer for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (I think). Oh oh, finally, the "y" key and the "z" key are backwards on the keyboard which becomes extremely frustrating!

Thats a pretty decent summary of my Munich experience I think! As Im writing this though, Ive already left and made my way to Budapest, Hungary. Met a couple random guys at the hostel and went to get dinner. We were searching for local and authentic food, but of course, ended up in the most American restaurant in all of Budapest! Any recommendations for what I should do here? Ill check back in a few days!

A dime a dozen

I've spent a few days in Florence now, and its been wonderful! Instead of going to see all the museums and famous statues, I decided to go against the flow. Whereas one might plan an early morning at the Accademia and an afternoon at the Ufuzzi (sp?), I shopped around from street markets to lounging at piazzas, to people watching the day away!

From all the cities, towns, and tourist traps I've been to, I've noticed just about ALL street vendors sell the same crap. You always get the Asian people doing the calligraphy writing of peoples names that look like animals, you always get the black people selling "Gucci" bags and "D&G" sunglasses, and you always get the random assortment of people hasseling you to buy x/y/z junk! You might think I hate street vendors, but actually, I thoroughly enjoy wandering between shops just to blow some time!

Now you might have wandered why I didn't visit any museums. Well, for one, I don't know about artwork and history. Secondly, I think I have already visited too many museums and churches in my lifetime...its to the point where everything looks the same! Don't worry, I did get to see the fake David statue though! Instead, I sat around and wrote in my diary, and attempted to draw sketches in the many piazzas I sat in. To me, that was much more relaxing and unique than fighting through lines in order to see some art work! I may loose a lot of friends by saying that, but oh well =)

Rick, the author of my guidebook (we are very close and on a first name basis now) recommends Gelato in Florence. As a matter of fact, he states that the best gelato is found in Florence. Well, that is some solid advice in my opinion. I obviously have taken his advice and ate at some of the more popular ones around the city. My feeling is that...gelato is just a super rich form of ice cream. Its very good, don't get me wrong, but at the same time, I think McD's ice cream is just as good (if not better!). Don't take my word though, try it out, but then, do let me know what you think.

I had plans to leave Venice and make way to Salzburg, Austria. Well, after writing my last post and actually checking for hostels, I noticed that most of it was already full. I think being close to Easter holidays, most Europeans travel. After a few minutes of freaking out, and a few more of looking on my map to figure out a logical location, I settled on Munich! I have no clue what is there, but I have heard they have good beer, and is part of the "Free Europe Tours" group that I did in London. If they are there, that alone is worth the trip!

That is all for now. Oh, who won the NCAA tournament? I have no clue, and no one here seems to care about basketball!

An amazing week in Cinque Terre

Sorry for not getting on the computer and updating this, but I got way too carried away with enjoying Cinque Terre. For those of you who do you know, its five costal towns located on the Italian Riviera. These five towns are very much isolated from your typical tourist places and are really only traveled by train. I stayed in Riomaggiore (the Southern most town) and enjoyed a week of 'real' vacation with no museums, tourist sites, and (for the most part) crowds.
I can't stress how amazing and gorgeous this whole place is, so I'll just quit trying. BUT if you ever have a place you want to go to relax, folks, this is it.

One of the big things to do while in Cinque Terre is a hike between the five towns. Its advertised at 6 miles (give take) but due to a recent landslide, one of the easy sections was shut down. Lucky for me though, I wore hiking boots and came prepared. On one fine morning, I set out with a bottle of water, a monsterous sized chocolate bar, and an apple. The hike takes you through every imaginable scenario. There were cliff side narrow passages, switchbacks up mountain sides, paved roads, and potentially 783,294 stairs to conquer. (disclaimer: about to be disgusting, if you don't want to read, go to the next paragraph) It was all fine and dandy for me until I took a break at the third town. Let me backtrack slightly...the night before, I think I ate 4 or 5 servings of pasta because I'm a fat slob. Anyways, by the time I sit to take a break, I'm thinking, "hmmm, I need to poop". Of course, when the need arises, there is never a bathroom in sight. Then a brilliant idea comes to me, "Of course, I'll just find the train station because there is always a bathroom there". This idea would have been great, but I was in Corniglia, and the town is separated from the train station by about 300+ vertical feet of stairs. Since I didn't know this, I follow all the signs and finally come to the point where I realize this. Now right here is a big decision point - if I go ALL the way down the stairs and there isn't a bathroom, I'm screwed. If I look around the town (which is where I am), and can't find anything, I might not be able to make it down the stairs later (keep in mind, 4 or 5 servings of pasta). I decide to take the risk and head down, LUCKILY there is a bathroom, but of course, no toilet paper. By now I'm hurting, and I go into the station to attempt to get some from the attendent. BY THE WAY, I don't know any Italian, and the guy couldn't understand what "toilet paper" was! I had to act out the motion, and then he informed me there wasn't any. By now, I'm thinking, "oh my...do I have to climb this MASSIVE stair case to town and look"? I do a mental check, and nope, I don't think I can make it. Plan B: find some paper. To cut the story short, I had to look in the trash and find clean looking napkins. There you have it, the lesson should be: always carry some form of TP with you! Afterwards, I was 100% better and did the rest of the hike with no problems! I only wish I could upload some pictures of the trails so you could get an idea how cool this was!

Back at the hostel, there was much to do! The place I stayed at was more or less a complete apartment with 5 beds. The first night, by complete chance, I end up staying with two guys who I met and partied with in Nice. Later in Rome, I also ran into them on the streets. By the time I got to Cinque Terre, by luck of the draw, we end up staying at the same place! Cinque Terre night life is not so great, but we managed to get a few drinks at the local bar. They left the next day, and I had a bunch of other great roomates. During the process, I noticed how picking hostels can be completely hit or miss. You could end up in the 'worst' rated hostel, yet have a bunch of cool people around, and it turns out to the the 'best'. Also, you could book the 'best' rated hostel and have a bad experience, and you'd find it to be horrible...so fickle. In my case, I had an awesome experience!

Finally, I would like to conclude this entry by saying, socks and sandals, no matter how gay looking, is actually very comfortable. I have always been against socks and sandals, but my hiking boots have started to smell so bad from daily wear, that I tested out the waters with Tevas and socks. Now, I am in the know, and I want you to know, its really comfy!

Just to shed some light on my geographical location, I have now left Cinque Terre this morning and arrived in Florence, Italy. I'll spend a few nights here and then make my way to Salzburg, Austria. Sound of Music anyone?!!

Goodbye Roma

Have you ever tossed money into a "lucky" fountain and wondered where it went? Well everyone, I have finally solved this mystery of life. I was sitting at Trevi Fountain taking a break from a monsterous walk. I'm not sure of the entire story behind Trevi Fountain, but supposedly you throw money in for good luck. Anyways, while sitting there, I noticed that there was a sketchy looking guy scouting the the water. Of course, being a nosy bastard with nothing to do, I zone in on him and pay attention to what he is doing. First, it wasn't very exciting, but then, he starts pulling out a spool of fishing line with some sort of contraption on the end. When people aren't noticing (he doesn't know I'm behind him playing Big Brother), he tosses the contraption in and starts fishing, but for CASH. You can fill in the rest of the blanks, BUT basically, some thief steals all our money we toss in!!

I visited the Vatican Museum yesterday. Turned out yesterday, being the last Sunday of the month, was free to go. In order to make it through the crowds though, I had to get up (at what I thought was 6:30AM - this comes into play later on, just keep reading), and head out and wait along with them. The museum was great and I saw the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's frescos, but the best part about the museum was jockeying for position among the 10,473 people ahead of me (yes, I counted). It was a VERY slow motion race for the best position, and everyone was playing the game. Some were getting mad, others were slipping through the cracks and getting...a whole 2 feet ahead...while others were waiting accordingly and passing the time by reading, etc. I was playing the sleek, silent, sneaky...but shithead who kept on trying to get ahead. Being that I was alone, it was super easy to sneak through the cracks that developed! Anyways, got into the museum and planned to get out by 11:30AM and go to St.Peter's square where the Pope blesses the crowd. Anyways, I get out of the museum by 11AM and stop quickly into St.Peters church. Instead of looking around, I figure I'll head out early and get a decent spot to hopefully catch a glimpse of the Pope. Well, somehow, its slightly past 11AM but the Pope is already speaking. Not to mention, there is roughly 1.5 million people gathered in the square. MUCH MUCH later in the day, I understood what happened. Day light Savings took place the night before! Luckily I wasn't traveling on the switchover day, I would have been confused and pissed off.

Going back, I rode the bus. With bus tickets in Rome, you buy the ticket, and when you get onto the bus, you don't pay the driver or anything...just walk to the middle where there is a machine that validates your ticket. For me though, I felt like being a rebel, so I didn't validate my ticket. This, if caught, garners you a sweet 100 Euro fine. To be honest, I was going to validate my ticket, but it was too packed, and I couldn't reach the machine. The entire trip, I was sweating bullets...not worth it, by far!

In total, I think traveling is starting to take its toll on my body. First of all, I got a cold. It wasn't particually bad, but it was nice enough that I had a sore throat, then a cough, then thick, disgusting snot. Now thats over, but from all the walking, my knee hurts (I think I had a drunken accident maybe), and I have two blisters on my foot. I sat in the middle of Rome with my shoe off, and popped one! I bet that creates a great visual image doesn't it?

Tomorrow, I head off to Cinque Terre. I'm not sure I'll have internet access, and I'll be out and about exploring the outdoors life of the area. Don't have a hostel booked, I'm sort of going to "wing it" and pray for the best. Just in case you are wondering, yes, there should be availability and I shouldn't have to sleep outside. I'll check in soon!

Roma

Sorry I haven't updated in the last couple of days, but let me give you a rundown of what has happened in my exciting travels! I've left Nice now, and moved onto Rome Italy. That is it. Good bye.

Actually, Nice was SO much fun. So much fun that I almost missed my train to Rome the next morning due to excessive and heavy partying the night before. I had every intention of going to bed early and getting a full recommended 7-8 hours, but instead, a couple of games of Kings Cup later, I sort of stumble to my room and *luckily* set my alarm. Either way, the hostel (Villa St. Expurny) was one of the best I've ever stayed at.

From there, hopped onto the train into Rome. Have you seen Eurotrip? Do you remember the weird Italian guy who they encountered while going to Rome? Well, I was terrified I was going to have the same experience. So much so that I put one bag on each side of myself to block any potential people. Nevertheless, nothing terribly exciting happened, except for this old lady who was in my cabin and received a million phone calls. Problem was, she kept ending the red button (end call) when trying to pick this up, and confused everyone in the cabin. I finally attempted to help her out, except she understood ZERO English, and I understand ZERO Italian. We did work out the problem though, with my super good sound effects and hand signals!

Now, onto Rome. Rome is big, Rome is dirty, and the pizza is amazing.For me, Rome is a 180 change from Nice which was a relaxed, beach town. Rome on the other hand, being the cradle of Western Civilization, is huge! The traffic is frightening, and no one obeys traffic lights. I've lived in New York City, and I never fear for my life when I J walk, but here, its a real game of frogger, except, with no game over's and restarts! I found out the way to do it is, find a gap in the flow of cars, busses, and mopeds, and just walk. Close your eyes, and walk. Easy to say, hard to do. I always end up like a deer in headlights jumping around and dodging. Luckily, no accidents yet, which I'm surprised at! We'll see, I have a couple more days still.

The other thing about Rome: PIZZA is really good. There are many pizza shops that sell by weight. You just tell them how big you want, and they cut and weigh it. Ends up only being around 2 Euro for a huge slice of heaven. Did I just say Heaven, Yes, yes I did. In my personal opinion, forget Vatican City, forget the Panthenon, forget the Colosseum. Find all the pizza shops you can, and eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Before I forget, the most amazing pizza is officially hard boiled eggs, some type of salami, and olives. I know, odd combo, but an orgasm in your mouth, everytime, guaranteed.

Today, I'm off to go inside the Colosseum and pretend I'm a gladiator. I wonder if I can find a Wal-Mart that is starting to sell early Halloween costumes...?

PS - I'm fake writing my blog on GMAIL. There is a huge line of people waiting to use the computer, and i would feel bad if I was updating my blog, so I am pretending to write an important email, whereby I'll later just upload this whole thing onto blogger! I'm so smart, and so sneaky =)

Dog poo

So apparently the French people don't feel the need to pick up after their dogs. Imagine, if you will, walking down the street, eyes glued to all the interesting architecture, all the history, all the interesting people, and all of a sudden, stepping on a nice steaming pile of dog shit. Okay, let me back track, I haven't fell victim to this (yet), but I've seen evidence that many a folk have. How, you ask? Well, there are lots of smeared piles too! My new game to play is called "Guess that dog?". It provides quite a few minutes of entertainment as I'm walking around.

This whole blog is going to be dedicated to things that bother me. Love it. Live it.
(1) I hate walking up the hill to my hostel. I swear, its a 45 degree incline. Maybe worse. I love the fact that I now possess buns of steel, but at the same time, the walk is brutal, and all my shirts have permanent pit stains. The views of the Med. Sea are incredible, but again, the walk up can only be made by the fittest of the fit!
(2) I hate the construction in Nice. Why did they think it would be smart to build out the ENTIRE road at one time instead of doing it section by section. This is very ass backwards.
(3) Lunch. I love lunch. I hate that the French get two hours for lunch, everyday. It also makes doing anything between 12pm to 2pm impossible. God I'm jealous.
(4) Dinner. I love dinner. Why do people eat so late though? And why are portions so small. I had 3 servings of pasta tonight, followed by an entire other course of salad, mashed potatos, and schnitzel (no clue what it really is), AND I think I might be able to eat more. Maybe I'm not normal though...
(5) Laundry by hand. I bought a couple packets of Tide hand laundry detergent, and the instructions are very misleading. I had the great idea of trying to wash by hand today based on the easy instructions, only to realize they don't mention at all (not even a warning) about how it might take off 3 layers of skin on your hands trying to wring your clothes dry, or that it might take 3 days for them to dry afterwards, or that you need hangers to hang your clothes, or that it might be the single BEST concept on paper, and the WORST item of execution in all of mankind. I appreciate my washing machine very much now. I would marry my washing machine if I could.

On a more serious note though, I will be leaving Nice on Wednesday and moving onto Rome, Italy. I feel recharged, and ready to go!

Nice is nice, very nice. That is Nice.

Like the title says, Nice is very nice. I've spent two full days, and its gorgeous. I've taken many pictures, but I feel they really don't do it much justice. Yesterday was spent waddling around the Old part of town as well as the promenade. According to my guidebook, theres a really nice hotel with a 16,000 piece chandalier and a 5 star bathroom (I just made up the rating system of the bathroom, but follow with me here), so of course, I went to go check it out for the bathroom. I must say, if there were such a thing as rating bathrooms, this one deserved 4.5 to 5 stars. Either way, made a great day out of nothing and did some good wandering.

The hostel I am staying at is great. Its up in the hills away from the main part of the city and it used to be a monestary. Its huge, and the basement, which used to be the main space has been converted to a bar/dining area/computer room. They make fresh-to-order pizza along with daily specials, and of course a good selection of alcohol. ANYWAYS, met a fellow Canadian who is teaching English in France and we went out to Monaco today. Actually, it was Eze Village (a incredibly gorgeous medieval town set on top of a mountain), Monaco (technically an independent country), and St. Jean Cap Ferrat (a peaceful fishing village along the coastline). Here is the summary:
-Eze Village: two thumbs up. Great place to wander through for an hour or two, beautiful surroundings, REALLY short doors. (I think the early French people must have been about 4 feet tall...at most).
-Monaco: the palace and surrounding park deserves one thumb up. The casino of Monte Carlo gets a thumbs down. I mean, check this out, the slots area is free to go to, BUT in order to go into the gambling rooms, you pay 10 Euros. Then, to see the high rollers tables, you pay another 10. This is ALL before you even drop one penny on gambling. Elsewhere, not that much to see and do.
-St.Jean Cat Ferrat: two thumbs up. If I had another thumb, I'd give it three thumbs up. There is a beauty scenic walk that leads you around the edge of the village. Imagine a walled in city. Imagine it surrounded by water on three sides. Now, the scenic walk takes place on the outside of the way, placing you between the water and the wall of the city (which is not really a wall, but just imagine).

After all that exploring though, I think tomorrow will be spent doing absolutely NOTHING. Actually, that sounds like a perfect idea.
Oh PS - I don't think many people care about St.Patty's day here?!

Until next time...

Trains...

For all the dear readers, I've now moved away from my home camp of Barcelona and set up shop in Nice, France. Barcelona was very unique and the partying was wild, but I felt it was time to get to a quiet location and do a little of "nothing" for a week. The city of life of Barcelona and London has taken its toll.

As far as observations about Barcelona, where do I even begin...hmm...
-lip piercings on girls seems extremely popular, to the point where almost every other person you see has some sort of hoop or stud. Is the the American equivalent of the tattoo on the lower back or the tongue pierced?
-you know how people always said European fashion was different? Well personally, I never believed it and thought the whole world dressed in Sperrys, polo shirts (with the collar popped up), and big ol' sun glasses. Let me tell you though, ITS NOT THE SAME in Barcelona. Wow, I can't even begin to tell you how people dress. Lets say, its a combo of Salvation Army meets high end department store, mixed in with odd accessories that even an antique shop would find interesting. Lets sum it up with "WOW".
-Gaudi (for those not familiar, Google "Park Guell" or "Sagrada Familia") was WAY off his rocker. His stuff was one of a kind, but there is no way someone completely sane can come up with those "visions" he had. I spent half a day at Park Guell, and its the most awesome park I have ever been to. To start off with, his combined use of metal, tile, and concrete makes the building, chairs, stairs, and columns very different even for my eyes. AND to think, he completed the park roughly 100 years ago. There are areas you can sit in and feel in an alien colony, while a few steps away, you are enjoying the panoramic (sp?) views of all of Barcelona. Then, onto Sagrada Familia...personally, for me, it seems like something someone would think up with the assisted and prolonged use of acid. I mean that in a nice way, its beautiful to look at, but again, HOW in the hell did he think of that?!
-pickpockets are everywhere, and I almost got taken for a ride. I was wandering down the street mid evening, and this older guy (standing near a bank) approaches me with a map in hand asking if I speak English. I say "yes" and try to play the good samaritan and see if I can point him in the right direction. As we are speaking, he is inching closer and closer to me, and I'm inching one step away. Out of NOWHERE comes this dude who comes between us, flashes a dodgy looking badge at me for a brief second, declares he is Police, and demands to see my passport. For a moment, I'm stumped and about to reach for my passport. But then it dawns on me, (1) who the f*ck is this guy, (2) have I done anything wrong, (3) WHY would he need to see my passport? So, I take a moment, collect myself, and ask who the hell he is. He states "Bank Police" and now I'm starting to think, "scam, con, etc". I start questioning him and he seems to get flustered by it. Oh I forgot to say, while this is going on, I feel like the old guy is boxing me in a little. He also gives his "document" to the "police guy", but they seem to both be facing me now. Finally, seeing that I'm not going to hand over any documents, the police guy asks if I'm associated with the old map guy. I say, "don't know him, f*ck you both", and walk off. I didn't exactly look back, but I think they were in the con together!
-I can't understand any Spanish. To top that off, they speak Catalan, which isn't even the same as Spanish. But regardless, I survived the entire time with "hola" and "gracias". Oh, I also knew "con" was cone (like ice cream cone) at McDs, and that was enough for them to understand that I wanted an ice cream cone.
-don't mess with bouncers and try to sneak beer into the club. I didn't learn this lesson, but another guy at my hostel did. We all went out, and walking to the club, he stops to buy a 6 pack of beer from a sketchy dude on the street and gets separated from the group. Keep in mind, no one really knows anyone else, so there's no loyalty, and its basically "everyone for themselves". Anyways, he gets lost, somehow finds the club later, and tries to get in with a couple beers tucked in his jacket. Of course he gets patted down, and rejected. He tries again later only to be escorted out by the bouncer. While this is happening (he told me the story the next day), he tries to shake away the bouncers grip and out of nowhere comes a flying (and deadly) punch to the face. Needless to say, I saw him the next day, and I firmly believe the bouncer landed a good one.

Well, thats about a semi-good observation of Barcelona. On my final night, ended up randomly meeting this guy from NYU. We go out with a couple of his buddies, one of whom lives in Barcelona. Of course, his friend takes us to the "cool" bars on the rough side of town where only locals traverse, and we start sharing stories of people getting mugged, conned, etc. I'm dead tired, but now terrified to leave by myself and make my way back to the hostel. By the end of the night, we are wandering through the shittiest neighborhood back alleys with hookers, pimps, and drug dealers all around. SWEET! Speaking of hookers, there is a street called "Las Ramblas" which is a huge tourist location during the day. At night though, I was told there were tons of ladies of the night, who were not actually ladies...if you catch my drift. I didn't get a personal confirmation on this, just took the word of the locals.

Enough about Barcelona, I've left now, and after a 12 hour train ride, I've ended up in Nice, France. Its the French Riveria, and weather is supposed to be gorgeous. I'm going to spend a week in this beach town and catch up on some R&R. Hopefully find some good parties and stuff, but mostly just recharge before I head into Italy. I'll update and keep you in the loop on my adventure(s).

Barcelona parties too hard!

Hello, I am exhausted. This time, its not from traveling different locations, but instead from partying. Back home, lets say we plan on going out to the bars. This is how it typically goes: start drinking around 8-9pm at the house, get to the bar around 11pm and be done by 2am. Here in Barcelona, it goes somewhat like this: go out for dinner around 9pm, eat and drink until 11pm, go to a bar around 12am, drink there until 2-3am, then go out to the club. I don´t think my body is conditioned for this type of partying yet!

As you already know, I am in Barcelona. I flew in from London on Sunday morning (which by the way was a horrible experience of staying up all night in order to make sure I wouldn´t miss my flight). Flying to Barcelona and arriving was excellent; weather was nice, no delays, Med Sea views, and the whole nine. Once into Barcelona though, I felt foreign for the first time on my travels. I got out of the airport expecting signs, etc. to be in English, or have an English translation, but NOPE. I had to decipher the language (which turns out isn´t really even Spanish because Barcelona is different) , find a random bus praying it would take me to Placa de Catalunya, and just go with it. Luckily I ran into a guy and started chatting: turns out he is staying at the EXACT hostel I am!

I´ve explored Barcelona for the past few days and will be spending 2 more nights here before I venture into Nice, France. I hear that is a gorgeous beach town, and I´m looking forward to a few days where I don´t do anything. I think I have a stupid blister on my toe, and walking has become less fun and more of a chore after arriving to Barcelona.

Otherwise, all else is great! I have officially spent one week away from home, so that means I´m 1/11th of the way through my trip!

If/When I figure out how to get my pictures from my camera onto a computer, I will start posting some pictures, but in the mean time, just close your eyes and imagine you know what I´m talking about (thats for you Ashley the complainer).

The long day

Call me an idiot. Go ahead, I deserve it. Here's the story:
I booked a flight from London to Barcelona at 7AM from Luton Airport (which I assumed would be a short walk from the city) with the mindset that if I fly real early, I won't be wasting time once I get to Barcelona...well, what I didn't plan was that I need to arrive at the airport by 5AM, and it takes roughly 1.5-2hrs to get there using public transportation. This all means that I would need to be at the bus stop at roughly 3AM, meaning I'd have to check out of my hostel at 2AM. This is all due to me not doing any planning ahead of time!
I know you are all wondering, well Jon, what are you going to do? Here is my solution: I canceled my hostel for Saturday night, and I have all my stuff packed in my bag right now. I got a great night of sleep last night, and will be wandering through the city of London for the entire day. If I am still alive by 12AM, I will go and catch the bus and arrive at Luton airport by 2AM. So now, I will have 5 hours to kill, BUT I will have peace of mind that I won't miss my flight. The only big downside is I'll be lugging around a 20lb pack all day...but being me and always seeing the positive side of things, I just thought "hey, it'll just be a super work out and I'll have a rippling 6 pack by the end of the day". We can all dream can't we.

Yesterday I got duped. Real bad. I was starving and trying my hardest not to get sucked into a bad meal. (I've heard London doesn't really have any great and unique meals...fish and chips don't count). I was on my way to the British Museum and came across a Chinese buffet. Yum yum I thought. Walked in, took a look around, and all seemed good to go. After sitting and eating, I noticed the chicken didn't taste like the chicken, the beef didn't taste like beef, and there was no pork dishes. Is it chicken, beef, pork, cat, or dog?! (Just kidding about cat and dog). Then it hits me - the impossible has happened. I have been tricked. Never thought it was possible, but I have somehow found the ONLY vegan Chinese restaurant in the world. Who would think it'd be possible to have vegetarian Chinese food...but let me tell you, it is. How do I know this? Well, when I was in NYC, I tried a vegan restaurant with a group of friends, and I remembered the texture of the "meats". Anyways, I feel I got the most of my money. If you are unaware, most Europeans don't eat as much as Americans. After my first HUGE plate, they were ready to hand me my bill, but I quickly reminded them I was at a BUFFET and helped myself to a second plate of..."meats and vegetables". Another HUGE plate. The wait staff was like, HOLY SHIT, fat man be eat another plate.

Right now, I'm trying my hardest to kill some time. I plan on wandering to Camden Town where I hear there are nice open air markets. But first, I need to find a good bathroom to take a huge dump. Yes, I know you didn't need to know that, but this is MY blog, and I get to say whatever I want. The toilets in London are weird. Whereas in the US, we have oval shaped bowls with, generally, super flushing action...in London, they are round bowls, with mostly WEAK flushing power. I'm not going to spell it out, but I'm sure you see what my point is.

Uh oh, I feel a turtle head trying to break through, I have to leave now...

London bridge is falling down

No, just kidding, its not falling down.
But however, I am in London until Sunday, where then I'll be flying to Barcelona.

I can't get enough of the English accents...sometimes when I'm walking around, I find that I'm trying to imitate the "real" English language. I can only guess what people beside me are saying. The weirdest thing though, is seeing foreign people such as my fellow Asians with a heavy English accent!

Hostels are...well, exactly that. The one I'm staying in (St.Christopher's Village at Shephards Bush) is quite nice, although last night there was this dude who snored like a "chain saw" as my fellow Aussie roomate described. The co-ed style rooms are a little awkward...what if I just want to walk around in boxers...I'm not exactly sure if that is kosher anymore.

London is too expensive. I don't know how people can afford to live here. I bought a bloody roast beef sandwich, and it was 2 pounds, and I think what really happened was I got two flimsy pieces of bread with some brown stuff in the middle. But maybe they compensate that by making the majority of museums free.

I took a nice walking tour today that was "free" but tip based. It is very much catered towards backpackers and younger people, and I had a great time. I think mostly, I want to learn about history, but I just dont want to read through a guidebook in order to get that info. The lady who led the tour did a great job, especially because she had a good little speech about London's most famous whore, Nell Gwynn. Then she showed us the red light district...which I may go wandering through just to see if its all that she made it out to be. No, don't worry, I won't go in. I'm too cheap to pay the cover charges =)

Finally, one more thing...I'm screwed on Saturday night. I have an EARLY flight I have to catch to Luton airport which is about 30mi north of London, and so I may just end up going there Saturday night to make sure I don't miss my flight. The bus ride over there sounds real dodgy (like the local slang I've picked up?), and I'm not too sure if I take the last possible bus, what may happen. Oh, and my alarm doesn't work well. Well actually, my reflexes work too well and turn off the alarm before my mind has time to wake up. Thats another reason I'll head to the airport early.

Alright, until next time, have fun, and check my blog for future wisdom about travel.

In preparation for the big trip

Q: Why are you keeping a blog now?
A: I don't really know! Then again, there are many things I've done that can't be explained. Without further ado, welcome to my blog.

I'm going to Europe! Hopefully this blog will help all of you keep a virtual eye and ear on my adventure. Lets think of it this way, since you can't go, and I can, you can somehow vicariously live through my ordeal.

Here are some of the details for those who have no clue whats going on (my other question is, if you have no clue whats going on, how did you even find my blog?). Okay, lets start from the very top level and work down into details.

Q: Where are you going?
A: Easier question would be, "Where am I NOT going?"

Q: How long are you going for?
A: Headed out for close to three months. The exact dates are March 6, 2007 - May 23, 2007.

Q: What in the hell are you going to do for all that time?
A: Do you want an honest answer? Okay, honestly, I have no clue. For as long as I can remember, I haven't had this long of a period in which I've had no responsibilities, no school, and no work.

Q: Are you scared about going by yourself?
A: I think I just shat myself again. Yes, I'm scared, but I'm also very excited. I've never done such a big solo trip, and I don't think I'll ever have the time in the foreseeable future. Its really a "once in a lifetime trip", and I'm taking the opportunity.

Q: How are you going to afford the trip?
A: I sold a kidney on the black market. No, just kidding...it was only a spleen. But really, I saved up my hard earned money. Remember when we were kids and made choices such as, "I'm going to save up my money for something big" but never realized what that big item was? Well, I realized! BUT at the rate that banks steal my money on foreign exchanges and the weak US dollar, I'll really need to start considering selling body parts off!

Q: How much stuff are you taking with you?
A: One 40L backpack worth of clothes, toiletries, medicine, etc. One digital camera, one day bag, 1 pair of hiking boots, and 1 pair of shower flip flops. I consider myself pretty low maintenance, so hopefully this will be enough. If all else fails, I've heard that one pair of underwear can be worn four days straight. The right way on day one, backwards on day two, inside-out frontwards on day three, and inside-out backwards on day four!

Q: What about on day five?
A: Commando style.

Q: Do you know any foreign languages that will allow you to communicate in Europe?
A: Nope. I know my English, and I know Mandarin Chinese. I hope they either speak English or Chinese. I'm screwed aren't I?

Q: How much preparing did you do for this trip?
A: I'd like to say that I spent months poring over every travel book and studying individual country details, but lets just say...I visited the library about 3 weeks ago and checked out a couple guidebooks, which I really haven't even read. I sort of want to "free ball" this trip to a certain degree and be stress free and flexible in my day to day activities. I have a general idea of where I want to go, but I don't have a stiff agenda by any means. I bet as I say this, all the people who plan out every detail are freaking out =)

Q: What happens when you (inevitably) get lost, can't communicate, and become stranded?
A: How bad could it be? Has anyone seen Eurotrip? They seemed to make it out just fine =) Has anyone seen Hostel? I haven't, and I don't plan on it either =)

Q: Do you not have any responsibilities to take care of here?
A: Nope! I'm a free man, and nothing is holding me back!

Well, I hope that gives you a good idea about my trip. I'll try to update this on a semi-weekly basis assuming I even remember my login and password to this site!

Keep in touch world, I'm out on Tuesday evening!