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 =)