European Escapade

Hello my vicarious travel companions,After my post last night I rushed back to the hostel, got changed, then joined Ben and 40-od others on the street corner in preparation for the Insomniac Bar Crawl. It’s funny how things work here in Munich, or more particularly, how the tourist industry works. There are only so many services which you can offer, and each of them is oferred by a number of groups (e.g. walking tours, pub crawls, etc). Most of the groups in fact offer the entire suite, and encourage you as you attend each event to attend their equivalent pub-crawl, etc.

Each of these companies is of course very aware of their competeition but the are all pretty fun about it really. A good example is the pub-crawls. There are three which are major players, and they all meet at the same junction, at the same time. The junction of course has four corners, and so at 8pm each of the corners is filled to overflowing with people rip-roaring and ready to get drunk. The tour organizers shout accross the little side-street to the people waiting to sign up for their competitions’ pub-crawl. Everyone mills around and lots of people ‘cross the street’ to join a different tour on the basis of what is being yelled (e.g. this one is cheaper, or you get more free shots in that one). The whole situation is really quite funny to watch.

Of course, one of the main drivers is how many women there are in any one group. Sorry ladies, but boys will be boys, and girls are a rare commodity on pub-crawls. Had I been just any guy I would have joined the oposition forces as soon as I reached the corner, because they had about 40% women, but because I can see past that sort of thing, I opted to stay where I had originally committed… OK, OK, I actually opted to stay where I was because I’d been forwarned that the tour with all the girls actually didn’t have that many girls- it’s a tactic employed by the organizers to get all their female staff to join them right at the start, but they leave after a short while.

So Ben and I chose Insomniac and stuck with it. As I say, about 40 people made up the group, all under about 25, with about 10 girls total, and a fair mix of people from all around the world. I immediately took to talking to everyone I could in order to try and make some new friends. It ultimately worked very well. There are so many interesting people who are backpacking. A good number of people I have met recently have actually just finished one or other exchange program, studying somewhere in Europe, and are now travelling around a bit before they have to return to their various homes (mainly US, Canada, etc.) So many of them are my age or about a year younger. It really makes me wonder whether I should just be packing up shop and working and travelling overseas while I can, because I’m sure later it becomes much more difficult. For one thing, it sure is cheaper doing it while you’re under 26- many places in Europe give cheaper rates for lots of things if you’re uder 26.

Anyway, back to the alcohol. The trip is run by a South African guy. It starts at a bar somewhere accross town. In chatting to him, he let me in on a secret; he’s just bought that bar and it will soon be called Insomniac Bar. I tell you what, the pub-crawl business must do well. But this brings me back to the point I was making above about how things are done here. It’s not just the jovial rivalry and half-baked competition, it’s the backroom deals which are really interesting. I feel like I’m in Asia, but it’s just a little more advanced. Many of you will recall that in my Asian adventures I was enticed onto one of those super-cheap city tours where you stop at a variety of dodgy locations and either eat, or buy something, and the tuk-tuk guy gets kick-backs.

The whole tourist industry here seems to work on the same principle. Even our free walking tour, etc. stops at places which, while world-famous, and the sort of place you would go to anyway, obviously have a relationship with the company which means, at the very least, the tour leader gets free food or drinks. All the groups put out little pamphlets about their services too, and each of them will have a little section on “Must Do” things while in Munich. This is of course, loosely veiled advertising for the companies which give them kick-backs when you go. The concept isn’t at all original, but the thing I like about it is, it’s so blatant and everyone knows it, but at the same time it’s completely harmless and just works. I know I’m probably sounding like a comunist but it’s like someone has taken the “Let’s exploit the stupid tourists” angle you find around Asia, and refined it to a real win-win situation.

The first location included unlimited free beer for an hour. For me that’s two 500mL beers. Gotta pace myself. Immediately after that came Jägermeister shots. Then onto bar two. This one is more of a club and it was, as we were forewarned, a little empty when we got there, but small enough for us to pretty much fill the whole thing. I began with a strawberry margeritta, and continued with the same for the next hour. The beats being pumped were the first I had heaard in quite some time, so I found myself up on the dancefloor getting jiggy before long. I was well recieved by the locals

The rest of the night, as you can imagine was spent getting more and more intoxicaated at various locations. I lost Ben at one point and haven’t seen him since, but I’m pretty sure he’s OK. Besides that, I recall eating not only a huge slice of pizza but also a full donner-kebab. This morning… felt fantastic. Well, no worse than I have done the last few days with this slight head-cold I’ve got.

Today I took super-dooper easy. Didn’t leave the hostel until after 1pm. Spent the morning sleeping, reading about the city and trying to identify if I want to stay longer. Also looked into my remainin days and how long I have to go, in an effort to think about where I should go when. My thoughts are that I’ll move on to Berlin, as planned, via a really long train trip on Sunday day or night depending on the prices. Many of the fares are crazily expensive. I’m fairly far ahead of schedule so I think I’ll do quite a while in Berlin, in anticipation of loving it, and then head quickly through Amsterdam to Paris for a bit, then back to London.

One other thing I did today was a whole lot of shopping. Window shopping only. They have fantastic fashions in this place, and all the people are beautiful, so just walking around admiring the shops and shoppers is an afternoon in itself I found. There is heaps of stuff I’m just itching to buy from a clothing perspective, but I want to keep my pack light and I figure I’ll pick up most of what I do ultimately buy in Thailand on the return trip. Snuck into the huge mens’ designer labels department store they have here and collected a few ideas for my suits to be made in Asia

The one thing I did buy is a SIM for my phone, so you can now SMS and call me. I can call you too, but you know I’m not going to via my mobile. I will be making a few calls home in the next little while I imagine, because I’ve found a cheap calling card place right where I use the net. Anyway, my mobile number ins Germany is 0173 471 1693. I don’t know what the international prefix is, people will have to figure that out themselves… Sorry

Anyway gang, time for me to head back. Tomorrow I have a really early start. have signed up with a group of ppl at the hostel to share a travel ticket to the famous fairy-tail castle outside of Munich. The transit system here has these group tickets and people get together to make best use of them. Dunno any of these ppl yet but looking forward to making new friends.

Photos coming soon… I think.

Love you all lots, stay in touch. jess oxox

Meine Damen und Herren,

What can I say? Munich has me, and is holding me hard. This place is awesome. And if you had asked me after only 6 hours yesterday I would have said the same. It’s simply an amazing city.

Yesterday, I went to watch the Glockenspiel (which is a dancing clock, kinda like the one in Melbourne central but with more class and heritage… same number of Japanese tourists though, and a few Aussies to boot) before the bike tour. The tour starts about 20 minutes later so I had some time to kill. I walked. While walking I noticed a bunch of people following a guy in a red shirt labelled “Free Tour”, so I followed them.

The guy’s name is Jamie, he’s originally Irish, and he’s one of a bunch of young people who run amazing free tours around this beautiful city. They are actually part of a chain which does the same in Berlin and Amsterdam. The tour went for almost four hours, covered most of the inner city and was not only immensely informative (the guy knew his stuff) but also an absolute riot because he had a very dry sense of humor which the crowd really appreciated. At the end, if you wish to, you can tip him, and everyone did because he’d done such a great job.

On the way I met a few people. A Kiwi called Ben who has been living in London the last few years and is now travelling. A Hong-Kong Chinese, French speaking Canadian called Tiffany (sorry Tiff, I had to write it like that because it points out the strange mix) who has just finished studying in France and living in Berlin. An Aussie from the Gold Coast who has been working as a Project Manager in Europe and told me I should definitely come and do the same. A bunch of great people.

Immediately after the tour, I returned to the hostel that I would be checking into today (Wombat, the Aussie one) and checked to see if they had any vacancies due to cancellations. The did, so I snapped them up fast. And lucky I did, because immediately after doing so the Bus About bus arrived, full of backpackers needing accommodation. The place is now full to capacity. Anyway, I’m now going to be here until Sunday, at least. I may end up wanting to stay on further…

I agreed to meet Ben, Tiffany and Kieren (the Aussie) for the Bike Tour I had originally heard about. It covers many of the same places as the walking tour but we wanted to do it anyway because it also goes to some places farther afield, such as the Englischer Garten. The start was a bit rough; basically, the American guy who ran it had a sense of humor which didn’t really appeal too much to any of us… it was very crass. The rest of the tour was actually American (for the most part) but even they seemed a little put off. I mean, he’s a good guy, but he tries to make everything relate to alcohol (quite literally, he tells all the history in terms of it) and drugs and prostitution, and it just got a little much after a few minutes.

Despite our moral issues with some elements of his commentary, he also knew his stuff, and more importantly, the places we visited were amazing. Especially the English Garden and everything around it. The nudist area is simply a small part of a MASSIVE park which is right in the heart of the city (10 minutes by California Cruiser bike, at a very leisurely pace) and it (the park as a whole) is absolutely spectacular. There were plenty of nudists about, but most of them kept off to one side and we didn’t bother going too close.

The bikes we rode were those ones which came into fashion recently, which look like a non-motorized Harley Davidson. They have the same sort of body, really big wheels, just one gear, and handlebars which are really wide and only just below shoulder level. The word “Cruiser” fits them perfectly and the ride was blissfully easy for everyone.

In the middle of the extended park is the second largest beer garden in the world. It holds up to 9500 people, although when we were there, there was probably less than 1000. Nonetheless, it was a great experience. All these Germans, sitting around, drinking beer, eating, and listening to the band who sit atop this giant Japanese tea house thing (one of those with the tiered structure, where each tier is round and they get smaller and smaller as they approach the top). With the weather as nice as it was, a plate of the best German food you can think of, and a giant 1L beer to wash it down with, I was in a very good place.

After the beer I was in just as good a place… it was just getting to any other place that was a little difficult Seriously though, we were all a little tipsy, so we jumped on our bikes and rode slowly, like the responsible citizens we are, back through the park, past a few more sites, and back to square one. By this time it was almost 8pm and I’d been touring all day, on very little sleep, so I was tired, and famished; I’ve been eating heaps.

The tour ends a bar with ridiculously large and cheap cocktails which I have heard horror stories about, and it was full of non-locals, so we decided to ditch that. A few of us went to the biggest Beer Garden in the city to have a chat. Our next litre of beer arrived at the same time as that of the German group sitting next to us and we all toasted each other, and got to talking. They were great people. Tiff, Ben and I continued to talk for quite some time. I was comfortably tipsy for the next hour or so off that one litre and didn’t feel the need to order anything more.

We returned to the hostel (theirs, soon to be mine), and met some more people at the bar, which was in the midst of happy hour. At about midnight I made my excuses, returned to my own hostel, and crashed. Exhausted with a spinning head but having had a fantastic day.

Today it began again at about 9am. I struggled to get access to the bathroom which I share with the 7 others in my room, but when I did I was in and out like lightning, and downstairs to meet the gang. Our plan today was to return to the English Garden and just do some chilling out. After a little bit of a delay (we’d none of us had breakfast, were all hungry, and couldn’t find Be), and after I’d foolishly grabbed a couple of pieces of normal white-bread toast for breakfast because I was starving, we set off.

My first experience of the German train system was a good enough one. Once you have your ticket it’s fantastic. Selecting the ticket is also fantastically easy and can be done in any of about 8 languages. The only problem is paying for the ticket. My fist full of change was systematically rejected by the machines we tried, and others experienced the same issues. Anyway, eventually we were on-board and heading to the University station, which is the closest to the Garden. The Uni students just pop accross between classes; thez are so lucky!

One thing I didn’t mention above, but should have, is that the river runs the whole length of the park. It’s alpine water which is flowing down from the nearby Alps (I might try and make time to see them) but it’s controlled in such a way that, at one point, it flows into the park with waves big enough to surf on. And with no beach nearby, guess what people do. That’s right, they surf the river. It’s fantastic to watch. Because the waves are actually just a result of the water flowing over a little damn, the wave itself never really moves. It’s like heaven for a surfer I’m sure. They take it in turns to jump off the embankment, land on their boards, and then go sideways, back and forth from one bank to the other, pulling tricks at either end. It’s like surfing in one of those Infinity Pools. In fact it’s an awful lot like skate-boarding on a ramp.

So that’s really cool but the astute of you will have picked up that waves big enough to surf mean significant current in the river, and that is indeed the case. At some points we simply couldn’t have swum around unless we fancied being washed down shore. It was for this reason we found ourselves with the nudists at the English Garden. In fact, I think people accumulate there simply because it’s the point of lowest current. Another high point is near a little waterfall but we weren’t game to try that on our first day.

As a kind of rule, the nudists sit on one side of the bank, and the clothed people on the other, it seems. There were some exceptions to the rule and really only about 25% of people would have gone nude. Most of them had skin like a rhinoceros from heaps of sun exposure; thick and dark. We originally sat in one point, but, as was to be expected, a nudist “beach” isn’t without it odd-ball weirdos, and we soon moved to get away from a guy on the opposite bank. His attention wasn’t on us, but it was kinda unpleasant sitting opposite him

When we found our spot, me and Ben jumped in. You have to jump because if you put a foot in you remember it’s alpine water and think “Hmm maybe I’ll come back tomorrow”. Of the four of us (we’d been joined by a guy from the US called Caleb) I think I was most obsessed with it´s a definite current, I walked all the way up to the top of the strip which is the English Garden (about 100m), hopped in and floated leisurely down in the water, past my friends, to the end of the strip, hopped out and did it again. I must have gone down half a dozen times. It was a really pleasant ride, and the water was beautifully revitalizing after a week of temperatures in the 30s.

This was followed by some serious sun-baking, and talking crap. Then it was time for us to move on. Tiff and Caleb went back to the hostel, and Ben and I got ourselves mentally ready, then hopped a train to Dachau Concentration Camp, which is about 40 minutes out of the city. Check it out on Wikipedia for more. I’ve no time to go into detail on this trip and I don’t think I would either. Suffice to say that the tour is unmissable, and incredibly informative, but at the same time I was on the brink of screaming with outrage and bursting into tears several times. The atrocities of the Nazis are not something this country shuns away from. They have monuments everywhere making public apologies and take their school children on fgield trips to this same concentration camp. The motto is Never Again, and may God see it is so.

I’ve now returned to the city, checked into Wombat where I’ll be until Sunday at least, as I say. The last 36 hours have really shown me that Germany is somewhere I really love. I can’t say it matches what I expected, because I can’t qualify what it was that I was actually expecting, but I’m positive that, if I could recruit a few of my closer friends and family for company, I could live in this city in an instant. I may yet make good on that idea; it’s come to the forefront of my mind again over the last 24 hours having met lots of people from our side of the world who have done it.

Anyway gang, I’m going to sign off. That was a long one, and the Internet time is costing me a bunch. Tonight we’re thinking of doing the pub crawl in order to get past some of the atrocities we heard about today, and that starts soon, but BOY do I ever need another shower.

Love you all, take care, be safe!

Jess oxox

Oh baby! I’m here. I love it already! Well, that’s probably an overstatement as I have literally been here only two hours and done nothing but read so far, but the city has a lot to offer from what I’ve read. But before we get into all of that…

Thanks to Marco and Dave who run Emerald Fields hostel in Firenze. That’s where I was until yesterday. It was awesome- the hostel I mean. It was more like living in someone’s house than staying at a hostel. It was the best experience I’ve had so far in terms of meeting people and having fun in a group. If things continue in that manner, I’ll be very glad.

Yesterday was a full day of site-seeing (Ponte Vecchio, Medicci House, Museums, Galleries, just the city itself) in an attempt to tire myself out enough to sleep on the 9pm train ride to Münich via Austria. It worked well. I saw heaps and spent plenty of Euros, but I can honestly say I think I got the best out of Firenze considering the length of my stay. A beautiful place, as I say. An absolute must-see for anyone planning a Europe trip any time soon.

While I Florence I met heaps of cool people, many of whom have done a trip very similar to my own, but in reverse order. The one thing I learned from them is that Prague, while awesome and cheap, is a little difficult to navigate sometimes because very few people speak English and none of the signs, announcement,s or anything like that are made available in my native tongue. For this reason I’m thinking I might leave that to another time, like when I come back with friends, so I at least have someone to be lost with. That’s much more fun than being lost by one’s self I find

Just as an aside, this keyboard is absolutely killing me. It’s identical to those back home except that the Z is where the Y should be and vice-versa. And all the punctuation is all over the place, but I’m used to that from Italy. The annoying thing is that I only just got used to the Italian version and now it looks like I have to learn a whole new set…. Actually I’m just typing this up as though Y is where is should be, then I’ll do a bulk find and replacem but please forgive any issues…

So anyways, I got into Munich at 6.45am this morning after really quite a comfortable overnight train trip. I’m tired because I kept waking up every time the train stopped or anyone in my 6 sleeper cabin moves. Yes, I opted for a sleeping cabin (2nd class) rather than a seat because I wanted to be able to get something out of today. My plan at the moment from reading I’ve done, and speaking with this crazy guy at my hostel, is to this free bike tour which runs every day. Yup. Free. It’s run by crazy-guy and friends and is based on a tip structure, so I figure if it’s gotta be good. It comes highly recommended.

One of the stops is the 2nd biggest beer garden in the world - some 9500 people on a normal day - so that should be interesting. Another stop is the Englischer Garden. It’s apparently a botanical garden with a twist. The twist being that naked swimming in the lake is the norm, so people just strip their clothes off and go for a dip… That should be … interesting. I’m not sure if it comes before or after copious drinking at the beer garden, but I’m guessing the latter (And just to clarify, this is actually mentioned at great length in my Lonely Planet, so it’s all above board and quite ‘normal’ apparently….)

The culture here seems to be all about partying hard and heaps of drinking from the little I have seen. All the brochures are for pub crawls which cost something like 12 Euro and include unlimited free shots… So if you don’t get a post from me tomorrow, imagine me lying in bed, holding my head and begging for the world to stop spinning. I think I’ll take it easy though, as after all my Pizza escapades in Italy I’m a little under the weather at the moment. Although I hear drinking is quite good for that

Sleeping in tomorrow is not likely at all because I couldn’t get one hostel for two consecutive nights! That’s right, I’ve currently booked two night’s accommodation and they are in two different hostels. Luckily, they both come highly recommended and are almost immediately next-door to each other.

Tonight I’ve booked a 10-bed dorm because I didn’t think I could handle the 40-bed version which this place offers… imagine that. Tomorrow I move onto Wombat hostel (I know, in Germany!) which was voted 5th best hostel in the world last year, and I’ve heard really good things. Unfortunately they have only tomorrow night free. The place I’m at tonight is filling up fast so I think I might end up moving back to the first place for the third night. While they are only next door to each other, check in time is like 2pm and checkout is 10am so I’ll be doing some getting up early whether I want to or not

Anyway, the plan for today is to take the free bike tour and try to make some buddies in hostel 1, then rest I think because I’m pretty tired, and after 3 hours of riding, drinking and… well I probably won’t but … skinny-dipping, I imagine I’ll be a bit of a wreck. The tour finishes just in time for me to go back to my room and have a rest before going out to party, assuming I meet some cool people.

In summary, things are good. I get this real rush whenever I move onto a new place, but I think from here on in I’m going to slow things down a bit and spend more nights in each city so I can do a bit of late night partying, and sleeping in on subsequent days. I’m definately missing you all, and it still feels strange that I’ve only been away for just over a week, but I’m focussing on enjoying this experience because I know it’s a rare opportunity.

Hope everyone back home is going great. Loving hearing from you all via email and comments. Just so you know, I haven’t gotten a mobile because, despite Europe being one big place, they can’t get their mobile system in order, so anz SIM you buy in any one country is charged at roaming rates in any other. I also can’t get MSN working for for some reason… I’ll keep trying.

Until next post (tomorrow or the next day), in the words of the immortal Jerry Springer, “take care of  yourselves, and each other”.

Aufwiedersehen,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today’s will be a super-quick post since I am using a communal computer for free and I’ve already domintated it for an hour to book accomodation in my next port of call… but more on that later.

Firenze is my favourite place so far in the trip. Big call I know. I might turn around and say I didn’t really mean it, but when you combine the harm of this tiny, but amazing city, the people that I’ve met and the experiences I’ve had just in the last 48 hours, it’s the best thus far I think.

The city itself is beautiful. Every house, every building is so in keeping with the period in which Firenze was established. It’s charming and unspoilt. It’s also small enough to find everything simply by getting lost and walking randomly. The place is a bloody maze, but every little warren you wander down has it’s own beautiful horizon, and quaint charm.

I’m hoping my body will forgive me. Today is the second in a row that I’ve eaten pizza for dinner. This morening I woke up feeling crap because of last night’s, but tonight I caved again, with the famous words “Oh well, how often am I going to be in Italy?” The pizza, and indeed everything you eat here is just beautiful. You have to look hard to find something which isn’t priced for tourists, but the local places are great.

I’m trying to remember my last update.  I think my last update was when I was still in Rome. That night, while on the computer, I met an English girl who was by herself. We started chatting in the lane between our bungalows and were joined by a bunch of people including two girls from Copenhagen. The Dutch are amazing people. Their English is perfect, they are so friendly and open. I’m really wonderring if I should try and squeeze in Copenhagen.

Anyway, that night was really nice- just sitting around and chatting, making new friends and talking shit. I also got some cool tips on where to go, and stay when I get there. The next day was really just getting up, checking our and catching the train to Firenze.

I came into Firenze after a 5 hour train trip, through the beatutiful Italian country-side, at about 5pm. I slept part of the way on the trip. When I got here I really struggled to find my hostel but once I did, I checked in and was immediately sure I’d made the right choice.

This place s run by one guy. Marco. He takes a personal interest in everyone who comes here. He is currently checking a guy in right next to me- giving him a map, telling him where to go in the city, when things are open. The same he did for me on my first night. Great guy.

I went out and saw David immediately yesterday (evern though it was like 5pm) because everything is closed here on Monday (today). That’s where the title of this post comes from. All the major attractions are shut on a Monday. In fact, they are open as late as 7pm on Sunday but not at all on Monday. It’s really strange.

Anyway, running out of time so gotta speed things up. David. Oh my god. Amazing. The wait in line for 1.5 hours was so worth it, even if David had been the only thin gin the gallery.

Last night I met everyone at this hostel. We’re one big group. We went to a festival which is held in an old Castle down the street, with Marco leading. There were stalls, games and a disco all set up in-side this old castle, with about 6 different live bands. Awesome.

We stayed up talking all night, got up late, got ready and went out in one big group today. Saw Piazza Del Michaelangello where David originally rested, and from which you get amazing views of the city. Then split up into a few groups. me and my people went to the Duomo, the cathedral here in Firenze. It was one of the highlights of my trip I think. The ceiling frescos are just incredible. Climbed all the way to the top and saw them up close and personal. Also got an amazing view of the city.

Next I stood in line ( a lot of that) for over an hour to book my night train to… Munich. Oh yes. Germany, here I come baby. I’m already booked into two hostels for two nights because they are all so bloody full. The are on the same street and one of them comes with incredible recommendations from people at this hostel and all over, so I can’t wait.

I should probably limit it to that my friends. I am reading all your comments and loving them. Thanks so much. Again this post cannot be spell-checked because this computer’s dictionary is Italian so everything I write is a spelling mistake!

Love to all. Look forward to reading you comments. To those asking for photos- Kel is right with his guess; all the PCs around here are locked down tight so I cannot yet download any of them off my camera onto a PC.

Love to all, buona notte!

Note to self, next time I have a flight from an airport I’ve never been to, don’t trust the instructions on display at the hostel to be right. In fact, don’t expext them to be at all accurate. If you do, you end up sitting at a closed train terminal waiting on a train to get you to your flight on time, surrounded by pitch black and no one except the late night bus drivers.

This was my experience yesterday morning. Man, it seems like ages ago. Anyway, I had a 7.10am flight from Luton airport to Rome and the instructions I was given at the hostel stated that I could catch the train I needed at certain times from the station up the road. The times were (stupidly) correct but the fact that you can catch it from the station up the road was completely wrong. Unfortunately ther ight station was Kings Cross, which would have been 2 minutes walk if I had still been at the old Hostel, but was now the other side of town and I was quickly running out of hours before my flight (thank God I left ridiculously early just in case something like this hapenned).

While we’re on the topic of thanks, thanks to Ryan the Australian dentist I met at the hostel who set his alarm too because I feared mine wouldn’t wake me. It didn’t and without him I would still be in Rome and £110 pounds poorer for nothing. The great bloke even walked me up to the station, oferring to carry my bags because I was tired… OK, and I was terribly hung over.

Yes, on Wednesday night I had my first real bender. The cider got the better of me- the large serves here make it much easier to get drunk wihtout having too many actual drinks. Ryan and I met a bunch of other Aussies downstairs at the pub which is connected to this new hostel I was staying at. After a few drinks we jumped up on stage and got into the Karaoke swing of things… I can’t even remember what song we did… It was Tina Turner I think.

Anyway, I went to bed with about 3 hours before I had to get up for my flight, and probably should have just satyed up.

Jumping back to the ‘almost missed my flight’ story now, I was very greatful to one of drivers of the late night buses whish stopped near where I was forlorleny sitting, wonderring if the station woudl really open as I was told it would, and whether it would be time for me to catch my flight. This guy told me where the train ACTUALLY ran from, and how I could go about getting it. It began with his bus, then a long wait, then another bus, then to a walk to a train station. By this time itàs about 4am and I’m already exhausted.

I’d just missed the Luton Parkway train so I had almost a one hour wait. I struggled not to fall asleep, despite the cold. On the train I watched the seconds count down- there is a latest check in time and I was fast approaching it. We reached the Luton stop and I sprinted down to find the shuttle bus to the airport about to leave, and squeezed my way on.

At the airport, my flight wasn’t showing on the boards. I couldn’t see where to check in and, despite how early it was, the place was packed. I walked randomly in the direction of the check-in counters and (by sheer dubm luck or devine providence) stumbled upon my check in counter. It was empty.

Check-in was of course not simple. I only realized right at the last minute that I had my swiss army knife still in my carry on lugguage. I took it out and threw it in my big bag just as she went to take it. Good thing too- you’ll hear why in a minute. The lady complained that my backpack straps were making my bag an issue and I oferred to fold them away at which time she advised that I had no time and if I wasn’t in the boarding queue soon I would miss my flight. So I ran, with my bag on, to Oversized luggage (called ‘Outsized luggage’) and dropped my bag off to the cross-dressing man who works there. I only point that out because he was responsible for searching all the flight staff before they went through and I wonderred about the propriety of a woman touching all the hostesess in that manner if she is really a guy…

Drop bag with cross dresser. Then rush to departures. You have never seen a departures line like this. Long story short- I stood in it for 10 minutes, then they called me and everyone else who was still in the line and going to Rome, to come forward. Rushed up, put stuff through scanner and… Congratulations! You’ve been chosen for a compeltely random search! Thank God I put that damned knife away! I’m jumping up and down trying to not look nervous about having my gear searched, but also trying to stay calm since my flight is supposed to leave any minute. The guy was really good about it but really quiet too which made me think at first that I was actually suspected of somethign. he only told me it was a random thing when I asked explicitly.

Bag searched and swabbed for traces of exlosives, everything unpacked everywhere. Cram it all back in and run. Final call comes over the loud-speaker. It was that ‘Your plane is fully boarding and awaiting your arrival’ one. I’ve always been ON the plane when that comes through and wonderred what it would be like to be on the other side. I found out

But I made it, just. I was exhausted from all my rushing, and as hectic as I make it sound I think I actually did very well at keeping my head. I wasn’t stressed from the beginning. If I missed the flight, I missed it. That simple. But thankfully I didn’t.

The plane landed at Ciampino airport and I caught my shuttle without issue. The Termini station here is absolutely amazing and I was exhausted but decided to wander about it a little. I learned from Ryan how easy it is to get to other Italian cities from Termini so I’m thinking I won’t get a Eurail pass just yet. Got me some Euro and made my way down to the Metro; Termini caters for interstate trains and Metro (local) trains.

The trip to my new lodgings - a campsite on the outskirts of Rome - were quite unexciting. I checked in and needed to sit down for a while to gain my breath. Then I poterred a bit and realized I hadn’t eaten all day. A trip to the Supermarker accross the freeway solved that. I bought two vegetarian dishes which were pre-made and ready to eat, because there are no cooking facilities here.

I went to bed at about 6pm.

I’m staying in the cutest little cabin. It holds 3 beds but unfortunately (at least when I left this morning) only mine is occupied. I had expected to make friends in my shared cabin and I hear every other one is full. Amy, a girl from Australia (I think) checked into my room at about 7pm when I was already asleep from my long day, but she couldn’t stand the heat… It was very hot. It’s about 30 here today. Anyway, she came back half an hour later and said that she’d booked a room with air-con and had been put in the wrong room. So unfrotunately I was again without a room-mate.

Today I went to catch the shuttle but didn’t have a ticket (didn’t know you needed one). Another Aussie advised me of it and he seemed to be on his own. Woul dhave been great to travel with him but he was ready to jump on the 10am bus and the line to get tickets was too long for me to catch it.

At 11am I caught the shuttle and today I saw only Musei Vaticano and part of St Peter’s. After my restful day yesterday I was prepped an dready for a lot of looking about. Did the Vatican in a big way and want to do St Peter’s in the same way, so I’ll be going back tomorrow and climbining to the top of the Dome. Instead today I just did a little looking around, and then attended a Choral service, all in Italian of course. I hadn’t planned to do it but when I walked into that magnificent building I couldn’t avoid it. It’s a cliche, but I felt so close to God. The service was beautiful, mainly just the choir.

I also had a great lunch which was a mix of meats with artichokes and olives. I had hoped to say more about what I did today but that will have to wait until later bcause I’m out of time and there is a line to use the net. No time to spell-check either. Sorry.

Met an Aussie just a minute ago and have agreed to meet up tonight since we’re both travelling alone. Between now and then it’s back accross the st for some dinner.

Love you all and keep the comments coming. They are really welcome in the periods when I’m feeling a little far away.

Ciao

I’ll take B, Italy please Eddy. Lock it in.

Day three, and so far, so good I’m glad to say. The only slight hitch is that my hostel has no space tonight. I knew that when I booked. I figured they might lose some bookings but it turns out it’s two massive groups, and they’ve all arrived. Damn them. As a nice little aside, one of the groups is a German girls high-school band camp… “And this one time, at band camp”… Hmmmm.

Anyway, this sort of thing happens often enough I understand, so, no problem, I’ll just book another hostel. Or so I thought. Asking at the desk I got a list of good hostels. I called them… all of them. No space. So I went online and did a search. Now, of the hundreds of hostels in London I found three (3!!) with a bed tonight. Two have just the ONE bed too! I’ve ended up with a bed at a place across town. It’s in about the only area of the city which I didn’t explore on foot yesterday, which is good, as it means I might get out and about a bit… The other good thing is that it’s easy to get to Luton airport from this new place, and that’s good because…

I’m going to Italy tomorrow *listens for Leah’s joyful laugh*. That’s right team, tomorrow morning I’ll be checking into the airport (at about 5.30am – yikes!) to catch a flight to Rome. The reason I’m taking such an early flight is that the “cheap” flights are all either really early in the morning or really late at night, and I don’t fancy trying to navigate Rome, with it’s pick pockets and foreign-languages, at night in search of my hostel. I say “cheap” in inverted commas because I paid about 110 pounds all up for the trip. Despite what RyanAir say about flights for less than a pound, I was informed that anything under 100 pounds for this time of year is really cheap, so I snapped it up.

I know many of you might be thinking that I’ve only been in London for a few days, and how could I possibly want to go elsewhere already? Well the 9hours of walking I did yesterday took me far and showed me heaps, but the main reason is that it’s so crowded this week – apparently there’s some event on – and it just so happens that most of my English friends are presently unenviable. They’re either out of town, or working and can’t catch up from what I hear, so I figured I’d get about travel now, and catch up with people eon the way back through. The other real benefit is that it means I’m traveling mid-week rather than at a weekend but the weekend flights are 180% the price, and much tougher to even get.

Yesterday I saw, in no particular order: St Paul’s Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern, London Bridge (from a distance), all of South bank, including the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey (but didn’t go in), Big Ben, the National Gallery and everything incidental between. At St Paul’s I climbed all the way to the top of the dome and the view was absolutely amazing. I have some good reflections which I jotted down there but no time to write them.

Now that my lodgings and flights are sorted, I’m going to use the rest of the day (it’s 2pm now and I’ve done nothing but try to sort out my next few days).. Woah

*Imagine Jesse running up to the counter realizing he has like 1 minute of Internet yet, and trying to get his time extended before being automatically logged off and losing this post*

Phew. OK I’m back.

Anyway, now I have another half hour I might prattle just a little. As I say, rest of today will be more sightseeing. I’ll go back to the Abbey if I can and go in this time (lines were amazing yesterday). In fact I might try to go at 5pm for the Choral mass. That’d be wicked. The other thing I didn’t see yesterday is the British Museum, so between now and then I might do that. Although that’s sounding a bit rushed. I still need to take my crap from the existing hostel up the street, to the new place across town.

Getting across town should be easy enough; the tube here is really, really cool. The lines all connect every few stops. You sometimes have to change 3 different trains in order to get to your destination, but the trains come literally every 2 minutes during the day, and the maps make is so easy to find where you should get on and off. The only issue I have is that they are crazy busy and yesterday in London there was a failure on one of the lines just as I was about to being my traveling which meant heaps of ppl got diverted onto the trains I was going to be catching; making it even busier. Nonetheless, the experience of being crammed in like a sardine is part of it all I guess.

One thing I’ve noticed about London is that, despite what everyone says about it’s cultural diversity, it’s really not that different to Melbourne in terms of the populace I mean, the nationalities which you experience in abundance are different nationalities – there are a lot more Africans here – but the breakdown is pretty similar to back home I think. That is to say, extremely diverse.

The other things you notice about London, if you’re like me, is that there are no bloody bins anywhere! I’ve been carrying rubbish around half the time. Found out today, or rather had it confirmed, as I had expected, that this is an anti-terrorist thing. There are no bins whatsoever at train stations because they are ideal places to place bombs which you remote detonate during rush hour. I knew that already, but when you have a local explain it to you like she expects it to happen any moment, it’s a really culture shock. This is a much bigger city, and much faster paced than anything I have experienced, and the people here, while they don’t live in fear, do seem to be very aware of the serious risk of terrorism hitting them any time.

The size and pace of the city is really noticeable but easy enough to adapt to. People aren’t friendly really, but they aren’t unfriendly. I think a lot of them just aren’t expecting you to smile at them on the tube, for example. They smile back after the initial shock

Yesterday I was by myself all day, but in the evenings at the hostels I’ve been hanging out with all sorts. My room had a group group of Danes, a Londoner and an American, until today. The Londoner is doing what a lot of them do, which is working in London and commuting back to the country-side at weekends. During the week he has almost a permanent bed at a hostel, in a dorm, but this week he got lazy and they booked it out to someone else because of how busy the city was. He had the night before last with us, then I don’t know what he did because last night was worse than tonight for availability.

Anyway, the Danes (two guys and girl) were all of the one family, spoke great English and were all round very interesting people. The American guy was also really nice. Outside of my room there’s a bunch of Aussies and some Americans who I have spent some time with, but we pretty much sit around with everyone downstairs and talk. People from Spain, South Africa, Germany, France, all over really. As a segway, the 3 aussies are also of one family and their dad works for Quantas. They told me they got return Business class tickets to Europe for $300 Aussie dollars. I could have died!

It was really leveling the other night when I tried to talk to this German chick. Not in German, just in English. Her English was broken but she did so much better than me trying to speak any German at all! I suck! Lost of people have been coming and going, or are only staying a few nights, so I’ve been kinda jumping around.

I’ve decided to book three nights in advance in Rome, and on the advice of one of the guys I met who just came from there, and what I saw online. That is to say; very little availability and all of it bloody expensive! It’s not in a hostel, it’s at a camping ground 3km out of the city. They have a free service which goes into and out of the city every 30 minutes, it’s dirt cheap and they have all sorts of stuff that places closer to the city can’t for want of space, such as a pool. With the weather here having really picked up since I got here (it’s perfect; mid 20s, clear blue and sunny) I can’t wait to hoping the pool and the hot tubs.

So I get into Rome at about 10am tomorrow and will catch a bus out to the camping ground to drop my crap and check in. Then I will catch it back to the Vatican (which is where it stops) and begin my adventures in Italy. I’ve heard from everyone that the Gypsies have been trying to get them, and the pick-pockets are as bad as ever, so I’m going to stay alert.

In terms of food and drink I’ve been kinda good. I’ve broken my diet a few times and paid for it a little. Mainly tiredness and not being able to think. But that could be drunkenness as well I’ve taken to drinking Strongbow Cider instead of normal beer. It’s just like beer but I don’t (think I) have any adverse reactions to it, and it’s really very nice, unlike beer.

Anyway, that’s enough blabbing from me. I think this blog will be a little less artistic than my last in terms of quality of writing; it’s symptomatic of the mode my mind is in at the moment, which is a little all over the place. I think this holiday is something I needed more than I realized; even if I’m just sitting around doing nothing, my mind is racing to get thoughts out of the way and file them, then calm down.

Gotta run gang, hope everything is well for everyone back home.

Love you all,

jess oxox

This post is so named to reflect the inaccuracy of that Berocca ad, in which they “sqeeze 30 hours out of one amanzing day” and all feel great at the end of it. I can tell you, I just did the exact same and it’s not nearly so exciting as they make it out to be… Then again, to be fair, I didn’t have any Berocca on me. Maybe I have only myself to blame!
Ahoy from London. I’d say sunny London, or hot London but I’d be lying. I could say muggy, and yet still somehow cold London. That’d be more accurate.

I finally made it to my first destination after some 40ish hours of travel, including the hours at the end to get through immigration and tube it to Ashlee House. I’m penning this entry from the basement at Ashlee House. First order of business after ariving was a shower - man cold water has never felt so good! - and an introduction to some of the people here.

As was to be expected, there are ppl from all over represented, including other Aussies and everyone is really cool. I’ve only got baout 5 minute son the PC so I’m going to keep this ultra brief.

My flights were absolutely exhausting and I cannot believe I’m still awake, since I slept about 8 hours total in the last 40 hours, in very interupted blocks. Once you actually get on a Thai Airways flight, they are good enough, it seems.

I met some amazing people just on the planes. First guy worked for Satyam as a Project Manager and is soon to take up a PM position at Telstra. “Small word” doesn’t quite capture it.

The most interesting though were those on the flight to London. I’ll have to write more baout them at another time, or just tell you all what I’ve jotted when I return.

For now I’m going to escape the PC and contribute to the hub-bub outside the room. Then I’ll hit bed.

Take care friends!

Love j oxox

1:00pm: I’m super early to get a good seat.
*ding dong* “Attention ladies and gentlemen…”
OK, thirty minute delay, I can handle that. No dramas.

1:40pm
*ding dong*
What’s that? Another thirty minutes? Technical difficulties with the plane you say? Oooh that’s no good! Sure, take you’re time. Want to be sure we’re flying on a safe plane and all that!

2:20pm
*ding dong*
Hm? Further delays? Any idea how long? None huh? Sucks.

3:00pm
Excuse me, any idea why all the employees are in a big huddle over there? They look like they are going through some sort of training? Anger management? How to deal with difficult people? This really doesn’t seem too…

3:20pm
*ding dong*
“Attention passengers of Thai Airways Flight 982 to Bangkok: Thai Airlines wishes to advise that this flight has been cancelled.”

Now watch everyone break ranks as they scramble up to the counters to get re-booked on the next flight.

4:00pm
G’day mate. Paul is it? Jesse mate. Yeah it’s not good. So what’s on offer in terms of fixing this up? Midnight flight? What time does that get me in? You don’t know. OK. How long a delay in BKK? Don’t know that either. Right. Good. I think it’s six hours; can we check?
OK so it’s six hours. So what time does it get into London? Can’t say huh? And if I want the same flight tomorrow? Dependant upon availability. Right. So can we check that availability now? We can’t. OK. So Thai Airlines is really plummeting on the experience-o-meter.
Wait, what’s that? I can find out whether or not I can get on tomorrow’s flight? Just stand in that mammoth line over there. Haha. Good one. Oh you’re serious. Let’s work together to determine which situation is going to work out best for me.
*thinking music*
OK, so the midnight flight it is. Since I’m here, and the flight check-in is in only 5 hours, can we do the whole check-in thing now; I mean I have been in line for almost 4 hours. We can’t huh? Yeah, didn’t think so.

4:30pm: in the car, heading home.
Oooh need to make sure I’ve got my special meal catered for.
“Welcome to Thai Airways, our office is closed”
“Welcome to Thai Reservations, this office is closed”
“Welcome to Menzies, our office is closed”

4:40pm

Hey Ashik. You’d never believe how bad this is. Any chance you can find out some stuff for me since all the damn offices are closed? I know this bunch aren’t related to your company, but since you’re in the industry and all… Wicked, I’ll await your call. Thanks mate.

5:10pm
Hey mate. What’s the good word? I’m definitely on the midnight flight? And you’ve had my special meal set up, despite working for another company. Legend. Yeah, I promise next time I’ll fly with someone who Aerocare supports. Cheers bud.
(Seriously, thanks Ashik)

Most people know me; I don’t get excited about things until they are completely upon me. I was expecting it last night, and again this morning, but it hasn’t hit yet. Actually all I’m doing at the moment is talking to Strok about maintaining the website while I’m away.

I don’t feel excited, just… ready I guess. Then again, yesterday I took a look at this brochure I picked up ages ago about BusAbout tours for Europe - basically a hop on, hop off service where you go along on of their planned routes but do all your own touristing - and it’s really quite … maybe exciting is the word.

Anyway, I’m thinking I might do one of these BusAbout things. I know you need to book seven days in advance, but all you get is a little docket which you print out so I figure I can still do it when I get over there. It seems smart because their itineraries go literally everywhere I want to go, they stop at the door of hostels, I’ll likely meet other single travelers on route with them, and you can stay in each location as long as you like; you just catch the bus which comes the next day if you want to stay on.

I’m all packed and my bags are sitting neatly by the door. Technology wise, I’ve limited myself to my iPod (complete with Pimsleur’s first “Teach Yourself French” unit it on), my camera, and my crappy old phone which I plan on getting a SIM for when I get there. I’ll post my new mobile number on the blog. Apparently O2 in the UK have this crazy concept of free SMS. Anywhere, any time, to anyone. So I think I’ll be getting a pre-paid O2 SIM, and SMS spamming the lot of you!

For any who didn’t get my email yesterday, you can contact me via email at: jesse [dot] stratford [at] gmail.com. But don’t expect too many replies! This blog will be my main communication mechanism. Comments are working (thanks Neen) so go nuts with commenting and I’ll probably read them. If not, keep in mind that others will

A’ight. That’s it for today. Ciao.

There’s nothing like being spontaneous. It makes you fun. Chicks dig it (apparently; chicks?) I wonder if the concept of spontaneity requires that the person being spontaneous is doing so as a conscious choice. That almost seems ironic. In my own case, I’m likely to end up being very spontaneous overseas, but for the first week at least that’ll be because I haven’t had a chance to plan a single thing before I left!

So that’s my long winded way of saying I’m so busy I can’t find the time to research where Big Ben actually is, let alone how to get to him. Huh? What do you mean it’s not a ‘him’? A building? Man, I really need to look into these things.

Anyway, with just three full days remaining until I leave, I’m gradually becoming more and more excited about the fact that I am actually going overseas! It’s not looking like all the stuff we wanted to get done with the website will come together in time, but I’ll be damned if I pay too much attention to that while away. I’m so looking forward to my holiday.