The final countdown (how original)

Ok so I believe the last time we spoke I was in Tirana waiting for my 5pm overnight bus to Athens? So 5 oclock rolls around and I jump on the bus expecting it, like most other buses in Eastern Europe, to be fairly empty. Not so, it would seem that since Tirana is an inaccessible place it has fuck all buses running out of it...so I was jammed into this bus like a sardine (a sardine stuck beside a really fat snoring sardine) as we headed off on what I thought was a direct bus to Athens, turns out it was in fact a touring bus for the "tour of the biggest fuck off shiny potholes in all of eastern Europe" so every time I would get close to being in some sort of doze not so far off sleep I would get a massive smack on the side of the head from a pane of glass! So this continued all the way out of Albania (which is a cool country despite this) until we reached the Greek border. Now all the buses that I have been on before you just pass you passport to the front and someone takes them away and checks them, but no not this time, we all had to climb off the bus at 2 in the morning in the middle of nowhere and go through customs, ahwell no biggy...except that as you may remember I wasnt meant to be in Albania without a Visa in the first place. Now I had assumed that although I didnt have a visa that the border guards on the way in had just pretended like I did, unfortunately not, they had just stamped my passport but never entered me into the system. So obviously this created some suspicious confusion for the Greek border controls! "How can he be leaving Albania when he has never entered in the first place?" It took a bit of explaining until I finally convinced them that the easiest way to sort it would be just to turn a blind eye and stamp me out. So by all computer records I was never in Albania, but I was..honestly. Im not sure where I was officially for those days but I suspect I was still in Macedonia. So after making it through border controls and having half the shit pulled out of my backpack I made it into Greece and we carried on some not soooo bumpy roads. After a while a few people emptied off and I was able to claim two seats to myself and have a somewhat okish sleep. Made it to Athens about 9am and thought I should probably head straight to Patras to book for the ferry since I wasnt sure what time I would be taking it. Had the same troubles with the train to Patras as Nicholas had, it seemed from speaking with the ticket person that the train was direct to Patras when infact it only went part way then you have to jump on a bus and then get another train...but made it eventually. On the way we passed all these beautiful beaches and small Greek towns and as it was quite warm I was really looking forward to arriving in Patras so I could maybe dip my feet in the sea or something. Turns out Patras is a shithole full of empty buildings and gangs of unfriendly looking people. What a shithole, but perhaps its nicer during the peak season? So booked a ferry which left at 11.59pm all the way from Patras to Venice so it was all good. However the time was only about 2.30pm when I booked so had 9 hours or so in the shittiest unfriendliest place in all of Greece. Found the info centre had free internet so spent a bit of time there but then resigned to buying some horrendously overpriced food and sleeping in the ferry terminal for a bit. Managed to make it to 11pm when we were meant to be boarding without chewing my arms all the way off only to be told that it was running late and wouldnt arrive until 1am. Fuckin Greeks. Pissed me off no end but I had no choice but to sit and argue with my thoughts for a couple of hours more. Once on the ferry I lay down my sleeping bag in the empty seated area and had a pretty good sleep which probably isnt that surprising since I hadnt slept really for quite a while. I had packed a bag of chips for my 2 day journey (I blame it on lack of sleep) so after a day I was pretty bloody starving. However I refused to buy any of the food from the restaurant because I was looking at a $30 bill for a bit of dry roast chicken and a couple of potatoes...then another $6 for a fucking coke! However eventually I gave in and ate it, a enjoyed it even less than I would of since I knew how much it cost! The rest of the ferry journey was pretty uneventful, in fact so uneventful that I shaved after more than a month of avoiding it. Got to Venice on the 28th of Jan after leaving Patras on the 26th. Found my way to the train station and jumped straight on a train to Stuttgart which cost me $65 or so just to reserve seats! However on the way to Stuttgart there was a few problems and long story short met up with Donny in Munich instead which was cool. Went and had a beer at the Hofbrauhaus which is where Hitler sort of made his very first Nazi speech thing (Im sure ill get Donny correcting me on that, dickhead) so that was pretty sweet anyway, and cost bugger all because even though for a 1litre stein it was about $20 and me and Donny had 3 each it only ended up costing us each about $10 including food since this awesome OZ (I know its a paradox(?) OZ and awesome, but he was) guy insisted on paying for most of it since we were poor travellers, so he threw down $250 and shook our hands and left! The next day Donny and I took a daytrip to Nuremberg which was the propoganda headquarters for the Nazi movement and where all the really big rallies were held and stuff, it was really awesome (once again Im sure Ill get Donny correcting me, he really is a knob) and we played on a sweet frozen lake for a bit. That night Donny headed to Berlin and I finally headed to Stuttgart and met up with Kerstin. Spent the night talking with her and her boyfriend Wolfgang then hit the hay. The next day we went for a longass bike ride which almost killed me to this castle/summer residence up a big hill which was pretty awesome and had cool views of Stuttgart. That afternoon Kerstin and I went to the Mercedes museum which was awesome and had cars all the way from ages ago right up to the car which one the Formula 1 last year. It also had a whole bunch of general history which was wicked. The following day we had a look around town and stuff and that night headed out for a beer at a local micro brewery sort of place. Stuttgart is a really nice city, sort of the same as Dunedin in that its surrounded by hills with the city in the middle. So I enjoyed my last night in Stuttgart then the next day headed to Munich again and found a hostel and spent the night getting horribly drunk on 1euro beer and chatting up all sorts of ladies haha. So the morning of the 2nd of February 2009 I bid a fond farewell to Europe for my first time and boarded a plane to the US of A! But not before making the biggest douchebag mistake ever. There was an exchange place which had the exchange rate for NZ dollars at .70 Euro which is almost twice what it really is, but instead of exploiting this and making tons of money I decided I should point out that they were wrong. Which I wasnt even thanked for! Fucking exchange places owe me shitloads of money anyway with their shitty fees and stuff! I worked out that with the $800 I had left I could have easily made $200 with 1 exchange even with their shitty markups! Ahwell we live and we learn that honesty is not always the best policy. Had a pleasant flight with Lufthansa since I seemed to be the only one on the plane with 2 seats to myself (I think its because I winked at the lady checking me in) and they had inflight entertainment which is rare for Lufthansa by the sounds of things! Ther was shitall movies still but I watched Ghosttown which was pretty good though turned quite girly! Arrived in San Fran at 7pm and spent like 2 hours going through fucking customs. (Just gave myself a fucking heart attack thinking for a second that my flight today actually left at 12pm, but its ok it does leave at 7pm like I though) American customs sucks nuts, they wanted all sorts of proof of onward journey and blah blah but made it eventually and found my way to my hostel not a problem and went to sleep. The next day was wicked it was super hot and I immediately regretted wearing jeans (which I had learnt to do in Europe even when it looked nice outside) but anyway I walked all the way from my Hostel to Fishermans Wharf/Pier 39 and then on to the Golden Gate bridge which on my map looked like it was fairly close. Turns out its about 15km away...stupid out of proportion map. But it was worth it, San Francisco is by far the most beautiful city Ive been too, it doesnt compete with Sarajevo on just plain love for it but as far as looks go its tops. Saw all the famous stuff like cable cars and Alcatraz (though only from a distance) and got some 1litre bottles of powerade for only $2nzd each which was about the only cheap thing around! By the time I arrived back at the hostel I was buggered having been up since 5.30am or something (stupid Jetlag) but it was free beer night so I figured Id just have a wee lie down and then get up and partake. Woke up at 10.30 so a bit late, went back to sleep and slept till 5.30am the next day! Went for another walk around and went to the free day at the exploratorium which was wicked, full of cool hands on sciency stuff and was inside an old castley thing in some nice gardens so was wicked for free, except that it was full of stupid american kids who have no problems pushing infront of you to play with cool stuff that you were clearly playing with first. I think theyre worse than NZ kids! After that did some shopping for souvenirs. If you do happen to get a present it will probably be from San Francisco since I now know I can buy stuff without having to lug it around for ages. Slept some weird hours again and got up yesterday and booked a trip to Alcatraz which was wicked. Not much to say about it but Ill show photos, it was cool. Had a fairly crazy night last night with icecream and coke then went to bed. For my last day I just plan to check out the shops once more and see if I want to buy anything for anyone then get some candies and stuff then head to the airport. See most of you folk shortly. And yeah San Fran rocks, if I was offered a job I would move here tomorrow!

East is still de best!

Ok...so the night that we found the wicked wee pub in Sarajevo turned out to be a pretty awesome night partying it out with the locals and had a good chat with this guy who was about 75 or something and was telling us all about Bosnian life etc..then informed us that he could snap our arms in 2 seconds, which he would do if we touched him again. He seemed to be semi-joking but we made sure not to upset him just incase :D So eventually, being rather responsible (or because the bar was closing) we decided we should head back to our hostel and get some sleep. I was awoken at 4am by a rather calm Donny who informed me that there was no way that we were going to make our 6am bus since we had no idea how to get to the bus station and our bags werent even packed! Luckily we had found out the night before that there was actually more buses leaving from a different bus stop later in the day! So we went back to sleep for a while then got up and had some stale bread and jam, which is the hostels breakfast specialty! Made our way around the town one last time and went to say goodbye to Nicks "Jersey" friend at the bank but unfortunately he wasnt there which only added to Donnys depression (you may remember he was already depressed about his fiance). Managed to make it to our busstop without too many dramas and settled in for a nice long bus ride to Belgrade. Arrived Belgrade with directions to a hostel and everything but after wandering for a bit decided on a nice cheap hostl right near the bus/train station and dropped off our bags and crap. Got some din dins, grabbed a couple of bottles of Pivo and settled in for the night to watch some Underbelly (which is actually a really good series and quite funny too so would recommend). The following day we decided that we would just go for a random adventure around the city with no real plans. First place that we stumbled upon was a rather nice Orthodox church, which was cool but really just another church. Oh and on the way we got to see first hand why you shouldnt fuck with America, half bombed out buildings in the middle of the main street. A real reminder of what happened and the fact that it wasnt all that long ago. After the church we spotted some signs pointing towards a Citadel which we had read about so were fairly interested in and started to head in the general direction of it,not really knowing how far away it was or even what a Citadel really was for that matter. We decided that it must have been a Salvation Army band like the one Sammy played for in Wellington. On the way I decided that Belgrade was a pretty cool city. Sandra found some sweet boots on the side of the road which she decided to keep and we saw a market with tanks of huge fish which were still alive though crammed together like sardines (I dont think they were Sardines). After a while of walking decided to stop for a coffee at a very suave looking cafe. Inside I felt terribly underdressed since everyone else was a business person wearing a suit. Sandra needed to toilet so buggered off for a minute and returned with a pocketfull of chocolates and a look on her face which could only mean one thing..thats right, heated toilet seats and a sprayer to wash your ass! This was all very exciting but did make me and Donny slightly concerned about whether we would be able to afford the coffees which we had ordered without looking at the prices! So to make sure that we got out moneys worth Donny and I both made (separate) trips to the toilet and filled out pockets with Chocolates and a free condom on the way out! We neednt have worried because in the end the coffees only set us back about 1euro (or less) each! We decided that the cafe was awesome and that we were the richest people in Belgrade! We continued on our merry way to the Citadel stopping for a quick see-saw and the occasional Coke (which is stupidly/addictively cheap). The citadel was awesome...basically its like a big old fortress sort of thing and we climbed around on the walls for a bit and sledded in the snow before making our way inside. There were a whole bunch of old tanks and stuff which we probably werent meant to play on (especially since we had already been told off for climbing on the walls) but we played anyway and got some sweet photos of us inside them and stuff. Twas a really cool place. Spent a while more looking around taking some photos and shit before wandering back into town. Got some roasted chestnuts which I had seen everywhere, turns out theyre shit so we gave them to a lady at the travel agencies where we asked something and probably didnt get a coherent answer to. Eventually made our way back to the hostel once again making the most of Donnys excellent navigational skills and Sir Edmund Hillary based explainations and encouragements. I think we got some more Pivo and watched some more Underbelly before Donny jumped on a bus to escape us (which took him to Podgorica with no hostels or anything haha) Spent the rest of the night watching and drinking. The next day Sandra and I awoke to the scary realisation that we were now alone without Nick to navigate for us...but we werent worried. Enquired about buses and trains for that evening (16/1) then headed out around the city again. Bought some energy mints which are full of Caffeine and Guarana and ate a whole pack of them which seemed like a good idea at the time..and there were no warnings on them..well not in English anyways. Stumbled upon the Tessla museum. Turns out this guy was super smart and invented all sorts of stuff (which apparently youre not meant to touch, which I found out after turning on some big electric thing and getting in trouble) the tour of the museum was really interesting and oddly enough I learnt a lot. After the museum we headed off to find the sweet wee coffee shop from the day before. Had some lunch and suddenly started feeling really weird...our hearts were racing and our limbs felt numb and crazy...this is about the time we realised that a whole pack of energy pills probably wasnt the best idea. We left to get some freshair but only started feeling worse! It was like being drunk and not in control of your body ( Sandra was also getting weirdly paranoid and freaking out) decided it was time to head back to the hostel...but we didnt know which way it was. So asked a guy who proceeded to lead us for about 20 minutes through heavy traffic at a blistering pace. Was not a lot of fun when youre not feeling in control of your body. As we were walking along I suddenly lost control of my legs which freaked me out a bit as I almost collapsed in a heap on the pavement...I was getting a bit worried until I asked Sandra if she had the same thing and she had...so turns out we had stepped in an electric puddle and both having we feet and jeans had been slightly electrocuted. Sandra being in her state of mild paranoia suddenly remembered all these horror stories about people collapsing up to 24 hours after being electrocuted and tried to talk me into going to hospital haha. But eventually we caught a tram back to the hostel relaxed and watched some more underbelly without dropping dead. We decided we had bad luck since Donny left and had obviously disrespected Tessla in some way so had been punished accordingly with electricity. Managed to catch our overnight train to Thessaloniki, Greece in search of some warmer weather, relatively hassle free. During the night some lady came into our cabin and made some weird hand gestures and yelled some stuff at us while we just nodded, she later returned with a couple of big bags of stuff which she put under our seats before disappearing again. We were too afraid to touch them, thereby inciminating ourselves with fingerprints so just sat there bemused until she returned a few hours later to retrieve them. As she was doing so a train conductor turned up and questioned her, so she took out her purse and (we can only assume) paid the bugger off. We came to the conclusion that we had just helped some old lady smuggle drugs from Serbia into Greece. We had big dreams of being paid 1000 euro each for our troubles but unfortunately it was not to be. She took her bags and we never saw her again and were left to our imaginations about what had just happened...was really weird. Arrived in Thessaloniki the 17/1 and proceeded to search for a hostel...in a town where hostels dont exhist...hotel hotel hotel but no goddam hostels. Eventually Sandra decided she would watch the bags while I went looking for a net cafe to check for hostels. There were none. Though there was a Hotel with rooms for 16.50euro each so decided we could splash out for a night or 2. Though on our way to this Hotel we decided to check others and found one for 12 euro each. Checked in and then went adventuring hoping our bad luck wouldnt continue. Had some food and looked around the city which we decided wasnt too bad after all but certainly not our favourite. Had an ok sleep in the hotel (which was really just a hostel but only private rooms...they were shitter than some hostels weve stayed in). The next day we decided to head to Mt Olympus which seemed a relatively simple day trip from what we had read in Lonely Planet. Unfortunately we decided for some reason (still unknown) not to take the Lonely Planet guidebook with us. Turns out the people in Greece suck with English and even Mt Olympus has a different name and it takes a couple of changes to get there...so after trying for a couple of hours to figure out how to get there we decided to head back to the hotel and try again the next day. So for the rest of that day we explored Thessaloniki and checked out the art museums and galleries which were suprisingly cool and had a pretty cool day after the shitty start. The next day we decided to head to Skopje in the F.Y.R.O.M (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia). Arrived at a good time and had directions to a hostel all written down. Wandered away from the train station for a bit before flagging a cab..only to realise we had no Macedonian money. We were left with no option but to wander in the direction of the city to find an exchange place. We had arrived on a fucking public holiday and everywhere was closed..except good old Maccas. I had no choice but to pay $8 to withdraw money from the ATM and buy some McDs so we could use their free internet before taking a taxi to our hostel. The first taxi couldnt find the place we asked for so dropped us in the middle of nowhere for only 1euro. Luckily the second taxi took us straight to our hostel which was awesome and had hot showers (which I was beginning to need rather desperately) and free food. We chilled for a bit, grabbed some Pivo and drunk the night away. Spent the next day exploring the city which was really nice and sort of reminded me of Sarajevo. Headed out that night and had a beer and a coffee with a guy called Mohammed who we met at a bar. He was a Muslim and explained to us all about his religion and about how extremists are notreal Muslims etc. Was really really interesting. The next day we caught the bus to Ohrid still in Macedonia and checked into a nice we hostel which was amazingly cheap and was more like a hotel. Our own tv, free wireless internet and all round just a really nice place. The 22nd of Jan we walked around Ohrid with me feeling a bit shitty from a minor cold/runny nose. The town is really beautiful and situated on the edge of a lake which is half in Macedonia and half Albania. Walked up a big hill and visited some wee churches (of which there are 365 in Ohrid, with a population of sweet bugger all) Visited the former residence of Tsar someone arather on the top of the hill which was really cool and old castley thing. Went out for a bit that night and had a drink but a rather early night. The 23rd we headed from Ohrid to Tirana in Albania. The bus ride was going really well and we were seeing some really cool stuff until we got to the border and were made to get off the bus as apparently (despite what Lonely Planet says) New Zealanders absolutely must have a visa to get into Albania. I was pretty much packing myself as talk of 50euro taxi rides circulated. I guess our worried looks were too much for the mean border guards to handle and eventually they made a phone call and told us to get back on the bus...not really knowing whether we were in or out we hopped on and just sat and hoped. Eventually the bus started off, both Sandra and I still passportless. Luckily the passports were returned and we were now allowed into Albania. God knows why but I was just happy to make it to Tirana with my 50euros and passport intact. Checked into another really good hostel in Tirana with a private room with TV and free wireless again. Spent yesterday (24/1) checking out the city, after failing to find the buses to Kruje for a day trip, because once again for some unknown reason we figured we could remember the way to the bus stop without Lonely Planet (we really should learn) the city is quite ugly and the park is by far the ugliest and unkept I have ever seen but for some reason I still like it here. We saw a couple of toads bamming by the ugly artificial lake in the ugly park which was sort of cool. Spent last night just having some drinks and watching a movie then tried to work out where we would go after Albania. Turns out there isnt really buses or trains to anywhere decent out of Albania without changing a number of times. So we stressed a bit about where we would go since I need to get to Stuttgart and then Munich before the 2/2. After spending about half of today at the few travel agencies which are open on Sundays, Sandra settled on a bus to Montengro with one change and Im heading to Athens so that I can get a train to Patras and ferry to Venice. So that pretty much brings me to where I am now. Soaking wet (its been raining) sitting in a netcafe in Albania, happy as Larry and waiting for my bus to Athens at 5pm. Had some weird chocolate custard out of a coffee cup. Ive missed a lot of stuff out of this but I can tell you it all when I see you in person. See ya all in a couple of weeks (shit!)

If in doubt, go East!!

Ok, so after I left you last I was still in Aachen right? Met up with Marie that afternoon which was really good (Marie Couchsurfed with us in NZ) and just grabbed a $8 coffee and had a bit of a look around, it was bloody freezing so I bought a sweet hat..which I left at Annas (it wasnt that sweet)! On the 7/1 I think I just chilled out and enjoyed my last day in Aachen. On the 8/1 Anna was awesome and woke up super early along with me to take me to the train station to catch my train to Budapest to meet up with Nicholas. Train journey didnt start great, my train was delayed which meant that I would miss my connection for the next train...so a 15 minute delay was going to infact cost me 2 hours!! Luckily the train which I was meant to be connecting with was also delayed which I didnt find out until I stepped off the train and my other one was right there waiting for me..perfect! The rest of the trip to Budapest was pretty uneventful but some really nice sights! Donny picked me up from the train station which was great because it meant I didnt have to think at all about where I was going or anything. Dropped the stuff at the Hostel and then grabbed some din dins from BK. Had this really cool 6 mini burger meal which was really cheap compared to the rest of Europe so far! The bums in Hungary live such a sweet life, just chilling in the underground walking areas with their mattresses blankets and bottles of meth, just like a never-ending slumber party with your mates...and meths! That night we just chilled with a few beers, exchanged stories and just caught up on general. Because Donny had already had one day in the Pest it meant that I would only be spending one day there, but it also meant that this was ok because Donny knew his way around pretty well so we went and saw all the sights, cruised round on this frozen moat for a bit and visited a heated duck pond. We figured they heated it to attract ducks from around Europe because a city without ducks is like...umm a duckless city, which isnt cool. It was a good day and we decided to head to Zagreb, Croatia that night. Train trip was pretty good, played some Kings and Assholes trying to relive good ol' school days and Donny lost almost the entire remaining trip budget to me in Poker. Arrived in Zagreb quite late at night and wandered round following Donnys terrible sense of directions to a hostel while constantly being reminded that 'Sir Edmund Hillary didnt need to ask for directions/take a rest/drink anything/wear shoes/breathe in order to make it to the top of Mt Everest' so neither should we. Finally gave up on the noon-exhistent hostel advertised in the train station and headed towards our original hostel. Found it no problem thanks to the awesome directions I had written down! Checked in, internetted it up for a bit and then hit the hay. Got up quite early the next morning and headed towards town. Zagreb is the city of Supermarkets...theyre everywhere, not big but everywhere. Was a really nice town and just checked out the usual sights and sounds. A weird lady stopped me and Nick and started rifling through her purse for something, I was sure she was about to stab us (being new to the East) but Donny was relaxed so I played it cool. Turns out she just wanted to randomly give us lollies, we later figured this was because Donny wouldnt stop sniffing! Spent the rest of the day just looking around then headed back towards the hostel and grabbed some beer and some dinner. This was my first encounter with 2 litre plastic bottles of beer at about $3 each! Watched a couple of dvds (remind me to watch 'rise of a foot soldier' again). Chilled out while trying to ignore the arrogant OZ pricks playing their 'trance' through their shitty Ipod speakers. Hit the hay, got up in the morning and took a day trip to Ljubljana, it was a Sunday so the place was really dead, but really nice all the same. Walked up this hill to an old castle which had a sweet platform "not for the faint hearted"...unforunately it was closed for repair...but the castle was nice anyways! Played with some of Donnys sweet firecrackers/mini sticks of dynamite and had some lunch then headed back to Zagreb to grab our bags and sneak out of the hostel without paying (which Donny says we had to do because he had good karma from somewhere else where he was forced to pay for an extra night or some shit, who am I to argue?) So we took the night bus from Zagreb to Sarajevo (in Bosnia for those of you less well travelled :D) Arrived at 5am and just headed through half blowed up buildings and buildings with bullet holes in the direction of what we thought was the city. Took about half an hour walking before we started to see some life. Found a 24hr cafe and sat down and relaxed for a bit with some food. Asked the guy where a net cafe was and he mumbled something in Bosnian and pointed down the street. So we wandered for a bit in the freezing cold with huge backpacks before stumbling upon a 24 hr hostel reception. Enquired about the price and then headed back out into the cold (not sure why, maybe we didnt like the guy, cant remember) wandered for a bit more before grabbing a coffee. I thought I would be nice and uncomplicated so I just ordered a coffee while Donny got a hot chocolate. I was very tired very cold and choking on the smoke of some business people stupid enough to be in a cafe that early. Then they bought me a fucking short black of all the different coffees I would have prefered they choose a goddam short black (Im sounding like a real Aucklander or something eh, but it was bloody early). So my morning was not going well. We headed back to the hostel with 24hr reception as it seemed to be the best deal and checked in. Were shown to our rooms and got the bags down and decided to shower. It was cold...I wont go into how angry I was and what words I may have said but it was cold and I hadnt showered for a couple of days. Met a few cool people in the hostel including Sandra the ozzie who becomes a bit of a feature. Donny and I spent the day exploring and visiting the famous spots of Sarajevo which are actually quite cool. For example the spot where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated sparking the beginning of WW1. Including a little museum with the actual gun used and the clothes worn by the assassin etc. By the end of the day I had fallen in love with Sarajevo. A capital city with so much history. Bullet holes covered every wall, Sarajevo roses where grenades had made holes in the pavements which had since been filled with red glass like stuff. And not a single McDonalds or other fast food restaurant. It really is like another world. The night of the 12/1 after having been awake since 5am (after not much sleep on an overnight bus) we grabbed a few bottles of Pivo (beer) of the 2litre plastic varieties and drunk the night away with Sandra and a couple of other hostel patrons. Visiting a cool cheap bar and getting the worst kebab ever which we suspect may have been cooked using a hairdryer...which broke halfway through. On the 13/1 Donny and I spent the day exploring the suburbs and walked up the hills around the town and stuff, visited some graveyards filled with graves from the Bosnian war..only 10-15 years ago so really interesting! That night we once again hit the plastic bottles (Donny with the intention of getting up at 4am to catch a bus to Belgrade) we were lured to a small local pub next door to our hostel up a small alleyway completely hidden away by some shocking, albeit traditional music. The place was fantastic, filled with friendly locals and a few cool foreigners. This is also where Donny met and subsequently un-met his Bosnian fiance (which he was depressed out for the next few days). ***Unfortunately due to time constraints made necessary because of the incredible number of fun things to do, I am unable to continue my blog at this stage, therefor this is the end of part one, but stay tuned. There will be more!***

Aaaaachen

Ok so I went to B9 on the 30th right? So the next day must have been New Years eve, didnt really doo all that much during the day as far as I can remember except get ready for the evening! Come 8 oclock or so we sat down and had dinner with Annas friends, it was awesome, I love Raclette it really needs to catch on in NZ except for cheese is too bloody expensive! Had dinner and then started to have a few drinks, was pretty chilled and I had somehow forgotten to buy beer (buggered if I know how) so instead I was drinking shots of Jagermeister which went down easy but didnt seem to be doing a lot in the way of getting me drunk... chilled at home for a while listening to some bad music before heading downtown (or somewhere, not exactly sure where) to watch the fireworks, it was pretty sweet! Everyone has their own fireworks and theyre going off in all directions, I really wonder how many people lose their eyesight every NYs over here! And come midnight the real show started it was really awesome...cant really describe it without it sounding just like any other fireworks display...so I wont. With Germanys lax drinking laws everyone cracks out the booze in the middle of the street and celebrated for a bit with some stupidly annoying NYs songs! 'Zwei Tousand Neun, Ole ole ole'...I know, what the fuck! After this we went to some party and spent the rest of the night speaking bad English and worse German with people and just chilling out. At the end of the party I was made to pay €5 for this party which apparently had included free beer and food but since I didnt realise that I hadnt had any free beer or food but ahwell it was only €5! NYs day we slept until some random hour of the afternoon then got up and went for a drive to Dreipunkt or something where you can be in 3 countries at once. It seemed like a nice place but thanks to the stupid GPS by the time we got there it was dark! It was pretty cool being in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany all at once though! Had another good sleep that night so that we could get up nice and early and go to Amsterdam wooh! Left at about 8am and drove for a couple of hours and arrived in Amsterdam. Parked in the first parking place we saw unsure how far from the city we were...then paid 85 fucking dollars to park there for the day! I was really against paying that much but unfortunately didnt really have a lot of choice. That put a bit of a shit start to the day but hey. Wandered towards where we thought the city centre might be for a bit before I asked 'just out of curiosity, did anyone pay attention to where we parked?' turns out noone had so we wrote down the street name we were on and then figured at the end of the day we might be able to figure our way back from there...anyways while in Amsterdam we did the typical Amsterdam stuff and then decided to find the car before it got dark...managed to find it quite easily which was anticlimatic, turns out the guy we were with has a really good memory/sense of direction. We then went and got a coffee from McD's. I thought Id grab a wee bite while there and ordered a crispy chicken wrap for like $4 (McDs in Europe is expensive) unfortunately the crispy wrap machine (it exists apparently) was broken so they gave me a McChicken and 6 Nuggets instead, best day of my life! After this we decided to check out a sex show which was fucking expensive but had to be done! It was much the same as in Thailand except with a lot more crowd participation, like they would pull people up on stage and put a dildo in their mouth and then bounce up and down on this poor persons face while dripping herpes, aids, chlymidia (havent had a lot of experience with spelling that, oddly enough) and whatever other filthy things happen to call their vaginas home. It was interesting but as usual suprisingly unarousing! At the end of the show I felt a bit sick, not that the show was that bad...but Im beginning to think that iif you are ever told the Crispy wrap 'machine' is broken at McDs they are just wanting to get rid of the shit they have had sitting around for the entire day! So they drive back to Aachen wasnt a lot of fun feeling like I was going to throw up every 5 minutes, but I did get to drive for a bit which was sweet until we came up to a whole bunch of police, so I shat myself (almost literally, goddam McDs) wondering whether I was even allowed to drive in Europe. Luckily (depending on whose perspective you look at it from) they were just diverting people around what was left of a car and I would imagine a few stray body parts. From my experience in Europe I would imagine the car was probably travelling at atleast 150kmh, wasnt pretty but never mind. Got back to Aachen, emptied my entire body into Annas poor toilet including 3 lungs and a transformer toy I swallowed when I was 6. Slept ok apart from the occasional toilet break. Spent the next couple of days not doing a lot except feeling like shit. Went for a wee trip to Maastricht in the Netherlands which is only about 40 mins away which was really nice, and bought a new MP3 player which is so great to be able to listen to music again! Woke up on the 5th of Jan to find the whole place covered in snow and it was still falling, decent 10-20cm of snow, so I went outside in my barefeet annd started a snowball fight with a couple of wee kids, not a good idea. Retreated fairly quickly and put some shows on and socks over my hands since I lost mein handschuhe. Got Anna to help and went out and got them pretty good but fell over a couple of times and now have a very sore chest from winding myself atleast twice! Went for a wander in the snow thought about walking on a frozen lake but decided against it when I took one step and heard a big crack! In the afternoon we went for a ride with Annas mums boyfriend to Cologne to drop Annas Opa at thee airport. Cologne was pretty cool from what I saw, a massive Cathedral (one of the 2 most visited buildings in Germany) which could seat 40,000 people!! It was undescibably huge! I love churches because theyre always free! After this we went to the Kölsch brewery (best beer in Germany) and had a few beers, wonderful marketing technique...when you finish your beer you dont order another one they just automatically replace it! Bought some sweet beer glasses which hopefully make it to NZ unbroken and stole a couple aswell! Had a look around the shopping area and then cruised home...autobahn...150-180kmh...it aint no thang! Seriously, people were still passing us! It feels relatively safe aswell! Slept last night, got up today..all good. Going to meet up with Marie this avo (jealous aye Sammy). Peace and love.

I know Ive been slack but here it is!

Man I really havent done this for a while have I so Ill probably struggle to remember everything that I did! So I left Stockholm on the night train to Copenhagen, talked to this hot girl who I had been staring at for a while and she said that if I ever made it back to Sweden that I should look her up, unfortunately I only started talking to her 10 mins before her stop (actually she started talking to me, Im too much of a sissy) so never got her name and wouldnt know what stop she got off at so pretty difficult to look her up, but ahwell such is the life of a traveller! So I changed trains at Copenhagen which was pretty easy since I know my way around the Copenhagen Sentral like the back of my hand! (not that well). The train from Copenhagen to Berlin was the coolest first class Ive been in so far, got free Croissants and Tea and Coffee and had a headphone jack and stuff so I could listen to music and charged my phone and stuff! Had a wee kip but then got woken up when some guy told me we were on the ferry so I would have to get off the train, I didnt even know we were going on a freakin ferry but apparently so! The ferry was sweet only about 40 mins but had duty free so that was pretty cool. Back on the train I ended up sitting across from a couple of Belarussians who were really cool and gave me so awesome bread to have with my Currywurst! They told me all about life in Belarus and about how they couldnt say anything against their primeminister or they would probably disappear! It was weird to really meet people who seemed just like me but who lived in a country which was still like that! Arrived in Berlin about 2.30pm and spent quite a while trying to find the subway, for some strange reason I expected it to be underground! Apparently thats not the way they do things in Berlin! Found my CS host alright and then took a trip back into town and did a bit of shopping before heading home and watching a movie and hitting the sack, was pretty buggered. Having only one day to look around Berlin I had asked my CS host if she would show me around which she did, was a whirllwind trip to the Victory monument, xmas markets, Berlin wall, Parliament, Brandenburg Gates and all that cool WW2 jazz. Stood with one foot in East Berlin and one in West which was cool since it was only 19 years ago or so that I couldnt have done that without being shot! Berlin was a very nice city once you were in the centre but go out to the burbs and all the houses look like the dental school in Dunedin, just square and bland with the occasional painted window for colour. They looked like apartment buildings a six year old would draw. Anyways Berlin was pretty sweet but had to get moving onto Zurich to meet up with Marlen (for those overseas readers, Marlen is a chick (woman, I guess, since shes pretty old) who I worked with at the Ministry of Health and is from Switzerland so was back for xmas with her new husband to visit her family and have another wee wedding ceremony for them. The train trip from Berlin to Zurich sucked ass, some inconsiderate bastard killed himself on the train tracks that we were meant to travel on so had to be diverted which took an extra 2 hours so missed one of my connections and it was all just shit because i asked the Deutsche Bahn train person if I could use the phone to call Marlen to let her know I would be late but he was a wanker so I told him he was and walked out. It had a happy ending though because I arrived in Zurich and Marlen had received one of the texts I sent (and apparently text back, liar) so was there at the right time. Headed back to her house which was a little way away in a tiny town called Seengen, had a shower and a chat then went to bed. Was nice to be able to speak to a Kiwi and just relax after CSing a lot! The next day was the wedding ceremony which was very small but very nice, had a few drinks with her friends and family afterwards then hit the hay. Next day we took a trip to another wee town and did a bit of Xmas shopping and just chilled, apparently I embarrased Marlens mum by saying Tschüss to her boss which is informal and reserved only for friends! Meh never mind. Christmas eve we spent the day just relaxing and then had dinner and present with her family. It was great because I wasnt expecting any presents but I did get some! Got a day pass for the trains, buses and trams for the 27th which was awesome! Christmas day was weird, woke up to a tiny bit of snow but not enough to play in. Didnt open presents or anything because that had been done the night before so was pretty much just like any other day! Made 15 Franks though (about $22) for going swimming in the lake. Was freezing and couldnt feel my toes for 2 days but it was worth it! The 26th we didnt do a lot because everything was closed but then the 27th we got up nice and early and took the train to Zurich and then Lucerne, Bern and finally Basel spending about an hour or 2 in each place which was really cool got to see a lot in 1 day! Bern was the nicest for me, really old and had a nice cosy feeling (could have been because it was so busy). About the 28th I realised that I wasnt going to be able to find somewhere to CS in Barcelona as I had been planning for New Years so instead I had to find something else to do and somewhere else to stay. Afters lots of stressing and to--ing and fro-ing I decided to go to Aachen to visit Anna and spend NYs either in Aachen or Amsterdam...so on the 29th I left to Aachen, a nice 7 hour train trip uneventful and pretty boring! Arrived in Aachen and I drove from the train station to Annas house, was relly crazy changing with my right hand and driving on the wrong side of the road but I think I did ok, didnt kill anyone! Went to the Netherlands (5 minutes away) and visited the Casino which was all electronic so no dealers or anything which was kinda bum but there was free food and drink so was goooood! The 30th we just did a bit of shopping in Aachen and had to break into Annas car because shes a stupidhead and locked the keys in. Tried to visit the Lindt factory outlet shop but its closed till next year so no cheap chocolate! Went to a club called B9 last night which despite the 40 minute wait to get in was really cool €6 for all you can drink beer from 10pm to 12pm so made the most of that and partied etc then went home.Main points to take away from the last week and a half or 2 weeks would be....Marlens parents rock and are really amazing and welcoming.'Dog' is an awesome game and we need to find it in NZ!Switzerland is really beautiful, probably the most 'beautiful' country I have visited so farCheap beer is shit, but cheap is cheapI should write blogs more often so I dont forget everything...but Im lazy.Hope all is well for everyone. Give me a text if ya want.Peace and Love

Stockholm Syndrome

So the trip from Oslo to Stockholm was pretty uneventful. Lay my sleeping bag down on the ground ripped the cushions off the seats and had a wee kip. Some stupid Indian bitch wouldnt shut up though which pissed me off but eventually at like 2am she decided to sleep to so I got to sleep until about 6.45am. Anna wasnt due to arrive in Stockholm until about 12 so I had a bit of time to look around. When I arrived it was a really nice day, got some McDs for breakfast which was only about $6.50 which was pretty sweet after the prices we had been paying for shit in Oslo! Unfortunately the coffee was horrible but hey. Had a look around outside basically just wasting time, first impressions of the city were fairly good, however once again not impressed with having to pay for the toilets, luckily being a guy I peed on the street in this sweet urinal thing that I didnt have to pay for! Anna arrived and we pretty much went straight on the underground to meet up with our Italian couchsurfing host, he was a pretty cool guy and sorted us out with some free tickets for this overnight cruise to some Finnish Islands (the perks of CSing). Didnt do a lot the first night, just relaxed and watched TV, they always have something good on which is great! The next day we got up at about 1pm and didnt really do a lot again as we were planning on meeting up to head to the cruise at about 4.30pm and with the price of public transport here it wasnt worth heading to town and back. We were pretty amping for the cruise...until we got there and were told we couldnt go on as you have to be over 21! What the fuck is with that? Seriously that is just messed up, I can take a train to Germany and buy as much cheap as booze when Im 16 but I cant go on a fricking cruise! Ahwell Fabio gave me and Anna the key and we headed back to his place, unfortunately he only gave us the key to his house and not to his room...which is where the toilet is, so we had no toilet for the next day or so but we were resourceful! Spent the day just looking around the town, didnt seem all that much to do except shop and eat so thats what we did (except for the shopping...its cheaper than Oslo but still not cheap!). Today we pretty much did the same just looked around checked out some sweet buildings and went on a wee cruise on the harbour since we didnt get to go to Finland (really it was just a ferry across the harbour...but had some nice sights anyway and I pretended it was a cruise) Has been a good time in Stockholm and heading to Berlin tonight just for a couple of nights before I meet up with Marlen on the 21st! Should remember to send her an email...would have been cool to spend a bit of time in Prague and Vienna but instead Marlen has to go and get married..geez! Stockholm is nice but Copenhagen takes the title of being my favourite city in Scandinavia, Stockholm 2nd and Oslo 3rd...out of the 3 that Ive seen anyway. Well time to head to my 15 hour train ride across Europe. Oh joy. Good to be back in Germany though, cheap beer, cheap bread and best of all cheap Gummi Bears! I hate paying for the toilet!

Ossie Ossie Ossie Lo Lo Lo

Well on Wednesday it was time to leave Copenhagen...it was a little bit sad as it was a city that I had grown to love and could really see myself living in. Plus I had met some awesome people and it would have been cool to spend some more time there but such is the life of a traveller!! The train trip to Oslo was good, took about 10 hours with a couple of stops along the way, was good that I had written down what time I was meant to be at each stop as they were just wee stations along the way so werent really announced all that much and would have been very easy to miss especially since I was sleeping a lot of the time. Paid $5 for a Coke even though Josephine was great and packed me a lunch with a couple of sandwiches, carrots, chocolate and even chewing gum for afterwards! Gave myself a bit of a fright when I woke up on the way from Kil to Oslo as I saw a clock out the window that said 9.30 when the train was meant to be at Oslo at 9.07 shitting myself thinking that I had missed it with a change in timezone or something, spent about 10 minutes stressing because there wasnt any signs which showed what station was next or anything. Eventually asked a lady how far away we were from Oslo and turned out I hadnt missed it so it was ok, still had to clean the shit out of my undies though!

Arrived at Oslo central station about an hour before Anna (German who surfed our couch back in July for 2.5 weeks) was due to arrive so had a bit of time to kill! Jumped on the net and just checked up on everything going on in NZ...not exciting! Anna arrived and luckily she had organised somewhere to stay, because as far as I knew we hadnt organised anything yet! The girl who we were staying with picked us up from the airport and we spent a nice night at her house and the next day just watching a DVD before meeting up with the guys that we would be CSing with for the rest of the time. Made it to Mihay and Bedwins house without any major dramas except for the fact that the ticket which would get us to and from their house about less than 2 times was $60 each! Fucking stupid goddam Norway with its shitty expensive transport and toilets you have to pay for! Wasnt cool but as Ive said before its one of the joys of travelling, having to pay ridiculous prices in some cities! Mihay and Bedwin are a very nice couple, a bit crazy and eccentric but very nice and fed us up well (Tried liver for the first time, not as bad as I thought..)! Stayed awake very late so slept until about 11am on Friday before heading into Oslo to see what was about. Bedwin was very good and gave us a map with a few points of interest marked on it. Checked out the Royal Slöt (Palace) which was really amazing and watched a wee guard ceremony/weapon check/something...I have it on video anyway. It was fun adventuring by foot around Oslo as the whole place is covered in snow and ice which is apparently from about 2-3 weeks ago, not like in Dunedin where the snow disappears the day after it falls! Made it to the Oslo city museum which was cool and free. Then wandered back along the harbour front which was really beautiful just like everyone had said. Wandered through an xmas market and did a bit of iceskating outdoors again which was awesome! Im gonna be pro by the time I get back to NZ, I love it so much more outdoors!Headed home because our legs were buggered from walking in snow and ice all day, though my feet stayed suprisingly dry and warm!

Friday night Elöd the Romanian arrived, had a chat to him for a bit and then went to bed. Yesterday (Saturday 13th) we headed into Oslo again with Elöd and checked out the Nobel Peace Centre which has a lot of displays about the award and about humanitarian efforts around the world, was really interesting and again I worry I may have learnt something. This years winner was Mahhti Atahsarri or something like that, I spelt it wrong but tis ok! Afterwards we left Elöd and checked out the sort of Edinburgh castle of Oslo, a big fort on the hill right near the city, was awesome and heaps of cannons and amazing views of the harbour, need to post more photos, will perhaps do so at Marlens! We had heard about a park in Oslo which has heaps of naked statues and is very famous so asked for direction to Vigelandsparken as Bedwin had told us it was quite far away and we would need to get a bus. Turns out it was right beside the city museum which we had visited the day before which wasnt that far away but we decided to take the underground anyway. Unfortunately because Norway is retarded it gets dark about 3.30pm so by the time we got to the park it was dark. The statues were lit up so still very cool but would have been cooler in the daytime, plus it was frickin freezing though that didnt stop me getting into my underwear and posing with the statues! There are so many statues around Europe that Im going to need to make a special folder just for pictures of me with statues!
Took our $10 10 minute train trip back to Bedwin and Mihays where Bedwin had cooked a wicked dinner with sausages and pork and patties and potatoes and sauerkraut (which is pretty good actually) and jam and so much good stuff. It was awesome and just what we needed to warm ourselves up, apparently it was a very traditional Norwegian xmas dinner so I took some photos!

Today we got up late, did bugger all then played some Yahtzee said goodbye to Mihay, Bedwin and Elöt then came to the train station and Anna left on her bus to Oslo Torp airport to go to Dublin for the night and I am waiting for the train to come so I can go to Stockholm! It leaves at 10.40pm and I was gonna book a sleeper but it was about $160 or so just to book it even with my Eurail pass so I just booked a normal seat which I will sleep in which only cost about $7! Couldnt even get one in first class! Well atleast the good thing about leaving is that I get to spend whatever money I have left on crap without worrying about the price too much. Oslo is super expensive but I still managed to only spend $145 over my 4 or 5 days here which is not bad, just sucks that over half of that was spent on transport! I also hate paying for the toilet. Oslo is a really nice city, but really expensive and Copenhagen is better!

Copen (hagen) a little better!

So after the rocky start I got off to in Copenhagen it has turned out ok! When I was writing my last blog entry I was sitting in a net cafe at the central station after just having spent a night in a shitty hostel with shitty little kids! After finishing on the internet I used a payphone to call my CS hosts as it was a hell of a lot cheaper than using my cell phone! I woke Josephine up as she had been out drinking all of the night before, felt sort of bad but bugger her she should have been awake anyways!! She sort of mumbled something about taking bus 5A to some station and then she would meet me there...its bloody difficult to understand where someone is telling you to go when you dont speak their language and can barely understand their English! Asked her if she could send me a quick email giving me directions which she said that she would. Went and paid for more internet but then got a call from one of the Australians which was CSing with her at the same time...he gave me some ok directions to go to Amabro station...well thats the way I understood it anyway. So I forgot about the email which was meant to be being sent and went out to find bus 5A as Ned (OZ bloke) said that he would meet me at that station in 10 mins so didnt have time to wait for the email! Wandered outside and found a bus sign that said 5A and looked for a name that resembled Amabro...decided Eldegade was the closest so took the bus to there which cost me 20dkk which is about $7 spoke to Ned and Josephine and neither of them knew where I was but eventually I figured out that I had taken the bus going the wrong way so needed to head back down the other way..paid another $7 (which I found out later on wasnt necessary because a bus ticket lasts 1 hour which sort of explains why its so goddam expensive!) and finally about an hour after Ned said he would meet me at the station in 10 mins I made it there! Sorry Mumma I think there may be a bit of a phone bill from receiving calls...shouldnt be too much though! Turns out Amabro is actually Amagerbro but they dont pronounce the 'ger' fuckin weirdass Danes! Got back to the flat anyway and Josephine and Maja were out for the day so me and the aussies just chilled and chatted and had the place to ourselves! Went for a wee bit of a wander to the supermarket to get some food and beer (figured I owed Ned after he waited for so goddam long at the busstop while hungover). Came back to the flat and chilled until Josephine got home, had some dinner which the aussies cooked which was frickin amazing! Had a few beers before heading to a university party which was in like the whole University Link! It was Copenhagen Business School too which I think is one of the places I was considering for an exchange! Beer was about $7 for a 500ml cup which wasnt too bad. Had a few (too many) of them, partied a bit, pissed a lot and met a lot of Danish people who are pretty awesome and really friendly! I am Gerd Dörich! Went to a few bars afterwards and all round from what I remember it was an awesome night! Had a good sleep on the mattress in the lounge! Woke up the next day with a hell of a headache though...goddam Danish beer! Was delighted to learn that we would be doing it all again that night, which was ok since it was a Friday! During the day we went and had a look around the city which was great having a guide who actually knew her way around, Josephine has been an awesome host! Saw the royal Slot (pronounced slut -just added that in for shits and giggles) which is the castle, saw the Danish guards and stuff which was pretty wicked. The whole of Copenhagen is really pretty and awesome and I love it! That night just me and Josephine met up with a few of her friends at a cafe and had something to eat and some drinks then me and Josephine headed home so that she could get changed into something a little more rock and roll before we headed out! Met up with her friends at a cool bad with an awesome QOTSA/RHCP band, they were really great, had a few beers and then headed to the next bar and the next and the next until they all blurred into one which I promised myself wouldnt happen! Smoking in bars is really not cool by the way! Headed home and had another awesome sleep! On Saturday Ned left early in the morning so now it was down to one aussie and me. Bowen (other aussie) decided to stay home and pack his bags while Josephine and I went iceskating. It was so amazing iceskating outside in the middle of freakin Copenhagen...really surreal! Had some good food and then headed home again, by the time we got home Bowen had left so we rented Hancock and spent the night at home with hotdogs and a movie! Pretty sweet day! Sunday was spent at home just chilling out which was good as I needed a break, Josephine and Maja went to a Travis concert so I grabbed some hotdogs and donuts and just chilled and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Today we got up and went to the stupidmarket to get some food and stuff then Josephine and I went and took her little nephew who is almost 2 and absolutely fricking cool as shit out for dinner and a walk. Dinner was really good, I had a buffet which was really yum and not too expensive then dropped Marcius back home and and came home....which about brings me to where I am. I guess what I have written doesnt sound all that exciting to some but it has been an awesome 5 days and I love Copenhagen and am really gonna miss the city and Josephine, may even have to come back sometime! Hope everything is sweet in New Zealand. Give me a text!

Edinburger, Amster damn those hookers are fine and barely Copenhagen

(Sorry forgot to post this here after writing it on Facebook, so was written on Thursday my 1st day in Copenhagen...will write another soon...)

Well the rest of the time in Scotland was great! Went in to town again on the Saturday so that Lloyd could come with us. Edinburgh Castle was also free since it was St Andrews day!! So first up we headed to Edinburgh Castle, wasnt so much a castle as a small town within some bigass walls! The views from the castle were amazing and everything outside was really cool, unfortunately once you went inside the buildings they were all very museum like, the walls had been changed and painted and displays put in which werent even directly related to the buildings! So that was a bit disappointing but it was cool to go there anyway, and hey it was free so who cares! After the Castle we went and got some lunch from 'The Filling Station', I was tempted to get the 'American Hot' pizza again but I figured it probably wasn't that good of an idea so instead I got a bbq chicken pizza which was fantastic and huuuuge!After lunch we headed to the Edinburgh Winterland festival thing and went on the ferris wheel. It was pretty sweet, got some really good views out over the city and the cages that we were in could spin around while they were going around the wheel!! Afterwards Sandro and I took a bit of a break while Lloyd had a go on this really cool carousel. It was really oldschool and awesome, went really fast too! By far the coolest merry-go-round I have ever seen! We had a quick look through the Xmas markets then headed home (I think Sandro was getting a bit exhausted from having Lloyd haha, or possibly he wanted to be nice and ready to leave for Amsterdam on Sunday!!)So Sunday rolled around and we headed off to Amsterdam, it was bloody icey and the whole place looked really cool, the trees were all white and stuff like Id imagined. Was a cool drive down to NewCastle (so Ive been to England aswell, though it looked the same as Scotland what I saw). The boat ride on the way there was pretty cool, it was 15 hours and we spent a lot of the time in the casino, I made $80 and Sandro made even more than that on BlackJack! Had a few beers and hung out in one of the bars then headed off to bed. Was the worst sleep I have ever had, I dont know whether beer and boats dont mix or the fact that it was about 40 degrees in the cabin but woke up feeling pretty shithouse in the morning which was a pain in the ass since I was now in Amsterdam!! Woooooh!! Got the free bus in to Amsterdam and had a look around the redlight district which was absolutely fucking amazing! Sex shops, hookers in windows, 'coffee shops' and drug dealers everywhere, was so cool and the hookers were pretty bloody hott..I tell ya what if I had a spare €50 I would have been down with that haha! Settled on a nice wee coffee shop and sat down and had a smoke, was so weird being able to do it in front of everyone and not worry at all, had some good juice too! Went for a bit more of a wander around and looked through sex shops, souvenir shops and sex museums. The sex shops had every different kind of filthy porn you could imagine, shit porn, rape porn, piss porn, incest porn, animal porn...it was pretty sick but hey whatever floats some peoples boats! Unfortunately I didnt think I would be able to get any of the sickest nastiest porn I could find back into NZ for you, sorry Macky. Had some pancakes and omelette for lunch so that completed what I needed to do in Amsterdam, have a smoke and some pancakes! Went for a boat ride after lunch which was pretty cool, everyone says that Amsterdam is really beautiful, I dont really agree with that but it was an awesome city anyway! Only had about 5 hours in Amsterdam but hopefully will get to go back at the end of my trip. The cruise back was good, though I lost most of the money I won on the way there :( Had a pretty good sleep though. Then drove back to Edinburgh and hung with Aunty D, Sandro and the kids for my last night! All in all had a great time in Scotland and really happy that I got to see where my Whanau lived before they move to NZ!Flew to Billund, Denmark at 10.40 yesterday (3 Dec). Arrived and sat in the airport for a bit since I didnt really have any plans on where to go, decided I would head straight for Copenhagen. Went and changed some money which I was chaged 25DKK to do! Asked at information how to get to Copenhagen and I had just missed the bus to Vejle which I would need to take and then get the train. Waited another hour for the next bus then took the train...asked how much a train ticked was to see if it was worth saving the eurail pass but the ticket was gonna be like $100 for a 2.5 hour trip so used a Eurail day! Arrived in Copenhagen at 6.30pm no idea where I was, where I was staying, where internet or hostels were and what I was doing. Paid $10 to use the internet at some flash ass gaming cafe, which pissed me off but never mind, didnt find anywhere with a vacancy so began to trawl the streets looking for hostels. Its difficult when youre not sure whether you should be going down some streets. Eventually found a shit hostel which was $50 for the night including breakfast...it was shit and there was no shower except shared ones and there was a school there so wasnt sharing with some wee kids! But left early locked up my bags and found some internet. Even though Copenhagen hasnt been great so far its still good and Im sure itll be great once I find my CS hosts! Peace and love!

Jason Wallace

Well on Monday I had promised to cook my CS hosts in Frankfurt some real New Zealand food, so what did I make them? Lamm aus Neuseeland (Lamb from New Zealand), smashed potato and peas! They didn't have any mint sauce which was a shame but never mind. Also the only lamb that I could get was frozen in a box! My cooking skills are pretty non-existent so the potato was cold, the peas were hard and the lamb was gooood! They appreciated the thought anyways, I think. Though afterwards we went to the schnitzel house on the corner of their street so obviously New Zealand portions aren't quite manly enough for Germans! Had a good sleep other than having to get up at 6am to get the bus to Frankfurt Hahn Airport, an hour and a half away so shouldn't bloody well be called Frankfurt anyway! Ewa was really nice and got up early to say goodbye! So ended my first experience of being hosted and it was great!
My Ryanair flight from Frankfurt to Edinburgh was really great, yeah ya don't get anything free on it (not even coffee or tea) but whos complaining when the flights are almost free! Uncle Sandro picked me up from the airport and we sped back home to relax. Aunty D and Uncle Sandros house is really nice and just like in Germany always baking hot! Hung out with Christina and Naunty (Sandro's aunty, who is like a nana to Christina and Lloyd so they call her Naunty) while Aunty D and Sandro went to the hospital then had some din dins and a chat and then went to bed. The Wednesday I got woken up by Christina and Lloyd but it was ok cause theyre cool! Went into Dunfermline town and it was absolutely amazing! The streets are sooo old, they haven't really been modernized at all! We had a coffee and muffin at Naunty's house and then headed home to await BINGO! BINGO is so different than in New Zealand, held at a proper huge BINGO hall that is just for BINGO. Won 1 cash game which was £10 and a box of chocolates and 1 line game in actual bingo which was £6 (later on they were winning £50 for a line!) it was really good fun anyway and pretty intense...not just for old ladies after all!
Yesterday was a huge day, got up and went into Edinburgh city. From the moment we left the train station I was in awe! Walked up the steps and come out to see a whole row of Castle like buildings to your left with Edinburgh Castle right at the end of them all, it can't be explained but it is definitely the nicest city I have ever been to (sorry Frankfurt). Went on a tour on a double decker bus which was really cool, there's no modern part to the city (except for the Parliament which is shithouse) the whole city is just breathtaking! During the tour there was really good historical commentary and I think I learnt something..eww.
Just as a wee side note - Went to McD's for lunch and had the best burger ever, chicken fiesta! Got to try it!
Afterwards we went to the Scotland Dungeons which was really really cool and went on a bit of a tour under Edinburgh learning about Cannibalistic incestuous families and graverobbers turned murderers. Was pretty scary there was always random frights and you never knew where the next person was gonna jump out from, was really a lot of fun and got a cool photo which will upload eventually. After the underground we had a couple of beers, Scottish beer is not bad at all. Went to a place called Pizza express for dinner, had an 'American Hot' which was pepperoni and jalapenos. One thing which Im slowly learning is that jalapenos everywhere else are a hell of a lot hotter than subway in NZ. A hell of a lot hotter! After dinner we had another couple of beers which were setting us back about $10 nzd per beer! Then went on a witchery tour which was a walking ghost/witch/historical tour of ancient Edinburgh, it was so cool and really funny too. Got a photo of the place where people were hung and where a guys head was skewered as a warning to everyone else not to mess with the hardass king! We were going to go into the winter wonderland which is a fair/German xmas market/Christmas lightup but the lines to get in were huuuuge!
Overall Edinburgh is a really amazing city and I could see myself living here! But if you were going to come to Edinburgh for any length of time you would need to have a work permit because spending NZD here is fucking expensive! Didn't really spend too much the first couple of days but managed to catch up on my budget yesterday! Could easily spend $300 a day! So lucky that I have somewhere to stay and people feeding me and taking me places, so thanks Aunty D and Sandro! Going to the supermarket today so we can buy some cheap booze and food to take on the ship to Amsterdam but not going to do too much as thinking Ill need money for Amsterdam! Its going to be so awesome. If you have any special present requests like hookers from Holland then let me know now!

American Hotdogs

So on Friday I made it to the old town no problem as mentioned in my earlier blog...unfortunately getting home again wasn't quite as easy! I got my ticket ok and got on to the tram ok and that was about it...couldn't remember which stop I was meant to get off at so took a bit of a guess, bad idea! Hopped off the tram and nothing looked familiar, figured I must have got off the tram a bit early so decided that I would just head in the general direction that I thought was the way home...an hour later and a few wrong turns I had finally arrived somewhere which looked vaguely familiar. Unfortunately it only looked familiar because I had been there with my host whanau the night before so I still wasn't really sure where I was meant to go. Decided to just walk and see what would happen since my phone is expensive to use and had very little battery left. Finally stumbled upon the tram station which I had left that morning which I knew was very close to home, that only made it even more frustrating when I walked around for an hour trying to find home. I remembered on the first night I arrived Marc and I had driven up a street and had to squeeze past a truck to get around a corner, so I knew it was around a corner after coming off the main street!! After searching for bloody ages I finally gave in and called Ewa to find out the address and I was standing just around the corner from it...literally 50 metres away! Turns out that because the street was a one way street that when you came into it from the way I was walking you didnt have to go around any corners...so I had walked right past the house about 3 times...not cool but ahwell I was just glad to be back in the warm!

Friday night we were meant to be going to a gig at Cocoon club which is apparently one of the hottest clubs in Germany...however that didnt end up happening which was fine with me because it saved the €10 cover charge and €8 euro drinks! Instead we stayed at home had a few beers and played some poker for Gummi Bears. Twas a good night!

Sunday I got to sleep in nice and late, until about 11.30 when we got up and went to a mall to get some Currywürst for breakfast. The mall was crazy big and people were walking round all inside smoking and stuff...weird. The currywürst was awesome...dunno if its meant to have the ü but Im using it just because I can! Spent the rest of the day just hanging at home until a couple of Marcs friends arrived who were staying the night also. We had a few drinks then headed out on the town. Did a bit of an Irish Pub circuit and met a few people from New Zealand. 2 were cool and the other 1 was a right wanker! Drinks were quite expensive but I was having a good time anyway. Unfortunately Alex wasnt feeling too well so we called it a night quite early and headed back home. Taxi home cost €14 plus €7 late night fee and it wasnt even that far, luckily there were quite a few of us in the taxi so wasnt too expensive! In New Zealand when youre done in town generally it means youre done for the night. Apparently thats not the way it works over here, headed home and struggled to stay up a while later while unable to understand the German television. Sunday morning got up and went to get Schnitzel for breakfast...stupid Schnitzel place wasnt open, infact barely nowhere is open on Sundays. Pretty much like xmas or easter in NZ but its every Sunday in Deutschland! Got some food from the petrol station anyway and Ewa made some awesome buns with salami and ham and cheese. Good thing I like Salami because its everywhere over here!

Today I got up and came to old town again, had a look around and planned to hit a few museums...unfortunately theyre all closed on Mondays! Bloody hell! Ahwell has been a good day anyway...good food, good company (just me) and a good country to be in! Oh and I got a Sausage and Bun from a guy wearing a Barbecue like on Tony Hawke playstation game! Twas sehr gut!

Wow, what a crazy few days...left Singapore at 11.59 pm on the biggest plane I have ever been on, the damn thing was huge! It was the one thats was the biggest before the A380, 747 I think. Lufthansa is pooz, not that the flight was bad but no entertainment and im pretty sure the air host guy hated me because I cant speak German! Sat beside a nice dutch couple and the guy flew for Lufthansa for 40 years so told me all about flying and stuff. They fly for 10% of the cost for the rest of their lives! So usually they fly first class but it was full! Apparently if all the engines went out it would still take 20 mins to get to the ground from cruising altitude! I always thought youd fall pretty quickly.

Arrived at Frankfurt anyway and the airport was pretty average, difficult to find my way around and no customs again..guess they just really dont care in the rest of the world! Asked a lady where to get an arrivals card and she must of only heard arrivals and sent me all the way back to where I had arrived which was not cool because I was bloody tired! Had a nap in some nice lie flat chairs in the airport before attempting to make my way to the central station. Asked a policeman to get my ticket for me which he did so that was nice. Central station was huge and amaying architecture, took photos but will have to do a big upload at aunty Ds as this takes too long at a net cafe. I thought once I was at the central station that perhaps it was a bad idea to be wearing shorts and jandals but had already locked my bag away and I wasnt paying another $8 just to get shorts. It wasnt that it was really cold (sort of cold but not too bad) but the looks I got from people I thought they were going to stab me just for wearing shorts. There are some really angry/scary/weird people in Germany but most of the younger people are very nice and a couple of hottys asked me if I needed any help, then I slept with them both, except not that last bit. Spent a while looking through all the shops at the station which had reasonably priced food by New Zealand standards. I certainly wasnt shocked and appalled like I had expected. Infact I was pleasantly suprised it was pretty cheap really.

After looking through all the shops twice and still having 7 hours until I met the CS hosts I decided I would see if there was somewhere nearby where I could lie down for a bit or atleast sit without fear of being kicked out. Found Hostel Frankfurt which was awesome and full of OZs and a cool chick from Wellington. Had a couple of drinks with them which were only €1 each for Becks Gold, which is pretty bloody good beer. At 5.30 I went back to the station as the CS hosts said they would call about 6 to meet me there, turned my phone on at 5.30 and waited..and waited...and waited until about 10 to 7 when they called for apparently the second time and then Marc came and met me at the station. Both him and Ewa are awesome and really friendly and welcoming. Even got a hug from Ewa on arrival! Went to the stupidmarket to get some food and I was appalled by the prices! Well not so much the prices but the fact that everyone has always said Europe is expensive, the food was dirt cheap and drinks are cheap and its €3.49 for a 6 pack of 500ml bottles of Becks, which is twice as much as any other beer! Went home and chatted with Marc and Ewa for a bit then hit the hay...never slept so well in my life it was amazing.

Today I got up at about 8.30 or so thinking I would have to leave when Marc and Ewa did but they were really cool and said just stay make yourself at home, eat, drink, shower do whatever. Marc also gave me directions to the old town using the trams. Had a shower then went out to the supermarket and bought an 8 pack of mini baguettes, 300gram Salami, a pack of gummee bears, 2 chocolate bars and a bottle of pepsi...all for only €4.5 euro so less than $10 which is bloody good. Asked some guys to buy my tram ticket to the right place for me and then arrived in the Old Town centre with no problems. It is absolutely amazing, really finally hit me where I was! Had a look through the history of Frankfurt museum which was €2 for students which wasnt too bad but the Museum was average. Had a walk around checking out some souvenir shops and the like then stumbled upon the building which is in the picture hanging above my desk at RML and it was really surreal that I was now standing in front of it! Went to the tourist centre and bought a tourist map for €.50 and then went to a 200 metre high tower which cost €3,10 to go up but it was well and truly worth it, cant wait to get to Scotland so that I can upload some photos for everyone to see, it was absolutely breathtaking! Had a wee bit more of a wander around and a look at the river before heading here to the net cafe to update you all on the happenings. Im having an awesome time and not regretting the hard-living for a year one bit! Thanks for the comments and messages and remember you can still text me for the same cost as if I was in NZ!

IKEA?!!

So one of the Canadians works for IKEA right, so on Monday we decide to go for a wee trip across town to the IKEA store. I know its not particularly Singaporean but who cares, I'd never been to IKEA before and the way the Canadians talked about it, it's the best place in the world so I was pretty excited! Turns out its just a big department store...plus the best restaurant in Singapore, it's so cheap! Apparently they don't run at a profit theyre just there to keep people in the stores longer. I had an American hotdog for $1 it was amazing. Didn't really do much else that day as the Canadians were leaving so just came back to the hostel for a bit and chilled, after they left I was going to go to the night safari but I wouldn't say I got lost, I knew where I was...I just didn't know where the bus to the night safari was so instead just hung around Orchard Road again.

Since the Canadians left it has been pretty quiet here, not the most social bunch of people so yesterday I went on a trip by myself to Singapore Zoo. It was a good hour train trip away (lucky it only cost $2) then had to take a bus. This was my first experience with the Singapore buses and I assumed they would be like everything else in Singapore, perfect...however after arriving at the bus station I specifically asked if I needed to buy a ticket first or pay on the bus. I was told that I would need to pay on the bus. After waiting half a frickin hour for this bus to come while every other bus came twice I climbed up the steps to the bus and handed the driver $10 only to be told that it was $1.50 and you have to have the right change! I was rather pissed off but searched my wallet and came up with $1.35 which the driver was pretty pissed about but let me away with anyways. Would have been nice if one of the two people that I asked had told me that you had to had to have the correct change!

Made it to the zoo though and it was well worth the trouble. As soon as you walk in there are cotton topped tamarin running around just minding their own business, no cages or anything. Saw all the typical animals but one of the highlights was the Polar Bear feeding, it was truly amazing! Have some pretty cool videos of it. Had KFC for lunch, it's not my fault they don't have traditional food at the zoo! Though the combo does come with a coleslaw (which was funky) and a potato and gravy (goooood) instead of chips. After lunch I watched the Splash World tour which had water animals from all round the world like African penguins, californian seals and those weird things that apparently write family guy (manatees?). It was a really good show. The absolute highlight of the day though was the Butterfly walk...but instead of just butterflys there was ring-tailed lemurs which would come up and grab you, and sloths that would walk on past and bats swooping overhead and some weird tiny deer like things...it was really really cool seeing how the animals act up close and interact with each other. Got an awesome video of a lemur licking my finger!! After a long day at the zoo I headed back to the hostel no dramas with the bus or anything this time. Had a couple of beers and watched some tv then went to bed.

Today I am just doing some washing and then might head out for a bit..am worrying about Frankfurt as haven't had any luck finding a couch yet and don't really want to fork out $45 per night!! One girl said she would check with her flatmate and get back to me, so hopefully her flatmate is cooler about couchsurfing than mine were (just kidding). Heres hoping anyways. Not looking forward to my 12 hour flight leaving at midnight tonight and arriving at Frankfurt at 5.45 am. So unless I can get some sleep on the plane looks like Ill be awake for about 40 hours!

Uniquely Singapore

So the jokes we all made about the fact that I had lived on Marmite and toast for ages so that I could afford to come on this trip only to be forced to eat Marmite on toast, look set to come true. The hostel offers free breakfast which consists of toast and cereal, im not complaining I quite enjoyed my breakfast and its cheap!After breakfast headed with the Canadians to see the Merlion statue at Merlion park, it was pretty cool just a huge statue/fountain but the whole area was nice and had some really good views. Wandered around the area a wee bit before heading to the Singapore Flyer which was huge! Its just like the London eye except not in London. Decided that it would be something better done at night so skipped it for now and decided to head to Sentosa Island. The cable car ride to Sentosa is really something else, so high in the air with amazing views all around. Its like the gondolas in NZ except goes for ages and is suspended right across the water rather than up a hill. Sentosa itself is awesome, it's very fake and touristy but it doesn't pretend that its not. It was really really hot and I think I got a little burnt but figured better soak up the sun before I head to Europe where apparently the sun hasn't been invented yet. Had a nice cold Coke before heading back and taking some time out at the hostel.After having a sit down and letting the old legs recover, the Canadians and I headed out for Dinner at Orchard road, the famous shopping district. The whole place was decked out with christmas lights and there were Louis Vuitton and Chanel shops everywhere. Very cool place and really nice restaurant, though I had an American meal! The canadians got this sweet bowl of icecream where you could pick 5 different flavours, looked amazing but I was really full despite having not eaten much the whole day. Afterwards we went to check out a free tour that the Singapore tourism board is running which tours around all the Christmas lights. I know I hate Christmas starting this early but had to do it anyway...except for that when we got there we couldn't prove we were tourists. Apparently being from another country, having a camera, a guide book and a backpack that says NZ isn't quite enough proof. After a quick trip back to the hostel to pick up our passports we were away. It was very worth it, they really go overboard with the xmas decorations!We were all buggered so headed home, grabbed a 'Premium Indian Beer' called Knock Out on the way, was 650mls of 7.2%alc beer. Wasn't that bad though. Played some cards back at the hostel then hit the hay.All round great day.

Singapore Sliiiing

So...I actually managed to get some sleep on the night before I left...a whole 4 hours! Ahwell to be perfectly honest it was more than I thought I would get.

I can see why Singapore Airways is consistently voted the top airline in the world the food just kept coming and the service was brilliant! Had quite a bit of turbulence but the Cap'n was good and kept us up to date with what was going on so I didn't cry too much. Sat beside a lovely retired English couple who had travelled a lot so heard a few stories.

Arrived at Singapore, Changi Airport at 10.30pm New Zealand time, having been awake since 4.30am. First impressions as we were landing weren't really there, couldn't see a lot out the window as I was 2 seats away and from what I could see it didn't look too crazily different to New Zealand. The airport however was a million levels hi gher than Auckland, the whole place was perfectly set out, well organised and efficient at doing what it does, processing passengers. Grabbed so free internet time then headed of course to see how much McDonalds was! A little bit cheaper than New Zealand but nothing like Thailand. I think it was $6.75 for a Big Mac combo so probably almost the same as NZ.

Proceeding through passport control I had to wait behind maybe 2 other people then I was through to customs. I thought I'd be good and go through the "goods to declare" doors just incase Amys stories about Marmite are true!! So went through these official looking doors with big red signs saying "goods to declare" walked a bit further and I was outside! I'm not sure whether I inadvertedly sneaked past customs or what...but looks like the 2 small children and litre of pig semen will make it onto the blackmarket after all!!

Luckily I had written down the directions to my hostel so went to the Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) ticketing booth and just showed the guy and asked how much I would need to buy. He sold me a re-chargeable ticket for $15 which so far has gotten me about 4-5 decent rides and Ive only used half and it only comes with $7 on it!! So the MRT is definitely cheap and efficient to use! I can't even provide any comical stories about arriving at the wrong station in a dodgy part of Singapore as the MRT is so easy to use...and there probably isn't any dodgy parts to Singapore! Though I did learn pretty quickly that its a good idea to hold on while the train takes off when wearing a big backpack...my apologies to the small family of Singaporeans that I took out. I had to walk 15minutes from the station to my hostel though and it is about 30 degrees so by the time I got here I was sweating like nothing else. Lucky the only temperature on their showers is cold haha!

After having a shower I noticed a couple of English guys were talking about heading out so asked if I could join them. So ended up going to Clarke Quay with these 2 pretty cool English guys and a couple of really good looking Canadian girls. A good start with the socialising. Was a bit rushed and forgot to take my camera but Im sure I will go back and will post some pics rather than trying to explain how amazing it is! Had some good cheap local food aswell, should definitely avoid the tourist places in favour of local food.

At about 11.30pm Singapore time having officially been awake for 24 hours I headed back to the backpackers and slept like a baby on drugs! Up quite early this morning but I think I'm pretty adjusted to Singapore time already. Heading out with the Canadians again today as the English fellas left so hopefully will have a good time!

The Final Countdown

Well after 7 months of planning, paying, waiting, dreaming, saving its finally almost here. In just 5 more sleeps I head off on my adventure of a lifetime. Even with 7 months of planning I still feel like im going to forget something or not be prepared...or fall and break my leg.

I guess now is as good of a time as ever to say thanks to everyone who has made this trip possible! Mum and Bernard, thanks for the carepackages etc. Dad and Sheree, again thanks for the carepackages etc. All the rest of the whanau, thanks. Thanks to my flatmates for putting up with the constant talk of travel, remember "travel is my passion". Thanks to everyone!

One more week of working then Im off to Singapore the land thats never a destination only a stopover! Ill be staying at The Hive Backpackers so hopefully I'll be able to get on the net and it won't be too horribly slow and I'll be able to update you with an interesting blog entry.

Peace and keep reading, I promise it will get more interesting! Also remember to check out www.photobucket.com and search for wateveritwas to see some photos!