greetings from airport-esque Munich!
i äm borrowing the hotel's computer so i can't be long. plus the keyboard on this thing is freaking confusing.
my plane out of Amsterdam got delayed due to weather, so i missed my second plane to Genoa. the airline comped me a free hotel room, with dinner and breakfast. i am happy with this beyond all reasonable explanations.
my plane is at 9am tomorrow so i can't stay up late, but this place has a sauna!
from Genoa i'm planning on train-ing to Cinque Terre (google it), where i will spend no more than three days. promise. after that, who knows? maybe home, maybe not. right now that thought excites me, in three days it'll probably terrify me.
as a test, hereäs what happens when i trz to tzpe without looking at the kezs.
the "z" and "y" are switched, the @ is on the Q, the ? is on the number row at the top, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!
mental note: i really need to stop putting in my mouth things which are not meant for my mouth. today's item: a 2 Euro coin. i'll add to this list as i go.
oh, food! for lunch i had *shudder* Burger King. it was literally the cheapest meal in the Amsterdam airport. (that place is expensive! €5 for a freakin' sammich!) i prayed for forgiveness from the Travelling Gods, for the crap 'merican meal.
dinner, which i just had, was... pasta with some kind of chicken sauce, grilled bell peppers, potatoes prepared in some way, and i think it was some kind of gumbo but i'm not sure. related note: i still don't like potato salad, even in Germany.
more people are being bussed in by the minute. i'm expecting that little girl who glared at me in the airport any minute now.
so, the moral of the story: fly Lufthansia if you're flexible on dates and like free hotels. don't fly them if you need to be somewhere at a specific time. but whatever happens, enjoy!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
i've been in this city too long.
i'm leaving tomorrow, and it's not too soon.
currently aiming for Italy, the Cinque Terre. just need to find the cheapest flight and hostel, and i'll book it. also, having my credit card on me would be mighty helpful.
i heard my last name pronounced perfectly yesterday, by a woman who spoke broken english. it was weird, but kinda cool.
also in the weird but cool category: my hostel room has a tv and it's usually on. i was lying about yesterday and i swear i heard "Most Awesome ekta alba inte Ever!". the bilingual thing is kinda weird. but cool.
right. my plans for the rest of the day, in roughly chronological order: food, book flight and hostel, read about Italy, hopefully learn some Italian, bed. notice only one "food"? yeah, me too.
sorry this one's short and not very amusing. ill try to have a better one for you next time.
currently aiming for Italy, the Cinque Terre. just need to find the cheapest flight and hostel, and i'll book it. also, having my credit card on me would be mighty helpful.
i heard my last name pronounced perfectly yesterday, by a woman who spoke broken english. it was weird, but kinda cool.
also in the weird but cool category: my hostel room has a tv and it's usually on. i was lying about yesterday and i swear i heard "Most Awesome ekta alba inte Ever!". the bilingual thing is kinda weird. but cool.
right. my plans for the rest of the day, in roughly chronological order: food, book flight and hostel, read about Italy, hopefully learn some Italian, bed. notice only one "food"? yeah, me too.
sorry this one's short and not very amusing. ill try to have a better one for you next time.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Laundry Day 3: Dream Warriors
next time i go travelling, i'm gonna learn or write a bunch of songs on guitar so i can keep up with the stoned hippies.
hello all! today is laundry day, so it's sort of like my day off. which is nice. i'm doing nothing but this, seeing nothing interesting, not getting pelted by rocks or roses thrown by locals, just a lazy day.
Wednesday: did nothing interesting, really. wandered around the city, saw a park. there is nothing free in this city except oxygen and heat. so i got a lot of both.
Thursday: saw Anne Frank's house. worry not: my cold, dead heart felt nothing, admitted nothing. but i did have a bit of something in my eye towards the end. they don't allow cameras in AnneFrankHuis, so there are no photos. i actually skipped out of the tour after Anne Frank died. everything after that was sentimental crap about how parent's rarely know their children's true feelings and thoughts, and how through awareness we can prevent Nazis from returning without becoming Nazis ourselves, and won't you please give generously to the Anne Frank Foundation? and then there's the gift shop. bleh.
Thursday night: went to a coffeeshop that's apparently sort of famous, i guess. i had a hot chocolate and a bag of chips. talked for a little bit to some Spaniards, but they had the worst english of anyone i've met here so far, and that was boring. met some British girls and was unable to get a word in edgewise for a while. then i wandered the Red Light District. i availed myself of no one's services. but it was an interesting sight. i was actually looking for some place called The Grasshopper, but i didn't find it until after i'd given up looking. i bought some generic but sufficiently spicy pseudo-chinese food and was looking for my bus-stop when i happened upon it. may go back tonight, but more likely it'll be tomorrow.
i then walked into a circle of hippies/gypsies/homeless kids/travellers/whatever, sitting around smoking and playing guitars. so i sat and sang a bit and played Karma Police and that was okay. it was 2am when i got to Centraal Station (not a typo) for my bus, so it was 3am by the time i got to my hostel. i missed breakfast this morning, so the leftover chinese-ish food in my bag is totally calling my name.
i think that's mostly it, really. running out of money (send money). job-hunting time or tuck-tail-and-return-to-the-US time coming soon. it's too early to come back, so i'm gonna push my luck a bit, i think. (send luck) oh, if anybody has any friends or family in Europe who might be able to help me out, don't hesitate to let me know!
alright, i'm gonna sit under this desk and eat and cry for a bit. have a good day, thanks for stopping by!
hello all! today is laundry day, so it's sort of like my day off. which is nice. i'm doing nothing but this, seeing nothing interesting, not getting pelted by rocks or roses thrown by locals, just a lazy day.
Wednesday: did nothing interesting, really. wandered around the city, saw a park. there is nothing free in this city except oxygen and heat. so i got a lot of both.
Thursday: saw Anne Frank's house. worry not: my cold, dead heart felt nothing, admitted nothing. but i did have a bit of something in my eye towards the end. they don't allow cameras in AnneFrankHuis, so there are no photos. i actually skipped out of the tour after Anne Frank died. everything after that was sentimental crap about how parent's rarely know their children's true feelings and thoughts, and how through awareness we can prevent Nazis from returning without becoming Nazis ourselves, and won't you please give generously to the Anne Frank Foundation? and then there's the gift shop. bleh.
Thursday night: went to a coffeeshop that's apparently sort of famous, i guess. i had a hot chocolate and a bag of chips. talked for a little bit to some Spaniards, but they had the worst english of anyone i've met here so far, and that was boring. met some British girls and was unable to get a word in edgewise for a while. then i wandered the Red Light District. i availed myself of no one's services. but it was an interesting sight. i was actually looking for some place called The Grasshopper, but i didn't find it until after i'd given up looking. i bought some generic but sufficiently spicy pseudo-chinese food and was looking for my bus-stop when i happened upon it. may go back tonight, but more likely it'll be tomorrow.
i then walked into a circle of hippies/gypsies/homeless kids/travellers/whatever, sitting around smoking and playing guitars. so i sat and sang a bit and played Karma Police and that was okay. it was 2am when i got to Centraal Station (not a typo) for my bus, so it was 3am by the time i got to my hostel. i missed breakfast this morning, so the leftover chinese-ish food in my bag is totally calling my name.
i think that's mostly it, really. running out of money (send money). job-hunting time or tuck-tail-and-return-to-the-US time coming soon. it's too early to come back, so i'm gonna push my luck a bit, i think. (send luck) oh, if anybody has any friends or family in Europe who might be able to help me out, don't hesitate to let me know!
alright, i'm gonna sit under this desk and eat and cry for a bit. have a good day, thanks for stopping by!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
i'm thinking of a Ray Charles song...
Greetings from Amsterdam!
the library here is absolutely amazing! 8 stories, Space Chairs!, restaurant at the top, it's great. i could spend all day in here, if i never got hungry.
the time is now 1pm, so good morning to most of you, and good day to the rest.
got in to Amsterdam from Luton airport at around 9pm. due to "machine failure", we were sent from Baggage Belt 21 (remember that, it's important later) to Baggage Belt 13. we then waited for no less than 2 hours for our luggage to arrive. at several points during that time i honestly wondered if i'd ever see my luggage again, maybe my luggage caught fire, or maybe my bag broke the Baggage Belt? eventually i wandered back to Baggage Belt 21 to find that all our luggage had been waiting here for us this whole time! sneaky airline, delivering baggage where they said they would! i then spent maybe half an hour trying to remember enough faces to tell as many people as i could that their bags were at Belt 21. most didn't believe me, and as far as i know they are still waiting at Baggage Belt 13.
anyway. from the airport i got on a train to Sloterdijk, then caught the number 14 bus to 'Plein 40-45. my hostel is right beside the stop, so that was easy. ta-da!
yesterday i met and spent the day with a German named Katja. we mostly just wandered around a bit lost. not much to speak of, really. went to bed early.
today: will be mostly spent wandering around as well. going to the Anne Frank House later, and i have a postcard to send, as soon as i find a post office. i still also have to buy myself a souvenir. (no, that's not a codeword)
it's an odd feeling, beng surrounded by people who speak a different language. although i was very amused when i went into a Burger King yesterday and realized i understood almost every word spoken at the register. not that i picked up any restaurant dutch, but that it was all broken english. "whopper, supersize, coke." "ketchup, mayo, extra?" so at least i know i'll be able to survive myself on fast food. unless i'm not able to survive on fast food, that is.
one little note: this computer is convinced i'm misspelling every second word. it amuses me.
well, that's it for today. i'm off like a prom dress!
the library here is absolutely amazing! 8 stories, Space Chairs!, restaurant at the top, it's great. i could spend all day in here, if i never got hungry.
the time is now 1pm, so good morning to most of you, and good day to the rest.
got in to Amsterdam from Luton airport at around 9pm. due to "machine failure", we were sent from Baggage Belt 21 (remember that, it's important later) to Baggage Belt 13. we then waited for no less than 2 hours for our luggage to arrive. at several points during that time i honestly wondered if i'd ever see my luggage again, maybe my luggage caught fire, or maybe my bag broke the Baggage Belt? eventually i wandered back to Baggage Belt 21 to find that all our luggage had been waiting here for us this whole time! sneaky airline, delivering baggage where they said they would! i then spent maybe half an hour trying to remember enough faces to tell as many people as i could that their bags were at Belt 21. most didn't believe me, and as far as i know they are still waiting at Baggage Belt 13.
anyway. from the airport i got on a train to Sloterdijk, then caught the number 14 bus to 'Plein 40-45. my hostel is right beside the stop, so that was easy. ta-da!
yesterday i met and spent the day with a German named Katja. we mostly just wandered around a bit lost. not much to speak of, really. went to bed early.
today: will be mostly spent wandering around as well. going to the Anne Frank House later, and i have a postcard to send, as soon as i find a post office. i still also have to buy myself a souvenir. (no, that's not a codeword)
it's an odd feeling, beng surrounded by people who speak a different language. although i was very amused when i went into a Burger King yesterday and realized i understood almost every word spoken at the register. not that i picked up any restaurant dutch, but that it was all broken english. "whopper, supersize, coke." "ketchup, mayo, extra?" so at least i know i'll be able to survive myself on fast food. unless i'm not able to survive on fast food, that is.
one little note: this computer is convinced i'm misspelling every second word. it amuses me.
well, that's it for today. i'm off like a prom dress!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
hello! since im travelling all day tomorrow, i figured i'd update now, let you all know what's going on. although updating by phone was probably a horrible idea.
today i did naught but book flight and hostel for Amsterdam. it was a great day.
tomorrow i spend most of the day in London, flight is at 7pm. might try to find a barber to trim the back of my head. dunno.
if you haven't heard from me by Wednesday, i'm either dead or in a coffee shop somewhere. cheers!
today i did naught but book flight and hostel for Amsterdam. it was a great day.
tomorrow i spend most of the day in London, flight is at 7pm. might try to find a barber to trim the back of my head. dunno.
if you haven't heard from me by Wednesday, i'm either dead or in a coffee shop somewhere. cheers!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Hello and welcome, race fans!
how was that? pretty good opener, eh? i thought of it all on my own! *beams with pride*
right. so today i walked along The Ridgeway (google it), from Ogbourne St. George (google it) to Avebury (don't google it, i'll explain in a bit.) took me three hours, call it 9 to 10 miles. beautiful scenery, lots of animal droppings. The Ridgeway, i mean. Avebury is the next paragraph. apparently The Ridgeway is some ancient footpath leading (presumably) to Avebury. what i've heard is that it's not so much a trade route as it is just a path to the stone circle. creepy, ooooooooooooooooh!
Avebury: a tiny village town built around/beside standing stones, much like Stonehenge but smaller and you can touch them. equally mysterious, though. terribly mysterious. and i hear they can cut guns in half! with their mind! ...wait, got distracted there. anyway. i touched many stones, but alas, i didn't develop super powers, nor did i meet any witches, Sorceror's Supreme, ancient forbidden gods, nor (and this is the most disappointing) any Doctors. oh well.
while in Avebury i ate at the only restaurant in town, a pub called The Red Lion. decent place, i suppose. good food, cold beer, it hits all the selling points. i ate some sork sausage thing with mashed potatoes and "root vegetable crisps" in red onion gravy. it was nice. then i walked to the store, bought a take-away sandwich and a bag of crisps. went back to The Red Lion, had a last beer and filled my water bottle (with water, duh) and was on my way.
on the way back to Ogbourne St. George i saw many sheep. some had numbers spray painted on their sides, so i can only assume they're racing sheep. so when next i see Nicola or Chris i'm going to ask when and where the Sheep Races are held, and i'm gonna see if i can't win some money. also: the movies lied to us. i tried the "Bah Ram Ewe" thing from Babe: didn't work. at all. not even a little. i even tried saying to the sheep "Bah Weep Grah Nah Weep Ninnibong", but i guess Big Red gum doesn't work as well as Energon Cubes, for this too was denied. alas and alack.
the trek back took me about 4 hours, the extra hour due to having to walk through Ogbourne St. George (google it again, i know you've forgotten). when i got back to the house where i'm staying, the 8 year old asked me what i'm doing tomorrow. i looked at my feet and said "hopefully, nothing." actually, at this point i sort of hope i never walk again. some aloe for my neck would be nice, though. (send aloe) as for my actual plans for tomorrow: dunno. i think i heard something about church in the morning, but i dunno. and i still have to plan where i'm going next and how i'm getting there. i guess i have a full day of sitting on my arse tomorrow, better get plenty of rest!
i dunno. how'd i do guys? informative and entertaining enough for you? leave your feedback in the comments section!
how was that? pretty good opener, eh? i thought of it all on my own! *beams with pride*
right. so today i walked along The Ridgeway (google it), from Ogbourne St. George (google it) to Avebury (don't google it, i'll explain in a bit.) took me three hours, call it 9 to 10 miles. beautiful scenery, lots of animal droppings. The Ridgeway, i mean. Avebury is the next paragraph. apparently The Ridgeway is some ancient footpath leading (presumably) to Avebury. what i've heard is that it's not so much a trade route as it is just a path to the stone circle. creepy, ooooooooooooooooh!
Avebury: a tiny village town built around/beside standing stones, much like Stonehenge but smaller and you can touch them. equally mysterious, though. terribly mysterious. and i hear they can cut guns in half! with their mind! ...wait, got distracted there. anyway. i touched many stones, but alas, i didn't develop super powers, nor did i meet any witches, Sorceror's Supreme, ancient forbidden gods, nor (and this is the most disappointing) any Doctors. oh well.
while in Avebury i ate at the only restaurant in town, a pub called The Red Lion. decent place, i suppose. good food, cold beer, it hits all the selling points. i ate some sork sausage thing with mashed potatoes and "root vegetable crisps" in red onion gravy. it was nice. then i walked to the store, bought a take-away sandwich and a bag of crisps. went back to The Red Lion, had a last beer and filled my water bottle (with water, duh) and was on my way.
on the way back to Ogbourne St. George i saw many sheep. some had numbers spray painted on their sides, so i can only assume they're racing sheep. so when next i see Nicola or Chris i'm going to ask when and where the Sheep Races are held, and i'm gonna see if i can't win some money. also: the movies lied to us. i tried the "Bah Ram Ewe" thing from Babe: didn't work. at all. not even a little. i even tried saying to the sheep "Bah Weep Grah Nah Weep Ninnibong", but i guess Big Red gum doesn't work as well as Energon Cubes, for this too was denied. alas and alack.
the trek back took me about 4 hours, the extra hour due to having to walk through Ogbourne St. George (google it again, i know you've forgotten). when i got back to the house where i'm staying, the 8 year old asked me what i'm doing tomorrow. i looked at my feet and said "hopefully, nothing." actually, at this point i sort of hope i never walk again. some aloe for my neck would be nice, though. (send aloe) as for my actual plans for tomorrow: dunno. i think i heard something about church in the morning, but i dunno. and i still have to plan where i'm going next and how i'm getting there. i guess i have a full day of sitting on my arse tomorrow, better get plenty of rest!
i dunno. how'd i do guys? informative and entertaining enough for you? leave your feedback in the comments section!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Day... eh, forget it.
Greetings, my spazmodic squirrels of love!
i've got at least two days worth of happenings for you! but first, i have to go to the bathroom.
there. much better. so, where were we? oh yes! hi, i'm in Ogbourne St. George today. google it. i'm staying with Mel's sister for the weekend, because she's not far from Avebury. on Monday i'm pretty sure i'm off to Amsterdam! wheee!!
let's see... what did i do yesterday and today? well... not much, really. oh wait! i did laundry yesterday. and played Neil's guitar, so that was good. man, this is a really boring one. maybe you should just come back tomorrow, hopefully it'll be interesting.
oh wait! there were a few things today that i thought were interesting. like the creepy leering guy with a button-down shirt just barely buttoned and one nipple showing, he was following some young girl, completely obviously leering and i think he might've been talking to himself. he was fun.
also, last night i went out and drank and did karaoke and drank and danced and got lost on the way home and it was a dumb idea to begin with. luckily this morning i managed to sweat out my hangover, by running from Mel's to the bus stop and just barely making it on time. also had to run to the travel agency's office and plead with them to print out another copy of my bus pass since i stupidly left mine at Mel's and left the key inside. whoever that lady who helped me, she's awesome.
before the drinking and karaoke and getting lost, i wandered down to the beach in search of The Best Fish N Chips In Brighton. i was directed to this place called The Regency. i had a choice of cod, plaice or haddock. i chose plaice randomly. it was great. although ordering fish'n'chips at the Regency is a bit like going to a foreign restaurant and ordering the most americanized meal you can, a bit "why are you bothering me with this? there's a McDonald's down the street" sort of thing. not their fault, i just felt a bit that way. anyway.
today was my second, third and fourth bus rides in England. the third was finally the sort of experience that people in the US seem to fear public transport being. loud kids, annoying passengers, the air is full of the scent of sickly sweet feces. it was great.
the fourth bus was my first city bus in the UK. all previous busses took me from city to city, but this one was just inside the township. it was okay. except for when i didn't know where my stop was and the driver neglected to let me know and i had to wait until someone else wanted on to figure out i'd missed it and i started the 3 or so mile walk back to the last bus stop but i wasn't sure where it was buti was sure i was going in the right direction so Nicola had to come pick me up. except for that, it was a decent bus ride. i dunno.
got to Nicola's, she made me pasta, then after the game Chris, Nicola's husband, took me to get some curry. we drove in to town, ordered the curry, then nipped off to a pub to pass the time. we were late picking up the curry. then back to Nicola's, and eating curry in front of the TV and now this. ta-da!
be sure to join us again tomorrow, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!
i've got at least two days worth of happenings for you! but first, i have to go to the bathroom.
there. much better. so, where were we? oh yes! hi, i'm in Ogbourne St. George today. google it. i'm staying with Mel's sister for the weekend, because she's not far from Avebury. on Monday i'm pretty sure i'm off to Amsterdam! wheee!!
let's see... what did i do yesterday and today? well... not much, really. oh wait! i did laundry yesterday. and played Neil's guitar, so that was good. man, this is a really boring one. maybe you should just come back tomorrow, hopefully it'll be interesting.
oh wait! there were a few things today that i thought were interesting. like the creepy leering guy with a button-down shirt just barely buttoned and one nipple showing, he was following some young girl, completely obviously leering and i think he might've been talking to himself. he was fun.
also, last night i went out and drank and did karaoke and drank and danced and got lost on the way home and it was a dumb idea to begin with. luckily this morning i managed to sweat out my hangover, by running from Mel's to the bus stop and just barely making it on time. also had to run to the travel agency's office and plead with them to print out another copy of my bus pass since i stupidly left mine at Mel's and left the key inside. whoever that lady who helped me, she's awesome.
before the drinking and karaoke and getting lost, i wandered down to the beach in search of The Best Fish N Chips In Brighton. i was directed to this place called The Regency. i had a choice of cod, plaice or haddock. i chose plaice randomly. it was great. although ordering fish'n'chips at the Regency is a bit like going to a foreign restaurant and ordering the most americanized meal you can, a bit "why are you bothering me with this? there's a McDonald's down the street" sort of thing. not their fault, i just felt a bit that way. anyway.
today was my second, third and fourth bus rides in England. the third was finally the sort of experience that people in the US seem to fear public transport being. loud kids, annoying passengers, the air is full of the scent of sickly sweet feces. it was great.
the fourth bus was my first city bus in the UK. all previous busses took me from city to city, but this one was just inside the township. it was okay. except for when i didn't know where my stop was and the driver neglected to let me know and i had to wait until someone else wanted on to figure out i'd missed it and i started the 3 or so mile walk back to the last bus stop but i wasn't sure where it was buti was sure i was going in the right direction so Nicola had to come pick me up. except for that, it was a decent bus ride. i dunno.
got to Nicola's, she made me pasta, then after the game Chris, Nicola's husband, took me to get some curry. we drove in to town, ordered the curry, then nipped off to a pub to pass the time. we were late picking up the curry. then back to Nicola's, and eating curry in front of the TV and now this. ta-da!
be sure to join us again tomorrow, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!
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