In 6 days, I will be giving up my home base for one month, strapping everything I own to my back, and climbing on a plane that will take me to Berlin. From there on, it is full reliance on trains to get around the Continent, hostels for shelter, and plain dumb luck for meeting up with people along the way.
Here is the general plan:
April 3-5: Berlin
April 5-8: Prague
April 8-10: Vienna (on the night of the 10th we are taking an overnight train)
April 11-13: Venice
April 13-14: Florence
April 14-17: Rome (another overnight train on the 17th)
April 18-20: Marseilles (in the south of France for my birthday!! Overnight on the 20th)
April 21-23: Barcelona
April 23-26: Madrid (where we will be staying with Victor, one of my international friends from here at Kent).
Then on the 26th we fly back to London. In the sprit of such inane amounts of cheap travel, I thought I would take this opportunity to list some of the lessons I’ve learned over the course of the last few weekend trips about how to travel. Enjoy:
- Bring your own towel and sheet. Hitchhiker’s Guide knew what it was talking about.
- Step one upon arriving in any city: learn how to use the public transportation
- Step two: get a map. Immedietly.
- Don’t split up with hopes of finding each other ‘in a few hours’
- Get a hostel/hotel in the city center, even when its cheaper to stay on the outskirts. The transportation situation will make it worth it.
- Know when the metros/busses stop running. If you’re in Europe, its probably ridiculously early.
- Tourist information centers are your friend
- Bring an alarm clock, padlock, ibuprofen, and an umbrella. Always.
- Supermarkets are also your friend. Eat out of them, not McDonalds, and see how much money you save (and how thankful your digestive system is)
- Small groups are better, even when a big one sounds like fun.
- Always have a home base
- Learn about international medical care, and have a list of the whereabouts of US embassies. It sounds like something Mother would say, but really – a good idea.
- Everything WILL take at least twice as long as you think. Plan accordingly. Arrive anywhere you have to be early, and never take the last train.
- You can never have too many plastic bags. Their uses are endless.
- Dress in strip-able/add-able layers
- Internet cafes are your friend. When lost, email. When you’ve lost someone, check your email. Its way more reliable than cell phones, and will never cost more than a euro.
- Drink lots of water, and take advantage of every free restroom you come upon – even when you don’t have to go. Pubs are very useful for this.
- Well sleeping in an airport/on a train/on a ferry all sound like efficient, economical things to do, don’t actually expect to get much sleep.
- Learn ‘please,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘excuse me,’ ‘where is the bathroom?’ and ‘I’m sorry, do you speak English?’ in every local language you may need.
- Relax, don’t stress, don’t feel like there are things you ‘have’ to do, and enjoy the bumps. They make for good blogging.
wow sounds like fun
You forgot some things:
1. Holy water – this helps fight back the undead. Werewolves also do not like this stuff.
2. Healing herbs – if you get wounded, you’ll need these.
3. Knife – good for piercing hearts, making fires, and dismembering undead corpses.
4. Enchanting rod – if you find an enchanted object, you can break it down into its components. This also helps you detect magical barriers and spells.
5. Compass – I can’t believe you didn’t include this.
6. Anti Matter – everyone knows what this is for.
7. Be sure to obtain several months worth of martial arts training. You’ll need this sooner or later.
8. If you’re lost, try talking to random people. If they don’t tell you what you need to know, try again.
9. Remember that elves are a strange folk and have certain customs that you should be aware of.
10. If you stray from the road, you’ll encounter more cutpurses and bandits. You are guaranteed to meet evil.
11. Remember to interact with objects that you see. Some of them may help you get to your destination.
12. Sorcerers conjur evil, Wizards cast spells, and Witches place curses.
13. That alien staring at you isn’t going to wait for you to run away, it will abduct you and probe your butt. Don’t let it touch your butt.
14. Don’t be surprised if everyone suddenly bursts into song and dance. If you just go with it, it’s as easy as breathing.
15. The talking dog isn’t shitting you. Listen to it. It will help you.
16. If you’re in trouble and it seems like all is lost, an old friend will come to your aid at the last moment. That will probably be me. (Don’t be alarmed if I looked confused, because these people usually are teleported there, even if they were pooping.)
17. You aren’t going to have fun? I’m astonished.
Happy birthday Mar!!!!!! I miss you so much, but I know you’re having a blast. I can’t wait to see you and be re-united, haha.
Happy Birthday!!
Love you,
~Lauren