I know that I have been majorly out of touch recently. It's been almost
a month and a half and there has been no update. I must confess that
there was an incident, which prohibited me from just updating and
mouthing off about this journey as if nothing had happened. A friend of
mine decided to take his own life. It's not like anyone can ever be
prepared for something like that, but it was such an immense shock. It
didn't feel right to just prance through these words with such
lightheartedness. It's hard to see the rest of the world going about
their business as if nothing happened, and then the harsh reality sets
in. To them, nothing did happen. Then in a blink of an eye, the same
idea that felt so cold, suddenly shows you that the sun still rises and
sets no matter what's happening. And as the days and seasons go on,
you must do the same. I miss him but also know he believes in me. I
don't mean to put such a somber mood so early on in this post, but I
also feel that this is honesty. This is the reality of life. This only
emphasizes that I'm living the same life you are all living, just
somewhere different. I am still confronted with the realities of pain.
Yes, I see the sunny beaches, and lay under the palm trees, eat the
random exotic food, take in magnificent views, but the realities are all
there. So, it became necessary to just explain this to you, before I
could go on any further. I'm doing well, great, badly, whatever it is,
I'm doing it.

Europe. The amount of ideas that that single word conjures up in a
travel-hungry individual can seem endless. One might think of castles,
history, wars, languages, museums, cathedrals and endless churches...but
you might not necessarily think of the freaks. "Freaks!", she says?
"Freaks!", I say. And I don't mean us. One main thing I'd like to
point out, is that me and kim basically have this magnetic pull that
attracts the wierdest of the weirds. Don't ask us why, don't ask us
how, but it just happens. The gravitational pull between us and these
loonbots must be so strong, that the second we arrive into their city
they begin convulsing at the idea the "the mother ship has landed".

As of October 1st, I arrived into Dublin, after 32 hours of consecutive
travelling. It started at 7 pm in Hong Kong and just never seemed to
end. It was only then I found out about the layover in Bangkok, which
provided me with a "Harry Potter invisibility cloak" type experience.
We didn't have to get off the plane, but we had to wait for about an
hour while the plane was cleaned. We know the planes get cleaned, we
know someone does it, but we never see it. And it was as if they never
saw us. They went in and around us, cleaning and doing their business,
and it was like we were invisible to them. In fact, it felt like I was
sneaking into something I shouldn't have been. No problems involved.

They finished vacuuming, tidying up, and went on their way. And I
attempted to sleep, even though the man next to me felt it necessay to
take part of my seat. waah. Onwards to Dubai where I slept in the tiled
corner of an airport with my alarm set in my hand (I didn't want another
south pacific close call). Then to London.

I arrived in London and nearly began crying when I realized I was out of
China. How could I be out of there already? 9 weeks felt like enough,
but I just wanted more. 5 hours later, I was Ireland bound.
Those first few days, I just couldn't leave the house. I wasn't ready
to re-enter the world of western lifestyle. I just didn't want to do
anything but lay there, which is exactly what I did. It's the type of
thing you can only really experience in comfortable familiar settings,
which my aunts house graciously provided. I slept, I read, I slept, I
watched movies, and I slept. Finally 4 days later, I was ready to
venture outside the front door.

One of our stops included a grocery store. I can not even begin to
describe how strange it felt to be standing in such a huge building,
filled with all the food you missed, and had wanted for so long, but got
used to doing without. I just stood there almost speechless. How could
it be this easy to just grab what you wanted and have it? There were no
hassles involved other than having to pay for the stuff. Cheese! all
types of fruits and vegetables! CORN FLAKES!!

The next day, one of my life partners-in-crime arrived to join me for
the next three months. Kim. I'm sure somewhere in this world, the
letters "k", "i", and "m" join in some order to mean "bad idea- freak
attack - danger - trouble - highly explosive - fun times - half the
blame - destroyer" but I was ready to turn this one-man show into a duo.
We spent those first two days attacking travel books and internet
resouces to figure out where our first stop would be. It became such a
stressful job we decided to have a night out on the town. What this
turned into, was us being invited to a freak-show of a club where we saw
a legless individual grinding on the floor, a couple drunk girls with
whom we realized it wasn't the alcohol that could be blamed for their
behavior, and a lithuanian girl who quite fancied kim. We were out of
there in no time, and attempted to grab a night bus back to my aunts
house. This of course should have gone on smoothly, except for the old
man who found it necessary to explain how his father bombed all the
buildings across the street, while his withered sun-spotted claws
tightened around my arm with a rigamortis like grip I couldn't shake
off. Yikes. We arrived home, and said we'd never discuss this random
situation. How were we to know that this pretty much set the theme of
our trip so far. Freaks.

The next day was back to planning where we would head to and then we
soon realized that there would be only one thing that could dictate the
path two floridians would take in europe. The weather. It seemed
logical to hit the east first. So we booked our ticket into Austria.
We didn't actually spend as much time in Austria as we wanted to, but
becuase we hadn't really planned on coming here to begin with, we took
in what we could. We spent a few days in Vienna and attempted to take a
train or bus to salzburg only to find out the go once a week. We didn't
have a week to wait around so we packed our bags and left for the bus
station to just go onwards to the Czech Republic. This also proved to
be a problem. Apparently, no buses left for the Czech Republic for
another two days and here we were with our packs on our backs and just
ready to go. So we glanced through this bus schedule that was all in
german, managed to decipher how to read it, and headed onto one of our
only options, Slovakia.

How much did I actually know about the place? More than the
jerk-new-zealand-minister-freak wanted to give us credit for, but that's
a whole other story. The 1.5 bus ride from Vienna to Bratislava went
quite quickly, and after arriving at what we thoguht was the bus
station, we jumped off ready to start this new territory. We soon
realized this was a tram stop, and there would be no further buses into
the city center. Luckily after some dicussion, we realized it wasn't
too far of a walk, and we took off to find the hostel of choice. We
found ourselves sharing a room with two really nice guys (one Australian
and one English) who were also travelling together. We spent the next
two days just walking around and absorbing Slovakian culture. Bratislava
was a beautiful place, and quite small, so we were able to take in quite
a lot, in a short amount of time. Our next stop would be a city called
Brno, in the Czech Republic.

This was also a bust, basically because every place we could find that
did offer accomodation was booked. So we jumped back onto the bus, and
headed for Prague. No more fooling around, we were back on track.
Because of the mishap in Brno, we arrived into Prague quite late and
were just aching to find somewhere to throw our crap, and grab some
food. Only because it was a weeknight, there weren't too many places
near us that were open to eat. What essentially happened was as
follows. We finally found a small convienence store after wondering
around in the cold for 1.5 hours. I bought what i thought was a cheese
sandwhich. It turned out to be that thickly packed with butter and
mayonaise. Wow, I'll have a butter and mayonaise sandwhich please.
barf. I had to wipe it off with the packing and slap that junk onto the
ground. There we sat, like two orphaned children, eating crappy
sandwhiches on the street corner at 2 am in the cold. And without
sarcasm, I seriously love travelling. That night our hostel was one of
the worst I would stay in, and came to the quick realization that most
of the hostels in europe, are pretty annoying. They seem to be more
like playgrounds and zoos, rather than accomodation. We have been lucky
with a few here and there, but more lucky for meeting up with friends
and other people who offered us their housing for accomodation. I am so
through with hostels, it's unbelievable.

We met a really nice guy in Prague who offered us free accomodation at
the hostel he was working at. He also showed us around the city quite a
bit, and gave us some cool tips on stuff to do, for little to no money.
This included seeing Swan Lake for about the equivalent of 1 us dollar.
sure we had standing seats, but we're still at the age we can get away
with squatting and sitting on carpet and not looking like vagabonds. So
there we sat on this fancy carpet, eating pizza and pavlova that we hid
in our bags, watching ballerinas twirl around like tops on speed. So
cool. Of course no city is complete without its wierdo attack, so when
Mr. Bucharest Freakfest decided it was necessary to tell me how ugly I
looked when I cried, and about how he loves to date american women, I
didn't know what to think. This guy went into a detailed story about a
particular women he had been internet dating. After 3 years of talking,
he had her come to Romania since he coudln't get an US visa. Upon
seeing how she physically looked, he decided that he coudln't "mate"
with her, and that was it between them. This was the same guy who
talked about building houses for less fortunate people, and about doing
good for others in life, since jesus and god were the ultimates. I'm
not sure which was more screwed up, his flowery female bikini bottom
underwear or his morals, but after insisting we take his remaining
bananas, he rolled over and went to sleep. This was of course after
inquiring whether or not we were married, and had we even been married.
yeaaah.

The guy that was taking care of us mentioned he knew of a car that was
heading to this small town 3 hours south of prague, and would we like to
go with them? So two days later, we found ourselves on our way to Cesky
Krumlov. It is this scenerific town, which just seems like a really
untouched gem. It's not quite at the point where tons of people visit
it, so you can really get this feel of being lost in the middle of
Europe. We met two guys who were filming a movie about how they
intended to go there for a couple days, and ended up staying 4 years. 4
years! I could see how the beauty and smallness of this town was enough
to keep anyone there. It had the most fantastic tea house I have ever
been to in my life. Of course what made it so fantastic was the amazing
tea, and the 32-foot tall employee who began chanting the word "chai" so
loud, we weren't sure if it was part of his "chai-making" ritual, or if
we should have grabbed our stuff and run out of there. Good stuff my
friends. We stuck around in Cesky Krumlov for a couple days and headed
back to prague, since it was our base city. More days of visiting just
existing in another culture, and visiting torture museums and castles,
we knew our time had come to head towards Poland.

Our last day in the czech republic, we woke up and headed to a small
town about 30 minutes away from prague named Kutna Hora. The whole
reasoning in visiting this place was because of this chapel crypt we had
heard of, which was constructed with bones. We had imagined a huge
church built by strictly bones. I must say I was a slight bit
dissapointed to find out the church was only decorated with bones. I
had built this huge church in my head with tons of skulls and femurs
poking out everywhere. But when I say decorated, it wasn't like a bone
was just thrown in the corner. Huge chandeliers, coats of arms, and
garlands were constructed using the skulls and bones from 40,000 people
who died during the plague. How strangely cool is this?? After much
confusion and wrong bus times, we made it back to prague on time for
our night train.

We planned on arriving at the polish border, physically walking across
it, then jumping on a bus towards krakow, i.e. Poland. It sounds simple
enough, and by the way people described it to us, it should have been.
But we now wonder did these people ever attempt to do this on their own,
or did they pass the words around as much as the warnings of train
gassings gets so freely distributed? So there we were at the prague
train station, excited to continue on to poland, but really hesitant
about these trains. We had heard that the routes between Prague and
Krakow are frequently gassed, so that when you wake up, all of your
stuff is stolen. But it turns out we actually know someone this
happened to. So we were kind of nervous and constantly had this idea in
the back of our mind. We boarded the train and did our best to find a
carraige to ourselves, but no such luck. Our choices were the
cheesy-feet-smelling carraige filled with scary bikers whose leathered
faces resembled that of their clothing choice, or the carraige with
colonel mustard and the professor. we figured we could fight the clue
characters easier than the hells angels so we opted for the latter. We
settled into disturbed sleeps, waking up every 20 minutes or so to make
sure the other was still alive and still owned shoes.

Once we finally arrived to the border, we stumbled off the train, still
desperate for sleep. We were so tired, physically and mentally
exhausted, and slightly dissapointed we didn't actually get gassed.
Talk about anti-climatic! We began to ask which was the way to Poland,
since we knew the border was right around us, and yet no one could tell
us. P-O-L-A-N-D please?? yeah that was a no go. One guy pointed us
what turned out to be the wrong direction. After a small rest, we
headed on what we determined to be the direction to freedom. Both kim
and I were just wrecked at this point. We began nearing a street when
she stopped dead in her tracks. She had heard a ticking noise which
seemed to be getting louder and faster. Before I knew what was going
on, she had thrown her bags off, and began backing away with this look
on her face that no words could describe. She looked so terrified that
I began to freak out asking her what happened and where the hell did she
think she was going? she said she was sure there was a bomb in her bag,
and asked if I could hear the ticking. I stopped, listened, heard some
ticking and attempted to piece together what was going on..In a state of
my own confusion, fear, and then at last clarity...I suddenly looked at
her said "please tell me you're not taking about the crosswalk
noise"....

yeah..she was. we were so tired, so hungry, so cold, so worn out, and
still had all these ideas of gassings and being robbed on the train,
that our subconcious overruled and took over. We laughed so hard once
we realized what it was, and began walkin onwards. Kim suddenly turned
around and said to me "we don't talk about this to anyone!". Yeah
right, this might be one of the funniest experiences i've had to date.
READ IT KIM! read it, and relive it! we found the border, walked
across, and began our polish adventure. We jumped onto the bus towards
krakow and raced towards something new.

Krakow is a wonderful city which has a fantastic way of incorporating a
modern lifestyle in old culture. The architecture and feel of the city
is so old world. Cobble stone streets, huge castles, magnificent
churches, and beautiful statues line rivers and shops. We spent a night
or two in a hostel, until we found Slawek, a fantastic person who became
our host for the remaning days we'd have in krakow. He turned out to be
one of the most hospitable people i have ever met in my life. He took
quite a bit of time to show us around this city he had inhabited and
loved for the past 8 years. He even took us to a traditional polish
dining hall where we indulged in russian pierogi (amazing dumplings
filled with potatoes and cheese) and other polish favorites. Slawek
lso bought us to the jewish quarters of krakow called kazimierz. To
this date, I don't know if I will ever find a cafe/bar as amazing as the
one we went to in Karimierz, called Alchemia. Often, we are used to
visiting restaurants or cafe's becuase we like the experience they offer
us, such as their theme, their service, or the quality of what they
serve. We find a booth in them, and stay as long as we possibly can,
because the bubble environment it creates for us, isn't somethign we
want to let go of. I must admit, I'm a sucker for themes. And the most
amazing thing about the places we visited in krakow, was that although
some of the places were built to provide you a historically correct
feel, once you walked out of these establishments, the "theme" just
continued. It continued as you walked home, and you begin to understand
that you are walking the same streets that history wrote itself on.
Not far from Krakow are the infamous concentration camps of Auschweitz
and Birkenau. And well, everyone who knows me knows I'm a real WWII
fanatic. And I've always really wanted to visit these places, to see
and feel the extent of the damage done by war. The day finally came
where we boarded the bus that would take us 60 km away, to the small
town of Oswiecim. On the outskirts of this town, is where Auschweitz
and Birkenau still exist.

Auschweitz wasn't anything like you would expect. I don't really know
how much more to say other than it seemed like a movie set. But there
was no denying the existence of an eeriness, wierdness, and smells that
conjured up what the images show us. The old barracks that housed
prisoners were now made into musuem like rooms with information and
artifacts from WWII. Later that day, we caught a bus to continue on to

Birkenau, which is also known as Auschweitz II. Birkenau was almost
exactly as one would have expected a concentration camp to be. It was
very bleak, big, and although filled with tons of barracks, felt
extremely empty. The train tracks lead straight through the front gate
and end at the back of the camp, right in front of the crematoriums. On
either side of the tracks, were barracks where prisoners slept. Part of
what made the experience so strange, was that it was such a gorgeous
day. It was cold, but it was also the eptiome of a beautiful autumn day
where the colors around you competed for your attention. Brilliant blue
skies backed the burning oranges and reds of the leaves, and yet around
you was a place where ridiculous amounts of people died. I walked from
the whole length of the railroad tracks, from crematorium to front gate.
It took me exactly 13 minutes. I thought about how on a train, that
would take a lot less time...and that's the amount of time people had to
finally accept their fate. It's unbelievable.

Two friends that I had made while in China are both polish girls who are
from Warsaw. So we boarded another dreaded train and headed off to
warsaw to visit this city and them. This train ride was a bit different
in the sense that it wasn't overnight, but yet we still had a fine
collection of freaks who felt it necessary to peep in on our carriage
for whatever random reason. The intensity of the smiles on these
people's faces are enough to scare you out of your skin.
Warsaw was mainly a city where we just experienced it by hanging out
with locals. There wasn't much sightseeing. a few random hours of
walking around to see what we could fit in, but it was basically to just
be there. As well as staying with my friends, we also stayed with one
of their friends, Pawel, who might be on of the most confrontational
people I have ever met, but said with no negat devil's advocate, so
after hours of raised voices and edgy words, you realize you're dealing
with someone who just enjoys conversation and the ability to speak about
things on a level which tends to supercede normal everyday jabber. It
turned out to be quite an entertaining household. Our friends jokinly
tried to get us to change our plans and go explore other areas of poland
in exchange for berlin, but we were dead set on heading to this city we
had heard and learned so much about. So one bright and really early
morning, we boarded yet another train towards germany.

Berlin is the amazing new york of Europe. It's one hell of a thriving
city which will surely see me as a habitat in some months/years to come.
I can't wait. It truly, more than I think new york, is a city that
doesn't sleep. We stayed with a friend of mine, Desiree, I had met in
Australia. She was determined to show us the berlin nightlife and took
us to all sorts of places. One of her roomates is a DJ in berlin who
also tipped us off to great places to visit. We arrived into Berlin on
Halloween and one thing was sure...we weren't going to let this holiday
slip away from us so easily. It's a right of passage, to be able to
dress up as creepy and freaky as you want, and feel everso proud walking
down the street.

We found a second-hand store and raided the place for costume ideas.
One hour later, I was "Mizz Mexico 2005" and kim was "the rag doll from
hell". We had bruised eyes, bloody mouths, stitches, rosy cheeks,
aluminium crowns, sashes, and dresses that made us who we were for the
evening. We ended up at this tiny venue underneath a metro overpass.
Desiree really showed us a great time, and after a few days with her, We
left her place and moved in with two other guys who hosted us for our
remaining days in berlin. They also made us feel quite at home. Those
two, I must say, have the cleanest bathtub I have ever seen. One of
those types of tubs where you can lay it in for hours and feel
completely at east. They even gave us the permission to use their
pinetree bubble bath. Peter and Alex, you guys rule. We visited the
old 1936 olympic stadium, and all sorts of cultural things flowing in
and around the city. There is an informative exhibit titled the
"Topography of Terror" which is built on the remains of official Gestapo
and SS ruins. It shows the bulding structures of a Nazi-occupied Berlin
as it was during WWII. The berlin wall is quite a site, and runs all
around the place. We spent the majority of our wall experience visiting
the largest remaning intact piece found in Berlin (since apparently the
largest intact piece actually exists in Las Vegas?). There are other
bits of it scattered throughout the city which you can see. The german
xperience was amazing not only becuase of the amount of stuff we did in
Berlin, but the people we had met. They were all so nice and kind to
us. We hope to be able to make it to western germany later on in this
trip, because we only had time to squeeze in Hamburg and Berlin before
we had to head back to Ireland.

Ireland is the whole emerald isle, that place of drunken madness,
leprauchans, no lucky charms, and potatoes, and oh yes..the bunch of
crazy awesome family people. we arrived back in dublin on the 7th of
october, just in time to meet a friend from france who travelled to
dublin for a small chinese-tour reunion. We stayed in dublin for a few
days before heading up to the countryside in the northwest where we were
not only greeted by family i haven't seen in ages, but by my mother who
i haven't seen in 8.5 months. It was so good to just be with all this
family. Since we have arrived, they have shown us nothing but a good
time. Between family dinners and outings, we do nothing but lounge
around and take in this quiet time. It won't last long. On Sunday the
20th, we fly out for Paris, and spend our last month travelling between
Paris, Amsterdam, and Spain.

ay papi.