Visiting Emperor Nasi Goreng

In my last post I said it was the end.

But that wasn’t enough for me.

It may be the end of my travels around Europe and the world for the moment, but it’s not the end.

Escaping Australia.

This is my new home, a place to talk about all the things that I couldn’t put in this travel blog. I place to find out how to escape from the real world or escape from wherever it is you have found yourself stuck in.

It is a place to find out how not to get a real job, how to start travelling today and a place where you find out how not to look like an idiot when travelling.

So come and escape.

The time has come.

This story is over. After the Swiss Alps there was really nothing to report on the rest of that Contiki trip and I need to move on. It has happened almost a year ago now and I need to keep going with my life, I don’t regret going though it wasn’t the most fun I have had travelling.

So after 144 posts and over 25,000 hits I’m moving to a new home. Bootsnall has been great and I will be popping over here occassionally but to read about my current adventures I will be over at World Wanderings and AC.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you over there if not on the road somewhere.

Kaitlin Mills’s Source Page - Associated Content

http://www.associatedcontent.comuser/563598/kaitlin_mills.html

Matador posted my article! Check it out, it took forever to type out and in you can really get a taste of what anyone’s first visit to China will be like.

I think culture shock exists just to have some sort of warning just for China. I love China so go and read and enjoy.

http://thetravelersnotebook.com/notes-from-road/losing-my-travel-virginity-beijing/

Associated Content also published some of my articles:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/563598/kaitlin_mills.html

Starting from the beginning was probably not the best idea I have ever had, but if nothing else it gives me something to do now that my Europe tale is almost at any end.

http://kaitlinmills.blogspot.com/

28 September 2008

“Munich to Swiss Alps. We stop for lunch in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein. Enjoy time to shop and sightsee in Lucerne before reaching our idyllic stop in the Swiss Alps.” Contiki Itinerary.

Waking up in Germany while may have been nice I honestly couldn’t say I appreciated it as I woke up with four other people in my tent and still freezing. I took this trip because it was supposed to be summer! Summer was not on the menu and today going to the Swiss Alps I was pretty sure that it was going to get worse.

Packing up our camp in a rather quick fashion we realised that we actually hadn’t lost anyone, no one was passed out laying on the ground somewhere in Oktoberfest. That was rather suprising I mean we were kind of really good at leaving people behing and not being on time, but suprise suprise we were all there and ready to go.

So back on the bus we drove through another lot of scenery which while nice has just strengthened my will to just take planes everywhere, yes I’m up in the air with the possibility of crashing but down here it takes three times as long and there are still crazy drivers down here.

They actually took us through a rather scenic spots but the highlight of this drive was going through Liechtenstein. Kevin pratically stopped the bus on a bridge as Bridget told us that she was in Switzerland, us in the middle were in Liechtenstein and Liam down the back was in Germany. Call me a sucker but I love stuff like that.

Next stop was Lucerne. Now for the first time ever we had to switch currencies we were going to be spending Swiss Francs, I was excited mostly becasue Swiss money is so colourful - reds, greens, blues, yellows this money had it all and in a bit of a twist the 50cent coin in Swiss money is the smallest coin there is and a little bit smaller than our 5 cent coin. We could lose that very easily.

Lucerne  was a nice little town nestled in the middle of some huge mountains, so tall that there were clouds floating around the middle, which was something I had never seen before.

Also before we made it back to camp we, at least I think it was now, went to a shop where we could buy Swiss watches and Swiss Army Knifes and look out at that famous Swiss bridge which names escapes me.

I opted not to get anything, for one they were way expensive and I didn’t have anyone to give them to, plus I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that they would make it back from customs alive.

It was a nice little way to spend the afternoon and we were soon headed back to our new camp for the next couple of days.

Switzerland is beautiful, they took the scenic route again and I have to say that I have never seen a more stunning view and our campsite was even better. We had a waterful and we were completey surrounded by mountains, most of them with snow on the top, little houses were the only town in site that looked as though it was still in the 1700’s.

This would be a nice place to stay.

World Wanderings

I have found the video.

This clip from YouTube is done by Chucky - it’s little clips of us dancing all around Europe to our tour song - which up until this moment I had successfully wiped from my mind. Try hearing it everyday more than once for 32 days and you’ll understand.

Mr Brightside by The Killers

Check it out, I think it funny.

World Wanderings

27 September 2008

“Vienna to Munich. On to Bavaria’s lively capital Munich, home to the Oktoberfest. Maybe join us this evening at one of the city’s tradional Beer Halls.” Contiki Itinerary.

Another early day in which we must have early start, still have no recollection of Vienna’s patch of ground at all. It was that exciting.

Today was going to be a big day they had gotten us up early because we were only spending one day, actually not even a day, more like a couple of hours, in Munich and due to the dates we were actually in time for Oktoberfest.

A big beer festival, this is what Contiki is made for, I had no idea what it was about so I had only mustered up a little bit of enthusiam. But in a usual Contiki style a lot would go wrong before we got to Oktoberfest.

First was that we were still unmotived and this late in the game even the promise of beer wasn’t enough to get us going in any partically fast fashion.

Then of course we had insane drivers hours to abide by which meant that after driving for two hours we would stop in a road stop in the middle of nowhere and have to wait for about an hour before moving down the road again.

All the while we had Little Groggy hurrying us around all day, there are no points awarded to how she got her nickname. She had already been to Oktoberfest and was excitiedly to the point of ad nusem telling us about what we were missing.

We finally managed to make it to Munich about 3pm, but we weren’t heading into the city, first we had to dump all our stuff in the camp. As a suprise it turns out that our tents were already pitched and in the morning all we would have to do was collaspe them.

So instead of taking more than an hour to build our homes and get ready to go back out - we took an hour to pack away everything, inflate our mattresses and get ready to go back out.

Finally we were back out on the road and heading off to Oktoberfest, we got handed out sheets on how to get back to the camp and where to meet the group in the Swiss Alps, our next port if they got lost. Very comforting.

Bridget was going to be waiting at one of the side gates at around nine if we wanted to head back. It was sunset when we arrived at about five. Not wanting much I knew I would be heading back at nine.

But we were still on the bus and I was watching as Kevin literally drove around in circles. I seemed to be the only one that noticed. Thankfully my directional skills are much better overseas than when I’m at home though it is probably because it doesn’t really matter if I get lost at home, so I don’t pay attention to where I’m going.

After a bewildering ten minutes we were quickly let out on a red light as Kevin moved on. We were only a couple of metres down from the huge venue.

Crossing the road there it was staring up at everyone.

“OKTOBERFEST”

It wasn’t exactly subtle.

The crowd pushed us forward as we were inside the gates, it was nothing as I imagined. It looked like a big theme park, there were food vendors everywhere and on the right there was a carnival. All down the main streets were big barns, the beer halls the only thing that was different from a theme park were the drunks stumbling around.

We had gotten there now in complete darkness, the arena would be open long into the night but just like everywhere else it detirorated after dark. There were the drunks and people peeing on the sidewalks as well as bodies being hauled away on gurneys, I’m not sure whether they were just suffering alcohol posioning or worse.

But it sort of gave of the chills and our little group headed off to try and get into those beer halls, we couldn’t get close so instead headed over to the theme park in the back. There was everything that you could possibly want as I was talked into going into a spook house ride.

I am a chicken, I can admit that, I got freaked out watching Scary Movie in the cinemas and this ride was a lot worse. Mirrors, all around this little track, switching rides and people banging on the side of our car. Scared the hell out of me, I was rather glad when we finished that ride.

After scaring ourselves stupid we headed back to the beer halls, still didn’t get in but we didn’t end the night without getting beer. Two guys were stumbling around the back of where we were, a half full tank in their hands, they were politely smashed and offer us some to drink as we stood there chatting for awhile.

Soon after our group headed back for a night, we weren’t getting anywhere and by that time the lights of being at Oktoberfest had dulled a little.

Trying to find where Bridget said she would meet us was a little diffucult as she turned out not to arrive at all. Luckily another bus was heading back to our camp, they asked us thankfully otherwise we would still be standing there waiting for Bridget.

Freezing cold that night we ended up with four in our tent. We weren’t hung over but it was still a pretty good night.

World Wanderings

http://kaitlinmills.blogspot.com/

26 September 2008 

“Vienna. On our sightseeing tour see the Palace of the Hapsburgs, State Opera House and fashionable Karntnerstrasse. In your free time try authentic apple strudel, Viennese coffee and perhaps sample some local Schnaps. This evening why not join us for a concert to experience the timeless music of Mozart and Strauss?” Contiki Itinerary.

Vienna well Vienna was nice. We spent the morning driving around on the bus viewing the sights. Which I have to be honest by that point it was all starting to blur around and everything was kind of looking the same.

There was buildings historical and otherwise but there was nothing to make it stand out from any of the other places we had visited.

We were let out of the bus soon enough and Bridget led us on a little walking tour. Past Roman ruins, the old country and for awhile we were walking horses walk past. After tunning Bridget I had no idea why we were there watching, to this day I still don’t know but as it gave us a chance to stop walking it wasn’t so bad.

After that we were lead around, ended up in front of Van Gogh’s museum, which like an idiot I didn’t go into. After that our tour was over and everyone disolved around us. I would like to say that they were off to explore the different culture around Vienna, but that would be a dirty rotten lie. Most of them headed down the street to the Australian bar. Idiots.

I knew nothing about Vienna but there was no way I was going to spend our only day in Vienna in a bar.

So instead I spent the day wandering around the shop and just the general district. I think it was today that Bec decided to join me and Kristy. The day ended up blurring along with the cities. Never really talked to Bec before this, nothing against her.

The day however was less than thrilling, Vienna didn’t really have much to offer in the way of general tourist attractions but wandering around the city was fine enough for me it gave us a little bit of a chance to just chill and not really do anything.

There was even a palace that we ended up going inside with Fig Ben and a couple of the other guys while everyone went to the Schapps Museum. It kept us warm for awhile after wondering around in the freezing cold. Whatever happened to summer?

Soon enough we were piled back onto the bus and back to the camp. Still have no memories of the campsite, but whe weren’t to stay there long as it was time for another optional excursion.

“Mozart and Strauss Concert. Taste the culture of Austria with a truly memorable Mozart and Strauss concert in one of Vienna’s most famous concert halls. The show is performed by a small orchestra and singers in full costume and is the perfect introduction to this ‘city of music’. An evening to remember!” Contiki Itinerary.

Soon after we all dressed up for our evening. But of course we were late, I don’t know why Bridge just didn’t just adjust the times she got us ready, by this time everyone knew we were still highly unmotivated.

We sort of ran towards the concert and in the end we just made it, we were praticall the last ones to get there. There was even special seats to the side so we were on the left of the stage facing the actors side while everyone was sitting facing the front.

Then it got started. I have to admit I reconised most of the tunes from Disney songs and even the ones I didn’t I really enjoined listening to. Then before the second half the managed to pul someone from the audience to help with the act and the managed to pull Liam on stage.

It was hysterical, there they were completely in tune and as Liam got up there he was given a triangle and little stick to hit in time with the music. Liam was terrible I’m not sure if he was doing it on purpose or anything but he was not in tune with the others at all, and the whole time the lady standing next to him was trying to get him to do it in time. We all spent most of the act laughing at Liam. Good times.

Then intermission was called and we were taken to our special room where there was shampange and orange juice and it turns out we were standing in the actors room were they wait to go on stage, hanging around there for intermission was nice.

After that the rest of the show went on and I’m really glad I was there it was nice to have a cultural night for once. But then it was back to the campsite to get ready for our huge day tomorrow.