BootsnAll Travel Network



Greece Makes It All Better

September 25th, 2006

Written at 5:45PM, 9-25-06 in Corfu, Greece

The ferry trip was not all bad, but it was mostly bad. I think Jacob had the worse time. Allow me to explain.

Because our ticket was free through Eurail (although we still paid 24 euros in “tax”—lame) we were to stay on “Deck.” Now true to everything in my last blog, no one ever explicitly said what this meant. All the ferry’s “floors” were called “decks.” Does that mean we can go and stay anywhere? Well, in the beginning, we decided to play it safe. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Matters of Service

September 25th, 2006

Written at 4:15 PM, 9-25-06, in Corfu, Greece.

From my last blog, one might have gotten the impression that my time in Venice was a solely positive experience. I feel the need to clarify this. Venice was beautiful, true, and there were many cool qualities about the city. It was not, however, all fun and games.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

Banditos

September 22nd, 2006

Written at 7:48 PM, 9-22-06

After our long and arduous recovery from Oktoberfest, Jacob and I kicked back in a couple coffee shops in and around the Munich train station as we waited for our 11:40 PM train to Venice. Most of this time for me was devoted to catching up on blogs, emails, and the like. The only occurrence of incident was this young German girl who came and sat down at our table and began talking as if this were totally ordinary. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,

Oktoberfest is Crazy

September 22nd, 2006

Written at 4:49 PM, 9-21-06

I’ve made a realization about the kind of hostels I like. After staying at a wide variety of hostels during my time in Europe—from the very big to the very small—I’ve realized that I really don’t like the larger, so-called party hostels. Aside from being woken up in the middle of the night as your roommates stumble in, and ignoring the pile of vomit on the floor from the person who got sick from the top bunk of a bed (this actually happened in my room), it’s really just a matter of getting to know the other people in the hostel. Let me explain:
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Lost Blogs

September 22nd, 2006

To all my friends and readers, you may have noticed that all of my blogs are gone back to August, just before I left for Europe. The website I use had some server problems and lost all the data. Not to fear though! For I have everything backed up.

What this means is that Ill be reposting the blogs soon, hopefully tonight if I can find a computer that allows me to use my usb drive. It will take a while to get things fully tagged and back up, especially the pictures. For now, my priority will be to get up my most recent blog detailing my exploits in Oktoberfest. Hopefully that will be up tonight. If not, check back over the next couple days.

Cheers

P.S. I’m currently in Venice and it is beautiful. Next stop, Greek Isles.

Tags:

Thoughts on Dachau

September 19th, 2006

Written at 6:31 PM, 9-19-06

A gray morning washed over Munich, like some titanic tidal wave come to carry away the city’s inhabitants. Sheets of rain, heartened by the wind, swept the wide streets, challenging even those with umbrellas to brace the fury of the downpour. I was one such challenger. I would not be deterred from my plans, despite the torrential weather. As many of my fellow travelers huddled around the hostel’s common room and entryway, I bravely equipped my large but dysfunctional coat and headed out into the drenched streets.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,

Dark Weather in the Black Forest

September 18th, 2006

Written at 10:29 AM, 9-18-06

Well, in Germany the weather finally caught up with me. I suppose this was to be expected with traveling north to less temperate climates, but it doesn’t mean I need to be happy about it. I arrived in Freiburg in mid-afternoon, thinking I was prepared to find my way to the hostel suggested in my guidebook. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Did I Mention Canyoning Rocks?

September 17th, 2006

Written at 10:08 AM, 9-17-06

I returned to the hostel for a little R&R after my hike up Harder Kulm. Returning to my room, I met a pair of guys, Jesse and John, who were from Seattle and had just finished law school. It turns out that they studied down at Willamette University (in Salem, Oregon), so they knew Oregon pretty well too. We went down to the common area to eat and have a couple beers, whereupon we met a whole gaggle of other people from the Northwest. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Bicycles and Flowers

September 15th, 2006

Written at 4:50 PM, 9-15-06

I had an early night after writing my last blog. I checked out my new travel guide for a while, trying to figure out where to go and what to do next. I also spoke with a group of South Koreans who were staying in my room. It seems that only Americans and Asians stay in Balmer’s Hostel, with a sprinkling of Australians. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Money, Laws, and Money

September 14th, 2006

Written at 9:32 PM, 9-14-06

!CAUTION! RANTS TO FOLLOW.

Before I get into describing my exploits in Monaco and my travels to Switzerland, I have to ask, is it any wonder that most “foreigners” have the impression of Americans being loud and obnoxious when many go around shouting some variation of “Fuck!” every other word. This, combined with the fact that every other word (in between the fucks) is “like,” really hinders making us, that is—we Americans—in sounding remotely intelligent. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,