Map of Travels

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Castle Eberbach, Porsche, and Mercedes Museums

The Eurail solution worked. I have a ticket to Rome. I'm going to try to do a day trip to Pompeii when I'm there. The downside is the train ride is almost 3-1/2 hours long. Leaving me only a few hours to actually enjoy the ruins, even if I leave really early. But I did it with Cork, so I should be able to do it with Pompeii.

Anyway the last two days have been pretty exhausting. Yesterday I went to the Mercedes-Benz museum here in Stuttgart. It was really cool, lots of historic pieces. Engine parts and models from way back before there were cars, when it was all theoretical. It was kinda cool to see a 5hp engine from the 1800's. The Porsche museum was more of a showroom. Most of the cars in there were racing winners, and classic favorites. There was also a replica of the original 356 No. 1, which was pretty cool. As well as a Porsche brand tractor. Pictures will be up on Facebook eventually.

Today I went on a day trip to Eberbach. Frommer's recommended it as a cool ruined castle up on a small mountain just outside Heidleberg. The town was really cool and small, with a beautiful church. It took me a while to find the path up to the castle. It probably would have helped to lookup the German word for castle BEFORE leaving. The hike wasn't too tough, a little steep. When I got up there were some beautiful ruins. I couldn't go to the watchtower in the back though, due to reconstruction efforts. Apparently the castle was destroyed by some spoiled noble in the 1400's to prevent anyone else from stealing it. The guy had "too many castles" and it was a "money sink". Tough life, what terrible problems he had. Anyway, it gave a great view of the town and valley. Again pictures will be on Facebook. Tomorrow... LEGOLAND!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Stuttgart and the Eurail Solution

Pictures are finally up on facebook. And I'm finally at a hostel with an internet connection faster than a 28.8 modem. Actually I have to give this hostel props. It's Inter-hostel in Stuttgart and it is really nice. Very clean, really nice people. Really nice bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry. Great wifi. All around great hostel. Stuttgart is really nice so far too. Had to suck up a 100 euro train ticket to get here, but it was worth it. Tomorrow I plan to go to the Wilhelma "Zoo" althought it's more than that. You'll see in the pictures.

Yesterday I went in to talk to the Eurail office in Paris Gare-de-Lyon. In my documentation it had them open from 10am to 2pm on Sundays. Not only were they not open, it didn't look like they had ever been open. They had a sign, in front of one of the regular ticket offices. The sign claimed this was the office, but it was blocking the window, and it had collected quite a bit of dust.

So I went to talk to the regular ticket office. Once again I got a disgruntled employee who did not want to help me. I explained I had a flexible schedule and could stay overnight in any city. I just needed to eventually go to Stuttgart. He basically told me off and said it was 100 euros to go to Stuttgart. (And he spoke perfect, advanced English with the man before me, but all of a sudden had trouble with me....) I asked if I could do standing seating, an option which in my documentation was allowed by Eurail. This should allow me to go on any train, regardless of reservation, I just won't have a guaranteed seat. He said Paris no longer allowed this due to previous problems with Eurail pass members. (Can't verify if this is true or not. Just repeating what I heard)

So enough about my problems. Here are my solutions! I used Rail Europe to lookup what trains are available with my pass. I double checked that my pass was locked out of trains I knew I already could not get (ie the Paris-Stuttgart trains). This was true, so now I knew that the website was showing me what was actually available to me. I have written down 3 seperate itineraries from Stuttgart to Rome on July 3rd. I intend to go into the Stuttgart train station tomorrow, and ask the man politely to reserve these trains for me. Hopefully, my advanced notice, advanced planning, and my research into polite German phrases will pay off. I'll keep you all posted tomorrow.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Pics Part 1

So here are some of the pictures I'm sure you've all been waiting for. I'm about two seconds from falling asleep at the keyboard, so these are just a few of the quick highlights. A lot more will be posted on facebook later, and more highlights posts much later on. EDIT: Sorry but Blogger's photo upload doesn't seem to like me in Europe. I'll have to limit the pictures on the blog. Check facebook for better ones.

Lost in Spain/France Thanks to Eurail

So now we get to today. Today was both very adventurous, and a nightmare. So apparently, Eurail works great for INSIDE countries. But anytime you want to cross the border, it becomes something of a pain. All the trains that cross the border must be reserved, and most are reserved well in advance. This was not made very clear in the literature for Eurail. Not that it isn't in there, it is. But they didn't make it clear just how quickly these spots fill up. See the trains only allow a certain number of Eurail passengers per train. (The part they don't publish very well.) That number, I'm guessing, is very very low. So you do the math.

So that was problem one. Problem two was that I didn't learn this until 7am today, when I arrived in Barcelona asking to organize a trip to Paris and the attendant stared at me with a blank face. She looked through todays trains and said I could go to Cerbere and catch a train. So I do just that I catch the 8:45 (not the 10:45 like SHE told me). A very nice beautiful scenery local train to Cerbere, just inside the French border. The smallest train station on the planet! With only one North outbound train every 2 hours! Which I promptly ran for as fast as I could to ANYWHERE else. It seems the Spainish train operater just wanted to get rid of me and pointed me in the direction of France.

While on this new train, I quickly looked at a map for the biggest city on the local route I was on. There I found a nice French ticket person who didn't just blow me off, and helped me get to Paris. He really did some research too cause he was looking for like 30 minutes. Even got me bumped to first class somehow. Really nice guy. I got my fluently French speaking mom to call my hotel (cause I couldn't for some strange reason) and tell them I'd be a little late. The train ride was goregous and relaxing. Just what I needed.

So now I'm in Gare-de-Lyon, and I go to the booth to try and see if I can reserve a ticket to Stuttgart for sometime in the near future, doesn't have to be soon... and I get blown off again. I think it's just the major cities maybe? All their ticket operators are either disgruntled or just plain stupid or both. I'm not saying I shouldn't have made a reservation, but their job is to help me. I don't know the language well enough to be impolite here. I say merci and gracias like they were commas.

Anyway, new plan. Gonna stay a second night in Paris, gonna go to the Eurail help office, gonna plan out every international crossing from here to Greece with the Eurail official. Thankfully my trip is very flexible, so I should be able to make some crazy connections, and get where I want to go... which is kind of what I like about all this. What I don't like is disgruntled ticket operators and bad Eurail documentation. So let's cut those two out and get back to the awesome train rides, and crazy adventures that don't get me stranded in the south of France with no place to sleep.

Madrid and Barcelona

I haven't updated in a while, so you guys are about to get several posts. First let me update you on travels from Ireland to Spain. Small delay in Dublin, which they tried to make up for in flight... by shooting us down like rocket into Madrid. My hostel in Madrid, Cat Hostel, was very... hostel-y. It was built into an old palace which from the architecture looked Middle Eastern in nature. It was really nice. Stayed in a dorm. Smelly rooms, cold showers. A hostel. Had dinner with some guy from Florida I met named Hugo, nice guy. He just finished his trip to Valencia, Barcelona, and Madrid.

Next was Barcelona. It was supposed to give me a better jumping off point to get into France. More on that later. The train ride to Barcelona was gorgeous. Sunbaked plains, always w/ mountains in the distance. Very Spanish. Brand new high speed trains too. My hostel in Barcelona, Agora BCN, was a dorm from a university that was changed into a hotel/hostel for the summer. It was really, really nice for the price. It was on the mountains overlooking the city. Had laundry so I got some detergent, shampoo, and soap and finally gave myself and clothes some proper cleaning. I went down to Barceloneta, the famous beach in Barcelona. I forgot that it was the weekend, and boy was it packed. Definitely worth the spectacle of it all. Not sure I would want to join in though.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Guiness, and Jameson, and Blarney Stones

The first few days of the trip have been pretty awesome. The first day I wandered around still jet lagged from the flights over here. I can't believe I survived that day. I was SO tired. I wandered around Trinity college for a few hours. Temple Bar district for a few hours. Then finally crashed at my hostel once they let me in.

Today I took a day trip all the way out to Cork and Blarney. Unfortunately, it is a long journey, and so I wasn't able to give Cork even 1/50th the time it needs. It really was a beautiful city, and I would love to see the Heineken and REAL Jameson factories there. Not to mention the school where my favorite girl in the world attended. Oh well, I'll just have to take her back there eventually. Oh darn. I did however kiss the Blarney stone. The Blarney castle was pretty impressive too. Beautiful grounds and a lot of the original structure has been rebuilt / restored. Definitely worth the trip.

The people I've met so far might be my favorite attraction of this whole trip. The unfortunate part is I can only get to know them for so long before I or they have to move on. I met one guy who's an Irish paparazzi, and was out at all hours of the day getting shots of Green Day and the like. Another girl was the hiring person for Extreme Home Makeover, helping to find the families who get their house rebuilt. This other guy has been traveling and living off his graduate stipend while he finished up his thesis. Not a bad way to study. He'd been at it for a year I guess. And lots more. I'll try to update you guys with the most interesting ones.

Now I should try and find a hostel for Madrid so I have someplace to sleep when I get there. I'll try to add some pictures tomorrow night.

Monday, June 21, 2010

It has BEGUN!

Here I am everyone! First stop is Dublin. It took me all of 20 seconds to get lost after I found my hostel. Beautiful city. It's a nice cool and sunny day. I'm sitting in an internet cafe right outside of Trinity College. I've slept for only 5 hours but I'm having a blast!

For the record my dad was correct about everything so far. Yes the phone was a lot more necessary than I thought. Yes the hotel in Heathrow was a good idea. Although it cost me an arm and a leg. 175 pounds for one night! Although there were cheaper ones. The problem was that my flight to Dublin was at 6:45 so I had to pick an airport hotel whose shuttle had a short route. It limited my options. Still the sleep wasn't just nice, it was NECESSARY. I thought I would sleep on the plane, but this 7 foot tall overweight gentleman decided to sit behind me in a seat far to small for him. There were empty economy seats with more leg room, but they cost an extra $20. Apparently that was too much for him. Instead he threw a temper tantrum at the stewardess for bumping into him, the woman next to him for taking part of the arm rest, and me for trying to recline my seat. Meh, I should have guessed something like that would happen.

So far the 40 year old toddler has been the only hiccup. Everything else has been a blast! Just being back amongst English-ish culture makes me feel like I'm back in Brighton. Mix that with all the new sights and stuff to see in Dublin. I'm exhausted and excited and loving every minute of it! And I'm also rambling. So I'll finally get to the part you all probably care about. Activities.

I have a few hours before I can really crash in the hostel. So I'm gonna go get lost in Trinity College area, maybe part of the Temple Bar district. Then I'll go back, shower and get some much needed sleep. Tomorrow is the Guiness and Jameson tours, plus some more random wandering of Temple bar area. The following day I activate my train pass. I think I'm going to just spend the day riding the best of the nearby Irish rails. Then I'll come back to the hostel for some web chatting and flight arangements!

That's enough babbling for one day. I'll be sure to post again around Wednesday or Thursday. Thanks for all the well wishes everyone! OH and I'll try to post my calendar on the facebook group so that anyone who wants to join me will have an easier time. Remember FLYERTALK. It's a forum and a little hard to look through, but you cannot find better flight deals ANYWHERE.

Friday, June 18, 2010

You Always Forget to Pack Something

And I forget to pack everything. No matter how much planning ahead. Yesterday it was a padlock and plug adapters. Today it was bathing suit and benadryl. But for the 231st time... I am all packed and ready to go!

I also finished packing today for my buddy Eric's wedding which is tonight. Kristen and I are driving down in a few hours. Very very excited. Tomorrow is a full out family reunion. My grandma, Uncle Mark, and I believe Uncle Chris are all coming to visit with their families.

My plan is to stay up all night tomorrow so that I pass out on the plane ride to England on Sunday. I have an 8am flight to Heathrow, I get in at 7pm and then I have a 7am flight to Dublin. So I'd rather be asleep on planes and awake in airports than vice versa. It's going to be an exhausting couple of days. I can't WAIT! Expect more rambling tomorrow about how excited I am.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Itinerary

I just realized I haven't really posted this yet. So here it is for everyone.

- Ireland (Dublin mostly)
- Europe (I have a 21 day train pass)
- Greece (Athens and Milos with Kristen)
- Egypt (Cairo and Alexandria)
- Istanbul (with the parents)
- Vietnam (Hanoi and Ha Long Bay)
- China (Beijing mostly)
- Japan (Tokyo mostly)
- Maui (with Kristen again!)

Friday, June 11, 2010

T-minus 9 Days

I have been just awful at posting updates. That's mostly because I am working non-stop on this trip and on the new house my family purchased. You see, the weekend I leave for this trip, I also have a wedding to go to in Maryland and a large family gathering. The wedding is for my buddy Eric from Elon. And the family gathering is my grandparents and my uncle and cousins are flying in from Italy. Not to mention my sister down from NYC. So there is a lot to do.

When I go to sleep after Eric's wedding, the night of the 18th, I will be staying up until I get on the plane at 8am sunday morning. I'm sleeping on the plane because I have to stay overnight in Heathrow to wait for my flight to Dublin. It's gonna be a rough couple of days. But very very exciting.

I'm starting to make a list of all the places in Europe I want to see with my 21 days. There isn't enough time, not by a long shot. It would take me a lifetime to see everything. One place I know I want to see is Stuttgart. Two or three expensive car companies, Legoland, and a short train ride from Bavaria and a dozen ancient castles. It's gonna be awesome!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Ha Long Bay Kayaking

So I think I finally found the right tour agency. Handspan was recommended both by Lonely Planet and by a friend of mine who actually went on their trip. Still have to get a response back, but it is looking good.

I figured out the money situation. I'll be using my ATM card for most countries, using it to take money out once I land. I'll have a backup of a few hundred dollars in traveler's checks, and a small stash of US dollars, both for emergencies.

For phone, I got a GSM phone, pay for what you use, just for emergencies. My first plan was to buy a sim card in each country, but this will actually end up being cheaper.

That's all for now. More info to follow.

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