Reunited and it feels so good!

Helllloooo UK! After much back and forth as to whether or not I would be able to stay with Jackie in London, she finally told me I got the green light. When we split up in Croatia, she moved to London to stay with her friends until she can find her own place and a job. Jackie met me at the train station and it was a glorious reunion! It's so fun to have met someone while traveling, stay in touch with them and to meet back up with them. She is a friend for life for sure..awww, ok enough. I went house hunting with Jackie, and as we all know, it is a very tedious process. It took us two hours to get to one place by underground and bus. Mind you, it was evening rush hour, oops. I think she actually chose one of the places we went to, so I would like to think I helped in some way, or not, whatever! She sent her resume to a job placement agency so the agent would call her every day with updates and I would secretly hope that she wouldn't get a job until after I left. I'm evil, I know, but it's with good intentions :) One night, we met up with my friends who I met in Colombia, Hamish and Nicki, who were at a bar with live music. Calvin, who Jackie and I met in Ios (and who Jackie has hung out with a couple times already in London), also met us out. Hamish and Nicki heard about this super totally awesome new club that was opening up near Fulham so we decided to head over there, but the crowd of people out front was ridiculous. We walked over the bridge to Putney and found a place we didn't have to wait in line for. On the way, Haz and David met up with us (the other two that I met in Colombia). It was so good to see them all again! Just like meeting back up with Jackie, I think the reason it is so fun for me is because I'm STILL traveling and they aren't, ha ha ha. Noo, it's just a really neat thing. They are all working pretty hard now in banking so Hamish was out in his suit and carrying around his UBS binder, while Nicki was carrying around a bag with her change of clothes. They didn't have time to go home and change since they work so late, but they still came out to see me, how nice! The place we went was pretty cool. It was a Thai restaurant by day and bar/lounge/club by night. Jackie was pulling me on the dance floor one minute and the next she falling asleep in a chair so we got a taxi home around 2:30am. I bet you're surprised it wasn't me falling asleep, weren't you? The next day Jackie and I walked around London, attempted some shopping but failed and made a delicious fruit salad (random). So shopping in London is insane. It's not my favorite thing to begin with, but when you add piles of clothes on the floor and lines for fitting rooms, then I lose interest very quickly. Monday was my last night in London so Jackie and I went out to a nice Sushi dinner after looking at yet another place for her to live (we aren't dating, even though it might seem like it haha). Hamish texted me that he was going out to a pub near Fulham and asked if we wanted to go. Hamish and David live in Fulham as well as Jackie's friends who we were staying with. We found out that they live less than 200 meters from each other, weird! So Jackie and I met Hamish at a pub and David was supposed to meet us when he got off work (around 11:30pm!), but the pub closed before he could get there. Rough life! I went back to pack my bag because I had to get up early for my flight to Dublin. Sections of the underground have been under construction, causing a lot of delays so I was a bit worried about my journey to the airport. I left as soon as I could get myself going and of course the underground was slower than usual. I had about 15 stops total before changing to a train to Stansted Airport. Each stop turned into two stops because we were stopped at the red light mark (when there is a delay) and then again at the actual stop. The guidebook said the train ticket was 14.50 pounds and since it's a 2007 edition and a little dated, I figured it was probably 16.50 at most. I had exactly 17 pounds left to buy my train ticket and it was 17.70, ugh. So I used 16 of the pounds and paid the rest on credit card, lame. I bought the ticket at 9:54am and the next train was leaving at 9:55 or not again until 10:15, but I was already running a little behind schedule, so the guy told me to run. I just laugh when I look back at me running to the train terminal with all my bags..you can laugh at me too, it's ok. I arrived at the airport an hour before my flight, had to go to the self check in first and then wait in another line to check my bag. I flew with Ryanair so the checked bag absolutely has to be under 15kg. Mine was 11kg, phew. My flight number was 211, gate number was 42 but then changed to 44 (multiple of 11) and after I sat down on the plane (Ryanair is open seating), I looked up to see that I was (not on purpose) in row 11. If you know about my weird connection with the number 11, then that right there is a weird day. If only my departure was at 11:11, bummer. Then I start thinking that maybe too many 11's cancel each other out and this plane is on the fast track to Plummet-ville. But yeah, I love flying...

I landed safely in Dublin and was greeted with beautiful grey skies and crystal clear rain drops, gorgeous. After lucking out with 60% or more of sunshine in England, I was not prepared for the gloom of Ireland. I took the bus from the airport and I met a nice Irish girl who knew exactly where my hostel was so she told me what stop to get off at. I checked into my room, checked my email, and thought I would go back to my room for a nice nap. I feel like I haven't caught up since Greece, maybe even Spain, yikes! In my room, I met a nice Brazilian girl who was on her way out for a walk and asked if I wanted to go with her. I didn't really have a good reason not to, so I went. Turns out, it was more about running errands for her, but it was still nice to get out and see some things. She wanted to take some pictures at Trinity College (University of Dublin)and asked for my camera to take pictures of me. It was unexpected, but nice, and now I have some pictures of myself which is harder to do when I'm on my own. We went to a couple shops where she had to return some things and then dropped something off for her friend who was also Brazilian and very nice. They invited me to Pizza Hut later on haha, I said sure, but didn't end up going. Pizza Hut in Dublin? Come on.. Next stop was a department store. Priscilla (my new Brazilian friend) spent almost an hour looking at make up. I wandered off for a while and when it finally seemed like she was getting close to buying something, she couldn't decide between two colors of lip gloss. She tried one on, looked at herself glamorously in the mirror, wiped it off, tried the next one, looked, wiped, tried the first one again. OK, just pick one! An announcement over the loudspeaker said the store was closing in 10 minutes, thank god! I could have just walked back but I really didn't have anything else to do and despite her lack of English, it was nice to have company. I went to bed at 9:30 that night, ridiculous I know, but I like sleep, A LOT and I've been missing out on my required 8 hours. This morning, I debated a bus tour of Dublin, but in the end I just decided to walk the same route the bus would take. I had the map and the points of interest, so it was a self guided tour. When I got to the Guinness Brewery, I thought it would be nice to go in. I don't even like Guinness, but it seemed like the right thing to do in Dublin. It was also a self guided tour, and it was more like a museum than actually going into the brewery which I would have liked better. I met someone later that told me they don't let people in where they make the beer because Guinness is owned by Budweiser (I didn't know that, is it true?) so it would look weird to see a bunch of Bud on the production like of the famous Guinness brewery. It is 7 stories and the top is all glass with a 360 degree view of Dublin, very nice! I walked through Temple Bar which is very old buildings with cobble stone streets and apparently where the good night life is. Hopefully I will be able to experience it one night. Jackie texted me this evening and told me she is looking into meeting me in Dublin tomorrow! She said she has one more little travel bug to get out of her system before she starts work in London. I'm still waiting to hear back form her, but I would be soo happy if she came here. I booked a tour for the weekend called the Paddywagon Tour. A bus picks the group up on friday morning at 8am and the first stop is Galway. Day 2 we head south to Kilkarney and day 3 we go through Cork on our way back to Dublin. So if Jackie doesn't come, I will have plans, but if she does then she can join me.

I fly home on tuesday, less than 140 hours from now. I can't believe how fast 5 months has gone, but I also can't believe how much I've done. I will save the sappy "looking back" stuff for the last blog when I get home because my trip isn't over yet!

Ljubljana, Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam..what next?!

Ljubljana Ljubljana Ljubjana. Try saying that three times fast, or even at all! Well, Loob-lee-ahna is the capital of this tiny wonder, Slovenia. Even though it rained my first day and was cloudy the next two days, it is really a beautiful place. Maybe the rain even helped the trees and the hillsides look even more beautiful and green! I stayed with a guy I met in South America so I was able to get the local tour and slightly touristy tour of Slovenia. He took me to the Karst Caves the first day, but I felt like he took me to Disneyland. All the stalagmites and stalagtites looked so fake, but it was definitely a unique experience. The next day was the most relaxing day I've had on this trip so far. I treated myself to a spa day and had a massage! It was wonderful but not something I'm about to get used to. On my last day in Ljubljana, I hiked (hardly a hike) to the castle on the hill. It was a beautiful castle and I was able to climb the tower to get a great view of the city. Ljubljana is like a small version of Paris or London. It has a river running through it and lots of bridges, but on a much smaller scale, so I like it a lot. The only thing missing was the wonderful company I had in the previous two weeks. Lucky for me, I was soon on my way to Budapest, where some of the people I met in Croatia were anxiously awaiting my arrival :) Or I would like to think so. I took a 7 hour bus, watched more movies in a row than anyone ever should, and arrived in rainy Budapest to find that the bus driver had thrown my backpack in a puddle, thank you Mr. Bus Driver. I got in touch with Jake and he met me at the metro station which was really nice because it was a dark and rainy ghost town where I was let off. We met up with the rest of the Aussies, Rory, James and Chien, and watched some Australian Football for a bit. The next day we went to the Terror Museum in the morning and then Chien and I went on those hop on/hop off sightseeing buses which was a perfect way to see the city since I was only staying 2 nights, and to get out of the rain. After a little over two hours on the bus I was pretty eager to walk again, but it was definitely worth it. James' parents were in Budapest a couple years ago and suggested a restaurant that has an all you can eat and drink buffet dinner so we decided to check it out. Such a good idea. Great food, great wine, great dessert, great night! After the all you can drink, we wanted to see what nightlife Budapest had to offer (on a Tuesday night). We ended up at a bar, completely empty, so we asked the young guy working there where we should go. He said there wouldn't be anything exciting on a Tuesday night, but we persisted, so he went over to the older gentleman, also working at the bar, if he had permission to take us out. The older gentleman turned out to be his dad, and he agreed to let him go. This place he took us to was full of people, good music and dancing, so Tuesday nights get the green light in my book! The next day we took a river boat cruise, said goodbye to Chien who was staying in Budapest longer, and the rest of us caught an afternoon train to Vienna. There were patches of blue sky along the way so I was getting my hopes up that Vienna would be nice. We got to the hostel a little after sunset, and there was already a lively crowd at the hostel bar. The hostel even served food, so we just ate there, the guys played some pool, and we decided a red bull vodka boat was a good idea. At some point I noticed there was blood on the front pocket of my pants. "Someone's bleeding!" Then I realized it was my finger that was bleeding, oops. Jake went to the front desk to get some emergency medical equipment and went to town bandaging my finger. I was starting to look like Edward Scissor hands and I think the bandage last about 27 seconds but it was the thought that counts. Thank you Dr. Jake you are a sweet sweet man. Ended up being a really fun night and we didn't even leave the hostel. That's what is so great about hostels with a bar, as long as there is a good crowd, you have everything you need. The next day was a full day of walking. We got directions to where to meet for a walking tour, we even saw the sign that said guided tours, but it didn't start for another hour. We killed some time by walking around and when we returned to buy our tickets, it ended up being an office for tours of the opera house. Oops! So when we found the right ticket office, there weren't any tours left for that day. The guys decided to go to a museum and I decided to just walk around on my own for a while. When we met up a few hours later, we went to a cafe in a park that used to be a huge greenhouse. Coffee is a pretty big deal in Vienna. That night, we wanted to actually leave the hostel so after dinner we had a few (ha) drinks at the hostel and went out to a club. I got drunk way too quickly so I ended up just going back, bummer for me. My brother, Jason, was already on his way to Prague so the next morning I went to the bus station to find out what time I could leave and meet him. The only time was 5pm that night, getting me to Prague around 9:30. Jason got in around 2pm so I was going to be a bit late, sorry! I watched more Australian Football, one of the final games before the championship game, at an Australian bar called The Roo Bar, while drinking an Australian beer, called Coopers. Wow, when I see that all together in one sentence I look like a serious Aussie wannabe. We walked around more that afternoon and had a final photo taken before saying our goodbyes. I am really happy to have met them and I hope I get to see them again when they venture through California.

Jason texted me that he had met some people at the hostel in Prague and were ready to go out when I got there. Oh man, I was really looking forward to a good sleep. I got to the hostel and had a hell of a time getting my room because the guy at reception wanted to be nice and put me in the same room as Jason. Yes, that is nice of him, but Jason already told me when he checked in that his room was full. I decided to trust the guy at reception and 3 phone calls, 6 people's questions, and fidgeting through 162 keys later, he took me to Jason's room and guess what? It was full! This baffled him, so I just asked if I could put my bags on Jason's bed and figure out my bed later because I just wanted to go see my brother! We hung out downstairs in the smokey dungeon bar before heading out for a drink with these two Polish guys. We met a girl from the States who has been living in Prague for 5 months now, teaching English. Seems like a pretty cool gig. We were back at the hostel around 1am and I was excited for a restful night, but what I got was an angry group of Irish boys who insisted on yelling about their problems in the room. I realize that I paid very little for a big dorm and loud people come with the territory, so it's not really a big deal. The next morning I moved into a 5 bed dorm, muuch better. Jason felt sick, not from drinking, actually sick, so he stayed in bed until noonish while I went downstairs and enjoyed some cereal. I was finally able to get Jason out of bed by telling him his vacation was too short to spend it in bed! It worked, and we were out the door. Prague is a maze made to confuse tourists, or so we both agreed. On our way to the main square, we ended up on Amerika street and while looking at the map, a friendly chap pointed us in the right direction. I bought another coat since it's not getting any warmer, and we walked all over. We had a great dinner at Cafe Louvre and on our walk back to the hostel we felt like we were heading in the wrong direction again. Soon after expressing this to each other, we were on Amerika street again! So we got lost twice in one day and ended up on the same street, called AMERIKA street. Weird if you ask me, or Jason! The next morning I woke up feeling sickly :( I was getting so close to making it all 5 months without catching a cold, but just like the weather getting worse, I can't expect perfect conditions the whole time. Our second day out, we avoided Amerika street and made it to a tourist office to ask about tours, either walking or by boat. We found a boat tour for later that afternoon so in the meantime we walked around and had a really good lunch. I ate really well while Jason was here, and that doesn't necessarily mean more expensive, just lucked out by finding really good restaurants. After the boat tour we went to see the new (new for me) Batman! It was a fun experience seeing a movie in a different country. I could get used to this :) Another great meal for dinner and it was back to the hostel to nurse my cold, which was not getting better like Jason getting over his cold in less than 24 hours, jerk. The next day we went to the bus station to figure out where to go and when. We played with the idea of Oktoberfest, but I think it was for the better that we didn't go since I was sick, so we decided on Leipzig. I don't really know how, but we heard it was a nice city. When we got to the bus station, we found out there were no buses to Leipzig, soo change of plans. Jason went to Berlin years ago so I felt bad going to a place he has already been, but he said he didn't mind and would actually enjoy going back. So Berlin it was. The bus didn't leave until 6pm so we had time to go to Prague Castle and I'm so glad we did. The castle is up on a hill and there is an entire city up there. The gardens are beautiful and the buildings are immaculate. We saw the changing of the guards and a small hot air balloon that carries no more than 3 people up above the river for a 360 degree view of the city. Back to the bus station, we found somewhere to spend the last of our Czech crowns and I collapsed in my seat on the bus. Being sick just makes everything harder. We arrived in Berlin after 10pm, hopped on the S ring train (Berlin is supposed to have the best public transportation), got off at Landsberger Allee, but that's where our directions ended. I heard music in the distance, and there wasn't a lot around, so said to Jason, "that might be it." He wasn't convinced so we kept walking. The music was coming from a massive building, like a 7 story hotel, but it had lots of blue lighting that caught my eye. When I booked the hostel online, I looked at the pictures and there were two pictures from the bar that had blue lighting. When we turned a corner, we could see the front of the building and sure enough, it was the hostel. I have never seen a hostel the size of a 7 story hotel, so it looked pretty exciting. Well the only exciting part about it was our roommates who were 24-28 because everyone else in the hostel was on a school trip...probably freshman and sophomores..in HIGH school! When we walked into our room, our roommates were drinking some beers and offered us one. It was so nice being greeted! We went downstairs to the bar, had another beer and then the guys joined a poker game. Still trying to get better, I went upstairs to sleep. The next day was rainy, but we only had two days in Berlin so we forced ourselves to go out. We walked to the Reichstag, the Brandeburger Gate, The TV tower, the world clock the East Side Gallery (the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall. Back at the hostel, I took a much needed nap, but woke up feeling worse :( I got it together and we invited our Irish roommate to go get dinner with us. Another successful meal and more walking. The next day we went to the bus station and bought an overnight ticket to Amsterdam, the reason Jason came out here in the first place. Our second and last day in Berlin consisted of exploring off the beaten track. We walked through a big park and ended up behind the zoo, so we saw a lot of the second string animals. While looking for a restaurant for dinner, we were discouraged by the first two menus we read, and started walking down a street that looked even less promising until turning the corner onto restaurant heaven. The first menu we saw looked great, and again, it was. I've been drinking all the hot tea I can get my hands on, just trying to make myself feel better whenever I can. We were anxious about the overnight bus, in a good and bad way. Soo excited for Amsterdam, but dreading the 10 hours. At least it marks the last of the extremely long journeys for me, until my flight home :) The two guys behind us kept going to the bathroom to smoke which was annoying, and I had a minor coughing fit around 3 or 4am, but we made it and couldn't be happier. We checked into our hostel around 7am and went back to sleep until breakfast at 10. We relaxed for a while, made it out of the hostel early afternoon and were pleasantly surprised by the great weather. I met a dutch guy, Robin, in Cusco, Peru who lives in Amsterdam so we had plans to meet up that night. It was Thursday night, so just like Santa Barbara, it was college night. Jason and I sat at an Italian restaurant to have some wine before meeting Robin and his friend Luke. They took us to their usual Thursday night bar which was a lot of fun, before heading to their usual Thursday night club. The club is an old converted church so it's huge and it was really fun! We danced the night away and I fell through a door. Ok, let me explain. When Jason and I got back to our hostel, we were talking in the hallway before going into our room. I leaned against the wall and well, it wasn't the wall, it was a door and it wasn't latched shut so I went right through onto my bum into someone else's room. Probably startled them a bit, it startled me too! The next day we changed hostels to a more lively one, The Flying Pig. We checked in pretty early, so a lot of people in our room were still sleeping. Jason tried to get more sleep, but the cleaning people came in and tried to wake him up to tell him to check out. He was like "no no, I just checked in." Just let him be man! When we finally got ourselves out of the hostel, it was lunch time so we sat alongside a canal to eat. We had read about a non-profit group that does canal tours in a small boat (10 people max) that is based on donations. We liked the sound of this, so we got the last two spots on the next boat leaving and away we went. The people on our boat were so nice, offering us beers, wine, strawberries, etc and our "tour guide" if I can even call him that, was more like a friend telling us interesting facts about the city. We learned about the bridge that is most popular for proposing, the twin sisters bridge that was built between the houses of twin sisters because they were too lazy to walk any more than they had to when they met for tea, the controversial architecture of the opera house and more. That afternoon was once again nap time. Being sick is not fun! We wanted to do something outside of Amsterdam so on Jason's last day we took a tram, train, bus, ferry and another bus to get to Texel, and island in northern Holland. There was only a little bit of information in my guidebook about Texel, so we didn't know exactly what to expect. We told the bus driver we wanted to go to town, where ever there were shops and restaurants, and close to the beach. This seemed ok, so when we started seeing hotels and lots of other people were getting off the bus, we joined them. We were pretty hungry by this point, so after some lunch we asked where the tourist information center was. Well, the english in Texel is not as great as in Amsterdam (Dutch people speak almost flawless english), so the girl started to tell me "yes, you can get information on yours and excursions." She knew the word 'excursions' but she couldn't explain where it was. She started to say it was miles away. Miles!? Oh no, kilometers. Right, ok, but where? Her blank stare made me think she had no clue what I was saying. We decided to go find a hotel and ask them, but they must have been on Dutch siesta because no one was around. Our next plan was to get back on the bus because maybe we didn't take it far enough. I did a kartwheel while waiting for the bus and little did we know, this would be our last photo in town. The bus drove in cirlces and ended up taking us back to the port. We could have taken it all the way back to town or where ever we were, but it was getting to be late afternoon and we didn't know when the last train was back to Amsterdam. We just went to the beach near the port, and that was fine with us. I chased some birds, some german shepards chased me and that was our day in Texel. After the ferry, then a bus, train, and tram, we were back in Amsterdam and hungry again. I feel like that's all I do, or write about at least. We had thai food and the night before we had mexican food. I guess Dutch food is pretty bad, but I'm not really sure what it even consists of. Robin was telling me it is stews and mash, but he doesn't care for it. So after our thai dinner, it was back to the hostel for Jason to pack :( I'm lucky to have a nice brother who agreed to take home a lot of my hot weather clothes, thank you! So my bag is now lighter and I am happier, except for the fact that I would rather be wearing the clothes I sent home because that would mean warm weather again, oh well. So, bye bye Jason and hello country life. Well, not really, I was just leaving Amsterdam to stay at Robin's family's home in Amstelveen, about 30 minutes outside of the city. I was greeted by his two energetic dogs and his bubbly parents. They offered me lunch and we sat out back in the sun (it was the hottest and last warm day I had in Holland). They asked me tons of questions, so I'm afraid that might have been a preview of what it's going to be like when I get back in 3 weeks. I think if anyone starts asking me too many questions, I'll just write the link to my blog on their forehead. Just a heads up! That afternoon Robin took me to a stretch of river where they have preserved 6 or 7 windmills that has become a touristy destination. They have a cheese factory, souvenir shops and boat tours. I just wanted to see the windmills, so we walked around for less than an hour so I could get some photos. Next, we went to a fishing village, Volendam, where I tried some traditional Dutch food like raw herring. It was really good and the village was really picturesque. We drove back for dinner with the family and his sister was home now. She just moved back from Italy and is working for KLM airlines. So, they are a very nice family and I'm very grateful that they are putting me up, or putting up with me for 4 nights. Robin is taking journalism classes during the week at a University about 75 minutes from his home and his parents and sister all work, so I lounged around yesterday morning, started this blog, then went back into Amsterdam to see the other side of the city that Jason and I didn't explore. I accidentally passed through part of the red light district, which they actually do tours through so it probably wasn't that weird that I was there, but I definitely wanted to keep moving since there were dirty men lingering around. I walked through the huge street market that stretches about 2 kilometers, went to a couple different squares that Robin's dad had pointed out to me on the map, walked through a flower market filled with tulips, oogled at some shoes that I want to buy but didn't, and came back home. FINALLY I am up to date. Today I went with Robin to his University town, Utrecht. He had class and I walked around until it started raining a bit too much for my liking. It is a smaller version of Amsterdam so it was love at first sight. I love that everyone rides bikes here, I love wooden clogs, tulips, dutch cheese, tall people, and most things Dutch. What I don't love is that it rains a lot here and the beach isn't 3 blocks away, so I could never live here. Well, this blog has exhausted me and I'm sure you are as well, I'm sorry but it had to be done :) Until next time..

Prost!

Croatia, my heart is yours :)

I lOVE CROATIA! Jackie, Jonathan and I flew into Dubrovnik and were greeted by a man with a sign reading `KELSEY, JACKIE and JONATHAN.´ It was pretty exciting. So like I mentioned in my previous blog, hostels aren´t as big over here but rooms to rent are the hot ticket. When you get off the ferries or buses there are tons of people waiting with signs and photos of their rooms so it makes it pretty easy if you show up without a reservation. Dubrovnik was the only place we actually did have a reservation, hence the sign. Our apartment was a cute upstairs one bedroom, 3 bed, kitchen and bathroom all to ourselves. Dolores welcomed us to her families property with juice and cookies. My love for Croatia started immediately. We were about a 10 minute bus ride into Old Town, and it was already late afternoon (after flying Athens to Milan, Milan to Rome, Rome to Dubrovnik, we weren´t filled with energy) so we decided to walk down to the beach and find a place to eat dinner. Croatia has a lot of mountains and many of the beaches are rocky or even unaccessible, but the ones you can get to are in small coves so the water is very calm and clear and it feels more private since it´s not a long stretch of beach. We walked to the other side of the cove and passed a woman selling tickets for boat tours. It was an all day tour, stopping at three islands with lunch and drinks included. We were pretty keen on this idea, but decided to discuss over dinner. The next day we relaxed on one of the small beaches before heading into Old Town. The bus ride into town was amazing. It was right along a cliff overlooking the water, the islands, and eventually a birds eye view of Old Town, which is right on the water surrounded be castle walls. We had a few mishaps in Old Town that may or may not include a man telling us off for petting his dog and taking pictures with it, and a 10 year old boy giving us the finger. Here is a short explanation of what went down: There was a beautiful yellow lab cruising around with no collar so we thought it was a stray. He was really friendly so Jackie was petting him and Jonathan was taking photos. He reminded me of the dog I grew up with so clearly I wanted a photo as well, but when I crouched down next to the dog a man came up to me and said, ` don´t touch the dog!´ I asked why not? He said `because it is my dog,´ oops, so I said I didn´t know that it was his dog and he responded with, `you can take photos but do not touch him, you know, it is a bit over the top!´ Really? I would think the opposite. He doesn´t mind if we follow the dog around snapping photos, but petting a dog is over the top? We saw him later about 50 meters away from the dog just waiting for someone else to yell at, crazy man. So then there was the little kid. We were getting into the more residential part of Old Town and saw these two boys playing soccer. The younger boy scored a goal, so the three of us started clapping as we walked by. The older boy, probably 10, started to say something in Croatian but he didn´t have the friendliest look on his face. I said to Jackie and Jonathan, `I wonder if what he was saying was mean?´and at that moment he gave us the charming middle finger. I had my camera in my hand, so I held it up and he gladley flipped us off again. Old Town was beautiful, with restaurants built into the cliffs, a really nice nice harbor and the historic castle walls. In the harbor we found more people selling tickets for boat tours. They were all offering basically the same thing, but we found a lady who gave us a discount because she said we look like students. Jackie is 29, Jonathan is 24, we are all finished with college, but I guess since I look like I´m 12 we were able to fool her. So, departure was at 10:30am the next morning and we were ready for some boating and some islands. The first island was small and we only had 45 minutes to check it out. We cooled off a bit in the water and then walked around a little before heading to the next island. our fresh fish lunch was served on the way and the wine pitchers were handed out :) The second island was bigger so we intended on exploring a little more, that didn´t happen. While going for a swim, we met another yellow lab and approached with caution. We found out her name is Meya and she is the social island dog. We ran around with her for a while and ended up at another swimming beach with a small slide. I don´t think kids should have all the fun, so we joined the 8 year olds, why not? We met these two little girls, ages 6 and 8 who can speak English, Croatian, Spanish, Catalan and French. Their mom is Candadian and their dad is Croatian. I tried to use some of my Spanish on her, but she had me beat. Even the way they spoke was really intelligent for their age. When we were leaving, we told their mom that was the most intelligent conversation we have had on this trip. She just laughed. Back on the boat for more vino and the third island. There were about 25 people on the boat, mostly older couples, but by the third island we made friends with a group of late 20 somethings from Romania. We entertained ourselves by flipping and diving off the end of the dock, again not managing to explore any of the island. After a fantastic day, we were dropped off back at the harbor and had to catch the bus back to our apartment. After every bus but ours (#10) went by, and Jonathan was falling asleep/passing out, we finally saw #10 approaching. Just our luck, it went right by us! Whyyy? I will never know. We ended up walking down to a food stand, since our fish and salad lunch 6 hours ago wasn´t really sticking to our ribs. We saw an entire parking lot of buses, one with #10 glowing in the window so we raced over to make sure we made it. So after over an hour waiting for bus#10, watching it fly by us, getting food, finding bus #10 just sitting in a parking lot, we were home and asleep by 10pm. Give me a break, it was a long day!

The next day we went to the bus station to start heading north. We heard of a port town, Dvrenik, that would be a good jumping off point to the island Hvar. We bought bus tickets and had about 2 hours to wait. We had our bags with us so we just sat at the bus station. We ended up talking to some Australians, Rich and Will, who said Dvrenik actually had really bad connections to Hvar and that getting a bus to the island Korćula first was better. So we discussed a bit, looked at our current tickets and realized our bus had left 30 minutes ago. Such idiots. We thought it left at 1:30, but it left at 1, so we were sitting right there in the bus terminal and missed our bus. We exchanged our tickets for Korćula, lost 10% on the first ticket since we missed it, and waited another hour and a half for the next bus. We met 8 more Aussies on the way, 4 guys (all friends), 4 girls (all friends). I am slowly turning into an Australian. When we arrived in Korćula, there were the swarms of people asking if we needed accommodation so the 13 of us got 3 apartments in the same building. We all made dinner in our own kitchens and ate together on the terrace, ahhh. It was really fun to have new people to hang out with. We played drinking games, got the police called on us and decided to wait until the next night to go out. The next day we rented two boats, 6 in one and 7 in the other. We would drive around for a while, stop and anchor so we could jump in for a swim, and then docked somewhere for lunch. Some people were doing back flips off the dock and while I am a master at front flips, I have never done a back flip. With some encouragement and two cameras on me, making it much easier of course, I attempted and completed my first back flip. Good fun! The wind picked up in the afternoon and we were going against the wind to get back. Our boat was tiny so every wave made a huge splash in the boat and we were getting drenched. We all looked like wet dogs by the time we got back. The last place we anchored I was too cold to swim so I just relaxed on the front of the boat while the boys dove into the water attemping to catch cans of beer. We strolled back to the apartment which was a beautiful walk along the sea, and got ready for dinner. Half the group cooked again, but the other 7 of us went out to dinner. After dinner we were off to find a bar. One thing I really like about the bars here is that everyone can stand out front on the sidewalks or alley ways with their drinks. So if the bar is packed, you can just stand outside which I like better because I don´t feel like I am being covered in cigarette smoke. The bars close around 2am and everyone heads to the one club in town. We danced a bit but decided to head back after about an hour. I think it was for the better because our ferry to Hvar was at 6am, so we packed our bags, slept for about 30 minutes and then it was back down to the harbor to catch our ferry annnnd back to sleep. The 4 Aussie friends (Jake, James, Rory and Chien) joined Jackie, Jonathan and I and an hour and a half later and we were in Hvar with more signs in our faces for rooms and apartments. All of us were a bit tired, why? oh, I don´t know..so the indecisiveness was in full force. Jackie went with someone to check out a place and James went with another. They both came back with an `eh´ but in the meantime we found another lady who seemed to have the best location. Chien went to look at it and came right back, while it took Jackie and James about 25 minutes. We crawled up the hill (the whole island is hills) and went back to sleep until 2pm. Well, Jackie, Jonathan and I woke up at 2, the guys slept until 6pm! We got some lunch, sat at the beach for a while and planned an excellent taco dinner. The guys met another Australian guy in Dubrovnik, probably 40something, who lives in Estonia and vacations in Croatia quite a bit. We ran into him in Hvar and he told us about a good bar/club called Carpe Diem, so after cooking up some good food at our apartment, we went down to the bar. I feel like in every place I´ve gone I have had an off night and an on night. This night was an off night. I just wasn´t in the mood to drink and party, but sleep sounded fantastic so that is what I did. The next day we took a water taxi out to a good swimming island, or so we were told. (Funny concept - we are on an island, Hvar, but people take water taxis out to other islands to swim, but we are already on an island!) Anyway, what I was saying about being told about the good swimming beach is that when we approached the dock all we could see was three naked men. We decided to walk to the other side of the island, but there was an entire colony of them! We tried to put the blinders on, and lasted about 2 hours, but enough was enough already. If anyone gets the Seinfeld quote, good job :) So, that night was an on night for me and we had a little pre-party at our place before going out. And by pre party i mean Jonathan and I challenging Jake and Chien to a shot-off. Sounded like a good idea at the time.. It´s been really fun and a change of pace getting our own apartments. It wouldn´t be as much fun if there were only two or three people, but we had seven so it was great. We had a good night out, but I was dreading the next day. I was leaving the group :( I had been with Jackie and Jonathan for 2 weeks and it was time to say goodbye. They walked me down to the ferry and we all shed a little tear together. I am going to see Jackie again in London and I might see Jonathan at Oktoberfest, so I think I´ll be okay. I took a ferry to Split and then caught a 5 hour bus to Zagreb where I had to change buses, except there weren´t any connecting buses, so they told me to go to the train station. They gave me HORRIBLE directions, but I finally found it and the last train to Ljubljana was leaving in 10 minutes. I made it and I´m here! Slovenia is beautiful and green, but it has been raining :( I guess I can´t have perfect weather for my entire trip. I will save Slovenia for next time because it´s bed time and I´m taking a bus to Budapest tomorrow. I love what I´m doing and I'm am excited for tomorrow and the next day and the next..

Yasou! or Hello in Greek

I had this great idea that if I blogged more often, like say once a week, then I wouldn't have to write as much and I wouldn't feel like I have too much to talk about, like now. Well, Greece has not allowed me to carry out this great idea. Instead, and much more importantly, I have been sun baking and meeting really great people, or should I say Australians. I had no clue the Greek Islands were 99% Aussies, but I'm not complaining because I have had an awesome time!

Before I flew to Greece, I had a quick but worthwhile weekend in Stockholm where I saw Kevin for a bit before his flight home and then hung out with Sara (who lives there). Stockholm is a beautiful city, the Old Town in particular. Everywhere you look there is water and even though it was a lot cooler there than Spain, it was a nice sunny weekend for me, which was actually a nice break from the intense heat. Sara and I went to the mall where I saw a 9 year old celebrity, some cool gadgets, such as a plastic case for a banana so it doesn't get squashed in your bag (genius!), and then made dinner back at her house. This is Sara´s cat and a tired Kelsey. The next day she moved about 4 hours north for school, so I got a hostel in Old Town and just walked around. Kevin had stayed at the same hostel a couple nights before and met a bunch of people so I thought it was a sure bet. Well, of course when I got there it was all grannies. Oh well, it was one night and then I was flying to Greece!

I landed in Athens pretty late but I had a hostel reserved so I wouldn't have to wander the streets. I met a guy, David (Australia), on the bus into town who was also on my same plane and we talked about our plans for the islands. We were both planning on heading to Santorini first, so we exchanged numbers and the next day met up at the travel agency to buy our boat tickets. We decided on an overnight boat because the slow boats take about 10 hours. So that day, we went to the Acropolis, had Greek salads and booked into what we didn't know at the time was the best hostel in Santorini :) We nearly missed our 10pm boat, the port is enormous and we got bad directions (as in, turn right out of the metro station when it was actually left) so if you can imagine me trying to run with my bags..well, just enjoy the thought for a while because it was a sight. We met Mike (New Zealand) and his Spanish girlfriend at the entrance to the boat who also had bad directions and ended up getting a taxi at gate E8, without knowing that our gate was E9. The taxi driver charged him 10 euros to coast from one gate to the next. I said, "you didn't pay that did you!?" He said at that point he was just happy to see the boat wasn't gone so yes, he paid. The four of us had a couple beers on the deck, trying to cool off after my evening jog and later found some chairs to curl up on and attempt to sleep. The next morning, with a sore neck and a bit groggy from lack of sleep, I could see Santorini. Mike and his girlfriend were staying at the same hostel as David and I, Hostel Anna. When we got off the boat we expected to catch a bus, but instead there was a smelly man waiting for us with a Hostel Anna sign and a bright orange Mercedes van. Glorious! This was the beginning of a wonderful time in Santorini. Also in the van was, Danielle (Aus.), a nice girl traveling on her own and a couple others. Waiting in line at the hostel to check in, we met Jonathan (Aus.), another solo traveler. We dropped our bags as soon as possible and David, Jonathan and I headed to Perissa Beach. I've never seen black sand before and it really isn't very impressive. It looks a bit like a parking lot so it takes away from the island feel. I got over it quickly and jumped in for a swim. Although, jumping in was also a bit of an issue because it wasn't sanding like we are used to, but instead slimmy slippery rock. It's pretty funny watching the topless women stumble out to sea, but I guess I wasn't any more stable with my top on. Lunch time was upon us and I wanted some traditional Greek food, so how about gyros? We went to a place called Grandma's, I know it doesn't sound very authentic, but Grandma knows how to make a gyro! We went back the next day. Since I never had a true Spanish siesta in Spain, I decided to try it out in Greece and I approve. That night in the computer room, a nice Swedish girl asked me a question and I could tell we were destined to be friends. The "hang out" area of the hostel is the front patio with tables and chairs, right along the main street in Perissa (the small town in Santorini where the hostel and the beach we went to are, if that was unclear). So David, Jonathan and our new Swedish friends, Ebba and Siri, played some cards and had a couple drinks. We all went down to the street along the beach to Question Mark Bar (weird name, I know) for a drink with Mike, Spanish gf (I apoligize, I never did understand her name), Bryan, Jackie, Danielle and Daniel. The next day it was back to the beach, this time with Ebba, Siri and David. I love swimming in the ocean and I will never be able to live anywhere without a body of water. We decided to go into Fira (Santorini's main city), for the sunset so we caught a bus around 4pm. We walked through the stereotypical narrow, cobblestone streets, browsed through some shops, had an amazing dinner, were blinded by the white buildings and enjoyed a sunset with an unobstructed view. We also saw donkey's trotting through the streets, so Greek! When we got back to the hostel we got a bottle of wine, met three more girls, sisters (Aus.) and the fun times began. We went out to Beach Bar and danced the night away. We had quite the circle going and then all of a sudden, Jonathan, who I hadn't seen all day, came bursting through the middle with Jackie, Bryan and Danielle not far behind. We never planned on meeting there, so even though Perissa is pretty small, there are a lot of clubs, which made it fun to run into people we knew after being in Santorini only one night. We were already feeling like locals, just kidding, all the locals just stand around the out outskirts of the dance floor and watch the silly foreigners. The bakeries in Santorini are open 24 hours, I have no clue why, but it came in handy for us. We stuck with Greek food even in the middle of the night and got these delicious spinach and feta pastries. A nice way to end the evening, but wait..Back at the hostel in our dungeon (a 30+ person dorm, downstairs so it stayed dark in the morning, and with air conditioning which is why it was so great) a few of us girls went to brush our teeth and the water came out a bit brown. One girl said, "oh, it's ok, I'll just let it run, it will clear up." It just started sputtering and the sink filled with brown water. GROSSS! Best 7 euro a night I've ever spent. The next morning the water was turned off, but they got it back and running (clear) again within an hour so. Back to the beach, slippery rocks and Grandma's. Siri and Ebba left that morning and Bryan left that afternoon so our group was becoming Jackie, Jonathan, David and me. I convinced everyone to go to the waterslide park that afternoon which consisted of two straight slides, one spiral slide, a kiddie pool with a ship and a normal pool. It also had a swim up bar which I have always wanted to experience but it wasn't open yet :( They had their doubts, but we ended up having a really good time, such a good time that we are still wearing our Santorini Waterpark wrist bands. That night at the hostel patio, we picked up one more Aussie, Swanny (his last name is Swan, but that's what he goes by). The five of us went to dinner together at a place right on the beach. At midnight it was one of the sister's birthdays so we celebrated and took another trip to the Beach Bar. That night was house/trance/electronic music which I'm not a huge fan of, so I stayed for a while, but bailed early. We had to get up early the next day anyway for Ios and I knew we would be partying on the "party island."

Jonathan, Jackie, David, Swanny and the American (me) caught a ferry to Ios and checked into our dog kennels. The hostel was right on the beach, with 3 pools, a bar, a game room, bungalows, tent camping, everything a young traveler could want. Jackie and I got a kennel to ourselves and made the 3 boys share the other one. When I say kennel, picture a small hut about as tall as me with two cots and a tiny door. Home sweet home. Ios was crazy, and apparently not as crazy as usual since the season is ending. After a nice nap on the beach in the afternoon, my mates and I got ready to hit the village. There are probably 30 or more bars and clubs in the tiny village. They are all pretty small, some are packed, some are completely empty, but since they are all so close together, we just hopped from place to place. We met some cool people on the bus into town and ended up hanging out with them for most of the night. Jackie and Jonathan started calling me `Nigel no Friends´ in Santorini as a joke, (I think..?) so they have taken a bunch of photos of me either by myself or surrounded by people I don´t know. It`s become a pretty funny photo taking task. So when I got separated from them at one point, I was hanging out with the group from the bus, but I heard `Nigel!` and I knew Jackie and Jonathan had found me! The last bus is at midnight, so we decided a walk home would be nice. We found a guy sleeping on the sidewalk on the main road and being the responsible people we are, took some photos with him. He was only wearing one sandal so I put the other one back on for him, I`m so nice. We tried to wake him up but he made an angry face like he didn´t want to be bothered, so we let him sleep. The next day Jonathan said something to these two guys at the hostel about their friend we saw sleeping on the sidewalk. I had no idea the passed out guy was staying at our hostel, so of course we had to show him the photos. He didn´t remember a thing poor guy, or maybe that was for the better. They were from England, finally some non Aussies! Just kidddding, as long as they aren´t American, I am happy meeting 100 Australians. Kidding again, I love Americans...but foreigners are more interesting to meet while traveling. So Ios was a quick two days and Jackie, Jonathan and I were ready to relax on another island sans partying. We decided on Naxos, not really sure why, but it´s on the way back to Athens and I don´t think you can go wrong in the Greek islands if your only requirement is the beach. We got in late, so we found a place to stay and had a nice, restful sleep. The next day we rented ATVs. SO MUCH FUN. We had them for 24 hours so we took them all over the place. Jonathan didn´t want to drive so he switched off riding with me or Jackie. Such a girl :) We exhausted those ATVs, literally, by taking them to the top of two big mountains. Jackie`s wouldn´t start so she coasted all the way back down, and it somehow started again. The second mountain we climbed was Mt. Zeus in search of Zeus´ cave. We parked the ATVs near the top and started walking. The trail ended but we knew it was up there somewhere. We were in flip flops, but climbed over rocks to get to the cave. Pretty impressive cave, Zeus was a lucky man, expcept the massive spiders were enough to make for a short visit. On the way back down there was a herd of mountain goats being summoned for dinner time. The old man asked us to wait to cross the path because we would scare them in the other direction. Once the last one passed we were able to start walking again, but a bunch of the goats had turned around and were coming in our direction. They seemed harmless and right when I asked ´so are these animals aggressive?´ two of the goats with the big curly horns reared up at each other and butt heads. Well, that answers my question! We jumped off the trail and watched these two hit their heads together for about 15 minutes. Back on the ATVs we found a nice beach to sit and watch the sunset. I think I doubled the amount of sunsets I have watched in my life in the 10 days I spent in Greece. The next day consisted of more lounging on the beach, I´m getting really good at it, and figuring out a plan after getting into Athens. I had my plan..Croatia. Jackie and Jonathan were a bit more unsure, but after much hype and a nail biting $420 plane ticket, we were all going to Croatia together!

Pictures:
1 Me at Sara´s house with her gato
2 Siri, me and Ebba (Swedes in Santorini)
3 Watching the sunset in Fira
4 David, Jonathan, Siri, Jackie (blue dress), Ebba, Bryan, me, Alex (the only local we met) out at Beach Bar
5 David, Jackie, Jonathan and I at the Santorini waterslide park!
6 Me on the beach in Ios
7 Haggared, leaving Ios, going to Naxos.
8 Me with the sunset, tried taking a couple but I was having a hard time smiling, so this is what I´m left with..
9 On top of the first mountain with the ATVs, this is what we found, lovely
10 Biker chicks!
11 Apollo´s Temple in Naxos with Jack Jack Jackie!

OMG Kevin!

My bus pulled into the Barcelona station at 7am. The last I heard from Kevin was that he was on standby for a flight that would get in at 7:50am. I was planning on meeting him at the airport, but first I had to go to the hostel to drop my bags. By 7:45 I was waiting for a bus that took about 40 minutes to get to the airport so I texted Kevin to see if he arrived, nothing; I texted my brother to see if he could check online for me about Kevin`s flight, nothing; I texted Tony, nothing. Ok, everyone got together and decided not to text me back, thanks! I got to the airport and saw the flight was delayed until 9:35. Well the a-hole at the hostel, trust me he was an a-hole (ask Kevin, he got to meet him too), told me to be back at the hostel at 11am SHARP to get a room. So that means, if Kevin doesn`t get in until 9:35, it takes him 30 minutes or longer to get through security, we wait for the bus that takes 40 minutes to get us back. Uh, yeah, that`s cutting the 11am deadline a little close. So I paced around the airport, hoping for a gust of wind to push Kevin`s plane along a little faster, read some trash celebrity magazine in the gift shop, found out Linsey Lohan aka LiLo is a lesbian, ditched that mag to read some stuff about Barcelona (much more appropriate), and axiously waited for Kevin at 9:35. A little premature, I know, but I was excited! The arrivals section of the Barcelona airport has automatic sliding doors, like a grocery store, except you can`t see through them. So every time they start to slide open, it`s like a celebrity is about to walk through. Not soon enough, Kevin made his appearance, with a look of ¨ayudame!¨ This means, help me! Since he never texted me back, I assumed he didn`t get my text and had no idea I was there waiting for him, well I was right, and he was relieved to see me. We jumped on the bus and made it back to the hostel to get a room. I`ll spare you the details on the receptionist, he was a..you know. So I guess I wasn`t receive any texts and mine weren`t sending, so it turned out that my friends didn`t start any conspiracy against me! Kevin and I headed straight for the beach and had a very realxing afternoon while he commented on every girl to me. I love being Kevin`s wingman, hah. Back at the hostel, we couldn`t help but notice the 2 for 1 happy hour that consisted of 2 litres, LITRES, of beer for 3 euro. Maybe it`s just me, but having 2 litres of beer sitting in front of you is a bit intmidating, so Kevin and I each drank one and then went back for our second. We met three guys from Birmingham, England who were going on a pub crawl that night. Well, I was feeling pretty happy after my beers and of course Kevin wanted to go out, so pub crawl it was. The organizer would take us to three bars and then a club. At the third bar they were telling everyone to go outside so we could walk to the club, but I couldn`t find Kevin. It was a small place and it wasn`t like he was hiding under a barstool (or was he?) so I was asking the organzier if she had seen him. She started to describe who she thought I meant, and after sort of agreeing that yes he is tall, and yes he is American (we were clearly doing a good job), she said he went back to the hostel. What!? Why would he leave without saying anything to me? Great, Kevin`s first time in Europe and he is probably lost somewhere in Barcelona. We had all just been talking about how we didn´t even know where our hostel was from that bar. I asked the girl how to get back and she said it was really close, so I practically ran back and Kevin wasn`t in the room. I ate some crackers and went to sleep. I was woken up a couple hours later by, yes, Kevin. Too tired to talk about the night, I went back to sleep and a couple hours later, now 11am (check out time), I tried waking Kevin up but it wasn`t happening. He just asked for a blanket. No Kevin, we have to check out and see if they have another room for us. See, when we were checking in the first night, we didn`t know if we were going to stay, so we had to check out at 11 the next day and check back in, if there was room. There was, we just had to change rooms and again, like idiots, we didn`t reserve a third night so the next morning we were doing the same thing. I realize now it would have been a lot less stress if on the first day we said, ¨we would like 3 nights, thank you. ¨ After Kevin finally got his act together :) we rented a scooter and zipped all around town. It was so much fun! We ended up on some one way streets and a taxi/bus lane only, but hey, we´re still alive. Before we knew it, it was happy hour again, so we met our English buds and started on our litres. That night we had a couple propositions for some parties, such as: six clubs with a pool in the middle, it`s going to be awesome! Hmm..not too sure about that one. We ended up just going out on our own and it was fantastic. We went to the same club that they went to the night before. You know, when I ran home to find Kevin, but he was already halfway to the last stop on the pub crawl, the club. So it was new to me, and it was super duper. The next day Kevin and I dragged ourselves to the beach again but it was a little cloudy and plus, happy hour was nearing again. See, this is what I mean about wasting the entire day. We got home at 6am, slept until 11 when I had to figure out if we could stay another night, took showers, got going around 1, ate, scootered, beached, and now it`s 5:30 and happy hour is at 6. What did I do with that day? Absolutely nothing, which should be fantastic since I`m on vacation, but for some reason it`s worse when my body hates me for drinking 2 litres or more of beer and the sitting around until I do it again. Anyway, the third and last night in Barcelona was another pub crawl and this time I wasn`t running home. This picture captures the guy`s favorite saying of the weekend, or whatever days I was there. If you have seen Borat you can appreciate, ¨no no gypsy, do not play your tricks on me.¨The other picture is a reinactment of the night before at the same Irish Bar, with a very Harlequin-like band, where Andy split his rum and coke on me from across the table about 37 seconds before going to the club. Nicely done Mr. Williamson! Kevin had a great time with Andy, Paul and Rick (our English amigos), who were not shy to join in on the making fun of Kelsey routine. They love making fun of the American accent by saying ¨oh my god,¨ so every time they would make fun of me it would involve, ¨oh my god Kevin,¨ and me nagging him about something. It was all in good fun, right? :) It`s so great meeting people from other lands and really hanging out with them rather than just the small talk, ¨where are you from? Where are you traveling to? Why are you traveling? Ok, have a nice life.¨

Next stop, San Sebastian, a food lovers paradise! Kevin and I painfully sat through a 7 hour bus ride and got in around 10pm. We started walking to the hostel that was recommended to us (except again, like idiots, we didn`t have a reservation) and there were thousands of people in the streets and everyone was eating gelato. We wanted to ditch our bags and join the festivities, but it wasn`t that easy. We got to the hostel and I asked if Tony had been there yet, because he was getting in before us. The guy say no way jose, but he does have two beds for us, and then..gunshots! Ok no, it was just fireworks. The guy ran up to the roof to watch the show and we stood there trying to figure out how we were going to find Tony. We told him we didn`t want the two beds because we needed three and asked where the internet cafe was. First step in the door to get on the internet and find Tony, and Tony himself is sitting at one of the computers. Shoot! He was on facebook, writing me a message, hah. He said he got in around 5 and was just walking around. I guess August 15th is a huge holiday so all week long they celebrate Semana Grande (Big Week). Tony said he found a place outside of the old town so we stayed there the first night, but spend hours the next day finding a new place. We turned our brains on and reserved the third and fourth night at a hostel inside old town for Tony and I, since Kevin was leaving for Sweden. Semana Grande was pretty fun, just super crowded and a lot of weird druggy people around. There is a guy who, to make money, sets up a board on two legs and puts nails in the board and gives you 4 chances to hammer the nail all the way in. It costs 3 euros and he gives you a litre mixed drink if you do it, and I thought litre beers were intimidating. We watched a couple guys do it but they were so drunk they either missed or just bent it sideways. We discussed how much this guy actually made in a night and decided it must be worth it to him to stand there all night dealing with drunk people and probably go home with less than 25 euros, after the cost of alcohol. This snazzy little place was exactly that, little! But, we did have a TV that played family guy in Español, bonus points. So the day Kevin was leaving, Tony and I moved to our new location in old town and met a girl from Germany. She accompanied us to the beach and at that moment I knew we were best friends. Joking, but she was a nice girl. On our last night we got pinxos (like tapas) so I could get to true feel for a night out to eat in Spain and bought a bottle of the local fizzy wine that they drink after the pixos. We went back to the hotstel and hung out with Kathi (German), and Jackie, a girl from Australia. The next day I said au revoir, or adios to Tony and headed to the bus station to close my eyes and point at the map. I was actually planning an overnight bus to Valencia, but there weren`t any that night, so I took a bus to Zaragoza, spend the night there, and the next day I made it to Valencia. I spent two nigths here, went to the beach yesterday, got some good bocadillos (mini sandwiches), practiced my speed walking a bit and I`m getting out of here this afternoon before all the crazies come in for the formula racing. I have a flight to Stockholm, Sweden where I will be reunited with Kevin, but my main reason for going is to see Sara. Sorry Kevin but it`s not like you came all the way to Europe to see me when you can meet all the foreign girls you want, let`s be honest. My 3 month traveling anniversary was two days ago, that means I have two more months of whatever it is I`m doing out here. I feel like the average age of travelers is 19, but I guess the 92 year old granny that was at my hostel in Panama brings that average up quite a bit :)

I almost booked with Spanair out of Madrid, this was before the bad news of course. I am flying with Ryanair out of Valencia leaving at 7:30 tonight (Aug 22), arriving at 11:30 in Stockholm (Skavsta Airport). Can`t say I`m thrilled about jumping on a plane today. Yeahh..so this is awkward. Ok, ciao!