Category: Traveling

My usual method of planning a trip is to make absolutely no reservations and simply pick a few things that I must do while I am in the area that I am going to. For my European two month train journey with a rag tag bunch of friends, this list included; visit Rikard in Sweden, start in England, run with the bulls, try and goto the olympics in Greece, stay with friends in X, Y, and Z. This is always a loose list and liable to change. A last minute addition to this list came from a long lost friend from high school who randomly got a hold of me and suggested I visit her in Siena Italy and if possible, arrive on these specific dates to watch the Palio. I had no idea what the Palio was, but it was a welcome respite to stay with someone after being in hostels for ages so in a very warm August, we arrived in Siena.

So as I stumble through life trying to make sense of what exactly it is that I am trying to accomplish, I absolutely love hearing…

I left Charles in Izmir for a three day galabant through two Greek islands called Chios and Samos. These islands were filled with extremely dangerous moped driving, investigative journalism sneaking around the coast guard finding wet back packs with Somalian photographs in it, drinking really cheap wine and eating pork which does not exist in Turkey, and generally good times. I landed back on Turkish soil and boarded an eleven hour night bus that would drop me off in Istanbul at 7am. The over night was not so bad minus the guy next to me who had no problem leaning his head on the crook of my shoulder. My first day in Istanbul was not as bad as it could have been thanks to Charles’ amazing friend Gizem who saved me from carrying my heavy backpack and also got us tickets to the final Galatasaray game that night.

In a previous blog about the worst night I have ever had, I briefly mentioned something about the ping pong show that I went to and I realize that might have sounded extremely sleazy to some of you. I think I have only been to 4 strip clubs in my time, and received only one lap dance which pretty much put me off paying for lap dances for the rest of time. But if the ping pong shows came to this part of the world, I would be gathering up my friends and telling them to dress up, put their goggles on, and get ready for a rager of a night. The sheer talent possessed by these girls is enough to make any one weep with joy. Here is how I wept…

It was close to the half way point during our Europe trip and we were all feeling a little weary. We needed a little rest and relaxation so we headed to Sweden. Sweden is mysteriously not included on the eurorail route but our method around that was to just not buy tickets. The only problem with this is that you are on a train with assigned seats and you will need to move maybe a dozen times or more during the trip from Denmark to Stockholm. This wouldn’t be so bad normally, as long as the people are friendly which they definitely are in Sweden, except for the fact that we had just slept in the park in Copenhagen playing a derivative of bat spin relay and we were very tired and slightly perturbed every time someone woke us up. We did try to play a game of chess with a home made chess board and pieces out of paper which was ruined with a single cough. Or was it a sneeze?

One day, a kangaroo, a lemur, and a parrot decide to go to a Boca Juniors soccer game in Buenos Aires. They had heard that a game was being played against a team named Hurucan, a relatively weak opponent. They had also heard that to go to a Boca game without camouflage and a 90 liter backpack filled with all the usual necessities of walking through the amazon, it meant certain death or severe maiming. This story attempts to follow these three through their experience and try to make it clear to the curious gringo of how to enjoy this Experience.

Something I learned traveling around Europe and will never forget is the fact that it is Never a good idea to stay up all night to avoid staying in a hotel or catching some early morning event like a train or a race. Well this story is a tale of a group of travelers about to leave Sweden on a 6am train and have decided to stay up all night to avoid the ludicrous exchange rate of the Swedish Kroner.

A short distance from Buenos Aires is the small little country of Uruguay. Widely known as the most popular vacation spot for all the Argentinos as well as an easy hop, skip, and a jump for travelers to extend their visa duration. I convinced my traveling companion, B, to join me as we embarked on what ended up being a 1500 km road trip around the south-eastern heel of the country. As usual I made no prior arrangements and was really only armed with stories and suggestions that I had heard from people I had talked to. These stories mostly consisted of “Everything is booked and you will not find anywhere to stay.” and other methods of saying pretty much the same thin since it was the high season.