Day 3 - Bus-ing About
We got on the bus in the morning and drove to a small town in Switzerland called Lauterbrunnen. That actually sums up the entire day.
Day 4 - Waterfall Explosion
This day was very nice. I woke up in the morning and my first visit was to the near-by waterfall. At first I thought it looked like a nice easy walk, but then it became really steep and by the end of it, I was completely stuffed. Any way I made it, except I couldn't go to the top, but I could sort of be behind the waterfall yet I couldn't reach it. Really sucked. Even more I couldn't get to the base because it was on private property.
I then went on to start walking around and got down eventually to another waterfall where I had to pay 11 Swiss Francs and then I was able to see 8 waterfall, but even more they were inside a cave. It was actually pretty awesome, and by the time I made it to the top waterfall, I was inside and it was so loud, I couldn't hear myself talk.
That was most of the day. I spent some time in a cafe, bought a book and went down to a small river part. Eventually made it back to camp and sat around with others, while they drank and stuff and just hung out.
Day 5 - Another Bus Adventure
This bus day was a drive to the French town of Nice. It was horrible. I would try to read my book and we would drive through a tunnel. I was close to screaming out of frustration. However that night we had dinner and I sat with Wendy, Emily and Bel and had a proper conversation and stuff. It was nice. We then went onto a place called Wayne's Bar and it was great. Except we were in the "pit" with a Contiki tour group, they were utterly smashed and the live music was incredibly loud. But still great night.
Day 6 - Lazy France
This day was kind of awesome. I walked down to the beach, climbed a tower to get a fantastic view and then down to the beach to sit around for hours reading and being served food and drink.
That night we drove to Monaco and went to a Monte Carlo casino. I played with 40 Euro. I started with poker against the dealer in which he didn't fully explain and I lost 30 Euro. Then I went and learnt how to play craps. My God it is so much fun. I broke even. Then earned some more, then lost it. Then I was the roller and wow, I made so much money. Except it was for everyone else on the table. However I still feel great in that they were all cheering for me and had fun.
Day 7 - Buus!
We drove to Florence. Went past the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Really, seeing a picture of it is enough for me. Then made it to Florence where not much happened.
Now I am bored of writing about this trip, so you have to wait. Again. Because I'm kool like that.
Yeah.
Spectacular Mistake
Blogging life as it moves along
Topdeck Tour Highlights
Well well well, the Topdeck tour of 2011 was just pure amazing. I have one of the greatest times of my life and I am going to recommend to every person I meet that they find the time to do any trip overseas, because you will meet the greatest people in the world, make friendships that will last till the end of time and just see the world. While it does look that same to home at times, it doesn't matter because the environment itself is just so different and new. And yes you will feel like a fool in all these places when you can't understand a thing anyone is saying, but who cares.
Oh and second thing I will point out is to take a friend. It doesn't necessarily have to be a super close friend, but take a friend so that the fist day is not so daunting. But make sure the friend is outgoing. You have to be outgoing on these trips or, like me, you take like a week to make friends with people who you aren't sharing a room with.
But enough about the tours it self, I will now try my best to do a summary of my tour. There will be things that I have forgotten, or I don't think worth mentioning. There will also be things that I do mention, and you will want to hit me out of boredom from reading the dribble that I create. Either way this is how I choose to represent my trip.
Day 1 - The Grand Start:
That night's sleep was crap but I get up and go into the lobby and stand awkwardly among all the people and bags downstairs. Then a small woman comes up to me and introduces herself to me as Bec, my new tour leader. Soon after we move to the bus and drive to Dover. Skip to Dover, get on the boat and get to Calais.
So far so good, haven't really spoken to anyone, read the paper on the boat and was now waiting for the bus to arrive. During the wait a bird craps on my shoulder. Nice welcome. The bus eventually arrives, I get on, and like all kool kids go to sit at the back, and yes there is a seat. We drive to Paris. During the trip I meet Sudong, Philip and Angela, mostly thanks to the work of Bec who made like a forced introduction. I am eternally grateful to her for that. We get to Paris, check in and go for a night driving tour. Then back home and to bed.
Day 2 - Parisian Adventure:
I walked around by myself a lot. I know it sounds lonely and stuff like that, but it is what I do, I just explore in my own time and visit what I want. I remember seeing Notre Dame, The Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, Champs de Lycee, Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. The Luxembourg Gardens is my favourite place from the entire trip. They provide chairs, the garden is beautiful and I fell in love with it. That night was picnic dinner with the group. That was incredibly confronting because I really didn't know anyone and had to sit with other people. Thankfully God created Bel, Emily, Wendy and Kelsey who I sat with and chatted with. That night the group went to either a river cruise or a cabaret show. I just walked off and saw the Opera House and Madeline building. Then went back and went to sleep.
Time for a cliffhanger. It turns out writing this much takes a lot of energy, and I have had a really long day. So I am going to leave it at that for now and do some more later.
Oh and second thing I will point out is to take a friend. It doesn't necessarily have to be a super close friend, but take a friend so that the fist day is not so daunting. But make sure the friend is outgoing. You have to be outgoing on these trips or, like me, you take like a week to make friends with people who you aren't sharing a room with.
But enough about the tours it self, I will now try my best to do a summary of my tour. There will be things that I have forgotten, or I don't think worth mentioning. There will also be things that I do mention, and you will want to hit me out of boredom from reading the dribble that I create. Either way this is how I choose to represent my trip.
Day 1 - The Grand Start:
That night's sleep was crap but I get up and go into the lobby and stand awkwardly among all the people and bags downstairs. Then a small woman comes up to me and introduces herself to me as Bec, my new tour leader. Soon after we move to the bus and drive to Dover. Skip to Dover, get on the boat and get to Calais.
So far so good, haven't really spoken to anyone, read the paper on the boat and was now waiting for the bus to arrive. During the wait a bird craps on my shoulder. Nice welcome. The bus eventually arrives, I get on, and like all kool kids go to sit at the back, and yes there is a seat. We drive to Paris. During the trip I meet Sudong, Philip and Angela, mostly thanks to the work of Bec who made like a forced introduction. I am eternally grateful to her for that. We get to Paris, check in and go for a night driving tour. Then back home and to bed.
Day 2 - Parisian Adventure:
I walked around by myself a lot. I know it sounds lonely and stuff like that, but it is what I do, I just explore in my own time and visit what I want. I remember seeing Notre Dame, The Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, Champs de Lycee, Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. The Luxembourg Gardens is my favourite place from the entire trip. They provide chairs, the garden is beautiful and I fell in love with it. That night was picnic dinner with the group. That was incredibly confronting because I really didn't know anyone and had to sit with other people. Thankfully God created Bel, Emily, Wendy and Kelsey who I sat with and chatted with. That night the group went to either a river cruise or a cabaret show. I just walked off and saw the Opera House and Madeline building. Then went back and went to sleep.
Time for a cliffhanger. It turns out writing this much takes a lot of energy, and I have had a really long day. So I am going to leave it at that for now and do some more later.
It's all over now
My trip has finished. I am back at the Clink 78 and my trip has finished. Now I know that I have barely written about my trip, but it became a chore, and chores are not fun. hence I stopped writing on the blog. However when I am James and Julie's place I will take the time to write out the highlights of each of the places I visited. But still. It's over. I actually don't want it to end. Saying goodbye sucks.
Oh Geez!
Well I haven't been here in a while, not since Switzerland, so I think some dot points are in order:
- Took the bus to Nice, it was boring
- (Day in Nice) Went to the beach
- Forgot money and had to walk back to hotel
- Walked to beach
- Walked up stairs to get awesome view
- Chilled on beach
- Chilled on the beach for a few hours and was served drinks and food (It was beautiful)
- Went back to hotel to get ready to go to Monaco and Monte Carlo
- Learnt how to play craps (My God it is SO much fun!)
- Lost 40 Euro, but was worth it
- (Bus Day to Florence) Was so boring
- We stopped at Pisa
- Saw the leaning tower, not as impressive as I thought it would be
- Arrived in Florence and had dinner and stuff like that
- (Day in Florence) Had a walking tour
- It would have been a great one if I could have heard the lady, but alas it was still good
- Chilled
- Walked around
- Found a Garden Museum thing which was beautiful
- Would go back there again
- Chilled in internet cafe
- Found dinner place
- Jersey Shore walked past
- Went home
- (Bus to Rome)
- Boring as all hell
- Arrived in Rome in the afternoon
- Went on walking tour which was good, learnt a bit and also already knew a bit
- I was impressed that I knew anything at all
- Came home
- (Today)
- Not in Rome because I am going to come back myself and stay closer to the city
- Just relaxing, doing washing and being happy
- And yeah!
Switzerland
So today, I got up and didn't really wake up for a good hour. I was a wee bit tired. Then I eventually got up to have some breakfast and begin my stroll. I went to one waterfall, then walked for about 2 hours, and eventually got back to the Trumbennal (or something like that) falls. They were falls inside the mountain. It was incredibly loud, and I could barely hear myself talk; and I have good hearing.
Then I did some more walking, chilled in a cafe, traded The Lost Symbol for The Talented Mr Ripley. I then moved onto exploring some more eventually made my way to a river. It was gorgeous and I could spend all day there just chilling in a seat with a good book, sort of how I felt about the Luxembourg Gardens.
Then it was sitting around the river at the camping site with a bunch of people from the Topdeck group. Overall it is a good day. Tomorrow is another bus day.
Yay for me.
Then I did some more walking, chilled in a cafe, traded The Lost Symbol for The Talented Mr Ripley. I then moved onto exploring some more eventually made my way to a river. It was gorgeous and I could spend all day there just chilling in a seat with a good book, sort of how I felt about the Luxembourg Gardens.
Then it was sitting around the river at the camping site with a bunch of people from the Topdeck group. Overall it is a good day. Tomorrow is another bus day.
Yay for me.
Lack of internet!
So I haven't had much luck with the internet lately. Which is a bit of a massive pain, because it means I haven't posted about what has been going on the last few days, so I'm not going to write paragraphs, instead I am going to do it in dot point form and just say the interesting stuff:
- Had terrible sleep in hostel
- Woke up and joined the group on the bus
- Went to the Ferry
- Rode 90 mins to France
- Waited for bus
- Bird crapped on shoulder within one hour of being in France
- Drove into Paris
- Got to Paris and saw it was a little dirty, but not as bas as expected
- Had dinner
- Had tour around Paris at night time
- It was alright, but photos were shotty
- Went home and slept
- (Day 2) Got up
- Had Breakfast
- Grabbed bag and started walking
- Caught Metro to Gare Du L'Est
- Walked to Notre Dame
- Walked to Pantheon
- Walked to Luxembourg Gardens (So beautiful and relaxing)
- Chilled there and read my book (The Lost Symbol)
- Caught Metro to Musee d'Orsey
- Walked to Lourve
- Walked to Champs d'Lysee
- Walked to Arc de Triomph
- Walked to Eiffel Tower
- Chilled there and read more of book
- Found Topdeck group for dinner
- Caught Metro to Opera House
- Walked to Madeline Church
- Caught Metro home
- Slept
- (Day 3) Got up and had breakfast
- Put bags in bus
- Drove to Switzerland with stops at various servo stations
- On the way introduced self
- Arrived in switzerland
- Had "Welcome Shot"
- It wasn't nice
- Had dinner
- Slept
- (Day 4) (Today) Had breakky
- Got internet
- Typed on blog.
So yeah that is what I have been getting up to. Now about photos, I am not going to take many, cause really, they don't look that great, and the ones that do, you can buy on post cards and stuff. But I will get photos with Clive when ever I can.
So yeah, later.
It is darkest before the dawn
I am all alone now. Mum, Dad and Daisy have gone off to their hotel and tomorrow night they fly out back home. And here I am, at the Clink 78, in their internet courtroom, on my borrowed comptuer, typing this out.
Well this morning we all woke up and packed all the gear together, most of it was left unpack, and we got back from Colin and Jill's rather late last night. So after packing all up we made out way to the ferry to find out, even though we had a flexi ticket, it was booked for 8am and we had missed out boat. At that point I was rather scared cause he said there was no stand-bys, meaning we might not get on the ferry. Luckily he was able to get us on the 12:30 boat.
20 minutes later and we were on the mainland and begun the 2 and a half hour journey into London. Though mind you, by the time it had ended it was more like 3 hours if not more. So much traffic in London. Honestly, we in Perth think that driving is bad, I have already seen two major accidents and I have only been here two weeks.
Well anyway we eventually made it and I checked in and then we all went for a drink. It was meant to actually be afternoon tea, but Dad's back was stuffed, and the only close and open place was a bar, that only served drinks by a very grumbly bar lady.
Then it was time to say goodbye. It was emotional. Enough said.
I was then going to hop on a computer, but it was too busy, so I just went for what I thought was going to be a small walk, which turned into an hour walk. Pretty boring, but I got some exercise. Now I am back in the computer area typing this out and "talking" to all my friends and other people reading this. I think my family will now start to read this, so better stop spreading rumours about them. Mum and Dad, if you actually are reading this, that is a joke. Hope you get it.
I think I should get off now. The facebook page said that the people from our tour would meet up in the bar at 8, so that is an hour away, but I can just chill in my room and sort out my stuff, maybe charge my phone so that I can get up in time for my tour tomorrow.
Now that the family has gone back, I am starting to miss everyone. It sucks, but soon I will have new friends (hopefully) and I will be set. Bye. Tell me that you miss me. Makes me feel better. But not here. On Facebook. Now. Go.
Please?
Well this morning we all woke up and packed all the gear together, most of it was left unpack, and we got back from Colin and Jill's rather late last night. So after packing all up we made out way to the ferry to find out, even though we had a flexi ticket, it was booked for 8am and we had missed out boat. At that point I was rather scared cause he said there was no stand-bys, meaning we might not get on the ferry. Luckily he was able to get us on the 12:30 boat.
20 minutes later and we were on the mainland and begun the 2 and a half hour journey into London. Though mind you, by the time it had ended it was more like 3 hours if not more. So much traffic in London. Honestly, we in Perth think that driving is bad, I have already seen two major accidents and I have only been here two weeks.
Well anyway we eventually made it and I checked in and then we all went for a drink. It was meant to actually be afternoon tea, but Dad's back was stuffed, and the only close and open place was a bar, that only served drinks by a very grumbly bar lady.
Then it was time to say goodbye. It was emotional. Enough said.
I was then going to hop on a computer, but it was too busy, so I just went for what I thought was going to be a small walk, which turned into an hour walk. Pretty boring, but I got some exercise. Now I am back in the computer area typing this out and "talking" to all my friends and other people reading this. I think my family will now start to read this, so better stop spreading rumours about them. Mum and Dad, if you actually are reading this, that is a joke. Hope you get it.
I think I should get off now. The facebook page said that the people from our tour would meet up in the bar at 8, so that is an hour away, but I can just chill in my room and sort out my stuff, maybe charge my phone so that I can get up in time for my tour tomorrow.
Now that the family has gone back, I am starting to miss everyone. It sucks, but soon I will have new friends (hopefully) and I will be set. Bye. Tell me that you miss me. Makes me feel better. But not here. On Facebook. Now. Go.
Please?
Royal Mail: The Enemy
Well my dear friend Betty, is being stalked by Australia Post. And you know, since coming over to the UK, I have really begun to understand her pain. I am being stalked by Royal Mail, the UK equivilant of Australia Post.
Every day I have been here, I have either seen them making a door to door delivery just by foot, or by bicycle, or I have seen a van or truck. It wasn't that much of a big deal at first, but it is becoming rather serious.
Today I got the biggest scare of all. I had seen my usual three Royal Mail representatives, but then I saw a fourth, and a fifth. I thought that they were beginning to close in on me and strike me down. So I decided to go for a walk, you know, blend in and all. Well as I am walking along, I am seeing Royal Mail more and more and more. It turns out, I was walking into enemy territory.
I was walking past the Mount Pleasant Royal Mail Service centre. There was over a hundred vechiles in the parking lot and I believe I have seen over 150 Royal Mail representatives today. Thankfully I leave on my tour tomorrow morning and will be safe from all the Royal Mail.
Phew.
Every day I have been here, I have either seen them making a door to door delivery just by foot, or by bicycle, or I have seen a van or truck. It wasn't that much of a big deal at first, but it is becoming rather serious.
Today I got the biggest scare of all. I had seen my usual three Royal Mail representatives, but then I saw a fourth, and a fifth. I thought that they were beginning to close in on me and strike me down. So I decided to go for a walk, you know, blend in and all. Well as I am walking along, I am seeing Royal Mail more and more and more. It turns out, I was walking into enemy territory.
I was walking past the Mount Pleasant Royal Mail Service centre. There was over a hundred vechiles in the parking lot and I believe I have seen over 150 Royal Mail representatives today. Thankfully I leave on my tour tomorrow morning and will be safe from all the Royal Mail.
Phew.
Today I got up nice and casually, had some breakfast, and just all together chilled. Then we eventually left the house and grabbed my note from the doctor's for my French trip, then to Newtown, the Needles (which we didn't actually see) and then to Great Uncle Colin and Great Aunt Jill's house.
Not posting too much tonight, because I'm a little stuffed.
Not posting too much tonight, because I'm a little stuffed.
Carpeted Bathrooms
Now normally I would be posting about what I have done today. However before I make the usual post I need to have a little rant. It isn't anything major or anything, but it is just really weird.
Carpeted bathrooms.
Bathrooms where instead of a wooden floor, or a tiled floor, it is carpet. They couldn't have just put a rug in there or something, but no, it is completely carpeted. That is what it is like here on the Isle of Wight and the same in Blackpool.
Weird.
Carpeted bathrooms.
Bathrooms where instead of a wooden floor, or a tiled floor, it is carpet. They couldn't have just put a rug in there or something, but no, it is completely carpeted. That is what it is like here on the Isle of Wight and the same in Blackpool.
Weird.
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