We woke up around 6am (we actually slept pretty good considering it was in the airport) and had breakfast after we had checked in our bags. We finally got on the plane around 10:30 and Jesse and I watched movies/played games the whole way. Once we got to Newark, we had to rush to get through customs and then through security before boarding our next flight to Minneapolis. However, we found out that our plane was delayed 2 hours, so we had some time to grab a bit to eat and relax. But it turns out that this delay was extended [View Full Entry]

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We had to wake up early again today in order to check out of our room and so we went back to the Jumbo Wrap place for another delicious breakfast (this time I got the sausage and egg breakfast wrap). We then made our way to Victoria Station to buy or day passes for the tube and our train ticket to the Gatwick Airport. On the way there, we saw the Buckingham Palace guards as they were leaving the military station and we got a really good view of them (as most tourists wait for them right in front of the [View Full Entry]

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We had to wake up early today because we had to check out of our room and move into a different one. We then went back to Jumbo Wrap and had breakfast there, which was absolutely delicious and cheap!! It came with toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, beans and coffee for only 4 pounds! After that, we relaxed in Green Park, which is right by Buckingham Palace and waited around there until we could check back into our new room. Once we got settled into our room, we all took a nap and then got ready to go on another free walking [View Full Entry]

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Jesse and I woke up around 9 this morning and walked around trying to find an ATM (it turns out that this is harder than we expected), so we gave up and just found a cafe that would accept credit cards. We had eggs and coffee and then grabbed a smoothie on the way back to the hostel. Lauren was going to do some laundry, while Steve and Karin went to get breakfast, so Jesse and I headed out to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It turns out that we were not the only ones with this [View Full Entry]

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We checked out of the hostel by 10:30 and stored our luggage there while we relaxed in the nearby park for a few hours. We then got our luggage and rode the bikes back to the train station... this was a bit of a challenge considering we all had our huge packs on and we had to travel through the busier parts of Amsterdam along the way. We finally made it back, returned our bikes and bought our tickets to the Amsterdam airport via train. Once we got to the airport, we had some lunch (at Burger King... how European!) and [View Full Entry]

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We woke up early today and took advantage of the free breakfast at the hostel. By 10:00 we were out the door and on our way to find a place to rent some bikes (it is the thing to do in Amsterdam). We walked by the Anne Frank house, but decided to come back later because the line was a bit long. We rented some bikes by the train station, and took a ferry across the river to check out some of the countryside. We biked along the canals and had some lunch on a bridge while enjoying the scenery. Lauren [View Full Entry]

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We tried to sleep in, but sharing a room with a ton of other people makes that difficult, so by 10:30 we were forced to get up so the hostel crew could clean the room... Karin and Steve had left to do their own thing, so Jesse, Lauren and I walked toward a market that was a lot like a flea market (random goods, clothes, and jewelry). Both Jesse and Lauren bought a vintage biking jersey and after we looked through all the stalls we made our way back to the hostel. We changed rooms and took a quick nap before [View Full Entry]

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We woke up early and headed to the train station via metro. Jesse and I had some breakfast at the train station (I had to get my fill of chocolate croissants before leaving France) and we were on the train by 9:30. The train ride went by really fast because we all slept the whole way and it was a direct ride from Paris to Amsterdam. By 1:30 we were in Amsterdam and we found a map and the tram and made our way to the hostel. We ended up getting lost (and it was raining, so this made for some [View Full Entry]

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We slept in for a while today because we were all exhausted from yesterday. We left around 11:00 to find a Saturday market happening in the plaza right next to our hotel. We decided to walk around a bit and we ended up getting some fresh sausages and Nutella crepes for breakfast (healthy, I know!) and I found a few other things to bring back home (it's a surprise though!) We then got on the metro and headed toward a nice park on the other side of Paris and we walked around here (Jesse and Lauren had photo competitions on who [View Full Entry]

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We took our time getting up this morning and Lauren and I decided to head out for a few hours to find a market on the other side of Paris. On the way, we enjoyed some chocolate croissants and milk for my birthday breakfast and then took the metro and walk to the market. It wasn't as big as we were expecting it to be, but it was neat to see a different part of Paris. We then walked toward a large cemetary where Jim Morrison's grave is, but the cemetary was so big that we couldn't really find our way [View Full Entry]

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