http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Sarah-B-and-Sarah-S/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Sarah B and Sarah S en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:08:04 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:08:04 +0000 Well this morning we left Plovdiv to head back to Sofia. After the usual train fun we have come to enjoy really how can you call a train 'express' when its 30 minutes late we made it back to Sofia or as they call it here squiggle. Sofia bored us before there was little to do and were here purely because the plane happens to be here. Were stopping in a different hostel this second time a p http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/West/Sofia/blog-417760.html Well we are in our final country and final stop of the trip. We are in a place called Plovdiv about 3 hours from Sofia where we were yesterday and where we will be tomorrow for our fight on Monday. Sofia was odd it didnt seem like a capital city not helped by the fact we arrived there at 6am. There was little to see which we knew would be the case. We went to see a cathedral and a crypt which http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-417431.html Ok so we've already left but we wanted it on the little map thing. Currently in Bulgaria where there are yet more thunder storms and mosquitos which are eating us alive. we call them Dracula. Arrived via night train last night and got to the hostel at around 6.30 am our time this morning half 4 for you. Managed to check in and get a few hours sleep for a small extra charge They also gave us b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Muntenia/Bucharest/Gara-de-Nord/blog-417118.html Well an eventful weekend. We found a Matt at Budapest airport and also managed to find our hotel two successes. We had booked a 3star hotel over in Buda a tram ride away from the city. After dumping our stuff at the hotel we went for food and tried to eat food outside before the heavens opened forcing us inside. There was much beer in funny shaped bottles for Matt and pretty drinks for me http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-415775.html At request here is a blog post P Written by SS SB is doing something more exciting like sleepingWe are in Zagreb Croatia. Today was the worst day expected for me SS as my degree results were being puiblished and this hostel has one computer which is usually occupied. Therefore I got up early to steal it. Obviously there was then the time change which meant I had to check my results at http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Central-Croatia/Zagreb/blog-414148.html Anyway we never updated this in Salzburg which is where we were before here. We travelled via Salzburg pretty much for the sole reason of going on a Sound of Music tour. We spent about half a day doing this with the most terrifying lady I have met in my life. At 9am she was horrifically bubbly and bouncy and this started to grate after about five minutes or so. Some of the tour stops were prett http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Ljubljana/blog-413333.html Today there was sun. wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooFive minutes of sun and I am burnt SS.Next time we see sun she should wear sun cream. Though to be fair we hadnt got much of a reason to expect sun. The sun lasted around 5 hours. WooToday we went to see a big building called Schnbrunn Palace. It is huuuuuuuuuuge. Apparently according to SB it has thoooousands of rooms. 1441. Were not http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-412235.html Well then we made it to Vienna only an hour late The trains have been awful the last few days For some reasons the two seats we booked were also behind each other so we got to ignore each other for five hours or so.We had planned to camp in Vienna. We had looked at the forecast and see that 'tshowers' were predicted no worries Yeah we arrived to what can only be described as 'torrential' r http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-411931.html Well we're not in Prague anymore but in Vienna I SB wanted to put the czech republic on the travel map. The day started well we arrived only 2.5 hrs late after an interesting night on a night train witzh a very scary guard. The people in our carriage arrived cried and left which made us feel so special. Prague however was very pretty if a little damp. We decided we wanted to go to Prague Ca http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/Old-Town/blog-411926.html Well the sun lasted all of one day and its raining again. Raining for two weeks what did we do to deserve this Krakow is nice but the hostel was rubbish and we nearly got run over by a tram. The hostel was rubbish for a variety of reasons that we shall summarise Had to pay by cash but wasnt told this No cash machine Nearest cash machine was in Krakow 7km away by taxi. Spent the last of o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-410775.html we're in warsaw and we have just spent about 2 hours booking and unbooking things when we realised that infact countries are quite far apart. Really i think our lives would be much simpler if places would just move a little bit nearer to each other when we wanted to use the train. However we have now managed to finalise i use the term loosely a hostel in prague a campsite in vienna and a ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Masovia/Warsaw/Anin/blog-409514.html Well its the night weve been dreading. The airport buses stop running at midnight and our flight doesnt leave till fiveish. So its midnight and were here waiting. Airports are not fun places at this time of night if ever. Were flying to Warsaw which were looking forward to. Theres a two day itinery we plan to follow which we found. Supposedly the hostel we are going to has free tea which excit http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Uusimaa/Helsinki/blog-408870.html We dont have long so this will be very brief We are in Helsinki Finland. We arrived here today by BOAT We crossed here overnight from Stockholm which was awesome and very exciting There were pretty cocktails and beds that came out of the walls. We had our own little cabin which was great fun. We also found koppaberg in duty free for silly cheap prices and brought enough to last us till Poland. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/blog-408528.html We always intended to bypass Sweden now we know why. It is wet we got lost and very wet. Thankfully a lovely lady directed us to the hostel which had been hard to find thanks to bad directions and a motorway being everywhere we wanted to be. We have erected the tent indoors in an attempt to dry it after a few wet nights whilst camping. The hostel is an old military building we have a four http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-407829.html Back in Oslo for the night after having camped in a field of clouds opposite a snow covered mountain. It was cold but pretty Walked into town which we were informed was mere 5km stroll...hmmm maybe not. it was miiiiiiiiiiles at least 8km i rekon. We caught the bus back which was our first successful bus journey don't ask.... The showers cost a lot of money so we couldnt indulge whilst on the s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-407591.html ok were in norway went on a boat trip on a fjord earlier and now waiting to catch a bus to rjukan to camp tonight. hope the midges don't get us only got lost twice...nothing major we found ourselves again water is expensive toilets are blue and there are pretty escalators which take you everywhere breakfast was huuuuuuuuge and free and had cheese and ham and lunch basically. off now before http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-406857.html Well we made it without any major issues except for trying to take tent pegs through security. Yeah in hindsight it was a silly idea which seemed smart at the time. Yeah don't ask. We arrives in lovely Oslo. Its full of fir trees and water and is lovely. Were staying in a place called Stabekk about twenty minutes from Oslo. The staff and locals have been amazing to us ignorant english. It seems http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-406604.html Obviously I've got slightly more of an issue than Sarah B. I am currently in Aberystwyth still living in halls So not only have I gotta pack for the summer I've also got to pack to move out of my house And as most of you will know when it comes to packing I am the worlds best procrascinator. Well today was full of much excitement of running around and buying the last few bits and pieces for http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Aberystwyth/blog-405676.html So we leave on Sunday for our huge adventure on which we hope not to get lost and to gain a lot of cultural insight. Or something like that anyway So far we have practised camping in Borth both broken our bungee cords and made a lot of lists of things which we really NEED to do while we're there which we will no doubt forget to take with us. We have a kettle so we can make tea so Sarah S wil http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Shropshire/Shrewsbury/blog-405670.html