After an hour on the Estonian Border we arrived at the Russian side. Turns out you have to carry your own luggae across the border before they forensically analyse your paperwork. However the guy with the rubber glove was surprisngly gentle...... We got into St Petersburg at 7am local time. We were all excited because we were supposed to have a guy collect us and bring us to our "Hotel". He didn't appear and one emergency phonecall and two hours waiting we were there. After more passport paperwork we got some sleep. Went for a pizza just off the main street in St Petersburg, Nevsky prospekt. In order to get our visa we had book through a travel agents but it does come with the perk of a guided tour. We therefore decided to wait for ... read more

In our eternal wisdom we decided to make our way to Estonia via Krakow and Warsaw starting in Budapest. We got the overnight train to Krakow on the cheap i.e without beds. Once again our ability to attract people in the mood for talking about themselves led us into a conversation. This time a Slovakian girl called Kelke. She had all of twenty words of English and proceeded to tell us the same thing over and over for two hours. Once she left we curled up on the wooden planks that pass for chairs in Hungary. Arrived in Krakow in the pouring rain at 6 am. MAde our way to Hostel which didn't open till 8am so back to the winos at the train station for two hours. Eventually made it to bed for a few ... read more

We left Budapest at 3pm on the train. We met a lovely Canadian couple who were on their honeymoon and interrailing of all things! Unsurprisingly, for the third time in the third different country we bumped into our favorite french people Charlotte and Stephanie on the train. Arrived in Zagreb at 10pm decided to follow an English couple who seemed to know where they were going, soon discovered they were lying bastards and had no clue where the hostel was. After much deliberation and consultation we located the Ravnice Youth Hostel. First hostel that we have stayed in that was actually built to be a hostel. As everyone in our dorm was already asleep we went straight to bed. Next day we planned to spend sightseeing, but we were out of sights to see in an ... read more

On Wednesday afternoon we got the train to Bratislava. Although we had reserved seats, we couldnt figure out where they were exactly so we ended up being shifted half way through the journey by some angry French people. We eventually made it to our least favourite Hostel so far - The Orange Hostel. Which appeared to be run by 12 year olds who were unhelpful. Certainly not as glamorous as our last hostel. Started the sightseeing, one hour later finished the sightseeing having seen everything touristy. In fairness the castle was interesting and the views incredible. We also got to visit a Da Vinci exhibition of his inventions. On our second night we headed out, had a few beers and ended up in another dodgy house club, but it was not as good. Bratislava is definitely ... read more

Well We've started. Fairly bumpy start to be honest. Ciaran overslept by an hour. As it turned out our flight was delayed by four hours anyway. However we did get to spend some quality time with the Irish rugby team and singing sensation George Murphy in the airport. We eventually made it to Krakow airport. Ronan who is no longer allowed to talk to bus drivers ensured that we had to take the more expensive train into Krakow. The weather was beautiful and sunny.However the hardened backpackers that we are not soon began to whinge and bitch about the weight of our bags. The hostel lived up to its 6 Euro a night price tag and has a kind of sparse "Homely" feel to it. (See Pictures Below). We are sharing with two french girls, Stephanie ... read more