danielhibbert

Arrived back home to Melbourne on Christmas morning!!! So my 15 hour flight from LA went by pretty smoothly as I lay back in business class! Fantastic! As I caught up on some Aussie movies and some shut eye before awaking and about 3 hours left until touching down in Melbourne. Although the rude lady and her kids beside me were annoying! Anyway got off the plane virtually first and straight through customs and picked up my bag with no worries. Going through those doors, this was the end of my travels and it was rather bittersweet, as you think of the great times you had overseas and now going back to what was normal for so many years of your life. With it being Christmas morning I decided to wrap myself in some Christmas decorations ... read more

Woke up in Orange County and Vince, Kayla's boyfriend (who I also met last year) drove us in his massive pickup truck. We picked up another girl, Priscilla, and headed to meet the others who I had never met before. We were then off to Route 15 and the drive out to Nevada and Las Vegas! Stopping in a tiny town called Baker along the way, which seemed to have everything owned by 'The Mad Greek'! We eventually got to Vegas after about 5 or so hours of driving. It is really like a mirage, there is just nothing but desert and mountains until you hit this mass of raods and buildings all flanked by the Rockies. We drove along the strip, checking out the different billboards, casinos, people, all of it is rather overwhelming. We ... read more

Flying into Vancouver, the 9 hour or so flight went by fairly comfortably and quickly. Getting out of customs and all that jazz I was met by Sydney, who I met on my Contiki tour of Europe last year. It was a dramatic change in weather, with freezing temperatures and snow everywhere! After getting to Sydney's parents place, we were quickly joined by her friends - where I had to quickly adjust to North American girls talking amazingly quickly and all at the same time. It was also here I learnt that the weather was very uncommon for this time of year and they hadn't had snow like this in Vancouver for 40 odd years. Syd's friends were pretty cool and we would catch up a few times during the week. After crashing really late (my ... read more

And so it was. To my last stop on my latest European adventure (except for going to England) ... and to my favourite city I have travelled to ... Paris!!!!!!! Arriving into Gare De Lyon, I then finally worked out the metro line to get to Anvers and my accommodation at the Woodstock Hostel. After getting in and seeing one of my roommates who was getting high at the time, I decided to wander around the Montmarte area before the sun set. Walking up the steep hill of Montmarte, passed many souvenir shops and cafes and restaurants, to finally reach Sacre Coeur, the famous basilica on the Montmarte hill, which offers some of the best views Paris. As it was around about 4:30, the sun was setting and I sat on the steps in front of ... read more

On the train from Munich we first travelled towards Stuttgart and passed the stadium where Australia played that amazing game against Croatia in the World Cup, and as we passed I tried to suck in a bit of that atmosphere that I am sure still surrounds this stadium, talking to many Aussies that were there that night! Onwards towards Zurich, where I got on another train to Lucerne. I had 2 choices from Zurich of either going to Lucerne and onwards to Interlaken or to Bern and onwards. But having travelled the Lucerne leg last year with Contiki and it being one of the most pretty scenic drives I have ever encountered I thought that would be the way to go. And what a decision!!! Lucerne is a beautiful town and I dind't get to explore ... read more