http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/shanojebs/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from shanojebs en-us Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:56:45 +0000 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:56:45 +0000 Day 132 August 15 morning flight Edinburgh to London 5 hours at Heathrow then to BangkokAccommodation overnight Qantas planeAfter hearing about the huge delays at Heathrow airport for everyone checking in for flights and loss of thousands of bags by luggage handlers I decided the 2 hours given to me by Qantas to change flights at Heathrow would be pushing it for time to get my bags and myse http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Heathrow-Airport/blog-412365.html Day 13 Sat 7 July Ho Chi Minh CityThe train rolled into Ho Chi Minh City at the ridiculously early time of 5am. I only had three beers the night before so I was still really tired. As usual there was a bus to pick us up from the train station on arrival. It was quite strange driving through the major streets of Vietnamrsquos largest city and seeing them mostly empty because it was such an ear http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-224939.html Day 7 Sun 1 July HueI woke up about an hour or so before and everyone was already awake. It was about 8am and I woke up surprisingly refreshed which I didnrsquot really expect from sleeping on such a rocky train. My breakfast noodle box was very similar to those I was used to back in Australia with 2minutestyle noodles and dried meat and vegetable except it was even more tasty than back http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Hue/blog-223617.html Day 1 Mon 25 June VIETNAM HanoiAfter getting a lift into Sydney airport I had arrived just before 9am for my 10am flight to Bangkok for my 2nd biggest overseas trip to date. After so much travelling around airports in Europe the previous year I was sick of waiting around after checking in so I was surprised to arrive with no line up and to be informed that the whole flight had already check http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-223615.html Day 122 August 5 Edinburgh Dunkeld Culloden Inverness Loch Ness http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/blog-201572.html Day 120 August 3 IRELAND Dublin SCOTLAND EdinburghAccommodation Princes Street East Backpackers Hostel EdinburghAnother travel day today and I was out of the hostel later in the morning than I hoped. My flight was for 120pm but I didn't start walking towards the airport shuttle stop until about 1130am. What I did realise was that the bus stop was some 15 to 20 minutes' walk away and w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-201031.html Day 117 July 31 SWITZERLAND Geneva ENGLAND LondonAccommodation St Pancras YHA Kings Cross LondonWell this was it I was leaving Europe and going back to London. It was just one sign that my huge trip was almost over. My next destination was Dublin but I figured out it was actually cheaper to fly to London then get a train to the edge of Wales and catch a ferry across to Ireland. Bizarr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-201006.html Day 111 July 25 LATVIA Riga SWITZERLAND GenevaAccommodation City Hostel GenevaIt was time to leave Latvia today except my flight wasn't until 330pm. There was no strict checkout time so I set no alarm and I had no key to hand in although there wasn't really a need for security in this hostel as the atmosphere was pretty friendly and trustworthy. I had another hangover this morning whi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Grindelwald/blog-201002.html Day 108 July 22 ESTONIA Tallinn LATVIA RigaAccommodation Friendly Fun Frankrsquos Backpackers HostelI woke up with a bit of a hangover this morning nothing brutal but enough to be annoying. I stuffed all my belongings into my bags grabbed some water and a quick bite to eat and caught a taxi out to the bus station with only 10 minutes to spare after having trouble getting out of bed e http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Riga-Region/Riga/blog-200668.html Day 106 July 20 FINLAND Helsinki ESTONIA TallinnAccommodation Tallinn BackpackersI tried to sleep in as long as I could today after the extra awake time forced upon me and I had no plans after seeing what I wanted to yesterday so I stored my bags and went straight for the net cafe which was in fact a decent cafe with about 8 internet terminals. Surprisingly it's hard to find a net cafe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-200667.html Day 100 July 14 FINLAND RovaniemiAccommodation Hostel RudolfAfter the full month I'd spent in Norway I was finally moving onto the next country. It felt like I'd been in Norway forever. On the same time period with Contiki I visited 10 countries so to spend that amount of time in one country without staying more than 3 days in one spot was quite remarkable to me.I decided with all the time http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/blog-200666.html Day 96 July 10 Troms AltaAccommodation Alta River Camping AltaI found out a couple of weeks earlier that the only way I could get from Troms the most northern established city to Nordkapp the furthest north other than paying several thousand kroners for a ferry was by catching a bus to a halfway town called Alta staying overnight and getting a bus to Nordkapp in the morning. This sou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-200665.html Day 90 July 4 BodAccommodation Bod hostelI arrived around 8am in Bod and it was somewhat smaller than Trondheim somewhere between a small town and a city. The train had taken me over the Arctic Circle for the first time and I sure knew it. It was pretty chilly and windy outside which was a shock as Trondheim wasn't and neither was anywhere else I'd been in Norway so far. My hostel was rel http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-200664.html Day 84 June 28 Hellesylt GeirangerAccommodation Hellesylt Vandrerhjem hostelBack on the road again this morning I was off on another 45to60minute bus ride this time to another small town called Hellesylt. I wanted to stay at the town of Geiranger sitting right on the Geiranger fjord but in my research I couldn't find contact details for a hostel on the internet. My Lonely Planet book http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-200663.html Day 78 June 22 FlmFlm Vandrerhjem hostelThis morning I was taking the train back towards Oslo but getting off at Myrdal to take another train north to the small town of Flm. My plan was to travel from Oslo all the way north to the top of Norway. I couldn't find any convincing reason to visit anything south of Oslo so I decided to skip it. There was only one morning train and I didn't have http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-200661.html Day 72 June 16 NORWAY OsloAccommodation Anker Hostel OsloI had to wake up early today to catch my train. This time I had decided not to book the night train as I was sick of the substandard conditions on them and I figured I'd get some nice views today. I was certainly right. This was also my first 1stclass train seat so I was excited about that although for some reason I couldn't get a d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-200660.html Day 66 June 10 DENMARK CopenhagenAccommodation Danhostel Copenhagen CityI was woken up from my slumber again with no hangover thanks to the welldesigned German beer after the train abruptly stopped and people were getting out. What I didnrsquot realise is that the train had crossed into Sweden without stopping at Copenhagen. I donrsquot know why but I guess thatrsquos just how thin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-200659.html Day 63 June 7 GERMANY BerlinAccommodation Odyssee Globetrotter HostelMy first night train in Europe and it was quite comfy although Irsquove heard those Germans are pretty efficient. I had to share a bunk bed with 5 other people although I got on the train about 11pm and it was pretty quiet and a smooth trip so I actually slept pretty well. We came into the Berlin outer suburbs about 8a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-200658.html Day 60 June 4 ENGLAND London BELGIUM Brussels BruggeAccommodation Hostel Lybeer BruggeIt was an early morning departure from St Paulrsquos YHA 4am to be exact. I found out that the Tube wasnrsquot running that early to Heathrow so I had to get a bus there and I had to walk 15 minutes up the road with my heavy bags to Aldwych to catch it and I had to deal with the Saturday night dr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/blog-200656.html Day 58 June 2 NETHERLANDS Amsterdam Belgium and France in transit ENGLAND Dover LondonAccommodation St Paulrsquos YHA LondonI had a bit of a hangover this morning and was still a little bit drunk most likely thanks to the 10 alcohol Belgian beer I'd had the night before on top of the other 8 beers or so I'd had. I had a shower went downstairs to have breakfast and had about 5 mi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-200655.html