Update after tour

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Well well people,
I know it's been a while but I have a bit more spare time now that the tour has finished so thought I'd give you an update. Myself and 2 mates decided to stay in Amsterdam (yep drug free!) so our tour finished Thursday morning. It was actually pretty sad saying goodbye to everyone but I guess all good things must come to an end!
In a nutshell Thursday would have been the worst day that I have spent overseas. It started by waking up a little seedy, saying goodbye to some great people who were pretty emotional (maybe even me!) walking around aimlessly with Kai and Heath (2 new mates from Oz), finding out our trip back to London wasn't as convenient/cheap as we thought, taking trams completely the wrong way which all led to the 3 of us being homesick!! I tried to overcome that by purchasing a basketball and taking on some locals 3 on 3. (Yes the team I was in won. haha) I went back to the hostel, spent 1 hour trying to work on my blog and to top off the 'bad day' I was about to upload it and the computer froze. I was an angry boy! haha... The best part was that the following day was quite the opposite. The 3 of us saw some pretty cool sites (Anne Frank museum and Heineken factory 😉 ) caught the right trams, and had an awesome ferry ride back to London. We even got into the first hostel we tried for which was playing the AFL grand final!!!! The 3 of us had a great laugh about it the next day which was great.

Anyway I'll speak more about the last week or so of my tour which continued to be an absolute blast. Last time I wrote I think I was at the Austrian tyral and I had just been paragliding, white water rafting and went on a great scenic bike ride.
After the Austrian Tyral we were on our way to Switzerland. We went and had a look through one of the cities (??) and it would be up there as one of my favourites. Very clean, peaceful, relaxed and it reminded me a little of Venice without all that rain. We then arrived at out dorms. The first night was a pretty big night. Actually it was my biggest 😞 . I had a very late night and had to be up about 8am the next morning to see the Swiss Alps. I had never been to the snow so it was pretty exciting. The trip up was a long one! To make matters worse a few of my room mates told our tour manager to play a joke on me considering the state that I was in the previous night... Long story short the tour manager asked me about the previous night and whether everything was ok. They played a joke on me in front of the tour telling me that the everyone was bad mouthing basketball. Apparently I didn't like that...They then told me that I pushed a girl over because I was annoyed at what she said.... (LET ME JUST SAY NOT TRUE). It's the most ashamed I think I have ever felt until I spoke to her and she laughed and told me that it was all a lie... Cruelest joke ever!!!! Anyways the Swiss Alps were great. The views were amazing and we went for a walk in the snow which was great.

The following day we headed for the Rhine Valley in Germany. We saw the largest stein shop in Germany and the biggest Ku Ku clock in the world (wow???). We followed that with some wine tasting. I walked in and managed to sit on a faulty chair in front of everyone and go straight down. At first I thought it was another cruel joke but I later found out it wasn't. It just added to a few stupid things I've done. (Falling out of a bunk etc) That night was supposed to be a quite one. In the last week we had an ongoing joke about how it was the last Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun etc together so we must party. That night there was sumo on in our motel and the tour guide mentioned to me that it was the last time we could watch sumo together on a Monday night!!! I didn't give in and had a quite night (after a few bets on some sumo fights!!!)

The following day was Amsterdam. The tour guide gave some good advice about Amsterdam and what to expect. The first night was a real experience. He took us around the red light district and we finished the night by having a few drinks together in a few different pubs. The following day we had a sleep in and didn't do all that much due to the fact that a few of us intended to stay a little longer. That night (Wednesday) we went for a cruise along a canel with the group followed by out last dinner together. We then spent the night as a group which was a great last night.

Anyway I think that's about all for the tour. I am still unsure about my favourite spots (highlights. lowlights etc) but will write about that soon I think.

I am currently in London with about 5 others and we're all going to Ireland on Tuesday. I plan to spend a few weeks there. At this stage it will be travelling with the others but then I plan to go see relatives (Grandpa's side) and meet them. I'm really looking forward to it.

Well I hope all is well at home. Missing everyone lots and lots but having a ball. I'm staying busy and having moments when i'd just love to be around you all but I'm sure the time will fly and I'll be aback to the routine with everyone.

Well take care and it would be great to hear from you all!

Luke

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