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Published: July 14th 2009
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Hello Everybody!
Today I spent most of the day on a train. I got up at 6:30am packed, checked out, took the tram to the train station, found my train and then sat on that train until 3 pm. I was in a car with a Czech family and they didn't speak any English. The little girl was cute, but very loud. It gets annoying listening to someone talk right in front of you when you can't understand them. When I got to the Prague station I had to find an ATM, figure out how to buy a metro ticket, figure out the metro station, wait for my train, and then find my hostel using very vague directions like: go straight its right there. Except straight from where? Which straight? There are four cardinal directions and many in between all of which one can walk straight towards. Normally I skip over all these details of travel. The boring details. The annoyances that remind people why they are better off sitting at home watching tv. I email my parents 'I found my hostel today, no problem.' Today I am including them as a short illustration of what a day of travel is
like. When I planned my trip I tried to minimize these days by staying a week in each place. So far I feel like it was a good plan. A lot of the travelers I run into are spending only a day or two in one place, moving as fast as they can. Usually because time is of the essence and they are trying to squeeze it all in.
The travel days are the worst because you are tired from carrying your stuff around, vulnerable because you are carrying all your stuff with you, and confused because you have never been at this place before and it is possible that no one speaks English. These days are also the best because its the first time you see a new place. Even though familiarity is what I am going for, the initial wonder and discovery can't be replaced. No matter how many days I spend here, or how many times I come back in the future (unlikely) I will only see Prague for the first time once.
I guess the point of all that is the exchange; the balance. You can't have the discovery without the confusion, the wonder without
Statue
This guy reminds me of a spider. You can't see it from this angle, but he is leaning on a club that he is hiding behind his back. Creepy. the vulnerability. Just like I couldn't have this trip if I had spent all my money on a new car, or drinking every weekend. (or my real weakness: books) Things have meaning because of the sacrifice behind them. So you can know that for every cool picture of a Castle in the Alps there was a 25 minute hike up that mountain that you didn't have to suffer through.
Most of the time when I travel I am concerned with details; like deciding what to do, or looking for a bathroom or a grocery store. But once in a while it really hits me that I am in Europe, in a place I have heard about but never seen. I have escaped from the monotonous reality of my daily life and am fulfilling a dream. (Of course I am also eating bread and cheese and living in tents, but remember: balance and sacrifice.)
I left for Europe on June 8th. It is now July 12th and I have been gone for over a month. In honor of my month anniversary I drew up a list of things I would have done on my trip if I had had more money:
Van Gogh Sunflowers
In the Munich art museum. The texture is the really interesting thing about this painting. 1. Seen Phantom of the Opera in London ($30)
2. Bought a Stonehenge Rocks Tee-shirt ($35)
3. Taken a day trip to Salzburg from Munich ($45)
4. Seen Angels & Demons in Paris ($12)
5. Eaten at a restaurant at least once ($)
6. Gone to Paris Disney ($100)
7. Gone to the Moulin Rouge ($200)
8. Bought more souvenirs and mailed them home.
Munich 6 Days
Hostel 6 nights: 63 Euro
Food: 58,80 Euro
Postcards: 10 Euro
Tours and Museums: 82 Euro
Total: 213,80 Euro ~ $298
About $50 a day
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