Final Tally

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Geo: 37.4326, -121.898

June 3rd was a very long day. We got up at 4:30am in Dublin, hopped the shuttle to the airport, and drank coffee while reading our books, waiting for our flight to board. Unfortunately, our flight got delayed. An "offending bag" somewhere in the airport grounded the flights, and kept us from taking off for another 40minute. It's okay, though. I just read my book. Plus, we had a four hour layover in London, so the delay killed time we would have just spent sitting at Heathrow anyway. By the time we grabbed lunch, we only had an hour and a half to wait before boarding the next plane. Unfortunately, that one got delayed as well. Another plane had mechanical problems, so some of the passengers from that flight were transferred to our plane. Except, they didn't have enough food on board to cover the new people. So, they called a food truck to deliver more, but then it got stuck in security for over an hour. Thankfully, I had my own lil tv in front of me to keep me occupied. All in all, I watched three movies (all crap- The Eagle, Cedar Rapids and Beastly), three episodes of House, and four episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I also sat listening to music for an hour, and tried to sleep for another hour... to no avail. My chair recliner thingy was broken, and I had an aisle seat. Try as I may, there was no comfortable way to sleep. I was half on top of Chris half the time, and even that sucked. lol. BUT CHRIS, on the other hand, passed out for a few hours. Lucky bastard.

Chris' mom and sister picked us up from the airport. Luckily, they had been watchin our flight progress online, so they knew about the hour delay ahead of time, and didn't have to sit in the airport the whole time waiting for us. Since we were late, we headed straight over to El Buen Gusto, our go-to taqueria in San Jose. We got see a huge chunk of our friends. =) It was great seeing everyone! After food, we went back to Chris' parents' house for a lil bit, and also picked up his car. I was so exhausted at that point. I'd been up for over 24 hours, and I just wanted to pass the heck out in my bed. lol, I was so tired I forgot to call my parents when I got home to let them know we'd made it back alive. They weren't too thrilled. I hung out with them all day the next day, though. =)

Okay... so the final tally is...

Favorite Small City: Bled, Slovenia. It was so beautiful and there were so many outdoor activities to do there!
Favorite Big City: Munich... and London.
Places I Would Love to Visit Again: The Scottish Highlands, maybe some more of the smaller cities in the south of Spain, all of Slovenia and the Alps.
Places I Wouldn't Bother Going to a Second Time: Bamberg, Germany- what a waste of time. Madrid, Spain was just like San Jose back home. So that was a waste, too. Most of Italy was great once, but having done it, I don't really care to go back again. Too many tourists. Cinque Terre doesn't count, tho. I'd definitely go there again.
Best Hostel: Funky Backpackers in Granda. Had the best of everything- amazing thoughtful staff, great hook-ups with local activities and things to do, neat architecture, a huge double room with a comfy bed and ensuite bathroom.
Favorite Unconventional Hostel: The prison. The castle gets second.
Worst Hostel: The Matterhorn Youth Hostel in Zermatt, Switzlerand. The beds were all crammed in a tiny room, the mattresses were insanely thin (it was like sleeping on a rock), the place was just dirty, and breakfast was not only not included, but expensive.
Nicest People: Definitely the Scottish.
Rudest People: Didn't run into a whole country of rude people, even though we were worried about the French. They were actually among the nicest and most willing to help. Memorable individuals, though, include: No-Foto Lady at the Accademia, the Swiss Chocolate lady, the Colosseum gift shop lady...
Most Awesome Person We Hung Out: Keri, of course!
Most Awesome New People We Met: The group of crazy Aussies (Scott, Kate, Jess, Evan, Nicole) and Minnesota!
Best Day: Our first day in Bled. I felt so ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! In the most beautiful place in the world!
Scariest Moment: When Chris tried to drown himself in Slovenia, and when Chris had the massive migraine in Loch Lomond.
Best Public Transportation: Hmm... most of mainland Europe. Probably Italy, though. And Slovenia.
Worst Public Transportation: Ireland and Scotland.
Favorite Food: I can't really pick out one. Each country had its own damned good food that you can't get back in the States. And it's not really fair to compare food across cultures. They were all awesome in their own right.
Most Weird Food: Haggis... and Escargot, I guess. Both were damned good, tho!
Grossest Food: Actually, this only happened once. I ordered a salad, and they drenched it something similar to Ranch... and I HATE ranch dressing. I felt so nauseous afterwards, but I ate it all anyway not to be rude.
Best Dessert: Bled's cream cake, hands down.
Best Beer: Oof... so many. My favorites were Radler, Delirum Tremens, and German Weissbeer. Chris' is My Antonia.
Best Other Drinks: ..Well obviously the Absinthe. Also really liked tinto verano (wine with lemonade) and sangria.
Stupidest Thing Done While Drunk: Walking across Rome. lol. Made it, tho!
Most Regretful Thing Done While Drunk: ...waking up to find out we'd overspent.. which meant we had to cut back on our spending the next few days. We didn't learn this lesson the first time.... or the second...
Most Annoying Song: Rihanna's stupid "S&M" song was droning in every store in every country in Europe. Whyyyyyy!?!?!
Best Tourist Scam: Okay, so the best I saw that I didn't actually fall for, were the dudes dressed up as Spartans outside of the Colosseum. They'd invite you over to take a picture with them, and then demand money afterwards. Yes, they would make a scene. I only fell for one scam and that was the Granadan Stick Ladies. Don't accept sticks from random people- its a good life lesson.
Most Ridiculous Language: uh... whatever they spoke in Slovenia. They add all kinds of letters in words that just shouldn't be there. The most I figured out was how to say "thank you."
Easiest Language: Besides English? lol. Spanish.
Sicknesses: Cold Virus: Me = 3, Chris = 2; GI Madness: Me = 1, Chris 2, plus maybe some very small episodes. Allergy Hell = Me for four days in Belgium
Casualties: Chris' Bedclothes = MIA (at the FIRST HOSTEL, NO LESS!), 2 Pairs of Pants Each = KIA, Tweezers = KIA (rusted and then snapped in half), Tweezers = POW (I think my second pair was stolen), Pads = POW (discovered stolen when I got home), Three Sewing Needles = KIA, Two Containers of Chris' Shampoo = MIA (I told him he'd have to go dirty if he lost a third, lol), Two Pairs of Hiking Socks = KIA, Two Pairs of Undies = KIA, Chris' Beanie = MIA and then recovered 3 days later.
What We Missed the Most: Wearing clean clothes everyday. Chris missed burritos. We both definitely missed regular paychecks, lol.
What I Didn't Miss at All: My cell phone and driving. Nursing school. Studying. lol. Sigh, back to the grind now.

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