OregonBoy87

Having spent our entire journey up to this point in the larger and more famous cities in Europe, you might think that going to Winchester would be lacking in something for our grand finale. There's no public transit, no tourist spectacles, no broadway shows and no malls. However, replace all that with cozy pubs, christmas markets, beautiful churches, and people who have been waiting two years to see you again. Winchester has been, to me, a home away from home. It's not often you can walk down a street two years later and still see people you recognize, and who, in turn, recognize you. It's as close to perfect as I've found in the world, and after traveling to Berlin, London, Barcelona and everywhere else, Winchester was the right place to cap off such an amazing ... read more

Sorry about the title. I couldn't think of anything good, so I went with a pun. I figured, if worst came to worst, I'd at least get a chuckle. It has been a very long time since I updated. If I had to choose a reason, I'd probably say that I was focused on enjoying the rest of the trip as it started to wind down. You have to live in the moment, especially when you are traveling, so thats what I did. No regrets. But now I'm back and ready to tell you the secrets of Germany. After a very relaxed last day in Amsterdam, we headed out the next morning for the train station. By this point, I was pretty done with trains. Let's be honest here: Trains are actually pretty awesome as far ... read more

It has been an unfortunate eternity since I was last at an available computer to tap out our latest adventures. Right now, I am currently in Berlin, and I have yet to even write of Belgium, or our time in Amsterdam. So, let me get to that right away. Author's note: A travel advisory was issued a couple days ago by the US Government, asking everyone out there to be careful in their travels, use common sense, and be especially cautious around high metro areas and in nice hotels. I would like to let everyone who is following us to know that we are taking every precaution in remaining safe and unharmed during this trip. I'm hoping to ease the possibly worried minds back home with this little blurb. Anyway, last time I checked, we had ... read more

Last time I wrote, I believe our group was heading to Nice on the train. So, I'll start from there. Despite our good intentions, it was hard to leave Barcelona without one more good night with the gang. So, at least 2/3rds of our group was still a little buzzed when we woke up at 6:00am to make sure we caught our 8:45am train to Montpellier. There is no word in the english language to decribe how disgusting I felt leaving that hostel without a shower. But, with again no trouble at all, we made our train. I'm beginning to think that the universe might be building up our confidence for a big letdown concerning trains, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The whole day was spent on trains or in stations. ... read more

And Im back. Apologies for no apostrophies, and any mispelling in this entry, but the keyboards here are nonsensical. But thats because Im in Espana, and life is good. We made it from London to Madrid with very little trouble, a quiet flight (save for the family with 9 kids running up and down the aisles), and time to spare. We had trouble finding the hostel after we left the Metro, but only because our confidence got the better of us. The lesson here is very simple: no one is too good for a map. And Madrid is lovely. Having never been before, I´ve taken a liking to the place. First of all, it´s nice weather. As in shorts and t¬shirts, which is something I´m not accustomed to in Septembers back home. The hostel is clean ... read more