Blogs from Iceland, Europe - page 144

It was late in 2006 in sunny Sydney when we were discussing with our good friend Matthew (aka brother in law!) about all the places we were interested in visiting whilst in Europe. The usual suspects like Paris, Rome, Barcelona and Prague came up as did some less visited places like Finland, Lithuania, Belarus and Iceland................. By the end of our conversation we opted for Iceland as the place of interest because the lonely planet guide describes it as a place where fashionable young things thrive on coffee, music, sex and beer.............. and yes.......we are young things!...........however it was merely a conversation......little did we know that Matthew, being a keen traveller himself, the next day booked flights for 3 to Reykjavik leaving on Friday 9th of March and returning on the 11th March. So after a ... read more

Well, I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that I may have to go it alone. It feels weird, but than again, maybe it's just what I need. I've never gone further than Hamburg on my own, so I don't know if I'm nervous or excited. My mood changes every five minutes or so, so I'm either really looking forward to going on my own, or literally wetting myself at the very thought. I've been reading some couchsurfing blogs,and I feel good about that part...but it's still a little intimidating. I'm such a wuss, see.... read more

Based on my own limited experience, the most important tools you have when travelling as a single woman are: Acting skills and crying! Last year I was in Denmark, and on a whim decided to buy a discount train ticket to Hamburg ( about five hours (I think) for about 200 DKR). I was staying with Noogies' relatives in Havdrup, which is a small town not too far away from Copenhagen, but off the S-train schedule, so trains were about an hour apart. I said my goodbyes, not knowing how long my trip would be, and hopped on the next train to the capital where I wandered around for a while before purchasing a ticket to Hamburg. Needless to say, I was excited, never having been to Germany before, but the long train ride soon zapped ... read more

I know I probably shouldn't be writing this much before leaving, but I can't resist. There's something inspiring about a blank page, like it screams out "Write something!" Besides, after a few hours of reading travelblogs I'm getting really annoyed, and I need to vent. Here we go: What the hell is up with these people? I've been looking through blogs here and there, trying to find some Interrail ones, and so far I've found a lot of good ones, and a lot of bad ones. Why are the bad ones bad? Well, for one, they're mostly written by Americans with more money than sense, who spend their time zipping from city to city, obsessed with seeing the tourist sites, complaining about the rain and spouting xenophobic remarks, mostly about the French. To be fair, most ... read more

Oh, but my cells are churning. Why, only yesterday I made the very tough decision to sell almost all my CD's (bar a few with special memories attached, and those personally autographed. Ok, the one personally autographed CD I have), for a shockingly low price. Today the plan is to weed through the ceaseless flood of books currently inhabiting my bedroom, hallway and storage areas, and maybe try to unload a few of those as well. It's amazing how much stuff one can gather over the course of 22 years. But, hopefully all this will bring me one step closer to Destination: Europe. For the benefit of you, dearest reader, I shall now outline the plan (if it can be called a plan at this early stage). Mostly I'm the one doing the planning, and my ... read more