Northern Europe: A Vacation From My Vacation

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So, i was in eastern turkey, sitting in a dusty and hot town 30 km west of iran and i think ¨hey, i´d like to go to northern europe and visit some friends.¨ A 31 hour bus ride and a two day terrorist delay later and what do you know, im sitting in a london pub drinking away with Anuj, Gurj, and Range and becoming ever more crippled by london prices.

Summed up, my one month detour to northern europe can be accurately called ¨meeting friends i had made while on my trip, doing nothing in a london apartment with funny english people and anuj, doing nothing in the english country side with a funny english guy, doing nothing in a swedish dorm room with a funny aussie girl, and listening to far to much electronic music in holland with a funny dutch couple.¨ and . . . i honestly couldnt have asked for more. it was the perfect month . . . perfectly placed with the perfect people. amazing.

London was awesome. I meet anuj, gurj (a friend, anuj´s roommate at Ihouse, and a london native), and gurj´s brother, range, in manchster (where we caught a Manchester Untied match) for a road trip up to edinburgh for The Edinburgh Festival Fringe. we had a blast, scotland was beautiful, and it was an absolute pleasure to see gurj again and be in the ridiculous presence of anujie . . . I had forgotten how much i loved and enjoyed him.
we headed back to london where anuj and i set an absurd travel record . . . i think that out of the seven days we were in london we made it out of the apartment before 4 pm only one afternoon . . .and that day we still left in the afternoon, just a bit earlier. he was worn out from work and i was worn out from . . . well nothing . . . but just to sit in a place i had keys to, to watch english laugage tv, to have my food, to have friends, to do nothing . . . it was a beautiful thing, i couldnt get enough of doing nothing. and i cant say enough about gurj and range . . . they made it perfect- awesome hosts. we still saw some stuff, but that list is really limited. we saw some old friends, played some english football, but most of all did nothing but laugh at each other. like i said, a beautiful thing.

Anuj left and i said good by to gurj and range and headed east out of london into the english countryside where i spent a few days with dylan, a friend i traveled with in laos and cambodia. it was great to see him . . . but i must admit kinda weird at first. last time i had seen him we were in cambodia in the middle of temples and now here i was drinking in an english pub with him. but, he is easily one of th greatest people that i have met on this trip so it was a pleasure to spend a few days with him. he took me sailing with his family and showed me things, let me do laundry (hahaha), but best of all he was a great laugh. dyl, cant wait to show you around cali.

from there i caught a flight to southen sweden where i stayed with Lucy, the austrailian i met in turkey that was studying abroad in sweden. she was studying in lund, a quaint little college town, very swedish and very beautiful. we basically did nothing but eat, laugh, and watch movies. . . this too was a beautiful thing. when we started to feel guilty about doing nothing, we did manage to take some day trips (malmo, copenhagen) and an awesome weekend trip up to stockholm. stockholm is probably the most ¨europeanly¨beautiful city i have ever been to . . . a gorgeous city filled with gorgeous people. yet, the best thing about my tip to sweden was lucy. we had a blast together and laughed a ton. it was the beginning of what has proved to be a very unpredictable and strange but incredible ¨international¨ romance. when she finishes her semester in sweden she is getting on a plane to meet me in argentina where we get to spend christmas and new years together . . . it is going to be great.

after a tough goodbye, i left sweden and headed to holland where i stayed with a dutch couple i traveled with in Laos. we had a great time. we sampled the local cuisine in amsterdam, they took me to a big techno party (ie rave) in the middle of a field, took me to friend's parties, and on my last day boating down a river in gorgeous weather. it was a great way to end a great month in Europe.

so, in the end, i never really saw much of the touristy stuff in the places that i went. . but from the beginning, my side trip to northern europe was never about that. it was about fun with new and old friends and reenergizing my travel tiered heart for my last six months in south america. this month was undoubtedly one of the best of trip and now in south america i look back and laugh.

as of now, im in cuzco, peru . . . but to be perfectly honest, i am as lazy as ever.
and a comment on the no pictures . . . there is a very happy peruvian thief loving every sigle one of my pictures . . . hes probably making some of his own with my camera . . . and if hes cold, i think my jacket is keeping him warm.

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