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Published: July 29th 2010
Sydney
We took a trip to Sydney to confirm if we were compatible on the road together. Any fears were soon bridged.Recently, as I have gone to sleep each night, Europe has been ready and waiting to haunt my dreams. It is beckoning, taunting, whispering in my ear. "Come back, Oliver. There's still so much to see. What about Eastern Europe? Have you seen Greece? Have you seen Russia? Have you seen my work socks?" I later found out the last bit was only my brother, Tom, rummaging about in my room. But Europe
has been whispering, and it's time to do something about it.
As luck would have it, I met Karina, a Belarussian/Swedish exchange student, about a year ago. Something clicked, she became my girlfriend, and when the time came for her to return home I decided to come too.
I'd spent the past 6 months in Perth elbow-deep in parsnips working as a humble fruit and veg merchant, and as thrilling as this was (once there was a real live frog in the lettuce!), I took the chance and gambled that adventure was the better option. So I bought a ticket to London, one way.
Here is the plan so far:
I'm in Kuala Lumpur now, I fly to London in a few hours, meet
Carry on Luggage?
Rottnest Island. Just proving that I'm a supportive kind of guy. Karina in Stockholm 5 days later.
Predicted (potential but not guaranteed) highlights in the following months include:
Uppsala to Athens by train
Scandinavia
Exploring ancient caves in the Croatian Archipelagos
Investigating daily life in Minsk at Karina's Grandma's - (don't mention the Eurovision finals...)
Passport Control at the Russian border
Leonard Cohen in concert
A Baltic Cruise to Helsinki In terms of planning...
I once heard someone say "Failing to plan is planning to fail" and I can see why people like that. It has a good message, there's a bit of wordplay and it has such a catchy ring to it. If I were to write my own one, however, it would go: "Failing to plan often results in spontaneous fun, and 9 times out of 10 it creates a better story, even though sometimes you might think you're about to die or be killed, and this can be traumatic but also exhilarating at the same time." Catchy, sure. Melodramatic? Maybe. Hallmark worthy? Apparently not (according to my rejection letter).
So, almost nothing is planned with certainty besides two flights. Unfortunately, Karina and I have the organisational skills of a pair of drunk walruses setting up a game of chess in the dark. But in our favour, we
do have 4 different passports (between us), speak 3.5ish different languages, and carry only hand luggage. Also, I can cook an above average carbonara if I need to win favour with any difficult Europeans or immigration officers. Who knows what kind of triumphs and disasters to expect at the end of it all (and I'm not still talking about the carbonara).
I have a feeling the readers of this travelblog will be a varied bunch from all walks of life, so I will be sure to write in a universally pleasing and inoffensive manner. I will only write if it's a worthwhile story, I'll only use tasteful humour, and I'll do my best to avoid puns wherever possible (although when we visit the township of Brest, in Belarus, I might not be able to control myself).
Anyway, here we go again!!
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Tom
non-member comment
Can't wait for part 2!!!! (Found thse socs by the way) HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Have fun and miis you already, Big Boy!