thoughts on europe

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i just finished a short field trip in ireland - trained up to galway for a day, then down to killarney for two days where i did some hiking in the national park and food shopping in tesco. i'd advise against training anywhere in ireland - not quite as efficient as other EU countries. to get from galway to killarney, which is approximately 1.5 hours driving, took an amazing 8 hours on the train and 4 train changes. no matter where you are and want to go, dublin is the hub, but the travel was free as i still had my eurail pass. killarney was beautiful - a large national park at the city limits, i hiked to ross castle and a copper mine that was used in 2000 BC. the forest was very tropical and reminded me of georgia and the island (i know, i can't believe i've forgotten the name!) where the veenema family went on vacation and dirk found millions of ticks and it was super windy. fortunately there weren't any ticks here, and it's also nice to not be concerned about snakes either. walked for about 10 miles, through fields with cows and teh forest, and then along the stream back to the hostel. so for lunch i got myself a mint magnum ice cream bar then napped for a few hours. i got back into dublin yesterday and back to the hostel that ii was staying at before i left - got a sweet bed on the second floor of a room with a spiral staircase. then off to grocery shop and make something resembling dinner (ie, not comprised of peanuts, chocolate, yogurt and/or biscuits, which is the default/emergency food). admittedly, it was still odd, tortellini with a slice of cheese over it as a sauce substition, there unfortunately was no olive oil on the 'free food' shelf, i was kind of counting on that. so today, monday, i have to take care of things, like getting more mosquito spray and batteries and spf. i got my ticket to london yesterday, i'll be flying in to heathrow early afternoon and continuing out for zambia via frankfurt and johannesburg. i start taking my malaria meds tomorrow, that situation finally got resolved, which i'm thankful for as victoria falls has the highest incidence of malaria in the world. and since i'm going to be generally in the region, i might climb (am really seriously considering) kilimanjaro at the end of my stay, around christmas or january. it's predicted that the glacier cap will be gone in 2014, so nows the time to do it. having said that, if anybody wants to climb it with me...

so now a few thoughts on europe...
1. bring a tent - it's cheaper, you meet more people, people take pity on you, there's always room for one more tent
2. shop at grocery stores - it's cheaper, you eat like the locals, you get surprised by really good food and products that shouldn't be sold as food.
3. bring a knife/can opener/corkscrew - clearly broadens your food/wine options (marc and i were limited to wine in liter boxes or screw top, a different sort of challenge to find cheap, drinkable wine that we could actually open!)
4. ask people for rides - good to have a couple for this - marc would ask the ladies, i sometimes asked the men
5. be nice to bus drivers - they will take you places off their route and/or for free if you smile
6. ask the locals (not the tourist info) where to go - that's how marc and i found trosa and lots of other beautiful little hidden spots.
7. have emergency peanuts, or the equivalent - prevents grumpiness when food is nowhere in sight.
8. see an american movie in a foreign language - we saw transformers and it was fantastic.
9. eat lunch in graveyards - odd yes, but it's quiet, graveyards invariably have the best views, you can nap if necessary
10. if people ask you where you are staying, say you don't know - that's how we got a place to stay for free in switzerland and nearly had a free place in venice.
11. drink/eat the local stuff - i witnessed people getting budweiser in dublin....that's unacceptable.
12. splurge on the biggies - cable car up mont blanc, car for the tour de france.
13. take pictures of your meals and the bathrooms - suprisingly memorable.
14. be flexible - if it takes a day to figure out transport to the next place, or the trains don't go there on the weekends, or ferry service just ended...no worries, pick someplace or something else.
15. don't blame the other person - eventually you'll misread the train schedule, sleep through your bus stop, take a wrong turn...
16. try everything in front of you - 3-minute eggs, snails, mystery food. this includes trying 30 flavors of gelato. i did draw the line at foie gras though.

alright, that's it for now - off to shower and be productive today.
cheers!

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Comments

[anonymous]

good
i am glad to hear you are save and happy ... continue eating 3-min eggs = they will make you grow strong (like me:) also glad to hear the med thing worked out somehow ... still have not find your package ... it's not at the toll station (i had called them again). Weike will be moving to australia in february, so just a little FYI :)

[Dad]

[e-mail]
Dear Ri, I hit Enter to get to the next line and it sent the message without me writing anything. Anyway, great blog. You have learned a huge amount about getting around and human relations. Someday you will be in a position to offer someone a room and meal or ride. Will be good to pay it forward for the help you have received and pass it along. Would it be wonderful if everyone in the world could just help one another. Hope to one day get to travel around Europe just for fun and apply some of your tips. Sue, Jeremy and Eden just came over and I haven't seen them for a month so I am going to sign off for now. I'll say it again, great blog. Love you, Dad