Someone got lazy!

Ok so it's been over two months since my last entry. I got super busy and distracted with traveling and then I just lost motivation altogether but I am going to get back into writing and continue sharing my adventures with you.

So let's go back to after I left Berlin...

Kaylee and I once again caught a bus all the way down to Munich - or Munchen as it's apparently called, don't even get me started on how confused that made me. We were met at the station by the lovely Laura, our Italian/German friend (now Kaylee's girlfriend) who drove us in her teeny tiny mini cooper to her apartment in central Munich. We made this our home for the next 6 days.

I found Munich to be really beautiful. There was a park about a ten minute walk from Laura's where everyone seemed to go and relax with their babies and puppies and I was just convulsing at all the cuties. It was great.

One night we went out with a few of Laura's friends and, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty white girl wasted. I may have drank an entire bottle of red wine whilst watching Hairspray but no judgement please! Ruth was staying with us at this point so we'll just say that she was a bad influence. So we went out to a pretty cool club, though it was anything but. I think it was called Sauna... If not it should have been because it was sooooo hot! I lost about 2 kg's just from sweating. But we all had an amazing time.

Munich was great because we all were able to relax and there was no pressure to do as much as we could during the day. I slept a lot.

After our stay we farewelled Ruth who would soon return to Australia for six weeks or so and hit the road. Destination: Italy. I think it took us about five or six hours to reach Brisghella, making a pit stop in Verona to see Juliet's Balcony and to indulge in some Gelato. Now, I think I've bragged to enough of you about where we were to be staying in Italy but let me just say this... You all should be jealous. We stayed in a freaking castle that was built in 1074! It was amazing and I am so lucky to have such great and beautiful connections. Shout out to my girl, Laura.

The next five days we were joined by various friends, I think there was about 12 of us at one point, and all we did was drink wine, eat cheese and tan by the pool. I became fairly lethargic at this point, I'm not sure if it was because I was just so relaxed or if it had something to do with my vegetarian diet but I slept a lot. Shock horror. Regardless I had a great time, I met some lovely people and definitely saw a part of Italy that was hours from the Touristy places. I highly recommend getting off the beaten track and staying in a village in the countryside.

The next place I visited was Florence and it was here I began my solo travels. After saying goodbye to Kaylee, Laura and the gang I nervously made my way to the hostel. The owner spoke very little English so it was an interesting experience. I was placed in a room with two other people and my bed was just a stretcher bed that I would use when I would go camping with my parents. I should not have been surprised, after all I only paid 16 euros I think.

The next two days I just wandered aimlessly around the city. I probably spent about 9 hours each day just walking. I definitely saw all the sites and hopefully lost some weight doing it.

The highlight of Florence was definitely seeing the statue of David. I did have to wait in line for about an hour and a half but it was worth it. I was in such awe of the masterpiece, I must have spent at least half an hour overall just standing and taking it all in. It was much bigger then I was expecting as well. I was wandering around the museum and I turned and this giant naked man is suddenly in front of me. It was a dream come true...

The next day I left Florence, happily I might add because I was craving some English conversation with people and Italian's didn't seem to be the strongest English speakers, at least in that area. Around lunchtime I caught the train to Bologna to meet up with a friend from high school who has lived there for about a year I think he said.

The train station was a little confusing, maybe because I was tired and overwhelmed but it was a trial. A man was standing next to the ticket machine and did it all for me but when it came to paying and giving my change back he kept like 3 euro's for himself. Rude. But by this point I just needed to get on the damn train. Also, tickets come with a seat number so you can't just sit in any old seat. I did this, luckily no one said anything. The old man next to me was probably disappointed that he didn't get a window seat but shoot grandpa it's my holiday.

So I'm going to leave this post here as True Blood has downloaded and it obviously takes priority.

Ciao.

Amsterdam to Berlin

Oh my lord! So much to update ya'll on!

So, the bus trip to Amsterdam took about 10 or 11 hours I think but it was pretty good. Seemed to go fairly quick. Once we arrived there it was all worth it. As we got off the train in the central station you could already smell the marijuana in the air.

After we dropped our stuff off at the Stayokay Hostel in Zeeburg and freshened up we headed out into the Red Light District. It wasn't as full on as I was expecting, I found it rather hilarious watching the girls in the window tap on the glass like little birds, gesturing to men and inviting them over.

It was eye opening to walk around a city that is so drug friendly. People were just walking around smoking joints and we had a man follow us offering cocaine (don't worry mum, we ran away... after doing a line). Eventually we found a little Coffee Shop called "Feels Good" where we all enjoyed a beverage.

The next day was Queen's Day, this celebration was extra special as it was the last time they will celebrate a Queen as she handed her reign to her son that day. The streets were filled with people dressed completely in orange. The pubs were empty, the party was outside on the streets and canals. DJ's scattered the area so we quickly found a spot out of the way of the passing crowd where we happily bopped for what seemed like hours. We wandered around for about 5 hours before Kaylee and Taize went back to the hostel. So Ruth, Bron, Gav and I ventured out to find "Feels Good" again.

After finding it and enjoying some hot chocolate we managed to drag ourselves back home where we stuffed our faces with ice cream and nachos.

The next day the others caught a bus back to London, leaving Ruth, Kaylee and I to explore some more in Amsterdam. We walked around for hours enjoying the free samples in the many cheese stores along the street and the beauty of the city. Later that day we split from Ruth as she had to catch a bus to Prague and we ended up having dinner with one of Kaylee's friends she met whilst in Thailand.

The next day we headed to Groningen to stay with K's cousin and her family. It was nice to just relax and get away from crowd's. Their house was situated about 15 minutes outside of Groningen, a little village of 400 people called Woltersum.

We enjoyed some wine, cheese fondue and the cutest triplets ever before retiring to bed and sleeping for 9 hours. The next day we headed back to Amsterdam and caught an overnight bus to Berlin. It may have been cheap and it was worth it now that I'm here but it was the worst bus ride ever. I barely slept. But anyway, I'm here now!

Our bus arrived at the station at about 6.30 and we didn't get to our hostel until about 8.45 as we were given wrong instructions about transport. Thank you random stranger but the train never arrived as the station was closed. So after waiting around for an hour for nothing we caught a 22 Euro taxi ride so we could finally dump our stuff at the hostel and venture out a little to see the city. We're currently staying in Mitte, a fairly central suburb. We walked around looking at all the little boutiques and cafe's and enjoyed a delicious Thai meal at a nice restaurant (it was nice until we realised they had charged us 6 euro's for water).

That night, after getting a much needed nap, we had dinner at a Vietnamese place across the road and enjoyed very potent cocktail. By the end I was a little sloshed, we bought a bottle of vodka and demolished it in our room that we had to ourselves. After singing and dancing and making videos for a few hours we made our way to the gay district. The taxi drivers were hopeless, we caught about 3 before we got anywhere. After asking countless gaybo's where to go I was finally directed to a club called Connection. Things get very vague from here on in. After dancing/swaying for a period of time I remember exploring a downstairs area of the club. Immoral things were happening down there which I will leave up to your imagination. By this point I was done and made my way back to my hostel.

The next day, once we were able to move, we wandered out to see some sites. We visited Brandenburger, the memorial for the Jews that were murdered during WWII, and gazed at the Reichstag, the current Parliament House for Germany, it is 400 years old. We strolled around Alexanderplatz, visiting a seven story department store, and experienced Berlin's train system. I think we're finally getting used to doing things without people holding our hand.

So now it is Monday, I'm waiting for Ruth to arrive so we can all go out and explore some more. I can easily say that London is my favourite city so far but Berlin is definitely a close second. I don't know what it is but I really enjoy being here. It's a huge city but there doesn't seem to be any hustle and bustle, the streets are clean and quiet and the overall look of the city is really beautiful. Buildings are centuries old and covered in statues of soldiers, academics or animals. It's interesting comparing things to Sydney, Australia really is a young and "modern" city opposed to Berlin which has buildings that are  older than Australia.

We're staying here for two more days before leaving for Munich so I'll probably make another entry from there in the next week.

Auf wiedersehen!

Last Night in London

So I'm forcing myself to write this entry as it's my last night in London for a while. My body is starting to fail me, I'm so exhausted from all the partying and site seeing so don't expect anything too well written.

On Friday Kaylee, Laura and I went out and saw all the big tourist attractions. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect weather to visit Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and Big Ben. We casually wandered through the city, passing through a park where I saw my first squirrel, and slowly worked our way to each place. The thing I'm enjoying most about London though is the pubs, there seems to be one every 100 meters and they always seem to be busy, even during the middle of the day. The atmosphere of London is so different to Australia, I don't know how to describe it. Maybe it's because I get to travel for the next two months, but everything just seems so care-free. No one cares if you stand close to them on the tube or if you are drunk at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Which is fantastic because they're two things I really like to do...

We all went out to Heaven, a popular gay bar near Trafalgar Square, and got very messy. I spent all Saturday recovering before being dragged out yet again by Taize that night. I couldn't stomach any alcohol so I was Sober Sally.

After getting about 4 hours sleep I headed back into the City to meet up with the girls and headed to Brick Lane markets where we met Jess and Jesse. We spent the afternoon wandering around, looking at clothes and accessories and little knick knacks before saying our goodbyes.

So now we're all chilling on the lounges. I'm about to begin packing for my big trip around Europe as tomorrow we go to Amsterdam for about 3 days then on from there. SO EXCITED! Apparently it's a lot hotter out of Britain so it's going to be great to get away from these freezing weather. Until then I'm going to curl up under 20 doona's and think about the sun...

Ciao bella.

Sunny London

Hello all!

So, I made it! London is amazing, I really can't say anything more than that. I love it. I feel so at home and I've only been here for 2 days. I still can't believe it.

I'm proud that I came here all by myself, it was an interesting trip. The airport wasn't as busy and confusing as I was expecting and I managed to get through quite quick and easily. After 26 hours of traveling I was finally greeted at Heathrow by Kaylee and Laura, K almost jumped out of her skin when she saw me. It's so nice to be back with my bestfriend, 6 weeks apart was far too long.

From there I caught the Tube for the very first time and it was amazing, purely because it's the tube. Whizzing past so many stereotypical British houses got me so excited. I couldn't contain myself and kept squealing like a little school girl. We finally arrived at the Regent Park station and continued to walk 5 minutes to K and L's apartment in Oxford.

After standing in the shower for what seemed like hours and prettifying myself we headed out to the City. We found a gorgeous pub that looked like it was older than Australia and enjoyed a big vegetarian breakfast, with a vodka orange of course as I was still on Australian time.

We spent the next few hours wandering around Oxford and Trafalgar Square, moving from pub to pub and enjoying the sites (and attractive people). Eventually we dragged ourselves back home and had a 3 hour nap.

Once I managed to start functioning again I packed a light bag and ventured out on my own. I hopped on the tube and headed to Leytonstone to meet up with Taize. After about 25 minutes I finally arrived and was greeted by him as I headed out of the station. We went straight to his house where I was introduced to his housemates (he has 7) and the predrinking began. At about midnight we headed to Tottenham Court to go to the G-A-Y Late club where we drank many, many drinks that were only 1.70 pounds (that's about $2.50). After dancing for hours and "meeting" people we left at about 4am and caught a night bus back to Leytonstone.

This morning I woke up extremely hungover and ready to go again. By 12 o'clock Taize and I arrived at Kaylee's and Laura's place and by 12.30 we were at a pub drinking again. It's now 5.37pm, there's a vodka and tonic next to me and we're waiting for Taize to finish work and for Jess and Jesse (who arrived this morning) to get ready so we can continue our adventures in London. Tonight we're planning to head to Heaven, apparently one of the more popular gay bars here.

Happy ANZAC Day everyone! And cheers to my Pop, we all raised our drinks to you earlier :)

1 day...

The time has almost come for me to fly off and explore a foreign land. I've said goodbye to my closest friends, my sister, my brother, my niece and my nephews. It's a surreal feeling. Its like I'm going on a weekend trip, but I'm actually moving to Europe for two years.

Talking about my plans fills me with excitement but it hasn't sunken in yet - I feel like I did 6 months ago when I bought my plane ticket. Once my feet walk on British ground I think it will hit me, but until then I'm just going to act like I don't leave tomorrow. So for now I'm going to enjoy my bed and snuggle my puppy while I can.

21 hours and 35 mins to go...

33 days...

In 33 days I will finally be beginning the biggest adventure of my life. Since I was a little kid I have dreamed of travelling overseas, Europe being the place I wanted to visit the most. I would lay awake at night imagining running away to Paris someday, leaving everything behind and starting fresh with a new identity. I had the idea that being in a new place meant I could be whomever I wanted to. So, naturally now that the time has come for me to take this massive step I need to figure out who I want to be - the obvious choice being Beyonce.

On the 23rd of April at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I will be nervously entering the plane to make my first ever international flight. The only plane I've been on was a tiny Jetstar one which flew me from Newcastle to Melbourne so I really don't know what to expect. My plan is to drug myself silly with some sleeping tablets, drink some wine and sleep the entire way to Abu Dhabi, but knowing me the trip will just turn into a scene from bridesmaids - which I'm fine with. I'll be calling all the flight attendants "Stove" anyway, regardless of whether I'm sober or paralytic.

Leaving my family and friends will be hard but I'm so grateful that I have my three best friends, Kaylee, Jess and Jesse, to support me while I'm over there. Lesbi-honest, we all know that without someone holding my hand I'm going to end up working in the Red Light District in Amsterdam or the Russian Mafia. But hey, as long as I have enough money for food and alcohol I'll be happy, and I'm sure the Mafia has better working conditions than Telstra.

I'm eagerly counting down the days until I can wake up in Brisighella, drop it like it's never been dropped before in Munich, and show the London boys how us Aussie gays... make tea. But for now I'm just going through the motions, spending my days day dreaming and subtly slipping my plans into conversations. "I'm moving to London", "Wanna see the mansion I'm staying at in Italy?" and, my personal favourite, "Wow. You must be so jealous of my life" are dropped daily around the office.

Time to sleep. When I wake up it will be 32 days...