Now I knew there was a language barrier, but I never really took into consideration how bad it could actually be.. I'm sorry Europe but yes I am the ignorant english speaking person who didn't bother to learn any foreign language before she left Australia, as she thinks everyone should know at least the basics of english.. Apparently not.. My Apologies Europe!
Half way through my travels of Europe and I've come to realise that I am quite shy when it comes to asking strangers for directions in foreign countries.. Shotto Shy?! Noooo?!! In these situations, Yes! Unless i've had a few too many drinks, then i'm fine, however I don't think being drunk at 10am would really be acceptable, unless it was still from the night before.
I've come across a couple of encounters that were just too strange.. Once sitting on a bus on the way to Prague next to a 5 year old, who didn't speak english and kept talking to me.. of course I had no idea what the kid was saying, and felt sorry for the little dude.. in the end it was like we were playing a game of charades just so we could try and figure out what each other was saying. I'm not rude I promise, I just don't now what the f**k you are saying! This also happened on a train from Vienna to Wels in Upper Austria.. A man approached my seat and started speaking what I could only assume was German.. With my bag on the chair next to me, I could only assume he was asking if he could sit in the seat next to me, with me trying to play charades again it didn't work so well, so i just moved my things and he sat down.. still talking German majority of the ride.. I just smiled at whatever he said and laughed occasionally... Couldn't exactly do anything else now could I? One other thing that's come to my attention while in foreign countries.. You ask someone "Do you speak English?", in which they reply, "No sorry I don't", OKAY!! You at least know what i'm saying, so sorry but i'm going to show you this map and you will tell me which way to go! Note to self: don't ask the elderly people cause they actually don't know.
I've come across a couple of encounters that were just too strange.. Once sitting on a bus on the way to Prague next to a 5 year old, who didn't speak english and kept talking to me.. of course I had no idea what the kid was saying, and felt sorry for the little dude.. in the end it was like we were playing a game of charades just so we could try and figure out what each other was saying. I'm not rude I promise, I just don't now what the f**k you are saying! This also happened on a train from Vienna to Wels in Upper Austria.. A man approached my seat and started speaking what I could only assume was German.. With my bag on the chair next to me, I could only assume he was asking if he could sit in the seat next to me, with me trying to play charades again it didn't work so well, so i just moved my things and he sat down.. still talking German majority of the ride.. I just smiled at whatever he said and laughed occasionally... Couldn't exactly do anything else now could I? One other thing that's come to my attention while in foreign countries.. You ask someone "Do you speak English?", in which they reply, "No sorry I don't", OKAY!! You at least know what i'm saying, so sorry but i'm going to show you this map and you will tell me which way to go! Note to self: don't ask the elderly people cause they actually don't know.
My travels so far: Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague & Vienna/Wels
Amsterdam
Leaving from my short to trip to Ireland, I met up with one of the girls - Ally, who interned with me at Absolute Internship and also at Viewsy. As we'd both been travelling all day, we thought why not just go get some dinner, have a couple of drinks and finish with an early night, Well.... That certainly DIDN'T happen! Our quiet night ended up being a 4:30am finish. We met an Australian Bucks party at one of the pubs we were drinking at, I was loving life! No not because of the boys - so get your minds out of the gutters but because I hadn't been around many Australians in the last 2 months and was starting to sound like an Aussie/American/Britt, I wasn't having any of that! The boys were thoroughly entertaining we drank the night away, until I looked at Ally and realised i'd been awake for about 23 hours straight and needed to go to bed.
The next day with the beautiful weather, we decided that we'd hire a couple of bikes and see the sites of Amsterdam. Now firstly I didn't realise how uncoordinated I was until I got on one of these bikes, for some reason I was ridiculously unsteady, as well as being on the "wrong" side of the road didn't help the whole situation, we eventually got there in the end. The rest of the day consisted with getting lost around Amsterdam, yet still managing to find all the places we wanted to go and see. The night we decided we would go on a Red Light District Pub Crawl.. When in Amsterdam Hey! We met 2 nice British girls and stuck with them the rest of the time, also found out they were headed to Berlin & Prague at the same time I was going to be there.. Yay Friends!! After that we met with the girls the following day and decided to go to the Sex Museum.. Well bloody hell that was a bit much! We decided we'd go for a wonder to find the street that was supposed to be really pretty and colourful.. We finally found it and I made a joke just before we turned that I would piss myself laughing if it wasn't anything special.. You can probably guess what happened next.. OMG!! I just said it as a joke, But f*** me it was worse than bad!! No colour and there was construction fencing all along the buildings.. no colour to be found at all.. only on the outside that showed what possibly could've been there, fair to say i have never laughed that much at a dissatisfaction in my life!
Amsterdam
Leaving from my short to trip to Ireland, I met up with one of the girls - Ally, who interned with me at Absolute Internship and also at Viewsy. As we'd both been travelling all day, we thought why not just go get some dinner, have a couple of drinks and finish with an early night, Well.... That certainly DIDN'T happen! Our quiet night ended up being a 4:30am finish. We met an Australian Bucks party at one of the pubs we were drinking at, I was loving life! No not because of the boys - so get your minds out of the gutters but because I hadn't been around many Australians in the last 2 months and was starting to sound like an Aussie/American/Britt, I wasn't having any of that! The boys were thoroughly entertaining we drank the night away, until I looked at Ally and realised i'd been awake for about 23 hours straight and needed to go to bed.
The next day with the beautiful weather, we decided that we'd hire a couple of bikes and see the sites of Amsterdam. Now firstly I didn't realise how uncoordinated I was until I got on one of these bikes, for some reason I was ridiculously unsteady, as well as being on the "wrong" side of the road didn't help the whole situation, we eventually got there in the end. The rest of the day consisted with getting lost around Amsterdam, yet still managing to find all the places we wanted to go and see. The night we decided we would go on a Red Light District Pub Crawl.. When in Amsterdam Hey! We met 2 nice British girls and stuck with them the rest of the time, also found out they were headed to Berlin & Prague at the same time I was going to be there.. Yay Friends!! After that we met with the girls the following day and decided to go to the Sex Museum.. Well bloody hell that was a bit much! We decided we'd go for a wonder to find the street that was supposed to be really pretty and colourful.. We finally found it and I made a joke just before we turned that I would piss myself laughing if it wasn't anything special.. You can probably guess what happened next.. OMG!! I just said it as a joke, But f*** me it was worse than bad!! No colour and there was construction fencing all along the buildings.. no colour to be found at all.. only on the outside that showed what possibly could've been there, fair to say i have never laughed that much at a dissatisfaction in my life!
Berlin
After Ally left I hoped on a bus and made my 8 hour journey to Berlin.. The bus trip was quiet quick actually and I was smart in making my hotel what I thought was close to bus station in Berlin, turned out it was quite literally right next to and almost on top of the bus station. Little did I know the next morning that it was basically on the other side of Berlin. I'd booked a "free" walking tour, as I was only there for less than 48 hours I had to make the most it. I went to the optional meeting point, in which they were meant to met some of us and take us to the actually meeting point where the tour would start. I rocked up right on time 10:30am had already been walking for 45 mins.. 10mins later and nobody has rocked up.. the tour starts at 11am.. So I decided to try and make my way there myself, little did I know that it would take about 30-40 mins from where I was and i'd already been waiting.. At one stage I was literally running down the street trying to make this tour.. and it got to 11 and I said to myself "just keep going, they may not have left yet", I got to the area near where we were meant to meet and I've noticed this guy with a sign saying "free tour starts now", Yes i've made it! Turned out it was a totally different "free" tour, but ahh well still saw all of Berlin! The reason I say "free" is because at first they show you around the city and at the end they do a massive talk about how they don't get paid and it's all volunteer work, but the preferred tip is between 10-15 Euro, thats where they get you!.
Afterwards I trekked home.. which I swear took me about 2 hrs! My feet were killing and it was about 36 degrees, all I wanted to do was rest in my nice comfortable hotel room.. it was struggle that was for sure! Once I finally got home, i'd realised I had massive blisters on the side of my heels and I had been walking for about 5 1/2 - 6 hours straight.. Well no bloody wonder!!
After Ally left I hoped on a bus and made my 8 hour journey to Berlin.. The bus trip was quiet quick actually and I was smart in making my hotel what I thought was close to bus station in Berlin, turned out it was quite literally right next to and almost on top of the bus station. Little did I know the next morning that it was basically on the other side of Berlin. I'd booked a "free" walking tour, as I was only there for less than 48 hours I had to make the most it. I went to the optional meeting point, in which they were meant to met some of us and take us to the actually meeting point where the tour would start. I rocked up right on time 10:30am had already been walking for 45 mins.. 10mins later and nobody has rocked up.. the tour starts at 11am.. So I decided to try and make my way there myself, little did I know that it would take about 30-40 mins from where I was and i'd already been waiting.. At one stage I was literally running down the street trying to make this tour.. and it got to 11 and I said to myself "just keep going, they may not have left yet", I got to the area near where we were meant to meet and I've noticed this guy with a sign saying "free tour starts now", Yes i've made it! Turned out it was a totally different "free" tour, but ahh well still saw all of Berlin! The reason I say "free" is because at first they show you around the city and at the end they do a massive talk about how they don't get paid and it's all volunteer work, but the preferred tip is between 10-15 Euro, thats where they get you!.
Afterwards I trekked home.. which I swear took me about 2 hrs! My feet were killing and it was about 36 degrees, all I wanted to do was rest in my nice comfortable hotel room.. it was struggle that was for sure! Once I finally got home, i'd realised I had massive blisters on the side of my heels and I had been walking for about 5 1/2 - 6 hours straight.. Well no bloody wonder!!
Prague
The next morning I made my way to Prague (when I was sitting next to the 5 yr old), finally coming across my Hostel, and greeted by 2 what I think were Spanish people in the room that I was put into.. Barely speaking to me while I was there.. I ventured into the Old Town Square which was only a minute away.. so great location! Went for a bit of a wander and later that night I decided to go find some dinner. Stumbling across a Hooters.. I ventured in by myself.. Yes I went to Hooters by myself for dinner! What of it? Going back to my Hostel I decided okay I need to make some friends for gods sake you just ate in Hooters by yourself! A couple of British guys and an Aussie girl were in the common room and we decided to play a few drinking games.. some of which i'm bringing home! So much fun!! The night ended for a walk around Prague trying to find a bar that my new friend Bianca - the Australian girl I met that night, went to a couple of days earlier. Coming across a few creepy men my name suddenly turned to Samantha and I was Darwin, they didn't know the accent difference so I was fine! Hahahaa oh geez!
In the morning I set out to do some site seeing before it got too hot, finding my way to the Charles Bridge, that was a walk and a half! I decided lunch was on the cards and came across an air conditioned Irish pub with nice cold Cider! Could've stayed there all day! Just so know.. i don't think Europe now what the word Air Conditioner is! 35 Degrees at home i can normally deal with! But this no air con business is just ridiculous! Ended up the day with a Boat Party with the 2 British girls i'd met in Amsterdam.
With my last day in Prague, I thought i'd do a bit of history tourist things, so went and visited the old Jewish Cemetery and a couple of the Synagog's, Just a bit of an eye opener! Definitely worth it though.
The next morning I made my way to Prague (when I was sitting next to the 5 yr old), finally coming across my Hostel, and greeted by 2 what I think were Spanish people in the room that I was put into.. Barely speaking to me while I was there.. I ventured into the Old Town Square which was only a minute away.. so great location! Went for a bit of a wander and later that night I decided to go find some dinner. Stumbling across a Hooters.. I ventured in by myself.. Yes I went to Hooters by myself for dinner! What of it? Going back to my Hostel I decided okay I need to make some friends for gods sake you just ate in Hooters by yourself! A couple of British guys and an Aussie girl were in the common room and we decided to play a few drinking games.. some of which i'm bringing home! So much fun!! The night ended for a walk around Prague trying to find a bar that my new friend Bianca - the Australian girl I met that night, went to a couple of days earlier. Coming across a few creepy men my name suddenly turned to Samantha and I was Darwin, they didn't know the accent difference so I was fine! Hahahaa oh geez!
In the morning I set out to do some site seeing before it got too hot, finding my way to the Charles Bridge, that was a walk and a half! I decided lunch was on the cards and came across an air conditioned Irish pub with nice cold Cider! Could've stayed there all day! Just so know.. i don't think Europe now what the word Air Conditioner is! 35 Degrees at home i can normally deal with! But this no air con business is just ridiculous! Ended up the day with a Boat Party with the 2 British girls i'd met in Amsterdam.
With my last day in Prague, I thought i'd do a bit of history tourist things, so went and visited the old Jewish Cemetery and a couple of the Synagog's, Just a bit of an eye opener! Definitely worth it though.
Vienna & Wels
Now this trip was going to a be relaxing one. This time round I got to see my Austrian Family, the family I stayed with when I was 16 and went on the Lions Youth Exchange. We stayed in Vienna for a day or so and did a bit of sight seeing, then made our way to Wels, where they live. One day we went to a lake where they originally lived and went swimming and laid in the sun all day.. Absolute heaven!! We made our way into Salzburg for some dinner and headed home, we were all tired from laying in the sun all day. The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and spending time trying to decide what to do with my life in September.. Definitely needed the down time to relax and not to so much touristy business.
Tomorrow Croatia!!
H xx
Now this trip was going to a be relaxing one. This time round I got to see my Austrian Family, the family I stayed with when I was 16 and went on the Lions Youth Exchange. We stayed in Vienna for a day or so and did a bit of sight seeing, then made our way to Wels, where they live. One day we went to a lake where they originally lived and went swimming and laid in the sun all day.. Absolute heaven!! We made our way into Salzburg for some dinner and headed home, we were all tired from laying in the sun all day. The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and spending time trying to decide what to do with my life in September.. Definitely needed the down time to relax and not to so much touristy business.
Tomorrow Croatia!!
H xx