3rd August - Rouen - Home

Woke up at 6am because of a text from Josh – bloody time difference! Unsuccessfully tried to get back to sleep for quarter of an hour, then woke Lu up. We got dressed and packed up all of our stuff. Said a tearful goodbye to our loyal comrade Alex and as we left she white her white handkerchief (well... knickers) at us out of the window.

We caught the train straight away to Amiens then onto Boulogne. No one checked our interrails on these trains, then on the way to Calais they checked but we got away with it!
In Calais we caught a bus to the ferry port and as we were an hour early we got to catch an earlier ferry. We got through customs and ate some hash brownie in the departure lounge. It kicked in on the ferry so we sat down. I bought a super nice pasty and coffee. I bought some British newspapers too! (Jacko and Jade Goody STILL on the front page?!) We swayed our way off the ferry, still pretty high, and waited for our coach to London. Once the coach picked us up it didn’t take long to get to Victoria and we bought drinks and I read a trashy magazine.

At 5.30pm we caught the bus back to Newport. It was so odd listening to people’s conversations and understanding what they were saying! When we got to Newport it was pretty surreal! We found Liam who took us both home.

Just before I went to the door of my house, I phoned my mum and told her to ring me back. I knocked on the door before she got the chance. She was so surprised, and it was so great catching up with them. And I ate a massive salad, god I missed fruit and veg!!

It’s weird being hom! At the moment I’m enjoying the creature comforts: a warm bath, free food and a comfy bed, but I know soon I’ll want to be on the move again!

2nd August - Rouen

Woke up at 9 – had a bus to catch to Rouen at 11.34. We packed our stuff and the tent pretty early. We attempted to dry our rain soaked towels with hair dryers...it didn’t work. We left early so we’d be in time for the bus. On the way to the boulangerie we saw a bus go past, even though it wasn’t due for another 40 minutes. We bought patisseries and walked to the bus stop.

At 11.34, when the bus was due, a bus went past... on the other side of the road. It dawned on us that even though we came in the way we were facing, buses go other routes. We had a few options: wait 6 hours for the next bus, walk (with out rucksacks) for 4 hours or hitch-hike!

So again we stuck out our thumbs and this time we had a bit more luck. After a few minutes two guys pulled over. They weren’t going all the way to Rouen, but they took us to the main road about 4km away. They dropped us off, told us which side of the road to go on and we tried again. After about 20 minutes another two guys pulled over and took us a few villages away. One of the blokes used to work in Woolworths in Cardiff- madness! We thumbed a lift for the third time then. A dodgy looking man pulled over. I told him where we were going and he agreed. He chain smoked and played a rather eclectic selection of songs (Daddy, daddy cool!). He took us all the way to the train station and something told me this wasn’t where he was going anyway, so he must’ve gone out of his way for us. In French he told us to “be careful, you are very young,” which were the only words he said to us!

We asked in the train station for local trains to Calais so we didn’t have to go via Paris, and we found one for just the right time to catch our ferry. We then attempted to find an internet cafe to look for accommodation in Rouen or somewhere closer to Calais.
The tourist office was closed and when we found the cafe, which was closed too. We sat outside the Joan of Arc church/museum thing and had food. The cafe never opened so after we led on the grass for a while, we went back to the train station so Alex could check if there were trains that night for her to meet up with Rob.

As there were no hostels in Rouen it seemed that me and Lu would either have to sleep rough or find a cheap hotel. I took a quick look around the train station and the last one I checked in was just as cheap as a hostel, so Alex stayed with us and we checked into the hotel. We had a room with a TV and BEDS! It felt lush after sleeping in the tent for a week!

We got ready to go out Alex took the last part of her space brownie, and we looked for a bar, but it being Sunday, nothing in France is open. We found a lovely looking Indian restaurant which looked like it had plenty of cheap deals on. Once we’d been seated we found out the deals were only for midday. The restaurant was deserted and there was only one member of staff. Being the polite “ladies” we are, we felt obliged to stay. We ordered chicken curry (we suspect this was the only thing he had to offer as he practically forced us to order it.) It was small and expensive, but yummy (even if we had heard the microwave go off.) and we had a weird cocktail (it was milky green...)

We gave up hope of finding a bar/place that sold vodka, so made our way back to the hotel where – lo and behold!- we found a shop which sold wine! We bought a cheap bottle and went back to the hotel for music!

We’d planned to go to a projection display of Monet’s art, but we drank wine and danced on the bed instead. I showered and Alex gave me a message, then we went to bed.

1st August - Rouen

Got up at 9 and went to reception. I tried to get away with saying we’d only just arrived so we only had to pay for one night. I sent the girls away to quickly pack up our stuff while I paid. Turns out they hadn’t charged me for the deposit of the campsite either! The receptionist gave us a map of the site and our new pitch. We carried our already set up tent halfway across the site. As we were putting our bags inside, thinking we’d got away with it, the receptionist said we’d have to pay for the night before as someone had seen us in the pitch the previous night. I felt pretty guilty lying as she was really friendly and we paid the other night.

After that we went to the on-site grocery store. It didn’t have much on offer so we walked into Jumieges. We found a tourist office so we asked inside about youth hostels in Rouen for our last night. Our trains very early on Monday morning, so we need to be at the train station by about 6.45am. The earliest bus from the campsite is at 9, instead of paying €60 for another taxi, we’d prefer to stay in a hostel closer to the train station.

Unfortunately the woman told us there are no hostels in Rouen and all of the hotels are expensive so, so she gave us the number of the campsite closest to the train station.
On the way back to the campsite we bought some patisseries from the bakers – mine was coffee flavoured, yum! We tried to ring the campsite but there was no answer. We then went to go swimming on the on-site pool but it was closed until 2.

We went back to the tent and it started raining really heavily. The girls fell asleep so i wrote for a bit. When they finally bloody woke up we went to phone the campsite again. It turned out it was 3 buses away from the town centre which would be impossible to get before our trains due.

We then sat by the pool and tried (and failed) to figure out a plan. We “swam” (stood in the not-so-heated-poll freezing our tits off) before showering. It started to rain again so we sat in the tent and waited for it to stop...it didn’t. We bought some pizza and chips from the on site store and depressingly sat in the tent all night.

Alex gave me a massage (yay!) and we talked for hours. Then me and Lu imagined a load of really nice places we could go that doesn’t have rain-anywhere but Rouen. Then we slept.

31st July - St.Malo - Rouen

The alarm went off at 8.15- we had to catch a bus at 10.22 and we had no idea what time the trains were. We got cappuccinos, packed our stuff and the tent, and left the campsite. We caught the bus just in time!

We found out the times for the local trains. Most of the time was spent waiting. We waited two hours for our first train (which took only 20 minutes...)

On the next train we sorted out our plan of action: my interrail had run out on Sunday the 26th but I needed to catch trains to Rouen and then on to Calais at the end of the week. We made a plan where Louise showed her ticket and as Alex was showing hers, Lu would slip hers to me. I worked on both the trains we were checked on! Hoping it’ll work on the way to Calais too even though we won’t have Alex to distract!

We got to Rouen at 8.30pm and went to get some food as all we’d had was some biscuits and two bananas between all of us. We found a Chinese restaurant near the station. We looked so out of place in the nice restaurant with our backpacks, trying to steal the chopsticks! I had a really nice curry and vegetable noodles – yay vegetables!!

We then made our way to the bus stop that the woman from the campsite had told us to go to. We walked for ages and when we got the stop it didn’t look like the bus was running anymore. We asked an official looking man, who didn’t speak much English, but we gathered that the bus wasn’t running. I asked how much a taxi would cost to Jumieges (where the campsite was), he whistled and said it was far so the taxi would be expensive.
The man then made a phone call, I hoped it would be someone who could take us to where we wanted to go, but it was just his brother. The official man seemed to think our only problem was not being able to speak French. His brother told me over the phone what I already knew – there were no buses, so we’d have to stay in the town centre.

I’d already paid the deposit for the campsite and I’d be charged for a night whether we went there or not. We didn’t want to catch a taxi which everyone told us would cost around €60, so we found out what side of the road we needed to be on and stuck our thumbs out.
Hitch-hiking in the south seemed pretty common and safe, but I guess in the north at 10pm it’s not as common. A group of people walked past and we told them where we were going. They also whistled and said it was far. So did the three guys who pulled up in a Peugeot. They said they would take us but there wasn’t enough room for us and our bags. A police car went past and waved at us?! And another ar stopped. He was just a middle-aged man se we were wary, but he didn’t even know where Jumieges was.

Eventually we gave up and walked towards the taxi-rank. The three guys in the peugot pulled up again. I offered them €20 to take us but they said there was no room.

We found a taxi and flagged it down. He said it would be €40-50. I attempted to haggle and asked for €30 but he said no so we settled for €40. It was a pretty long journey for a taxi. The meter said €67-odd but he still only charged us €40 and gave us his card!
By now it was 11pm. Reception was closed so we found an empty pitch, set up the tent and decided we’d go to reception in the morning.

30th July - St.Malo

Had a good 12 hour sleep, but still woke up rather groggy. I bought a cappuccino, then once we were all up and dressed, we walked to the supermarket that we’d found the night before. We bought loads of food and planned a picnic. We wanted to hire a pedalo but I don’t think we could.

Once we’re bought bread, cream cheese, loads of salad and fruit, we took it to the space behind our campsite which overlooks the sea. It got really windy so we went to our plot and ate it there. Trust the weather though – it started to rain!

When we finished our food we decided we definitely needed plenty of wine. We bought some cheap white and rosé and started drinking.

After about two or three bottles we decided we needed to shower... together of course. We donned our bikinis and had a very efficient rotation of washing going on.

When we were done, we went back and lit some candles. We opened the rosé called something “oignon” and it tasted like onions too. We chilled outside in our sleeping bags and talked until the candles burnt out, then bed!

29th July - St.Malo

Woke up to seagulls and security – the seagulls had strewn all the rubbish we’d left outside overnight and security came to tell us to clear it up. We’d planned a mission to find an internet cafe. We got a map from reception and set off on our way. We bought “breakfast” in the patisserie – I bought a really nice cheese and ham thing.

We got to the main city of St. Malo and got the directions to the cafe from the tourist desk. When we got there, the owner told us we couldn’t use the computers so we found another.
We ordered coffee and when we got online we made a reservation for the next campsite in Rouen. Me and Lu also booked our ferry and coach back to Newport and we’re both planning to surprise our parents. (I’ve told my mum I’m coming back in two weeks)

Once that was done, Alex bought some postcards and we made our way to a restaurant that we saw had a three course meal deal for €7.50. It was such a nice meal and it was good to finally get some decent food in us!

We then went to the beach and attempted to sunbathe, but the clouds kept blocking the sun and wind blew sand in our mouths, bleh!

We sunbathed a little at the campsite where there was less wind, then ate some sweaty space brownies before the circus that was supposed to be on in the campsite. After a while of wandering the campsite (oú ést la cirque?!) we gave up the idea of the circus and went to look for a bar.

For some reason we walked past all the bars until we were drawn to some neon lights up a steep street we hadn’t been up before. The neon was just a restaurant but we ended up finding another village with loads of shops, a theatre, patisseries etc. We sat in a bus stop to try and find our bearings. (found an unopened tub of couscous...we’re on a low budget so of course Louise put it in her bag).

We walked a bit further and found a supermarket – very cheap – it was like a thing of dreams!! We bought crisps, bread and finally some TIRAMISU! And took them back to the campsite. We ate and stayed in the tent because of the rain. We’re so hardcore; we went to bed at 10.30.

28th July - St.Malo

I woke up earlier than the girls – the church bells told me it was 9am. I got bored after about 10 minutes so I rudely woke the girls up!

After we were all ready, we got some crisps and juice then walked to the beach. We did some topless sunbathing after a while and Louise said she thought she was an old guy filming us...ew! We stayed for a few hours but the sun kept going behind the clouds so we left.
We showered and then went for pizza in the pizzeria near the campsite – very yummy!
When we got back we got into out pyjamas and sat outside the tent in our sleeping bags. We had another bottle of wine and talked for a while.

Just before going to sleep we had some 50cent hot chocolate and talked some more. Just as we were about to drop off we saw people walking around the tent, talking and flashing torches. I poked my head out to ask what they wanted. They didn’t speak much English but I gathered they were security and they told us to shut up.

27th July - St.Malo

Woke up to rain – trust! We come here for sun and it rains! We shared a quarter of a melon between us, we’re on a very low budget! Stayed in the tent until the rain calmed down a bit, I did some washing, then we went for a walk to the village. It was quite breezy as we were near the coast, but sunny too. We bought some drinks, crisps, etc in the shop, then went and sat on the beach for a bit.

The place we’re staying at is near a little village with lots of restaurants, a bakery and a grocery store, there’s also a few beaches nearby.
After leaving the beach, we went to look around for a restaurant to eat at later in the night, but it was all quite expensive. We ended up walking along a coastal path which was quite pretty.

We found that the path led straight back to the campsite so we went to the tent. We bought 50cent soup and ate it with the stuff we had bought earlier. Then we had some wine and decided to go near the beach and watch the sunset.

It took a big climb to get there (I fell) and we ate crisps, took lots of photos and watched the sun ser... well watched it set behind a cloud.

We climbed back up (I fell... again...) and went back to the campsite. We explored the site, found nothing interesting and got some 50cent hot chocolate from the vending machine. We ate it with cookies then went to bed like old women.

26th July - Bruges - St. Malo

The night before we had planned our train and accommodation in St. Malo, which is in the north of France. We wanted sun and a tan to go home to! We had breakfast and checked out of our room at 11. Then we looked for a supermarket for some food, as the train left at 3.30 and we wouldn’t get to the campsite until about 11pm.

Most of the big supermarkets were closed, but we were given directions to a smaller store. We bought some basics and went back to the hostel to make sandwiches, while Alex looked for flights home from where she’s going after her interrail.

We sat in the hostel kitchen and stole some goodies left over from breakfast – more sandwiches! We read for a while then caught the bus to the train station.

On our second train from Brussels, we caught a TGV. The conductor asked us for our tickets so we shoed him our interrail. The then told us we needed a reservation. As per usual, we played dumb: “ we needed a reservation? Oh, we didn’t know!” He then proceeded to charge us €26 each!! I became an angry consumer and said it was ridiculous for him to charge us for seats when no one was sat there anyway. Somehow we scarped the money together between us. Luckily I had my card because I lent my cash to Alex as we couldn’t find a cash point in Bruges before.

When we finally got to St. Malo we rang the campsite as no one at the station spoke English... and apparently no one at the campsite did either.

We found an ATM and a nice bus driver tried to help us. We caught a taxi to the campsite which wasn’t too expensive. We set our tent up (pretty well considering it was dark!) and had a game of cards, got bored and slept.

25th July - Bruges

Had breakfast in the morning which was €3. Ate toast and chocolate spread. And Lu had really weird chocolate sprinkles, made to eat on toast! Belgians aye?
We decided to be really productive, so we looked at the map we were given and planned to rent a bike but it turned out to be pointless as the bike rental shop was further away from the hostel than the town was.

First we were going to see “Christ’s blood” but got distracted on the way and visited the chocolate museum. It was €5 and we took some chocolate buttons on the way in. We learnt some really cool stuff about chocolate like did you know... chocolate can reduce cholesterol AND prevent cavities?! We watched a chocolate demonstration and got to eat some chocolate that had been made in front of us! I also stole a piece of chocolate from a statue too. It was gross though – in my bag all day and it didn’t even melt.

After that we went on the quest for “Christ’s blood” again. Found it in a big church. We were quite intimidated by everyone being all religious so I took a picture and we left.
Went to the “Frisbee and cute asses” park, (labelled as that on our map.) smoked our Amsterdam leftovers and nearly fell asleep. As Alex was taking pictures, some guy on a bike came up and offered to take a photo. We were a bit wary in case he stole the camera or something but then he just started rambling. He told us he was a rapper (M.C.Curls) and demonstrated his “skillz” a few times. He told us his political views and I switched off for a bit until he started talking religion. He told us he was a protestant. M.C. Curls then asked us if we were lesbians. The conversation went a bit like this:
M.C. Curls: Are you lesbians?
All: No!
M.C.Curls: Oh good, ‘cause I don’t like all that gay stuff, it’s not what God intended.
I proceeded to ignore him after that and glare at him from under my sunglasses. The narrow-minded prick. I was about to tell him I was a lesbian, but then he left and tried to force his views on others...probably.

On our handy map, it told us of a place where you can buy a KILO of pancakes for under €5! They were all sold out when we got there though, so we went to get some food from another cheap place the map had recommended. It was full so we went to “Pasta Presto” across the street. I had a really yummy lasagne and we sat outside in the sun.
After our food we went back to the hostel. I had a lush shower. We didn’t really plan anything so I wrote in my journal and we listened to some music. It was a nice relaxing evening.

24th July - Amsterdam - Bruges

Missed breakfast – very hungry. Said goodbye to Ed and got Facebooks. We went to the train station to check bus times as it was impossible to do online! We spent a while trying to find a hostel in Bruges too. Finally we got hold of “Art Hostel” a reserved a night there.
We went to find somewhere to eat food. It was raining and we were damp and hungry. Found a cafe and ate (another) burger for brunch!

We went back to Abraxas again and had a joint. I checked online for trains/ferries home from Bruges, but then we planned to go somewhere sunny for a week.

We left the coffee shop and went back to the hostel to get our bags. We were waiting for a tram and when it came it was really busy. I got on but the girls didn’t fit, they went to get on through another door but they didn’t make it! Luckily they caught the next tram to the station which wasn’t long after, and the train was late leaving so we caught it on time!

When we got to Bruges, we caught the bus and checked into the hostel. Our room was a little way from the hostel itself but it was stunning! We pretty much had our own bathroom and dining room. Very squeaky beds though! We showered and relaxed for a bit.

We decided to find some food then. The “kitchen” only had a microwave. We ate weird delicious samosa things, from a takeaway across the road, and chips. Ended up taking half of it home! Went to sleep in our super comfy beds and decided in the morning to book another night there!

23rd July - Amsterdam

Had breakfast early in the morning. Got caught stealing sandwiches. Once we were ready yo go out we headed towards Anne Frank’s house. It was pissing down and there was a really long queue so we gave up on that idea. We walked to the Mushroom gallery. We thought it was going to be a magic mushroom museum, but it was more of a shop. We looked around a bit then went to find a coffee shop. We found one called Abraxas. We sat outside with our chococcinos and had a spliff. Then we left to go to the museum (to be cultural) but we didn’t want to pay. We went to the other mushroom gallery which was pretty much the same. They were giving away free ‘energy’ powder – “like speed but herbal.” So me and Lu had sniffed a line. Didn’t give us anything except cinnamon in our noses!

After that we walked to find a coffee shop to buy some space cakes. We ended up back in Abraxas. We ate two between us before going back to the hotel. We met our new room mates who we accidently woke up:
-Ed: sounded like a soothing American TV presenter – NYC
-Sergio: very emotional, pretty sure he had ADHD – Harvard
-Ben: Stand up comedian, needless to say he was funny – Harvard.

The space cakes started to kick in then. We went for dinner downstairs – the burger really was as nice as Josh told me it was. We ended up being really giggly and trying to listen to music that, retrospectively, probably wasn’t there. We met Nathan again too, he kissed us on the cheeks... he’s not French...

We realised we had been sat there for an hour, not doing anything, so we finished our food and left. We walked to the Red Light District and saw loads of prostitutes who propositioned us... (or maybe not.) We looked for a cheap sex show, but we were being tight and didn’t want to spend too much money. We walked around a bit more. At one point some guy walked towards us, grabbed Alex’s arm saying “how much? How much??” Quite scary!

We went to a few coffee shops and sat there for a while then started to make our way back. Got quite lost on the way! Louise managed to get us back though. Sleep time!

22nd July - Berlin - Amsterdam

Stole breakfast in the morning. We would’ve paid but they didn’t ask and we’re on a low budget! They told us off for trying to steal food, but we did anyway for the journey to Amsterdam.
We missed the first train which went directly to Amsterdam, so we caught the train 10 minutes later that required us to change in Duisberg. Little did we know, the train had split while we were on it and we ended up in Koln (still Germany...). Luckily there was a train straight to Amsterdam about 3-4 hours later, so we walked a bit and found a quaint, if expensive, cafe and had cake and hot chocolate. We really are ladies who lunch!

We finally caught the right train. We had a little cabin to ourselves and sang lots of songs (and played Guess the song... like on Never Mind the Buzzcocks.) and tried to learn how to roll a spliff... When we got to Amsterdam we caught the tram and went to the hotel. Once we’d checked in we went to our room and met Nathan, a friend of our room mates. He was a bit weird, kind and nice, but with a pervy moustache. We then met Brendan, a Canadian we were sharing the room with.

I had a shower then the three of us went to the Dolphin coffee shop which was pretty close to the Hans Brinker (our hotel). We bought some ready made joints (because our lessons on the train didn’t really work out.) It didn’t take much to get me pretty baked. I was exhausted too and I fell asleep on the comfy chairs. I felt a bit sick too. I was pretty mesmerised by the fantastic interior design too, which inspired me to create a seasonal room when I buy my own house!
We went to Febo’s after that. I bought some bloody fantastic chicken burger thing. Went back to the hotel and met the two Australian girls we were sharing the room with as well as Brendan. They were off it on space cakes (note to self: buy some.) Turns out that one of the girls had her huge rucksack stolen the same day straight out of the room! So glad it wasn’t us, but it was seriously gutting for her! I’d been told the pillows were really nice... and they totally were! The duvets felt like a hug too!

<--Me and Alex outside a castle/cathedral thing in Koln

21st July - Berlin

Woke up raring for the alternative tour. Decided to have breakfast in a cheap cafe not far from the hostel, was yummy! We were quite late for the 11’o clock tour so we chilled a bit before making our way to the massive TV tower in Alexanderplatz where the tour started.
We met our tour guide: Callum, a dreadlocked Scottish guy who told us some really cool stuff! We went to an old brewery first where there was loads of street art. We couldn’t see much though because it was pitch black and there were deadly holes in the floor!!

<-- Very Banksy like piece outside the old brewery

Next we went to an old railway station that was bombed in WWII. Artists took it over and painted the whole place. There’s a water tower with a climbing wall, rave clubs, a bar and the actual station is now the biggest indoor skate park in Europe. We sat there for a bit and got to know some of our group. There were three Brazilians, three English guys, an American guy, an Australian/Chinese woman, a posing Australian guy and a South American couple.

We then caught the tram to a place really close to our hostel. We walked down the road we’d gone down the day before. We found out that a regular looking kebab shop we walked past, often hosts secret raves thorough a passage in the toilets. We walked a bit further and found out that the day before we’d practically walked right past the Berlin wall!

We walked along the wall which was being renovated. Loads of artists had done huge, amazing paintings on the wall and it looked so cool! Also found out that Microsoft own a part of the Berlin wall... always useful in software...?

<--Pretty awesome piece on the Berlin wall

We went to the YAAM club next (Young African Art...something). It was a bar with loads of sand, comfy seats and volleyball. It was so nice to sit there for a bit before moving onto Tacheles bar. We’d heard from some guys at East Seven that Tacheles was really cool, so we were looking forward to it!

The building was a shopping mall before the war, but during the war it was used to store secret documents. When the war was over, the Nazis flooded everything to destroy the evidence and today it’s still damp inside. We visited loads of art stalls inside the building. It was all really original and interesting. There was also two cinemas inside and a beach bar on the bottom floor. The tour officially ended here, but Callum took us to an art gallery in a deserted swimming pool. The art there was amazing! At one point there was a bit the public could take part in: Many Germans collect empty glass bottles to recycle and get money for them. The gallery had collected hundreds of bottles and asked the public to write messages for the bottles. That way people who pick up the bottles get a (hopefully) nice message. Louise wrote “dwi’n hoffi coffee” and I wrote “something nice.”

We left Callum and went for a really nice (and cheap!) falafel and chips – we’d been craving falafel for a good two days! We also tries “spinat tasche” – spinach and cheese in pastry – yum!

When we finally got back to the hostel (after getting pretty lost) I bought an ice-cream from the best ice-cream place next to the hostel. We chilled for a bit and went to the YAAM club about 10.30, but when we got there it was €12 entry as there was a band playing. We looked for trains to get to Tacheles bar, but the trains were messed up. Instead we bought some cheap beer and did handstands against the Berlin wall, then went to bed!

<-- Handstands on THE wall :D
Me on the left, Alex on the right

20th July - Berlin

Planned to do alot today. We wanted to go on the “alternative tour,” where you’re shown around all the underground places that tourists don’t usually see...unfortunately we didn’t. Instead we cooked some food and took advantage of the East Seven facilities before we had to leave for out €10 a night hostel which we knew wouldn’t be half as nice. The food we cooked was simple and lovely... No really, it was great! No added spice/cream/gross.

We found our other hostel pretty easily, got rid of our bags and chilled for a while. We were told one of us had to go in a separate room, so we flipped coins. Alex lost so she went into the room across the hall from us for the first night (it turned out that this was completely pointless as we had spare beds in each of our rooms, tuh!) We did a well-needed clothes wash then took a walk down the road. There wasn’t much interesting where we walked, so we went back to the hostel. I had a super tasty smurf (bubblegum? Not sure... it was blue) and coffee ice-cream on the way back.

We then planned to go on the “alternative pub crawl.” Much like the day tour it takes you to all of the underground places. As we were getting ready, 3 Belgians knocked on the foor. They asked us where we were going and asked if they could join. We didn’t want to be rude and say no, so we agreed. But when they left to go in the shower we finished getting ready super quick and ran away!

On the way to the metro station, we were given fliers for a free cocktail in a bar not far away. We figured we were already too late for the pub-crawl anyway, and us being the easily swayed consumers we are, decided to seek out the free cocktail. We found the place which was a really cosy bar. We bought cocktails (mine was Pina-Colada – yum!) and had the free one too! We also bought two pizzas, we didn’t know what the flavours were because it was all in German, so we picked one at random. It turned out to be salmon and rocket leaves – ew! We had free melon shisha too! And I spoke to Josh before he went to Japan the next day.

<-- Tasty melon shisha... even tastier because it was free!

19th July - Berlin

I woke up to Louise shaking me. I was pretty sleepy and could hear voices shouting “HALLO! VEE ARE EEN BERLEEN!” Some crazy Germans (again.... attracting the crazies...) were drinking whisked and lager all morning. They now thought it was a good idea to wake us up, telling us we were in Berlin... then telling us they were joking. At 5-6 in the morning... not happy bunnies.

When we actually did get to Berlin, we went straight to the East-Seven hostel which told us over the phone that they had a room for us for one night. At €21 a night plus €3 for linen we thought it was a bit pricey, especially as they didn’t serve breakfast! We were checking in quite early so our rooms weren’t ready. The guy at reception gave us a free coffee and let us sit in the lounge which was really comfy. We sat in the garden which was really pretty too. The hostel had a kitchen, so we figured we’d save money and make our own food.

First we went to a fleemarket which was near the hostel. It wa

sn’t overly impressive so we went to another, bigger fleemarket a bit further away. On our way there we accidently stumbled upon a really pretty part of the town that me and Alex had visited last time we were in Berlin. There’s a park with some swings and loads of cool street art, very picturesque! We decided to come back to watch the sunset as we had done last time we were there.

We walked to the fleemarket which wasn’t far. There was so much cool stuff on sale: art, jewellery, food, clothes, antiques... pretty much everything. Me, Lu and Alex bought similar bracelets to mark our trip. I also bought a handmade ring (* which I ended up losing in Germany)

On our way back to the hostel we bought some sauce and a pepper to eat with pasta. We made the sauce. It was shit. Too much free spice and cream (to even it out) and Knoblaucher (type of German sausage) It burnt our throats. We left the knoblaucher sauce in the fridge for someone with no taste buds to eat.

We were about to leave for the park to watch the sunset, but as we were in the garden playing cards with George and Ryan (two Americans also staying at the hostel) it started to rain. We played some more cards inside after George and Ryan left and we

re soon joined by two more Americans: Jay and Art(hur) from Hollywood. They were both nice and funny – Jay was a bit OTT with his politics: arguing some Canadians in the kitchen next door. We were also joined by:
-Riley and Liz: a couple from North Carolina – very sweet.
-Gero: a German DJ who we befriended – he looked a little alone. Kind guy, offered us a place to stay in Hannover.
-Alexis and Glasses Guy: 2 Swedes. Glasses guy didn’t say much. Alexis was very hardcore- chewing snoos (tobacco pouches) and drinking neat, hard liquor.

Art shared his Malibu and fanta with us (yummy, must remember to drink this at home.) We all chatted until the early hours of the morning about travelling and such. Everyone was leaving in the morning so we all exchanged Facebooks and went to sleep at about 4.

<--Me, Riley, Liz, Gero, Alex, Alexis & Lu

18th July - Torino - Berlin

Woke up in the morning ready for a big day of travel. We originally wanted to spend a few hours in Venice before getting a night train to Berlin, but we couldn’t find any trains that went from Venice to Berlin.

We stole lots of bread from breakfast before leaving for the train from Torino to Verona. We spent little time in Verona, exploring the train station and having a healthy lunch of McDonalds. We then caught the long train journey to Munich. The wait there was two hours long and we were very hungry, by now it was about 9-10pm. We decided to try some German cuisine of chips and “sausage” which was like chicken...but sausage... weird. We also realised that we attract crazy people/tramps, so we must stop being empathetic and making eye-contact!

Then we got on the night-train to Berlin. We could only get seats (we wanted couchettes) probably because we booked the same day. They were €10 and not very comfortable... We “led” down and slept through the night (or on and off through the night at least...)

<-- Paying the train conductor :(

17th July - Torino

Had breakfast at about 9, still very tired! Tried to find something to do and eventually decided to go to the Egyptian museum (which is the 2nd biggest in the world apart from Cairo.) We saw quite a few mummies which was cool! All of it was really interesting but we were so tired! We tried to find another museum after visiting the tourist office, but when we got there we found out the whole exhibition was all in Italian so it would have pointless to pay for something we wouldn’t understand.

We looked for a supermarket for a while but we found out the only one close to town was very near to the hostel. I bought a bikini top from H&M then we went to a little ice-cream place that sold sorbet things called Gelato (or something). I had coffee and strawberry flavour, but the coffee wasn’t as sweet as i thought it would be – more like an espresso – yuck! The strawberry was lovely though!

We sat in a little park and got soaked by a fountain. After that we went to the supermarket. We spent ages looking for something microwaveable to eat (that wasn’t pizza!) as the hostel had no kitchen but a microwave. We ended up having 1 and 1/3rd of a pasty each! We drank some disgusting 85cent wine, tried to organise trains to Berlin (which succeeded) then went to bed. Early morning for the train!

<--Mummies!

16th July - Morzine - Torino

Woke up to “Sweet Child o’ Mine” again – for some reason the boys like to watch the same damn bike film EVERY morning and evening... weird. Alex and Rob went for paninis while me and Lu had banana and chocolate crepes for breakfast, yummy! We were in a bit of a rush to leave but we said goodbye to everyone and managed to leave the guys a nice little note to say thankyou for letting us stay, then we left for the train station. We caught a few trains throughout the day and got to Torino, Italy. We’d booked the hostel the day before and we had directions. It seemed to take ages to actually get there and even though it was about 9-10pm it was boiling!

When we finally checked in we showered and got ready to get some food - we were starving! Eventually found an open bar at 11 and ate (more bloody) pizza. Very tired after travelling all day so we went to bed as soon as we got back again!

<--Eating my yummy crepes!

15th July - Morzine

Had a bit of a lie-in and woke up at about 12 (even though we’d been woken up at 8 by fucking Guns ‘n’ Roses). We went to the internet cafe, but it was closed. We’d originally planned to get a cable car to Switzerland but it would’ve taken forever. Instead we went to a different lake. It wasn’t as nice/natural as the one we’d been to the day before (and you had to pay for it, even though we didn’t...) We swam for abit and caught tiny frogs (there were loads!) Ian, Harry and George joined me, Alex, Lu and Rob, then we left not long after.
We had pizza again for lunch, then went shopping to buy lots of food to cook for the guys in our chalet (so we didn’t have to pay rent!) We made burgers (Lu set the pan on fire at one point!) Chips, which took forever, and salad. And I made the nicest salsa! Then me and Lu watched the end of V for Vendetta (need to see it all, it was amazing!) and made apple-tini and wine mixes – interesting!

We went out after a while to Le Crepu – super expensive - and played cards for a bit. Ryan started going crazy because he was drunk, shouting “let’s go fuckin’ mental!” Trying to start fights and insulting everyone (he called me an ugly slut and told Louise it looked like she had spunk in her hair.) Then Alex and Rob went somewhere and me, Lu and Sam had a VERY long discussion about the word “sick” and how it can be used in a good AND bad context!
Jamie, Ryan and George left, but me, Lu and Sam went to another bar called the Cavern (Scrumpy Jack = €3 for ½ a pint! PAH!) Got my ass kicked by Sam at foosball. Alex and Rob joined us and the five of us then went to “Opera Discotheque.” When we got there, George was waiting for us. He told us Ryan had gone mad, threatened him with a knife and tried to bottle him – crazy bastard!

Went inside, which was pretty quiet so we tried to liven it up. Lame music but we danced anyway – in cages too! Started talking to some guys who’d joined our table. There was a guy from California called Clay who was chatting Lu up. Turned out he was a really famous bike film maker! I made him have a picture of him “fmiling” (smile-frown) then him and his friend Christian left. After a while of not drinking (we’re on a low budget) Rob and Alex went back to their chalet and me and Lu walked Sam home, like the gentlemen we are. We continued to talk about how sick everything was and practised disgusted and seducing look –up-and-downs. We also found a cat called Dennis!
When me and Lu got back to the chalet, I rang George to get him to let us in. I quickly locked the door behind me because Ryan was locked out. About 2 minutes later we heard scrapy noises so we hid in Harry’s bedroom. He let Ryan in which was scary but he went straight to sleep, and so did we!

<-- Lu with Clay Porter (famous bike guy) and Christian

14th July - Morzine

Today we went to Lac de Montriond after a breakfast of pasta bolognaise. It was so beautiful! We started swimming which was cold in parts but really nice! After about half an hour of swimming and getting half eaten by horseflies, the seven of us (me, Lu, Alex, Rob, Ryan, Harry and George) went canoeing further up the lake. It was only €7 for me and Lu to go in a canoe! Was very tiring after a while though!

When we got back to the chalet, we cooked some pizza and “noisettes” (round potato things) and made cocktails with vodka, juice and grenadine and vodka and chocolate milkshake. Yum! We’d planned to go out for Bastille day (the end of WWII, the French celebrate it) but apparently they celebrate it the night before, we just hadn’t noticed.

Instead we chilled a bit, ate a bit, drank a bit and listened to some music. When mostly everyone had gone to bed, me, Lu, Jay and Harry started to watch Fight Club then went to bed at about 3.

<-- Swimming in Lac de Montriond

13th July - Montferrat - Morzine

We said goodbye to Nomeh and Wayne at the train station in Les Arcs the next day. We got the train to Marseille/ We had a long wait so we stayed in the waiting room again and not long after, during a game of cards, we were joined by the hobo we’d seen there previously.
He told us that he’d been thinking about us since we’d last been there. He told us all about himself and how he’d lost all his money, his home, everything, through gambling. He also wanted to split his €600 a month pension

between the four of us so we could all travel together. He gave us his address and asked for ours, but we pretended not to know them – he must’ve thought we were retards.

<-- Me & Alex with Warram

We then got on the train to Bellegarde where Rob (Alex’s boyfriends) picked us up. Me and Lu sat/led in the back and we had an uncomfortable, hour long ride to a sweet little chalet in Morzine, which is in the French Alps. Alex slept in the chalet next door with Rob and some other people, and Lu and I shared a chalet with:
-Harry: part owner, beard, Somerset, nice
-George: ginger, bit posh, bit of a dick
-Ryan: nice at first, welcomed us with a bottle of wine, angry and “mental” when drunk-Ian: other part owner, wanker
We also met:
-Jamie: very tall, not too keen on cocktails
-Jay: cute in a kind of stray dog way
-Sam: our favourite, siicckk guy - in a good way
We met some others too but we didn’t see them after that night.

We ate some disgusting, gone-off pasta that we’d been carrying around since Barcelona and had never got round too cooking it. Then we went to the bar not far from the chalet. I bought a bitter, not very nice, expensive cocktail thing.

Nothing much happened so we went to bed. At about 3-4 me and Lu woke up to see Ryan’s naked ass in the bed next to me and a naked George had climbed INTO bed with Louise – not nice. (We later found out that George had boasted to Sam that he was naked in bed and Lu was “in her pants” and he “didn’t know if anything had happened”... creep!

<-Lu, George, Harry, Ryan & me

12th July - Montferrat

Next day we woke, a bit scared to go back to the house for breakfast, so Seb’s brother, Christophe, brought us lots of food. Once Zous Zous had been found (we think he might’ve run away to the church, it being Sunday) we left for the beach in Toulon. We didn’t have our swimming costumes so we went in the sea in our underwear.

We led in the sun to dry off, but we didn’t stay too long because none of us had suncream so we set off. We picked up some more hitch-hikers on the way back and shared a spliff with them. They were hitch-hiking around Europe. We stopped at the bakery and all bought some breakfast.

We made plenty of food when we got back as we had loads to use up before we left. We had planned to go to a foam party in the next village that night, but Nomeh changed her mind and we felt guilty making her auntie drive there just for us, so instead we packed everything away, made some food for the next day, cleared up and went down to have a drink and a smoke with Wayne and Nadja. Then we went to bed early as our next train was early in the morning.

<-- Lu looking rather French!

11th July - Montferrat

Made eggs for breakfast and chilled for a while. Seb’s friend Zous-Zous (an ex-monk) took us all to the “cascades” which were little waterfalls that went into a river. I tried to swim but it was far too cold (the water comes straight from the Alps) so we had some photos before going back to our little home

We were then invited to go along to Seb’s friends barbeque. It was in Toulon which was about an hours drive away, and we were told it was being held in a “chateau.” We assumed it would be a castle, but the French use “chateau” for a big house too. We got rather lost on the way there and picked up a hitch-hiker. She was about 40-odd and quite crazy, telling me the only thing she knew in English: that she was going swimming the next day...

When we finally got there, it was firstly quite awkward. We weren’t sure if anyone spoke English and we were quite scared to introduce ourselves. We ate and drank a little. A lady who was a translator made conversation with us, she was lovely! I also met Clement again whom I had met before when I went skiing with Nomeh in January. It was good to see him again so we sat and had a spliff and a chat with him for a while.

We then went inside the “castle” to look for a room to stay in, but there were no furniture or beds and it seemed like it would be full soon so we slept in Zous Zous’s van instead.

<--Alex, Nomeh, Lu and me in the Cascades

10th July - Montpellier - Montferrat

We woke up early and took lots of bread from breakfast to eat on the journey to Nomeh’s. We went via Marseille and stayed in the waiting room (which smelt or piss and bile) for two hours. We met a hobo who spoke little English, but we conversed with him about our travelling, before catching the train to Les Arcs.

We met Nomeh in the station and shopped for food for the weekend. We cooked pizza and Nomeh gave us the tour of the place. There’s 4 “houses,” (which each have a bedroom or two and a kitchen.) a converted caravan which is now been built on and is a music room, the river and the secret weed garden. I’d visited before in February, but you can really appreciate the place in Summer.

We sat with Nomeh’s uncle, Wayne, and had a glass of wine and a spliff before going to the caravan and watched Seb (Nomeh’s boyfriend) and his brother’s (Christophe and Stephan) jam. Lu and I ate figs and then we all had an early night.

<--Alex, Nomeh & Lu in our "little house" :)

9th July - Montpellier

The next day we were told we were to move from room 9 to room 13. The whole move seemed very pointless as we were going from a 3 bed to a 4 bed and no one shared the room with us. We asked at reception if we could move out massive rucksacks to the new room but were told this wouldn’t be possible as the cleaners needed to clean and we couldn’t leave it in our current room either. They told us to put our bags in the lockers which were €1 each. I kicked up a fuss – why should we pay €3 for the lockers when we didn’t even want to move rooms. After a while of me being very angry, they relented and let us put our bags in a room for free.

After that we caught a tram, then a bus to the beach. We swam and sunbathed. We took things to make sandwiches but everything went disgusting in the sun. Me and Lu ended up burning the back of our legs, but it was nice to relax and swim in the dea (even if we were approached by ‘roided up French men who splashed us!)
We went back to the hostel, showered and put our dresses on. We all fancied pizza, so after finishing the wine from the homeless night, we went to a pizzeria not far away. We shared a large ham pizza and a “bolognaise” pizza which was just beef. We each saved a piece for later (because we’re on a low budget) and planned to visit the hostel bar, but it was closed, so instead we put on loads of eyeliner and took the piss out of some droopy eyes French girls before going to bed.

<-- Droopy eyed girls

8th July - Montpellier

We were originally told that we could heck into the hostel at 8, so we waited in the lobby until we could. We asked when we were allowed to go in the rooms. It turned out that the hostel closed from 10am-3pm for cleaning so we went for a walk to find somewhere to lie down. We went to the where that we’d been to the night before, led down and immediately fell asleep. We woke up after about half an hour – not so refreshed – and searched for an open internet cafe... to no avail.

So we wandered to McDonalds, I ate and bummed out. We decided to walk because the weather was lovely. We found another park and sat by the lake. We were approached by beggars. The irony: giving money to people when WE were the homeless ones! We slept for a bit on the grass again, then at 3 went back to the hostel where we were finally allowed back in out rooms. We showered, read and relaxed. We went out to find an internet cafe again so we could contact Nomeh. We organised the trains to the train station near her in Les Arcs, Draguignon, then went for some food as the hostel didn’t have a kitchen. We found a nice little restaurant which served THE most delicious curry, rice and naan bread. Then we went back to the hostel, well-fed and tired.

<-- Eating our delicious curry!

7th July - Narbonne - Montpellier

We slept until about 10 and woke up to see that everyone had left except Michel. He’d taken everyone else to the train station that morning and he’d waited for us aswell. He took us to the train station and we had breakfast in the cafe there. We then got on the train to Toulouse. While on there we met 2 guys from Philadelphia who were doing “eurorail” – like interrail, but for people who don’t live in Europe. We also realised on the train that we didn’t know why we were going to Toulouse...

When we arrived we left out bags in the lockers and decided we’d have a day trip in Toulouse. We spent a few hours there not really doing much. We were given free Orangina and Pulco (weird French citrus drink) YAY!

We took a train to Montpellier that evening and asked at the train station when we arrivd where the nearest hostel was. We walked to the hostel which turned out to be full but the girls reserved us places for the next two nights after they fell for the workers deep blue eyes (We later named this guy “blue eyed babe.”)

We left our bags there overnight and took our sleeping bags and some warm clothes with us. We bought some cheap, nasty wine and some food to last the night. We sat in the park and ate the food (we failed at drinking the wine.) We were approached by a French guy (whoe kept telling me I was tres belle) so we left. We then attempted to find a hotel to stay in. Little did we know that the Tour de France had taken place in Monntpellier that day so finding accomodation would be damn near impossible... and it was!

We sat outside a bar until it closed at 2am. Thankfully we spotted a lonely looking guy with a rucksack on. We figured he didn’t have anywhere to stay either. We decided to stalk him before introducing ourselves. We found out his name was Priit, and he was an Estonian ex-soldier also travelling Europe. We tagged along with him and played cards for a while on the steps of a tall building. During a feisty game of rummey (sarcasm intended...) 2 cars went past us and stopped not far away. We watched 4 men with guns (I’m guessing plain clothed police officers) grab a man, handcuff him and drag him into the car. They searched his big white sports bag which made us assume it was a DRUG HEIST!! We hoped the police would ask us questions as we were the only ones around and it was late at night, but they didn’t unfortunately.

At about 4am we were approached by some very drunk French guys. They didn’t speak much English but they did tell us they liked football and they were “West Ham hooligans...” We didn’t stay with them long, before deciding to go to the trains station (which would be open at 4.45) for shelter. We waited there for a few hours, said goodbye to Priit who was catching a train to Milan, then we walked back to the hostel...

<- Priit, me and Louise eating knacks: weird sausages that they love in Europe.

The "West Ham Hooligans!"

6th July - Barcelona - Narbonne

I didn’t get to see much of Barcelona as we left early the next morning for Toulouse. We walked alot and caught lots of metro trains to find out we didn’t need to. We then caught a train to a place on the border of France called Cerbere. It was a small station and we ventured outside to look for a phone box. The little bit of Cerbere that we actually saw was very creepy. Lots of scary French grafitti and desolate hotels. It was also rainy and the trains sounded so scary!

We caught a train to Narbonne next, ready to go on to Toulouse, but the train was cancelled! We had nowhere to stay, butluckily we found four other people who loooked pretty lost too. There were two German girls called Kristina and Marina who were really friendly and nice. Then there was David and Ernesto, brothers from El Salvador. David only spoke Spanish which must have been difficult for him, but his brother was really helpful and we tried to communicate with him as he was attempting to learn English.

We found out from a taxi driver that there was a campsite 8km away, either that or we could stay in the hotel across the road which wasn’t cheap. We had no way of getting to the campsite until a Viatnamese-French guy called Michel came up and offered us a lift for free! First Michel took Ernesto and the German girls and Ernesto said he’d come back to tell us if it was all ok (it being a bit dodgy that a strange Viatnamese guy would take us to a campsite for free...). Ernesto didn’t come back which we thought was weird, but there wouldn’t have been enough room for all of us if he hadn’t. We spoke to him alot in the car on the way. As we got to the site Michel turned around, waved his cigarettes in my face and said “well I have time to kill...” this cliched phrase was largely misunderstood by me. I frroze thinking he was about to kill us, before realising he just meant he had nothing to do...

We drank some cheap wine and smoked with them. We discussed lots of foreign swearwords, being the mature people we all are. It was a really nice evening.

From left to right:
Alex, David, Ernesto, Kristina, Marina, Michel and Louise.

5th July 2009 - From Malaga to Barcelona

Early Sunday morning I got a taxi from the resort to the train station. I caught the train (which cost me €30 to upgrade to first class) to Barcelona to meet Alex and Louise. It was a 14 hour journey and I spent most of it reading, sleeping in other people's seats and spending far too much money on not very much food. I then met the girls at 9pm and they took me back to the (very nice) hostel where we made pasta with tomato and beans... exotic.

We spent quite a while looking for trains and a hostel in Toulouse but didn't find anything. We played cards until we got bored then went to bed. A pretty uneventful day and although I didn't do much, travelling is tiring!

28th June - 4th July - Malaga

I planned originally to write a daily journal but have found myself too busy/engrossed in a book. But now I'm on a train from Draguignon to Marseille without a book, so here goes:
From the 28th June to the 5th July I spent a week with my family in Fuengirola, Malaga. It was a holiday my mum won and was really beautiful. The weather was always warm and sunnt (a bit too much at times.) We stayed in a huge resort called Club La Costa, which had loads of bars, restaurants and apartments.

We ventured into the town sometimes which was right by the beach. It wasreally busy though and full of people trying to sell timeshares (my parents saw someone being mugged too...) But most of my time was spent by the pool, sunbathing and swimming. On the 2nd or 3rd day I went in the sun with no sunscreen on which ended with me burning my chest, shoulders and thighs - very painful. I think I suffered some sunstroke too because that night, after not many cocktails of the day, I was sick in the bar... I ca't remember but I imagine it was pretty humiliating.

That week we also took a day-trip to Gibraltar which is in Spain but it belongs to Britain. And it really was very British: The currency was stirling, everyone speaks English and I saw a Marks & Spencers AND a BHS... I bought a pretty dress and my dad bought loads of tobacco because it's duty free. It was a nice day out, but not really much to do there...

Alot of the days and nights were very similar, but it was nice to just relax and start the tanning!

<- A luminous fountain in Gibraltar!