My travelling adventures...

hey!  Made it to Vienna - my last long distance train ride for a while :(  So I made sure I enjoyed the journey - it usually is the best part of it all - the challenge of figuring out their system and buying the ticket, the scenery, the people you meet etc...
Of course it is raining again... and it has turned a bit chilly - good time for heading home! But Vienna is a nice city - did a bit of a walk around... Wont say it is as nice as Prague but it does have some good buildings etc... Will get to see a bit more of it tomorrow... and probably will try and go to Bratislava for a few hrs (only an hour away on the train)...  Well this could be my last blog from o/seas (apart from a final one from the UK perhaps...) the end of my travelling adventures... - til the next time anyway ;)

:) Well my final night of the tour... Most of the others are continuing with the tour and catching a night train to Krakow tonight.  I'm leaving at 10am for my 4hr train ride to Vienna.
The last night train was OK - the beds werent the comfy-est and we got in a bit early so we woke up with a bit of a shock to find that we were just about to arrive but it was all good...
Gotta say I wasn't expecting too much from Prague - just cos everyone raves about how beautiful it is and I thought it was another of those cities that just gets lots of hype etc (like Krakow)... But yep it is beautiful! The buildings are gorgeous - you can't walk down a street without being impressed by at least one building! 
Just strolled the streets yesterday and spent a bit of time on the Charles Bridge (and again today)... Raji and I made our way to the castle on the top of the hill - very nice up there - the cathedral is amazing!
Have had some good dinners here - not too expensive.  We are having a quick dinner tonight together before they catch the night train... - will be a bit sad saying goodbye to them all.
Anyway that is about all for now...

Howdy! Have just come back from our High Tatras trek - really a 3,5hr downhill walk from 2753m from where we had caught the cable car. The scenery was spectacular despite the clouds and a few drops of rain. Slovakia is really pretty. Had a nice little walk around a lake in the mtns yesterday as well... And it is cheap - gotta love that! Had a brilliant meal last night for under 15AUS incl a few drinks... not bad! We are going out for a group meal tonight which should be good... only 3 of us + Sean did the walk today - the others did their own thing... It has been great doing the tour - good to be able to share stuff with people - and definitely makes the train rides go quicker, sharing round nibblies and stories etc... So off to Prague tonight! The whole adventure is nearly all over! Have a few days in Prague and then I make my own way to Vienna and stay there for a couple of days... then back to the UK to collect my stuff and leave on the 4th! Anyway nearly dinner time... Later!

Hi! Loved Romania - Brasov was really nice - very small town and very quaint.  The castles were great. Rasov Castle was actually a citadelle that contained (or at least used to :) ) a mini-city - was very interesting... Then 3 of us (Travers, Karen and I) made our way to Sigisoara - saw the place where Count Dracul was born and had a wander round - was very nice - a ltitle mini-city on top of the hill - the only remaining inhabited citadel in Europe! It was definitely worth the trip - altho we travelled 2hrs towards Budapest (where we were catching the night train to that night)... - but we met some nice Romanian people on the train and saw some beautful scenery (forests, mtns, farmland) so it was all good. 
So am now on my 2nd day Budapest - leave early tomorrow am for Slovakia, which I am really looking forward to. Have seen many of the sights of Budapest... didn't realise it was the 2 'cities' (Buda - the old town, and Pest) split by the river... Went into a labyrinth under the castle last night by myself (the others did wine tasting) - was fantastic! You got an oil latern that you had to hold out in front in order to find your way thru - wasn't that many people down there so often wandered round in the gloom by myself.  Went round Margit Island today with Helen and Karen (the sisters) - we hired a 3-person bike which was fun!
All of the group has bonded well (apart from Sean - the tour leader but we are thinking that might be cos he was feeling unwell) - we have even shared a nice little tummy bug among us (think we are all coming good now)...
Going out for some hungarian cuisine tonight (had Indian last night :) ) and getting to bed early as leaving at 5am!
Really enjoying the trip - cant believe I am half way thru!
Anyway later gators!

hi! well survived the 24hr train ride (4hr late) from Istanbul, thru Bulgaria to Romania despite the heat (high 30s - or hotter in the cabin!)...  The 5 gals were in a 6berth cabin - couldnt have fitted another person even if we wanted as we needed one of the beds to fit all our luggage! We had lots of nibblies - but with no hot water you are limited to what you can eat on the train - by the end we were getting rather sick of bread and we were desperate to have something cold!
Bucharest is a really good city - very interesting history and beautiful old buildings... has the ruins of one of Vlad the Impalers (aka Dracula!!!) castles as well...  So nice to be out of leery creepy istanbul - the place is nice, just not the men!
We are going to try out the romanian cuisine tonight and then planning to check out the night life...  Heading off to Translylvannia tomorrow (3.5hr train ride) which I cant wait for - looks gorgeous countryside... - we are getting a bus to Brasov and Bran castles, then the next day we have to ourselves - planning on taking a trip to this other castle that is meant to be amazing!
Later!

Well I made it to İstanbul (which was Constantinople - and the Greeks still call it that) (you have to know the song İ suppose otherwıse this beginning part will be lost on you) but İ was very delighted to munch on my turkish delight last night - it was 1 of the things I had to do! 
Anyway.... I went to the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market yesterday - very fun! - absolutely huge and a hagglers heaven! I bought some turkish delight (soooo yum - completely different to stuff we get at home) and a handmade silver weaved bracelet (at half the asking price - bargain!).  The hotel guy is very sleazy - has been trying to tell us why he would make a good husband and have a few other stories to tell about turkish men but that is the negative side of it all...
Most of the tour group (10 of us) are Australian - apart from a canadian couple on their honeymoon, Raji from NYC (fırst time traveller), and Karen from NZ who is travelling with 2 sisters - Helen and Karen (Brisbane). There is an older couple (adelaide?) and a guy from Melbourne who is going to be doing some study overseas... All seem really nice... The tour guide is Scottish and seems OK (think girls make better leaders)...
Went with Raji, Karen x 2 and Helen to see a whorling dervish show last night at a cafe which was good. Had a walking tour of the city this morning and then went on a ferry ride out to the Black Sea. Our 24hr train ride to Bucharest leaves at 10pm tonight - so tired am definitely going to sleep well! We are going out for dinner then stocking up for the train ride as apparently it is the worst one - lucky if you get a beverage cart - so no food... and at the stops there may be crisps if youre lucky... very different to the russian one!
Anyway nearly meeting time so I will say cheerio!

I have had an unbelievably AMAZING day!  You'll never guess how it began - well actually getting woken up with a sunrise prayer chant over the loud speakers across the city... but then I did a hot air balloon ride over Capadoccia!!!! Yep me 1km over the ground in a giant balloon!!! It was brilliant, great to see the area from up there - thru ravines etc was great! Then I was on a tour thru the eastern region - went to  Caravan Serai - part of the silk road; the fairy chimnets and my favourite - Dervent Valley which had absolutely amazing rock formations - was definitely a highlight.
Did a tour yesterday as well - way easier doing that in the heat rather than trying to figure out the buses and wait around...
Last night I had ride on the back of a motorbike to have a bonfire at the fairy chimneys with a bottle of wine - very fun! A girl, that I met on the bus, and her mate had made friends with some turkish carpet sellers so off we went... still managed to get up at the crack of dawn for my flight - very tired now! Oh oh oh - and I had some of that turkish icecream = unbelievable as wel - it is like elastic and they do a big show of it when they serve you! - it is amazing stuff - pretty tasty too!
Loving Turkey - Goreme is brilliant - very friendly... and the staying in the cave is great - no need for a/c as it is pretty cool in there...
And bizarrely I met a guy I met in Auschwitz walking down the street last night - so weird how you meet up again...
Can't believe my tour starts tomorrow in Istanbul! how quickly time is going! Sniff sniff!
well off to have an icecream before I have my dinner!
Later!

well at the moment İ am a bit of a grump... just lot my credıt card (forgot to get ıt from the machıne - ıt just told me to take my cash and receipt - nothıng about the card! - all the machınes fault İ tell you :)  ) Hmmph.
Anyway really enjoyed Athens - hostel not the best despıte its brilliant location. I treated myself to a 4-dorm with a/c and own shower on the last night to get a good nights sleep before my 5am departure to the airport.
Went to the ruins at Epidavros as well as to Ancient Corinth- was good... And went to Ancient Agora where Socrates used to hang out which İ thought was brilliant, and then back to the top of the hill to the Pathenon (yep not the panthenon!). Yep Greece was very nıce and frıendly... Oooooooodles of Australians! And the Greek yoghurt - yummo! - dare I say it - better than chocolate!!!
And have only been in turkey for what - 2hrs - and just ın the airport and already sick of the leery men!  Oh well - at least there will be fairy chimneys!!!!
Getting a bit sad now - each time İ leave a place İ think how İ am closer to home....
And on that, İ will say cheerio!

Gotta say I am liking Greece... people had warned me how dirty and grimy athens was - but I love it - much nicer than I was expecting - cleaner than a few of the places I have been too (like Krakow - I was very disappointed with that one...). Altho the hostel isn't that great - 8bed mixed dorm, shared showers that aren't the best, but only for 3 nights... But the hostel is in Plaka (so havent been to the 'other' end of athens) and is a short walk to the Acropolis - so went there this afternoon... And it was one of those places that definitely lived up to my expectations - thought it was fabulous to see the Parthenon and the Erechtheion (those ladies looking out over athens). - There is lots of scaffolding everywhere but it is still good!
Really like the atmosphere in Greece - nice and relaxed and friendly (altho haven't met any greek women!)... and all the little cafes/trattorias around are nice (bit Parisian)... had a fancy 3-course meal tonight - incl. greek yoghurt for dessert - very yum!
Hopefully doing a trip to the ruins at Epidavros tomorrow and not sure about the day after yet... Bit tired after late night and then early ferry trip this morning... (nice going on the ferry tho, passing by the islands etc)
Anyhow later gators! ;)

hi! well I made it! The flights were no problem - all went as scheduled - altho alot shorter than what i thought - only 3.5hrs from Heathrow and then an hr Athens - so not much sleeping time at all.
Had a great couple of dives... one was at the 'old volcano' which was fantastic - it was like iceland underwater - all spongy 'mossy' looking stuff, big boulders etc and this fantastic cavern which was just like you see in the movies where a big monster lives inside! There was no monster in this one - just this brilliant phosphorescent purple and orange coral. And there was a cool little cuttlefish that changed colours and squirted ink at me!
I must admit I hadn't prepared myself for eastern european standards in Greece, I was just thinking of nice beaches - not squat toilets! but it is very beautiful here - just like the postcards! Saw a fab sunset at Oia today - the orange sun ball getting smaller then melting into the ocean - very nice!
Off early tomorrow to catch the ferry to Athens...
Oh - and for those Australian Idol fans (is there such a thing?!) - anyway 'Millsy' is staying at my hostel - exciting stuff huh?!
Bye!

hi! just to let u know i have checked thru successfully with my little plastic bag with minimal contents due to the bomb scare - relatively organised here which is good. plane is scheduled to depart on time, so fingers crossed - my connecting flight to santorini from athens is 2hrs after i get there so should be right... so despite signs at the train stns saying no flights were leaving it looks like i will be diving off santorini 2morrow! yippee!!!
Catchya later!

well - the human element is definitely more helpful! Have saved myself at least 3hrs travel time and some money cos the little man was able to tell me about a bus that goes straight to the airport from Koblenz - where I am at at the moment!
Have stayed in my castle and in a fortress - both were fantastic!  Had a bit of a steep walk up to the castle but it was great - had a luxury room - sharing with only one other girl and had a shower + toilet to ourselves! and brilliant views over the Rhine!  The fortress - had to get a chairlift to the top!!! - that was fun! (otherwise a long steep walk!)..  The Rhine and Moselle have been really pretty - like the Moselle region a bit better - less touristy and prettier I think... But Black Forest is still my fav part of Germany!  Altho would be good to come back and cycle or canoe along the Rhine/Moselle!
Have been having some good weather finally... Have met some brilliant german people along the way... but am about to catch the airplane bus so will write later! 
3 days til Santorini!!!

- Well that is what I will be doing tomorrow...
Obviously arrived safely in Germany - despite the plane being 1/2hr late (Ryan air - pfff!!) Staying in a nice little town with the famous Wartburg castle where Martin Luther translated the new testament when he was in exile... The hostel is nice and clean - have a room to myself - completely different atmosphere to Iceland so the first night was a bit of adjustment... Really pretty forests etc round here - went for a nice long walk yesterday thru all these mini canyons and over ltitle wooden bridges.
Can't wait to do the Rhine tomorrow tho!  Staying in a CASTLE that night! - Yipppeee!
Catchya later!

Hi! Well I am back from Iceland :(
It was a really beautiful place... I won't bother trying to say actually where I went - cos you probably haven't heard of the places, and I won't be able to spell them either... But anyway everything was brilliant, scenery was absolutely stunning, passed volcanoes, walked on lava fields (felt like I was on mars - the ground was all spongy), swam in hot pools, saw some puffins + minke whales... Reykavjik was a small, but nice town... - everyone (tourists and Icelanders) were all really nice - I think it is the country-town atmosphere and the fact that people are concentrated in a small area you are bound to meet the same people over again makes everyone friendly... (the population of Iceland is 300,000; 200,000 of those live in the Reykjavik area; and I think over 320,000 tourists visited Iceland last year - some interesting facts for you ;)  ). I met so many australians over there... everyone always says they meet them (ie Oz-ians) everywhere but I haven't really, I've tended to meet more canadians and americans.
Was so tempted to day a 1 day Greenland tour (only a 2hr flight) but I decided I'd make a full trip of a visit to Greenland another time...
Still amazes me the coincidences of meeting certain people etc... The Perth guy - Aaron - had missed the bus before which was why he was on my bus... if he hadn't of, I wouldn't have convinced him about hiring a car to see the 'Golden Circle' (Gullfoss waterfull, Geyser, Pinvingiller NP and the Blue Lagoon) - which we did on the Sunday with 2 other girls - was a brilliant day! (works out to be a lot cheaper hiring a car for a day  b/w 2+ people and doing your own tour, rather than doing an actual tour...)
Yep so Iceland is definitely a gorgeous place - rainy (apparently has very unstable weather - but it has no mosquitos as a consolation...) but very beautiful, bit mars-like, scenery.
Now just sorting thru my stuff ready for Germany, Greece and Turkey etc...  Richard was over today - we all went and flew a kite in a nearby field - very fun!  England has gotten a bit chillier - about 18degrees, but meant to heat up again soon... :(
Just 6 weeks til I come home - eeek!!!