En route to berlin

slept in showered and packed. we had an hour or so before we had to catch our bus to the airport so i grabbed a chicken gyro and we walked to the public beach. we took the 40 minute bus ride to the airport where we checked our bags and are waiting to board the plane to berlin. we have plans with a CSer tonight oh and we did hear ffrom pol--he is okay but said it was PrETTY crazy in the city the past two days. good thing we were far from there and on track to leave the country making world news!....

Voula Greece

after sleeping in to make it just in time for free breakfast at our hotel ionis who so kinmdly let u stay an extra nigth since the ferry strike prevente us fom getting to our hostel on mykanos. we packed our bag and hopped a 30 euro taxi to the port suburb voula.we checked into our 27 euro dirty hotel room only to change into our swimsuits and headto the pri9vaate beach on the mediterranian seawhere we got our own beach chair and umbrella for 3.50 euro (student rate). oh and along the way we stopped at a market and got fresh greece grown cherries to eat in our chairs.... amazing. 5 hours later we left the beach andrea went for a 7 mile jog along the beach then we checked couchsurfer to hear if our friend pol was okay--he messaged us telling us to stay out of the city today because the rioting was going to be bad and he wasnt sure if hed be able to met up with us tonight ( no word yet) but after my run meg and i haded to the voula city center for dinner (authentic greek dinner) complete with lamb the freshiest vegetable salad ive ever had and stuffed peppers. we then grabbed gelato and we are now sitting on our balcany enjoying beverages and listening to the hustle and bustle of th city. tomorrow we are off (hopefully as long as the bus strike is over which it should be at 5am)to berlin. keep your fingers crossed!!

One Day Athens Cruise

Well,sure enough at 630, the One day cruise company picked us up from our hotel lobby and drove us to an alternative port to load a giant cruiseboat to three islands--piro, hydras and agina (I THINK). We had fifty minutes on Piro to shop the shops. an hour and a half on hydras and then when we arrived to Aegina--we opted for the 20 euro private boat to the beach on a private island to play on the beach for 2 hours. We met ourselves a seattle boy who was traveling alone. The view of the islands was gorgeous!! (Again my netbook is not connecting to the shotty wireless here...) Although the islands are not mykanos, they came in a close second. Meanwhile--i'm not sure if you've checked the news--but riots broke out by Parliament today complete with tear gas, rock throwing, window breaking and fires. We were FAR from here. I guess the air traffic controllers walked out for awhile and the metro stopped running for a bit. Tonight we got an extension at our hostel until tomorrow then we go to Pireaus (the port) for a night (which we were supposed to be getting in from mykanos) before flying out to Berlin thursday. We havent heard from pol yet, a little worried the riots may have gotten the best of him, but he said we may go to a beach tomorrow. we will see! After the cruise we were exhausted and sunburned and decided it best to stay in order delivery and take it easy. Which is exactly what we did :-) Again-- more pictures hopefully to come later

MYKANOS=Cancelled

Due to a Ferry strike, we had to forgo our plans to mykanos. We met with Pol the CS last night and he toured us around the marketplace and we grabbed appetizers at this nice restaurant in some green (they had green trees... everything else about athens is pretty drab) then we went to a hidden outdoor bar. It was through a hidden door down some stairs and in this art building, but there was a garden and it was open top. Pretty Cool. Pol gave us the rundown on the 48 hour strike that starts today (6/28-6/29) apprently everything shuts down... no metro no buses no nothing, and they are voting in parliament today if they agree with the salary cuts etc. Its going to be pretty crazy. hopefully our consierage comes through for us. He contacted a travel agent who knew of a daily 3 greek island tour that goes out today. We are waiting in the lobby right now to see if it comes... we have to go to a different port becuase Pireus is shut down (due to the strike). Hopefully tomorrow we go to the beach with Pol. who knows!

what u really need to know to survive europe

GENERAL-- bring your student id and get lots of discounts (your university id=fine dont waste $$$ on the istc. london-- buy the gatwick express ticket on board the gatwick express--saves time same price pubs close at 2300 its expensive! athens-- do the metro from the airport (blue line) the bus drivers dont tell you where they are going/what stop it is its okay to drink the tap water they will remove each liquid at checkpoint and make sure it is in a container <100 mLs pay and go to the public beach-- they are groomed and have a beach chair waiting for you Berlin-- do cross the street on a bke when the light is red... you need to carry a bottle opener at all times Prague-- dont spend more than 50 crowns on a beer dont pay more than 150-200 crowns on dinner cobblestone=slippery when wet vienna--

new friends

London: michael--from manchester robert--from ...somewhere in england ian--from liverpool Athens-- constantine--greek electrical engineer prof who helped put us in the right direction of the hostel from the x95 magdah--the nice gentleman who kept asking if i have a husband while he escorted us through the ghetto to aristoteles hostel Garret-- The seattle boy traveling on his own to Athens (after his friend ditched him to stay in Florence with the love of her life) Went to the island with us and was very enjoyable company. Berlin-- marian-- berlin CSer who gave us a private bike tour of berlin. also brought us to a coordinate party. very fun max-- guy from coordinate bbq very nice prague-- Daniel-- CSer who picked us up from the train station and showed us the sites let us do a load of laundry at his house for free Floridin-- daniels crazy roommate Huwey-- irish guy in town to visit his bro with friends. possibly will see him in ireland crazy french dude-- 16 year old kid met in our hostel Tom-- dude from croatin whre we got lost in england Vienna-- glenn-- crazy bloke met on train en route to vienna Max- couchsurfer who met us at our hostel and brought us out for dinner and beverages. Luis-Alberto- couchsurfer who met us at the center statue and brought us out for beach bar. Introduced us to Eva, and his roommate Ralph. Enroute to Salzburg- Arthur-olympic speed skater from Poland sat in our traincar with us and was very delightful to talk with he is enroute to inZell to train for worldchampionships and should hopefully be appearing in 2014 winter olympics Salzburg- Alex- CSer who picked us up from train station and brought us to his flat to hold our bags well we toured around salzburg. Sebastian- Alex's german roommate who enjoyed the view from their balcony with us right before we left. Munich- Martin- my host, had the extra bed room all set up for megan and I. Daniel- martins roommate who brought me out and gave me ideas of things to do Victoria- martins gf from NYC Alex- nice chap who hung out with me my first night by myself half scottish half german totally has the scottish accent! Ralph- second gentleman I met my first night in town by myself. Got me a taxi home Bria- san diego native I met on the train en route to dachau, just finished her masters in engineering and touring germany for 2.5 weeks with her boyfriend shannon Shannon- san diego native I met on the train who swears by rick stevies. I managed to take it away from him when it started pouring! Karlsruhe- Jens- my host HS foreign exchange kid from germany. Florian- jens' roommate Miriam- Jens' friend/colleague, drove us to the lake. Julius (big julius)- Jens' friend who is 2m7 tall and played vball with me at the lake also was responsible for finding me HP7 tickets. Phillip- Jens' friend drove to the lake, played vball with me. Julian- jens' friend/photographer from the lake Bastie- jens' friend who let us watch HP7 part 1 at his house the night before the premiere. Julius (little)- bastie's roommate who loaned us his surf boards so miriam could paddle around the lake. Ester- accompanied us to the HP7 part 2 premiere. Jasmine- jens' friend and server from oxford burger joint Heidelberg- David- Jens' good friend who we helped move out of his flat in Heidelberg. Gave jens a 50 inch widescreen flat panel TV. Frankfurt- Eva- little julius' GF who is doing an internship in frankfurt and went to dinner with us.

Athens day 1

meg and i woke up at 800am. i did a jumping workout while meg got ready. at 9we went down for a traditional greek breakfast—poached eggs sausage stuff. i made an egg sandwich and had the greek yogurt plain but added jam—very tastey. meg and i then set out for the metro to the acropolis—oh this was after i got off the phone with the ferry people they may be striking tomrrow so no mykanos possibly—whatever! enjoy the day

we figured out the metro and got to the acropolis. walked around the parthenon and through some other ruins. its amazing every like feet there is someold piece of marble. oh—marble is very slippery too we both almost biffed it.

we then walked through brakka—the old downtown filled with shops. meg got a necklace and a ring with the greek live long eternity simbol on it. i got a murano glass necklace for 5 euro. we foud our way back to the metro then to our hotel. talked to the gentleman at the desk to see if the ferrys wewre going out tomorrow he said likely no.meg was angry because she wanted to spend the day on the water. the guy at the desk presented us with a private tour to three islands all day long. 99 euro. we ddecided to book that. called the hostel on mykanos and canceled that reservation tried calling ferry company to cancel that reservaton but we booked with third party so we may just be out 200$. if the ferrys dont go we get money back—if they do go we lose. its a gamble but oh well i guess when in athens!

now megan is doing a load of laundry in the tub and i finally got my netbook ooked up to the intenet. we are waiting for 730 a CS-er pol is meeting us here then taking us out to dinner. i will proobably experience some night life with him and megan will come back and go to sleep

En route to Athens

After getting to 'Gatters' WAY too early, we boarded our 245 plane and got stuck at the gate on the plane for a good hour. EasyJet is nice becuase you can board and pick your seats, so me and megan jumped on the window/middle seat of the emergency exit row. Andrea slept through the entirity of the being stuck at the gate and for most of the flight. started listening to Harrypotter 5 on audiotape too. Upon arrive to Athens, neither of our bags were lost (knock on wood), and we paid the five euros to take the x95 bus to the city center. Along the way megan was freaking out becuase i wasnt sure what stop we were going to get off at. made small talk with Constantine, an electricial engineering professor at the university of Texas, originally from athens. He was also getting off at the last stop and said he would show us to the metro station. The bus stopped one stope to early so we walked with Constantine past the parliament building (NO RIOTS) where there were numerous police officers ready for rioters. there seemed to be a festival of some sort, Constantine pointed us in the direction of Omonias square and we decided to walk instead of take the metro. got to omonias square then had to take third of septmeber street to our hostel... but... apparently i'm not good at ready directions. We passed by numerous people who would wink, or hoot. some even stopped and tried to point us in the right direction. it wasnt until we were in a back alley (megan was having a major anxiety attack) when we found Mahgdah. He knew where we were going and even walked us to the hostel. he then invited us to his house tomorrow for dinner, but unfortunately i told him we were going to mykonos tomorrow (that's a lie... tomorrow is travel the city day) and that we were not going to be in athens again. He even offered to 'buy us pretty ladies a drink' but, we passed. Once we got to Hostel Aristoteles we found out we were actually staying at this other hostel Hostel Ioinis which was like two blocks away. we walked it. and were greeted by the doorman who ordered us pizza, gave us the wireless password and invited us down for breakfast tomorrow. I cant get wireless to work on my netbook so i'm downstairs in the lobby right now on the community computer. So, internet access may be fewer and farer between until i can figure out the wireless on my netbook. stupid Lenux system. oh well. tomorrow we are seeing the sites of athens :-)

Day one-- london

megan and i thought we scored a sweet deal when the sun country lady said shewa s going to ut us in the meergnecy exit row... come ot find out she didnt even give us the window seats we aske for originally aboard the tiny 737. andrea passed out the entire way waking up only for the two in flight meals--chicken florentine and sausage egg and cheese croissant. the layover in gander was werid. we deplanned OUTSIDE while they refuled took them forever to et going again. upon an hour late arrive to gatwick, we stook in line at customs for another 2.5 hours tehere were a max of 2 immigration people working the NON UK passport line while about 8 people working the UK line. once making it through we hopped a 9pound cab to our hotel, were checked in early then returned to gatwick for the gatwick express into the city. found where our bus to stonehenge was picking us up then walked to buckingham palace and all the way around it before catching front row seats on the two hour ride out to stonehenge. Why stonehenge? meg and i have both seen the city before and this way it is crossed off the bucket list. two hour ride through the english countryside, 1 hour walk through the park, 2 hour ride home. definitely worth the 46$ to say we've seen it. upon return to london, we did the guide yourself walking tour passed big ben, the eyye of london. westminister abbey. it was 8pm and we were STARVING and trying to find us a nice english pub. Albert won. we both had fish and chips--what else is there to eat in london? it was okay--very breaded and very bad for you. Throughout the entire meal, there was a group of english chaps that kept making eye contact. decided to talk to them before we left.... they offered us drinks and we ended up hopping a couple pubs with them. did you know pubs close in london at 11pm.... yup... we konw now! there names are michaell (from manchester) robert (he's going to be on londons x factor--ask megan i dont get it) and Ian (from liverpool). after both pubs closed down on us the boys walked us back to victoria station where we hopped the 'wrong' gatwick express and had to make a transfer from west couply to east couply. good thing our tickets didnt get checked. I then lost megan at the airport because i had to go to the bathroom. Ended up hopping the hotel shuttle back to the hotel only to find megan not there. she was through the door a couple minutes later. phew. Sunday morning is a hard morning but good thing we can sleep in before catching our 245 flight to athens-- more to come

1 DAY!!

One day until I pack up and leave for Europe, I suppose I should probably start packing, Here's whats made the list for 38 days in Europe!

• 7 sundresses
• 1 pair of shorts
• 1 pair of crops
• 1 pair of pants
• 3 complete workout outfits (I cannot go 38 days without working out, gross)
• 12 pairs of unmentionables
• 7 pairs of socks
• 1 pair of flipflops
• 1 pair of sandles
• 1 pair of flats
• 1 pair of tennis shoes (leaving the minimalists at home)
• 1 rain coat
• 1 apex (northface) coat
• 1 sweatshirt
• 3 long sleeve covers
• 5 tanks/shirts
• 2 sets of PJs
• Sleepingbag sheet with attached pillowcase (made with love by Gma Palm)
• laundry bag
• iPod
• Cell phone--DO NOT CALL IT IT WONT BE ON!
• Camera
• Netbook
• Railpasses
• Itinerary book--made by me
• Reading material
• Dave Gurda's Europe Book
• toiletries/liquids

Anything i'm forgetting? And all of that has to fit in my two carry-on bags.... good thing i purchased 5 bags of "roll and get the air out ziplock baggies"

Next time you hear from me, Ill be in the UK!

ONE WEEK

Only seven days until my trip of a lifetime to Europe. 9 days prior to Europe, I got a couchsurfer request to host someone, so Dave--a 19y/o college kid from NY roadtripping through with his sister who got stood up by his friends here-- stayed over Wednesday night and Thursday night. Yes, I did ask my mom if it was okay before hand. This AM I found a sweet day trip out of London to visit Stonehenge. so for 46$, Megan and I will be seeing Stonehenge in our Day of London. We'll depart at 130pm, return by 6 and get to hopefully see a show afterwards. The Gatwick Express (from Gatwick to Victoria station) was $65 roundtrip a person. I'm starting to think about what to pack, but am still too excited to actually do it. SURFING:

• Luca in Amsterdam (verified today!)
• Mohammad in Paris (verified a few days ago!)
• Toufic in Dublin (verified today!)

AWAITING Host:

• Barcelona (2 hits, but need to wait for a week before hand)
• London Gatwick (Rich is a maybe, he's an airline pilot and has to check his schedule)

10 days & counting

Purchases I've made to get ready... Stay connected... and document the trip:

Kodak EasyShare 14 MegaPixel Camera (60$)

Puma "Personal Item" Carryon bag (27$)

Tom Bihn MaxSize Carryon Bag (with hide-a-way backpack straps) ($250)

Asus EEE Refurbished Netbook ($100--first Craigslist purchase)

11 days and counting.....

Calculated out the cost of the entire trip....

• 38 Days in Europe
• 7 Flights (MSP->Gatwick, Gatwick ->; Athens, Athens->;Berlin, Paris->;Barcelona, Barcelona->; Dublin, Dublin->;Gatwick, Gatwick->;MSP)
• 1 Eurorail Global Flexi Youth Pass
• Reservations for 5 train passes
• 1 round trip Ferry to Mykonos
• 12 nights in hostels

$2933.55. Only thing that is left is tourist stops, food, and local transportation!

I also just got a couchsurf request acceptance for Paris, Five days with M :-) awaiting Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, & London.

I also came in under budget for Megan's trip! $2473.20 for 15 days in Europe, 5 flights, 13 nights in hostels, 1 round trip ferry to Mykonos, 1 Eurorail select 3 country pass, & 3 train reservations

2 weeks from Today!

Got the railpasses in the mail yesterday. Booked airfare from Paris to Barcelona Booked airfare from Barcelona to Dublin Everything else should be good. Continuing to network on Couchsurfing.org for hosts/friends to take me out. For you skeptics--check out their "is this safe" portion of their website, does it change your mind? www.couchsurfing.org/safety.html

15 Days and Counting

Nearly 2 weeks left before Megan and I depart for Europe. We have all of our accommodations booked and I'm trying to figure out public transit so we can get to everywhere we need to go. The task now is to find me cheap airfare from Paris to Barcelona, and Barcelona to Dublin. Preferrably under 100$... good luck. www.couchsurfing.org has proven to be very effective for finding 'friends' to hang out with in Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, and Dublin. I am about to put in "couch requests" for Paris and Amsterdam. I have made contact with a couple brave souls from Barcelona and Dublin but they either A. cant predict so far out or B. don't have the accommodations to host me. Ill keep looking! If they give me the okay, I may link their webpage to here so you can check them out for yourself. I've gotten in contact with Jens Lammel, my foreign exchange student from Kennedy High school, He is showing me around Germany for a week. more details to come!

17 Days and Counting

17 Days until I head to Europe. Everything is booked from London to Munich. I just need airfare from Paris to Barcelona, Barcelona to Dublin. oh, and i need places to stay in Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Dublin & London.... Itinerary: London 6/25 Athens 626-6/27 Mykonos 6/28 Athens 6/29 Berlin 6/30-7/2 Prague 7/2-7/4 Vienna 7/4-7/7 Salzburg 7/7 Munich 7/7-7/11 (Megan Departs 7/9 for London to retrun 7/10) ..somewhere in Germany with Jens 7/11-7/17 Amsterdam 7/18-7/20 Paris 7/20-7/25 Barcelona 7/25-7/27 Dublin 7/27-7/30 London 7/30-7/31 Home 7/31...Move to Mankato x 10 weeks