Waiting for our first
overnight train from Brussels to Berlin. That night we figured we'd just
fly econo and try to sleep on the train sitting up. This was a disaster.
In Berlin we arrived so tired we wanted to die.
Amy preparing to
sleep in her couchette on the overnight train from Dresden, Germany to
Paris. This time we'd figured we'd splurge the $25 each or so it costs
for the couchette. There's actually six people in the compartment, Amy
and I were on the top beds with two people below each of us. This wasn't
the best train ride either as we both woke up with headaches. This is likely
due to the low oxygen in the room because of six people in tight quarters
and the fact that hot air rises and we were on top.
My lovely sandals.
They started to give me blisters when I first put them on, so I decided
to break them in with socks. (N.B. I made Rick put this picture in - isn't
he stylin'?)
Very important picture
from the travel maintenance perspective. It shows rest occurring. As mentioned
beside the photo of waiting for the overnight train to Berlin, there are
days during travel where one feels extremely knackered. Amy and I felt
like this on several occasions, and when we realized that there was no
way of getting out of it we would seek grass as quickly as possible and
proceed to rest on this grass. Here is Rick in Salisbury, resting after
two nearly sleepless nights on the Wimbledon sidewalks. Professional travelers
also become experts at assessing and classifying grass in a multitude of
categories. Salisbury grass was weedless and short, much like Wimbledon
grass.
Rick with the Bible
in Amsterdam. The Bible, also know as LP or simply 'the book' referred
to Lonely Planet's Western Europe travel book. It blows all other travel
books by other companies out of the water. It saved our arses on many occasions,
including the one in the picture. Presently we are at a hostel found in
Lonely Planet. We spent more than an hour calling other hostels and even
went to the tourist accommodation office where we heard an announcement
that there was no accommodation for under 300 guilders (about $200) per
person left in Amsterdam for that night. What did we do then? -- we just
put our faith back into LP. All you need is LP, faith, and a whole lot
of luck if you travel the way Amy and I did. (Rick forgets to mention that
his perseverance had lots to do with our "luck.")Both Rick and I experienced an unexplained growing of our backpacks. We did not buy anything on our trip, yet still managed to observe a complete change in our ability to squish everything in efficiently. These photos show only three of the many stages of development of Rick's pack. Unfortunately, since Rick always walked ahead of me, no photos survive which document the development of my plecak.
Meissen
(coming back from campingplatz), July 15
Dresden
(before Paris), July 22
Salzburg,
August 8
The explosion of the
packs. The packs are packed under pressure, much like hairspray or beer
bottles. Opening of the pack causes an explosion, as can be seen here.
Just remember to stand back.
More advice for
travelers can be learnt here, directly from Amy's face. This is Amy showing
upsetedness towards Rick for taking her picture. But now Amy is happy I
always wanted to take many pictures and that I insisted that either of
us (or both) be in most of them. It's more fun that way, otherwise you
just get postcards. Amy did want to kill me on various occasions for this
though, as is illustrated by her face here. (Rick was right - I'm sorry
for being such a picture-bitch.)
Ah, laundry -- very
important. After all, for your own pleasure, for the pleasure of any travel
companions, and in the best interest of those you meet along your travels,
you want to smell nice as often as possible. This illustrates Rick in his
'laundry outfit'. He is wearing his jacket so that he does not have to
wear a shirt and swim trunks so that every last pair of underwear gets
washed. (Amy took this shot in a way that best cut out her bra, which she
had just surrendered for washing.) When traveling, laundry varies. Of course
it's lovely if you can stay with a friend once in a while that lives in
the country you are visiting -- this is ideal for getting your clothes
washed. Sometimes we washed in laundromats or at laundromats in hostels.
Not unoften did we resort to scrubbing by hand at the closest available
sink and hanging the clothes up on a string (always carry string) in the
window of the hostel.