Part one: My European Adventure

Okay, everyone… Here’s the first installation of my update. I’ve basically taken notes from my trip and put them into some semblance of order for your vicarious enjoyment…

Christmas Day… Leaving my Dad’s before the turkey dinner was tough, but I’m so glad I got to spend some time with most of my family before I departed for the airport. My sister, her husband, and the kids are also off on vacation, only they’re able to stay for dinner before leaving for Richmond. I’m so glad my Dad was able to drive me to the airport, as it gave us a bit of time to visit before I left.

I had wanted to get a pedicure at the airport before my flight left at 8:15pm, however, as it was Christmas Day, the only esthetician was closing up shop when I arrived. My pedicure would have to wait for another time. Oh well, I had a book to read, anyhow.

The flight was really quite relaxing, I had a bulkhead seat with no one beside me, and I was able to sleep for part of the trip over. It was nice to be able to get up when I needed to to stretch my legs, grab a champagne from the flight attendant, etc. — Generally enjoy my time before the whirlwind started. It was a good flight.

The trip to my hotel was dissapointing, though. The milk-run that I thought would take about 35 to 45 minutes, actually took way over 2 hours… I didn’t even arrive at my hotel until long after 5pm. Crazy. I only had an hour or so before I had to walk down the road to the other hotel for my orientation meeting with Contiki…

We departed London very early on the 27th, and took a ferry from Dover to Calais. It was very open water, and a lot of people were quite ill. Me? No way! I was running amuck, shopping in the duty free liquor stores (yes, plural) and grabbing some champagne and vodka for the rest of the trip. I did end up finding a group of about 15 at the hotel bar (the gang actually was split between two hotels in London) the night before we left after the orientation, so that was fun. I recognized one or two from the “Contiki Basement”, and just went over (I ended up leaving the “Basement” late, as I was writing M an email from there, letting him know I arrived in London okay) — The group I ran into was really fun! I think I am actually the oldest chick on the trip, but there’s a few guys that are a couple of years older. I went to bed early that night — About 10pm, but was awake by 2am, and then just stayed in bed trying to get back to sleep until I had to be up at 6. One girl from Ontario was paired with me for the first night until we got our permanent roommate, who for me is an 18 year old from South Africa… She’s sweet.

So, before I go any further I’ll mention that, I’m taking these notes in the Rhine Valley, and I’m sipping a lager, (and typing really fast because the internet in this hotel is crazy expensive at about 10 euros an hour) after having a three glasses of white wine at a wine tasting at an extremely old wine storage place a couple of blocks away. I think the guy said the structure was built in the 1600s. That’s why this update is particularily all-over-the-place.

Back to where I was in my first paragraph: After the ferry from London, we made our way through France, then Belgium, and finally into Amsterdamn, Holland, where we arrived at our hotel for the night in the snow. It was a group dinner last night, and then off to a boat canal tour which turned into a drunkfest for an hour and a half. We even passed Anne Frank’s house along the canal… Which I can’t believe I even noticed because at that point, I was already feeling the plethora of alcohol I’d thrown back. I even got a photo! Afterwards, about 40 of us went on a walking tour of the Red Light District… Imagine, Vancouver’s Seymour street hookers with less clothes behind full length windows in little office-like places. The black women were separate, and less expensive, and the white, fancy high class hookers were about twice the price. How do I know how much they were?? Our Tour Manager, Joey, actually sent out some of our travel mates to negotiate and see what the prices were. Extremely funny.

And then, to finish off our walking tour, our Tour Manager brought us to, …drum roll… (When in Rome? Err… Amersterdam?) a LIVE SEX SHOW. hahah! I have to admit, I wasn’t really interested in going, but the entire freekin’ gang went (about 40 or so of us, anyhow), so I followed along. And, it was quite funny! The um, people on stage, actually tried to get the audience to laugh, and it was very entertaining. You’ll be surprised to know that this chick was actually dragged on stage along with five other travel mates to dance with this chick as the warm up act. Yes, yes… fully clothed. How surreal. Bizarre! The chick actually leaned into my ear, said “aren’t you sexy”, and then ripped my snaps apart on my red leather jacket. The audience howled when the saw the look on my face. Good grief.

Anyhow… After about an hour of that show, I was done for the night, (soooo tired! And, a bit tipsy…) and so I taxied back with one of the girls who was also exhausted from the night’s frolicking.

We were up at 6am — YIKES. I got about five hours sleep that night, which was soo needed. And, once our luggage was on the bus (after dragging the damn thing down three sets of stairs — Doesn’t any hotels in Europe update their establishments with elevators for heaven’s sake?), we were brought back to downtown Amsterdam for a few hours of wandering before we headed off for for where I am currently — The Rhine Valley. It was a nice walk, and I ended up going on a walking tour with another girl from the tour, and by the end of the walk we met up with a couple of other girls before heading to the bus at Noon. I fell asleep during the drive today, as this whirlwind is already soo tiring, but, also exciting, and sooo neat. The architecture in each country so far is so very different than the next. London, where I’ve been before, is very conventional, without a lot of ornamentation but definitely a lot of history in it’s buildings, whereas The Netherlands (Amsterdam) has a lot of detail added to their structures. Germany, like many photos I’ve seen, is full of cobblestone in the little towns, and very, well, Bavarian-like.

We arrived at our hotel tonight at about 6:30, ate a quick dinner which I found out afterwards (more like half way though) was freekin pork (I knew it tasted weird, but it was dark meat, so I thought it was deer or something?) and then quickly headed up the block to go taste a few white wines, and a tiny amount of ice wine. It’s certainly not BC ice wine, but it was nice…

I can’t believe it’s only day 2 of the tour. Hell, it feels like a month away from home already. I’m taking lots of photos, so far, which I’ll have to share with everyone when I’m back. I have to say that I’m pleasantly surprised that even though there are all age groups to about 38 on this trip, all seem really fun, and very warm. There’s the bus clown, a few quiet people who I know will be just as fun as the rest once they get to know everyone, the bus flirt who hits on every girl… There’s even six couples on the bus. Every one of the 50 bus-mates are good natured and fun. Most are from Austrailia and South Africa if you can believe it! I’m one of four Canadians, and a couple from Ontario as well. One American couple, one couple from Brazil, someone from Chile, three from Mexico, one from China, and one from Japan. A good mix!

Hmm… (as I take a sip of lager after half an hour of typing hahah) What am I missing? I think I covered the basics, anyhow. Tomorrow is Munich, and we leave the hotel at 7:30… Very freekin early. Tonight is going to be a very early night for me. I’m already exhausted.

(*stay tuned for part 2 of my European Adventure Update!*)