It was a great holiday, but...... the night a racoon broke into our tent and attacked us will live on in my memories.
... coming down a dirttrack mountain road with no fences with the back end of the car fishtailing about left me needing new underwear.
I'm off on holiday next week somewhere nice and safe. Tell us your holiday stories.
(
rob, Thu 21 Apr 2005, 9:55)
« Go Back
Inter-railMany moons ago when I was a callow youth and just out of University, I decided to see Europe by rail. Those of you of an age will remember the month long Inter-Rail card that allowed you limitless travel around the continent.
The arrangement was to meet my gf in Athens in Sintagma Square at noon on a certain date but I was going up to Helsinki first to visit a mate of mine working out there. That was fine, spent a week having a good time, had saunas, met some corking Scandanavian girls (in sauna!)etc.
First travel tip. Never go form Finland to Greece overland on one go. It leaves one a trifle jaded after about day 4 (that's about Austria/Yugoslavia).
Tip no. 2. Don't share a train compartment with Greek gastarbeiters who are returning from Cologne with half the Comet warehouse in tow, especially if you're a tiny bit claustrophobic.
Tip 3. Don't buy 3 days of food which includes camembert as the further you go south, the hotter it gets and the compartment begins to smell like a bad night out at the Gare du Nord.
Tip no. 4. Buy bog roll. Lots of it.
Tip 5. Wash by all means but don't shave on a moving train. Think of Donald Sutherland in the last reel of 'Don't Look Now'.
Tip 6. Pray the train doesn't stop outside Belgrade railway station for any length of time greater than 2 minutes. They used to empty the bogs onto the tracks.
Tip 7. Don't stay in the shithole of a youth hostel I did on the first night where these swarthy whatever-they-weres tried to dip my wallet.
And finally tip 8. Remember to pick up the piece of paper with the address of the hostel your gf is staying at before you leave Helsinki as Sintagma Square is pretty fecking big.
PS Weirdest experince on this trip was that the Hellas "express" from Cologne to Athens (only 10 hours late) stopped for 2 hours in the middle of the former Yugoslavia. Middle of the night. Middle of nowhere. Bored, I got off the train and wandered to this station building full of local peasant folk just wating for a train. Strane.
(, Mon 25 Apr 2005, 15:51, Reply)
« Go Back