Ultimate European Contiki Tour Trip 2012

The End.

Sat, 12 May 2012 08:48:00 -0400

I am currently flying, only an hour from home. I know I need to write this now, or I’ll never actually do it and this story will be left without an ending, so here goes. Amsterdam is a cool city, and rather shockingly similar to how it is in movies and tv. Walking through the red light district, the women are actually in the windows, clad in all the various skimpy lingerie, opening their doors and open for service. It’s one of those things you hear about, but when you see it in reality it’s like “whoa serious?, this is actually how it is?” we strolled the alleyways, awkwardly peeking at the almost-nude girls, in search of the blue lights for he-she’s, and taking it all in. And soon, we were at the famous sex show, where you enter and there are actually naked people just… Doing it on stage. Hahaha. We watched a few different acts, some where they involved various chosen contiki members to help with strip teases or banana eating. It was a show of mostly just jokes and constant laughter, and definitely made for an interesting evening. After the show, we head to one of the bars/coffee shops for drinking and some of the members, other cultural delights. Also, one of the best taxi rides I’ve had while a random guy did a strip tease dance for our taxi from the side of the road, while our driver pumped tunes and told us not to pay him, cause he was a shit dancer. Hahaha Our final day, we got stuck in traffic for a while, and it rained. We did a canal bike cruise (paddle boats!), and had a few free hours. I would’ve liked to have gone into Anne Frank house, but by the time we got there the line seemed to be something that we’d spend a good hour or two in, and with only 3.5 free hours, we made the decision to see more than the line and potentially rushed through later. We wandered the main shopping streets and visited a sex museum, full of animated mannequins and photos and chastity belts and sculptures. We had lunch and explored a little before being picked up to get ready for our final evening out. We had a river cruise of the canals, and dinner at a floating sea palace Indonesian restaurant, before going on a pub crawl to celebrate both the end of tour and a birthday. Super fun night for sure, and a positive end to the party that was contiki. (Harry potter shots!) Today we said goodbye. We left a couple behind in Amsterdam, who were leaving later, and the rest were off on the transfer back to London. Goodbyes are not easy at all, especially when the vast majority of your new family lives in a different hemisphere. I was the only one being dropped at the airport, and then the bus was off to London while I awaited my flight due 6 hours later. And now I’m here, almost back on Canadian soil after the trip of a lifetime. It’s bittersweet, but I have real reasons to hurry up and make my Australian trip a reality. I’ve met amazing people and shared incredible experiences, and had the trip of a lifetime. Its taught me piles about other countries and cultures, yet showing me why I’m proud to call Canada home. However, I enjoy my honorary Aussie title as well. ;)

Switzerland, the Rhine Valley, and The Netherlands

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:33:00 -0400

Well, this is my last bus ride for this tour, and I know if I don’t update this now I might leave this unfinished, so here we go! Switzerland was super beautiful. The countryside was amazing, all green and mountainous. The night we got there we had a pajama party in the bomb shelter bar to party it up with our bus driver Liz for her last night of allowed drinking. The next day… Uh… Monday! We took the 100 year old cog railway up Mount Jungfrau, where many of the Australians got to experience snow for the first time. We wandered the ice palace and exhibits they had up there, and got a good while of snow fun in for everyone, all with incredible views from the roof of Europe. Even the Aussies that did have snow are like a bunch of children on the first snow fall, and I took it upon myself to spend my time wrestling the guys into the snow, give facewashes, and have a proper snowfight to make it a memorable experience. Everyone had a ton of fun, and we all fell asleep on the train down from the exhaustion of the day and the altitude. It was a really fun day, and probably one of the best snow days I’ve ever had. We went back to the hotel, had a collapsed chill in the lobby of our chalet, chilled on our balcony with the beautiful view, went for a walk through the fields, and had another group join us for quite the Red and White party that night. Tuesday we head to the Rhine Valley and the town of St. Goar, with a stop in the cute town of Hidelburg on the way. We had a beer stein crafting talk, I scored a pair of Birkenstocks for €45, and we had wine tasting, where we got to try ice wine. Today we are on the last leg of our journey, to some town called Amsterdam. Sounds like an interesting place! We rode low rider bikes in Edam, and witnessed a cheese making and clog making demonstration, and are off to a live sex show tonight! Only on Contiki!

Hoftgarden, Munich, Lichtenstein

Mon, 07 May 2012 06:44:00 -0400

Ciao from Switzerland yeah?! We are currently driving through the beautiful countryside of Switzerland! It’s been a beautiful and fun past couple days, so I’ll start where I left off. Swarovski Crystal World is one weird museum. Our tour driver described it as a museum made my someone on acid, and it quite accurately describes it. There are 14 rooms, each completely different and quite I few seemingly unrelated to Swarovski crystals… Like random mannequin legs dancing and shirts flying around rooms, some glass sculptures with random weird clips of naked women dancing inside, and rooms full of mirrors. Totally worth the money, and definitely the most unique museum I’ve been in. After that strange experience, we got to our Contiki house and had an excellent night of drinking games and such. The following morning we took it easy. A bunch of the group had an optional bike ride, but those of us that didn’t go walked into town, ran errands, explored and had a delicious lunch. We wandered back, taking in the gorgeous scenery and soaking up some sun before my group was off to paraglide! We drove up the ultra windy single lane road up to the top of a mountain, strapped in to our instructor, and ran off the mountain and into the air. The whole experience was really smooth and fun, flying freely through the air, seeing the town and forests surrounding it from above. The flight was about 10 minutes, and way fun. I got the chance for roller coaster fun at the end, as we did tight turns and weightlessness and all that fun. It was super fun and totally worth it, and I’ll do it again in a heartbeat. After paragliding we went for a walk down random country roads to see the scenes and take a bit of a break before dinner and our rockstars and superstars party that night. On Saturday we left early in the morning to go white water rafting, which was super fun (despite being cold and overcast), and better than my previous rafting experience. The guide played the Canadian card hitch convinced me to get in the water, and I sort quite a bit getting pushed into the water or being positioned at the front of the boat like a mermaid on a ship to soak up the water. Sooo much funnnn. Afterwards we were back on the road to Munich, where we got a couple hours to explore. We watched the glockenspiel do its thing at 5pm and partook in some pre-wedding German guys soccer challenge of some sorts, and were off to the beer halls. We got a liter stein of beer each and the best porn knuckle of my life, all while singing Ein Prosit and watching entertainment of cow bells and dancing. Super fun night, and has inspired me even more to attend Oktoberfest. Today we left early for another day of driving, broken up with a visit to the country of Lichtenstein for lunch, and a couple hours in Luzern, Switzerland for our Swiss shopping experience. We have just left Lucerne, and are heading on the most windy part of this leg, but should also be the prettiest. We get 2 nights in Switzerland, with a run up Mount Jungfrau tomorrow. Time is running out!

Budapest and Vienna

Thu, 03 May 2012 13:17:00 -0400

Gutentag! We are driving through the beautiful country of Austria right now, on one of our most jam packed days, as we try as cram as much as we can into the few meager days left on tour. Budapest was a beautiful city. The river cruise was gorgeous at night, and the food that accompanied it was delicious. We had goulash and paprika chicken, as well as a huge variety of other buffet salads an desserts. After the cruise, we went to an outdoor bar on the island, and later tried to go to a legendary 4 floor club, which failed due to the fact that none of us bring ID here. We attempted more, but eventually gave up and hung out at the hotel. The following day was May Day, which brought both positives an negatives to our single day in Budapest. We had our driving tour and walked around the castle and the landmarks of Buda, but the Pest side had many roads closed for the Formula 1 race car driver Jenson ____ to attempt to set a new record on the streets of Budapest that day. It was a blisteringly hot 32 degrees, and the crowds came out for the occasion. We heard racecar noises, but couldn’t really be bothered to fight the crowd and stand in the sun for a glimpse of the actual race. We wandered the streets, had lunch, but most stores were closed due to the occasion, unfortunately. We ended up walking a long way around, sat in the park with all of the racecar and festival activities in it, and took it easy. At this point, even some of the Aussies were hot. Our group decided ice cream was a need, and eventually stumbled into the air conditioned TGIFridays for ice cream sundaes and snacks. The crowds had died down a bit when we came back out, so we could actually make it down the street to the Basilica, where we were let in despite not being dressed church appropriately. It was gorgeous inside, like many of the churches I’ve seen on this trip… Haha. And had the hand of a former priest(?) that is preserved in a box that you can pay to watch light up. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in a park, awaiting our dinner plans. We found a nicer park later, and eventually joined the group for our spontaneous medieval dinner! We all sat at our big tables on big heavy chairs, drinking beer out of huge clay cups and eating soup in a bread bowl, as well as about 7 different kinds of meat with our hands, clad in bibs. There was some entertainment, of belt dancing, a sword fight of sorts, and a creepy fire eating guy, but not the jousting I was hoping for. Still a super fun night, eating giant turkey legs and acting like barbarians. We had an actual quiet night that night, however that didn’t mean an early bedtime… Yesterday we left early and drove to Austria! Austria is one of the countries I was most excited about, and so far it hasn’t let me down. We got to Vienna, had a city tour (it is absolutely gorgeous!), and walked to the main street to get delicious giant hot dogs. We spent the rest of the day shopping for our upcoming theme party, and I kind of wish I had spent the day doing something more. I need more than a couple days in this city, but that’s just another reason to come back, which I definitely plan on. We had a tour of a Schnapps factory that afternoon, where the hilarious owner gave us a brief rundown of how schnapps are made, how they classify, etc before setting us free on our free tastes to entice us to buy (which we all did, of course). We got the opportunity to try straight absinth (which tastes like what a building infested with pack rats smells like, to me), as well as various flavors of schnapps and liqueurs. After the tasting, we visited Schönbrunn summer palace, and head off to our optional dinner in the middle of the woods. The dinner was delicious, and they provided us with plenty of entertainment. Our bus ride home was similar to a party bus, we checked into our hostel, and everyone spent the night at the bar, weirding out other guests in true contiki fashion. Today we are driving to the Austrian village of Hoftgarten. We stopped at the Mautherhausen concentration camp, which was a very powerful and emotional experience. Walking through the same gates that prisoners did, down the sidewalks where they gave up their belongings, the showers, the gas showers, incinerators… It was awful to think of what happened in that camp, and of how one person can cause such a thing. The bus was silent as we left, and has only just started breaking. The bus has only been that somber twice now, once before ANZAC, and today. I’m glad Emma managed to squeeze the experience in for us, because it’s something that I know will stick with each of us for the rest of our lives. We’re almost at the town of the Sound of Music, and we have the Swarovski crystal world experience after that, before we arrive at the contiki gastof. The days are quickly disappearing, with only a week tomorrow left. None of us want it to end, and it seems like we still have do much left to do, it’s hard to believe that I’ll be leaving this amazing group of people in a week.

ANZAC day, Istanbul, Sofia, Belgrade

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:37:00 -0400

I don’t know how to say hello in Serbian, nor Bulgarian, and can’t currently remember Turkish, so hello! We’re sitting at the border of Serbia and Hungary, waiting for border control to deem our bus and luggage acceptable to cross, and it might be a while… So there’s time to actually focus on this! It’s been an interesting couple days, so I’ll start with Kavala! Kavala was neat, a quieter seaside city. It was really just a stopover for us on the way to Turkey, so all I really experienced of the place was a decent hotel room, no shower curtain, and eating pizza that tasted like that of home overlooking the harbor. Oh, and the usual beers in the hotel bar. Hahah. The next day we crossed the border into Turkey, where the Canadians paid 3x as much as anyone else for our visa, and journeyed to Canakkale, had a tour of the city of Troy, which was definitely not quite what I expected, and had a lot more too it than I was thinking. I’m more interested in learned about it now, (or at lest watching the movie). The wooden horse was kind of a disappointment, just a giant horse shaped children’s fort essentially, but I guess you can’t expect more of a thousands of years old mythical structure. The 9? Cities of Troy were neat, but definitely would’ve meant more had I actually known some of the archaeological history, and wasn’t in a constant search of shade (it was flipping hot out that day man). We had an awesome dinner at our beautiful hotel (such a shame the majority of us weren’t staying there), and head off to Gallipoli to camp out for ANZAC Day! Emma had given us a pretty good lesson on what Anzac day was about (followed by Australian and Kiwi music), that set the mood for the night. This is what I can remember and kind of absorbed, but don’t expect it to be fully correct. I’m trying to recount a history lesson from a week ago… But, On April 25, 1915, boats full of conscripted Australian and Kiwi men (as well as boys as young as 14 and 15) were headed to fight the Ottomans. Somewhere along the line, something went wrong, and instead of landing on the level beach with the plan of attacking from behind, they landed at the steep rocky incline, leading the troops right through the Turks camp. 1/3 of the men who went to war didn’t come home, and half of those that did came back injured, causing a major blow to that generation and effecting each and every Australian or Kiwi in some way. Its a very important day, (bigger than Australia Day), and taken very seriously. No one backed down, and they fought and fought and fought, despite knowing they were losing. They sent positive words home, and eventually managed to evacuate each and every soldier overnight without a single casualty. They set up guns in a fashion that the Turks would be under the impression that they were still fighting, while the trenches lay empty. ANZAC day is a day to both celebrate the bravery and remember those that sacrificed their lives. Arriving at ANZAC cove was pretty emotional, as we drove down the dark, treed road to the start. We all unloaded, went through security, and made the long, quiet walk along the beach, looking up at the steep shore that 97 years ago, was a battlefield. We arrived in the main area, already packed with people in sleeping bags, thousands of people awaiting dawn. We couldn’t ind grass, but found some bleachers to stretch our bags out on, and got ready for the night. We sat begin another tour of sorts, and everyone was in a good mood, for everyone was there for the same reason. We settled in and just hung out, occasionally watching a speech on the big screens or going to the vending area. It was a really cool atmosphere, and though I did feel slightly out of place not being native to the holiday, there was ultimate support and respect from everyone that the two Canadians did come, despite not having a patriotic tie to the holiday. We didn’t get a whole lot of sleep, partly with the stands filling up and some rude people, but it’s all part of the experience. Documentaries, speeches and mini movies played on the screens all might long, but sometimes it was just silence, all but the gentle lapping of the water on the shore, the water flowing blue within the lights in an eerie, the 5:30am dawn service. I won’t lie, it was hard to keep my eyes open by that point, but it was really good. It reminded me of our Remembrance Day ceremonies, with the speeches from important people, choirs, bands, the Last Post, and the laying of the wreaths. After the Dawn Service, we took the long walk to Lone Pine for the Australian service at 10:30, which was relatively the same, but specific to Australia. There was gorgeous weather and moving speeches on the old battlegrounds, and the Aussies all agreed it was done really well. The New Zealand service followed the Australian service, but it was another 3km up the hill, so it was nearly impossible to do both. We casually wandered to Chunuk Bar, stopping at the battleground cemeteries (Nek, specifically), walking past trenches as we climbed the hill. We hung out at Chunuk Bar for a few hours, awaiting the long line of 200 buses to load and depart before our female bus driver was able to collect us. After a long, sweaty and stinky bus ride, we eventually made it to Istanbul for a late dinner and some ANZAC Day drinks. The whole ANZAC day was definitely worth it to me, even if it’s something I had no previous knowledge of. It was interesting to learn about the war from a different prospective, rather than the ‘this is the war and how it relates to Canada’ kind of lesson we learned at home. I was glad I went, for it was a powerful experience and I learned a little but more about this world we live in, as well as enjoyed being an honorary Australian for such an important day. The next morning we got a bit of a sleep in, but it was definitely an early morning after almost 2 days without sleep. We had a walking tour of Istanbul, going into the Blue Mosque, booking ourselves for our Turkish baths, and getting a Turkish rug demonstration. The rugs were expensive, despite the 50% discount we got, and I couldn’t afford $100/square foot, despite them being really nice. We left the rug demo, and wandered to the Grande Bazaar, where Kelly and I discovered the difference between shopping with men in Turkey. When it was just the two of us, every single shop had men hassling us, shouting pick up lines and oohs and awes at us. Everything from “YES PLEASE!”, “come here chicks!” and “come on into my heaven” to commenting back to your “this stuff is pretty” with a “so are you”. There are constant shouts of “Aussie Aussie Aussie!” to you, and every single man either stares or shouts. We managed to find some guys from our crew to walk with, and the comments completely stopped. It was ridiculous, but definitely was a strong example as to how women are treated in some of these countries. We did some shopping, some haggling, and got lost in the huge market for a few hours. We grabbed fresh squeezed juice on the way home (2.50 lira; which is roughly $1.50 canadian), and took a much needed nap. That night we had our Turkish dinner during our belly dancing show, before many of us head out to for the night at the Montreal Shot Bar, confusingly named considering the theme inside was Mexican… Huh? Haha. It was a late but fun night, as most are, and some drunk Turkish girls tried to get us to come home with her and we were pretty sure the taxi was taking us to Bulgaria. Just another night on Contiki! The next day, Alicia and I wandered across the bridge to the Asian side of Turkey, had lunch on the border, and explored the markets and streets of Istanbul. We packed our bags for the next day, and head off to experience a true Turkish bath at the oldest bath in Turkey. We decided that with the ridiculously cheap prices, we might as well go for the full spa treatment. Girls and boys are split, and you go into this giant marble room that’s about 300 degrees, where you lie on a hot marble stone while a large topless Turkish woman (or man, for the boys) splashes hot water on you and waits for you to start sweating, before she exfoliates the crapb out of your skin. Then they dump a whole bunch of bubbles on you and lather you all up and rinse you, and it’s a bit like being a child and having your mom wash you in the bath. Then you get to sit in the hot tub for a bit and relax. We were whisked away for our mani/pedis next, before getting out oil massage and clay face mask. It was a neat experience, an very relaxing, and I feel my back deserved it after a week of sleeping on ferries, coaches and stadium floors. We went back to meet up withy the rest of the group, and Alicia and I peeled off for a junk food dinner or Doritos and cake with English tv and later, casual beers in the hotel bar. Saturday we traveled from Istanbul to Sofia, getting a couple hours to walk around the city after our quick bus tour. Sofia is a very laid back town, and not a tourist town like some of the ones we’ve been to. We saw the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and wandered around for a bit, before heading to the hotel (the one with the largest rooms so far!) for dinner. That night we went out to a punk rock club, took advantage of the 3 lev beers (~$1.50CAN), and AJ and I head home early to hang out at the hotel with some people before deciding McDonald’s was a good idea and getting a taxi to take us there at 2am. Best decision ever (well, after deciding to go on Contiki to start with). Overall, really good night, again. Yesterday we changed countries yet again, traveling to Belgrade, Serbia. We got a quick driving tour, and walked to the top of the fortress, saw the views, looked around at the flea market, and hanging out in the park. We had dinner and were out to the floating bars to celebrate Contiki’s 50th Birthday. No one seemed very keen to stay out, so we took a taxi home, may it may not have gotten McDonald’s on the way home. I got a good Skype session with mom and dad, and half the group got to as well. Hahah. Fun night again! Gotta love Contiki. Today we left Serbia and have just arrived at our hotel in Budapest, Hungary. Yet another country, another language, another currency. Tonight we go on our river cruise and dinner, and go out again! Only a handful of days left, might ad well do it right!

The Greek Islands

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:43:00 -0400

Kalispera! Today we are back on the road as a complete group, driving from Athens to Kavala. It’s been an incredible and quick week, and we’re over the halfway hump and onto the last couple weeks of the tour. It’s hard to think we’re only just over halfway done, but have 10 more countries to visit. Haha. Ios was absolutely beautiful. The weather wasn’t quite as nice and we would’ve liked, with powerful winds and overcast conditions most of the time, but still made for a fantastic time. After the last post, I went quadding around the countryside with AJ, Kelli, Lauren and Jay, up the Greek hillish mountains, past donkeys and sheep, before the wind got a little unsafe and we head back for gyros and crepes. That night we head in for dinner at a neat restaurant that gave us many mystery shots over the course of dinner, before heading back to the Fun pub for more pool and jenga adventures, hanging out with the group and other tourists, finally getting to drink with our bus driver Liz. We ended up at another bar later, before heading back home. It was a rather messy night, but definitely one of the best nights out. And, surprisingly, we all felt fantastic in the morning, which was a pleasant surprise. The next day we spent quadding around again, but the wind was even stronger. The waves of the bay were super impressive, looking like a mountain range from above, and watching them roll into the beach, occasionally over the wall and flooding the street. Some of the quads didn’t enjoy the salt water under spray, which caused a couple stall and not starting incidents. We had a BBQ dinner that night, some ouzo, and back to Fun Pub. The next day we returned our beloved quads and waited for our late ferry before taking the craziest and roughest ferry ride yet, takin twice as long and making half the boat sick. We arrived in Santorini, had a late lunch at a restaurant across te road, and spent the afternoon chilling near the hotel, before walking into town to catch the sunset and grab some dinner (gyros for those of us cheap wads, gotta love paying €4 for a gyros and a drink). The town was mostly closed by 9 that night, so we wandered back and a few of us locked out of our rooms hung out watching some english movie on Greek tv over casual beers, ringing in my birthday at midnight. Friday was my birthday, and definitely one of the best yet! We slept in as per usual, and walked into town to catch cable cars down to the old port of Fira. We wandered the shops before catching our wooden ship to our volcano tour. We hiked the volcano of Santorini, seeing the craters and the beautiful sea surrounding us. We hopped back on the boat and went to another volcano, for a jump in the decently cold sea for a swim to the thermal pools of the bay, which get warmer in the summer, but weren’t as warm as our hot springs in Canada like I was expecting. We did the cold swim back to the boat, and back to the docks where we shopped and rode donkeys up the 500-ish stairs to the top. We spent the day wandering the streets and shops, eating gyros and ice cream, and having an awesome day. We chilled out for a bit, before going out for dinner at Mama’s restaurant, where she hugged and kissed us each as we entered, and gave me an extra god blessing hug and told us to all have safe sex. We ate a delicious dinner, Hannah gave me flowers, there was a birthday shot of good old ouzo, and we were off on the bar hopping adventure of free birthday drinks. It was a fantastic day and an awesome night, and a very awesome birthday. The next day was definitely a slow one, with a large group of hungover people eating Pringles and ordered in gyros in the morning in the hotel lobby. I walked the long walk to the beach with Trish, and met up with those that had quadded down, where we lay on the black sand beach and watched other quadders mess around. It was a relaxing day, exactly what we needed after that night. I had a siesta and some down time before we head out to catch the bus to Oia for the sunset, where we explored the town, ate gyros again, and watched the beautiful sunset. Most of us had an actual quiet night and head back to the hotel, watching movies on the tv in the lobby and having an actual night in. Yesterday we didn’t have to catch out ferry until late, so we got the day to explore again. Kyra and I spent the day shopping, picking up souvenirs and gifts, wandering the stores, eating gyros and ice cream, and seeing the streets as sights on the gorgeous summer day. It was the clearest and calmest day yet, and absolutely beautiful looking out over the caldera. We decided to take advantage of our last day in Santorini, and got another donkey ride, this time down and back up again, which was super fun and definitely worth doing again. However, going up is way less scary than going down… We wandered back to the hotel, had drinks on the roof, and we’re off on the bus back to the port to await our ferry, drinking cheap €1 beer in the sunshine. The ferry ride was a long 5 hours, but we eventually arrived back in Athens, where the Egypt people greeted us in costume, with hugs and stories as we were all reunited. Today we are on the coach. We saw the monument of the battle of Sparta, had a reenactment of the battle with mops and brooms, and have spent the rest of the time sharing stories and catching up. Tonight we get a short while to organize ourselves for tomorrow’s overnight campout in Gallipoli for the dawn service for ANZAC day. Both Alicia and I are planning on joining the Aussies and Kiwis for the dawn service, because hey, how often will we be in Gallipoli for Anzac day, even if it’s not something we observe at home? It should be really good, and hopefully I’ll learn a lot more about the day and the tragic events that occurred.

The oasis we were greeted by

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:23:00 -0400

The oasis we were greeted by

Athens and Ios

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:10:00 -0400

Oh my goodness Greece is gorgeous! I’m currently laying by the pool, sunning myself in the slight overcast sun, taking a siesta from a day of quadding. Athens was pretty neat, but almost a ghost town when we were there due to the holiday. If things were open and the streets were busy, it might be different, but it wasn’t the nicest city I’ve been to. We took our tour of the city, walked up a hill to get a view of the city and the acropolis, and learned some history from the guide. We got a quick stop at the marble stadium, and at the Parliament building just in time for the changing of the guards, and had a walkabout dinner downtown. I’d like to have gone in the Acropolis, but that was out of our control. Hopefully there’ll be time to do it when we go back after the islands. We said our goodbyes to the Egypt people and had an early night to prepare for our early morning. Yesterday we caught our early ferry to the island of Ios, arriving to a gorgeous pool at our hotel. We were given welcome shots of blueberry vodka (it may have been noon), and spent the rest of the day lounging poolside with a beer or cocktail in hand. It was a lovely, relaxing day, and we spends the whole time posting photos to the contiki Facebook group to make the Egyptian counterparts jealous as they waited at the airport for their flight. We went for a late dinner at a traditional place, eating fried cheese, stuffed grape leaves, calamari and souvlaki before heading out drinks at one of Ios’s several pubs, Fun, where we played pool and giant jenga. We got a casual day today, of sleeping in and doing what we want. A bunch of us rents quads, and I’ve spent the day quadding around the island, exploring the town, the old town, an attempt at finding Homer’s tomb, and racing around the countryside. It’s absolutely fantastic, and an awesome way to see the sites and smells of this place. I’m gonna head off and do some more, I have the quad for the day and plan on seeing all I can. :)

Pompeii and Corfu

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 10:50:00 -0400

Opa! Today we are traveling from Corfu to Athens, and preparing for our vacation within a vacation when the group splits for a week. On Thursday we drove from Rome to Pompeii, eating from a restaurant that’s most likely run by the mafia and getting out guided tour of the ancient, volcano ridden town. The tour was really neat, seeing ruins of temples, houses, shops and brothels, and I could’ve spent hours looking around and walking the streets. Unfortunately, with a tight schedule involving the ferry, we had a quick tour and no time to just explore, so that’s definitely on the list of places to come back to. After a quick last Italian gelati, we were back on the bus to catch our ferry to Greece. We spent 12 hours on that ferry, which moved quick with the sleep I managed to get, and then switched to another 1.5 hour ferry, which I slept through fully. Because of Greek Easter and weather, our schedule got all switched around, so instead of getting a relaxed day like intended, we got 10 minutes at the hotel to drop off bags before we were out on the legendary George’s Boat Cruise. George has been running these party fun boat days for Contiki for 37 years or something like that, and it’s easy to see why it’s such a popular option. George is a gigantic, dirty, jolly old Greek man, who plays fun music, shouts over the loudspeaker, and acts like a 23 year old as he drives us around the sea around Corfu. It was overcast an slightly windy, but still warm (at least by Canadian standards) and definitely preferable to the next days forecast of thunderstorms. We cruised to a watersport place and watched some members parasail and waterski, and I went banana boating! It was super fun, the water was warm for Canadian standards (but ultra salty!), and overall a good time (despite losing my 2 nice charm bracelets). We ate a huge delicious Greek lunch and went cruising more, this time to George’s proclaimed Hanky Panky Hubba Hubba Sexy Skinny Dipping Island, where quite a few went for a naked swim (by that point I had just warmed up and wasn’t keen to jump back in the water). We cruised to another island, took photos on rocks, and came back to a second delicious lunch. It really was a fun day, and we spent the night eating supper and just hanging out, the majority of us hanging out at the hotel bar drinking decorated cocktails, ouzo, and having a casual night in. Yesterday was Greek Easter, the biggest celebration and holiday in Greece, and lucky for us, Corfu is the number one place for it! We got a bit of a sleep in before heading out into the town center to join the crowds awaiting the 11:00 dropping of the pots. At 11:00am, hundreds of clay pots, dishes, etc are dropped out of windows onto the streets below, meant to scare away evil spirits. The people take great appreciation and art in this event, some houses dropping a dozen small ones before pulling out giant painted pots with different Greek phrases painted on them (I assume saying happy Easter and from the crowds around, some saying things like “Greece will remain” kind of things. The pot droppers were definitely crowd workers, waiting until the crowd screamed the appropriate amount before sending their pot hurtling to the ground. One pot that dropped from the roof had to be 5 feet tall, and just watching this giant thing fall and hear the crash as it smashes on the street as the crowd cheers, it was a really neat experience. Once the pots had dropped, the city flocks to the road to collect souvenir pieces, and matching bands paraded over the sea of broken shards. We walked some of the crowded streets, got gyros from a local joint (chicken, tomato, onion, tzatziki, and French fries in a pita), and hung out enjoying the vibes of Greek Easter. We went back for a chill out time in the hotel, packing our bags for our upcoming split, siesta, and some casual room parties before we head out for an evening of Greek food and dancing. It was a super fun dinner, delicious food and a fun atmosphere as we learned traditional dances between spots of YMCA type dancing. We were at a local place that also hosted an Albanian tour group, but contiki definitely owned the show, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Back to Greek Easter, many of us then head back into town to partake in mass, standing in a field listening to mass in Greek. It was really cool, despite not being able to understand a word, you could feel the atmosphere moving as the mass progressed and we lit our candles, sharing flames, getting hugged by randoms saying “Christos annecy” as an awesome fireworks show ended the mass and crowds cheered. We headed to a bar after, as many of the locals do, but most of us didn’t stay particularly long in the cramped bar, and we had an early morning coming. And that morning was today, where we had breakfast at 6, and traveled all day to Athens, where we are now. We drove over the Rio something bridge, and saw the Corinth Canal, and now just awaiting meeting up with a local guide for a city tour, seeing the outside of the Acropolis (it’s closed 2 days a year, and today is one), dinner and an early night for another early departure. Going to Ios tomorrow, and Santorini after that, and should be a rather relaxing vacation within a vacation. While the other half goes to Egypt and runs around in 40 degree heat avoiding malaria, I’ll be by the beach or riding scooters while eating delicious pita bread and wine. Life is fantastic. :)

Veniceeee

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:35:00 -0400

Veniceeee

Rome and Vatican City

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:34:00 -0400

Bonjourno! Here we are in Rome! Yesterday was a busy day, with travel, a quick driving tour, the Vatican, dinner and more sightseeing. We saw the colosseum and all the major sights from the coach, and then got a bit of free time to go to the markets, watch nuns eat lunch, and get touristy shirts for our whiteboard party. Then we had our guide tour of the Vatican, which was definitely neat, but had so much to take in. Entering is like going through airport security, where I may have accidentally used the lords name in vain (whoops). Hahaha. We got a tour of the museum, with the intricate ceilings, maps, tapestries, and sculptures. We saw the sisters chapel and St. Peters basilica, which was definitely the most impressive church I’ve ever seen. The whole experience was awesome, but would definitely mean a lot more if I was religious. After the Vatican, we ate pizza and wine outside on a cute Italian lane, saw the pantheon and threw a couple Canadian coins in the Trevi fountain. We went back to camp, got the bus stuck on a very tight corner where some of us got out and literally picked up a car to give us room to move the coach, and we got to our campground. I swore to an early night after wifi, but once again, a quiet night is a rare thing with contiki, especially with a disco pub on site. Today we went to the Roman forum and the colosseum. The audio guide in the forum wasn’t great, a lot of paths were closed off, and the weather wasn’t fantastic, so we didn’t see a whole lot and I definitely would’ve liked to have spent more time there. We managed to get a guided tour of the colosseum, somehow snagging a third floor and basement tour, which was fantastic! We got to to into the basement where the bases of elevator platforms were, animal cages, etc. and all the way to the third floor stadium seating. The whole thing was truly fascinating, an I’m really glad we got the tour. It was all rainy and windy, so we went off for a pasta lunch, and dessert to wait for the rain to quit. We grabbed pizza on the way to the Spanish steps meetin place after dashing around the train stations, meeting the crew just in time to go home. I would’ve liked to have seen the monks catacombs and a couple other things, but there just wasn’t enough time if I wanted my included dinner. Just an excuse to come back! Now we’re all relaxing with reliable wifi, packing for our overnight ferry adventure. Tomorrow we drive to Pompeii, and then to a 14 hour overnight ferry to Greece. Crazy to think that tomorrow I’ll fall asleep in Italy and wake up in Greece. What a crazy trip….

Venice to Rome

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:26:00 -0400

Ciao Bella! (and Happy Easter!) Here we are, once again in the Italian countryside, this time just departing The ghetto of Pisa to our campsite in Florence. It’s raining, and hailing, but that’s okay on driving days. Our camp in Venice was pretty nice, with more spacious mobile trailer rooms, in a public campsite. Arriving on Good Friday, the contiki team had left little chocolate surprises on our pillow! :) Yesterday we had a free day in the water city of Venice, cruising the roads of water in our boat to get there. Venice was pretty neat, but not somewhere I’d ever be able to live. The canals are a pretty opaque greeny blue, but don’t smell very pleasant. The narrow walkways are super neat, though crowded with millions of people (and tourists). It was a cool place, and I’m glad to say I’ve been there, especially with the fact that it’s sinking! We arrived and waded through the crowds to St. Marks Square, then the majority took off on an optional walking your while Alicia and I and a couple others got gelato and went down the walkways to explore the little shops. Venice is well known for its masks and it’s glass, being the city that glass was invented in. The stores are crammed full of neat little figurines and beautiful jewelry, and intricate masks. We followed pathways around, bridges over canals, somehow ended up in a glass factory, and eventually in some little bar. In Venice they charge you more to eat in than take away, and can charge you different rates if you sit at a window seat or on an outdoor patio. For example, one of the groups got charged an additional fee to listen to the music that was playing in St Marks while they drank coffee on an outdoor patio. It’s crazy. We saw the bridge of sighs, a covered bridge that connects the court house to the jail (I think that’s what it is… I overheard from a tour group), and to the Rialto Bridge, the oldest bridge crossing the Grand Canal, shops covering the bridge. We wandered the streets back to take the most expensive pee of Europe, at €1,50, and back to St. Marks, where I met up with some other people to go into St. Marks Basilica. The line was horrendous, but sneaky contiki gives hints to avoid lines. In the case of st marks, you can wait in line, and once you get to the front they’ll send you down an alley to a bag drop off, where they give you a fast pass in. If you go right to the bag drop, you can get a fast pass and enter without even stepping in line. It was pretty neat inside, with intricate mosaic domes and floors, but for the few minutes it took to walk around i wouldn’t have waited an hour or two in line. Then we did actually wait in line to go up St. Marks Campanile, the big bell tower in the square. It had fantastic views of Venice, with surrounding suburbs floating amid the water. Interestingly enough, you can’t see a single canal from above! We met up with the group to head off on our optional gondola ride, where we drank Prosecco while cruising the canals. It was definitely a neat experience, moving inches from the walls of buildings with perfect precision. We went back to camp, and then everyone went to the bar. I had a quiet night, hanging out on the docks and avoiding some of the drama that’s been going on. Well that never got finished on time, but it is now Tuesday. The trip from Venice to Florence was one of mostly sleep, as I was in the early stages of Contiki Cough, along with everyone else. We stopped in Pisa, seeing the famous leaning tower and get being surrounded by more of the illegal street vendors trying to make you buy their stolen sunglasses before you even make it off the coach. We had a contest of who could find the most disgusting and corny souvenir, which I won with a horrible pen holder. We were surrounded by the baby toting women who try to steal your things while they distract you, and of course, there’s always one they manage to scare enough to get alone and take her wallet. She did manage to get it back, luckily only losing €10, but it’s a reminder that we’re not at home anymore. We got to our contiki campsite in Florence, beautiful little cabins but no heat, making for rather chilly mornings (something I don’t mind from having plenty of with JFR, but the Aussies didn’t appreciate them the same way). That night we went into town to a karaoke bar, had a lot of drinks, and a lot of fun. Karaoke here was a lot more whole bar invoking, not just a couple people being watched, so way less awkward and way more fun. Yesterday we spent the day in Florence, getting a leather demonstration (being Florence’s thing), and a walking your that was really quite awful. Most of the people were a combination of hungover and Contiki sick, so it was a very slow day for everyone. We lost the walking tour, and when we found it we couldn’t hear anything, and she wasn’t very interesting overall. We ate pizza and strolled around for the day, taking it easy. We had a group photo done later, and our optional Tuscan dinner, with bruschetta, 3 kinds of pasta, potatoes, meatballs, chicken, salad and tirimasu. So tasty, but so much food! After dinner, we went the Electronic Space Discoteque, a neat club with fishtails in the bar, podiums and cages and lots of lights. Rather fun night, but it emptied out pretty quick to only consist of 16 year old girls, and since most of us had a big night the night before (which was meant to be the “I’ll have a quiet night, only 1 or 2 drinks”), most went home early. The thing about Europe is that they do a lot of free pouring of alcohol, so sometimes you get a drink with four times the amount of alcohol you’d get at home, which is beneficial for a wallet, but harder to count drinks accurately. And that leads to today! It’s 8:30am on Tuesday, we’re heading to Rome and have our Vatican tour today, and we’ve all been informed that tonight is a party night at our contiki campsite, with another group staying there tonight as well. As they say about Contiki, every night is a Friday or Saturday, and every morning is a Monday morning. Time for a nap!

Monaco harbor, where millionaires park yachts.

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:01:00 -0400

Monaco harbor, where millionaires park yachts.

Nice

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:00:00 -0400

Nice

Barcelona to Venice

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:59:00 -0400

Today we are enroute to Venice from the lovely French Riviera, driving through the hills of Italy. Good thing no one is super hungover today, cause this drive is 7 hours and the highway is ultra twisty. Barcelona was a neat city, but one i’m not sure I’d go back to. It’s got some cool architecture, that’s for sure, and a party scene, there wasn’t a whole lot that really interested me. We started out in Spain with a bunch of us taxiing it into town to go to the Fairy Bar, a pub decorated to give the illusion of sitting in a fairy’s garden, with dim lighting from little hanging lamps, foliage covering the ceiling and walls, a waterfall, and a random feature room of some whacked out old lady bedroom with possesse mannequins. Super weird bar, but a really cool atmosphere. We sat around in the chairs at tables the right size for a kindergarten classroom and drank sangria in the old lady bedroom before heading down the street to a cheap cocktail night, where all the boys ordered fruity, icy drinks and everyone had a good time. I rather enjoyed the Zombie, but have no idea what was in it due to the whole Spanish menu problem. The following morning we got a bus tour of the city, but it was raining rather hard, so our walking tour was cancelled and many photos are through the raindrop covered windows. We saw the Sangrada Familia church, Gaudi’s most famous piece of architecture, started over a hundred years ago and still not complete. I didn’t go inside, but if I was to go back I think I would. We were dropped off at one end of La Rambla, the most popular and touristy street in Barcelona, and the haven for pitpocketers that makes Barcelona famous with the highest pitpocking rate in the world. The previous night this median street was full of artists with their work, vendors and drawers, but on the rainy day all of the neat artists were missing. La Rambla is essentially a median, with one way streets on either side of it, with another sidewalk beside the shops and restaurants on the sides. The median is full of ice cream vendors, souvenir shops, stalls where you can buy pets (so weird, and wrong, selling birds, turtles and rabbits out of a closable vending box), and outdoor seating for many of the restaurants. This can be rathe amusing, as you can watch your waiting come out of the restaurant, across a busy sidewalk, dodge traffic on the road, and then come to your table. It was pissing rain when we got there, so we spent most of our time running from shop to shop, getting ice cream and tapas (Spanish meal where you get a bunch of small dishes and share them), and explored a food market where you can buy a full, skinned rabbit (eyeballs and all) right out of the meat case. We lost some of our group, so Kansas Caitlin and I wandered down the now only misty La Rambla, to a mall in the harbor, around the port, and back as the sun finally started shining. We ate churros with hot chocolate (the Spanish way) on La Rambla and wandered around, buying souvenirs that I would later leave in an H&M change room and lose forever (total bummer, but wasn’t worth that much, and easy to find the same things again). The rest of the group head off on an optional flamenco show while my budget let me hang around Barcelona a little longer with Alicia, rebuy souvenirs and get lost. We met the group at Port Olympic, a port full of restaurants and drank sangria and ate Mexican food. We were going out for a night on the town in the port, but I wasn’t feeling swell and decided the extra sleep would probably be best anyways. Wednesday was another day of travel, another 9 hours from Barcelona to the French Riviera, to our Contiki campsite in Antibes. It was a day of bus naps and truck stops, and a very rainy day. We did stop in the town of Arles, home of Vincent Van Gogh for a few years, and conquered by Julius Caesar. It would’ve been nice to look around, but it was like, super raining. Ultra raining. Rain that soaks you as soon as you get into it. I got thoroughly drenched looking for a bathroom, and did find a Van Gogh garden, and the rain cleared up as soon as we were about to leave. Eventually we arrived at our Contiki campsite, essentially an area beside a farm, full of cabins that look like garden sheds, 4 rooms and 2 bathrooms each. Meals in the tent, and a decent bar, and had a quiet(er) night at the bar playing pool. Yesterday we drove from Antibes to the town of Nice (pronounced like niece), got a tour of a French perfumery, and saw amazing views from atop the hills, before heading down to the main street. The Riviera was settled by rich Parisians who were sick of all the poor people in Paris, and decided to leave and find somewhere nice, so they kept going south until they ran into the Mediterranean Sea, and it’s easy to see why. It’s absolutely beautiful, with white pebbled beaches, gorgeous turquoise water and bright green palm trees. The neat rows of houses and stores are all bright pretty colors, with brightly painted windowsills. So pretty! We stopped at McDonald’s for lunch, exercising the cheaper meal option as well as the experience of being able to order a beer with your burger! (just had to do that hahaha). We wandered down the boardwalk and beach to Le Chateau, the best views of the city and soooo pretty! We explored old town, got ice cream at Fenocchio’s (lored the best ice cream in the world), and wandered around the neat little streets. Then we went shopping at cheap stores, and we’re back to our camp for dress up and dinner before heading to Monaco to see the palace, place of the Formula 1 race car track, and Monte Carlon Grand casino! I went ahead for my first casino experience and went all out, drinking an €8 beer I was bought and using the slots to break even and lose it all on another. We continued to the casino next door where I won €24 on virtual roulette and cashed in before I lost it all, making a €14 profit! :) totally fun night, and then back to the bar where the big winners got us all drinks. I’m jut outside Venice at the moment, paying for wifi on a very warm night. We stopped at a designer outlet store, but all was expensive still. However, Italian pizza is soooo flipping tasty!!! Anyways, should be off! Night night!

The view from Chateau de cruix

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:23:00 -0400

The view from Chateau de cruix

Chateau de cruix, Contiki’s house

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:49:00 -0400

Chateau de cruix, Contiki’s house

Paris and the Beaujolais Wine Region

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:23:00 -0400

Today we are enroute from the beautiful Beaujolais wine region of France to Barcelona, Spain. This drive will be one of our longest, lasting an awesome 10 hours, so there’s plenty of time to write all about the adventures of the past couple days. Friday was our free an final day in Paris. We started at the Louve for a couple hours, the art gallery with 18 kilometers of hallways that would take years to look at ever piece (I can’t remember the exact statistics, but it’s ridiculous). We definitely didn’t have time to see every piece, and had other plans as well, so we did the fast paced tourist version, seeing one gallery at a glance and we went in search of Monna Lisa, Virgin de mio, and the sphinx. If there was more time, I definitely would’ve liked to have explored more, but that jut isn’t possible on a time budget. After the Louve, we headed down the champ de élysées and street for celebrities to see the big Paris stores. One such stop was the Abercrombie and Fitch mansion, which features male models at the golden gates, ivy covered walls, and a male model greeter at the doors (shirt unbuttoned and 6 pack exposed, of course). The whole inside looks like a club, and people seem to be employed just to dance and look good. Also, you can smell the place from across the street. Of the rich people stores, that was the only one we actually entered, but some of the other features of the streets are Louis Vutton, Gucci, and a Haggen Daaz restaurant. Alicia and I ended up losing our fellow comrade and went shopping at H&M for general cheaper clothing as well as for our upcoming tight n bright party the following night. We ate gigantic cheese covered hot dogs down a back street, walked to the arc de triumph, and back to the Eiffel tower, where our plan of drinking wine failed when we realized we didn’t bring a corkscrew. We headed back to the hotel on the Metro, where Alicia got stuck in the doors on the way off and a French guy got mad at us because he missed his train and woukd have tk wait 4 minutes longer as we struggled to get through the crowd to get off. Fun experience! We hung out and napped to prepare for the evening out. The entire group had signed up for our optional Parisian dinner, which included very, very generous amounts of wine and plenty of delicious food. I had escargot, duck leg in orange sauce, which was followed by cheese, a pastry, and coffee. Our table of 4 each had a glass of rose wine to start, a bottle of white and of red, which were promptly replaced when finished. After dinner we were dropped off by Moulin Rouge, and walked through the red light district to a church overlooking Paris. The amount of people selling souvenirs out of their pockets is ridiculous, and here we experienced them selling Heineken bottles, who got quite a bit of service from our group. We walked back, stopping in some of the strange stores and avoiding the numerous strip clubs and their johns trying to sell you lapdances. We got back to Moulin Rouge to the Irish “pub” beside it, famous for hosting Contiki crews for an awesome night out: the Irish pub didn’t play a single iron song, and was really just a big club with expensive drinks, but definitely a good time. The first big night out was definitely interesting, where hormones fly and barriers are down. Also, European men are very upfront, sometimes old and usually creepy. But being on a crew of 45 is handy in this case, with so many to steal dances and make sure you’re always safe. The night was super fun, and our group of 5 convinced a taxi to take us if one sat on the floor. Super fun night. The next morning there were definitely quite a few haggard looking faces on the bus, ready for a long snooze on the 6 hour bus ride to our Contiki Chateau. We stopped for a while in the town of Fountain bleu, where a few of us chilled in the gardens of Napoleon’s palace and got checked out by ducks and swans. This was the first day it wasn’t completely beautiful out, being overcast and rather chilly. We spent the bus time going over optional excursions and proper introductions of our members, and eventually arrived in the stunning Beaujolais wine region and our Contiki special stopover chateau. The whole area is green, even with the lack of grapes from being so early in the season, with cute little lanes and houses scattered throughout. The Chateau is an amazing piece of architecture, and way too cool to think its essentially a frat house for contiki parties. It was built in the medieval ages, added onto and fixed after the French Revolution to be a mansion for a rich family, bought by a tour group as a vacation house for employees, used as a hospital by a doctor, and then bought by Contiki to be a party house. It’s on eautifuk grounds, complete with a pool, which was sadly still closed for winter, and the Cave, the underground party central. There’s an upstairs bar as well as the one in the cave, and alcohol is very reasonable. We ate dinner and then it was time for our tight n bright party with the Escapade tour that was there with us. With everyone dressed in neon, a few guys in skirts and every guy in tank tops, it was a rather interesting night, and totally fun. All of the staff joins in on the party, and everyone is having a good time, and it’s an easy stumble up to bed when you choose to leave (for some, this was 6am), and definitely the safest environment to party in. Yesterday was a nice chill day, with a later breakfast (as well as te ability to go in your pj’s), and no solid plans. Alicia and I wandered around before meeting a group for our semi-scheduled picnic in the hills of France. We walked for over an hour up winding streets and through fields, following a few who walked too fast and didn’t know how to read a map, and ended up far past where they were trying to send us. In the end, 15 of us shared 1.5 picnic baskets while the rest of the food was with the lost ones, and we head back to the actual picnic area Contiki meant for us, with a casual wander back to the chateau. Such a neat little town to wander through, and such a nice day. We got back to the chateau and just chilled for the rest of the day, sunning ourselves (or burning, in my case) on the lawn overlooking miles of vineyards, telling stories and general banter. We had a meeting for the Greek islands/Egypt groups to find out the details of that, and spent the next few hours drinking and snacking in paradise, before heading in for supper and a casual evening of pajamas and Contiki pictionary (total riot). Then it was in for an early sleep. And that pretty much leads to today, where we are currently 3 hours into our 10 hour drive to Barcelona! Ayeeee.

From the second floor, we had to take the lift to the top, which...

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:01:00 -0400

From the second floor, we had to take the lift to the top, which was totally worth it. The view was incredible, and from the top you can see all of the crazy streets that run through this city, with the 7 road intersecting roundabouts, all lit up in the night. At the top, you can buy a glass of champagne for a mere €10, which I can say I did not do, but would if I was wealthy. Haha.

Eiffel by night is completely different than during the day. In...

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:52:00 -0400

Eiffel by night is completely different than during the day. In the day it’s iron looms magnificence and strength, while at night it expresses beauty and elegance. We climbed to the second floor, just as the light show started for its first show of the night and the entire area around cheered.