Back Home.





So, back in ol' blighty.
A fact that I am happy and not so happy about. The last month has been the most amazing experience. I have learnt so much and had so many good times that I will never forget. It is nice to sleep in your own bed and be able to eat WHENEVER you want just by opening this incredible device called a fridge though.
A few tips for anyone who is thinking about travelling in the future from me, a world-wisened guru of travelling;

1.
Bring iPod speakers. A simple tip but you do not how many times me and Hannah longed for our music out loud instead of sitting unnaturally close to share earphones or sitting in near silence so we could hear the slight mummer of our music from the earphones resting on a table.

2.
Be as open as possible. You meet so many people while travelling and you will have so much more fun if you just say Hi to random strangers. If they look mildly dirty and with a constant pleasantly suprised look on their face (and are possibly carrying a backpack) they are most probably fellow backpackers who are in the same boat as you and so are likely to be well worth a conversation with. Time flies on long train journeys if you are sharing stories and having a general laugh with other people rather than sitting there staring into space.

3.
Always work together and comprimise with the people/person you are travelling with. They are the only person who is going to be there with you through-out the trip and no fun is to be had of you are constantly fighting against eachother. There will be times, and Hannah will back me up on this one, where you want to cause eachother bodily harm but just take a deep breath and come to an agreement. In the end, whatever you end up deciding to do you are going to have a great time so there is no point getting yourself in a bad mood. By the end of the trip you will know the other person so well and the experiences you have will be well worth the tiffs and moments of annoyance.

4.
Keep moving, but not too much. Both me and Hannah agreed that we liked it when we were spending less time in places and moving on quickly. It helps to keeps your energy and excitement up. We spent shorter time in Berlin and Budapest and when we slowed down to spend time in Rome and ended up getting homesick because our energy dropped. On the other hand, you don't want to be spending too short a time in anay places. Although you might want to cram everything you can in it is worth spending a couple of nights at least in most places you go.

5. ALWAYS check if you need to reserve trains.

6. Don't be naive. Much easier said than done, but try to speak to some locals or other travellers who have been doing it for longer about what to see and what to avoid. Some places will really try to take advantage of you becaue you are a tourist so it's always good to know what to expect.

7. RELAX. There will be stressful times but in the end everything turns out ok and it amkes for good stories when you get home. Just keep reminding yourself that you are in an exciting new country and that you are extremely lucky to be doing what you are doing.



Thats all I can think of but to be honest this is just from our experience and could be a load of rubbish.

All in all travelling has made me realise that I just want to do it ALL again!
Thanks for reading hope you've enjoyed it
xxx

ROME, PISA, FLORENCE and VENICE (I know,its a lot)

So... we have had the most crazy and amazing few days recently.
Since my last post we have been very spontaneous. On the 13th of July we meet 3 guys by the pool, 2 of them were English called Tom and Miles. They were from Portsmouth (which seems just down the road compared to Rome) and 1 American guy called Craig who was from South Carolina. We got talking about pur plans for the next few days over dinner and decided very spontaneously (which was difficult for over-organised Hannah) that we would join them on their trip to Pisa and Florence. CRAZY! so instead of staying an extra night in Rome we woke up early the next morning and got on the train with these 3 lovely boys. We got to Pisa after having a very picturesque (sp.) train journey. We walked to the leaning tower of Pisa took the typical photo, brought some grapes (I had missed them soooo much) and walked back to the station for our train to Florence. Simples. We got to Florence and tried to find somewhere to stay. A really friendly receptionist at one of the hotels was kind enough to call lots of different hostels for us and he found us one, all we had to do was get a bus. Seemed easy enough. we got to the bus station and waited, and waited, and waited getting slowly more and more dellusional due to lack of sleep and food and a very heavy back-pack. So, after consulting our travellling bible; Europe On A Shoestring, we found another capsite that we could stay at. We changed bus stations and were 2 minutes away from the bus arriving when we realised we had to buy tickets from inside Florence train station! The queue was ridiculous so we missed that bus!! Hannah was beginning to get really stressed and we learnt that this was the price of being spontaneous (alothough I still loved the adventure of it all) On the plus side we met 2 mega cool guys from New Zealand at the bus station who were staying at the same campsite. They were called Brock and Clint. Yes, you heard, Brock and Clint and they were travelling for 7 months around Europe! They seemed so laid back and Brock had dreads, and I thought I was cool.
We got to the campsite and set up the tent in the dark while Tom made pasta, sausage and tomato sauce which tasted amazing! we sat up and talked for a while then went to bad which was relatively easy because the temperate in Florence was much cooler and more comfortable than in Rome. In the morning we woke up took down the tenct and checked out. We decided to travel to Venice but the boys said that they couldn't afford to come and so we went our seperate ways which was sad. Me and hannah stayed in the campsite cafe for a while taking in the amazing view of florence that we hadn't noticed when we'd first arrived in the dark.
We had a bit of hassle getting to Venice. In our spontaneous state we hadn't booked a train to Venice and so when we arrived at Florence station we found out that all the trains were completely booked. We met Hannahs family friend Ellie and her friend Zoe at the station and decided that we would just get on their train to Venice and wish for the best. We sat on the floor during the journey which was extrememly uncomfortable but we were lucky. The train ticket man had orginally said to us that we would have to pay 18 euros to sit on the floor the train but when he came around we showed him the ticket we had brought in Rome to Venice before our crazy change of plan and he didn't charge us. This seemed like a brilliant example of human kindness but we later realised that the ticket we had brought was for the train that we ended up on anyway and so the ticket man had let us sit on the floor when he was completely aware that we had had reserved seats the whole time!
We got to Venice and walked out of the station to find a beautiful bridge over a canal right in front of our eyes. It was so surreal. We got on the monorail and meet some aussies at the bus station waiting for our bus to the place we are staying. They were very friendly. It is amazing how many people you meet travelling and how friendly EVERYONE is. We got to the campsite with Ellie and Zoe amd me and Hannah found our room. IT IS LUXURY, well for us it is at least! We have a ensuite and a mirror and a fridge and AIR CONDITIONING! It's funny what makes you excited when you have been used to living out of a backpack in very simple hostels. We had dinner with Ellie and Zoe then all got ready for the party that Interrail had organised at the our campsite/hostel. We got there and it turned out to be a foam/toga/masquerade/pool party with a good but creepy band. Before we came out we had agreed to but one drink called the Sylvio Special (which included 5 shots of different spirits and a Breezer as a mixer) between the 4 of us but we met the manager of the campsite and ended up getting free drinks for the night which saved us about 50 euros! We met the guys from New Zealand and the Dutch guys from Berlin at the party which was sooo good!! we danced A LOT in the foam although it was so deep that I got lost in it a couple of time and you couldn't inhale while you were in it because it hurt your throat. It didn't matter though because we had soo much fun. We were all covered head to toe in foam and had to dive in the pool to clean it off. It was such an amazing party, there were hundreds of people there and it was great to see the Dutch boys again because we had been telling people about them all the way through our trip. That night had to be one of the best nights of my life, what an experience!
The next morning we woke up and said goodbye to the Dutch boys :( Me and Hannah both really hope that they come to England or we go over to Holland to see them, so if you are reading this Jelmer, Mick  and Robert it's a plan!
Me and Hannah then chilled by the pool for the rest of the day and had dinner. I then decided I needed a nap because i had had such a late night and the nap turned into a full nights sleep. Whoopss!
Today we have been by the pool again and we are preparing for another party tonight! Roll on the good times!
Thanks for reading
xx

BUDAPEST (and a bit of ROME)(oh and a tiny bit of VIENNA)

Firstly I would like to thoroughly recommend anyone thinking of travelling to visit Budapest and a stay in a hostel called "Our Place Hostel".  It is a brilliant city and the Hostel was cheap and somewhere I will remember for a long time.
We arrived in Budapest after a 10 hour journey absolutely shattered and hot hot hot. The people in Budapest were extremely helpful in helping us find our hostel and when we finally got there we found it to be a very cozy and lovely flat with 2 rooms converted into dorms. It was the polar opposite to our hostel in Berlin. The guy who ran the hostel was soooooo helpful and friendly. We crashed out pretty early the first night then the next day we woke up and Jake (the hostel guy) had already organised a whole day of activities for us to do in Budapest. We went to see all the beautiful buildings (and there were A LOT) and we went across the river to the Buda side of the city. It was absolutely breathtaking . It was up on a large hill and so the views were amazing. There was a palace and a castle up there too so we had a great time exploring it all. We met a crazy Violin playing old man who just wouldn't stop talking about the history of Budapest. We learnt that the big 'Chain Bridge' was made is Sheffield and designed by a Scottish architect, you learn something new everyday!
The next day we decided to go and visit the famous thermal baths. They were really lovely and it was nice to relax for a day. That night Jake took us around the city to 3 brilliant bars. The first one was a huge warehouse type thing that looked like it had been invaded by artists, the second one was similar but it had lots of little cool rooms.The last one was on the roof of a building in the centre of the Pest side. It had amazing views and a very cool atmosphere. We atlked about a lot of things like what we want to do in the future and he said that he felt like we were his little sisters :)
The next morning we woke up early(ish) and left while Jake was still asleep but he must have woken up as we closed the door because he came running down the stairs and gave us a gift each. It was a locally made bar of lavander soap (what was he trying to say) with a personal message on it saying
To Emma. I am so glad to be part of your first time journey. From your friend in Budapest Jake.
He was such a lovely Korean Buddhist man.

We then boarded a train to Vienna. Don't ask me what Vienna was like, I don't know. This was due to the fact that I spent all the 5 hours we were there in a McDonalds just outside the station. I know...shame on me. But, there were no storage lockers free and so we physically couldn't walk around with our huge backpacks so we had to resort to sitting around making card towers (which I was VERY proud of)

We then got on our overnight train to Rome. On our way to Vienna we had realised that the ticket we had brought that reserved us a bed each on the train was for the 9th of September not July. Stupid Hungarian ticket lady! We never mentioned September!! So Hannah phoned her trusty father Barry who saved the day by booking us 2 seats on the train. So we spent the 14 hours on 2 seats instead of beds :( the seats slotted down into a flat area but they were still extremely uncomfortable. Luckily we were in a little compartment with 2 American guys and 1 American girl who were very friendly and funny, so that was the plus side.  We woke up at 7:30 in the morning to find the Americans had got off at an earlier stop and had been replaced by a very loud Italian woman. great.
We got of the train ad took a train and two buses to get to our campsite. Our "private suite" turned out to be a shed-like object with 2 beds and a shelf. We spent most of the day by the pool. It was strange not being in a bustling city anymore so we began to get a bit homesick because we had suddenly stopped long enough to start thinking about home. We decided to cheer ourselves up by having dinner at the campsite restaurant and go on Facebook. The pizza we had was A-MAZING! Proper Italian pizza much better than any in Britain. Facebook made me feel better because I spoke to my family and friends which is always nice.
Today we decided that it would be a good idea to get into the city and do some sight-seeing. We went to the Collosseum, the famous fountain, churches and lots of other magnificent buildings which seemed to be on every corner. Rome is wonderful, there is so much history everywhere you look (and lots and lots of nuns too) We had to buys some very expensive insect repellant because I got eaten alive last night and have gruesome lumpy bites all over my legs with itch like a bitch (Dad, I'm allowed to say it for rhyming purposes)
We got back to the campsite and had watermelon with our feet dipped in the pool then shared another pizza and chips.

So that is you up to date.
Thanks for reading
Miss you x

BERLIN

On the 4th of July our interrail ticket started and we travelled to Berlin.
We arrived in awful drizzly weather and found our hostel straight away, it was really big but nice (even if someone had taken it upon themselves to draw quite graphic images around the doorway). We settled in and then went out to meet up with Alice and Ellie (who I knew from Downlands and Hannah knew Ellie from college. Small world) For a little bit. We then went back to our room where we found 3 very funny and friendly Dutch boys. We stayed up until the early hours talking about everything from neuro-surgery to black adder. They were huge fans of Jazz music. I mean HUGE! I've never seen people get so much enjoyment from a piano solo.
The next day we woke up early(ish) and went to meet Alice and Ellie at the station. We walked down to the Berlin wall, which happened to be literally around the corner from our hostel. It was so great to see it and learn more about it. The art on the wall was incredible and a bit weird in some places. After that we walked down to see all the museums (we didn't actually go inside them. Of course not, they cost money!) and the gateway which was very impressive. We had fish and chips for lunch. TYPICAL BRITS! then we went to see the jewish memorial. The museum area underneath the main memorial was extremely moving and upsetting. It's strange how you learn so much about WW2 but actually reading letters from people inside the camps and all the horrific facts still had a huge effect on me.
After that me and Hannah headed back to our Hostel and had a hilarious evening with teh Dutch boys learning some Dutch and drinking 99c wine. We decided to walk to a club called Matrix so we trecked through the city. When we got there Hannah was feeling ill and we were worried about our early train the next morning so we went back to the hostel, which was a shame because they were playing some crazy music in the club like the Greece Medley and Spice Girls!
We were woken up at 5:30am by the Dutch boys coming back from the club and we packed and headed to the station for our 6:30am train to Budapest.
We sat on the train for what seemed like forever (10 hours) but the scenery was beautiful going through Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and finally Hungary.
Budapest seems nice from what we've seen of it so far. People are really helpful here for example when we needed help to find our hostel lots of people stopped to ask us if we were ok and a couple ended up searching the internet on their phone just to help us find it.
Our hostel is soooo cute. It is sooo much smaller than the one in Berlin which was basically a huge block of flats where as this is just one apartment. It is run by a really lovely guy called Jake who has given us lots of helpful tips for travelling and his saying is Take It Easy! So here we are in Eastern Europe watching Casualty and eating Super Noodles.
Thanks for reading.
xx

AMSTERDAM.

Today was our first day of being independant and completely free to do what we wanted. We travelled by double decker train to Amsterdam and what an eventful day we encountered there!!! Sex Musuem, Vodka Musuem and let's just say that the Red Light District made our jaws drop in absolute shock. Just seemed all so strange and a completely different universe to the softer touch of our British culture. Ended up pieing out on all the grub, was LUSH!
We are now completely knackered as we basically trecked around the entire city of Amsterdam. We didn't realise how many pretty little rivers there were in the city but luckily, like the rest of the country, Amsterdam is completely flat and so the walk wasn't too difficult.
Yesterday was a brilliant Dutch day too. We cycled into the town of Den Botsch from the villiage we are staying in (Vught). EVERYONE cycles here! E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E. We parked our bikes in an underground car park for bikes, yeah you heard! We went into the beautiful church and tried a local delicasse. It was a small raw fish and oinion. Not going to lie, I (emma) quite liked the taste but the texture and the idea of it was not appealing at all. But, now we can say we did it! We tried to improve our Dutch by finding out the word for whipped cream turned out to be slagroom. Much laughter ensued.

Thanks for reading
xx

We're here (and stressed!)

Wooo hoooooo! We have arrived after the shortest plane journey of our lives, it took off, I flicked through the awful Ryanair magazine, and we landed. We have said goodbye to our family and friends and are now sitting in a Dutch living room and starting to realise what we've let ourselves in for.
We are currently just outside of Amsterdam staying with Hannah's family friend Bridgette (who is absolutley lovely) and we have been looking on the internet at hostels in Berlin. We got a bit carried away and booked one only to realise that it was an hour and a half walk from the main station. DUN DUN DAHHH. Not going to happen with our huge rucksacks. What are we like!? We then started going a little bit mad with tiredness but luckily Bridgette came to the rescue and calmed us down and so now we have decided to relax and watch some llama's having sex. Its a veternary programme I promise (dutch TV is strange). Eariler we watched a gameshow programme called Pain Game. It involved a fat guy in leather. Enough said.
All in all we are both feeling extremely excited and a bit spaced-out. It's soooo exciting thinking about all the stuff we have to come.
Well that's that for now. Cheers for reading :)
xx

The night before.



The beautiful map Liam drew us.


Hey you!

I have decided to write this blog about the trip me and my lovely friend Hannah are embarking on across Europe because I think it will be a good way to document what we get up to for y'all and it will be nice to look back on.
I am writing this the night before we leave for our first port of call, Amsterdam. I have packed and unpacked and packed and unpacked a hundred times and I am about 87% sure I have what I need.
Our plane leaves at 5pm from Stanstead tomorrow so I might have time for one last speedy repacking session (just in case)
Hannah has been worrying about our trip (and to be honest, so have I) but I had a phone call with her this evening and both of us are feeling a lot more excited rather than nervous now! It's going to be such an adventure!
We had a party last night to say goodbye to our friends which was absolutely fab and so much fun, we will both miss them lots during our holiday but will no doubt see them tons when we return.

So, that's my first post. Bit boring. They will get more exciting as we visit crazy exotic destinations rather than writing the post from not-so-exciting Burgess Hill.

Thanks for reading and keep checking up on this page for another update.
xxxx