Well folks we finally made it out of Ontario (in case you didn't get that from the title). It was long, it was strenuous, it was worth it. The hell with everyone saying you should cut through the states because it's faster, since when was a road trip about getting

Day 2 of the Lunchbox Shuttle to Vancouver

Well believe it or not we were awake on time but somehow still got off to a slow start. The first bad sign was when I broke the elevator. I don't fully believe it was my fault but since I did push the button to take us to the wrong floor I guess I must shoulder some of the blame. I've never seriously considered the idea of

The S & S Lunchbox Shuttle - Destination: Vancouver - Day 1

As some of you may know our departure time was 6am, we wanted to start the trip with optimistic goals. But like most people, we had to face reality

Irish Road Trip

     The day starts with a bit of confusion on Brandi's part. Which side does the car operate from? And the transmission may take a small beating, but we got full coverage so let's F this mother up. While it provided me with a bit of a laugh Uncle Rob took the first shift behind the wheel, although I did catch him on the wrong side

Dublin

At last we arrive at the hostel where I can properly battle this hangover with water and sleep. NOT!!! We get there and we're forced to wait 7 hours before we can check into our room, "ASSHOLES"

Next Stop... Dublin

So naturally the most entertaining person (me) sits in the front seat of the cab and offers an amazing 2.5 minutes of conversation before passing out. When I wake from my slumber I hate life, "Damn that bouncy castle. I've made up my mind, I hate the person that

Return to Scotland

It was a long, strenuous and non profitable four weeks back with IPG. Got screwed around and just didn't see any motivation from them to get this Canada idea off the ground. Maybe for the best, now I don't have to worry about it and it's one less distraction from my real goals. But, finally made it back to Scotland where my

12 DAYS IN SOUTHAMPTON

     Upon my return to London I shacked up on the couch back at my old flat, you guys still rock, as do the new additions to the flat... Sophie. Also, hit the streets again with IPG, made £350 in my first week back... yeah that's right, I still got it. But looking for some cheap rent and a chance to see

The Last Leg

So as promised this past week was ridiculous. I know I left Berlin as a bit of a cliffhanger but to be honest that was just to keep you reading. Berlin included some kewl sight seeing, Inglorious Basterds (sic movie by the way) and a pub crawl that left me drunk off 1 euro Jager shots and in

Amster - DAMN

So after surviving Okoberfest I was off to Bruges for a couple days where our little travel family from June re-united. We thought these couple days would be a bit of a rest period before Amsterdam… I was wrong. We found a bar with over 300 different types of beer

San Sabastian

       So the entire backpack adventure was based around being here for the Running of the Bulls… but that’s a whole other story, hahaha I’ll keep you waiting, for now: San Sabastian.  It was a bit shit that once we got there everyone was scattered all over the town in different hostels.  Oh well, I stayed at Olga’s where I met John from Milwaukee and Anastasia from Stockholm. 

Madrid

My time in Madrid was a bit scattered.  First we met up with the 2 Kiwi girls, Linda and Andie, who we’ve randomly seen in the last couple cities.  Here we also added another Aussie: Mark.  Since we arrived so late that day we grabbed some dinner at a tiny nearby restaurant, “Finally some good value for your money, only the third meal that I haven’t been able to finish.”

Barcelona

Apparently known for the “Elephant Man”, an old dude who walks around naked every day and has a tattooed speedo on his ass and elephant ears on the front.  I didn’t see him but some of the girls did and apparently he lives up to the name.  People actually asked me why I didn’t bother trying to find him, “Hmm, let’s think about this kids.

Nice

So along the way we lost Phil, and Lauren stayed at a different hostel so it was Kate, Janey and I off to Villa Saint Exupery.  I was a bit disappointed at first when I realized there was no pool.  However, it was one of the best hostels I’ve stayed at thus far.  First night we went out to meet all the Busabout crew at a bar called Wayne’s. 

98% Idiots

     For those who have been following my “literature” this theory may sound a bit familiar as I made a brief mention of it in an earlier piece.  This is a small theory that came to realization while exploring the Vatican Museum. 

     While walking around it was impossible to avoid being blinded by flashes and hearing the huffs and puffs of frustrated disapproval from those

Cinque Terre

     All I can say about this place is that it’s magnificent.  It’s a place I’d never heard of but after reading about it and hearing other people rave about it I had to stop there.   The only problem is that 2 days was not nearly enough time.  Here I met a bunch more Aussie, “Surprise surprise, you guys really are everywhere, I’m starting to wonder who’s actually living in Australia” , Janey, Kate, Phil, Lauren, Pete & Michelle. 

     Where we stayed wasn’t even really a hostel; you went to reception and then they took small groups of us and put us all in different

Rome

  The first night our little Rome family checked out the fountain where if you throw one coin over your shoulder it means you're coming back and if you throw two coins it will give you luck.  I fumbled them and we're not sure it 1 or 2 went in, so like everything else with me... who knows.  Afterwards we walked through the city to the Palantine and

Venice

     First night in Venice they tell us we’re lucky cuz we’ve arrived for the toga party, “I know what this means”  Next day we find out that they do toga parties every other night for Topdeck, “About as predictable as their tours”  For our first day we went into Venice and wandered around aimlessly until we found all the kewl things you’re supposed to see, “Finally a place where a map is just as useless to everyone else as it is to me”  Venice is a great place to get lost in and

Munich

     Well before we got to Munich we made one small stop in a country called Liechtenstein, which I think is the 6^th smallest countries in the world.  We arrived in Munich around 5:30 and by 7 had started our pub crawl.  Not eating before a pub crawl is one thing, but before a German is just stupid.  The first hour “power hour” was all-you-can-drink, “This is getting fully taken advantage of, hell I’m traveling on a budget I’m gonna straight up abuse this opportunity.”  After more than my fair share

Lucerne

There wasn’t tons of stuff to do here but I figured I’d stop here for a couple days since Lauterbrunnen didn’t offer much a Swiss culture.  Again the scenery here was fantastic and seemed very small, maybe that’s just because of the mountains though.  For the two days we spent here we checked out Lucerne’s famous towers and bridges dating back to 1333 and the Lion Monument carved into the side of a mountain.  It was built in recognition of Swiss mercenaries that had died.  Briege, Becky and I also saw Angels & Demons.  Good film and even that was interesting; had an intermission and the seats lean back and get lower the further from the screen they are.  There’s not much to say about Lucerne except that it was nice to see and experience a bit of Swiss culture including rosti, fondue and some beer of course.  I was a nice quiet break before spending the weekend in Munich.