Sean emailed a friend...

My brother's friend asked for advice about planning a trip to Europe. This post is Sean's response--the pictures are what I felt corresponded:

If you want my personal feelings about the trip, listen up... or read up.

I started by moving to London, so that doesn't really count as a stop on the trip. Although, if you want to go there you should. It's pretty cool, but the weather is rough, and unless you have a lot of money, you're going to end up drinking wherever you are staying. (there is a bar near Oxford Circus called The Cock (not making it up), which is actually really cheap, go there!). The picture is of Little Venice, where my sister lived.

Things to see in London if you are touristy are Buckinham Palace, Parliament, the London eye, Covent Garden,  etc. Otherwise just take the Tube around the city and you'll find some cool places. Again, VERY expensive.

Next we went to Brussels, Beglium to see my dad. If you go there on a good day (weather wise) it is amazing. Great night-life if you know where to go (I recommend O'Reilly's, an Irish bar which also has a mini 'club' next door called Nua O'reilly's.) Cool people, good vibe, and you can sit on the terrace and look at some epically old architecture. I grew up there, so I love the place, but again, it's more about who you go with and when you go. Beer capital of the world!!!! Must see's are La Grand Place, Mond des Arts, and the maniquin pis... all spitting distance from each other.

Next stop was Berlin. Go with friends, and go to clubs, otherwise the place is BORING and not very scenic. I was there with my sister and was bored out of my mind. Avoid commercial hostels at allllll cost. Go to private ones, they're funner and better value. (That goes for everywhere if possible)

From there we went to Prague, which is pretty epic, has a nice Bridge and river, but again... not toooo much to do. (see blog for more details).

Budapest, Hungary is pretty sweet. First real fun I had on the trip since Belgium! Stay at the Maverick Hostel... it's AMAZING! I would live there if I could afford it. and go out to Buda (across the river) and see the old town... pretty stunning. At night, there is plenty to do, but I recommend a bar called Szimpla. It is the sweetest bar ever...trust me, if you are in Budapest... go there.

DO NOT GO TO SERBIA... (see my post on sister's blog)

There is a place in MonteNegro called Kotor which is beautiful and has a surprisingly good night-life, though I don't know if it's worth going to because it is out of the way. If you go, stay in the Old town. That's where its all at.

GO TO DUBROVNIK!!! It's in Croatia, and it's friggin sweet. Nough said. It is the most beautiful place on earth, and everything is dirt cheap.

OK, now I will go into some of the places you might actually go to haha.

ITALY:

Rome: go there. It is overwhelming, and go on a pub crawl... you will have the time of your life (they're illegal, but just meet at 9pm at the bottom of the Spannish Steps. EPIC.) Everything you see is older than time, and is still unbelievable. See the Vatican.. see the Sistine chapel... see the Colisseum. Trust me, it's a must see.

Florence: Unless you like art a LOT... skip it. It's only fun if you do what I did; find a group of Aussies, a group of Irishmen, some pretty girls, and roam the city at 4am.

Venice: Go. Don't argue, just go.

Now back to some more obscure places...

Milan is the fashion capital of the world, which means everything is very stylish, and too expensive... not my thing. Bologna is the food capital of the world, but be careful where you eat, because everyone there is competing for business, and we ended up somewhere rather disappointing.

Next, I went off with a bud to Nice, on the French Riviera. I was there two nights and it just kept getting better and better. Whoever claims that it is boring and filled with old people is an idiot. By that logic, avoid Florida while you're at it. I had an amazing time, both at night and during the day... it's awesome.

From there, we went to Toulouse to see some friends. It's kinda ugly, it's kinda dirty, there's not much to see, but I had a good time. I think the prettiest people in the world got collected up and thrown into Toulouse for an experiment... maybe to see if an ugly city could produce ugly people despite the best genes available.

Paris is Paris. I didn't go on this trip, but I've been before. Just ask anyone and they'll tell you you have to go. So listen to them, because my opinion is skewed by prejudice.

I went to the countryside in the South of France next. This was more of a necessity than a choice, because we have some family friends there that we had to see. It's really nice and quiet, but that's not really my thing either...

Spain! Spain is awesome and full of Spaniards... they don't speak English, they don't even speak French, and they don't like people who don't speak Spanish (understandibly... being from Florida where it's the exact opposite.) Just make an effort and they'll be nice enough. Didn't see Madrid, heard it's great, but it's landlocked... which is fine, unless you've heard of Barcelona.

BARCELONA! Go to Barcelona. I had never heard a bad thing about it, and I don't think I ever will. Go, stay wherever... best bet might be the Surf Hostel in Barceloneta, purely due to location. This is where I live, and I wake up with a smile on my face every... afternoon. (Living hours are rather strange here... wake up at 12, siesta at 2, then work til 11, go out at about... the next day). I love this city... walk around, it's not too big... see everything, or don't. Whatever, it's the chillest place on earth.

Places I didn't go to on this trip but have been to before are... well, several. I'll just mention Amsterdam because that's what you probably want to know about. It's ok. That's right I said it. If you're a pothead, you'll just appreciate the legality, not necessarily the quality of the weed. If you're not... well there's not much else to do. Drink... avoid hippies on their bikes, and try and find an umbrella to deal with the crappy weather. Night life is fine.

Umm... other places I would recommend  are Edinburgh, Scotland. It's really old and dark and scenic and I love it. I personally like Glasgow, but mainly because I have family there. Never been to Scandinavia... so I can't help you there. Dublin is cool... OH GREECE! Never been, but desperately wanted to. Shame, looks amazing. Haven't been to Portugal either, but I imagine that Lisbon is nice.

That's about it. If you have any questions, let me know. Have fun! Go with friends!   

Hell train

Hello readers, Sean here! As mentioned in previous entries, I (Stephanie’s younger brother) have been accompanying her on this epic quest into the unknown (to us, that is). Stephanie decided that I should make a contribution to her blog, and so here I am, typing away in the comfort of my own bed in my own room, spitting distance from the beaches of Barcelona. I mention this because in order to attain this luxury I had to endure a series of events which I could never have foreseen occurring. I am not suggesting that we had any life-threatening encounters; however, we did experience some excessive shadiness. 

Normal, happy people in Budapest before a night on the hell train

The particular event that I will share with you began late at night in a train station in Budapest. As you may already know, Budapest is rather notorious for hobo-theft. Before you ask, no, there is no epidemic of kidnapped homeless folk, but the occasional bench-dweller has been known to strip travellers of loose belongings in the city. For us, it was a drunk, frail old woman attempting to sneak a bottle of iced-tea from the side of my bag. I saw her and bravely exclaimed, “Umm... I can see you” before she cowered away in shame. Admittedly, it was rather sad, but alas, I was thirsty and on a strict budget. This particular narrative is simply a prologue in order to generate the mood for what was to happen next. 

As we sat, tired and anxious to be snuggled in our beds on board the overnight train to Belgrade, we finally heard a sound in the dark distance. Our train arrived. Stephanie and I approached our chariot with uncertainty due to the fact that there were no lights on in the carriages. We decided that this was, indeed, a NIGHT train and that sleeping might be difficult if lights were to come on at every stop (though I suppose the screeching sound of whistles wouldn’t disturb the comfortable passengers). We were wrong. As we stepped into the train, a man in no identifiable uniform approached us and kindly offered to show us to our compartment. All was dandy until he mentioned that we needed to leave our passports and Interrail tickets with him overnight; something about customs officers needing them in order to check everything without waking the passengers.  Needless to say, this seemed odd and slightly terrifying so we both shook our heads at the prospect and suggested, trying not to sound too rude (or American), that we would feel more comfortable if we kept them with us. Apparently this is not allowed, and so there we were, reluctantly giving our most valuable possessions to a man we had never met, praying that we were not the victims of the least subtle con-artistry of all time. But what could we do? (Other than NOT get aboard hell-train and instead spend another night in a hostel in order to leave Hungary with our documents, pride, and peace-of-mind). Helplessly, we wandered into our coach-class cabin. I must mention that I have been on a fair amount of trains, and even a few overnight ferries, so I had a rough idea of what to expect. Again, WRONG. We stood there peering into the dark of our cabin waiting for our eyes to adjust enough to stow our bags away and lock them up. We took our beds and sat there looking at each other, or at least trying to, with a mirrored look of bewilderment on our faces. Then, as if directed to, we both slowly looked up to see two eastern-European men peering down at us from the darkness of the bunks above. The cabin door was slid closed by the man with our lives in his hands, whose name we had insisted on knowing, as if somehow if this was a scam, we could always report “Henry!” or whatever he had said his name was.

Stephanie had once referred to me as her ‘trip bodyguard’ to a friend somewhere, and I had dismissed it with a chuckle until this very moment. Suddenly, my sisters’ life was possibly in my hands and so, reluctantly, I took the role of Man and pretended that all was gravy as I began to set up my ‘bed’ (which might as well have been a piece of plywood wrapped in cloth) in order to get some sleep. I did this all the while keeping a watchful and still-adjusting eye on our neighbours above. I put in my head-phones and tried to imagine myself in a more peaceful and tranquil place; the dentist’s perhaps. I soon removed the headphones in fear that I may doze off and not be able to hear the sound of my sister being stabbed two feet away from me. As I lay there, not sure if I was indeed already dreaming, I could hear a sound from Stephanie’s bed next to me. I was desperately afraid that she might be crying. Unfortunately, it was worse.

You see, my sister has always had a funny way of dealing with tough moments. When others would shout or cry or punch, Stephanie giggles. It is a very distinct giggle that I have learned to detect. I have seen her giggle away all sorts of bad situations by appearing to be the bigger person in the matter, thus inevitably forcing the other party to back down. The problem here was there was no other party. I tried to calmly explain that there was no reason to be afraid, and that it was “all going to be ok because your brother is here and he’s not going to let anything bad happen to you”. What I actually ended up whispering, however, was more along the lines of “Stephanie, shut the hell up. What are you laughing at? Lunatic!” 

Miraculously, at some point I fell asleep, probably due to the draining of adrenaline earlier in the night. I was awakened (at roughly too early in the morning) by customs officers shouting in some undecipherable language. Our passports and tickets were returned to us, as Henry had promised, and the daylight uncovered the faces of our fellow travellers, who looked just as alarmed as we did. We had survived the night! Stephanie and I later exchanged imagined scenarios that we had envisioned happening. We both had decided on escape methods in the event of a stabbing/robbery, and they were surprisingly similar. I would tackle the man with the knife as Stephanie unlocked the cabin door, enabling us to make a hasty escape. All very plausible, we decided. 

Stephanie recovering from her giggling in the light of day

The train was approaching our destination, Belgrade. I was not even aware of this city’s existence before Stephanie had added it to the list of “must-sees” on our itinerary, much less prepared for what we saw. Momentarily I suspected that we may have boarded a train for Bagdad by mistake, but was reassured only by the lack of time which had passed in the night. 

As the trained slowed along the last stretch, Stephanie and I sat staring out the window at a series of homes that looked more like Alabama chicken coops, with tin roofs and no walls. We passed tenement buildings and porta-potties...

We had finally arrived. We had escaped the clutches of the sketchy men, retrieved our belongings and had at long last arrived at our destination! Our next step? ...Leave!

PS: Note from Stephanie - after reading Sean's entry, I googled this trip to see if other people had similar experiences... why not try it yourself? The results are enlightening!

Budapest, Szimpla the Best.

Let me tell you what's fun about travelling on a budget: you get excited by the smallest things in the world. And despite being surrounded by impressive architecture, fascinating history and a whole different culture, sometimes finding a great bar is the single most important thing about a new city.

Well luckily for Budapest, there were lots of great things, it wasn't all about the bar. Still, it's the place I remember the clearest from our stopover in the Hungarian capital. We arrived in the evening again, after a long train ride from Prague and our hostel, the Maverick was fantastic. It´s located in a grand old mansion house where the rooms on the main floor are each named for a character in the Big Lebowski. That's when you know you're in a fine establishment...

The receptionist at the hostel was wonderful. She was incredibly friendly, told us all about the city and when we asked where the best place to go for a drink was she answered, 'That's easy. Szimpla. Definitely. It is the best bar in Budapest.' I gotta tell you, she was not wrong. 

This place is central, but it's hidden down a little side street in the Pest side of town. You walk through a dodgy looking door in what looks like the frontage of an old warehouse building and into possibly the best bar I've ever had the pleasure of spending an evening in. 

The atmosphere is great, the kitchy decor inside is perfect, the beer is cheap and there's a great big outdoor area with old cars converted into seating pods. 

My description cannot do it justice. You'll just have to go there yourself. It's easy to start chatting with new people in this place as everyone is in an instant good mood the minute they walk in! This was the first night my brother and I really talked to anyone other than each other and it was great to have a conversation with someone who wasn't related to me. Obviously. We ended up in a group with Dutch, American, Hungarian and Spanish and I'd say this was the night that I really started to enjoy my travels.

Obviously, the next day we did all the sightseeing. There is lots to be seen in Budapest, which I would go into great detail about if I were writing an article for the Times, but as this is my own personal blog, I will tell you instead about the chestnut. I dragged Sean out in the rain, across the river Danube into Buda, the older part of town, to see the Castle district, which sits at the top of a great big hill. It's true, you can ride a funicular up to the top. Or, if you are cheap like myself, you can walk up a long and winding and cobblestoned pathway which curves up the hill towards the Palace and Fortress above. I convinced Sean to walk with me, so up we went and on our way, we started kicking around a couple of fallen chestnuts. This is something our dad used to do with us, the point being to kick it back and forth, keep it ahead of you and not to lose it in the bushes. 

Well, we kicked one chestnut (bruised and battered as it was) all the way up and around to the very top of the hill! In the rain (note Sean's umbrella in the picture above)! I can't tell you what a fabulous sense of achievement I got from this act. Like I said, it's the little things.

We wandered around the Palace for a while and had fun with a statue:

And from up there the views were pretty spectacular, even in the rain and the fog, including a great vista of the Hungarian Parliament building through the walls around Buda Palace:

We liked Budapest, we both agreed it was the best stop on our travels so far. The only trouble was not having enough time to sample the baths which we had been told were amazing. The Hungarian girl we met at Szimpla told us about one of the most popular baths, The Szechenyi Spa in the East side of town in the middle of the city park, where you can sit in a bath outside and watch the sunset. It'll just have to wait until the next time I'm in Budapest...