The Start of The Beginning

The past 25 days have literally been the craziest but the best. I can't begin to describe how much fun and how many different things we've seen and experienced, I may get ridiculed by 99% of my age category but I'll say that travelling will beat Zante, Kavos and Ibiza all in one. No doubt. The plane home was quite an achievement considering Bains didn't have his arse out nor was he detained at the Dam, also was my miraculous journey with cakes for Pat, which did make them home in one piece. The bus was filled with tension and the walk up Church Road was just filled with high pitch screams and angry shouts (I did the shouts). Even though some of us didn't get the results we needed, me included, we arrived in the scousest manner possible and we've just completed a journey that only some people dream of. The thinking about the title of this post will be obvious to all, this is the first of many. We have spat to conquer more continents, Eastern Europe, North & South America and possibly even Africa. Who knows? We've done it once, so we can certainly do it again.

Watch this space for the next adventure.

Amsterdam

Firstly, I would like to explain the fact that the title of this post has no clever meaning mainly because Eurotrip finished in Berlin. The Dam has seen us double in size with a surprise inclusion of Mark Namazi and although it's great to be back with the full squad of boys again, it just isn't quite the same. The pub crawl, was good but didn't have as much to offer as all the previous and our sheer size has prevented most of us meeting more people, but either way this has been belter few days. However, today has predominantly been occupied by thoughts to tomorrow. Fingers crossed for us all. On a brighter note, visits were made to the Heineken Museum and looks at the Anne Frank House, the queue was too long for us to be waiting in. Even better for me personally, was my first chinese for a good month and a bit, rice has never tasted so good. As I even type now, arguments are breaking out now on whether or not to check in the morning, who can sleep? The experience has been slightly different to when I first visited the city when I was just 13, but nontheless it has been an eye 0pener, Bains and Fieldy will agree to this the most. Highlights include, Christopher Loftus resembling colours close to my own skin, if not worse and even Fieldy having an extermely dark moment on the first night. Unsurprisingly though, Gary has remained glued to the phone and the leash is unrelenting, let's hope he can stop all this nonsense when he returns. Personally, I can't wait to reach home, missed the bed and the food and the clean clothes. One thing I do regret bringing home is the manflu due to Onions, just can't stop making things worse (But we love you... naat). See you in a couple of hours. Love you too Mum. x

Victor Truong Prince of Thieves

We had all eagerly anticipated Berlin due to the nature of Germany's status as the country of beer. The first night included a brief walk around our hostel and exploring as we always do. We managed to find a bar where the prices of the drinks fluctuated like the stock market, it was quite amusing but we found ourselves slightly under dressed and even outclassed. Instead, we set off for food and found a nice Argentinian Restaurant where the food was coupled with an interesting lesson in continental etiquette. The following morning we were quick off the mark as we set off for a 3 and a half hour walking tour of Berlin covering all the major monuments and listening to the history of Germany and both how it came to be and all the events that ensued. One particular part was how the Berlin Wall came down and as the group closely listened to every word, Victor decides to exhale via the rear end and begins to chuckle, we all turn in embarassment to see Victor still laughing at himself and once more Victor strikes again. That night was the pub crawl, which started at a mad outside bar that was reminiscent of something out of Mad Max and once we hit a few bars, this is when Victor earnt the name of this title. Free shots of jaegermisters were on offer with every drink you buy, but Victor took this too literally and reached over for another shot, but got caught. Later on at another bar, he tried to graft a Pretzel, but once more got caught, he should stick to being a fool, not a thief. Soon after, he once again chundered everywhere and Jimmy started to fall akip, so both returned back to the hostel, whilst us five carried on. After getting to the last club, we spent a couple of hours showing the Germans how shapes should be thrown and whilst Phil and Gary called it a night, we still danced the night away until the early hours. Upon returning to the hostel no one was awake to let us in and instead we were greeted by an angry yank bird, who yelled at us for coming in late again, even though it was our first night out. In return, we hurled abuse at her, using the most sophisticated words in our vocabulary to compliment her. But just a few hours later we were up again and off to the Dam, the train was a welcome bed to some but torture for others. Finally, we are here, all the boys except Garno, Fieldy and Wilson have not arrived as their flight is cancelled. A surprise addition to the squad is Merk, who has sold his Leeds ticket and is now on his way to the Dam, what a scouser. Hopefully, these last two days don't go too quick, this has been an experience of a lifetime so far but yes, i do miss my bed too much.

Loftus 1 Czech Republic 0

For the train from Rome to Prague turned out as quite a night for the rest of the boys, but not myself. This is due to the fact that I forgot to bring my inter rail pass when buying the train ticket and so had to settle with a bed for the duration of the train. I managed a 13 hour kip whilst Jack, Chris and Phil headed to the bar and met some spaniards who knew who Raol Moat was and taught them how to say `Get in the car' in spanish and in return the boys taught them the meaning of Gary. Prague itself was an amazing city, although there was not many monuments to visit there was still plenty to see such as the John Lennon wall, which now contains a few more scouse connotations. The reason behind this title is due to when we strolled through a park and came across three young boys playing football and us being us we wanted to play, they were not so willing though. Loftus being the Messi that he is managed to wriggle his way through the back two from a sumptious through ball from Phil Crawley, reminiscent of Xabi Alonso. Although Loftus stumbled a bit infront of goal he composed himself enough to emphatically finish and to match the skill with a splendid celebration. The pub crawl itself was amazing, free beer for an hour, which Victor took full advantage of and as a result felt the consequences after just 10 minutes. We all managed to stumble on through a few more bars, until we came to the grand finale of the biggest club in Central Europe with 5 different storeys. The boys came into full force throwing shapes all over the dancefloor, attracting admiration from all of the crowd. Due to Jimmy falling asleep in the second bar he had to be taken home by Victor and Gary, whilst the remaining quartet soldiered on. By the end of the night Crawley was in a terrible state beyond belief and it was an extremely interesting and painful experience once we began stumbling around the dorm in the dark. The morning after was not one to remember as our train got delayed after us getting up extremely early, but a swift visit to Burger King cured us all. Even though we didn't get to explore as much as Prague as we would have liked, we still managed to taste the culture of the people and would certainly recommend Prague to all.

Time Management Andy

Apologies to Wilson for not updating the blog for a while. Our second day in Rome started off with waiting for the arrival of both Jack and Phil, it was an extremely tense time but the wait was most certainly worth it as we met up in Termini station. The day ensued with a swift visit to the Colosseum, the day was hot and Jack was already flusttered by the change in climate after an hour. Once we had set foot where the Gladiators themselves had tred we set off for Palatine Hill where Rome was founded by Romulus and thoroughly enjoyed both educational and scouse tour of the most important points in history of Rome. The afternoon consisted of a swift siesta followed by a belter meal in a nice little restaurant where we had a joker for a waiter whom punked Victor. This involved the waiter serving a capuccino to Chris saying it was very hot and then by placing the teaspoon through the handle of the very small cup he tipped it right over Victor to mimmick a spillage and resulted in Victor barming it everywhere. Later on, we hit a few bars to experience the expensive beers and then went off to Trevi Fountain where we discovered Jimmy facegrabbing his bird Selena (To quash rumours from the previous post Jimmy is here, he arrived early at the hostel not actually home). Soon after Jimmy fleeing the scene of such a crime we broke out in a chorus of Gaaary in response to another Italian song and interrupted a wedding ceremony in the process. The last day in Rome was certainly one to remember as we marched on towards the Vatican where we were given a tour by a cockney wide boy and culminated with Chris, Gary and Phil having their excrimantes being blessed. That night ensued with a pub crawl that even Michael Blackmore would be proud of, we introduced ourselves to a couple of Canadians, Yanks, Russians and many other; with Jack and Chris stepping up the backpackers relationship with a Yank and Russian respectively. The open air bar along the River Tiber was one to remember along with the Nag's Head bar where we popped and locked into the early ours. Whilst most of us called an end to the celebrations of Rome at 3amish Chris, Victor and Phil carried the night with a quick dip in a fountain whilst Chris carried on his exploration of inter-continetal relationships. Within all this madness, Jack managed to nearly break his big toe by kicking a cobble stone on the street and landing flat out on his arse, reminiscent of Blackmore's Klinsman celebration.
The next day was struggle for us all as we attempted to set off for Prague, I had to get up early at 7:30am simply to get a ticket for the last train of Zurich to Prague due to my assumption of not having to show my rail pass the previous day to purchase the ticket. Fortunately I managed not only to get a place on the train, but I got a bed for just 20 euros.
To explain the title of the blog Time Management Andy the reader must understand the train from Milan to Zurich was packed full of meffs, including ourselves. Notable mentions include the magnificent ButterKeks named, after the famous biscuits which he consumed whilst watching Kill Bill Vol 1 and now for the man himself Time Management Andy who in layman's terms was a drooling Japanese manbaby unable to sleep with his head upright, don't fear many photos and videos of said heroes will soon be on Facebook when we return from the adventure.
Whilst I enjoyed a 13 hour kip, the following happend as according to Chris Loftus:
Chris, Phil and Jack manged to get hammered with the cheap ale and exchanged banter with the Spaniards, whom even knew the story of Raol Moat. In addition, a gay barman tried to blag Chris Loftus's digits and despite being able to recite in Spanish `Can I have to blowjobs please' and `Get in the boot' the Spaniards did not fold and we said our goodbyes at Praha. The view from the train rides through Switzerland rivalled the ones previous past the Alps and the prices in Zurich nearly placed a serious dent in the funds, but now we are situated in Praha where we are set to go eat out and explore yet another city.
Another note to make is Danbar in our Rome Hostel whom was most certainly a wool and other names that are too rude to mention on the blog and now everyone we see or meet is classed as a either a Danbar, Gary, Barold, Gillian or Laroth.

All roads lead to Rome

Our time in Barcelona was very short and although we didn't manage to see everything we wanted we still had time to fit in the beach on our last full day to relax us before our journey to Rome. Due to the fare of a direct overnight train being well over our budget, we opted for a two day adventure that included Cebere, Toulouse, Valence, Chambery, Milan and finally Rome. There was no guarantee of any tickets except for our Toulouse to Valence that the beautiful Enrique booked for us in Barca. There was also a computer malfunction in Chambery and so we could only book tickets to the border of France, we well and truly had to risk it for a chocolate biscuit. But now, here we are in Rome and awaiting the arrival of Jack and Phil as they fly through the air as we speak. Last night, although fatigued we managed to fit in the Wedding Cake which looks like something out of Hercules, Pantheon which was simply breath taking and just mad to think it was built all that time ago and also the Trevi Fountain which was also a beautiful piece of architecture. However, with all this going on a certain Jimmy Liu had to abandon us for true love and although he arrived home earlier than we did, we're sure next time he'll last longer. Selina you dog... Stalking the streets of Rome at night was more than an exciting experience, we never intended to go to any of these monuments but simply discovered them out of nowhere which made it all the more adventurous. Once Jack and Phil arrive, we'll march onwards to the Colesseum and maybe the Vatican if we have enough time. Tonight, shall be one to remember.

Barca

Ok, so basically the day started off with us dragging ourselves out of bed to catch the train after a surprise night out. It took a mammoth effort but we managed to make it here to Barca and climb the steep slope to our hostel, which first appeared to be an old mansion but then we discovered the hostel was behind the mansion and slightly below, but it still holds an atmosphere and have already met a couple of people from Cambridge, Texas and Germany. Today was quite eventful as our plans to meet Jack and Phil were quickly scuppered as the train advertised on the Internet, was full. So, thanks to our new friend Enrique Arias Ibanez we now have a mammoth two day journey through France and so very mad villages, but who knows, this is what it´s all about. We´ve just been out to find the Nou Camp, which we tried to sneak into but were quickly stopped by security, however as we made our way back we stumbled upon something similiar to Amsterdam, which was near Diagonal Avenue, it seemed quite out of place and we had a few mishaps, namely Victor getting confused about all his hormones. Nothing new there then, but tomorrow we look to relax on the beach all day in preparation for THE journey of a lifetime. Bring it on.

Madrid

Our time in Madrid as flown by, mainly due to the fact that Jimmy and Chris have finally arrived, after taking the wrong metro line from the airport. It´s pretty hot here, nothing like Seville of course but still a nice 35c is good enough to avoid breaking a sweat. Yesterday, after collecting cavalry we quickly went off to eat some paella, well most of us did, half of Chris´ ended up on the table, he has no co ordination of any sort. The evening got even better as we met up with Scott (Ohio) as well as Luca and Viola (Pavia, Italy) and then stumbled across Helen Skinner and her friend Alice, we got through a couple of litres of sangria and beer in the bar that resembles The Raz in the basement of our Hostel and then made our way out to find the nightlife. We had a bit of a scare as the receptionist told us that the two mexicans who befriended us downstairs and were now leading us to the nightlife, were apparently known for misleading tourists who would then get robbed, good job we kept our wits about. We quickly overcame this mishap and came along a strip of various clubs playing 70´s and 80´s music, the Al Yoh shape got thrown about more than once. After the hectic night we thought the best way to cure a hangover was a tour of the Bernabau, which is simply just breath taking, it had an atmosphere with nobody in it so I can only imagine what it´d be like if we had managed to get some tickets to a game. Tomorrow we head off to Bareclona for a couple of days and then a mammoth 17 hour train journey to meet Jack and Phil, most definitely worth it. The downside, it´s meant to be raining whilst we´re in Barca, hopefully not.

The Fourth Trio

I keep forgetting to put this on the blog, but believe it or not we have a fourth companion that has so far kept one of us extremely busy... With every train journey, every siesta, every time he´s on the toilet, he´s on the phone to her relentlessly. I´m sure everyone can guess who it is, the girl in question even reads this blog, so I say to you, he loves you. We´ve got better things to do than to lose one of the original trio, you can have him back for the entire summer in two weeks, so take a chill pill. Besides, he´s having a far better time here than he would be with you. Definitely. Oh, and he hasn´t changed his underwear so far on the journey.... tekkers.

Italianos

The day started off with the depature of our two french roomates, which was a sad moment. Yet it was set to get even more trecherous as we began to venture up the winding stairs of Torre Del Micalet of the Catedral of Valencia. Once at the top it gave a similiar sense of achievement of that of climbing Mount Everest but it was well worth the hike as we could see all of Valencia from the top. Once back on ground level we slowly realised that due to it being a Sunday everything was shut and so we started to wander what seemed as a setting out of 28 days later. However, we quickly discovered little market stalls all around us which was filled with lots of souvenirs but also illegal contraband such as DVDs and CDs (no it wasn't another me or victa, it was a load of jonathans). The maddest moment was when about a stampede of 50 rogue sellers began charging towards us trying to flee the police, who wouldn't be scared of 50 sprintings jonathans. The day got even better as when we eventually returned back to the hostel we were greeted to 3 new italian roomates, we quickly exchanged 'banter' mainly the fact that Daniele the guy, spoke like Borat and was a top scouser, the two girls with him were also full of banter and we quickly gained the role of tour guide for them. This culminated into us playing cards in the park and then Victor getting murked by one of the girls Fran. She sniffed his hand saying it smelt like lemon and as a puzzled Victor slowly raised his hand to check the smell, she pushed his hand and so Victor just faceplanted his own hand. Only Victor. Today proved that when all is lost, 3 italians can make life much more fun; we now go on to Madrid to await the arrival of Jimmy and Chris.