The Great Hungarian Heist

The past few days here in Budapest have not only been a blur but have been a more than worthy compensation for the past few days. Having arrived two days ago, I think the first thing on our minds was to recover from the long and winding train ride from Milano.

Firstly, we had to get from Milano to Monfalcone, this wasn`t exactly plain sailing as despite having a couchette to ourselves from Monfalcone to Budapest we still had to risk it to get there to begin with. However, our luck began to turn and we made our way to the sleeper train with no problem at all. In fact, we made two new friends in the Monfalcone waiting room Joan and Geraldine as the episode 12 of the vlog will show. The plan for the sleeper train was to just smash the bar and sleep our way to Budapest, this worked up until the passport checks began... in total we had about 7 checks with two being in the same place by the same authorities. Of course, this just infuriated us more and only Phil can could capture it better with his strong words to the guards.

As for our actual stay here it has basically included two nights out to make up for the lack of parties in the past week, one visit to some Turkish baths and many many fat scrans. The one highlight of the trip was after we had visited the baths, which by all means were the best thing to cure a hangover and a great way to relax. Although, we were soon flustered on our way back to the hostel as we decided not to buy a new ticket. It had to be just our luck that ticket inspectors were waiting at the bottom of the escalators and soon two jobsworths were on our case demanding 6000 forint each which is around 20 quid with our failure to pay on the spot resulting in the fine doubling when the police arrive. If this didn`t happen then we were threatened with jail... of course we were in the wrong and we might have paid but as if poor travelling students would willingly stump up the money without a second thought. Thus, we challenged their authority and waited for the police who didn't even arrive after 20 minutes at by which point they were clutching at straws and so lowered their demands to 4000 forint. Obviously, we realised this was extortion and so gave it toes with all of us just walking off up the escalators but Crawley was unfortunately the last one to leave and so he was cornered by one of the ticket inspectors and nearly laid out in a Hungarian massacre. Carney to the rescue bailed back down and distracted the idiot enough so that Phil could escape. Meanwhile, Leo Chen had sneakily kept himself apart from us and after pretending to study the tube map he simply walked out of the other exist, cheeky chink. At the other end of the spectrum Loftus had ran out another exit after panicking and then carried on running all the way back to the hostel, a good mile away at least. All in all, we learnt a valuable lesson of not to be niave and challenge any form of authority... a lesson everyone should learn.

Budapest has been an amazing city and despite not seeing any sights apart from a couple of baths we've had a tremendous time and many a happy ending. Let's see if Krakow can compare... keep watching.x

The Tragedies of Travelling

The past few days have been extremely difficult for us all. It started with our decision to re-route to Lyon which incidently trapped us in Chamberry and got us to Milan slightly later and so we had to cut Split out of our list.

During the day time has been great, we've explored many places and appreciated every city apart from Chamberry of course. Yet we still haven't had a full night out yet, neither Lyon or Milan have pub crawls that we found last year. Instead a Monday in Milan is apparently dead and instead the majority of Italians just sit round having a quiet drink rather than demand parties like ourselves.

Although we have all been disappointed with most of the nights so far we are all agreed that the trip is just as good and this experience of not having a perfect Eurotrip like we did last year has only made us appreciate it more. We leave for Budapest in a couple of hours and it's guaranteed that will be smashed well and truly. If anything the lows of the last destinations night wise will only make the highs that much better on the rest of the trip.

Travelling isn't plain sailing and we have well and truly learnt this lesson. Oh and to rub further salt in the wound we had 5 wonderful Barcelona chicas arrive in our dorm last night... which unfortunately was our last night.

Things can only get better... keep watching.x

It can't be worse than Chamberry

The absence of updates shows just how chaotic the past few days have been. The last post shows us leaving for Chamberry from Lyon. However, upon arriving there and attempting to purchase tickets onwards to Milan it turned out the Italian workers were on strike and so we were stranded in Chamberry for 24 hours.

Grimbergen.

We past the time by first getting some breakfast at around 11am and staying there until 2pm until the arcade was open so we could get on the internet and play games. Although we had nowhere to sleep we were determined not to pay and decided upon sleeping in the train station, oh how we are blinded by our principles. The next few hours were spent sleeping in the park and playing no bounce with acorns and then grabbing a fat dirty sweaty kebab whilst watching some entourage. At this point it was 9pm and it had began to pour down along with thunderstorms. Eventually we gave in and paid 30 euros for a hotel.

Fortunately, everything from there ran smoothly and we are now in Milan. Lake Como has just been smashed and we discovered an Italian buffet where you only pay for one drink and eat everything, up until the point of being sick... and then some. A heaven for travellers. The plan now is to visit the San Siro tomorrow and get onto a pub crawl and finally depart for Budapest.

Keep watching.x

Dirty Sweaty Maccies

Firstly, I should highlight this is a french keyboard so any mistakes cannot be bla,ed upon my current state.

Barcelona is noz behind us and even though we didnt spend anywhere near enough time visting the sights awe all still had a great ti,e. The hostel itself was a welco,e relief to the Benni boys as they had neqr enoufgh forgottten what a bed was, the first night involved an explrq*ation of La Ra,bla and then a nce ,meal in a Tapas bar but with the Benni hangover looming we all called it a night. However, the last night in Barca collided with Loftus's brthday and so a pub crawl was s,ashed with Garno well and truly at the root of evryones hangover. I myelf wasn't feeling great and so called it a night with Blackmore, but we soon found ourselves with some female companions along La Rambla and sufice to say Blackmore was €25 lighter due to some silky pickpocketing skills.

At the moment we are situated in Lyon due to being unable to get to Milan and so the past two days have been spent on trains and very very steep hills as the vlogs will demonstrate. Lyon itself is a wonderful city, it may not have much to do but you can easily lose yourself exploring.The hostel is set up in the hill which was a bitch climbing but it offers some great views of the entire city. Having only met some yank birds from Michigan briefly who wished us a 'great time travelling' we are definitely awaiting Milan to meet some more: As for the nightlife we discovered a few bars with one in particlar providing many a Belgian beer and one of the lovliest smiles in Europe thus we smashed it a bit as my typing can prove.

hwever. we have to be up in 5 hours to get to Milan. TYhe only problem being we are only guarenteed to get to Chamberry on the edge of France and any further is just a major risk. So, if this blog is not updated in the next few days we are well and truly goolied in a one horse town.

So, there is about 5 hours until we need to rise once more to conquer Europe, watch this space.

Pungent feet and crusty towels

An early start of 4.30am slowly turned into a slight nightmare for Leo and myself. With the gate closing at 6.00am we were still stuck going through security checks whist Garno swaned through the fast lane. Further to the delay we realised Garnett was on a later flight and that we had to meet him in Barca later on. We managed to make final call to our relief but were only greeted by evils from the awaiting passengers already on board.

The arrival of the boys was a spectacle to behold, each carrying a war wound of their own but all equally distraught as if they had been touched by Purple Aki. The above picture shows Wilson in our hostel, which is the best I've ever been to as of yet. We can all conclude that he's not in the best of states and is now sound asleep resting for the night ahead. We're conveniently close to Av. Diagonal and just 10 minutes from the beach so the location is pretty good. Loftus has arrived with Brown and Stanton at last years Barca hostel with Garno and Leo both choosing another hostel closer to us. Tonight is about getting everyone on the mend, even if does involve cerveza.

Eurotrip starts here and this will be a month to remember. Watch this space.x

Packing isn't really that much of a bitch

With less than 12 hours before I leave for the airport the ordeal of cramming everything into the backpack is looming. Everyone always moans and post an fb status about it all but the fact is it really is piss easy. I must have set some records packing because I left halfway through an advert break and still made it back to catch the end of One Tree Hill.

But yeah, everything is now packed apart from my phone charger which I'll hopefully remember to pack in the morning. Carney sent a text to confirm everyone is alive, to an extent which is promising. The first vlog is up, bit wierd sitting there talking to a camera, but hey it'll be jokes to look back on. As for tomorrow, excitment is definitely set in and it's even better now that the UK is fully engulfed in horrendous weather, touch wood our flight is fine. The half four wake up call is not pleasant but Leo Chen picking me up to go the Airport is great, nothing but love for my chingalings.

The adventure starts tomorrow, keep watching this space.x

Benicassim

So Eurotrip 2.0 has finally begun, 4 of the 6 depart to Benicassim tomorrow morning after a slight mishap. The mishap being that Phil booked the flight out a day early and only discovered the error a couple of days ago, at least they get an extra day on holiday.

I've finally got the funds together and a slightly rushed route of where we could possibly head, namely: Barcelona, Milan, Split, Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels. This is just an idea, I was hoping that maybe once I start the vlog that people will give us ideas and places to head for.

With just over a week before the travelling begins, I should explain the current situation. We have 6 persons doing the entire trip so far, my good self, Jack England, Phil Crawley, Matthew Carney, Leo Chen & Chris Loftus. Mike Wilson, previously labelled as a serial bottler has actually bottled it and now seems intent on leaving us in Barcelona. Alex Yoh, Greg Garnett & Michael Blackmore all intend on the same plan but with a little persuasion Blackmore will make the group a nice seven. Jimmy Liu, is meeting with his bird and uni friends, so hopefully he can get away from face grabbing her to meet up with us at some point.

All in all, everything seems in place, flights booked, route partially imagined, money ready and bags packed... mentally that is. This trip appears to be eclipsing last years in terms of the ability of a spontaneous destination but I just can't lose the feeling that something's about to go wrong...

Watch this space.