EDIT: This post is a day-by-day chronicle of what happened on my trip. The surrounding posts on the Eurotrip Journal page are random happenings before, during, and after the trip!
A week later, here's my trip journal entry, detailed day-by-day!:
Saturday
Landed in
There was this American I met on the plane who now considered
I followed the directions given to me to get to my hotel… Kinda crazy, but I eventually made it. It took about three hours from the time I touched down in
Trying to locate my hotel on a street corner, a nice chap tried to help me out. Now here’s a thing about the Brits. They are so eager to offer assistance, especially directions, but in most cases, they don’t really help you out! They mean so well though… seriously!
I checked in, and immediately went upstairs, and started the shower. While I was taking my shower, my roommate arrived.
Hotels in
My roommate was Dan, from
Later on, I hopped on the Tube to head over to
I ventured into Picadilly Circus, walked into a sports shop, and bought a football shirt.
Then off the Tube again, then to the Contiki pre-tour meeting to meet my fellow tourmates. Little did we all know that several Contiki groups were meeting. My roommate was going on another tour! As I was walking over to the meeting, I bumped into Eric , whom I met online beforehand.
At the meeting, I met hella people from SoCal! And a few from the Bay Area, So Cal, Bay Area, and the East Coast were where most of the Americans were from. As we waited for the meeting, we were all plotting what to do for the night.
The meeting was just as expected. Afterwards, we got refreshed at our hotels then ventured out for a night out in
We first hit London Pub, and had dinner and a couple of beers. Since I only had airline food that wasn’t filling, I was drunk after two beers. The food wasn’t so grand, but the beer made up for it !
After that, we tried hitting a hostel, but they were doing guest checks at the door… lame. So we went to this random ass bar and had some shots there. We all knew that this group was going to have a kick ass time!
All of us filtered out eventually then called it a night
Sunday
Got up at an ungodly hour, weighed our luggage, met some more people from our tour, loaded the coach, hopped on, and ventured off.
Took a ferry out of the
We checked into our hotel, had an uneventful and bland tasting dinner, went into the center of
We walked around, toured the skanks in the red light district. I wasn’t impressed at all with any of the girls there…Not because I’m gay, but because they were not stand outs.
After walking around the red light district, we went into the
Our tour guide, Calvin, gave a tour of the red light district, then afterwards most of us stayed in the city for a few more hours.
We went into The Grasshopper, had a few rinks and smoke a few hits. We then hit another bar, where there were a few internet terminals, so I logged on and checked in. I sent random ass drunken/stoned IMs to random people… some of which I haven’t talked to for several months. Yeah, I’m that retarded!
Soon it was down to just
Then on the train, we couldn’t figure out where we were, so Donna asked some locals. When she figured they didn’t speak English, she goes Habla Ingles? WTF??? We all started cracking up.
Earlier, we find out that Joel, Jackie, Donna, and Rick went to go see a sex show. Well, the woman in the show was extra special to Joel and wrote “The End’ on his stomach, using a marker being held by her mouth.
We eventually get to the airport station, hop off, then try to find the hotel shuttle stop using the directions our tour manager gave us. Well, we thought we were looking for a Terminal, but in fact it was a hotel shuttle stop number. We get to the stop, only to realize that the last shuttle left 20 minutes prior. So we use the phone to call the hotel and we were basically SOL.
We flagged a taxi van to drive us back to the hotel. We found some of the South African guys in the café, drinking beers, so we bull shitted with them for a while. There was this crazy French guy talking back to the South African guys so there was this retarded exchange going back and forth. It was hilarious!
Soon after, I called it a night and slept. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I’m apparently having a single room for the trip, even though I signed up and payed for a double. How kick ass is that?
Monday
Checked out then went back to
After
Tuesday
Checked out of our hotel and immediately went on a tour of a beer. Then we took the trek over to
After some sightseeing around town, we met up with the entire group and went to a beer hall. Now, I’m not an avid beer drinker, but holy shit bro, I can pound that shit down! I ended up guzzling down 2 and a half liters of beer. Considering I didn’t really eat during the day, I was pretty much drunk off my ass… off beer, nonetheless! At one point, one of the other Contiki tour managers stopped by our table as our tour manager was there was well. After the other tour manager left, I said to the girls across from me, damn Scott’s hot! They all agreed and we started giggling like little school girls!
The rest of the night was a blur… I remember stumbling out of the beer hall with the assistance of Beryl, James, and Joe. Next thing, we’re on a train back to the hotel. Then Beryl’s walking with me. Then Sumin helps me to my room. I lay on my bed and I pass out for the night.
Wednesday
I wake up sometime around 4, with a massive headache, so I pop in two advil and guzzle down a lot of tap water. I felt fine after an hour and watched some interesting German TV. There was this one news piece where a cow was dead in someone’s living room and they had the authorities pull the thing out. What was a cow doing in the house in the first place? Then there was the topless German women telling viewers to call them for phone sex. And of course there are the American shows dubbed in German, such as Boy Meets World and Alf.
After breakfast, we all loaded the bus. Everyone kept asking me if I was alright, because of last night. LOL. Then we all find out that
We got into
Rafting was fucking awesome. Never been before and it was a great experience. At one point, our raft got stuck on a rock and our leader said that has never happened to him before! Rriighht…
After rafting, we stopped by
After
Back at the hotel, a white party was going on at the bar, so drinking and dancing ensued. A bunch of us started singing the refrain to Summer of ’69 when the song came up.
As the party died down, I was upstairs in the common area, typing up a day entry. Saminh sat next to me and showed me the pictures she took so far. During our conversation, I told her that the hot Austrian model’s room was on my floor. So she made me take some crazy photos of her trying to get to him in his room.
At around midnight I called it a night.
Oh yeah, because
Thursday
Afterwards, some people ended up going to the “convenience dinner” and a few of us ventured to find some place for cheap. We ended up finding this quaint restaurant that was owned and operated by Chinese women. So odd to go to
After dinner, we did some more walking around… It’s really easy to just get lost in
Then we caught up with the rest of the group and I, along with some, missed the engagement happening behind us. A couple from
We checked into our hotel and as soon as I got to my room, I hopped into the shower. It’s freaking humid in
Friday
On the coach ride over to
We got into
After the retarded police ordeal, we headed back to our hotel. At the hotel bar, a couple of guys from the other tour came over and chatted, despite the fact that they were completely retarded. There was this one guy who wore an Aussie hat and claimed he went to school by kangaroo. WTF?
As Joel and Calvin were talking about movies, I had a side joke conversation with Howie (our coach driver) about how dumb their conversation topic was. Then James walks in with Robin and takes a survey. He was asking everyone if it was alright to wash his clothes in the bidet. Three said yes (though some were totally coaxed into saying yes). The revelation that James did his laundry in the bidet made a trip highlight with everyone. There’s also video of the laundry in the bidet.
Most of us chatted with each other for most of the night, then headed off to bed
Saturday
Headed on a few trains to the
When the line started to file in, a couple tried to cut in front of us, but Calvin told them no. When the couple continued to try to cut in, Matt stood in front of them, with his arms out, blocking them to the back of our group. It was fucking funny! Also funny, I discovered a bag full of things the
The tourgide was extremely boring, but despite that, the
After the guided tour, we attempted to see Pope John Paul II’s tomb. Somehow we lost Joel, so it was James, Berryll, and me. After the
When we were at some café, I realized I lost my transit day pass. Freaking-a! Luckily, I found it when I got outside, trampled on the ground! Talk about luck. However that luck faded quite quickly. We were walking in the metro station, and the last thing I heard was “do you want to go to McDonald’s?” “no”. The next thing I know, I turn around and Joel and Berrylle were gone! I walk back and try to find them. No luck. Then I turn back into the station. Still no sighting. So I hopped on the train to make it back on my own. I managed to transfer to the wrong line and ended up having to ask a cop in a deserted metro station where to go. Thankfully, I had my hotel list on me with the address. I make it back to last train station transfer before my final destination and missed the train that I needed to take. I had to wait for twenty minutes for the next one, and as I waited, I was glad to see Rick, Dean (my roommate), and the others coming back! We all headed back together to the hotel, where Saminh told me that Berrylle was looking for me. Then I saw James and he told me what happened. Apparently, I missed them saying that they were going to get some more gelato! OMG!
After an exhausting day, I checked my emails, met up with my roommate while I was in
Sunday
We headed off to
Afterwards, we ventured to the hotel and freshened up for our Tuscan dinner and night at a disco. Dinner was fucking awesome. Tons of food, wine, and fun! There was an opera singer who was fantastic. Then afterwards, some of us went to a club. Three long islands (one of which was free) and a tanq and tonic. I was going to go up to some one and pull a “Cingular Guy” thing, but he went back to the hotel early. So I asked someone else in our group a few questions.
Soon, everyone left like flies, and it was just James, Robin, Rick, and me. We were the last ones to take a cab back to our hotel. I chatted around for a bit then headed off to bed. Joel and I were supposed to have a karaoke show off at the club, but that never happened L
Monday
Everyone either was hungover or got very little sleep the night before, so everyone was asleep for most of the coach ride into
While waiting for the bus, we stood by a ice cream stand where one of the workers asked us to move away so the customers can come through. Grant started to flirt with the worker and it got to the point where the worker bribed us with free chocolate to move out of the way. When Grant tried to approach her, she started to scurry away. It really had to be one of those “you had to be there” scenes.
After that, we went back to the hotel. The hotel looked quite quaint, but the rooms were awesome. Our shower was perfect! Not wrapped in packing tape or falling apart!
Tuesday
It was our long ride into
We got into
Our trek down the tower was a total ordeal. Joel thought it would have been faster to go down the stairs. We might was well have waited for the elevator because we couldn’t find the continuation of the stairs. Joel managed to beat us down somehow and the rest of us were running late. There was a thing in place that if someone was late in getting on the coach, they had to sing a karaoke song. I told everyone I was with to let me be last and they had to choose a song I wanted to sing. Well, apparently we weren’t the last ones on the coach, so I didn’t get a chance to bring the house down!
I did, however, get up and make an announcement on the bus. I basically told them that I was going to set up a site for all of us to share our trip photos. (Thanks, btw to Kelly [<trolan>] for setting up the server space!). After I made the announcement, the group gave me a round of applause. Awe… heh.
We got back to the hotel and chilled at the hotel bar for a bit. Some of us had a short conversation with Howie, our coach driver. We barely have an opportunity to have a convo with him during the trip, so every conversation we have with him is a pleasant one.
Berrylle didn’t want to drink any alcohol that night, so we tried to order her a Shirley Temple. The bartender had no idea what it was, so I made the quick decision as to what I thought was in it. So I said grenadine and tonic. I guess I was wrong, as it should have been 7up. Oh well… this is why I’m not a bartender!
Wednesday
We spent ten hours in
We walked some more, bought sandwiches and ate at a bench near Notre Dame. Then Joel ditched us for Kathy and the rest of them at Notre Dame. So Robin, Berrylle, James, and I went around
Originally, we were going to take the metro back from shopping, but we were running short on time, so we took a cab back.
A few of us decided to go for the dinner optional (since the things in
So I’m stumbling out of the restaurant, drunk off wine, determined to tell someone something. In the process of walking over to a bar to meet up with the rest of our group, I somehow run into a waist high pole. I still have the bruise today!
At the bar, we all have a couple of drinks or so. I was waiting for a good moment to approach someone and tell them something on my mind, but the next thing I knew, he was leaving. Crap! So I tell James to grab him for me as I was way to fucking drunk, but he was being so uncooperative. I ended up leaving the bar with the group this person was with.
We get back to the hotel and after people cleared out, I flat out said, “I’m pretty drunk right now, so don’t get offended, but I have to tell you, you’re the hottest guy in our group. I’m going to go to my room now.” He said ok and that was the end of it.
Yes, I’m fucking retarded. And if this person so happens to be stumbling upon this, I really hope I didn’t freak you out or anything. Confirming the question that Joel emailed me as a quote from this trip: I always fall for straight guys.
After my little revelation, I went back to my room, told Dean, my roommate what I just did, then proceeded to write one-sentence notes for both James & Joel and Robin & Berrylle’s rooms as to what I have just done. After slipping the notes through, I see the four walk down the hall and yell out, “read what I slipped under your doors!” Robin invites all of us in her room and I explained what happened. Then I decided to make a drunken phone call to Geno, telling him what happened.
OMG, this was a fucked up night for me!
Soon, Robin kicked us all out and I attempted to go to bed.
Thursday
I got up early to pack my shit, as I was in no condition the night before to do so. Then I went down to eat breakfast, and loaded the coach afterwards.
We gathered by the coach as we waited for everyone who was going to go on it to arrive. I videotaped some “last words” from people. Then I realized that someone was not hopping on the coach with us. At the time, I couldn’t figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, I was still kicking myself in the ass for being retarded the night before.
Soon, we hopped on the coach and headed off to Charles de Galle Airport. Only a few of us were dropped off there. The rest went back to
Now I’m being lazy and reposting what I wrote in a message board:
Ok, everyone I have talked to since the tour ended had some sort of horrid post-tour airport / flight story to tell... myself included!
Let's start at CDG Paris. After realizing that I needed to be at another terminal, I hopped on a shuttle. However the shuttle couldn't move due to some weird situation up ahead, so I was crammed in for the longest time. Then, I realize that Delta shares the terminal with their affiliate, Air
At the gate, I find out that my flight's delayed first due to electrical problems then due to people coming in late from their connecting flights.
Then the immigrations/customs mess in Cinncinati. First bonehead move, misunderstainding the immigrations officer. I thought he asked me for my full name. So I replied with my long ass name of Rene Alexander Punu Poblete II. Then he says, I asked what food do you have, not your full name. Dude, I've been on a long-ass fight with minimal interaction. I'm practically brain dead at this point!
After that, I awaited for my luggage to come out so I can go through customs. But they were understaffed and nobody was grabbing their luggage fast enough, so they kept stopping the carousel several times.
Then... I had a dick of a customs agent interrogate me like I was lying. And it had nothing to do with what I declared! He asked what I did in
To make matters worse, I only had 20 minutes to run across the concourse to reach my connecting flight to
I made it to SFO in one piece J My brother picks me up and we walk over to this yellow Mustang. I was like, WTF? He told me it was my sister’s graduation present. WHAT? No, it’s the rental (from my