Day Twenty Six - All Quiet On The Western Front

It's been a relaxed week or so lately. I haven't been up to much since I already checked out most of the sights that I was interested in. I think I visited most of the major museums, saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, and also wandered some of the more interesting neighborhoods here in London. A pretty good list I would say. I've been enjoying taking it easy after all that.

I have two CS hosts lined up for Belgium. So my entire time in Belgium is already organized, accommodation wise. That is a very good feeling, knowing I don't have to worry about getting a place to stay. I'm also eager to meet my hosts and spend some time hanging out with them.

After Belgium I'm not sure where to go next. I'm thinking maybe Switzerland but I can't decide. I could also do some of eastern France. I just want to make sure I keep heading south towards Rome. Anyone have any suggestions to help an indecisive traveler out?

I'll leave you with some of my most recent photos. Big Ben isn't as big as I imagined him to be but is still probably the most impressive clock I've laid eyes on. Enjoy!

Day Twenty Three - Belgium Bound

As the title suggests, I'm going to Belgium! The land of waffles and delicious beer. Actually, after a quick check on my favorite website Wikipedia it turns out that Belgian Waffles are not Belgian at all! Of course, leave it to the Americans to make shit like that up. The beer on the other hand is very real and very Belgian and VERY delicious. Very exciting, indeed. It will be nice to have a beer that I truly enjoy, as opposed to settling for the one I dislike least as I have been for the past few weeks. Don't worry, I'll take it easy there. No more stories akin to my last post.

I shall be departing London next Tuesday evening and will be arriving in Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday morning. It's going to be over a nine hour bus ride, not looking forward to that. But it's only going to cost me £18 to get to Belgium, a steal really. I was able to pounce on a ridiculous deal being offered by the bus company. I will also be saving the trouble of working out accommodation for the night which is nice.

Speaking of accommodation I finally got a host to agree to have me stay with him via the CouchSurfing website. For the uninitiated CouchSurfing is a website in which travelers from all around the globe connect with fellow travelers. One way in which this connection occurs is by having those that are at home host those that are traveling. Some people are not able to host but still like to meet up with those that are traveling to show them around or just meet someone new from a different culture. It's an unparalleled way to meet up with locals from different parts of the world. I highly recommend the organization to anyone that travels that enjoys meeting new people.

Back to my experience with CouchSurfing (herein to be referred to as "CSing"), I have had a very difficult time connecting with anyone. I have sent out numerous requests to hosts telling them I am coming through their city or town and have been rejected every time. Mostly the reasons are the same, the hosts I selected are too busy to accommodate me. Understandable of course but nonetheless a frustrating experience. But lucky for me I have found a nice guy named Steven to host me in Brussels. He even offered to meet up with me after my bus arrives at 7 AM so that I can put my bag down at his place or possibly catch some shut eye after my long bus ride. What a guy. I am ecstatic to be able to meet up with a local and hopefully learn more about Brussels and Belgium than I would had I been completely on my own. I'm sure it will enrich my experience there.

After Belgium I suppose I will continue to head south in anticipation of meeting my good pal Ezra in Rome on March 18th. I can't wait to see a familiar face in person. By the time I meet up with him it will have been almost two months since I had seen any of my friends from back home in person, something I am not accustomed to. It will be a joyous day indeed.

Which reminds me I must get in contact with my friends Luke and Stefano that I met in Galway. I will be heading to Italy soon and we had plans to meet up again once I got into their area. I can't wait to see them again as well.

Goodnight and farewell.

Day Twenty One - Alcohol Is Bad, Mkay?

Well, I sure had an interesting night last night. It started out at a club and ended with me being robbed, I think, and having blood all over my face. Check it out!



Good times, huh? I woke up this morning trying to piece together what memories I was able to retain. The night started out grand. Being Saturday night I thought it would be fun to go out and have a few drinks. Apparently by a few I really meant a lot. I was at a club called The Walkabout, an Aussie hangout here in Shepherd's Bush. I figured it would be nice to be around my people. I met a bunch of Aussies there which was awesome. Fortunately for me, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, they had a deal going where you could get a can of Victoria Bitter, a tasty Australian beer, for only two quid. What a deal! I thought.

So after a while the club started to close down. It must have been either two or three in the morning at this point. On my way out I started talking to this girl and her friends and we went walking, where we were going I have no idea. This is about where my memory gets really foggy. Next thing I know I'm in a neighborhood somewhere trying to find my house. A police car pulled up and a couple cops got out walking my way. I'm fucked, I thought. Here I am, drunk as a skunk, in another country about to get thrown in the drunk tank. To my surprise and delight they were real nice blokes.

They asked me what I was doing. I told them trying to find my house. The next question was, where is your house? I answered with in Shepherd's Bush. They informed me that I'm about a mile away from Shepherd's Bush. In my drunken idiocy I had wandered into a random neighborhood thinking it was Shepherd's Bush but in reality I was way off. The cops then asked me if I knew that I had blood all over my face. I touched my forehead and, sure enough, there was blood. What a surprising thing to discover! I must have fallen over, face first, at some point. I also had scrapes on the palms of my hands. Boy, did I feel like an idiot. The cops gave me directions to Shepherd's Bush and said I'll be home in fifteen minutes. I apologized repeatedly to the police officers and thanked them for helping me out. I then made the shameful walk back to my flat.

On my way home I realized that my pockets were empty except for my house keys. That was weird, I thought, because earlier there was fifteen quid as well as a prepaid public transport card that had ten pounds on it. I tried to remember what may have happened to it but my brain was utterly useless at this point. I had done too much damage to it in the course of the night. The most plausible story I could come up with was that I got robbed at some point during my wanderings. It would have been very easy to take advantage of me in that state and it seems that someone noticed that and seized the opportunity. Lucky for me all I lost was twenty five pounds. A bummer to be sure but not the end of the world. And besides my forehead injury, which I believe was self-inflicted, I was unharmed. I am very grateful for that.

After getting home and taking a good look at myself in some light I realized I really did look like shit. I washed up and ate a bit of food then immediately fell into a deep sleep once I laid down. In the morning I was able to take a look at myself with sober eyes and reflect upon the lesson I learned the hard way: don't get drunk and go out late by yourself, you'll get robbed. Really, I already knew that. But after a bunch of pints my judgment is a bit skewed. I just need to exercise more caution when going out at night by myself.

And to top it all off, I ripped a hole in my pants.