Random Ramblings of a Wanderer

Well, hello all...It has been quite a while, hasn´t it? I do apologize for it having been over a month since I last posted an entry. No real excuses other than computer access is sometimes hard to come by and can be quite expensive in places...and probably more so just the fact that I can be kind of lazy when it comes to emails and keeping in touch with people. Anyways, I thought it about time to give you all a quick update on my recent travels. When I last posted an entry I was in Glasgow, Scotland. Since that time, I travelled around the rest of Scotland for about two weeks, ventured south into England and Wales for about two weeks, "chunneled" my way over to Brugge, Belgium where I stayed for three days, headed north up to Amsterdam for another three days, and am currently coming to you from an internet cafe in Hannover, Germany. I will be leaving tomorrow morning to head down south to Bonn, Germany (along the Rhine) where I will stay for three days. After that, I am still trying to find accomodations to stay in Trier, Germany or somewhere nearby for a few nights. From there I will head over to Würzburg for a couple of days before heading to München (Munich to us English speaking folks) for three days and catch the start of Oktöberfest before heading to Praha (Prague), Czech Republic. If all goes as planned, I will then travel from Prague back into Germany (Berlin) for two days before heading up to Denmark for about a week and a half. I will fly from Kobenhavn (Copenhagen)to Athens to meet up with Jeff and Megan while they are in Santorini, Greece. Well, that gives you an idea of where I will be heading, but what about where I have been?

From Glasgow (which I didn´t care for too much...basically just a large metropolitan city) I headed up north near Ft. William. I took a train excursion one day from Ft. William to Mallaig which was quite interesting as it is the route that is used for much of the Harry Potter movie footage when they are on the train to Hogwarts (kind of nerdy I know but it was still a nice day...gorgeous scenery and I found two paintings in a gallery in the small port town of Mallaig that I probably shouldn´t have bought as they were quite a pretty penny but I figured I needed at least one major purchase during my travels. Oh well, it´s only money, right? From Ft. William I headed up to Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. I meet two guys (an Australian and an Israeli) while I was there and we hired a car one day and took a trip around most of the Isle. I can easily say that this was one of my favorite things I have done so far during my travels. It is an amazing place that has so many things to offer. I then headed over to Inverness and visited the infamous Loch Ness. I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with the Loch itself but enjoyed my time in Inverness as I met quite a few other travellers. I then headed down south to Pitlochry where I went on an amazing all day hike. I continued south to Stirling (William Wallace country) and spent a couple days there before heading to Edinburgh (pronounced Edin-bur-uh) where I stayed for three days. This city is unbelievable...maybe it was just the fact that the entire city was going crazy due to the festivals going on, but I really enjoyed my time here and of all the larger cities I have been to thus far, Edinburgh is my favorite and one that if I ever had the need to or opportunity to I could live in for a year or so.

So...Edinburgh completed my wanderings through Scotland and I next headed down to a small town called Ambleside (on the northern tip of Lake Windermere in the Lake District National Park in England). Other than a less than enjoyable experience at the hostel which involved a 65-year old man who we (me and everyone in the room) later found out was a mentally ill, former alcoholic, who had a blocked colon. Words here can´t describe the night I had with this situation but I will definetly elaborate on it for you all when I return...something I will never forget. As for the area, I went on anohter nice hike around the area and then headed south to Conwy (pronounced Conway), Wales. Unfortunately, the weather was unfavorable but I did manage to get out for a little bit to explore a fantastic castle and the walled city. I then travelled to the southern part of Wales to the capital of Cardiff. A nice time here but nothing too special. I then headed down to the Cornish coast and stayed in Penzance for a couple days. From there I headed to Bath for three days. I really enjoyed my time here as I got to see the Roman baths, Avebury stone circle, Stonehenge, and some more of the surrounding area. I also spent some time with 5 crazy South Africans and a couple Aussies. From Bath I headed over to London where I stayed for two days. I would have liked to have spent more time there but figured I would rather save some of my money for other parts of my trip. As I previously said, I then headed from London to Brugge, Belgium. I loved this city and could easily have spent a week there. It´s not a large city and you can see most of the major sites in a day but there is just something in the air there. I would easily label it as the most romantic city I´ve been to thus far...to bad I had no one special to spend it with, but some day when I do, I would certainly consider returning. Did I say that I really liked this city? Moving on from Brugge (reluctantly) I headed to Amsterdam. I don´t really know what to say about Amsterdam other than just absolute craziness. It is even more expensive than London and a place that I am glad I can say I have been to but don´t know that I would ever have any desire to go back although I would love to see other parts of The Netherlands someday. And so that brings me to my current location of Hannover, Germany...a fairly metropolitan city and from my point of view nothing too exciting...but that´s just me. I look forward to heading down into the Rhine Valley area and Bavaria so hopefully my next few stops will be quite interesting.

Well...as for my entry title, I have begun to take a mental inventory over the last couple weeks of the little things I miss about being back home. Besides the obvious things that I miss, i.e. my family, my cats, and being able to share my experiences with my mom, there are quite a few "little" things I have noticed that I am starting to miss. Maybe these make me a selfish and materialistic American but quite honestly I don´t care. If travelling has taught me one thing for sure, it is that you don´t realize what you take for granted until you no longer have it. So, without further ado, here is my unofficial list of things that I miss:

1. My car and being able to drive somewhere, anywhere, whenever I want to. I truly wonder if after 5 months of not driving if I am going to be a horrible driver when I get back. Oh, how I miss my car...I would give anything just to be able to drive 5 miles with the windows down, the sunroof open, and the stereo blasting.

2. Not having to worry about where I will be staying tomorrow night. Granted, being in a different place every few days has been a wonderful experience, but the constant process of trying to find accomodation is starting to wear me down.

3. Knowing what I am buying/eating. This one wasn´t too much of a problem until I got to Belgium and since then but when you can´t read or speak a language, you begin to take some major chances on purchases. So far I have been mostly lucky, but I know there is going to come a time when I buy something (most likely food) and wonder what it is that I´m eating.

4. Not wearing the same clothes over...and over...and over...and over. I can not begin to describe how tired I am of wearing the same clothes every couple of days and long for the time when I can have a closet full of clothes to choose from.

5. Having my own computer and thus instant internet access. It´s sad to admit it, but prior to me leaving, I basically lived on the internet. It´s where I get my news, my music, my favorite websites, info on just about anything I want. Not having that instant availability at my fingertips has been a struggle at times and I can´t wait until I no longer have to pay outrageous amounts just to use the internet for one or two hours. Oh, how I really miss my laptop and wireless internet.

6. Staying on the subject of electronics...my cell phone. I miss being able to call whoever I wanted to whenever I needed to. I could have gotten a mobile for my travels that would have allowed me to call friends and family as well as to call local places in Europe to make reservations and accomadations. I chose not to, thinking it would do me some good to be without a cell phone for 5 months...big mistake. Pay phones...I hate ém.

7. Being able to cook my own food and eating healthy. I enjoy cooking and not having that luxury has been a struggle for me. I can´t wait until I can go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of stuff to make a huge, healthy dinner the way I want to prepare it. I have cooked a few times since I have been over here but it is difficult because of leftovers and all that mess.

8. Well marked street names. I can´t even begin to remember how many times I have been lost just because there are no freakin´ street signs most of the time and when there are they are small and obscure. I think it is simply a joke that Europeans like to play on stupid Americans because I can´t tell where I am half the time. Is it just an American thing to have every street name marked on every corner and intersection? Where have all the street signs gone?

9. Ice...yes, ice. I miss being able to have ice for my drinks. Why is there no ice in Europe? I think in the two months I have been over here I have had ice in a drink twice. And even then it was like two small pieces. I can´t wait for that first refreshing ice cold drink I have when I get home. Oh, brrrr...how I miss ice.

10. A queen sized bed...or even a double for that matter. I tend to sleep spread-eagle so having a small (some have been extra small...like for children or adults under 5 feet) bed has been quite an experience. I truly look forward to being able to stretch out in a bed and to be able to roll over without worrying that I am going to fall off.

11. Another thing about size...I miss having a shower that is larger than a 2´X 2´ square. I´m not a small person and I need some room to move around in the shower without bumping into walls or the shower head. Oh how I miss a large shower...with, I might add, full pressur and warm water throughout the shower.

12. Not having to convert just about everything so that it makes more sense to me, ie temperature, distance, money. I know that us Americans have it bass akwards from most of the rest of the world when it comes to Celsius v. Farenheit or Kilometers v. Miles but I miss our screwed up scales. Just when I finally do get home I am going to be thinking completely in these metric terms and will have to go through the whole process of adjusting back to America´s messed up way of thinking. Money is just a whole nother issue so....

13. Being able to read on a regular basis and have a full library of my books, journals, blogs, etc. at my disposal. I feel like the longer I go the less I am remembering from previous things I have learned and am going to have to start all over again when I get back. About the only things I read now are train\metro schedules and a few things from the internet. I have read two novels that I bought while in the UK but those were just for enjoyment and had no real educational aspect to them and now I have no chance of buying books in English so I´m up a creek. My brain is slowly becoming mush...

14. College football and sports in general. I have really been thinking about this one the last few days as the season just started and remembering how much my life in the Fall revolved around football and baseball playoffs. Oh how I really, really, miss watching my Duckies beat up on other teams. At least I will make it home for the Bowl Season, so just know that for two weeks straight I will be glued to the TV so that I can absorb as much football as possible because I don´t know if I could make it until the following season.

15. And last but not least...I miss having my own place. Of course this has been the case since before I left as I was taking care of my mom´s place until it sold and then living at my dad´s place. After having lived in my own place for almost five years leading up to that time, I really miss having a place that I can call my own and that I can come home to at the end of the day and just relax. And now, sharing places with 3,4,5, sometimes as many as 20 other individuals has been quite a growing process for me. One that I wouldn´t change but also one that I will be glad when it is over and I can return to having my own place.

So...with all that said, do not get me wrong. I have truly enjoyed my experience thus far and have no regrets and look forward to the next few months of this as well, but know that I will be quite excited when I get to return to my country and all the luxuries it afords me. And if any of you ever notice me taking the things I have just spoken of for granted please slap me and remind me of my time in Europe when I didn´t have them. As for now I will continue to struggle and grow stronger because of my struggles. I know it could truly be much worse and that there are people in this world that would appreciate just to have a shower period or to be able to have a bed to sleep in and for that fact I am very thankful for what I do have and it will be one of my life missions to help those in greater need of things than I could ever imagine. And with that, I bid you all peace and joy. I hope life is well and continues to bless you in all ways. Take care.