Updates
Hey gang--
Just wanted to throw out a quick update on my plans etc etc... so tonight marks 12 days out until my trip... Since the last post I've accomplished quite a bit, my trip is taking shape...
Here's the most up-to-date plans...
Monday August 18, or rather late the night beforehand, I will be driven down to Philadelphia to catch my Amtrak train to Toronto.... departs 30th Street Station/PHL at 12:13 am (00:13), and I arrive in Penn Station NYC at 1:50 am... There, I've got a couple hours worth of free time, even though it is indeed in the wee hours of the day haha, but hey, its in NYC, the city that doesn't sleep! I'm sure I can find something to do if I'm not able to sleep!! I leave NYC at 7:15 am and arrive at the US/Canadian border at 4:53pm (16:53) and arrive in Toronto at 7:47pm (19:47)... Quite the trek! But if you have never been on a train, I highly recommend it... its a great place to just relax and be free... meet new people, and not to mention the scenery!
It sure beats a bus, and even a plane, for on a train you are free to walk around, have a drink in the lounge car, or have a chat in the observation car.. In fact, my last train ride, from Detroit to Philly via DC I spent, I'd say, 10 out of the 14 hours between Detroit and DC in the observation car. Really great fun for an affordable price!
Anyways, when I arrive in Toronto I'm free to check-in into the already booked hostel, the Canadiana Backpacker's Inn on 42 Widmer St. Just a short $2 subway hop and a block walk away. This place is voted #1 Hostel in North America! And I only paid $24 for one night, which includes a bed in the dorms, free linen and pillows, and even a free true canadian pancake breakfast! Who can beat that??! Check-out time is 10:30am on Tuesday, August 19th, my date of departure... So after I check out, I have the whole day to do as I please, not too sure yet what that consists of..
The departure time of my AirTransat flight is set for 10:35pm (22:35), so that really is the whole day free. Perhaps I'll go to the C.N. Tower, or have a stroll in the park, or maybe just hang around at the Hostel and use the free wifi ;) Apparently the Toronto public transportation system is pretty hard to use, I had a very hard time mapping out a route to get from the hostel to the airport in a timely fashion, so I've opted to take the Airport Express bus which drives in a pattern through Toronto proper and pick up travellers at the major hotels and deliver them to the airport departure terminal in 45 minutes! So since my hostel isn't one of the major hotels in Downtown Toronto, I'm stuck walking a block and a half to the Holiday Inn on King St. $16 from there to the airport, not too shabby. And AirTransat suggests arriving at the airport 3 hours in advance, and since I don't have money to spend in Toronto, I'll probably get there earlier... Especially because since AirTransat is an economy airline, I don't have a seat already selected, so its basically first-come, first-serve based, maybe thats another incentive for getting there earlier...
When I arrive in München, at 12:35pm Germany time, I'm in the process of arranging to meet up with Leandra, a german exchange student, deutsche Austauschschülerin, who visited our school this past year.... great girl! I miss her much!!! Also, I intend to deliver a package from a girl at my school whos penpal is in the next city over, Augsburg. I have a train booked to leave from the Airport, Flughafen, at 6:02pm (18:02) german time, and from there I go from the airport to the actual city of München, to the main train station , Hauptbahnhof. Here is where I will meet Vanessa, the penpal from Augsburg... From there I train to Dortmund Hbf, next to Bielefeld Hbf, and then on to Lage, my first destination. I arrive here at 6:34am german time, just in time for my first day of school!
Here, in Lage, is where my friend of 4 years lives, Tine. We met as penpals and two years ago I flew over with my dad to visit her in real life! And her family has graciously offered to house me for a while! Infact, more than a month! Anyway, since her parents will be working during the days, and she and her sister will be at school, I've got nothing else to do but go to school with her! Which will definitely be quite the experience!!! And plus, I won't be tempted to spend my money doing tourist-y stuff... whcih is actually one of the goals of my entire trip. More on that later...
On October 5th, I will take a train from Lage to my next destination, Ahlen... Here I'll stay with a lovely lass, Sandy, and her also graciously accepting family!!! Sandy's got vacation this week so we'll be able to sleep in , go to handball practices, and do whatever the hell we want! And yes, for those of you who really want to know, yes, I met Sandy on the internet... but its not like one of those In-Search-Of advertising webpages! Its that link I posted down below, where all of my time in the days are consumed! Interpals.net, a great site to make international friends! Penpals is actually quite a stupid word, I think it sounds cheesy... so I just say friends... because thats what they are... People are like "well, they could be out to get you, they'll kill you and eat you for lunch" "how do you know if they are who they say they really are" yada yada yada... maybe its because i trust very easily! OR maybe its simply because I have this great invention called a Webcam and so does she, and I've seen her there and i've also spoken with her parents!
So that's all the tickets which i've booked so far, but Sandy and I plan to travel the weekend of the 10th, 11th and 12th to Hannover to visit my 'friend' and her boyfriend, Micha, and his friend Chris's band!! We'll either be driven by her dad, or we'll purchase a Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket which costs 35€ for up to 5 people for the whole weekend... And from Hannover I'll most likely take a train down to the south of Germany, to visit another 'friend', Nic, in the town of Konstanz am Bodensee..
Well, that's all for now folks! So see you in my next post.
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will lead you there." -- unknown
