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My first long-distance train experience.   Aboard the weltberühmt (world-known) ICE-train.  Inter-City-Express trains, which are these bullet trains which travel very fast, and stop only in the big cities.  I sat on this train for 7 hours!! Luckily, they are VERY comfortable, with awesome seats, nice headrests, and plenty of space, not to mention the huge windows for the great scenery, even though I traveled when it was dark! With stops in Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Köln/Bonn, Bochum etc, I arrived about 20-30 minutes late in Dortmund, because we got stuck on the tracks because a car ran into a bridge, and they had to clear the scene, and fix the bridge!!

 

What I did in Dortmund was quite a story… sarcastically, of course… I didn’t leave until 5-something, almost 6 o’clock, so I had PLENTY of time to kill.  I walked around, like I seemingly always do, and I found a McDonalds open 24/7, so I went in and asked for a Hamburger, ‘nur Fleisch’ (only meat), which was the highlight of my entire night… because apparently this is unheard of in Germany… so that was quite the scene. 

 

Shortly thereafter, well, basically said, I walked around.  Went a little bit into the city, even though it was already past 2 o’clock AM, walked around the train station, watched a few trains go by, look around in the book store there,  listened to some music, got harassed along with every other passenger waiting for their train, by all the homeless people who sleep there in the station.  Finally, as the sun was just beginning to rise, the bakeries started to open, and the station began to become a bustle… What was annoying was all the Turks, which are like the Mexican immigrants to us in the States, they were all over, they are the ones who own these bakeries and shoppes in train stations, and all they do is talk in Turkish.  Anyway, I bought myself a very pleasant Berliner for a few cents, and waited for my train…

 

While I waited for my train to Bielefeld, an announcement came on saying that due to construction on the track that it was scheduled to arrive on, they moved us to another platform.  And the platform we were on was the only one to NOT have an escalator OR a baggage conveyor belt thingermajig.  So I had to carry my 23kg luggage with laptop bag and rucksack all the way down the steps, a few platforms on down.  And because of this construction, we were delayed 3 minutes, and at my next station I had originally only 5 minutes to catch my next train.  So with 3 minutes late, I thought I’d be ok, because I was scheduled to arrive on the same platform I was scheduled to depart onwards on.  But to my luck, since we started out on a different platform than scheduled, we arrived on a different.  So I had to take the escaltor down under, and walk down the hall and take the escalator back up to the next platform, and by then, I missed my train.  So I waited and became a Schwarzfahrer, meaning, an illegal passenger, because I was riding on a train without a proper ticket.  Pech on them.  I checked the departure list they have posted there in the station, and called Tine and said that they should come to the station a bit later, to catch me for the next train.

 

And so they did.  I arrived well-traveled in my final first destination, Lage. 

 

So, here we come to one week in Germany, well, about one week!  Let’s cap it up:

 

The plane ride, honestly, wasn’t so wonderful, but that I expected, because it was a cheap, budget/vacation airline, and when you pay only $235 for a normally $900-$1000 PLUS airfare, na, we say in german just: ‘es lohnt sich’… it’s worth it.  The seating pattern was

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But the seats were actually over-stuffed and rather comfortable, setting aside the facts that you had no leg room, your arms smashed those of the other persons, and when the person in front of you reclined their seat, you couldn’t access your already-in-the-down-position tray-table.  There was only 3 or 4 TV screens, and was in the middle above the middle column of seats, instead of each on the back of the seat in front… Therefore you must watch what everyone else watches, and there were three movies, and you could plug in your headseat and listen to it in different languages, and then a few stupid comedy cartoon programs… The aisles were so narrow it was literally impossible for two people to squeeze by each other… The food wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t gourmet… the meal we were served was some sort of chicken with Indian-esque sauce and rice… and we were served a muffin for breakfast and brownies for desert… the drinks were fine, a good variety of soda and beverages, but the portions were small.  There were only 3 toilets for the entire plane, and when there is a crying kid on board such a small aircraft, its 100% that everyone hears them…

 

 

 

 

All-in-all it’s a great idea to take along an mp3 player!!! But to pay that little for the only 8-hour long trip, I’d do it again.

 

I arrived at YYZ (Pearson International Airport in Toronto) with plenty of time, I prepared for the worst where I might have to wait in these long lines like one would easily encounter anytime in Philadelphia, but of course, with my luck, I had too much time… I arrived some 5 hours early, and of course, I didn’t wait at ALL in the first line, where you get your boarding pass.  I didn’t wait at all in security, and we departed Toronto exactly on time.  Something which was so shocking to me, as I’ve only ever flown out of bad airports, PHL, and ABE. 

 

We arrived in München with a few minutes to spare, we got off the plane, and there was hardly a delay at the Paßkontrolle… And by the time we got to the baggage claim, the baggage was already there.  Couldn’t’ve been better.  But of course, my train wasn’t booked to leave the airport until 6pm and we arrived at noon, so I was in no rush at all.  I walked around the airport, used the WC-which, by the way, in Canada, is called the washroom- and went into a Burger King at the airport and ate my first Germany-based meal.  Then I tried calling home only to find out that the phone cards I have don’t work outside of the United States.  Voll scheiße.  I ended up having to use my debit card, but what’s neat is that European pay phones are set up so you can stick a calling card, or a credit card, right into the machine, so its pretty neat. 

 

Then I walked around a bit more, and found the Deutsche Bahn (german rail company) and asked if the ticket I booked was booked to be flexible, meaning, I could ride whenever I wanted into the city, instead of only at the stated time, and the answer was yes.  So I hopped on the train at the airport, and rode the 40 minute train distance to the city center.  (That just tells you how far away the airport is from the actual city!)

 

I walked around a bit, and found an internet café, because I was simply too lazy and not daring enough to pull out my laptop and find a free WLAN signal… luckily, the special of the week at this café was 1€/1 hour.  Not bad at ALL.  Then I went to the pay phone to call my friend, Tine, to let her know I arrived gut, gesund, und ohne Verspätung (good, healthy, and without delay).  But to my dismay, the pay phones only accept certain Münze (coins), not the 1€ and 2€ coins, so I ended up going to the bakery next door and purchasing a beverage so that I could have some change… and then I found out that the change I had didn’t last very long on the payphone… by the time I told Tine I arrived safely and that my train leaves at 6:30, It started counting down “15...14...13...12...” so……. yea…

Woke up at 7, showered, packed up, checked-out, stored my luggage, ate some good pancakes, and went out to explore Toronto!   First, I bought a ticket for the CN Tower at the desk in the hostel, paid $21USD, or $20CAD... Speaking of, all of toronto is good with that... Everyone takes US $$... some places will accept US$, but give change in CA$, some will give you US$ back... I ate dinner last night at a "Pita Pit", and they gave me my change in USD... But I grabbed a slice of pizza at a random pizzeria, and they gave me change in CAD.....

The hostel is only 3 blocks from the CN Tower, so I just walked... it was a bit chilly, but i guess that's expected, because it is in Canada!! Toronto is a very nice, chill, city... basically I'd call it a mini-NYC... it's got chinatown, its got a theatre district, and its even got a lot of skyscrapers and all those neon and video billboards like in Times Square... but nevertheless, you can definitely tell you're in a foreign country, just a completely different atmosphere... Canada is right along with Europe in terms of recycling... on almost every corner there is a contraption with different receptacles, for glass, paper, and non-recyclables...

It's quite the adventure in itself just getting past security at the CN Tower... you go through this contraption which looks like a metal detector, but lo 'n behold, it hoses you down with air... it blasts this air at you from every angle, your entire bodylength... damn well scared the bejeezes out of a little girl! You walk in, and doors close around you... I got in around 9:45, so there were no lines... especially nice since I bought my ticket right at my  hostel, and it was reduced rate... I went straight up... its about a 40-second elevator ride, with windows facing the outside... When you get to the top, theres the look-out level... and a restaurant.  There's also an outside section on the floor below, which was at first closed due to weather condtions, but on my way out, they reopened it so I went outside... and after weather conditions settled down, it was still very windy ^^ On this level, there is also a section of the floor removed, and filled with glass, so you can walk on, the , uh, floor... it's really neat!!!
  After this I just roamed around the city... caught the Subway north, andgot off and walked to the Eaton Centre, a verrrry large mall structure!  Window-shopped, then headed back out on the street... Here there was a man who was making realistic chalk-paintings!  Walked around some more, visited the University of Toronto, walked through Chinatown, ate some Toronto pizza, and got yelled at by a pedestrian! Get this... talk about culture clash... in America it's ok if you're at a crosswalk, and the light is green, to just go ahead and walk across the street if the street is clear!  But I guess in Toronto you must wait until the light turns Red and the little white hand in the light box begins to wave you on... because I just walked when the hand was still red, and they were not very happy! But they probably figured I was just a tourist, because walkin' down the toronto streets, all you hear is a variety of random languages, quite interesting!! Quite a multi-kulti theme.  Then I walked around some more, and just worked my way back to the hostel and arrived back here around 2pm-ish... grabbed my luggage, and here I am! Just relaxing before I catch the shuttle bux at 4:45 to the airport...
 

PS: Toronto's Chinatown is very wimpy compared to NYC's!!

“Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation.” - Elizabeth Drew

Well, so far I've had quite the experience... I write to you guys from my hostel in Toronto, Canada!! I arrived here late yesterday evening after quite a travel...I left my house around 7pm, and we drove to New Jersey to visit my grandparents..... then we drove to the 30th Street Station in downtown Philadelphia, where I hopped a train to NYC, arrive in NYC at 1:50am. I figured it'd be ok to just roam the city and just relax, but as it turns out, as a first time traveller, I think I packed wayyyy to much ^^  so it was quite the pits dragging my suitcase, backpack and laptop bag around NYC, so i just walked for two blocks and came back!!!  then I just sat in the Amtrak-waiting room for my train which left at 7:15am... While here I was 'harassed' (ok, quite the over-exaggeration, but...) by an officer, err, amtrak-rent-a-cop, who claimed my feet were on the seat. Yes, they were at first, but when the guard asked me to put them down, I did! And then I crossed my legs, and apparently he thought i had them on the seat again when he walked by, so he says to me "BOY! Apparently you don't know how to listen, do you???! That man told you to put your feet down, now didn't he?" "Yes, but my.." "I don't care boy, how old are you?" "18" "then you're damn old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, don't you?!" "yes sir, I'm sorry"  "and you're also old enough for me to eject you from this station. so if i walk by one more time with your feet on the seat, i'ma gunna eject you from this here station!"

... yea, fun times.

As i finally made it to 7 am when they posted the gate my train will be at, I was rudely ridiculed by a couple from the UK, they were mistaken as they thought i jumped the 'queue' and they also flipped out at another group of people... they said with their accents: "Damn americans, you think you can just cut the queue, don't ya?", and all they got in response was a gawk and a remark.  Welcome to america!  After that the train ride was long, and very cold... and i got stuck in a car which was outdated, and full of anxious, obnoxious, and any other -xious word you can think of...

...after the 1 1/2 hour wait at the border, we finally made it into Toronto, where I thought it'd be rather easy to get to the hostel... Toronto has a combination of subway and streetcars.... the directions from the hostel said to catch the subway on the University line, and get off at St. Andrews, and transfer to Streetcar... but for one reason or another this didn't happen, because I was supposed to stamp my ticket at the train station so it was marked "transfer", allowing me to transfer right to the street car, but I never got a ticket... I just gave them my money and walked through the turnstiles... luckily it decided to stop raining and I just walked the rest of the way. 

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 

So, raise your hand if you've ever heard about this concept of a 'Gap Year'?  Exactly.  You're probably not even raising your hand right now...

The Oxford Dictionary defines it as: a year that a young person spends working and/or traveling, often between leaving school and starting university.

Ok, true.  It doesn't have to be a 'young' person, it could be anyone.  The fact is that it is uncommon on our lovely North American continent.  Its simple: You graduate High School, you take some time off to work, or travel, living large, volunteering, gaining some prospective on this thing we call life.  Easy as 1-2-3.  Some make it a year, others, a semester.  It is truly very common in Europe, namely the UK.  Most kids do it, and most colleges look for kids who have done it.  Its a matter of maturity.  You graduate high school or the equivalent as a hormonal, moody teenager, you leave for the journey of a lifetime, whether its backpacking with friends through Europe, or volunteering in India.  You come back a real man.  (or woman).  Meaning, its simply a maturity-raiser.  You spend some time on your own, without the care and guidance of your parents, you are alone--to make the right choices and learn from the wrong ones.  Maybe that's what its a matter of?  Not working so hard trying to make all the right choices.  Maybe it's a matter of simply learning from your mistakes.  We can't all be sheltered all of our lives.  This is our time to spread our wings and fly.  Travel, meet new people, experience the world.  Live the life, freeload, mooch, whatever word you have for it.  There's always a way, and simply turn off your ears when someone starts rambling on about how its not going to work.  More of that in a later post.

As for me, I decided a while back that I would like to take this gap year.  Maybe its my aspiring fascination with the european culture and maybe its simply because I'm a european-wanna-be.  Who knows?  But once I found out that many european kids--errr, young adults--participate, I decided I wanted to too!!  And that's what I decided, and that's what I'm stickin' with.  First I decided I was going to take a full school year off... and once I broke the news to my fellow american companions, the majority thereof flabbergasted me with their 'yehs' and 'nehs' and their third degrees... you know, try to talk me out of it.. Wanna know why?

Because to americans, "if you’re not a student and you’re unemployed, you’re a loser. You must either be working or be in school or you’re unproductively wasting your life. There’s no two ways about it here. It’s a shame really." (courtesy of vagabondish.com)  Well put, there.  I wish I could've recorded the reactions I received upon explanation of my plans after high school.  Ok, so I work in a supermarket named Giant, as a cashier... and I'm a very friendly, outgoing cashier so when someone goes through my line, 9 times out of 10 I strike up a conversation with them... some of them are former teachers of mine, administrators, and some are just random folks doing their normal shopping routines who have by pure luck been granted the righteous opportunity to go through my line at Giant.  They ask whether I'm a student... I say I just graduated high school... "Oh! congratulations! So tell me what you're plans are in the fall!" FIRST allow me to insert that most don't say that... most just go right ahead and ask "Where are you going to college?"  What has happened to our community that it is now expected of us to go to college... yes, I understand times've changed, but back in the day not everyone went to college... we had our students and blue collars and white collars and skilled labormen... quite the assortment, and now? Now its expected we go to college....

Yes, so since you obviously can't get by in life without a piece of paper saying you survived 2 or 4 or then some more years of hell sitting in a lecture hall, I've decided to calm everyone's quarrels by just taking a semester off and going back to school when I get back in the Winter.  Who knows, maybe something will happen to change my mind... if you don't know me, I'm a pretty flexible guy... you know, the type that 'goes with the flow'. 

So in conclusion, my gap year isnt' one of those regulated programs you can find in brochures and on the world wide web, where you pay some allotted fee to have the 'journey of a lifetime', and my gap year isn't one of those volunteering missions in Africa... but it is still my gap year and I will make of it what I will.  I leave that up to destiny.  I don't have much savings at all, all I have is a one-way ticket to Germany (flying out of Toronto, nonetheless), and my dignity and self-ability to have what I want if it's not too much to ask for.  I'm up for any kind of adventure, whether its attempting to get kicked out of the local walmart (that's where the teenager comes in verses the matured young adult, but hey, its fun being young again sometimes, I presume, 'eh?) or having the journey of a lifetime meeting all sorts of new, culturally adapted people, while enjoying the local scene and just having a good 'ole time with no regrets. 

The keyword in this post, my friends, is no regrets.

Hey Gang, welcome to the first post... here I will be able to update y'all on my journeys.

Journey number one: Eurotrip 2008. After some long struggles, I managed to finally purchase a one-way ticket to Germany. How much? $238. yea. cheap! Especially considering that roundtrips are goin for around $1000 right now, and normally one-ways are more expensive... So what's the catch? I fly out of Toronto! A 7-hour drive away from my hometown! Or just a simple $100 amtrak train trip and a hop, skip, jump away... But I think it's worth it if I can save that much money. So August 19th, YYZ (Toronto) to MUC (München).

Next topic: Money. err or lack there of. Meaning I dont' have much money for this journey of mine... but that's--or atleast I think--part of the whole fun here. Tramping. Freeloading. Living Large. That's what I call it, but unfortunately some folk's don't agree so much with that.

But if you want something bad enough, you will get it. So I'm off now, and I'll keep you guys on the Up and Up!

Peace.