Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Some thoughts from my first day in Europe

Well obviously, everything about Fanny Trekking is panning out as I've described.  I managed to carry exactly what I needed today, do it for a full day, and never be burdened.  I finally checked into a Hostel for £22, (about $30) and didn't need to worry about locking anything up because I kept it on my person.  I got hungry part way through the day so I bought a baguette and a 4-pack of tall cans of some shitty British lager beer.  It wasn't good at all despite the can advertising "Probably The Best Lager In The World..."  Well Carlsberg, you're not.  Not even close.  It's even worse warm, which I'm stomaching at the moment in the Hostel 24-hr Internet cafe.  I normally love warm beer; be it Pabst, Hamms, Oly, or any cheap pilsner/lager.  Not this time.

It is however very humid here, and while the temperature gets low, the sun is shinning – which is a rarity for England  and the humidity makes everything feel a little intense.

My bank account lets me withdraw $500 a day, but when converted to pounds, its less than $280.  So, I'm going to be visiting the ATM on a near daily basis, and taking care of business on cards as much as possible.  Fortunately, my first day I only spent about £100 of the £260 I withdrew.  Much of which involved getting an underground pass, and quite a few drinks this evening.

I managed to meet a bunch of fellow travelers at the Hostel and had a night out with a large group of them.  All I can say about the bars in Europe is that they are predominately Euro Trash Clubs with lots of "House Music" and plenty of 18 year olds kids.  The drinking age is 18 in most of Europe, and it's a little strange at 28 to be drinking with the kiddies.  Not that there's anything wrong with it, but they have a way of being so embarrassing to watch.  I think the only way I made it through that period of life myself was through binge drinking. 

Enough for now, there's really loud yelling going on in the street, and it's 3:18 AM.  Either something awesome is happening, or I'm just not use to being in a city of 7 million people.

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