Samsung Galaxy Tab

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MÄ VOITIN SEN _SAMSUNGIN GALAXY TABIN_ !!!
Ei voi olla totta! En oo ikinä voittanu mitään :D

Haaa olin niin ilonen, kun torstaina (joo-o, on ollu hitusen kiire) luin sen sähkärin, että "onneksi olkoon.." :) Oltiin jus lähössä Aussie Bariin viettämään Australia Daytä ja ei ois voinu lähtee yhtään paremmin ilta käyntiin :D

Ei vitsi, ihanaa :) Vaikka ensimmäisten tablettien saapuessa markkinoille olinkin skeptinen niiden käytettävyyden järkevyydestä/tarpeellisuudesta, muutin täysin mieleni, kun tajusin, kuinka paljon reppuni (ei siis rinkkani) kevenisi, jos ei tarvitsisi tätä Läpsyä aina reissuilla raahailla. Viimeinen niitti oli se, kun syksyn aikana leikin luokkakaverini tabletillä ja ihastuin - mäkin haluun !



Vaikka Samsungin läppärini onkin tosi pieni (14" muistaakseni) ja suht."kevyt" (~2kg), niin on sen tehnyt sen mieli jättää himaan parin reissun jälkeen. En voi käsittää, miten saan mun päivärepun painamaan 8kiloa, kun se on joku kolme kertaa pienempi rinkkaa, joka painaa vain 12 kiloa!

Unelmointi sai myös alkunsa siitä, kun luin Rantapallon toimitusjohtajan Riikan blogia, jossa hän kertoi "kantaneensa" mukana viittä matkaopasta - siis iPadissä ;) Taakka kevenee kummasti, kun grammojen tilalla onkin bittejä.

Tää on vaan niin hieno vempain :D Mulla on joku maailman hirvein muropakettipuhelin, joten kaikki tollaset älypuhelimet/tabletit on mulle aika uusia juttuja, kun en itse iPodia ja läppäriä kummempia juttuja omista.



En voi vieläkään käsittää, kuinka pieni toi täbi on ! Puolet mun läppärin koosta ja painaa vaivaset 470 grammaa !!! LIGHTS AS A FEATHER!

Toivon vaan, että opin kirjottamaan tolla vaivatta.. Välillä nimittäin tuppaa tulemaan enemmän juttua blogiin, niin olisi hyvä, että kirjottaminen sujuu helposti. (AN:// Kirjotan tätä siis nyt läppärillä, koska piti siirtää koneelle kuvia ja en ole vielä ehtinyt käydä ostamassa kortin lukijaa täbiin).

Mutta juu. One happy blogger I am. Kiitos Samsung ja kiitos Rantapallo !!! :)

Running away from the cops... twice

17.1.2012

Jesus, what a journey back home!!!



Woke up, Milka came to get me, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't get any of the souvenirs bought... I especially didn't have anything for my dad yet, because I had relied on the idea that I would go the Denpasar surely at one point and buy a kilo of Saffron from the local market. Well, didn't happen.

Managed to sort things though because Milka was a doll and drove me around <3 You are the best, girl! I bought my mom not-the-original, but still with-the-same-technique-made as the "most expensive coffee in the world" aka shit coffee (made in Indonesia). Original brand costs nearly 15€. And you know what the secret ingredient is? Shit. That's right. They get cats to shit and make coffee out of it... NICE.



Also, managed to sort the Saffron business... My dad can now say he is a very happy owner of Saffron worth of 4000€ ! I read on Lonely Planet, that you could buy Saffron for 230 000 rps/kilo at Denpasar's market, but actually, I managed to get it for an even better price! Milka drove me to Bintang Market and I was shocked to only find 50 gram bags of Saffron "fuuuuu i'm not gonna get my dad anything.. he won't do anything with this amount of Saffron". But then a light bulb lit in my head.. 1000g/50grams=20 bags and if one bag costs 7200rps, 7200 x 20 = 144 000 rps. I had to calculate again just to be sure - no fucking way, it's actually cheaper to buy it this way than from the market as a bulk ! I guess cause these bags are for locals and thus priced for locals... At the market I doubt I would've even got it for 230 000rps.. At least in Ubud they asked 250 000rps for _300_ grams. I was laughing  at the thought of emptying a plastic bag worth of tiny saffron bags on the table, when my dad would only be expecting a large package :D "Yeah, bought you a kilo...in 20 bags!" So yeah kids, paid less than 13€ for a kilo of Saffron.. do the math.



Anyway, we headed to the beach and I got my last share of Padang Food. I WILL MISS YOU, dear delicious Padang! Milka got her toe nails painted and when the lady asked me whether I wanted mine too, I was liek whatta hell, gotta get rid of this money anyways and I have probably 7 layers of black nail polish on my nails, which would be good to get cleaned up.



After the beach we headed to Kuta because this batini dyed singlet had been creeping in my mind for 2 weeks now so I wanted to buy it. Spent the rest of my money on those two tops and then Milka announced that we should go get my stuff from Canggu and leave to the airport. As we were driving and almost on the free way, a fucking cop tries to pull us over for me not having a helmet - we just speeded off.



When we got my stuff, and headed back towards Kuta (since the airport was that way) we get stuck in the lights. There's a line of four car ad heaps of scooter before us as I spot a cop - and a motor bike cop ! I tell Milka about this and tell her to get on the right hand side as soon as possible. It was nerve wreckingly exciting ducking behind Milka's PINK helmet so that the cop wouldn't notice my helmetlesness. What made it more exciting was that we were stuck in the lights. Just then as I am hiding behing Milka's back, I saw the neon yellow vest and the police hat shifting to the right hand side - to the side we were on. I try squinting as small as I can but the cop has noticed us and tells us to pull over with this angry expression on his face. We got off of he bike and the cop goes "You are not wearing a helmet and you ran away already once when I stopped you" - FUUUCK, it's the same cop : D



Milka had to go to his booth and I was just laughing at the thought that Mika doesn't even have a license.. Wasn't concerned though about that because I knew he Indo cops probably have no idea what the real Finnish Driver's License looks like. I was more worried about the sum we would have to pay him. I didn't have ANY money left.. I only have 150 000rps to get out of the country (airport tax). Milka returned and told me the cop wanted 200 000 rps but Milka had told him she had no money "go talk to your friend". As we were discussing what we would do (only pay the standard 50 000rps and I would pay Milka back with a back transfer) we saw the cop getting on his bike and speeding off.

"SHIIT SHIIT GET ON THE BIKE, DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE - FUCK, THIS COP WON'T LET ME GET ON MY PLANE FOR SURE IF HE CATCHES US LEAVING FOR THE _SECOND TIME_ TODAY!"



It was truly adrenalin-sparking business being driving the SAME _ONE WAY ROAD_  the cop was driving on. Not to mention that, as usual, the road was stuck with traffic and thus we could bump into him any minute. I kept my eyes open for the cops neon yellow vest as Milka drove. "STOP STOP STOP!!!!!"  Milk stopped JUST a _METER_ behind the cop ! He had pulled over some westerner and I was so amazed when the cop just took off withough noticing us.. I mean, we were so close that he should've probably seen Milka damn _pink_ helmet flashing in is rear-view mirror.



The cop took a right and we were sooo happy because the airport was on the left <3 We managed to get to the airport and I said bye and cya to my Milkyway <3 Promised her, that if she would get fined on the way back home, I would pay her back via bank transfer :D

Problems didn't end here though... oh no, not at all. As I payed my airport fee and proceeded to get my passport checked, the guy tells me
"you've overstayed your visa with one day"
"what?? noo... no, I mean I came here on the 17.12 and today's the 16th of Jan, right?" "Yeah... 31 days"
*did some counting*
"Oh nooo, what now?"
"You have to pay 200 000"
"200 000 '?!?!?! bu I don't have _ANY_ money *I show him my empty wallet thoroughly*"
"Get some from the ATM"
"But.. I don't have anything on my bank account.. Everything's on my savings account"

So I ended up having to get money out with my credit card (Thank god for Mastercard<3) and although I had to pay the same amount I payed for my whole month's visa, I was just laughing about it :) ..Although I still have no idea, whether the guy just came up with the number... I do not trust the officials in Indonesia... :D



Had my last Bintang on the airport (broke but still worth the 5€ I swipped with my Mastercard) and got on the plane to Kuala Lumpur. In Kuala Lumpur I nearly missed my flight because I was too busy reading blogs and didn't hear any announcements (there were none??). When I got to Amsterdam I felt utterly shit. All my muscles were hurting, I was chronically getting cold shivers, then again at times I felt as hot as an oven, my eyes hurt and the lights looked too bright and I felt very disoriented. I felt like crying because I knew I still had 6 hours to go before I would be home.

Now, writing this three days later, I can tell you, I apparently got TONSILLITIS. WTF. Was a bit surprised when the doc called me :D Oh well, like my mate said:

"mut mita suurempi fail sita parempi matka aina

se on sellane laki

oon huomannu tan kun oon suorittanu empiirisia tutkimuksia"

PS. Jeff told me on Facebook, that only the driver is supposed to have a helmet. But the cops just pull over westerners who don't know about the law with the hope of a bribe..

Ubud

9.1-13.1 Ubud



Woke up, had brekkie and packed. Jonas drove me and Milka to Jean’s work to get hammocks and we said bye to him. I knew I was gonna say bye to him soon but it came so quickly that luckily I had no time to get emotional :) Which is what always happens if I get attached to someone even slightly – be it a boy I like or a girl I become good friends with. Really doesn’t need a lot for me to make have to hold back my tears. I WEAR MY HEART ON MY SLEEVE – WHAT EVER!



We got Ticket to the Moon -hammocks from Jean for the price of cost ! WTF SO CHEAP. 200 000 rps/per every item we wanted to purchase. I got a king size hammock for my bro’s room (since he’s been talking about getting one now that Vipe is also moving in with us<3) and I had a hard time deciding whether I wanted the double of the kng size for myself. I decided to go with double since it is smaller (for my travels!) and they were available in cuter colors ;) haha. I’ll make my bro swear though that if I need his hammock, he’ll have to lend it to me! :D But yeah. Got them for a really good price 400 000 rps (Jean also threw in a Ticket to the Moon -bag for us) which is really sweet if you compare it to the price you get in Europe. Someone said they cost 40€ in Europe for a _single_ ? Sick.



We started driving to Ubud where I was to meet Jared ! Luckily when we asked ”Permisi, Dima na Ubud?” from a local in the traffic lights, she told us to follow her as she was going that ay anyways ! <3 I was just so happy to sit at the back of the bike and listen to my iPod. Had all these hangover realizations (yeah so.. karma strikes, didn’t have my hangover with everyone yesterday so i’ll just suffer today.. alone..). It was funny, when the woman fianlly pulled over to tell us where we’d have to drive, as she was about to go to the different direction, she told us ”If you want driving license, you come to DenPasar (etc).”  - THAT FUCKING LADY WAS A CIVILIAN POLIVE OFFICER AND I HAD BEEN SITTING ON MILKA’S BIKE THE WHOLE WAY WITHOUT A HELMET : DDDD Gotta love it.



When we finally saw the hotel Jared had booked for us it was 4pm. I was hoping he would be in his room so I could creep in and jump on him! But when I got of the bike and I was talking to the receptionist I turned around and saw someone – ”Sandra?” ”JARED!!!” I ran to hug and kiss Jared and was so happy yet confussed seeing him. Imagine meeting someone in Bali that you’ve seen the last time in Australia 14 months ago?



 

I was so stoked on my hammock that we hung it on one of the chill pads and got in with Jared in it. We just laid there talking and listening to the rain. It was so good.



That night we went to this small restaurant (only three tables!) and had yumm Indonesian food. I had this coconut curry thing, but was a bit dissapointed to find out it was a soup! I had been dreaming of my dad’s Indonesian coconut curry and was a bit bummed to notice i’d be eating another soup :D (I had a soup as an appetizer). Nevertheless it was good :)



The rest of the days went pretty similarly – Chilling and just eating. I felt a bit sick from all the Indonesian food (physically as well as mentally) so after the first night I just ate what Ubud was known for – for all its fucking delicious organic stuff!



My tummy had been feeling a bit off and I was actually getting a bit nauseous when ever I'd order Indonesian (lack of appetite) so I went on this no-Indo -diet and just ate all these delicious organic foods, freshly squeezed juices and healthy teas made from ginger and such. I felt amazing already after a couple days of this diet. :)



One day me an Milka went to see Ketut, you know, from the movie Eat, Pray, Love. It was Milka’s idea and I thought it would be a laugh to go get my palm read (”Sandra, I see no men in your palm – only 16 cats”) but once we got there I changed my mind. A poster of eat, pray, love, tourists and A WAITING NUMBER ?? How much touristier can it get. It was no suprise for me that it owuld be touristy, but when I heard the price (250 000 rps ?!?!) I told myself ”hell no”. I had a good time listening to Milka’s palm reading though (”veeery veery pretty”) although it seemed very superficial in my opinion and also like Ketut would have dementia (he kept repeating and asking a lot of the same questions). However, it was an experience (for Milka) and Ketut seemed like a sympathetic, cute old man who was missing most of his teeth.



I also went to the clinic because my burn on my leg had torn open and I had a hard time walking because it felt so nasty. Got all these cool pills (antibiotics and pain killers) and bandades and all this shit and I got told I had a second degree burn. Guess i’ll really have this Balinese Tattoo as a souvenier...



That first night that I was supposed to clean my burn with this liquid and put antiseptic cream on it, I just couldn't do it. I was so disgusted :D Instead I had a couple sips of the whisky Etcha and Paolo had given me, and let Jared do the honors!



Milka left to climb the volcano (UNFAIR i wanted to do that too ;/) and I stayed with Jared in Ubud. Jared was a babe and one day he bought as both massages! It was sooo good. Managed to drift to asleep at least seven times in that session :)

(Sorry for the possible sudden loss of appetite guys!)

  Yay! it's healing!

On the last morning that we left, I woke up with a massive hangover (kids, don’ rage drink Bintang on an empty stomach) and was GLAD to know I had heavy painkillers in my Toya Clinic –bag.

Late night drunken munchiez - gotta love Padang Food <3 (Note how i'm enjoying ;D)

As I was packing with this massive head ache, Jared went to pay for the room and when he came back, he has bought me a bracelet with thre turtles on it.. Aww! I had told him jockingly I wanted a bracelet from him so I could remember him (”because you are so forgetable”) but I had totally not seen it coming :D Thanks Jared <3



We got a taxi which drove Jared to the airport (”See you somewhere in the World”) and me to Canggu...

Costa da Caparica

27.7 Costa da Caparica, Portugal



Photo by Raphael Diaz

Today was by far one of the best days of my trip so far.
Thank you good karma !!!

But before getting into detail about how karma rewarded me with, i'll start from the begining.

I had decided the day before that I would go surfing to Costa de Caparica so after having breakfast with Lien, moving my luggage from the room to the other one (i want o stay in the cheapest room for 12.5€ so I have to change rooms two times.. :D)  and getting my stuff ready, I headed to the kiosk downstairs to charge the public transport card Lien had given me. Unfortunately the lady working there only knew Portugease, so I couldn't really communicate with her in Spannish nor understand anything of what she was saying to me. I decided to 'fuck it' and strolled to the terminal, where from the ferry would leave to the island. The guy working there told me in (English!) that the next one would leave in 50 minutes so I tried to figure out how to kill the remaining time.



I decided to go the near by café and have a coffee and finally taste that famous pastry "pastéis de nata". I've been getting by just fine by talking Spannish to people (after - of course - asking them "hablas español") but when I ordered a "café con leche" (café latte) I got this tiniest cup of dark coffee in it - an espresso. I don't like that stuff but I didn't really care so I just sat outside with my delicious pastry, coffee and my brilliant book in my hand. I was just feeling so incredibly happy. I don't know if it also had to do with the fact that I was in the middle of a good happy happy joy joy chapter in "The Marching Powder", but at that point I just felt so good.



I got on the ferry and watched the beautiful scenery and smelled the ocean. Oh, how I love that smell... :) I'm so happy that next summer I'll be smelling the ocean for three weeks if everything goes as planned...! When we arrived in Trafaría, I found out that the bus was due to leave in 20 minutes so I just wandered around for a bit. I felt almost ecstatic. It was such a beautiful day - the sun was shining, I was walking on a freaking peninsula in Portugal, the scenery and the buildings were ashtonishing and I was about to surf (finally!!!). I was just so unbelivably happy. And also, just so grateful to be traveling on my own. Once again I was going through a list in my head of things that I appreciated about traveling alone. I just loved it how I could fully absorb everything without any interference. If I were to travel with someone, it would mean that I would need to keep that person company - which would mean talking. Don't get me wrong, I love long conversations but sometimes it's just pleasant to be in silence and enjoy the environment.



After the bus journey I was dropped off at Costa de Caprica and I wandered to the beach. I was looking for this surf shop the receptionist in my hostel had recommended for me. He told me he had a friend working there ("just ask for philippe") and that I could rent a board and a wet suit from him. I had to get my map out to see what the street was called and suddenly this guy in board shorts, who was passing me, asked me in English whether I was looking for something. I gestured at the address and he told me he knew that place and asked whether I was looking to buy a surf board.

"No, I just wanna rent one and a wet suit too. I'm staying at this hostel and my receptionist told me that his friend works at this surf shop."
"Ok I know where it is, I know the owner too."
"Oh, really?" (thinking that I'd better get a good deal know)
"Yeah it's just there *points at the flags of the shop* But I mean I have a board and a wet suit, you culd just borrow them."
"Really? That would be sweet, for how much?"
"For free"
"No way, that would be so nice of you! What kind of board do you have? Long or short board?"
"Both."
"Well could I borrow the long board? I don't really have any paddle power for the short one."


So yeah. Good fucking karma. I saved so much money today and hang out the whole day with the coolest life guards. A wettie would've cost me 20e for haf a day (so fucking expensive!!) and a board god knows what. I was so grateful for Rafa, the Portuguese life guard that lent me his board :) I went surfing and was froffin'... It was so good to be in the ocean again and all those bad memories from Morocco, that I might've combined with surfing in my sub concious, where whiped away :) After surfing I was just hanging out in the life guard tower with Rafa and his work mate Mali, a Brazilian guy. Just sun bathing, enjoying life and reading my book. I was just so amazingly happy. Eating my fruit and smiling to myself :) "Life is better when you surf" - so true.

It was funny when Rafa left out for lunch and I stayed back with Mali. He doesn't speak really any English so I was having a conversation about Brazil (world cup, weather and how they have winter when we have summer) with him in my basic Spannish and his Spannish/Portuguese :D Amazingly we did actually succeed in having a convo and I was just even more proud of my Spannish skills :D



Mali and Rafa have to use radio phones while working so at one point I just grabbed the phone and started chatting into it in English/Spannish about taking Mali and Rafa as hostage and how I "Necesito dinero rápidamente" !!! Mali was cracking up also - when after talking into the radio phone - he sighted very loudly and I told him "Hard work, hey". Yeah, so hard, sitting on the beach the whole day and looking at girls !

I was a bit bummed that I had't taken my camera with me (I left everything valuable back home and didn't even take a wallet with me so that I could go into the ocean without a worry) but luckily Rafa had his camera with him. He has a Nikon D200 and a SICK lense.... It was a sigma 200-500mm and cost him 2000e..... eheheee. (He is a photographer while he is not rescuing lives on the beach). We made some great "baywatch photos" and he promised to e-mail them to me. I told him that tomorrow I would come to Costa de Caprica with my camera so I could take some photos myself and surf some more (since I can use hi board again, yay !). He invited me to stay and have dinner with him and his friends tomorrow so I might do that too.



When I left home after five hours on the beach (I applied sun screen many times!) it took me two fucking hours to get back to my hostel so all the shops were closed since it was half past nine already. Luckily had some stuff at the hostel so I made a salad (without feta boo) and joked aroun with Lien and Marta. Too bad the girls are leaving tomorrow but yeah, I don't think I would be hanging at the hostel that much anyways... TIME TO SURF!

A Backpacker Will Always Find A Way

19.7 Arriving in Salou, Spain



Arriving in Salou, Spain was just like I had expected - a bit of an adventure but nothing a backpacker couldn't get through. I didn't have a map, a clue where Salou was or how to get there from Reus’ airport nor any idea whether anyone (Mia or her family that is) would be home. But a backpacker will always find a way.

So I got off the plane and hurried to the bus as all the other people were hopping on cabs. I was so proud that I managed to sort out instructions how to get to Mia's address by asking the bus driver with my basic Spanish I hadn't used since my senior year in high school. When I hopped off the bus and found the street Mia was supposedly living on with her family, I started laughing with failure. Just as I had suspected - the apartment buildings were huge and consist of many many flats so there was no way you could go knocking on each door trying to find the right door. I had of course been given only the address and the buildings number, but no info what so ever on which apartment it would be :D

I also realized that there would be no way of getting in the actual yard since all the buildings were surrounded by gates that you needed a key to. I decided to ignore the problem and just call George (cause Mia's phone didn't work) when I would find the right building. Just then I saw a man sitting in a car, and just as I wondered wtf he was doing there alone sitting in the dark in the middle in a car- a girl's head came up from his lap. Oh how awkward, road head, i'm outta here! :D Walk passed the car and tried not to laugh.

I was lucky though, as soon as I arrived infront of the right apartment building, some people that were staying there were about to enter the gates and they let me inside too ! Karma was feeling a bit generous as turned out that the couple knew exactly whom I was looking for since they were neighbours from across the O'Shea family's door ! Just as I had thought, no one was home. So I finally called George who was in Barcelona but he was such a babe that he called Mia's mom, Nina, to let her know I was infront of their door. I sat there, in the hallway, on my backpack flicking the lights on every minute or two just so I could keep on reading the book Tom gave me (The Marching Powder by Rusty Young). I only waited like 5-10 minutes but I was so happy to see Greg and Nina come up the stairs and ran to hug them. They fed me as I waited for Mia and Dan. I was so excited to see Mia but the poor thing was sick so we decided to go to bed straight away and catch up tomorrow.

Arriving in Poznan & Berlin

Arriving in Poznan and Berlin 6.7

Woke up a couple of times during the night just to realize it was still a couple of hours before my wake up call. I had to pee bad, but I coulnd't be bothered to get out of my sleeping bag and the caravan to the cottage, so I just decided to carry on sleeping. When finally my grandparents, my aunt and my cousin Adriana drove me to Ostróda station and I got on my train, it was 7:21. I forgot to write down the departing information on my interrail ticket, but luckily the conductor was a nice man and let it slip. Don't know how strict they really are about this stuff.

I arrived in Poznan at 12 and went straight away to the post office to send off some of the unnecessary items I was carrying with me, such as the gummies I had bought for the rainy day at the festival, my rain poncho (It was annoying to pack each time), my mozzie repellent (it's not like they bite me anyways), my second Spannish book (hey who am I kidding, still haven't had time to even open up the first book), too many pairs of shorts I had taken with me and some other clothes. Cost me like 15 euros but what ever. Now there's space in my backpack again and I got rid of 3kg :)

Headed from there to Maccas OF COURSE. When in need of WiFi, just go there to sort your business out. I was freaking out when I saw the f*cking video Edwina the Aussie girl had posted on my wall. Some dude had been filming at the Deadmau5-show, and got a good 20 second glimps of the gig screen and me and Edwina raving on some guys’ shoulders in are bras .... EPIC :D But yeah, I went to Maccas to sort some shit out. I was tryinna figure out where to stay in Berlin for the night. I was not looking forward to paying for accom cause I had thought that it would be a longer ride from Poznan to Berlin than 3 hours. So I was counting on spending the night at a night train. Looking for a hostel felt so tirying, even more so, cause I was so damn exhausted form the festival. At one point I felt like I could take no more (every hostel was like booked for the night / they were far away form the train station) and felt like giving up and just laying in a starfish position in the middle of McDonalds’ floor. So mentally exhausted. I realized thought that I had no other chance than to carry on and book a freakign hostel.
After all that jazz I reserved my train ticket and started walking to the old square _with_ my backpack (couldn’t be arsed to leave it at the station) in the middle of the freaking zebra pass bumped into Marciano and Joanna ! I knew they were gonna be in Poznan for the Manu Chao concert but it was just so weird yet pleasant bumping into them randomly :) In my sweaty and heavy 20 minute walk to the square I managed to buy new black fake converse ! And they were only 4 euro ! I threw the old hole-y WET ones out and hang my new ones on my backpack. AND I MET BARBARA :)

I went for lunch with her and Natalia joined us too since my train was only gonna leave in 2,5 hours. It was so lovely to see the girls <3 Barbara I had met in 2009 in the Lion’s Youth Exchange in Mexico and Natalia in October in Mission Beach. They were so nice and insisted on payign my bill ”since I was a backpacker” ! :D ridiculous. good karma hey.

I panicked on not making my train but luckily i made it 5 minuted before its departure. I didn’t have to worry about sitting by myself cause right away i nthe corridor I met three good looking Belgians.

”Do you know whether we have to sit in our places?”
”I don’t know, we didn’t reserve a place...”
”Really? :D Well can I just sit with you guys until we get evicted by the conductor.”

And so I met my first travel buddies ! Dan, Peter and Jonas were pretty amaized by my knowledge of Belgian language (well Dutch really but they understand it)... Just as I suspected, I shouldn’t have reserved a hostel for the first night. ”What if I meet nice people on the train?” And the boys asked whether I would like to just stay with them since I was a lonely wolf :D I was happy to ditch my hostel which was god knows where. Don’t really care about the 19 euros that’s gonna be charged on my credit card from the reservation, I just wanted to stay somewhere close. PLUS i was so exhausted.

It also came in handy for the boys, that I spoke Polish because the conductor wasn’t too happy with them not having a reserved seat. I asked whether we could buy them now and things got sorted. I also got rid of my zlotes (polish currency) because the boys lacked them and so they changed they euros for my zlotes! ;)

But arriving to Berlin didn’t go as smooth as sound as we thought. Just as we got out of the train and were standing on the platform we heard an alarmingly loud man voice scream and a shout to STOOOOP STOOOOOP STOOOOP. We turned around to see what the fuck was going on – and the moment froze – as the train had began to move, the door was still open with a lady hanging from the knob. As the train sped up she was desperately trying to get in but could not just make it. The man – her husband assumably – was still shouting for them to stop the train and I was just too scared and in shock to watch anymore. If the woman would loose her grip of the speeding train, she would fall on the tracks and die. A miracle happend and some how she made her way on the wagon. Someone must have helped her in. We were just in full shock standing there and trying to make of what just happened. I was just to happy to see that the woman got in and hear her man screaming loudly at the conductors on the station.

Peter, Dan & Jonas

I believe thought that everything happens for a reason I think this served as a good wake up call to watch out more and not be oblivious about everything.