I am CANADIAN!

I feel like there is nothing that will make you feel patriotic as traveling. From my travels meeting fellow Canadians has always been a highlight. From the small world story of the guy I met in Prague (who lives a block away from me) to the Canadian couple I met in Budapest (we belted the Canadian national anthem on the street during new years); Canadians are awesome people to meet and travel with.

Continuing on that theme when I got back to Quebec I dove head first into some Canadian culture ie. winter sports. The past few days I found out I have a dedicated hockey rink just outside of my house. So I have been going to there everyday and getting my socks rocked off by Quebecois guys who are amazing at hockey. I also went snowboarding when fresh snow hit the ground (my second day back, c'est normal a Quebec!). 

My friend Justin climbing a fence to get to the promise land. We had a good game going with 5 ppl or so. Then some guy tried to climb the fence and had his pinky chopped off. There was blood on the snow and we had to call the ambulance. But it was still a good game. The guy was fine. 

Fresh powder on coming down on the lifts

Me, Kyle and Francois

There is also a tubing place right next to the rink. I love my location!

Peace from Quebec, CANADA!

General tips for Europe

So after spending 1 month on the road here are some tips I have for travelers.

1. Pack light
2. Fruit roll ups are not available in Europe so it's a good idea to get them as gifts.
3. My plane ride had free wine in tiny bottles. I got some to take with me and had a nice free gift to give to my couchsurfer hosts when I arrived.

4. When you arrive in a new place check out the tourist information center for a city map (usually free) and they can give you specific advice on what to see and how to get there.

5. Always have couch surfers lined up way in advance.

France
1. When in doubt always use your old metro tickets as sometimes they are accepted by the machines even though it said it is not accepted the turn pike will let you in.
2. The Eiffle tower has 4 legs which will let you inside. But if you go to the information desk they direct you to only one of them. But the prices are all the same and they all lead to the same place. So always just pick the shortest line.
3. Strasbourg is very walkable. Don't buy too many tram tickets if you plan to see tourist stuff. Also they are on an honor system for fare payments. 
4. Le Pantheon is a often forgotten gem of Paris. Go see it! 

Germany

1. Tap water is apparently not drinkable - at least in Frankfurt. Make sure you get bottled or filtered water. At restaurants they don't offer free water as a result. But beer is always cheap and good. 

Austria (Vienna)
1. Wombats hostel - this is the best hostel in all of Europe handsdown. Free drink voucher with check in, bar just downstairs with free foosball and pool tables. I met the most awesome people here in Vienna

Hungary (Budapest)
1. The honor system goes for the metro system. But their tickets require a stamp and as far as I can tell they have no way to verify the date or time it was stamped. So use one ticket for your whole time here.
2. STEX is a really good restaurant.
3. Gong cafe is a good cheap local bar.

4. The train station is the worst one I have seen in Europe in terms of wait times. So try to buy your outward journey at another station or arrive at your station at least 2 hours in advance if you need to buy tickets.
5. Mavericks city lodge and inn is a great place to stay.

Czech Republic
1. Touring around on segways is the best - just do it! You can haggle with them especially if they approach you in one of the squares.
2. Czech Inn is a great hostel 

Transportation
1. Trains don't have free water. Make sure you fill up water before you get on.
2. A lot of trains on the Eurail pass requires reservations which actually cost money on top of what you already paid for the pass which leads me to my next point.
3. Don't start your journey in Paris because trains going out of it are almost always needing a reservation. Germany seems to have lots of cities which require no reservation and you can simply hop of the train so start your journey there.
4. You can ask for no reservation required trains and the ticketing booth people will print out an itenary of your route. 

Peace from Quebec city. 

Home sweet home

I am finally back home after spending what seems like an eternity being stuck in Montreal airport.

I had stayed awake through my whole transatlantic flight from Paris to Montreal. I thought I was going to kick jet lag in the balls by my actions - haha oh how wrong I was.

It was smooth sailing on my flight other than the two babies who took turns playing the crying game. Fast forward 8 hours later. I am in Montreal aboard my flight to Quebec city, the flight attendant had already done her mandatory safety prep. But all was not well as she took the mike and announced the dreaded words: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are terribly sorry but this flight has been cancelled due to fog."

So we all disembarked and waited for the chartered bus that was suppose to come in 15 minutes. Two hours later it was still not there. I finally decided to take matters in my own hands and tried to get someone to host me for a night by going on facebook. Just as a friend was messaging me her address the bus came, and since it was only a three hour ride for my own comfy bed I decided to go with the bus option.

I took a taxi from the airport to my house and it was well worth the $30. I was quite happy because through out the ride I was talking to the driver and it seems my French has improved significantly since my Eurotrip :D

Peace from Quebec city.

Paris last day

I just remembered this to post about my last days in Paris. Get used to it kids, Alzheimer is no laughing matter. 

Anyways for my last night I stayed with a friend I met while I was in Basel. And we checked out the Pantheon where they bury all the famous and important French people. This has got to be one of the hidden gems of Paris it was not crowded at all but I would put it up there with the Arch and Eiffel tower in terms of must see places in Paris. 

We also checked out the Eiffel tower again and toured around Paris on the rental bikes. 

Really cool baroque style church that we stayed in for a while because it was raining. The glass windows lit up brilliantly as the clouds cleared - it was magical. 

Le Pantheon

Resting place of Rosseau

Voltaire

Marie Curie!

who walks like that lols?

Peace from Paris.

The train giveth and the train taketh away.... Then giveth again!

Well where to start. This is going to be a long story kiddies. It all started when your dad tried to take a train from Amsterdam to Paris. That failed miserably.

After two awesome days in Amsterdam I was ready to finally go back to Paris to catch my flight. I had checked the train schedules and saw there was a high speed train going direct at 5pm. The only problem was you needed a reservation. In the past it has worked pretty well for me to leave things to the last minute and just get the reservation 1 hour before. So going by the same logic I arrived at the train station with my last slot of my Eurorail pass filled out with 01/12 the day I was traveling. The ticket counter lady checked but there were no more spaces for today's direct trains. So I said no problem how about tomorrow. To which she started a tirade about how I would be committing fraud since I had already filled in my pass with today's date and that was my last slot. But I didn't even use the ticket!

Anyways, traveling alone has taught me not to argue with these types. So I tried to be sneaky and erased my date with my trusty eraser pen and tried to check in with another ticketing agent. But the trains stations here work on a ticket queing system. And after two tries I keep getting the same lady as before or someone close to her. So I gave up and went to my plan B.

Plan B of course is always acting ignorant in case you didn't know. I figured I could get on the train then pretend I didn't know I needed a reservation. And be home free. So with that solid plan in mind I waited by the platform. There was a really helpful station manager who saw I was looking around and guessed I needed help. Since she was so helpful I thought maybe instead of plan B I should go this time instead with plan C.

Plan C in this case is insurance. I could jumped on the train pretending to be ignorant and if they caught me then they might decided to make me pay full price or kick me off the train or let me ride on. But I thought why not get some insurance that is double check with the station manager and try to get a free pass on the no reservation thing. She was so helpful and even talked to the train manager when the train pulled in. But a las it was not meant to be. The train manager was a dick and a half. Totally the type to abuse his power and wouldn't listen to reason at all. So I just said thanks anyways.

At this point the station manager suggested that I catch the train to Brussels and try to see if they have any more reserve seats to Paris from Brussels.

And so my journey took me to Brussels. I quickly dashed up the mountainous stairs and explained the situation to the ticketing agent. He was sympathetic and arranged for me to go to Lillie and then catch the TGV there. But I had to leave now as the train was in 5 minutes and it was the only one if I wanted to catch my connection.

So I dashed back downstairs again to platform 2 where the troubles began. I ran to the first person I saw which is a Flemish girl called Sarah and she said I was at the right platform and it would be the second train that came. Ok phew I was so happy I didn't even bother double checking the counter. And so the first train passed then when the second train came it didn't say Lillie but had said some other place I had never heard of. I jumped on anyways cause it was this or nothing. The train manager this time again was sympathetic and helped me check he explained I could take this train but it is not the one I am suppose to take. And I would miss my connection as a result and there were no more trains.....

So here I am shit out of luck on a train going to a place I have never heard of with no more trains for tonight. So trying to make the best of the situation I went and found my friend Sarah and proceeded to Chris Brown her verbally. "You dun fucked up Belgium!" Anyways it wasn't really a fight or anything we were kind of just kidding around when the train conductor came by. So it turned out it wasn't her fault or mine but the ticketing office. They gave me an itenary with the wrong track number. I should have been standing on track 6 instead of 2........

Well fast forward 1 hour later Sarah helped me get a refund for the train i missed and got me a new ticket for tomorrow. She also let me stay at her apartment because according to her there is "fuck all" in Kortrijk.

In the morning we said our goodbyes and now I have a new friend in Kortrijk. Yay trains I guess? Lols

Sarah the crazy awesome Belgian girl haha

Peace from Lillie onwards to Paris.

High times in amsterdam

I posted a status update on my facebook that I was in Amsterdam. And as it turns out a friend - Moojin is also here. I had met Moojin in Prague just two weeks ago.

So we met up again and checked out the coffee house where we had some Amsterdam specialty. Later on we met up with Moojin's friend Jessie and Jente and we all went to get some drinks. I don't remember much but I do remember we were taking about double fisting at one point. Good times. 

Turns out it is not the same meaning that you think it mean. It means to chug two beers with both your fists?!? Lols hilarity ensued following the discussion of such worldly topics.

Oh yes and what about the day time then - what did your dad do? Well it turned out Jente's dad owns his own Amsterdam tour company. Usually he takes groups of 20 people on these tours but I got a private tour! It was amazing as you can imagine. Being pointed out the often missed sights like the school where Anne Frank went to and local infamous atari like graffiti and so much more!

Mojin with his new haircut

Anne Frank used to live in one of these apartments before the war

The school Anne Frank went to is also the school my friend Jente and her sister Cox went to. 

Some famous guy was doing a guest meeting

good summary of my trip 

Peace from Amsterdam train station.

Amsterdam by bike

I arrived in Amsterdam today after a 8 hour train ride from Basel. Man did I ever sleep. After that long ride I was fully energized and ready to tackle the day with my friend of a friend Jente. 

Jente is the cousin of my friend Anna from the Odyssey program. She graciously offered to host me here after speaking with Anna. I dropped off my stuff in her house and we rented a bike for me and toured around Amsterdam the way it is supposed to - on two wheels! I fuckin love the biking culture here, although as a first time tourist it can be daunting if you are not used to biking. 

Even though I am no rookie on the bike, the traffic here combined with the reckless bikers can definitely put a scare to anyone. On top of that the bike I got is a pedal brake bike which takes some getting used to. But after a successful afternoon and night touring around the city on bikes I feel like one of the locals. 

Tomorrow we are going to check out a special coffee house and tour some more around on what else but my favourite invention - bikes! 

Jente!

Small street by red light district. 

Bike powered lights display

A monument hommage to the dutch painter Rembrant

Look at these beautiful bikes! They are everywhere! 

Drunk people sometimes tries to toss bikes into the river. It is apparently quite a sight to see in the summer time when the boat picks up the ones stuck at the bottom. This guy was lucky he locked his bike to the rail. 

Trying frites with mayo

Peace from Amsterdam.

Basel the little city that could....

Warm up your heart! I arrived in Basel two days ago and spent it with my friend Nicole whom I met on the train during my first week in Europe. Being a border city of course we had to check out the border between Switzerland, Germany and France. I got a personal tour with Nicole. We also randomly passed through an artistic commune on our way and found some cool graffiti that resemble something Banksy would do.

Later in the day we met up with Nicole's sister and her friend and wandered around the city together. Basel as a city feels super safe. As soon as I stepped out of the train I could feel it. It is the most non touristy town I have been on my trip and it feels like I have been here forever with my personal guide taking me and showing me around the city.

Too bad the spear was stuck into the group :( 

Banksy like graffiti

The border statue between the 3 countries

A wild Nicole appears! Pokemon!

Tree house inside Nicole's house

Its not beer. 

Ganster Hipster?

I left today in the morning for Amsterdam and looked forward to high times on bikes.


Peace from Basel.