Couchsurfing is...

So. Well As you probably know, when I talked about all the cool places I went in my trip in 2007/8, 90% of the I stayed at.. XX's, were couchsurfers. A lot of people don't know much about Couchsurfing, and can't believe I would stay on people's couches. That I didn't know. In foreign countries! And yes, granted I saved a lot of money this way, but it was also a wee bit stressful never having a room, only occasionally having a bed, turning up in strange places and having to socialise with strange people and follow instructions to houses in the middle of nowhere, and spending a lot fo my travel time on the internet trying to arrange where I was going to stay, when I was going to arrive, who I was meeting. Honestly, it's far easier to book a hostel.

So Why Couchsurf? Well for me, and for a lot of people, it's not about the free accomodation. And recent things in the media, including a debate I wandered into here has made me think WHY do we couchsurf? And why can't media seem to get that it's more than just a free place to stay?

So.. to me couchsurfing is:

- all the cool people I met in Toronto who, considering I didn't have a job or know anyone when I arrived in May, I would never know

- the amazing 5 day drive/ferry/party in Newfoundland, the road trip I would never have gone on if someone in the CS Toronto group hadn't posted "Anyone want a ride to Newfoundland?" - I saw Icebergs!

- The party with over 100 people in Boston, all of which were couchsurfers and so happy to talk to you, and the cool people I met there who hung out with me while my friends I was ACTUALLY visiting in Boston had work all day

-The amazing time I had in NYC staying with the people I met at the Boston party the week before, and the amazing friendship I STILL have with a couple of them, even though we only met for 4 days a year ago

-My going away party in Toronto where we ended up in my friends apartment, drining Sangria and dancing Salsa (which I had only learned that night) with a couple of mexicans and an argentinian until after 5am. Man, South Americans can dance!

- the great time I had in Valencia with the tomatina crew, and the insane wine festival the locals took us to which ended up being way better than Tomatina, and we would have never known about otherwise

-the chance to watch the opening game of the rugby world cup in Toulouse with 11 crazy chain smoking French rugby players swearing at the tv

-the crazy Vegetable orchestra in Vienna, how many hostel goiers do you know of that go to contemporary art museum openings in old Nazi bunkers in their trips?

- DORA! The girl that couldn't host me, but hosted a night of wine, chatting and making Hungarian cake in Budapest, and then invited me out the next night to hang with the amazing Budapest Couchsurfers

-VIKTOR! Another amazing Hungarian couchsurfer who I met in New York and who a) talked me into going to Budapest (even though it took a couple of months to sink in) and b)let me stay in his apartment in Budapest even though he wasn't there!

-My crazy friends in Munich - people from back home I knew already - but who managed to hook us up a sweet place to crash, with an amazing host who not only cooked delicious food for us, but saved us a place in the best real German tent for the last night of Oktoberfest and then had MORE food ready when we got home after losing him at the end of the night. Oh, AND he even offered for me to wear his mother's german lady costume. Which I declined because I only had hiking boots, but when I got into that amazing tent, I felt wholly underdressed!

- Gesa! The awesomely funny girl I stayed with in Berlin who fed me currywurst, told me I could speak german because I was good at faking it at the kebab shop and laughed at drunk Americans with me

- The cool dude in Copenhagen who I hung out with watching scary movies (did you know all Danish tv is in English?)

-The very cool girl who I met at my going away party in Toronto but I kept in contact with through facebook and who invited me to her bday party in Brugge. She showed me all around town on her bicycle, showed me where the best waffles were and then the next night her flatmate took me out for a drink at another random bar in town. After her bday party (the next day) three of us hung out in the town square all afternoon and people watched - I love Brugge...

- The funny Swedish/Scottish guy who coped with me dragging him all over town in Edinburgh and took me to a ceilidh (said kay - lee) which was just fun - like folk dancing at school

- The very cool Edinburgh crew who I introduced my friends who had been in Edinburgh all of a week too, and after I left they partied with for 4 months.

- And finally - the girl I met in toronto over summer who kindly let me stay in her front room for an entire month over christmas and new years in Vancouver with no payment except some afghan biscuits and walking her dog for her!

So yeah, there have been some weird times (the guy in Barcelona who didn't talk to us much, the guy in Prague who ditched me in town then tried to make up for it with drunken standing TOO close and wanting hugs, the girl in Paris who I didn't see for the last 2 days I was STAYING IN HER APARTMENT), the good far overshadows the weird.

And I love it.

Whenever people say - what if something goes wrong? I say - firstly, things can go wrong in hostels, and secondly - I'm a grown up, I have a credit card. If it's shite, i'll just walk out, go to the nearest hotel and get a room.

Honour Roll Call (last post, going home tomorrow!)

Hey everyone

So, tomorrow I leave Canadia for the final time this trip. After 6
weeks in Vancouver I am totally ready to go home. I think Vancouver
was a good way of getting ready to go home, it's smaller than either
Toronto or London (where I came from) but it's still new and different
so it was a good stepping stone on my way to home! This last 6 weeks I
have watched it try to snow about 4 times in Vancouver, gone up to
Quadra Island with my family for Christmas, hung out with CS people a
couple of times, gone down to Seattle to buy me a new (pretty, cool,
shiney) computer, gone to Whistler and seen lots and lots of snow,
gone snowboarding (-remembered how much I suck) in Whistler, gone to
Calgary to see Kerra, partied with cool people in Calgary, hung out
with lots of family in the last 2 weeks in Vancouver, including
sorting out 5 boxes of christmas ornaments and a box of stuffed dogs
at my great grandparents old house.

Anyway, as my 9 months of travelling draws to a close, I am looking
forward - for jobs and flats in Wellington ( if anyone knows of any,
let me know), and looking back to all the cool people I met over the
last year. So, (in place order from when I first arrived in Canada) -
I would like to thank the following people:

Thanks to...

Toronto:
- Shineen and family and friends, Ariqa, Sameen, Shezeen, Kristen,
Lindsay, Angie, and the boys with the awesome fireworks display, -
Tyler, Woody, Troy, and Julie - I met at the cottage over Canada Day.
- The Toronto CS Crew: Mark, Gary, Sofia, Ray, Jeanne, Maria, Megan,
Austin, Anwar / Bex and Gulliaume, Amy and everyone else I missed!

St John's: Edson, Eric, Holly, Nabil, Alicia, and the cool crew in Newfoundland, you guys were great!

Montreal: - Kim and Andres (CS people) for being cool and looking after me!

Boston:
- Grant and Halvar - it was good to catch up!, Eli, Brad and Claudine
for touring around with me, Kate for a fun party, the Boston CS crew
and NYC CS crew for a fun party weekend. Jacqui and Mark (again) for
braving the beach in Boston!

NYC: - Bastien for letting me stay, Neil, Connie, Seth, Viktor,
Nicky, Kristen, Kristina, Chris and all that braved the unitard pub
crawl, I had an awesome time in New York, come visit me in NZ!

London take1: - Julia and her flatmate who so graciously let me sleep
all afternoon at their house

Spain: - Mike and Sue, Mark, Lysette, Simon, Chris, Misha, Georgie,
Mick, Mon and Jack and the other 20,000 people that made Requena and
Tomatina memorable!

Toulouse: -Thanks Taz, Julien and Dennis, plus all the crazy rugby
players we laughed with at the opening game of the world cup

Marseilles and Nice: -Guillaume, who we love for taking us to the
black seeds and to Nice!

Switzerland: Simon G for letting me sleep and watch tv for 3 days
until I recovered from hostels, and Joe Trodahl for buying us lunch!

Austria: Michael, Abe, Spyro and all other people I met in Vienna and
esp those that played soccer with us at midnight my last night.

Hungary: The lovely Dora for an awesome night baking and drinking
wine, Annie and Eduardo for a cool day sightseeing and hanging out,
the Budapest CS crew for a good night at the pub, and Jacob for
letting em watch Heroes. Which, btw, is the only episode I have seen
this season!

Poland: Nick, Jordan, Dave and the crazy Canadians, Dave the English
man - for good nights out. Jade and Hannah and the crazy Americans for
joining me on the Aushwitz tour.

Prague: The two girls who chatted to me on the crowded train, and
Kasha who let me stay on the couch in her dorm when I lost where I was
SUPPOSED to sleep.

Munich: Graham, Andreas and Rian for getting me drunk and feeding me
copious amounts of meat at Oktoberfest, the Englischers, Dave, Tom,
Eden,and Adam for letting us sit with them and for torturing us
mercilessly when they beat Aussie and we got kicked out of the world
cup!

Hagen: Christina for taking me out even when I was exhausted from
Oktoberfest, and her funny English department comrades for looking at
me funny when they found out I didn't speak German

Berlin: the lovely Gesa for lending me books to read and making me eat Currywurst

Copenhagen: Thomas for taking me in last minute, and letting me cook!

Bruges: Sibyl and Clara: one is an excellent host, the other for
laughing with me and perving at 17 year olds

Amsterdam: Mel for touring museums with me, Jenna and Jo for the
parties and the Aussie guys for a good night (even if you did
disappear in the middle of the night to do shots with the hot barman
and left me all alone! - send me photos!)

Paris: Actually, my host in Paris ditched me my last night, and still
owes me €10 so no thanks to her!

London Take 2: Bex, her awesomely odd flatmates, Tyler for giving me a
big hug when arrived, then proceeding to tell me I looked young, had
nice skin and no wrinkles, and then taking me to all you can eat Hell
(what more can you want in a man? ;) ), Leonard for going out for 'one
drink' and getting me trashed, Simon and Anneke for the same thing the
next night - fun party guys!

Belfast: Sheree and Marty for taking good care of me and taking me to
the Giant's causeway, pity it was sooo cold!

Edinburgh: Rob and his ultra cool flatmates for cooking me food with
no mushrooms and taking me dancing, Hayley and Nick for joining in,
coming to crazy CS things and doing tours with me

Manchester: Penny and Caro for letting me be sick on their couch for a week
Coventry: Paul and Jane for looking after me for the weekend:

London take 3: Bex and all her kiwi friends for the dinners, drinks,
shows and shopping, Leonard, Warren and friends for good nights out
and good drinks and good company,

Vancouver: Rayna and Garry for all the dinners, letting me stay on the
couch for a MONTH, Fi and Micah for looking after my suitcase, Simon for
taking me out, The CS Vancouver crew for some fun nights out, Doug,
Lorraine, Mum, Marg, Robyn, Maureen, Leo, Margaret, Shane, Melissa,
Marie, Mike and all my other family for being so nice, entertaining me
with unpacking, dinners, lunches and letting me stay at Aunt
Kathleen's for two weeks. And finally - to Tony, for listening to me
moan about Rogers and how they charge you heaps per minute and I ran
out of money - until he run out of money. Umm sorry!! Go Fido, I hate
Rogers.

So yeah, that's my roll of thank yous. If you have someone's email
address that I mentioned but don't have their address, please forward
this to them or send me their address. If you didn't get mentioned,
feel free to write me back and yell at me.

I will email everyone with my new phone number when I get one in New
Zealand. I hope you can all keep in touch, call me, text me, email me
and come visit!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!!

I'm having a surreal kinda day, realising that back home it's already 2008! And warm. Sip having my first cold christmas - it didn't even snow-  but my first cold New Year's is making me crazy. I miss my beach parties and sitting on couches in the sun all afternoon on New Year's eve drinking beer. Ugh, weird.

I looked at getting a flight home earlier yesterday, cos I'm sick of the cold and want some beaches! unfortunately AirNZ has no flights in my fare class, so I guess it's not meant to be! Staying in Vancouver it is. Maybe I'll get more work and be able to afford a bond for a flat when I get home. Whatever, I am going to Seattle tomorrow, then Whistler on the weekend, and maybe Vernon the weekend after.  So I'll travel around, have a look, and make myself not so homesick.

I think the homesickness is also to do with the fact I miss people I have met this year, esp when they are all posting parties and things they are going to tonight (and last night), Makes me wanna be in London, or NYC, or Toronto tonight!

Oh well, off to a CS party, I'm sure it'll be fun too, if not London or New York.

Happy 2008 everyone!! Come visit me soon :)

Pre Christmas update

Soo. I have been in Vancouver for a couple of weeks now, and it's going well. I was a bit sad the first few days I was here, because after Europe, and London where I was last, it's a bit small. And quiet. And cold. haha.

But, I have friends here who I have been hanging out with. I saw Fi and Micah last week and caught up with them for the first time in ages. It's amazing that it's been 4 years since I lived with Fi, and they've been married for about 2 or 3 years now I guess! I also caught up with Simon and managed to convince him to come to the CS meeting with me here in Vancouver last week. He's coming again this week. If I get him to sign up, that'll be 4 of my friends I have converted, first Tim in China way back when, then Hayley and Nick in Edinburgh, and now Simon in Vancouver! haha, it's a total cult.

I have been working too, today was my 3rd day of work in the last 2 weeks. Pretty good I thought! My temp lady is pretty awesome, always ringing me up with stuff. Although today she rang about an assignment that lasts until Feb and I had to tell her I am leaving before then, so we'll see if she gives up on me now. Oh well, I managed to get 6 days work out of her, which is better than nothing!

So yeah, Vancouver is growing on me. It's smaller than London, but probably a step on the way to Welly. At least it has mountains, and my PACIFIC ocean (I made Si take me down on sunday to touch it), and a lot more independent cafes and restaurants than Toronto. I quite like it here, but yeah, sometimes I just wish I was home and in Summer. I need sun!

Mum is here tomorrow, and I'm excited. Bring on Christmas!

The UK

I was in the UK all of November. I arrived after 2 months on the continent glad to be back somewhere where everything makes sense, beer is more expensive than coke, you can buy hot chips in the pubs, and people speak English! lol, not that I didn't love Europe, but a bit of a rest was great.

After a week in London recovering, catching up with family, doing my washing etc, I then flew to Belfast where I caught up with Sheree and Marty and saw a bit of the Irish contryside as well as rested a bit more. I even took a tour of the murals from the Troubles, which although the tour guide talked about it being way past them, was really only less than 15 years ago. Belfast seems nice, but it was freezing and not so much of a tourist town i think!

After that I went to Edinburgh. I had a great time in Edinburgh, catching up with Hayley and Nicky, doing two tours, one a bus tour and one a walking tour of the old town, and also going to a scottish dance called a Ceilidh (this rhymes with Hayley.. work that one out!) where we flung each other around, and having a mexican night with couchsurfers where we watched Flight of the Conchords on dvd (their season one of the tv series was just released). Altogether I had a great time and I wish I could have stayed there longer, Edinburgh is a great city!

Last week I went to Manchester where I fell ill with a annoying cold. So I caught up with Penny (who used to work at VUW when I was there) at night, and then slept all day with my head cold. Ugh. I still have a cough a week later! In Manchester we went Ice Skating, to the Christmas markets and saw lots of pretty lights (a lit up christmas tree and huge santa claus) and it felt all cold and wintery and like christmas in the movies. I bet all you people in NZ are laughing now because I heard it's extra warm there right now. Oh well, winter for christmas is a bit different I guess and I have to do it once!

So manchester was fun, even if I did only see it at night. Lastly I it Coventry for a weekend to see family and then went back to London for my final 10 days.

In London, I caught up with family, caught up with friends, partied a lot, went to the Tate Modern, We will rock you (the show - which was AWESOME, GO if you can), shopped a bit and took photos of Hyde park in Autumn. Mmm leaves. This is such a novelty to this Wellingtonian that I HAD to kick them hehe. One day I even went to Stonehenge, which btw, is tiny and miles out. The best part was the bus ride really, and the Americans complaining about smelling cows. Umm, it's the country? It made me laugh.

London was awesome as always and I met some cool people. From the dinner I had the 2nd night I was back where I spent the whole night talking to a guy called Brendan who got ditched by his gf, to the last night where it was Bex's flattie's birthday and we had a yummy homecooked dinner followed by the thickest cake ever, it was all good. Totally makes me wish I had my career sorted so I could be working there instead of trying to start again back home! Oh well, one day.

Next - to Vancouver on Dec5, and am staying with the lovely Rayna for a bit. Some of my family is nearby, so I will meet up with them for christmas and then I am coming back to NZ on Jan 22!

Paris

Last stop on my trip through Continental Europe was Paris! City of love.. or something. Trust me, I saw soo many couples I could believe it, but I had fun by myself anyway.

My first day was the best, I took the metro to the Place de la Concorde and coming up from the subway station, I saw the oblisk at the Place de la Concorde, and the Eiffel tower along with the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs de l'Elysees.

 

I wandered down the avenue to the Arc de Triomphe, ate Crepe and got a bit lost when looking for food for lunch. Lesson - don't wander off the main drag! Anyway, I eventually went up the Arc de Triomphe and squizzed at the view. Pretty cool.

 

That evening I went to the Louvre which is free for under 26 year olds on friday nights. Yay! The Louvre was very cool, but sooo HUGE. I spent 3.5 hours walking around until my legs almost dropped off! I saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo like a good little tourist, but apart from the shock factor about how tiny it is and how much you can't see it, the Mona Lisa is unexciting. I much preferred all the sculptures.

Venus de Milo:

Mona Lisa (life size.. lol)

The Louvre is pretty at night though.

  

Sat I went to the Sorbonne and the university area. I went to a museum of medieval things, and spent the afternoon wandering around by Notre Dame (but not in, the line was HUGE) and around the Islands of the Seine.

Notre Dame:

Sunday my host took me up Montmatre (as featured in Amelie) and then down to the Moulin Rouge area, across to the Madeline and the Opera and then back through a giant park to the Louvre again!

We ended up sitting on the point of one of the Islands in the Seine (Ile de la Citie?) and hanging with our legs over the edge watching the light go down and all the lights of the city come up. Very cool.

Monday it was raining :(. Nonetheless I walked up the Eiffel tower and saw the limited view. I couldn't see ANYTHING from the top, except for the faint outline of the ground looking straight down. Lame. But, the Eiffel tower was cool, and the walk was fun. Pity about the rain.

         

The last thing I did in Paris was find the statue of Liberty. I lost my photos of the full size one in New York, so now I have photos of the smaller version in Paris.

Tuesday I hopped on the Eurostar to London and the English speaking world again. After 2 months I was sooo excited to go back! Byebye Euro and trains and motioning instead of talking, hello Pound and family!

Amsterdam

After Bruges I headed up to Amsterdam. Yes I know going down to Belgium, back up to Amsterdam and then planning on going down to Paris was the wrong way of doing things, but it worked out perfectly with Sybil's birthday!

So yeah Amsterdam. For starters my hostel was awesome. It had a bar on the ground floor, so there was rarely a need to leave the place. Breakfast was downstairs, so was the kitchen and the bar. As a result, most of the rooms were extremly quiet as everyone was hanging out together.

Secondly, soo many americans. Just wanting to hang out and get stoned. Which is fine I guess, each to their own, but I found it odd a whole day in a foreign country and city could consist of going to a coffee shop. They DO have dope in the states right? I mean, I know, wow it's legal here, but still. I didn't see heaps of Americans standing at street corners hanging out drinking beer just because they could. Although, I have to say, I could actually imagine them doing that if there were enough! Anyway, Americans are funny species. There seems to be a lot of them in Amsterdam.

In Amsterdam I did all the touristy things, went on a tour, saw the red light district, saw coffee shops, went to the Van Gogh museum, the Anne Frank House and partied quite a bit. The second night I was there I couldn't sleep cos my room was right above the bar and it was kinda loud, so I asked to be changed for the last night. The girl at the front desk was nice enough to give me 2 free drink tickets for any inconvenience caused. Nice.

Photos from the tour:

Monument to the 'unknown prostitute'

The Amsterdam 3 X's 

A coffeeshop

Leaning houses of Amsterdam

So, my last night I partied with some cool Aussies, courtesy mostly of the happy hour, free drink tickets and the cute bartender. It was fun.

Bruges!

After Copenhagen, I got up way too early in the morning to catch the train and ferry down to Germany and then I was hoping to go across to Belgium. Unfortunately the ferry was nowhere near as beautiful the second time. My train was delayed at Hamburg indefinitely due to German train strikes (strike 2, damn supposedly efficient German trains!) So I ended up going through Cologne which has a pretty Cathedral right outside the train station.

I finally arrived in Bruges about 3 hours later than I was supposed to. So poor Sybil had to drive to the train station about a million times everytime my 4 trains were delayed. Fun. But yay, after 18 hours on the train (and stations) I finally made it to Bruges!

It was Sybil's birthday so she took friday off and we cycled around town. Bruges is a very pretty little town, which has cool little canals and over bridges and a huge town square where you can sit and people watch for hours. Which we did one of the days I was there!

Some pics:

People on a boat tour:

Canals:

They have YUMMY waffles. And lemon Sorbet. And Sybil and Clara thought I was a pig for wanting both. But I figure if you can fit them in one hand it's ok...

The Birthday girl:

So yeah, I arrived late Thursday night, we had a tour and a party on Friday night, a tour again with Clara a party guest on Saturday, and a family party on Sunday. Lots of birthday party fun. And yummy Belgium food. Waffles and Spinach. and Nutella. I still haven't worked out what it is with Europeans and nutella. Odd.

Copenhagen

My Trip into Copenhagen started with the coolest train ride ever. We went across to Hamburg and then up out of Germany into Denmark. The ride from Germany into Denmark is soo pretty, you go through little pieces of land with sea on both sides, and then you go on a ferry! The train goes onto the ferry, you all get out and then at the other side you get back on the train and it continues.

On the ferry, I caught the coolest sunset, looking back at the little slice of Germany we were leaving..

Copenhagen is pretty. It reminded me of Vienna in that it has a lot of palaces, the difference here is it seems more real, because they actually still have a royal family!

I spent a couple of days wandering around copenhagen, which was cold and very expensive, but so lovely. They even have free bikes you can use. fun. Some pics from Copenhagen...

From the palace gardens, a tree in a cart. Apparently a traditional thing:

The royal house the tree was part of:

The teenage guards they seemed to have everywhere:

The little mermaid, which I cycled to on a free bike and then spent my 20Kr (about NZ$5!) on the nicest small softserve icecream ever. (also the most expensive)

The Royal Palace:

A windwill on the side of the ancient fortified old palace bit

On the other end of the scale - Statues of trash in the town square:#

And, a rally for the homeless of Copenhagen, where they tried to give me a free pair of hobo gloves. Unlike homeless in the rest of Europe, the Danish actually seemed to care about theirs. Maybe because it was Oktober, and already damn cold!(or because most people are pretty rich?)

On my last night in Copenhagen I was lucky enough to go to the Royal Danish Ballet. I had to queue for over 2 hours for tickets, but I got pretty good ones in the dress circle. If you are under 30, they are 60% off. Score!

The opera house is out of town a bit, so you can take a long bus to get there, or a ferry! I took the ferry to the very cool venue.

Pics from the ballet:
opera house inside

the Ferry:

Opera house outside

Theatre at half time from my seats:

Pretty close to the stage eh?

Berlin

After Oktoberfest, I went up through Germany stopping overnight at Graham's in Darnstadt, and then Christina's in Hagen, then made my way to Berlin!

Berlin has a giant train station (the largest in Europe I think), where ironically, on the day of the France England rugby game, they were displaying giant banners of Dan Carter in his undies:

(brilliant, you come halfway around the world and it's still DC in the the jockies)

In Berlin I stayed with the lovely Gesa, and mostly lay around reading books a lot! But apart from that, I went on a cool bike tour, and saw Berlin...

Our Tour Guide and the memorial to Jews killed in the Holocaust

Me standing in old East and West Berlin at the same time (the cobblestone represents where the Berlin wall used to be)

And I also went to a museum and saw the gates of Babel from the ancient city. On my last day there, Gesa and I had currywurst, which is basic bratwurst with curry powder on and then a whole heap of tomato sauce, which totally mask the curry flavour. (quite disappointing I thought - I was expecting more curry!)

Then we walked up a huge hill and looked at the city at night. Very cool.

Overall I liked Berlin, soo much history with the war, and the Berlin wall and even before that, huge palaces from the Empires.. very cool, and a nice place, but the lack of English and the FREEZING cold made it less fun. Cool big city though.