FINALLY

Our money has replenished and we're on the first train out of Germany. We've contacted some family and are currecntly trying to set up a meeting. We're staying at the Meetingpoint Hostel (http://www.hostel-meetingpoint.nl/) then moving to Stayokay hostel (http://www.stayokay.com/index.cfm?lng=1).

Hopefully soon we'll have something more exciting to post. Sorry for this long boring pause.

-K

We're Still Alive

Sorry for the long period of silence. There hasn't been much going on. We moved to the Vogelweh air base and are staying there to recover from Austria. The room is cheap and there are some neat stuff to do on base.

Base life is interetsing. For some reason, you can only book 3 days at a time and no one seems to know what is open. You have to call central booking to find out what it open but if you don't call during a certain time period, THEY don't know what's open. So we're going to be here until a) the end of the month or b) they have no room... which ever comes first.

More later,

-K

Eurail Tips & Tricks (European Railways)

First thing you want to know, if you are in the Eastern European countries, good chances are the Billeting/Ticketing counters aren't going to speak English, so figure out where you want to go and "how" you want to go first. NOTE you will almost always need a seat reservation.  This is NOT a ticket, its just extra money you pay to ensure you actually have somewhere to sit. Sometimes it's not required, but some of these trains can be jammed packed and leave you without a seat, just get one (or 2 or 3... I'll explain this later)

What I mean by how.  As you probably know, there are seats, couchettes and sleeper cars.  There are Salloon seats and regular seats, really who cares, don't get them, they suck. Very uncomfortable, the non-smoking section is in the same car with no divider as the smoking section, and they offer very little luggage room.

The usual best option is to get a couchette.  What we have found to be the best option, since we already have a 5 country train pass, is to book 4-6 seats, for about 3 Euro a seat, in a couchette. This pretty much reserves the whole couchette (a 6 seat compartment usually with air and a curtain, but always a door, which sometimes is lockable), since there are 2 of us, we at least get 4 seats to stretch out on.  The seats lay down to form a bed if you have 2 of them across from one another.  Believe me, it's worth the 12 euro.

If you don't decide to reserve, and you're on a night train thinking you need some rest, or just some privacy.  The conductor, at least one of them, usually reserves a couchette for themselves.  With some asking around, and about 10 Euro, you can "bribe" them into locking you into their private couchette. Don't worry they wont forget about you, it's their job on the line , but you can get some sleep.  This also works out if all of the sleeper cars are taken.

As for sleeper cars, if you are gonna be on the train more than 5 hours, you should probably get one.  We have paid from $16 to $40 for 2 beds, and haven't shared one yet.  If you think that is expensive on top of you train ticket, just think of it as one night at a hostel or hotel and compare, it is also worth it if you need rest, plus all the doors lock.

First Class trick.  Ok, if you got your tickets in advance, you probably have Student Tickets, which are 2nd Class by default.  Due to my age (> 26) I had to get a First Class ticket and K has 2nd Class.  We usually ride 1st Class anyways, and I show the conductor my ticket, they examine it and then just glance at K's ticket which I put under mine.  So if you have a similar ticket situation, there you go.  Just always ask them a question or two to distract them from reading the second ticket, not that they bother, they just want to make sure you have another ticket for extra people.  However, if they do notice, well just act stupid, as if you havne't done so thus far, and say you didnt know, most of them will just ask you to move to another car, or offer to sell you an upgrade.  There usually isn't much difference in the seat styles of 2nd and 1st Class, a little more room and softness, but there are definately less people!! This is good, less people, less theft, less bothersomeness.. Err or something. If you want to party, honestly, stay in 2nd class, because that's where all the party people are most of the time.

WC, Restrooms.  Most of the toilettes have been fairly decent on the trains. The first class being better with hot water and soap, but the more west you get, the better the 2nd class trains get.  Make sure you wipe the seat, have your own toilet tissue and handsoap.  There is usually a light that tells you if it's in use, when the door is locked, don't threat, just goto the next car.  Caution, dont' do this between stops if you think you will be long, as they sometimes split up cars at stops, if unsure, either wait or ask the conductor which cars goto your destination.

Rail Stops. Be sure to either ask the conductor, have a railway map of stops, or pay close attention to each and every stop.  You have about 2 minutes to get off the train at regular stops, and they do NOT announce the stops all the time.  This can be a pain to get your stuff together and get down the very thing passages with a backpack.  Usually the best thing is to set your watch 30 mins before estimated arrival, so you can wake up and get ready beforehand.

Buying tickets.  For those countries that aren't very helpful at the ticket window, look around for the auto kiosk that sells tickets, it sometimes is the same as the Information kiosk.  Most of them have several languages and allows you to look up several destinations.  I have found a few that even sell reseverations, which you normally have to get at the ticket window, and some that sell local bus tickets.

Side note on bus/metro tickets, its an honor system most everywhere, no one checks your tickets and/or the electronic thing for your ticket doesnt even function, but beware the undercover ticket checkers and the heavy fines (about 20 Euro or more we have heard). We have yet to see them, but we get a ticket every time (almost). Oh yea, DO NOT get the Vienna card or the Budapest Card, NOT worth it, get a week bus pass for way less, screw the coupons, you wont' use them.

That's all for now, I may edit or add on to it later when and if I remember things.
Brian

1 Month Down, 5 More to Go

We are at the Ramstein base for 3 days.. maybe more. Everything is dirt cheap here. We have an apartment for what it cost to stay at a dorm room at a hostel. The food here is great and cheap. We also get huge discounts on tours and daytrips.

Here's our plan: We're going to try to find out if the military can get us a good discount for a tourist company to get us into Russia. If not then we'll visit family in Holland then go to Berlin and apply for our visas. If we can't afford to get into Russia, we'll hang around Ramstein and save money. If the visa falls through then we'll come back to Ramstein and try to get a Space-A flight to the base in Japan or we'll just run around Europe for 5 months. So yeah, we're kinda at a cross-road right now.

The cut on my leg doesn't seem to be healing right. I'm going to try to get seen at the Military clinic and see what they think.

Oh, we bought a small computer from the exchange at the last base. We figure we could save on internet charges over all with it.

Humm, I guess thats all the news I have.

Bye!

-K

A Quicky

In Stuttgart, Germany on the US Army base (Patch Barracks) and we managed to get a bed... the problem is it won't be ready till 2. We're been up since 9am on the 11th... someone shoot me.

Oh yeah, thanks Aunt Kathy! Hi Grandma and Grandpa! Love ya

-K

Austria is Soooo Not for Backpackers

A tip for those of you going to Vienna. To budget for your trip, first take the price of food, drinks and board and then double it. After that, you calculate the exchnage rate. For instance, if a candy bar is $0.50 in the states, it will cost $1 BEFORE the exchange rate. One euro is worth  $1.27... you do the math. This makes for a very expensive place to be. Hostels in every other country in Europe start at 10 euros while those in Vienna and Salzburg seem to start at 16 euros.

It has really cut into out Russia money but we figure we can live cheap in Germany for a bit to make up for it.

Money aside, Austria is a beautiful place filled with a lot of history. We went up the steepest cable cart to see the biggest ice cave in the world. We saw the summer palace and the opera house (yes, we saw an opera too). We also saw the biggest presevered castle in Europe. Not to mention running around the Alps for a bit and seeing the bones of plague victims stacked like firewood up to the ceiling (guess where we got your rock from Tina!)

We also had our first medical worry. One of the cuts on my leg got infected. We aren't sure what it was or how I got it. The cut got red and developed blister like lumps filled with clear liquid. I put some antibiotic cream on it and took some penisilin. It seems to be ok now but it looks like its going to scar.

Tonight we hop on a train for Germany. Hopefully we can stay at a military base there and save money.

Love to all

-K

Ooooh More Backpacking Pics from Europe

Ok.. for those who haven't got the link to the pics it is http://www.questgifts.com/gothdol

I tried to use photobucket or one of those that does automatic thumbs, but it only allows you to upload a few at a time.. This is one of our servers (our online store actually) and it will be updated periodically. Right now most of them are there, just not the ones from the beginning of the trip.  Some are out of order as well, becasue the camera decided to die on us and reset the numbering, so just guess for now   I will be adding them to posts so you can kind of compare them if you so desire..

Anyways, the pics range from Bulgaria, Romania (Transylvania), Hungary, and Austria.  They will soon include Germany..

Have fun kiddies.

Brian

P.S.
Evidentally, the camera decided to rename all the pics from the start, so i have to tell it not too in the future.  For now however, there are some extra pics in http://www.questgifts.com/gothdol/more_here/
These are from Salzburg, Austria, fortress and other stuff, I can't remember now.

Bory Castle

Wow, I think Bory castle is the coolest thing in Hungary.

You walk down this normal looking neighborhood and then BAM! There's a castle in front of you. A beautiful one too. It was built by one guy and took 40 years. It has a lot of pantings and such of his wife. We videoed some of it for you guys back home.

Anyways, after the castle, we got on a train to Austria but almost slept through our stop. We had to rush off the train.

Today we're taking a slow day.

I'm off. Damn place charges 2 euros per 1/2 hour =P

-K

Can't. Move.

We went splunking in the caves and damn are we black and blue. This
wasn't the type of cave where you occasionaly have to duck your
head...no, this was a cave where you had to crawl on your belly and
wiggle through cracks and crevaces. Totally worth it. We could barely
move afterwards.



We're staying at the Red Bus II Hostel. Its a nice place. Its clean and
has a nice day staff... its the night staff you have to worry about.
This one guy in particular lets his friends party at the hostel all
night... this wouldn't be so bad if part of the appeal for the hostel
is that it boast of a quiet place to stay. Ah well. On the 4th, we're
catching a train out to...ummm.... you know what, I forget. We're going
to see Bory(???) Castle and then we're heading to Austria.



We'll times up and we're low on cash.



Love to everyone



-K

10 Things a Backpacker Should Expect

1. Checking to make sure the taxi's meter is running a normal rate.
(Unless the guy doesn't know where he's going... then it might be
cheaper to pay a flat rate)



2. No privacy unless you want to shell out more money



3. Dorm like atmosphere where you have no privacy and people
do...intimate things at night (don't ask... you soooooooooooo do not
want to know).



4. Walking. Lots and lots of walking



5. Public transportation



6. Noisy people who stay up half the night, yelling at the top of their lungs.



7. Sleeping everywhere and anywhere in any kind of environment



8. Labeling your food or hiding it.



9. A lot of non-verbal communication with the natives



10. Adventure.



-K



Oh yeah, we posted pictures throughout our previous posts so be sure to go back and check them out.