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I was lucky enough to be in the same place at the same time with some of my friends from Atlanta recently! The band O’Brother was doing a short European tour and I met up with them in England for the Reading and Leeds Festivals, then rode with them for a show in Glasgow, Scotland. It was awesome. I got to hang out backstage and use the not-gross bathrooms at the festival, and we had a big van with a driver and TVs for the trip. Sadly we didn’t have much time in Scotland, I liked it there.

Reading

Leeds

Glasgow

Edinburgh Castle

After the tour we had a couple of days to hang out in London before they flew back to Atlanta. We got lucky and had really nice weather!

Olympics decor at Trafalgar Square

London Eye

Big Ben

Well, I never thought I’d be spending so much time in the Czech Republic. Here’s a few photos from the last few days.

Sunset from the Charles Bridge.

Reading in the park.

Not typical Czech food.

Met up with Tish from Atlanta!

I’m currently sitting “backstage” at the Leeds festival with o’brother…I’m going with them to Scotland tomorrow for another show and some sightseeing, then back to London until Sept 2nd!

I had four days on my own in Niederau, Austria. I loved the hostel I stayed at but I was the only person there, so I had some nice alone time walking around during the day and being lazy at night. It was similar to Switzerland with all the beautiful mountains and green hills and paragliders. And I got there just in time, it was the last night of a local beerfest in the valley, so I got to take part in that and meet some nice locals :) Sadly, I didn’t have my camera on me so I have no photos of that night, but here is what I do have.

I miss mountains already.

So, change of plans…again. Martin has to stay at home to work, sooo I won’t be going to Iceland for two months. I’m not ready to stop traveling since I’m only part of the way in, so I may head to southeast Asia early. I leave Czech for London on the 23rd and my friends in the band o’brother will be there playing some big shows, so I get to go to the Leeds and Reading Festivals with them!

Well, here I am sitting on another train for the day. Not too long of a trip fortunately. I’m on my way to Innsbruck, Austria after a few days with Kelly in Switzerland. Needless to say, Switzerland is beautiful and Interlaken was a really nice town. We stayed at a great hostel and rented bikes to get around. Unfortunately I spent most of the time fighting off a cold so I wasn’t on top of my game, but I’m finally better now. Interlaken is a great place to go if you’re into action/adventure type activities it turns out. There are paragliders, skydivers, and bungee jumpers all over the place, and advertisements for canyoning, kayaking, hang-gliding everywhere you turn. We stuck to the bicycles. We rode to Lake Thun , which was picture perfect. Sailboats, families picnicking, and blue water surrounded by mountains. I’m actually pretty bummed that I only spent about four days in Switzerland. I know there is a lot more to see there, but I’m getting so crunched for time…

The Tent Village!

The last night at our hostel they put on a film competition. Mostly locals with their gopros doing some extreme sporting, and the winner got $300. I wish I could have entered something but I didn’t have time. Actually, that night we had nowhere to stay because EVERYTHING affordable in Interlaken (and all the cool towns between there and Innsbruck) was completely booked. Kelly couldn’t find any trains back to Italy so we were pretty stuck, but our new friend Ashley, who works at the Tent Village, let us crash in her room at Balmers :) Thank goodness for her.

 In about two hours I’ll catch one last train and bus to my hostel where I hope to cook some spaghetti, my cheap meal of choice. Ohhh how I miss the hostels in Australia and New Zealand, where they always had kitchens and a crowd of people making food much fancier than my spaghetti.

It’s 8:21pm and I’m sitting on a train from Prague to Interlaken, Switzerland. I’m taking a brief break from the book I’m reading, “Almost French,” which I grabbed after it was left behind by a girl in my hostel in Frankfurt. There is an elderly (though clearly athletic) French couple in front of me dressed in cycling gear looking at a map. Another French guy, about my age, has been arguing with the train employees over some ticket misunderstanding for a while now. Thankfully no one is sitting next to me…I’ll be on this train for the next twelve hours. Not sure how much sleep I’ll be getting before I have to switch trains in the morning. This is the first time I’ve taken an overnight train without being in a sleeper car. Oops. Not as bad as I had worried though. My computer won’t last long enough for a movie, and the light outside is fading so I’m not sure how long the book will last either. I just finished “Just Kids” by Patti Smith, which was really good. This new book is about a girl that set out to travel the world, but met a guy and wound up moving to Paris instead. Interesting.

I’m looking forward to spending the next week in Switzerland with my friend Kelly, who I know from Atlanta. We don’t have any set plans, but I did book our first two nights in a hostel/tent, sort of like the place we stayed in Munich, which is exciting. They even have a hot tub with a view of the Alps. We may go down to Puglia, southern Italy, afterwards, and I would like to hit Austria on the way back for a few days; and by “on the way back,” I mean back to Czech Republic again. I’ll spend a week there and then fly to London on the 23^rd, then to Reykjavik on the 2^nd of September, where I may spend the next two months before visiting the family for the holidays. And then…back out. There are a few places that I would still like to see in Europe, but heading to Asia is really starting to nag at me. So much has changed since the beginning of this trip, I can’t imagine where I will be at the beginning of next year. But without a doubt, this trip is absolutely the best thing I’ve ever done. My only regret is that I didn’t start sooner, but at the same time I wouldn’t change where I am right now. I’m thankful for moments alone like this, when I can really stop and think about how happy I am to be traveling, and how happy I am with the people I’ve met and experiences I’ve had. It just feels like the most important thing I’ve done in my life, even if I’m not sure why.

Hmm..unfortunately a bunch of people just loaded onto the train and I’m afraid that my single seat status could be compromised. It would appear that we are now in Germany. Another place that I could spend more time in. Two months in Iceland is looming ahead of me; I’m doing my best to prep by listening to lots of Bjork and thinking warm thoughts. I even bought a pair of proper jeans and a hoodie. I’m trying to picture myself living in a foreign country, struggling to find work and to understand a different language and culture. I don’t know where I want to be, but I know I don’t feel anywhere near ready to go home for a long period of time.

Well, I have a book, a cold sandwich, and some cough medicine that I suppose I should get back to. The train is pulling off and I managed to make it another stop without picking up a person in the seat next to me, here’s hoping it continues that way!

Fast-forward 14 hours: fortunately, it did continue that way. I’m sitting in a cafeteria across from the train station Interlaken West. Kelly should be here in the next hour or so. I’m tired, can’t get on the internet because I don’t have a cell phone to receive the wifi password, and I would like to take a shower. It’s beautiful here. Today the weather is perfect and I can see mountains and a lake through the window. It’s 10:51 in the morning. I’m hoping that a cup of coffee will be enough to get me going for a little while because I’d hate to waste time taking a nap. Soo tired though, my eyeballs feel heavy in my head.

Seriously considering going to sleep for a bit on a bench at the train station. This is what we homeless people have to do to get by sometimes!

 Ps. Lately the writers at Purge have been throwing together a much more interesting version of my travel blog than I have here. I just love them.

So, Turkey has been one of my favorite places so far! It’s really beautiful and interesting, and the city is huge…more to see and do than we had time for. The food is so good, the people were nice, it felt exotic but comfortable…good qualities for a city. We wound up spending three days in Istanbul, then we rented a car and drove out to Cappadocia, which was amazing. One of the most beautiful and weird places I’ve seen.

I’ve seen more mosques at this point in my life than I ever thought I would..

The markets are awesome, they even have ducks! I wanted one.

Roadtrip! Nine hour drive. Fortunately, it was pretty.

Our car! Thank god for a/c.

The cave hotel we stayed at…almost everything in Goreme is carved into the rocks.

The view at breakfast.

Inside the Goreme Open Air Museum…if I had paid the $5 to rent the audio guide I could tell you exactly what this is…but since I didn’t we’ll just say it is some early Christian cave art.

The sunset was pretty perfect.

Another day trekking around. We went to Derinkuyu, an underground city in Nevsehir.

Pretty cool/creepy.

And then…these rocks! The Ferry Chimneys.

Another beautiful sunset.

And another week is gone. Turkey is definitely another place that I’d be happy to revisit. We’re back in Czech right now, headed to Brno for a few days, then hopefully Austria, then to meet my friend Kelly in southern Italy for a week. After that I’ll have two weeks to fill before heading to Iceland! Not sure where I should go yet, decisions decisions…

My recent week in Czech Republic! Due to the PurgeAtl.com writers and my mom complaining that I don’t write enough in my blog, I will attempt to write a little more this time. Long story short, I met Martin in New Zealand at the beginning of this trip, and we talked almost every day over the past four months. He was living and working in New Zealand, then went traveling around Fiji, Vanuatu, and Australia, while I was all over the place. He is from Czech Republic and had to return home for a bit while I was in Europe, so here we are! We started in Prague.

I love the view of the city.

This is beer, mom. It’s pretty good in Czech.

another castle..

Finally got to try Absinthe for the first time! I’ve been curious for a while. It tasted awful, but the feeling was nice.

After Prague, we headed to a small village called Krenov to visit some of Martin’s friends from high school and college. There was soccer (ok, football), beer, and food. That pretty much sums up three days.

The boys!

Apparently you need a lot of foam for a beer to be good. Who knew.

“Potato Juice”

The lake by the house we stayed at.

The town where Martin grew up!

Ice cream!

We rode bikes to a castle. Not a bad day.

Martin is a veterinarian, so we visited some of his friends from vet school and some animals. Baby cows and then an animal sanctuary.

So, I apologize for the sudden mushy and overall vomit-inducing nature of this post. Obviously it wasn’t the plan to meet someone two weeks into a round the world trip, but that’s life. Tomorrow we are headed to Istanbul, because…why not head to Istanbul. One week there, then back to Czech for a few days, then back out to…somewhere. Maybe Switzerland. Hoping to meet up with some other friends as well. Good things on the way!!

So, for the first time, I’ve traveled abroad by myself! Nicole has been visiting friends in Spain and England and I’m visiting friends in Germany and am headed to the Czech Republic in a few days. I have to say that I’m pretty proud of myself for not getting lost, robbed, or lonely for a week on my own :) Feeling pretty grown up at this point, I guess that was bound to happen at some point! I’ve spent time reading, exploring, drawing, meeting new people, and taking care of some things that I’ve been putting off due to being so on the go in the last four months. I haven’t taken as many photos this week, but here are the few I have…

The lobby of my hostel…for some reason.

American and Canadian friends.

Daniel!

Under the table party.

Art school graduation party.

It’s been a really good week, and a really great month and a half in Europe!

Holly is gone, we had a blast! Finished off the trip with the Amalfi Coast, Munich, and Amsterdam. We met some great people and lived it up as usual.

We stayed at this amazing place called The Tent in Munich, one of my favorite places we’ve stayed. 100 beds in one big tent, campfires, good beer and music, so much fun..

and then, Amsterdam! Bummed around, went to the Anne Frank Museum, made some new friends..

Sad that this part of the trip is already over! Things are flying by too quickly, it’s killing me!

We are sitting outside at a restaurant on the Amalfi Coast, drinking wine and listening to a barrage of fireworks following the loss of the Italy vs Spain game…trying to book a hostel in Munich and wondering where we should go in Switzerland after Germany. It’s a constant attempt to balance enjoying the moment with figuring out the next step. You can only plan so much at a time. Since Holly has been here we have hit Barcelona, Paris, Chamonix, Ibiza, Rome, and Amalfi. The day after tomorrow we’ll take an overnight train to Munich.

It’s been so nice having a friend visit us (finally!), and we are actually meeting up with some of Nicole’s friends when we get to Germany. It’s been a crazy week….picnics, raves, the beach, snow-capped mountains, ancient cities, photoshoots, wine, make-up, last minute decisions…..and we have another 9 days to go. As usual, here are some photos!

…and now you are updated.

We actually went ahead and booked a 100 person dorm room in munich, in a large tent with bunk beds and 100 other people. Should be an interesting experience..