Hi,
My friend Anthony and I are booked on this trip departing London 14/07/06. I'm 22 from Melbourne and Anthony is 21 from Bendigo. Anyone else coming? Not long to go now....
Sarah

Hi Sarah,

I will be making the venture with both yourself and Anthony. My name is Paul and I am 26 from Perth.

Not long to go now indeed, 8 days if I count correctly.

See you there!

Hey Paul,
I'm so pleased to hear from someone else on the trip! Had just about given up on finding anyone else coming on the message boards. Will you be travelling alone? Got everything ready yet?
Sarah

Indeed, I was worried there would be no one on the tour.

Do you know if the tour is fully booked or not?

I will be travelling alone, I initially fly in on the 12th and will bum around London for a day and a half before going on contiki and then have another 7 weeks after the contiki to do as i see fit.

Whats your travel plans whilst over there?

Only a week now! I look forward to meeting yourself and Anthony at the meeting on Wednesday night.

Only need some last minute stuff myself, basically clothes and shoes. Everything esle is ready to go (except my mp3 player which is giving me trouble at the moment)

Bye for now

Paul

That?s funny that you say that about your MP3 player; mine has been playing up for a while so I took it into get serviced last week and am hoping they will hurry up and fix it. We are leaving Melbourne on Tuesday the 11th, staying at the royal national for 2 nights before the tour. No firm plans for after the tour we will just travel around a bit more and then we have both got UK working visas and will probably work to earn some extra money for more traveling.

One thing that is worrying me a little is where to stay after the tour, the first night back especially. I hear we return to the contiki place at about 6pm and we haven?t booked anywhere to stay, I don?t think I want to be trying to find a place to stay for the night at that late stage. After that I was thinking of staying in a hostel but not really sure. I feel like I should book a place to stay or at least become a YHA member. Do you know what you are doing?

I assume the tour is booked out since it isn?t on the booking request list on the website anymore. But if it is only us 3 at least you will know which one is me at the meeting

Thankfully, I sorted out my Mp3 player yesterday. I dont think I will ever buy through ebay ever again. For me it wasn't the device that wasn't working, but the Ac Adapter.

On the night we return to London (August the 2nd I blieve from memory), I have booked a room at the Royal National. I also will be at the Royal National on the 12th Of July at about 2pm, I might even see you around before we go. After that, I have no plans and it will probably involve staying at backpackers and so forth. I only have 7 more weeks in euroipe after contiki.

Sounds like with a full crew, it is going to be a blast, only 6 days to go now!

Its funny Sarah how you seemed such a nice person on the internet and yet when we met, you were the coldest fish floating around in the ocean.

I know I am not the only one to think that way about you either. I am glad that after the first week and a half, you started finding friends but why did it take such a long time?

Oh well, at least your heart seemed to partially melt away the ice that had formed.

Hopefully, I will never see the ice maiden ever again and thank god for that!

P.S. You need to learn to get that chip off your shoulder, its not a good look!

Hi Paul,

Mate, your conversation is the funniest thing I have ever read on these message boards!! That made me laugh so much! Isnt it funny how people are so different in person!

My name is Michelle, im 25 from Melbourne, and am planning to do this tour in May next year. I am going solo, its the only way! And after reading your conversation would you recommend trying to meet people from your tour on the net before going? Or did you find that held you back when trying to meet others?

I feel sorry for you, hopefully you had an ace time anyway! ...Should have come on my tour!

Hey Michelle,

I am glad I brought a smile to your face, I know I couldn't with Sarah

I went solo and it was a blast! I firmly believe that half the tour will be made or lost if you have a good or bad tour manager. I went on 2 contiki's in europe and both were female which was a great win because they seem more caring and down to earth.

Definately try and meet people before the tour. The people I met at the royal national before going on tour who were also on my tour were great value. In fact of the 49 people on the tour (not including myself) I had a grea time with 48 of them. Sarah was a bit of an enigma that puzzled me at first, she didn't go on the optional extras, never seemed to go out, never socialised and I believe only made a handful of friends by the time the tour ended. In fact the friend she came with initially had to tell her to piss off because he wanted to mingle with people and he couldn't seem to get rid of her. Eventually he did but that chip on her shoulder lasted and she wrote him off after that which is a shame but oh well, its not my life.

I think if you have an open mind and you are someone who likes to socialise, you will find yourself in the majority of people and if you dont like to socialise with people, its pointless to come on tour. Hence my question to Sarah, WHY DID YOU COME?!?

If you need any info michelle, let me know, I am more than happy to help