quote:

Originally posted by MilkyTwilight:
To everyone who might be considering this trip in the near future...

This was written the day after I returned from the trip and was uploaded on my Facebook under 'Notes'.


Eastern Road Conclusion-The Real Deal on the Eastern Road


6 COUNTRIES.
7 HOTELS.


Ah. I'm back in England and sad it's come to an end but woah, trip was amazing and I've had the most amazing time ever. I actually feel encouraged to travel more independently. Also, being the only person from England with 45 other people from Canada, Australia and America was so much fun and I'm glad it was that way as it was a 'true holiday away from home' (if you get me).
Travelling with Contiki (www.Contiki.com) was excellent value for money because we stayed at fantastic 3/4 star hotels.. the best being in Krakow and Warszawa (aka Warsaw). I'd definitely recommend travelling with Contiki and I think I might just travel with them again in the near future as they offer a range of trips...

SOME THINGS I HAVE LEARNT FROM MY TRIP:

1) How expensive the pound is. Bloody hell, the exchange rates are so good for us as it tops everyone elses.
2) How handy it is having a European passport. It is so easy to travel around Europe. Everyone else with Australian, American, Canadian (etc) passports had to have theirs taken away and stamped whereas mine was just looked at and that was it...Although I wanted a stamp! But people seemed to envy my passport-mwaha!
3) Shop assistants are very eager to help you shop and watch your every action as soon as you enter. A little un-nerving.
4) If a local accidently bumps into you on the street they'll continue walking and won't apologise for bumping into you.
5) Buying ice cream is not the same way. You have to tell one shop assistant what you want and pay, then ask another shop assistant for what you want and they will get it for you.
6) Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia do not expect tips.
7) Prague is extremely touristy and too 'discovered' --which was a let down.
8) All the countries I visited: Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary loved their food. But their diet consists of literally: Bread, meat, potatoes and beer, yet all the people were are very slim and beautiful.
9) When people beg they seriously beg for money. Which means getting on their knees, in a prayer-like position without moving.
10) When toasting to drinks you have to look everyone in the eye otherwise it will be 7 years of a bad sex life!
11) The Czech drink Becherovka, with 38 per cent alcohol is a healthy drink and good for digestion.
12) Coca Cola costs more than alcohol. For example, Czech Republic: Coca Cola costs like 8 Crown and Pilsener Urquell (good Czech beer) cost 6 Crown!
13) Learnt so much about Canada, Australia and America as 45 people were from there, I even started to pick up their slang! "What you gonna get from the gas station, Jen?" "Erm, I dunno maybe some chips!"
14) Contrary to belief, the countries weren't that cheap. The cheapest were Poland and Slovakia though. It cost only 14 Slovakian Koruny for 2 scoops of ice cream in a cone, which is equiv. to 30 pence. (Woah, I didn't know it was that cheap. I just checked what 14 Koruny was in pence. Holy ****).

Word of advise people: If you're planning to visit these countries I'd suggest visiting asap because these countries will be changing to the Euro in around 2011-2013 and the prices will increase and definitely won't be as cheap as they were. Just look at Spain, they used to be pretty cheap, but prices now have risen. Oh and definitely see Praha now before it gets TOO touristy even though that's probably impossible as it already is. But definitely avoid summer for Praha.



RANDOM FLASHBACKS:

1) The very first meet up dinner in Park Plaza hotel in Berlin. The tip of the iceberg really.. we didn't know what would happen for the next 12 days. Tres exciting!
2) Czech dinner. A four course meal& free alcohol: Beer, red wine and white wine and also an appetiser shot of Becherovka. Also traditional dancers, music and singing which kept us entertained whilst we fed our hungry (or stuffed) tums.
3) Czech clubbing. Fun, fun, fun. The start of us hardcore regulars who were always the last ones standing. That night we went to a club after everyone went home, had fun, met loads of other backpackers-Americans and a dodgy French guy.. and went home at like 3 in the morning by a cab we weren't supposed to take. We went with the company we were told NOT to take in our drunken states. We were charged an equiv. of 5 Euros each! And it cost like 1000 Crown, when we could have got it for 500 Crown with the "AA" cab company! Tut tut.
4) The amount of Deutsch I spoke! I surprised myself of speaking so much Deutsch. It was so helpful as some people didn't speak English, only Deutsch. That was the case in Slovakia where one waitress didn't speak English so I had to use my Deutsch to communicate. Also was handy in Hungary! It has definitely made me more confident to speak the language.
5) I've never seen so many churches. Haha. Ask me if I've seen the [church/cathedral name here] and the answer will probably be yes!
6) Auschwitz. Very moving and quite the tear jerker. Many people were moved to tears. A very valuable and an important visit.
7) Salt mines. Walking down the 50 something flight of stairs down, far into the ground. Beautiful salt mines statues.
8) Everytime something went 'wrong', our motto was "Oh well!". The perfect example was Praha (aka Prague) when we were walking around the city at night and it was pouring down with rain. What could we say, but: "Oh well!".
9) The American couple: Debbie and Bobby. Their luggage got lost in transition to Berlin on the first day but luckily Debbie was reunited with her luggage a few days after, whilst Bobby was only reunited with his the day before the trip was over!
10) Drinking "ein mass" which is a serving of one litre of beer a few days before the trip ended. Everyone got very drunk. I for one, drank x4.. which yes was 4 litres *cringe at the amount of calories*. I now found out why I had no money left for McDonalds.. I tipped the waitress my change of nearly 19 euros!!! (Scheisse!). Luckily one of the girls helped me out and bought me a Mc Donalds as we all had the serious drunken munchies.
11) The outdoor nightclub in Budapest. The nightlife in Budapest is amazing. So many locals turned up when it was past midnight and we partied until 4 in the morning. (Again the last ones standing).
12) In the outdoor nightclub was where I met the dodgy budapest couple who I spoke to in German as they didn't speak English.
13) The nightlife tour of Berlin on the very last night: Extremely drunken. Doing shots in the street (I did 4), then hopping off to a shisha/cocktail bar, had a sex on the beach and a free shot, then next bar: another free shot and a vodka lemonade, the next bar: another vodka lemonade and a free shot and the club: another free shot and a vodka lemonade and 2 Jagerbombs. Afterwards we left for a kebab which was massive then got a taxi home where I spoke viel Deutsch to the cab driver. Got back to the hotel about 4am where we saw a few people leaving for the airport..Sadness in our drunken state. Also we managed to see Arend (our driver) off. How embarassing we looked very drunk and jolly. I was also shocked that one of the workers in reception were English!
14) Music in the nightclubs in all the countries we went to were just the same as in England and everywhere else. I expected it to be slightly behind but no, it was very much upto date. I will always remember the amount of times they played Rihanna's "Umbrella" and I'm sure Bec will always remember Elisa and I singing "Umbrella, ella, ella, eyyy, eyyy, eyyy" really loudly while she was in the bathroom. Actually I think a few people who were living across our hotel room heard us!
15) Our day song. Mike (tour manager) played us a song everyday, normally at the very beginning of the day or when everyone was on the bus after going somewhere... Our song was: "I predict a riot" by Kasier Chiefs.
16) The amount of photos we all took. I think we were in photo heaven. I have like nearly 400 photos.
17) Amy and I walking back to the hotel (hotel Stadion) which was like a 15-25 minute drive from the centre, which by foot amounted to like nearly an hour. We did stop off for a hot chocolate and a banana milkshake though!
18) Having our group photo in Heroes square in Budapest. We definitely had an audience of drivers who were stuck in traffic.
19) BRAZIL! Or Thais/Tekka (was that her name? Noone ever really knew).. She was annoying. Bless her though, we would all try and be nice but her rudeness and her constant demand for pushing in when we were all waiting in line was extremely annoying. The time she was like half an hour late for dinner in the hotel in Warszawa was funny.. We were all onto our main meal and she came down and helped herself to the buffet on the side which wasn't for us. Memorable.
20) Everyone (well, ok.. some) doing shots of Absinth in Praha. It cost 100 Czech Crown, which is equiv. to about £2.30...Fun, fun.
21) The Palinka shots in Budapest!
22) Ringing Adam (and Sarah as she was there too) drunk on the last Berlin night (I.E nightlife tour). I for some reason kept trying to get people from Australia, America and Canada to talk to them, lol. Everyone was very, very wasted at that point!
23) The dinner cruise on the Danube, Budapest. Amazing. I love Goulash and I remember us laughing a lot for some reason as Clarissa loved it so much she had seconds and told the waiter about her new love, lol. We were also in alcohol heaven as we were given 2 bottles of wine: Red and white. Now, in England when you get a 'meal deal' they never, ever include alcohol as a 'free drink' but in these countries alcohol is the norm and seems to be more 'compulsory'.
24) On the flight home from Berlin, waiting in the departure lounge: there was a famous person. I remember 2 years a go when I went to Berlin there was also the band American Hi fi on the same flight as us and again this time some other famous person. Not sure who he was, I'm still trying to figure out who he is but he's American, oldish..mid 50s-early 60s, had glasses and I heard someone say "Good luck on your new documentary", so I assume he makes documentaries? I was very tempted to ask people who he was but didn't want to seem silly.
25) Being confused at Tegel airport. It's such a small little airport that the queues for checking in were confusing. You couldn't see where one line began as they were flowing into eachother. I had to ask some guy if I was in the correct queue, indeed I was but as I booked online I could do the check-in thing on the machine..then I didn't know where bag drop was (It was right in front of me but looked confusing as it seemed I would be pushing in). Then I met another German woman who was confused and consulted me about what to do.. She semmed to be amused that I was speaking in Denglish with her (Deutsch/English).
26) Enjoying a Pizza Hut lunch in Warszawa but then someone screamed and we wondered what the hell happened as our waitress said she'd get the bill in a few minutes as something had happened!
27) Watching German MTV everywhere! Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary.. You name it. They had it.
28) The bet Bec, Elisa, Kizza and Jacqueline had to get with the most Hungarians. The one who got the least would have to pay for a cab home but then the bet stopped as it got too drunken and I ended up going home with Elisa, Kizza and Gavin in the wee hours of the morning. We literally had to drag Elisa away from some Hungarian she just grabbed and pashed.



Ahhh, there are so many more funny memories. It has definitely been amazing and I would do it all over again. Some serious laughs people. And to everyone I went on the trip with, keep in touch and I'll definitely be up for more drinks and thrills if you're ever in England (and if I'm in your country).



Seriously people considering this trip.. Please do it. Everyone I know on the trip enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Be prepared to be amazed...
Living up 13 days with just 3 hours of sleep, the copious amounts of alcohol (BIER!) running through your veins, consuming tasty foods, enjoying real nightlife at its best (Budapest!!)...Don't be nervous, don't be scared. You definitely won't regret it and no, I'm not just saying this. The former Eastern bloc countries are probably the most beautiful places I've been to. The culture, the beauty, the history and the people are still alive and wanting to be explored. Don't miss out. If you, like me, live for new experiences and memories.. There was never a dull moment on this trip and everytime you wonder when 'that funny moment' would happen.. it either did already happen yesterday or you're currently laughing at something that just happened. If I could, I would love to do this trip again.