Reflection on the trip as a whole!

Well, now I have written the mammoth journey all up, I thought it might be useful to write a little re-cap on my favourite things, the worst parts, etc in a nice little package for your benefit as much as mine.

 

Distances:

Total Distance travelled (as the crow flies) throughout the trip: 43,665Kms (27,132 Miles) [More than once around the circumferance of the globe!]

Furthest Distance Travelled: Kuala Lumpar to Amsterdam (and back) - 10,197Kms (6,336 Miles)

Longest Flight in hours: Kuala Lumpar to Amsterdam - 11 hours, 40 minutes

 

 

Favourite City for:

History: Berlin, but closely followed by London. Apart from hosting the uber cool Stef, it hosts so much history that would take years to actually see all of it. Ranging from the turbulent Reich history, through the Great War to the Second World War and then in most recent history the Berlin Wall. It was just so fascinating! I could have spent far longer there than I did and I do believe I overstayed my allotment anyhow :P I'd like to think that now after hosting the Soccer World Cup that Germany tries out for hosting the Olympic Games again so it gives me a solid excuse to go back! All of the war history Germany has, London has the same but from the other side of the coin making seeing both the cities a completing experience. A definite must for any traveller wanting to get the most out of European war history.

 

Nights Out: London, tying equally with Paris. London specifically because f the Awesome people I met there and the great atmosphere of the clubs and bars. I think because it is home to just so many people, no matter what night it is, there is always something to do and people to hang around with. The 'Walkabout' chain definitely helps with the home feeling acting as a homing beacon for rampent travelling Aussies. Paris has the night life of the bohemian as well as the classy. From Moulin Rouge one night to picniccing under the Sacre Couer another to chilling out watching the Eiffel Tower show another night... what more could you want in a city?

 

Food: Well, no surprises that it should be Rome, but Stuttgart gets the solid second place! Rome has the home of GREAT coffee, pizza, pasta and wine. Really awesome cooked food. One resturant I went to, for only 10E mind you, I got salads, a huge ass pizza, breads and wine! I mean BARGAIN! All within walking distance of my hostel, so that was a bonus. Stuttgart heralded my favourite dishes of the trip, Mautaschen and Spatzle! Two dishes expertly prepared by Elena which contain pasta looking substances, onion and cheese. What more could you want? Check out my Stuttgart blog for the full details.

 

 Shopping: Stockholm takes this place. Why? Because the great people of Sweden fit my body type and I can therefore find clothes that fot me! To be honest though, the entirety of Europe offered amazing shopping opportunities and if I was working to a strict budget, I probably would have bought more, but I didn't because everything I bought, I then had to carry on my back. Not an option really. But next time I go....!!!!! I mean London is totally fashion capital of the UK, but at the same time... things are expensive. Except the UBER cool 'McKenzie' brand of clothing!! You have to love that egh?

Random Company: Nice, without a doubt. I met some really awesome people in Nice, Ellie and Harry being my two droogs who did most things with and then the crazy bunch of Americans etc in the room next to us at Alyses who took us on a Nice wide trek in search of a good, cheap bar. It was also the place where I managed to charm a Swedish waitress into free rounds! Awesome :D

Memorable Event: Well this is near impossible to pick really because every single place I stayed had something especially memorable about it. So I can't really answer this, so I'll lead into the next section where I can assign each place I went to a 'Cultural Tick', a tick which was awarded to the thing that I couldn't do anywhere else in the world.

 

The Cultural Ticks

Stockholm -  *Outdoor performance with the Wira play * Saw the Nobel Prize Dinner Hall *Picked Berries in the Wild *Drank wine with a 'Parlimentitian' ontop of the Swedish Parliment Building *Saw the sun set at 11pm

Helsinki - *Saw the Architecture in Helsinki... *Caught the Ferry/Cruise ship between Stockholm and Helsinki *Experienced one of the largest Cemetaries in the world *Saw Rabbits and a hedgehog in the centre of a city

Jyvaskyla- *Went to a traditional Finnish Sauna *Saw Poker machines in a little kiosk type shop *Saw the Alvar Aalto museum and much of his architecture in town

Utrecht - *Went to the studios of Dick Bruna, who created Miffy *Saw MANY street organs playing music from cards and spiky wheels (Twas like being at the circus x50) *Experienced the mulititude of bikes that define The Netherlands

Amsterdam - *The Red Light District (Need I saw more) *The Coffee House Culture *Anne Frank House *The Cat Barge

Rotterdam - *Netherlands Institute of Architecture and the whole city of architecture to go with it *The Bridge

Berlin - *Umm... Everything! = *Berlin Wall *Potsdamer Platz *Berliner Dome *Berliner Weisser *East Berlin Beach Bar *Stazi Headquaters *Holocaust Monument *Reichstag Building *Brandenburg Gate

Stuttgart - *Mautaschen! *Spatzle *Saw the First Mercedes and Porsche ever built

Rome - *Volunteered at a Cat Sanctuary *Colloseum *Saw the 4 Rivers statue featured in The Da Vvinci Code *Went to Vatican City and saw the tomb of Pope John Paul 2nd *Saw the remains of St Peter *Took a siesta in the beautiful North Rome parks overlooking the city

Nice - *Sunbathed on the pebble beach *Saw street performers who are famously Nice *Partied at some of the coolest clubs on the Cote D'Azur

Monaco - *Saw the Changing of the Guards *Lit a candle in the church where Grace Kelly and the Prince of Monaco are buried *Went into Monte Carlo Casino (Foyer, haha)

Paris - *Climbed the stairs to the second level of the Eiffel tower *Saw a show at the Moulin Rouge *Went to the Louvre, Saw Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo, etc *Picnicced on the VERY steep lawns of the Sacre Couer at night *Saw artists in the street with an easel and pallete *Went into Notre Dame

Glasgow - *Saw the Bagpiping Champions of the World *Saw the Glasgow Necropolis and Cathedral *Had 1 Pound Fosters *Learnt the history of 'The Thin Red Line'

Stirling - *Went to Stiriling Castle *Saw the Wallace Monument *Walked the green hills of the lowlands *Learnt the history of the MacKenzie Clan

Keswick - *Went Ghyll Scrambling!! *Paddled a Kyack for the first time, then eskimo kissed it before running across several and jumped into the lake. *Scrambled over a ridge that had previously killed people *Went to 'The Loft'

Birmingham - hahaha... Birmingham... *Didn't get stabbed :D *Saw the Bullring

Stratfod Upon Avon - *Saw the Birthplace of William Shakespeare *Visited the church where he is buried with his wife Anne Hathaway *Saw the swans of Stratford

Cambridge - *Saw the punts of Cambridge! *Kings College Cathedral -Woah! *Saw the place where the DNA double helix was announced to the world *Saw the place where Steven Hawkins studies/works *Used a Red telephone box

All Souls College - Oxford

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Ramsey -

*The whole 1940's Weekend!! *Played a British Soldier, work hobnailed boots and carried a gun *Had Cherry Coke for the first time

Oxford - *Got through 8 of the 33 colleges that make up Oxford University *Saw the place where the bloodiest 'student vs publican' battle took place

Basingstoke - *Saw the writing desk (and the house) of Jane Austen *Had Maryland biscuits

Portsmouth - *Toured 2 old sailing/war ships of the British Army *Saw the place where Lord Nelson was killed *Saw the Main sail of the HMS Victory which was involved in the battle of Trafalgar

Brighton - *Saw the Brighton Pier *Saw the hotel which the IRA bombed in an attempt to kill Magaret Thatcher *Saw my first English Football game live *Toured the Royal Palace

London - *Saw Phantom of the Opera in the West End *Walked the Tower Bridge *Saw Shakespeare's Globe *Walked the Millenium Bridge then toured Tate Modern *Caught the Tube *Rode a double Decker Bus *Saw Downing Street *Toured the Churchill Bunkers *Experienced the Blitz at the Imperial War Museum *Saw the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra's Sarcoughagus at the British Museum *Saw the Changing of the Guards *Rode the London Eye

 

 Sydney - *Walked under the Harbour Bridge *Saw the Opera House *Saw the protest/riots for APEC *Was escorted through the Police Barriers in the North of Sydney

Melbourne - *Toured the Shrine of Rememberance *Saw the Newly opened Eureka Tower *Saw Gold and Silver Deposits in the Old Treasury Building *Checked out the Famous Exhibit in the State Library *Managed to get half way across Melbourne without leaving a mall.

 

Also a special mention to the people who generously gave me a couch, bed, a blanket or rollout mattress and helped make this trip possible!

• 

  New Holland - Australia
  Carro in Stockholm
• Janne in Jyvaskyla
• Stef in Berlin
• Elena in Stuttgart
• Bronnie in Keswick/Newlands
• Chris in Sudbury/Ramsey
• Bex in Alton
• Dawsey in Brighton

And meeting Hannah in Cambridge, Craig in Oxford and Jacob and Leandra in Melbourne. You made those half days well worth it guys and I appreciate it!

 

So that totals 8 Bolt meets and 4 Uni/Old Friend meets for the trip which I didn't think was too bad. If I do say so myself!

And with that, This part of my blog comes to a close! If there is anything you want to know more about or whatever just email me or leave a note on here for me. I know a lot of you guys didn't sign up to leave messages and I can understand that, so don't worry :D

Remember, if anybody needs a local tour guide or a couch in Adelaide. I'm your man! Don't hesitate to drop me a line and I'll work out the particulars :D

'Til next time.