1) night time bike ride through paris topped off with boat cruise on the river seine
2) pub crawl in barcelona
3) french ladies, so feminine and lovely
4) the beaches on the riviera were awesome
5) hitting amsterdam not knowing gay parade was on
6) paella at sitges beach near barcelona
7) walking inside the colliseum where people fought to the death thousands of years ago
8) french mayonnaise, 100 times better than the stuff here in the states
9) first pasta dish in rome, italy
10) french countryside

1. Walking through the Yorkshire moors and seeing Bolton Abbey ( it was an absolutly beautiful and sunny summer English day)
2. Seeing Tuscany for the first time on the train
3. From the Florence train station, seeing the Duomo peek over the city
4. Seeing David down the hallway
5. Having a gourmet candle light dinner outside on a summer’s evening in Provence
6. Taking a road trip through Provence and getting wonderfully lost
7. Seeing the Tour De France in a very small French village
8. The suprising train ride along the French Riveria ( i didnt know the train was THAT close to the ocean!)
9. Spending time around Bolton Abbey with my father, my 82 year old grandfather and my uncle, who I had met for the first time(it will probably be the last time we will all spend time together)
10. Stoping along the side of the road in Provence, to take pictures of the lavendar and sunflower fields

Traveling is so fulfilling! Whenever I am stressed out, I always think of the times I spent this summer, and it helps to make me happy!

In retrospect, ten is impossible.

1. Hiking the Schilthorn, and getting to the top, realizing that I had just missed the last cable car, as a thunderstorm was moving into the Lauterbrunnen valley, and deciding to stay the night before being discovered two hours later, shivering me arse off, by man in weather station, before paying 250 francs, three hours after closure, for cable car to take me back to Gimmelwald, and the free whiskey at the hostel after relating my sob story.
2. 12 different Belgian beers in 6 hours.
3. Standing before David at dell’Accademia.
4. Walking through cow pastures, dodging electric fences in and around Gryon, Switzerland.
5. Virtually alone with the scenery hiking from Riomaggiore to Monterosso, and passing four different people going the other way along the whole 17km route. And none from Levanto to Monterosso the following day.
6. Baking in the sun at the German GP with a bratwurst and a… gulp… Fosters.
7. Sitting under the trees on Île-de-la-Cité reading the International Herald Tribune with a baguette under the arm.
8. The foccaccia in Monterosso.
9. Sitting under trees, hands behind head, listening to Croatian folk music group playing at hostel in Arles.
10. Staring in awe at the paintings in Musée d’Orsay.
11. Standing on Juno Beach, a day after the D-Day ceremonies.
12. Watching the sunflowers go by between Arles and Avignon.

How to choose just 10? I have no idea! Anyway here are some off the top of my head… probably the minute I hit "send" I’ll think of ten more and want to come back and edit. But here goes:

1) Going to the Artists’ Quarter in Paris for a perfect dinner, and then nearly getting pickpocketed on the metro on the way back to the campsite, then missing the last bus and having to walk back without having a clue where we were, so walking into a little fruit store and asking "Où est-ce qu`on est?" and getting the reply, "Mais, vous êtes ici!"
2) Trespassing in what might have been the Jewish museum in Vienna but, to this day, we’re not quite sure…
3) Talking for forty-five minutes to a middle-aged French couple in a Dublin pub, before realizing I had no idea what I was doing talking to them.
4) White water rafting in the Austrian Tyrol, and falling out of the boat. Then not realizing it’d started to hail, because I couldn’t feel it through my wet-suit.
5) The sex show in Amsterdam. Di-stur-bing. ‘Nuff said.
6) Getting completely lost while paddleboating on the Amsterdam canals, due to the inability of the drivers to listen to the map-readers, and paddling all over the city before coming back an hour and a half late and being yelled at on suspicion of having stolen the paddleboat.
7) Celebrating Canada Day in Mykonos, and meeting a zillion other Canadians who were doing the same.
8) Being in London the day England beat Argentina in a World Cup match, and hearing drunken soccer (excuse me, football) fans singing the first verse to "When the Saints go Marching In" over and over cause they couldn’t remember the rest of the words.
9) Drinking Sangria in Barcelona… er, wait, do you actually have to remember it to qualify as a memory? This one might not count, then.
10) Sipping hot chocolate in Murren on a day when the fog was so thick, you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face.

10. Got hammered in Amsterdam and lost a t-shirt.
9. Got snockered in Barcelona.
8. Got plowed in Berlin a few times.
7. Got drunk & silly on a ski trip to the Tyrol Mts. in Austria.
6. Got wasted in Munchen.
5. Got absolutely pissed in London.
4. Was in Russia for three days, in alcoholic fog.
3. We all got shit-faced in Rome.
2. Went to Madrid for a few days,,, got stupid drunk.
1. Got stoned in Florence, last two t-shirts…

Um… Sunskin… while I did my share of drinking in Europe, sounds like you actually drank your way through your trip. If your whole point of going was to get shitfaced, why not save the price of a plane ticket and head to your neighbourhood watering hole instead?

Did you experience anything besides alcohol?

Wow, it’s so hard to pick only ten, but here they are:

10. Ordering French Onion soup, in French, at a restaurant in Paris only to be served the mushroom quiche. Stopped pretending I remembered the years of French I took in school after that.

9. Getting terribly lost on the Paris metro, and realizing how friendly the people in Paris actually are. So many people approached us (we obviously looked lost) and helped us find our way back.

8. Shopping in Las Ramblas in Barcelona and going into the covered market and sampling pigs ears.

7. Canada Day, I was in Athens and it was the same day Greece won the semi final for the Euro Cup, so every single person was out on the street or hanging outside their window or beeping the horn of their car while cheering and screaming and waving Greek flags, the atmosphere was infectious and compltely overwhelming how incredibly patriotic they were. (And I thought Canadian hockey fans were devoted).

6. Visiting the Turkish baths in Istanbul. Being soaped up by a topless woman with the sagiest boobs in the world, she kept leaning over and brushing me with them, it was so gross, but at the same time it was such an experience that I would never have encountered anywhere else. And the massage was awesome.

5. Having a pinic with the wine I bought in Beaujoulais when I got back to London in Hyde Park with 3 of my friends. It was such a beautiful day and my last day before I came home.

4. Climbing the Duomo in Florence and looking out at the sea of rust color and the hills of Tuscany. Absolutely breath taking.

3. Seeing the statue of David in all it’s glory. I have never seen a piece of artwork that was more incredible in all my life. I stood in awe staring up at him for about half an hour.

2. Downing 1L steins of beer in the Munich beerhall, I was yelling &quotrost!" so often that I lost my voice. So fun slamming those glasses together and beer going all over the place.

1. Taking the train up the Jungfrau mountain range with a bunch of Australian travel friends. They had never seen snow before in their lives, and to be with them when they first stepped in it and made snowmen and went tobagganing was priceless.

… I want to go back….

1. Attending the Men’s Final at Wimbledon in 2001
2. Getting totaly lost walking in Venice (was abit tidly)
3. Skiing for 2 weeks in Austria
4. Being big kids at Legoland with 3 of my mates
5. Machuu Pichuu
6. Cycling the backroads of Holland with my 3 sisters and my brother
7. Coronation Street TV Set
8. Hogmany in the Snow
9. Travelling 5 weeks through Europe on a ‘Top Deck’ Double Decker Bus
10. Walking the Entire Thames Path

In no particular order –

1. Opening the window upon arrival at our hotel in Niagara Falls to see what the noise was, leaning around the window and seeing the almighty Niagara Falls right in front of my eyes!

2. Sitting on a bench in Rynek Glowny-Krakow-Poland at 0630am feeling the chill of the morning with hardly anyone else around.

3. Getting off the plane in Singapore and feeling the humidity hit me.

4. Swimming with dolphins in Puerto Aventuras Harbour -Mexico.

5. Seeing Porto Katsiki on Lefkas island – Greece as our boat came around the headland.

6. Same for Sumgglers Cove om Zakynthos – Greece.

7. Watching the sunset on Santorini Island – Greece.

8. Getting off the plane in Dublin airport with my one way ticket – knowing that I had done the right thing!

9. Getting lost in Venice at 0800am watching the locals prepare for the day ahead.

10. Standing at the foot of the Empire State Building – New York and looking up.

Oh how I love Travelling!

Really hard to pick only 10, in no particular order

1) Arriving to enormous collonade of Apameya (Syria) in the middle of no-where
2) Getting lost in Venice
3) Driving for 2 hours in Bruges trying to get out of the town and driving two more hours trying to find the campsite
4) Climbing the Dome in Cologne
5) A breakfast at 6 a.m. near Barbikan (the fortress) in Krakow: some brown bread, cheese and pickled cucumbers on a snowed bench in a park
6) Seeing the sunset from the camel in Sahara, Tunisia
7) Santorini in general
8) Wandering through the shabby districts of Naples
9) Standing near the edge of the cliff in Etretat (Normandy)
10) Returning home from any journey

Like they said, here’s some at random:

1. Getting kicked out of a hotel (for walking through it!) in Cancun and spending the rest of the trip sneaking in, using their pool, beach, etc.

2. Walking drunk across most of Rome’s inner city, 2am.

3. Making fun of a bunch of half-naked schoolgirls with a Norwegian girl I had just met in Bacharach, Germany.

4. Just hanging out in Barcelona. And eating great chicken.

5. Visiting Darwin’s house outside London.

6. Getting kicked out of hostel for attempted break-in at Cinque Terra. Not my fault.

7. Watching fireworks over Lake Geneva from cliffs of Leysin.

8. Tubing in Cesky Krumlov (though the river’s not at all impressive).

9. Photos after a storm in Padua, Italy.

10. Lost, everywhere I went in Portugal, with friends.

11. Diving in Bimini.

Sunskin was joking mate.

Maybe, maybe not. I met lots of people in Europe who were just there to drink their way through. Many of them never even left the hostel bars.

As I have I. I have done hardcore sightseeing and hardcore travelling, and also hardcore being on the piss. Each has it’s merits. It depends on the person. There is no correct way to travel. To each their own, no way is better than the others.

In no order and remembered to the best of my ability.

1) Getting a ticket to Tbilisi from the Consular General in Turkey. Seeing same CG with hired goons at the aiport hauling copius bags of (likely) contraband taped up in bin liners. Mentioning to friend that we are being set up. Enjoying friends panic, then seeing the old Aeroflot plane Georgian air uses, doing some panic of my own. Falling asleep the whole way, waking up in Georgia, having our taxi route barricade numerous ways by angry people burning things.

2) Stalin Museum, Gori, Georgia. Seeing Uncle Joe’s birth house, and last remaining statue. Getting a cool keychain at the museum. Having the staff show us Stalin’s death mask with a flashlight as their was no power in the museum. Fortunately having a jacket, it was late November.

3) Crossing the Azeri/Georgian border being three sheets to the wind after me mate and I spent our remaining lari on EXCELLENT Georgian beer. The men with the Kalishnikov’s were extremely friendly and all shook our hands, after scaring the piss out of us at first. Guess not many tourists go that route. Waking up to see some of the world’s worst pollution and what the Soviets left behind.

4) Being in Belgrade for 9/11. New York looked much better than Belgrade did two years after. Put a lot of things in perspective. Waking up at the Montenegran cost the next day.

5) Being invited to a friends grandparent’s house near Biertan, Romania. The hospitality of the poor peasants was outstanding, and they made my Japanese friend and I each drink a delicious bottle of home made wine. Going to friends house in town, seeing they have 300 litres of wine, and 200 of PALINKA in the basement. Enjoying a better booze cruise than I ever had in Manitoba. I still see my Japanese friend to this day, we now live in the same place!

6) Visiting Stamford Bridge in London. ‘nuff said.

7) Seeing how alive and vibrant Sarajevo was during the day, when the hearts of the people open, and the bullet holes are hidden from view.

8) Spending 3 weeks in Chefchaouen, Morocco, eating excellent food, telling stories, and smoking hash with a great bunch of people.

9) Being in Glasgow for a whole month. The warmest, friendliest city in the world.

10) Arriving in Japan for the first time. Knowing that I finally found the perfect place for me.

Wow, I could do a hell of a lot more than ten!

1) Waking up to see the sunrising over the Laotian mountains and the mist shrouded Mekong River, at the point where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet, aka the Golden Triangle. Feeling good to be alive.
2) Same day walking into a remote village stirring up the curiosity of a soldier who came to just check me out. Meeting the kids in this small collection of wood huts they called a village was amazing. Left feeling even better about still being alive!
3) Sitting by the Trevi Fountain at 1:00am drinking copious amounts of wine with the woman I love.
4) Seeing the body of Lenin in his mausoleum. Incredibly atmospheric.
5) Eating the most delicious Ribolita soup in a small trattoria in Florence called Mario’s. Feeling at home.
6) Looking at the Wailing Wall with the Dome of the Rock Mosque a stone’s throw away.
7) Standing on Maya Bay, Phi Phi Islands being blown over by its beauty, yet a little tarnished because of the number of speed boats arriving. A paradise lost.
8) Climbing the Pyramids, well, if only a couple of blocks up.
9) Sampling as much variety of beers as possible in Brussels.
10)Admiring the art of Gaugin in the Hermitage. All of a sudden I was instantly converted to a lover of art from Claude Monet to Jackson Pollock.

Many more memories are cherished, and many more yet to be created!

_________________________________[url=‘http://www.bangor.ac.uk/~fos007/travel.htm’]Travelogues[/url]

In no particular order…

1. Getting to pet a heilan coo (highland cow) in Scotland…and then watching the thing clock my friend in the head with it’s massive horns.

2. Wandering the streets of Rome, find something new and incredible around every corner.

3. Italian music festivals in Amalfi, Italy, with a bunch of newfound friends from all over the globe.

4. Standing on the beach at 6AM, in Budva, Montenegro, watching the craziest lightning storm possible.

5. Getting yelled at by a Bosnian border guard for 10 minutes over a slight misunderstanding (I said shit…he thought I called him a piece of shit(. not my FAVOURITE moment, but definitely memorable.

6. Wandering the Las Ramblas in Barcelona at 3AM, drunk, unable to find my hostel. Some nice morally challenged, underdressed females heped me find it…and I declined their self-imposed invitation inside.

7. An entire Spanish village (3000 people) having a MASSIVE waterfight on the last day of their annual feria. 3 water tankers. Totally immature. But incredibly fun.

8. Watching an entire walled village (Kotor, Montenegro) flood in about 15 minutes from a massive rainstorm. Shouldn’t haven’t built it on a hill, I guess.

9. The cathedral in Siena.

10. Getting home.

1. Waking up on the night train from Amsterdam to Munich and watching the sunrise over the German countryside.

2. Meeting my cousins (for the first time) in a small southwestern German town and then spending 4 days with them.

3. Staying out all night in Madrid with two wonderful Scottish men, both of which have become lifelong friends. (see 4-6)

4. Illegally camping on Loch Ness and then "borrowing" a boat and rowing out to the middle of it in the middle of the night.

5. Hiking in Glen Coe, traversing a stream, and falling headlong into said stream, hence being christened Scottish.

6. Watching twilight descend into the harbor in Portree, Isle of Skye, while completly pissed, and then getting a free cab ride back to the pub.

7. Seeing an opera in Vienna.

8. Seeing the mighty Pacific Ocean for the first time.

9. Spending the day on a secluded beach in Sagres, in the good company of fellow travelers.

10. After a month and a half in New York City, standing in Grand Central, getting ready to leave, welling up with tears because I felt like I was leaving home.

Randomly…

1. Eating 13 one peso tacos while out with my friend and his funny little brother in Morelia, Mexico.

2. Hiking alone in the countryside in the Czech Republic for about 27km – the Broumov walls, Ostas, and then getting lost on my way back to Tepice nad Metuji Skaly.

3. Watching the mist roll over the tops of the mountains at Montserrat (by Barcelona).

4. Meeting the ‘Spice Boys’ at a hostel in New York (on my way to celebrate the new year in Vegas).

5. Getting a full body shiatsu massage atop a cliff overlooking the Adriatic in southern Italy.

6. Biking to the Ionian Sea with my friend – following the good directions of a nonno sporco, eating ice cream, falling into the sea fully dressed.

7. Watching a far off lightning storm for hours in the countryside near Venice.

8. Dancing like a Solid Gold dancer in an airplane (converted into a bar) in Olomouc, Czech Republic.

9. Walking under the moonlight along a country road with drunken friends near Montagnac, France.

10. Leaving Thessaloniki on a bus a little after sunrise, feeling totally loved and hopeful.

In no order.

1.drinking beer on Las Rambla.

2.drinking beer and red wine in the court yard of the 3 ducks hostel in Paris while listening to randem musicians colloberate(guitar, violin, & vocalist).

3. getting drunk on a train ride form paris to am-dam with a russian and a thief from ???

4. being atop of the eiffel tower and stopping to realize that I’m atop the eiffel tower.

5.drinking beer at 3ducks hostel in the court yard while australian continuously snuck/stole beer from the closed bar so that every one could drink until late into the night.

6. some beach that is sandwiched between 2 cliffs in malta.

7. clown & bard hostel bar in Prague.

8. bar hopping with 4 locals, I met the same night, in Budapest till dawn, and then going to the market to shop for breakfast then eating it in thier apartment and lastly passing out on thier couch and waking up at 1pm.

9. the over whelming culture shock on my first trip when we arrived in our first city, Amsterdam! and being incredalby intimidated when first walked into Bob’s hostel. The relief and sad regret that I will never feel that same way again.

10. Drinking beer and listening to my headphones, alone, on the paris metro.

In no particular order:

1. Watching the sun set over molokai from a deserted maui beach.

2. learning how to hula in front of hundreds of people at the lahaina luau.

3. driving along the "going to the sun" road in glacier nat’l park in montana.

4. riding on the london eye.

5. watching a drunk german stumble around a payuse bathroom in the munich train station.

6. going up the arc de triumph 3 times in one day- sunrise, midday, and sunset.

7. eating at a french cafe along the champs elysees

8. walking among the graves at the US cemetery in normandy.

9. standing on omaha beach and walking along the bluff at arromanches.

10. taking a paddleboat out on a lake in starnburg, germany.

I knew i’d forget one- walking through the holocaust museum in washington dc and meeting a lady there who had been at auschwitz, she had some very interesting stories.

1. Skiing Zermatt (Heaven!)
2. Hammock camping alone on a beautiful tiny island off Chichirivichi Venezuela
3. Wacken open air metal festival in Germany 04 & 03
4. Las Fallas in Valencia
5. getting freaky in Madrid
6. Enjoying the local goods the first time I went to AMSTERDAM
7. Cruising with a wacky new friend betweem Helsinki & Stockholm
8. Tuti Fruti Pizza and lotsa wine in Portugal
9. Walking 6 miles over awsome totally hellish terrain to sleep on an erupting volcano in Hawaii
10.Vienna tattoo convention 02- wild party action plus ink

dang, there’s soooo many more : P

In no particular order…

1) Having a bonfire on the beach, singing songs and falling asleep to the sounds of waves crashing in Tofino, BC.

2) The first time I saw the aqua waters of the Caribbean in the Bahamas.

3) Spending a hot day in Chicago at Taste of Chicago and taking the train out of Chicago to the ‘burbs’ to attend a Wallflowers/Counting Crows concert at an outdoor Ampitheatre. It was one of those fantastic summer days that you just don’t want to end and then it capped off with an outdoor concert under the stars.

4) On my trip to NYC seeing the Statue of Liberty while taking the Staten Island Ferry and later that week walking across the Brooklyn bridge on a gorgeous summer day in July.

5) Having my first pulled tea in Little India in Singapore.

6) Being in Amsterdam for Queensday.

7) Arriving in Paris on my first solo trip ever, it was a gorgeous day and after finding my hostel I strolled from there to the Notre Dame and I realized why they say you should visit Paris in Springtime, it’s so lovely.

8) Going trekking in northern Thailand where I slept in huts in mountain villages, ate pad thai off of banana leaves while soaking up the sun by gorgeous waterfalls. Trekking through the countryside and wandering through rice fields was such a peaceful experience.

9) After touring around the tea plantations in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia I ended the day with a cuppa tea sitting on a patio overlooking the tea plantations….heaven.

10) Visiting my very first castle in Holland when I was 9 years old. I don’t remember the name of the town or the name of the castle, but from the moment I walked in, I was in awe and I remember wandering through the place like it was yesterday.

Forgot one.

10 a) Taking a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean, seeing nothing but water for four days. The wake of the ship went as far into the horizon as the eye could see. For the first time ever I felt like such a small little piece of the universe. On that same cruise, leaving port at night standing on deck sipping wine and watching the lights of Funchal. Medeira fade off into the distance as we sailed away towards England for two more days of no land in sight.

10. Passing through St Louis and finding out the Darkness were in town.
9. Spending pretty much every second night this summer wandering around any given Mexican City trying to find a bar to watch the Flames games.
8. After finding a said bar in Mexico City but being tossed out after the first period (not really tossed out but a soccer game started so the t.v. switched to that). The bar owner walked us down the street to show us another bar cause he felt bad, this new bar was filled with 2 dozen Canadians already watching the game. If the flames had won the cup in game 6 we would have had a 30 person strong parade down whatever the hell street we were on.
7 Pampalona during San Fermin without a place to stay for 5 days. Just drinking and sleeping wherever I happened to pass out
6. Sitting on the curb outside Victoria Station in London at midnight due to my stubborness keeping me from paying 20 pounds for a hostel bed despite having the money and being offered a sandwich by some church guy who thought I was a bum.
5. Being in Rome about a week after Roma won the Italian Championship to find they still were honking their horns every night, all night. I got no sleep.
4. Beerhalls in Munich
3. Watching my girlfriend dance with a drunk mariachi guy
2. being chased by some "bodyguard" dude after taking a hookers picture in Amsterdam
1. Attending a high school graduation after party in Chihuaha Mexico after being invited by a teacher we met in a bar earlier that night. Oh how those kids wondered who the fuck the white people were.

Here are my favourite travel memories in no particular order..

1. Galloping on Icelandic horses in the most incredible wind and artic cold in Moesfellbaer in Iceland a few days ago, it was so windy I came close to being blown off the horse! I had also never galloped on a horse before so this was also quite an experience in itself!

2. Swimming outside in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland

3. Going on the Golden Circle tour in Iceland, including Thingvellir National Park where you can see where the tectonic plates have moved apart, Gulfoss waterfall and the Geysirs

4. Getting fined by a Czech police officer in Prague for not having the right metro ticket

5. 10 hour train journey from Prague to Krakow

6. Seeing the Spanish Horses perform in Vienna

7. Visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau

8. Standing at the top of the Arc De Triomphe in Paris and watching the traffic chaos below

9. Visiting the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam

10. Hanging out with random Irish guys in Dublin

1. standing on the beaches where the Miracle at Dunkirk happened
2. WWI War Memorial and Canadian monument from the Belgium people
3. watching a live sex show in the Red Light district
4. getting lost in prague and being pick pocketed on the tram
5. attending the Vienna Opera and standing in the poor section
6. drinking beers in a Brugge pub with the Holland Military
7. exploring the catacombs in Luxembourg City
8. standing in the exact spot Hitler died
9. eating my first Belgium waffle
10. visiting Terezin (Czech Republic) – a WWII concentration camp and thanking God for my life

I laughed out loud reading yours…lol! Sounds like you had an amazing trip!

~Erin

i’m just coming up with the ones that come to mind right now. i could definitely not write the top ten without much thought. thinking i’m not willing to do right now. many of these would definitely be in there though.

1. feeling shitty and tired our first moments in paris. we couldn’t get out of the subway no matter what we did. we finally find the stairs out and the statue republique is right there. it was a perfect start.

2. riding a bus in paris our first day there and a guy on the bus playing french accordian music.

3. riding the bus into brugge and just seeing it for the first time and deciding right there that we were extending our time there.

4. that shady hostel in slovakia. both seeing it and being in the town square looking for the hostel and having the owner come up to us and say "i’m gabriel!". i think that was his name. something like that.

5. getting a ticket on the metro in prague, they purposly make it diffecult to figure out. me making commie jokes afterward. that’s not nice but i was pissed. the lady who gave us our tickets was a bitch.

6. getting drunk in poland and telling these boys they were being ripped off as their bun had no hotdog in it. they sell these things that are like bread with something that looks like ketchup. then climbing into a big head statue and having the boy i was with telling me i was beautiful. awwww. we also tried to slide on ice this night too ( don’t do this drunk )

7. being in poland and the boy i was…seeing i guess, telling me it was snowing. i’m from los angeles, it was very exciting for me.

8. terezin. we went in off season and pretty close to closing so we were the only people there. we got to one room and neither of us could look in. we just felt the need to get away from it.

9. a jamaican guy in montmarte telling my sister "you bad person" when she told him i didn’t want a bracelet. he had it around my wrist and i couldn’t escape. i appreciated her standing up for me but it was funny.

10. having sex on the train to poland in the smallest bathroom ever. and then having the best sleep ever.

In random order:

1. Cycling for 3+ days when I was 15 from Germany to Denmark with my cousin and two of his buddies. 10 days on the road, no adult supervision, drinking in bars every night, sleeping in campgrounds, hostels, school courtyards, farms, and even a hayloft. So what if it rained nearly every day, I rode straight into a stop sign, and Denmark was so expensive we came back across the border after only one night? I still had a blast and even made friends with a tame crow that was flying around our campsite.

2. Watching my girlfriend’s(now my wife) eyes light up taking in the sights walking across the Charles Bridge on her first morning in Prague.

3. Drinking at a tiny little pub down the road from where my wife grew up in Ireland. It’s literally out in the middle of nowhere, and seats maybe 8-10 people including the one table. In walk 3 Aussie biker types. After a bit of conversation, one of them tells us how he’s tracing his grandparents roots in Ireland, and they came from the area. After a bit more conversation, the realization is made that he and my mother-in-law are 2nd cousins. The shades were drawn and the drinking and sesiun went on till the late hours of the morning.

4.Going on my first backpacking trip in Europe. Only 5 cities in 4 countries over the period of 3 weeks. But it opened my eyes and stoked the fire.

5. Anytime I’m in a Bierkeller, Bierstube, or Biergarten in Germany, especially Bavaria.

6. The view from the Alps.

7. The Freimarkt in Bremen and the Fischmarkt in Hamburg.

8. Playing golf in Ireland.

9. After spending the first 5 days sick with a stomache virus, my lady finally felt 100% better on our last full day in Prague. Since everything tasted like crap to her earlier, now it was all great, especially the beer. We went on a pub crawl that lasted about 16 hours, what a blast.

10. Getting intentionally lost for a few hours in Bruges.

In no particular order:

1) Getting drunk with my brother for the first time on the beach in Puerto Escondido.
2) I second the pub crawl in Barcelona.
3) Calendar type shots of mexican wrestlers in Venice with friends from college.
hotoID=288” title=“http://groups.msn.com/ElSotanoPersonal/araasfamosas.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&amphotoID=288”>http://groups.msn.co…
4) Pixies concert.
5) Aftermath of the Pixies concert
6) My ex sister in law’s face when I met her a couple of days after I ditched her in Chiapas, Mexico.
7) Walking the cobblestoned streets with my father (whom I barely have a relationship with) in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
8) The fabulous view of the green and golden patches of the irish fields and the golden rays of the morning sun breaking the gray clouds from the airplane.
9) Meeting the famous gargoyles in Notre Damme.
10) Excelent trippin’ with pot while watching Bill Hicks with a friend from Manchester

1) Loch Ness. It started as a disaster. A friend of mine was flying British Air (I think) from the US to Brussels. We were then going to Charleroi to take a RyanAir flight to Glasgow and spend a week in Scotland. The Airline lost my friend’s luggage and we couldn’t change the tickets because RyanAir doesn’t allow it. After getting in Glasgow, we took the train to Inverness. The airline eventually delivered my friend’s luggage to our hotel. LuggageGate was really frustrating, but once we started sailing on the Lochs, we didn’t care anymore. The calm and peacefulness of the Lochs was well worth the hassle – I will never forget the trouble it took to get there and the great time I had when I got there. I didn’t see Nessie, but its all good.

2) Monte Carlo Casino. My mother came to visit for 3 weeks this last summer. She loves to go to Casinos and play the nickel and dime slot machines. She thought we were only going to Athens and Venice and I didn’t tell her about bookings I made for Nice – She didn’t find out until we got to the airport. Her face lit up so much when she found out. Of course she limited her gambling experience at Monte Carlo to the slot machines right outside, but she still loved it and got to brag to all of her casino buddies back home.

3) New Years in Berlin. Wow….that was COLD! But, celebrating the New Year with more than 1 million well-wishers at Brandenberg Gate is something I will never forget. The biggest New Years celebration I have ever been to. Seeing the history of the wall and the Cold War remnants made it even better.

4) Rose seller in Rome. We were at the top of the Spanish Steps watching an outstanding concert Christmas Eve. A rose seller came to us and asked our female friend if she wanted a rose. She said no. He looked to us and we said no. He forced the rose into my friend’s hand and turned to me and said 5 euros. I told him we didn’t want the flower, we were watching the concert, and to go away. He wouldn’t take the flower back. I tossed the flower to him and he let it fall to the ground. He then started to come after me until my other friend stepped in. Eventually he left after a few choice words in a language I didn’t understand (I think it was Arabic, but not really sure). Being Christmas, I should have just given him 5 euros, but the way he forced it down our throats just ruined the whole majestic, Christmas atmosphere. Everything was perfect until he showed up. Side note – Paris gets the reputation, but I have never met a group ruder than Romans.

5) Foam party. The sheer madness was stunning – I don’t understand how people don’t die in them. My friends and I went to Lloret de Mar, Spain for a cheap end-August vacation (that part of Spain is very cheap end-Aug/beg-Sep and it is still hot enough for the beach). We found a club advertising a foam party. None of us had been to one so we decided to check it out. Foam was everywhere. I don’t know how much I inhaled, but it was enough to give me a sore throat for 2 days. In some areas the foam was over my head. But we were drunk and it was a blast. Of course it was freezing when we left the club because we were so wet, but I will never forget the foam party. A daytrip to Montserrat was also stunning.

6) Oktoberfest in Munich. I have been to Mardi Gras twice in New Orleans. Oktoberfest was about 3 times bigger. Getting trashed with tons of people from 10AM until 10PM, eating schnitzels and pretzels all day, drinking beer from huge steins, served by waitresses in traditional outfits, riding rollercoasters while drunk, dancing on benches (you can’t do it on the table-tops or you will be removed), listening to German music by live bands is my idea of a fun time. The whole atmopshere was amazing – everyone was just there for a good time. I didn’t matter who you were toasting.

and just down the road….

7) Dachau Concentration Camp. Yeah, we have all read the books, seen the moves, and know what happened. But actually walking through the concentration camp, seeing where it was done and how, seeing the graphic footage they won’t show on TV or the newspaper was chilling. How could a human being be so vicious to another? Certainly one of the most depressing points in human history.

8) Gay guy in Brussels. I was walking in a park – really don’t remember what I was going to see – probably one of the many ugly buildings there. A guy follows me through the park and stops me in the middle of the street, asking if I want to go back to his apartment and have sex. He was dumpy, fat, and ugly. That was when I learned that parks in Europe are often gay cruising locations.

9) Getting "tortured" in London. Another Mom story. First time she came to visit we went to London. We went to one of those cheesy torture dungeons. Unfortunately for me, but completely hiliarious to my mother, the lady escorting us through the dungeon decided to use me to demonstrate the torture devices. It wasn’t too embarassing until she got to the one used on genitils….

10) Horse and Buggy in Brugges. Walking down the street on a raining Belgium day, I saw something out of the corner of my eye to the left. Turning around a little, I saw it was a horse’s face over my left shoulder and he was about to trample me with the buggy behind him. I had to dive to my right to avoid being ran over. We laughed about that for about a week.

I think I’ll save the x-rated ones for myself. I’ll keep it briefand just stick to memories that are images or feelings, not ‘stories’

1) skydiving over the great barrier reef
2) tobagganing (sp?) in the austrian alps
3) hiking king’s canyon and kata tjuta in the outback
4) driving over phuket with my uncle
5) the walk from bondi to cogee beach in Sydney (3 cheers, homeskillet!)
6) hiking the isle of skye in scotland
7) sitting on the steps of the taj mahal and writing in my journal
8) lying on a slab of concrete in my bathing suit in monte carlo
9) skinny dipping with strangers in lagos, portugal at 3am
10) sitting on a rock in the indian ocean near perth, australia

In no particular order (that makes it too hard)

1)Arriving in Dubrovnik on a ferry from Bari after spending the night on the deck of a Croatian ferry.

2) Climbing a mountain near Bohinj in Slovenija, when we started around 4pm and thought we had a 45 minute climb, but in fact it was a 4-6 hour climb. Never before have I sincerely doubted if I could finish a task, this was it.

3) Arriving in Europe for the first time in Prague for foreign study and walking into Staromeste Namesi late at night for the first time. The combination of the fact that I was beyond tired, along with a few beers and the first time in Europe sensation made it something I’d never forget.

4) Meeting my family in rural Poland. Even though I didn’t speak the language and had to operate through a translator, it was an unforgettable experience. Somehow, even when the translator left for the night, my great-uncle and I communicated as we looked at pictures together.

5) The most incredible dinner I’ve ever had, shared with my now wife on the balcony of the "Atlas Club" or something like that, just outside the city gates in Dubrovnik. This was the Dubrovnik of several years ago, before the enormous tourism, and the views, the food, and the staff made it just incredible.

6) The Ritz Carlton in Bali. Nothing like it on earth. It truly was the epitome of what every resort tries to be. Can’t be put into words

7) Getting stuck in Gyenkeynes, Hungary (a border town b/ween Hu & Cro) as one of my travel mates had her passport stolen on the train. Stranded in a town that wouldn’t change USD to Forints, and yet wouldn’t accept foreign currency to get out My first experience in life with a true Catch 22, and it was solved with a friendly Croatian Railways offical, my basic croatian knowledge, consumption of horse salami, & drinking of beer at 7 am.

8) Seeing Sarajevo for the first time, after I had long dreampt of it. The vibrancy of the city after what it went through even suprised me. Truly a beautiful city & one so deserving of our tourism.

9) The bus ride from Sarajevo to Montenegro, especially the portion from approx. Foca to the border with Montenegro. The roads truly were dirt roads, and they literally cling to the edge of an amazing raving and river valley. Truly beautiful and terrifying.

10) Vilnius in January, the city and it’s amazing Pizza that my wife and I enjoyed were truly a pleasant suprise and quickly one of our favorite cities.

Here are some more :

11) Leaving Korea after two years, saying goodbye to the pollution from the port of Incheon. Made an excellent friend, which was helped with the bottle of Jim Beam, eating kimchi, drinking beer after the bottle went down (before the sun did), some dodgy karaoke in the middle of the Yellow Sea, more beer, making it back to the room to the amusement of my Korean roommates who insisted I drink further…

12) Meeting up with my friend the next day, getting off the boat near Tanjin in China, realising that everything, particularily the sky was gray and there was no visibility. Making it to Beijing where I stayed with my Korean friend and his Chinese family, getting taken to the best clubs and restauraunts, and having a home cooked dinner and booze session provided by a fomer Navy Captain and Communist Party member.

13) Ring side seats at a Muay Thai match in Bangkok earlier this summer. Best fighting I have ever seen, puts other martial arts to shame. Plus the courteous staff who I informed that we were betting rounds of Chang beer on each match and had to drink a whole beer for each fight. Beating my friend 7 – 3 in two hours, then heading to Nana Plaza to play Connect 4 and see some ladyboys, before heading back to Khao San and drinking and swimming until 7am.

14) Georgian food, everywhere Georgia. Best food and some of the best beer in the world. Communication was often tough, but one night a man out with his family shot a cork at my friend, apologized profusely in passable slurred English, led us in a multitude of toasts (tradition) which had us eat for a couple hours and become really, really pissed. He picked up the tab, of course. Making a toast to his entire family felt great.

15) Walking around Inishmoor, in the Aran Islands in Ireland. dressed for the weather, took a 3 hour walk around the Island looking for beer, before comig back to find out there were no other pubs on the Island. Didn’t matter, one of the most beauiful places in the world.

16) Running into a bunch of fit girls I knew from Lagos in Seville, Spain. I was gonna go to the Church with them on tourist day, but had already been there and wasn’t ready to queue again. So I waited in the pub with a Bushmills and Guinness when the girls wheeled up for me in a horse and carriage. I sat n the front by the driver, offered him a cigarette, he took out a block of hash, then proceeded to take my cigarette, melt the hash, combine them into a massive cone all the while driving a team of horses down a busy street of vehicles.

17) Quiz night at the Pygmallion in Luxembourg City (for walter). Accepted into the tight knit Irish expat community with open arms (helps when your surname can be directly traced back to a former king) and kicked ass in the competition. Getting a lift from the drunken Luxembourger after realising that was a huge hill to walk back up to the hostel.

18) New Years Eve in Tokyo, having a massive party with my girlfriend and good friends, and going to Senso Ji to make new years offerings, eat good food, and have some more beers while all the Japanese rang in the new year in traditional style.

19) Going to the DMZ in Korea, walking ten feet into North Korea. An amazing experience that place.

20) Getting stuck in a small fishing village on the Black Sea in Turkey. Shaking off our crazy guide, watching the whole village try to pull out a sunken 20 foot fishing boat in the middle of a storm (they didn’t), going shopping in the market and cooking up an amazing feast for ourselves before heading out the next day on our way to Central Asia.

Yeah, good times, all them.

quote:17) Quiz night at the Pygmallion in Luxembourg City (for walter). Accepted into the tight knit Irish expat community with open arms (helps when your surname can be directly traced back to a former king) and kicked ass in the competition. Getting a lift from the drunken Luxembourger after realising that was a huge hill to walk back up to the hostel.

Now to think about 10 things without saying ‘meeting some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met’ 10 times…
hmmm…. ok, maybe not the top 10 but 10 good memories throughout the years.

1) Seeing the Mediterranean Sea for the first time (4yo)

2) Asking a Belgian person where the nearest phone booth is after having cycled about 100K that day to hear him reply:"But that’s still far. That’s at least 5 minutes down the road). (10yo)

3) Sitting under the Eiffel tower while your mates are discussing how fine the 2 french speaking girls near them are and on which one each of them should hit only to have them wonder over and say in perfect Flemish:"Well, if you like us you should ask us out instead of just sitting there talking about us". (15 yo)

4) Sitting at the Adriatic Sea, falling in love with the girl who is out for a swim at 7am. (17yo)

5) Driving from Amsterdam to Blanes (Spain) in one go (well, one stop and go… damn traffic jams on the highway) and sitting on the balcony, having drinks, staring at the Mediterranean sea at 11PM. (21yo)

6) Seeing Prague for the first time. (26yo)

7) Drinking cheap wodka and amazing rakia with locals in Sofia (Bulgaria). (31yo)

8) Going to Ascott, missing your train, being more than half an hour late for a meeting and finding that the other person has waited for you and turns out to be a wonderful person. (32yo)

9) Going on a road trip to Sevilla to party with 60K Celts. (32yo)

10) Deciding at the last moment to go to Glasgow. Driving up to IJmuiden (the Netherlands), taking a ferry to Newcastle, train to Glasgow, checking in to the hostel, meeting up with friends, finding out you’re attentind a pre wedding bash, having to buy new cloths, getting slightly drunk hoping you don’t offend anybody at the party, being told to fuck off during the cab ride back, meeting some fucked up local after keeping him waiting, missing your ferry back, having your bank card rejected by ATMs for reasons still unknown, walking around with a cheque worth 1100E but not being able to find any place that will cash it, having 31 pounds left when you finally make it to the ferry, getting an amazing deal on a cabin and being able to make it home after all. (33yo)

Some great experiences… I agree with sick about the georgian food, love it.

Here’s mine in no particular order:

1) Weekend trip to Montreal during labour day, somehow became frosh leader at McGill, leading the muslim students association to a massive 3-day drinkfest (first time most of them ever drank)… corrupted the poor souls for life.

2) Almost got married in Bruxelles during a week long binge with me cousins

3) Staying up all night in Moscow with a girl & her friend drinking vodka straight out of the bottle & popping e in an abaondoned building.

4) Arrested in Mexico, spent a night in jail

5) Attended a communist rally at red square, got broken up by the cops, then spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the pavement & drinking homemade wine in solidarity

6) Spending a traditional Polish Easter in Wroclaw with friends

7) Spending a week in Madrid with absolutely no money

8) Smoking the finest hash I’ve ever had in Christiania with a bunch of burnt out hippies

9) Getting off a 35+hour cross europe bus… just getting off was probably the greatest feeling ever

10) Signing autographs & given the full royal treatment during a competition in bermuda, all the booze/drugs/women a guy could handle

quote:just getting off was probably the greatest feeling ever

Two questions for Hope:

1) How was skydiving?
2) Any pictures of you in that bikini in Monte Carlo?

1) Fantastic, the best thing ever! I went tandem in[url=‘http://www.jumpthebeach.com.au/’]Mission Beach[/url], just south of Cairns. Probably one of the best places in the world to skydive I think because you get the adrenaline rush, everyone is so laid back about it, the scenery is phenomenal, and the landing is on a BEACH (not in a nasty parking lot like it was when I’ve been in the States).
2) Nope!

Not in any order:

1: Gheorghe Hagi testimonial football match in Bucharest, whole trip was a blast, on TV being interviewed at the TV studios, being treated like a King by the Romanians, tried to break into the Greek embassay, (stopped by an armed paratrooper), hitching a lift to nightclubs in a police car and so on…

2: Playing Street football in front of 1000’s of people in Brussels before the start of Euro2000. Took a shower in the fountain afterwards

3: Lost all my money/credit cards/passport and flight tickets after 8 hours in Romania…. was out smashed out my face on drink , sleepwalking the streets around the hostel in my underpants and dropped my neckpouch (somebody actually handed it in!!!) Cops were called by worried neighbours.

4: Being pulled by the Cops for speeding/overtaking in the mountains near Brasov (no fine, cops couldn’t speak English or make sense of the UK paper licence)

5: Being thrown out of a football match in Liege. Walked into a German fans only pub with Romania colours on and got turfed out by riot police (managed to sneak back in, Ro TV crew thought we were english soccer casuals, another TV appearance!)

6: My mate and I jumping on a 15th century 4 poster bed in Castle Bran, nobody was around so we used the Romanian antiquity as a trampoline (photos of the occasion & all)

7: Stuck in a flooding tent at 2am in Caceres, was a total laugh…. most people lose the plot when things go wrong, that’s what makes a trip for me and my mates! Laugh in th face of adversity.

8: My mate breaking his collar bone playing 11 a side football in Brussels (game abandoned) on stag weekend, 7 hours in hospital, Vinny kept passing out coz he was still drunk and dehydrated, couldn’t stop laughing as he lay on th pitch baking in the sun, 38 degrees. Left him in the hotel himself, off out to party, later we brought him a girl back to keep him entertained

9: Getting ripped off in Prague, was pissed as a fart trying to offload 100 quid in scottish notes, ended up with $7 of useless Bulgarian Zoggs instead, the lads had to bail me out with drink. Got a serious ribbing off the guys! 100’s of girls taking photos up my kilt of my tackle too (guys get a kilt for travelling, a must!!!)

10: Isle of Man: got knocked down by a parked truck. Out for the count!

each to their own!!!!

quote:

3: Lost all my money/credit cards/passport and flight tickets after 8 hours in Romania…. was out smashed out my face on drink , sleepwalking the streets around the hostel in my underpants and dropped my neckpouch (somebody actually handed it in!!!) Cops were called by worried neighbours.

Good thing you weren’t caught wearing your panties on that occasion, otherwise might have some explaining to do… or were you?

again, in no particular order

1. going to a club in Prague until 3am then having to walk all the way across the city in the POURING rain in a miniskirt and flip flops because we forgot the metro closes

2. making out and such with a boy on the top of my hostel in Rome while we watched the sunrise

3. talking to a little 5 year old French girl on the metro is Paris with my VERY limited French

4. Standing in the biggest crowd I have ever seen in my life, watching the fireworks for St. John the Baptist’s Day in Florence

5. Spending 3 solid days high in Amsterdam

6. Finding out what the red light district was really like at night when I stumbled out of a bar in the wee hours of the morning

7. Beer gardens in Berlin

8. Laying on the beech on Lagos, Portugal for 6 solid days

9. Walking through the ruins of the monastery in Bingen, Germany where Hildegard von Bingen spent alot of tim

10. A cake festival in a little village in Germany with my German relatives

No order, don’t want to try and think of 10:

1. Swimming in English Garden, Munich.

2. Bonfire on beach with locals, Cinque Terra. Having to sleep in church square after coming back when hostel was locked for the night.

3. Watching someone "walk off" a stabbing in Barcelona. Then eating at the best chicken restaurant ever.

4. Watching fireworks celebration over Lake Geneva from cliffs of Leysin, Switzerland.

5. Sitting in a park in the afternoon. Everywhere.

quote:

1. going to a club in Prague until 3am then having to walk all the way across the city in the POURING rain in a miniskirt and flip flops because we forgot the metro closes

You go to clubs in flip flops?

1. Going through the Gap of Dunloe, via hiking and boat. The most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen
2. The first time I stepped off the plane in Europe. I was 12 years old and it was the first time I was away from my parents. I was scared out of my mind.
3. Sitting in an outdoor cafe in Amsterdam, drinking a Heinie and smoking a bowl with my friends and people watching.
4. Going to Germany for the first time and seeing where my family was from.
5. Bartering with the old women in Prague, using only hand gestures and smiling.
6. Sitting with my friends at the Piazza d’Spagna at 2 a.m. on a gorgeous May night, drinking cheap red wine that we bought at a gelateria out of plastic cups and listening to some guy play Bob Marley.
7. Trying to drink sample as many Belgian beers as possible in 3 weeks
8. Sitting in a street cafe in Prague, watching people go about their business.
9. The friendliness and openness of my homestay family in the little town of Bewdley, England. And also the indifference of my homestay family in suburban Dublin…they just left cereal on the table and directions on how to take the bus to the mall. They hardly even talked to me the entire 4 days I was there.
10. The anticipation of moving to Spain in less than 2 months…I can hardly contain myself.

quote:

quote:

1. going to a club in Prague until 3am then having to walk all the way across the city in the POURING rain in a miniskirt and flip flops because we forgot the metro closes

You go to clubs in flip flops?

I sure did! I’m not a big clubber, very high maintenance, or a big fan of heels in cities covered in cobblestone. There was no way I was going to bring more than 2 pairs of shoes. So I brought walking shoes, which I wasn’t going to wear to the club with a skirt, it’s not like I was going to have to worry about people moshing on my feet.

I was searching the site for information on some things to experience in Paris and London this Christmas vacation, our first trip to Europe, and stumbled upon this thread. Lovely! Thank you all for sharing your memories and yes, I have noted those that pertain to my trip.

1) breathing cold, crisp & fresh European air for the 1st time in the month of March a long time ago when the long haul flight stopped in transit at Zurich on my first trip to Europe. Food trolleys were loaded up by Zurich airport employees before flight departed for final destination, Paris.
2) Again on this 1st trip, upon landing in Paris, friend & myself were wondering in disbelief how many bra shops there were in Paris which we saw from our seats on tour bus. The French word "brasserie" was taken to mean bras by us ignorant tourists.
3) Backpacking Europe on my own in 1992. WOW is all I can say, all the way from Granada down south in Spain, was there for the mammoth Sevilla Expo 1992, then France, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, England & Scotland. Very smug with myself for doing it!
4) The wonderful desserts of Europe. Back home here we dont get those scrumptious desserts that Europe has.
5) Lying on a beach in Taormina in Sicily in late October during off season with less than 20 persons on the Isola.
6) The heavenly Greek amphitheater in Taormina, Sicily and the spellbound sunset. Truly and forever etched in my memory.
7) The train journey from Wien, Austria to Llubjiana, Slovenia on the 8.05 am train departing from Wien. I thought I would just take a nap for this 7 hour train journey but I ended up taking in the most scenic train ride ever thru stunning Alpine mountains, quaint villages tucked among valleys & gushing rivers.
8) The most beautiful Mediterrean gardens of Callela in Spain, Hanbury in Italy, Menton & Eze in France.
9) The diversity of mannerisms in Europe on tap & available within a short distance. Criss crossing borders & covering 3 countries in a single day. I stayed at Freiburg, Germany crossed over to Colmar & back out Basle in Switzerland & back to Freiburg. Where else in the world can u do that, eh!
10) The Europeans themselves. The minute I board the plane for home, I feel sad, sometimes I wish Europe was my home instead! Big sigh!