Contiki Euro Grad Trip

I'm back! And with a cold "Contiki Cough"! But yea, What-A-Trip! I had a blast! Saw soo much, met soo many great people, and had wayyy too much to drink.....*blush*

Let me start from the beginning..be prepared for a really really really long blog. Take your time, its okay...there's a lot to go over for my 2 week trip. Don't stop reading in the middle! Cause you might miss some awesome stuff that I did in the end!
Pictures to come later. Gotta sort through the 1000 picturs that I took..and resize it so I can upload it faster..

Went on a grad trip with a friend from May 28-June 12, 2006. We decided to do a Contiki trip because I heard so much good stuff about it. Its great since its only for 18-35 only, so most of the people there are recent graduates like me! No more travelling on tours with old people or families with little annoying kids!

It took us a while to decide on a tour as we had to factor in our schedule, price, places with visit etc. We ended up choosing a 12 Day tour called the European Horizon. It is a budget tour, meaning that we stayed in hostels and campsites (cabins) to minimize cost and maximize places to see. It apparently its the shortest tour they have that goes to the most location. Probably not such a good idea if you don't like sitting on the coach most of the time. But that was okay for us as we just wanted a taste of Europe, go to as many places as possible, decide which places we like, and then go there again in the future.

Anyways..

May 28- Depart Toronto
My Airline for the trip was Air Transat. Return flight was about $650 which was alright...other airlines are more expensive...so we opted for this smaller, chartered airline.

Let me just say this first. Never taking Air Transat again.

My flight was at like 9:45pm. Arrived at the gate, and they said that something wrong with some mechanical parts of the engine and they need to get a new plane. So the flight will be delayed for an hour and 45mins...AND, we had to change gate to all the way on the other side of the airport. Freakin was bored to death for that hour and 45 mins. Good thing I have my Sudoku and the latest Vanity issue because it has the oh-so-hot CNN's Anderson Cooper on it *drool* to keep me entertained. Anyways, I finally left Toronto just before midnight. The flight was about 6 hours.

May 29- Arrive in London, UK "LONDON BABY!"
Arrived at around noon at Gatwick Airport (Not Heathrow, the biggest one, partly the reason why the airfare was cheap). Freakin small crappy airport it is. I had to wait at the airport for 5 hours because I have to wait for my friend who's on another flight. So, I had to lug my luggage around (which by the way was huge and heavy even tho its only half full. Its my only luggage that's bigger than a carry on!! and the Frame is freakin heavy to begin with). Wondered around the shops for a while. Managed to cash a traveller's cheque when I got a drink so I have some British Pounds on me. Was so tempted to use internet at the airport. But boy, my friends weren't joking when they say to expect everything in London double the price of things in Canada! (My little bottle of juice was about 1.5 pounds...which is $3!!) Anyways, the internet was 1 pound for 10 lousy minutes. No way am I gonna pay $2 for 10 mins of internet......at least...not yet anyways :P So I continued to do my Sudoku's.

Oh yea..you can smoke in the airport. They have designated smoking rooms, but the room is not a room. Its just an area (an elevated stage with glass fencings up to my shoulder). And there are non-smoking seats right ouside the box. So you can still inhale strong second hand smoke if you are sitting at the non-smoking seats....freakin..useless smoking area.

Anyways, my friend finally arrived and we took a train (The Gatwick Express) to downtown London, and then took the Tube (London Underground) to our hostel (Astors Museum) for the night. More on the Tube later.

After checking in, we walked around the streets of London. Couldn't get used to fact that they drive on the other side of the street. Good thing they have painted signs on the ground at cross walks to tell you to "LOOK RIGHT" or "LOOK LEFT" instead of the opposites that i'm used to. OH, and some of their oldish buildings have a large door knob in the middle of the door that doesn't turn!

The hostel that I'm staying in was alright, except for the extremely sketchy screaky floors...and extremely hot showers. My gosh do they not have cold water to make the water warm?!?! Anyways, I guess I'm so spoiled by nice hotels that living in hostels was an interesting experience...my gosh even my Loretto rez was better! LOL. The people there were friendly tho.

May 30- Touring Around London
Forgot to mention that we arrived London early and will be staying in London for extra days after the tour to tour around London ourselves (Since our tour doesn't cover London, even though it starts and ends in London).

Anyways, woke up bright and early. First place we go...is off to Beckingham Palace (at 9:30am) to wait for the Changing of the Guard at 11:30am. After taking initial pictures of the guards in front of the palace, the palace itself and the surroundings...it got kinda bored....and we had to stay there for 2 hours to make sure we have a good spot to watch the changing of the guard. I actually didn't think changing of the guard would be special. I always thought that its just a couple of guards changing shifts, that's it. Boy was I wrong. Police were everywhere, on foot and horses when the time is near. Then you start hearing drum base coming from far away. Then you start seeing this parade of guards and guards marching band coming over from St. James Palace and other areas. They parade on the streets along with the music and finally entered the gates of the palace. Then there's this whole comomtion of routines etc inside the gates where they switch guards. Then the guards who were at the palace march out of the gates and parade to where ever they are suppose to guard next. This whole ceremony thing took almost an hour! Holy..and there's sooooo many tourists there watching this. They do this every day in the summer and every other day in the winter. Seriously what is the point. I really think all of this is just for show and for tourism. Apparently they do the same in Ottawa too.......weird..British..traditions..

After that, we checked out Westminister Abbey. The inside is much larger than the outside. I'm not big on religion, so basically all the churches/cathedrals are all the same to me. But this place is kinda cool. All the past famous royal people and some other famous historic people were buried right under the tourists feet, underneathe the floor of the building. Creepy. Then you got these tombs above ground with the a statue lying on the tomb where you see the statue's hand in praying position. You also get to see the Coronation chair..I thought that was kinda cool, even though its just a old wooden chair. I couldn't find Pricess Di and the Queen Mother's tomb tho....I thought they were buried there..but guess not..

After that, across the street, is the Parliment building with Big Ben, the gold/copper looking clock/bell tower. A quick picture with Big Ben and we are off to check out the London Eye, that big ferris wheel on the shores of the Thames River. We got tickets for the "flight" and had to wait in line for about 45mins before we can board. The flight was kinda cool. Get to see the whole London...took lots of pictures through the window. The whole flight was 30mins...which was a bit too long. It's one of those thing where once is enough. Wouldn't do it again. Costly too. The flight was about 13 pounds..which is $26 for a half hour ferris wheel ride. Blah.

Then we walked through Trafalgar Square along the river, took the Red double decker bus to Covent Garden where there's lots of shopping and where all the theatres are located. We puchased tickets to watch Les Miserables when we come back from the tour at Queen's Theater. Gotta expereince UK's famous West End Theatre shows!

We head back to our hostel and checked into the Royal National Hotel (included in our tour price) where we get to meet our tour mates along with our tour manager and driver at the Contiki meeting. Went through some stuff and we head back to our hotel to get ready for our 6am departure the next morning to officially begin our Contiki Experience! Woot!

May 31- Off to Amsterdam, The Netherlands!
After weighing our bags (had to be under 20kg), we loaded our bus and are off! Since its so early, most people slept right after we got on the bus. Took the ferry across the channel, saw the White Cliff at Dover on the ferry and then entered France. After the ferry, when everyone is finally awake and excited, is when our Tour Manager (TM) Glen started the introduction. BTW, our Driver's name is "Tyson with a T. Tyson. Like Mike Tyson". LOL. Glen had our names in a bag. And one by one, as our name got called, we had to go up to the front of the bus and introduce ourselves. Talk about where we are from and what we will be doing after Contiki. After we draw a name out of the bag, and we had to go sit at that person's chair. So in the end, everyone will be sitting at different seats so we can mingle with new people. Go me! The guy who ended up next to me is Mexican, don't know much English, took out his eye mask and went to sleep right away. okayyy...Good thing the guys behind me were nice enough to chat with me. LOL.

So..half of our 53 tour mates are either from South Africa or Austrailia. The other half consists those from Canada and US with one from Brazil and one from Mexico. Everyone is pretty cool. Except for 2 girls from Miami Florida *high pitch scream* "Spring Break Number Two! WooHoo" *roll eyes*. My gosh, those two girls are so loud the entire trip. Everywhere we go, everything we do, they both must go..in a loud pitchy party girl voice "OwOWWWWWWWwww" Everyone else rolls their eyes when they do that...lol.I think the one Canadian girl and the one south african girl who they befriend with on this tour gets annoyed too.

Anyways, we drove from France, past Belgium and into The Netherlands where we checked into a hostel/inn in Amsterdam!! We went on a boat cruise tour along with canals with all you can drink beer and wine. The scenary was beautiful. The group were partying it up with free drinks (well..not free...since we did pay for the tour)..and the cruise was blasting music along the canal. Too bad you can smoke on the cruise..cause the boat is an enclosed glass box! After the boat cruise, we checked out the Red Light District. That's right. I was at the Red Light District. Where all the "Coffee House" are *coughcough*, and the hookers and the naked girls standing behind the window in sex shops. Couldn't take any pictures cause Glen told us they would take our cameras away if we get caught. Anyways, some of us went to check out a Sex Show...and then went into "Coffee Houses" *coughcough*...lalala.

June 1- More of Amsterdam, then off to St. Goar/Rhine Valley, Germany
We get free time in the morning in Amsterdam. Glen took us to Gassan Diamonds to check out the Diamond exhibition. Then we have free time to check out whatever we want. Glen gave us a nice map of Amsterdam which showed us some attraction areas. Many of us decided to go check out the Anne Frank's House. We got there, but there was a huge line up, so we couldn't go in. Took pictures outside instead. Then we walked around Amsterdam, checked out the street scene, the markets and the shopping street. Saw a "Smart Shop" where they sell Magic Mushrooms. Went into a "Cafe" (a bar) and had some yummy Poffertjes, which is a plate of mini pancakes with butter and powdered sugar. Then, back on the bus, Glen treated us to some yummy Stroop Waffles. After a taste of Amsterdam, we are off to Germany!

The drive through Rhine Valley country side along with river was magnificent. Sooo beautiful. We arrived at St. Goar, a little town which is famous for a lot of things. More on this later. After dinner, we went off to a wine celler for some famous Rhine Valley wine tasting. We tasted 4 different shots of white wine. Each one is differ from when the grapes are harvested. The later the harvest, the sweeter the wine. We also got to try some of their expensive ice wine, which was delicious. So I bought a bottle..teehee....for my parents..of course :P

June 2- More of St. Goar, then off to Munich, Germany!
The morning we checked out the things that are famous in St. Goar. St. Goar is most famous for their beersteins, the cock-coo clocks, and teddy bears (where the first is made). Checked out their shops, bought some stuff...then we are off to Munich, Germany!

Because of the world cup, Munich was packed with tourists. We checked out the famous Glockenspeil, which is this old tradition city hall building with a clock on the top. Beneathe the clock is like cock-coo clock thingy with little statues of figures. Everyday at 5pm, the clock would sound, and the little figures would start moving along with music. Either doing dancing or sword fighting. The square in front of the building is also packed with tourists watching those figures move. Then we shopped around the place, checked out more churches....and then headed off to one of the best nights on tour for dinner. We went to a beerhall for 1L of beer and Pig Knuckles for dinner! It was awesome! The food was great, the beer was great, and the entertainment and performances were wonderful. Throughout the dinner, there's two old german guys dressed up in traditional german wear singing and playing instruments for us. From time to time, they would get everyone up, hold up our beer, and sing a prosting song (prost means cheers in German)...which goes something like this "I'm Prosting, I'm Prosting...*blahblahblah* I'm Prosting, I'm Prosting...*blah blah blah*...Eins, Zwei, Drei, Funf. PROST!". Then our group would do a prosting wave...where each table would get up and prost in a wave fashion...It was awesome. Then these german ladies in their german dress would come out and sing, dance and perform around our tables. then they would play the chicken dance song, and they grabbed some of the guys to dance with them. After everyone finished dinner, everyone would start getting up and dancing to the songs and stuff...or buy more beer (first one is "free"..additional ones cost 7 Euros)...It was such a fun night, it was great! Then Glen got drunk, and he rapped Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby on the bus on our way back to our hostel. It was hilarious. It's so great to have a fun and young (24) guy as our tour manager. I got the prosting song, prosting waves, and performances on video! At the hostel, there's a disco club underneathe which most of us headed afterwards. Good stuff...though I didn't stay long...haha

June 3- Off to Tyrol, Austria then Hofgarten, Austria
The morning we arrived at Tyrol, Austria, which again was a scenic drive along the country side. At Tyrol, half of us went to white river rafting while the other half got to walk around and look at the country side villages, the austrian alps and the river. It was beautiful. I didn't go white river rafting cause I can do that in BC. But that's okay, I got to enjoy the scenary and take lots of pictures! Besides, my big event is coming up in the afternoon!

then in the afternoon, we arrived at Hofgarten, Austria where our hostel is, in this little beautiful town in the middle of the alps. Needless to say, its magnificent. The afternoon have two concurrent events. Mountain bike ride on the alps...or....PARAGLIDING OVER THE AUSTRIAN ALPS. Obviously I pick the latter one, even though it costs more...but who cares! How many of you can say you paraglided over the Austrian Alps?! huh? huh? Only 10 of us went paragliding, and none of us regretted afterwards. Cause it was amazing. The view was breathtaking. And the tantum paragliding was sooo much fun! At the base, we each met our own tantem pilot. We got this gigantic bag that we have to carry, then we hopped on to a ski gondola to ride all the way to the top. On the way up, we had to sign our lives away on a piece of paper for company's insurance....that was a little freaky...but then it got scarier when I see how long the ride was and how high up we will be....then I got kinda nervous. Then I started to ask my instructor whether its 100% percent safe or not...and he just smiled and said "you'll be fine...I hope" *gulp*. At the top, we walked to an open sloping area. The instructors strapped us in and we had to carry this "seat" backpack. I don't know what's in it. I hope its a spare parachute...but the instructor said that its our "seat". Then the instuctors took out the parachute and lie across the field and got set up. Then we are strapped in with the instructor. One by one, the others ran off and flew away. I was standing there having butterflies.preparing myself to run fast. Cause one of the tourmate in front of us didn't run fast enough and fell..lol....anyways...when its my turn, my instructor counted down..and then "GO GO GO GO". I started running....or I thought I was running...My feet was moving..but it doesn't feel like i'm moving forward cause of the parachute drag slowing us down. Then the heel of my left shoe came off and I was like "oh crap! Please dont fall off please don't fall off". Before I know it, we were in the air..and my left shoe was dangling from my toe. I couldn't get it back on, so I had to squeeze my feet to make sure my shoe doesn't fall off. Anyways, the view from the top was wonderful. The flight was actually not scary at all.. i felt very comfortable and secured. I look down, I see other parachutes flying. Then one of them starting spinning out of control and is falling fast...and I was like OMG OMG OMG. Then, that parachute gained controlled again. Then, my instructor asked me if I like roller coasters. And I was like, heck yea! I love it!. Then he made a sharp turn and its my turn spinning really fast. It was so fast that I couldn't move my head. Its like a really really strong wind blowing my face. It was soooo much fun. Then I asked him to do it again without thinking about the consequence...nausea...LOL..As we get set for landing, we were flying above little houses..and I was like..I don't think we have enough air space to make it to the field...are we gonna land on the roof? My instructor just laughed, and told me to start running once we touch down. Just as we touched down..i started to run...or..I tried..but instead, I just fell on the ground...LOL....But yea, everyone said it was a blast, even though all of us were alittle bit dizzy...but it was totally worth it and I would definately do it again! The only thing that I was really mad at myself is that my camera battery went out just before our flight..I was sooo pissed off that I couldn't take any pictures while i'm flying! And I didn't ask for a photo package (where the instructor will carry a camera..) cause its expensive, and the sample pictures I saw are all close up pictures of ppl's nostrils while strapped in on the parachute..so I was like..no thanks. ARGG!! Which reminds me..I need to hunt down the person who did take pictures in the air...

Anyways, at dinner time, we had a yummy dinner..and guess who our servers were?..Glen and Tyson! They were dressed in Traditional Austrial clothing. Glen was a little boy...and Tyson was in a woman's clothing..it was hilarious!!

June 4- Off to Venice, Italy!
You know how you see these amazing places on TV or in the movies...you never really believe that those places existed as we are so used to the North American Scene. Well I was like that. When I see movies taking place in the european country side or in Venice...I never really truly believe that such place existed. Well seeing is believing...it was an eyeopener when we arrived in Venice. Our campsite/village is on the mainland we we had to take a small ferry across to Venice. As we approach, you just see all these old architecture and stuff..it was quite amazing (my gosh, i'm running out of adjectives...that or I need to sharpen up my vocabs). Then we got off the ferry, walked along the river...Glen gave us a quick tour, showed us the Bridge of Sighs, Dodges Palace, and St. Mark's Square. We also checked out a glass blowing demonstration and a Lace shop as Vence is famous for its hand made venetian lace. Glen talked about it on the bus, and since he's Austrailian. He kept on saying "Lice Shop. Venice is famous for its Venetian Lice" and I was like..what the heck? Lice? as in the little bug in your hair?..It wasn't until I asked my friend before I realized that its Lace. Then we told Glen about it and asked him to pronounce Lice, as in the bug. And he said, "Lice" with a bit of tongue manuvering...it was kinda funny. Then he started to murmur "you americans..Lace Lace..you americans" LOL> Then he gave us free time until our gondola ride. We walked around, took lots and lots of pictures, went to check out the market place, had some quick dinner and Gelato. Bought a bottle of wine, and hopped on to a gondola to enjoy our half hour ride along the canals. Our driver was funny. He whistled a little, sang alittle and chatted with us a little. Took lots of picture, but it's once again, one of those things where once is enough. Won't ever do it again. 20 Euros for a gondola ride. Its probably cheaper in Vegas. Then more free time after the ride before we had to catch a ferry back.

June 5- Off to Switzerland!
The drive up the mountain was windy (Not as in the blowing air..but meaning twist and turns) and we went thru many tunnels. According to Glen, Switzerland is a neutral country and have really strong military. Their tunnels are not straight to prevent enemy's from shooting straight and there are detnators in the tunnels controlled by the military. So.....not a good day on the bus as a couple of them puked....late night last night too i guess..lol..I didn't puke tho! go me! Our first stop was Lucerne where we saw this giant stone statue of a lion which is symbolic and tribute to the Swiss Army in the cliff. And saw this famous wooden bridge that I forgot the name of. Checked out a watch and swiss army knife shop where I got a Swiss Army Knife engraved with my name in clear blue and a Golf Tool :P. Then we are off to a village in the middle of the Swiss alps where we are staying tonight. It was beautiful. We were surrounded with mountains, trees and waterfall. Took lots of pictures. Funny how all the scenaries really all look the same...but just can't help ourselves from taking more and more pictures. Glen was right. He said that once we are in Switzerland, we would be taking pictures every 5 seconds. Which turned out to be true, especially the next day.

June 6- Off to Top of Europe!- Jungfrau Mountain, Switzerland
We took a train up the tallest mountain in Europe, with the highest train station in Europe and the highest post office in the world. The ride up was an hour and half. But once again, amazing scenary. It went from nice and green to beautiful and white.
Once we were up there, we checked out an Ice Palace, and went up to the top to check out the scenaries. Too bad it was a little foggy that day, so they said no dog sledding, ski/snowboarding and snowshoeing..which was a little bummer. But that's okay. I had fun anyways. It was especially nice to see all the South Africans and that one Brazilian playing in the snow since they have never seen snow before. They were soooo excited that they didn't mind getting wet or cold. It was funny yet nice to see. But yea..view was great...there was a glacier up there too...man...Now I understand why the Swiss Alps is so famous. Whistler is no comparison. Once we are back down to our village, we had a nice drink and play games sitting outside our cabins, in the mist of the mountains and the waterfall..underneathe the stars. I loved the mood.

June 7- Off to Paris, France!
Our last stop was Paris. After a long drive, we arrived in the evening. Glen gave us a quick night tour on the bus and showed us some of the key sights such as Notre Dame, Louvre, Where Napolean is buried, Arc de Triumphe, Champs Elysee's (the expensive famous shopping street) etc, and of course, the Eiffle Tower. There's just so much to see. And everyone on the bus was taking pictures. It was a little shaky on the bus so I gave up taking pictures (Since we will be seeing most of it tomorrow anyways)..I instead took videos..which was much better...Oh yea...quick note about the Arc de Triumphe. There's 12 streets merging towards this circle, and the traffic was crazy as there's like no lights. According to Glen, last year, on average, there's an accident every 6 mins. After he said that, everyone put on their seat belts (yes, there's seat belts on the bus..its the law) because we were about to enter the circle. Tyson almost hit a motorcycle...but after a lap around, we made it out! Then everyone on the bus was cheering and shouting "Tyson! Tyson!"

June 8- Day in Paris
Morning of Paris was not fun..I got really sick on the bus...not because of car sick..but something else...so I was not in the mood in the morning. When we arrived at the Eiffle Tower to get ready to take a group photo..I was not in the mood..and was glad that I didn't buy the group photo cause I looked really sick....but yea..after that...I felt better...and we all went up the Eiffle Tower. We could only go to the 2nd highest level since the top level was overcrowded. That's okay, the view was amazing none the less. Then I went across the Tower to take more photos. Get to see clearly the symmetry of Paris. Then I tracked down along the river, took many pictures on the way and headed to the Louvre. I did an art project in highschool on this, so I was extremely excited to see the Louvre. Once again, the symmetry is in effect, and there's an arc at the Louvre too. Standing under the arc, you can see far away, the Arc de Triumphe..I thought that was really cool. And if you stand under the Arc de Triumphe, you can see another ARc in the busniess district even further away from the Louvre. So basically there's three arcs in a line separated by a large distance. And there's no buildings or trees in the way of the three arcs too! I thought that's prettty neat. Took many pictures, went underneathe the glass pyramid. Too bad I don't have time to go in and check out the Mona Lisa as I want to check out some other sites too. But yea..1 day in Paris is definately not enough. Oh well. After the Louvre, I went to the Notre Dame. Seriously, all cathedrals look the same! Then after that, we went back to our campsite so we can change for our farewell dinner tonight. We went to this nice French restaurant with singing entertainment. We had White Wine with Black Current as a starter wine. Then a choice of Salad, Escargos, or French Onion Soup with Grilled Cheese as appetizer..I chose the Soup since I had Escargos the day before. The soup was amazing btw..so good!..The entre was a choice between steak, duck or fish. I had the duck...which tasted like chicken. Then we had a nice dessert cake which was good too. There's also a bottle of white wine and a bottle of red wine on our table. And the waiter was funny..I asked for some water cause their wine was super dry. And the waiter was like "no water, you got wine"...LOL...and he kept on giving us more wine!..We still had like half a bottle left for each type of wine and he gave us another bottle of each!! After we finished eating, I had to snug out a bottle of white wine for everyone cause we werent sure if we can take them home..LOL...(the others made me! I swear!)...After dinner, other went to check out a Caberet show...while the rest of us walked around the red light district of Paris. I didn't go check out the Caberet show..so I went with the rest. We finished the bottle of wine that we snuggled out on the streets...then headed for a pub for more drinking!..omg..I think I had a bottle and half of wine that night...it was crazy....and a lot of fun. But the wine was soooo dry...it made my throat really scratchy....which led to a cough the next morning.....:P

June 9- Back to London. Goodbye Contiki :(
Yea..and the cough turned into a cold. Good thing it was the last day of the tour. After saying goodbye to some of the people who are staying in Paris or leaving via Paris airport, the rest of us were off to London. On the way in France, we saw Summons, the famous battle ground and checked out Vimmy Ridge. For those history buffs, remember we learned about it in history in highschool. Its the site where Canadian won their greatest battle in world war I using Trench Warfare. We got to check out the trenches and see how the grounds are all shaped with tiny hills and bumps because of the bombs and stuff. It was quite cool. In addition, since Canadians saved the French, the French gave Vimmy Ridge to Canada as a thank you gesture. So for a short while, I was in Canada!

Once we were back to London...we had to say goodbye to many of the people that I befriended within these two weeks..It was kinda sad..but I got their contact info. Next time if I visit South Africa or Australia, I would have someone to guide me....lol..

I had an awesome time on Contiki. I would definately recommend to everyone between age 18-35 (yes..there are a couple of 35 years old..and they were hip and cool!)...I mean, backpacking on yourself is cool too..but if you don't want to plan everything or want to meet some new people, experience some unique culture at each location, party like crazy every night (you don't have to), definately check out Contiki. A lot of the events, like white water rafting, paragliding, beerhall dinner, farewell dinner, caberet etc are optional. So you don't have to do everything if its not for you. Instead, you can use that free time to check out the place even more. In addition, this tour is different than other tours that Ive been on because it give us free time. At each location, they'll give us a quick tour and then give us a map and let us off on our own. So you get to see places that you want to see...and don't have to follow the group around....and no more this "sleep on bus, pee off the bus" type of tour where they only give you 10-30mins at each stop which is mostly spent lining up for the washroom. If you don't like sitting on the bus all day...and want more time at each location, Contiki have like tons and tons and TONS of different tours to choose from...I happened to chose one that sees the most places in short amount of time. You can choose tours that are longer or are more confined in its locations. There are also superior tours if living in hostels and cabins are not your thing..but its obviously a little more pricy. Check out their website for more info..I would definately do this tour again in a few years. I would like to check out the Scandanevias (Sweden, Finland, Denmark) or the Mediterraneans (Greece, Turkey, Rome, etc)...so let me know if you are interested too!!
oh..and the bus is not bad at all..very comfy and modern. I actually didn't minded at all...which is a surprise..I think its cause now that I wear my Sea-Band..i no longer get car sick! In addition, the bus is always blasting music (when everyone's awake) and nice soft music like Jack Johnson when people are sleeping. Contiki also have a day song for each tour. Which is a song that we play every morning on the bus. Our day song was Holy Grail by Hunters and Collectors. Great Song. So every morning we will sing along to the song...then after the song...Glen always played Mr. Brightside by The Killers...so it became our unofficial day song. On the last day, when we knew it will be the last time playing it..Glen cranked up and everyone on the bus was rockin'...it was great!

June 10- Touring in London Part 2
We are staying at Pickwick Hall for the 3 extra nights we are staying in London. Today, we went to check out the Tower of London where we followed a Yeoman Warder Tour to learn about the towers and hear stories about executions and tortures etc happened long long ago. Saw the Crown Jewel, some crazy torturing devices and witnessed gun firing along the river because its Prince Philips 69th birthday (i think) that day...so that was kinda cool.. Then we checked out the London Bridge, before we head off to Covent Garden for shopping and waiting for Les Miserables to start.

the musical was amazing. The singing was beautiful and the songs were awesome. The rotating stage was really cool too. After that..I got obsessed..and yesterday I rented the 98 movie with Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman and Claire Danes so I can fully understand the story line.

June 11- British Museum
Today we check out the British Museum...Now I'm not big on museums. I don't like artifacts much..I prefer art galleries or art museums..especially more contemporary ones....but hey..I'm in London..gotta check out the British Museum. Well..many said that you need more than a day to go through the Museum. well..me and my friend finished in in less than 4 hours...LOL....So afterwards...we didn't know what to do...so decided to head back to our hostel and rest and pack....since i was still sick..

June 12- Bye Bye Europe, Hello Toronto
I have a 11:45am flight...so that means we have to leave our hostel at 8. We hulled our luggage to take the Tube...holy cow...I am not impressed..so many stairs in the tube...not wheel chair accessible at all...my arms were about to fall off...but I made it....After the train ride, we were back at the Gatwick Airport. Seemed like yesterday was only the first day I was there...yet Contiki felt such long ago. Anyways....you know how I said I will not take AirTransat again? well guess what. My flight got delayed..AGAIN!..This time for 45 mins. Reason? Cause the crew got stuck in traffic in downtown London. Funny how all the passengers arrived early and none of them were late..ARGGG...After a 7.5 hour flight..I was back in Toronto...ahh 2nd home sweet home. It was a great 2 week trip..but I was ready to go home...

Now...in a week, my mom and my sister will be coming over for my Convocation on June 22nd...then I will leave Toronto for good and head back Richmond....and start my DAP program in UBC July 1st...

sorry about this long post...but I figure its been such long time since my last post.....gotta make it up to it right?

Pictures to come later