November 11, 2002

the books, the plans

i just bought my interrail pass and it turns out that i only get 50% discount when i'm leaving switzerland.

so i'm going to head straight to salzburg tomorrow. it's a 9 hour train ride, but i have charged batteries in my discman and the rest of war and peace to read.

i've taken to reading huge, brainiac novels while i've been travelling. i figure that i'm a captive audience - because i don't have access to endless books, i have to finish a classic, and i need a huge book as i read far too quickly.

so far some of the big brainy books i've read are foucault's pendulum, anna karenina and swann's way.

so war and peace doesn't seem intimidating at all. in fact i find tolstoy's work really easy to read.

but enough about how completely fantastic i am.

it's down to the plans.

rather than send my big backpack back to adelaide unaccompanied, it's going to be cheaper for me to store it in bangkok at a hostel.

but will it be safe for me to go to thailand? or in fact anywhere in asia?

that's not the type of thinking that i should be doing. if i wanted to be cautious, i shouldn't have caught a night train from paris considering that 12 people died in a fire on a sleeper car from paris to munich.

more importantly, should i spend a couple of days in london before i fly out to thailand?

if i should then it might be best for me to book a ticket from frankfurt to london now on ryanair (€2.59).

or do i fly from the netherlands or belgium? that way i get to go to amsterdam and possibly brussels. i spend less time in london (i could fly into london the same day i fly out to thailand) and i'll save at least aus$300. (based on my last visit to london).

Posted by pipstar at 01:35 PM | Comments: **

 

November 10, 2002

the plans

i'm in interlaken at the moment and i'm planning to go to zurich in a couple of days and then on to austria, hungary,
slovakia, czech republic, denmark, sweden, finland, estonia, poland for christmas, germany for nye, holland, uk, thailand and then home!

i've held off buying a railpass, but as i'm travelling through switzerland, germany and eventually the netherlands, (i hadn't been planning on going to these places), it's beginning to look very worthwhile. and i'm now only spending about 10 days in each country, so i'll be moving around more and more.

eek. 289 euros in one go! but just getting from interlaken to zurich is going to be about 45 euros!

austrian railways
swiss railways
german train timetable (lists all of europe)

Posted by pipstar at 02:00 PM | Comments:

 

interlaken

yesterday i was able to see and touch snow for the first time!

when i arrived in interlaken i walked around with my jaw dropped, looking at the snow on the mountains around the town.

snow! real snow!

i went up to lauterbrunnen, a town about 15 minutes by train from interlaken and i picked up the snow from people's gardens. and then i put it down.

it's not a lie, but snow is cold. it's not fun holding it in your bare hands.

as anyone who knows me will tell you, i get cold really easily. the next couple of months are going to be a big test for me.

i'm still looking forward to seeing snow fall. and i don't mind walking around in the cold. i just need to get some waterproofing solution for my shoes, jacket and gloves as i seem to be continually damp.

particularly as i had to walk around in the rain in lauterbrunnen for about an hour.

my whinging finished, switzerland is beautiful. the people are friendly to you, and it isn't as expensive to stay here as people say it is. i'm paying 17 euros for accomodation with breakfast which is very good anywhere in europe. and the hostel, balmer's herberge, is very friendly. i haven't been down to the bar yet, but that's one of the things which make the hostel so recommended.

Posted by pipstar at 11:33 AM | Comments: