As Kelly turned our alarm off this morning she scrolled through all the usual iPhone apps of Facebook, Twitter and CNN to learn about Osama Bin Laden being killed. In quite a bit of shock we read aloud various articles online about what had happened and the celebrations taking place in the states. Moments like this we feel far from home, and remember that we are often out of the loop more than we realize. We showered and packed up quickly (baffled that it was our last hostel night) so that we could watch the news over our last free breakfast. We were glued to the TV as we watched the US and global reactions to what was happening. Trying to get our heads around it all was pretty difficult, but the oh so wise Patti Foster articulated it best (stay tuned for wise quote).
Our ideal situation for this day was as follows: hop on a short train ride to Basel, Switzerland in order to enjoy another full day here...then take an overnight direct train to Amsterdam for a small fee, in order to spend the afternoon tomorrow there before catching our ferry from Hook of Holland tomorrow night. But that would just be too easy wouldn't it? Of course.
Actual series of events went as follows:
The dweebster train station ticket man informed us the night train we wanted to take would cost us over 200 euros. HA! That was never going to happen, so we figured we would figure out our own route, which is nottttt easy. Getting timing and fees and countries on our Eurail pass right was a serious challenge. We hopped on a train to Basel, got kicked out of 1st class (again) and an hour later we were in the bustling station hearing nothing but bad news from the friendly information man. Our route to Holland was getting more and more difficult. Wifi was crucial in this moment, so we bought tickets to Paris (our in between spot, yes it was necessary) and set into town to find internet on our hour and a half layover. After a Switzerland priced coffee where the wifi ran out, Kelly eventually found a Starbucks just down the road. We examined all our options and decided we had about a 20 minute window to get off our train in Paris to a bus station (via Metro) and take an overnight bus to Amsterdam like we had early in the trip. We knew this was a risk but it was our cheapest and least homeless gamble.
Somehow, we always keep ourselves entertained on trains, but for some reason this 4 hour trip to Paris was most bored we had ever been. Of course our lack of things to do had us cracking up most of the ride at our own weirdness. And of course we put a hefty dent in our groceries.
Our train pulled into Paris at 11:05pm, approximately 15 minutes late, meaning we were stuck in Paris, homeless and exhausted. If it hadn't been the LAST time this would happen we would have been more bothered perhaps, but this wasn't our fault and luckily we planned ahead and knew how to get ourselves to the hostel here we liked so much.
A short metro ride later (yes, Paris still gives us the heeby jeebies at night), we were waiting in line at St. Christopher's Inn. our hope was to chill in the busy bar til it closed and then hopefully loiter around til 5am-ish when we would leave to get on a 7am bus to Amsterdam. But we knew it was more likely we would paying for a dorm for the next 5 hours. As we waited in line, the friendliest of all hostel workers we had met our first time here spotted us and recognized us! What a crazy good memory! We explained our situation in small talk, and he offered us to chill in the bar and then just hang with him and some other people who work there til we have to leave...Liam to the rescue! Times like these are what redeem any negative encounters with people...Liam barely knew us and went out of his way to save our wallets and time. What a gem!
We sat around for a while until the bar closed, at which point our crew for the night began to appear. Liam, our Australian host, introduced us to Cristian the Brazilian chef, Marly the quirky Australian hostel guest who has befriended the hostel staff, and Rashid the Moroccan chef. We played pool as the night crew cleaned up and Cristian became hero #2 by bringing out huge bowl of potato wedges and nachos for all of us. Friending the staff is definitely not a bad route to go... chefs especially if you are hefs like us. After a couple hours, we sneaked into an empty room and Liam set up his laptop for a movie. We piled around and watched "True Romance"...the movie was so awesome that as it ended we realized it was 5am and we had made it! Victory! We said our goodbyes and thank yous and strapped Burt and Dewey to us in hopes of making a morning bus. As we left St. Chris, I guess we realized that was our last homeless nomad night and we felt really amazing about it. Nights like that are what it's all about...in a moment of unknowing, we found ourselves pulling an all-nighter with two Aussies, a Moroccan and a Brazilian all living in Paris...all because of one nice saving gesture. They were great people and it was a perfect ending to a failed travel attempt.
As we stood purchasing our metro passes a man approached us...several full bags with him, and asked where we were from. He questioned us about our feelings on Bin Ladens death and was obviously a looneytoon, which started our morning in Paris off on a shakey note. So far we have not encountered almost any anti-American sentiment... we were hopeful it wouldn't begin now. Shortly after as we scanned a metro map, 3 Parisian army men approached us from behind and our stomachs knotted up yet again. Turns out the straight faced men were just trying to help us, but it's kind of hard to listen to someone who's holding an AK-47 to your back...
The bus station brought us further bad news, and we discovered there was no early morning bus to Amdam today! Which means the later bus was too late to make our ferry. Trains it is.
Long story short...trains were expensive. Trains were full. Repeat. Repeat. Ticket line, train line, ticket line, train line. Oh Paris, land of the helpful and friendly. Finally, we had tickets. Our lack of sleep, combined with a FREEZINg train station and stressful morning got the best of us for a few minutes, we admit. Luckily, we usually have our weakest link moments at different times and are able to support each other when there seems to be no light. We waited for our train in a station cafe where we were completely ignored by every waiter for nearly an hour as we tried to pay...we decided it was a perfect time to get rid of all of our 1 and 2 cent euro coins...7 euros later we pured our change into our Parisian waiters hand. It was a victorious moment for us, so we left and played cards until our train arrived! Kel & Jen-1, Paris-0. So, one far to expensive train ride later we made it to Amsterdam! We felt like we had just been here and had trouble believing we had begun here nearly 2 months ago. Our short afternoon visit confirmed that we still LOVE this city. We snacked on a bench, browsed the afternoon prostitute selection, and sipped big coffee in a coffee shop...really we just had coffee..geeez.
We walked around downtown and shopped for souvenirs when suddenly two old men came into the shop we were in...our ears perked up when one of the men (seriously, were talking remember when TV was invented old) asked the young hippy sales clerk: "Now this may be a dumb question, but can you tell me where we can buy a space cake?!". Let's just say it took every fiber of our being to not fall over laughing... obviously we followed the two men to the coffee shop they were directed too. Inside jenny got distracted by the dazed and confused black cat on a bar stool. Little guy was OUT, reminding us of a VERY scary magician and rabbit duo at Alex's birthday party a few years back. The AARP crowd left with a space cake in hand, leaving our minds racing with thoughts of the rest of their day.
Time was up and we had to head towards the train station...we didn't have time to see our Canadian buds again or the fabulous Mr. Lee Waddle for dinner, which was kind of bummy. But we were so focused on a cabin for sleeping and taking these backpacks off we honestly didn't mind to be traveling again so soon.
An couple hours later we were back to Hoek van Holland, where our Stena Line ferry awaited us as a proper ferry should (screw you janky Minoan ferry lines). Our cabin was the happiest place in the world...showers and comfy beds. Asleep by 10o'clock? Damn right...
Our ideal situation for this day was as follows: hop on a short train ride to Basel, Switzerland in order to enjoy another full day here...then take an overnight direct train to Amsterdam for a small fee, in order to spend the afternoon tomorrow there before catching our ferry from Hook of Holland tomorrow night. But that would just be too easy wouldn't it? Of course.
Actual series of events went as follows:
The dweebster train station ticket man informed us the night train we wanted to take would cost us over 200 euros. HA! That was never going to happen, so we figured we would figure out our own route, which is nottttt easy. Getting timing and fees and countries on our Eurail pass right was a serious challenge. We hopped on a train to Basel, got kicked out of 1st class (again) and an hour later we were in the bustling station hearing nothing but bad news from the friendly information man. Our route to Holland was getting more and more difficult. Wifi was crucial in this moment, so we bought tickets to Paris (our in between spot, yes it was necessary) and set into town to find internet on our hour and a half layover. After a Switzerland priced coffee where the wifi ran out, Kelly eventually found a Starbucks just down the road. We examined all our options and decided we had about a 20 minute window to get off our train in Paris to a bus station (via Metro) and take an overnight bus to Amsterdam like we had early in the trip. We knew this was a risk but it was our cheapest and least homeless gamble.
Somehow, we always keep ourselves entertained on trains, but for some reason this 4 hour trip to Paris was most bored we had ever been. Of course our lack of things to do had us cracking up most of the ride at our own weirdness. And of course we put a hefty dent in our groceries.
Our train pulled into Paris at 11:05pm, approximately 15 minutes late, meaning we were stuck in Paris, homeless and exhausted. If it hadn't been the LAST time this would happen we would have been more bothered perhaps, but this wasn't our fault and luckily we planned ahead and knew how to get ourselves to the hostel here we liked so much.
A short metro ride later (yes, Paris still gives us the heeby jeebies at night), we were waiting in line at St. Christopher's Inn. our hope was to chill in the busy bar til it closed and then hopefully loiter around til 5am-ish when we would leave to get on a 7am bus to Amsterdam. But we knew it was more likely we would paying for a dorm for the next 5 hours. As we waited in line, the friendliest of all hostel workers we had met our first time here spotted us and recognized us! What a crazy good memory! We explained our situation in small talk, and he offered us to chill in the bar and then just hang with him and some other people who work there til we have to leave...Liam to the rescue! Times like these are what redeem any negative encounters with people...Liam barely knew us and went out of his way to save our wallets and time. What a gem!
We sat around for a while until the bar closed, at which point our crew for the night began to appear. Liam, our Australian host, introduced us to Cristian the Brazilian chef, Marly the quirky Australian hostel guest who has befriended the hostel staff, and Rashid the Moroccan chef. We played pool as the night crew cleaned up and Cristian became hero #2 by bringing out huge bowl of potato wedges and nachos for all of us. Friending the staff is definitely not a bad route to go... chefs especially if you are hefs like us. After a couple hours, we sneaked into an empty room and Liam set up his laptop for a movie. We piled around and watched "True Romance"...the movie was so awesome that as it ended we realized it was 5am and we had made it! Victory! We said our goodbyes and thank yous and strapped Burt and Dewey to us in hopes of making a morning bus. As we left St. Chris, I guess we realized that was our last homeless nomad night and we felt really amazing about it. Nights like that are what it's all about...in a moment of unknowing, we found ourselves pulling an all-nighter with two Aussies, a Moroccan and a Brazilian all living in Paris...all because of one nice saving gesture. They were great people and it was a perfect ending to a failed travel attempt.
As we stood purchasing our metro passes a man approached us...several full bags with him, and asked where we were from. He questioned us about our feelings on Bin Ladens death and was obviously a looneytoon, which started our morning in Paris off on a shakey note. So far we have not encountered almost any anti-American sentiment... we were hopeful it wouldn't begin now. Shortly after as we scanned a metro map, 3 Parisian army men approached us from behind and our stomachs knotted up yet again. Turns out the straight faced men were just trying to help us, but it's kind of hard to listen to someone who's holding an AK-47 to your back...
The bus station brought us further bad news, and we discovered there was no early morning bus to Amdam today! Which means the later bus was too late to make our ferry. Trains it is.
Long story short...trains were expensive. Trains were full. Repeat. Repeat. Ticket line, train line, ticket line, train line. Oh Paris, land of the helpful and friendly. Finally, we had tickets. Our lack of sleep, combined with a FREEZINg train station and stressful morning got the best of us for a few minutes, we admit. Luckily, we usually have our weakest link moments at different times and are able to support each other when there seems to be no light. We waited for our train in a station cafe where we were completely ignored by every waiter for nearly an hour as we tried to pay...we decided it was a perfect time to get rid of all of our 1 and 2 cent euro coins...7 euros later we pured our change into our Parisian waiters hand. It was a victorious moment for us, so we left and played cards until our train arrived! Kel & Jen-1, Paris-0. So, one far to expensive train ride later we made it to Amsterdam! We felt like we had just been here and had trouble believing we had begun here nearly 2 months ago. Our short afternoon visit confirmed that we still LOVE this city. We snacked on a bench, browsed the afternoon prostitute selection, and sipped big coffee in a coffee shop...really we just had coffee..geeez.
We walked around downtown and shopped for souvenirs when suddenly two old men came into the shop we were in...our ears perked up when one of the men (seriously, were talking remember when TV was invented old) asked the young hippy sales clerk: "Now this may be a dumb question, but can you tell me where we can buy a space cake?!". Let's just say it took every fiber of our being to not fall over laughing... obviously we followed the two men to the coffee shop they were directed too. Inside jenny got distracted by the dazed and confused black cat on a bar stool. Little guy was OUT, reminding us of a VERY scary magician and rabbit duo at Alex's birthday party a few years back. The AARP crowd left with a space cake in hand, leaving our minds racing with thoughts of the rest of their day.
Time was up and we had to head towards the train station...we didn't have time to see our Canadian buds again or the fabulous Mr. Lee Waddle for dinner, which was kind of bummy. But we were so focused on a cabin for sleeping and taking these backpacks off we honestly didn't mind to be traveling again so soon.
An couple hours later we were back to Hoek van Holland, where our Stena Line ferry awaited us as a proper ferry should (screw you janky Minoan ferry lines). Our cabin was the happiest place in the world...showers and comfy beds. Asleep by 10o'clock? Damn right...
Packing up Burt and Dewy one last time...
A glimpse at the life (and sleep techniques) of a nomad...
Juuust the two of uUuussSs....
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