My Travel

InterRailing, my advice and thoughts.

2010-08-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

Firstly I'd like to thank Chantal from Interrailnet, always found time to get back to my emails quickly, good craic, a lovely person and made the trip possible, absolute star! From what I've found Interrailnet are a great company, and I'd definitely recommend travelling with them, they're dedicated to your trip going smoothly and are open about any extra costs they genuinely want you to have a good trip and will help in anyway possible.

I'd also like to thank Chris from Graniph tshirts, who gave us some sweet tshirts, as I'm sure you saw in the blog, the website is graniph.com they always update with new stuff so keep checking them out they're well priced and really good quality.

Marion from Bayern healthcare, thanks for keeping us alive with Berocca Boost, we would have seriously struggled to go all the way with out it.

Take what you want from this if your planning on going Interrailing, the blog should give you an idea but here are some extra tips, I definitely would like to pass on.

Budget from the start
Eat well
Get up Early
Keep a blog
Sleep Rough
Convenience is key
Don't pay for local transport
Listen to fellow travelers
Buy a shot glass from every city and steal a postcard
Send said postcards home, mam's love them more than texts or calls.
Be on time(trains,buses,tours, check in times, check out times, off licenses, supermarkets, shops, pub crawls, we've missed them all)
Do the walking tours
Heineken factory
Take tasting glass from the Heineken factory
Try the local stuff
Vapianos
Absinthe
Drinking games with other hostel guests
Drunkenly tell the receptionist its the best hostel ever
Run out of money
Lose Clothes
Coffee Shops
Souvenirs from walk home
Gain clothes
Take lots of pictures
Karlovy Lazne
Play monopoly on trains
Don't get robbed in Barcelona
Take a night train
Bring Berocca
Worry about your passport
Lakes in Krakow
Hate Jerome
Give Nicknames
Leave your mark
Ask what to do
Go to the top of the Eifel Tower
Don't leave your phone down
Souvenirs
Let things work themselves out
Avoid Lille
Stay hostile with eachother
Keep in touch with someone you met travelling
Brussells is a hole above all
Mess with a bus drive
Swim early in Barcelona
Wing it but be organized
Get home safe

Cheers for reading these bits, hope you enjoyed! sorry about the spelling mistakes and that.......If your going or want anything gis a shout, neilmulhern@gmail.com

Safe travels,

Neil

Barcelona: Interrailing you've served us well. Hopefully see you again

2010-08-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

Just about settled again back in Ireland, everyone's been asking where was the best place? Although we were low on time and money, Barca always comes first to my mind...more than likely because it was the most recent though, but really loved it. Misplaced a memory card in transit, so there's a lack of photo's!

Of course we had a disaster getting there, we got to Irun where the train goes to Barcelona, Irun is about 20 minutes from Biarritz. Unfortunately all the seats were reserved, so we had to find another way to get to Barca, our choices were:

- Rent a car and drive (which wasn't actually possible as you need to be 21)
- Wait for a the train in the morning and lose a nights paid accommodation
- Get a bus to San Sebastian and hope for the best

Off we set for San Sebastian, we split up half of us going to the train station and half going to the bus station. Thebus was our only option to get there on the night, although there was a train arriving from Barca at ten past nine...lucky we didn't make that mistake.

We arrived in to Barcelona bus depot at 3.30 a.m after a very uncomfortable 6 hour bus journey. Hostel was only a minute in a taxi. The hostel guy was a bit weird, seemed really annoyed, even though we called to say we'd be late, then showed us to our beds that were very uncomfortable, and apparently some lad next door to the hostel had just got a new hammer and wanted to test it out.....from 7 a.m.

The city is amazing, we were only a two minute walk from Las Ramblas, this is the main street and is very wide and filled with entertainment street performers are of every sort, hustlers as well, don't fall for anything and keep an eye on your pockets.

Once you come to the end of the street you get to the beach eventually. The beach is were we flaked out, weather was unbelievable. The beach is full of sellers, sunglasses,bongo's, alcohol,pieces of coconut,cold drinks, indian food, massages, henna tattoos, hash, cocaine, ecstasy you could get anything on it! Personally I just went for the coconut, although they put up a serious argument for getting absolutely wired at the beach.

Walking back up in the evening, you'll get swarmed by pub crawl people. There like ants, everywhere and annoying. Our pub crawl started at one of the many many Irish bars in Barcelona, Flaherty's. We managed to get there on time! if only trains gave out free vodka for the first hour.

After the first hour, they bring you to a few crap bars until the nightclub, that are usually full price drinks. But the lads on the street sell cans for a euro..so most of the crawl we were standing on the street outside the bars. Eventually we got to Apollo. I managed to lose everybody inside, pretty sure I had a power nap, and was then in flying form! The club was amazing, packed and pumping. After the club myself, Karl, Stewy, Liam and some mots headed for the beach...lovely swim, great way to finish our last night out Interrailing!

Surprisingly we got to the airport rather uneventfully, buses ran fairly often from just beside the hostel.

Home safe.

Neil

Biarritz, Boulangerie Je t'adore ♥, Mo shuile!!

2010-08-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

It wasn't a six man...

Even though we had no where to stay, still delighted we were in Biarritz. We have gained a traveller, Bridgey. Off we set down to the Grande Plage with no idea where we were staying. We asked for hostels, free rooms, gardens pretty much anything. We had nothing, but a tent. Sleeping on the beech didn't bother us that much, but with our bags and valuables seemed a bit dodgey and the train station didn't have lockers. Myself and Denis decided we'd try our luck in an Irish bar.Not an Irish person in sight in the New Quay bar, but the English manager was sound and let us keep our bags in the store room for the night, so we grabbed some warm clothes and headed down to the beach. The tent was far from a 6 man, it was cramped with two. Thank god Donal is in the scouts and Bridgey is amazing at looking like he's busy otherwise we would have never got it up, think we had five at one stage but claustrophobia set in. Awoken at 6 in the morning by an angry beach tractor driver we set off to find accommodation.

Couldn't believe our luck when we found Golf et Mer for 600 for the week, it's meant to be around double that at the time we stayed, but we got a discount and they didn't seem to mind 6 of us staying in a four person room, but if you plan on doing this don't tell them. The Accommodation was perfect, literally above the beach in Anglet. Security guard was sound as well, let us drink and didn't seem to notice the extra two lads, even sat down to have a beer with us. "So how long have you worked here?", Security Guard, " Oh its my first night", good lad!

Nightlife in Biarritz is what you make of it, there are several clubs and the beach is always full, it's not a city or a typical sun holiday destination, so you won't find outrageous clubs booming nightclubs but they were pretty decent and the beach was good craic. One of our first nights we all headed down and had a great sing song with Arthur who was nifty enough on the guitar, even knew Galway Girl...Our preferred club of choice was Playboy, great club and the bouncer seemed to take fondly to us after the first night only half of us paid in, (he also had some anti-pepper spray which came in handy by chance). The club had a different crowd every night so it didn't really get boring, and the stripper polls didn't know what happened to them.

Drinks were fairly pricey, but we always seemed to manage away around this. Every night we'd arrive home at different hours usually with some sort of story or souvenir! If you have the money, or are very very lucky, the casino looking onto the Grande Plage is very luxurious.

Prizes for spotting the pepper sprayed one of us!Have to stand up for your mates though! Mac you shouldn't be ripping stickers!

During the day there's plenty loads to do, get bashed by waves, rent a board, play a bit of beach tennis or football, all fairly beach orientated but the city is lovely. We even rented a surfboard, probably should have done it on a more calm day because we didn't get very far and then Karl got way too far!

For food we went for a shop at first, was meant to last us for at least 4 days, but after the second day all that was left was a box of frosties..So we usually popped down to the local boulangerie which was lovely, and at night a minimum of one (babada) Americano roll was bought, even though they weren't the best.

Final word on Biarritz, city I could go to every Summer, suits all ages,sad to leave Bridgey and tensions seem to rising a bit, we've all become a bit shorter with each other, hopefully we make it to Barca without major incident and on time!

Sorry about the delay,

HLGL

Neil

Paris (Via Brussells and Lille)

2010-07-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Finally got to Paris, hostel is in a dodgey enough area, they don't have anywhere to cook food, the staff aren't very friendly, the wifi doesn't work and the room was a bit weird, but it seems lovely after Lille and we've defintely stayed in worse. Not sure of the name but its on hihostels.com

Tired and emotional we grabbed an hours sleep and then headed out and about aroud Paris. Our hostel was two metros away to the Champs Elysée . Arrived at the Arc de Triumph, allegdly one of the busiest roundabouts in Europe, they could use a set of pedestrian lights....

Made our way down the street, laughed about menu prices and bailed into some of the cooler shops, was scorching in Paris tans are coming along lovely.

Eiffel tower was gas, queued for about 20 minutes and went for climbing the first two storeys by foot, gotta keep the fitness up, serious u21 campaign coming up...it's a fiver cheaper as well, 8.50 to get to the top on a warm Sunday and not much of a wait, defintely worth a visit. Ciaran the bottler got scared after the first storey and wouldn't go anyfurther. Call him a baby when you get a chance

Went to the train station to reserve (€6) our TGV for Paris, thinking ahead ya know. It's necesary to book the tgv in advance.

That night we decides to take it easy, get up early check out on time for once. So went down to a computer, to write some of the blog when Denis let me know that new plans had been made,that fiver came in handy for 2.50 bottles of wine and we checked out the next day two hours late in the absolute fog.

Train at twenty past six, half four we're sitting in the park having some watermelon as you do when we decide we'll book our accomodation in Barca, thinking ahead of course. Finished booking by quarter to six when we decide it would be a good idea to head for our train.

The train station our train for Biarritz left from, Montaparnasse, was 18 stops in total away from where we lived. We got to Montaparnasse at 6.16 for our 6.20 train and a good 10 minute walk from the metro station to the main line platforms, 4 floors up. We burst out of metro like olympic sprinters. side stepped better than Jason Robinson, felt like we climbed more stairs than at the Eiffel tower, we got to the floor with no idea where our train was, I leg it to an information desk and shout Biarritz TGV, women behind the desk says too late it's gone, just before I got a chance to shout obscenities, hear a shout from Denis and the lads who are still in full sprint. We boshed our way to platfrom 1, led by Ciaran who burnt us all.

The train left a minute after we got on. Drenched in sweat and panting like greyhounds, we made it. Everyone else in our carraige decided to leave for some reason, ah well more room for monopoly.

On our way to Biarritz, with no accomodation and won't get in till half eleven. Our mate Eoin is meeting us there and think he has a tent.

Hope it's a 6 man.

HLGL

Neil (monopoly champion)

The Dam

2010-07-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Survived anyway, know your glad to hear.

Arrived in the train station, pitstopped in a coffee shop and set off for Amsterbos Park where we were meant to be staying in cabins, we got out of a 30 euro taxi into some sort of fitness haven, full of freaks in spandex running, cycling and rowing about the place.

We asked and looked but couldn't find our cabins and the reception was closed, so after little deliberation we decided the place wasn't for us so we headed back into the city centre for somewhere to stay for the night. Hopped on a bus, got off in god knows where to look for a hostel, no luck but we got a card for a lad who might sort us out. Despite Karl's persistance of his knowledge of Amsterdam from one glance at a map and somehow thinking he knew which canal we were at,(he actually persuaded me he knew where he was). Got a metro to central station and headed to look for the 'hostelrunner' a real live hostelworld.com man.

I'm paraphrasing but this is pretty much the jist of how he described the hostel

"okay for 25 for the night, you pay have a place for 5 person, it opened last night, you get one key for the corridor but not for your room, I think, but i have not been there

myself, meet an austrialian man at a cafe bulldog at exactly mid night, so you must leave now", we were desperate...You'd need to be on the ball for getting down the stairs.

Ended up staying for four nights , it was like having an apartment to ourselves, in a savage location,the people who run it were lovely, have an email address if anyone is thinking of heading to Amsterdam I would defintely reccomend them. Mr Mac looked after us well and was only 20 a night.

Amsterdam is a cool city full of all sorts. We took it fairly easy and did a lot of walking around the city. Liedseplein Square is where we stayed, It's the nightlife area and easy walkable to Dam Square, Centraal Station or the red light district.

The Heineken Brewery, is worth a visit without a doubt, it's 15 euro and you get two beers (be on your toes for the Americans who are dying to give away the free drink vouchers)

Headed out that night on the "ultimate party pubcrawl", mad-unsteel name but good craic, costs 19 euro, through the free vodka shots and extra drink tokens we got our moneys worth.

Great night, and more successful greasing. Good lads.

Left reluctantly for Paris. Amsterdam is a city that must be visited interrailing, there's plenty to do, it's full of other backpackers and everyone is friendly and helpful, the only thing that slightly brought Amsterdam down was how expensive it was. Money evaporates, try budget, or just go for a few days and pack everything in.

Of course, all the trains to Paris were reserved so we had a long nighr ahead of us, always book in advance, we were confident we'd find a way to paris. First we set off for Brussells, train to Paris was €193 each, safe to say we weren't paying that. Alternative options were viewed, sleep in the train station and wait for the morning or look for further options. Taxi to Paris was €300 and they didn't seem to like the idea of putting Ciaran in the boot either. My broken french was no use, somehow found a bus station, no train to Paris, but the guy assured us if we got to Lille we should be alright! Hyper Bus to Lille, unfortunately no amount of singing would convince the driver to divert to Paris.

I'm not sure what we expected in Lille, the train station was not open at 3 in the morning and accommodation was too pricey, train left for Paris at 6 in the morning, was a rough night till then, good man Ciaran for keeping watch.

Arrived, will let you know what the hostel is like and if Paris is any use.

G'luck

Neil

Hamburg, great call farmboy

2010-07-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

Got off in Hamburg with no clue where to stay. We threw our bags in the train station lockers and set off to desperatly look for somewhere to sleep.

The only things around were hotels, we tried a few, they were all pretty sleazy and the area around the main trainstation is nothing but casinos, sex shops and lapdancing clubs, oh and a mcdonalds. We all walked into a hotel that looked pretty cheap and bargained him down to 70 for the night between the five of us. It had two double beds so Donal was relegated to the floor.

Was definetly one of the strangest nights of my life. We watched South Park in German and sat on the sill of our first floor windows while heavy prostitutes and creepy pimps roamed the street outside. Knackered we went to bed and all slept pretty well except Karl who woke up at smallest sound terrified people were going to climb into the room and steal us and then convinced himself lads outside were shouting at us. Good man looking out for the lads.We checked out ealry enough and set off looking for somewhere safe to sleep.

We went to an Internet Cafe and hoped on hostelworld, Denis and Ciaran had the luxury of staying with denis's au pair. Me. Karl and Donal stayed in The Wira Hostel (link), really nice place and had everything we wanted, the area, Altonne. Again the transport was unreal, you can get anywhere in the city by S or U bahn.

Yet again Spain ruined our plans by winning, no celebrations in Amsterdam.

On our last night we thought it would be rude not to give the nightlife a try, had a few drinks with the others in the hostel, two mots from minisoda and one Aussie, Rowan, sound lad, who just came from modelling in the Milan fashion week, we put him to shame, poor fella had no confidence when he was near us.

Headed out to a club called Jams in the Reeperbahn, it's Hamburgs nightlife/sleaze central. The place was small, but there was successful greasing by the lads.

Can't say we were big fans of Hamburg , probably a good thing we got a bit of a break before the next stop.

Smell you later Germany you've served us well. On the train now to Amsterdam, wish us luck

HLGL

Neil

Are you one of those Irish lads?

2010-07-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

We managed to get checked in but yet again were too late for a pub crawl, hostel is comfortable, safe, and breakfast is included.

We headed out to a club called Matrix anway as we had heard it was good from people in Generator, after a failed effort to avail of the free public transport we missed the last train, so we split up and got taxi's. Matrix is a big enough club with three separate rooms playing different types of music. Was pretty empty but still bit of fun, Donal somehow got the lads home, while I had to try explain where our hostel was to a taximans friend on his mobile phone, all I knew is it was beside the north Korean embassy so I just kept saying that in different accents, took us a good while to get home but someone else paid for it...grand, first time we were all up in time for the free breakfast, which had a decent selection.

We were made checkout out at 10 in the morning because we had to change room, we wrongly presumed they'd let us check straight back in, nope not till three, no way to hurry them up by sleeping in the common room and by half twelve they put us in to new rooms. After the mid day snooze we went to vapianos for dinner, proper meals all cost around 6 euro and it's delicious, I'd recommend it to anyone. They have restaurants all around Europe so if your travelling around make sure to check if they have one where your headed.

We then went for the pub crawl of course too late for the free booze, but it was still cheap enough 12 euro they take you to different types of pubs and bars and finish off in matrix which was savage, much busier and had some serious djs.

The club stayed open till 5 in the morning, think we left a small bit before then hopped on a Ubahn home, didn't make the the free breakfast though.

Currently on the way to Hamburg we got to our stop 4 minutes before the train left after sprinting around the train station, I feel sorry for the other passengers near us.

Hlgl

Neil

Berlin ist gut

2010-07-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

Kreitzberg is a weird and wonderful place full with grafitti, gypsie carwashers, drugs, streetside jazz bands and gay bars. Hostel xberger looks funky and youthful on the outside but inside are rooms packed with beds made of mechano and giggling rastafarians. Opposite was a lovely Chinese restaurant, Chungs, which did a great 3.50 noodle chicken dinner. Down the road did a lovely ham and cheese toastie for 1.50.

Germany are some let downs. We set off around 6 to get suited and ready for the big screens in Tiergarten.

Decided to have a few beers by the river with some other fans, when we started getting some dodgey looks off some business men in the chinese restaurant beside us, loads of them and they kept coming down and staring at us and then making phonecalls to what we thought were the police.....well apparently we were a bit paranoid...

They took a serious amount of photos god knows where they'll turn up in China.

We headed to the match in flying form, was a train away and was easy to just follow the crowds once we got off at the Tiergarten stop.

There was no room for us in hostelxberger for the next two nights, even still we checked out and had look around the sights, of course we didn't make the walking tour so we set off on an open top bus like cringe tourists.

The Berlin Wall, was made by the German Democratic Republic to cut off West Berlin completely from Eastern Germany, couldn't believe official demolition only began in 1989.

Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Presidents home and Checkpoint Charlie

Even though having somewhere to sleep should be paramount we left it until 6 to try and find somwhere and were lucky to get anything, came very close to booking a campsite.

Next stop city hostel Berlin.

Loving Berlin.

Neil

Fancy a game of Strip Monopoly?

2010-07-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

The staff should learn to generate a smile, or a personality.

Arrived safely in Berlin, train station is like an airport its massive, really cool though, the germans are surprisingly sound for giving directions. Generator was two trams away which sounds difficult but we found it grand. The hostel was huge, and the bar was fairly alive by the time we checked in, got moved to a 6 bed private dorm for a euro extra....nice wan.

Room was savage had our own shower and all, we got a few drinks into us and headed downstairs. Night turned out to be a bit of a blur, the staff were very strict about noise and even evicted Denis for an hour. Met some girls from Alex who weren't too bad, dragged a few back to the room, but they were no banter, well we all did become relatively un-able to talk, except Karl who was busy looking for the monopoly board.

Yesterday we left Generator, used the express check out so we didn't have to talk to the robots, and the state of the room would have been awkward to discuss. Had a look around Berlin for about ten minutes then got on a tram to our hostel. We got off the tram to what seemed like a third world country, the place was a hole, luckily we got off a stop or two too early and walked for a bout 45 minutes to a nicer area.

Hostel seems fairly strict and its not great, but will do, heading into Berlin now to watch the match on the big screen. Cheers Pat for all the directions from home.

Only realized there's not pictures of Ciaran in the last post, he's alive for all of you wondering.

HLGL

Neil

Round Two Prague

2010-07-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

Couldn't get near the internet so bit delayed.

Bon Jour

Second night out in Prague was mental, great game of kings with the newly arrived french and other lads. The club was amazing again, so many different floors, floors dedicated to different music, we were usually either in the basement wrecking it (to Alors en Danse espcicially) or the top floor chilling out on the beanbags. The photo's do a much better job describing the night than I would.....

We all managed to arrive home at different hours, Donal was thinking of us on the way home and brought a present for the lads, serious messing had back in the hostel till the next morning.

Next day took it seriously easy and had a stroll around the main streets and a gander in some of the shops then chilled out by the river and got ice cream.

Last day in Prague, myself Donal and Karl decided to head to the castle, unbelievable views (not to be bent) but its a serious walk and we had to leg to get a train so didn't get a lot of time to please around. Was worth it though and would definitely recommend going up if you have a good bit of time to spare. And don't have an adult sized three year old giving out every step of the way

On the train to Berlin now, staying in a hostel called Generator tonight and Hostel X Burger for the next two nights after.

If you feel the urge make sure to dog us with comments.

HLGL

Neil

PS Karl stayed in prague to begin his new life with his South Korean girfriend.

Welcome to Prague

2010-07-03T06:24:00.000-07:00

Weather is scorching, our first stroll Prague was a sweaty one, first impression is that it's a place with really nice buildings but very confusing to get around. Our hostel is about a 15 minute walk from the main square, we think because we couldn't actually find the main square, and were all starting to doubt if Ciaran was lying about being here before as he seems to know less than all of us. We made our way into O'Che's, an Irish bar and became avid Dutch supporters to fit in. Had a few gargles watching the match was serious craic. Stopped by the Absinthe bar for a slush puppy on the way home as well.

First night in Prague was saaavage, decided to leave the pub crawl till tonight, started pre drinking in the hostel with our roomates, group of four lads and mots from University of Amsterdam, Jim from Bristol who's sound enough, Jordan bit of a brain and told us she'd drink us under the table, good luck (can't remember the other two's names they were quiet enough) headed for the 5 story night club, Karlovylazne. Walked the down singing the whole way, (there's only one Denis Scully....general dogging)

Bit of a queue for the nightclub well worth it, it's 100(4 euro) Kr in and 40 Kr (1.55 sound for the biggest nightclub in central Europe) a beer. I haven't a clue how the club is laid out except that there's loads of dancefloors and comfy bean bags on the top floor (this is it). Scored the annoying american yoke, serious grease, Karl was kissing some asian mot, think he's falling for her..***CONTENT REMOVED AS DONAL HAD A TANTRUM***

Heading down to watch the match now, (up the dubs) going on the pub crawl later, bringing a camera out, me and Mac both forgot last night, apologies.

HLGL

Neil

P.s. (Donal got sloppy seconds)

Big difference between 22.11 and twenty to eleven

2010-07-02T00:16:00.000-07:00

Just landed in the Sokolska hostel Prague....

Yesterday was an extremely long day, all agreed we're glad we went to Auschwitz, although it is a place were horrendous crimes against humanity took place, it was really interesting to visit. It didn't put us on a downer it more opened our eyes to the suffering people had to endure. I'm sure most are aware of the horrible crimes and murders that took place, so were we, but going to Auschwitz hits you with a realisation of the mass scale of the Holocaust, and the actual living conditions. I highly recommend it and its about 20 euro for the day trip.

The three level bunks would normally hold a minimum of 90 people, disgraceful

Just a few other things to mention about Krakow. Its lovely city, aside from this it is really cheap, so don't bother with fast food, except the kebabs at 5 in the morning there gorgeous, head down to the main square during the day to the Dominium pizza parlour, its around 8 euro for a XXL pizza which is plenty for two people and its delish. The Tutti Fruitti Hostel is savage, near everything, no curfew, no bother with drinking, great security and staff are bang on.

Krakow

We got the night train from Krakow, all the beds were booked and we were told platform 3 at twenty to eleven. For once in our lives we were early and arrived at the station at 22.06, having a look to see where platform 3 was Karl spotted it left in five minutes, legged it to the train, just on about 2 minutes max when it left. After giving out about women for ages on how she wanted us to miss our train we realized our mistake...still a bitch.

After upgrading to first class for €1.15, we cracked out monopoly and was close until Ciaran had a tantrum and threw the board everywhere after for the 3rd consecutive round nobody landed on one of his 800 hotels, I have never saw Karl so disappointed, he was so close to his first complete game of Monopoly.

Once we got into Czech Republic we were demoted back to second class. We all struggled to get more than an hour sleep on an 8 hour minging train, train did turn out to be free and we didn't get mugged on the upside. Going to catch a few Z's before our pub crawl in Prague tonight.

We're staying in Sokolska youth hostel (if your interested it's this one), will let you know how it fairs

Money Money Czech Republic

HLGL
Neil

(USB port seems to be non-existant at the moment, will whack up latest pictures asap)

Krakow (get directions off rotters)

2010-06-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

Jagshemash,

We made a swift exit from Poznan and headed via Warsaw to Krakow.

Hostel is sweet, sharing a room with two other lads Tim who's an aussie and Joe who's english but sound, both of their last nights on our first they're travelling very early, dragged them out with us anyway. Staff are really helpful, everythings safe and we couldn't be more central. Staff are easy going, no problem with strolling in at 3 in the morning in a mankini. Weather has been over thirty degrees each day, should only be a few days now before all Ciaran's freckles join up.

All survived our first night, daily budgets were seriously broken, but was some night, started in the hostel predrinking, few bottles of wine and good few absent shots later headed out, started out in some small club unfortunatley Karl was a rotter and his tequila shot didn't stay down long and we had to make a quick exit, moved on to a place called Kitch bit of hole but busy and alright craic....Karl was a serious hit tearing it up on the podiums, kamkazies are savage (6 shots of what loooked like blue after shock for 4 euro), and good bit of unsuccessful greasing. Un-named traveller fell asleep on the road, jeans were slashed and items taken, reminder places are dodgey and we have to be on our toes. Otherwise was a good enough night and we're all still relatviely unharmed apart from Macker who has taken two serious blows to the head both came from our group, one resulting in a bit of blood loss, deserved it though.

Overheard some lads at breakfast talking about lakes, headed off on the bus, only twenty minutes away and a small walk, pictures show how unreal it was, really cold fresh water was lovely.

Last night was a serious horrorshow, less said the better, kings will be avoided from now on. We headed to the church hanging, its one of Polands most famous churches and is seriously decorated place, hundreds of thousands have been spent on it, and it even had us discussing religion for a bit...

Heading to Auschwitz tomorrow morning then onto Prague, very very impressed with Krakow.

Still Alive

HLGL

Neil

TuttiFruitti The most manly hostel in Krakow

2010-06-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

It gets its name from having pictures of fruit on the walls, and hopefully not from being some sort of gay hotspot..

Either way we've booked our first hostel, we don't get off the train in Krakow until eight o'clock at night, and will be in no condition to search for hostel, everyone has recommended booking your first hostel.

Note the fruit on the walls.

Hostelworld couldn't be better. It gives you other travellers reviews, pictures, location and you can book it directly from the site. We had a look good through a lot and we thought we just wanted the basics and what I think you should look for:
-Location-distance from the city centre (look at the reviews, hostels lie a lot)
-Cost
-Security for passports and everything else listed in essentials in the last post.

Tutti Fruit offered all these and more for €11.50 a night...

We will also be availing off:
-Free buffet breakfast, Donal noted we can just bring lunch boxes and stock up for the day
-Free Laundry, its nice not to smell terrible.

Hope this helps,

Check in again soon,

Neil
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Packing?

2010-06-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

Howya's,

We go on Monday morning and will be watching Hostel the night before to get in the spirit of things if anyone wants to join us...

Spent a good bit of time looking at many different lists of 'travel essential' and 'packing for interrailing', I think I've grabbed the most practical ones from each, but if you think pots, pans and silk long johns are necessary don't let me influence you too much.

Absolute Essentials
-InterRail Pass
-Passport
-Other Id for going out is a good one, as you will lose your passport and be trapped in Poznan forever otherwise.
-Travel Insurance, just in case they turn on the Volcano again, them Icelanders, absolute messers. You can get it last minute on line, usually around 12€, multitrip.com
-Health Insurance (not sure of the difference between this and the above but better off having both)

Bring these too, they help
-Clothes, I'd recommend pack light and efficiently, give your mam a shout.
-Maps (appropriate to situation and place)
-Medical Info- you could get seriously injured, that's no joke (unless you fall over with your backpack on and can't get back up)
-Small back pack to carry valuables close by while travelling- preferably fluorescent green
-Baby Wipes (nuff said)

Krakow's market square..where we'll spend our first night...... in a in a hostel nearby (hopefully)

Few Extra's to get along the way
-Pop up tent
-Padlock for your bag
-Sunglasses- designer ones are so much cheaper in Europe, they sell them at little stalls everywhere.
-Pen knife

Add on anything I've forgotten in the comments.

Hope this helps,

Neil,
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Booking your InterRail Pass

2010-06-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

Howya's,

16 days until we land in Poznan..Canny wait.

Berocca will be helping to keep us going and giving us a kick when we need it with Berocca boost. Graniph will also be doing their best to make us look respectful and in fashion with some of their latest tshirts, have a look in the links section to check out both of these.

We also booked our InterRail passes over the last few days. It's grand, we didn't have any problems, but some people may have some trouble.

Make sure you have these..
-General info about all travelling (Address, phone number, waist size etc...)
-Passport details of all travelling, if its going out of date the passport office are bitter because they have to work in the summer don't and are doing their best to keep everyone in the country so get it in plenty of time.
-Way to pay, we used Visa Credit Card (they accept all the usuals Visa, mastercard, JCB (payment vwith large vehicles), PayPal etc)
-Know what pass you want- they vary depending on how long your going for, how many countries you'll visit and if you'd prefer to have your own private golden carriage or unreserved seats sharing with friendly people along the way (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxiyRqniBJg)

Then...
-Go to www.interrailnet.com and click the InterRail Passes Tab
- Click into the Global Pass then select your pass
-Click into the buy now option, we decided to splash out and go for the cheapest option.

-On the next page just select how many passes you want, how you'd like it to be shipped. (if its urgent get on to the InterRailnet staff, they'll help you out,)
-Then just fill in your personal details and billing address and you'll be sent to a confirmation page, double check this to make sure you've got everything right.
-All that's left is payment.

Any trouble pop on to the InterRail facebook page, Gina is quick and helpful with responses.
http://www.facebook.com/interrailnet

Hope this helps,
Check in again soon,

Neil
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Our Route and Choosing Yours

2010-04-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

Howya's,

Every group going Interrailing will want to go to different cities, but just thought I'd let you know how we chose ours and it might help you out.

We sat down together and listed cities we heard or knew to be worth stopping off in, while Donal frantically took them down. Our first list was about 14 destinations long and it was clear none of us had a clue about European Geography.

We knew it was necessary to cut the list down and find a route that matched the train lines (This map is very handy ). So we had a look at both the map and the cities we had listed together and checked out what was possible.

So we booked our flights out of Ireland to Poznan, Poland. With regards how long to stay in each place, we're looking at about 4 days in each destination but nothing is set in stone, as some might exceed expectations and some could disappoint.

Just a quick summary of why we chose our locations:
Poznan-well obviously we couldn't miss Poland's fifth largest industrial city.

Krakow-We all heard it's a pretty cool cheap city. Tour of Auschwitz was something we wanted to do.

Prague- 5 storey nightclub in Europe, 70 cent pints, Castle is meant to be unreal as well.
Berlin- Berghain- DJ mag said the worlds best nightclub, city with a lot of history and sights.
Hamburg- Donal was mad for it, meant to be very busy nightlife and full of interrailers.
Amsterdam- Although it'll be impossible to get Karl and Ciaran out of the place, advised by everyone to go.

Paris- Only really going because its on the way to Biarritz, but during the summer the temporary beach should be good craic.
Biarritz- Place I insisted we would go to. Great summer city. Has it all, perfect beaches, tall waves and busy nightlife. Looking forward to Karl's return to the tequila bar.....

Barcelona- We all wanted to finish off somewhere warm with a beach so Barcelona will be perfect, heard great things about the pub crawls as well.

Hope this helps.
Check in again soon,

Neil
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First Entry

2010-03-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

This summer, I will be travelling around Europe with four mates Karl, Ciaran, Denis and Donal inter-railing. We will be documenting our trip with pictures, video's and blog entries from now until our last stop. This page will hopefully help you to plan your own trip, give you tips on stretching your money and give you an insight to what inter-railing is like.

Last summer all four of us went on package holidays to sunny resorts. While we all had an amazing time, this summer we wanted to do as much as we could, visit many different places and at a reasonable price, pretty unrealistic?

Its not! we chose inter-railing, it'll give us a chance to explore and visit different cities in such a short space of time at the best price. Flights are really cheap around Europe at the moment and a month's pass that includes travel between 30 different countries from http://www.interailnet.com/ only €399 it's easily the best option.

Become a follower and check in again soon.

Neil.