|
DAY 36 SUNDAY JUNE 5 2005 I have some bad news and some good news. Last night after I got to my hotel room in Bonn I looked at my finances and cried. Yes, folks, it's that bad. Apparently I lack a certain skill in my current skill set and it is called frugality. For the one month I have been traveling I budgeted $2,400 American dollars and I have spent nearly $7,000. Let that sink in for a moment. That is not the bad news. That is not the good news, either. The bad news is I am cutting my losses and going home. The good news is: not right away. I need to regroup and reorganized while I still have cash left. I suppose you could call this trip a trial run to the real thing. A very steep learning curve to harsh, cruel reality. I will have to try it again when I can better my skill set. Maybe I will call my next journal Budapest or bust? Not exactly how I imagined my dream trip would turn out is it? I guess I will have to be the living embodiment of the saying: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. At least I will have the satisfaction of knowing all the equipment I have works for me and for this kind of trip. My bike rides like a dream and my gear was just right. Aside from the tent, of course. I won't have to worry about buying all that again for the next time. I shall go home, get two jobs, pay off all this debt, and try, try, again next year. I am making it sound easier than it is, believe me, I have grieved and wept off and on all day long. So, I am going to give myself a consolation prize. That's the good news. What the hell, I am all ready over budget. In for a penny in for a pound. The day after tomorrow I am off to Paris. A vacation from my vacation, if you will. I shall spend a few days there and then head to Prague. I have always wanted to go to Prague. My "Rick Steves Eastern Europe Tour" starts in that city. At this point it is cheaper to go with a tour group than to go independently. If all goes well I will be back in Anchorage by July 7th. Tomorrow I finalize my tour plans with Steves" company and then I am putting my bike in storage. Don't worry, my journal entries will continue. In the coming days I will write about Paris, Prague, Budapest, Bled, and more. All the way until I get home. I write this journal entry, currently, from Haarlem at Hans and Marjet's B&B. This place is turning out to be my home away from home. The first thing she did was give me a hug and turn on the heat. Gosh! Thanks guys! They have agreed to keep my bike in storage till I come back from Budapest and Bled. So, anyone up for a cycle trip
next year? I brake for everything and cycle sloooooooow. ;-) Favorite moment of the day: I was in train transit all day long and at one point I had to haul my bike down a ton of stairs. A gentleman stopped to help me and I was still having difficulty and another guy stopped to help us both. Then we got down the stairs and turned the corner only to see another ton of stairs going up to the platform. This is in Germany, they obviously don't have the biking mentality that graces The Netherlands. Anyway one of the guys just picks up my entire bike, while carrying his own huge luggage mind you, and hauls the whole rig right up the stairs without pausing for even a breath. That is by far the strongest guy I have ever, ever, seen in my life! And he was cute, to boot! Humph! Least Favorite moment of the day: I was in transit all day, I ran to my next train only to watch it pull away. I missed my first train and waited an hour for the next train only to have it canceled at the very moment it was to show up. An announcement in German said to go to platform 12. I did and boarded the proper train only to get off at the next stop to transfer. Then my bike got caught in the doorway of the new train. My worst nightmare come to fruition. I and my bike are half way hanging out of the train and I am terrified it will leave. In the meantime the door is stuck half way closed on me and my bike. We managed to get the door open and me on the train only to realize it was the wrong train in the first place. The door crushed my right brake handle and my left wrist was throbbing for hours afterwards. German trains, they suck. I missed all my original train connections and while sitting on a bench a bird shit right on me. Could it get any worse? Well, apparently, it can. My period started. Crikey! Sometimes you just got to laugh. |