OneAndOneIs2

I've learned a few things whilst travelling:

1. Hostels make or break a location.

Maybe it's different when you're not on your own, but so far, the link between how much I've liked the place I'm at and how sociable the hostel has been have been pretty much identical.

So.. Budapest, I've not been too impressed by. Sadly.

Got off the train after that LOOOONG journey. Went to the first hostel on my list. It was a fair walk, and the hostel was full. So on to the second. Also a bit of a trek, also full. Back to the train station where I started, where the Tourist Information map said there was a large hostel.

Only there wasn't, because the number "15" on the map didn't mean the number 15 HOTEL, it was a DIFFERENT "15" altogether.

Grrr.

But the TI people run a free minibus to the various hostels, and after dissuading me from the actual "15" hotel, they sent me to another place.

I checked in. I went up in an elevator with broken glass in it to a room where half the lights didn't work, the shower had no door (as well as no lights) and only half a floor...

I checked back out. And walked, again, to the "15" hostel. Which is a large, clean, well-run sort of place, and as usual, therefore, the type where it's not easy to socialize.

So I spent the day wandering Budapest, and I leave tomorrow. Was okay for a day, I got a lot of good phots and had a long thermal bath, but I can't say I'll be sad to go.

2. Subways are a godsend.

They have all the pluses of fast food chains like MacDonalds, without the minuses of everything deep-fried.

3. Clearing your plate is important.

I never used to bother with side salads, as I find salads boring. Unless they have a dressing, in which case they're badű-tasting and boring. I also didn't rate chips/fries, as they were boring. Unless with salt, in which case they were salty and boring.

That was before I was on a tight budget, very hungry, and still enough of a geek to worry about getting the various nutrients I need with an erratic diet.

That's a long enough post for now, it's getting late anbd the place closes soon.

TTFN!

It was running late. Stupidly late. And things didn't improve when I got here.

But after leaving Germany, I added Rome and Venice to my list of places visited. And then had a long, long train journey to Budapest. And then the trouble I had getting a room sorted in a hostel.. I actually checked into one, saw the room, and checked out again. It was that bad.

Still, I've got a place in a nice room with aircon now, and that's a big improvement :) I just have to eat and get an early night, and all will be well ;)

Famously, some bloke from America once said the immortal words "Ich bin ein Berliner" - which can be translated as "I am a donut" in the same way that "I am a Hamburger" could be interpreted more than one way...

Right now, I'm in a hostel in Frankfurt. Possibly it may be obligatory to eat a Frankfurter while I'm here. Don't try and mis-interpret that :P

So.. an update.. right:

I went into Amsterdam itself twice for a general look around. The amount of places where you can buy marijuana and interesting mushrooms is unbelievable. So is the number of young ladies standing around in.. "clothing appropriate for the hot weather" shall we say...

If you're a man and you're ever in need of an ego boost, try walking through the Red Light district. Having dozens of girls trying to entice you into spending some time with them can do wonders ;o)

I spent 5 nights in NL, and since the hostel was on the beach, I spent most of the other days just lazing around. I even swam in the sea once, for a few seconds. It was quite refreshing..

Was a very sociable hostel, unlike the other places I stayed so far it was not at all difficult to strike up conversations.

Getting out of NL and into Germany was a trial. The train I was booked on was affected by problems so couldn`t come into Amsterdam station, which I didn't know until it didn`t arrive. So I had to meddle around and get the next train, which meant I was both late and on a crowded train without a seat reserved. Hmph.

The hostel I wound up in was very German. Big, nice rooms, even ensuite, and quite cheap. Very efficient, but it was like being in a hospital. It was way too quiet. Luckily I struck up a conversation on the way there with a couple of Dutch people, and we wound up in the same dorm, so that was OK.

Went to a small open-air "rock concert" which was very odd - everyone was so well-behaved and only mildy tipsy. Not like you#d get in the UK at all.

The cathedral they have in the town of Cologne/Koeln/Koln (Don't ask me) is big and impressive. It has a lot of steps to get to the top of the tower (268+95+127) and the bodies of the three wise men, apparently.

Tomorrow, I'll probably head on to Basle, Switzerland. Or maybe not, considering the fun I've had with trains so far.

Watch this space!

You'll never guess where I am...

Keyboard on this machine is crap, so no long post. I'm spending money too fast as it is to waste more on time to type on this damn thing. But I saw the casket-thing that allegedly contains the Magi earlier today, so you can figure out the rest for yourselves until I can type more! :-)

Was a bit of a wrench to leave Amsterdam but my room-mates here are Dutch, so...

Hello from Amsterdam!

I got here yesterday. Famously, marijuana and prostitution are legal here. And since getting off the train from Belgium, I think I've noticed I've developed an addiction problem.

To the waffles you could get in Belgium.

Hot sugar-syrup things.

You can't seem to get them here.

There's lots of coffee shops tho...

Right. Brussels.

I got here on the train on Friday at 4pm. Was booked into a hostel by around 5pm - had to pay the extra for a single room because it was the only one free.

The evening passed uneventufully - there weren't many people around in the communal areas, and those that were seemed far too 'cliquey' (and non-english-speaking) to try and strike up a conversation with.

Saturday morning, I had a fairly unspecial breakfast. They need to grasp certan fundamentals, such as that milk should be cold and toast should be hot. Then I spent quite a few hours wanderng around the city seeing stuff.

Saturday evening, there WERE some people around, and I passed an hour or two with three Irish lads, two American girls from California, and an American guy from New York.

And then wound up going out drinking and clubbing with them.

It appears I still look younger than I am - I was asked if I was doing this backpacking trip because I just graduated from University. And I suppose, strictly speaking, I *was* at university for the last year(ish).. but looking 21 doesn't magically make you 10 years younger than you really are, so dancing until 4:30 in the morning has left me feeling a bit grotty. Getting separated from the main group on the way from the karaoke bar (where we did Paul Simon's "Call me Al") to the club with only the most drunken Irish chap with me made for a bit of a testing time. I had to apologise for his behaviour at one pub before he was thrown out.

I admit I was a fair distance from sobriety, but at least I switch to water before I get drunk enough to start acting like an arsehole.. Ah well. Maybe it's a cultural thing.

Having had another crappy breakfast and a shower, I feel surprisingly good for having had less than 3 hours sleep last night. No doubt the fatigue will kick in at the most inconvenient time during the day. I want to get some more sightseeing done - it's kind of mandatory that I go see the EU buildings while I'm here, even though they're apparently vwery uninteresting. And I need to buy at least SOME Belgian chocolates while I'm here - had one of the American bloke's yesterday, it was delicious.

I also need to work out where I'm going to go when I leave here tomorrow. Hopefully I'll manage a glance at a map sometime today..

According to H2G2, it's the worst swearword in the galaxy.

I wouldn't go that far.. but it's not as impressive as you'd expect the capital of the EU.

I'd write more, but I'm almost out of time on the Internet. So: Hello from Brussels!

I generally avoid it.

One of the nice things about leaving the country is that it's so easy to not stay in touch with the headlines.

Why?

Well, for example, one news story I didn't miss. The government has decided to invest £100 million to cut down on crimes caused by young offenders.

So far so good.

Then you get to this bit: "families with children at risk of future high-rate offending will be reached through additional support which will ensure that problems are tackled early before difficulties spiral out of control"

And if you brave the 1MB download of the PDF, you get to see this graph, which tells you what the risk factors they'll be using to assess the likelyhood of future offending:

So, in order, we see that:

• Temperament makes sod all difference, so is worthless being in there.
• Maltreatment, AKA child abuse, makes a HUGE difference. But as any teacher will tell you, it's incredibly difficult to spot. That's why it's such a problem. So this one's also worthless.
• Mother has low IQ. I'm amazed this one didn't get knocked out of being non-PC. But since there's no qualifying exam to be a parent (pity) there's no national register of how intelligent a child's parents are. So this is.. worthless.
• Child has low IQ. Big difference here, and kids are always being tested and examined and streamed by ability. A useful thing to keep an eye on? Sadly, no. Exam results and intelligence can be very, very far apart. Intelligent kids do badly because they're bored, keen but less-able students can do very well, and kids who are already young offenders are generally not going to be the ones applying themselves to their schoolwork. So no useful measures of intelligence can be applied here. Worthless.
• Parent convicted. Finally, something that IS measurable! But did it really take them THIS long to work out that kids with law-abiding parents are more likely to be law-abiding themselves..?
• ADHD diagnosis. Yeah. Maybe a decade ago. Do you have any idea how many kids are branded "ADHD" in schools these days? According to this article there are 400,000 British schoolkids on ADHD drugs. And most schoolkids don't get drugged for being 'diagnosed' as ADHD, they just get slightly different treatment from teachers. There's too many ADHD schoolkids for this to be any use.
• Low socio-economic status. Poor people are more likely to turn to crime. This is news? And since one of the other headlines at the moment is the fear that the country is headed for recession, are they really going to try and provide lots of support for every child who doesn't have wealthy parents?

They're gonna need a lot more than £100 million.

If I were paying any tax in Britain right now, I'd be rather unhappy about the way it was being spent...