#then when I got to the tram stop it was delayed by 30 mins

[j4r-of-flies]

I’ve had the worst day ever I came home early because I was dying all I need is a big hug from my moots in these trying times ❤️‍🩹

[hermitcraft-alignment-charts]

scar is not here because i’m actually part of hermitcraft and can confirm that he once touched an oven and it exploded. not lying!

[chrysaliseuro2019]

Lapping it All Up

It's Sunday morning and time to part company with Sue and Peter. It was a fun 5 days. We are heading to Helsinki and they will drive the car back to Riga where it all commenced. They are stopping the night at Parnau. Rainy day again as we said our farewells and they dropped us at the ferry terminal. Saw an amusing sign at the terminal which pointed to the very short term car park (15 mins). It said " Kiss and Sail" which was very apt. We had laughed our way through Latvia and Estonia with them and had covered a bit of ground in those 5 days. Despite it bucketing down Liz did a quick sortie after they left to take a photo of the sign. This led to one of those amusing moments. Something you very rarely see Liz do - "run". If I said a sort of Donald Duck style of running I might be close to the mark. Possibly even being flattering. There is a lot of action, arms flapping, feet akimbo, head rolling from side to side and forward momentum is not speedy. The ferry ride from Tallin to Helsinki takes about 2.5 hours. We had basic tickets so it was first in best dressed for seats. A number of bars and cafes on board and as soon as boarding started the regulars made for prime positions. We had to stow our luggage and were given a bit of a bum steer, in terms of where to store them, by one of the staff so a lot of seats had gone by the time we were free to look. Anyway we snagged a couple of uninspiring but fine seats in a a cafe and settled back for an uneventful trip. Despite the rain it was petty calm and we had a snack, read and blogged. Interestingly they had a couple of stages with musos performing. I might expect that on a cruise ship in the Bahamas but not somehow on a couple of hours ferry in the Baltics. One stage was on the upper deck where quite a raucous bar was in full swing. The wind and rain were coming down on the uncovered end though plenty of cover. Singer was flat as a tack and slaughtered Ed Sheerin's " A Girl Like You" (a bit of a holiday anthem as you hear it a lot in beach bars etc over here). The audience didn't care. They were all getting tanked. Another singer was close to us in a neighbouring area and he was playing the guitar and performing solo with some electronic instrumental help. Not too bad, middle of the road - Eric Clapton, Jonny Cash etc but more importantly his voice I was better. I strolled around looking at the duty free shop where the Finns on board were fairly determinedly stocking up on booze which is much cheaper in Estonia than Finland. This included people with several slabs of beer. Liz noticed that many of those slabs were being consumed on board. It was certainly a lively ship. Trip was easy and we worked out we could get a tram into the city and quite close to our hotel from the ferry terminal. A bit of a scramble getting off but we were in no rush so took our time. Slight problem though, it was raining quite steadily. We headed for the tram stop which was close by but in a master stroke of planning the ticket machine was exposed to the elements and quite a queue. This included the guy who had no idea what to do, did not appear to have the right money (possibly any money), whose credit card would not work and who consequently held us all up in the hissing rain for 5/6 minutes - could have been longer. This on top of the 7/8 mins we had already been waiting. In the end the couple behind paid for him. Liz was now huddled under the tram shelter while I stood out there in the pak-a-mac. No point in two of us getting wet(ter). By the time I got to the front of the queue the wind had set in and rain was horizontal so jeans and shoes pretty soaked. Guys behind (equally wet) who seemed local provided some guidance on the payment process but even they stuffed it up a bit so another minute or two of soaking. Anyway at last I had two tickets in my hand but the various delays meant we just missed a tram by about a minute so had a 6/7 minute wait for the next one. Still, under some shelter, though I was drenched. We duly trundled off for the 10 minute ride and I couldn't wait to get out of my jeans and shoes. I made the mistake of sitting down which was even more uncomfortable so quickly sprang up. Anyway the Hotel Helka was only about a 10 minute walk from the tram stop. Liz did a good job of getting us off at the closest stop and guiding us home. At last, out of that gear and into the shower. All was well and Hey! We were in Finland. Time to explore and we headed off into town. Basically heading for the main square and market square. First impressions were that it was more modern than Riga or Tallinn and a little less atmospheric. Plenty of shopping malls, cafes etc. and even the older buildings which were often quite attractive, of the the six storey terrace variety, did not seem that old. Made our way to market square where there were a number of stalls selling local "products". Very soft hats, wood carvings, paintings, the usual fridge magnet memorabilia stuff but also fox, wolf and reindeer pelts and extremely sharp hunting type knives in scabbards - not sure exactly what the purpose of them was. The market was starting to close but quite a few stalls selling food were in full flight. Now around 4.00pm and we had only snacked post breakfast so were hungry. The offerings were often local delicacies and we couldn't resist sharing a plate of fried Vendace (very similar to sardines) with garlic sauce. Just on a paper plate, pretty decent serve (30 or so smallish fish) you eat the lot, heads and all, and we wandered around happily chomping on them. Very delicious and sauce not too garlicky at all but tasty and needed. It was sun over the yard arm time and we looked for a decent pub/ venue to have a drink. Plenty of craft beer here though we had heard horror stories about the price of alcohol. We couldn't quite find what we were looking for in terms of character but settled on a cafe/bar and sat outside. Rain had stopped but not exactly balmy. After that we continued to wander through the back streets though being Sunday a lot of places closed. Did find a good looking Pho joint which was a possibility if all else failed. Liz loves her Pho. We headed back for the hotel. The Helka is a little boutique hotel and quite quirky. They had a little Swiss style bird house (no birds) that you could deposit your keys in when you left. The coffee mugs in the room had an inscription inside the rim which read " Stolen from Hotel Helka" Staff very friendly and a range of nice touches. We determined that dinner would be in their relaxed little bar/cafe area downstairs. Some good craft beer on tap and bottled and rose OK too. I had the salmon on bread with salad. Big chunks of salmon served cold - excellent. Liz had the coconut and sweet potato soup which was also very good. A local porter and IPA for me (both good especially the porter) rose for Liz. All very laid back and sat very happily not feeling we had to traipse about town. Not too late a night headed up around 10.30 for the usual blogging, reading and planning next phase. Greece definitely on. Thessaloniki as a kick off point looking the goods. Also need to ensure we have a flight out of there to London about a week after arriving in Greece as flying home from London. All pretty tortuous evaluating alternatives but in the end have to bite the bullet and its Turkish airlines to Thessaloniki and BA from there to London though the poms charging usuriously. Liz doing sterling work with bookins Next morning at 11.00 we were going on a free tour of Helsinki. After a great breakfast at the Helka (we expected nothing else given its form to date) we headed for the meeting point a 20 minute fast walk away, back at market square. Our guide was a young and vivacious lady who had spent time in Canada hence a slight North American accent. Super smart and despite a crowd of around 35-40 with a microphone headpiece and a resonant voice she was easy to hear. We covered a lot of ground both literally and metaphorically. Some aspects were: Lutheran religion is the main one for Finns. Apparently a not unusual fall away in those following a structured religious approach in Finland though you have to attend a religious camp for a week when in your late teens if you want to be married in church. A lot of the design of the buildings in the older parts of Helsinki was under the auspices of the German architect Engels in the 19th century. He had spent time in St Petersburg and hence there are similarities between the cities (though not the flamboyant stuff). Education is subsidised in fact you are paid to attend for your first 5 years at Uni. Food is also subsidised for uni students and is free at kindergarten. Start school at 7 pre that it's kindergarten where formal lessons are minimal. At junior school the first 5 years are pretty hands on - sewing, woodwork etc. no homework in that period. Health care free for all though dental must be paid for unless impacts health more generally. We were starting to understand why prices were so high with all those taxes. The guide (Maria I think) quipped that they all live a good life but it's hard to get rich. They were ruled for hundreds of years by the Swedes and then from early 19th century by the Russians. They gained independence in 1917 and in that period also had a bloody civil war. Fought against the Soviet Union in 1939 and collaborated with the Germans to fight against the Soviet Union 1941-44. They did not persecute minorities however. Then they also had to fight against the Germans to remove them from Finland as the tide turned at the end of the war. They are proud to have maintained their independence throughout despite some land losses to the Soviet Union. In winter the harbour freezes over so all boats must be lifted out and stored in dry dock including some pretty large fishing boats. Ice breakers were also visible in the harbour. It was a wide ranging, interesting tour with plenty of fun thrown in. Amazing coincidence of a couple from Melbourne, Meredith and David, being on the tour more especially because Meredith taught the preps at Camberwell primary around the time our kids went there. She didn't teach them as it turned out. Liz and Meredith swopped school and other local stories ++. David was an interesting character. He had worked for the CSIRO and was a resin expert. He had for the last umpteen years supported businesses making wood paneling and other resin involved products around the world. This included a 5 year stint for the whole family living in Italy while he worked there. He had most recently been working in China and had come straight to Finland from there. Yet again there's a lot of different stuff makes the world go around. Nice guy to chat to. Pommie origins though born in Australia and we had a good time dissecting Brexit. He has the same problem as us may lose his European passport. We were interested in the big issues! We did that nattering over a coffee and tea that stretched for about an hour and a half post the free tour. After that Liz and I headed for the market square again and needed something to eat. Beside the square was a pretty attractive and ornate indoor market building. Really it was a tasteful food hall with a range of tidbits you could buy to eat immediately or take away including exotics like reindeer jerky. We plumped for a couple of open sandwiches which we consumed at a little eating area outside by the docks. One was cured salmon and the other was prawns in a sweet chilli sauce. We shared the first two but so tasty we went again. Me for the prawns and Liz for the salmon. Just very nice sitting there with this scrumptious food. Back to the market square and as opposed to yesterday evening all stalls were in full swing so we had a good look around at the knick knacks but did not purchase. Time to go our own ways. We both went looking through shops though Liz also found a strange square which looked like a lunar landscape. People were skateboarding and sitting around the square and it all seemed a bit unexpected in what seems like quite a conservative city. I stumbled across the City Museum. This was a very quirky place which essentially probed some alternative aspects of Helsinki and Finland. One of the highlights was an exhibition by 5 Finnish artists. It was titled "Objection". Essentially it was about disagreement and the role that it plays in our society (particularly Finnish society). Each artist illustrated a different story. One was about Hjalmar Linder the wealthiest man in Finland who fled to Sweden during the 1918 civil war. On his return he found that members of the losing side were still being persecuted (killed) so he wrote a letter to the newspaper saying "enough of this bloodbath" which broke ranks with his peer group. He was then hounded out of the county and eventually died penniless, slashing his own wrists. Another was about left wing activism in the 1930s and 40s. It was being suppressed and so a password " Have you seen a running dog" was used to identify sympathisers. Essentially how people find a way to "object" Yet another was about a book "the Price of Our Freedom" still found in many Finnish homes. It contained a photograph and short description of each of 26000+ people who were killed in the Winter War 1939-1940. The artist had taken the photographs of key people in the book and turned them into ghost like portraits using hundreds of layers of pictures - "the Price of Freedom". Separately there were also general narratives about what Helsinki was like in the past. Pretty rough and ready in the 1920s apparently. Also a photograph gallery with some fantastic photos of Helsinki in the past including one which captured the docks area including market square. I couldn't see a date but perhaps 100+ years ago. All these photos were available for purchase. I kept wandering post the museum. Just walking lost really. Took in a few shops and generally soaked up the city. Liz did much the same. No acquisitions. Liz grabbed a bit of shuteye and we met up again around 7.00 in the hotel bar/restaurant. We decided not to move. The restaurant which the guy in "Radio" restaurant in Tallin recommended was closed ,being Monday night, and the informal dinner they served at the Helka had been pretty good the night before. We both had the open sandwich salmon. Thick chunks of salmon. Liz not the greatest salmon fan (she prefers her fish to be white) but enjoyed it, and I certainly did including polishing a few remnants of salmon from her plate. Of course a couple of craft beers also supped. Liz took it easy as a bit tired and slightly heady. It was relaxing and we headed up around 10.00. I took a quick stroll to walk off dinner but boy had it got cold. I think you can probably keep the Finnish summer. Here we were 12th August and it might have been about 16 degrees out but with a healthy wind that felt around 12-14. I was wishing I had a scarf. This reaffirmed our decision to head back to some warmth in Greece.

[travelsbyc-blog]

This way to Boston

Tuesday, June 6, 2017. 

Not quite sure if I’d recommend pulling an all-nighter prior to a day of travel. But, oh well, it happens! Around 3:50am I decided it was time to get up, get ready, and finish packing. By 4:15am I was ready to go! Mom drove me to the nearest airport and I got to say, the conversation was a little depressing (wills, power of attorney, accounts and passwords). It’s not that we’ve never had those conversations before, but it just wasn’t the topic that makes me particularly excited to step onto a plane...

The thing about running on no sleep-things get sloppy. I used the Southwest Self-Tagging machine to receive a printed boarding pass and luggage tag. Well, apparently putting on a stupid tag seemed too challenging a task for me, because a “nice” TSA lady came to rescue me. Over a tag (wow, embarrassing!). To make things worse, when I brought my suitcase over to the counter to get weighed and dropped off, I forgot my boarding pass in the ticket machine!! As soon as I was done with my suitcase, I scurried over, retrieved it, and bee-lined over to the escalator for the tram to security- careful not to make eye-contact with the “nice” TSA lady. 

The security line was a bit longer than I expected- when considering it was 5am- but it still went rather quickly! How come personal space doesn’t exist in security lines? The woman behind me was so close to me that I could ACTUALLY FEEL her breath causing my curls to shift (like wind, but a breath breeze, EW!). 

After getting through the debacle that is preparing and recovering from going through security, I headed to the Esquire Grill for breakfast. I was the only customer, so I sat at the bar. I ordered a stack of buttermilk pancakes and a small orange juice from the very kind bartender. The restaurant started to fill a few minutes late, and since the bartender was busy working and my iPhone was having trouble connecting to Wi-Fi, I sat in silence watching the muted sports channel. 

I definitely did not want to accidentally fall asleep waiting for my plane, so I stopped by Pete’s coffee for a large iced white mocha (treat yo self) before heading to my gate. We bordered very shortly after I arrived. 

Needless to say I should’ve ordered a small coffee. I only had a few sips until holding the large beverage became a nuisance. I had pull down my lap tray and placed the coffee on top. But trying to sleep in an already confined space + fear of it spilling everywhere + turbulence prompted me to through it away about 30 min. into our flight to Vegas. 

I slept most of the way there and was blessed with an open middle seat. Since I was staying on the same plane to head to Columbus, we were ordered to stay seated, then after the flight attendants counted all 39 of us, we were able to switch seats and use the restroom. I chose to switch to the right side of the plane and kept a window seat (easier to sleep, am I right!). I sat next to the kindest woman and although our flight was full, we were able to keep the middle seat open!! I slept for about 2 hours then chatted with her and looked out the window. I was pleasantly surprised with all the greenery below (in lil’ Ohio).

Originally we were supposed to continue onto Boston, however we were delayed 3 hours by Boston Air Traffic Control (due to poor weather on the East coast). Although we were commanded to deplane, we were able to save our seats and re-board before the other passengers. 

This was a blessing and curse. Blessing: I could walk around, get some food, and use a real restroom. Curse: Instead of landing at 6:20pm, we were now landing at 9pm. I headed to the airport Chili’s to order some food, and since I’m vegetarian, my options were limited. I ordered a cheese quesadilla, but was charged for a chicken one. I ordered a bottle of Angry Orchard expecting it to cost maybe $4-5 with the airport surge, but no... it was $7. It all added to a grand total of $24.08 (including tip). During this unexpected process, I called Uncle Marcel, Mom, KB, and Grandma. Also, I received a call from my little brother to make sure I was okay (he’s the sweetest!). 

The flight from Columbus to Boston was a little less than 2 hours. However, it felt much longer with the older gentleman sitting next to me with his legs spread open so wide that he was literally in my seat and foot area (rude!). To pass time I read some #GIRLBOSS, and jotted down some personal notes, goals, and reflections. Additionally, I spent a lot of time looking out the window at the clouds. They were so dreamy and moody! 

Upon arrival, I made my way down to baggage claim and then to my Uncle Marcel’s car. It was dark and drizzly outside, and as he drove the short way to his family’s home in Malden, Ma, the car occasionally crashed into some major puddles. 

They live in the cutest home!! It’s split into two units: upstairs (Uncle M, Aunt O, Liam) and downstairs with Aunt Ose’s mom. It’s an older home, built around 1800! The interior is decorated very eclectically- think bohemian meets tribal, and incredibly artistic- full of paintings, figurines, and textures. I LOVE IT! 

I stayed up until around 11pm (EST) sitting around the table, chatting with my family and nibbling on the snacks laid out before us. Then I showered off the day (BLESS), got ready for bed, and made my way to the futon- my home for the next few days. 

[watersuncharted]

vienna

okay, so lets talk vienna. yes, yes i know vienna happened today (litearlly today i was in vienna. what the ??) but its the most fresh in my mind so im going to go off about it for now and then we can talk about the other trips from before. see, this is what happens when youre dumb and dont have time to journal. 

okay, so we leave friday morning. me, being me, sleep at 2:30 and wakes up at 4:20. beats my face and off we go to the airport. we metro there, gotta save that money money money amirite? we get to the flight. me and betsy sit in the same row but this girl is hacking up a storm next to me. i ptfo instananeously, unknowing until we land that we were delayed a full hour. so, we land in vienna and we find an uber. we uber straight to the palace, to which the uber driver goes, “where are you from...are you staying in the palace??” like lmfao yes we know we have all our stuff and look disheveled but we dont have much time, its time to roll. so, we spend way too much money touring the palace, walk through a LITERAL dead garden and then dip. we then walk walk walk to some random tram stop (did i mention they speak GERMAN there. no clue how we figured any of this out) tram tram tramed all the way to this famous schnitzel restaurant to which we stuffed our faces in less than 20 mins because our air bnb hostess said “it is not ok” to us checking in late for the guy who was waiting got there at 11am and not 1 and he has been waiting for us ever since. so, of course, we stuff our faces and instead of walking as we had hoped we hopped in an uber and away we went. 

OUR UBER DRIVER HATED VIENNA. basically yelled at us for even coming. we told him we’re leaving in the morning and he felt better. he warned us not to go to prater dome (my lord should we have listened) and proceeded to tell us he would wait for us if we needed other rides. we kindly skrted as we were scared the air bnb woman would kill us--only to find that she sent her friend to speak to us, eXCEPT HE DIDNT SPEAK ENGLISH. delightful. we bool a bit then walk around, not much to seee. it was kind of weird, the set up. lots of churches and historical type bulidings in a big plaza...an interesting vibe all around. my favorite part was this coffee shop we went to. it was amazing, the ambiance, the pianst. felt very vienna to me. 

also, i watched kay and betsy do some prayers in the cathedral, was very interesting to watch and try and understand, but i didnt ask many questions. 

we went to a lil bar, had a drink. we didnt eat dinner but we were still stuffed from lunch so we were expecting these next few events to hit a little harder...spoiler alert: they didnt. 

we then proceeded to search for a convience store, we wanted to pregame prater dome. surprise, nothing was open. we settle for a random chinese restaurant. we are forced to order dumplings and we lick up way too much soy sauce. we take two shots of vodka, one shot of this really strong chinese alc called mao tai. go home, dance for 20 mins and get ready. (nothing was hitting lol) we get to the club, very sober. we take 3 shots each, meet some people, randomly get 3 drinks that we didnt ask for. see hella people we know! dance around. the club was cool all different music in different rooms, but little did we know we had to pay to LEAVE THE CLUB. so heres the thing: we bought all our drinks on betsys bar card. which we spent all our money on. they then told us because we didnt use our cards we had to pay 3 euro on each. so we were 6 euro short. me and kay proceed to yell at the man, we search long and hard and finally we find some ohioans to help us. alec, steve and dean. i love you. we were literally freaking TF out. i was so upset you have no idea. this man litearlly whips out a print out of the website to tell us that we had to pay, like is this a joke lmao???

we get home. its 230. im upset. we wake up at 430. upset lol

uber to the airport in which i physically lay down and pass out for an hour. i get on flight. pass out for said 3 hours. i metro home. i pass out for 50 mins. i get home. i pass out for 6 hours. 

vienna, you truly have been far too much. all i want is some chore and curry. im beyond riled now, so more on london, paris, ibiza, terragona and barcelona later im afraid 

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

They said I was crazy. Definitely possible.

I got up at 5 today. That’s the earliest I have been up for this whole trip and the only day I got to chose the time to get out of bed. It’s going to be an Aviva sort of day.

All packed up, I checked my luggage at the front desk of the hotel, booked a cab for later tonight, made a stop at the ATM, and then walked to the metro station, about 20 minutes away. It’s definitely Monday; I was walking against the commuter crowds getting off the train. The metro here is great, easy to use, cheap, clean, and you get great views along the way, but the way in which people use it is a little wacky. At every station I have been at, no matter the time of day, there are tremendous queues of people waiting to buy a ticket. You have to imagine most people using the metro are locals who could buy weekly or monthly tickets, so this baffles me.

I waited in the queue with everyone else and then made my way to the Caribe station, where I transferred to the bus station. Similar in many ways to the Port Authority except I have no idea what anyone is saying. Luckily I had done some research beforehand so I knew which ticket window to use, and bought a ticket to Guatape. I am attempting this trip on my own, which costs about a fifth of the price of a guided tour but will be more than five times the adventure. 

I get on the bus at the noted location, and see two French guys on the bus, too, which is a good sign that I am in the right spot. Mind you, this is not NJ transit, this is a 20-person bus that locals take as a cheap way to get around the countryside and between towns up in the hills and the city. Chinatown bus-esque, but very different. A man brought 50 eggs on the bus with him to bring home, and three other guys got on with machetes. I asked the guy next to me if this bus was going to Guatape. No, he said, its the bus next to this one. This was strange, since the bus was in the slot I was directed to, but I was somewhat relieved to get off the bus with fellow passengers carrying machetes. 

I got off the bus and onto the other, asked if this was the bus to Guatape. No, they said, it’s the one I was just on.

And so it begins.

I get off the second bus and go back to the first bus and the driver says something I can’t pretend to understand, and then gets in the bus and backs out of the spot to leave. And then pulls into the spot adjacent to it. Fucker parked in the wrong spot. Of course I will get on the wrong bus. 

French boys have gotten off the bus at this point, and there is a third gringo watching and figuring things out, as well. Finally the correct bus pulls into the correct spot, we all get on, and are on our way. Just like most places, salsa and bachata music play the whole time. Like two hours, whole time.

I end up sitting next to the third gringo guy and after chatting a bit, he joins me for the climb up the 675 steps at the giant rock at El Penol, the walk to Guatape, and for lunch in the town before I head back to Medellin. I’d really rather spend the day on my own, but despite being Ukranian and living in Amsterdam, his Spanish is much better than mine and I don’t mind the navigational assistance. 

The rock we climbed towers over the surrounding landscape, and it’s amazing how they built the zig zag steps up to the top. And the views from the top of the man made lake, and therefore man made islands, are really incredible. Not much to do after taking in the view and grabbing a few shots, so then we made our way down. Getting from the rock to the adjacent small town was about a 40 min walk, and was worth it compared to the 10 min tuk tuk ride because there were some small little hiking sections with some more great views, plus a rickety suspension bridge I got to walk over across the highway.

The town of Guatape was very cute with lots of colorful little houses, each with its own plaques along its frontage, generally representing the industry or profession of those who live there. We walked around a bit, grabbed some food, and then he met up with some other friends and I got the bus back to Medellin. The sign at the entry of the town was my favorite; it listed facts about the town- elevation, population, and temperature. 22 degrees celcius, in print. It is that temperature so frequently that they added it as a fact about the place.

The bus ride back was less eventful than the one in the morning and I successfully made it back to the metro in less than two hours. From there, I transferred to a different tram line, to go explore Comuna 13, historically one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Medellin. It has transformed since then, but is still quite dangerous and tourists are not advised to travel alone. This, says the tourist traveling alone.

But first, I was distracted by the funicular, which is part of the metro system. It doesn’t really go to anywhere safe, but I felt it would be fine to take it to the end of the line and then turn around and come back, which was more than fine - it was the best part of the whole day. The funicular must have hundreds of little pods, each carrying 8 people. The system never stops - it just slows down at the stations for people to get on and off. The ride in each car is smooth and peaceful as you hover over some of the poorest communities, full of cobbled together houses made with cinder blocks and covered with corrugated metal roofs. The most amazing part of the system, however, to me at least, is that the funicular actually has multiple stops along the way - it’s not just taking you from point A to B, but has stations along the way. And it goes so far up into the hills, that it actually goes up and down over the ridges of the hills. It was so much fun that I went all the way to the end, went back to the beginning, and then did the ride all over again. On the way back to the starting point, one of the pods behind us got stuck leaving one of the stations. I was with seven other people, all of them speaking Spanish, and when the whole system stopped working, they started talking to each other and I didn’t have a clue what was really going on except that I did understand the word “pendulum”. Apparently when the pod spacing is off, it throws the whole system off, and everyone has to wait for things to get rebalanced at the next station. In the meantime, hanging in the sky by a cable and stopping abruptly results in all the pods swaying like a pendulum. So I did know what they were talking about. I also picked up a few words here in there about how they even think some of the neighborhoods up in the hills are dangerous. I definitely understood when they said something was dangerous, and when they started talking about cartels. It was kind of amazing that in such a dangerous place that you could get stuck in the air with seven other people but feel totally safe. 

I finally stopped riding the funicular and went via taxi to see the Comuna 13 area. If I wasn’t alone I’d feel safer overall, but the neighborhood between the station and the escalators to the heart of the Comuna 13 didn’t really appeal to me. A taxi was a good idea. I went up the escalators, saw many tourists up there, but still didn’t feel comfortable wandering around much, so made my way back down and got another taxi back to the station. I feel like I wimped out a little, but I feel like I am smart enough to know when I don’t feel safe. 

Back at the main station, I got a train back to the main metro route to go back to the area I was staying. On the train were about six really tall (over 6′) Australian guys that I had seen up by the escalators. They were probably 20 years old, if that, and just hanging out and goofing around on the train. The best part of them being there was that no one in Colombia is 6′ tall and the women sitting next to me were incredulous. I know how to say “grande” and pretended to have some small talk with these women, but after about two words I had to give up and tell them I didn’t speak Spanish. I was then adding to the excitement. One of the women was a girl about 17 years old and she was freaking out. She said “my name is Isabella” to me and I told her my name - the chance to speak English with someone seemed like it was the highlight of the year for her, and I told her the guys were Australian. She nearly fainted. This was way too much excitement for her. Six tremendously tall guys with blond hair and blue eyes  - she looked like she was in heaven. It was hilarious (and also interesting that her and the other women also noticed directly the color of everyone’s eyes - I don’t really think about seeing blue or green eyes as drastically different than brown - different yes, but not unusual). 

I transferred to the other train line and it was so packed and hot in the car that one woman fainted on the train just as I was getting on. It was incredible to watch how people dealt with the situation. Several other passengers picked her up and got her off the train within seconds, another passenger hit the emergency button on the train to alert the police, who came immediately, undid the emergency call, and went to tend to the woman, as the train doors closed and we left the station. No delay to the subway operations. It was amazing! I imagine in NY it would be a 30 minute delay, at a minimum. 

I walked back to the El Poblado neighborhood, bought some souvenirs, had dinner, went back to the hotel, and got my cab to the airport. We drove up the same road I biked on two days ago; I can’t even believe I biked up that hill. But the views were clear so I asked the driver to stop so I could see the views of the city all lit up at night, which he did, before continuing to the airport. 

It’s the beginning of the end. A red-eye flight home with a 9 AM meeting. Not much chance for adjusting to reality...

[benstravels]

We flew from Ishiagki in Japan with Hong Kong Express. Coming into land at the Hong Kong International airport was incredible with mile after mile of new bridges and roads being built far out into the ocean with massive oil rigs scattered around like confetti.

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  After a short delay getting through immigration, we collected our dusty rucksacks and easily made our way through the massive airport to the Airport Express train – it runs every 10 mins, takes 24 mins to get Central, is clean, quiet and has free WIFI. You can buy tickets at the airport on the way out and announcements are made in several languages including english. It really couldn’t be any easier – it beats all the traffic jams too so is much quicker – unless you get a helicopter taxi!

After getting off at Central, we followed the easy to navigate signs to the MTR line we needed and got some pre loaded contactless cards to use – it didn’t save any money but just made it easier than having to buy single tickets all the time and we could quickly top up when needed. Our hotel, the Conrad Hong Kong, was quite literally above the interconnected MTR admiralty station. Below the hotel (and above the station) is a huge shopping centre (about 3 or 4 stories high) meaning that we had to walk a huge distance through the MTR station which I hadn’t bargained for & we were pretty hot and bothered by the time we finally got to the reception. If you don’t know the Conrad, it’s a pretty swish high end hotel so we got a few looks rocking up in dusty sweaty clothes with large rucksacks rather than arriving in a Bentley in a suit. The receptionist however didn’t bat an eye lid and quickly took our details. We had got a free stay booked (more on that later) and I had emailed the hotel to say that it was our anniversary (it really was). After a bit of silence, two phone calls in Chinese and a bit of head shaking, the receptionist explained that she was trying to upgrade us but the room wasn’t ready so would we mind leaving our bags and coming back in a few hours. We didn’t mind so dumped our bags with a bemused looking porter and hiked back through the vast MTR station and trundled across Hong Kong to Nathan Road where I really wanted to try egglets! Imagine a waffle pancake with big bubbles like big bubble wrap plastic folded in to a cone and then filled with ice cream. That’s what I wanted to try and had researched hard to determine that AM.PM was the best place to find it!

After a few wrong turns and pushing through thousands of people, we found the corner shop (decorated to look like a school mini bus) and after some language barrier confusion, ordered our egglets! They came out huge! And oh so nice! We were the only Westeners there – everyone else was a hipster local and luckily were equally fascinated and taking lots of their own photos. After giving ourselves diabetes, we decided to head back to the hotel to see if we could check in yet as the vast number of people was still a little overwhelming after our previous week on nearly deserted paradise beaches.

After retracing our steps to the hotel we found that the original lady had left for the day but had managed to upgrade us. We took our key and were ensured that the porter would follow shortly with our rucksacks. We found one of the many lifts and shot upwards to near the top of this huge tower. On entering the room, we were greeted by a massive elevated king size bed and a wall to wall ceiling to floor glass window in line with the face of the building meaning we could look literally straight down – and out across the whole harbour and city before us. The view was incredible. Genuinely the best hotel city view I’ve ever had and probably one of the best hotel views ever. Our originally free room should have cost around £500 for the night – this room should have cost around £750 for the night and it was totally free!! (Skip down to the bottom if you want to find out how – in short it’s by getting a Hilton credit card and hitting a spend target).

Our bags duly arrived, we showered, and headed back out to eat. We had booked an Uber for ease – we needed to get from the hotel to the Star ferry terminal. However despite the Uber driving being able to see the hotel, he couldn’t find it and we lost time meaning that we only saw some of the Harbour light show (where all the huge buildings light up with a lazer show to music) from the ferry rather than being on the opposite shore. The show was pretty impressive nevertheless and the Star ferry crossing is awesome on its own – old diesel run ferries that haven’t changed for decades that cost about 25p to cross!

On arriving on the other side, we slowly wound our way through the hoards of people slowly walking away from watching the light show and headed to the Intercontinental hotel which apparently had a lovely cocktail bar with decent harbour views. Luckily, having made a bit of an effort to look the part, we were politely given a table with a decent view after quietly being told that the minimum spend was the equivalent of £30! A “normal” cocktail was just over £18 each so we easily hit that! After a nothing-special-but-bloody-strong cocktail, we paid and followed a pretty confusing route to our restaurant, the Hutong. It turned out to be inside a closed shopping mall (although the lifts still worked) and, as normal in Hong Kong, the lift opened immediately into the restaurant. Having booked the night before, we weren’t expecting a great table and were gobsmacked to be given a window table looking out over the harbour back towards our hotel. It was a pretty special view and they automatically sat us both on the window facing side so we could appreciate it more. The restaurant was dimly lit with red lanterns and bird cages (for your wine) on each table. The low lightening meant that the view outside stood out even clearer.

The food was gorgeous, the waiter knowledgable and not afraid to tell us that we were ordering wrong (he was right) and the service was fantastic. It was a proper Chinese menu but a million miles away from the Chinese we eat at home in the UK. By far the best Chinese I’ve ever had and it’ll take an awful lot to be beaten.

We ate, paid and slowly walked back to the Star ferry to cross back over. This time, with some more time on our hands, we took the MTR back to our hotel and repeated the hike through the world’s largest shopping centre (it isn’t but it felt like it). Having eaten late, we didn’t get back to the room until just after mid night and in partly zombie mood, had already got into bed before we noticed the bottle of champagne on ice sitting in the room with a note wishing us happy anniversary!!! A super nice touch and not at all expected after the massive room upgrade. Well done Conrad Hong Kong – we’ll only ever stay with you in Hong Kong now and you’ll certainly be getting many recommendations from us.

Our flight the following day wasn’t until 23:55 so we quite literally had the full day to explore as much of Hong Kong as possible! After a slightly disappointing start (the pancake stall we had eyed up the day before didn’t open on Sundays!), we found some coffee and headed over to the Peak Tram – this is a funicular tram going to the top of The Peak which offers 360° views of Hong Kong. There was a massive queue but as we had time, we tried to hide in the shade as much as possible and (im)patiently waited. I had been up here twice before on previous trips but each time had timed it perfectly in the middle of a tropical storm and had absolutely no view. This time the weather gods were very much on our side and we had incredible views across the bay and the city. You can totally see & appreciate the city skyline from up here and see how massive some of the sky-scrappers really are.

After trying some other more egglets (!),we took the tram back down and walked through the back streets full of stalls selling random junk, tiny food outlets surrounded by locals sat on tiny plastic chairs and posher outlets which all had queues outside. We wound our way to the Man Mo Temple, one of Hong Kong’s oldest temples, which is famous for having massive incense hanging in huge spirals from the ceiling. They fill the temple with atmospheric smoke and enchanting smell. Worshippers spend large amounts of money on these to appease the social and academic gods.

We decided to finish the day by travelling out of the city to visit the giant buddha (otherwise known as the Tian Tan Buddha). It stands at 34 meters high (112 feet) and is one of Hong Kong’s most popular sights – it’s a fairly recent addition and has a pretty tacky tourist village built around it (but which does have some okay restaurants as well). The city cleverly thought up the idea of connecting the MTR stop with a 25 minute cable car – the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car. It takes you from sea level up over big hills to the buddha with spectacular views across the islands, the airport and out to sea. You can pay extra to sit in a cabin with a totally clear glass floor to give you that extra special experience (we didn’t). There was another massive queue before we could board but it moved fairly swiftly and allowed for some amusing people watching.

After disembarking, we wandered through to the “village” (where, I’m slightly ashamed to say, we bought some Chinese waving cats), avoided the sacred cows sitting all over the place before climbing the 268 steps to the top of the plinth that the buddha sits on. It’s an okay view from the top with the coast below in one direction and the Po Lin monastery to the other but the main attraction is a neck craning view above you.

We retraced our steps and took the cable car back just as the sun started to set finishing off a perfect stop over.

Tips and Tricks:

Our Revolut cards worked everywhere as normal.

The totally free offline maps.me app has been getting worse and worse with the recent updates. Sadly, as much as I love the ability to save every place we are going to visit for each trip (including walking), the guidance side just isn’t good enough anymore and I’ll be switching to another iPhone based app.

As above, don’t bother getting a taxi or free hotel shuttle from the airport – the train may cost more than a free shuttle but it’ll save you heaps of time.

Walking around Hong Kong is fine but there is a lot of steps, steep hills and massive covered walkways where you just can’t walk beside the road – bear that in mind when working out timings

Interested in getting a free night in any Hilton hotel worldwide? Well unfortunately since the 1st March 2018 you can’t as Hilton pulled the card. They are currently reviewing it so keep an eye on this site – Head for Points to see what happens.

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Hong Kong We flew from Ishiagki in Japan with Hong Kong Express. Coming into land at the Hong Kong International airport was incredible with mile after mile of new bridges and roads being built far out into the ocean with massive oil rigs scattered around like confetti.