Birmingham, Sizergh, and the end!

So we left Nottingham and took a two hour train to Birmingham. Andrew Michael, a friend of Jordan's and a former CCF intern at Southern, is involved with a ministry there called Canvas. It is one of the few student ministries at the University of Birmingham. We took a short train to the suburbs where Andrew Michael lives. We set down our bags and met his roommates, Jen and Nathan, we then settled in for some cooking out and some World Cup action. We watched the match and then went to the local pub to have a beer. It was really nice to chill for a few hours anyway. We planned our next few days, slept for about 6 hours and then got up, said goodbye to Andrew Michael, and headed for the train station. We had to take a three part connection trains to our next destination which was near Kendal, UK in the lake district in the north west of England. From the Kendal station we had to take a series of buses to get to Sizergh castle. Sizergh castle is the ancestral home of the Strickland family. It was finally the castle experience we were looking for. The castle was amazing, the grounds are gardens were awesome, and it turns out most of the Stricklands that were of that noble house in England were named Thomas Strickland. Which happens to be my father and my first name! Who knew! The castle was great but after some thought over a pint at the Strickland Arms (yes my family has its own pub) we decided that we were more than ready to go home and were beyond worn out. We called Delta after getting back to Kendal and realized we could either fly home two weeks from now for a lot of money plus however much we would have spent just being over there, or we could fly out today (Tuesday) and save thousands. So we took a bullet train to London, spent the night in Heathrow airport with zero sleep. Took a 850am flight to Amsterdam and are now about to board a flight to Atlanta. We unfortunately had to skip Ireland but we are both glad to be going back to the U.S. and can see how God blessed us with an opportunity to go home.

We thank everyone so much for keeping up with us on our trip and for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers over the last month. Be sure to check out our pictures on our facebook pages as we are still in the uploading stage.

We love you all!

Nottingham/Sherwood Forest

We got off the train in Nottingham and immediately saw Nottingham Castle looming over the city. The city very different than i thought it would be. I thought it was going to be a small town with a few Robin Hood attractions. Much to my surprise the city was pretty big and even had a couple of colleges. Because of the colleges the population included a lot of younger people which we weren't used to. The city was filled with huge hills which was cool but made it difficult for us to carry our packs while searching for the hotel. We followed Hunter's Garmin until we got in the general vicinity of our hotel and then we weren't sure where to go so we walked in one of the colleges and a security guard looked it up on the internet. With him pointing us in the right direction we were at the hotel in no time. We checked in, dropped off our packs, and then headed out to scout out the area. We walked to the center of town and found the visitors center where we had planned on buying the Robin Hood pass which would get us into a lot of the attractions and even give us discounts on food and other stuff not related to the Robin Hood sites. Turns out that they had just sold the last ones earlier that morning. Bummed about that we went in search of some food. We wound up gorging ourselves at the local Pizza Hut(buffet!). Then we went to the Galleries of Justice exhibit where we learned about crime and punishment in the olden days and Hunter and I were in a mock trial where we were both sentenced to death by a 16 year old! After checking out the galleries we went back to the hotel and got a pretty decent nights rest.
The next day(Saturday) we woke up early and headed to Sherwood Forest, home of the legendary Robin Hood. We ate breakfast and then walked around the shops and Robin Hood exhibits before heading into the woods. There were tons of trails and we saw the Grand Oak, a super old tree that was huge. We pretended to be Robin Hood for a while climbing trees and stuff and then we went back to the restaurant and ate lunch. After lunch we got trained in the art of archery with a longbow by a cool guy in Robin Hood garb named Elliot. Hunter was already practiced in archery and even competed back in the day. I however was new to it but did much better than Hunter and I thought I was going to do. I killed a boar with one shot... as did Hunter. Also Hunter got a sweet bulls-eye which I couldn't match.
We then returned to Nottingham and went to the castle which was a BIG let-down. They didn't have any medieval stuff in there! But there was an exhibit for the new Robin
Hood movie which pretty much made up for it. We got to see all of the costumes of the main characters and some of the props they used in the movie. Then we went down the street to the oldest pub in England named "Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem" because it was evidently a meeting place for knights going to fight in the Crusades. After that we started back to the hotel but got sidetracked by a TGIFridays on the way. We ate there and then went and had another rest at our hotel. The next morning we woke up and went into town to go on a tour of the caves underneath the city of Nottingham. It was pretty interesting but basically sucked in comparison to Sherwood.
After our time in the caves we ate at a Chinese Buffet before heading to Birmingham to stay with Andrew Michael.

England Once Again

On the way from Belgium we met an American guy from L.A, Yassin. Yassin is a musician that plays in several bands. You may say he is famous in the "world music" scene. We talked a bit and he told us about his music. He was a pretty cool guy and was a joy to meet. We took the local trains from Belgium instead of going back to Paris and arrived in Calais. We split a taxi from the train station to the port with a guy named Chee whom we would end up spending an hour talking to waiting on our ferry to Dover. Chee was a recent graduate from Cambridge University, originally from Singapore, with a graduate degree in electrical engineering. Jordan and I had a chill ride back across the channel and arrived around 9pm after gaining an hour coming back across the channel. we walked back to East Cliff Hotel, Victoria's hotel in Dover, and her son, Steve, was working. We got our bags that we left from him and he gave us a really cheap deal on staying the night. We washed the continent off our clothes, went and ate a delicious Kebap, and then went to bed. We got up the next morning and spent an hour drying our clothes at the laundry mat. We then took the train to Canterbury, went and got our britrail passes from the travel office and then got on a train to Cornwall. The train to Cornwall was long, 4.5 hours across the southern part of the country from one side to the other. Cornwall, practically it's own country (at least in their minds) is so far the most beautiful place in England. It was simply breathtaking. The reason we went to Cornwall is because of our study and interest in the Arthurian tradition or the legends of King Arthur. The castle at Tintagil is supposedly the place where King Arthur was conceived by Igraine the duchess of Cornwall and Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, the high king of England. The castle is now in ruins but it is a great location for a castle. We had to take the 4.5 hour train ride into Cornwall, take a bus about 45 minutes, and then take a 30 minute cab ride just to get to the city near the cliff where the castle is. That is with 21st century transportation! How out of the way. After spending 2 hours waiting for a bus that never came we took the cab and showed up late to Tintagil. We went up to our room and quickly noticed a thong hanging from the lamp post in the bed room. Seeing how it was neither of ours we sure do wonder whose it was and how clean the room was we were staying in! Either way, we went to sleep, got up early and walked the 3 miles up the cliff to the village of Tintagil. We wandered around the various shops a bit and then climbed up to the castle ruins and walked all over them. It was amazing! The ruins are perched on a cliff and underneath there is a cave called Merlin's cave. Supposedly where Merlin stayed when in Cornwall. Jordan and I climbed down and explored the cave too! We spent much time on the cliffs, carved our names into the rock at the top (sweet! forever a part of Tintagil castle!) and then walked back to get our backpacks. We took a cab to the train station and left Cornwall less than 24 hours after we got there. We actually found a place where we can horseback ride through the moors in the area and think we might go back and do it at the end of our trip! Riding on the same lands that King Arthur and Uther Pendragon and their knights were said to have ridden! On the train to Oxford!

We got to Oxford and made our way to the home of Laura and Justin Estrada some family friends of Jordan's mom. What a blessing they were! Justin is a graduate student at Oxford University and has a masters of Divinity. He and Laura were such a joy to spend time with and even at their young age are a vision of humility and hospitality. We spent some time talking and watching the world cup and had a delicious dinner courtesy of Laura's brilliant cooking. We then randomly got into a theological discussion on the subjects of Once saved always saved, and immediate ascension to Heaven after death, and a little bit on freewill. Smooth to talk to Justin! a brilliant man indeed! We then finished the night with a little Smash Brothers and then we hit the hay!
We got up and headed to town and Laura and Justin showed us all around. We went to the Eagle and Child where the inklings met (Tolkein and C.S. Lewis). We then walked back down the river a few miles and said goodbyes to Laura and Justin and got our packs. The next morning we quickly got up and went to Christ Church college (where they filmed much of Harry Potter) and climbed the tower at St. Mary's church where we got a 360 view of all of Oxford. We then ran back to the train station, took the train to Birmingham, switched trains and got to Nottingham about 5pm. But that's another story!

In Bruges

So Rome was really cool, especially when compared to Bruges! We took a sleeper train overnight to Paris. Our room was much nicer than the one we shared with Pablo and Julietta. We hung out in our room for a while and enjoyed the fact that we had the room to ourselves. There were three beds and I claimed the top bunk cause that's where its at. Although it was cool to sleep up high I found out that it was MUCH hotter up top(the ol' "heat rises" thing i guess). I was in the process of moving down to the bottom bunk when a knock came at the door. I opened it and there was no-one there. I went back to moving my stuff from up top and the knock came again and this time a guy came in and hoped up on the top bunk. haha I was sooo glad that i had just moved down to the bottom cause now he had to deal with the heat. He didn't talk much but he definitely commented on the heat of the room! We talked to him a little bit and found out he was an American from Pennsylvania studying Italian in Florence. We got to Paris, jumped on a train to Brussels, and then on the one to Bruges. Once in Bruges I bought a map and we found our way to the hotel. After dropping our stuff off and washing up we headed out to explore the town. Bruges is very very small but its got a quaint little charm. The people were nice and it literally takes no time to get to where you're trying to go. By the way, the whole reason we decided to make the trek to Bruges is because of the movie "In Bruges". So most of our time in the city was spent looking for places where they shot scenes of the movie. It was easy to find the bell tower and square but we didn't get to find the other places because we didn't have internet access to look them up. We ate some fake McDonalds called "Quick" and bought some Belgian chocolate(its true, that stuff is awesome). After checking out some of the touristy sites like the Basilica of the Holy Blood we went back to our room and watched some of "Meet the Fockers 2" because it was the only good thing on in English. Around 12 we went back to the square to take our signature "In Bruges" photo and then returned to our room for some r&r. We got up in the morning, ate breakfast at the hotel, and went to the Basilica of the Holy Blood to try and go inside but it was closed because there was a service going on. So we walked around and debated whether we should buy swords or knights from a cool shop we found. We decided to wait and buy that stuff once we got back to England cause English knights are definitely cooler than Flemish knights. We returned to the church now that the service was over but there was a person guarding the entrance saying that it was closed until 2! So we weren't able to go inside cause we had to leave soon to catch our train. But to raise our spirits we stopped and bought a Belgian Waffle(which was also delicious) to eat on our way to the station. We hoped on the train and headed for Brussels looking forward to finally being back in England...

Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears

We checked out of our hotel in Venice at about 9:45am and rushed across the city to get on the 10:27 train to Rome. We had a really chill four hour ride to Rome. After having to change seats a few times we just listened to the old ipods and checked out the Italian countryside. So what can we say. It took over three weeks of relatively smooth sailing for us to hit our first man made mistake. I used hotwire to book our hotel in Rome. Somehow I managed to book our hotel for the first Wednesday in July instead of the second Wednesday in June. Don’t even asked how that happened cause I do not know. As we stood at the Sheraton desk realizing we didn’t have a reservation for Wed night in a fully booked city. One of desk workers there called the Marriot Park Hotel and was able to get us a “deal” last minute on two nights there. As we got out of the taxi, sweaty, and gross we were greeted by a doorman and we realized as we walked in to basically a resort on the top of a hill overlooking Rome that we were not in your average hotel. We checked in and went to our room opening the dark wooden door to the room we noticed that our bathroom had a bidet (first one we have ever seen!) and as we walked past the bathroom we notice our own private bathtub room as well! Two! Jordan and I agree that this is one of the nicest if not the nicest hotels we have ever been. Because it was so late in the afternoon when we got to the hotel we decided to eat dinner at the hotel. Don’t even ask how much it was! But this was the most delicious Italian food either of us had ever had! We started with a salad and then there were two different pastas. One lasagna which was really good, and the other was bowtie pasta with shrimp, mussels, and calamari! So good!!!!!!!!!!! It was a fantastic meal. We got up at nine and went and ate our delicious breakfast and then got on the hotel shuttle to central Rome. We walked to Vatican City took a lot of pictures in the square. We went inside and paid to climb the Vatican Copula which was over 520 steps! It was crazy, the walkways were tight and small and the steps so steep. Once we got to the top though, it was a breathtaking view of Rome from the top of the Vatican. It was amazing! After the Copula we went into St. Peter’s basilica (the church at the Vatican) and took pictures and watched the Eucharist being served. We then walked over to the Vatican museum and wandered through and took so many pictures and then went into the Sistine Chapel and it was stunning! After five hours in the Vatican we began to walk back to the front to get my hidden pocket knife that I expertly hid behind a pillar out in front of the Vatican we were stopped by a priest standing out front and the ensuing conversation was amazing. Father Brendan is a New Zealander priest that had worked in Rome at the children’s hospital. He stopped us to offer us tickets to a special event at the Vatican Thursday night. Priests from all over the world were to be meeting to hear the Pope speak tonight. Father Brendan talked to us much about Catholicism and protestant relationships, how he has been so impressed with how American Protestants are so enthusiastic about our faith and how we pray and worship. He was offering us these tickets for free to this event and offered to try to translate part of the service for us. We refused the tickets and told him to offer them to someone who might appreciate the event even more than us. We probably talked to him for thirty minutes and he was so surprised that we were willing to talk to him for so long. Father Brendan gave Jordan and I the greatest compliment that I know I have ever received in my life. He told us that the reason he decided to stop us was because he could tell we were Christians, he said we were “clean” and he could tell when he saw us. He said he could see the light in us. We were just walking by. I cannot express how such words feel to me. He then told us that our names were prophesy Hunter as a hunter of souls and Jordan giving life like the Jordan River, spreading like the river. It really was an amazing experience. He asked how old we were and then told us he was 67! Jordan and I both agree that he doesn’t look a day over 35!
After we left the Vatican we took a bus to the Roman Coliseum. It was a very cool place that had so much history. It really was cool. We spent probably an hour there and then got a bus back over to where the hotel shuttle picked us up. After nine hours in Rome we dragged ourselves back to our room where we are now trying to recover.
Friday we got up, showered, breakfasted, took the shuttle to town and then went back to the Vatican where my pocket knife was still hidden 28 hours later where I had hidden it to go into the Vatican. Nice! We then took a bus towards the Pantheon, I helped some Australian damsels in distress, then we checked out the Pantheon. It was kind of a let-down to me. Because the temple had been converted from the pagan temple to a cathedral after Rome went Jesus there were no remaining pagan artifacts. I really wanted to see the temple in its original splendor even though you can’t knock the victory of Italy’s salvation! After the Pantheon we went back towards the coliseum and walked past it to Circus Missimo where the horse races were in ancient Rome. It was more than ruins, it was more like a grassy area with sloping sides. Bummer. We then were so worn out from our Rome experiences we went and chilled at a table at the train station and ate ice cream. We then boarded our overnight sleeper train to Paris, ate dinner on the train, and went to sleep. We had one other person in our cabin a sophomore from the University of Pennsylvania studying Italian in Florence for the summer. As I type this it is 1140am and our train was supposed to arrive in Paris at 920am. Super late! We head to Brussels, Belgium and then on to Bruges this afternoon where we plan to act out almost the entire movie “In Bruges.” Back to England on Sunday night.

Venice

We left Vienna on the night train and shared a box/room on the train with a couple from Argentina who were on their honeymoon. Pablo and Julieta were very nice and we talked with them a really long time before going to sleep early in the morning. We arrived in Paris around 8:30 in the morning. We parted ways with our friends and immediately regretted not getting their contact information. We picked up the Rolling Venice Pass which gave us unlimited public transportation (by boat of course) for 72 hours and it gave us discounts on a lot of other things like museum tickets. Then we started walking down the busy streets having no idea where we were looking for wifi. We saw a sign for a McDonalds so we started following a trail of signs through the city which led us to the only golden arches in all of Venice. We looked up the address for the hotel we were staying at and then took off again through the city. We found the hotel which was basically a hostel but it was better for two reasons: it was clean, and we had our own room. We were very thankful to have free wifi at our hotel. The only problem was that it was only available in the lobby/courtyard, which was a pain because it took forever to climb the stairs and walk to our room to get our laptops. Once we got there we then turned around and walked right back to where we came from. We sat outside while on our computers because the hotel didn't have air-conditioning. I collected A TON of what we think are mosquito bites but they are humongous and I'm ready for them to go away. We decided to take a nap once we got our room and after we had caught up on the sleep we had lost on the train, we went out again to check out the town, this time without our backpacks. We were starving so we went in search of some “authentic” Italian food... let's just say that after this meal Hunter and I ate cheaply the rest of our time in Venice. The city isn't very large so we were able to see most of it by riding around on the water buses. One night we just hung out near St. Mark's watching the busy tourists as the city died down. We even went to Murano, a neighboring island famous for their glass-work. During our two day stay in Venice we saw a lot of the tourist hot spots within the city. Some that we saw were St. Mark's Basilica, the Accedemia Museum, and the Jewish Ghetto. These parts of Venice were awesome but the city itself was what I enjoyed the most. All the water with boats going here and there, the sometimes very narrow streets that can make you feel as if caught in a maze, all of the old buildings each with its own character but similar to the last; these are just some of the things that gave Venice a certain allure I've found nowhere else. As far as I'm concerned... Venice is the best city ever! The city is beautiful and though you probably already know this... it's sitting on the freakin' water! Another nice thing about the city is that there is no traffic to worry about while walking around because its all in the water! We woke up Wednesday morning and headed to the train station. We barely made our train having about 5 minutes to spare. We both were a little sad to leave Venice but we had a hard time justifying those feelings when we thought about the fact that we were heading to Rome!

Clock Tower

Tower high and bright
In the middle of the night
Chiming, rhyming, a lonely serenade.
Who hears the late night work?
Dog, cat, owl or stork
Walking by underneath
With such noise you do bequeath
A reminder to the night
That time passes unto the light.

On The Road Again

We just finished our time in Halaszi which, while we had a great time doing very little, we are so ready for the rest of our travels! We wound up going into town (Mosogrovyar) again but this time we had rental bikes so it didn't take forever to get there. We hit up McDonalds for some wifi action again and then rode around town. We ate a delicious Kebab and then went hunting Giants... We rode a little ways out of town to a huge field of Wind-Mill Generators and went Don Quixote on em'. That was pretty much the extent of our biking. The rest of the time in Halaszi we read, wrote, and watched Hungarian tv (I don't recommend it unless you watch either the music video channel or movies while making up the dialogue). We also watched the videos Hunter had on Itunes which consisted of some stand up comedians and most of the first season of Venture Brothers. Last night we walked to some fields on the outskirts of town to check out the stars since it was neither freezing nor raining. We woke up this morning and took a taxi to Mosogrovyar which cost 1500 florins (exactly how much cash we had left!). Then we hoped on a train to Vienna where we are currently in another McDonalds uploading photos and updating the blog. Tonight we are taking an overnight train to Venice where we have a hotel booked for tomorrow night! We are both so happy to be on the road again!
Always remember... stay clear of the moors.

More detailed days on the mainland- (stolen from an email to the parents)

Jordan and I just walked five miles in the rain to the next city to get on the internet! All is well. We are in Hungary and we have a sweet setup. We have an entire house to ourselves and there is a really nice restaurant on the opposite corner from the house. It was like six dollars a piece for us to have a huge pork plate with fries, a salad, and bread! Plus Hungarian beer is so good! See if you can find Borsodi anywhere! It is like 1 euro for a half liter bottle at the restaurant! Perfect for any meal! And cheaper than a .3 liter coke! It was a miserable but amazing adventure to get from England to Hungary. We ended up getting to Calais France late because of the Eurail ticket mixup. So we got there at like 7:30 pm and the last train to Paris was at like 730 all the way across town. So we planned to camp out
> at the train station and wait until the early train. Well, then they closed the station so we were sitting on the concrete outside and it was very cold. There was an hotel across the street and it wasn't too expensive so we stayed there that night. Luckily we did knowing now we were pretty much going to miss the next two nights sleep. We got on the 1230 train to Paris and got there around 230. Paris is huge and we tried to figure out their underground system but everything was in French. Who knew? Also, distances on maps never look as long as they actually are! We spent the afternoon at Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower but the walk between the two was like 2 hours. When we got to the tower we realized the last train to Vienna was at 7pm and it was 610. We were going to grab a cab and jump on it but it was rush hour and we couldnt make it. So we wandered around the city a little more, met a group of high school graduates from Louisiana with their parents
> and talked to them for a minute. By then it was dark so we went back to Notre Dame and got some night pictures and then walked back to the Eiffel Tower. It was really cool at night and I got some sweet pictures. anyway we just posted up on the grass nearby and there were people walking around selling wine and champagne so we bought some and sat there for several hours and talked theology until the wee hours of the morning. At about three am we started towards the train station which was all the way across Paris. We walked like an hour and a half and at four thirty took a cap the last 5-6 miles! We waited around the train station for about two hours for the seven oclock train to Vienna and had to deal with a really shady Frenchman who wouldn't leave us alone. We got on the train and it was a twelve hour ride through France, Germany, and Austria to get to Vienna. We got to Vienna and realized we had missed the last train to Monsonmagyarovar which is the
> closest city to Halaszi where we are staying because our train from Frankfurt was an hour and a half slow. We spent the night in the train station in Vienna sleeping in a glass waiting box on the train terminal it was cold and uncomfortable and was our second night without real sleep. Finally at 630 am we got a train to Hungary. Got off two stops too soon, fought with the language barrier to find out where we were and made it to Monsonmagyarovar. We took a cab to Halaszi and had to wait around about three hours outside of the house to talk to the right person to let us in. Finally we slept in a bed for about 9 hours that afternoon (sunday) got up and ate dinner and watched some hungarian Tv (not good!) and then went back to sleep! Yesterday we got up and walked around town trying to find a store. We bought what we thought was 2 liter bottles of water and it was soda water. Gross! and then went to dinner at the restaurant next door. Our English speaking
> contact was working and she gave us a typical Hungarian dish of cooked pork with gravy and fries. There was also a sauerkraut salad thing that was really good too! Anyway, we spent about 3.5 hours last night writing on our novels (jordan started one too) and then back to sleep. Today we got up and it was raining but we had planned on walking to town to find wifi. I had seen a mcdonalds sign on the taxi ride in so we were after it. It ended up being five miles in the rain to get here! But we found it and a big grocery store! Nice! Anyway, think we might stay here until Monday early and then take the train back to Vienna and then on to Venice Italy. I do not think we will make the trek back here to use the internet so expect something on Monday. If not sooner. Love you guys!
> Hunter

Hungary

So who goes to Hungary? Pretty much no one. But it is amazing! It is such a beautiful country that is off the beaten path of most tourists. Probably because it takes forty five years and two days without sleep to get here! Oh yeah, and we don't speak Hungarian which makes everything really difficult but luckily almost everyone here is bilingual so that helps. But, their second language is German so tricks on us!!! The place is really nice, we have a whole house to ourselves in a sleepy little town. The only downside is that we do not know how to use the furnace so it is super cold all the time! It has been about 17-20 degrees celsius during the day and colder at night. (Basically 60-68 degrees during the day). We walked about five miles from Halaszi where we are staying to Monsonmagyarovar which is the "big city" nearby. All for internet! Ps. I know we always joke that Eastern Europe is so cheap and a dollar can actually get you somewhere, but for real y'all! Hungary is so inexpensive. Jordan and I went to dinner last night at this really nice hotel/restaurant that happens to be fifteen feet from the house and dinner was like seven dollars and Monika apologized to us that we had to eat off the expensive menu! Hahaha!
Jordan and I had a sweet four hour writing session on our novels yesterday and we plan to do even more tonight! If you homies want to see more poetry I will write some more! Check out all of our pictures on our facebook pages!

Love you all!

Mosonmagyablablabla

Since we were going to have to spend the night in Paris we looked for some cheap hotels and hostels. When we couldn't find any we just decided to hang out until our train left at 7 in the morning. So we walked around the Notre Dame section of town for a while and then headed to the Eiffel Tower again. We sat in the huge grass fields along with lots of other people checking out the now lit-up tower and talking about how awesome our trip has been so far, even the unexpected set-backs. We left there at like 2 am and walked to the train station where we spent the rest of the time waiting for our train. Then we spent 12 hours on trains going from Paris all the way to Vienna. Once we arrived at Vienna it was too late to take an over night train to Mosonmagyarovar Hungary so we found ourselves in the same situation as the night before. No cheap hostels/hotels which meant spending the night in the train station. We wound up sleeping in a waiting room (basically a glass box) on the platform where our train was to arrive at 6 am. We boarded the train around 6:30 and rode to what we thought was our stop (we blame it on our lack of sleep). We “talked” to the lady at the station who didn't know English and she told us to get on the next train and get off after two stops. We did this and found ourselves in Mosonmagyarovar where we took a taxi to Halaszi where our beds awaited us. We arrived around 8 in the morning and went to the restaurant/bar next door to look for our English speaking contact (M) who would talk to Viktoria's family for us. Well, she wasn't coming in to work until 10:00 so we sat around outside for two hours. Once we talked to her she told us that she thought they were not home at the moment so we had to wait for them to get back. Then she saw them leaving the house walking to church and we three approached them. They told us to wait until after church. So we sat in the restaurant for about 40 more minutes and THEN we finally got to talk to them. The younger lady took us to a man down the road that kept the key while Viktoria was away (weird that the family wasn't trusted with the key...). He took us to the house and showed us where everything was and tried to explain some things but we just nodded and said yes since he was speaking Hungarian the whole time! He did turn on the water heater for us which we were very happy about. Then he left us with the key. Hunter immediately jumped on the couch and wrapped up in his sleeping bag while I went to take a shower first. There were spiders EVERYWHERE in the bathroom. I spent the next 20 minutes exterminating spiders and removing their webs in order to take a shower/use the toilet without having to worry about spider bites. By the time my job was done I was too tired to take a shower so I just went to the bedroom and passed out. We slept for eight hours then got up at 9:30 pm and ate some backpackers pantry. After eating we went back to bed and slept until eight the following morning. We haven't had internet the past few days so we have had a couple of options to choose from in order to pass the time: sleep, read, write, eat backpackers pantry or eat at the restaurant, watch tv that we don't understand, or walk around. It probably sounds very boring but after our tiring journey we relish the downtime. Another up side to whatever we decide to do here in Halaszi doesn't require that we carry around those burdensome backpacks! We just walked about 5 miles all the way from Halaszi to Mosonmagyarovar in the rain and we did this for you. We came here to find a McDonalds of which Hunter saw a sign for on the way to Halaszi in our taxi. So now you know that we are not dead and are still having an awesome time! Now that we know how long it takes to get here we will probably take a taxi back home.

France

So, as if our plans could actually work the way we want them to. Our eurail tickets came by special delivery to the hotel on Wednesday afternoon. The hotel refused to accept them because they did not recognize the name, now they knew we were waiting on a delivery but that didn't tip them off. Victoria tells us this on Thursday around 1130 as we were waiting for our ticket to arrive at 12 to leave! GOSH! Anyway, Jordan ended up taking an hour train ride to the nearest fedex place to pick up our tickets and then we ended up leaving England around 530 last night arriving in Calais France around 7pm. Well, the city of Calais was pretty much shut down and so was the train station so we sat down outside the train station planning on waiting the eight hours till the first train Friday morning. As it got colder we walked over to the hotel across the street and paid to stay there. We got up and got on the 1230 train to Paris and arrived around 230pm. After having a great conversation with some random Frenchman that wanted to practice English we got off at the Notre Dame Cathedral to take pictures. We thought that the Eiffel tower was not that much of a walk from there but after walking the wrong direction for about twenty minutes we walked about an hour to get there. We then realized that we could not get to the train station at rush hour to get on the last train to Austria so now we are stuck in Paris for the night. We will be getting up early in the morning (Saturday) and taking the train to Vienna and then on to Hungary by bus. No idea what the internet situation in Hungary will be like but we will try to keep you posted!

Observations of a day

I sit alone in a dingy and dark hotel facing the front door,
waiting, watching, but what for?
Wondering, what will pass by on the street outside?
A mother or father or businessman with quick stride.
Instead of watching, instead of waiting
We should all not be hesitating
To dance, to sing, quick to love,
Give praise to the one above,
And be the one walking by outside,
For others to watch as they sit still and hide.

New Travel Plans:

Step one: Head out tomorrow on a ferry to Calais
Step two: Take a train to Paris and see the sights for a few hours
Step three: Jump on an overnight train to Hungary
Step four: Stay 7 days in Hungary at Victoria's house FOR FREE
Step six: Take a train to Venice and enjoy the city for a day and a half
Step seven: Go to Rome by train and see the awesomeness for a day and a half
Step eight: Head to Bruges on a train for a day before heading over to Ireland

That's all we've got so far and who knows if that's how it will truly play out. We'll keep you updated! Cheers mates

Dover x 4 days

So after our second bout of sleeping in 15 hours we were planning on getting up, heading up the cliffs of Dover and then heading towards Hastings in the afternoon. Our plans were dramatically changed. We woke up, went to eat breakfast, at the White Cliff hotel where we stayed last night, and started talking to the proprietor of the hotel, Viktoria. Viktoria is probably seventy five years old and owns her hotel that she has paid off. Viktoria is a Hungarian immigrant to the UK and grew up in Austria and Hungary during the cold war. It was so cool to hear some of her stories! Anyway, Viktoria started asking us about our trip and asking us why we weren't going to the continent while we were over here. We explained how we were focusing on England and we were going to hit Scotland and spend some time in Ireland; all three were places we had spent much time in already. Well Viktoria told us how we couldn't not go to the continent because it was so beautiful and something we could not miss in our lifetimes. She then told us how she owned two houses in Hungary and that if we went to her town we could stay there for free for 7 days because we had stayed at her hotel here! She then told us about Eurail passes and how if we got one we could travel all over Europe, sleep on the train, and see most of the continent for minimal expense. We started thinking about it and decided it was a great idea! We then researched for the afternoon and ended up buying Eurail passes. This was a quick decision but one we are very happy with. We have seen much of England before and really only have probably five cities that we would really like to see! At this same time we got hit with jet lag and being worn out from our hike we have stayed in Dover for three days resting and waiting for our passes to come in the mail. Viktoria offered us the hotel here for twenty pounds a night for the both of us (about thirty dollars a night) for a very nice two bed bedroom in her hotel. She gave us tonight (Wed) night for free so we wouldn't have to spend any more money! The best part of our trip to the continent will be spending Euros instead of Pounds Sterling because the Euro is almost one to one with the American dollar and the pound is about 1.5 dollars to the pound!!! Nice! Look for a post from Jordan about what our plans are for the continent starting tomorrow afternoon (Thursday!)

Awaiting Sunset

She walks up to the top of the hill,
slowly, so slowly, taking her time
a bag of fruit in her hand,
as is her daily custom.
People at the top, she moves away.
Alone, to the side, she sits down,
smoothes out her skirt, and looks out over the city below.
A tangelo in her hand she contemplates the world as it appears before her.
Seconds, minutes, hours pass fiercely into oblivion.
As the sun sets she peals her fruit.
Hope.

To Dover!

Hunter and I set out from the campground towards Dover with our packs on our back. Hunter led the march since he is the Garmin navigator. The trek was going to be about 15 miles in all and the Garmin said we could make it in about 5 hours. We both geared up with our Ipods which helped to keep us entertained while hiking down some REALLY long roads and even led to us having a dance party in the middle of nowhere. We were able to see some beautiful countryside since a good number of the miles we hiked were through big open fields. After 5 miles of hiking the trails eventually led us to a major highway going to Dover. The next mile we walked on the side of the highway which was pretty scary with all the cars and semi's rushing by only a few feet away from our right shoulders. We decided to take the first exit we saw since we were both uncomfortable with this mode of walking. We had been hiking for 4 hours now and we had made it 6 miles; we were beat. Our legs, shoulders, and feet were killing us. After resting for a while and realizing that there was no way we could make it the remaining 9 miles today we decided to walk to the nearest town a mile down the road. On the way I gave the old "hitching thumb" a try and sure enough a man pulled over and asked where we were heading. We told him Dover and he said "Get in", we were amazed. This was the nicest man we had met in all of England. He had his little daughter whom Hunter and I guessed was about 2 years old sitting in the back. I sat up front and Hunter in the back. As we talked with David Goodlad about our trip he asked us if we had money and if we had eaten recently. After we assured him we did and had he gave us his business card and told us to call him if we ever got into any trouble or needed anything. The rest of the 9 miles to Dover which would have taken a whole other day of hiking took about 8 minutes in a car... During those few minutes he told us about the history of the area we were in and answered any questions we had. He dropped us off at the port as we thanked him several times. We then walked into town and got lunch at a kebab place. Next we found a hotel ran by what must have been some of David's friends because they were just as nice if not nicer! They gave us a room for 10 pounds cheaper than normal! (More about Victoria and Chris later) We then slept for 6 hours from 3:30 to 9:30. We woke up laughing about how much we had slept when our plan was just to take a nap. The next 3 hours we spent walking around Dover taking pictures. Then we went back to sleep after counting our blessings.

Canterbury

So we left London on Saturday afternoon. We decided to take a bus out of London so we could get as far out of the big city as we could. London rolls on for ever so it is hard to escape the greater London area. We got to Canterbury (where I had been before) and Jordan had not) and started walking through the city. We got over to Canterbury cathedral (shout out to Chaucer!) and realized it was 15 pounds to go inside. Since I had already been I decided not to go in and Jordan didn't know if he wanted to go in so we decided to cook some lunch and think about it. By this time it was about 5:30pm. We walked back over to the cathedral and it was just open to the public for free after 5pm. The "main" touristy area was closed but we were able to walk into the site where Thomas Becket was martyred and into the crypt. We then were able to walk around the gardens and the inner cloisters. The boys choir started singing when we were in the crypt and it was so amazing! Almost all the areas we got to see were amazing and off the beaten tourist route. We then went by Saint Augustine's abbey to visit the ruins/ buy a bottle of mead but it was closed. We then took off out of the city towards Dover and walked about 2 miles to the Camping and Caravan club of Canterbury and put up our tent for the night. What we learned was that if you put your tent on a hill facing downhill then you will slide out of your sleeping bag and into your backpack all night! What a night! We got up the following morning and packed up our campsite, put our packs on our back, and headed towards Dover, but that is another story.

Itinerary

Rough estimates!!!

London to Canterbury- 19hrs (ENGLAND!)
Canterbury to Dover- 5 hours
Dover to Hastings- 14.5 hours
Hastings to Brighton- 12 hours
Brighton to Portsmouth- 17 hours
Portsmouth to Southhampton- 6 hours
Southhampton to Exeter- 35 hours
Exeter to Tintagil- 20 hours
Tintagil to Glastonbury- 36 hours
Glastonbury to Bath- 8.26 hours
Bath to Swindon- 10.44 hours
Swindon to Oxford- 9.3 hours
Oxford to Stratford-Upon-Avon- 13 hours
Stratford-Upon-Avon to Birmingham- 8 hours
Birmingham to Nottingham- 16.5 hours
Nottingham to Manchester- 22.15 hours
Manchester to Newcastle- 42 hours
Newcastle to Edinburgh- 34 hours (SCOTLAND!)
Edinburgh to Scottish Highlands- 2 days*
Edinburgh to Glasgow- 14.41 hours
Glasgow to Belfast- 20 hours (NORTHERN IRELAND!)
Belfast to Sligo-41 hours (IRELAND!)
Sligo to County Galway- 26 hours
County Galway to Athenry- 4.28 hours
Athenry to Shannon- 15.26 hours
Shannon to Listowel- 18 hours
Listowel to Killarney- 10 hours
Killarney to Cork- 16.36 hours
Cork to Blarney- 2 hours
Blarney to Waterford- 24 hours
Waterford to Kilkenny- 10 hours
Kilkenny to Dublin-23 hours
Dublin to Holyhead- 3.36 hours (WALES!)
Holyhead to Liverpool- 37 hours (ENGLAND!)
Liverpool to London- 65 hours

ESTIMATED IN HOURS OF WALKING!

Men About Town

So... I just wrote a HUGE update on what we did yesterday but I was kicked off the internet and the whole post was lost... Needless to say this post will be much shorter considering my temperament right now. Hunter and I walked all over the place yesterday. We saw the typical tourist hot spots which had already seen 2 years before: Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Kensington Gardens, Southwark, and Piccadilly Circus. We also dropped in at the good ol' Sherlock Holmes pub for a drink. Some places we checked out for the first time were the Jewel Tower (at Westminster), Peter Pan Statue (in Kensington Gardens), and the Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street. We ate our first Backpacker's Pantry meal for lunch (mexican rice with beef) which was pretty tasty considering all you do is add boiling water. For dinner we went to ICCO right down the street from home sweet home Sweet Asstor :) After dinner we went to Kensington Gardens and chilled there till sundown. We had a pretty horrible nights rest and a terrible time with the wifi at the hostel.
Now we are at the Starbucks next to the Charing Cross station enjoying some wonderful coffee and free wifi before we leave for Canterbury. Hunter just finished downloading the UK and Ireland maps for his Garmin and we are heading out to continue our journey. Best wishes and we'll catch you laters.

5

England Day 1

So we arrived. After an eight hour flight, no sleep, a 40 minute train ride, and two and a half hours of wandering around looking for our hostel (which I forgot to print out!) we took a few hours of a terrible nap. After waiting around in our hostel's kitchen for an hour hoping the stove would turn on, we decided to screw cooking and head out on the town. So we hopped on the tube, went towards our old haunts of Tottenam court road. We wandered up the neighborhood and had a delicious dinner at Nando's Brazillian Cafe!!! (all London fam is now jealous!) we then wandered up to Astor college to walk around the old neighborhood and then we headed down through Soho and checked some prices on seeing Les Miserables the musical when we come back through London in July. Soho is an interesting place, lets just say that there was lots of older gentlemen in tight leather pants hanging around together. (need I say more?) It was a really busy area of London with tons of people so it was really exciting to be in that atmosphere. We are about to head to bed, we are five hours ahead of you guys so it is bed time!!! Goodnight all and thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Hunter


5

Tired As A Mug

So we flew out of the Atl yesterday at 5:30 pm and enjoyed a nice long 8 hour flight. We arrived at the Gatwick airport at 7:00 this morning and rode the train (Gatwick Express) to London where we walked around with our freaking heavy backpacks for 2 n 1/2 hours looking for our hostel. We are currently dying in our beds hating every single thing we packed and now have to carry EVERYWHERE we go... the good news is: we had a safe flight, WE ARE IN ENGLAND, and we are in a comfy bed for now!

Eyjafjallajökull

Jordan and I have decided that we do not fear Iceland's above mentioned volcano and it should stop trying to ruin our trip before we even leave. We will punch the volcano in the face and windmill kick the ash cloud.

Eyjafjallajökull you have been warned.

-Hunter

We leave in 12 days!

This is Hunter and Jordan's super blog for our amazing trip to England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland! We leave on May 19th, 2010 and we come back to the United States on July 21st, 2010! Flippin' Sweet!!!