Wow I haven't done up a journal in this long? Oh the shame.
I went to Spain. And because Spain was a bitch I have been to busy and annoyed to say anything to this. Why? Why why why? I shall explain. And if anyone who reads this is Spanish, no offence to you, I'm sure you are lovely, but I have discovered the meaning behind 'monkey country' and Spain is one of them. And as I drink my 'Passoa' drink and eat my bag of chips I am going to give my blunt opinions without any sugar coating.
THEN, after my possibly lengthy opinions, Parci is going to help me give an overview of the things we did there, which may end up being in another journal which we will do tomorrow.
Ok. So we get to Spain, check in, yes lovely hotel very nice. One of my first impressions on the train in from the airport to the city of Barcelona though was 'wow it's like we are in a cattle cart, and oh boy, the Spainish do love dirty houses with peeling paint!' We stayed in a hotel in a nice enough area. A problem with the restaurants is they DONT SHOW PRICES. You get a menu card, and there are NO prices on it. So we ask, hello what is the price of this? (Most of the time we got the reply "I don't speak english." Which is surprising considering they are restaurants in the hotel district in the main tourist areas.) But then we would get replies also along the lines of "Oh I think that is €6.50" and we think, yes ok we will get that. Then when we get our meal, they plonk a basket of stale bread on the table for us. Oh yes thank you. We didn't want it and it was stale so we left it. Then we get the bill and the prices are more along the lines of €7.28 or some other odd number and extra charges for the stale bread which we did not eat nor ask for. Another thing about restaurants/cafes is that you would expect the general price of a Coke or Fanta to be between €1 and €2. We went to one cafe and they charged us €1.50. Then the next one charged us €2.90!!! Completely different prices, but of course we don't knwo this because they refuse to put it on the menu card and they don't tell you when you ask anyways.
So there you have my bitch about menu cards.
Ok, another thing that annoyed me. The television. We had nearly 30channels I think. 2 were in english, 1 was in dutch, 1 was in german, and roughly 25 of them were DUBBED in Spanish. I could hear the people talking english but with Spanish blabbering over it so I couldnt hear it. AND the only things on tv excluding a million dubbed cartoons and tv shows was The American Election and "London celebrates for Olympics in 2012". Constantly. We had CNN which only showed the pre election campaign. The other english channel was SKY NEWS from Britain and the only thing on there was all about London and how all British unite and celebrate as the olympic torch is handed to them from Beijing. How many times can a newsreader say that? Far too many. It was constantly about how great London is so I naturally disagreed. AND THEN! Oh my god it stopped talking about the brilliance of London and then it changed subject toooooo...... The american elections!!!!!!!!!! On both channels all we had was elections for america. So most of my time if i watched the tv, i watched it on mute, because the three accents that annoy me most in the world are as follows: 1. Spanish. 2. American. 3. British newsreaders. Also, this was the first time the olympics have been on and I have seen them in all languages except english. I saw the Olympics in French, spanish, german, dutch, and some other language I cant remember because I always ended up watching them in mute and listening to the sound effects Parci made instead.
So now I have discussed television and menu cards with you, I am going to talk about monkeys. And by that, I mean people who act like animals or get into low life habits and hobbies and make their country a dirty and unsafe and unpleasant place to be. First, let me explain my views on stealing and thieves. Steal from a major company. I don't care. Steal from a medium sized business. I don't care. Steal small things here and there. I don't care. Steal from an independant business where they're in competition with major stores, or family business. Then that's not cool and you lose some of my respect. Steal from a PERSON, and you are a low life shit. Especially if you are stealing 'for funsies', for a dare, for drug money, from your family, or to sell the items you steal. If youa re starving and unemployed and will die if you don't steal, then that's still a lame ass excuse. Go to the fucking government and get on the dole. In nearly every, if not every, developed country, there is SOME sort of help for those who need it that badly. Le Ramblas street in Barcelona is the busiest street I have ever been in and it is only well known for it's thieves. People have to carry their bags in front of them or else they run the risk of a little shit stealing their belongings. They have two methods for this: 1. Taking a knife and cutting a hole in the bag without you noticing, then pulling your stuff out of it. 2. Working in a team where someone distracts you and then the other just grabs your stuff and runs like there's a blood thirsty rottweiler snapping at his heels. But despite this, there are barely any local police patrolling the area. No warning signs that this is a super famous street for thievery so watch your stuff. And maybe just two or three policemen casually walking through the street every now and then. There is NO security.
In the park of Arc de Triomph, called Passeig de Lluís Companys, four hours before our plane left, we sat on a bench to rest as we were worn our after carrying our luggage all day since we checked out of the hotel. Our bags were next to us. Then we stood up to leave and as I stretched, Parci said "Where's your bag." And all we saw was an empty space. Yes, all my luggage was stolen. I wanted to scream but I didn't. Parci did though and I was jealous because I think I would have felt better if I had as well. We panicked and I grabbed parci's bag and held onto it as he ran around looking for anyone with the bag near us. I ran to the two ladies sitting just 2 meters from us. Tey were British and in their late twenties I think. I knew they spoke English and were British because I had heard them speaking. I asked them if they had seen anyone and they shrugged and said no and looked away. I begged them to help me and they said no and got up and left. I wanted to yell at them. Dumb ho's. I panicked again because I turned around and could not see Parci anywhere. I started shaking and a few moments later I saw him. He started asking people as well but NO ONE would help. Not one fucking person. Can you beleive that when someone asks for help, everyone turns their head and pretends to look away at something invisible, yet so interesting, and it just happens to be in the opposite direction. How handy. And none happened to understand us apparantly. I asked a WHOLE row of people who were sitting on the stone wall and even as I asked the first person if they spoke enlgish, could you help me, did you see anyone with a big black bag, everyone else was already turning their heads and ignoring me. I could not beleive that nearly 20 people all simultaneously turned a blind eye to me as i begged for help. So naturally we were angry and I said they were all fucking useless then we went to the next bench. i discovered one thing then tough. British people and Spanish people are the most unhelpful people sometimes. Belgian people are angels. Out of the entire park, TWO people helped us. And they were both Belgian guys who were also backpacking. The park was packed with tourists and the only two people to stand up and say "what's wrong, we'll help" were two belgian blokes who also spoke english, dutch and french. They gave parci their numbers and got his number and then they both immediately started asking other people as well and looking for us.
We called the Police. They told us "do you have the thief?" We said no. So they said "just go to the station then." Unless you catch the thief and knock him our and hold him captive until they eventually get there, then they will NOT come to help. We had to walk half an hour to the nearest police station and on the way I ran in front of a plice car to get them to help. Did he help? here is what he said. "I know the gangs who steal there so i will ask if they saw anything." Oh yes thankyou. Because if you ask a theif really really nicely he's going to hand over the stolen items. Not. Dumbass halfwit. Then the policeman told us to keep walking to the station.
So we get to the station and I have to fill in forms and forms whilst parci calls up and cancels my bank accounts. I called them embassy but Oh what is this? They're away on holiday so I can't contact them for a week. NICE. So I call the British embassy. And oh damn. Typical embassy is only open for two hours a week so NO, of course I WILL NOT get through to them. So I swear and slam down the phone and the policeman shrugs then tells me to hurry up with filling in my form. Then he keeps grabbing it off me everytime I pause to think of something because he thinks I am finished. No i am not fricken finished thank you. So i politely grab it back off him. Then he tells me, oh you havent put int he number of the passport that was stolen.
Oh. My. God. Does he think I have this tattooed onto my brain? No I didn't knwo the number of my passports. I had wisely written it down but hey, that was int he bag as well. Then he says, "I need to see some ID."
Well tough luck. What part of "it was all stolen" do you not understand? I had just reported all my ID as being stolen so he asks me to show him my ID?
So here we are now. That happened 9days ago I think. On Tuesday the 26th of August at 5:30pm.
After my police report was done, I had to dry my eyes and leave because we were in danger of missing our plane. And with no ID or passports for me, there was a chance I would be delayed in getting on the plane. We raced to the metro and got on the trains and when we got off at the airport, we gave our metro tickets to some new backpackers whow ere walking in, since our tickets still had rides left on them and we no longer needed them. We ran through the airport movie style to the wrong terminal, then to the right terminal, then arrived at the desk where a lovely bitch was awaiting us. "Why don't you have your passport?" She asks. "Because it was just stolen but I have the police report." "Ok Mr Alluyn you can go on the plane but Miss Hart you can't."
I imagined hitting her and twisting her body into the shape of a pretzel and grabbing my ticket and running.
But instead I politely said that would not do and I had been informed that I could get ont he plane with the police report and I was not going to be staying in Spain.
So she sighs like I am a disobediant puppy that needs to be euthanised and then goes to speak to her manager. then comes back and reluctantly tells me I am allowed on the flight. Oh thank you very much. As soon as we had those tickets in our hands, we ran. We went through security. I went through without a glitzch since I had nothing except the shorts and shirt i was wearing, but parci was in trouble because he had forgotten to take his knife out of his bag. But the guard was the nicest Spanish person we had met that whole day (so he probably wasn't really Spanish. He must have been part belgian) and he said the best way to get out of this situation was to run back downstairs and check in his carry on luggage as well so he can keep his knife. So we ran down and checked it in at the desk with the sulky lady and then ran back up and he grinned at us and let us through and wished us a safe flight.
It is a very weird feeling getting on a plane without any luggage and only wearing shorts and a shirt when the weather in the destination is cold. It's even more weird when you stand at the luggage collection terminal and you're the only one there who isn't geting your luggage.
Our problems were not over yet though. We had been last to check in, so theoretically, parci's bag should have come out with the first of them. his carry on luggage that we checked in with the knife came through. We waited 45minutes until his main luggage came through. It was one of the last ones, and when he unpacked, we realised that everything was a mess and has been sorted through and things were opened and clothes were all scrunched up instead of folded. Someone had been through his luggage but not taken anything. At least not to our knowledge.
Because we had to wait for so long and his luggage was last to come out, we missed the last train by a few minutes, and had to get a taxi from Brussels to Gent. We hit traffic and were stuck in it for over an hour. The taxi cost €150 after he gave us a discount of €50.
We were glad to get home but I barely slept. And when we woke up we knew there was going to be no fun in having to call people, cancel passports and cards, emails, forms, money etc etc.
My new retainer for my teeth will cost €110. and the fine for the library book that was stolen will cost €30. Can youbeleive that? €30!! I will describe the book to you: old, hardback cover, coffee stains, yellowed pages, writing through it, bent pages, and from the first edition of the book being published. I said it was ridiculous and the lady says I will only not have to pay it if i can find a copy just like it. But because it is from the first edition of it being published this will be hard. I have found it on the internet for less than €5 but I have not yet checked the edition of it. But it looks the same to me.
So much paperwork.
I've had a break from it today and yesterday because I've been getting cosntant headaches and over stressed. We went to the embassy in Brussels and they were just as horrible as any other embassy I have been to. The only way to get an answer there is to ask a direct question and DEMAND what it is you want. Otherwise they mock you. She mocked me when I said I had my passport stolen and we got pissed and I said, "ok look i was sent here by the police and i was also told i had to report a lost passport here AS WELL as reporting it online." And then suddenly she stopped using a stupid mocking smile and got out paperwork and was a lot more helpful.
I got a brochure on australia whilst i was there. I am finding it to be an amusing read because it is written by a british company and the facts about the weather and climate are a bit off.Here is what is says on page 46:
Australian Summer: October to April
-Max temperature: 29degrees celcius
-Min temperature: 15degrees ceclius
Australian Winter: May to September
-Max temperature: 16 degrees celcius
-Min temperature: 9degrees Celcius
So what n00b wrote this? Because I LOL at him or her. Yes I do. This information is misleading to British tourists. Our summer is from December to February as far as I know adn the maximum is not 29, it is more like 45.
And our minimum in winter is NOT 9 DEGREES it is much colder than that at night and when you have tog et up early for work your nose WILL FREEZE OFF!!!!!
So, the n00bs who wrote this can be found at www.australia.com/uk
And this booklet is called "The official Guide to Australia. 2006/2007.
And also, it has 4 pages on Western Australia. It mentioned Perth in a quote twice and that is it! It spends two pages talking about whale sharks in Ningaloo Reef, then a page of adverts, then a page on some place called Freedom Bay that I've never even heard of! I looked it up on the internet though and it is very expensive from what I can see and there is not much there except a beach. And hey, we have a whole coastline with beach so I don't see the special part on this.
And here is what I propose to do: I will write my own travel stuff on Australia one day! However, please note that I have made the words 'one day' bold, so therefore it means I don't necessarily have to do it until i am very old.
That is nearly all from me. Before I go though I will say some last things. Spain has some very beautiful and breathtaking views and icons. I fell in love with the works of Gaudi whilst I was there and I had a nice time. I think it is a shame that there are such lowlives in this country and it really makes it less desirable and less enjoyable for tourists. There are some nice things in the country but the people were not so pleasant. I think that once you have been to one capital, you have been to many. Barcelona reminded me of London a bit with the bad tempered and stressed crowds and people unwilling to help. A bit like Brussels also I discovered.
I am going to upload a lot of photos now from Parci's camera, and I apreciate his help with this because he spent a long time going through all his photos and choosing which ones.
Tomorrow he is helping me do a journal on what we actually did whilst we were there (I do the journals with sarcastic remarks and remember what I see but he sthe facts and the places and the useful details so I need his help.)
I am trying a lot harder in my dutch now by the way so if you want, you can leave me a comment in dutch and i will do my best to translate it :)
I also have a new mobile phone number so if you want it, then just ask
Lauren xoxoxox
ps: Check out the links to youtube videos that Parci has uploaded from our trip in Spain. He's an excellent camera man.
Follow this link to Parci's youtube account and you can watch the latest videos uploaded.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Joetoep
The first video from Spain is called "Esculator to Parc Guell: Part 1"
Every video after this one is from Spain.
xxx
