My World Travels

Coming to an end!

melwhite14 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:09:00 GMT

Well i have offically 4 days of work left.... its all gone so fast here i cant believe it. I finish work on monday and have tuesday to pack and im out of pitlochry on wednesday. I fly to london spend the night in the airport then head off to germany first thing in the morning. 8am lucky me, so early. then i have 6 days there with family before i head home to Australia. Very excited, but sad at same time, sad its comign to end end and sad to leave everyone, but so many bonu's on the other side....
It has been an amazign experience here, and will remember everything for ever, i have made so many life friends and learnt so much and seen even more. i wouldnt change anything i have done and am so happy i have done what i have.
Cant wait to get back and see you all.... but will miss my brother and sister here (dan and jess). we have dinner every week and see each other at least twice a week, even with us all working.
Hope everyone is well back home.
love you all see you soon.

xoxoxoxox

back in Scotland....

melwhite14 — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:21:00 GMT

So here i am back in scotland..... Pitlochry. Ive settled in well. staying in a flat with 3 others that i work with. The first night i stayed with dan and jess cause it was my first night by myself since i left aussieland. now im all good. working working working.... well 6 days a week anyway. town is pretty dead and not much happenen, but i think it should pick up a little at the end of Jan. hopefully cause theres only so much cleaning u can do, and then there is nothing so it gets boring after a while.
hope everyone recovered well after new years and chrissy...love to you all
xxxxxxxx
mel

London, Notting hill and New Years

melwhite14 — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 00:42:00 GMT

I got to london and meg and katie met me at the station. so good to see them friends that speak fluent english ahahaha. they ran and jumped on me we all fell on the ground and i think everyone in london was laughing at us. So we were staying in a appartment in Notting hill. Katie steph and Keren rented it and meg and i just sleep on the floor. which was fine as.... it was so ncie to stay in a up class place. we went shopping down oxford st and went everywhere.
i was only there 2 night for new years. New years we went to Ibiza in London which was the biggest party in London. it was crazy. Had a very good nice. We had Aussie tattos on aswell. Had such a good new years.
The next day we all slept a little and then katie and i took meg to the airport as she was coming home to austrlia. sad to see her go as ive been travelling with her for 3 months now. right by each other all the time. The night katie then walked me to the bus station as i was leaving to go to Scotland ahain. It was the night bus so didnt sleep.
Now im in scotland...
I have my place where im staying but i didnt wanna be by myself on the first night so i stayed with jes and dan hahaha....
i start work on monday and that will be that.
miss u all
be good take care. love you all.

hope everyoneis happy im now all up to date, cause im happy hahaha
love ya all
love mel
xxxxxxx

Germany again

melwhite14 — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 00:30:00 GMT

On the 26th night Nadine came and picked me up again and we went into Stuttgart for clubing. It was a great night and late one aswell. 6am i got home.

Bernie and Annette came and got me one day and took me to a castle old ruins. beautifull views and lots of photos again and more gluwine.
that night we went out for dinner and Nadine came aswell. CHiness ... was yummy. Nadine drove me home and it was the last time i was going to see her till i come back in March 26th.

rBernie and Annette came and picked me up at 5am to take me to the airport. It was sad to leave them, Bernie even brought his passport to the airport, i tryed to make him come with me. Very sad!!! but we kept saying its not long till i get backto them.

I had to much fun meeting more of my family in Germany, and i think i learnt a lot more german. hehe..... Nadine and i really became good friends and email and text message all the time.
I felt like i just fit right in. Oma is so gorgeous aswell. But is having a little trouble breathing because she dos to much... she has to slow down and next time im there im thinking of buying her a mop. cause she is suck in the old times of still cleaning the floors on your knees....

Oh i forgot to say, Herbert took me to Bad Urach and had coffee there. then he took me up to Westerhin and drove around there and went to the cemertry.

All my love to you all...
be good
love mel

Christmas in Germany!

melwhite14 — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 00:19:00 GMT

Chritmas on 24th was dinner with Werner and Sabrina and Pia, it was the first time i met the girls. We had bambie for dinner with kartofell salad my favourite and frankforts and everything else. it was a nice night.

Christmas 25th. we had lunch with Herbert, Erica and Martin. Again same kinda food. which i love all the food so not complaining!!!! The night Nadine picked me up and we went to Bernie and Annette for a fondu dinner. It was so good i never had one before.again so much food.... it was set up so lovely, and beautifull. Later that night Nadine and few her friends and i went out to Stuttgart for few drinks. Nadine drove so she didnt have to much to drink.

Christmas 26th. Bernie and Annette came around for christmas lunch and we Ate yet again.... more food. We then sat and talked for a while then ellen and her husband and son came around just for a coffee. when they left Andrea markus and marco came around. Its was the first time i saw them so that was good!! the house was really loud cause there was Bernie Annette Andrea Markus Marco Me Oma Herbert. Yes loud house.

Christmas was very nice in Germany but i love to food so im happy girl. hehehe
Hope you all had a good one
xxx

Stuttgart, Echterdingin, Germany

melwhite14 — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 23:59:00 GMT

WOW..... finally made it to mums home town....
Meg and i got to Echterdingin station and were wondering why it was so bloody cold... we then looked across the road and realized there was snow everywhere... Iris came and picked us up. it was very exciting to see her finally... exciting but a little scary. we then got home to Omas house it was so good to see her, the look on her face was so good, wish i hadda tapped it.! had a bite to eat and then sat down and waited for Herbert to get home from work. once he got home and we were trying to talk to each other then we hit the bed.
The next day meg and i walked into echterdingin and had a look around very nice little place. The afternoon, Bernie and Annette came around. It was great to see them cause well A annette can speak english and B i guess i no them a little bit.
We went out for dinner one night with Bernie, Annette, Iris and Karl one night which was really yummy. Then on the weekend Bernie and Annette took meg and i to the news tower in Stuttgart. Beautifull Views and lots of photos. we had a coffee and a bit of cake in side cause it was so cold outside.
Meg and i made a few trips into Stuttgart and walked around the xmas markets so big and crazy with millions of people.
Herbert and his girlfriend erica took us to the Esslingen christmas markets one day aswell, which was pretty cool. it was an old medievil christmas markets, interesting.... we had Gluwine and craps and ate at a really nice place.
Meg left on the 10th December and i just pretty much went into stuttgart, walked around echterdingin up road of omas and up to the forest a fare bit.
On the 17th dec, Nadine, her other oma, Iris, Bernie came around to Omas for a chrissy little dinner. Nadine didnt no i was there and we were talking all night. And found out she has a horse. She said she would call me the next day and come get me so we could go horse riding together.
It was pretty cool that night cause we had 4 generations of us there. Also Nadine speaks good english and her other oma does aswell.

The Saturday Nadine came and picked me up to go horse riding. I rode her horse Winnie. It was a nice big black one. she rode her friends horse Dolly. It was a beautifull ride though the froest. I had so much fun.
The next day Nadine came and picked me up again, to go into Stuttgart for a brunch with her and her friends. It was very nice she asked me to go with her. Lots of fun!

xxxxxxx

Luxembourg

melwhite14 — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 23:51:00 GMT

We left belgium around lunch time and got back on our favourite train. We didnt no it at the time but we were on the same train as the other girls. Got to luxembourg and it was very beautifull place. its pretty much on a massive hill. The first night we just settled in and then went out to a pub for few drinks that night. The next day we went back into town walked around the first christmas market we seen, as its the start of december. We walked all day big hills.... that night we had to all pack our bags, you could just imagen it, 5 girls in a 6 bed room.... crap everywhere.... like everywhere. took us ages to pack.
The next morning we all got back on the train Meg and i to head to Stuttgart and the other 3 to Berlin. Half of our train ride was together then we had to split up and it was sad.:(
anyway all day on the train and meg and i finally found our way to stuttgart.
Luxembourg was very beautifull...

xxxxxxxxx

Belgium

melwhite14 — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:16:00 GMT

Finally in the right city, Bruge, its so beautifull and old. Def my fav looking town. This morning we did some much needed washing as everything stunk from Amsterdam.... so washing everything was what we had to do. After washing we walked around town and it was wednesday so the market was on, we brought some fresh veggies as we are so sick of frozen packet stuff. Then we went to the Frie museum and learnt history of potatoe and how to make awesome fries. from there we went to the Chocolate museum my favourite place, hehe, we got few free sample and then at the end we couldnt resist we had to buy some chocolate....mmmm....
that night was just few quite drinks with some friends we made at hostel. The second day we were leaving in the arvo so decided to hire bikes for the day to ride to the beach. the lady was really helpfull and showed us where to go on the map and said it would take a max 1 half hrs to get there. so were riding away and after 2 hrs i tell meg to look again were we are, as she was looking i realized she had been looking on the tracks on the back of the map not the actuall map its self. we were taking the long way the 50km way... no turning back now. We finally go to the beach after another halfa. it was ok, not the prittiest looking beach but we hadnt seen one in ages so was good. when we got back to the bike i realized my front tire was completely flat. i couldnt ride it back because i didnt wanna have to pay for it if i broke it. so i was pushing it for 20 min then got sick of it and rode it very slowly in 2st gear only. it took us 4 hrs to get back i was so angry and was about to blow, i just threw the bike back at them got my bags and we left. NOTE : never give meg the map, AND also carry a repair kit when bike riding...
we got to Brussels that night and when i was walking to our room i rolled my ankle with my big 25kg pack on my back.... what a friggen day, thats all i can say. Did nothing that night as i couldnt walk.
BRUSSELS:
Today spoke to mum on the phone then i walked all around Brussels looking at momuments and museums altho there are so many i didnt go to them all. that arvo was EXCITING as dan, jess and the heatheringtons arrived and their hostel was only a 10 min walk from ours, so that arvo we went and saw them, was good to see family again, a little bit of home...hehe... we had dinner that night together then went back home.
Next day we were unfortunatly leaving and going to Luxembourg, so we had to say goodbye to them, oh well it was just good to see them anyway. they walked us to the bus stop at around lunch time and our train was at 1pm.
rest of the day was spent on the train. We were going to Meet the girls again in Luxembough then realized we were on the same train but no-one could be bothered moving cause we had our bags and i had saw ankle.... any way Luxembourg next...
xxxxxx

Amsterdam

melwhite14 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:42:00 GMT

6am wake up this morning to head to Amsterdam and catch up with 3 other friends from back home. As meg and i walked out the door of our hostel we walked into wind rain and darkness. It was one of the funniest walks to a bus stop i have ever done. Meg was carring our food box, as we had a long day on the train and had food for our trip and because it was raining so much we got our umbrallars out well megs snapped in half getting her soaking wet and all the food aswell, our poor baget had no bag and was getting soaked on top, not to mention it getting dropped on the ground twice. Its ok were backpackers let it dry and it was all good.
Finally got to Amsterdam after the long train trip, Katie met us at the station and walked us to our hostel cause we were staying at the same place, well thats what we thoguth. We got there and there was a problem with our check in, just so happened that i booked it for october not November, yeah dont ever get me to book things....Not to worry the people just called the other Flying Big hostel which was 10 min away and we got in there for the night. We checked into the hostel then went back to the girls at the other place till late late late and meg and i went back to our place.
Day 2
Meg and I headed back to the Downtown hostel where we checked in there and were staying for the next 2 nights. We ended up being in the room next to the 3 girls so that was pretty cool. Everything in Amsterdam is at a crusie pase so we took outr time and went to go find the Anne Frank House, what was ment to be just around the corner ended up being the longest walk all around Amsterdam because when we ask people for directions everyone kept sending us in different directions or back from where we just came from. We finally made it to the House thanks to some old lady who ended up just walking us there. Very interesting house, well worth the walk. After the House we went to do some food shopping cause its cheaper to cook ur own food then buy fast food all the time. It was another adventure. We had a case of beer for the 5 of us and food for the 5 of us, so we had to steal a shopping trolley to take it back to our hostel, carmer must have got us because it started pooring down and snow and hail and wind like u wouldnt believe. We all got our umbrallas out but meg cause she didnt have one since berlin and all 4 of them snapped cause of the wind. It was so funny....
Day 3:
Afte another late night we all got ready and went for our first walk down the Red Light District. WOW it was funny. All different kinds of women, fat, old, young, ones eating dougnuts hahaha everything i guess a desprate guy would be looking for.
That night we went to go out clubbing and we got told to catch the ferry to this really cool club which in on an Old Navy War ship. We managed to rope in someothers from our hostel and a group of us walked to the ferry singing so loud random songs. The ship was preety cool idea and it has been going for about 10 yrs all around Europe. It was a big night because we missed the last ferry home so we had to stay out parting till 7am when the 1st ferry came.Yes great night.
day 4:
Didnt do to much as we were all stuffed from the night before, we just walked around downtown amsterdam and that night watched DVDs at the hostel. Meg and i were staying at another place in Uptown tonight so we got the last tram back there around 1am
Day 5:
This morning we met the girls at the IAMSTERDAM sign and got some photos we then went to the van GHogh Museum. Once we left there we went to do something fun, like Ice Skateing. We had the ring to ourselfs, it was so much fun, Im supprised we all left Amsterdam with no broken bones.... we had races, compitions who could do the best tricks and the amount of times we all crashed into the side of thewalls or each other or just face planting it into the ice was crazy.
We went home and cooked dinner then came back to the ice skating later that night around 10pm till 1am skating again, we grew a crawd this time because we sucked so much.
day 6:
Meg and i were leaving later this arvo so before we left we went to do a bike tour we thought it started at 12pm but turns out it started at 11am, thatnks to steph it was her fauklt we missed it....:) while we thought of something else to do we played a bit of footy on a side street with a ball we found, didnt last long because katie kicked it over a fence. We then saw these paddle boat and decided we would go on one. Its for 5 people and only 2 have to do the paddling and all the hard work. Well lucky Keren and I cause we just stuck doing all the work.... Was pretty funny cause it was really hard to stear and think we nearly hit 5 on coming boats lucky for us they could see we were struggling and they moved out of the way.... hahaha
later that arvo at 6pm Meg and I said Good Bye to the girls only till Lumembough and got on our train to Belgium.... Here is where it all geos wrong again, We thought we were going to brussels, well we got there and were looking for our bus bus number 3 turns out the lowest bus is bus 40. So we called katie and got her to check our hostel booking and to tell us where it is, Well it was in Bruge. We had gone to the wrong city, Yep trust us to go to the wrong city... its ok we were use to all the problems it was just another speed hump... we got back on anohter train to bruge and finally made it to bus number 3 and then to our hostel by about 10pm.... very interesting day again.

Well that was amsterdam with maybe a few things missing but im sure u dont wanna no EVERYTHING.... i been up too.... hahaha

Had lots of fun in Amsterdam. Miss u all, lots of love to u all.
xxxxx

Fun times in Berlin...

melwhite14 — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:28:00 GMT

Sorry i have been the worst ever at keeping up to date with my blog. The last few weeks were so crazy and on the go all the time.
Anyway Berlin was AWESOME!!! We found our way to our hostel pretty easy, after missing our stop and having to walk back ages.... The hostel was only 5 Euro a night so we thought that was great cause we are the biggest budgeters... we got there and soon found out why it was only 5 a night. we were in a 12 bed mix dorm and our beds was a matress on the floor. What did we get ourselfs into?? We went out to buy food for dinner came back and met some of our room mates, they were 3 aussie guys traevlling together and another 2 brothers from aussie and an old guy from USA and a german guy. Yeah me and meg in a room full of guys, some mix dorm i say. So the first night we all stayed in and had few beers and got to know each other.
Next day Meg and i went to the train station to hire bikes for the day. It was such a great day, blue sky and sun was out. We rode all over berlin and it was crazy fun, you ride on the roads and with the cars and the cars always give way to u. we were on like a high way with cars flying past. and no helmets!!! We rode thought the tier garden and thought the zoo, which was beautifull, alot of the leaves were falling... then to the memorial statue in the middle of a big massive round a bout. meg and i thought we had to ride to the middle of it. little did we no there was an under ground tunnel that we had to take. almost getting hit by cars we managed to get back to the side of the road.... it was so funny. So when we went to leave this uni student guy came and asked meg and i if he could take photos of us for some uni project that will be in some museum or something, he went on and on so we just said yes. pretty funny, our faces will prob be all over some stalkers website. We then rode onto the Brandenburg Gates where Nazie and Allied forces came together. Then onto Checkpoint Charlie where the STASI and CIA spied on each other. From there we went to the Berlin Wall. we got some photos and wrote our name on the wall, hehe. From there we had to ride back to the train station and hand back the bikes, on our way we bumped into the 3 boys stopped and talked for a little while.
that night meg and i and the 3 aussie guys decided we would do the pub crawl together. We started at our hostel with few pre drinks before getting ready and heading out. it was pretty much free shots all night and you go to 5 pubs and a beack night club. meg and were looking forward to the club, BUT..... we only made it to the 2nd pub... i no poor effort. I dont even remember going into the 2nd pub the only thing i remember is vommitting in the toilets hahaha, then i remember walking out and meg was vommitting in the gutter out side. Some police men walked over to us and got us a cab, yeah disapointing night it was the pre drinks that killed me. 2 bottels of wine will do it to u every time.
the next day was pretty sad we had to stay inbed most the day. the boys got home at about 4am and jumped on us and we were so loud we woke up the old american and the german and they ended up moving rooms Oops. when we finally got up we went and got a bite to eat with the guys and then went and had few beers at a löocal pub and played some pool, easy night really.
Next day the boysleft for budapest and meg and i were due to do some washing. We went and founf a local laundy mat and washed everything. While we were sitting there i came up with a good idea, i bet meg she couldnt fit in the dryer, and she thought she could, so as she was getting into the dryer i was videoing her. it was so funny. And yes she did fit in. u'll see it all on video soon...Tonight was our last ngiht in Berlin and we are off to Amsterdam early in the morning to we had a good quiet night, cause the 6am wake up were not going to like...
love you all.
xxx

Dresden, Germany

melwhite14 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:36:00 GMT

spent our last day in Krakow looking around and doing little bits. was nice to have a good sleep in and take our time, meg was happy cause i wasnt rushing her for once.
We got the train to Dresden just we had to run to make it. We then had to change trains near the border and meg had to get a new ticket but we only had few minuts. The people there were really nice and helped us right away, alot we had one of the ladies laughing so hard after she surved us she had to take a brake. i think it may have something to so with meg unpacking her bag on the desk and pulling out wet clothes like undies sox and a top then i think pulling out the pre cooked pasta we made for our train right topped it off. We just told her we are backpackers and she couldnt stop laughing.
We then had to run to make that train with 25 kilo back packer wasnt so much fun.
we were on our way and had to change trains once more. we did that but after 1 hr we were back to where we started we had got on the wrong train, it was funny and could only happen to us. then this nice lady on the train that we were ment to get on helped us all the way to our hostel, she was a teacher so could understand english a little.
Today (1st real day in Dresden) we decided to go to old town and go to few museums and to the slaughter house and do a few other things but we got side tracked by all these people wearing yellow and black all walking one way so we decided to follow it would have looked so funny us two in the middle of all these people. mainly guys. Well it just so happened that they were all walking to a football game so we decided it would be fun to go too. Not many girls there but it was fun, we watched Dresden vs Dusseldorf. Dresden had the ball most of the game and had so many more attemps at goal the dusseldorf but in the last 10 min dusseldorf kicked 2 goals. We had awesom seats. I told the guy meg and i were students but then when we got to the gate they asked for our student cards (we dont have any) so i just pulled our my drivers lience and they took that. Lucky the guy couldnt read english and had no clue. it was funny everyone was laughting at us. At our seats the guy next to meg could speak a little english so i had to be the translater in the middle meg just kept asking me what is he saying. i think i did ok i guess its cause i know a tinny little bit it gets me by.
after footy we then went to old town it was so nice cause it was getting darker and lights were coming on. we walked around the churchs and opra house. lovely place, unfortunatly didnt get ahold of opa,s brother but not to worry, had alot of fun today.
love you all off to berlin tomorrow.
xxxx

Gallery: Saltburg and Vienna

melwhite14 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:52:00 GMT

Krakow,Poland

melwhite14 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:29:00 GMT

HI all made it to Poland safely, struggled to get up this morning due to a big night, not so good when you have to catch the train the next morning, i think i have learnt my lesson.
Tran ride was pretty fun. Meg and i ended up having a food fight on there with rolls and nutalla. was funny (and i wwas feeling better). Got to Krakow and found our hostel easy, People were really nice and willing to help us, we didnt even have to ask, they just came to us..
Had an easy night. Next day was Independance Day so massive amounts of people around everwhere. Markets and paraids going on. We did a free walking tour of krakow, and walked about 4 hrs we were dead but were also the only 2 on the tour so we had to listen to him cause he would no when wer werent. we went to the Old town then to theBarbican and Floriancka Gates, the to Wawel Castle and saw the "dragon" what krakow is known for. we then when to Kazimiier then to the Jewish Ghetto, that was pretty sad we saw where they were taken from in Nazi time and how all there belongings where thrown out with them onto the street. we then went to Schindlers Factory and it was getting to the end of the tour here so our feet were killing and listing skills not so good.
That ngiht ws movie night and we watched Froest Gump a good old clasic which we all loved...
November12th Meg and i got up early to go to Aushwits. the bus ride took about 1 1/2 hrs. It was so sad when we were there i guess i learnt so much, and the things you see ant nice either. There was a massive Glass window and behind it was human hair so much of it so much,and it was all tfrom when they shaved their heads, i guess the thing is it wasnt even all of it. Then there was rooms of adult shoes and another room of kids shoes and little clothes, so sad. The hair brushes from the girls and the little ones from the little girls.We spend about 3 hr there then went to Burcanal (not sure spelling) that place hit hard too. But this time as you walked in you walked along the train tracks so you could really imagin it, the men lined up on one side and wemen and children on the other. Families ripped apart righ there. The wemen that were fit for worrk useually survived only for few months but that was longer the the children and sick or older women who went straight to gass chambers. Walking along the train track was chilling. we got home late from long bus ride back, got some dinner and watching another movie. Well meg is,im on here. We are the only 2 in a 12 bedroom dorm tongiht how good is that!!!
Here for one more day then heading to Dresden for couple nights.
I miss you all and thinking of you all.
Hope you liked some of contiki photos, to see what trouble i go in. The 3 girls you see in most of the are the 3 sisters from S.A. we keep in contact still with them.
Be good everyone and dont do what i wouldnt do!
Love Always
Mel
xxx

Gallery: Contiki Italy

melwhite14 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:49:00 GMT

Czech

melwhite14 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:06:00 GMT

Hey Guys,
Headed to czech earlish from Budapest. Train ride wsa good, we (meg and I) shared a cabin with some other boy... he only looked 14ish. anyway when ever the trains stopped the 3 of us would lay down and pretend we were sleeping so no one could come in our cabin and we would then have all 6 seats to ourselfs... good trip. So we got to czech and then everything went down hill... I lots the directions to Hostel, and it was about 6pm so dark as and not having a clue where to go wasnt so good. Meg wasnt happy, but i knew i would sort it our. after walking around finally found internet store then got the directions so now we were on our way.
Got to hostel fine after that. met our room mate and then decided to go get some dinner. We went to an Chines rest and the lady there ended up dogging meg and I trying to make us pay more then met too. Eric our room mate,sorted things out and told meg and i just to get up aznd walk away. Firsly the lady pushed meg and wouldnt get outta our way then as i walked passed her she pinched me... she was only little, came up to about our hips. Great first night in Prague. We then went for a night walk, to see the oldest bridge in Czech and the big clock tower which goes off every hr. We saw it at midnight.
Next day got up and meg and i walked all over town. We were so lost but we kept walking. We went to Torture Museum and to old town mark, then to a sez museum hahaha, very funny. We then waked to the Prague Castle. We when home got something to get and go ready to head out with Eric. The night was only young.... we had fun out at a club. think we got home at 6am then had to get up at 10am to go to train station to get tickets to head to Poland. We then had to sit around there till 130pm.... not feeling the best either.
Thats it from Czech i think. Ill check my diary and let u no if i missed anything.
Love you all
P.S ill try get photos on if not i have then on facebook.
p.P.S Hear you were a TV star Jess, gee were good,now we have both been on TV.
xxxx

budapest, Hungary

melwhite14 — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 22:43:00 GMT

Hi everyone,
Meg and i decided to go to budapest because everyone we were talking to said it was awesome, so a split minute decision was made to go to budapest one night. Its so much fun being spontanious.
Anyway Budapest was awesome fun, we stayed in this big hippy fest hostel with was so much fun. there was only like 14 of us staying at the place and it was liker a little family. Very homely feeling. we all watched 3 movies the 1st night all went to bed a about 3am. next day meg and I went to the house of horror its like a big museum of when the hungarian police in WW2 were all bad people, im not good with words but it was so interesting and saw so much chilling stuff. all the cells and found out what they did to the people who were inercent. so sad but good to find out all this history. then we went caving in the afternoon which was awesome as. it went from 330pm till midnight. we made some more friends mostly aussies (cause there everywhere) and one america chick who was so nice. anyway caving... we had to crawl of our stomic and pull our way tho the smallest holes i didnt think i would make it but i did.
i no ihave beenslack with the photos but i cant put them on any computer cause of virus, so i have to be carfull, but i will do it soon.
well we are off to czech tomor. LOve you all and speak soon...
xxxx

Vienna, Austria

melwhite14 — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 03:26:00 GMT

After an awesome as home cook meal by me and meg last night, we went to the bar and had fews drinks played a few games of pool and did some washing. we went back to see if washing was done and we both thought our washing was taken because we couldnt see it. meg went up staris to tell the desk people what happened and how someone had taken her undies and sox... the lady said why would someone take them... meg said i donno!!! she said is it spin drying, meg said yes and she said well u cant see them when they are spin drying, go back down and wait for it to stop. meg came back down and told me what was going on... we both felt like the biggest losers, meg even more cause she was the one who went to ask...
We spend the day walking about 1 million miles around vienna, we didnt relize how far we had gone till we had to come back. we went to the vienna musuem, then to a big park and made leaf angels then went to st. stefons cgothic church, walked around that, then to the river to see how much it wold be for a cruse but the water was dirty and yuk so didnt wanna do that. we then walked on to a big fun park with the big wheel and went on that, then we went on a roller coaster which was awesome as. then we made the long treak back to wombats hostel to cook up dinner again. such great cooks we are. off to budipest tomoz feeling a little hungry in hungary.... this will be a random stop cause we werent going to go here. its a last min decision. up date again soon.
love you all

Salzbuburg, Austria where there,s no kangaroos

melwhite14 — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 04:22:00 GMT

Hi all made it to salzburg, austria... after a 10 hr train trip. Went alright cause it was split into 3 trips. 1st trip train was packed 2nd not so bad but i pretty much babysat till the next stop. A little black boy dallas cause he always wanted to come sit with me so he did. The 3rd trip i sang for meg the whole way... kept her entertained, and the few others on the train.
Salzburg is so beautifull. prettiest place ive been to so far. We did the salt mines tour on the first day and walked around town and did few other thing.... 2nd day we did the sound of music tour. was awesom to see all the mountains and lakes. pretty much saw everywhere in the movie too. did it with 2 other aussies and found out i actually no one of the girls. Julz prenders best friend. i knew i recognised her but thought i was being stupid because i was in austria but no we started talking and what do u no.... we all went out that night for few drinks. was fun. Been to mozarts house where he was born and heaps of other places.
best views ever here.

left the next morning and caught train to vienna. havent been here long only few hrs so not much has happened. sorry so short and not much info i will get onto it. just dont have long on the net.

Still sad contiki is over, that was so much fun. still keeping in contact with some people tho.

Miss you all.
much love
xxxxxxx

Contiki Tour Italy

melwhite14 — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:46:00 GMT

Firstly sorry i havent written when your on contiki you sont get much time to get to the internet... so here is about 2 weeks worth..

Got to Italy and met Meg at the airport so good to see her.. this was at about 12am so then we had to find our hostel in the middle of the night and not knowing where it is or where to go was very interesting. Got to our hostel about 2am after walking around Rome for 1 1/2 hrs. next day we walking around Rome in the light till we checked into our hotel for the start of our tour.
Night 1: met the group and had a group dinner. at first we thought that it was all older people and werent sure about how much fun we were giong to have. Then after a few drinks a hand full of us went out to a place called the drunken ship there was lots of drinks and bar top dancing, great ice braker... such a great night was going to be hard to beat it in the next few weeks. That ngiht one of the guys ended up in hospital and the Aussies made a name for themselfs....hehe... aussies are Meg and I and 3 sisters from S.A and a few other random ones, but were ended up being known as the loud ones most of the trip. When we got back to hotel meg and i passed out on the bed without getting changed or getting in bed.. 6am wake up call the next day wasnt so good. but you get use to it cause thats what its like all trip.
Day 2: Off to Sorrento with the people that went out a massive hangover included and james with a black eye and stichers in his lip. 2 people vomitted on the bus which didnt the trip any better. we stopped at pompeii to visit the ancient city. had a tour around it and saw what happened when the volcano exploded. then kept going to sorrento to view the bays of naples. Bit of a quite night.

day 3: Boat ride to the Island of Capri, very beatifull place. up market holiday destination for all the movie stars. some of us took a chair ride up the top of the hill and saw a 360 view of the island. the water is so clear blue i cant explain it. then another boat ride to see the Blue Grotto,s which are sparkling magical sea caves. Today is the day we found out out of us 5 girls none of us are good with numbers. and this showed all trip. We then got a boat back to sorrento and stocked up with beer wine a bucket called contiki bucket and a ball call wilson (cast away) everyone was looking at the aussies funny because of the ball and bucket but we had some good ideas... we had a beach party that night and the bucket was used as an eski and the ball for fun and game. Ill let you all no these two things stayed with us all trip. Who ever was last on the bus had to carry the bucket around that whole day and wilson well he just came everywhere and got kicked around alot. This beach party night was a big one.

Day 4: The big bus ride to Florance. We stopped along the way at Lazio for a en-route to taste some local wine, beacuse we hadnt had enough...haha... that night we had a group dinner then went out for some Karioki. All the aussies got up and sang Men at work, land down under. our drinks were litre drinks of daquris very nice. another big night

Day 5: Started with a hangover and a walking tour of piazza della signoria, the duomo and santa croce, most of us missed the leather shop due to sleeping in. We also went to the uffizi gallery and the Galleria Deli Accademia which is were the statue of David is. That night had the best dinner in tascany very posh place and then headed out to a night clue which was awesome to bring out our aussie dancing... This is the biggest highlight so everyone keep an eye out if you have fox TV. I was the only one chosen to be on International TV talking about Florance and the night life. Yeah i had no clue what i was talking about so i made it up. Emma our tour giud calls me Miss Hollywood now and is so proud think ill be mentioned in some of contiki info around the world. so yes another massive night.

Day 6: Off to La Spezia, we went to The leaning tower of Pisa and got some free time to walk around.The off to Riomaggiore which is a town where all the houses are painted different colours so the sailers could tell which house was theirs when coming home. Then we did the walk of love along side the beach with was beautifull. Quite night with pizza and bit of italian TV.

Day 7: Fashion City Milan.... day of shopping but for few of us we just walked around. Milan is like a crazy city people on the go all the time. That night few of us went out, me alex the boys and few others. We were ment to go to cheaps part of town but taxi driver took us to Hollywood place. not happy. So the boys brought us drinks all night...

Day 8: We were off to Venice on the way stopped at Verona home to shakespeare romeo and juliet. They had markets on and a band walking around all the time. Went on the famous balcony too.
got to Venice late so low key night.

Day 9: boat ride to venice and went to see glass blowing then to a lace craft show. went to St Marks square. Then we had a gondola ride which was awesome. we walked around the markets and enjoyed the day. That night was dinner with unlimited wine... which with our group not a great idea..haha.. so yes another big messy night. then boat ride back to hotel and some more partying.

Day 10: Travelling back to Rome but stopped in Bologna home of spag bog walked around there then back on the bus. This was the biggest day of driving. That night went out for dinner and the rain came down. It was the biggest rain storm i have ever seen. and we had to run tho it. So much water the streets were flooded only buses could get tho it.

Day 11: Took train to Collocium home of the Gladiators also walked around underground rome back in the 400BC time. The went to Vatican city and Sistine Chapel. walked all of italy this day. then went to St peters church the biggest church in Italy. then the spanish stairs, then the fountain di Trevi , campo de fioi and the pantheon. after we were all stuffed we went home showered changed and went out for our farewell dinner the last time we,ll all be together. great night was always going to be a big on. 4 of us finished 7 bottles of wine then we headed out... first stop the Ice clue. everything is made from ice. so cold. couldnt stay to long even tho you get given gloves and a massive big jacket. then after that went to a bar with music was pretty good.... night got late and who knows what happened next!!! hehe...

Day 12: last breaky... everyone headed to were they had to go, some air port others different places. Very sad to leave everyone, most of us are now pretty close after spending so much time together. Meg and i are staying in Rome another 2 nights with the other 3 girls. we,ll go see different things together the next few days then mag and i head to Austria and the girls to Amsterdam.

Hope i have filled you in enought, sorry mandy i didnt keep up....hehe
love you all and big hugs to everyone. be good take care....mwah

Working Girl

melwhite14 — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 23:32:00 GMT

If you all didnt no i am now a working girl. Just to get a few dollars up or pound, and to keep me from eating everything during the day i am now working at a cafe/bar in pitlochry and i cant believe the hrs here. WOrking around 10 to 11 hr days 6 days a week... crazy i tell ya. Its the scottish hrs here. but soon its going to be a goast town because its winter and the snow will come and then no-one will come.
Apart from that i had a good birthday i worked all day then went back to the house and had few/lots of drinks and birthday cake ect.... big night.
Dan and Jess are still working at the park but its getting quite there too. Amy will be back now this week but next week for the enchanted forest, good to see her again. Last week Dan Jess and I went into Glasgo for a little shopping, for the other 2 not me, (they need winter clothes) and i got an ipod from them for my birthday, its one of the newest ones out, so tinny and its purple, jess got on to for xmas but has it already, purple aswell...
miss you all take care
love mel