How to Schwarzfahren – A Guide to Train Travel in Germany Without Paying

Firstly, as a disclaimer I would like to say I do not encourage anyone to get on a train in Germany without paying,  if you choose to do so I take no responsibility for what happens to you.

 As a warning now I will tell you that if you get caught on a train in Germany without a ticket you will be fined 40€ or double the train fare (whatever is more) and the fine increases the longer you don’t pay it.

That being said, if I WERE to give it a go …. I probably would follow these guidelines.

Do have your excuse ready. READ MORE>>

The Vaterland vs The Land of my Fathers – Thoughts of an Ex Ex-Pat

I have been in Germany 2 days now and all I keep thinking is boy do I miss living here. I miss good, cheap beer, I miss pizza and ice cream for lunch and most of all I miss every weekend catching a train and exploring a little bit more of Europe. But where would I rather live Germany where I spent the best year of my life so far, or Wales where I was born and raised. Like many others I made a pros and cons list.

Food

Plenty of vegan food on offer at the all  you can eat Chinese, Cardiff YUM!

I’m a pretty lazy vegan. READ MORE>>

How to Sleep Anywhere

I am a sleep expert. Not as in I know a lot about sleep, just that I can sleep anywhere. Asides from the coaches, planes, noisy hostel rooms I’ve also slept in some more unconventional places; in clubs, in the queue for clubs, in the middle of the street and almost every trip I take, usually results in at least one night sleeping in the airport. People have often asked me how I can not care about spending my nights in Stansted airport, so I thought I would share my advice.

Large Hostel Dorms

I know a lot of people are put off by the idea of staying in a large hostel dorm due to snoring, READ MORE>>

Top 5 Myths about Hitchhiking

Before leaving for my hitch hike across the continent, I had many pleas for me not to go and risk my life. When fundraising one guy working at the foreign office told us he’d see us again once we’d been raped and murdered. Optimistic! But as they say there is no smoke without fire and all theses tragic stories of hitchers hacked to death while on the road are true and do happen. However, in my opinion, the mere fact that these stories are so famous is because they are so rare. If these murders were a day to day occurrence you would never hear about them. After hearing all these terrible things about hitching I thought I would bust some myths.

1. You will get raped and die.

Ok a fairly dramatic one to begin with but READ MORE>>

Top 5 Tips for Dublin on a Budget

Before I left for Dublin I had everyone telling me just how expensive it is, but being a poor student it meant that I didn’t have a lot of dosh to blow. At the same time I wanted to really enjoy my time there and I did so with only £50 spending money. These are my top 5 tips for doing as I did.

   1.  Utilize your hostel

Hostels always have tonnes of great (free or cheap) activities to do that will keep those Euros in your pocket. From the kitchen to book swap, free meals and walking tours, try it all. In general hostels are a great place for meeting new people and don’t be afraid to ask the staff what great cheap things there are to do. Chances are they know them all off by heart.

    2.  Prioritise

A lot of life is about compromise. READ MORE>>

Slags and Statistics - 3 days in Dublin

Last weekend I spent my time in Dublin with 200 other students from the World @ Warwick society. I’m not sure if it was the sleep deprivation or the copious amounts of Guinness but I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in a long long time (A particular half an hour stint of laughter caused by Silkie buying a 4€ cheese sandwich comes to mind, you probably had to be there).

Cheese sandwiches aren't actually funny are they.

My preconceptions of Dublin I must say were completely blown out of the water. I heard Dublin is expensive (it’s not too bad), that the only thing you can afford to buy is Guinness (Carling is cheaper) and that all Irish people are drunks (we met an Irish girl who doesn’t drink, just doesn’t like to).

What surprised me most about Ireland? For lack of a better term: the slags. Now I’m not saying that all Irish girls are slags, far from it, most Irish girls are pretty classy and respectable, but when an Irish girl decides to slag out they go all out! I thought England was the nation of inappropriately dressed ladies with short dresses and heels even in the snow but Ireland goes one step further.

Sorry didn't get any pics of slags but I got this at the Guinness factory.

Asides from the nations aversion to tights even in driving rain and it being only 5 degrees outside: one particular girl comes to mind; bright orange, make up an inch thick, hair that hadn’t been brushed in maybe forever, stumbling up the stairs in her 6 inch heels, her bum cheeks poking out the bottom, nips out the top and in case that wasn’t enough flesh on show the whole ensemble had two holes in the side to let her stomach protrude outwards.

And it’s not just the girls, I saw many a boy greased back hair trying desperately to get his hands into a girls knickers at the bar. READ MORE>>

5 Strange Things About Germany

1.       Access to Medicine

People regularly cross the tracks (left) despite the fact that the 300kmph ICE passes through here many times a day. Yet you can’t buy paracetamol.

Germany is a nation known for its no speed limit autobahns, where the German citizens happily zoom up and down at 100+ miles an hour, all day every day, while moaning about our motorways like we’re the mental ones. Yet you can’t buy paracetamol in the supermarket because of the government’s fears that you might top yourself. When I was in a pharmacy and I asked for the medicine. The sale assistant showed me an aisle full of herbs and honey. I stated “No the REAL medicine” she looked at me intensely as if she was checking that my eyes were functioning properly. “This is the REAL medicine” and she walked off shaking her head. To get paracetamol you have to go to the Apotheke and describe your symptoms to see if you are deemed fit (or unfit as the case is) for the product. It’s only open during school hours and even then it is 5€ a box. I had my mum to send it over; it was substantially cheaper and more convenient.

2.       Girls school wear

Girls in Dirndls show more individuality than the average German girl day to day!

As Germany is situated between France and Italy home to two of the biggest fashion capitals of the world, it baffles me how German girls only have the one look. As in Germany there is no such thing as a school uniform, day in day out girls all across Germany squeeze into their skinny jeans, hike into their converse and slap a T-shirt on top. In school we were dying to express ourselves and from a fashion forward place like Britain I really find it hard to comprehend their lack of desire to spread individuality (she types in her sweatpants). Their banal fashion could possibly be down to the fact that the only cheap, fashionable young girls clothes shop they have in Germany is H&M, but even they, I believe, sell dresses, skirts and all manner of items of clothing. Come on ladies mix it up a bit. READ MORE>>

Blast from the Past: Munich Oktoberfest

Coming somewhere in almost every drunkards bucket list is the world famous Munich Oktoberfest and yes ladies and gentleman for the famous fests 200th birthday I was there in very inappropriate faux German attire.

Not willing to spend 100€s in dirndls we opted for the fancy dress ones with COLD consequences.

Unfortunately the lengths of our dirndls (dresses) did not correspond with the freezing weather outside but we powered through regardless. We were camping because all the hostels were full and anyway they were around 100€ a night so instead we paid 15€ a night to freeze to death in a tent (not that we slept). 

Our tent was COLD

The first night only having three days at the fest we headed straight out READ MORE>>

Blast from the Past: Finnish SitSit

The man ran down the aisle carrying a chainsaw ..... he came closer and closer and then........ he slipped.....

But more on that later. You know how I say I always wish I had blogged about Germany .... no maybe not but I do say that and I thought

Hey why don't I do that now!


My brain is still swimming with all the cool blogtacular information and seeing as I'm not going anywhere (for the next 30 odd days) I thought I would start off with one of my faves. Not only was this one of my favourite memories of 2011 but also my favourite city and country that's right you guessed it (or didn't based on how well you know me) ........

It's Helsinki baby!!


But George I hear you cry, how can you like Helsinki it's soooo cold. Why yes it is children look ...

This photo was taken in March, it was -10c snowing everyday but that didn't stop Finland from being KICK-ASS!  READ MORE>>

Looking Back and Moving Forward: My 2011 and the year ahead!

Before I post my top 5 tips for Morocco I thought I would reflect a little ...

2011 was an interesting year for me I've lived in 3 countries (4 if you count England and Wales as separate countries) visited 10 different countries (5 new) and truly caught the travel bug. So here is how my year went.

January - Italy, Spain, The Netherlands
I started the year off the year with NYE in Cardiff then instead of flying home I went straight to my friends in Brescia and visited Venice (which I didn't like). Brescia however charmed the pants off me and quickly became my favourite city. After going back to Germany I also had a long weekend with my friends in Barcelona (which I was also not a huge fan of) and finished January off with an excellent weekend visiting a friend in Amsterdam!

February - Hamburg and Munich
For once I spent the whole month in the same country but that doesn't mean I didn't travel. We started off the month with a trip to Hamburg and it's famous Reeperbahn and I also met up with loads of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year student from my Uni for a fun filled weekend in Munich.

READ MORE>>