Two Girls and a Eurail Pass

Straight off our Switzerland high, Natalie and I headed south to Florence on the swankiest train we'd yet to ride. Upon arriving in Florence, amidst the loud conversation and clothing, we quickly realized we weren't in Switzerland anymore.  We hopped on the bus to go to our hostel Ostella Gallo De Oro. The bus situation was a bit confusing as people seemed to just be getting on the bus - no ticket, no problem.  Natalie and I briefly attempted to hand money to the Italian Fran Drescher who was operating the bus, but when she gave us The HAND we figured we better just sit down. 2 stops later two nefarious looking Italian ticket men hopped on the bus and began speaking rapid angry Italian to Natalie and I when we failed to produce the ticket we had been denied access to purchasing from the hairspray queen driving the vehicle (who might I point out was now openly laughing at us with the rest of the bus) My mind instantly flashed to images from the movie Brokedown Palace an...

Peace and Love Switzerland I am writing this post from our train which is heading to Florence from our amazing stay in Lausanne, Switzerland.  I cannot begin to explain how much Natalie and I loved Switzerland so I'm going to put it in the best way I know how - Switzerland ...is the shit.  In fact, Switzerland is so awesome that Natalie and I have decided to stop in Switzerland again in Lucerne after Italy. Whereas Dublin offered little beyond nightlife, London offered amazing sites but no nightlife, and Paris was a city with incredible sites but a bunch of a-holes - Switzerland offered everything we could have possibly been looking for.  In the little Swiss town of Lausanne, just a quick train ride from Geneva,  we found incredible beauty, the kindest most welcoming (and most beautiful) people, great food, and a randomly rocking nightlife.  Not to mention, of all the places I've been in my entire life, I have never seen a city more clean or felt more safe. ...

So Paris.... Let me start this off by saying that Paris has got to be simultaneously the most beautiful and offensive city in the world.  It is a city full of the most extreme beauty ....and also most extreme bullshit. Our first night in Paris, was wonderful.  Upon arriving off the Chunnel from London, the streets were filthy and littered with trash, smoke, and cigarette butts and there were nefarious looking gypsies and machete wielding hotel Rwanda movie lookalikes everywhere yelling at us.  It was a stark contrast to London where the city felt impeccably clean and safe, but the energy in Paris was unmistakable.  Our hostel (St. Christopher's De Nord) was a quick 5 minute walk from the train station and was .. Well basically just super cool with a big bar downstairs, great wifi, clean rooms, and lots of fun folk from around the globe. Natalie's beautiful cousin Erin serendipitously happens to live in a small town outside of Paris and picked us up and took us t...

Eurail passes- I know I typically center every post on this blog about a country or city where we are, but I feel strongly enough (and by strongly I mean fiercely furious) about this particular topic that I feel it deserves a post all to itself.  So strongly and fiercely in fact that I very much wanted to bluntly and honestly title this post, "Why Eurail passes are a fucking bullshit scam that take advantage of stupid tourists like me and no one should ever buy one", but Natalie then reminded me that our family and co-workers are following this blog and I should title the post something less aggressive - hence the title "why Eurail passes suck" I would like to note that only under very certain circumstances would I ever recommend getting a Eurail pass. ONLY get Eurail if you are 25 or under, going to multiple countries and cities for at least a month and only hitting every location for a few days, and not going to France. Otherwise, you're wasting your time ...

Today is our last day in London and was our first night in a mixed dorm. In London, Natalie and I got reservations at Palmers Lodge - Swiss Cottage.  We opted for a private room the first two nights and the 36 bed shared dorm the 3rd night to have the official "hostel experience".  In my mind, the "official hostel experience" included Natalie and I sharing a room with a few fun Brazilian women and 30 beautiful blond Swedish men.  What the official mixed bed experience actually was, was Natalie and I sharing a room with a bunch of chicks, a few old ladies, and one VERY FAT, VERY NAKED, old man who snored and farted the entire night. Beyond that, however, we were super pleased with Palmers Lodge Swiss Cottage.  It could not have been closer to the Underground which was perfect for site seeing and the actual facility was beautiful.  Seriously it was like an English Mansion. We were bummed that our flight mishaps made us late to London as we had scheduled ...

So our first stop of the trip was Dublin, Ireland. Natalie and I strategically decided that Dublin would be our first stop for 2 reasons - reason 1 being that the cheapest round trip flight in and out of Europe is from Dublin, reason 2 is that of all the foreigners we've come across in our lives, the Irish boys were definitely the friendliest so we felt it would be the easiest for immersion. We flew out of San Francisco on a United Flight.  I would definitely recommend (and would do this were I to plan this trip again) paying a little bit extra and flying a direct flight with Aer Lingus.  We learned from a couple later on that there is a direct Aer Lingus flight that cost them only $1,200 round trip that only takes 9 hours.  Our flight was $1,100 and took over 14 hours and had a layover. The flight story started the trip off with some hilarious drama.  Our layover was in DC and due to weather conditions, our take-off from SF kept getting pushed farthe...