And thats a wrap

Thank you!! To all of you loyal blog readers. I have been overwhelmed with the positive response I have received from my blog and the increasing amount of readers. I decided to write this blog as I was inspired by my Grandma who writes travel blogs. I thought it would be an efficient way to let everyone know what I was up to without sending the same messages over and over again. I have also used it as a travel journal to remind me of everything I did on the trip and for me to reflect back on. Sorry that I did not post as regularly as I hoped, it was only because I was having too much fun on the trip and had limited time/energy to write the blogs (also why some of the blogs are a bit sloppy due to writing them on my phone and when I was extremely tired).


Since I have been back, the most commonly asked question I have gotten is; "What was your favourite place?" So here is the answer..... the 3 Ps...

Paris, Positano and Pompeii.

Paris for its amazing architecture, statues, sights and culture, who does not love the city of love?

Positano for its undeniable beauty, its clear water and the fact that it is a hidden gem.

Pompeii for its amazing history/story and the unforgettable tour guide Francesco.

I also have two favourite experiences which also begin with Ps:

Parasailing and Paragliding; both of these were first time thrills for me and boasted amazing views of Greece and Austria respectively (here are some photos which I did not have at the time I wrote those blogs).

Shayna and I parasailing in Corfu

Paragliding in Austria

So this is the last and final blog for this trip. I have no doubt caught the travel bug and am already saving my $$ and annual leave for my next adventure.

Finally, I would just like to say a massive thank you to Hannah, Shayna and Abby for sharing the most amazing adventure with me and being the greatest friends along the way. The trip would have not been the same without those girls and I cannot express how much I valued their positive energy and companionship throughout the tour.

Last days in London

After a much needed sleep in, the five of us departed Wombats hostel with Abby and Shayna checking out and headed to the Royal National Hotel where we met with some of our remaining friends from the Contiki for brunch. Unfortunately due to our sleep in, we got to brunch late and they had just finished eating their meal, except for one of the guys from tour Adam, so the five of us plus Adam ate brunch together and everyone (except for myself) was pleased to find Avocado smash on the menu whilst i opted for steak which was what I was missing the most from home.

Steak with egg, tomatoes and fries for brunch

After brunch we said farewell to Shayna (as she headed to Heathrow) and a see you later to Abby (who went to meet up with her brother). The four of us who were left decided we would go explore some of the things we had not yet seen in London before as most of us had done the usual tourist things. First stop was platform 9 and 3/4 (from Harry Potter) which is located at Kings Cross station. Much to our disappointment, the line for a photo at the platform was over an hour long so we instead just took a photo of the platform without us on it. At this point, it was raining fairly heavily outside and Hannah and Josh decided they would go back to the hostel for an afternoon nap. Adam and I decided against the nap and instead went to M&M World which is near Piccadilly Circus, then wandered through Trafalgar Square before getting lunch in a pub called "Sherlock Holmes pub" and then calling it a day as the rain was too much.

M&M world

I forgot to mention that my good friend Jenny that I went to uni with was in London this same day so we decided to meet up and see a musical together. So in the morning after brunch I went and bought tickets for myself, Jenny and Hannah to see Thriller Live, a concert celebrating the music of Michael Jackson. I was excited to see the show as I had seen a brief excerpt at West End Live when I was in London before the tour. Once I got back to the hostel, Hannah and I got ready to go to the show, whilst Josh got ready to meet a group of the remaining Contiki travellers. Hannah and I planned to meet up with them again after the show. On the way to the show, Hannah and I had a brief traumatic experience where Hannah jumped on the tube and the doors closed straight behind her before I could get on. We both looked at each other in panic as Hannah had no idea where to go as I was the one who had the mobile data and directions. We both banged on the doors and thankfully they opened so I could jump on. We then gave each other a massive hug in relief and all of the passengers on the tube who had witnessed the event started cheering and clapping. For the rest of the night we boarded each tube holding hands so as to not lose each other.

We met Jenny at the show on the West End and it was incredible! The singing and dancing was phenomenon and the whole atmosphere of the theatre was vibrant and fun. The singers encouraged (although it didn't take much encouragement) the audience to get up out of their seats and dance and clap to the songs.

We had really good seats at Thriller Live

The sign outside Thriller Live

After the show, the three of us went across the road to a pub for a couple of drinks to catch up with Jenny. We saw a number of the dancers and singers from the show at the pub and we let them know how much we enjoyed the show, they seemed to really appreciate our comments. Hannah and I then said goodbye to Jenny and headed to a club called 'Ballie Ballerson' where the Contiki crew were waiting for us. Ballie Ballerson was a fun and interesting club as it had a giant ballpit. We felt like kids again jumping around in the ballpit and pegging balls at each other. This was my final night in London so I enjoyed my final drinks with the remaining group of friends and after the club we ventured into the pouring rain and found a kebab truck across the road were we sought shelter and food. The ladies at the kebab shop were thrilled to have customers in the pouring rain and even more excited when they found out we were from Australia. Within minutes they had taken photos of us devouring their kebabs and these photos have since been posted onto their Facebook page.

Buried in the ballpit

The remaining group of Contiki travellers

The Facebook post from the kebab shop, for some reason they thought we were all from QLD...

The next day was the final day of my trip. Hannah and I paid a bit extra at the hostel for late check out so we could sleep in. After a good sleep and packing up our stuff, we checked out and had brunch around the corner of the hostel. We then walked to the tube station with Josh where I said my final farewell to a Contiki family member. Hannah and I then headed to Shepard's Bush Market where Abby's brother lives. We dropped our suitcases at Abby's brothers place then Hannah, Abby and I headed to London's largest Westfield which was a 5minute bus ride from the house. There we had exactly one hour to try to find a birthday outfit for me as I really wanted to buy one whilst in Europe. Unbelievably we did find the perfect dress and earrings to match within about half an hour of frantic looking.

Feeling very successful, we treated ourselves to an ice cream before going back to Abby's brothers place. My suitcase at this point in the trip was literally on its last wheels as it had struggled with me yanking it through the uneven streets of London so I decided it would be easiest to get an uber to the airport. Also, Shepard's Bush Market is far west London so the uber was not too expensive. I said see you later to Abby and Hannah and headed to the airport with mixed feelings of sadness that the trip was over but excitement to come back home and share with everyone the amazing time I had on my trip.

First A380 I have flown on

It is not goodbye, it is a see you later

The title of this blog is what our trip manager kept repeating throughout our final day as tears poured from the eyes of many Contiki family members as we said farewell to each other.

The farewells started at the hostel in Amsterdam where we left behind a few people who were were not yet 'Amsterdone'  (unlike the rest of us poor souls) and decided to extend their stay. We then boarded the coach and headed to Amsterdam airport to drop off another lot of our family members. After the airport drop off, our group had shrunk to about 20 people :(.

The drive back to London was eerie as it was so quiet and sombre. Everyone was asleep for the majority of the trip then eventually woke up for a little bit of celebrity heads and "trip trivia" where our trip manager quizzed us on facts she had given us along the way about the places we had visited. We passed through Belgium on the way back to London, which was not overly exciting as we just stopped at a service station. One of the girls did however try Belgium waffles which were pretty good given they were just ones that you chuck in the microwave.

Belgium waffle filled with berries

We crossed the English channel again on the ferry (I will be glad to not go on a ferry for awhile) and finally ended up in London at around 8:30pm. We all agreed to meet an hour later at the pub near the hotel we were dropped off at for some final drinks and farewell. The four of us girls plus Josh, a lovely guy from our tour who lives in Bowral, only stayed a couple of hours before making our way to our hostel, which was the same one I stayed in before the tour; Wombats. Due to booking the hostel only a week before, we stayed in a mixed dorm so we were glad to have Josh with us which meant there would only be one other person in the dorm which we did not know, which ended up being a girl who left at 5am that morning.

The end of our Contiki tour.... #noregrets

Amsterdamage

Yes, I am back in Aus and yes, I am very behind on my blog... I have been too tired, busy and sick to be bothered to finish up my blog until now, so where was I up to?

Ah yes... Amsterdam...

On the way to Amsterdam we stopped in a small town called Edam which is also in the Netherlands.  Edam is known for its cheese which some of you may have heard of before; Edam cheese. In Edam, we went on a relaxing bike tour riding past the canals and windmills in the town. I say relaxing, but we had a couple of close shaves with death. First when the tour guides son (who looked about 10 years old) was trying to race some of the guys on the tour and did not see the bollard in front of him and completely stacked his bike :(. Second, when Hannah did not see that the group had pulled over to the side with the tour guide and almost got side swiped by one of the girls trying to join the group. Somehow, all 50 of us plus the tour guide and her son made it safely back without too many cuts or bruises. We then went to a cheese and clogs factory just outside of Edam. There we had demonstrations on how both cheese and clogs are made. The young man showing us how to make clogs was particularly interesting as he demonstrated a number of different ways in which you  can use and wear your clogs. These included; using the clogs as a hammer, a cup, saving a cow from dying and of course as fashionable footwear (not). After the clog demonstration we got to taste about 15 different types of cheese. My favourite was the smoked ham flavoured cheese which I purchased and brought back home for mum. After the cheese and clogs factory we powered on into Amsterdamage!!!

Contiki family with the windmill in Edam

Enjoying the bike ride

At the cheese and clogs factory

Our final two days as a Contiki family were spent in Amsterdam. The first night we walked through the red light district and saw an interesting show before heading to a pub for our second last night partying together.

The next day we were dropped off at the "I amsterdam" sign for our final group picture then cured our hangovers with what ended up being a very long and exhausting canal bike ride. We all jumped into these canal bikes which seated four people, two of which had to pedal the bikes to move them through the canals. We were given a very unhelpful map, some snacks and
one hour to explore Amsterdam via the bikes on the canals. We started off following each other as a group thinking that the first bike was leading us to Ann Frank's house. We soon realised that no one had any idea where we were going and we had ended up on one of the main canals in Amsterdam where canal bikes are actually not allowed to be. We quickly pedalled off the canal onto a smaller one and split up from the group as our hour was well and truly up and we needed to find one of the locations where we could dock our bike. We eventually docked the bike half an hour after we were supposed to and straight away sought out a bathroom and food.

Contiki family at I amsterdam sign (the people on the top are intruders... not part of the family)

Hannah and Abby pedalling hard 

Shayna and I relaxing in the back of the canal bike

We spent the rest of the day exploring Amsterdam on foot (which was much more leisurely than the canal bike). We saw the flower markets, ate some dutch pancakes and finally found Ann Frank's house where there was the longest line of people I had ever seen. There was no way we were going to join the line which was hundreds of meters long so we instead took a photo of the house which looked rather ordinary from the outside (it actually took us awhile to figure out which one it was). We then headed to our pick up point and went back to the hostel to get ready for our final night on Contiki.

Flower market

Classic houses in Amsterdam 

The night began with a boat cruise through the canals which took us to our dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Sea Palace. Now you might wonder why we went to a Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam. Well our trip manager said it was because Amsterdam is very multicultural and the food is heavily influenced by other countries (similar to Australia I guess). The dinner was really good and it was nice to eat Chinese food again.

On the boat cruise

Sea palace restaurant 

After dinner we headed to a shooters bar where we tried a number of cool shots. I tried a few including the 'Contiki' shot with my trip manager as well as a marsh mellow shot and one that was set on fire. We then went to a club for the remainder of the night.

Longest day of the trip

On Tuesday we travelled from Switzerland back into Germany. The journey started at 8am and we arrived in the small town of St Goar where our dinner and accommodation was 12 hours later at 8pm.

We spent the majority of the day on the coach stuck in traffic stopping only a couple of times for toilet breaks as our coach toilet is blocked and we also stopped in Heidelberg, a small German town home to thousands of university students.

Unfortunately it was raining when we stopped in Heidelberg but we still spent a good hour walking through the main square and checking out the gummi bear shops as Heidelberg is famous for its gummi bears and also it's snowball treats which we tried on the coach. Snowballs are like a big biscuit ball and some are coated in chocolate or icing sugar, they were alright but nothing too special. We also tried beer flavoured gummi bears which smelt like beer but didn't really taste like beer.

Main square of Heidelberg

Remnants of castle in Heidelberg

We then boarded the coach again and played celebrity heads for a solid 3 hours to not only pass time but distract ourselves from the fact that we were stuck in traffic and desperately needed a toilet.

We finally arrived in St Goar and went straight to our dinner at one of the hotels in town. The dinner was sooooo good. It was a big hearty meal of sausages, potatoes and vegetables, exactly what our hungry and tired bodies needed. After the dinner we crossed the road and went down into a wine cellar which was literally right under the ground. There we tried a number of German wines including "ice wine" which is an expensive wine that is made of grapes which were harvested when they were completely frozen with their centres at -7degrees. Most people really enjoyed the ice wine, I thought it was okay but it was really sweet and I prefer dry wines.

Dinner in St Goar

Wine tasting

After the wine tasting we drove down the road to our hotel where we all went straight to bed as our trip manager recommended we all have a quiet night to recharge and prepare ourselves for what she calls "Amsterdamage". 

The real contrasts trip

On Monday, we went up Jungfrau mountain, known as the "Top of Europe" as it is the highest point that you can get to a in Europe using some form of transport, you would have to hike to go any higher. The train ride up the mountain took a couple of hours but the views were fantastic.

Given it is summer over here in Europe, the majority of the trip has been hot and we've been soaking up the sun in our singlets and shorts. Yesterday at the top of Europe was a different story. We copped an especially bad day and it was about -2 (still warmer than Canberra at night) at the top with snow falling whilst we were up there. There were about 10 people in the group who'd never seen snow before so this was an extra special experience for them.

There is not a lot at the top of Europe other than the snow, a Lindt cafe and an "ice palace" which was corridors made of ice with figurines carved in the ice.

So after taking a couple of photos in the cold with our Switzerland beanies, we took the train back down the mountain. Once back at Lauterbrunnen, I got some traditional Swiss cheese fondue for lunch with some people from the tour as the girls decided to go back to the campsite for a nap. The fondue was interesting, it had a strong taste of white wine and it came with a salad and pieces of bread and small potatoes to dip in.

In the afternoon, the majority of the tour group went to an adventure park to do a series of high ropes courses. This was the only optional extra that us girls decided not to pay for as we had heard that it is a bit rushed and we've all done high ropes before. We were really happy with that decision as it rained throughout the afternoon and instead we took a short walk behind one of the nearby waterfalls to see a good view of the valley and waterfall.

View of Lauterbrunnen

Behind the watefall

We had another nice dinner at the campsite cooked by the Contiki onsites then we got ready for our "Swissco disco" where we dressed in red and white and put on our Switzerland merchandise and partied in what used to be a bomb shelter but is now a bar/club at the campsite.

Wearing red and white at the Swissco disco

3 countries in 1 day

Sunday was a big driving day but this never bothers us as time always passes quickly on the coach. In the morning our tour manager announced that we would eat our breakfast in Austria, lunch in Liechtenstein and dinner in Switzerland and that's exactly what we did. There's not much to say about Liechtenstein, we literally just had lunch there at a "kebap" (kebab) shop and saw it's castle nestled up on the hill which is still home to the royal family.

Hannah pointing at the castle in Liechtenstein

We then drove into Switzerland and into Lucerne. In Lucerne, our tour manager Kelley took us to see the incredibly sad lion monument. This monument represents the Swiss army men who tried defending the French during the war but we all gunned down as they were abandoned by the French army. Unfortunately the government realised it could not afford to pay the architect for the sculpture after the architect was almost finished. So, the architect decided he would finish the monument but created a shape of a pig around it to give the message to the government that they are pigs for not paying him.

Sad lion monument 

Bridge in Lucerne

We then walked across the beautiful bridges to visit a Swiss watch and knife shop where we saw a demo video of the history of Swiss watches before having the option to purchase watches and knives.

Best view on the drive from Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen

The afternoon drive from Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen was easily my favourite drive of the trip so far. There were spectacular views of mountains and lakes and we had a fun time on the coach playing games. My favourite was "Miss Coach 2017" where the coach was divided in half and each half had to nominate a guy to dress up as a girl in a beauty pageant using whatever we had on the coach. We spent almost an hour dousing these guys in makeup, braiding their hair and squeezing them into our clothes. They then had to prepare a speech and walk down the aisle to show off their look and we voted on a winner.

Before we knew it, we had made it to the beautiful town of Lauterbrunnen where our campsite was located.