This is the beginning of my writing about a six week adventure I had last September / October. This adventure took me to six countries, by train, coach, boat and aeroplane. I got lost many times, couchsurfed in strangers homes, stayed in many a hostel, spent time with three Buddhist nuns, attended a zen buddhism ceremony, got pushed in the chest by a big Russian man, spent 3 nights in a wooden house, became part of a family, went to more nightclubs then I had previously in my entire life, ate strange foods, found a helpful stranger when I least expected it, met some fantastic people, ended up taking a train journey with an alcoholic, saw alcoholism at it's worst, visited Auschwitz on a dangerous bus, had meals with so many different people.
My adventure began with a coach journey to Glasgow. We stopped off somewhere in the lake district, at a service station surrounded by beautiful countryside. It was quite empty and I was excited about the journey ahead.
A photograph i took while on the coach
When I arrived to Glasgow I found my way to the subway. The Glasgow subway system is similar to the London underground, in the sense that it's trains and they are underground. however the difference is that it's a completely different experience. The stations have more character, but this character makes them seem deteriorated and unpleasant and when onboard it's almost like being onboard a bus. The people onboard were like the kind of people you usually find on a bus, of a lower class & willing to chat amongst each other, even if it may be in a strange sounding scottish accent.
I found my way to the station where my hostel was and after about 40 minutes trying to find the place I entered my dorm and chucked my comfortable red rucksack beside the bunk bed. I think at this point I had somewhere managed to strain my groin and walking had become a struggle. I wandered about and rang my sister to ask her to transfer money from one of my accounts to the other, as I had completely forgot to put any money in the account I would be using. Later that evening an Australian girl entered my dorm, and we went and had a few drinks in a scottish pub, which had a carved animals head upon the wall. After that I returned back to the hostel room, two other people were sleeping and I settled in for the night.
My diary entry for this day reads
' FRiday 31st August 2007 - Travelled on coach from Manchester to Glasgow, stayed in the blue sky hostel, there was a thong on the bedside table and I wondered...why >? Met an Austrlian girl from Perth whos a singer & studying music, but she didn't sing anything. I told her more about Couchsurfing and I saw her sign up the next morning, which is fantastic! '
A small photo I took in the hostel dorm, my bed was the top bunk nearest the curtain.