Destination Vacation: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam?

Maybe going to get back into this or I'm going to just be posting occasionally? Anyway! Huge life changes on the Me front! #1 The love of my life (Nick) and I have now travelled to Tokyo, Japan, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand! We will be travelling this year as well just don't know when (it's already August!). We went on this amazing vacation last year in September so Sept 2017!
     You wouldn't think of Ho Chi Minh as a destination vacation spot right? You've never been more wrong! Ho Chi Minh is a large city but is way more interesting compared to some of the others I've been too! Keep in mind I enjoy adventuring more than travelling and thoroughly enjoy third world countries so if you don't mine exhaust, running through a street filled with motorcycles and mopeds and an odd exchange rate then it might not be for you! When we were there the currency was roughly 22,500 Vietnamese Dongs for 1 US dollar, which is quite the exchange rate. I bought tons of awesome souvenirs and clothing which is all I still wear, almost a year later after being home.
     We paid $540 Round trip from US  (Newark) - Tokyo - Ho Chi Minh - Sketchy bus ride to Phnom Penh - Phuket - Bangkok and home! We may have started the vacation in Tokyo but for me all the fun was when we left Tokyo and got to Vietnam so i'll be starting there. We landed in Ho Chi Mi in the evening I believe and we waited in line to receive our visas.  Prior to exiting the plane an older gentleman seemed unresponsive on the plane so his wife smacked him still rendering him unconscience, he was laid on the floor while paramedics came on board and usually in America we would wait for the man to get taken off of the plane right? Nope. We were instructed to leave the plane anyway and just step over him, so we did. Here is the first wacky thing to happen in Vietnam and there are many others too. The date mostly everywhere is read at dd/mm/yyyy BUT I forgot to brief my travel companion on this so he misread the date on our visas as giving us one day instead of a month so after arguing through an intense language barrier we figured out we were wrong and hurried along our way to get to our hostel! After getting to our hostel we realized we were about three stories up a beautiful granite staircase and once we were up we unpacked and then went to grab a bite to eat! The next day we visited the Cu Chi tunnels as part of a tour that our hostel booked for $6USD and it was more than worth the money, Vietnam is VERY budget friendly. I never knew what 90+ degree humidity feels like and honestly I could go a life time without again even though with my travel bug we will not spared. The tour was long and awesome, we started off walking through the forest and being told of the war, what happened and how it effects people today. We were shown guns, artillery, the option to shoot a Bazooka, we walked though 100+ meter tiny tunnels that the Vietnamese travelled through, lived in and attacked from, Nick opted to do an extra one while I was dying from the heat and being a solid bubble of sweat. We had the option to take a photo inside of the one the holes which I've attached a photo of Nick enjoying! Mind you, before this vacation I knew I had this photo OP and I wanted this photo so bad, I had bragged and been very excited for such a photo and what happens you ask? I fall into it! I got lowered into it and then slipped into another tunnel immediately and while being covered in sweat, I was now covered in sweat and dirt! A few minutes later I got pulled out and more people didn't talk to us for the remainder of the tour, I was still in good spirits even though my ego was slightly bruised!  We continued on our tour while I went through all of my wet wipes in my purse. After getting on the bus it rained an insane amount in a tiny period of time, we watched the sun set which was beautiful as we passed through small quaint Vietnamese towns. Our bus driver hit a motorcyclist and continued on his merry way without even a glance (usual occurrence there I suppose!). After our wild day we enjoyed a night out on the town and walked around while Nick enjoyed the night life and I enjoyed the bargain shopping life!
     We spent another few days here walking around, shopping, eating and enjoying ourselves! We look forward to going back but next time we are going to go way more places than just Ho Chi Minh/ Saigon and I suggest you do the same! Next time we will have to do a tour down the River and about three more cities! Keeping popping in for my next post which will be at some point soon probably!

'Be back sometime in September'

'Be back/post again sometime in September' some of my last words to you guys! My life has changed in the past half a year for the better and that's for sure! Nick and I went to Tokyo, Japan; Ho Chi Minh Vietnam; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand! Also California and now maybe China!? I'll be posting more within the coming days about China?, My 7 ferrets, large garden and happy life! I'll leave you on that note with these photos!

45 days

The title makes it seem kinda ominous doesn't it? Well it's not! As I somewhat attempt to keep you all updated here is another update and a hint and whatever else. First of all I am doing this on my phone and it sucks a lot more than it does on a computer. Second this won't be too long because of that! So the boyfriend (Nick) and I are leaving in early September and our trip is as follows                 Tokyo, Japan

                  Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

                                     Phnom Penh, Cambodia

                                    &

                                   Phuket, Bangkok, Thailand!

The trip is constantly expanding and we are simply so excited! To my happy dismay???? My boyfriend wants a different backpack than mine but you know what this mean, 1. I can hide stuff in his bag that I don't want to carry, I probably won't do it but you never know if I really want that extra bottle of sprite, my sweet addiction. Second, I have to research which is the part that sucks because I've hit a lazy spot these last few days and anything other than binge watching greys anatomy on the couch is incredibly tasking! So I guess it's time to start researching because he should be getting his passport any day now and then we will be applying for our Vietnamese visas finally! I mean we are in the final stages of this trip and I'll show you all the itinerary soon! Also this man is amazing, I mean right now we're mid brief argument but it'll pass and then we will back to watching Netflix and cooking dinner. I think we're doing brownies tonight and maybe tacos???? I have no clue right now which is a shame because its 2130 and only getting later but I think Grey's anatomy is calling me~
Well I'm going to attempt to keep you guys updated as we move along on this road to our first vacation together and I will be posting as we're traveling as well so I mean at least you will hear from me by mid September right? Well I'm signing off for now because it's time for dinner and to research this backpack situation!
Goodnight all!

Corny as ever

Literally the cutest

*updates! Nick is getting the same backpack as me, and we get our visas in about two weeks!

Also! Expect more corny photos of us as time moves through September!

So this happened

Boyfriend & I

Still us~

So because I'm so incapable of staying in the US for more than a year at a time, a great airfare came up and me and the companion (Surprise! We're at 6 months now, go him! I'll post photos of us later). Well first I haven't been posting due to a new job and to be honest my life is really boring except for this awesome trip I have coming up and the fact that the companion and I just did the Grand Canyon but I'm boring. So I won't make you guys wait but I won't tell you the dates I'm going but I, cross that out.

WE are going to

TOKYO, JAPAN

HO CHI MINH, VIETNAM

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA

&

PHUKET, BANGKOK, THAILAND

So there's that, see ya'll later~

*Update! Photos are added :)

Giant hole in the ground

Guess who's back....back again~

Vera is now 5 and just getting cuter

My grandpa just loves
 the ferrets!

Hey everyone! Sorry I literally have been completely inactive for a few months now. So here's the good news, bad news, sad news and my mad news.

DISCLAIMER: This post may not include all of the above.

So number one on the list tonight, I got a boyfriend! Crazy right? It's crazy I don't even have to ask that, how he puts up with me I will never know but he does so if he's reading this I love you~ If not, well I love my boyfriend reader so there's that. We started dating back in January and it's been pretty much perfect ever since. We did the Grand Canyon last weekend and we're doing California next month and hopefully Sea World because sharks. He is amazing and wonderful and pretty much perfect and we're starting a garden this week which I'm super psyched about because plants and life and all that hippy stuff I'm into.

Vera learning to play
with her new pals

Numero Dos, I got a new job! So I can't tell you what my job is for obvious safety reasons and maybe I'm a spy ;) Just kidding I'm not but would you believe me? I don't think so~ SO new job, I start in three days and it's crazy, I've been waiting on this opportunity for a while now and now it has fallen into my lap and for some reason now I'm somewhat lethargic about the whole thing. I don't like change because I'm a creature of habit, very much so. But it's a GREAT opportunity, they'll pay for my college and it's good money and same hours and a way better company with real benefits so I need to grow up a tiny bit and take it instead of flying across the world for months on end (Which I prefer any day). Anyway so now I'm growing up the tiniest bit, still will be traveling this year, I don't know where or for how long but I will be going out of the country for minimum two weeks.

Edric being sneaky

Number three; I thought I had more to talk about but I guess I don't? Oh well my crazy hives are back due to my Chronic Autoimmune Urticaria. It's a stupid disease look it up (I'm essentially allergic to myself and if that isn't fun enough, making my boyfriend worry about me going to anaphylaxis is kinda funny, in a sick and morbid way because I don't take it seriously). Check it out it's a stupid disease and I'm covered in hives 24/godforsaken7 if I forget to take my meds which I do because I'm spacey. Also I have hypothyroidism which is stupid because I can't win in life and I always have to have something wrong because what's the fun if I'm healthy. The funny part is I was given too high of a dose of my meds so I went from Hypothyroidism to Hyperthyroidism so from 24-.001 which is not good but I'm alive so it's fine.

Number four: I lied, I had a number three but now I don't think I have a number four so this is me signing off I suppose. JUST KIDDING!

ALERT

I GOT FERRETS PEOPLE

Them as of a few weeks ago, fat and happy

2 perfect

I now am the proud owner of two precious ferrets by the names of Illiyes and Edric and they are perfect and cute and little perfect carpet snakes that I love eternally. Also I got my own new apartment (First time on my own!) and I have my dog and my cat both of which got fixed and neutered last week and they're doing wonderfully. Stay posted for possibly upcoming photos, Jk I will be uploading photos regardless, just gotta do it on my phone because now my new job doesn't have me sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day because now I walk around and clean all day which I'm going to enjoy SO much more than this!

Well for now

Goodnight

See ya'll soon~

The Many Uses of Activated Charcoal!

I mentioned it looks weird during!

I'm happy that I didn't make this blog about something super specific like breeds of cats or cars because I have the ability to literally write about anything that I find amusing at the moment and what I'm doing with my life. It would be weird if I was going into a post about the dangers of inbreeding cats and dogs and then I suddenly had a post about how great charcoal is for the body, it can help a lot, even though it can't help inbreeding. Okay, I got off topic, sorry! Writing this at 6am, what else do you expect from me? Gosh, the expectations. Now onto the real reason I'm writing this!

After! So pearly :)

 So recently I've been getting pretty hippy-dippy and one of my friends recommended activated charcoal powder to me to brush my teeth and to take with water when I'm feeling ill, which is like always (I have terrible nausea consistently). So I ordered some off of Amazon, it was this one organic activated charcoal powder. Warning! Charcoal is really good at staining things, I've heard it ruined someone's tile grout and it stains, I haven't had this issue with my sink yet though and I've been using it for a few days now, just don't spill the container on the ground. Also take note that I am NOT a doctor so you should probably message/call/see your doctor before trying new chemicals/medications/charcoal/whatever. So you'd think 'If this stuff is as staining as she says it is and it ruins grout, won't it stain my teeth' the answer to that is No! So basically for whatever reason is does not stain your teeth and it pulls off the plaque and makes them noticeably whiter after a few uses, it can promote good oral hygiene and I'm going to have my mother try it for her gingivitis and I'll post an update here and see if it helps her at all. Its recommended to only use it about 2-3 times a week and that's what I'm doing now. I'm just a simply girl, I don't know the science behind any of this I just know what I've experienced. If you're wondering how much you use when you brush your teeth, you just wet your toothbrush and dip it in the charcoal and brush your teeth for about two minutes and then you keep rinsing out your mouth until the water is clear because at first your whole mouth is black (it's scary but it's hilarious). Feel free to floss afterwards because sometimes there will be small pieces of blackness trapped in your mouth but I found that brushing with toothpaste afterwards dealt with that for me (I do it before work, don't want to scare people now)

When she was doing it often (a few times week)

Apparently some hospitals use charcoal with cases of ingestion because charcoal works through absorption, so it absorbs the toxins and then they're eliminated through regular body processes.
Here's somewhat of a testimony I suppose, well the guy didn't die so it counts. A while back a guy (I think his last name was Marsh?) (I couldn't find what I wanted to in order to write this haha) He took a lethal dose of Arsenic? and mixed it with charcoal and he didn't die, nor did he have any of the side effects from consuming a lethal dose of Arsenic. Don't try that at home kids/adults/humans. I don't have the measurements but charcoal can also be taken with water to treat food poisoning, bloating, and nausea! Once again I'm not a doctor so consult your physician please!

So there's some information on it, I could probably write about this all day honestly because I think it's so great. So feel free to research it more and check it out, and try it! I'd say let me know, but I know it'll work!

Also this may be obvious but I know it's not for some people! Use charcoal that is food grade and made from wood or coconut not from your backyard BBQ or from some wood you burned! Buy it online or in a health food store, food grade people!

Tattoo Number Two

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! Happy New Year and all that good stuff everyone! I've been caught up in life as usual, between work, writers block and my life being rather boring without recent travel, or at least what I would define as boring. I have been making some cool plans and getting some cool new Ink! I had a great holiday and all that jazz~

 

The finished fresh tattoo!

This is going to be a rather short post because the title says most of what this post is about. In a recent post I posted my passport stamp from Russia which I got tattooed on my right calf and I got yet another tattoo to my families dismay. Honestly I super love my tattoos and do plan on getting more, right now I'm working on getting a full world map with all the country lines on it but I haven't decided where to get it yet because of how large of a tattoo it needs to be. The new tattoo that I got is a traditional version of St. Basils Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. I didn't originally plan on getting it either. Ignore the fact that it looks crooked, it's on my right shoulder and the way I was positioned made it look that way.

The tattoo before color!

     So basically I went out with my friends on one of my days off and all of us planned on getting tattoos which we were all excited about because of the deal that was going on at the time. However I was never able to get mine done, or any of my ideas because of the complexity of them but in all truth I just think they were tired of me and refused to do it to spite me. So after my friends got their desired tattoos I went on my merry way set to get one, no matter the cost and no matter the shop. I went to my old shop where my mother gets her tattoos and where I got my first one and met a great artist who I spent the next three hours with getting a needle poked into my skin. Totally worth it though, here's a photo of it fresh, before the color and I'll add another one soon when I take a better photo. I never thought I would go for traditional style tattoos but apparently I do, this tattoo is amazing and it cost about $200 and it was absolutely worth it.

The next tattoo I plan on getting is my world map one and then shading in the countries as I travel to them and then I plan on getting a traditional tattoo done when I do my trip in Thailand in 2018. Traditional tattoos are generally done with ink on a stick and then it's repeatedly tapped into your skin, unlike the tattoo machines they use now a days which are inevitably faster. Now I'm not only going to be having this one passport stamp on me either, I spoke to my artist and in a few years I'm going to get all my favorite passport stamps done on me, I can't get all of them because I eventually plan on being in every country so that would be way more than just my leg. I'm excited for my upcoming ink so stay tuned~

Since I've been back

My tattoo

Getting the tattoo

What has Ashley been doing since she got? Well besides work and the usual dog-cat-fish-eel-lizard care I got a tattoo! I wanted to get a map of the world on my arm but the tattoo special my mother and I attended only had time to get one of my passport stamps done. I've been wanting to get them done my left calf for a while now and I finally took the leap and did it. For those of that don't know, this my entry stamp in Russia from July, 2, 2015. I think it is so cute and I am totally in love with it, like I love it so much. It's still about a week away from being completely healed but it's getting there. The white thing is the paper that was pressed onto my leg and the black is clearly the tattoo. It's super cute and next one will probably be my South Africa one or my stamp from Qatar. I was originally going to get all my passport stamps but since I want to go to every country, I don't think I have enough room, Also some stamps are boring, like my stamp from London is so soul suckingly dull that I don't want it permanently stamped onto my body, it can stay in my passport. Also for those of you wondering if it hurts, I was pre-warned from my best friend Lizz that it feels like a shard of glass getting dragged down your skin and it really does. It is 1000000% shard of glass cutting feeling. It wasn't too bad but I couldn't imagine getting a 2 hours tattoo, I would go crazy.

My bunch of shot glasses

My post cards with the missing ones not
here yet

While in Europe I shipped back a package through the Italian post full of souvenirs from London, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain and they were all stolen. The only items I received out of about 30 things was my shot glass from each country. Which is the bulk of my collection which you can see. I also collect post cards and since they stole all of my hand-written on post cards, I just ordered some new ones from online that I custom designed so I can fill that top empty space that you can see as well. I was REALLY upset at first but I quickly realized that I have never prided myself on needing material possessions to be happy, I'm always happy and I don't need items to make me happy. So I accepted that they were stolen and I had a great trip and made so many great friends and memories that can't be take away from me and I will always treasure that. Of course in the future I will ship UPS and I will continue to buy souvenirs and a lot of them. I plan on making photo albums of each of my trips. I still need to make my one of Russia and my one of South Africa and Europe. I just haven't bought the albums, or printed the photos but I will. That will definitely be on my Christmas list. I have been slowly compiling my list and so far I need a shot glass case (I already have about 20 shot glasses), and I suppose some nice photo albums that will last for eternity will be nice as well. My father is going to be buying me a go-pro which is for my upcoming trips so you guys can experience them with me, which I am so excited for and I am more excited to do some zip-lining, sky-diving, swimming-with-sharks expeditions that my grandmother can watch because that will be quite the riot. Anyway keep checking in every so often to see what I'm up to even though right now my life is as boring as it can get (which isn't very). I'm planning another trip to do by the end of this year but I'm not going to tell you what it is just yet because that wouldn't be fun! I already have the places I want to go next year picked out too! So excited but for now I will be feeding my reptilian creatures and living life to the fullest.

Also I'm going to start posting cute holiday ideas because you guessed it HALLOWEEN IS ALMOST HERE AND I CAN'T CONTAIN MY EXCITMENT!

THEN IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

THEN IT'S THANKSGIVING

THEN ITS CHRISTMAS

 

 THE HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US

My Travel Ticker

The Cities, Countries, Continents, and miles I have traveled color coded by year

Arizona to Moscow, Russia - 6,043
Arizona to Doha, Qatar - 8,293

Doha, Qatar to Johannesburg, South Africa - 3,887

Johannesburg, South Africa to London, United Kingdom - 5,634

London, United Kingdom to Dublin, Ireland - 349

Dublin, Ireland to Paris, France - 639

Paris, France to Madrid, Spain - 793

Madrid, Spain to Barcelona, Spain - 382

Barcelona, Spain to Florence, Italy - 672

Florence, Italy to Rome, Italy - 170

Rome, Italy to Venice, Italy - 330

Venice, Italy to Vienna, Austria - 389

Vienna, Austria to Munich, Germany - 252

Munich, Germany to Cologne, Germany - 350

Cologne, Germany to Berlin, Germany - 356

Berlin, Germany to Prague, Czech Republic - 216

Prague, Czech Republic to Budapest, Hungary - 328

Budapest, Hungary to Krakow, Poland - 245

Krakow, Poland to Madrid, Spain - 1,321

Madrid, Spain to Arizona - 5,602
Arizona to New York to Tokyo, Japan - 5,798
Tokyo, Japan to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - 2,687
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia - 150
Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Phuket, Thailand - 430
Phuket, Thailand to Bangkok, Thailand - 429
Bangkok, Thailand to New York to Arizona - 8,530

Grand total of 48,232 miles
2 hemispheres, 3 continents, 19 countries, 22 cities, 64 days



Here are all the countries I've been to so far (March 2018)

AND MORE
TO BE ANNOUNCED

 2015
2016
2017

Create your own visited countries map or check out the JavaScript Charts.

Spread my wings and fly home

Me boarding my plane

Very tiny plane

After Krakow I called the wonderful man that I know who booked me a cheap flight home because I never bought a return ticket so I could do my trip on my terms with nothing holding me to a schedule. While in Krakow he told me I needed to fly back to Madrid in order to get my flight to come home. I flew Ryanair which is decent and okay for a 4 hour flight even though it is VERY tiny and VERY cramped however I got some good photos of me in front of the plane which was cool. I asked him to keep this a secret from my family and he did, so no one in my family knew I was coming home. I wanted it to be a surprise and it sure was. I arrived at the Madrid airport at about midnight and my flight didn't leave the next day until about 11am so I slept, very uncomfortably but I slept on a bench in the airport on my backpack. I am the Queen of sleeping anywhere at anytime now. I woke up at about 5am and to my surprise Burger King was finally open, I chatted up some fellow travelers, got an oreo milkshake (oh yes) and went to the booths in the back and slept more while charging my phone. I slept 5 more hours which was amazing and then I went to catch my flight which was delayed about 4 times and then it didn't leave until about 2pm. I chatted up a family who was from LA and they told me they brought their son to Madrid to see the Running of the Bulls and his commentary on it was that everyone was VERY drunk and use squirt guns to shoot liquor at each other. The mother inquired about my trip and his whole family was rather nice, they boarded a different plane before me and I wish them well on their way. I finally got to board my plane and I was very happy to see that I had three seats all to myself, which is just wonderful. I slept basically the whole time.



I love window seats

Instructions I was given to get to my terminal

     I had to fly into Dallas to make my flight home and it was literally one disaster after the next. I was literally running from one thing to the next. I arrived about two hours before my flight which meant I had to go through customs, and get searched and then find my terminal. I was able to cheat the VERY LONG line in customs by telling a nice man of my predicament and he let me in front. After trying to find the Skyrail to get to my terminal I was told to exit through certain doors which out me back out, in the end of customs. It was about 25 minutes to my flight and I shower another man my stamped ticket that I had already gone through customs and he put me in front after explaining my terrible situation. 10 minutes before my flight I boarded the Skyrail and I arrived at my terminal 5 minutes after it closed.  I was running to it, running for my life and I still missed it, but apparently so did another guy and he started knocking loudly on the door until an attendant came up and we explained our situation and I guess they were already delayed because of a food cart delivery being late and they let us board. Miracles happen people! So then we flew home and I was picked up at the airport and went to go get my truck from where I parked it at work. Then I drove home, anxiously may I add. I walked up that flight of stairs and just opened the front the door and the looks on my moms face was priceless. Her mouth basically fell the ground and I could swore I may have saw a tear or two. The next day I drove to my grandparents and I walked up to their front door saying 'anybody home' and they just about jumped up and ran to hug me. I gotta say, this has to be one of my favorite ways to be welcomed home. I'm back home now, about a month now and all I dream of is when I leave again and where. I'm happy to be home though.




Look at these faces, How could I not be happy to be home?

A guest sees more in an hour than the host in a year

One of the streets of Krakow

The title above has got to be one of my favorite sayings ever. I feel as though it's incredibly accurate. I valued my time in every city and every moment I was abroad. I took the time to look at everything, try everything and love every moment while doing it. I am home now and yet all I do is still see myself back in Europe. I remember every detail, every person, everything and I miss it more than ever now. I also keep swearing I'm going to runaway back to Europe whenever it's too hot here, which it always is. I'm sure you're wondering where my trip ended and my trip came to a halt when I got to Krakow, Poland.

I love these carriages

     My whole trip I met tons of people around my age, whether a ta younger or older and all of us had the same thing in common which was to go to Poland and see Auschwitz. A dark past that is still so present. I had to meet at least 40 other people who were all going here. It was meaningful to see so many other people, especially young people who wanted to never forgot, who wanted to revisit the past to learn from it and to pay their respects. I spent two days in Krakow, one seeing the city and one in Auschwitz. I'll start off with the city part first. The city of Krakow is a boring city, the people there realize it, so there isn't much there besides a really cool market and square. I did a walking tour and then some shopping of course. I found a Mexican restaurant that was just about as far from a Mexican restaurant as it was in Dublin. The guy just kept repeating that the Jalapenos they had were imported from Mexico. So I guess that is now what makes a Mexican restaurant. Main market square was pretty and I really enjoyed shopping around especially because my hostel was about a 20 minute walk to it, it was a nice walk. When I left Krakow, I took a taxi to the airport and I met such a lovely man. He was learning English so he could move to Australia and he was happy to have me help him with it. He was saying how he was struggling and how he couldn't imagine that I was able to do my trip all by myself for so long. I told him one of my favorite sayings which is 'Where there is a will, there is a way'. He had my write it down for him and he was truly obsessed with the quote after I told him it. If you want to do something bad enough you will find a way. There is always a way no matter how hard the path may be.


     Now onto the more difficult part of my trip which was Auschwitz. I caught a bus here at about 6 in the morning with a tour group. We split into 5 people groups and had headphones on while our tour guide whispered into a microphone on her shirt. The whole experience is surreal and very quiet. No one is talking much and everyone is just silently shuffling around following their tour guides. Auschwitz has now been turned into a variety of museums to commemorate the former concentration camp. They have rooms dedicated to the belongings of those left there, such as a room of shoes, prosthetics, luggage and even a room of hair. There was one exhibit in particular that sticks out in my mind. This exhibit had videos playing from videos of families at the park and river, doing fun family things and then slowly the exhibit turned to Nazi rallies and camps. It was, well honestly I don't have any words to describe any of this, I don't know how I felt, I don't know how to describe it. We soon went onto Birkenau which was where the majority of crematoriums were held. We saw where certain ones had been blown up and the tracks that many came in on. The whole thing was surreal but I find it crazy that NO grass grows around where the crematoriums were. It is a solid 3 feet of dirty with not one blade of grass. The rest of the site is covered in weeds, flowers and grass except certain areas. I feel like I do not need to add captions to these photos.

You might wonder why end my trip on this, well it worked out for the way I was moving across Europe first and I didn't think of it as me ending on a bad note, it was more, me ending on a solemn note to think about the past, present and future. I won't forget the past, I will honor it in the present and it has shaped my future, which is ever so bright.



I think it's a sign for me

Is it Budapest or Budapest

Weird title right? Well let me explain, the name of Budapest is commonly mispronounced which no one really notices but after you travel around Europe and go there, you get corrected often. Bu-da-pest is actually pronounced bu-da-pesht. using the word 'pest' is actually a term for the black plague so it is pronounced 'pesht'. Now on to my time in Hungary!

The few of Buda, walking over the bridge

The view of Pest from the top of the palace

     Budapest was a blast and my whole time throughout Europe I heard great things about it from it being cheap to it being beautiful, my two favorite things. After arriving in Budapest from Prague one of the first things I saw was a Hooters, which was hilarious and then I saw the ever so prevalent TGI-Fridays which is literally all over Europe. I arrived later on in the day so I chose to grab some dinner and head to bed. In my hostel I met a guy whose card had been deactivated by his bank because when you travel internationally you need to provide your bank with an itinerary or they might shut off your card because why would there randomly be charges from all of the Europe when supposedly you're in the US. I let him use my cell phone which mind you doesn't work without Wi-Fi. I have a great app when travelling call Viber. The great thing about Viber is you can call landline phones with the app and buy an hours worth of minutes for only 1USD which my family loves because not everyone has a smartphone and with most other apps you can only call people who have the same app you do. I let him use my phone to call his bank which was a balancing act for keeping good bars for the reception. After that we went to the grocery store and talked about where we are from. He was from Oregon. He partied that night where as I laid in bed and read a book. Even when travelling I need to relax.

I couldn't resist a bird on my head

I miss my lizards

     The next day I offered for him to come on a walking tour with me and he took me up on it. We walked around all of Budapest which is two sides, there is Buda and then there is Pest. We were staying on the Pest side so we had to cross the chain bridge and made some other friends while we were walking. We saw the vacation palace which is just a bunch of museums now and got some great photos and afterwards we went to a Zoo Café which was great. I love animals so of course it was  great. The food was super sub-par but the animals were wonderful. After telling the waiter of my experience with all the species of animals they had, he soon just let me open the enclosures and take the animals out which I went crazy with. I annoyed everyone at the table with my knowledge and I'm sure I made one or two of them dislike me, but after missing my animals for over a month at this time I needed some good lizard time.

The next country I'm heading too is my last for this trip

No need to Czech my bag

One of my favorite photos

The country that split into two was Czechoslovakia and those two countries were the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and if you can't tell by the title I went to the Czech Republic! There was no need to check my bag because I went by train, but still I couldn't resist the title name. After leaving Berlin I travelled to Prague aka Praha! The train ride was terrible because they ran out of seats after about one stop and considering I had a 5-8 hour train ride I was not looking forward to it, I got kicked out of first class because I'm rebellious and chose to sit there when my Eurail pass didn't qualify for first class. After being told to move I relocated to a train car until the people who sat there actually showed up and told me to move. The aisles were full of people and their luggage sitting on the floor and so I resigned to the dining car to get some lunch and charge my phone for this long trip. After two hours I opted to move thinking the aisles would be more clear and alas they were not, about 90% of the bathrooms on this train were closed down so I chose to sit in front of one in the area of the train car where the doors open to get on and off the train which was where no one else was sitting. It was very peaceful and I just read some books on my phone for the duration of the trip. I had plenty of time on my hands.



I forgot how great this photo is!

The Astronomical
Clock

  After arriving in Prague I had to deicide whether to do a walking tour the day I came in or to finally have a rest day, I chose to have a nice rest day and I leisurely walked around Prague and found out where some local markets are and I decided to find out where my walking tour started the next day. The next day I did my walking tour and saw the most overrated attraction, The Astronomical Clock. It was truly overrated and I was very unimpressed. We walked around and then it poured down rain for a bit and then let up, we walked around the city and eventually to the old town where I took some pretty decent photos. We stopped off in a restaurant for 30 minutes and I chose to hit up the local market instead, which I always do anyway. My day in Prague was pretty uneventful however I made a great friend by the name of Danielle and she was awesome. I would travel back to Prague just to experience some more of what I didn't!


The next place I head to is mispronounced often