Tour de Europe - Days 1 - 3

At last, it is a time for the full account of our epic motorcycle journey through Europe. On Thursday afternoon with all our stuff packed we headed off to the docks in Helsinki. We would travel straight to Travemunde, with a half cargo, half tourist ship. I was expecting the journey to be exceedingly boring, since it would take almost thirty hours. Most peculiarly however, the three activities the ship had to offer, eating, sleeping and going to the sauna were enough to fill the hours.

It was Friday evening when we arrived at Travemunde with our new friend whom we had met on the ship. Matti was also a Harley enthusiast and would join us for the first leg of our journey, seeing as we would be going the same way. Our destination from the dock was the Finnish Seamen's Church of Hamburg, where we would be spending our first night, the only night we had planned ahead. Although the journey there was, looking back, in no way scenic, I thoroughly enjoyed absorbing the sights and the atmosphere of a new country.

Upon arriving at the church, we were greeted by a friendly member of the staff, parked our motorcycles in the garage, and went to change into some more comfortable clothing. In celebration of Germany's beer drinking age of sixteen, we also immediately glugged down a beer. Then we set of to explore Hamburg, but we didn't get very far and found ourselves in a bar. After enjoying the beer and the good company, it was already quite late, and we headed to bed.

Our next destination was Wiesbaden, right next to Frankfurt. Here we would meet up with my fathers brother, Kari. The ride through Germany was arduous, but there was plenty of interesting scenery. Wherever you go in Germany, there will always a be a few castles and towers on far hilltops. For lunch we stopped at random at a nice looking restaurant. As we settled down at one of the tables, I was slightly worried the place was unnecessary posh, and we would pay the price, quite literally. Despite the immaculately decorated venue and professional service, the huge platter of beautiful sandwiches we ordered cost a measly €3.20. We also rode through the Harts forest, where we stopped at a small village for two generous swathes of cake. Later on we parted with our comrade in motorcycling, and proceeded for the final push to Wiesbaden.

With evening closing in, and many kilometres to go, we opted to ride the autoban. I find it quite odd that most people who I have told of our story are incredibly excited by the autoban, and seemed to think it would be our primary route. Rather, whenever possible, we would set our navigator to stay clear of motorways, so that we would end up (hopefully) in winding little roads going through small villages and countryside. We arrived at Wiesbaden quite late in the evening, and bottoms thoroughly aching, we dumped our stuff in Kari's apartment and headed for a local Chinese restaurant. No, schnitzels quite yet.

Next day I woke up at twelve, just in time for lunch on the balcony. We made our preparations, and rode down south, now with Kari and his wife on their Harley. This leg of our journey saw the best scenery yet, as we rode through the foreboding black forest. In the evening we arrived at the beautiful city of Freudenstadt. After circling the city centre a few times, we chose to stay at Hotel Adler. The manager was very friendly and even moved her car out of the garage to accommodate our bikes. Then it was time for a large schnitzel and beer. Well fed, we set out for a walk to admire the city. After some delicious ice cream constructions at a local ice cream bar, we were entertained by my dad, who after playing over some fountains set into the ground, completely soaked his jeans.

The Top Ten Weird and Bizarre Japanese Soft Drinks

Japan has a drinking problem... but if you've got a thirst for adventure, it's where you want to be.

In honor (or in horror) of these bizarre beverages seemingly not fit to rinse your septic tank, raise a cracked glass to the Top Ten Bizarre Japanese Soft Drinks, our first ten inductees into the Soft Drink Hell of Fame... Jeers!

Our rundown of the Top Ten Bizarre Japanese Soft Drinks gives a pretty good indication why most of the 1000 or so new soft drinks and beverages launched in Japan every year fail miserably.

Look on the bright side, though: they may not be good to drink, but you can't say they're not good for a laugh.

Continue reading...

How to sell milk

Now depending on your taste, that may either cause to never touch milk again or... never mind. Personally the singing (?) really worked for me.

The Vatican's driving commandments

Was just skimming through bbcnews.com and I came across this article on the Vatican's new commandments for motorists, sensible yet amusing. "Thou shalt not drive and drink", "thou shalt not make rude gestures behind the steering wheel" and "help accident victims" are among the 10 recommendations for motorists.

SOURCE

Insects

One of the slight inconveniences here in northen Finland, especially for a city dweller like myself, is the abundance of mosquitos. Especially when one is trying to get to sleep. Luckily, my brother and I have years of experience in nightly mosquito hunts, and it is not long after we here that aggravating and familiar whining of a mosquito that the walls are decorated with yet another mosquito corpse, a grim warning to all mosquitos who dare disturb us.

I considered impaling several mosquitos on cocktail sticks and propping them up as a warning to the foolish buggers, but I guess that might have gone a little too far...

Library Addict

So far I have been at the library for one and a half hours. Some point I will probably go eat, then lie around for a while before going swimming, after which I will return to the library and think again about what an earth I should write about. Generally when I begin to aimlessly ramble, like so, I end up being very very boring... I really need to become better at being able to sit down and write, think of something witty.

For example, I was reading Kotaku earlier and pondered for a while about what to comment on a post about a boring fishing game. I came back a few minutes later and found a collection of downright hilarious comments.

Now that I have accomplished somewhat the feat of writing several lines, I will continue to make the most of the public computers, probably until some old library attendant will kick me off for being an unhealthy computer addict, or because my mother must be very... very worried about where I have been all day.

The story so far...

One of the main stories of this blog is to write about the time I spend in Japan. That however, is a long time away, but there is plenty to say about the preparation process. So, the story so far.

Since I started my Japanese lessons a bit under a year ago, I fantasized about a year as an exchange student in Japan. The more I thought about it, the more interested I became, and the better an idea it felt like. I think I mentioned the idea during one of our lessons. A fellow student there was a member of Youth For Understanding, a respectable, non-profit exhange organisation. I checked out the website and ordered an info packet. I read the info packet and dismissed the application forms as it was too early to apply for this year.

Time passed and I suddenly found myself in a big hurry. I had forgotten to send the application forms as soon the application became open, so for several days I worked hard to fill in the lenghty forms, and write an essay on why I should be accepted. When everything was ready I sent the forms. Several days later I was invited to an interview at the YFU headquarters in Helsinki. I was quite nervous as I had heard from many that applying to Japan is difficult, and that there are very few spaces. The interview went very well, and I left happily due to the hints from the staff there that I had a good chance to get through. Looking back on it I think the deciding factors were the fact that I had plenty previous travel experience, and that in the interview I had said that in the host country one must be adaptabile and one can't be picky, and once you're there you play by their rules, that as long as I get there I am happy.

Nevertheless, I was hardly confident as I waited for the letter from YFU. One day at school my dad texted me: "Letter from YFU, shall I open it?" I answer "No", he replies "Are you sure you don't want me to open it?" "Yes." I returned home and nervously approached the letter on the table. As I drew the envelope near I suddenly punced at it and opened it! There was a letter, I had been accepted! I danced and jumped around in joy and celebrated my success!

To my dismay only further beurocracy awaited me. The wad of paper beneath the initial letter was so thick and daunting I merely brushed it aside. Ah, the deadline isn't far. Several weeks later the initial joy was wearing off, and I began working on the forms. The deadline for the forms was the 25th, that very day! I panicked and skimmed through the various papers; transcript of grades, placement information, health certificate, dentist's signiature; there was no way I could get that all in time! I remembered I had a dentist's appointment on the 14th of the next month, a perfect excuse. I then called YFU and politely explained that I could not get the papers in time due to having to wait for the dentist's appointment. I was told it was OK, and that the papers won't be sent to the host country in a long time anyway, but I should do them as soon as possible. However, even that proved a challange as it was somehow incredibly difficult to find three measly pictures of me and my life to send. I was not very happy with the pictures I chose, and it worries me that I was not as representable as possible.

Now, with that wad of papers sen't I wait anxiously for more beurocracy, probably something to do with visas, generic travelling stuff. But, I wait enthusiastically to see who my host family will be, and I can't wait to get in touch with them via email. I also hear there will be a "preparation camp" before the trip. Usually I'm not into that kind of stuff, but I think it will be great to get to know likeminded people.

If there is anything I have learned it's that: 1. Apply early! 2. Do the dam paperwork already you lazy slouch! If you follow these guidelines, problems are minimized.