1) Seoul - Moscow - Amsterdam: OMGGG...I HATE the Moscow airport. They banned smoking in the airport and shutdown the smoking area. You need a visa to step outside, but they don't give same day visas. So WTF are the layover smokers supposed to do?! I get this whole anti-smoking campaign, but at least be considerate to the smokers and make a separate area for them. It aint no prison, man! So, I just smoked in the bathroom, like everyone else. kekeke. I opted to stay in a cheaper beach hostel away from Amsterdam Central, BAD IDEA! It cost 5-7 euros one way into the city. Aint shit to do in Noordwijk, except a mediocre beach (but it was cold!). All the hostel guests were like anti-social, weirdo potheads. Which is fine, but then why come to a hostel if ur not gona socialize??
2) Paris + Anger, Chalonnes, France countryside: I only booked a hotel in the outskirts of Paris, so I could meet my dear friend the next day. My crazy ass, didn't have a french sim card, rolled into a bumfuk subway station, thinking it was gona be a piece of cake to find this hostel. Man, was I wrong. I couldn't find it for the life of me, it was complicated, trust me. Finally, I found the nicest French couple who called the hostel and dropped me right off. They said they were going to a big party, and asked me to join. Why not?! This party turned out to be a rave with 15,000 people. The couple turned out to have extacy. Why not?! My first night in Paris was freaking awesome!! Partying with the locals. Just beautiful. I got back to the hostel at 5-6 am, and the workers were thinking like why did u even book a room if you were gona party all night? hehehe, thass how I roll!
Chalonnes-sur-Loire - is a BEAUTIFUL part of France's Southern countryside known for its wine. I got to meet my really good friend Bari and her bf Frances. They met in Korea in a Korean class, dated there for a year, did long distance for a year, then she moved to France to be with him. How romantic, right?! I got to meet his adopted parents who were just lovely. Frances' mom cooked us a full course meal which we ate in the garden. I mean like 7 courses, changing plates and utensils every course. Thank god for dishwashers! I also got to meet Bari's local friends. We threw a little Korean BBQ party since I missed Korean food so much. I was pleased everyone loved it. Oh, and one of Frances' classmates (Ben) was a cutie, so I told Frances to invite him. But he was so shy and young (22), didn't get to talk to him much. Also got to dine at Frances' father's bistro right by the river. The scallops were so good. It was super nice catching up with Bari, she was my partner in crime in Korea. We used to go clubbing every weekend and shake our booties off. We would drink makguli (rice wine) on the subway ride to hongdae. haha. It was awesome! I was so happy to see her making a new life with someone she loves, she really deserved it after all the douchebags she had to deal with in Korea.
3) Berlin + Munich - I went to Berlin to visit another dear friend that I met in Korea, let's call her Lace. It took her over a year to find a decent job, but I was glad to see that she was doing well and living in the city of her dreams. I went to a bunch of museums but stayed mostly in east Berlin (the ghetto part). We went to this awesome restaurant called 'Kimchi Princess,' (again cuz I missed Korean food so much, as did she). It was a super chic restaurant/bar with good portions, highly recommended. Oh, we went to this super weird 'underground' party in a rundown warehouse? it was super lame. the music was weird, and not too many people were dancing. I don't think Germans know how to properly party, imo.
OKTOBERFEST - Hostels were ridiculously expensive(100 euros) so I had to give Couchsurfing a try. My first host was nice but socially awkward and lived kinda in the outskirts. I totally forgot that I knew someone in Munich (Mike, who I met in Bali 2 years ago). So I met up with Mike n his friends on a Wednesday(?) around closing time at Oktoberfest so it was quite easy to get into the 'tents.' It was craaaazy crowded and humid and full of drunk foreigners and locals. 1 liter beer (which doesn't even taste good and gets warm fast) cost 11 euros (rip off). Everyone was dancing on tables, some getting into fights. It was just way too much for me to handle, too much chaos, too many people, long lines in the bathroom. So...we headed over to a club that Mike's friend works at. Mike didn't come because he got kicked out the week b4 for fighting. His sleezebag friend promised he lived close to Mike and would take me to his place afterwards. Boy was I wrong...he took me to his own place, saying that the subway was closed, offered me coke and asked me to sleep with him in his room. I was like hellll no, I'll sleep on the couch with your dog until the subway opens in the morning. Couldn't sleep a wink and countdowned til 6 am and got the fuk outta there soon as i could. When I told Mike what happened, he was shocked saying that I could have walked to his place from sleezebag's place, so basically sleezebag lied to me to try to hook up with me. What a piece of shit!!
Anyway, I wanted to be closer to the city, so I found another couchhost who was super hospitable, even cooked me lunch on arrival. Except, I had kept in touch with Ben (French jailbait) and he had agreed to meet me in Munich. Poor couchsurf host kind of had to host us both. Odd thing is, both nights, Ben didn't lay a finger on me while we slept next to each other. First time that's ever happened. I brought it up after he left, n he was full of regret. Ah well. So we tried to go to oktoberfest on Saturday, cuz the couchhost had a friend who could get us into the tent. omgggg, it was way crazier than wed. broken glass everywhere, drunk as ppl, long as lines to get into tents. We waited 30 minutes, and I was like fuk this...nothing is worth waiting this long for. So Ben and I went to a park n had some beers there, where we ran into dorky as googlers who were doing some virtual scavenger hunt.
TBC...
3) Berlin + Munich - I went to Berlin to visit another dear friend that I met in Korea, let's call her Lace. It took her over a year to find a decent job, but I was glad to see that she was doing well and living in the city of her dreams. I went to a bunch of museums but stayed mostly in east Berlin (the ghetto part). We went to this awesome restaurant called 'Kimchi Princess,' (again cuz I missed Korean food so much, as did she). It was a super chic restaurant/bar with good portions, highly recommended. Oh, we went to this super weird 'underground' party in a rundown warehouse? it was super lame. the music was weird, and not too many people were dancing. I don't think Germans know how to properly party, imo.
OKTOBERFEST - Hostels were ridiculously expensive(100 euros) so I had to give Couchsurfing a try. My first host was nice but socially awkward and lived kinda in the outskirts. I totally forgot that I knew someone in Munich (Mike, who I met in Bali 2 years ago). So I met up with Mike n his friends on a Wednesday(?) around closing time at Oktoberfest so it was quite easy to get into the 'tents.' It was craaaazy crowded and humid and full of drunk foreigners and locals. 1 liter beer (which doesn't even taste good and gets warm fast) cost 11 euros (rip off). Everyone was dancing on tables, some getting into fights. It was just way too much for me to handle, too much chaos, too many people, long lines in the bathroom. So...we headed over to a club that Mike's friend works at. Mike didn't come because he got kicked out the week b4 for fighting. His sleezebag friend promised he lived close to Mike and would take me to his place afterwards. Boy was I wrong...he took me to his own place, saying that the subway was closed, offered me coke and asked me to sleep with him in his room. I was like hellll no, I'll sleep on the couch with your dog until the subway opens in the morning. Couldn't sleep a wink and countdowned til 6 am and got the fuk outta there soon as i could. When I told Mike what happened, he was shocked saying that I could have walked to his place from sleezebag's place, so basically sleezebag lied to me to try to hook up with me. What a piece of shit!!
Anyway, I wanted to be closer to the city, so I found another couchhost who was super hospitable, even cooked me lunch on arrival. Except, I had kept in touch with Ben (French jailbait) and he had agreed to meet me in Munich. Poor couchsurf host kind of had to host us both. Odd thing is, both nights, Ben didn't lay a finger on me while we slept next to each other. First time that's ever happened. I brought it up after he left, n he was full of regret. Ah well. So we tried to go to oktoberfest on Saturday, cuz the couchhost had a friend who could get us into the tent. omgggg, it was way crazier than wed. broken glass everywhere, drunk as ppl, long as lines to get into tents. We waited 30 minutes, and I was like fuk this...nothing is worth waiting this long for. So Ben and I went to a park n had some beers there, where we ran into dorky as googlers who were doing some virtual scavenger hunt.
TBC...
