MEG-A HUGE UPDATE! (See what I did there?!)

OK, so I've been dancing around, slobbing out in front of the Steve Wilkos show, and have only in the past few days really got into gear, but I'm almost ready to go on our trip. I had a mini anxiety attack last night worrying about the actual REALITY of going, but that's all sorted now, I know when I get there I'll love it. Or most of it, hopefully, fingers crossed, yada yada.

So, as I said, I've been getting some stuff done, Mojo and I have both been madly rushing around (and as an irrelevant aside, I was stopped whilst driving with my stepdad because our vehicle EXACTLY matched the description of a getaway car driving around that very night - how cool?!). Anyway, I've been on the phone a lot, waiting around in "queues" being told that my call was "very important" and that I would be shortly connected to someone who would be "glad to assist me". In the case of O2, the man I spoke to was evidently not that glad to assist me (he sounded as dull as a rainy day in Slough) and I'm obviously not THAT important to O2 as they're only allowing me to use one quarter of the texts I'm owed next month whilst I'm abroad, and NONE of the minutes! How rude! So despite shelling out £15 (could be put to much better use), I'm only going to get 100 texts (rather than my usual 200 minutes 400 texts). I mean, what's that? 1.50 per text?! RIP OFF. I'll just avoid using my phone. On the other hand, my conversation with the STA representative was much more satisfying. I was "connected to" the gorgeous-sounding, mellifluous, uber-helpful Rory. He sorted out my Interrail ticket for me, as for some reason my card payment had failed online. We even shared a little joke about the dire hold music - never-ending-solo jazz, you know the kind. My favourite.



Rory prefers silence to this jazz medley too. Rory, if you're out there - we're made for each other. I love you. I've booked the venue and chosen the dress. Call me.

I also phoned Barclaycard and had to wait 10 minutes while someone desperately tried to sell me something I didn't want. Lovely lady, but why didn't she understand?! I'm a poor student just calling to tell you I'm-going-to-Europe-so-don't-block-my-card-please. I can't afford this 3 year insurance plan, Judy! or Ursula, or Winnifred, or Vera, or Pam. (Shout out to Pam at Electrocomponents. Receptionist solidarity, til the day I die. You see I do have SOME sympathy for people working on the other end of the phone: I used to).

In other news, I've been buying yellow raybans (knock offs from Primarche, Primarni, whatever you want to call it). Am I joking when I wear yellow Raybans? Is it ironic? or edgy? cool? post-post-modern? FIERCE? Who knows, watch this space. Also in my shopping basket - summer dresses, good for a bit of all-round ventilation, probably well needed sur la route. Although I do worry about stray gusts of wind revealing my wares to all and sundry. Luggage and locks - Mojo and I paid Boswells a visit, not without an embarrassing hosiery hoisting incident, or contrastingly, a shameless unabashed plugging of this beautiful blog to the shop assistant. Dear Boswells Employee, I hope you are reading. We chose two roll along suitcases that can also be lifted by handles, hold-all style. Super practical AND super chic, elfin dimensions yet packing a 50L punch. Beautiful. And a mere snip at 25 Great British Pounds. I have also purchased an ISIC card (thankyou STA) for discounts along the way, books for reading on the train and while in queues etc., and the MTV guide to Europe. A surprise winner - inane on the outside, but with an inner core of gold - written by Frommers, cool-ized by MTV. I picked it up, had a read, had a chuckle, then realised that if it had substance and chuckles it could be worth buying. Have you ever read "the Rough Guide to..." and laughed?! I certainly haven't. The published, literary equivalent of a rice cracker, if you ask me - you can just about get by on it, you know it might be good for you, but it's boring, dry, and leaves you wanting to throw it away and get a drink. I'm not talking water. Gin, darling, gin. Or Pimms like my gran makes it - Pimms, fruit, skip the lemonade, just top it up with Gordon's.

I have also purchased a fine pair of shoes, for walking. Not shoes for jumping, or running, just walking. Well, they're not walking boots per se. But they're comfy. Office, £20. Decent. Your lowly, run of the mill plimsolls? I THINK NOT. Quote: "This classic plimsole is a must have style for right now! The pump features a canvas upper and rubber sole offering all-day comfort and durability." I bought them today - Monday. Or MonKday. We saw two groups of monks. Buddhist, and your traditional Friar Tuck-esque, roaming around town.

You think perhaps I'm wasting your time and really this post contains nothing interesting/useful re: Europe and inter-railing? Think again, my dear reader! Last week Mojo and I met Molly - our point of contact with the team from the website STA travel buzz - see further down the page for our link to posts about us on their site, and an earlier post on us gaining the grand title of "STA explorers". So we met Molly face to face for the first time last week in Starbucks. We approached a puzzled-looking grey haired woman in her mid 50s (don't worry Molly I didn't really think it was you) and then suddenly realised that Molly was sat right in front of us. We had a chat about the trip, the plans, the meaning of blogging, what we looked for in men, and our desire to avoid being seen as "STA b*&ches" whilst graciously accepting freebies from STA (true story). We each received a t-shirt with an interesting, slightly aggressive slogan on the back (GET OUTTA HERE) and STA logo on the front, some travel wallets, and lovely Moleskine journals, however we must stress that it was not bribery for our undying commitment to and/or promotion of STA (unless we're talking about Rory here). All in all it was great meeting Molly, and a nice insight into the travelbuzz website and intentions. Plus our Starbucks went on Molly's work expenses, so I pigged out and felt pretty sick. Grande caramel frappuccino, and a muffin = ill, but worth it, because it was F.R.E.E.

I'll next write from Europe. See you there. Wednesday 7am flight here I come!

Meg

Getting verbal

Well it is an insane 2 days before we leave, and there are tons of last minute preparations to do.

One of our concerns is how to communicate while we are abroad. An obvious solution would be to buy phrasebooks, but we are going to six different countries so that would be expensive, and a lot to carry around. I set about compiling useful phrases for each language from the internet, and stumbled upon a website which did exactly what I was doing, only better.

SingleServing.com: This website provides an A4 page of useful phrases and translations which you can print and fold into a handy little booklet, nice and small to fit in your handbag or pocket. I have made two for each country we are going to, one for me and one for Meg.

Mojo

News About Shoes

What with all the discussion of bookings and tickets and things I feel that I have overlooked some of the important minor details of planning a trip. Hence this blog entry will cover a subject which is imperative for any traveller to contemplate at length - especially so for females.

SHOES. What is a tourist without their trusty treadware, with which to traipse the well-trod trails of... okay I am annoying myself now. Basically, it's important to choose the right shoes for your expedition. Having the experience of trudging along Prague's punishing cobblestones for 5 days a few years ago wearing my fashionable ballet flats, I am all too aware that I will have to sacrifice a little style (just a little, though) in exchange for some substance.

Here were my mental notes regarding shoe requirements for our Epic Romp:

1. It will be hot. Ideally my shoes should be breathable, light and preferably sandals.
   
   
2. We will be most likely be walking for hours everyday. The shoes must be comfortable, and provide arch support, shock absorption, and all those other boring chiropodistic catchphrases.
   
   
3. I want to wear dresses, skirts and shorts most of the time, so my shoes must be versatile enough to go with all of these. This means NO TRAINERS or other horrible, clumpy, inelegant footwear.
   
   
4. On the note of versatility, neutral colours are best. Browns, tans and creams are the best bet.

With these 4 criterion in mind, I ventured to town today with my family for moral support (i.e. to reign me in when I started cooing over some trendy but highly impractical gladiator sandals or something). Predictably enough, it wasn't hard to find pretty sandals in neutral colours. The problem that arose is that my feet are so sweet and petite that even in the size 5s a shop assistant had prescribed, they lolled around like drunken babies in a kayak. Many a pair were tried on and dismissed. Nevertheless, here are my top 3 shops for comfortable sandals that aren't designed for old age pensioners:

1. Clarks
2. Scholl
3. Ecco

Eventually it was Scholl that provided the fruit of my quest. The shoes I ended up with aren't quite sandals, they are sort of pumps with a strap across which solves the problem of my feet's slenderness. Alas, I may be forced to subject my fellow hostellers to some ripe fumes from my sweaty shoes, but I am sure they will understand.

So here they are: soft leather for malleability, slight heel for shock absorption, padding for arch support, cute little flowers and a Mary Jane strap for cuteness, these are the shoes which won an all expenses paid trip around Europe:


Mojo

T-minus 11 days...

Well, Meg and I are due to embark in 11 days. That seems crazily soon. There haven't been many updates lately because there hasn't been any news since I made all those bookings.

Meg has finished her exams now, and after that she has had what I can only imagine to be a wild couple of weeks partying like Paris Hilton on heat. Because of this she hasn't been in contact with me as much as usual. As far as I'm aware she hasn't booked her Interrail ticket yet, so hopefully when she does book it there won't be any problems, otherwise there may be some trauma getting it corrected. I'm sure everything will get sorted out though.

She is returning to Oxford today, so hopefully she will soon be back in the swing of things and making some blog posts of her own. I feel a bit silly writing this update about her, knowing she will see it and I might have gotten things wrong.

I have lots to do before we go, so that's all for now, even though this update is pretty crummy. Hopefully soon there will be more exciting things to talk about here. Exciting like fighting off Nazis with our bare hands!


Mojo