Song Series Part I

(The orginal date of this post was 1-15-15, I edited it slightly and it rocketed out of it's rightful place in choronological order to present day and time) This post is an introduction to what I'm going to call my song series. I was at a New Years party last night and a good friend of mine asked me a question. She asked me if there are any songs that remind me of certain things or take me back to certain places. Well, of course there are. That happens with everyone. Everyone has those songs that take them back to a particular day or back to some meaningful point in their past. So I decided these next few posts will be dedicated to those songs and where the hell they take me to. It'll probably end up being around 5-10 songs and two or three post leading in a semi-chronological order if I can keep it all straight in my mind. I'll put a link to each song at the end of the story for that particular song. I suggest that if you don't listen to the song listen to it before you read the post because it sets the mood of the writing. These post may not be in traditional form. I know I have written on one of the songs before back when I went to college and it was a poem. Some may be short and some may be long. And some may be a little more stream of consciousness than others.We'll see what I'm feelin'. So these may not ALL be quite what you're used to.

And so, without further adieu, here are the first four song stories.

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You'll Be In My Heart: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0FXsu82Bfo

It'd probably been 20 minutes since we'd even seen a car. No, more, probably half an hour. And the few cars we had seen all turned before they even made it to our part of the road. At first we were taking turns with our thumbs out. One would thumb while two sat on their packs in the grass off the shoulder. We quickly gave up that charade that a car would come along for us and we were all sitting on the side of the road picking apart the wild pomegranates with the sticky juice running down our fingers and faces. If it had been hard getting a ride before it would be nearly impossible now that it looked like we'd all just committed a bloody murder. Making it out of Sophia hadn't been a problem. Of course there were tons of people leaving, it was the fucking capital. But somehow from there we had picked an abandoned route to Serbia that landed us outside this nobody town. We were seeing NO ONE at all other than the one old man who had driven by us at least three times now. At least it was still early though. Thankfully Jake always made us wake up early so we could get a good start at the road.  It was noon and though it looked desolate out there we knew with enough time sitting here eventually the universe would throw a glance our way. And then finally, a slow noise growing. That thrumming or whatever noise it is that tires make on rough asphalt coming in from a distance. We could here it before we could see it so we were all on our feet waiting to see what was coming around the corner and it was... goddammit why does that old guy keep driving by us? What an assh.... wait, there is another car behind him! A white mini can. A brilliant white knight coming out of the darkness. All our hopes resting on his shoulders to get us out of the meager town we'd landed ourselves outside of. All four of us are up on our feet with our sticky fingers held out into the road... and they blow past us. We all sigh and turn around only to see brake lights! The universal sign that you just got some pity poured on you by the powers that be. Then it's a game of everyone hoist their packs and the odd shuffle run that comes with wearing a heavy pack by only one shoulder strap. The door opens before we get there and we all clamber in to find a middle aged man who speaks no English whatsoever. Whatever, we just go with him. We don't care where he's going just so long as it's away from here. Until he drops us in a spot more scant than the last. A crossroads with a chicken coop at it. And nothing else to be seen anywhere around. Nothing at all, even the chicken coop is abandoned. We kick ourselves silently only to be rewarded with the silent road watching our growing frustration. We didn't even know where we'd been trying to get to today. We were just going somewhere. I don't know where and neither did Jake or Jess. But disregarding that we still wanted to be going somewhere. Anywhere really, just not the middle of nowhere Bulgaria. Well here we were. I sauntered off to take a piss right before I heard a car coming around the lonely hillside behind us and thought better of it. I got back to the side of the road in time to have my thumb out with Jake and Jess for the little white car coming about. She must've been hauling ass because it took her forever to come to a halt waaay past us. We started to do the awkward one strap shuffle before we saw her reverse lights come on and we relaxed a little. She came even with us and told us she could take us up to the last town before the border. It wasn't further than an hour and she fed us chocolate biscuits the whole way before she sent us on our way. It didn't take long for people to notice us walking out of the little village. And then, before we knew it there were people taking photos of us. Nothing weird, but people were running home and grabbing whatever kind of camera they had and coming out to take photos of us walking out of town. As if we were celebrities, but I guess they probably don't have many people coming through this small border village between Serbia and Bulgaria. Whatever, we weren't worried about it and kept walking. Right when we made it to the edge of town a nice big Land rover pulled over onto the sidewalk for us and a good ol' English chap beckoned us into the car with him. He decided to drive us past his house and the 7 more miles up to the border. He was ecstatic to hear that we were all English (well Jake and Jess were, and I'd been around them enough to say a few things and not sound American (not that that would have been a bad thing)) and he gave us a short but enthusiastic run down of the area. We spilled out of this rover with many a thanks and waved goodbye as he turned around at the checkpoint. It wasn't so late still, only 3 or so. We were hoping to get across the border and find another couple rides before it'd be dark at 5. We walked up to the small one room building that was the border crossing and showed our passports. Jake's and Jess' went through fine as they are European, but mine, being American, needs to be scanned by the computer. Unfortunately for us the computer was down and wouldn't be working for an hour or so. Well shit. We didn't have anything else to do so we just waited. While we waited the guy in charge brought us out some hot chocolate and tried to make conversation with his little bit of English. He quickly gave up and went back inside, then came back out to beckon me over. They scanned my passport and we were golden. We'd made it out of Bulgaria! We walked the quarter mile to the Serbian side of the border taking note of the 0 cars that had come through the border while we'd been sitting there for an hour. We hit the Serbian side of the border expecting to just walk through and hoping we could be well on our way. Well, apparently there must've been something sketchy about us crossing because they decided to strip search us. Take note, I said strip search, not cavity search. I still to this day hold my anal virginity dear and hope it never changes. What can we do? They go through all our packs one by one and then strip search us all one by one. Of course we had nothing on us so we weren't worried about it really, but still, it was a nuisance at the least. Down right degrading if you ask a lot of folk. But when you're trying to walk across the border into Serbia in the middle of nowhere at sunset you gotta expect a little something to kink. They finally released us just as the sun was going down and we were free to walk down the road with the many cows doing the same. During all this time we still hadn't seen a car. Luckily there was a small "store" about a mile from the border where we were able to buy some bread. I don't remember how we got Teslas (the Serbian currency, I don't know what it's actually called but this is what we called it because it had a picture of Tesla on it), but somehow we had some. We bought some bread and were off on our way knowing Jake and Jess had some powder soup for their camp stove later on. About half a mile down the road we realized we had no lighter. I volunteered to run back to the store and buy one. So I did that while they waited with my pack. I returned out of breath, downed some of our water and we set to walking. We had no idea how long we'd walk for or what we'd be doin', but we just started walking into the night. We walked for hours until we finally reached a small village with a store where we bought 2 liters of orange soda and a few crisps bags. The lady at the store was trying to convince us not to leave in the dark and even ran to get someone who spoke English to tell us how dangerous it was in the dark. Us being us we ignored her and went on in the night. It was still only 6 or so even though it was pitch black out. So we kept walking hoping either someone would pick us up or we'd get somewhere we'd like to be. We just chatted it up and bonded for the long walk we had together and it was actually great. We'd take turns carrying the heavy soda or we'd take a break and everyone would tear of a chunk of bread to gnaw on while we kept on. It was a brisk night, I'd say 45 degrees and the stars above were bursting aflame despite the waxing moon. During this whole time only one car passed us and we eventually gave up hoping to get a car and just set ourselves to walking. Then, hours into this venture, we unanimously decided we were exhausted. We didn't want to keep doing and so we walked straight into the next field we found, dropped our heavy packs on the frosty grass, and dragged our sleeping bags out from the bottom of our packs. Then, only arms protruding, we cooked a nice big pot of soup and passed it around in a circle as we dipped bread into the hot liquid. It was cold out and burning your tongue on the heat felt good. It wasn't long before the soup was all gone, but we were't exactly sleepy. We talked a while and then I drudged the Ipad I'd brought with me this trip from deep in my pack. I only had two movies on the thing. One was Hercules, the animated one of course, and the other was Tarzan, also the animated version. The vote ended 3 out of 3 for Tarzan so we propped it up where we could all see and we could all hear, then we snuggle up in our sleeping bags and kicked back enjoying the sweet buzz our feet were feeling from being unused after so much use. It was actually kind of a perfect day, it wasn't the adventure we'd set out for, but it was the adventure we'd got and I am grateful for it to this day. I remember my eyelids drooping as a I struggled to make it to my favourtie part, the part where Tarzan slays the Jaguar after an epic battle. But the long walk and the longer day had gotten to me, and I soon found myself slipping into unconsciousness.... 🎶 Come stop your cryin', It'll be alright. Just take my hand, Hold it tight 🎶....

                                         The view in the morning

P.S. The next day when we left we did a lot more walking, along with three short rides, before the border guard who'd strip searched us picked us up and took us to the next major city

"This is the first time I've hitched with someone who has seen me naked" - Jake
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Fairytale Of New York:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8

A mad sprint from the Balkans to Cornwall in England for Christmas. A lot of days standing in the rain trying to get up to Slovenia. A lot of days standing out in the cold thumbin' it West towards France. It didn't take long to get there. A week exploring castles and farm animals. A birthday only 3 can know about. A short plane ride and then a short train ride and we're walking into Jake's kitchen at 5am on his birthday. They didn't know we were coming so they were all surprised to see us especially since it was Jake's birthday. And then we celebrate. It's Jake's birthday, mine just passed, and Christmas is coming. We celebrate and have a good time and I stay with them for nearly a month. And the whole while 🎶 The boys of the NYPD choir Still singing "Galway Bay" And the bells were ringing out For Christmas day 🎶

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I'm Like a Bird:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roPQ_M3yJTA

"Harrison, someone is here for you,"

I didn't look up from sweeping the floor when he said that. I just kept on until I finished the job. I don't know the name of the man who'd come to tell me that. I just knew that he wears leather bound sandals with socks. He sits three spots forward and one to the right of me in meditation. It's strange being somewhere for 10 days and never talking to the people you're there with. It's strange not talking at all for three days. No talking, no reading, and no writing. You can't make eye contact, use gestures, or touch in anyway. It was strange having a roommate for that long, not being able to talk about what temperature to set the room at or any of those sorts of things. It was the 11th day. We could speak again. Some people went to it like a fish to water, but the silence still held dearly to a few. Those 10 days had seemed like so much more. Not just how they'd effected us, but 10 days of nothing but meditation? I feel like I spent a year there in rural Southern Georgia. So when sandals and socks had come to tell me that someone was here for me I knew it was no one else but my mother. She had happened to be in Georgia the same time I was. I was excited, incredibly excited, but I didn't let the usual giddiness that comes with that show. I wasn't quite in real world mode yet and Vipassana always hits me hard. I slowly finished sweeping methodically then put the broom and dustpan away and walked out the door. Across the little courtyard and into my room where I grab my already packed pack. Then I walk out and see my mother standing there. I don't say anything. In those short 10 days I'd been conditioned to keep my silence. It felt like a big step looking at her in the face and making eye contact. She asked all the normal questions and I responded distantly with a yes or a no as my mind was still lost in itself a little bit. Once we clambered into the car it started to become more and more real. I was done with the 10 day sit. I couldn't believe it actually, I'd made it through. I'd made it through the entire silent 10 days. When Kate had told me this was the hardest thing she'd ever done in her life I hadn't believed her. But now I did. Holy shit, how I believed her now. And I still believe her, this had been the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life. Even looking back now that is still the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Harder than walking the 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail, harder than hitchhiking all around America alone, and harder than working on the fishing boats in Alaska. It wasn't just hard, it fell on the brink of sending me into that chasm that is insanity. But somehow I'd managed to save my mind through the whole thing and come out much better than I had come in. Sitting in the car with the Georgia pines flying by outside, my mom chatting pleasantly about her trip, I started to feel the emotion building up inside of me. I said a word. Then two. And my face burst into the biggest grin and I had no way of controlling it this time. I was talking. Out loud, and someone could hear me and respond. Somehow this made me ecstatic. I needed to talk to people. To hug people, to tell them, actually speak out loud and tell them, how much they mean to me. I could call anyone I wanted now, I had a phone again. I could eat meat again. Meat! The first place we find is Taco Bell and I go in for the biggest, meatiest burrito they have. As I walk in I'm sure the culture shock is palpable on my face. But not because of the people, it was because of the music. It was just some music playing in a restaurant, no biggie. But to me, to me it was more. To me it was angels ringing bells and the way a long lost sailor feels when he sees land again. It was ecstasy, pure, flawless ecstasy. My whole body burst into vibration feeling the sound set it moving 🎶 I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away. I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is 🎶....

                                         My meditation group

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Old Pine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8ccDb6n5Wg

Crazy Frogg

Do you remember listening to Old Pine in hot springs after we came back for that second

​night?

Hiking into Hot Springs two days before was ludicrous,

but we both knew that didn’t we? It still feels like that day because my knees still cry out

and my ankles still tremble when I walk. Dragging our feet

up to the Laughing Hart looking every bit as weary as we felt. That stranger

giving us each a beer as congratulations. You and I believed ourselves immortal.

Taking the next day off was bliss. But then,

how painful it was climbing the cliffs to get out of town. Climbing those sandy rocks 

by the river with the mountain laurel waiting to bloom. Getting lost 

at Lovers Leap before meeting Hammer and Little Wing. I convinced you

to go back to Hot Springs with me, just one more night. And so we found ourselves

out by the river, two days after hiking into town, sneaking into a camp bathroom

to charge our phones. You said it would rain, but I wanted to cowboy

and laid down my ground cloth. We shared dinner, tortillas and cheese, while listening 

to Old Pine. Something about that song then and there hit us both 

hard. I’d only known you for three days really, but we could both feel that song,

hurting us deep down in our hearts respectively. And we laid down to sleep

with our white breath puffing out of sleeping bags and our hearts still aching 

from miss and loss,

when a star ripped through the night sky, cutting

like a shark fin above the surface

and you said, “I don’t think that’s a coincidence.” 

A litle bit more of Europe and coming home

I suppose we can start in Bordeaux. What can I say about Bordeaux? It's an amazing city, seriously. I loved my time there and ended up staying so long that I forfeited the rest of time in Europe just to stay there. I'd been meaning to go to Spain and Portugal still, but when you're having that much fun in a place there is absolutely no reason to leave at all! No rush and no worries, I'll get around to Spain and Portugal eventually. It's not the most important thing in the world that I follow the plans I set down for myself because I know that's never going to happen!

I'd found a couple couchsurfers in Bordeaux and last minute decided to stay with Melina and her friend. They were two German girls studying anthropology there in Bordeaux for a term or so. All I can say is they are amazing. Absolutely incredible. So was their French roommate Arthur. I had a ton of fun going out with them and meeting all the friends they'd made here in Bordeaux. I drank immense amounts wine and holy hell was it incredible. I don't drink wine, but this wine was the best I have ever had. It was so good. It was so good that one night I decided to just stay in and I drank three bottles by myself. Started with white, then blush, and finished off with a red. It was a night well spent. Plus a good bottle is only three euro! Who could refuse such a golden opportunity? Other nights were spent staying in or going out with them. Some were spent goin' off exploring and I spent one night out with some people I'd just met in town. Melina drove me out to a giant sand dune that's famous around there where I was reunited with the ocean. I spent over a week in Bordeaux including my birthday. Bordeaux is clas, such a good city and I'm sure I'll stop back by sometime.

Anyways, since I spent so much time there I'd knowingly skipped my flight from Portugal and instead got a different one flying out of Madrid. Since time was running out I got a rideshare and made it down for one night in Madrid. I didn't really do anything there but explore a little and I managed to stealth camp near the center. One day I'll come back and do Spain right. And then I was back in Ireland for a few days before I left for home.

Ah. Ireland. My new home away from home. My darlin' lover. My youth well spent. I hadn't realized how much I missed Ireland until I was back there. Wow did I miss it. I came back and immediately went to Galway because, well, because apparently all roads lead to Galway. And rightly so. I got to Galway and immediately met up with Shauna, we met up with the twins, and then we all met up with Rob and everyone else (All this is a loose sort of speculation because I'm not quite sure of everything that went down). And we all proceeded into a night of debauchery and shenanigans. We went good all night. All night and into the morning. And then all day. And then all night again. It was steady and true. It was bonding like the kind you can't find in America. As far as I can tell it was just pure Irish. I miss ye already Ireland....

And then it was all over and I was headed back to the airport skagged and hungover (neither of which left me for days). Met some awesome people on my flights back to America. Had a nice layover in Norway. Then arrived in NYC where I got to see Sierra and Lauren, two of my favourite people to visit while I'm out and about. It seems I only ever see them when I'm traveling. Had a grand time there and then it was back home to visit the fam and the dog. Which is where I am now. And ye know what? I miss it already. I miss it all. I miss the unknown and the adventure and people who don't know my language. I miss the food and the simple life of the vagabond. The generosity and the love of strangers and the bonds made while out traveling. I miss likeminded people, the likes of which are something of a rarity it seems. It's all just so liberating, it's all so satisfying. It puts you at peace in your soul and you're scratching that itch that never seems to go away. I do miss it, but it's still nice to be home for a little while. Nice to veg and play some video games and be a normal person for a short spell. See some friends I don't see very often, cuddle up with my dog, and maybe do a bit of running. It's refreshing because ye always gotta go recharge yer batteries for a bit before the next adventure. So you all know the nextadventure happens to be Peru and it starts Jan. 13th. So you can look forward to that at least, maybe I'll blog some of my life back home. But it's not always exactly PC so we'll see ;)

Keep being happy and have a good holiday season!

Beacon

Hows about some hitching?

I feel like I haven't given a good post about hitching very recently. So I'll dedicate this post to the generosity of the French and how culturally different hitching is here compared to America.

I was going to Boredeaux. I left Nantes really late (around noon) as the night before had more festivites than I'd planned for. There was no way I was going to make it today, Bordeaux was a good little bit away and it gets dark around 5 or 6 depending on how overcast it is. I had some applesauce tucked away in my pack for the inevitable night of camping somewhere in the French countryside. But I got to a fantastic spot outside of town and had two people stop in the first 10 minutes though they weren't going the right way. I wasn't too worried about getting out of town after that. 

While I was thumbin' it there a guy from Romania comes along also hitching down to Bordeaux and we join teams for a little while. Another car stops for us, but they aren't goin' the right way. The next car is a middle aged woman and her 10 year old son and they happily take us up to the next petrol station. Sometimes in America you'll get rides from people with kids, but not often. But it has happened so much over here it's shocking. But awesome, I think over here hitching is just not as looked down upon. 

So we're at the next petrol station for maybe 15 minutes before an older guy and his son give us a ride. They're going to an ultimate frisbee tournament and really just want to practice English. They drop the Romanian guy at a huge petrol station on the way to Bordeaux, but I decide to go on to La Rochelle with them. I always feel better when I'm by the ocean. We have a good ride and they drop me at the public bus stop to get me through town. I get a free tour for a euro and a half vis public bus and then I'm on the other side of town walking towards the highway I need with my thumb out.

I was just holding out my thumb while walking, not really expecting someone to pick me up as I was still in town when a car pulls over anyways. She's a young girl of 26 and headed about 50km up the road. She hardly speaks any English, but we do a really good job of talking regardless. I have to say she had the most gorgeous eyes and it was a good ride ending me up a good bit closer to easy hitching!

I had two choices of roads to go down at this point and kind of alternated between the two. I had 6 people pull over before I took a ride to Saintes. It was crazy, a car every 5 minutes!! The guy who picked me had a cat in his lap and he was on his way to drop it off at a shelter. He was really fun and dropped me where I presumed I would be camping for the night since it was nearly dark. But I wanted to try until the bitter end!

That's how I got a ride from a French fisherman who grows weed and scuba dives in his free time. He spoke less Engliah than anyone by far that day, but through pantomiming we talked for the full hour and half car ride. It was fantastic and he dropped me in the centre of Bordeaux. 

And there we have it, no problems whatsoever. The rides were awesome and so much fun. Simple as could be. I love hitching in France :)

Be happy,

Beacon 

A time for remembering

Being in Nantes with Maël has been incredible. From time spent listening to accordion late at night in the living room to eating kebobs under the castle bridge. Lots of cheek kisses and wine. It was awesome, but, in honor of how I know Maël, I am not going to blog about my time here in Nantes. No, instead I will go back two years ago exactly and tell of past adventures from my younger days.

I don't know where to begin. I can't tell it all because it's a long story. But I don't know if I tell about that time in Albania? Where we rented a car and drove all over to find the Blue Eye? Or Croatia, where I still claim the coolest spot I have EVER camped, right there outside the walls of the breathtaking Dubrovnik. Nah, I'll talk about the day we left Slovenia and hitched all the way to Carcassonne in France. (Let's be clear, this was a long time ago and fuzzy in my mind, but I will tell of it what I remember).

It was a race. A hitchhiking race. Me and Maël vs. Jake and Jess. The start? Slovenia, nearly on the Italian border. The finish line? Carcassonne France, where Jess' granddad has a farm in the countryside. It's not even light out and you can here the rustling of gear as everyone struggles to cope with the early morning grogginess. Sleeping bags are being stuffed into packs, phone chargers

found and put into ziplock baggies, teeth brushed. All four of us pile into the little car with Aya's mother and she drivesus  across the border into Italy where the sun is just starting to illuminate the overcast sky. And then we're off. 

Jake and Jess got a ride first, not surprising as they had Jess. We were soon to follow in some sort'o'vehicle I don't even remember. Soon they were out of sight and we were stuck on the roadside, thumbs out. Not long and a trucker comes to our aid taking us around Venice. It hurts to skip a place that fills my mind with a mysterious wonder such as Venice does, but there was a race to be won.Where are Jake and Jess? We don't know, we haven't seen them on the side of the road. Maybe they took a different route, maybe they're way ahead of us, maybe we already passed them. The cold air again, a fast car, we're at a petrol station. No, we're going to France. You're going to Spain? Can we go part of the way? No room for two, fuck. A van with a guy. Another rest stop and two familiar backpacks out front. Jake and Jess haven't been here long and we're soon doing fours. A van and we're all in it, to go to into Milan or south of it? We're all at another petrol. Excuse me sir, are you going to France per chance? Excuse me. Excu--- Maël motions me to a Range Rover. We get in, getting a jump on J&J. Where are you from? What do you do? Oh, I've been to New York too! Wait!? You're famous!? Giorgio Faletti? I'm sorry we've never heard of you. Makes sense if you're only famous in Italy. Fuck yeah we'll read your book, can we have a picture? Thanks for the ride!! Dust in the cold air. No one around, no, wait. One car with two women, not rare but not not often either. You're from Italy you say? Do you know who Giorgio Faletti is? He's that famous ey? Wow, we had no idea. Yeah, he just gave us a ride. A flurry of excited questions before a old broke down looking gas station. French plates! Maël is speaking in French to them! Good signs! Yes they're going to France! Long ride in a cramped car and it's one a.m. Where do we stay? The castle, it's looming over us as we drift off to sleep under the bridge....

A Day in Paris

Paris. Once upon a time I tended to dismiss Paris. I'd never thought anything about it except that I didn't want to go there. I never thought it'd be me to come and fall in love with a place so.. so... so idolized? That may not be the exact word I'm looking for, but you know what I mean. A city that people see as a fairytale ending. A city full of romance and love that little girls dream of running off to and getting lost in. And maybe that's why I never considered I would like it, because that was how I pictured Paris. 

When I hit Paris I was shocked. I had under (or over) estimated it to an embarrasing extent. Walking down the street there were beggars, homeless, and crazies everywhere you looked. The streets were dirty for the most part and there was graffiti thrown on nearly

every building. To say the least, I was relieved. It was perfect. Every big city has the same sort of atmosphere, but Paris is different. It feels dirty in a classy way. It had perfected being dirty. Not that all of it is dirty, it still holds the magnificent gardens and such that're so well known. But I think it was how everyone interacted. They all went about their buisness like it was a well rehearsed play. Now I know this tells you nothing of how it was, but just watching them was exhilarating. How is this so great you ask? It was how I turned a corner to find a crazy old man performing a skit for a homeless girl and her parents. It was no fucks given attitude of the citizens. How they would flippantly jaywalk whenever they wanted regardless of cars. How the motorcycles and mopeds would weave in and out, up and over the sidewalk or crosswalk as they pleased. Lemme' just say I've never seen someone look cool on a moped until now. And all of this done with the complete knowledge of what they were doing and not giving a damn. Just walking through you get vibrant feeling. Frankfurt and Stuttgart were fun cities, but for the most part all cities are the same with nothing new to offer. They all have the same old decent looking cathedral or a capital building with a random gold statue on top. But Paris made me feel intrigued again, there was a sense of unknown. Of wonder. It has more to offer than a mere ordinary city. It has things to offer I've never done before, things to offer I've never considered doing before. I makes you feel like there is so much more to life than what you're doing. It's huge and massive and old, all on a grand (not the Irish sense of the word) scale. Most cities will have a few or two cool buildings spaced out around the city ye know? But not Paris, oh no. In Paris proper everything is on such an impressive scale. Every building fighting for your attention. Each begging to be explored and sought. I could spend a year here and still feel like I hadn't seen it all... 

So congratulations Paris! You have not only swayed my opinion of you but you have full on recruited me to your defense. I'll promise one day that I will be back to visit you again, and I sorely look forward to that day. 

Be happy!

Beacon 

Frankfurt to Stuttgart

Frankfurt was awesome. More specifically, hanging out with Mike and Jan again was awesome. I love their humor and they are just such fun people. I know it seems like I didn't do a lot in Frankfurt, but that's because I didn't haha. Me and Mike definitely spent a few days where we didn't really leave the house at all except to go to the bakery on the corner. And it was awesome. There are many things in this world that are extremely underrated, and doing nothing on vacation is one of them. A lot of people get all planny and try to map it all out before hand with bundles of activities and sights to see. While that can be nice, it's not often relaxing ye know? It's just more stress of I've got to get here for this and there for that. No fun. Vacation is for relaxing and then if you're feeling a little adventurous after some relaxation go for it. Go out there and adventure. But you gotta be careful or you'll come back from vacation more exhausted than when you left haha. In sum, my advice is to leave more things up in the air :)

Jan

So Jan has this pony farm. And it was awesome. Just the variety of horses/ponies he had was awesome.We Spent part of a night there and I got to meet his son, a super adorable kid. After the pony farm we went out to eat some typical German food and drink. After summoning our inner hiker hunger we were all so stuffed we could hardly move by the end of it. Bliss. 

I had a great time in Frankfurt and was sad to see it go, but time :(... Next off is Stuttgart! I found an €8 bus ticket and jumped on that since I've become lazy in my old age. Why off to Stuttgart? Well I was off to see an old high school teacher of mine. If I'm on this side of the world I may as well visit some people! I got to meet her husband and we had a great lunch at a thai food resturaunt. And, even though it was brief, it was so good to see you again!! 

I decided to stay the night in Stuttgart with a couchsurfer I'd found. He turned out to be super cool, as was his Chilean roommate and his other couchsurfer who is a girl from Russia! Of course I stayed up waaay to late to get out at a reasonable hour today, so it's some more chill time before I go off into the wild blue yonder tomorrow.

Be happy,

Beacon

Belfast to Frankfurt (trail is world wide)

When I first decided I was going to Europe Germany was no where near in the plan at all. But as it went, and as I got entrapped by Ireland and its magic, I didn't have enough time to go over to France/Spain to hike El Camino de Santiago. That's alright though, there's always next time. But let's see, how did it all play out? There was a point in Ireland where I decided it was time to (sadly) leave the country and I thought about the people I knew in Europe to go visit. Well you can put two and two together and I landed on Germany! So I spent my last couple dazs in Belfast chillen' with the amazing Claire and her boyfriend Filly. I was meaning to get up to the Giant's Causway but the rain and numerous reports of how underwhelming it was dissuaded (is that a word? German spellcheck says no, but I think yes) me from making that attempt. And since a plane was on the line I took a cheapish bus back down to Dublin from Belfast so I could fly off to Frankfurt :)

Next thing you know I'm on Aer Lingus flying to meet Mike and Jan. Mike and Jan are two German guys I met at the beginning of the Appalachian trail nearly two years ago now. Good ol' facebook has kept us in touch since then! Now I was supposed to meet Mike and Jan at a McDonalds at terminal two. But the McDonalds was closed for the first time in history apparently. Lucky enough while I was wandering and wondering about how to approach that they wandered up and found me! We took a nice stroll through the night to get back to Mike's place and promptly made some food 'cause we were all starving. 

The next day Mike took me on a tour of the city and we did all the touristy stuff. It was really quite fun and Frankfurt is a gorgeous city. I've really enjoyed the place ye know? 

Now that all the touring was done we could start to party haha. We went and met up with some of their friends that night, inculding a German girl who had just thru-hiked the Appalachain trail this past summer! There is just something about trail people that gets you all excited. And being around Mike, Jan, and now Sophie too?!?! It was just incredible and such a good time reminiscing about the good ol' days (the z and the y are swapped on this kezboard and it's throwing me off everztime). Mike showed me some typical German foods (lots of sausage) and it's amazing I must say. 

The next day I went with Mike and we helped his friend doing some remodeling work on his home. It was really fun actually, and other than that we've just been chillen' like it's our job. It's been so much fun to just hang out with trail people again. Mike and Jan are fantastic and I'm loving staying with them too, unfortunately that's really putting some perspective on how little time I have left here in Europe :(

But I'm enjoying the hell out of the time I do have here :)

Be happz,

Beacon