It always seems to be the case that I go along without doing much for ages, then everything happens in one week. This weekend I’m in Malmö for a European Greens meeting, then all next week I have exams and a parental visit. Still, I can’t complain, Sweden is lovely, and I’m pretty confident about the exams.

I’m getting quite excited about my two little holidays that are coming up. After graduation on Wednesday (how fast the past three years have gone by), I’ll be getting ready to board the train to Brussels. I’ve visited the city quite a number of times, but never really spent time as a tourist, so I’m looking forward to visiting the Atomium, and making use of the air-conditioning in a couple of museums and galleries.

Once I get back from that trip, I’ll be preparing to visit the UK’s number one tourist city: London. A couple of days sightseeing with the other hordes, and I’ll be ready for the Night Riviera to Cornwall to relax in a favourite hostel of mine near Fowey.

Tis my birthday today, so I’m taking a welcome day off politics, studying, and travelling. I spent the weekend at a seminar on Internet campaigning with the European Green Party in Brussel, and then had a couple of days to do “dissertation research”. I managed to get an interview with the Secretary-General of the EGP, and plenty of time for ‘networking’, which will hopefully prove useful later on. There was also time to carry out my role as International Co-ordinator of the Young Greens in Great Britain; a role mainly consisting of sitting in cafés or bars and discussing things over a glass of Belgian beer. Of all the roles on the boards of the young greens in the UK, I like both of mine the best.

I only got back from Brussel last night though, and I’m off to Edinburgh on Friday afternoon, so today and tomorrow will be a good chance to rest, and catch up on reading for a very late switch (seven weeks in) onto a different unit within in my university course.

I was chastised in the office today by a much better blogger than me for not having updated my blog recently, so here goes. Since my last proper update, over a month ago, lots has happened. I crossed Europe by train, then did it all again to get back, discovered the Edinburgh Festival, and started a politics blog.

My trip to Greece was like most long trips: there was a lot to enjoy, but most of it was sitting on trains (or rather, lying, as I used sleepers and couchettes for large parts of it), feeling bored. The trip was a little unusual, in that I was travelling with a friend from Brussel for the first few days, then I set off on my own for the remainder. It was interesting to see the different characters of all the cities I passed through. Praha felt like a faded jewel; Ljubljana had the same vibe that Edinburgh has, clearly something to do with being the capital of a small country; Zagreb was the first really ‘different’ city that I reached. It took a little while to get used to it, but once I had, it grew on me. Sofia was one of the best cities which I visited. I didn’t actually spend a lot of time exploring Sofia, instead I settled into the brilliant Hostel Mostel for a break from my holiday. There is only so much walking around cities looking at tourist sights that I can manage. After Sofia, I had one last comfortable sleeper train, before becoming acquainted with ΟΣΕ, the Greek state train operator. I say acquainted, really though, that didn’t happen until my return journey. From Thessaloniki to Athens, I had to use a coach thanks to a railway strike. I did get to use rail-based public transport in Athens though, with the Metro to Pireus. A quick overnight ship down to Crete brought me to that little corner of England in Crete that is my grandparent’s house. I’m not ashamed to say that the first thing I did when I arrived was to make a proper British cup of tea, and watch BBC World News.

The trip back was supposed to be more direct. With a very nice ship up to Pireus (if only Stena Line would take note of how ANEK Lines run their ships), I arrived in Athens ready for a comfortable and fast InterCity train to Thessaloniki, then a sleeper to Sofia. The man in the ticket office at Athens Larissa Station distinctly uttered the words “No, no. Free train to Thessaloniki for InterRail tickets”. Having heard this, I got on the train, then at Thiva (no, you probably haven’t heard of it, it’s in the middle of nowhere) I was kicked off the train, and had to spend four hours in the company of a few stray dogs, and a soldier bound for the capital. When a train I was allowed to use did finally arrive, I had to spend another four hours sitting in the luggage rack thanks to there being no seating reservation system in place. I truly felt like I was back in the UK. It worked out in the end though, and I managed to make a connection onto a sleeper train to Sofia. Hostel Mostel were kind enough to let me spend the day in their common room, and use the showers for free (after a full day travelling, and an overnight train, that was an urgent requirement). Mostel even provided me with free pasta and beer! 

Then the ‘long’ bit of the journey began. A sleeper from Sofia to Beograd, then theoretically a day train from Beograd to Wien, with a sleeper from Wien to Köln, and the Thalys to Brussel, then another Thalys to Paris. Unfortunately, I forgot to factor in that sleepers usually arrive a couple of hours later than scheduled, so as we were pulling into Beograd, the train to Wien was pulling out. A 140 km/h taxi ride up to Novi Sad sorted things out though, and I was only slightly ripped off by the driver. The remarkable thing about the train to Wien was the catering. This may not sound remarkable to any non-UK readers of this, but imagine being served freshly prepared food on a real plate, by a waiter, at a table with a table-cloth on it! Astonishing. Why can’t this be commonplace in the UK too?! 

I had a brief stopover in Brussel to buy a European flag, then it was onto Paris for a couple of nights rest, and a day being a hyper-tourist. Hyper-tourism is probably a product of my upbringing in Edinburgh, tourism’s second city in the UK. What you have to do is make a list of all the tourist sights in the city, so the Marais, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Montmatre, Bastille, and La Defense. Then plot a route, using the metro system and an all day ticket, so that you can visit each one, and spend roughly five minutes there to take some photos. Now I know that this isn’t perhaps the best way to ‘experience’ a place, but with only one day to hand, it seemed like a good idea. 

The last leg of my trip was filled with all the obstacles that occur in travel as you get nearer to the UK. Long check-in lines for Eurostar, pointless border controls (please UK Government, sign up to Schengen), delayed trains, crampt conditions, and the biggest annoyance: tiny overhead luggage racks. Seriously, I got all the way across Europe and back, and on every train I used, my suitcase went in the overhead luggage rack. Only in the UK can I not fit it up there.

So that was my trip. I made a lot of friends, thought I lost one for a while, saw a lot of places, and travelled a very long way. 

Click to see a Flickr Collection of my trip photos 

Well I didn’t get very far with the “political” post, so I’ll save it for another time. My constant travel continues, and I’m taking a short pit-stop in Manchester, before heading for the Netherlands for a week, and then crossing Central Europe and the Balkans to get to Greece.

I was in Dublin for the first Inter-Isles Young Greens get-together, which was great fun. We managed to achieve the perfect balance between socialising and serious stuff. Highlights included going on my first Pride march, and developing a taste for Guinness. The next event is in Edinburgh, later in the year, so I’m looking forward to that.

While I was in Ireland, I managed to squeeze in a trip over to Co. Galway to visit family. Rural west of Ireland is quite a contrast to Dublin, shown most clearly in the difference between a pub in Cong with DJ Eamo (bored looking man in the corner with a laptop plugged into the speakers), and pretty much any pub we went to in the capital.

Anyway, ’twas all fun, as, hopefully, the rest of Europe will be.

Once again, i’ve gone far too long without posting anything here. I’m in a strange period of lots of travelling at the moment. This weekend there’s a family party, which should be fun, and next week I’m off to Dublin for a young greens event. So I’m finding myself on trains rather a lot. Considering my summer holiday is going to consist of taking the train to Bosnia, it is a feeling I should get used to.

Anyway, I’m partly writing this to try out a new version of the software that runs my blog, and partly to fill in the gap before I put up my next post, which I’m thinking will be a “political” thing.