Fun with the Frinsels: Germany

Every seasoned traveller knows the best way to cover new ground is alongside local friends. Thankfully Prairie Bible Institute has given me more than an education; it has also been a great place to make international friends. Although Peter is Dutch and Sarah is American they were able to be the first hosts to the GlobeTREK team. Thank you very much for offering your home in Schwaebisch Hall to us! 

Spending some quality time with the newest Frinsel: Ian Nathaniel

GlobeTREK photoshoot near the Heidelberg Castle.

Enjoying the European angle on life. 

Travel Paraphernalia

1. International Drivers Licence
2. Rental Car Key
3. Canon Lens Cover
4. Canadian Passport
5. International Phone
6. Boarding Pass: Calgart to Frankfurt
7. € 47.20 Euros

Das Ist überkrank

Spending the last week in Southern Germany with Jannik and his family turned out to be one of the major hight lights of this entire trip!! I am so glad I never changed my plane ticket and came home early like I contemplated for a while. Jannik is my Germany Buddy (if you didn't know) who is awesome and took 10 days off work to hang out with me. We met at his parents house in Bad TӦlz where his mother Claudia had wayyyyy to much food prepared for us. It was really good to see the entire Harrer family again, and just a traveler tip, if you want to experience some real German culture give them call before you go to Europe because staying with them is better then staying at any 5 star hotel.

My German Foster Parents and Brother

The first day I got there Jannik had the whole week planned out. What seemed like an entire months worth of activities he had squeezed into a week worth of "Awesomeness" as he called it. In six days we visited Europes largest water park, ski toured UP a Baviaran mountain, rock climbed in Munich, play Battlefield with his cousin Kirby and hiked in the Austrian Alps. I'm not sure Rest & Relaxation is the best way to title this blog update because right now I feel soar all over and just want to go home!

I don't know who thought it was a good idea to go up the hill when there is a perfectly good chair lift on the same mountain!!!

But I couldn't think of a better way to spend my final days in Europe then with an amazing family who gives me so much joy, love, food and Wienershitzel. Being this busy did have another advantage I didn't realize until now. Dispite being so close to flying home, getting emails from all my friends, and making arrangements with the family I never had any time to be home sick. The last week usually is the most difficult and longest but in less then 2 days I will be home and haven't really thought about that yet! It's nice to know I went hard right till the end and made the most out of the 7 plus months away. So to all my friends and family in Europe thank you for everything. You are welcomed and expected to come visit me on the farm in Smithers - if I am not in New Zealand or South America of course. And Melissa I've seen your facebook status and yes your Brother is coming home soon. I just have a few more place to go and people to see but I miss you too Suey!!!!!

Kevin

Munich & Oktoberfest

Its been a few days so I shall try my best to fill you in on the past week of activities. We left Kiel on Tuesday morning and were bound for Munich (Munchen). We were able to get train tickets the night before for a steal of a deal, only 21 euros per person but... it was a 15.5 hr train ride with 7 change overs along the way. Not a fun way to spend a day, but we saved a tonne of coin. We made it to Munich later that day, actually the next day at 1230 pm. There Claudia & Henier Harrer were waiting for us at the train station in Bad Tolz. It was very nice to see them again and we were very happy when we found out that we could sleep in some real beds for the next few days. We had a solid nights rest and when we woke up we headed to Munich to a exhibit that was being held in town. It was based on media and photography called something along the lines of "Images that Lie." It soul purpose was to warn or inform viewers of the way that media can manipulate and change the way that we see a photo. Making something that looks innocent and caring into something that appears to be evil and threatening. It was interesting for both Kevin and I to say and we enjoyed it. Annika took us touring around the city, which was busy due to an election speech giving by a candidate for the upcoming elections. We headed home for some super and relaxation. On Thursday we met up with Johanna and Lisa, her friend. they took us, along with Annika and Andy to Munich for Oktoberfest. Me and Kev were a lil bummed when we found out that we couldn't get ahold of the traditional clothing, but were stoked anyways. We headed to the big tent first, in hopes of being able to get in due to the fact that it was before the rush. Luckily we were and had a fun time inside seeing all the action and events inside, so many people were in such a big tent, it was really exciting and fun to say the least. So a ton of sites and did a lot of very cool and traditional things, it was a good time for sure. And now I can say that I have been there and done that.

Oslo to Gothenburg to Kiel

Spending to much time on the road means this is gunna happen at least once, ROCKOUT ROADTRIP PHOTOSHOOT!

It's been a few days since this has been updated. Ill try to fill in as many details as I can remember. We spent a day in Gothenburg where we planned to go to the oldest amusement park in Europe there, but it was closed for the day. So we had to find some other touristy things to do. Jannik wanted to visit this Maritimes Museum, which I thought wouldn't be that exciting, but we went. I was pleasantly surprised there, they had a legit Swedish Destroyer and Submarine. WE toured both and it was super cool seeing one in real life, beats seeing them on TV by a mile. After we left Gothenburg we went up to Oslo, Norway. Tried to get into the city early to see some sites but that really didn't work out for us. We were able to find a campsite and then had to haul to get to this 630 hockey game in a nearby town. We watched Oslo's team, Valerenga take on Lorenskog (it would be the equivalent of Smithers playing Houston). The game was pretty good, it was really good to watch some hockey again. We were cheering for the Oslo team cause we read that there were some Canadians playing for them, so we got a lot of glares from the people around us when they scored. But they ended up losing and we bailed early pretending to be really upset that they lost. Spent the night and had to head back in the morning, kinda wished we could spend a few more days there in Oslo. It was a nice port city, very scenic and all that jazz. But then we made it back to Gothenburg on Friday night and booked us a hostel, for the first time in a week we weren't all sandwiched in a 2 man tent with no mattresses. Went out and hit the town that night, went to the amusement park we weren't able to go to before and hit all the rides, it was a good time. Bunch of good roller coasters there that really scared Jannik, haha, okay maybe just one but we all had a blast. Then we went out to hit the town but it turned out to be a disappointment and I ended up in Subway watching some recorded 2005 playoff hockey. Haha, it made my night though. The next day we had a few hours to kill before our ferry left to take us back to Kiel so we went to this Universeum. Like science world meets a zoo. I think Kevin and Jannik had WAY to much fun there. Anyways, we jumped on our 5 o'clock ferry and realized we had to be the youngest people on that entire ferry. But we made the best of it I guess, haha old boogie dancing was the only event open so we had some fun. Arrived back in Kiel at 9 am and then headed over to Jannik's pad for some much needed rest. It was good to just hang out without having to stress about finding campsites and cooking and stuff. But now we are getting ready to head out again, fun trip overall.

Today and The Rules

Today, Jannik went to work, we slept and played video games in his apartment. Then he came home and went shopping for our camping trip. Bought all the goods that men buy.

Oh and I must say...

Jannik is so crazy, He Bought Like 6 whole litres of Cola!

Were like what are you going to do, he said

"Drink 'Em All!"

Anyways, we set a couple rules for our trip.

1) Absolutely No Plans! Wherever the road takes us, it takes us. We have a tent, a car and a trunk full of goodies while in Sweden, this is gunna be good!

2) No Shaving! Mostly cause we'll be to lazy too plus I have to show Kevin I'm more of a man than he by growing more facial hair. Haha.

3) No Cell Phones! Although Jannik is the only one with a phone.

4) Apparently Kevin and Jannik are saying no computer or blogging. We'll see about that one.

5) Last but not least, No Good Food! Were too dutch to buy the good stuff anyways.

This is our first and probably our only SCANDINAVIAN ROAD TRIP! I think we're going to have a good time.

Kiel

This is gunna be a quick and short post. Yesterday we spent the majority of the day with Adrie Okkema (sp?) it was a really good day, nice weather, lots of new places to see: windmill mill, great g-parents grave, etc. Last night we went and visited her sister, Tenat and her family. There boys are roughly me and Kevin's age so it was good, had a fun visit and hopefully they will come to Canada sometime soon. Then we left Fryslan this morning, got a ride to the train station from Klass' brother, Rien. Had to take the train up to Kiel to meet up with Jannik, it took us 7 hours and 7 train switches to make it. But we're here, had a really good supper and tour of the city. Got big plans for the next week so we're all excited. Thats about it, more to come I guess.