Royally Smegged.

We (my mother and i) are on a ship, boat thing. Cruise liner is probably a better word. From Scotland to Belgium.
So far it has not sunk.. this I see as a good thing.
What it has done is prove to be truly dull, juttery and in the habit of playing elevator music, EVERYWHERE. This is probably better than the alternative, being elevator music mixed with a horrible gurgling sound.
We also made the mistake of coming on board with no cash.. (when I say no cash, it actually means about 3.44 pounds, and 2.32 Euros.. yes I counted) and there is no way of getting money from here to Brussles. No one takes travellers checks, credit or debit card, and there aren’t any of those nifty ‘holes in the wall’ (Trade marked by Barclays).
We do have food, very good food, in abundance.. which is good.. and I have a plan.
No one has been helpful with the challenge of the no money situation.. they don’t seem to believe its actually true (you mean you don’t carry hundreds of pounds in cash all the time?).
I have had four plans actually. –in order that they occurred to me
1. Create a mini ebay on board and auction all my stuff off, leaving us with money and no stuff.
2. When we get to the other end ask a taxi driver to take us to the nearest atm/bank and then pay him.
3. Pick pocket (this was not met with much approval from my mother).. I think it would have been a fun challenge though ;) –and they are all rich.. so its not like a morally bad thing.. haha lol
4. Go to the casino. Hopefully purchase some ‘chips’ on credit card, then change the chips back into real money.
This is the plan we are currently in the process of.. I shall be back with the story.
Ok…well brilliant idea though it was.. it didn’t work. The casino doesn’t take credit card, id like to think that this is to discourage addictive gambling.. but somehow I doubt that it’s a moral reason.
We then tried suggesting that we could purchase something in the shop and return it for a cash refund.. also a failed idea. In our own way we created some what of a fuss.. this is becoming a bad habit.. lol
I also made a discovery, whilst furtively attempting to disassociate myself from my penniless mother, this ship is RUN BY GERMANS. Now, I have no problem with germans, but I didn’t specifically know of them as a hospitable race per se. But it works, a ship between Scotland and Brussles is run by Germans, its obscure but does rather represent the normal madness that the world seems to run on.

So.. after much ado (and hysterical laughter on behalf of an Estonian lass).. we have a very muddy map of Zebrugge from which I am under instruction to make my way through freeways and bushes to a post office to obtain cash. Yay.. the fun things I get up to. Aren’t you all jealous? (to think I actually get people saying ‘I wish I was where you are’ I spend most of my time trying to work out why im not where I should be, how not to spend money, whether that white container contains milk or something worse.. and if the veritable pharmacy im carrying has anything im likely to get arrested for.. I have antibiotics for everything, anti nausea, anti altitude, anti histamine, a cream that fixes everything.. I even have Panadol!)

Yay.. first thing this morning I got the exciting job of running across highways in Zebrugge to stand in a que and get some money.
It all worked, we got a bus, we got a hotel, and I even got internet for a bit. That has all been condensed somewhat.. but fill in the gaps with some low clouds, scottish folk deciding to quiz us on Gaelic and mud.

So.. I have two stories from home.
Ill start with my brother’s.
Being as I am, and not as im not, I have a tendancy to ask everyone who reads my blogs what they think of them. Ie. Boring? Irratic? Amusing? Informative? Self indulgent? Dogmatic? Bigmotic (not sure it’s a word, but I like it-yet to think of a meaning)? Etc.
So I asked my brother. (you have to be desperate if you are asking a sibling for constructive criticism).
And I didn’t get the expected, ‘myneh.. pretty crap’.
I got a ‘Yeah’
‘Yeah what?’
‘Well I wouldn’t write a Medical Textbook like that’ –totally deadpan
‘Umm.. this may surprise you but I never had intentions of writing a textbook, medical or otherwise’ –deadpan and confused
‘oh, theres a lot of money in it’ –thoughtful deadpan

The odd thing about it was that he wasn’t putting it on. For some reason he had come to the conclusion that I was going to write a medical textbook (god knows how.. I have shown the same inclination towards that as I do to extreme ironing-again google it). Possibly that I was also going to write a book in this tone.
It was such an odd thing for my brother to come out with.. I think ill forever be bemused..

And the second..
I got an email from my aunt, with one of the best statements in it, quoted from one of my cousins, who has spent much of her time exploring the world also with a pack but a slightly different slant and somehow I think more adventure. But apparently:
‘Still as Emma says its more about what you see and learn on the way, than where you think you are wanting to go, that I think is the difference between a traveler and a tourist.’
‘Than where you think you are wanting to go’
Hahaha.. sooo true.. I don’t think ive quite conveyed how lost, off track, off target, off deadline and schedule we have gone in the last two weeks. Its been good.. but it can get frustrating.
I’m only beginning to get the idea that there are people out there who have two weeks, a budget and a list of things they want to see. They then stick within the time, the budget (although we mainly did that) and they see the things they want to.
Can you imagine that? Starting a trip with tangible goals and sticking to them? Taking pictures of all the Monoply streets, or visiting 101 stone circles, or doing all the typical London things (changing of the guard, black taxi etc.).
I thought I was doing well sticking to my goals.
a) survive –so far so good.. I will appoint myself a little gold star sticker
b) eat a pizza in each country –this is more a ‘by accident’ thing, pizza seems to be safe most places.. and I can generally translate the toppings.. best was china, weirdest was Portugal, they didn’t use tomato paste.
c) survive more sans scars, physical or otherwise- see a) (no blood so far.. that’s got to be a record for me)
I think I didn’t have more than that when I left home, I couldn’t see past peru, It never occurred to me id get to do a tour of the UK, let alone that I might get to Belgium. (I wasn’t 100% that Belgium was actually real until Wednesday, until then it had just been a swear word in Hitch Hikers.)
Beyond tomorrow I have nothing set in concrete.. technically im flying home on the 4th of January but that’s not going to happen, as in it will probably be later.. not that I wont come home. Theres things I want to do and people id love to see again, and ive decided I want to see the Champs Eleesays (in Paris, sounds like Chan de lesay) cant spell it. Im also rather excited about the idea of being in Europe for Halloween, there is some seriously classy paraphernalia here for it.

And whilst im still being irratically chatty.. I have three educational, well regrets is the wrong word.. but things I wish id learnt as a kid.
a) Learnt French.. much as I love Pak, Indo just hasn’t been useful (aside from Apotek and Ananas) it’s a great language but not the best for people spending time in Europe. That said if Indo was safe id go there, and it would be useful. But I think for the next little while, or at least till SE asia settles I’ll try and learn French.
b) Learnt Guitar, I really have no excuse for not doing this, but it is the most awesomely cool transportable talent, and very social.
c) Learnt to play soccer. What can I say? It’s the world game, and when they say that they mean it.

One of the things I’m most glad I learnt as a kid was how to swim, its also cool to know I’ve had some of the best teachers in the world and as such you can get in a pool anywhere and no matter what, you have a high probability of kicking ass in a race. Also lowers your likelihood of drowning, which is also pretty cool.

I am currently imagining the conversation my father will have with Luke when he reads the conversation.
Dad ‘WHY did you tell you sister not to write a medical textbook?’
Luke ‘Cause she shouldn’t’
D ‘ok… but HOW did that come up?’
L ‘I just thought she needed some discouragement from writing a textbook’
D ‘But WHY?’
L ‘Dunno… dad you do realise you need to add an external hard drive to the computer to make the firewall… *techno babble*’
And that would be the end of it.. and the mystery still remains.

Note: I am now currently thinking of writing a medical textbook.. or at the least a medical paper.. I think ill base it on the psychology of sibling relationships over great distances.

Today we went to Flanders fields, as in where the Poppies grow.
To those that that doesn’t ring a bell for. It was one of the major sites for battle in WWI and where a lot of aussie soldiers fought.
I might go into it later, but it was really good, tastefully done, as an Australian I recommend it, and I think we should be proud of our involvement.

But as they say ‘the world spins on and we must spin with it’ so ciao and take care.