People In Passing

What do you get when you combine 1.2million people crowding a city of 500,000 to dance and party? Well in Germany it’s called the Love Parade and it is truly something to behold.

I woke around 9:30 am to get some breakfast and noticed that another of the bunks in the 5-bed dorm I was staying in was filled. Sometime after breakfast we introduced ourselves, his name was Juan Jose (Juan-Jo for short) and he had come in from Madrid for the Parade with a couple of friends. Later he invited me to join the three of them and get some lunch before heading down to the parade. They wore matching red shirts with a white bull on the front, representing the part of Spain they were from, and all three were incredibly nice guys.

We drank a little before heading down to the parade. Some whiskey and coke and a Corona with a Doner Kebab. We didn’t see throngs of people heading for the stations so we thought maybe it was slow to start. This is the first year the Love Parade has been anywhere outside of Berlin since it began in the 90′s.

After boarding the U-bahn towards BerlinerPlatz we discovered that we were just further out than the rest of the party goers. The next stop on the line opened to the cheers of people packed into the terminal and 30seconds later the train was overflowing. Two stops further and the cheering crowd poured out of the train and we followed. Exiting the station we could hear the music and the horizon was full of people as far as you could see.

We wandered about, taking in the spectacle and then dived in to the center. I started taking pictures and people started jumping in front of the camera and grabbing their friends. What’s funny is almost always after they asked for a card showing where they could see the picture. It’s funny because a few years back I ran a nightlife website for Portland clubs (R.I.P. PDXCLUBPIX) and that’s exactly what we’d do. Snap a picture and hand out a card. I had cards printed up for an easy way to point people to this site before I left so I handed some of those out. To those of you that thought I was shooting for a magazine or online publication, sorry, I’m just a traveler, but like I promised you can see your pictures by clicking HERE.

Everyone I talked to that day was friendly and happy to be there. We stayed and danced and drank until the wee hours and then headed back to the hostel for some short sleep before our respective departures the next morning. Thanks again to my new Spanish friends for letting a goofy American tag along!

You must understand by now that my misadventures are my adventures. Ending up in the wrong place is often as interesting as ending up in the right place. Sometimes more.

So with that said… I find myself at an AOL Kiosk in an American themed bar/resturant next to my indoor soccerplex-hostel. Country music on the stereo and belt buckles and cowboy hats on the staff, including a giant backdrop of Monument Valley behind what I imagine would be the dancefloor on a busier night….

But getting here is the story.

Leaving Antwerp was my first use of the Eurail pass I bought. 3 months unlimited rail travel throughout 18 countries in Europe. After validating the ticket at Antwerp Central I recieved an itinnerary consisting of 4 train changes to get to Essen Germany. It should have taken about 4 hours… There was another option that would have arrived there later but with less train changes (and the insidious “suppliment”: extra money for better trains)

In the end both would have arrived about the same time.

I was dozing in and out of conciousness on the first 45 minute leg and phazed in at one point right around the time that we stopped at a station. We’d been traveling about 40 minutes at the time and other people were getting off so I switched into lemming-mode and got off as well.

After the train pulled away the sign on the station was revealed. At that point I realized I had made a mistake. The sign read “Essen.” There is an Essen in Belgium also, just before the stop I wanted.

An agent happened to be standing on the opposite side of the tracks facing me. “Rosendaal?” I said, pointing in the direction the train had just gone. He nodded in reply.
“Oops.” I said with a smile. He was able to print me another series of connections to get to Essen (Germany) and I went back to the platform to wait the 50 minutes for the next train.

Mistake #2

So after the first goof I had an hour to study the train schedule and, although it was in Dutch, it was making sense. My guesses prooved correct for the next two changes.
Until Venlo.

Upon arriving at Venlo I turtled my way over to platform 3b where the train was waiting (changing platforms requires that you go down a flight of stairs, through a tunnel and up a flight of stairs). It was early and the doors were open so I got on board.

The train started moving early. “Do they leave early?” I thought to myself as we pulled away from the station. As we passed the first stop I recognized the name.

Getting all my gear together and through the doors in my way didn’t happen in time and I was still heading in the direction I’d just come from. Oops.

I was able to hop the next Eastbound at the following stop and get back to Venlo, where I waited for the next version of the train I’d missed. During this time I realized I had entered a new country. Not because of any change in the people or architecture, but because the sound of the dominant language had changed. The more gutteral sounds of German were everywhere.

Dutch and German sound similar. I’m told by a Belgian that when the English came to Belgium they heard the language and thought it was German (or Deütch) which was then softened in the telling to “Dutch.” Also now with the announcement there was a very helpful English translation which was never present in Belgium.

Arriving in Essen (the right one) I was tired, hungry, and done with hefting my bags around. I hunted for the busses the info booth told me would be needed to get to my destination. After walking around for a little while I decided on a cab with a very nice Iranian exile for the driver. All the streets are closed for the Love Parade tomorrow so we had to take the long way…

Love Parade = up to 1,000,000 people filling the streets to enjoy dance music from DJs on floats. Google it. It should be interesting.

As I’m sketching out some of the sites I would like to see on this adventure I’ve come across some amazing hotels. Some of the locations are seasonal so it might depend on my ability to be in a certain part of the world at a certain time. Like the Ice Hotel in Sweden which is only open from November through April because that is the only time of the year when it is structurally sound. The hotel is made entirely of ice and reconstructed each year out of over 3000 tons of ice and 30000 cubic meters of snow. You sleep comfortably on a bed of ice, snow, and reindeer pelts in a brisk -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees F).

Then on the opposite end of the continent there are the Fairy Chimneys of Turkey. A 1500 year old complex of caves that were once used for wine making as part of an early Byzantine monastery.

All points in between… Unusual Hotels of the World is a semi-comprehensive collection of the eccentric to the truly bizarre where lodgings are concerned. I’ve found a great many hotels I’d love to stay at here in the United States if I had the time and the money (most are expensive, in the $250-$350 range).

Regardless, any of these places will be an experience and a nice change from the multi-person dorms I will likely spend most of my nights in.

So I’ve finally finished the story of last year’s holiday adventure. It is too long to put in a single post so I have created a separate page for it. It’s been a long time coming, a year in fact, and I’m sure it still has some spelling and grammatical issues. If you notice any, please let me know.

You can find the story here:

http://peopleinpassing.com/icelandic-new-years-2005/

Pictures can be found here:

http://flickr.com/photos/digiboom/sets/72057594055273720/

I hope you all enjoy it and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I just spoke with a woman at Visas A.S.A.P in Burbank, CA about the Visas I would need for my trip. After describing what I am attempting to do there was a sigh on the other end of the phone. Let’s just say she wasn’t optimistic about my chances of getting many, in any, of my Visas before I leave.

According to her, Iran is not an option, not safe, and I shouldn’t go there because there is a country warning on the State.gov website. Also, as an Isreali, she knows something about this. While I believe she has valid reason to dislike any country that has publicly announced they wish the destruction of her country, I sincerely doubt she has traveled there. Iran, by as many reports as I can find, is full of very friendly and intelligent people that can tell the difference between a person and their government. Iran is even offering a cash incentive to tour organizers to bring Americans to their country as reported by CNN here: “Iran offers cash to U.S. tourists”

Aside from Iran she advised that I get my Visas while traveling, noting that most of them require itinerary and proof of onward passage. I have neither. Many of the Visa applications I have looked at also require specific entry and exit dates, which I only have a rough idea of regarding the month of the year. I imagine I will be spending quite a bit of time in Turkey or Syria trying to get my passage through the rest of Asia figured out.

If you have a glass handy, raise it with me, to the long road ahead.

I spoke with Joycene (sp?) from Freighter World Cruises again yesterday regarding my passage across the Atlantic next year. You see, I spoke with her about 2 months ago and she sent me all the information needed to book my room on the ship. Then I promptly lost it.

On my second call to Freighter World Cruises I was informed that she would not be sending me the information a third time (I’m pretty sure she was kidding, maybe…).

The packet includes information on the ship I will be travelling on, which will be the NSB Ibn Sina (ignore the India part), from Savannah, Georgia to Valencia, Spain in Single Cabin #303. The packet also includes the requirements for travel, such as, Travel Insurance, Clean Bill of Health, all necessary vaccinations, Visas, Proof of Passage out of Spain, etc…

To book the cabin a downpayment of 25% is required. For my segment of the journey this will be about $329US.

The total, after conversion, deviation insurance, and fees is $1559US. Substantially more expensive than a flight across the pond but for 13 days of an experience I can get nowhere else I’ll happily write the check.

 More to come, I’ll be calling the Iranian Consulate today to find out how difficult it will be to get a visa to cross their country overland.

Heres the route for the NSB Ibn Sina: