Buzzfeed you've done it again.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/emmyf/27-signs-youre-a-backpacker

Leaving home

Moving house is not complete without the above song, Jebeidiah - Leaving Home. I went to YouTube to find a link for this song, now I'm stuck in an 90/00's Australia garage punk/rock internet black hole. So many good Frenzal Rhomb, Body Jar, Area 7 songs. That was just how it started, I attempted to start this blog an hour and a half ago. I've since watched some Adam Hills and Donald Glover stand-up along with other random titbits that popped up in the sidebar.

The moral of the story is I am packing up my room to leave and really not getting anywhere. I've cleared the bookshelf, made a pile on the bed and did one run down to the bins. Progress.

Weekend Trips

"Work will set you free"

The sign above, hangs above then entryway to the former concentration camp, Auschwitz. Located an hour outside of Krakow, every year over a million tourists make the trek to Auschwitz to pay their respects and learn more about the tragedies that occurred here. The sign that can be seen in the above photo is not the original sign, the original sign was stolen in 2009. 

Birkenau Camp

 The sign has since been found, but it was cut into three pieces so that it could be transported out of the former army barracks with ease. 

The trip to Auschwitz was one of the main reasons my friend came to visit Poland, it was very interesting, but mentally exhausting. I think the exhaustion had three factors, the heat, the length of the tour and the sheer amount of people there.

There were not many rules inside Auschwitz, be respectful (a given) and no photos of certain items. The certain items included human hair remains, the piles of shoes and the actual death chambers. The amount of people that blatantly disregarded that rules was insane, I don't understand why you would want a photo of the hair or the gas chambers. When you get home from Poland, those aren't the kind of photos your friends are going to want to look at.

It was a short time my friend and I spent in Poland, not even a full weekend, but we managed to cram all the things I told her we need to do.

• Eat Polish sausages
• Auschwitz
• Drink at the Good Bye Lenin
• Eat a Zapiekanka
• Go to a 4 zloty bar

Now she is on a flight back to Australia and I have that sinking realisation that it will be a long time before I see anyone from Australia again. 

Brno

The weekend before I went to Krakow, I went to Brno. Brno is the second largest city in both land size and population in the Czech Republic, it is very pretty but very quiet. It could be the time of year I visited though, because it is a very large university town and university is out for the summer. 

If you ever head to Brno, stay at the Ruta 80 hostel - it's a funky little tribute to the 80's. 

The worst train ride, ever.

I went to Krakow for the weekend, the weather was scorching. I haven't seen these kinds of temperatures since Jan/Feb 2012. The plan was to catch the overnight back to Otrokovice, it left Krakow at 2200 and arrived at 0332, leaving me plenty of time to get home and have a kip before starting work at 0800 and it was a sleeper train, even better a little bit of shut eye on the train.

It was not too be.

The train compartment were tiny, three beds on each side. My bed was a centre one, but when I walked in there was a British girl laying in my bed, she looked at me pathetically and explained that her bed was the top one and would I mind swapping with her. She was already in my bed, there was really not too much I could do about it. So I climbed up to the sky high bed, my nose pretty much touching the ceiling, my legs crushed up to my chest, and tried to get comfortable. It was unbearably hot, sweating whilst not even moving, and six other people in there really didn't help.

The heat got a little bit better when we started moving, a breeze came in through the window, but that was not to be either. The train was delayed with mechanical difficulties for over an hour. So we stopped moving and the breeze stopped blowing. It was 0200 at this stage and everyone else on the train was asleep, I was lying there dripping with sweat trying to make out the faint announcements about our trains delay.

At about 0420 we arrive at Otrokovice, I had left the cabin in search of a breeze and I window with a better view of where we were. Unbeknownst to me, I had wandered into an empty carriage where I became locked in. I couldn't get into a different carriage and I couldn't get out the door when we finally arrived at the station.

I tried to get people on the platform to help me, but nothing. I started to freak out, I had no idea where the next stop would be and I had to go to work. Finally after hearing me try to get out (by trying to rip open a door) a train attendant arrived and yelled at me before letting me out at the platform. Because of the train delay I missed my connection to Zlin and had to wait 20 mins for the connecting bus. So I got back, had an hour and a bit sleep and went to work.

A day later and I still feel awful.