Change of Plans

Mary and I've been examining our trip through Europe. None of it was set in stone to begin with and this is our first major travel experience, so we've learned a few things.

Lesson #1: 17 countries in 3 months is A LOT of travel. Vacationing, staying in one place, is one thing; moving about on a train for so long is completely different. We're getting tired and feel like we're not really seeing the countries...only browsing.

Lesson #2: Ties in with #1 - traveling between 17 countries is EXPENSIVE. Trains, planes, buses...the bill is racking up quickly. Next time we travel, we're gonna hit one or two countries and focus on those alone. (P.S. Lonely Planet books are heavy, buy as you go along.)

Lesson #3: Currency is a pain in the big ol' butt! What's the currency of the day? Rubles? Turguts? Yuan? Euros? Can't we all just agree on one standard?

Lesson #4: Clean clothes are a rarity when traveling....If you can get laundry service, you have to let'm drip dry for a few days.

Lesson #5: Paperwork consumes way too much time in Russia. We've had to register in every city we've stayed in. These registration stamps cost $10-20 each time and you've got hunt up a place that'll do it for you when staying in hostels since they don't have their own rubber stamp to do the job. Soooo many people we've talked to have had visa/registration problems, can't get out of the country on time, etc. Russia does not want tourists...just stay home.

Lesson #6: Last, but certainly not least and perhaps one of our most overriding feelings: 1 year + 3 months is a long time to be away from family, friends, and Canada.

So, we've changed a few things. We're cutting out a handful of countries including: Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Belgium. We're going to spend more time in Germany and The Netherlands, much less time in the baltics, Czech, and Poland. Also, we're trimming our trip by a month. Our new arrival date back home is October 27. We can't wait to see familiar faces again.

As a side note, to change our flight home, we had to call Expedia in North America(e-mail couldn't be used for security reasons). So, to call a North American phone number from Russia follow these easy steps:

1. Head to your nearest metro station or magazine vendor and mime for an international telephone card. Hand over about 100 roubles.
2. Bug your hostel to get a local calling card - another 100 roubles should do the trick.
3. Hunt down a public pay phone.
4. Lift the receiver and insert the local calling card. This just lets you dial the number on the back of the international card. Wait for a number to appear on the phone - this is the number of minutes left on your local card.
5. Dial the first number on the back of your international card then press *.
6. Wait for an automated operator to answer. They'll be speaking in Russian, so just ignore them. It may be possible to press 3 to change the language to English, but this is card dependent and they tell you in Russian which number to press; a bit of a language paradox.
7. When the robot is finished speaking, they've probably asked you to enter your PIN. So scratch the area on the back of the card (no you can't win anything) and enter this 10-15 digit number followed by the # key.
8. There is no prompt to enter your phone number, only music, so dial 810 then your phone number i.e. 1-613-1234-5678.
9. Pray someone answers.
10. Start talking.
11. Keep an eye on the local time remaining.
12. If a Russian interrupts your conversation, your international time is probably running low, so explain quickly to person you're calling that you'll be cut off soon. If this happens, as it did to us, repeat steps 1-12.