My Travel Bucket List

A few years ago I wrote my bucket list. Over those years I have managed to tick a few things off my list (learn to surf in Hawaii, watch the Knicks play at Madison Square Garden, visit the Grand Canyon and snowboard in Canada). With my move to London fast approaching, I have begun working on my Europe travel bucket list. Here's what I'm hoping to tick off in 2015...

1. Skydive in Switzerland
2. Climb to the Base Camp of Mt Everest
3. Drink steins at Oktoberfest
4. Scuba dive the Blue Hole, Malta
5. Work a season as a ski/snowboard instructor in Austria
6. Visit Gallipoli on Anzac Day
7. Attend Glastonbury Festival
8. Photograph the Northern Lights in Norway
9. Float in the Dead Sea
10. Drink Guinness in Dublin
11. Scuba dive Green Lake Tragoss, Austria
12. Witness a sunset in Santorini
13. Take a hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia, Turkey
14. Sip wine in Cinque Terre
15. Soak in an outdoor bath in Budapest

Denver

As I hugged Mum goodbye, I was off on my first big solo adventure, ready for the long haul from Melbourne - Sydney - LA - Denver. After 3 flights and 27 hours of traveling I arrived in Downtown Denver. With only 4 hours sleep on the flight over to the US, the hotel bed was a welcomed sight. I better enjoy the 2 nights of luxury as the rest of my trip is hostel rooms. It was only going to be a quick stopover in Denver, just long enough for my body to recover from the flight and to acclimatize to the change in altitude.

All the travel must have taken it out of me because the next day I woke up at 12pm, only because housekeeping came in to make up my room. I discovered that my hotel was directly across from a shopping so that was my day mapped out. I usually have no problem spending money in H&M but was well behaved and left empty handed. 'There will be plenty of time to shop in New York' I kept telling myself. Besides my pack was full before I even left Melbourne and I still have plenty more bus trips and flights to come. The hotel was in a very handy location, one block back from 16th Street where there was plenty of restaurants and shopping. The best part was the free mall bus. The bus came every few minutes and stopped on every street corner which made it really easy to get around.

After a few hours wondering around 16th Street Mall, I headed down to the Pepsi Centre to the NBA to see Denver Nuggets take on OKC Thunder. The Pepsi Centre was smaller than I expected so my seat was closer than I thought. I contemplated buying a cap to wear but as a Knicks fan, I wasn't even sure who I was going for. It was a pretty close game but OKC drew away at the end to take the win. The atmosphere was lacking (compared to the Knicks v Bulls game at Madison Square Garden earlier in the year). It surprised me when an OKC player just dropped the ball with about 10 seconds to go and no other player moved to get the ball. Both teams just walked off court and fans got up and started leaving the arena with 5 minutes to go. I got extremely confused walking out of the venue so my instincts told me it was best to just follow the crowd. With absolute luck I managed to find my way to a street that I recognised, avoiding getting too lost.

Catching an OKC win against Denver at the Pepsi Centre

Russell Westbrook getting it done for OKC

I was all set to go to bed after I got home from the basketball as I would need plenty of energy the next day, to lug my pack and board from bus to bus to get to Aspen. But the jet lag kicked in and my body clock was clearly still on Melbourne time. At 2.30am I got up and packed my bag, as I thought this was the most productive use of time. By 3.30am I was starting to doze, then finally I fell asleep, dreaming of fresh powder on the slopes of Aspen.

Amsterdam

After 700km and 8 hours crossing central Germany, we arrived at a place known for castles and wineries: The Rhine Valley. The river is one of the most important transport routes in Europe and also considered a UNESCO world heritage site.

We stopped in at a small town called St. Goar which is home to the world's largest beer stein store. They will post beer steins for travelers to any address in the world. St. Goar is also home to the worlds largest cuckoo clock that hangs above the entrance to a shop that stocks Steiff teddy bears, the worlds most expensive teddy bears.

Giant teddy bear at St. Goar

As we entered the Netherlands, we had one more stop before we could reach Amsterdam: the small town of Amstelveen and the Clara Maria Cheese and Clog Farm. Here we watched the cheese making process and were treated to a clog making demonstration. The shop was lined with rows of clog, painted in different designs. The best part was purchasing a pair of clogs that could be personally engraved.

We arrived at our accommodation in Amsterdam, Hans Brinker Budget Hotel, the world's worst hotel (not kidding! The owners are very happy to admit this although I still think where we stayed in Zadar was worse!).

We were keen to see the city and set off on a bike tour. Amsterdam prides itself as a bicycle-friendly city. Over 60% of commutes are made by bikes. Although the population of Amsterdam is 820,000, there is more than 1 million bicycles in the city. More than 100,000 bikes are stolen each years and between 12,000- 15,000 are pulled from canals each year.

On our bicycle tour we learnt many interesting facts about Amsterdam, including the fact that with a network of 165 canals, Amsterdam actually has more canals than Venice.

One of the 165 canals in Amsterdam

The streets are lined with houses but these aren't normal looking houses. Houses in Amsterdam are tall and skinny. Rates are based on the amount of land a building is positioned on so instead of building out, properties are built up. The only issue when moving into one of these houses is the narrow stairwells that make it difficult to move furniture in. That's why each property has a hook on the outside so furniture can be lifted to a particular floor. Even more unbelievable is that houses are built with a slight forward lean to minimize the chance of items colliding with the building facade on their way up.

Whilst riding alongside the canals we spotted green metal structures. It was later explained that these are actually public urinals. Men would urinate into canals and when drunk would often fall in. Public urination became such an issue that the Dutch government erected outdoor urinals around the city. This seemed to solve the issue although several hundred women protested by urinating publicly on the bridge. More private toilets were installed alongside the urinals. After a short run the urinals were closed as the city discovered that the privacy afforded by the ladies restrooms were mainly used by drug addicts.

A quick stop on our bike tour in front of the Amsterdam sign at Museumplein

The next stop was the Anne Frank House. It isn't unusual to have to line up for hours for admission. It had been a long time since I had read the Anne Frank Diary so I was captivated walking around the house, reading every piece of information. The story of Anne Frank is a truly remarkable story.

Anne's family had fled from Frankfurt when Hitler's reign begins. They emigrated to the Netherlands and Otto, Anne's father sets up business in Amsterdam. German troops invade the Netherlands and Otto tries to emigrate to America but fails. When Anne's sister Margot is called up to be sent to a German labour camp, the family goes into hiding in a secret annex along with four other Jews: Hermann and Auguste van Pels with their son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer. Four staff help to hide the Frank family, including Miep Gies and her husband Jan.

After 25 months in hiding, the eight Jews were betrayed by someone revealing their hiding place (that person still has not be identified). They were found, arrested and transported to Auschwitz concentration camp. Anne passed away at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp from typhus, two weeks before the camp was liberated. Otto was the only survivor from the secret annex and returned to Amsterdam to later publish Anne's diary.

When the secret annex was raided, Miep Gies hid Anne's diary and later passed it onto her father Otto. The protectors of the Frank family risked death if caught by the Nazis, but it is believed that Miep Gies was spared from arrest by a Nazi agent, in light of their common Austrian heritage. Miep has since passed but spent many years travelling the world, speaking to school children of her experiences of the Holocaust  I was lucky enough to have Miep come to my high school to speak, and I'm not sure I really understood the full extent of her experiences until visiting the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam.    

It was time to venture into the Red Light District. This was a huge eye-opener and I have honestly never seen anything like it. Girls sat in windows just waiting for 'business' and sex shops lined the streets. We went to the Moulin Rouge to watch a live sex show. It was hard to take it seriously.

Walking in the Red Light District

After the show, the group was keen to visit one of Amsterdam's infamous coffee shops. Although cannabis is legal is Amsterdam, 'Coffee shops' are not allowed to use cannabis leaves to advertise so the signs often include pictures of palm trees. Amsterdam's drug policy is very different to any other country. The policy of tolerance does have it's limitations: a person is not allowed to possess more then 5 grams of cannabis in a public area or 30 grams in a private area. For cultivation, a person may not exceed the amount of 5 plants. Considering I have never even smoked a cigarette, there was no chance I was going to smoke cannabis. Instead I watched others laugh then try to figure out if they were stoned or if what they were laughing at was actually just funny.

You can't truly appreciate Amsterdam without a night on the town. It was our last night in Amsterdam and our last night on tour so we were determined to make it a big night! After a few wines on our booze cruise, we were taken to the Pirate Bar. The bar actually looked like a pirate ship inside. A few hours later, ready to call it a night, we bumped into our bicycle tour leader. Next thing I know we have jumped onto a pub crawl and are making our way around Amsterdam's array of bars and clubs.

Courts and I at the Pirate Bar

Last night out in Amsterdam

Our last day on tour consisted of a big day of travelling. We were leaving Amsterdam and on to London with a few pit stops along the way. We left Amsterdam, Netherlands and made our way into Brussels, Belgium. Our next stop was Calais, France where we said goodbye to the bus and got the ferry to London, England. We traveled through four countries in one day. It's crazy how close everything is in Europe. When we got to London it was time to say goodbye to my Topdeck family. Over the last few weeks I have made some great new friends from different corners of the world and it was sad to be saying goodbye. Now it was time for Courts and I to continue our European adventure with a week in London.

Prague

Next stop on our European adventure was Prague, Czech Republic. Known for it's incredible Gothic architecture, amazing shopping, sophisticated night life and arguably the best beer in Europe. Our city tour took us past some of Prague's most famous landmarks including the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock.

As we walked along the Charles Bridge, I marvelled at the 30 statues that line either side of the bridge. 41 saints, 8 Jesus figures and 3 Madonnas mark your progress as you walk across the bridge, exposing centuries of history. There is one statue in particular that lies in the middle, the statue of  St. John of Nepomuk. St. John of Nepomuk was a priest who served during the reign of King Václav IV.  He heard the confessions of many of the townspeople, including Václav's wife, Queen Sofia. Václav had suspensions that Queen Sofia was being unfaithful. Václav asked what the queen had revealed during confession. The priest refused to tell, saying it was confidential, so the king had the priest put in a dungeon and tortured. St. John of Nepomuk tried to strike a bargain: If the torture came to an end, he would tell one soul present in the dungeon what the queen had said. The king agreed, assuming the priest intended to tell him. But the priest asked that everyone present leave the room so he could whisper the secret to the king's dog. The enraged king ordered the torture to continue. Finally the priest died from his wounds, and at night was thrown from the Charles Bridge into the Vltava river. The statue is visited by hundreds of visitors each day, posing for photos. By touching the bronze dog, tourists can either make a wish, book a return to Prague, or ensure that a secret they have will never be told.

Charles Bridge, Prague

Standing on the bridge, looking over the Vltava River

The statue of  St. John of Nepomuk

In the Old Town Square stands the Old Town Hall Tower. Built into one side of the tower is the Astronomical Clock which dates back to the 15th century. Every hour on the hour, you can stand among the crowds of tourists and observe the procession of the Twelve Apostles. A small trap door opens and Christ marches out ahead of his disciples whilst the skeleton of death rings the bell.

Old Town Hall Tower and the Astronomical Clock

We couldn't visit Prague without experiencing it's legendary nightlife. We were taken on a pub crawl that started at a bar called the Drunken Monkey. There we played beer pong against a group of Americans (as a group of Aussies and Kiwis we were greatly disadvantaged!). We ended the night at Karlovy Lazne Club, the largest music club in Central Europe. One entrance fee gets you into five clubs on five floors including Discotheque (70's disco revival), Kaleidoscope (hits of the 60's-80's), Paradogs Club (house music) and Chill Out on the top floor. We were also introduced to the Beer Factory, where you can pour your own beer at your table.

My sister Courts and I outside the Karlovy Lazne Club

Shots with the girls at the Drunken Monkey

Before we left Prague, we were determined to experience some of Europe's best shopping. As we pounded the pavement in Wenceslas Square, I was in retail heaven. H&M, Zara, Topshop, Mango and MaxMara. After a couple of hours, I had almost doubled the weight of my luggage and left a dent in the credit card.

After a whirlwind 48 hours in Prague, we were headed to Amsterdam. But first back into Germany and the Rhine Valley.