Summery Report:

03.6.08
Location: Madrid, Spain
- Arrived at 9.30
- The weather was awesome
- Dropped my stuff at Los Amigos Hostel
- I was a bit off schedule, so I had to stress all Madrid in one day
- Madrid is way smaller than I thought it was
- Wandered the city from the east to the west
- Saw the ugliest prostitutes in the world
- Had an amazing tapas in a restaurant called “Lateral”

Summery Report

30.5.08
Location: Pairs, France
- Arrived in Paris at around 13.00 after an hour in the train from brussel
- I headed to the Eiffel tower to waster some time till my host get off work
- He made some Mac n cheeze but with some fancy kinda of a cheese!
- Only middle easterners kids make a scene wherever they are
- Walked by the river and had a view on the city

31.5.08
Location: Pairs, France
- Notre Dame Cathedral
- Musee d’Orsay
- Arc de Triomphe
- 5 hours in the Louvre Museum and still need one more week to finish it
- Chilled in the park next to the Louvre
- Champs-Elysses
- Had a a very hot date with myself!

01.6.08
Location: Pairs, France
- I was in a bad mood the whole day, it was cloudy
- Park, river, restaurants
- I was suppose to leave France tonight, but DHL has not delivered my train pass yet

02.6.08
Location: Pairs, France
- I worked as a tour guide for a fellow Mexican backpacker
- The big DHL adventure
- Took the overnight train to Madrid, I had a really good time.

Summery Report

28.5.08
Location: Brussels, Belgium
- The weather in Brussels was awesome. Slightly windy, but plenty of fluffy clouds.
- The train trip was fantastic, very smooth and comfy.
- I had to waste some time in the city till my host got out of work.
- It was painful to climb hills and go down with my backpack on for several hours.
- My first impression was “Wow” this place looks freaking awesome, so much history in here.
- Lots and lots of restaurants that has outside sitting.
- The food is so tasty in here.
- So many Moroccan in here, hjabat everywhere.
- People are so friendly

29.5.08
Location: Brussels, Belgium
- I visited the Atomium, an astonishing building.
- Belgium has the best Fries, Chocolate and waffles. What else you want from life?
- 40 Cents I paid for the restroom was the best investment ever. I really can’t describe how my situation was.
- I fell in love with Brussels.
- I bought my ticket to Paris. I’m leaving tomorrow at 12.13PM

Interesting fact: The government tax 55% of your salary, unless your are VERY rich!

- COFEESHOP is different from Café

- houses were taxed depending on their width

- There is three red light districts in Amsterdam

- Mushrooms along side with Marijuana are decriminalized, but not legal

- Prostitutes rent the windows for 60-200 Euro for 6-8h and charges 50 Euro for 10-25min

- “XXX” Stands for the three disasters Amsterdam went through, which is fire, flood and disease

- The houses are tilted a little bit to the front so they can lift stuff up with-out breaking the windows

- The Blue light district branches out from the red light district and girls in there aren’t necessarily girls! Usually girls that have blue neon lights offer something more, kinkier

- The old church that is in the red district has always been there along with the red light district. The reason is back in the days fisher men come for the girls, the second day they feel bad for sinning, so they go to the church asking for forgiveness and the only way for that was to pay money for the church. So it was a win-win!

Summery Rreport

24.5.08
Location: Richmond, VA
- I cleaned up the rest of the apartment so its all clean and shinny when I come back
- The flight from DC to Heathrow was painless, I slept the whole flight as usual

25.5.08
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- The immigration in Amsterdam airport could not go any smoother
- I found out that trams do not accept 50 Euro
- The weather was cloudy, windy and coled
- I found my host apartment, and he was nice enough to give the spare key
- It is weird to find the toilet in a separate room from the sink and the top!
- My couch actually was a futon in a small office
- I wandered the city and was surprised by the amount of falafel restaurants

26.5.08
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- I had three hot chocolate. And every time I ordered they ask me “How Many?”
- I went to two free, three hours long tours
- It was showering so I had to hide in a COFFESHOP
- I was so tempted to smoke marijuana, but I didn’t.. NOT
- There are so many naked girls in the red-light district *blushing*

27.5.08
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- I went biking
- Spent the first half of the day figuring out the train system and the other half looking for a new pair of shoes
- “I know I don’t know you, but I want you so bad”, I was singing that all day
- I noticed that people in Europe dress way better than Americans
- Packed my backpack and got ready to leave to Brussels the following day

Notes:
- I’m writing this from my hosts laptop in Belgium
- Typing with French keyboard is harder than you think
- More about the trip -Click-

I’m on my way to DC to fly to Amsterdam. More to come when I arrive. Stay tuned..

More, Ibn Batota 2k8 “Backpacking Europe”

Eagle Creek Security Belt,
- Light weight
- Anti-Microbial fabric, you don’t want colonies to grow on you belly!
- It has a double zipper, “Deluxe” version.
- Soft edges

Micro-fiber Towel
- Light weight
- Very compact
- Fast dry
- Very soft
- Good absorption

Adapter Plug
- Pretty sure you need one

Here is a list of the stuff I’m using to document my trip:
- Canon EOS 20D (Not in the picture)
- Canon SD800 IS
- Canon EF-S 17-85mm (Not in the picture)
- Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
- Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 II
- PNY 8GB SD Card
- PNY 2GB CompactFlash
- Lexar 1GB Compact Flash
- Polarizing and UV filters
- Moleskine note book
- Bic pen

More on Ibn batota 2K8

My backpack has finally arrived and it’s absolutely fantastic. I had done extensive research about backpacks before I settled on the “Eagle Creek Explorer LT”. The hard part of selecting a backpack is deciding on the size of the the backpack. I didn’t want to have a huge because I’m going to fill it with lots of unnecessary stuff and I didn’t want it to be too small that I can’t fit anything in. After looking at different backpacks, I found 4200 cu. to be the prefect size for me.

I was looking for a backpack that:
- Has a day pack attached, a small backpack to carry around.
- opens 3/4 and not filled from the top, easy access.
- Light weight
- Compact size with a good capacity
- A place to attach my my sleeping bag
- Made of good material
- Lockable zips

Eagle creek was the ultimate choice for me since it has all i needed in a backpack. I got it for $187.5 from Amazon.com, while it was selling for $250 everywhere else, good deal!

More on Ibn batota 2K8

In my last post I introduced the blog to my trip to europe. This isn’t a luxurious trip by all means. The point from this trip is to discover europe and learn as much as I could from its people. Anyways, here is more details about the trip:

When is it //
24 May 2008 - 11 July 2008 (Europe)

Where to stay //
I’ll be Couch surfing and staying at hostels.
Couch surfing is new concept in the traveling world, where you stay at people couches for free! Couch surfing allows you to get to know the locals and know more about the country you’re staying at, I’m really excited to meet my hosts.
In hostels you rent a bed in a room. These places are usually full of young adventurous people and it’s easy to make friends with them.

Where in Europe //
Amsterdam, Netherlands (25 May - 28 May)
Brussel, Belgium  (28 May - 30 May)
Paris, France (30 May - 2 June)
Madrid, Spain (2 June - 4 June)
Seville, Spain (4 June - 6 June)
Malaga, Spain (6 June - 9 June)
Granada, Spain (9 June - 11 June)
Valencia, Spain (11 June - 13 June)
Barcelona, Spain (13 June - 16 June)
Nice, France ( 16 June - 18 June)
Pisa, Italy (18 June - 20 June)
Rome, Italy (20 June - 24 June)
Florence, Italy (24 June - 26 June)
Venice, Italy (26 June - 28 June)
Milano, Italy (28 June - 30 June)
Luzern, Switzerland (1 July - 4 July)
Munich, Germany (4 July - 7 July)
Strasburg, France (7 July - 9 July)
London, UK (9 July - 11 July)