Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Coush Surfing:
I met him online through the Couch Surfing service. He was a fifty-year old man living alone in apartment close enough to the city to walk there. I stayed with him for three nights and all he asked me in return is to inform him about the culture and the country I came from!
It might be awkward to knock at some stranger’s house and sleep at their couch, but the amount of experience I saw coming through this experience overcame all my fears and made me strong enough to do it.  It was fun!!

Sexuality in Amsterdam:
I was shocked about how open the people were about their sexuality. The tour guide tried to explain how sexuality is viewed as a human desire that need to be fulfilled the same way hunger need to be fulfilled. I strongly disagreed with him and that didn’t make him very happy. My argument was “I have the desire to burn your house, shall I do it because I need to fulfill my desires the same way I fulfill hunger?” He was like “well… let’s talk about some history!” 

The flight from Dulles airport to Amsterdam was so smooth. Nothing is really worth mentioning except for what happened at Heathrow airport.
I was sitting in the boarding area at the new terminal, watching the news and minding my own business. I saw an ugly woman heading toward the same boarding area, I thought to myself “Shush, she is going to sit just right next to me!” Indeed, she came and sat just next to me.  I didn’t mind sitting by her, but she stunk really bad and I was thinking of how bad it’s going to be if she sat next to me in the airplane.  And guess what? I was at 12A and she was at 12B.
I turned toward her and asked her “Are you real or am I imagining you in my head?” She smiled and moved to the free seat in the back!!

Was she real?

My trip is over and now I’m in Kuwait for two weeks to recharge and get ready to start school at the end of the month. This is my first summer in Kuwait for four years!  Although Kuwait is theoretically the hottest place on earth, I found Rome and Madrid to be hotter than Kuwait!  At least ave everything is air conditioned and it’s not as humid.

The trip was awesome. I am carrying with me tons of good memories and stories to tell my children and grandchildren. It was the most enjoyable 50 days in my life.

I made a lot of changes on the trip as I met people and got recommendations to visit places that I have never thought of. Here is a list of the places I ended up visiting: (more…)

Bonjour..
I know its been a while since I last posted anything in this blog.  I felt the summery reports are a bit boring, so I decided to take a breake and post everything in details later on.

I am currently posting this from Interlaken, Switzerland.  Such a wonderful place with tons to do.  I am leaving to Zurich and then fly from london to Kuwait and spend two weeks with the familyah before flying back to the US.

I hope you all are having a great summer, looking forward to share some interesting stories with you =)

Have a great day

- Mario

Summery Report:

Date: 16.6.08
Location: Nice, France
- I came to nice with a V.high expectations. Specially with all the talk about how sexy the ladies are. However, All I’ve seen so far is saggy boobs and a 1000Kg whale wearing a bikini! What a shame.

Date: 17.6.08
Location: Nice, France
- People in France loves to strike!
- It was so much fun watching France loose to Italy =)
- I got enough of France.. NEXT

P.S I made changes on my plans. I’m leaving to Cinque terre tomorrow.

Cheers

Summery Report:

Date: 9.6.08
Location: Granada, Spain
- It is my birthday =)
- Spent 5 fine hours at Al-Hambra and needed more.
- Very Very nice city

Date: 10.6.08
Location: Granada, Spain
- Sight seeing and some shopping

Date: 11.6.08
Location: Granada, Spain
- Played ping-pong and chilled
- Took the over-night train to Valencia, Spain

Date: 11.6.08
Location: Valencia, Spain
- Arrived at 5.00AM, it seemed like ghosts city
- Had a blast at the central market.
- Circled the city 3 times!

Date: 12.6.08
Location: Valencia, Spain
- The big park adventure
- The awesome Aquarium, the biggest in Europe.
- Took off to Barcelona, Spain

Date: 13.6.08
Location: Barcelona, Spain
- Dirty, Dangerous, and Fascinating
- Pleasureful company

Date: 14.6.08
Location: Barcelona, Spain
- Bike tour around the city
- Gaudi is my man
- A very unique night, stayed awake till the next morning to catch my train to Nice, France at 8.45

Date: 15.6.08
Location: In transit
- 9 hours in the train from Barcelona to Nice

Summery Report

Date: 6.6.08
Location: Malaga, Spain
- Wandered the beach and the city
- Got lost in the city after taking the bus in the opposite direction
- A crazy night in Malaga

Date: 7.6.08
Location: Malaga, Spain
- Went sight seeing in the city
- Al-Cazabah and the Cathedral
- Chilled at the beach till the sun-set
- …

Date: 8.6.08
Location: Malaga, Spain
- I absolutely did nothing. I went out for lunch and dinner and that was it.

Summery Report

Date: 4.6.08
Location: Seville, Spain
- Oasis Hostel is the BOMB
- This place is absloutly wonderful
- It seems like Austrilians have took over the traveling industry
- Chilling, chilling and more chilling

Date: 5.6.08
Location: Seville, Spain
- Walking in the city was absloutly wonderful
- It is a very quiet city
- Visited “Catedral Y Giralda”, awesome view of the city.
- “Real Alsazar” has a great garden
- “Pza. Espana” it was underconstruction
- They put katchup in my fish sandwich!
- Tapas tour, very nice and diffrent
- Flamenco show was very intense!

P.S. Sorry Msaed, I will upload some pictures as soon as I put them in a CD and be able to upload them to the website.

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.