Belgium to Panama in 40hrs

Continuing my tradition of ridiculous-last-minute-indirect-flights, I now have to get from Gent, Belgium, to Panama City, Panama. Normally one would fly direct from Paris, London or Amsterdam. I however, am booking last minute, and have a small window between the time I can leave and the time I arrive. This means either a very expensive direct flight, or a cheaper, round-a-bout choose-your-own-adventure type route. I chose the latter.

Here is what I ended up with:

Gent: 6am leave hostel, 7am train to Paris
Paris: 2pm flight to Dublin
Dublin: 5pm flight to New York
New York: 6am flight to Miami
Miami: 10am flight to Panama City
Panama City: Taxi into Town, arrive about 2pm (8pm EU time)

Door-to-Door, this was almost 40hrs in transit, taking in a train, 4 flights, 5 Countries and 3 continents!

But hey, I saved about $700, which gets me a few more weeks on the road!

Entrar a Panama »« In Gent

In Gent

OK, back to (mostly?) PG friendly posts now

“In Gent” might not have the same ring to its name as “In Bruges”, or the notority, but we definitely got up to some fun In Gent! Its a student town for starters, and we went to a huge O-week party (first week of College) in Overpoort. I also saw a bunch of students going through initiations in the park during the day, then walking around covered in paint & freezing at night haha.

My mate Ian, that I met in Vietnam, is from Gent, & while he now lives in Brussells [looking for Van Damme] he popped over to say hi and showed us around, pointing out the cool bars and nightlife. Cheers Ian!

Walking through the Red Light District, Justin & Irish Pete thought it would be a good idea to get OUR photo inside one of the booths. I was convinced this was going to result in the four of us getting chased off by large European guys in black suits, but the girl was happy to oblige. So there are photos, which I hope never see the light of day, of us four lads, in our jocks, standing in a booth in Gent’s Red Light District! No customers sadly.

The girl even took the photos for us. She thought it was hilarious. So did the girls in the booths opposite. She tried to keep Justin as we left but we managed to drag him away.

I had a ridiculous transit to Central America coming up, starting with a very early train to Paris, which Matt had to join me on. However he was incredibly hungover / drunk , so I had to drag his ass on to the Train haha. He hated me at the time but was greatful for it later on

Good times boys. Good times.
 

Belgium to Panama in 40hrs »« In Bruges

In Bruges

Warning, the following post contains extreme language. If you don’t know why, watch this trailer or just Ralph Fiennes‘ bits. Mum, just skip to the photos.

As soon as we got off the train, we realised Bruges is a shithole. I mean, if I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn’t, so it doesn’t.

Bruges is famous for its beer & chocolate. But somehow our time balance tipped in the favour of culture. Like a big, fat, fucking retarded, fucking black girl on a see-saw, opposite… a dwarf.

Matt said Bruges wasn’t really his thing. But It’s a fairytale town, isn’t it? How’s a fairytale town not somebody’s fucking thing? But once we showed him the swans and the park he just fuckin’ loved it.

We went around on a boat, lookin’ at stuff. Apparently its called sight-seeing.

Pete wanted to go up the tower, but what’s the fucking point? The view? The view of what? The view of down here? I can see that down here. Anyway, as we tried to enter, the guy said it was closing. So Pete head- butted him and up we went. Those stairs get real narrow at the top.

Next day, we saw an American family about to go up.. We tried to warn them not to… Cause of the stairs… I mean.. I’m not being funny. They were a bunch of fucking elephants!

Nevertheless, we did make it to a pub or two, so I could order a gay beer for my gay friends. We also bought some chocolate which was fuckin’ great. But we had so much we wanted to hand some out to children, but that didn’t go down to well.

So yeah, Bruges is a shithole.

Maybe that’s what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in fucking Bruges.

But its not all bad, they were filming midgets! We waved to one, but he didn’t wave back.

Little fuckin’ cunt.

In Gent »« Paris 2011