TravelStream™ news feed for member bharden on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bharden en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:44:18 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bharden/2/1255722352/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bharden/2/1255722352/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bharden/2/1255722352/tpod.html Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:44:18 -0400 The Second Quest - Raiders of the Lost Harden - The search for Baker

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Rome, Lazio, Italy

RomeAlmost homeSince I had been to Rome before I didn't feel rushed to do anything. I noticed tourists had increased at least 20 times over and it was almost unbearable to walk the streets. The weather has gone from being overly hot in Sicily to freezing cold in Rome. My tan is freezing and falling off me if that is possible.The place I stayed at is basically a bar. Drinks aren't that cheap and I got drunk off anout 5o dollars worth of crap fosters. Weirdly bumped into an 18 year old Australian kid who was at the same hostel as me over 3 weeks ago and then bumped into another 18 year old kid from England who was in the same hostel as me a week ago. Spent my time wandering the streets. Getting the Pizza tally over to at least 40 for the month. Should this be the big philosophical entry to sum up my feelings of the trip. I will try not. My mum is happy I am coming home. My mum can take the wind out of my sales quite quickly about coming home. Tell my mum you will be away for a long time and she will make you worry about money. Tell my mum you will be home sooner and she will make you worry that your giving up early! Actually my mum asked me if I needed money to get home. Which is another reason why I am coming home sooner. Last time I went travelling I was a burden when I got home. I couldn't afford the train ticket home from the airport or a beer and was still wearing old travel clothes for months afterwards. Also had to go back to my old crap job. Will be good to get home and not be Tom Hanks from Cast Away this time. On top of this I wont have to ride a bicycle around because I sold my car on Ebay! Although I am slightly worried that my car is going to be there when I get home because my Grandma is starting to suffer dementia and likes to through out antiques because they are old and give away other things in the paper that are worth thousands. For example her motorised seat for riding up the stairs. Worth about 5000 dollars, given away for free.To anyone that thinks I gave up and came home early I should tell you that i never had any set time to be away. I never exactly planned to work in Paris or get a flat. My main goal was to just try living in a foreign country for a little while to know what it was like so I could be comfortable living in Australia. I know now that living abroad is exactly the same as living at home in a lot of ways. Routine kicks in. However, it is missing the niceities of home. The car, the dogs, I need to have a dog around me or I go insane. The thrill of beating senoirs in Saturday afternoon tennis and the joy of being at the end of Pete Newsomes and Jmac's insults! I did enjoy my time living in Europe but alas I don't need to live here anymore.The only thing that I do regret is not driving around. I had originally hoped in my head to drive a beetle from France to Vietnam. But, reality kicked in. The middle east isn't very great at the moment. Iran is a dead end. Maybe another time. Driving around Europe was do-oable but too expensive to be worth it. Also on the list of another time things.Next trip is hopefully asia somewhere. o more long ones for me. Maybe a holiday to Okinawa, Laos or Burma?
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Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy

CagliariGot the overnight boat from Palermo to Cagiiari which is in Sardenia. Still part of Italy. Was a bit of a nightmare journey. Decided to opt for the cheaper sleeper seat instead of the cabin this time. Was quite difficult to get comfortable in and sleep. Just a cushioned seat. Whomever was in charge of the air conditioning put it on sub zero. Outside it was like 30 and inside it was minus zero. I was in shorts and t-shirt. There was some weird Australian girl in her late 20's or early 30's lying on the floor beside my seat that really made me glad I was going home soon. For the past 4 years she pretty much has been traveling and she looked it too. Her face looked like an old baseball mit and I don't think she had washed the bottom of her feet in the last 4 years! She was explaining how traveling is so great and how she didn't have any money, lived like a hobo, ate crap food, had lost touch with her friends at home, had no sense of home and was about to stay at some random Italian guys apartment she found at the internet. I made a promise to myself as I sat there cold on the seat trying to sleep that I would never become like her. The PlaceCagliari is a pretty nice place. Another old town, another beach. Came here with a German girl (Johanna) from the hostel who was also on the overnight boat. We both got rooms at a hotel that used to be used as quarters for high ranking Nazi officers. Don't ask me how I found it.... I stupidly mentioned that to her forgetting that she was German and I don't think it went down well. The people who ran the place were an old couple who only spoke Italian and it took about 20 minutes of sign  language to show that we were not a couple and wanted separate rooms. Cagliari seemed to be full of Germans who all were getting a cheap Ryanair flight out. Met another German girl who for a job prepares 18 year olds for traveling and then helps them adjust when they get back. Like a kind of social guidance counselor. To me that seemed like a BS job.Quite bizarre that people stop to let you cross the street here. A much more laid back feel than the rest of Italy. Especially at around 12:30pm when almost every single shop besides McDonald's closes for siesta until about 4pm. I saw some German correctness as well. Our bill was out by 1 euro between 3 people. I was prepared not to care about it. But the Germans caused a stir by demanding to be re-reimbursed their 33 cents. Bad WeatherThe first day was beautiful and hot. Almost too hot. Had an argument with the German girl about weather we were at a lake or a beach and was explaining to her about Lake Conjola and what is a lake. Spent most of the day at the beach and struggling to walk around the city in the heat. The next two days consisted of strong winds full of dust and rain. Not worth even going outside in. I spent this time watching Back to the Future in Italian, Walker Texas Ranger in Italian (they love it here), Simpsons in Italian, Scrubs in Italian, and wanting to punch the screen while Will Smith was talking Italian in Irobot!RealisationAfter talking to Baker on the phone. Trying to get him to actually go somewhere but he won't because he is a crap mate. He told me that it seemed like I had a realisation. A kind of Epiphany if you want to talk in Buffy and Angel speak. After seeing that Australian girl on the boat and meeting a lot of 18 year old travelers over the past week or 2 it has become clear to me that I am as Danny Glover would say “Too old for this S*#t” Well not for traveling. That is something that I believe people of all ages should do. But, I think I am too old to be traveling for the sake of traveling. I.e. A backpacking bum. Also, I LOST MY TRAVEL HAT!! Indiana Jones never lost his hat! Can't travel without my hat. It just seems silly for me to be aimlessly spending my hard earned money on seeing the next beach or the next town when I could spend it on Xbox games and Schnitzel at Pan pub. I think it is important to have a purpose when your traveling. The 18 year olds and young 20's people are traveling because they are on study breaks, etc. Older people are on holidays from work. I need to go home and work and play mixed netball and fill in for finals cricket. When I think if I could do anything today what would it be? It would be to go for a drive in my beetle and play some Xbox, followed by a Pizza and movie at Wong's. So home it is.Booking FlightsSaying this. I would absolutely love to travel around Laos and Burma. I had been looking at flying to Bangkok and going up to Laos for a month or going down to the islands again and riding a moped around. The price for the plane was even a little cheaper as I could fly Jetstar home from Bangkok. However, as much as I would love to go there, I am feeling so lazy to go on overnight buses and move around for another month. I would prefer to go there at another time and do it properly. Also every dog I see almost sends me to tears. I miss my dogs....So I practically spent 2 entire days in an internet cafe. Clicking back and forth between Bangkok and Sydney. I also thought about going to Bangkok for a few days to get a tailored suit made for cheap (would have been funny to come home in a suit) and buy some new clothes as I seem to have shrunken all mine again. Currently have a pain in the balls and a stomach ache from my tight jeans. However, I piked that idea as I suspected that knowing myself I would go there and maybe buy a shirt and thats it. It is amazing how flight amounts change in short periods of time. Within 5 minutes flight prices went up and down by 500 dollars. I could of booked a flight home for about 900 dollars if I booked about 2 weeks ahead. My flight cost about 1450. My logic is if I book 2 weeks ahead I will easily spend 600 dollars or more just waiting around. I also spent a little more on hopefully a safer company. Emirates. I could of flown Egypt Air for about 1200 bucks or even Kuwait airlines for cheaper. Saying this it would be ironic if my plane crashed. I have developed a keen fear of flying.  I used to be able to fly anything. I am so scared these days that I even looked up going home by cargo ship. Cargo ship is very expensive by the way. About 100 dollars a day and would take about 125 days to get to Australia. Also, all the people that go on it are about 80 years old!Anyway, flights are all booked now. I am on to my last stop on another overnight boat to Rome. See everyone soon!
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Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Palermo and the Sicily areaI absolutley loved Sicily. Palermo is a rough looking city where cars and mopeds try and hit you and nearby is beautiful beaches and towns. However, someone just stole my legendary Bubba Gump Shrimp hat on the bus so I am very very upset and angry!Boat from Naples to PalermoTo start I got the overnight boat from Naples to Palermo. It was a bastard to find. There were no real signs or anything to find the boat and for some reason they had decided to put a different boat in place of the boat on my ticket. To get to the boat I had to walk past moving fork lifts and through little alleyways and ask a security card if it was my boat. Then I waited with a bunch of people who weren't even getting on my boat. Once on the boat I had to find my room and then realised I had to find the place to get the key for my room! It was a big boat. Once in my room I was lucky because I found out it was a 4 bunk dorm room and I was the only one. Had no idea what was going on the whole time as all the announcements were in Italian but I got there in the end. I think I stuck out on the boat as being the only foreigner because I was the only one on the entire boat wearing shorts. Even though the temperature is in the mid 20's no one wears shorts. They all wear jackets and pants because to them it is cold and I think shorts are not stylish.PalermoI originally had planned to only stay a couple of days in Palermo. But I made friends with a couple of German girls (Simone and Lizsa) and a Brazilian guy (Bruno) and we did day trips around the city. Palermo is a weird place. The buildings are all falling apart and there is rubbish everywhere. It's full of crazy drivers who don't let anyone cross the street. Crossings and lights mean nothing. You just have to walk in front of moving traffic and make them stop for you. Lots of people in the streets look poor but all the shops look very fancy. The girls are all glamorous and everyone instantly knows you are a tourist because you wear shorts. There is people with Horse taxis and the horses don't look well looked after and through in a wild dog or two. There is markets selling Back to the Future 2 on video cassette and old tape cassette stereos for cars. Next to that is a rusty screw driver. But, I actually really like Palermo. It is real and not overly touristy.Cefalu, Mondello and AggrigentoI was going to go to the South of Sicily and stay a couple of nights there. But, people from the hostel convinced me to stay and do day trips instead which was a good idea. I went to the towns of Cefalu, Mondello and Aggrigento. Going to the beach, checking out beautiful Italian women and laughing at the Italian male posers who were applying oil to their bodies, wearin budgy smugglers and taking photos of themselves to put as their profile pictures of facebook. Cefalu and Mondello where beach towns. Aggrigento was on the south coast of Italy and had temples and stuff. After getting the bus back I realised my hat had disappeared. I am sure I took it on the bus. I can't imagined it fell off my head. I didn't even fall asleep on the bus. I just got off and realised it was missing. Ran back on the bus and it was gone. Someone must have been a Forrest Gump fan. I am devastated.Flight ProblemsWhen I emailed my travel agent to oragnise my flights from Paris to London, London to USA and USA to home they notified me that there were no flights available under my ticket criteria until December! So, this has completely muddled me up. There is no point going back to Paris now or buying a ticket to go to the USA. So I will most likely fly from Rome to Asia somewhere then home. Baker was depressed....TomorrowTomorrow I intend to get a Sicilian haircut and catch another overnight boat to Sardinia to stay in a former Nazi hotel.
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Naples, Campania, Italy

NapoliWhen I think of Naples I think of when the Tony Soprano came to Naples and the Con Te Parti song played the whole time. I actually came back to Naples (having been here a few years ago) because I realised that there were lots of things around that I had not seen yet. I basically chose where I was going to go based on filming locations from the Talented Mr Ripley. Yes thats right I used the Internet Movie Database to plan my holiday!. I couldn't go to all the places of course but I went to the Almafi Coast, Positano, Sorrento and the island of Ischia. Naples itselfNaples itself is a somewhat rough looking place. Rough looking people, rubbish everywhere. But I like it because it is real looking. No fake Touristy sort of areas and the people aren't out to take your money. Although I think they would steal it from you if they got the chance.Day Trip to Almafi, Positano and SorrentoI took the bus to Almafi. Which was only about 60 k's away according to Google maps. But it took 2 ½ hours to get there. This was because of crazy Italian traffic combined with terrifying S bends on the sides of mountains. The bus drivers all have death wishes almost drifting around the corners as you look out the window with a 50 meter drop the whole time. The roads are barely large enough to fit 2 cars at the same time as well. I have never been car sick but I got to say I felt a bit sick after the drive.After visiting Almafi, I took the bus to Positano which was just as beautiful. Forgot to say Almafi was beautiful. I sat on the beach like Matt Damon in the Talented Mr Ripley. Clothed with a white body amongst very tanned Italians. If you have scene the movie you will know what I am talking about! Getting back to Naples from Positano was interesting. There was no bus. I had to get a bus to Sorrento and then catch an hour and a half suburban train back to Naples. 30 stops! Ischia IslandI am not quite sure why I went to Ischia Island. It was listed in the IMDB under the Talented Mr Ripley. haha There wasn't too much existing to do there. The boat ride was the funnest part. Good views of Naples, etc. EatingI have eaten about 20 Pizzas in the last week and a half. All Magherita. Most of their pizzas here are some kind of cheese or ham. I am actually sick of Pizza. The only other thing I have eaten is a bit of Lasagna and some Chinese. I am also finding it hard to find Orange Juice and Milk here for some reason. Been drinking a lot of Fanta and Coke.HostelThe hostel I stayed at was pretty good. Had a tv and I watched The Departed, Gladiator and The Rock. Had an argument with people who were saying Nicholas Cage was the worst actor in the world. They had not seen Lord of War or Match Stick Men! How can they judge without seeing his finest work! Couple of long term stayers at the hostel. I hate long term stayers. They act like they own the place. Control the TV and talk all the time. Want to punch them in the face!OverallI don't actually leave Naples until tomorrow night. On the night boat from Naples to Palermo/Sicily. Should be interesting. So tomorrow day will consist of sending stuff home and trying to find a wallet which doesn't empty my coins out every time I open it!
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Corniglia, Italian Riviera, Italy

Went to Cinque Terra. Which is another beautiful place in Italy. It is basically 5 small towns on the coast which people hike and catch the train in between. I walked between two of the towns then gave up and caught the train the rest of the way. The walks between the towns are meant to be beautiful but I preferred to watch the beauty on the beach! I did enjoy going for a swim at the beach and sitting on the gravel instead of sand. No sand everywhere!The place was packed full of old American tourists who couldn't work out how to open the train doors and thus I almost murdered. I think 90% of the tourists here are American. Not much else to say. Drunk some Monterosso beers.Forgot to say I saw a man walking a Dog and a cat together in Genoa. Both without a leash. I saw the man walking with his dog and then a cat jump down behind him. At first i thought what a dumb cat then as the guy got about 50 metres down the street with his dog he called the cats name and the cat ran after him and they all walked together side by side. Was probably the most amazing thing I have seen in my life!
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Genoa, Italian Riviera, Italy

Went to Genoa for a coupe of days. Mainly to visit the famous holiday town of Portofino which the Hollywood celebrities used to go to in the 50's and 60's.Had to change trains 5 times to get here. The swiss trains were perfectly on time, then the almost stereotypical Italian trains were about 30 minutes behind. Thus making me run to my connecting trains with big backpack, tennis racquet, tennis shoes hitting me in the balls and the front day pack. At least it make me something people move out of the way for. Spent most of my time getting lost on a bus. The average hostel I stayed at was at the very top of town and required 2 buses to get there. Was a nightmare trying to work out where to get on and where to get off. Ended up having to get elderly Italians to walk me to the right bus stop.The hostel I stayed at is a dodgy chain hostel. Full of Spanish students and odd locals watching NCIS and old Ted Danson movies in Italian. Also wathced a bit of Italian Deal or No Deal which seemed to like playing the themes from Halloween, Schindlers List, The Rock/Crimson Tide, and other various movies. However, the old ladies which ran the place were really nice and mothering. I did curse the place when I tonight went out to get food and found that the local pizza place was closed and then got lost for 3 hours searching for somewhere to eat. A local bar told me to climb down the layers of roads to a pizza place which i could never find. I found the dog from Turner & Hooch standing up with his head and front legs over a tiny fence staring at me. Scared the s((t out of me!  I eventually found the bus to take  me back up the mountain and am now full on chocolate croissants and chips from the vending machine.Italy is very different to say France or Germany. Everything is very old and run down. Yet beautiful. It's almost like every building could be a tourist attraction in itself.  No opportunity for a jump shot. I kept my eyes open but I didn't want to leave my camera and bag on the ground when all the walkways and piazzas were full of people. The right conditions are needed to perform a jumpshot!
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Interlaken, Swiss Alps, Switzerland

InterlakenInterlaken is the place in Switzerland where everybody goes to hike in the mountains and para glide and sky dive, etc. I was never going to the hike or para glide or sky dive so I just came here to look at the mountains. Also all the cows wear bells which makes them look cute and has turned me off beef for a while.  The weatherThe weather impacted me quite a lot. Arriving the day on the train the water was very bright blue and the mountains were all clearly seen. The next days however, a haze of sorts came over and you couldn't see any mountains. So I did my best, walk around a bit. Bought an awesome swiss army knife (nearly got it engraved Mjr Brett Harden) and have already cut myself on it trying to get gum off my jeans.Waiting for the weather to improveWhile waiting for the weather to improve I made friends with a Korean girl (Hachong) and showed her how to cook my secret potato recipe. For some reason this hostel is almost entirely full of Koreans! It is apparently advertised on some Korean website somewhere. All the signs are translated into Korean! People have been calling me Hawkeye!! Hachong and I played a bit of table tennis and she dinted the ball. I also taught her how to boil a table tennis ball and in the process shrunk it down half the size. No oneever noticed.Also, watched a bit of Pimp My Ride, Made, Exposed, and Date my Mom. Note: MTV is pretty much the only English speaking channel here and there isn't much else to do if the weather is bad!OverallI did get 1 nice day. Went on a half hour cable cart ride of death. I call it this because I am terrified of heights and sat outside the cable cart place for 20 minutes trying to psych myself up. Once on the cart I sat perfectly still and barely looked out the window as it was about 10 stories in the air the whole time. Off to Genoa Italy next. Should be back home in Oz in about 5 weeks or so I reckon.
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Munich, Bavaria, Germany

<i>When I'm Sick. I Stop being sick and be awesome instead... True Story. Proven in Munich at Oktoberfest.My first nightMy sickness continued on my first night in Munich. I got there in the afternoon and walked to the Oktoberfest beer tent area. I didn't realise that all the big beer tents would be compleltey full by the night time. People reserve their tables in advance. I tried to make myself walk in and have a beer but I was shivering with fever and so dizzy I could not stand. So I walked back to my hostel and had a beer at the bar there and was off to bed at 9pm.The Second and real nightI didn't care how I was going to feel this day. i woke up feeling average again but somewhat better. No more fever. The other guy in my room Paul was going to the tents with a German friend and i joined them. After some Kleibershauven (some ice cream pancake thing) I began the transformation from “5 beer Harden” to “4 ½ Stein Harden”. I couldn't finish the last ½ a stein. Considering I was pretty sick I was proud of my efforts. The beers costed about 18 dollars a stein. Most of the guys and girls wore the traditional outfits. The age ranged from old people to young 15 year olds all drinking. I couldn't believe how strong some of these girls were to be lifting these big heavy steins full of beer. It was impressive. I didn't drink all the different beers there. The different tents were the different brands. As the day went on it became harder to find a unreserved seat (apparently weekends are impossible) and so I drank some Paulaner, HB, and Sparten. All nice.Leaving on the TrainAfter a quick 2 hour dash around Munich trying to see some of the city apart from inside a beer tent I jumped on the train to Switzerland.Today i spent 7 – 8 hours on trains. For the 6 hour journey there was a very drunk German woman and guy who I wanted to murder. In fact everyone else in the carriage wanted to murder them. They were yelling and shouting for 6 hours straight and yelling out Cohonas and yar yar yar (like an animal). Part of me thinks I may not make it home because my tolerance of people is getting worse and I might wind up in some prison somewhere for beating up the next person that stops in the middle of the footpath to get something out of their pocket!
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Dresden, Saxony, Germany

The Rebuilt City – DresdenDresden was pretty much wiped out in World War 2. It has since been rebuilt but the fires that burnt the city down remain and a lot of the old statues and buildings are stained black. I have been sick as a dog and nearly tainted the city with a bit of chunder! So I don't have much to say. Only that I have been laying in bed shivering one moment, sweating the next and can't stop coughing! I have been hallucinating about killing people in my dorm room with a crossbow because they seem to like rustling plastic bags for hours at 6am in the morning. I can't be sure if I yelled out “Calm down b*tches” or if I dream t that I yelled it out! Herron Paracetamol has been my savour. I pop a couple of those and I walk around on a cloud. Music sounds better, everything looks prettier.I'm off to Munich for Oktoberfest now. Don't know how I am going to handle drinking a beer. Probably going to mix it with some Paracetamol!RegardsHarden
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Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany

The PilgrimageI don't even know why I am writing about this. No one cares about Volkswagens as much as I do. No one will see a picture of the Wolfsburg factory and think that is the&nbsp; “Strength through Joy Town” now known as Wolfsburg. For those who don't know. Wolfsburg is the town Hitler created to make the Peoples Car. The Volkswagen. These days its just a normal town with a car factory.&nbsp;The AutostadtVolkswagen has basically made a exhibition park so that people can come and look at new cars and see them getting made etc. It had its own museum which had a lot of old cool cars. But, I don't think many people realised that the actually Volkswagen museum was down the road a bit. I went on a factory tour which was interesting to see all the robots building cars and guys there to maintain the robots. However, watching Golfs get made just didn't do it for me. I actually payed to go to the Autostadt 2 days. The first day was an evening session and got me free dinner. The second day I went to do a speed course. I.e. Learn how to control a car at fast speed around a wet track. But, it was all booked out. So I just headed back to the museum and looked at old cars. I liked the Autostadt, but it was full of pavilions for the brands that Volkswagen owns and big statements in Italics along the lines of - “Leonardo Divinci one designed the original parachute and using this inspiration we have created the bla bla...”The Real Volkswagen MuseumThis museum was probably the best museum I have ever been to in my life. It is starting to look a little run down from the outside. I think eventually they will move all the cars to the Autostadt museum. However, inside all the cars were awesome. I will let the pictures do the talking!The TownAs would be expected for a town where there is a Volkswagen factory. 90% of the cars were Volkswagens! Mainly all new ones. Which is understandable because buying a car helps you keep your job at the factory. I found out that the Wolfsburg soccer team who play at the Volkswagen Arena one the German Premier league last year, I didn't even know they had a team.I was expecting the place to be covered in merchandise and that I would leave trying to carry a million Volkswagen models and such. However, there was not much of that at all. Well, nothing that I hadn't already seen at home. So I was glad to leave without spending too much on junk!I stayed at the Porsche hotel on Porsche street. It cost me a fair bit, but it was the cheapest hotel I could find on the Internet.NightlifeWasn't all that much of it on a Thursday night! Was keen to have a beer somewhere but didn't fancy having a beer with a couple of old drunks at the local. Friday night was different but didn't fancy going to the night club with all the crazy locals. Besides, all the German guys were on roids or something. I looked like a 16 year old midget with a receding hair line. Apparently the place to go was a place called Club Impression. Some girls in a car asked me where it was and I said I had no idea. No spreakin ze Deutsche!Rental CarI walked past a Europcar office here and just out of curiosity asked them if I could hire a car without a credit card and they said yes. A bit annoying now since I already paid for my next train ticket in advance (it's a 1/3 of the price that way) 60 dollars instead of 200. I will try again later on perhaps.OverallAlthough it was expensive to get here and to stay here. It was all worth it.
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