Contiki Craziness - Part 1

The four Captains of the rough seas (Cap'n Jack Sparrow, Cap'n Morgan, Cap'n Barbosa and Cap'n Hook) set out for a holiday to see what all these landlovers were really about. Cause pirates need holidays too...right!! So what better way to see this land than with a Contiki tour through Europe. Arrr me harty's.........

Day 1 - London to Amsterdam, Netherlands

Early shenanigans and silliness

London was still sleeping but the Contiki group were all preparing for the tour of their lives at 5am. We made our way via tube to the Royal Contiki Hotel, where we had our bags weighed and then hoped on the bus.

The back seat was chosen as our preferred seating and we all crammed in there and the tour bus headed to Dover with the music blaring. The trip to Dover was pretty cool and the atmosphere in the bus was buzzing, there was alot of introductions to be had. At the entrace to the ferry we had to go through a border to France, the border guards all spoke in French and we greeted them with an enthustic 'Bonjour', that way they gave us speedy entry to the Ferry.

Once on the ferry we quickly grabbed a bar seat and had our first beer, well Cap'ns Morgan and Jack Sparrow did, Cap'ns Barboasa and Hook were saving their constitution for a later time. We bid farewell to Great Britan and the Dover hills. We were glad to see the end to the grey wet weather and were hoping for some good weather through Europe.

The tour bus drove for three hours through France, Belguim and arrived in the Netherlands and then we found ourselves at our first hotel, Slotmania aka Slutmania. There was a big mixup with the rooms and their locations but after a short time the Cap'ns found they had 2 rooms with 3 single beds each... they wern't that great however we were on Contiki and were happy with any room at that point.

That night we walked through town and headed to the Grasshoper it was recommended by one of our friends, however it was 40 Euro's for four JD's and coke, what a ripper!! After consuming our very expensive drinks we decided that the local supermarket would provide cheaper drinks which we could consume while viewing the city sites.

The night life in Amsterdam was very entertaining, however it was Amsterdam and this my friend is the Internet, if you want to know more you'll have to ask in person about the nightlife. Though I can say we were drug free, they were left to the locals.

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Uk Quirks

Wotcha, ay-up, so you've found yourself ere? Fair nuff, wot, wot.
Me and Missy are in London but not for long tee hee - next week we are going on a Contiki tour!

Cammy and Smithy arrived last week and those boys have been bootin about the show. Missy and the boys are getting on just fine, we had a massive 80's party the other night it was just fab, Smithy should have a few pics but I don't, oh well.

So instead of ranting about travels I thought today I would rant about the state of affairs ere is Britland. It's an upside down place for us antipodeans and one cannot fathom it's quirks.

Small Change

For some reason the UK still have pennies and you seem to accumulate masses of these things. When I first came I went to the bank to cash my small change, the bank promptly gave me plastic bags and asked me to count it all out. Well this was *fun*, I'm used to them putting it in a big counting machine and giving me the cash... very strange.

Then I noticed at the local supermarket there is a change counting machine, however they charge a commission to count your money - really they must think I'm crazy! Everyone knows counting money is *fun*. So I decided I needed to get to the bottom of this matter. Where did all this change come from and why?

Laziness

In nuddy puddy land they are lazy and proud of it, it seems you can do nothing unless someone tells you to, because afterall why would you do it anyhow? It maybe a throwback view from the feudalism days, Eddie Lizzard sums it all up in this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw

Missy found the hard way at the Tesco's she tried to buy something which didn't have a barcode, at the end of day they wouldn't sell it to her and told her to go get one with a barcode. When she told them they didn't want it, they didn't want to total her purchase. After a minute or two they let her pay. Apparently the till person was very unhappy...... They make you pack your own stuff to and you're expected to ask for the total before it's totalled as well.

Laziness breeds small change

The supermarket is a breeding ground for disaster really, fast food is right up there to. Anyhow the checkout people will always give you the lowest denomination in change. It's like they can't count two two's and a one to make five pounds, instead you always get five pounds in one pound coins. It would be alot simpler to get a five pound note but they seem intent on giving you change. In fact say if you were getting a pound change sometimes they will give you five twenty pence coins. I've tried to understand the rationale behind this and I've decided it's counting one's till at the end of the day. It must take longer if you have loads of change so why not pawn it off to the customers?

How can you fight back?

Lately I just carry change, and I only pay for things in change. I stand at the checkout and count it out for the person at the till, as I do I swear I see a defeated look in their eyes. It just makes one's day. The other day a cashier asked for change so I'd get a clean five pound note and instead gave me five one pound coins in return. So never give them change when they ask for it, they will only ambush you with more change in return.

Enough said nuddy puddy land is really quite something, they will make you wait, charge you loads, as I said it's all upside down.

Perhaps Old Greg will help you understand how they think, it's a recently comedy clip of BBC3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0S6vL0-u58

Europe next week - watch this space!