Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? Assuming my name were Carmen Sandiego...

So, I'm writing this at six in the afternoon. And wow, it's 2am back home. So, good luck with that, future people. It's like I've said many a time, the future is so awesome. If you guys are reading this before 10am Victorian time, you've technically read it before I even wrote it. Oh man, this IS so awesome.

So, the day so far... that has really gone on for around thirty-six hours (ish). We flew out of Melbourne at 3:30pm, and then got the fun of an eight hour flight. Followed by a two hour stop over in Singapore. After which we flew for just shy of twelve hours, and got off the plane in Frankfurt, Germany, at six o'clock, Wednesday morning. Oh, FYI, on the flight from Singapore to Frankfurt, we met this awesome Australian dude named Nick, who managed to convince Jordan that the bags would indeed be transferred from our connecting flight, we also ended up sitting next to that same dude on the flight over here.

Once in Frankfurt, we tried to work out the ticket machine so we could get to the main Frankfurt station, and ended up being helped and talked through the situation by a lovely Australian girl by the name of Meg. Who was a pianist seeing the world, and who seemed to have the same trouble with the machine that we did, but figured it out faster. She helped us find out that we were on the right train when we ran into her again on said train.

Once in the main Frankfurt station, Jordan and I decided 'screw it', and we caught the next train outta there into Amsterdam. Oh yeah, that's right, this is being written from a backpackers hostel in Amsterdam. We haven't had a huge day here (yet), but we plan on doing that tomorrow.

Sorry about the 'and then' and the 'and then' but I am way too tired to awesome it up for you all today. So here's a list of some of the important things we learnt today, whether through experience, or through people being kind enough to pass on advice.

When we first got to Amsterdam, Jordan went and enquired about the cost of getting a tattoo. The tattooist (not sure of the name) was an Aussie guy who'd spent the last eighteen years tattooing his way around fifteen countries. So, in other words, on Jordans and my first trip overseas, the first three people we met, were Australian.

Beer at an outdoor, humid as hell, Singapore bar is eleven euros a pint, whereas your local bar in Amsterdam, they're five euros.

It's called a quarter pounder here, not a 'Royale with Cheese,' but they do have a bottle of mayonaise to put on the chips. Oh also, there's a lot of arabic places, italian places, and argentinian grills, but nowhere we could find labelled 'Dutch Food.'

Coffee shops here, not primarily dedicated to the preparation of, and serving, of coffee. And they have rules like, 'you can smoke in here, but not cigarettes.'

A guy gave us some advice if we were going to check out the red light district (if?). All houses have a red light. The ones with a blue light, however have a ladyboy inside, the purple lights, transvestites. I felt too bad for that guy to ask how he found that out.

Amsterdam is a city that seems so liberal about it's drugs, that not only can you buy dope and mushrooms from dedicated stores, but all the corner stores and seven-eleven-esque places also sell beer. And if you're really in need, or y'know, just walking down the street, some guy on a bicycle will ride up to you to let you know that 'he can get anything.' And then, after giving you his phone number, he will ride up the street yelling out the names of things he can get. For the record, it's a lot.We haven't kept his  number, because I have this weird hang-up from Victoria where you just can't trust the first drug dealer on a bicycle that calls you over. But maybe people are more honest here.

People here do speak English (especially the Australians, I guess), but not as their first language. When we first needed to do something here, there was an 'oh shit' moment when we realised that a few german classes, and a lifetime of listening to Rammstein, does NOT mean that you can speak German.

But it is lovely here. The people here are quite nice, Jordan and I have even decided on a pub that is to be 'our local' for the next few days, and it's just kinda peaceful. I'll write more again tomorrow (or the next day), and I'll be sure to put in a whole lot more photos.

I love you all.

Jordan and I at outside bar at Singapore Airport. Fuzziness due to fog on the lens.
as I said, hot and humid.

Jordan out front of Frankfurt Main Train Station

Myself out front of Frankfurt Main Train Station