Ricky is a legend. This morning Sungshin left at dawn again and I slept until breakfast time. While I was stacking my plate with bacon and eggs, adamant about getting value from my four-euro-eighty buffet breakfast, Ricky walked into the hostel bar/dining room. I said hello and just as he opened his mouth to reply, the extremely attractive Scottish girl I saw talking to him at the bar last night grabbed appeared from behind him. "Rick, Rick", she said in a panicky voice, "can you check your bed for my other earring?" And before Ricky even had a chance to return my greeting, he was gone again leaving me to ponder this over my mountainous plate of food. How had she lost her earring in Rick's bed? Unlike me, Rick didn't have a double room at the hostel. He and Jack were both staying in the forty-bed dormitory in the basement. Interesting.
Later on, over coffee, I was filled in on the events of the previous night. It seems both Jack and Ricky had adventurous and memorable evenings. And then we got the car packed up and drove to Frankfurt. This took longer than expected as did finding a hostel with a vacancy for Jack. Based on the forty-five minutes I spent in Frankfurt - it is a very scary place. Perhaps, like Munich, we were just in the wrong part of town, but all we saw were sex shops, apparent brothels, and homeless/crazy people in the streets head-butting street lamps and arguing with each other. I was glad to get out of there and out of this country and on the way to place I knew and loved - Paris.
Ricky's estimates of driving time turned out to be slightly off as it took over fifteen hours to reach our destination. Perhaps because of the stop in dodgy Frankfurt, or perhaps because we detoured so Ricky could visit a famous car racing course called the Nurburgring. We also came off the motorway once and find a nice little pub/restaurant for some great food and a beer. This was actually a wonderful little detour as we found ourselves in a village with only one pub. The one village pub had lovely, helpful and friendly staff that could not speak a single word of English. It was so much fun to try to communicate and order our food, especially as the table of old ladies adjacent to us thought the whole situation hysterical and couldn't help but laugh at/with us.
After the food, we carried on with the long journey. Despite the length of time we say in that borrowed Peugot, it was never arduous. If I had to choose a road trip partner, I could do no better than Ricky. He's a great guy, as down to earth and humble as they come. And over a few hours of dark motorway driving I got to hear some of his story. Taking a break from a good job back in New South Wales, Ricky is fulfilling his dream on this trip and seeing/doing all the things he's always wanted to. A fairly recent divorce seemed to have been really hard, but this trip has been taking him physically and mentally to where he wants to be. Despite being several years younger than me, Ricky seemed to contain a quiet confidence and maturity that had me regarding him as a big brother. And hearing his story helped me stop taking my own life and luck for granted. This traveling lifestyle that I lead is no doubt a privileged and lucky one. To hear of someone who's been dreaming of doing something for so long brought awareness to how unique my own lifestyle, which allows me to go pretty much wherever I want whenever I want, is.
When we arrived in Paris, it was really late and raining. Ricky couldn't get in touch with the people he knew in the city, and it was too late at night to contact the family friend I had there. So we pulled into a car park and got a few hours sleep.
Later on, over coffee, I was filled in on the events of the previous night. It seems both Jack and Ricky had adventurous and memorable evenings. And then we got the car packed up and drove to Frankfurt. This took longer than expected as did finding a hostel with a vacancy for Jack. Based on the forty-five minutes I spent in Frankfurt - it is a very scary place. Perhaps, like Munich, we were just in the wrong part of town, but all we saw were sex shops, apparent brothels, and homeless/crazy people in the streets head-butting street lamps and arguing with each other. I was glad to get out of there and out of this country and on the way to place I knew and loved - Paris.
Ricky's estimates of driving time turned out to be slightly off as it took over fifteen hours to reach our destination. Perhaps because of the stop in dodgy Frankfurt, or perhaps because we detoured so Ricky could visit a famous car racing course called the Nurburgring. We also came off the motorway once and find a nice little pub/restaurant for some great food and a beer. This was actually a wonderful little detour as we found ourselves in a village with only one pub. The one village pub had lovely, helpful and friendly staff that could not speak a single word of English. It was so much fun to try to communicate and order our food, especially as the table of old ladies adjacent to us thought the whole situation hysterical and couldn't help but laugh at/with us.
After the food, we carried on with the long journey. Despite the length of time we say in that borrowed Peugot, it was never arduous. If I had to choose a road trip partner, I could do no better than Ricky. He's a great guy, as down to earth and humble as they come. And over a few hours of dark motorway driving I got to hear some of his story. Taking a break from a good job back in New South Wales, Ricky is fulfilling his dream on this trip and seeing/doing all the things he's always wanted to. A fairly recent divorce seemed to have been really hard, but this trip has been taking him physically and mentally to where he wants to be. Despite being several years younger than me, Ricky seemed to contain a quiet confidence and maturity that had me regarding him as a big brother. And hearing his story helped me stop taking my own life and luck for granted. This traveling lifestyle that I lead is no doubt a privileged and lucky one. To hear of someone who's been dreaming of doing something for so long brought awareness to how unique my own lifestyle, which allows me to go pretty much wherever I want whenever I want, is.
When we arrived in Paris, it was really late and raining. Ricky couldn't get in touch with the people he knew in the city, and it was too late at night to contact the family friend I had there. So we pulled into a car park and got a few hours sleep.
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