Where's your mask? What mask?

Hamburg (Germany) to Copenhagen (Denmark)

First class seats again for the 4 hour train trip to Copenhagen. The seats looked almost new and the train was very clean, our only regret was that we didn't book a quiet carriage. We were exposed to endless chatter in a language we didn't understand (yes, our fault for not learning the local language)!

We arrived into Copenhagen station in good time and dragged our suitcases all the way around the streets surrounding the station, to finally realise that if we had turned right instead of left when we exited the platform we would have been at the hotel in just two minutes!

We strolled the block or so into the old town to find we were amongst masses of tourist just like pre covid times, the busiest we'd seen for a long time.Thailand was still quiet and Frankfurt and Hamburg aren't particularly big tourist cities like Copenhagen. It was also noticeable that in Denmark masking up isn't a thing like it was in Germany. We have tended to stick to masks in crowds as the last thing we need on our trip is to catch Covid!

No women allowed

Hamburg

Jet lag hadn't seemed to impact us too much so far, but it seemed to finally catch up as we really slept in today! 

As we’d been to Germany a few times before we decided we would skip an organised walking tour for Hamburg and try a self guided tour instead. We had made our way to the impressive Rathaus (town hall) where we noticed the tell-tale umbrellas of a free walking tour group. We decided to tag along for a while to see if it was OK as the tour size was about 20 people, not too big, not too small.

As it turned out the tour guide was quite good so we enjoyed hearing about the history of Hamburg and managed to see a lot of things that we would have inevitably missed if we'd tried to guide ourselves.

The tour ended near the Elbphilharmonie, a modern concert hall, so we took advantage of the free entry to the terrace to look at some views of the city, which weren't that great as they mainly looked out over the docks area.

It was now getting very warm at 34 degrees so we took a short break before heading out to Reeperbahn the party/red light district. The set up was similar to Amsterdam in some ways where women ply their trade from windows you can see from the street, but women aren’t allowed to enter some areas at all.

We went back to the plaza near our hotel for dinner, and struggled again with the number of smokers and the fact that smoking is allowed at restaurants. It really shows how Australia is quite different to Europe in many ways, not always for the best but in this case it definitely is.

One other thing we noticed about Germany was how most people on public transport are still wearing masks, much more compliant than at home.

This train will not be continuing

Frankfurt to Hamburg

We found a nice café nearby that made a decent flat white, but as the size of the cup was so small we ended up drinking two, to the surprise of the café staff who wanted to know where we were from that we could possibly find that their double shot flat white was not enough!

We had a four hour train trip to Hamburg, the train was delayed but we had booked first class so we enjoyed our comfy seats with a table as we settled in to enjoy the German countryside. All was going well for the first 2 hours until it was announced that the train would be stopping at Hanover and not continuing. 

We waited half an hour on the platform in 35 degree heat and piled into the next train with everyone else on the platform, two trains of people into one train, hardly enough seats and definitely none left in first class. K ended up on a table in the restaurant car, M found a seat where he could keep an eye on our luggage.

Our arrival into Hamburg ended up being an hour late, and after running the gauntlet of the heat, crowds and beggars we finally made it to our hotel.

Guten Morgen!

Frankfurt

We’ve been to Frankfurt before we so we spent the day doing some shopping and running some errands. We were amused to read the heat warnings issued in the press as the temperature was going to be 33 degrees C, we found it quite pleasant and nicer than Thailand as it wasn't as humid.

Wherever we go in the world people think that we’re German, not usually a problem unless you're in Germany where it can be a bit of an issue. Whenever someone speaks to us it's in German and we can't understand them, our vocabulary stops at "guten morgen"!

Back into it

Phuket (Thailand) to Frankfurt (Germany)

After spending four weeks in July chilling at Bang Tao beach in Phuket, Thailand it was time for us to hit the road and do some real travelling once again.

We took our time getting out of Thailand, we flew from Phuket to Bangkok, had a good night's sleep and then hopped on another plane for Frankfurt in Germany. We had packed a few clothes and essentials into our hand luggage in case our suitcases were separated from us as we'd heard there were lots of issues in European airports. Even though our flight was delayed we were fortunate to arrive in Frankfurt and find our cases had made it there as well.

Day 81 to Day 88 - The real holiday from holidaying

Day 81
We were staying in a nice villa with a private plunge pool, it's a 10-15 minute walk from the beach but when you have a pool being near the beach isn't as important.

It seems we hadn't really caught up with our sleep as we ended up getting out of bed around midday. M went for a walk to check out the area and discovered that Bang Tao beach was a lovely long clean beach with quite a few nice looking beach bars and restaurants in-between only a few larger resorts.

We headed to the beach as it was getting dark, by this time the heat and humidity was much more bearable, and we had a nice dinner on the sand as the waves rolled in.

Day 82 to 83
For the next couple of days we took it easy, K took advantage of the nice plunge pool while M decided it was his last chance to get the blog into order and put in an incredible effort to finish the blogs for both this holiday and the last one to Eastern Europe.

Day 84
After four nights at Bang Tao we were a little sorry to say goodbye, but we had booked a resort close to Patong for the final four nights of the trip.

The new place didn't have the same sort of charm as the old one, it was really just a hotel suite in a large complex, and even though it was close to the beach the beach wasn't as nice as Bang Tao either. We visited the rooftop pool and it wasn't as nice as we expected, so we felt that M (who had selected this place in the first place) had made a grave mistake. M wasn't apologetic at all however, because in reality he was really bored at the last place, so bored in fact that the ended up finishing the blog for both this trip and the previous trip!

Day 85
From there the situation improved, M spent the day at a variety of Patong's strip clubs and girly bars, while K spent the time studying Spanish and checking up on her business interests back home. They only came together that evening to go out for dinner at one of the local Thai restaurants. K didn't deviate from her standard dish of Penang curry, but struggled to find one that was as good as the ones from Bayside Thai in Frankston.

That night  M didn't return to the hotel until 4am. He reeked of lemongrass and had massaman flavoured lipstick on his collar. He couldn't stand up to K's fierce questioning and eventually admitted that he had been with one of the Patong ladyboys (they really do look like women, anyone would be fooled, it's not as if M  knew there was a man hiding behind that adam's apple). He said he'd been attending a cooking class to learn how to make penang curry, as a surprise for K.

M was grounded, he was only allowed to leave the hotel if K was with him. The real worry though was the love bite on M's cheek, it wouldn't look good if it was still there when he went back to work next Monday.

Day 86
After a just a day of Mike moping around the suite K had had enough, and allowed him to go out on his own for an hour as a test. As it was a 20 minute walk to the nearest girly bar, that really only left 20 minutes for him to get up to any mischief, which was an acceptable risk. M was quite embarrassed that K had decided that she'd update the world on his misadventures by putting it in this blog, so he vowed to redeem himself. He spent his hour of freedom on self reflection and meditation, and also trying a few yoga moves he saw on a youtube clip, but as he lacked the true flexibility required for yoga he only ended up spraining his ankle.

K in the meantime had been on eHarmony and was checking out potential replacements for M, little did M know but that hour K had given him was really just a front, since K needed an hour a day to check her eHarmony messages from potential suitors back home, and set up some "appointments" with them for when M returned to work.

Amazingly K ended up getting a little tired of Penang curry and had grilled fish for dinner. This was great for M, as this meant he could start ordering really spicy Thai dishes without having to share them with K.

Day 87
Unfortunately the uneasy truce between M and K didn't last long. M snuck off to Bangla Road at about 2am when he thought K was sleeping. K heard him get up and decided to follow him, she certainly thought it was a bit strange to see him wearing a string vest, she had seen it in his case but thought it was just a shopping bag.

M moved pretty quickly through the night, it seemed he had an appointment to keep. K lost him but eventually spotted him again outside the Honky Tonk Bar, which wasn't totally unexpected as he had been whistling the tune to "Honky Tonk Woman" to himself all afternoon, which she thought was unusual as it was quite unlike the usual tunes he sang to himself when he thought no-one was listening.

If you look carefully you can see M's left arm on the extreme right of this picture

K confronted M at the bar just as he was about to slip away through the back door, she grabbed him by the vest and dragged him back to the resort. He did try to run off a couple of times but he didn't want to stretch his vest as he had gone to a lot of trouble to purchase it and he was very happy with the colour and fit, as well as the air to material ratio.

It wasn't until about 3:30am that they made it back, M refused to take his string vest off when they went to bed, as it was quite hot and he said it provided "excellent ventilation".

Day 88
Things were a bit strained the next morning. M was furious that his string vest was ruined, while K was contemplating packing up and going home. As it turned out this was quite fortuitous because the flight home was that day anyway! M checked in online and at K's request made sure they weren't seated together. 

It was a late departure so they stayed at the hotel most of the day. After getting a taxi to the airport and waiting around, they finally took their places in business class as M had put in a bid for an upgrade on the flight and had been successful. It was quite a pleasant flight as a result, with good service, plenty of room and some reasonable food - just the way to end a very enjoyable trip (well, the first 84 days that is).

Day 89

Home at last, we reacquainted ourselves with our house and dog, and prepared for the return to reality.  

Day 80 - Made it

Doha to Phuket was uneventful and we arrived at our villa near Bang Tao Beach around 9am. Luckily they let us check in early so we finally made it back to bed around 24 hours after getting up.

After catching up on some sleep we headed out to check out the area, and ended up at a Thai restaurant for a meal we had been looking forward to for some time, finally a chance to have something spicy!

Day 79 - We are trying to leave, not enter

The alarm went off at 4am to start our 22 hours of travelling. We had decided that we would rather take a series of short flights with layovers rather than sitting on a flight for umpteen hours. We took a
taxi to Tel Aviv airport to take our first flight of the day, 45 minutes to Amman, Jordan. We were a bit surprised that before we could join the check in queue we were subjected to an interrogation where K had to remove her glasses. M was told that he needed to provide another form of documentation apart from his passport (luckily he had his driver's license). Then M's stamp from Antarctica was queried, next we had to explain our relationship, and finally M had to say his birth date and then K's! Seriously guys we are leaving your country not entering and we are trying to join the check in queue not the customs line!

At Amman we joined the transfers desk queue and to the annoyance of all the people behind us once again we had to provide lots of documentation, including proof of our return to Australia. Then security decided to go through K's luggage and wanted to know what her medication was for - hey
guys, we are only passing through!

A few hours later we boarded our flight to Doha while not looking forward to our 5 hour layover. The section of Doha airport we were in was dead, as in it felt like it was the middle of the night, just us and the cleaners at 4pm on a Tuesday. We finally went to the lounge only to find it's one of these
annoying airports where they don't let you in to the lounge until boarding time and there aren't enough seats outside so lots of people have to sit on the floor. Just open the lounge door!

Doha Airport .... the world's most forlorn mascot

By the time we boarded in Doha we were still doing ok, and settled in for the last 6 and a half hour flight to Phuket.

Day 78 - The price doesn't include service

We had signed on to yet another "Sandemans free walking tour", our fifth on this trip, this time of the Jaffa old town, the original settlement near Tel Aviv. We have done loads of free walking tours over the years but it's only been this year that it seems the only choice is Sandemans. A tour is only as good as a guide and unfortunately this guide was a dry, quoting dates type of guide, this coupled with how hot it was and how little there was to see meant that we bailed early.

We went past some old buildings and some old ruins, as well as some modern sculptures, before we reached Jaffa old town. The old town was a bit underwhelming and there were only tourists around. Save for a few building with some sort of biblical connection it seemed every old building had been converted into an upmarket boutique or shop.

The beach at Tel Aviv is lovely with soft sand and very clean, so we spent the evening at a nice bar sitting on the sand. It's a shame that it cost so much though, two drinks each and two bowls of chips cost us about AUD$100, which includes the 15% service ... it seems Israel very much follows the US model with tipping, we'd been hit with the "the price doesn't include service" a lot.

We didn't stay out too late as we needed to have an early night in preparation for a very long travelling day the next day.

Day 77 - Warning: Don't use Budget in Israel!

We drove to see the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa, they were bigger than those in Acre and went up the edge of a large hill, there is a large gold dome in the middle. From the top we had a great view of the gardens and also of Haifa.

From there we drove on to Ceaseara to see the Roman ruins, this time we just viewed from outside  as there were bus loads of tourists and we felt we had seen our fair share of Roman ruins, although the aqueduct right on the beach was something we hadn't seen before.

We stopped for lunch in a beachside town on the Mediterranean and went for a walk on a lovely beach with fine sand, no rocks and very clean water.

After dropping off our luggage at our Airbnb in Tel Aviv we drove to the Budget office to drop off our rental car. Although we have hired lots of cars from Budget and always had good experiences, the Israeli experience made them seem like a different company.

On the pickup in Jerusalem they were disorganized, unprofessional and uncaring. The car we were given was very dirty with rubbish inside, and this was ingrained dirt, it wasn't just not cleaned from the previous rental. The outside had marks and scratches, there were dings in the panels, a hub cap was missing, as was a tail light. Although it had Budget stickers on it, it looked like "Rent A Bomb". Only some of these were marked on the paperwork and as M was taking photos and recording them the Budget guy was telling him not to worry about it. So, of course as soon as we pulled in to drop the car off they started on all the damage and wouldn't believe it wasn't there before! Luckily we had time and date stamped photos. We had also filled up the car about 20kms before we dropped it off but after that small distance the tank wasn't showing full any more.We ended up taking the car back out again to fill it up ... we were happy to see the end of that car and of Budget Israel as well.

The promenade and beach at Tel Aviv is very wide, and quite modern looking, and the beach has very fine white sand so we enjoyed a drink on the beach as the sun was setting (whilst trying not to choke at the prices) before heading home. Previous to Israel we had found Switzerland the most expensive country we have visited, but Israel is our new winner.