Photo Credit: Aliza Scharf, UMBC

The people you meet while travelling have just as much place in your memory as the things/sites you see.So…who is the weirdest/most unique/craziest/interpret this how you want person you met on your travels?

When I was in Odesa, they at the hostel told me about this 33 year old Japanese man who after he left they discovered a pic of this naked woman in the safe he was using.

Then later that day some other people who were coming from Chisinau via Transdnister had also just traveled with him. I got to hear all the hype about him. Talks in his sleep, got 200 euro taken off him by the Transdnister border guards, all sorts of strange things. Didn’t think I’d ever meet the guy.

Well a few days later I went back to Lviv and the hostel owner told me a Japanese man had booked and the name sounded familiar. A few hours later he arrived. Yes granted he was a little strange but all and all a good guy. He didn’t speak much English and he spent most of his time on his laptop taling to himself but we did convince him to go to the Lychachiv cemetary with us. Very organized, had one of those huge timetable books.

Last I know he was headed to Krakow, so if anyone has met this guy let me know. He’s a legend!

In Lviv a guy who had 3 passports (Irish, British, USA) claimed he had…

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Photo Credit: Osraí

I think everyone is guilty, at one point or another, of talking about their dreams and not taking swift action to make it happen.

TravelPUNK.com has been urging people for over 6 years to just “pull the trigger” and make your travel dreams happen.

Sadly, most people, no matter how much inspiration and motivation they get from things they watch, read, or the people around them, will never take action.

There will always be something that will get in their way. Things that they create, subconsciously, that will allow them to make more excuses as to why they should continue to procrastinate on their travel dreams.

You create your own reality.

Push yourself to make it happen! You won’t regret it.

Here’s an inspirational post from a new member of our community, Bedtimeonthemoon. This was posted yesterday!

Ahh I booked it!

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Congratulations for finally doing it, Bedtimeonthemoon! You’re an inspiration to all of us!

Of course, we wish you an absolutely awesome life-altering trip!

Amsterdam is, no doubt, one of the top destinations for backpackers heading out to Europe. But if you are traveling this spring or summer, one thing that you MUST do is book ahead.

Here are some top hostels and hotels worth booking ahead.

The Flying Pig DOWNTOWN and The Flying Pig UPTOWN are TOP hostels world wide, so don’t even try walking up on the fly hoping to have freedom to pick and choose your beds and available nights at these places.

The Bulldog Hostelis a five star hostel and has had great reviews from travelers.

Quentin Hotel has a great view of the canal and is next to all the major day and night attractions.

Bob’s Youth Hostel Although they save a certain amount of beds available for walk-ins, this popular hostel will have droves of backpackers heading over to it during the main travel season, so better to book online and be safe.

With all of these hostels, you may find sporadic nights here and there or even a big waiting line in front of you when you get there, but most likely you’ll be tired and exhausted of walking with your 35 lb backpack at that point or won’t have the patience to wait around to see if an availability pop up.
Be smart, book ahead, and be worry-free when you get there. This will allow you to utilize your time better when you get there and you can use all that precious time exploring this great city.

For a complete list of all hostels in Amsterday, use our safe and secure hostel search engine

I had planned on leaving Saturday, but the angry ghost of Christopher Columbus again made things difficult for me. America West cancelled our 1130 Chicago flight (the one I was going to leave on). Which meant we sent all our passengers over to Southwest (my backup) overselling them. Our next flight wasn’t until 4:30 pm, so since I had to transfer to O’Hare, I felt I wouldn’t make it in time for my Ireland flight.

So, I gave up, and went Sunday instead. No problem that day, and I landed late morning in Dublin. I took the bus downtown and decided I would head straight to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains. A light mist was falling — something I had better get used to, it turned out.

I arrived in Glendalough, a beautiful wooded valley with a couple lakes, around early afternoon. I found a B&B, checked in for two nights, and went to explore the valley. There is quite a scattering of monastic ruins in Glendalough — including a 120′ tower built in the 12th century, the fairly complete ruins of several churches, tall standing stone crosses, “beehive-type cells” the monks stayed in, etc.

The sun even came out for a couple hours while I was exploring the valley. Little did I know it, but it would prove to be my only glimpse of it during the trip. Anyway, it was a pleasant day — wonderful scenery, cool ruins, waterfalls, you name it. I ended the day with dinner and a Guiness Stout in one of the two local restaurants.

The next day was my major hiking day. I planned on hiking the Wicklow Way, which runs along the hilltops thoughout the region. I would go as far north as I could get, then take the bus back. It was a drizzly, misty day as I started tramping north. The trail was easy to follow, matching up exactly with my Ordnance Survey map I’d purchased.

The scenery was neat, but I figured my pictures would suffer from the omninpresent drizzle. As it turned out, it “rained” all day. I was never soaked — it was too light a fall. However, it was good “mood weather.” Some views that were nice would have been spectacular in the sun.

Just when I was getting to the steepest and most remote portion of the Way, I lost my way. I backtracked, doublechecked the map, but still couldn’t find my way back on the main path. Somehow, I’d missed a turnoff and was being led downhill and east instead of uphill and northeast. I wasn’t worried, though, I knew I’d end up on the road. Which I did. I think caught a ride down to the village of Roundhill, ate lunch and a Guiness in the pub, and decided my feet were sore enough for one day. I figured I hiked a good 15 miles that day. I caught a ride back to my B&B (yes, this was hitchhiking, something I hadn’t done since Scotland years and years ago). Despite the (still) rainy weather, it’d been a good (if tiring) day.

The third day I rode the early bus back to Dublin and then went to the town of Trim. There is another handful of medieval buildings there, including the largest castle in Ireland. It was drizzling again (and would prove to all day long). The castle was cool. It is the one that appears in Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart.” They used once face of it as York for the siege scene, another side as Edinburgh and still another as Longshank’s castle in London. They are restoring it, so you couldn’t go inside the main keep, but could walk around the outer walls. I saw the other various ruins of churches and nunneries in the area, ate lunch in a pub, and headed back to Dublin.

After finding a B&B and some gifts, the drizzle turned it up a notch. My explorations were cut short as the skies opened up for the first real hard rain I’d seen the whole trip. I took refuge in a pub (with a Guinness, of course) The next morning I returned home. No problems on any of my flights this time, and I spent that evening in my own bed. A short trip, but a good one. I now know there is a country on this planet where it rains more than it does in Scotland!

This article was was used by permission from Mike Demana. To read all of Mike’s adventures, please his website at- WorldWideMike.com