It has been quite an eventful couple of days! As I sit at the Colosseum typing and reflecting, people give me curious looks. Do I care right now? Not at all. Why? Let me explain. The story begins a few days ago, with Kelvin hungry, lost, smelly, and effectively homeless on a train going somewhere he did not know. I got off at Garrista, or somewhere with a similar name, but because it was urban and had no beach, I took another train to Civitavecchia (I planned to confirm the exact names later). I got off, found the beach, and was immersed among locals. By this stage of the trip, I could rarely go anywhere without hearing English, but for about 15 hours I heard none at all.

Good morning! It has been five days since I last wrote, and they have been among the most relaxing five days of the entire trip. I somehow made all my connections, and because Falun is not very large, Maria, Kerstin, and Maria’s father were waiting for me at the station. We jumped into the Audi, laughed about the fact that I was actually in their town, and drove to Kerstin’s house. A few of their friends were there when we arrived, including CC and another person whose name I no longer remember. I was a little sick, so I had only one beer before we all went to a bar called Marians, or something similar, where I had another drink. We laughed and talked, and I met several more people that night.

I think the date in my last entry was slightly wrong, since I spent only three days in Copenhagen. I think it was really the 17th, but I don’t know for certain! I have now been in Europe for well over a month, and my time is winding down. I have most of the remainder planned out, which is nice, but first, a summary of what happened in Copenhagen: In my last entry, I mentioned that I went biking, which I did for almost the entire day. Pat, a guy from San Francisco, and I biked around town for roughly six hours. There were not too many highlights, apart from a great series of lakes in Copenhagen with a path running around them. We rode rented, rather battered bikes that cost 20 kroner each, or about three …

I have stooped to a new low. You may be asking, “What about Ana?” She would be disappointed in me, that’s what. Why? Reasons. Complicated reasons. Californication is playing in the background, and I am very content. Why? I am sitting in a KFC in The Hague, typing on my PDA while somebody speaks to me in another language about it. How disappointing. We arrived on the 14th at about 11:30 p.m. The train ride took a while, with a few transfers and one delay attributed to “air conditioning.” I could live with it. Well…

I know it has been a long time since I last wrote in my journal, so this entry might be rather long. I don’t remember the exact day of my last entry, but the story resumes in Ios, where I boarded a ferry. I rode for about nine hours to Athens and slept almost the entire way. In Athens, I caught a bus to Patras. This was especially amusing because the book I was reading discussed Piraeus, the port of Athens. I was aiming for a 6:00 ferry and arrived in Patras around noon. I found an internet cafe, wrote a few emails, then sat at a cafe and read by the port. I kept checking my PDA for the time, believing it was correct, but it was an hour slow. When I finally started looking for the ferry, I discovered it …

I am alone again, on an ICE to Venice. After going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, we returned to the hostel, made some food, and went to bed. I fell asleep fairly early, while Ana stayed up longer to write in her journal. The next morning, we did not really know what to do. I needed to reach Venice eventually, while she needed to visit Amsterdam and London. Once awake, we wandered around Paris for quite a while, got some food, and had some film developed. She called her parents a few times, and we went to the train station to make reservations. We had also visited the Moulin Rouge the previous night, by the way. Eventually, I emailed my friend Christy to say that I would not reach Venice the next day but would …

Five or six days have passed, and the days on Ios have blurred together in the way island days tend to do. I will try to put the pieces back in order. On the ferry over I met two Swedish travellers, Kishden and Maria, who were easy company from the start. We all decided to stay at Far Out, the campsite where Ana was staying, and I ended up in a bungalow that became more crowded than planned but pleasantly inexpensive.

I have been travelling far too much lately, I think. I am ready to take it easy, sit back with a few margaritas, and relax. I am getting more tanned, though, at least on my arms. On the morning of the 30th, I worked out how to get to Ios, which is a long way away. BJ, whom I had met in Rome, happened upon me while I was eating breakfast with another traveller. We hired two sea kayaks and went out on the water for a few hours. Nothing too interesting, except for some of the clearest water I have EVER seen! It was quite amazing. We met a group of Australians on a rock out in the water.

Unfortunately, not much has happened in the last couple of days. So, let’s see: what on earth is going on? My last entry was from the train from Zurich to Milan. In Milan I jumped on a train to Bologna, only to discover that I needed a reservation. Oops! The conductor was frustrated and scolded me in Italian. She eventually said, “I’ll let you pass this time,” or something like that, since I only had 9 euros and the ticket cost 16. Never again will I jump on a Eurostar train without checking; it was not worth the hassle. I ended up in Bologna, checked my email, wrote long messages to everybody, and eventually caught a rough night train south.

I have a couple of days to cover, and they have been quite adventurous. Two days ago, I eventually arrived in Monterosso after a few detours and losing track of my friends. The first thing on my list was food; I was very hungry. After eating and practising a little Italian with the waitress, I headed down to see the beach. I met a few women nearby and mentioned that I planned to camp there. They told me that several American women were planning to do the same. Good luck! I walked onto the beach in high spirits and saw one of them sitting in a chair while three others were in the water. I asked, “Are you the Americans I heard were going to camp on the beach?” She replied, “I don’t know …