So, the Megan story.

I met Megan in Gdansk in Poland. Hit it off pretty much immediately, so she invites me to stay with her in Budapest, where she’s doing a foreign exchange year. I do so; we spend about 10 days in Budapest together, before she goes home to the US and I move on.

We tried to keep it going as a long-distance relationship for a while, but for one reason or another I couldn’t do it – my head just wasn’t there. She offered to move to London for me but I was pretty sure that I didn’t want to be in London either. I didn’t see how it could work out, and I told her so. Gradually we drifted apart.

Sometimes I feel guilty, like I used her for that period, but I know that I meant it at the time. In different circumstances, I think that she and I would have been great for each other. Either way, I hope she’s happy now.

Budapest – again, undersold here but an amazing place, lovely enough that I am going back under my own steam. Also unmentioned in this post: Rachel, a really nice Australian girl (with whom I had an entirely platonic relationship, for those who are sniggering at the back ¬_¬ ) and stayed in touch with for a few years after that. Haven’t had an email from her in a while, but hopefully she’s doing well too.

Haha, what an amusing couple of days.

So, Krakow was pretty cool, although I probably stayed way too long there. It’s the kind of place that sucks a person in – a guy missed three planes in two days trying to leave, and it was basically a once-a-day occurence that someone would end up coming back to the youth hostel after failing to make it out fo the city. As it happens, I managed to get out first time, but only after 8 days of procrastinating and general timewastery. Met a whole slew of awesome people, though, and managed to see such interesting sights as Wawel Castle (one of the seven Chakra points, no less), the Salt Mines (the world’s oldest active mine), and a big man-made lump of earth, which may sound dull but was actually mildly impressive. Of far greater interest was the fact that the youth hostel I stayed at had its own private cinema, which, as far as I was concerned, was utterly incredible.

Of course, I also took in Auschwitz, and got pretty heavily submerged into the Jewish history of the area. The experience was bleak and somewhat depressing. Obviously, worthwhile, though. I guess I’m still mulling the whole thing over. More on that as it comes to me.

Something else relevant happened in Krakow, but I can’t remember what it was. Ah, yes, Team England! Four English boys descended on Krakow over the weekend; one got arrested on his first night for smashing a window but that was just the beginning. On the second night an Australian went out with them – and this was a pretty serious Australian, you know, 6’2″ with a pleanty impressive beer capacity of his own – and woke up the following morning missing “300 Euros, his wallet and his cock-ring”. Apparently, all he remembers was that Team England left him puking outside a brothel at 5am, and that the cause of the subsequent losses are unknown to him (although I can probably hazard a guess). Another Australian, incited by them, jumped out of a second story window. I’ve never been so proud to be English. In their honour, an English girl I met called Cath and I entered the hostel’s pub quiz on Monday night as Team England, and won conclusively. Being as I’m a non-drinker, this left Cath with the task of dealing with twelve pints of beer by herself; I hear that she aquitted herself well.

As Cath and I were travelling in the same direction we took the night train together. The night trains in Poland are awesome! They have a sketchy reputation for theft and violence, but we splashed out (haha, splashed out – the entire exercise cost about fifteen pounds) and got a private two-bed, and just locked and dead-bolted the door. It was super-comfortable, so we were happy.

Daylight found us in Budapest, jewel of the Danube. In Budapest I met up with Megan, a I girI met in Gdansk who I have stayed with for the week that I’ve been here. I have had the best time – ice skating, turkish baths (which are amazing, incidentally), the lot. Budapest is a beautiful city, if somewhat lacking in charm. It reminds me a little bit of London, actually. It’s like a mini-London; the people are slightly friendlier, the pollution less noticable, but the atmosphere similar.

This morning I took Megan to the airport and put her on a plane back to America. I’ll probably only be here for another day or so myself. Ljubljana and Slovenia are waiting.

I will almost certainly not be sending out another email before Christmas, so I hope you all have a wonderful festive season. Those members of my family who are doubtless already on the French coast, for when you get this, I hope you had a good time and I (was/will be) thinking of you; for everyone else, enjoy and be happy.

Love to all.