Crazy European Adventure Part 6: A Hippy's Plight...

We train hopped to Breda, a city much smaller and less touristy than Amsterdam. When we arrived, we were in pretty bad condition. None of us had showered for six days because the showers at the cabin were cold and had no towels. It had been cold every day, so we had layered on all of our clothing, which was now getting dirty and crusty. We had gone to a rave and danced for twelve hours in a sea of bodies, so we were covered in stale sweat that wasn't wholly our own. We hadn't eaten or slept in thirty six hours...
Needless to say, shop owners, taxi drivers, and restaurants weren't jumping to accommodate our needs. None of us could speak Dutch, and few citizens of Breda could speak English. We wearily wondered around the city for eight hours, searching for a place to buy cheap food and a place to sleep. We found neither. To call ourselves demoralized at this point in the trip would be an understatement. Especially considering the fact that we were keeping company with Simon, who stopped at nothing to complain about his drug dealing situation while simultaneously suggesting ludicrous ideas that ranged from immature to downright stupid. A lot of bickering happened. Under normal circumstances, Flower and I are scathing critics of anything and everything. In these conditions, we became tag-team assholes with fixed expressions of hate, yelling out insults, muttering under our breath, and being incredibly unpleasant...

It was 10 PM, and we were faced with the option of sleeping rough in a park. It was cold and we were starving, I could see that sleep would not happen and the next day would be even worse, so I made an executive decision. I have a credit card for emergencies that I never use, especially when my parents tell me that I can. This instance was the only in which I had ever used it for an actual emergency. I walked into an internet cafe, logged on, found the cheapest one star hotel in the city limits and booked a triple room for the night. Then, I used the cafe's phone to call a taxi to bring us there. The room cost 71 Euros and the taxi driver ripped us off, charging 13.50 to travel something like four miles. I didn't care, because when we arrived, we were presented with something more amazing than thirteen Euros and change could ever buy...
I have never been more happy to see a bathtub in my life. We literally danced for joy at the prospect of sleeping in a bed with sheets and taking a warm bath. This may have been the highlight of the ENTIRE trip. I wish I was joking. In those seventeen days, I had been in awe at marvelous works of architecture, I had been curious about cultural peculiarities, and I had been pleasantly surprised by my body's ability to cope under the stress of hiking many miles per day. But...

At no point was I happier than when I was laying in that bath tub, soaking off six days of dirt and grime, a huge grin plastered on my soapy face...

More to come..:-)

-Matt