Why don't I have any kpop icons? You can bet that as soon as I get home, this situation will be rectified.

MANTRAIN LIKE YOU MEAN IT, BOYS, DON'T BE AFRAID TO SCOOT A LITTLE CLOSER TOGETHER.

I'm really loving my new MP3 player, it's sexay. Also, it does like, everything. It's going to keep me good and happy during the four hours I'm on the train on the way to Paris. I haven't yet used it to its full potential, there's all sorts of organizer apps I still need to figure out, but WHEE, KPOP ON THE GO.

I got to talk to my daddy last night! I called just to leave him another message, but he actually answered the phone! We got to quickly catch up and organise what was happening when I got into the train station in France, and that made me feel so much better; it's been really hard getting into contact with him while I've been in the Netherlands and I was a bit uncertain as to what exactly was happening and how we were meeting up and all that jazz.

I had a little cry last night cuz I miss u gaiz.

...No, really. It wasn't all that dramatic though, I was just feeling a bit lonely. I was supposed to have stayed with my cousin from Monday night until Thursday morning when I would have headed off to Paris, but due to stressing out about work, she asked if she could pay for me to stay at a hostel instead. Well this was all fine, but it was asked at 7pm, which didn't leave me with a lot of time. Luckily, I did find a place on HostelWorld.com but it left me feeling a little unbalanced, because it was a reminder how not everything was always certain.

After rushing around a bit, getting a taxi and dragging my incredibly heavy larger suitcase and not so heavy smaller suitcase up incredibly steep, narrow stairs, I had to squish into a tiny little room where four other Aussies were just getting ready to go out, and had their shit strewn about everywhere, making life a little difficult for me with my big bags. Watching them chat with one another as they got ready to head out made me miss home like hell, and when they left all I wanted to do was lie down and... not do anything.

I had a great day today.

Currently I'm in Den Bosch, known on the map as Hertogenbosch. I'm staying with my aunt for a few days, we're doing some family reunion type things, but because she had to go to a workplace outing today, I was on my own. This was fine with me, my aunt Jos had given me all the keys to the house and to the lock of the bike in the shed, so I decided to ride down to the shopping area since there was supposed to be a comic store down there (lol).

I had a map with me, I'd marked the streets I intended on visiting, and then merrily jumped on my bike. And went in completely the wrong direction. When I next consulted my map, I realised I'd gone north about as much as I wanted to originally go south... so I had twice the distance to cover, hahah XD but it did take me on a bike path around a beautiful lake, so it wasn't a total loss :3

Once I did get to the shopping district though, I proceeded to get even more lost. You know how Melbourne's streets are all neatly parrallel to each other, with all the blocks as neat squares? Yeah, it's not like that here. Roads and sidewalks and bike paths cross over one another every which way, and what looked like a simple route became difficult everytime I took just one wrong turn. Still, like I said before, it's not like this was any kind of loss; I got to see a lot of things this way, and I also found a cinema. There was a viewing of Transformers 2 an hour and a half later, so I bought a ticket and then went to find the comic store.

I did find it, in the end! Spent a bit of time there, too. However, I think something was trying to tell me I should stop buying comic books, because after umm-ing and ahh-ing over different Dutch comics for some time, I had a little pile worth about EU$90, was gonna pay...

...and then the power in the entire shopping district shut down.

Due to the heat, something had blown in the powergrid. I did not have 90euros on me, I couldn't pay with credit card because there was no power and of course none of the ATMs were functioning either. I lamented this for a while, but when we found out the power would most likely stay out until around 5pm, we gave up. I had enough cash to buy just ONE book, and I chose Sky-Doll 3, since I'd picked up the first two volumes in Nijmegen before, but I wasn't happy. There was this AMAZING steampunk comic in a box, four parts, which I had wanted really badly, too. They also had THIS from Sky Doll which I jsdfhgjadlfhsdkjhf'd over like crazy, but goddammit it was 250 EUROS. 250. The figure itself was only about six inches tall, too D: and they also had the schoolgirl Witchblade statue for... 220, I think? So honestly D:

...maybe if I still have spending money by the end of this...

Sky-Doll really is gorgeous. It sucks that it's in Dutch because only I will be able to enjoy it :/

Anyway, the comic store owner then pointed out to me that with all the power out, I wouldn't be able to see my movie, either. I BAWWWed about this for a little while, then resigned myself to it and headed off on my bike again. At least the cinema pplz gave me my money back.

After that I cycled back home, and here I am. Also, my sunscreen exploded in my bag and I think my Pokemon Leaf Green is now no longer functioning because of it... fml. So, although the day had it's shitty bits, overall I had a ton of fun, I'm enjoying the warm (hot) weather, and I'm off to read my pretty new book.

So last minute booking of a hostel was successful and I ended up at De Witte Tulp (White Tulip) where I've got 7 nights booked. It's right on the edge of the red light district, smack in the centre of Amsterdam, five minutes walk from Amsterdam Centraal and hundreds of shops... it's awesome.

After dragging my bags all the way from the countryside to the big city, all I wanted to do last night was collapse on the bed, maybe after having something to nibble on. These plans were foiled after I met my the two from Norway; Sandra and Mick. Very friendly and enthusiastic, they explained they were going on a walking tour of the red light district, and asked if I wanted to go too. I decided, hell, why not.

It was really interesting, I learned a lot of history and strange facts, and we ended up finishing at a bar... where we, along with two other Melbournians and an American, all ended up playing drinking games for aaages.

A bit more info at a later date, I have like 2mins left on my internet time XD ciao for now!

Didn't do a great deal today; the tube strike made it kind of difficult to get around, so I ended up getting lost in Leicester Square and consequently veering off into Orbital Comics. This was a Very Bad Idea. Actually, going into any comic store is a VBI with me, but this one had Aspen/Top Cow posters I didn't have D:

Honestly, today was a lot of aimless wandering. We ended up at Euston and had a pub meal, met a nice off-duty policeman named Simon and Andy and I passed on Toy Soldier wisdom to him. We chatted to him for a fair while and only stopped when he had to head off, so that was nice :3 but honestly, we had no plan, so we just wandered and wandered...

...and ended up in Camden Town. Wtf.

Honestly, it was another VBI to wander around there, I should have just jumped on the tube and gone home. Instead, I bought another coat. *smacks self on wrist* I wandered a gorgeous corset stall too, but honestly, that was too much, waugh. We didn't stick around too long, but headed back to the hostel to plan events later in the week. Andy and I have now booked tickets for both the London Bridge Experience and the Afternoon Tease. Afternoon tea with a burlesque show? Yes please.

So they're booked in for Friday and Saturday. Sunday I've been invited for Sunday roast up at Andy's countryside area, and tomorrow I think I'll go do my bus tour and visit Madame Tussaud's. I think I'm set.

Posting from the (free!) internet computers in the London Backpacker's Hostel. This place is nice :D safe and secure too, and wonderful considering the entire week is only costing me AU$165. Baron Andy von Jazz met me at Heathrow airport and helped me find my way to the right station, since the London rail system is a weird, tangled mess of train lines, and buggered if I can figure it out.

The flight was long. LONG. AUGH. I'm not looking forward to the trip home D: I ached all over and was all stiff and ugh... such a long flight, not to mention it was stupidly late, poor Andy, having to kick around at the airport for about two hours. We spent the little bit of the afternoon that was left checking me into the hostel, wandering about and having a drink at a nearby pub. My hostel is literally across the street from a train station, so I can go everywhere :D