Jurnalul Editorialistic de Groza

Unfortunately for the trip, I did not die, which would’ve made it that much more popular. So I managed to find my way back home, four weeks of visiting the whole Europe. I’ve been home since Saturday, I think, to see my parents and then came to my University city and work place, in Cluj-Napoca. I would say this was the first season of hopefully a series to come. Next one would obviously be a different continent. However, it’s pretty crowded in a ship container and as the philosophy is not to get myself into trouble, but try to visit with no personal expenses or schedule, I guess it’s smart to try and get a visa for the trips to come.

But until then, as I said, I’ve returned to Vitrina Advertising and have met my beloved drinking buddies in my hometown of Zalău. I’ll most likely switch back to Romanian writing for the time being, after this sort of statistic-drawing-the-line kind of article.

So here’s some data I’ve collected on the way.

Upon arrival, I proudly calculated my travel as a 10.000 km ride within a 1 month period of time. From the 10.000, 9.350 was the precise route from city to city, so the rest would be inner-city walking, driving or public transport. I would say the walking in total – in or outside metropolitan areas – could be estimated at a rough 500 km.

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Lost. 1 pair of underwear (mystery not solved), rain jacket (Bruxelles), red notebook with all notes (Wunjo’s guitar shop in London, recovered).

Found. 20 pence (Harlow), 2 pence (Harlow), 1 pence (Lincoln), 1 eurocent (Calais).

Dumped (will recover): 1 Goped scooter, 1 HD camera, 1 guitar.

Donations (cash exclusive, so it doesn’t include food or hosting). 400 RON (Sibiu), 50 EURO (Bruxelles), 20 EURO (Bruxelles), 30 EURO (Utrecht, The Netherlands) 50 EURO (wired from Cluj), 50 Pounds (Harlow), 30 Pounds (Norwich), 60 Pounds (Bungay), 30 Pounds (Lincoln), 40 EURO (London), 30 EURO (Madrid), 100 EURO (wired from Bucureşti), 30 EURO (London), 200 EURO (wired from Deutschland). Total equivalent of 860 EURO.

Ate, drank. (Budapest) 1 restaurant meal consisting in grilled chiken with fries, beer, a shot of something weird, 1 magyar cake, 1 bab gulas, 1 cornbread with a sort of carbonara with eggs, 1 cornbread with jam and butter, 2 baloney sandwiches, (road to Gyor) canned cherries, (truck to Bruxelles) 1 instant mashed potatoes, 1/5 beef can, 1/3 onion, 1/5 chips bag, 1 l Pepsi, (Bruxelles, 1st time) 1 tortellini, 2 glasses of red wine, 4 sandwiches with cheese and pastrami, 1 chocolate, 2 beers, (Antwerpen) 1 orange juice, 2 l water, (Utrecht) 2 lasagna, some strange doughnut, 1 fries, 1 Coke, 1 mozzarella and tomato sandwich, 1 cereal plus milk bowl, 2 chiken schnitzel sandwiches, 1 orange, 3 candies, (Amsterdam) 1 frisk-something, 1 fries, 1 Coke, (Bruxelles, 2nd time) 1 salad soup, 1 pastrami sandwich, 1 type of kebab, 2 beers, 2 pastrama sandwiches, 1 apple, 1 egg with mushroom, cheese, baloney, (Calais) 3 glasses of cider, 1 pasta with choaizo sauce, (road from Dover into UK) 1 coke, some sweet crap, (Luton) 1 lasagna, 3 mici, 1 schnitzel with fries (twice), broccoli with cheese, 1 jogurt, 1 expanded aero choco shit, (Harlow) 1 fish and chips with sauce and mashed beans, 1 Guinness beer, 1 spaghetti with pesto sauce, 1 chiken pie, ice-scream plus pudding, 1 sandwich, 1 croissant, 2 cups of black tea, 3 sandwiches, 3 banas, 4 chocolate, cookies, (London) 1 Burger King menu, (Lincoln) 4 sandwiches, 2 orange juice, 2 shots of tequilla, 2 shots of green stuff, 1 beer, 1 VK vodka orange, chiken wings with potatoes and salad, (Bungay) 1 steak with mashed potatoes and salad, British tea, (London) steak, fries, onion rings, sauce, beer, English breakfast, (Dover to Madrid) 4 Red bulls, 2 Tuborg beers, 1 all you can eat ferry dinner, 1/5 Pringles chips can, (Madrid) 1 all you can eat Madrid lunch, chiken and schnitzel with cheese, eggs with cheese and beans, 1 beer (on the train to Hendaye) 1 candy, (Hendaye) 2 sandwiches, 6 choco-cornbread, 1 choco-milk, (Paris) 1 schnitzel with salad, Coke, 6 sandwiches, 1 Coke, 1 McDonald’s M Menu, 1 beer, 1 salad with some other salad and french cornbread, (way to Munich) 1 Mars, 10 Kinder candy (Munich) 1 SubWay sandwich plus Coke (plus refill), 1 Magnum ice-cream, 1 McMenu (on the way to Budapest), 1/5 milk bottle, bread and water all the way with most of the menus.

Smoked. 10 cigarettes, 1 tourist (light) joint.

Never used. Deodorant.

Got stuck in. 2 bathrooms.

Clogged. 1 bathtub.

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Short compilation video.

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This is actual route, a lil’ more than 7 different cities. X marks places I’ve stopped in and visited, circled X is where I also had hosts or just slept where I could find.

[click for larger size; map from Google Maps]

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People met.

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Remember Drink Street in Antwerpen, The Netherland Belgium? Well, for you porn lovers, this one’s better, in Lincoln, UK.

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And, to sum it up… [photo by Lucian Stănescu]

Although I came back probably with more money than I left. That I have by now wasted.