#backingpacking

By the time they'd leave, they'd each have bear bells, spray, first aid kits and thermal crash blankets.

And yeah, Dean's legs would be sore, and his pack would be heavy and swollen, but they'd have front row seats to the Milky Way almost every night. They'd eat chocolate power bars and m&ms and make pasta on their tiny stove, that they'd wolf down while on top of the world. Mornings would be enjoyed with tea and a killer view, both curled up the the tent with the front flap open. They'd make love every night. 

Cas would give Dean foot rubs and Dean would massage Cas's back. They'd take tons of pictures, too, though due to the fact that Dean would be the photographer ("Dean, can you hold the camera for a minute?" "Cas, you insisted on the damn thing--" "Just for a minute." "Fine.") they'd all be of Cas. The pair would be just as comfortable joking on the trail as being silent as contemplating their places in the universe.

Ok. its the start everyone!!!! and by everyone i mean in my head. my different emotions of my decision i have made for 2016 are going wild.

The Edge of the World

The Romans called Scotland Caledonia, which means the edge of the world. The name still fits the feeling of Edinburgh. The grey cobbled streets match the buildings made of sandstone. Moisture and weather cause the stones to darken into a kaleidoscope of brown, black, and grey.

Everything is old and beautiful. The spire towers are dark and ominous, matching the dreary sky. The churches are grand…

So after a nice bus ride with a nice view but for the sad fact I sat next to the lavatory so I smelled poop many times during the ride, I made it to a city! Yes, a city with PEOPLE. Not like that last one. Brussels...I'm glad to have seen you and I'm also glad I'm out of there.

The bus driver kept talking to me in Spanish when I'm obviously not as he opened the sides so I could get my bag. So I had planned my trip to the last detail only to find out that the Metro was closed. And when I said how do I get to this station to the information counter all he said was TOUGH LUCK. Lol. I wasn't buying it. I said REALLY? He then pointed me to the bus in the OPPOSITE direction. Yes, so after an hour of transportation problems I was exactly back in the same place I started. Well I figured it out after awhile how stuff worked. After overshooting like two different stops and taking the wrong train.

Anyways, I talked and hanged with AWESOME DUTCH PEOPLE who were pretty eager to show me their national treasure: THE STROOPWAFEL. WHAT IS THIS PIECE OF GOLD?!?!!?!?!? Words cannot comprehend my glee. I will bring home this stuff. Because...STROOPWAFFEL. The Belgians got nothing on this even though I was already addicted to THEIR waffles. 

Next thing after I parted ways with the Dutch peeps I went to the city center where I noticed...HOW ARE THERE SO MANY ATTRACTIVE YOUNG COLLEGE AGED PEOPLE WALKING AROUND?! Because Amsterdam is a paradise, my dear Watson.

Anyway if London smells like horse manure and Brussels smells like human piss, then Amsterdam smells like high quality marijuana. Not the terrible carcinogenic crap I would smell as an RA enforcing the LAWWWWW. No...this was high quality stuff available exclusively in the "coffeeshops" all around. Cool beans. Not for me. Just respect for the bald 40 year olds gents talking business deals and smoking right there. 

The amount of food overpriced is laughable. Tripadvisor lied to me. Sadface. So that's when I got a chipotle-esque Wok place for FIVE EURO for dinner. What a steal. I'm good. Not that good though because it took me an hour to find food. I then walked the Red Light District.

You know what's sad? The women in the windows aren't even trying to seduce me. Probably because I looked a couple of them in the eye and saw into their soul. I'm serious. All I saw was sadness.Don't you find that ironic that college aged girls are parading through the red light district acting all happy and shit? I did. What's more ironic was the fact they were the ones winking at me. I got out of dodge there when the sun set though. I heard that's when things start to get real.

So I walked about 10 blocks away into the Amsterdam residential areas and just guess what I heard the whole way? The same SINGING I heard in Brussels. Is it always like this in Europe? It doesn't help that a father and his kid came out of their apartment when you could hear a....a...I'm not even going to say it. Just wow. 

Okay well I made it back to my hotel and all. I'm going to call it a night. What a crazy day. BUT STROOPWAFELS!