wpRaghav – Page 4 – White Rabbit Peaks

Vilnius. Lithuania

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Vilnius. Lithuania

The city of Mystery.

Captains Log Day 26 – 26/01/14 4:58pm. Location: 11 Miesnieku Iela Riga.

Vilunius. Im sure most people reading this would have no idea where Vilunius is. In fact as my Co-Captain and I disembarked our vessel we both looked at each other going ‘What the hell are we doing here?’ – Vilunius is the capital of Lithuania – once again the question still stands ‘What the hell are we doing here?’

Upon leaving the place a heap of that was answered as both my Co-Captain and I proceeded to wage another war with the country, and paint the town. The color I chose was a tinge of vomit.

Before I get into the fun details. This city was beautiful. A small town, overflowing with history. Picturesque with modern culture seeping in, visible through the primo restaurants across old town and branded stores with the likes of Burberry and Hugo, lining up the streets. The churches and the castle were breathtaking.

A fun fact: By the end of the fourteenth century, Lithuania was the largest country in Europe. Also beards freeze in minus 15 degrees with icicles forming shortly after.

After our Sight seeing and fact finding adventure it was time to execute plan: Vilunius nightlife.

We started Pre-Drinks shortly after. Watching fat pizza we have our last drinks, just then there is a knock on the door. It’s someone who has the wrong room, as typical Aussie hospitality goes its only reasonable to invite this parched young chap into the room for vodka. He sits n we chat n drink.

It’s not long after that the bottle is gone and I’m feeling like Charlie Sheen. We farewell our new friend and leave the room to head to the club and I think after the 22nd or 23rd step my first projectile vomit makes a appearance. This continues with 7 more occurrences before I make it to the club. The canvas had begun to be stained.

The club was epic with the most beautiful of girls. I don’t recall the next 5 hours but I know a heap of drinks were bought, a few more vomits and I later found out from my Co-Captain that I was on the podium with the pole and a heap of Lithuanians video taping (next youtube sensation?). I recall meeting am top UK Chick who was down for a holiday, a new friend had been made. I then called the DJ down for a drink and saying to him “In Australia we skull”, I skulled my drink, looked down and threw up on his feet. He was not impressed and walked away with a sad look on his face.

This proceeded by me wanting to sit in a private area and the occupant not too happy with that decision. A bouncer was called and as he pushed me I yelled “Do you know who I am!!! I’ll sue you! Don’t touch me!” I was then lifted by the collar and physically thrown out. I must admit this is a first for me. I thought it only happened in movies. Obviously not.

I left the club and got lost along the way. Very drunk, Exausted and cold I decided to have a nap at the park. I assure you it’s not the wisest idea at minus 16 degrees. I slept for about 2 hours and awoke when the sun was coming up. I had a series of missed calls n messages from the Co-Captain. Stumbling and Freezing, I waddled looking for our hotel. Falling over a few times before I found it. Upstairs I went n found my Co-Captain assuming I had died.

After a tough sleep , bruised palms and the worst hangover it was time to say goodbye to Lithuania.

VILUNIUS: The city of Mystery

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Riga. Latvia

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Riga. Latvia

The City resembling an ancient Bendigo.

Captains Log Day 28 – 28/01/14 5:58pm. Location: 5b Aia, Estonia.

Riga. Once again I don’t doubt the minds wondering as to where this is. Riga is the capital of Latvia and another notch on our Baltic States counter. Fun fact: Riga is the biggest city in the Baltic states and also has the world record of having the most intoxicated person (2012) ever with a blood alcohol level of 0.889. Little did I know when we arrived I was soon to be challenging this record without knowing it.

My initial thoughts of this being the city that Dr Doom was falsified, as some research revealed that he was from a fictional country called Latvieria and not Latvia. It was at first very hard to contain my disappointment. With defiant thoughts on my mind and looking for the non existent Dr Doom castle we explored the city of Riga. We noticed the similarities it had with Vilunius and more importantly the differences. The city was larger and although the architecture was very similar, the city felt as if it had a different character to it, including a large business district in New Town. Since it was a small town there were only a few select places to visit.

We arrived at our room which was a 2 bedroom apartment. Both myself and my Co-Captain were astonished at how large this apartment was. We had hired this place from Air BnB, a website that let’s you hire furnished residences from people that are out of town. The place was massive. We walked around exploring and came across one locked door at the end of the apartment, my Co-Captain was convinced that this was an evil door that had crazy things inside. I laughed it off.

After dinner, began pre-drinks and on this night I could see a fire in my Co-Captains eyes! This to any one that knows him not only spells trouble but shouts it out at the top of its lungs. Starting with a 700 ml bottle of Vodka the challenge had been set that we finish the bottle in 4 sips. Bang! Challenge had started and after the half way mark of the bottle delirium had begin to set in. Not long after the 4th sip was hitting the back of my throat. I gagged and some of it with popcorn chucks came back into the glass. This did not impress my Co-Captain, who preceded to take the glass and sieve the chunks so I could finish my drink (that’s what friends are for)

In a turn of events I don’t actually recall and in the words of Benicio Del Toro “When the white rabbit peaks, would you be so kind as to throw this tape recorder into the bathtub with me?” – Fear and Loathing Las Vegas. I thought I could fly and I jumped off the window sill.

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In my flapping arm motion shattering the roof tile, landing to a rain of plaster. Looking around the room there was plaster dust and crap everywhere! The room had been trashed. Since the stress was going to bring us down we decided to leave it and worry about this in the morning. Time was running short and we had to hit the town. Since it was Aussie day we headed to the Aussie pub which had died down, after a couple of drinks and chats with the locals (a few more lil vomits here n there around town) we headed to another bar in which we were joined by a group of girls, that only had the intention to rob us. This was clear from when we mentioned we were from Australia they released a lil squeal. They took us to a bar in which we bought the most expensive drinks ever 5 drinks for 67 euro! We we able to pick up on the intentions and bailed like Speedy Gonzalez on Speed. Returning home slightly more sober but still drunk we looked at the damage and thought we will deal with it tomorrow. We ate our take away Maccerz and threw nuggets in the roof cavity, then off to bed we went.

What happened at 8:30am the following morning changed me n lessened my life by a few years, I can say honestly have never been that scared. I opened my eye and saw someone standing over me!! The person was standing there and walked away, as I twitched…. I was in a different room to Avrill as soon as he walked away, I yelled “avi avi!” Thinking the person i saw with one half shut eye could be him….I then ran to my Co-Captains room and he was in bed.. I yelled saying “someone is in the house!” At first he woke up shocked and said “Your tripping!” But then he heard the footsteps and we noticed the house lights had been switched off! We moved everything into the bedroom part of the house n locked it. I later got a message from the owner stating “what happened? Drugs?” Indicating he had seen the plaster shrapnel everywhere!

We slept, with me waking up every 5 minutes Freaked. Waking up we cleaned up. The door was Evil. We now assume it led to the owners apartment.

We replaced the roof tile with another one we “found” in the building and the place.

After the events of the previous night we decided to catch up with some new friends we had made n went for drinks at a awsome Cuban bar. Live music and great conversation. Ending our eventful stay in Riga

RIGA: The City resembling an ancient Bendigo

Tallinn. Estonia

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Tallinn. Estonia

City of Shots and Shambles.

Captains Log Day 30 – 30/01/14 4:38pm. Location: Ivalo, Finland.

We have survived our Baltic region adventure, crossing off our last Baltic country – Estonia. We visited the capital of Estonia – Tallinn.

This city once again shares a similar architecture and style as the pervious city’s visited (Villinuis and Riga) however, what differentiates Tallinn, is vibe and the people. Now for political reasons I can’t disclose the details and which is the better Baltic city, but I can say Tallinn has a distinct feeling to it.

Fun Fact: In Medieval times Tallinn’s city gates were firmly shut each evening at 9 pm. Anyone wandering the streets after that hour without a good reason was taken to jail. Both my Co-Captain and I are very glad that ain’t the case for now, 9 pm is generally our lunch time.

After our usual exploration phase (which basically means getting lost n walking around for hours taking heaps of photos) we got back to our apartment (Air bnb once again), we did our laundry n brainstormed a Game plan for the city. Once again My Co-Captain and I went with Plan A. Pres then head out to some bars etc. The Apartment we resided in was next to a Remi supermarket, where which we collected supplies for the night. We both felt a lil off vodka after vour previous endevours, so our poison for the night was Gin and tonic with cucumber and lime. Since we felt a lil peckish and the apartment had a oven we decided to bake chips n garlic bread, we built our munchies and it worked out well. Omnomnom

We polished a 700 ml bottle of Gin off and dried our cloths in the sauna, whilst watching demons and Angels (the only English thing on tv).

Deciding to head out we walked the dead streets (since it was a Monday) we managed to find a club/ pub that was open till late (no 9 pm curfew). Feeling loosey goosey we left the apartment. 12 steps out I let my gut loose on the Tallin footpath n kept walking… This is now a habit for me. “Chunder in everumy country!”

Most things seemed shut until we cane across a shooters bar.

We carried on inside and witnessed madness. Locals buying shots like water. 10 shot platters being served to groups and to individuals. My Co-Captain and I witnessed a local guy buying a 5 shot platter drinking these alone in the corner n going up to buy more. It was mind boggling and it seemed that everyone was doing this. We joined in the fun. It was not long after that I felt like attacking the walls again Wth my inners and we decided to leave. Our friend ordered 5 more shots.

The next morning started off with more exploring and was followed by my Co-Captain and I stalking some randoms locals and tailgating them into a dungeon bar under the walls of the city. I had my second beer. It just happened to be for breakfast… We backed this up with a meal called Linner – which is our only meal for the day, something not only common but rather or routine for the last 30 days. We had Linner visiting possibly the worst Asian restaurant in the world. The food can be described by the color Grey.

As the tempreture dropped to minus 17 my Co-Captain and I decided to go to a indoor swimming pool (totally random) and went for a dip and a long spa session. Once again feeling loosey goosey albeit in a different way my Co-Captain and I headed to a Jazz bar.

The bar was amazing, live music and a chilled out happening crowd. We ordered the a jug of the manliest cocktail ‘the classical lady’ and yes guys it was Pink! Having a few jugs of that and ‘borrowing’ the light fixtures we headed home with 3 hours remaining till we had to be up to leave to our next destination (plenty of time to sleep)

Although a relatively tame encounter Tallinn had offered a definitely memorable one.

TALLINN: City of Shots and Shambles

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Ivalo. Finland

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Ivalo. Finaland

The City of Memories.

Captains Log Day 31 – 31/01/14 7:23pm. Location: Helsinki, Finland.

The Arctic Circle mission has just been successfully completed. My Co-Captain and I can now cross off that we have dared to visit one of the coldest and most isolated towns in the world located in the Arctic circle, a mere 2,372.6 kilometers from the Georaphic North Pole (one of the closest populated towns), that too in the peak of winter. Ivalo, Finland – Time to pull up Google Maps

This Captains Log is not as crazy as the others but we can both admit to say it had been the most satisfactory and adventurous experience.

Arriving in Ivalo at 11 am, gave us only 2 hours of sunlight, the sun is only up for a mere 4 hours here. The town has a total population of ~3000 people and with the hotels dispensed geographically there is no going out for a walk to see the area, not at Minus 21 degrees.

Our primary objective was to see the Northern lights (Aurora Borealis) We had been told the chances of seeing on a designated 24 hours were very slim as people spend years searching for the lights. We gave it a shot.

We arrived, checked in and left our baggage in our room and headed to the tourist desk to find out the activities we could do for the day. We were just in time for the Dog/Huski Sledding. We also signed up for a night time Snowmobile/ Snowskii Safari.

Changing into some heavy duty snow gear we went down to meet our canine friends. They were waiting for us. Six of these fabulous looking creatures with their tails wagging from excitement, barking and ready to run!

How this works is one guy lays in the sled and the other stands behind to brake, steer and help push the dogs when going up hill. My Co-Captain went first to steer and after 30 minutes it was my turn. We were taken on a route deep into the forest as the instructor led the way on a snowmobile. This experience is indescribable! Controlling these dogs as wind, snow n ice hit your face. They run with great speed, occasionally tilting there heads to lick/ eat some snow. We also had an opportunity to see one take a number 2 while running n we couldn’t stop laughing. We did an hour of this and headed back to play with the dogs. They were adorable and I think one of them fell in love with my Co-Captain as he followed him back to the hotel before being scolded to come back. We got back and had some time before our night time snowmobile adventure. Time to grab some Linner again. At the hotel the options were pretty limited. Me being daring decided to have the Reindeer.. I have always wondered what Rudolph tasted like. It had a distinct taste and was pretty powering but I ended up finishing it. Soon it was time to go on our night Safari – we had to put on face masks and helmets.

We were asked to sign an insurance weaver stating a) they are not responsible if we die b) any damage to the vehicle we had to pay for. Co-Captain and I were on one snowmobile taking turns to ride. I can’t describe how exhilarating this is. Pelting the machine to its limits and reaching speeds of 100 kilometers per hour, with low visibility and in the middle of the forest, it was madness. Ice, snow n Arctic winds hitting our faces with our nose Freezing.

One thing I can never forget is reaching a clearing deep in the forest where we stopped and looked up at the sky’s. Never in my life have I seen clearer skies. The stars, millions of them clear as a polished diamonds studded, the distinct milky way looking like butter spread across. Almost creamy. Was just Breathtaking. A Screen shot sits in my mind. It is now my brains screen saver.

We returned to the hotel both Freezing and overwhelmed by the experience of the day. I couldn’t sleep so I found myself at the bar having some drinks and reminiscing. I knew in a mere 4 hours we had a 4 hour bus journey to the next airport (Rovaniemi) but the experience had left me with goosebumps.

We first woke up at 5 am as we were told this was the peak time for the Northern light sightings, we didn’t see anything, continuing to wake up every 15 minutes we got nothing but a eerie glow in the night sky.

We left in the morning after a quick breakfast, snoring away on the bus. We reached the airport 3 hours before departure. Upon reaching Rovaniemi we found out that this was where Santa lives! His village was located at a 10 minute cab ride from our the airport and since we had time we both decided we had to visit him (me being more adamant as I had to interrogate Santa on where my pressies were last year). Leaving our luggage at the airport we went. Not soon after We met Santa!! We had a conversation with him, including asking him how long it takes to get to Australia on sled? I also found out I had been a bad boy last year n therfore didn’t get anything Will work on this. We took some photos n explored the village seeing, Santas house, Santa’s office and the North Pole Post office. Our short time at Santa’s was over.

We got to the cab rank and Realised we had to call a cab, we called one but it took a long time to come. The check in closing time was creeping up. My Co-Captain was scheming on running to the airport (3km n minus 23 degrees). I subdued this plot and luckily the cab arrived. We were the last to check in and that too on the exact time that check in closes. Phew!

Even with no northern light Sightings this experience was unbelievable!

IVALO: The City of Memories

Helsinki. Finland

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Helsinki. Finaland

The City that doesn’t give a Shit.

02/02/2014

Blu Stockholm, Sweden. “Mr Avrill D’Costa could you please come to the information desk” these were the first words we heard arriving at Helsinki Airport. We both thought ‘its finally happened – we have been caught by the authority’s, we just need to figure out for what?’ – as it turns out that was not quiet the case. We had been summoned as Norwegian air had managed to break one of our suitcases. We let out a temporary sigh of relief followed by a feelings of anger and concern if anything had been lost. Luckily that was not the case. We collected the large suitcase, which had the zip broken and was now confined in a plastic bag and we logged a report.

Heading to the information desk we were told that to take a taxi to our central destination will cost us 80 euro (about $120) and to take the bus it would be 10 euro (about $15) – straight away we could identify the city would be expensive..

With a plastic bag full of my belongings we made it to our apartment. Since the bus had taken a while it was already dark and my Co-Captain was anxious not to waste our first Friday night after 7 days. First we went and grabbed a quick bite and after a huge stint with the blandest food in the world we finally got some flavor at a thai place. We also discovered that all the bottle shops are closed from 9pm to 9am, the time approached 10pm. Meaning that we don’t have any pre-drinks as ammunition, which also meant is going it was going to be a expensive night.

We did our usual thing and got lost ending up on a Island where we saw a huge frozen River and a memorial to victims of Water Mines. Walking along we saw the oddest thing some guy dressed in bathers, and gloves just ran to the frozen river, breaking the ice n hitting the freezing water. He stayed in it for 2 minutes and he walked out. Just looking at him sent cold shivers down my spine. I walked up to him and when I asked him what’s going on he said this is normal and is very good for you, going into Freezing waters and it invigorates your body. Shocked we walked on, walking past the ‘Fisherman’s Friend’ boat – totally random.

We reached home and quickly googled a few places and headed out with facing a huge snowstorm that was going on outside.

Our first pinned destination was Bar A21 – rated The best bar in the world!! Attacking the snow storm we walked to the bar, on the way a random citizen spat on my Co-Captains leg we were both in shock but kept walking, reaching the bar my Co-Captains head was frozen.

We rang the bell and waited the waitress came n showed us to our seats. We couldn’t decide out of the extensive range so decided to order the tasting platters. What followed were some of the most tasty cocktails ever!

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After each one the waitress would sit with us and explain what the meaning behind each of the ingredients was. For us we were just getting drunk. 6 cocktails later we decided to leave for our clubbing destination for the night. The bill for these was 80 Euro (about $120) – that’s why we do Pre’s at home! Chatting to the Bartenders and complimenting them on the skills, they recommended a new club that had just opened called ‘Nuim’ (actually we think it’s called this. I have no real recollection of the name and Google is not being friendly).

We made our way there feeling loosey goosey – what followed was a clubbing experience like no other and one that has changed our impressions of clubbing for life.

The Club was full to the brim, it had multiple rooms and beautiful people (girls) everywhere – we progressed to the Cloakroom and then headed to the bathroom – in the bathroom we saw about 6 guys drinking bottles of wine directly from the bottles. It was easy to tell that these guys were totally on a different planet. To shorten the events that occurred, I will just list these out, A random started a fight with me because he bumped me (this was subdued), we saw a fight between 1 vs 4 girls with one of them ripping the others earing out and the other throwing her drink on them, following this we saw a guy throw up in a glass and throw it at some one, we saw a guy just face plant while sitting on a stool, we saw a guy get bottled in the head, get up, bleeding from his forehead and continue dancing with the girl he got bottled over while her bf was bottled in the head by his friend and get kicked out and finally we saw the DJ on stage take an Pill when the beat was dropping.

All this within 2 hours of us being in the club. We stayed here till closing and then went to SFC – Southern Fried Chicken where we bought $57 worth of fired chicken – got back to the apartment and polished this off.

The next day we woke up very late, we finally got out of bed and went to buy a new suitcase, ate and then went out for a bit of a walk to see some sights. Soon after we found ourselves once again attacking the pre-drinks. To mix this up we decided to have Long drinks – both of us had no idea what these things were when we purchased them – we later discovered they were Ciders. This was because a technicality, in which you can’t buy hard liquor after 6 so long drinks were all we found in supermarket shelves. After finishing about 4 liters of these we headed to Club Adam – A Theater that was converted to a club. There we met the first group of girls in Helsinki that could dance – we danced with these beautiful girls all night and then once again got back to the Apartement at close time with $57 of fried chicken. 2 hours to have a power nap and off to Stockholm we went

HELSINKI: The city that doesn’t Give a Shit

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Stockholm. Sweden

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Stockholm. Sweden

The City of Funny Swedes.

Captains Log Day 35 – 3/02/14 8:27 pm. Location: Dam, Amsterdam.

Once again we have arrived in Hell, or as My Co-Captain and I like to call it – Dizzyland for our final day of this operation. We arrive here after an epic Swedish adventure, that nor we or the Swedes will forget.

Let’s start this log entry by our catch phrase for when Co-Captain and I arrived in Stockholm – “Haha funny Swedes” – You may wonder why such a random catchphrase? Well you guys have obviously not been to Sweden. To describe this further I would explain some of the things we witnessed once leaving the airport, these include the crazy interior designs, the Airlock doors and indoor transparent smoking areas. We knew the Swedes were going to deliver and the more we found out the more the catch phrase rang true. Some examples of this include the crazy frog and pig dance rituals, high school graduation in which students go on a bus with thousands of beer cans and throw beer at random citizens or the day that the government decided to flip the side that people drive on. All in all and Jokes aside both my Co-Captain and I were in for a culture shock and a learning experience. I think after the nights we spent in Sweden we can kind of get why some of the best DJs are from this country.

The first thing that strikes us, is the degree of calm that exists, everybody is very soft spoken, calm and the silence is at times eerie. Visiting a local burger chain not soon after landing called ‘Max Burger’, we sit besides what look like a group of good friends. Whilst enjoying our Burgers I think 2 sentences were muttered between them, whilst my Co-Captain and I were carrying on like dizzy pirates.

The next major thing we noticed after a quick currency conversion – This place is uber expensive, with a one way train ride from the airport costing almost $80. Fun Fact Sweden is home to one of the most expensive Big Macs – retailing at $8.50

Once we had arrived and had our very quiet rendezvous with the locals at Maxs’, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a chill and to figure out how much our meals had ended up costing. Hint it was > $20.

We were lucky enough to make some Swedish friends on our adventures in Budapest (see Captains Log Day 20 – 20/01/14). These lovely friends of ours had organized a nice night out on the town to show us the Swedish night life. What proceeded was a night of mayhem and utter madness.

Catching up with our new local friends started off by visiting a statue that we were instructed to rub, fearing that this could cost

us a limb or result in us catching herpes, we touched the bronze statue which in fact was very warm. It was a heated statue, a memorial to a Swedish actress (Haha funny Swedes) – the sight seeing for the day was done and in the words of a Swedish friend, it was time to get “Shit-faced”.

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We headed to a bar for pre-drinks, as my Co-Captain is an expert at pre’s he applied his expertise, nekkminute we are all on the highway to intoxication, with some clearly taking the lead. The conversation we had was fantastic, discussing smelly fish, Disney music dance floors, vodka skulling in bathrooms, the hidden swede crazy and of course the mind boggling “Dog Story” (Details for readers when we catch up).

The bar eventually kicked us out, we were way too excited for a Sunday night.

We first headed another bar club in Sweden – Berns. The Club was housing a private function so we headed to the classy bar area, which at the time looked like a mad men convention was going on. Yuppies dressed to impress. Our crew didn’t really feel the vibe. Grabbing the Cocktail spoon as a souvenir, the entourage was off. Our next destination a Swedish Club called ‘Opera bar’ (not to be confused by the Sydney one). On Route we experienced some ice skating with shoes rather than skates and I was fortunate enough to end up with a few cuts and bruises after being dared to jump into a pile of snow, which actually was a pile of ice.

Sobering up from the laughing fits and because we needed to put on a straight face, we arrived at the Club and straight away the shots started to flow. Our friends were in for a treat the Co-Captain had the fire in his eyes. Tequila, Vodka, Bacardi 151, Gin and Baileys. At this point we had split. The events of the night are scattered and hazy with both myself and the Co-Captain meeting back at the room at 5am with a heap of stories about what had occurred in the last 4 hours. Checking our pockets he had one of our friends phones and Wallet. With no way of contacting them we discovered in the morning that they had assumed it was stolen, called the police, canceled all the cards and shut down the phone number. Ouch! Extremely hung over we caught up again with one of our friends – the other was in no state to come out and also had no cards or phone (oops). All three of us in a state of struggle headed to the town hall, then to Old Town to see King Carl’s Palace, parliament building and the Narrowest Street in Sweden. Chatting about life along the way, it was a great follow up to the events that occurred the night before. We ended up seeing some of the beauty that Stockholm had to offer, besides the melting snow creating sludge, that was occurring everywhere. Eating at an awesome Italian restaurant called – ’ Vapiano’ where everything is cooked in front of you. It was time to say goodbye to our lovely Swedish host and head back to the room for our final hours before the final flight to Amsterdam, where we decided to try Swedish Snus (Google time), a form of tobacco that you suck on for up to 3 hours. I think 2 minutes after putting it in our mouths the dizzyness kicked in with the anxiety, shakes and vomit feeling swinging in within the hour. We battled this and decided to spoil ourselves with 4 hour sleep before our flight to Dizzyland.

STOCKHOLM: The City of Funny Swedes

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Amsterdam. Netherlands

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Amsterdam. Netherlands

Captains Log Day 38 – 6/02/14 5:11 pm.

Location: Colonel Street, Clayton.

The Final Log – The trip comes to an end – All i can think of right now is the means of which both my Co-Captain and i would be adjust to society after our exploits around Europe.

Leaving Stockholm we arrived in Amsterdam – and considering we had booked a mere 10 hours before checking in the only accommodation we could find was in a Hostel in the centre of the city. We arrived early in the morning and reached the hostel by 11am – we were advised that we could only check in after 2 – so both my Co-Captain and i visited a Coffee Shop *smirks* – Not long after we were both Craving a Brunch menu – we walked around the city like Harold and Kumar looking for Brunch (we just looked a bit more like Kumar and Kumar) we finally found a little Taint cafe and had brunch. The satisfaction of this meal was hard to describe, pit stopping at a few more coffee shops we went around buying our final souvenirs. We visited the heineken experience again to check it out and picked up our free gifts we headed back to the hostel and were told our room was ready – except this room was in the roof of the building and it comprise of the narrowest steps ever – climbing 4 sets of stairs that would be about 1 meter wide with luggage we got to the top in our room – we changed and had a nap before heading out to the pub Crawl. Waking up slightly late we had 20 minutes to finish a bottle of vodka – so we headed down bought some Fritz (Chips with Mayo) and a few bottles of sprite.. glug glug glug – on a tram to the meeting point and feeling again on top of the world.

On the way to the meeting point my Co-Captain was able to identify one of the organisers tha the recognised from the last pub Crawl we had completed (See Captains Log Day 7 – 09/01/14) we were advised it was not running today since it was Tuesday and the turnout was low 🙁 both my Co-Captain were disappoint buy we were also pretty drunk and other things. So we continued our own lil crawl – stopping at bars and coffeeshops we hit the town. a heap of these details are no disclosure but a heap happened on the last night 🙂

Next morning it was time to set off for our 26 hour journey home. Once again with a mere 4 hours sleep we got to the airport had our last set of muffins and cakes and set off. The flight involved us watching 5 movies 🙂 and next to no sleep. – a Great relaxing way to end the trip!

Reflecting back to this, i can’t believe i have survived. I can count off at least 5 occasions in which i would be in jail or hurt.

That being said this trip has been amazing – i don’t think i am the same person that left Melbourne – The experiences, the people have all had an impact on myself and i am sure similarly for my Co-Captain. The people we met- the friendships we have built are priceless. I hope destiny has a plan and we see these great souls again.

Lastly i would like to thank everyone that has been following this 🙂 i hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing these.

Its been a crazy ride

Eastern Europe 2014 a Crazy Adventure that l change you forever.

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Reykjavik. Iceland

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Reykjavik. Iceland

A Desolate Frozen Wasteland of the Wealthy Viking Gods.

Captains Log Day 5 – 10/12/14 6:17pm. Icelandic Air.

The voyage to the North Atlantic country of Iceland began with a slight deviation. When checking into the vessel, wing commander and i had been separated and for a reason unknown to me i had been moved to a premium seat – not that i was complaining, but my soul companion was no longer sitting next to me. This made me both nervous and restless.

To deal with the paranoia and to distract my fickle mind i decided to befriend the local sitting beside me. She was an Icelandic local who had retired as a air stewardess at Iceland air. i told her the compelling story of the adventures planned over the course of the next month, at first much like everyone she was both impressed and shocked at the idea. The conversation soon turned to the Nordic country and what was in store. I had just realised that we had made a slight miscalculation. She informed me that one of the worst storms of the year was on the outskirts of the city, lingering over it the cities head. She advised me of the consequences of such a storm, none of which sounded attractive in our favour. She had advised that going out and facing such weather was “not a good idea”, after this some banter followed. I was eager to explain the dire situation to my partner in crime and soon was debriefing him of what we had in store. we reached a logical consensus. YOLO or in our case YOGTIO – You only go to Iceland Once.

Shortly after we had a bumpy decent to Reykjavik International Airport, as we proceeded to exit our plane to the tarmac we could already see the storm coming in- a dark all consuming monster floating into our vision towards us. Scuffling into the airport and circumventing our way to where we were to catch the bus we both looked confused – the bus tickets were $60 return. Checking if this was a miscalculation and querying the situation we discovered that a taxi would cost $130 each way. We quietly purchased the tickets and started to wonder at the prices that we faced in the country.

Also to much of our disappointment we discovered that the Northern lights tour had been called off for the night – the weather was proving more of an obstacle than i had imagined. for the second time in my life a 30+ hour journey to see the Aurora Borealis had failed.

We checked into the hotel at 5pm and the sky had now turned pitch black, although there was some very strong winds we had yet to see the force of nature show itself. I went over to the sink to get a glass of water to discover that the water smelt BAD – after a quick google i found that this was normal, and the high sulphur content in the water lead to the weird smell and taste. The water however was still drinkable. Despite that fact i threw the glass of water and decided that we needed water bottles asap. We dropped off the bags and rugged up. It was dinner time and the city of Reykjavik awaited our presence.

It took a whole of 4 minutes for us to realise what we had dismissed earlier. Winds strong enough to cause me to fall over, pelting buckets of rain, and snow which was felt like sand granuals against the skin. We had left and already we had been drenched in water head to toe within 5 minutes of leaving our hotel. At this point the task to explore the city had become a challenge, our first Iceland Mission.

About 15 minutes into the resistance we started approaching the shops and beautiful restaurants. Glancing over the menus as we walked, our initial fears were correct, restaurant after restaurant showing main dishes which ranged from $42 all the way to $75. I am talking a simple burger for $42! We soon came to terms that this place was for the ones that are slightly better off. I was no Donald Trump and my Wing Commander did not feel much like Mr Gates. 45 minutes after trekking in some really hardcore weather, we bit the bullet and headed to a place that seemed reasonable compared to the others. A Burrito for $18 was my calling whilst my Wing commander displayed his bravery and courage once again by ordering the Traditional Iceland Fish Stew, which after a nervous wait time, he seemed to enjoy.

The walk back to the hotel was eventful. The storm had intensified. The snow storm left visibility to a minimum and we were now so wet that we could feel the water against our skins, thermals, jackets all starting to fail. Walking with our eyes on the ground feeling like soldiers with a mission to survive till our hotel room we trekked. This stuff felt like dessert sand hitting our faces, walking against the attacking snow.

Wing Commander let out a loud shout. Shocked i stopped trekking and turned back to see what had happened – he said i survived and AVALANCHE! confused we pulled into a shaded area where we could talk – he described how a large portion of snow had just been blown off a building and landed 2 steps before where he was walking. If this had hit his head he would have been knocked out or even injured. We counted our blessings and continued to walk.

We soon Crossed paths with what we call a Cadet. This Cadet was a guy in his 20s he was wearing a t-shirt and walking down the road with a take away burger. Wing commander and i laughed as we passed this super human man as he continued to stroll to wherever he was going to eat his frozen and wet burger.

Finally getting to the hotel felt like surviving a deadly illness the relief was unbelievable. We were freezing and had to set up all our cloths to dry as we collapsed on the beds due to the exhaustive encounters we had just had.

Day 2 of our Icelandic adventure was much more productive and much more memorable for the right reasons. The storm had cleared, our cloths had dried and the sun was rising – Here the sun rises at 11:30am and sets by 3:30pm. All equipped and fresh from our early night we headed out to see an Iceland we couldn’t actually see the night before. We experienced a view of true Iceland, Mesmerising frozen mountains (possibly where the Yeti lives), An breathtaking church with views from the observation deck of Reykjavik in its glory, Ducks in a frozen lake, just chilling and shiz.

The day was much more of a success after the calming of the weather.

We soon said goodbye to his beautiful and ridiculously expensive country. Our North Atlantic stint had been completed it was time to head to the United States of America

Iceland: A Desolate Frozen Wasteland of the Wealthy Viking Gods

Amsterdam. Netherlands

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Amsterdam. Netherlands

The all Consuming City of Sin.

Captains Log Day 4 – 06/12/14 2:29pm. Icelandic Air.

Hours, Days, Months of stipulation and planning. Years of Dreaming, all just leading up to this one moment.

Beside me stood the new recruit – Wing Commander Nand. I am hoping all his accreditation and hours of off the field training has prepared him for what lay ahead. An impressive list of conquest snuggly fit under my new partners belt. He stood tugging at my jacket as the overhead speaker sounded – “Final Call for Flight MH0148”. It was time to start the journey ahead. 5 weeks 4 Continents and a whole heap of fast food #Murica!

To baptise our trip with fire, we decided that the first stop in our continental adventure was to be to Amsterdam – Our own Adult Disneyland.

Winning an outstanding bet we boarded the flight as the last passengers, making it just before the gates were to close. To test our stress levels we had managed to find seats surrounded by a perimeter of infants – counting 5 within the 4 seat proximity. With a few glasses of the MH0148’s finest Red and Dolby surround sound of 8 hours of baby crying, we were disembarking for our 3 hour Malaysia lay over. A perfect opportunity to sneak in a beer or two. Intoxicated and lazy, we decided the wisest idea to find out gate was to follow a person who appeared to look and speak dutch – ‘surely he is going to Amsterdam’…. All in all not totally incorrect. He was going to Amsterdam and so was the flight that we were boarding, however, we found out when looking for our seats, that we were on the Wrong plane to Amsterdam! In a mad dash we ran, once again proving that lightning does strike twice – last to board.

Flying KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and being mind boggled by one of our Caucasian Dutch air stewards that could speak Hindi, and insisted on making our drinks in reverse (30 ml coke rest Whisky) we landed in SinCity hungover or possibly still drunk.

The alcohol in our systems was a catalyst to our decision to not go straight to the hotel after a 23 hour journey, but rather stroll around the city till afternoon. Checking in to our abode at 12 pm. Our hotel lay 40 minutes away from Amsterdam CBD, a quiet place with Horses roaming around.

After a long nap we decided to head back into the city and pick up where we left off, spending our first day of Amsterdam getting familiar with the terrain and planning our war crimes which were to follow.

To soak in the arts and culture and taste the finest delicacies that the city had to offer we started our second day in Amsterdam visiting the Van Gogh Museum, marvelling at art and sneaking photos of rare paintings – we only got told off by security twice. Wing Commander had heard legends from previous battles with he city and was ready to visit one of the landmarks – the heineken experience. stumbling through he city we managed to fit the initiation into Amsterdamage.

The nights activities were to start soon – rushing past the horses into the hotel room, we fit in a change of cloths and a bottle of vodka, pre drinking in the shower. Rushing, we set out to meeting the Amsterdam Pub Crawl….A bottle in and already having a few drinks we both looked at each other knowing what lay ahead was a dark and scary road. Not long after Wing Commander and i had split up…things went hazy after the second bar and a fair few events happened this night and i am not at liberty to disclose all of these – There are also a few blanks in the nights. lets skip to the end of the night at about 6 am when i arrived home to found Wing Commander in a state of semi conciseness in the room with an unknown bus ticket and a Random Jacket.

I for some reason was wearing the Wing Commanders jacket – meaning i had no idea where mine was. two hours of debriefing was not enough to locate and explain the events of the night – since the split both Wing Commander and i have some very altering experiences of what happened. Seemed like the city had another victim to add to its list, once again we had lost to this place.

All in all we were safe, limbs intact just with a missing jacket. we decided that we will resolve this by recounting our steps and trying to relive what happened on the night the next day. Approaching 8 am we slept. finally with no alarm set to wake us.

10:22am Fire Alarms are blearing – the second worst thing we have heard on this trip finishing closly after the DubStep Baby Tears. A banging on the door – we are asked to leave the hotel ASAP – leaving everything, there is a fire! At this point both Wing Commander and i are wondering if this was related to our blanks from the night before – had we done something to trigger this – Maybe- but really we have no idea. We rushed, i put on the Random guys jacket and left everything to run outside where a crowd was already gathering. A fire had broken out and there was 6 fire trucks and 2 police cars outside the building already. An hour waiting in the freezing 1 degree weather, a camera crew was approaching us to give comments. Residents stuck in the cold, wearing t-shirts, underwear and no shoes… Not long after the hotel had organised busses to take us to a ‘shelter’ hotel where we could sit and be warm. We sat and made friends with an American group that had kicked down the door of the hotel room since they thought there friend was overdosing on cocaine – turns out he was just sleeping. Some very interesting people, software developers from Montana. Turns out this is common behaviour in Montana. Not long after we were moved back to the hotel and told we can remain there since it was only the other wing of the hotel that had been effected.

It was already late and the sandman looked like he had gone on vacation. We decided not to sleep and rather start out long journey to figure out the mystery of missing jacket. retracing our steps we continued on the tourist route, visiting the local landmarks and the sinister areas. trying local delicacies and enjoying the views, walking around – taking it all in…till finally it was time for the pub-crawl to restart and like vultures we started following them to figure out at which point the madness began the previous night. As we creeped on to make it to the third bar, the door opened to reveal my jacket looking at me, like a start stuck lover looking into the eyes of their lover, i walked over picket it up and embraced it like a dying child, holding it and whispering ‘ daddy’s got ya, everything is going to be alright’ – The jacket had been found, although it seemed that Amsterdam had taken its toll on it too, a 1 centimetre tear in which it was bleeding goose feathers. i held it and promised it will receive some attention. i at once returned the random jacket and the case was solved. Wing commander and i hugged as if although we had lost the battle we had won the war.

With war wounds a duct taped jacket we leave leave this country: Amsterdam, The all consuming City of Sin.

Washington. USA

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav North America

Washington. USA

The city holding the history of a nation, and knowledge for generations.

Captains Log Day 8 – 12/12/14 11:53pm. United Airways

Its a very unpleasant sensation to wake up with a pool of saliva on your chest. I wake up from my comatose like state and start to piece together the events of the last 4 days, hoping that the innocent couple sitting next to me on this flight have not realised the salivated lake which had formed on my chest or the deafening snoring going on for the last 2 hours…

A combination of events had contributed to this unconscious state, a result of our adventures in the nations capital Washington DC.

Yes we had landed, we had finally made it on to US soil! Our adventure till now with Iceland and Amsterdam were a mere distant memory compared to what lay ahead. Land of the Free.

Wing Commander and I took no time to leave the airport, to make our way to our accommodation which lay in the central part of Washington DC – the only issue was that we had landed in the ‘other airport’. Which meant our US journey had to start with a bus ride, a train ride and then a 30 minute walk. Taking about 2 hours to check in to our hotel room – which was the size a closet.

A thing worth mentioning and in the nature of the randomness of this log as we walked to our hotel room we crossed an african american guy sitting on the side of a window sill with a large amount of smoke coming from him. Thinking that he is probably smoking some medicinal stuff we dismissed it. As we walked closer the fragrance was amazing.. it smelt like Incense. Confused both of us looked at each other. We approached closer with the smell of incense even more distinct. We were right this dizzy pirate had a handful of burning incense in his hand. Still confused and not sure of why we continued to walk past him. Any ideas?

Despite being 11pm when we arrived both Wing Commander and I were keen and ready to explore the Presidential City. Dropping off our bags and rugging up (it was freezing) we headed off to town, our bellies hungry for food and our eyes hungry to see the landmarks we had all grown up seeing. Walking around the first thing we noticed was the lack of people, the place had massive roads, large buildings but… no people, i mean i know it was 11pm and a Tuesday night, however we just expected a barrage of people walking around. What we did see however on our little exploratory walk was a stack of homeless people, there were some at every corner of every street. Sleeping outside in the freezing cold, coming over to ask for change, singing, doing some pretty crazy things. In our 3 hour walk i think my wing commander and I had spotted at least 30 homeless people. A good drinking game – spot the Bum have a shot! However as well as the large number of Bums on the streets we also noticed a large number of police cars and patrols going on, with one police car on every second block. At this point i realised my drinking game would not be too practical.

Hunger won the Game and we decided that it would be better to grab some food before we went for some midnight landmark exploration. We walked around the deserted streets looking and hoping that something was open, block after block being confronted by closed restaurants and take-away shops. Giving up hope we went to a police officer and asked if something was open around us, he replied “Nope – the only thing open is McDonalds 5 blocks down in china town”. With Great reluctance both of us accepted our fates and decided this was the only option if we wanted some sustenance. We got to McDonalds only to find a heap of shady characters – african americans, scary looking guys, arguing, and sitting inside, listening to music on the phones. The place looked like something out of a movie, I was waiting for a drive-by shooting any second. The place was like the Flinders Street station Maccers at 2 am on a weeknight, on steroids. We ordered our food and since it was so cold outside decided to sit inside and eat, with the knowledge that this could be a bad idea. We ate fast, but not fast enough for my wing commander to start getting a death stare from one of distinguished patrons in the establishment. Scared and like mice we escaped and thanked our stars that there were no puncture wounds on us.

The Washington Monument was the first landmark our night time route. As we approached the structure we could start to comprehend the massive size of this thing. it was big. It felt like a towering skyscraper overlooking the city. The sheer size of this structure was overwhelming and despite all the cold weather both of us just stood and stared at it. A realisation sunk in – We had Made it to AMERICA! A hug and a selfie later we started walking to Barrack’s Crib, hoping to see the white house lit up in the night backdrop. Walking over we struggled to see it. We walked around tempted to go over a small barricaded area, at which point we saw a police officer and we went over to him. He advised that the white house lights turn off at 11pm and that if we had entered the area which we were heading we would have gotten arrested. He said at this time we could of over to the back of the building and take a photo, although it would be dark. A few snaps later we decided surviving a mugging, a bashing and being arrested was enough for one night and it was time to call it a night arriving at our hotel room and sleeping by 4am.

9am our alarm went off. Wing Commander and i got prepared, our second day in America had begun and boy did we have a heap to do.

Firstly we needed some food, it was our day to experience Fast Food in America – so using urban spoon found our fast food chain Popeye’s Chicken and biscuit. A very random fried chicken chain. When in Rome – Fried Chicken. It was and a heap of it. The captain was feeling sick after having it, although this did not stop him from grabbing Spiced Pumpkin Latte. I was surprised at how good it was!

We rushed off to the Capitol Building only to find it was shut for the day for a special function and we would have to return the next day for the tour. Getting some advise from the tour guide we headed firstly to the National Library of Congress – Classified as the most beautiful building in the United States in the inside, it did not fail to impress. The renaissance design and architecture was like something you would find in an art gallery in Italy or France. Home to objects like one of the oldest Koran in the world, as well as some of the first printed bibles and the Magna Carter, this place was a page our of history at every corner. After a guided tour of the building we ducked off to the botanical Gardens to view the sculptures and the model train exhibition, ensuring that we had taken our hay fever tablets for this, the gardens were exquisite with fauna from around the world.

The next on the list was one of the things i had personally looked forward to the most. The National Air and Space Museum. Home to revolutionary items such as the actual Apollo 11 command shuttle, replicas of the Curiosity Rover, the Apollo Moon lander and the Actual Wright brothers plane (the first plane ever take successful flight). Spending over an hour we were eventually hunted down by museum security and asked to leave at closing time. Exhausted and our legs like Jelly the next part of our walk made us forget the aching feet and just feel overwhelmed. We visited Lincoln Memorial, (a giant Abe Lincoln on a chair looking over Washington) followed by Martin Luther King Jnr, Roosevelt and finally Jefferson Memorial. All of these were an amazing experience, we learned about history and got absorbed by the greatness of each of these men.

The Second day was continuing when we decided to take an Uber and head to Georgetown where our Noob hotel concierge had told us we could buy our santa costume for Santa Con. Georgetown was an upper market area with boutique shops and defiantly no santa costumes. We then took another Uber to Walmart unfortunately and to our surprise they did not stock any. disappointed we just walked around Walmart to absorb the superstore – i wanted to go buy a gun, just because i could. Finally we reached back to the hotel, had a bit of a nap and went for dinner to an establishment that had a bookshop and a restaurant attached to it. A very funky place where both wing commander and I ate and then headed home.

The last day of our Washington visit dawned. Our bodies aching we headed back into the museum district, first up the Capitol building. The landmark that everyone visions to be the white house – The first image i personally thought of when i thought of Washington – the Capitol building is the parliament of the country. We made it on time and were able to do a tour. Spectacular.

We then went to the National Archives and were able to see the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, I was figuring out how I could steal any one of these documents. as time was slipping away we headed to our last museum – The museum of Natural History. This place much like the Air and Space museum was mind boggling – Giant wales, Animals from around the world, Dinosaurs, Mummies, this place would be a wonderland for anyone. We strolled around and in the fastest way possible took some photos and absorbed some information. We had to leave as we had to go see do a tour of the Washington Monument – rushing we got to the ticket office to find the tours for the day had been sold out 🙁 disappointed we headed towards the Whitehouse to see if we could get some photos of it from the front. This was a successful mission with no one being arrested. Win.

Bodies battered we had completed our Washington exploration, realising we had only scratched the surface, we would need to return in order to cover all the landmarks with detail.

Dad had advised that his colleague was in Washington and we had to visit his bar/ restaurant so after the Whitehouse we decided to head there for dinner. The issue is that we never made it to Dinner. This uncle was extremely hospitable, too much so serving beer after beer. The captains ship was sinking. Extremely intoxicated we left the restaurant. Stumbling to our hotel room. The captain engaged in some shenanigans along the way, which included stealing a pumpkin off someones doorstep and smashing it on the floor, as well as painting the sidewalk 3 times with his recent half digested dinner. Reaching the bed it was time to pass-out. our flight was scheduled for 6am – the alarm set for 4am we had to get some sleep before our 6 hour journey to San Fran. Who had known hangover to follow would be painful.

Washington: The city holding the history of a nation, and knowledge for generations.