Alright I have been back home in the States for a week now and I never got around to updating you people on how the last three weeks of my trip went. I have tried to update the Romania adventure but to be quite honest I got lazy. 

But I owe it to everyone to let you all know how my trip ended, its also good to get all this stuff down so that in a year or so I can come back and relive the adventure.

Sylvia and I ended up hitching Through Transylvania all the way to the Danube River Delta. Along the way we saw many things and met many great people. In a Brasov train station we saw a gypsy boy with no feet sitting on the sidewalk. Not out of the ordinary except he was sticking his fingers down his throat and making himself vomit.

Gypsies: The gypsies are the black sheep of Europe. Hated, Feared, distrusted. I had never seen a Gypsy until I was in Romania. Before I had arrived in Romania Germans as well as other Europeans would tell me that Gypsies were to be watched out for because they were all crooks. They didnt much look like crooks to me. Almost all the Gypsy men are saw were beggars. At every bus station or trainstation in Romania there were Gypsy males sitting on the floor begging. They would drag themselves around on thier rears and go right next to people and begin to beg, reaching out with their hands. I saw so many Gypsy men dragging themselves around on their asses I came up with two theories to explain this phenomenah.

1. Due to inbreeding the Gypsy male is now struck with a malady that makes the use of his legs impossible when in the vicinity of a bus stop or train station. It doesnt seem to effect them when they are a block away from said bus stop or train station. Could also be due to some magnetic forces at work in these areas which drags thier butts to the ground. 

2. The Romanian Government started a genetic cross breeding program in the 80's mixing Gypsies with Dogs... Gypsies enjoy dragging their butts on the floor as dogs are prone to do from time to time. 

When we were hitching we mainly stayed in our trusty tent at times at camp sites and other times in some open space in the middle of no where. In the town of Babadaq we found such a place. Our tent was pitched on top of a cliff. Below the cliff was a large lake. This was one of the best nights of my trip. During the night me and Sylvia talked. We ate tuna out of the can. We were filthy and a little smelly. Now this does not sound glamourous or cool to some of you. I have spent nights in Paris, Madrid,  Prague and many other cities in Europe. How does having a tent in the middle of nowhere compare to such great cities you may ask? Well on some level it all comes down to perspective.

As Sylvia and I finished our meal we both went outside the tent and looked into the sky. I dont often get to see the stars in all their glory. That night, outside of the tent the stars were the only lights that we had. The Milky way was visible as was the Hunter. So many thousands of stars and constellations. Seeing all the stars in the sky is always an amazing sight and makes me think of people living thousands of years ago that would sit up at night and stare into the cosmos pondering life, existence and the universe beyond life and death, beyond our planet. As we sat outside the tent we had our very own orchestra to entertain us. The breeze was blowing the tall grass against the tent, the insects of the night were chirping, flying and crawling all over the place. Below us the waves from the lake were crashing on the rocks and shore. Perspective. As me and Sylvia laid down that night and began to speak to one another about our dreams, where we saw ourselves being in the future, traveling, home, I realized that despite being hungry, dirty, stank and tired that night was the best night of my whole trip. 

The next day we walked over to some men that were digging up some holes. Archeologist they were. As we began speaking to the head digger he asked us rather excitededly, "Were you the ones in that tent?"

Us: Yes...

Archeologist: Dont ever camp like that again! Im surprised you were not attacked in the night. This is a bad place, the Gypsies here rob, kill and rape. You are very lucky.

Us: s***!

Our journey continued. One of the hitch hikes Sylvia and I got ended up turning out to be two of the nicest people I have ever met. Christian and his wife a young couple that picked us up in some hell hole of a town and drove us to thier home city Braila near the Danube Delta. Language was a problem. But as we drove we made it a point to let Christian know that we would be camping at any lake near the city. We were hurting for money and we asked for a lake on the map. By this time in our journey Sylvia was beginning to understand Romanian rather quicly. I was lost. Sylvia is an amazing girl though. She speaks english better then many of my cousins (born in the states) speaks, Swedish, German and by the end of the trip she was able to get directions and understand Romanian fairly competently...amazing. As we are driving along Christian gets on his mobile and begins speaking to someone in Romanian. After a couple of minutes  he hands the phone to Sylvia and says, "My sister". As Sylvia was speaking to Christians sister in English her face went from normal to surprised. 

Sylvia: Wait... is he sure?

Phone: BLAH BLAH BLAH.....BLAH!

Sylvia: Well, tell him thank you very much...

Phone: BLAH.

I faced Sylvia. She looked at me and smiled. Christian had decided that instead of taking us to some lake in the middle of nowhere he and his wife would let us stay at thier apartment. Thank yous were extended to him and his wife. I was exstatic, the one thought that continued running in my head was, SHOWERS!!!

Later as we arrived in the city Sylvia and I were surprised to see that the streets were crowded with hundreds of people. Christian looked at his watch and explained that it was August 15th a religious holiday in the country. It was for a saint I forget which one though. Instead of driving us to his home he pulled into a parking lot and asked us if we would like to take a walk and check out the festivities. Whenever oppurtunities like this come up no matter how tired, dirty or hungry they should always be taken. We gladly accepted. With Christian and his wife leading the way Sylvia and I followed. Passing by stalls selling local foods, souvenirs and other trinkets. People were walking in one general direction and we followed the group. As we got closer a stage was barely visible over the heads and moving bodies of people around us. House/techno music was blaring. It was tight. At some point Christian turned towards us and began to say Elvis! Elvis! Sylvia translated some Romanian he was speaking and tole me the number 1 Romanian rock star was going to be performing on the stage in a little bit. We were about 300 feet away from the stage... a bit behind it though. I was pumped. I wanted to see the guy rock & Roll Romanian style. Ill spare you the details. He Sucked big time. The Romanians liked him though so different strokes for different folks.

The time with Christian and his wife turned out to be such a nice experience. As we ate dinner at thier home I was thinking about the number of times I never helped people. In that trip I had been helped by so many people, sometimes going out of their way to help out. I decided that night that from then on I would try to live my life in the same way. Too many times I have passed people on the road with a car that has a flat or is just dead. Instead of stopping and asking if they need a hand or a ride to a gas station I always just fly by and tell myself..."No need to stop Adrian, they probably have AAA, a cellphone or help on the way". Could be true but then again it could be completely false, maybe some of the people on the side of the road cant afford AAA or a cellphone. Anyway next story. 

Constanta was our final destination after finding out that we would not have enough money to ferry the Danube then back...(Thanks Rico) we headed for the beaches. Constanta was an aight city. The beaches were full of men walking around in speedos... gay! The women though. DAMN!!! I thought I was at a strip club with all the girls running around topless wearing thongs. The whole time we were at the beach I was laying on my stomach...Nu what Im sayin? So great. The water is dirty though, lots of trash floating around. Oh yeah there is water snakes as well. One came out of the ocean and onto the beach and was moving towards two ladies laying next to us. I was taking pictures of it and when it was 10 feet or so away from the ladies I said, "Um, exuse me but there is a snake going towards you". I pointed to it because they didnt understand a word I said. They saw the snake and they jumped up like a cat thrown into boiling water. They were grabbing thier things and running away likkity split. I was laughing the whole time.  

When the time came for Sylvia and I to leave we decided to take a train to Bucharest and from Bucharest to Brasov then from Brasov to a border city, we figured after all the traveling we could use some comfort. As we were standing in the train station of Constanta I was hit by allergies. This was the worst case of allergies I have ever experienced...no joke. My eyse were watering and swollen. Snot was coming out my nose non stop. My throat was itching and the only way to scratch it was to make the Chewbacca noise : GGERRERERERE. 

When we got on the train the idea of traveling easy and with some sort of luxury was shattered. Romanian trains are holdovers from Communist times. Packed with people and hot as hell. It was not a pleasant experience. The allergies only got worse. Finally I took our dining towel and wrapped it around my face so as to act as a filter. It worked somewhat.

In Bucharest we had to travel from one trainstation to another trainstation. Not a big deal it was a short bus ride away. The bus was a problem though. Sylvia jumped into an already overpacked bus along with another 200 people all trying to get to the trains at the other station. I had misgivings right away. Every guidebook warns about overcrowded situations and pickpockets. At this point it was too late to do anything  and as more people were piling in Sylvia was cut off from me. I was so late in trying to get on the bus I had to fight for a spot and I was barely able to fit. The doors closed on my bag. As the bus is chugging along Sylvia begins to yell, "HEY!!", Look over to where she is standing and she continues to yell, "HEY, THIEF. GET AWAY FROM ME"!!!. I asked what was up and she tells me that a guy standing next to her had tried to unzip her fanny pack. We were separated from one another and at the next stop the guy just jumps out of the bus.

We finally get to the train station buy tickets for a night train and begin to wait. We had four hours to kill so we decided to walk to a nearby park and eat. We get to this park and it seemed like any other lazy Sunday afternoon. There were some cops in the park. This made me feel a little safe. Families were walking with children, old folks were sitting on benches shooting the s***. Everything seemed ok....cant say nice. As we sat on this bench a boy around 10 years old approaches us. He looks like a street urchin and if I had any shillings I would have handed them over and told him to b***** off and purchase some porridge at the boys home. I had no shillings so instead I gave him some candy. 

At first I hadnt noticed anything out of the ordinary but as the child reached for the candy I noticed the plastic bag in his other hand. It was stained with a brown substance. Glue. Paint thinner is clear and more of a liquid. The kid had the thousand yard stare going on. After he had the candy in his mouth he wanders off in the direction of a fairly large group of street urchins 200 paces or so away from where we were sitting. All kids ranging from 10-20 years. All dirty and they all had a little baggie in thier hands with the same substance the little boy was huffing on. I was taken aback. At the other end of the park were 5 cops. They were all in a group standing around shootin the breeze. Obviously these kids are not a priority. As we sat in the park observing the locals it was interesting to see how they responded to the children zombies. One kid would walk to different benches of people get about 3 feet away from them and just stare. Periodically huffing on some paint. The people didnt seem to mind, so long as they did not get to close or mess with the street dogs. The guy walked past us dragging his feet. Drull and snot running down the side of his mouth  and nose dripping onto his shirt. His eyes were focused on nothing in particular he just seemed to be moving with no thought put into his destination. No purpose, no motivation. Walk. Stand. Huff. Walk. Stand. Huff. That was it. At one point he changed routine and began to make a move towards one of the street dogs that was barking at him. This came to a stop rather quickly as a group of about 7 old women began yelling at him and raising quite the uproar. The street dog had ran to these women and hid behind the bench they were sitting on. Smart dog.

Finally it was time for us to board the train. One warning Sylvia had given me. The threat of armed robbery is real on the trains of Eastern Europe. As is gassing of compartments. This occurs when thieves release gas into a night train compartment causing the passengers to pass out. When the passengers come to all their stuff is gone. This actually happened to her uncle in Poland once. That night on the train my allergies were of course out of control and I was miserable. Still had the the towel covering my face. I told Sylvia to lay down and use my legs for a pillow as I would take the first watch of the night. At some point we arrived in Brasov and transferred to another train. We switched post at some point in the night but sleep was extremely hard to come by, the allergies were all agro on my immune system.

Finally in the early morning we arrived at out destination I dont remember the name of the city, sorry. At this point we were ready to hitchhike again. The Hungarian border was not far off. Sylvia thought we would be back in Poland by the next day. I predicted we would be back that night.

At first hitching was going slow. But finally a car pulls up. Inside there were three young guys. I sensed something bad. Too many guys in this car, we shouldnt take it. In the end we hopped in. We had waited for an hour or so for a car to stop, one finally did and patience was wearing thin. It was also the feeling of trying to get home asap you know that feeling that comes after a long trip when all you want to do is get home.

As we were riding in the car the three guys were making conversation sort of. The driver spoke German. Sylvia spoke German. Good. At one point we pulled into a gas station and the guys began asking us if we wanted to drink some beers with them... No thanks. Guard was up. Eventually the two guys were dropped off in the village. Alot of the bad feelings that I had dissapated at this point. Sylvia saw that I was tired and she suggested that she would sit in the front while I slept in the back. I was indecisive at first but she also told me that she spoke German so she would be able to conversate with the driver. Cool then. As we began the drive I slumbered off to sleep....out of the darkness I heard of voice in alarm. Some moments passed with no sounds then "HEY, NEIN!!!" this time the voice was loud and scared. I groggily woke up. I looked at the driver. One hand was on the steering wheel, the other was on the stick. Looking into the rear view I saw his eyes focuse on the road ahead. The conversation was dead and there was a heaviness in the air. Something was not right. I looked into the other mirror at Sylvia to see her face. Nothing. Eyes straight forward. I asked what was up. No answer. Five minutes later if not less the car pulls over. I step out look around and notice we are in the middle of nowhere. I ask Sylvia, "Werent we suppossed to go to a city?". No answer. As we pull our bags from the car and place them on the floor the guy takes off. Deep down I knew something had happened in the car. As the car was disappearing in the distance Sylvia still had not made a move. I looked at her and noticed her lower lip shaking.

Me: Ok, What happened? What did he do?

Sylvia then told me that as I was asleep in the back she was talking to the guy and everything was normal. At some point the man began to ask her if she would like to go have a coffee. She told him no, she was with me. Never the less he persisted and turned up the notch. Offering her 200 euros for 20 minutes in the woods. She refused. The denials seemed to make him more ballsy as he began to grope her thighs. The voice I heard in protest was when he was grabbing her thighs. There I was 2 feet away. 

On some level Im at fault. If I had stayed awake, sat in the front seat or just refused the hitch in the first place nothing would have happened. It was also lucky for us that the guy was just a perv and not a psycho. Sylvia was obviously shaken, I didnt know what to do or say to comfort her so I just hugged her. It seemed to work. On our way out of Romania we got a ride with a truck driver. We didnt even get the hitch, some old fat village women saw us walking the road. As she saw the truck driver driving down the road she yelled and waved her arm. I dont know if she knew the guy but he stopped and gave us a ride. He was a really nice guy and after the episode with the perv we needed a decent person. This man bought us coffee at a stop, shared his lunch with us and even let me drink some Romanian homemade liquor--->Moonshine. Taste like rubbing alcohol for real. My esphagus was on fire for a few minutes after the swig. In the end he dropped us off near the border. We hitched a ride again and walked from Romania into Hungary.

Once in Hungary we were lucky enough to get a hitch with an Italian man that was driving all the way to Poland. He was confused with the maps so we would ride with him into Poland and help him out along the way. This was such a blessing. His car was pimpin. AC plus a DVD player. I was in the front seat watching movies for like 5 hours straight. Bourne Supremacy, The Recruit, The Wire... Awesome Amercian action movies. The first since leaving home. Sitting in the front I was supposed to be co-pilot and help with the driving. I tried at first but I kept looking at the movies. Finally at a gas station Sylvia told me to hit the back. Ha ha ha.

We arrived in a Polish town a couple of hours away from Krakow at around 12am or so. We had to wait for Sylvias dad to pick us up so we just sat on some benches. As we were sitting on some benches some drunken Polish kids approach us. They offered us beer and were really interested to hear our travel tales. One of the girls was trashed. She was getting married the next week to an English chap and this wad her celebration. 

Drunk girl: hhmm.... Im getting maaarri..iied next weeek.

Me: Thats cool, congratulations

Drunk girl: ...(Weaving, with eyes closed and a beer in one hand a cigeratte in the other)... yoou..your english?

Me: No American

Drunk Girl: (Eyes opening a little) Amerri..can?....(Burping)...Im gonna ge..t  married next week...my....fian..fiance is English.... What part of England are you fr...from?

Me: Im not English Im American...

Drunk Girl: ...oh Merrricaaaaaaan! Next....weeek. Next week...im gon...nna get married...(leans over and looks as though she is going to hurl, I scoot away)...you twwooo are....com...ing to.. my wedding....What part..................(She is going to hurl)...............England....are you from? (never hurled)

Me: Im American

So on and so forth. Sylvia was talking to the girls sister and left me hanging with the drunk. Finally our ride arrived and off we went back home bringing an end to the adventure in Romania....