France

Okaaay, so yesterday I spent most of the day in transit in hopes of making Germany to go visit a friend of my mom's. That plan did not happen.
It all started when I arrived in Dover by train. I had to walk a bit to get to the ferry dock, no problem. but when I got there it turned out I had booked a spot on a non foot passenger ferry. Again, not a real problem, besides the fact that my tickets were non-refundable. That sucked. You know, cause I'm poor. The ferry was pretty cool actually. It's almost like the Canadian buses back home. Elderly British take the ferry for cheap and exploit pounds in France. I actually met up with a retired Brit named Ken who showed me the city of Calais on a walking tour and most importantly, where the train station was. I liked Ken, very lively, very nice.
So, at the station I validated my train pass, which means I can go wherever the hell I want for the next three months. I took a train from Calais to Lille and that's where the fun began. I decided to take a route through Belgium (Just found out about the Brussels deal, oh boy!) and then took a train to a city called Tourcoing or something to get a train to Antwerp. On arrival to this fine place, I sat and waited for the next train. Only a half hour wait, not bad even if you're cold like I was. I noticed a large, bold red word that looked like "Supprime", or something, next to all of the incoming trains on the departures board. Turns out that word meant canceled as the regional train crew decided to go on strike. Seeing as how it was dark, cold, and relatively late, I opted to just stay in this town until morning. I took a short lap around the city and could not find a hostel, which sucked, and opted instead to go to the cheapest hotel I could find, which also sucked. Hotels are by definition, too expensive for young, basically homeless, romantic types. To make the situation worse I couldn't find an ATM for food money so I had to suffice with some of the peace offering American candy I brought with.
It can't get worse now!