Goodbye Roma

Have you ever tossed money into a "lucky" fountain and wondered where it went? Well everyone, I have finally solved this mystery of life. I was sitting at Trevi Fountain taking a break from a monsterous walk. I'm not sure of the entire story behind Trevi Fountain, but supposedly you throw money in for good luck. Anyways, while sitting there, I noticed that there was a sketchy looking guy scouting the the water. Of course, being a nosy bastard with nothing to do, I zone in on him and pay attention to what he is doing. First, it wasn't very exciting, but then, he starts pulling out a spool of fishing line with some sort of contraption on the end. When people aren't noticing (he doesn't know I'm behind him playing Big Brother), he tosses the contraption in and starts fishing, but for CASH. You can fill in the rest of the blanks, BUT basically, some thief steals all our money we toss in!!

I visited the Vatican Museum yesterday. Turned out yesterday, being the last Sunday of the month, was free to go. In order to make it through the crowds though, I had to get up (at what I thought was 6:30AM - this comes into play later on, just keep reading), and head out and wait along with them. The museum was great and I saw the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's frescos, but the best part about the museum was jockeying for position among the 10,473 people ahead of me (yes, I counted). It was a VERY slow motion race for the best position, and everyone was playing the game. Some were getting mad, others were slipping through the cracks and getting...a whole 2 feet ahead...while others were waiting accordingly and passing the time by reading, etc. I was playing the sleek, silent, sneaky...but shithead who kept on trying to get ahead. Being that I was alone, it was super easy to sneak through the cracks that developed! Anyways, got into the museum and planned to get out by 11:30AM and go to St.Peter's square where the Pope blesses the crowd. Anyways, I get out of the museum by 11AM and stop quickly into St.Peters church. Instead of looking around, I figure I'll head out early and get a decent spot to hopefully catch a glimpse of the Pope. Well, somehow, its slightly past 11AM but the Pope is already speaking. Not to mention, there is roughly 1.5 million people gathered in the square. MUCH MUCH later in the day, I understood what happened. Day light Savings took place the night before! Luckily I wasn't traveling on the switchover day, I would have been confused and pissed off.

Going back, I rode the bus. With bus tickets in Rome, you buy the ticket, and when you get onto the bus, you don't pay the driver or anything...just walk to the middle where there is a machine that validates your ticket. For me though, I felt like being a rebel, so I didn't validate my ticket. This, if caught, garners you a sweet 100 Euro fine. To be honest, I was going to validate my ticket, but it was too packed, and I couldn't reach the machine. The entire trip, I was sweating bullets...not worth it, by far!

In total, I think traveling is starting to take its toll on my body. First of all, I got a cold. It wasn't particually bad, but it was nice enough that I had a sore throat, then a cough, then thick, disgusting snot. Now thats over, but from all the walking, my knee hurts (I think I had a drunken accident maybe), and I have two blisters on my foot. I sat in the middle of Rome with my shoe off, and popped one! I bet that creates a great visual image doesn't it?

Tomorrow, I head off to Cinque Terre. I'm not sure I'll have internet access, and I'll be out and about exploring the outdoors life of the area. Don't have a hostel booked, I'm sort of going to "wing it" and pray for the best. Just in case you are wondering, yes, there should be availability and I shouldn't have to sleep outside. I'll check in soon!

Roma

Sorry I haven't updated in the last couple of days, but let me give you a rundown of what has happened in my exciting travels! I've left Nice now, and moved onto Rome Italy. That is it. Good bye.

Actually, Nice was SO much fun. So much fun that I almost missed my train to Rome the next morning due to excessive and heavy partying the night before. I had every intention of going to bed early and getting a full recommended 7-8 hours, but instead, a couple of games of Kings Cup later, I sort of stumble to my room and *luckily* set my alarm. Either way, the hostel (Villa St. Expurny) was one of the best I've ever stayed at.

From there, hopped onto the train into Rome. Have you seen Eurotrip? Do you remember the weird Italian guy who they encountered while going to Rome? Well, I was terrified I was going to have the same experience. So much so that I put one bag on each side of myself to block any potential people. Nevertheless, nothing terribly exciting happened, except for this old lady who was in my cabin and received a million phone calls. Problem was, she kept ending the red button (end call) when trying to pick this up, and confused everyone in the cabin. I finally attempted to help her out, except she understood ZERO English, and I understand ZERO Italian. We did work out the problem though, with my super good sound effects and hand signals!

Now, onto Rome. Rome is big, Rome is dirty, and the pizza is amazing.For me, Rome is a 180 change from Nice which was a relaxed, beach town. Rome on the other hand, being the cradle of Western Civilization, is huge! The traffic is frightening, and no one obeys traffic lights. I've lived in New York City, and I never fear for my life when I J walk, but here, its a real game of frogger, except, with no game over's and restarts! I found out the way to do it is, find a gap in the flow of cars, busses, and mopeds, and just walk. Close your eyes, and walk. Easy to say, hard to do. I always end up like a deer in headlights jumping around and dodging. Luckily, no accidents yet, which I'm surprised at! We'll see, I have a couple more days still.

The other thing about Rome: PIZZA is really good. There are many pizza shops that sell by weight. You just tell them how big you want, and they cut and weigh it. Ends up only being around 2 Euro for a huge slice of heaven. Did I just say Heaven, Yes, yes I did. In my personal opinion, forget Vatican City, forget the Panthenon, forget the Colosseum. Find all the pizza shops you can, and eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Before I forget, the most amazing pizza is officially hard boiled eggs, some type of salami, and olives. I know, odd combo, but an orgasm in your mouth, everytime, guaranteed.

Today, I'm off to go inside the Colosseum and pretend I'm a gladiator. I wonder if I can find a Wal-Mart that is starting to sell early Halloween costumes...?

PS - I'm fake writing my blog on GMAIL. There is a huge line of people waiting to use the computer, and i would feel bad if I was updating my blog, so I am pretending to write an important email, whereby I'll later just upload this whole thing onto blogger! I'm so smart, and so sneaky =)

Dog poo

So apparently the French people don't feel the need to pick up after their dogs. Imagine, if you will, walking down the street, eyes glued to all the interesting architecture, all the history, all the interesting people, and all of a sudden, stepping on a nice steaming pile of dog shit. Okay, let me back track, I haven't fell victim to this (yet), but I've seen evidence that many a folk have. How, you ask? Well, there are lots of smeared piles too! My new game to play is called "Guess that dog?". It provides quite a few minutes of entertainment as I'm walking around.

This whole blog is going to be dedicated to things that bother me. Love it. Live it.
(1) I hate walking up the hill to my hostel. I swear, its a 45 degree incline. Maybe worse. I love the fact that I now possess buns of steel, but at the same time, the walk is brutal, and all my shirts have permanent pit stains. The views of the Med. Sea are incredible, but again, the walk up can only be made by the fittest of the fit!
(2) I hate the construction in Nice. Why did they think it would be smart to build out the ENTIRE road at one time instead of doing it section by section. This is very ass backwards.
(3) Lunch. I love lunch. I hate that the French get two hours for lunch, everyday. It also makes doing anything between 12pm to 2pm impossible. God I'm jealous.
(4) Dinner. I love dinner. Why do people eat so late though? And why are portions so small. I had 3 servings of pasta tonight, followed by an entire other course of salad, mashed potatos, and schnitzel (no clue what it really is), AND I think I might be able to eat more. Maybe I'm not normal though...
(5) Laundry by hand. I bought a couple packets of Tide hand laundry detergent, and the instructions are very misleading. I had the great idea of trying to wash by hand today based on the easy instructions, only to realize they don't mention at all (not even a warning) about how it might take off 3 layers of skin on your hands trying to wring your clothes dry, or that it might take 3 days for them to dry afterwards, or that you need hangers to hang your clothes, or that it might be the single BEST concept on paper, and the WORST item of execution in all of mankind. I appreciate my washing machine very much now. I would marry my washing machine if I could.

On a more serious note though, I will be leaving Nice on Wednesday and moving onto Rome, Italy. I feel recharged, and ready to go!

Nice is nice, very nice. That is Nice.

Like the title says, Nice is very nice. I've spent two full days, and its gorgeous. I've taken many pictures, but I feel they really don't do it much justice. Yesterday was spent waddling around the Old part of town as well as the promenade. According to my guidebook, theres a really nice hotel with a 16,000 piece chandalier and a 5 star bathroom (I just made up the rating system of the bathroom, but follow with me here), so of course, I went to go check it out for the bathroom. I must say, if there were such a thing as rating bathrooms, this one deserved 4.5 to 5 stars. Either way, made a great day out of nothing and did some good wandering.

The hostel I am staying at is great. Its up in the hills away from the main part of the city and it used to be a monestary. Its huge, and the basement, which used to be the main space has been converted to a bar/dining area/computer room. They make fresh-to-order pizza along with daily specials, and of course a good selection of alcohol. ANYWAYS, met a fellow Canadian who is teaching English in France and we went out to Monaco today. Actually, it was Eze Village (a incredibly gorgeous medieval town set on top of a mountain), Monaco (technically an independent country), and St. Jean Cap Ferrat (a peaceful fishing village along the coastline). Here is the summary:
-Eze Village: two thumbs up. Great place to wander through for an hour or two, beautiful surroundings, REALLY short doors. (I think the early French people must have been about 4 feet tall...at most).
-Monaco: the palace and surrounding park deserves one thumb up. The casino of Monte Carlo gets a thumbs down. I mean, check this out, the slots area is free to go to, BUT in order to go into the gambling rooms, you pay 10 Euros. Then, to see the high rollers tables, you pay another 10. This is ALL before you even drop one penny on gambling. Elsewhere, not that much to see and do.
-St.Jean Cat Ferrat: two thumbs up. If I had another thumb, I'd give it three thumbs up. There is a beauty scenic walk that leads you around the edge of the village. Imagine a walled in city. Imagine it surrounded by water on three sides. Now, the scenic walk takes place on the outside of the way, placing you between the water and the wall of the city (which is not really a wall, but just imagine).

After all that exploring though, I think tomorrow will be spent doing absolutely NOTHING. Actually, that sounds like a perfect idea.
Oh PS - I don't think many people care about St.Patty's day here?!

Until next time...

Trains...

For all the dear readers, I've now moved away from my home camp of Barcelona and set up shop in Nice, France. Barcelona was very unique and the partying was wild, but I felt it was time to get to a quiet location and do a little of "nothing" for a week. The city of life of Barcelona and London has taken its toll.

As far as observations about Barcelona, where do I even begin...hmm...
-lip piercings on girls seems extremely popular, to the point where almost every other person you see has some sort of hoop or stud. Is the the American equivalent of the tattoo on the lower back or the tongue pierced?
-you know how people always said European fashion was different? Well personally, I never believed it and thought the whole world dressed in Sperrys, polo shirts (with the collar popped up), and big ol' sun glasses. Let me tell you though, ITS NOT THE SAME in Barcelona. Wow, I can't even begin to tell you how people dress. Lets say, its a combo of Salvation Army meets high end department store, mixed in with odd accessories that even an antique shop would find interesting. Lets sum it up with "WOW".
-Gaudi (for those not familiar, Google "Park Guell" or "Sagrada Familia") was WAY off his rocker. His stuff was one of a kind, but there is no way someone completely sane can come up with those "visions" he had. I spent half a day at Park Guell, and its the most awesome park I have ever been to. To start off with, his combined use of metal, tile, and concrete makes the building, chairs, stairs, and columns very different even for my eyes. AND to think, he completed the park roughly 100 years ago. There are areas you can sit in and feel in an alien colony, while a few steps away, you are enjoying the panoramic (sp?) views of all of Barcelona. Then, onto Sagrada Familia...personally, for me, it seems like something someone would think up with the assisted and prolonged use of acid. I mean that in a nice way, its beautiful to look at, but again, HOW in the hell did he think of that?!
-pickpockets are everywhere, and I almost got taken for a ride. I was wandering down the street mid evening, and this older guy (standing near a bank) approaches me with a map in hand asking if I speak English. I say "yes" and try to play the good samaritan and see if I can point him in the right direction. As we are speaking, he is inching closer and closer to me, and I'm inching one step away. Out of NOWHERE comes this dude who comes between us, flashes a dodgy looking badge at me for a brief second, declares he is Police, and demands to see my passport. For a moment, I'm stumped and about to reach for my passport. But then it dawns on me, (1) who the f*ck is this guy, (2) have I done anything wrong, (3) WHY would he need to see my passport? So, I take a moment, collect myself, and ask who the hell he is. He states "Bank Police" and now I'm starting to think, "scam, con, etc". I start questioning him and he seems to get flustered by it. Oh I forgot to say, while this is going on, I feel like the old guy is boxing me in a little. He also gives his "document" to the "police guy", but they seem to both be facing me now. Finally, seeing that I'm not going to hand over any documents, the police guy asks if I'm associated with the old map guy. I say, "don't know him, f*ck you both", and walk off. I didn't exactly look back, but I think they were in the con together!
-I can't understand any Spanish. To top that off, they speak Catalan, which isn't even the same as Spanish. But regardless, I survived the entire time with "hola" and "gracias". Oh, I also knew "con" was cone (like ice cream cone) at McDs, and that was enough for them to understand that I wanted an ice cream cone.
-don't mess with bouncers and try to sneak beer into the club. I didn't learn this lesson, but another guy at my hostel did. We all went out, and walking to the club, he stops to buy a 6 pack of beer from a sketchy dude on the street and gets separated from the group. Keep in mind, no one really knows anyone else, so there's no loyalty, and its basically "everyone for themselves". Anyways, he gets lost, somehow finds the club later, and tries to get in with a couple beers tucked in his jacket. Of course he gets patted down, and rejected. He tries again later only to be escorted out by the bouncer. While this is happening (he told me the story the next day), he tries to shake away the bouncers grip and out of nowhere comes a flying (and deadly) punch to the face. Needless to say, I saw him the next day, and I firmly believe the bouncer landed a good one.

Well, thats about a semi-good observation of Barcelona. On my final night, ended up randomly meeting this guy from NYU. We go out with a couple of his buddies, one of whom lives in Barcelona. Of course, his friend takes us to the "cool" bars on the rough side of town where only locals traverse, and we start sharing stories of people getting mugged, conned, etc. I'm dead tired, but now terrified to leave by myself and make my way back to the hostel. By the end of the night, we are wandering through the shittiest neighborhood back alleys with hookers, pimps, and drug dealers all around. SWEET! Speaking of hookers, there is a street called "Las Ramblas" which is a huge tourist location during the day. At night though, I was told there were tons of ladies of the night, who were not actually ladies...if you catch my drift. I didn't get a personal confirmation on this, just took the word of the locals.

Enough about Barcelona, I've left now, and after a 12 hour train ride, I've ended up in Nice, France. Its the French Riveria, and weather is supposed to be gorgeous. I'm going to spend a week in this beach town and catch up on some R&R. Hopefully find some good parties and stuff, but mostly just recharge before I head into Italy. I'll update and keep you in the loop on my adventure(s).

Barcelona parties too hard!

Hello, I am exhausted. This time, its not from traveling different locations, but instead from partying. Back home, lets say we plan on going out to the bars. This is how it typically goes: start drinking around 8-9pm at the house, get to the bar around 11pm and be done by 2am. Here in Barcelona, it goes somewhat like this: go out for dinner around 9pm, eat and drink until 11pm, go to a bar around 12am, drink there until 2-3am, then go out to the club. I don´t think my body is conditioned for this type of partying yet!

As you already know, I am in Barcelona. I flew in from London on Sunday morning (which by the way was a horrible experience of staying up all night in order to make sure I wouldn´t miss my flight). Flying to Barcelona and arriving was excellent; weather was nice, no delays, Med Sea views, and the whole nine. Once into Barcelona though, I felt foreign for the first time on my travels. I got out of the airport expecting signs, etc. to be in English, or have an English translation, but NOPE. I had to decipher the language (which turns out isn´t really even Spanish because Barcelona is different) , find a random bus praying it would take me to Placa de Catalunya, and just go with it. Luckily I ran into a guy and started chatting: turns out he is staying at the EXACT hostel I am!

I´ve explored Barcelona for the past few days and will be spending 2 more nights here before I venture into Nice, France. I hear that is a gorgeous beach town, and I´m looking forward to a few days where I don´t do anything. I think I have a stupid blister on my toe, and walking has become less fun and more of a chore after arriving to Barcelona.

Otherwise, all else is great! I have officially spent one week away from home, so that means I´m 1/11th of the way through my trip!

If/When I figure out how to get my pictures from my camera onto a computer, I will start posting some pictures, but in the mean time, just close your eyes and imagine you know what I´m talking about (thats for you Ashley the complainer).

The long day

Call me an idiot. Go ahead, I deserve it. Here's the story:
I booked a flight from London to Barcelona at 7AM from Luton Airport (which I assumed would be a short walk from the city) with the mindset that if I fly real early, I won't be wasting time once I get to Barcelona...well, what I didn't plan was that I need to arrive at the airport by 5AM, and it takes roughly 1.5-2hrs to get there using public transportation. This all means that I would need to be at the bus stop at roughly 3AM, meaning I'd have to check out of my hostel at 2AM. This is all due to me not doing any planning ahead of time!
I know you are all wondering, well Jon, what are you going to do? Here is my solution: I canceled my hostel for Saturday night, and I have all my stuff packed in my bag right now. I got a great night of sleep last night, and will be wandering through the city of London for the entire day. If I am still alive by 12AM, I will go and catch the bus and arrive at Luton airport by 2AM. So now, I will have 5 hours to kill, BUT I will have peace of mind that I won't miss my flight. The only big downside is I'll be lugging around a 20lb pack all day...but being me and always seeing the positive side of things, I just thought "hey, it'll just be a super work out and I'll have a rippling 6 pack by the end of the day". We can all dream can't we.

Yesterday I got duped. Real bad. I was starving and trying my hardest not to get sucked into a bad meal. (I've heard London doesn't really have any great and unique meals...fish and chips don't count). I was on my way to the British Museum and came across a Chinese buffet. Yum yum I thought. Walked in, took a look around, and all seemed good to go. After sitting and eating, I noticed the chicken didn't taste like the chicken, the beef didn't taste like beef, and there was no pork dishes. Is it chicken, beef, pork, cat, or dog?! (Just kidding about cat and dog). Then it hits me - the impossible has happened. I have been tricked. Never thought it was possible, but I have somehow found the ONLY vegan Chinese restaurant in the world. Who would think it'd be possible to have vegetarian Chinese food...but let me tell you, it is. How do I know this? Well, when I was in NYC, I tried a vegan restaurant with a group of friends, and I remembered the texture of the "meats". Anyways, I feel I got the most of my money. If you are unaware, most Europeans don't eat as much as Americans. After my first HUGE plate, they were ready to hand me my bill, but I quickly reminded them I was at a BUFFET and helped myself to a second plate of..."meats and vegetables". Another HUGE plate. The wait staff was like, HOLY SHIT, fat man be eat another plate.

Right now, I'm trying my hardest to kill some time. I plan on wandering to Camden Town where I hear there are nice open air markets. But first, I need to find a good bathroom to take a huge dump. Yes, I know you didn't need to know that, but this is MY blog, and I get to say whatever I want. The toilets in London are weird. Whereas in the US, we have oval shaped bowls with, generally, super flushing action...in London, they are round bowls, with mostly WEAK flushing power. I'm not going to spell it out, but I'm sure you see what my point is.

Uh oh, I feel a turtle head trying to break through, I have to leave now...

London bridge is falling down

No, just kidding, its not falling down.
But however, I am in London until Sunday, where then I'll be flying to Barcelona.

I can't get enough of the English accents...sometimes when I'm walking around, I find that I'm trying to imitate the "real" English language. I can only guess what people beside me are saying. The weirdest thing though, is seeing foreign people such as my fellow Asians with a heavy English accent!

Hostels are...well, exactly that. The one I'm staying in (St.Christopher's Village at Shephards Bush) is quite nice, although last night there was this dude who snored like a "chain saw" as my fellow Aussie roomate described. The co-ed style rooms are a little awkward...what if I just want to walk around in boxers...I'm not exactly sure if that is kosher anymore.

London is too expensive. I don't know how people can afford to live here. I bought a bloody roast beef sandwich, and it was 2 pounds, and I think what really happened was I got two flimsy pieces of bread with some brown stuff in the middle. But maybe they compensate that by making the majority of museums free.

I took a nice walking tour today that was "free" but tip based. It is very much catered towards backpackers and younger people, and I had a great time. I think mostly, I want to learn about history, but I just dont want to read through a guidebook in order to get that info. The lady who led the tour did a great job, especially because she had a good little speech about London's most famous whore, Nell Gwynn. Then she showed us the red light district...which I may go wandering through just to see if its all that she made it out to be. No, don't worry, I won't go in. I'm too cheap to pay the cover charges =)

Finally, one more thing...I'm screwed on Saturday night. I have an EARLY flight I have to catch to Luton airport which is about 30mi north of London, and so I may just end up going there Saturday night to make sure I don't miss my flight. The bus ride over there sounds real dodgy (like the local slang I've picked up?), and I'm not too sure if I take the last possible bus, what may happen. Oh, and my alarm doesn't work well. Well actually, my reflexes work too well and turn off the alarm before my mind has time to wake up. Thats another reason I'll head to the airport early.

Alright, until next time, have fun, and check my blog for future wisdom about travel.

In preparation for the big trip

Q: Why are you keeping a blog now?
A: I don't really know! Then again, there are many things I've done that can't be explained. Without further ado, welcome to my blog.

I'm going to Europe! Hopefully this blog will help all of you keep a virtual eye and ear on my adventure. Lets think of it this way, since you can't go, and I can, you can somehow vicariously live through my ordeal.

Here are some of the details for those who have no clue whats going on (my other question is, if you have no clue whats going on, how did you even find my blog?). Okay, lets start from the very top level and work down into details.

Q: Where are you going?
A: Easier question would be, "Where am I NOT going?"

Q: How long are you going for?
A: Headed out for close to three months. The exact dates are March 6, 2007 - May 23, 2007.

Q: What in the hell are you going to do for all that time?
A: Do you want an honest answer? Okay, honestly, I have no clue. For as long as I can remember, I haven't had this long of a period in which I've had no responsibilities, no school, and no work.

Q: Are you scared about going by yourself?
A: I think I just shat myself again. Yes, I'm scared, but I'm also very excited. I've never done such a big solo trip, and I don't think I'll ever have the time in the foreseeable future. Its really a "once in a lifetime trip", and I'm taking the opportunity.

Q: How are you going to afford the trip?
A: I sold a kidney on the black market. No, just kidding...it was only a spleen. But really, I saved up my hard earned money. Remember when we were kids and made choices such as, "I'm going to save up my money for something big" but never realized what that big item was? Well, I realized! BUT at the rate that banks steal my money on foreign exchanges and the weak US dollar, I'll really need to start considering selling body parts off!

Q: How much stuff are you taking with you?
A: One 40L backpack worth of clothes, toiletries, medicine, etc. One digital camera, one day bag, 1 pair of hiking boots, and 1 pair of shower flip flops. I consider myself pretty low maintenance, so hopefully this will be enough. If all else fails, I've heard that one pair of underwear can be worn four days straight. The right way on day one, backwards on day two, inside-out frontwards on day three, and inside-out backwards on day four!

Q: What about on day five?
A: Commando style.

Q: Do you know any foreign languages that will allow you to communicate in Europe?
A: Nope. I know my English, and I know Mandarin Chinese. I hope they either speak English or Chinese. I'm screwed aren't I?

Q: How much preparing did you do for this trip?
A: I'd like to say that I spent months poring over every travel book and studying individual country details, but lets just say...I visited the library about 3 weeks ago and checked out a couple guidebooks, which I really haven't even read. I sort of want to "free ball" this trip to a certain degree and be stress free and flexible in my day to day activities. I have a general idea of where I want to go, but I don't have a stiff agenda by any means. I bet as I say this, all the people who plan out every detail are freaking out =)

Q: What happens when you (inevitably) get lost, can't communicate, and become stranded?
A: How bad could it be? Has anyone seen Eurotrip? They seemed to make it out just fine =) Has anyone seen Hostel? I haven't, and I don't plan on it either =)

Q: Do you not have any responsibilities to take care of here?
A: Nope! I'm a free man, and nothing is holding me back!

Well, I hope that gives you a good idea about my trip. I'll try to update this on a semi-weekly basis assuming I even remember my login and password to this site!

Keep in touch world, I'm out on Tuesday evening!