Not another travel Blog

It's around half 8 on the 9th of August. I'm sat on some rocks out at sea looking back at riomaggiore in Cinque terre, it's honestly stunning. It's quiet and chilled out and about the best cure from busy Rome. We're all just sitting here watching the sunset, we haven't met our fellow hostel roomates but we've a kilo of pasta ready to cook so shouldn't be to hard.



To be honest this post was really just an excuse to put up a few pictures as there's no much to be said but plenty to be seen.

Writing this on the floor of a crappy old train, with no reservation and in all likelihood of getting thrown off. It was only a last minute spot but it seems all 'IC' trains now require you to have a seat reservation. Despite this massive variable we should be in Cinque terre in 3 hours.

Oww crap conductors coming!

Ok she just walked past, i guess that's not the end of that but it's less than 3 hours to sweat it out now.
Back to Rome, this was kind of Lances treat of the trip, it meant slightly more expensive flights and a longer distance to travel but he thought a travel through Europe without seeing Rome would be a wasted opportunity. First day we arrived from London we got checked in to our actually pretty nice B&B and headed off with a few beers to watch the sunset at the Colosseum, it's an awesome place and probably a little bigger &more grand than i'd remembered plus being able to drink in public with friends outside a modern wonder is something to remember. The next day was a return to the Colosseum and forum, man it was warm, i think the internet had said it was 32. Visited the Trevi fountain at the night time then finished a bottle of wine off at the Spanish steps. *Does feel like i'm just listing places we've drank so far. Oh actually while on that subject we found this bottle of 95% Lime tasting devil juice in our b&b which has magically found it's way into lances back pack.



The last day was spent between the Vatican, Pantheon and piazza Navona and followed by an almighty walk back to bed. Check out the flickr link from the pictures tab at the top. I ought to go as the ticket nazi is on her way, i'll let you know how it goes.



UPDATE: A different guy, a nicer, friendly looking guy, came to get our tickets. We got a little telling off but all in all we saved a little money and will be in Cinque terre soon enough, the trains no less comfy, they've now got seats, i've upgraded to a bag!

First off just a quick note, because i'm doing this in a book and copying it over whenever i get to a Internet cafe the dates aren't exactly helpful. plus it's always going to be a couple of days behind so sorry*

Carrying on, we're (we being Lance, Sam and me) are currently flying to Rome, so thought i'd quickly run over the past 48 hours.
We got in late on the Tuesday night, sometime round 11 and met with Lances cousin Vicky. A quick trip to the off license, a catch up with Luke and Vicky and off to bed. It's an amazing apartment, i should of taken a picture in retrospect, but it's only a one bedroom apartment so Luke got the bed, Vicky had the couch, Lance and Sam on the blow up bed and i had the bean bag... it's like an 8 foot, ùber comfy bean bag, but still a bean bag. It's definitely a strange feeling when you wake up with your arse on the floor, your legs in the air and your head stuck somewhere in between.

Ok, anyway next morning, first stop on our little site seeing tour; "weatherspoons?" sounds good!.... 4 shandys to start the day, happy days! "17.45" "you what??" sad time :( lol, anyway we went off to Trafalgar square, walked over to the houses of Parliament and big ben, then spent a bit of time watching some the street shows under the London eye. One of which was a break dancing group with one member looking a spit of stringer bell from the wire, check the flickr for proof but for the entire show i couldn't get it out of my mind. So a fairly surreal moment having Stringer bell spinning on his head then asking people for money. I ran quickly to avoid being shot.
Back to the pub for a few more then a night stroll to Piccadilly circus, then headed home.



And that's where we're up to at the moment, cheers Vicky for putting up with us and for those that know us 3, we arrived on time with no hitches or mad rushing, which in whatever way you look at it is a small miracle. Plus we even stopped by Boots for a meal deal to save money, logical and on time. This surely can't keep up!!

It feels like i've just stepped onto a rollercoaster, it's that same feeling you get when you've been in the queue for hours and hours and felt like you've hardly moved, yet suddenly, you're there strapped in thinking 'What the crap am i doing' you've been looking forward to it for ages and you know you're gonna enjoy it. But your brain can't stop thinking how illogical it is to be doing what you're doing. And that you'd be far happier safe and sound watching from afar.



All the leaving parties are done, goodbyes said, for the first time it's all real. I've had the best few days saying bye's to people, yet it's all the more difficult when you love your job and have some really close friends, but at the same time nice to know/think you'll be missed. Cheers everyone for the pressies and the send off.

London in 1 hour!

Ok packed! It's nearly a week away before i actually lug it on my back and set off but i've got no other free night now until then so it had to be last night. If anyone has stumbled on this i honestly don't know if this is the right amount of stuff to pack. It's just what i'm taking. It's based on a whole bunch of books and websites so hopefully it's all stuff i'll need and won't be to heavy.

Worryingly little when you put it in a video like that. lol. See list below for overview.

Lock and key, Berghaus Backpack, t-shirts x 3, long sleeve t-shirts x 2, Chequered shirt, Underpants x 3, Shorts x 2, Socks x 4, Micro Fleece, Flip flop, Buff Neckerchief, Converse Trainers, Waterproof Kag, Swiss army knife, Mosquito net, Sleeping bag liner, Plug Adapter, First aid kit, Travel Towel, Mosquito repellent, Toilet bag, Zip bags for tablets, Sunscreen, Sink stopper, Chargers, Day pack, Moleskin Journal, 2 pens, glue stick, Lonely planet book, Lumix +case, Canon EOS 450 +case, Hard Drive 250gb, SDHC Cards x 6 8gb, Ipod touch 8gb, Paper wallet (document)

When you decide you're going to do something like this it's inveitable that you end up reading and following a whole bunch of blog's and travel forum's as most of the best information is directly from those doing the very same things you'll shortly be doing. I'll sort out some proper link tab from the main menu at some point but for now i've just stuck a bunch of the best of these sites towards the bottom of this post.
Recently i came across one "http://www.twobackpackers.com" and a post called "things i'll miss and things i won't". So with it only just over a week away now before heading off and everything i do is becoming "the last time i do this" or "the last time i'll see them" i guess it's a good time to completely rip off their post and write up my own list... so anyway here goes

At the beginning of this year i expected the next time I'd be on a plane it'd be a 12 hour, 6500 mile flight to Japan and yet as it happens it was a tuesday morning in an hour soo early i'd previously thought was a myth, for a 50 min flight to somewhere so close i think i could probably skim a stone from one coast to another.

My friend Katie had always wanted to go off to Amsterdam and with us missing out on tickets to Glastonbury this year we just thought why not. So 2 quick easyjet flights booked and a cheap b&b in the center of the red light district and we where there.

I'd been once before with work a few years back and thought i still had a decent idea of where things where, i'd remembered barney's as being this awesome little breakfast bar 2 mins from the station and seeing as it was still before i'd of be waking up for work despite the extra hour time difference and the fact that i'd been up 6 hours and still hadn't eaten, i thought it was a decent idea to head there first. So after a quality much needed breakfast served by what must of been passively stoned happiest waitresses in the world we headed over to the hotel to drop our bags off and get out and about for drinks. And in all honesty (and yes i know how lazy it is to write something like this) the rest of our day kept to a pretty regular pattern from there on in. We walked, we drank, we talked and smoked and then repeated until one of us could barely do any of them 4 things. Somewhere within that time we managed to fit in a change of clothes and a shower but i'm kinda clueless as to when and how we managed that, truthfully i was just impressed we had both made it back to the hotel (not sure how) and that also i'd managed to muster up enough coordination to hang my clothes in the nearest wardrobe (absolutely no recollection)

The next morning was a whole world of pain but one you could kinda sense coming, it'd been a good day, we'd done something along the lines of a 16 hour bender which is just something you have to do while in Amsterdam, to not would be like going to Paris and skipping the Eiffel tower :)

The next day was really our only full day from having woke up in amsterdam to going bed there at night so we'd decided to hire bikes and go off and explore. We headed off towards the "wester kerk" church and to anne franks house. The church we didn't go in, it was too warm for that, and the queue for anne franks house is ridiculous and although i'm sure it's pretty interesting on the inside there's absolutely nothing to see from the outside, so after a brief stop, and an obligatory drink, we carried on. We headed north over the drawbridges and onto the small islands, it starts to get a little less busy around this area and just riding the bike around the canals is more enjoyable then i think any stop off point would of been (I miss my bike dammit). From here we cycled all the way back down towards the vondelpark and the "i am amsterdam" thingy.

Anyone who knows amsterdam knows that it's not exactly a large place and that that'd probably take about 15 mins worth of actually cycling.. so to say it took us just over 7 hours to reach the park i think it's safe to say we favored the sitting and relaxing in the sun rather than any sort of hard work. It was just so nice and hot that it would of been a disservice to the weather if we hadn't of enjoyed it as much as we did. Also a special note on the "i amsterdam" sculpture thing, i'd never been to it the last time, i don't know if it just wasn't there or whether we just missed it but it's amazing, i mean it's only "i amsterdam" in big 3-D letters but there's something satisfying about kids and big kids being allowed to clamber all over it without security people shooing you off it or a fence around them as a health and safety precaution, although i am thinking this might soon change after katie decided to fall off one the giant A's and damage her knee.



After a night much similar to that of the first night and a similar headache following the next morning. We set off to drop our bikes back at the "bicycle repair man" rent-a-bike shop, and after an emotional good bye set off to get Katies tattoo, you know as you do on a 3 day break! The place was called hanky pankys and was actually pretty highly regarded and had some fairly big celeb clients. We made an appointment and set off to the Heineken experience museum. Again i was kinda surprised at how cool it was, i mean it's a brewery and we knew you got a bunch of free drinks but the rest of the stuff was ace and i didn't really expect it. After katies tattoo we had a bunch of hours to just enjoy the sun, or in my case shade seeing as face was practically glowing red by this point, and then it was time to call it a night and get to the airport.
Amazing weather, amazing city.. cya again Amsterdam

Only 7 weeks to go now, or 49 days if that makes it sound closer, or even 70,560 mins which for some reason makes it sound ages away, and I’ll be somewhere other than the UK.
This is the first proper post and will hopefully be followed up with a few others until going away. With actual flights booked and dates set I think it’s probably safe to start saying what I’m doing and where I’m going.

My original plan was to finish work on the 4th of August, have a day or two resting up and fly out on the Thursday directly to Japan. But as is always the case plans change and I’m now spending the first 2 and a half weeks with friends going through Europe with us ending in Madrid and then flying onto my original destination from there. This new plan means getting a train from Manchester to London on the Tuesday I leave work, staying with friends that night, having a full day in the city center and then heading off to Rome on the Thursday morning. Somehow two days of relaxing has now turned into two days of catching trains and planes and a day in one of the busiest capitals in the world… Saying that I’m really looking forward to this first little leg in Europe, it’ll be nice doing something with friends for the last time in a while plus it’s much easier navigating around and it’s a continent I hadn’t planned on really travelling through on this trip. We’re hoping to stop in Pisa and maybe Turin, Monaco, Barcelona, Valencia. Nothing’s really been planned apart from a few nights in Rome so it’s really just wherever we decide to take the train.
From there as I said I get a plane to Tokyo, 3 nights there at k’s house hostel (http://kshouse.jp/tokyo-e/)E , a couple of days around the outskirts of Tokyo and then onto my first sort of long stint which will be 10 days at the tour club hostel in Kyoto (http://www.kyotojp.com)

Truthfully that’s everything I’ve booked up to now. It doesn't sound like a lot now after re-reading what i've just wrote, especially since I’ve still got to purchase the JP rail pass as well as the interrail passes for the Europe bit plus I haven’t yet got insurance and I haven’t bought any clothing/backpack or any medical supplies etc.
The next couple of weeks are going to involve plenty of that stuff so I’ll keep it updated on here as to where I’m up to.

Cheers

p.s I promise it’ll (hopefully) get more interesting (and longer) when I actually set off… 70,545 mins ;)