Acceptance of the Absurdity of it all sets you Free.

Getting Shafted and Thinking My Time is Up.

2009-06-21T02:36:00.001+09:30

Well. I had everything planned out perfectly.

I went to Brisbane on Wednesday to see Simon & Garfunkel play at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre as I would miss them when they hit Adelaide. They were awesome. If you get the chance you should see them.

Getting back to Adelaide on Thursday about 1100, I had about eight hours before I had to be at the airport for the first flight of my holiday. I had a few things to do, visiting a couple of clients and packing amongst them; my flight out of Adelaide was at 1950.

At 1600, I received a SMS from Qantas telling me my flight had been pushed back nearly an hour - I wouldn't leave now untill 2040. "Excellent!" I thought. I had a little bit more time. Until I realised that it would only give me a half hour before the flight to Hong Kong was scheduled to leave. So I ring them and they change me to a 1800 flight! Shafted!

I wasn't home. I hadn't packed.

Rushing home, I had about 45 minutes to get ready. But I did it and was at the airport with five minutes to spare.

Didn't get my upgrade to Premium Economy and it's a fully booked flight. Bugger.

Anyhoo, got to Hong Kong and after a little trouble, managed to find the Qantas lounge and drank about five 300ml bottles of water which was a mistake I know, but I was thirsty.

So we get back on the same plane again for the final leg to London. But of course there is trouble and we are held up a little bit while the engineers attempt to resolve a "refuelling issue." Whatever.

I dose off. Plane takes off.

I wake up because of a very loud "BANG." The overhead locker door springs open. I hear faint screams and scaredness.

Damn.

Time to die.

Which is typical. Couldn't have happened on the flight home after I had enjoyed the holiday.

As my head gets a little clearer, it seems we aren't crashing at all. The guy next to me suggests it was the landing gear freewheeling or some such thing. It really is quite amazing the thoughts you can think in the space of a few seconds.

Thankfully the rest of the 13 hour flight was uneventful.

Got to Immigration and the humorless, pained to be at work agent is asking me questions. "Is it just you? Do you know anyone in London?" I answer politely. I even smile at her.

I'm in.

I catch the Heathrow Express to Paddington station, it only takes 15 minutes. I realise I have forgotten my Oyster card and I have to purchase another to I can use the Tube. (I later cancel my old card sitting at home using the web and transfer the balance to my new card - technology is grand!)

At the hotel, I check in and fall asleep to wake 12 hours later.

I'm on Holiday.

Alright.

The Next Trip Approaches.

2009-05-18T02:59:00.002+09:30

Well it is now less than 5 weeks to go before I head off overseas again. This time I am spending a week in London with the highlight being a performance of Waiting for Godot with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

Then it's off to the US for two weeks where I will be meeting a friend of mine, Adrian. We have a pretty hectic schedule of New York, Las Vegas, Boston, Buffalo, Washington and Philadelphia.

Finally, I return to London where I have just under three days before I head home. Not sure what I am going to do just yet - perhaps Edinburgh.

At the tennis....

2008-01-19T23:09:00.001+10:30

Click to Play

Adrian and I at the tennis watching the not so attractive Venus and a rather cute Indian chick.

First time driving the underpass that took WAY too long to make...

2008-01-18T22:11:00.001+10:30

I drove the new Bakewell Underpass for the first time today and just now I had a look on the interwebs and discovered that construction began on October 15th. 2006.

15 Months to make a little underpass.

Is it any wonder this state is a laughing stock?

Anyway, I took some video to commerate my first experience with this miracle of modern engineering.

Click to Play

Photos

2007-05-31T07:49:00.000+09:30

I've finally started uploading my photos to Picasa. Will keep uploading when I can but you can check them out from the link on the right hand side.

Brig

2007-05-30T07:12:00.000+09:30

I've been in Switzerland now for five days and the scenery is just getting better and better.

To give people an idea of where I have been, I've added a link on the right hand side called Journey Map of Switzerland. It's just a Google Map listing in order the places I have been staying in.

First off... the view from my room:

And a view of Brig from the other side:

I went for a walk up into the base of the mountain and it was just glorious. Found a hydro-electric station and the water coming off the mountain was cold and tasted very pure.

Click To Play

Lausanne

2007-05-28T07:04:00.000+09:30

I spent a couple of days in Lausanne which is about 60 km northish of Geneva. Didn't really do a lot here but walk around and have a look. It gave me a bit of a preview of things to come tho....

Geneva

2007-05-28T06:28:00.000+09:30

Geneva is the best place for a perve I have been to so far. It must be one of the most multicultural cities I have seen. Walking down the street, I would hear all manner of languages - some which I don't think I have ever heard before. The best thing is that there doesn't seem to be any bias toward any one particular nationality or race.

Geneva of course is the home to the European headquarters of the UN of which I had a tour.

I particularly enjoyed the signs for the nearest fire escape in the buildings of the UN:

"There's a fire up your ass, run like hell down these stairs!"

Geneva has a really cool fountain on it's lake:

Click To Play

Standing under it tho can get a little wet....

I took a cable car ride up to a mountain behind Geneva for a good view out over the mountains and the lake. Of course it was raining, but I hung around hoping for the clouds to clear just for a little bit.

The other major thing I did in Geneva was to visit the International Red Cross Museum which was surprisingly moving. I debated quite a bit wether to go or not and in the end I was very glad I did. On the walls of the museum they had a panel for every year since about 1863 (or thereabouts!) and with each year they listed all the armed conflicts that had resulted in the deaths of 10,000 or more people as well as any disasters and major events in the Red Cross history. The thing that really struck me is that since that first year, there has never been a year without 10,000 or more deaths in an armed conflict.

This was just in the year I was born:

As Geneva was the first stop in Switzerland for me, there were a couple of things that I noticed. First, the Swiss are a lot less uppity about language the French. It seemed to be ok to just start speaking english rather going through the whole "do you speak english?" and it isn't as expensive as people kept telling me it would be. The Swiss Franc and the Australian dollar are almost the same value and most things are similary priced and even the more expensive stuff is probably only 30-50% more expensive which isn't really that bad.

Leaving Paris

2007-05-27T08:38:00.000+09:30

I had booked a train ticket on a TGV train to Geneva for Saturday morning. I left my hotel about 7:15 and went to get on a metro train to Gare de Lyon, the station my train left from.

One stop away from Gare de Lyon, the metro train doesn't move. There are announcements in French only so I have no idea what was happening. I didn't know if it was going to be minutes before I left or longer. This was about 7:50.

I try not panic. Other people are staying on the train so I assume that the delay is only temporary.

About 5 minutes passes and we finally start moving again. I arrive at Gare de Lyon.

Ok. Now to find the automatic ticket collection terminals that will give my ticket that I bought online.

Three attempts on two machines and nada. It can't read my card. I ask at the information desk. I don't have a smartchip on my credit card so it wont work. I have to go to the ticket counter.

Of course there is a line. It's 8:15. My train leaves at 8:40. The ticket is non refundable, non exchangeable.

At 8:30, I get to the counter. The guy gives me my ticket. It's 8:34.

I get on the train with 2 minutes to spare.

But all of that is forgotten when I discover my seat is electric. Gold Class Train.

Ah. Who would travel 2nd class?

Normandy

2007-05-27T07:46:00.000+09:30

On Friday, I decided to take a day tour to Normandy. In particular, Caen and the landing beaches of the D-Day invasion forces.

I have been to a number a World War II sights including the River Kwai and Death Railway in Thailand, deserted places in Darwin and the Norther Territory; I visit the War Memorial in Canberra whenever I am there. I am not into the glorification of war, it's just that World War II was such a defining period of time in our history, that so much evil and conversely, so much good occurred that I want to know the stories of the people that fought back so that I enjoy the freedom and the life that I have today.

We started the tour at the Caen Memorial Museum.

It told the story of World War II and in particular the French portion of the story.

Next we went to Pointe du Hoc, a place where a handful of Rangers climbed up a cliff in order to eliminate German heavy artillery to protect the d-day landing forces.

The site is apparently almost the same as it was back in 1944 and bomb craters litter the area.

On to Omaha beach which is just a normal beach these days and there were people swimming and sunbaking. It was such a picturesque scene that it was hard to imagine the events of 63 years ago.

We only stopped there for about 10 minutes before continuing on to the American War Cemetary.

There were nearly 10,000 of these headstones. It was very sobering. As a special treat, the Salvation Army were there giving a little performance.

Click To Play

We also had a look at the remains of the artifical harbour the allies built after the invasion. It's quite amazing that they have survived all this time.

Traps for young players...

2007-05-27T07:40:00.001+09:30

Never talk to anyone who approaches you outside of a major train station. They almost always want money and are hoping on you being a little bewildered and not thinking straight.

If you need to, pretend you are a mute, that you can't speak any language and are perhaps deaf and maybe even special.

In Paris, there are women (who appear to be muslim but I wouldn't doubt that is probably a ploy as well) at train stations and the tourist attractions that come and hassle you, getting you to read some handwritten note which I am sure has some sob story on it.

I wave them away.

Paris

2007-05-27T06:09:00.000+09:30

I've finished my week in Paris and I didn't have easy access to the interwebs this week, so I'll just do a summary post of what I did see and do.

First up, I had a bit of a wonder around and saw the Eiffel Tower from a distance as I said before, walked down Champs Élysées (which I think I might even know now how to pronounce correctly), crossed the Seine and had a look at the Arc de Triomphe at night.

Second day saw me looking through the Musée du Louvre, which was mixture of interesting and boring. Saw the Venus de Milo

which was one the few things you were actually allowed to take photos of. Saw a bunch of paintings from Italy and France of a religious nature and of course the Mona Lisa - which you can't take photos of anymore.

The following day I went to the Arc de Triomphe

and climbed to the top. I nearly died but there were old women doing better than me. I was ashamed. But not to worry, I made it to the top and surveyed Paris...

Then I walked over the Eiffel Tower and waited in line for about an hour or more so I could get on the lift - there was no way I was walking up that puppie!

The view from the very top of the tower is pretty awesome. This is looking back to the Arch of Triumph.

Once I got back to the 2nd level, I walked down the stairs to the bottom. This is one of the lifts complete with fake lift driver!

Cathédrale de Notre Dame was the thing for Thursday.

The gargoyles were pretty cool.

The final sightseeing attraction got me to venture onto the metropolitain and the trains for a trip out to the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, the Museum of Air and Space.

They had a Boeing 747 that was partially stripped inside so you can see stuff you couldn't normally see *and* the very original Concorde prototype and a Concorde that had been in normal service before they Concorde program was retired. Like the Apollo missions, the Concorde was constructed before I was even born!

My first view of the Eiffel Tower

2007-05-23T19:42:00.000+09:30

It has been quite surreal to see some of this stuff in real life.

So I'm in Paris for a day...

2007-05-23T19:29:00.000+09:30

And I see the car I will buy should I ever get filthy rich... The Bugatti Veyron. If you don't know about this car and you have just a passing interest in high performance motor vehicles, have a look at the link and tell me if you aren't impressed.

Not sure I would pick that colour tho.

London to Paris in 2 1/2 hours...

2007-05-23T19:22:00.000+09:30

Broke my own land speed record! 300km/h according to the GPS. Felt like 100km/h. I took a video with the phone.. the poor little thing couldn't quite keep up with the speed.

Click To Play

The amazing thing to me is you just had no idea how fast you were going, it was quiet and very little side to side motion was evident.

Oh and don't forget my first class meal:

There was full metal cutlery too.

After we arrived in Paris, I walked nearly 4km to my lodgings. Then it was nap time.

Rest of London Week...

2007-05-23T19:05:00.000+09:30

Well I finished up my first week in London. One week is nowhere near enough, so I have decided to spend my last week there as well. Has meant some reorganising as I want to spend 2 weeks driving around the UK. My plans now are to finish this week in Paris and head to Switzerland for about 1-2 weeks, then Germany/Austria for a week and then back to the UK. I should have come for 6 months not 2!

Anyhoo, I saw Phantom of the Opera in London which was just awesome and The Sound of Music the following night which was just fan-smeggin-tastic. Connie Francis as Maria was almost as good as Julie Andrews and the sets were almost all automagic.

Went for the ride on the Big Bus even tho it was raining I went up the top. It wasn't bad, but of course bumpy as all get out and it only stopped to let people on and off not to enjoy photo-ops!

I spent Friday at Greenwich which was interesting. Saw would I could of the Cutty Sark only the day before the fire - weird. Stood on the prime meridian. Had a look through the Royal Observatory - some of the clocks in there were pretty amazing, my grandfather would have been impressed.

Saturday was travel to Paris day on the Eurostar via the chunnel...

The Lord of the Rings

2007-05-16T17:08:00.000+09:30

Well I saw the Lord of the Rings musical last night. The event that triggered me getting off my backside and getting over here.

It wasn't bad. Wasn't the best thing I had ever seen, but considering they crammed a fair bit of story into three hours (including interval) they did all right.

The sets were awesome and seriously, I saw Bilbo disappear when he put the ring on at his birthday party. I don't know how they did it, but he vanished. The character of Gollum was sensational but Legolas was bizarre and Gimli wasn't far behind him who sounded camp rather than a little fella with a deep voice and blood lust.

The way they did Treebeard, Shelob, the Ringwraiths and Balrog was really cool. When Gandalf did battle, smoke and air came blasting out the stage into the audience. It was like being on a Disneyland ride.

Just before the final act, the orcs came out into the audience. Good night. You could hear girls squeeling for 10 minutes. Very sad.

Oh and I paid £3 for 125ml of icecream. It was pretty good as far as icecream goes but I will never complain about cinema price gouging again.

Arrgh!

2007-05-16T16:57:00.000+09:30

You know when you forsee some bad thing happening but you know you can prevent it very simply with just a little bit of prior planning and preparation? You know when you know all that and you still don't do the little bit of prior planning and preparation?

I bought some new shoes the night before I left Adelaide to replace my daily walkers. There was nothing really wrong with them, but they were starting to show signs of wear and I didn't want a blowout during the trip. I planned to get them two months before I left but I didn't get to it.

Now I am paying the price. I have blisters the size of 50c pieces on the bottom of both my feet and I can barely walk. I must look like a retard walking down the streets of London (yes, even more than I usually do!) Because I must have been adjusting the way I walk to cope with the blisters, my calf muscles are killing me as well.

Today I think I will just get on the Big Bus and let it drive me around.

If I had done what I knew I should of two months ago, it wouldn't be an issue. Shear idiocy.

First Day.

2007-05-14T17:56:00.000+09:30

I made it to the hotel by 8:00. Way too early to get a room. After the delightful Marta, who speaks English, German and Italian according to her name badge, took my money, I stowed my luggage and went for a wander. Of course it started raining yet I loved it!

Stopped into Starbucks for a Hot Chocolate. Approximately $AUD6.80. Gulp. Already I am gobsmacked. They have a shop that just sells Cream Puffs. There is a Starbucks every 200m and Krispy Kremes in Supermarkets!

And they have these:

Continuing on, I got to the Thames. I got this photo, before turning around. It was raining and I really needed to get to sleep.

I got back to the hotel, got into a room and by 11:30am I was asleep. Didn't wake up till 11:30pm. Awesome sleep.

Oh and the other thing about London...delightful British girls with magnificent accents....can't wait to visit Camden Town.

Live via Satellite.....

2007-05-14T17:38:00.000+09:30

The view from my First Class window on the Heathrow Express train:

Click To Play

After the Express, I had to navigate the underground to the station closest to my hotel...It was a bit of a challenge but eventually:

Click To Play

I'm here! OMG! I'm here!

2007-05-13T07:34:00.000+09:30

After all this time, I am finally here!

Breezed thru immigration - was a little bit worried, but I wasn't challenged at all.

Am waiting for the Heathrow Express train to the city. I was going to take the tube, but it takes and hour and is obviously underground whereas the Express takes 15 minutes and is above ground so I can see stuff straight away.

Everything Changes.

2007-05-12T22:21:00.000+09:30

Well....there's been bit of time since the last post and at the moment I am in Changi Airport, Singapore waiting for my flight to London. I have been so busy the last few weeks that the reality of me starting my holiday hasn't hit yet. Hopefully, I will realise it is real by the time I get to Heathrow!

It's been nearly 10 years since I first went overseas and more than 7 years since I last went. I have forgotten a few things. I tried to go through emmigration without a departure card. I forgot that you should wear shoes not just socks when going to the plane toilet 4 hours into a flight and how much I wish people would follow some sort of seat etiquette when sitting next to me. Your side. My side. It's really not that hard.

On the plus side, the entertainment system on the plane is awesome. A *huge* selection of video on demand. I watched Norbit which was probably unfortunate for my fellow passengers as I nearly wet my pants! I also watched the first episode of Torchwood. It's kinda like an adults version of Dr Who.

Changi Airport is pretty darn big. A couple of very tempting gadget shops and something like 300 terminals that you can use to access the internet with as well as free power to charge stuff. Very nice.

About to go get something to eat - still have a couple of hours before my flight leaves.

Think of me...

2007-04-21T23:12:00.000+09:30

Think of me, think of me fondly, when we've said goodbye.
Remember me, once in a while - please promise me you'll try.

Just bought a ticket to Phantom of the Opera!

I think there is a large part of me that could just go to London for 4 weeks and see every show playing and not bother about seeing of doing anything else.

Can't decide now if to go to Spamalot, Sound of Music or Mary Poppins

I think I will *have* to go to Sound of Music and more than likely Spamalot. Maybe if I still have any lolly left by the end of the trip I can see Mary Poppins as well.

Oh dear.

2007-04-15T17:44:00.000+09:30

27 sleeps to go before I leave.

Starting to get nervous.

I'll be away 2 months! 2 months! Yegads!

On the good side, I got my ticket to Lord of the Rings in the mail. I still have to organise Phantom of the Opera. And just a few minutes ago, I bought a ticket to see Cats in Northhampton and Loves Labours Lost, by Shakespeare in the Globe which should be really cool; it's a reconstruction of his original theatre.

One thing I have realised from looking at shows in London is that there is so much stuff going on it's incredible. Makes even Melbourne look like Adelaide. Sad, I know.

I got a ticket!

2007-03-18T13:09:00.000+10:30

Bought a ticket last night for The Lord of the Rings stage show! I can't wait! Am going on the 15th May, the second night I am in London.

I also want to see Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Cats if I can (they are on tour in the UK.) That should give me enough theatre to last until I get back home just in time to see Varekai.

The very first time I went overseas, I went to the US and spent a week in Vegas. Unfortunately I had very little money at the time and wasn't able to see a single show while I was there - so this time round I am going to make up for it!

I'm also planning to go to The Crazy Horse in Paris and maybe the Moulin Rouge as well, tho I have been hearing that it isn't that great.

Far too many options, only one decision.

2007-03-12T02:38:00.000+10:30

After much agonising, I have decided what form my holiday in Europe will take. Mostly. I have been considering whether or not to go on a guided coach tour or take a more independent approach. Even if I was able to make a choice between those two, each of the choices has then another level of choice to consider! Aaargh!

With the guided tour, you have a number of different operators and formats to choose from. I considered camping tours, first class tours and everything in between. But no matter which tour option I considered I just couldn't reconcile in my mind that I would enjoy it. If I found that I absolutely loved Zermatt for instance, I want the option of being able to stay for a few days. Having a completely fixed itinerary and having someone force me out of bed early *every* morning was something I just couldn't do.

There were some facets of a guided tour that part of me found appealing: not having to worry about anything, just get in the bus and see stuff, not having to worry about communicating with people who don't speak English and not having to worry about accommodation. But I consider myself to be a traveler, not a tourist and those things, those difficulties are part of what makes traveling such an experience.

So independent traveling it is! Now I have to decide if I use trains or hire a car, stay in hostels, hotels or tent it, where do I go, what do I see?

Hopefully this next week will see some more decision making...

It's done.

2007-02-21T17:36:00.000+10:30

I gave Flight Centre the flick. Booked directly with the airline. This is the only way to do it I think. I already know what seats I have on all of the segments. And I could have chosen to eat vegetarian lactose intolerant kosha asian food if I wanted. But I stuck with the standard selections.

Got my passport renewal form in the mail today as well. My existing passport runs out in November and they say that you shouldn't travel on a passport that has less than six months remaining. Now I just have to get a nice head shot for the photograph. I really want it to be better than the current one, coz it is really bad. I had it taken only a week or so after I shaved my head after the Madame Tussauds opening. Talk about tennis ball head! Not to mention the bug eyed glasses... I went to the US looking like that! It's amazing I was arrested or bashed.

I downloaded a few episodes of an amateur TV show called Backpackers, www.backpackers.tv, which chronicles the travels of three aussies and their adventures through Europe.

Now that the flight is booked, I get pangs of scaredness. I need to be strong!

What is going on?

2007-02-18T23:37:00.000+10:30

Today was a huge day. What I have done today will set events in motion that will lead to my downfall or my salvation. Only time will tell.

Yesterday, I went to the Flight Centre travel expo. I was expecting a poky little affair where a multitude of Flight Centre staff would descend upon you the moment you walked in the hall and use every hard sales tactic they could to get you to purchase a tour with 30 eighty year old women on a bus tour to Borat's home town.

But, I was pleasantly surprised. Instead I found a large number of hospitality operators from airlines, tour operators and country tourism commissions pleasantly answering what questions they could and letting people take as many nice colour brochures as they wanted.

So I walked around for about 40 minutes, picking up all the brochures I wanted, holding them in my hands until a nice chap gave me a cotton bag to put them all in. Then I left.

Once home, I had a look through all the brochures I had picked up. I plotted. I planned. I schemed. I changed my mind more times than I changed my underpants in the last week (and yes that was more than 7.) Finally I arrived at the beginnings of an idea.

I would fly into London on the 12th May 2007 and fly out again on the 12th July 2007. At this stage I have no idea what I will do while I am there, but I will be going to Europe!

So after deciding I would take the cheapest available airfare with one of the best airlines, I went back to the expo today.

I really should have booked the flights online using the airline's website - but the expo fare was slightly cheaper and there was a promise of a side trip to almost any city in Europe for "a small fee." I went to the booth that housed staff from my local Flight Centre. That was a mistake I will never make again.

Not only did it take more than half an hour for this dopey girl to get things organised, but I had to repeat myself more times than I care to remember. And the "small fee" side trip would have cost me $300 plus taxes if I had let her book that as well. And the rules changed three times during this process for how long I had to make full payment.

I have until tomorrow to pay for it all. I am still considering telling her to stick it and book it through the Singapore Airlines website and wear the extra cost.

On the bright side, I also picked up a Virgin Blue Lounge membership for 50% off - just $269!

So there you have it, I have finally begun the process that I have wanted to do for what is probably a decade - answer the call in my heart to go to London and Europe. I pledged to myself last year that I was going this year, even if it meant I had to sell my beloved Forester. I do hope that I don't have to do that, but I am resolute should it be needed.

Being self-employed, when having a holiday, I do not earn any income. Therefore I must ensure that I have enough resources to not only fund the trip, but also pay the usual bills whilst I am away. The car may go. But thats ok - there are always trains and buses. And I still have legs.

I want to change my life so I live minimally, leaner, slower and deeper. This is the beginning.