Italy Itinerary

I've been reading like mental and doing all kinds of research on where to go in Italy. Throughout this process I've been cutting and pasting snippets of maps from the various regions and doing write-ups on the attractions sourced from the net. Who needs Lonely Planet anyways!

So here's what I figure, If anyone can add to this I'm always grateful for suggestions:

Start of Trip:
Fly into Palmero (Sicily)
I'm thinking of renting a car to go around Sicily and visit Taormina, Catania, Messina, Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples, Noto a UNESCO a World Heritage Site, and the Aaolean Islands.

From there will catch a Ferry to Naples and explore that region as well as the Amalfi Coast which includes the fishing villages of Positano, Capri, Ravello, Ischia and Sorrento.

Then off to Rome and surrounding Area (includiong Vatican City)

Then Florence and Area including Pisa, San Gimagnano and Bologna

Then off to Genoa and La Spezza where I heard of the Cinque Terre, a collection of 5 fishing villages that one can hike to in about a day. It's a UNESCO world Heritage site and aparently quite stunning. By this time I'll need to get some excerise in so a hike between fishing villages would do me well :)

After this i'll train it to Milan to check out some fashion action before training off to Venice before heading out to Austria!

Thats the Italian Plan, woo hoo!. A product of my hard earned hours at work!

dtm, Italian Stallion.

300

Last night I was at the pre-screening show of '300' with some friends from work. Now I'm curious if anoyone in North America had the same experience I had. First off, the movie was wicked, a real hack and slasher with not much plot but a visual treat with body parts flying and slow mo choreagraphed sequences. I didn't care much for the Calvin Klein underwear advertisements, but it does kind of inspire to up my training regime so maybe I too, can look like a Spartan. There were a few funny moments in the film, deliberate or not, that had the audience laughing. If you dont want spoilers, stop reading now, however I don't think they're spoilers to the film, just of whats to come:

The scene where Leonidas is banging his Queen, they filmed it in slow motion with still shots of the Queens facials as the King is pillaging her with his Johnson. The still shots were funny enough, but when she got dogged from the rear and the camera was right up in her face, the audience went hysterical.

The scene with the Humpback being enticed at the Persian Kings lair was also a good laugh as the shots of the gimp as he was enjoying himself with the nude dancers frolicking around him drew some laughts.

The last one was towards the final battle scene as the Humpback leads the Persians towards Leonidas army, the Humpback was wearing this pirate type hat as he pointed towards the Spartan army.

Maybe its the British Sarcasm, but those scenes had the whole theater crack up with laughter, which added to the experience.

dtm

Top Guns

As the fiscal year end is almost coming to a close here at BT, there is a lot of internal activity. Departmental transitions, moves and new hires and some team restructuring. Last night I was out at the good ole Rob Roy celebrating till late with my many colleagues who made the transition to permanancy here at BT. When first hired, you become an Agency contractor, like me. There are people here who have been Agency contracted for 3 years before becoming permanent. It doesnt mean anything in terms of pay, it has it's pro's and con's. Mainly in respect to being canned for no reason or for putting a whoppee cusion on your bosses chair, they go hand in hand. A handful of about 10 or so of my friends here made the switch, locked in BT lifers. It was just like graduating in Top Gun Class, minus the ass slaps, the Brits don't do that here.

'You can be my DBAM anytime',
'I'll be your DBAM, if you're my FACE 2 FACE'.

Congrats to all!

dtm

DBAM = Desk Based Account Manager
FACE 2 FACE = Face to Face Account Manager

Thinking Egypt Anyone?..

As I sit at my desk counting down the days until my final day at BT, April 13, I am obviously surfing the net for travel ideas that fall in my timescope. Whilst I originally wanted to do Egypt in Phase 1, this has been replaced with my Eastern European Horsehoe trip. So my thoughts have wandered to what I'll be doing when I get back to Vancouver After Vegas. That will be August 27 from which I was planning on chilling out at home for a few months. I'll still be doing this but thought, 'hey,why not book a return flight from London Heathrow August 22 and back to London in October', cheaper this way to fly back, as well as earn points, and to visit Egypt!

Contiki doesnt do an Egyptian tour, but I found a just as good alternative! Top Deck Tours,
http://www.topdecktours.co.uk/content.asp?Document_ID=1905 does a 21 day Ultimate Egypt tour which is very reasonably priced. So I think that will be my plan after Vancouver!

Since Egypt is a muslim country, they won't serve alcohol during the month of Ramadan, which this year is September 12-October 11, so I'm thinking best to go on either the October 7-27 trip or the October 21-November 10th trip. Leaning moreso towards the 21st departure.

I can then jet off from Cairo to hit SE Asia and India, woo hoo!

Joiners anyone?...Egypt Calling?......

dtm

Travel Update for Phase 1 May - August

Ok, so i've been humming and hawing my choices for Phase 1 and am thinking of changing them to something more compact in terms of ease of visit, as well as interesting, so here's my refined list:

May - August:

Italy
Austria
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Hungary\Slovenia
Croatia, Romania (Count Dracula!)
Serbia\Macedonia\Montenegro (I may skip this)
Greece and Islands of Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos etc!

I'm very excited about this. I can get a 2 month Eurail Pass which makes it quite affordable and easy to explore. So now that I've got my framework down, I'm onto the research to make each country worthwhile. I already know there are some cool trekking expeditions in Romania in Translyvania and the Carpathian mountains hence which is why I chose Romania as a destination. I've also always wanted to go to Sicily and perhaps drive around the Sicilian Coast. Perhaps I'm being too ambitious, Im hoping I can do most of those in 3 months.

So I'm pretty much sticking to this plan until August. I may do a tour for the 2-3 weeks whilst in London of other parts of Europe before coming back to Vancouver and Vegas. Thereafter I'll plan later.

Rinsed Out

Man am I rinsed out. Despite posting this on a Monday, my weekend was relatively tame. I think it had to do with the big thursday night bender I undertook with the work mates.

Thursday was our Team Meeting in a suburb of London called Egham, just outside Staines in our partner offices at Tandberg. after this we all went into Central London to wreck some havok. We had dinner reservations at a restaurant called Benihana in Piccadilly. The tab ran about 600 quid for the 10 of us, booze, Surf n turf an all. I must say I thought Osaka in Vancouver was quite a bit better. Osaka does this trademark lemon and ginger sauce that I havent seen in a teppanyaki place just yet. Plus they have the funky strobe lights so you go into an epileptic fit when the bloke does the running man in front of the grill. Proceeded to a pub in Shepherds Market and then onto another Bar\ Lounge called onandon. Got home at 4:30am and with three hours of sleep made it into work by 9. Rinsed Out! I know exactly what it was: damn you Laphroaig, damn you!

dtm
(fun with Links, I just discovered how to link it, sweeeeeeet!)

A Taste of What its Like to Live in Finsbury Park

Last night I awoke at what I think was 3am to the sounds of:

'You fucked the Algerian, I can't believe you fucked the Algerian!'

'I didn't fuck the Algerian, no I swear!'

'You fucked him!'

'No, it wasnt me!'

Silently the voices drifted out from a loud 100 decibels outside my window to further down the street.....Good they're gone, sleep again as I lay there still in my bed listening.

10 minutes later just before I got back into REM;

'Why'd you fuck the Algerian!'

'No No No, why meeeeeeeeee!!!'

'You fucked him didn't you, I know you fucked the Algerian!'

I couldn't handle it, I was about to open my window and yell out 'Yea I fucked the Algerian, now shut the fuck up I'm trying to sleep!' ....but against my better judgement I lay there quietly remembering that our glass door got kicked in on New Years Day and how accessible the flat is.

dtm

Love Without Borders

Should love be confined to a certain geography and how does one make it work when not? I find myself contemplating this stuff in my recent position living here considering events. Lets face it, we grow up somewhere, establish our roots, meet someone, fall in love, get married, have kids etc etc etc...

Ok not for everyone, but what about people in perpetual motion? What about meeting people along the way? I buy into the fact that if someone is close to your heart, they are in your heart. What does settling down have to do with all of this? Just because you've got a house, a wife or girlfriend, kids a fancy car, you're settled? I'm not quite sure about that. Sex is sex. Jeeze I sound like Carrie Bradshaw, but im conscious of this. I've always been the type of guy to fall in love, so what happens to that along the way? Not to sound big up, but there are loads of women I see on the street who i'd think it would be great to wake up with many mornings as a potential partner, but thats just scratching the surface, not the inside and even i know that. So what happens if along the way i were to meet one of them and it turns out to be more. How is that feasibly possible given my agenda of being in London for the short while, and then buggering off for the year travelling and then back to Vancouver. I have friends that have moved all over the world for relationships, as well as do the long distance thing. I'm not in a position for that, but I have met some pretty special women in my life, stuff of past, present and future.

Better to have Loved and Let go, then not Loved at all.
She disagrees.......

dtm

SITUATIONAL UPDATE!

Apologies for not being so thorough, I've been busy jetting off to Newcastle and New York, more on that later.

My situation in London has shifted dramatically. I've applied for my Highly Skilled Migrant Visa and was rejected on the basis that I was re-classified by the Home Office to 'Self Employed'. Upon my appeal they again re-classified me as an 'Indepdeant Contractor'. I ticked the box that said 'Salaried Employment'. Even with my letter of Salaried earnings from BT, references and payslips, I've been given the shaft. Not to go into too much detail but it just goes to show you the difficulties that one encounters in the British System of Foreign Policy. There are too many illigal Poles working under the table construction, and yet an honest hard working citizen claiming no benefits, spending money on their economy with my beer purchases, gets rejected so easily,
even though I'm fully qualified and it was simply a tick on the box. I could re-apply properly, yet I'm reluctant to throw away another £350 on the principal with no guarantees. I'm not in a place to do that right now.

So I've managed to swing my employment until April 13, my final day at BT. That itself was a good achievement as I'll get my year end bonus which should extend my travel plans for a few more months. I had to argue the point that I've taken 25 days of holiday which extends me another month past year end, hence qualifying me. Always knew I was a smart cookie somewhere :P

So with April 13th being my final day, I will kick around until May and set off from there.

TRAVEL PLANS:

Still a bit loose but I'm thinking these, not specifically int his oeder, but they do follow a course:

PhASE 1 Travel: May - August:
Portugal
Morocco
South Africa
Croatia
Greece (Islands)
Italy
Egypt

Back to London for August for a friends wedding.

I'll probably spend A few weeks in August in Ireland and Edinburgh, as the edinburgh Frigne fest runs for the whole month of august. Excellent venue and a wicked time. I was there last year for this.

I'll be coming back to Vancouver possibly August 20th after which swings into Vegas for my friends Bachelor Party.

After Vegas its Home in September to figure out the next plan.

PHASE 2 being September or Octoboer (might just chill out at home for a month in September), I'm planning on South East Asia and some Japan and perhaps India. Cathay Pacific has that All Asia Pass and Im thinking of taking the 3 month option.

Thats the jist of it. I am open to change if anyone is up for any adventures. As always anyone and everyone is welcome to come meet up or join me at any particular leg. I might be able to fly out and meet anyone if they are off in Europe as well, not a problem for me.

I Hope everyone is doing well, and no doubt I'll see you all soon!


International DTM of Mystery