Home

Two and a half months, $4500, 24 posts, 8000 words, and 5 countries later, I am home.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog. Sometime in the near future I will hopefully be able to resume writing here about some other adventure I have gotten myself into.
Farewell for now,

Brandon

Munich

Saturday I took a train to Munich to visit my cousin Sarah. Her fiance Alex was nice enough to let me stay in his apartment while I'm here. Sunday there was a St. Patrick's Day celebration downtown, and Sarah and I went to check it out. There was a street performing magician, and loads and loads of people. It didn't matter where I looked, there was always someone who had a big green Guinness top hat on. Futbol (soccer) scarves were popular, and many people wearing them sang songs around tables while holding big mugs of beer.

Sunday night we went out for dinner with some of Sarah and Alex's friends from church. While I was there I ended up having a conversation with the guy who was sitting across from me. It turned out he's an opera singer here in town, and has been living all over Europe for the last 10 years doing opera's. After we got back to Alex's aparment they guy called saying he had a spare ticket for a play the following day, and I could have it if I wanted to go. So last night, I went to the opera. The ticket was for the third row! I was surrounded by rich old people who shook their heads and glanced at their spouse every time someone hit a particularly impressive note. It was in Italian, so I didn't have a great hold on what was going on, but the singing was divine.

In about an hour and a half I'm going to board a night train for Berlin. I'll get there at 7:30 tomorrow morning, and take a plane to Dublin at 10:30. Then from Dulbin I'll fly to Chicago, therefore bringing this trip to an end. But it doesn't really have to end, does it?

Here are a few pictures from the past couple days:

The street performer/comedian swallowed a sword before revealing that it telescoped.



Here are Sarah and I as we walk through Munich's huge park.



I didn't bring any nice clothes on this trip, so I had to borrow some of Alex's for the opera. Behind me is the opera house.

The Trade Off

These past two weeks have been vastly different from the rest of this trip abroad. I've traded in my ATM visits for cupboard stops to grab freshly baked cookies, my hostel rooms with bunkbeds for a vacant kids room with a mattress on the floor, sunny weather for mostly rainy weather, fruit and flower markets for poopy diapers, and sight-seeing for "wrastle castle" couch fights. It's been great. I hope these pictures can give you just a small insight into what life has been like over this time.

These two weeks have involved...

...eating the traditional French food Raclette, which is basically baked potatoes covered with thin slices of meat and topped with melted cheese. Delicious!



...trouncing Eric at a game of pool in a local coffee shop.



...building block fortresses to harbor matchbox cars, which are quickly destroyed just minutes after completion by what can only be described as The Terrible Eva Monster.



...making faces for the camera.



...fighting off the dreaded Bionicle Robots.



...and joining forces with brave heroes to take on evil.

Picture Post V and an Adventure

As I sit in this house, the smell of burnt popcorn fills my nostrils, and I feel like I should apologize to my readers (most notably my mother) for not updating my blog sooner. After I wrote my last entry, I got on a train and went to Madrid. I stayed there for three nights, and met two different groups of people at the hostel. We spent a decent about of time together, which was a lot of fun, and a huge change of pace from Barcelona.

Wednesday night I boarded a 13 1/2 hour train for Paris. Due to the length of the journey, I had a sleeper car, which made things interesting. We came into Paris at 8:30am, and I set out to find a train to my cousins town of St. Quentin, which turned out to be quite an adventure. I had been told to take a train from the Charles de Gaul airport, so I went there first. At the airport they told me I couldn't, and I had to go back to Paris and get a train from there. When I went to the ticket acceptor, it wouldn't take my ticket, so I went to the ticket machine, and it told me I needed to buy an eight euro ticket. Eight euros is a lot of money, and I felt gypped because I didn't really need to go to the airport in the first place, so I jumped over the ticket acceptor, before noticing the camera that was pointing right at me. But I got on the train without trouble, and went to the next train station. In order to get to the ticket counter, there was another machine wanting me to give them an 8 euro ticket. Again the ticket I had purchased earlier didn't work, so I jumped over the machine, and got a train ticket. I jumped over the machine again to look for my train, before realizing that the trains were back where I came from on the other side of the machines. By now I had missed my train, and went back to the ticket counter. While the lady at the counter explained that it was no problem and I could get on the next train, I noticed a bunch of suited armed guards talking and pointing at me. I snuck away, not wanting to be arrested my first time in Paris, and put on my "silly" hat (which you can see at the top of this blog) to avoid being noticed. Quickly I got on the next train headed for St. Quentin, and it left before anything happened.

The only thing I new about where I was going is that my cousin lives in a town called St. Quentin. I knew he had emailed me his phone number, but I had no access to email. The plan once I got to the station was to use a calling card to call home, get them to check my email, and give me his phone number. Of course once I got there the calling card didn't work, and the machine accepted only French credit cards. Out of luck, I figured I could use a phonebook to look up his number. I knew it was unlikely it was listed (seeing as how he's a pro basketball player) but I thought it was worth a try, and it turned out, it wasn't listed. The last option I had left was to find some internet. I asked the people at the train station where I could access internet, and they told me about a bank in town that had a computer set up to access the internet. So I hiked to the middle of this little town, and found the bank. When I got inside I used my French guidebook skills to ask the teller if I could use the internet. In broken English she explained that it was for customers only. I asked her if there was any other place I could access the internet, and she informed me there wasn't. Dejected, I left and sat down, not knowing what to do. The internet was really my last hope. I was doomed to sit in the middle of town hoping somehow my cousin or his wife Emily would drive by and notice me. Realizing the full gravity of the situation, I went back into the bank, pulled out all my money, slapped it on the counter, and with my hands clasped in a begging position, told her I really needed to use the internet. I must have looked like an idiot, with my large backpack and North Face jacket. Everyone was staring at me funny. It was clear that backpackers don't really go out of their way to make it to St. Quentin. She took pity on me nonetheless, let me keep my money, and took me to the computer station. I got the phone number, called my cousin Eric, and he came to pick me up 20 minutes later. Since that day on Thursday, I've been spending my time here, which really has been wonderful. It feels like home, it's very relaxing, and they have hysterical children. Eric's sister Julie has been in town for a while as well, so it's been really great to spend time with her. Friday night Eric had a basketball game against the number one team in the country, and he won! It was very exciting. After the game he and his teammates were mobbed for autographs, and Eric gave a television interview. Today we went on an excursion to Paris, and just got back a few hours ago. What follows here are a few pictures of what I've been doing this past week.

This was the first group of people I met in Madrid, two Aussies. We had a good time hanging around downtown Madrid.



Here is a picture from the basketball game Friday night. Eric pounded down a basket while they warmed up. Good form sir!



Here Eric, his wife Emily, and I sit in front of Notre Dame earlier today.



I'm convinced Eric and Em have the cutest kids ever, and this picture just may prove it. While we were walking to the gym to see the game, Eva wanted to ride on my shoulders.

Update and Picture Post IV

Greetings everyone! I am still here in Barcelona after extending my stay two more nights, which makes it a total of six nights I'm staying here. Tomorrow I'm going to Madrid. In every city I've visited so far, it's been really easy to meet fellow travelers to go explore the sights with, except for Nice and Barcelona. So unfortunately, I've been hanging out with myself for the past week, which got old pretty quick. Seeing the sites really isn't the same if you don't have anyone to experience them with. This, coupled with my budget issues, lead me to spend my first 5 days here not really going out much. Yesterday morning I woke up and decided not to be such a poor sport about things. Reluctantly, I went out into the city, and didn't regret a moment of it.

It quickly became evident to me that yesterday was some sort of Halloween-like event for the people here in Barcelona. At first I was very confused, because there were little children running around in what appeared to be native American attire: feathers, paint, garb and all. After walking for a while I heard music coming from down an alley to my right, and I went over to investigate. When I came around the corner, there was a small square full of people, and a band playing on the stage. Everywhere around me there were little witches, batmans, and supermans scurrying about. Parents with their children on their shoulders danced enthusiastically to the music. The lead singer of the band had a small dressing room at the back of the stage where he changed his costume after every song. I stayed and watched for a while, very tempted to join in on the dancing, but chickened out and eventually went on my way. A while later I came upon a large square. Spread out over the square were three street performances, all drawing a sizable crowd of their own. The first was a group of three men playing what I assumed to be traditional Spanish music, complete with flamenco guitar and broad smiles. Next there was a couple salsa dancing (rather spectacularly if I may add). And finally, three other guys with guitars covering what sounded to be Bob Marley songs. It was a magical evening, as the pictures below attest to, even if to a small degree.

Below is the "Halloween Celebration" troup. You can see the singer and the silly costume he's wearing. I couldn't understand what he was saying, but he seemed to be doing more talking than singing, and from the crowd's reaction, I guess he was pretty hilarious.



Here is the large square just beyond the three street performers.



This was taken in a famous catherdral here in Barcelona. People buy candles from the church and burn them as an offering to God, and to the saints.



I also came across a large market later in the night. I couldn't resist taking this picture because it reminded me of my friend Tim, who has an undying love affair with candy.

Picture Post the Third

I sense that my readers are crying out for more pictures. As a response, this will be the biggest, best picture post in the history of this blog. Laugh, cry, or browse with stoic indifference; it doesn't really matter. Just please try to enjoy yourself.

To start things off I figured I would get a few things out of the way. More than a few of my (male) buddies back home have inquired about the combination of this trip and ladies. They'd convince you it was inevidable. I think this pictures serves as an adiquate reply. (And no, my Photoshop skills played no part in this one.)



Ah, the beauty of the Arne River just after the sunset. I'm positive that this is going to remain one of my favorite places of the trip.



This picture may be a little blurry, but I swear to you, there was no happier kid in the whole world at the moment I took this picture.



Meet Scon, my old roommate from Florence (the first time I was there). He was taking a break from his schooling in the UK before having to write a doctoral thesis on nanotechnology. The discerning eye would have noticed how much messier of an eater I am than him.



A typical sight in Venice.



I caught a photo of these extreme sport enthusiasts in Nice before they biked down the sea wall. They seemed thrilled to have an onlooker. If you notice, one of them has a camera strapped to his head. No doubt with enough time, you could find the video on youtube.



This hero shot will finish off Picture Post the Third once and for all. A pleasant death if you ask me. I love this fisherman's pose while the waves crash beneath his feet.



Adiós amigos!

Nice is oh so Nice

Yesterday morning I boarded the train for Nice. After 8 hours of train travel, I had arrived. I took a bus to a roundabout where my hostel had promised to come pick me up. While I waited, a football game was waging across the street. (I'd be interested to know how many of you just thought of this: a bunch of sweaty guys decked out in gear trying to throw a ball to an endzone in a play-by-play. I certainly would have. Incidentally I asked hostel guy who picked me up how popular soccer is here in Nice.)

This morning was so beautiful! The weather was wonderful - very sunny. I took a bus from my hostel down to the Fruit and Flower Market by the shore. It's a lot like the farmers market in Holland, but a much grander affair. It was as if the whole town had come for the party. There were people all over buying everything from strawberries, to fish, to beautiful flower bouquets. Quite a few people had French baguettes sticking out of their backpacks just like I had always hoped they would. After buying lunch, I took a bus along the cliff-ridden coast to Monaco, which was a gorgeous ride. Nice might be my second favorite place I've been so far. Another bonus is that people think I'm French. In Italy, I most always was pegged immediately as a foreigner. People wouldn't even try to speak Italian to me, just English. But here, tons of people have tried talking to me in French. I feel like their complimenting me, really. And like an idiot I point to myself and say, "Sorry, English?" The least I could say is, "Je suis désolé, Anglais?" But my English accent would probably be so thick, that they wouldn't understand me anyway. Yeah, that's how I'll justify myself.

Tomorrow I am already leaving France, and going to Barcelona, Spain. After Barcelona I'll meander over to Madrid. I'm considering going south to visit some people I met in Florence after that. Then it's out of Spain and back into France. Au revoir!

Oh Milan, you were so short-lived.

Today, the plan was to jump on a train, find a hostel, and stay a few nights to get my bearings before taking off on my newly fashioned iterary. The jumping on a train part went spectacularly, I felt like an old pro, but the rest didn't go so well. When I got to Milan there was a hostel that my guidebook recommended that I planned on staying at. First I had to figure out the whole subway system. I screwed up a few times and got on the wrong subway train. Finally, I figured that out and got off where the map in my guidebook told me to. Except, where my hostel was supposed to be, there was a castle. I tried talking to a few people but nobody spoke English. I killed about an hour and a half looking around. Then I looked back in my guidebook and it have some directions to the hostel, but telling me to go to a completely different place. I jumped back on the subway to go to this new destination. When I got there, I couldn't find the first road it was talking about. I wandered and wandered, and then asked a local guy, who told me the road was on the other side of the train station. After walking over there, I found the road, and where my hostel should be, but no luck. A little way down the block there was a guy pining up some sort of poster. He was staring at me in a mid-pin motion. He beckoned for me to come over to him, and he asked if I was looking for the hostel. I was like, "Oh my goodness! Yes!" I was very relieved. With his gloved finger he pointed me to the place I was looking for, which was a little bit away. When I got there, it wasn't what I expected based on my guidebook's description. The hostel was a rundown building with broken windows and ugly graffiti all over it. I nervously walked inside, and there was a bunch of guys smoking while huddled around an old computer. I stood there for a while, not sure what to do. The window that said reception was closed. I quietly shuffled out to get a breath of fresh air. I looked in my guidebook for other available hostels. There weren't any nearby, and I wasn't in the mood to go trekking again, so I went to an internet center. I replied to an email to calm myself down, and made up my mind to go back to Florence, where I had made friends with the owner of the hostel I stayed at. I emailed her, explaining my situation, and told her I'd be there at 10:00. Then I ran the train station and jumped on the first train for Florence (after buying a reservation, of course). And now I am there. It's nice to be in a familiar place right now. Days like today make me miss home, but I suppose it comes with the journey. Tomorrow I'll spend the day on a train going to Nice, France. I guess this is it Italy. It was fun while it lasted, but it's time to move on. Ciao Belle!

Earlier today I packed up my things and caught a train to Venice. Florence was definitely the city I enjoyed the most. While Rome and especially Naples were very loud and very fast, Florence was much more laid back. A few nights ago my hostel roommate and I walked the bridge across the Arno River and climed a few hundered steps up to Michelangelo Square. From there we had a view of the entire city of Florence as the sun in the hills to the west. I just got back from wandering aimlessly around Venice for a few hours. I'm sitting at a computer that the hostel provides for a fee, and the desk clerk listen to Italian heavy metal.
This city is very tourist oriented. All over the streets there are booths
set up selling chinsy masquerade masks and sweaters that have VENICE printed on the front. It's really too bad that has to happen to a city so beautiful as this one. Fortunately, on my venture, my eyes came unglued from my map, and I got lost. Venice is composed of many tiny islands met by little bridges. It's very easy to get lost. And get lost I did. Although, (or probably because) I was lost, I ended up escaping all the hustle and bustle and found myself surrounded by local people instead of couples from all over huffing and puffing to find S. Marco Square. I found a shop that had a plethora of harmonicas on display in the window, along with other instruments. Since it is Monday, they were closed. Tomorrow I will try to find that shop back, although I may have to get lost to do so.

Picture Post Junior

I found out that the hostel I'm staying at has a secured wireless network, so I asked if I could have the password and they gladly gave it to me. Consequently, I am gleefully typing this blog entry on my deprived laptop. This means that I can finally post up some pictures I have taken. Click on them to see them full sized.

I thought this first picture was too cute to not post
up. While I was walking the streets of Naples
the other day, I noticed this little dog peeking
out of a broken window in a run-down apartment
complex.



This picture here was taken right outside
of the ruins of Pompeii. Those small structures
on the right are tombs built for some of the cities
wealthier families.



Here I am posing with the bust of a former
homeowner in Herculaneum.



This picture was taken the very first day I was in
Rome. I was wandering the streets, not really
knowing where I was going, and I stumbled upon
the Trevi Fountain, which was a startling site.



Last week I went to the Vatican. On the left is
the Dome of St. Peter's. On the right is a Christmas
tree they still had set up in the Piazza.



I took this picture of St. Mary's Cathedral last
night while walking through Firenze (Florence).

Goodbye Napoli, Hello Firenze!

My time in Naples is up. Two days ago I spent the better part of 6 hours exploring the mysteries of Pompeii. Yesterday, I walked the ruined streets of Herculaneum, marveling at the intact frescos and mosaics before going to the museum of Napoli to see excavated bodies, jewelry, paintings and coins pulled from both these sites that had been wiped out by Mt. Vesuvius back in 79 AD. My Latin knowledge has really come in handy these past few days, and it has been fun. But it's time to move on to other things, so it's on to Florence!

Napoli, here I am

I just made it to Naples. I wasn't very confident in my train riding skills, and as it turns out, for good reason. Before I left for my trip, I purchased a Eurail train ticket, which allows me to ride any train from one city to the next, whenever I want. So being as uninformed as I am, I jumped on the first train leaving to Naples. When the train attendant walked up to see my ticket, he asked for my reservation. I looked around the train. I was the only person in the whole car. The guy told me I still needed a reservation, because the train was a special 'EuroStar' train. So he charged me a 23 euro fee, which is close to $30. Ouch. Oh well, I guess I've learned my lesson.
According to my guidebook, once I arrived in Naples I was to hop on the bus R2, which would drop me off near the hostel I wanted to stay at. After buying a bus ticket, I walked out of the station. For the life of me, I couldn't find where the bus stop for R2 was. I found three separate bus stops, but no R2 bus to be found. I decided to walk tot he hostel, because it was only like 4 miles away, and I figured I could see a little of the city. As I walked, I was increasingly reminded of New York. The atmosphere has the same feel to it, which I suppose is prevalent in most big cities, like it was in Rome. It was busy, and very dirty, with street vendors selling all sorts of junk that they got from who-knows-where. There were beggars on the sides of the street, and homeless people chatting on plastic crates in the entrances of abandoned buildings. Finding my hostel proved to be difficult, even with the map in the guidebook. I tried asking a few people for help, but everyone either didn't speak English or spoke so little they didn't understand what I was asking. After a lot of wandering, I found it. It's up on the 6th and 7th floors of an apartment building, right next to the bay of Naples. The people here are friendly, the place is colorful, and they have free internet, which I am taking advantage of right now. I'm going to spend tomorrow seeing the sites of Naples, and the two following days I think I'll see Pompeii, and the island of Capri. Then it's off to Florence. Ciao!

ps. My Aunt and Uncle uploaded pictures of when they surprised me on St. John to http://picasaweb.google.com/patdv1/BrandonOnStJohns. So if anyone wants to check those out and see what it was like there - feel free.

So far I'm having trouble leaving Rome. My itinerary tells me that I planned to stay here for 3 days. By the time I leave tomorrow, it will have been six. I met some fun people that I've been spending a lot of time with, and I guess it's hard to tear myself away from that and venture out on my own again. But tomorrow I am going to take a train south to Naples, or Napoli, as the locals say.
The similarities and differences between Italian culture and America's is interesting to me. Everyone seems to be in their own world. And everything is very fast paced. Unlike in the US, pededrians walking into oncoming traffic is not unusual, but cars will stop! If someone tried that in the US, they would be on the receiving end of a loud horn - at the least.
Unfortunately, wireless internet is not prevalent here, so no pictures can be uploaded yet. So tomorrow, it's off to Napoli, for more adventures and hopefully, new friends.

When in Rome...

I guess all plane routes, as well as roads, lead to Rome. It was a little hairy getting here. I was supposed to fly from St. Thomas to New York, from NY to Dublin, and from Dublin to Rome. Well my flight in NY was delayed, and they figured out that I wasn't going to catch my flight in Dublin on time. So I was rerouted through London, which took a lot more time. I arrived in Rome last night without a wink of sleep, after about 20 hours of travel. I found my hostel easily and slept there last night. I've spent today wandering around the streets of Rome, trying to get a feel for it. Who knows what tonight will hold? I certainly don't. I have to admit that, right now, I miss St. John a little.

Simplify, Simplify.

Here I sit in a little bakery in downtown St. John. It's sunny, the sky is cloud free, and the wind is a little bit breezy. Unfortunately, the place I was stealing wireless network from found out, and blocked my access, so now I must pay for internet at this little cafe. To be honest, not much has happened since I blogged last. But that's what it's like down here in St. John, not much happens, and that's the way I like it.
Oh! I almost forgot. Yesterday my Aunt Chris and Uncle Pat surprised me. It was the weirdness thing, I swear. I was standing on the beach and I heard this giggling coming from behind me. I turned around to see my Aunt galloping toward me as my Uncle snapped picture after picture. Apparently, they were on a cruise that stopped into the neighboring island of St. Thomas. They rode a ferry over here to St. John, and came Brandon-hunting. They found me, and I was very surprised. The weirdest part was that the instant I turned around and saw my Aunt, I thought of my mom. Maybe it's because their facial bone structure is similar (as sister's often are), or their voices sound the same, I don't know, but I thought of my mom. We spent a little time hanging out downtown before they had to catch a boat back to St. Thomas, which was great. The encounter was a very welcomed touch with reality. After they left though, I was stuck downtown without a ride back to the campground. So yesterday, I started experimenting with hitchhiking.
I hitchhiked back to the campground, and later in the day, I hitched to town and back again. It's really an interesting experience. People are very nice. Today I hitched to town as well, but rides were hard to come by, so I hiked most of the way here. When I finally did get a ride, it was on the back of an flatbed truck, but the flatbed has no siding, or back hatch to speak of. I hung on for dear life, but it went fine. On Tuesday, I fly out to Rome, which is weird to think about. I hope every one of you are doing very well.

Sailing with Clark

Yesterday I had a wonderful opportunity to sail on the open Caribbean ocean. A small group consisting of Grandpa Ned, Sally, Jeff, Russ, Chris and I went out with a guy named Clark on his 46 foot sailboat. Clark lives here on St. John during the winter, and makes a living taking people out on his boat. In the summer, he sails to Trinidad, stores his boat, and flies to his home-State of Maine.
In the morning we drove across the island to Coral Bay where Clark was waiting for us, and set sail into the open ocean at 10:00. In the few hours between waking up and setting sail, I was bubbling over with excitement. All morning I facetiously (and verbally) considered a potential career of piracy. When we got on the boat, Clark learned of my pirate dreams, and appointed me Captain of the Helm (or steering wheel, for those of you not acquainted with pirate lingo).
So I got to drive, which is more difficult than I would have anticipated with a sailboat. After an hour or so of sailing, we arrived at our destination, which was some sort of rock formation jutting out of the sea. Those of us who wanted to snorkel jumped in the skiff (small motorboat we had been towing), Clark motored us a little ways away, we jumped in the water, and snorkeled like crazy. For those of you who have never snorkeled, shame on you. For those of you that have never snorkeled in the Caribbean, your missing out. It's indescribably beautiful. Little fish dart in an out of colorful coral while bigger fish slowly meander their way on by. Turtles slowly paddle their way up to the surface for air before slowly sinking back to the bottom. Wonderful. We spent the rest of the day sailing around the sea before finally arriving back at the dock at 6:00, just as it was getting dark. Oh, by the way, I saw a ship that would have been perfect to take over for my pirate adventures. But I figured since I already bought my plane tickets to Europe, I shouldn't waste that money. I guess I'll have to save my pirate aspirations for another day.

ps. Tim and Phil, this first picture here, the pirate ship, is for you guys.

Picture Post

I finally loaded up pictures from my camera, and ganked some from my new friend Lou's camera. So here they are. This picture format is proving to be somewhat of an annoyance. It's not letting me put a description above the pictures individually, so I will describe them in order here:

1) This is a picture of Maho Bay, which is a bay near Cinnamon Bay where I am staying. If you remember my last entry, this is the body of water that a certain inebraited someone wanted to go swimming for boats.

2) This is the "gang" eating breakfast at Miss Lucy's. I apologize for the darkness, but if you click on the picture you may get a better view. From left to right the people are: Grandpa, Jean, me, Jon, Chris, Russ, and Sally. Lou took this picture.

3) In this picture I was holding a rope while we were putting up a tarp for Don and Lou. I spoke briefly about this in my last entry.

4) This is Jean and I last night while we were eating dinner. Jean is probably one of the coolest people ever. She has traveled pretty much everywhere there is to go, and has given me so much advice on the future travels to Europe.

It’s a beautiful day here in St. John, and I’ve had a glorious week. After I wrote Wednesday's entry, Grandpa and I went to pick up his friend Tom from the dock. Tom is mostly blind, and requires the use of Chance, a golden retriever, to get around; which provides for interesting experiences in town. Apparently, many of the locals are petrified of big, Chance-like dogs. For instance, after picking Tom up we went into the nearby Dolphin grocery store and they refused to let him in. After Tom persistently explaining that Chance was a guide dog, they let him in, not without warily asking, “He doesn’t bite does he?” On Thursday we had a heck of a time setting up a tarp for our friends Don and Lou, only to find out the following day that it leaked directly onto their tent. Before we worked on fixing that issue on Friday, Grandpa, Sally and I hiked 2 miles or so to Maho Bay where we ate breakfast under a pavilion on the hill overlooking the beautiful water. Later that day we went out with Russ and Chris (friends of Grandpa and Sally) for dinner to the Skinny Legs diner, which, like most local eating establishments, shelters one’s head, but leaves one pretty much in the outdoors. A local trio cranked out a mash-up of country, folk, and bluegrass music. A few of the adults I was with, no names being mentioned, got a little “happy” for consuming “adult beverages”, so I was quickly labeled as the designated driver. As I was driving everyone home, my passenger in the front of the car continuously complimented my driving while expressing his/her burning desire to “jump in the sea and swim for the boats.” But alas, he/she was afraid the boats may harpoon him/her and mistake him/her for a whale (which I must say I thought was pretty hilarious). Saturday I hung out at the campground for the day, and at night my Grandfather cooked the most spectacular meal consisting of: white bean and bacon dip with chips, sweet potato quiche, and bar-b-que grilled chicken, all of which was absolutely delicious. Sunday morning we woke up early to go out to breakfast at Miss Lucy’s (an eatery, not house) with a bunch of folks. Because we only have one vehicle, Grandpa, Russ, and I minimized the driving by hiking up the Cinnamon Bay trail, which was very reminiscient of hiking through Israel and Turkey for me. For breakfast I had the somewhat unusual entree of french toast stuffed with cream cheese and bacon, which was actually really good. After breakfast Russ, Gramps, and I took a bus back to the top of the trail and hiked back down. Later in the day a bunch of locals set up a volleyball net and began to play. Interested, I sat nearby until the end of their game and then asked if they needed another player. I was instantly labeled “the tall guy” and I played with them for about an hour.

Unfortunately, I have forgotten to load pictures off my camera onto my laptop, so I guess pictures will have to appear on my next blog entry.

Sunshine

Here I am, sitting in front of a pizza shop ganking their unsercured network. My Grandfather and were just driving around downtown looking for some wireless. I was impressed with the amount of wireless networks we found down here. Monday night I came into St. John off the ferry around 11:30pm and luckily Grandpa and Sally were waiting for me (thanks Mom). We set up my tent and went to sleep. Life is great down here. It's a wonderful 80 degrees, very sunny and relaxed. I have nothing to complain about. We have a gorgeous campsite about 20 paces from the white sandy beach and crystal blue water. At night, I fall asleep to the waves pounding the beach rythmically, inturrupted by tree frogs who feel the need to party in the trees right outside our tents. If I would have known that we would have found a network, I would have brought my camera and uploaded some pictures for all of you. Hopefully I'll be able to do that in a day for two. As an alternative, I took a picture of us sitting here with my laptop's built in camera. I hope all of you are doing well!

Stuck.

Well it's 4:00pm here in Miami and I am definitely not basking in the Caribbean sun. Today started out nicely with a wake-up call at 5:00am. After taking a shower and downing a surprisingly good cup of coffee, I walked to the airport, went through the usual long lines, and boarded the plane for Charlotte, NC. Half an hour into the flight the pilot announced that our plane was having elecrical failure, and we were making an emergency landing in Indianapolis for repair. We landed and waited to be fixed. A little over an hour later we were back in the air. All over the plane people began talking loudly to the person sitting next to them, worried about potentially missing their next flight, which got me worried. Fortunately when we landed there were two elecric transports specially reserved to rush all of the St. Thomas people to their plane, which was waiting to take off. Unfortunately once we got there , the plane had taken off five minutes previously (despite speedy driving by our deadlocked, 'no worries mon' transport driver). Disgruntled, we walked as a group to the US Air terminal, where I was told I would be rerouted through Miami - in a flight that was taking off in 15 minutes! Quickly after hurrying my way through the security check, I boarded the plane and flew to Miami, which is where I now reside. As you can see in the fancy picture below, I'm sitting at the gate waiting for my plane. I'll arrive in St. Thomas around 10:00pm, and by then, the Caribbean sunlight will have hid itself away, waiting to come around for the next day. I guess I can expect to be basking in Caribbean sunlight around 7:00 tomorrow morning.

It's Almost Time

I'm laying on my bed here in O'Hare's Hilton. About half an hour ago, I said goodbye to my family. Surprisingly no tears were exchanged, which was a relief. Yesterday we all drove to Chicago for a mini family vacation of sorts. We walked around and did some shoppping. According to Rick Steves, scarves provide instant respectability in Europe, so I set out to find a small one to take along with me. No luck there - but I did noticed that about one out of every ten people wearing scarves were wearing the same Burberry one, which I thought was silly. We spent that night in a nice hotel downtown. Earlier today while we were walking around the street of Chicago, we came upon film cameras and a bunch of unhappy extras. It turn out that some scenes from the movie Fred Clause were being filmed downtown. Unfortunately Kevin Spacey and Vince Vaughn were no where to be seen, but we did see twenty or so Santa Clauses chasing some guy down the sidewalk in a scene take. After an eventful day, my parents drove me to O'Hare were I now reside. Tomorrow morning I fly out at 7:30 and by 1:30pm I will be basking the Caribbean sun. Hopefully the internet will be easy to access down there so I can update this thing fairly often.

Little More than a week to go, and So Much to do.

As the time to departure rapidly flies by, I'm being constantly reminded of the things I have to get done. There's travel details to be planned, return tickets to be purchased, college applications to be polished off; and how in the world am I going to fit all my crap into this 30 litre backpack?

But as the pressure builds, so does exitement, which has created a balance between extremes for me, and has kept me sane thus far.

It's leisure time

Today has witnessed another step forward for me towards my January 8 deadline - I'm done with work! Now it's time to finish planning and get some down time before I take off. While I'm relieved to finally be finished, I'm going to miss a lot of the people there. Maybe I'll work there this coming summer before I go to college in the fall. Speaking of college, I need to finish those applications!

The Plan

My travel plans have undergone a drastic amount of change in the past year. At first I wanted to see it all. I had decided to hit up Europe by train, sleep my way through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway, make my way down to Southeast Asia and spend three months experiencing Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Unfortunately reality set in (mostly financial). Since then many slight modifications over time have cultivated my plans into what they are now.

Two days ago I purchased plane tickets that will take me first to St. John (a Virgin Island) and then to Rome two weeks later. After Rome I'll spend three months or so traveling through Italy, France and Germany if the budget allows it.

The Beginning

Mark Twain once said,

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

That quote captures the feeling behind this trip for me. I hope that through my travels I will learn, discover, and develop as a person so that I come back not a different person, but a changed one.