Saorrento

Six weeks, seven countries and twelve cities later, our tour to Russia the long way round has finally drawn to a close. It has been the most incredible experience and I am very glad to say there isn’t any one thing that stands out well beyond the others, there were so many magical moments of our trip: seeing snow and wild Elk in Golden Colorado and dining out with Jon and Julie who we both had a fantastic time with; the neon extravaganza of both Las Vegas and Times Square in New York City; the climb to the observation deck of the Empire State Building; seeing Phantom of the Opera on Broadway; my first rail trip in England going out to Bristol and the Eurostar voyage to Belgium; pub crawls and luxury dining in Belgium; hiking through the snow in St Petersburg to various World War II monuments; getting up close to Soviet and German war machines and other various relics of the Cold War at a number of Museum exhibits; travelling from St Petersburg to Moscow by second class rail, with snowy landscapes out the window; cruising down the Rhine river in Frankfurt past the many vineyards, medieval styled castles and villages. These are just a few of the highlights, simply put; ‘The Long Way to Russia’ has been an EPIC adventure!

What’s next? Well this trip has wet our appetites for so much more travel; I personally would love to see a great deal more of Colorado during the ski season as well as re-visit Frankfurt and spend time touring about Germany. Things like a Route 66 road trip in the United States, a month long stay in Germany and other Euro Road trips are just some of the ideas buzzing through my head for the near future.

Of course then there are also new exotic locations such as the likes of Egypt, Antarctica and Dubai which are pretty high up on the list of new places too. So if nothing else, WATCH THIS SPACE!

After our brief two night stay in Antwerp we caught the train back to Brussels. A sure sign we were nearing the city of Brussels we passed the red neon glow of the red light district. The girls barely covered in their seductive lace outfits, in a little room, the windows facing the street of onlookers. Some girls just seemed to pace their window while others sat in the corner. Some even interacting and teasing potential clientele through the glass. I found the whole experience not to dissimilar to that of a puppy attempting to impress a shopper through a pet store window.

We arrived at the station both fatigued and full of adrenaline. This trip has been pretty much go go go for me, and my prior work stop in Antwerp was no exception.

We shuffled our heavy suitcases off the train onto the platform. I looked about for any indication of an exit. There were no shortage of signs, the problem was I couldn’t read any of them. To make matters more frustrating the signs most of which seemed to be in French obviously use similar alpha characters to English; walking briskly past signs my eyes would often catch partial glimpses of the text, my mind then if for no better reason because it was bored at the lack of information stimuli would re arrange the letters into something more meaningful and I started to catch myself doing double-takes at signs just to be sure. Quickly I gave up on the text and just focused on the symbols. Identifying the taxi symbol I followed the logo out of the train station.

Belgium at a glance is not disabled access friendly, and the capital being Brussels was no exception to this. My palms grew sore from lifting the heavy cases up the stairs, having yo be especially careful either them too due to the structural weakness of the wheels since London.

We arrived at our hotel; The Moon. The entrance of which was little more than a doorway along a facade of shops and restaurants facing out into a square. Immediately after entering the doorway was a staircase, reception was on level one. Fortunately the reservation process was simple and our room was available and with that proceeded to carry both cases up a further two flights of stairs to our shoe box of a room.

The room itself was adequate with a window, bed, shower and toilet. It was just cozy. When in the shower for instance one had to be mindful of turning around as your back will quite often hit the tap either dramatically altering the pressure or worse the temperature.

Brussels is beautiful, the building architecture in the various squares is all gothic, dating back well beyond the 1300’s. The shops and restaurants extending out from the squares were old English style, the streets all cobble stone.

When it came to dinner the only problem was choosing where to eat. There was no possibility we were going to die of hunger, we were located right in the middle of the dining district.

A lot of the eateries were French and Italian influenced. Quite to our surprise pizza, lasagna or spaghetti could be ordered from practically anywhere. When it came to dinner time the waiters would be out thru front of their establishment ready to greet you as you walked by. One was even so confident that he greeted us saying ‘ah good you made it, I have your table as you requested.’ we walked passed that one and finally surrendered ourselves to a restaurant that offered us a free drink of our choosing (although We were convinced this was worked into the price). We both settled for a Duvel beer - my Belgium contact introduced both Michelle and I to it, its a local beer 8% - salad and spaghetti, with a thin slice of cake for desert. For €12 you couldn’t argue. Tho it did make me miss home style spaghetti!

I have been looking forward to the UK ever since we left Colorado. Maybe it was because I was yearning for more cold weather after our snowy experience in the Colorado mountainside? Perhaps, though I think it was more so because London is familiar territory. In that sense we have planned out this jaunt around the world rather well, every second or third stop we make is familiar to at least either me or Michelle.

Currently, we are on route to Brussels via the Eurostar rail, a two hour journey traveling some 420km. Other than this train trip and the one to and from Bristol earlier in the week I haven’t really had much of a chance to sit down in solitude with my thoughts, there has just been too much to see and do in London.

There are a few bits of invaluable travel information that I feel somewhat obliged to share with future travelers to the United Kingdom. For one, the Oyster card; we collected our Oyster at Heathrow for £25, this included unlimited travel on the Underground and Surface networks between zones one and two for up to and including seven days. Since London is one of the few cities which have a public transport system that actually works, I would strongly recommend it, we saved tones travelling this way.

The next, and to some probably more importantly is drinks; The European beers and ciders are cheap! Four quid will get you a pint of your choosing, or, you can visit the local grocery store down the road and get that same bottle (or up to 1 liter equivalent in the case of Magners cider) for half that. Third night in, Michelle and I returned to our hotel after a long day with two liters of Magners underarm; for £5 who could argue with that.

We arrived in Heathrow at around 10am, immediately after collecting our luggage I exchanged my now useless American dollars and the small amount of Kiwi money I still had from our initial stopover in Auckland. At this stage, other than the currency not a lot had changed between New York and our arrival in London, the airport here was just as congested. It wasn’t until we boarded the underground from the airport where Michelle sneezed that I noticed any difference. All throughout the United States, no matter where you were, whether you were on the Metro or walking down a busy New York street the moment anyone sneezed ten or so people almost in perfect harmonic unison would say ‘Bless You’. Michelle sneezed, and there was silence. I smirked at the silence, and then of course realized I’d have to make up for it and whispered ‘bless you’ to her. A subtle difference yes, but a difference all the same, the first of many to come.

Our hotel, the Barkston Gardens were just around the corner from the Earls court tube stop, on the same line from Heathrow. My hands were buggered by this point. Since the luggage collection at the airport I had to manually carry my case due to damage to the wheels that you would otherwise use to drag the case along behind you. To add to my anguish of the situation it could have all been avoided had I been waiting on the other side of the luggage carousel. I watched helplessly as a tottering old nincompoop picked up my suitcase off the carousel, only to realize it wasn’t hers and dropped it back onto the rotating platform; right on the corner of one of the wheels. The sheer weight of the case focused on that one wheel alone came crushing down and broke it. Less than 10 seconds later the now lame case came round to my side. I pulled it off the carousel only to ‘wheel’ it a couple of meters before I realized that this felt a lot heavier than usual, with the wheel buckled in the case was resisting greatly. Since the wheel still seemed to be somewhat attached, only just, I decided to carry it until I could fix it at the hotel.

It just frustrates me that everyone else but me has to handle every single suitcase as it arrives on the carousel to determine it is not theirs. I see it at airports all the time. Now my case isn’t some yellow and pink poker dotted case with a huge sticker of ‘hi five’ on the side making it stand out like a white man in the middle of Africa, but I can still spot my case coming even from a distance, why on earth cant anyone else!!

I so love train travel, I have only done a few trips so far in Europe, mainly the trip to Bristol and another to Cambridge but the Eurostar service to Brussels is the best so far. I just returned from the galley with a packet of Pringles and a coke; the freedom of being able to get up and move about between cars is fantastic. Plus it is nowhere near as squishy as an airplane is – we need larger birds – or perhaps one better, a rail network from Europe to Australia! If being a Commonwealth nation doesn’t entitle us to that then what is the point?

We both spent the first day just getting comfortable with our surroundings. Michelle in particular re-familiarising herself with everything from the Laundromat to the best pub which she discovered her last visit here two years earlier. Once we were settled in we jumped back onto the tube and headed for Piccadilly Circus; more popularly known as the realm of cheap tickets for West End theatre productions and musicals. After the phenomenal performance of Phantom of the Opera which we saw on Broadway, West End to me had a lot to live up to. Looking at the performance line up we easily spotted a few productions we were interested in seeing, ultimately we went to two; Wicked and We Will Rock You. There were two other performances which stood out based on the cast alone, one of which featured John Sims, to me better known for his starring roles in the UK version of ‘Life on Mars’ and his portrayal of ‘The Master’ in the 2005 BBC series reboot of Doctor Who. The other production starred John Barrowman, also popular for his role in Doctor Who and later in his own TV series ‘Torchwood’ who portrays the adventurous ex-time agent rouge ‘Captain Jack Harkness.’ However I could not bring myself to see him perform in La Cage, though if the promo poster in the underground was anything to go by he pulled off the red dress pretty well.

Wicked turned out to be fantastic. I was somewhat concerned during the first couple of acts, although I was by far not the only guy in the theatre it didn’t seem to be a very blokey musical and I started to wonder just how many of these guys in the audience were here on their own accord, and then realized that I was the one who chose to see Wicked. Anyway, it picked up considerably and turned out to be very funny and creative. The story is of the Wizard of Oz, from the Oz perspective, featuring the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, her years through college, discovering her powers and abilities. The musical very nicely on occasion crossed over with the Wizard of Oz story line as most of us know it with references to Dorothy, the tornado from Kansas and also explained the origins and transformation of the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion. All up a fantastic production that I really enjoyed.

The next day both Michelle and I went our separate ways; Michelle to catch up with her best mate who’s name is also Michelle, who moved to London six months ago, and myself to catch up with a mate Garbs, who I’ve known since uni days who was travelling through on his way back from Oktoberfest. Garbs and I both determined that we only ever seem to catch up in some far away city, the last time some years earlier when another friend Rob and I went to Sydney for the long weekend on a whim, buying Qantas tickets some four hours before departure, with just the backpacks on our back and no accommodation lined up. After landing in Sydney we both changed our MSN status (no facebook then) to reflect our location. It wasn’t long before Garbs called up and said he was heading over for the weekend too.

We got off the tube at the Westminster stop and journeyed around the Themes taking in the traditional London sights such as Big Ben, St Pauls, Tower Bridge and the Millennium Bridge. We then stopped at a pub for lunch, both observing that our Australian accents didn’t do half the justice they did here as they did in the United State. US girls just seem to gush over the Aussie slang, whereas in London too many Australians now roam the streets for this to be special anymore. Later that afternoon I headed back to Earls Court and caught up with Michelle and Michelle (M&M) for dinner.

The next morning Michelle and I journeyed out to Oxford University, or the town of Oxford or whichever you prefer the two are practically the same thing. I can only ascertain that at one point in time, the town site of Oxford contained one university, and then later, as the university grew the faculties of the campus split up and spread themselves out all around Oxford. Hence the whole town site today is regarded as Oxford University. It was a novel thing to be in a gothic/medieval style town filled with castles and ruins and yet be surrounded by people in their mid twenty’s, students, most of which being guys; I can see why Michelle enjoys coming here so - Though none of them stood a chance against the ruggedly handsome bearded rouge such as myself dragging along my backpack on wheels. It didn’t take long at all, dragging the backpack along the cobblestones for me to really wish I had left it at home. The backpack was instrumental for carrying our coats and umbrellas since the weather looked overcast when we left London. The voice in my head later exclaimed ‘well duhh, the weather is always like this, it doesn’t mean its gonna rain’ and of course for our day ahead it didn’t. The backpack began to feel more and more like a ball and chain around my ankle. Needless to say, that was the last day trip that the backpack came on.

It was still a good day though, we toured the city on a open top double decker tour bus, absolutely freezing ourselves in the process and walked up and down most of the main streets, checking out various local shops and historic relics that we passed by.

Following the day at Oxford it was time for me to make a work stop in Bristol. That morning I dressed up in my business clothes, it was time to play like a local and along with many other business men journeyed to Paddington where I caught the train out to Bristol. It was a fun experience flirting with the idea of being a Londoner. The whole time I had been there I had felt very much at home and very relaxed; a far cry from the lifestyle of NYC. So I was on a train to meet a man I had only been introduced to via email a few weeks earlier, one of the head executives of Roland DG, yes, the same family (or sisters rather) of the electronic music industry. And yes, I did feel important

The day in Bristol was great; most of the day was spent at Roland demonstrating the software I had been co-working on for the past three years. When business was settled we went for a spin in the execs BMW to a local pub for lunch. Out on the balcony of the pub we had views of the River Seven and its bridge. The sky was blue and the sun was beaming down. It was amusing to see just how much of a fuss Peter made of the weather, mentioning to everyone back at the office that we went out for lunch and that we sat out on the balcony! Usually it is much cooler this time of the year, and the chance for decent sunlight has long since gone.

That evening Michelle and I headed back to West End with tickets for ‘We Will Rock You’. I had a hard time picturing what this musical would be like. Earlier in the year I saw the ‘Queen – we will rock you’ concert at Burswood, which was exactly that, a rock-concert, for some reason I kept on picturing this to be the same. We found our chairs, in the middle towards the back of the theatre with a perfect view of the stage. The curtains rolled up and I was completely blown away! ‘We Will Rock You’ was fantastically done. The story was set in the distant future where over the decades between now and then music as we know it today (with lyrics and instruments) were phased out with completely electronic like techno equivalent. The global empire aptly named Globalsoft was responsible for eradicating music as we know it today, along with then destruction and banning of any instrumental play. The streets were heavily policed and monitored and those that were found not conforming to the status quo were disposed of in a ruthless manor or brainwashed and then re-integrated into society.

The story was about a journey two people took, a guy who kept spilling out phrases to lyrics of popular songs which came to him in his sleep and a girl who just didn’t fit in with her gothic style of dress and her purple hairstyle. The two fleeing the authorities whilst on a quest to find the mythical instruments of Rock and bring ‘Rock n Roll’ back to the world. Everything from the costumes, the special effects and even the music in this production were fantastically executed. Some of the music was brilliant, taking the Queen melody and applying their own lyrics in reference to what was going on at the time, usually referring to the internet or some other tech gadget; the geek in me loved it!

Our last day trip out of London was to Cambridge University. Unlike our trip to Oxford which was by stage coach we opted for the more comfortable journey of going by train. The layout of Cambridge was very similar to that of Oxford, where the city started as a single campus and then broke out with faculties scattered all over the city. I liked it a lot more than Oxford though, Cambridge had a very real college feel to it and yet at the same time also a more homely one; it also featured daily markets in the square.

The university grounds were incredible; we took a tour of these grounds via a punt down the river which they all backed onto. It became something of a game however to sneak into a university ground without having to pay an entrance fee of two pound which most of them advertised. On the punt our guide told us that the university accommodation was heavily comped for the students, as Cambridge is very rich. At charging tourists two pounds per faculty per visit, its easily to see how the campus got so rich

We arrived at Brussels and after much confusion we are now on a train to Antwerp, or more specifically to Berchem station where my Belgium colleague is planning on meeting us. In all the confusion and breakdown of communication with the platform conductor we were finally ushered onto the train. Michelle and I were convinced we ended up in a first class car. Michelle then left the train to check out the other cars, no sooner had she done so the alarm started to sound and the doors began to close (despite me pressing the ‘open door’ button). Fortunately she managed to jump back onboard on the car ahead just as the train started pulling out of the station.

Our punt operator (a punt is a flat canoe shaped boat with the operator standing at the back of the boat using a long pole to push us through the water) told us the famous stories of the university, from stunts such as hanging toilet seats off the top of the cathedral corner points to the infamous relocation of a Mini on top of one of the multistory faculty buildings. Apparently this stunt took facility staff by such surprise and astonishment that they were forced to enlist the support of those involved in the stunt to undo it. Those that came forward as responsible for the stunt and assisted with relocating the running mini were given a commendation in the form of course credits for the units they were currently undertaking. Although the stunt was indeed a ridiculous act, the University acknowledged the feat of engineering and planning that was required.

I really enjoyed my time at Cambridge; it was a novel experience to walk about the streets of a city which has more history and age to it than any corner of Australia. I would strongly recommend a day trip visit to both Oxford and Cambridge to travelers to the United Kingdom. Along with the punting I would recommend hiring of a bicycle to get around as both these cities are very bicycle friendly with almost as many push bikes on the streets as there were motor bikes in Vietnam.

The epic tale of this journey started just over seven months ago, and like all good tales involves a girl. During an initial meeting [December 30th at the Broken Hill Pub] (some might call it a first date) after all the small talk and flirting banter had subsided hypothetical plans for a trip to Russia were being sketched.

Russia was an adventure both of us had wanted to do for quite some time, although given the political nature of the country it wasn’t exactly a destination either of us felt comfortable doing alone. So year after year, trip after trip, Russia was left undiscovered, until that very night. That night I had found a traveling buddy, and although I didn’t realize it at the time, I had also found love.

Over the coming months the Russian adventure was shaped and molded; like a kid playing with play doh unsure of what to make… we knew we wanted Russia in the trip, but we didn’t know where to start or what the journey would involve. The adventure transformed from a Trans Siberian journey across Russia, mainly due to financial constraint, to just visiting St Petersburg and Moscow, to including Las Vegas, New York and London. A round the world fare was then determined.

It was at this point in time that we were getting serious with our travel plans; the next obvious step was to establish dates and look into flight availability. The trip in its entirety was about six weeks long, it then occurred to us that that’s a long time to be traveling with someone you have never traveled with before. Not wanting to compromise our Russian experience with the wrong companion we decided upon doing a smaller scale trip to ‘test the waters on first’ before committing ourselves to Russia later in the year. So in the month of May we tested out those waters in Vietnam.

In many ways Vietnam was a mutual grounds for both of us, namely because it was a place neither of us had been to, whilst offering a nice balance of relaxing atmosphere and exciting things to see and do. We both took particular interest in the Vietnam War, which lead us to a number of war related museums and tours including the Chu Chi Tunnels network that ultimately lead to the demoralization of the US forces invading at the time.

Our two week tour of Vietnam was a conglomeration of one fantastic experience after the other; having stayed at Ho Chi Minh city and then traveling up to the Old Quarter of Hanoi, visiting the various museums of war and history, getting into the thick hustle and bustle of street activity through to enjoying a relaxing cruise on a junket in Ho Long Bay. There was no question upon our return from Vietnam, it was time to get serious about Russia.

It was around this time that we both approached our employment for time off. I was a bit skeptical at this point as to how easy it would be for me to get time off, given that I was requesting six weeks and that it would mean I wouldn’t be available to go to Sydney for the annual Visual Impact Image Expo that the company participates in every year. To my complete surprise, my boss asked if I would mind calling in to visit our main distributors in Phoenix Arizona; Golden Colorado and Antwerp in Belgium. My leave was green-lit and with three new exciting destinations added to our list.

Three months later, with little more than 42 days to go, the adventure ahead is becoming seemingly more real. All flight and accommodation reservations have been booked and paid for.

This is actually my third international trip for the year; the first of these being Vietnam in May, the second, just around the corner being Singapore for 4 days in August to celebrate my girlfriends birthday, and the last of these being the epic round the world adventure setting off 11 of September for six weeks.

I really don’t quite know how I have managed to pull it all together; to save the money required whilst doing one trip after the other, with no prior savings, in the middle of a recession no less! I am consciously aware that I am living life very tightly financially to make these three trips work out, and truth be told it has become far too tight for comfort, but it will be all worth it. (special thanks to Mum and Dad advancing me some travel money for the trip) In a way this trip is rather symbolic; my last harrah before knuckling down, repaying debt and saving for the future; for future adventures and investments alike.

2009 is definitely the year of travel for me.

I am hoping that this upcoming round-the-world experience provides the much needed inspiration that I am desperately in search for. I want 2010 to be a new chapter in my life, a new beginning. Up to this point I have been living a life of dreams and recklessness, and although it has served me well and I have numerous stories to my name, I feel I have somewhat out grown that spir-of-the-moment lifestyle. I am now in search of something more definitive, complying to a plan… I am ready to start growing up and begin shaping my future.

To the dreams that I haven’t yet made happen, watch out – you’re next!