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!

So far Moscow has been equally as welcoming as its counterpart to the north, St Petersburg. The following morning after our arrival the night before we awoke early, today was going to be a long day; we had two tours booked. First was a metro tour, which involved the guide meeting us at our hotel and then walking from our hotel to the closest metro station and showing us about various station stops helping us become familiar with the key transport of the city. Later that evening the same tour guide will take us on a night city tour of Moscow. We opted to do this as we both figured it would be the safest environment to take photos at night. From prior experience after doing a single tour both Michelle and I were usually quite buggered in the evening, suddenly the idea of doing two tours in a single day didn’t seem like such a great idea.

However before all that was breakfast. It has to be said, it is healthy for me to be on holiday, be it a work trip to Sydney or a holiday abroad, these are the times I have the healthiest breakfasts. First course; fried tomato with herbs, egg, sausage, perhaps some hash browns and baked beans with some freshly squeezed orange juice. Second course; a bowl of assorted fruits including apricot, pair, banana with strawberry yoghurt drizzled on top, and on occasion to finish it off a cup of coffee. This usually sees me through usually till early afternoon if not till lunch time.

Since St Petersburg, one thing Michelle and I have now realized is that in some sense we over-did the tour bookings. At the time we had read a lot of horror stories about tourists getting about in Russia, so for us, the tours were a ‘worst case scenario’ contingency, worst came to worst we would at least have safe guided tours. What has actually happened is that during our free times we’re happily going off on our own and visiting museums by ourselves and seeing the sites without feeling the need for a guide at all, so when it came to our first two tours in Moscow, we both looked at them purely for their instrumental purposes. Tour one, for helping us acquire a 20 pass metro card (for about 300 rubles, approx AUD$10), and tour two for its ‘wheels’ in getting about all the popular night time photo sights. All the tour guide talk in between (the bits we chose to tune in for, the keyword ‘soviet’ got my attention every time) was just icing on the cake.

The metro passes we acquired in the morning tour I am proud to say have had a significant workout since. The metro system in Moscow in many respects is similar to London’s but with a few advantages; one, unlike most other city rails there are no zones, all of Moscow metro is one zone, London has about 7. Secondly, the underground stations are like museums themselves; some are pre-World War II and others post, all uniquely decorated in marble, some with large statues of solders in memory of battles previously fought, others celebrating various trades and traditions unique to Russia. All were spotless and well maintained. The metro lines themselves were mighty efficient with trains coming every two minutes, and during peak between every 30 seconds to a minute apart. Even with all the metro signs written in Russian, I still believe this metro system to be the easiest I have ever been on.

After our morning tour of the metro system our guide dropped us off in Red Square. Surrounding Red Square were a huge assortment of souvenir style markets, each tent selling various Soviet and Russian knick knacks. Feeling quite proud that we did the majority of our shopping already in St Petersburg (the cheaper of the two capitals; Moscow is the third most expensive city in the world) we decided to have a brief look to see what the richer city had to offer. To our great disappointment we quickly discovered that we had been had in St Petersburg with the exact same items on sale in Moscow for 300 rubles cheaper. I’ve since ascertained, between a larger population and many more souvenir shops to compete with competition have brought down the prices to a low. So there’s a travelling tip for you, do your entire souvenir shopping in Moscow.

A few days later we caught the metro all the way out to Victory Park, a monumental museum to the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War (this being the war against Nazi Germany in World War II). Proudly featured at the main entrance of the museum lies an obelisk, the height of which is exactly 141,8 meters; 10 cm for every day of the War. The war monument in its entirety; the museum featuring an array of exhibits from fine art to the tools of war, including a collection in the thousands of ‘Iron Cross’s’ worn by Nazi troops to the outdoor grounds featuring Soviet and Nazi armourments in the form of Tanks, Helicopters and Fixed-Wing crafts was all very proudly presented and when one looks back through the history and the origin of the Patriotic War particularly along the Eastern Front you can see why Russia is so proud; in the midst of near annihilation, the Soviet Union came out on top.

It almost makes me regret that I was not an observer of those times (yes, I chose my words very carefully there), the politics between governments, the double-sided deals between such great powers. It has been fantastic to say that I am here in Russia right now, seeing what is left, what remains of what many would undoubtedly exclaim as an end of an era and tracing back the origins to the Great Patriotic War to the very beginning.

It On June 22, 1941, Germany broke its non-aggression pact with the USSR and began an invasion. According to the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler’s own autobiography ‘Mein Kampf’ the war was out of necessity, acquiring new territory for German settlement in Eastern Europe. He envisaged settling Germans there as a master race, while deporting most of the inhabitants to Siberia and using the remainder as slave labor.
Stalin, realizing that the non-aggression pact wouldn’t last forever proceeded to mass develop and ready legions of tanks and infantry, only he didn’t expect Germany to break the pact so soon, needless to say, the Soviet Union was somewhat prepared to defend the Mother land.

The Soviet army on the eve of the German attack had significant power, on paper. On June 22, 1941 the Red Army and Navy had over 4.6 million people, 23,000 tanks, 18.700 planes, 910 ships and cutters.

The Soviets were prepared for winter warfare and on December 5, 1941 reinforcements from Siberia attacked the German lines around Moscow, supported by new T-34 tanks and Katyusha rocket launchers. The exhausted and freezing Germans were routed and driven back between 100 and 250 km (60 to 150 miles) by 7 January 1942.

The Germans introduced forced labor across the occupied territories of the USSR. A working day was 14-16hrs long. The population was not supplied with clothing, shoes or the means to stay clean. The bread ration was 200-300 grams per day. But these official food rations often were violated. Over 4.1 million people died of starvation, infectious diseases, hard work and lack of medical supplies.

Ultimately, bit by bit, like a game of Chess between these two Superpowers, the Red Army forces knocked down the pawns in its path and in the years ahead and won back the Mother land, forcing the Germans to retreat further and further back. Finally, upon the assault on Berlin where the Fuhrer himself admitting defeat took his own life, the war was one. The city’s defenders finally surrendered on 2 May. However, fighting continued to the north-west, west and south-west of the city until the end of the war in Europe on 8 May as German units fought westward so that they could surrender to the Western Allies rather than to the Soviets.





Russia has been an eye opener; never before have I stood in streets with such history, visited museums with such fresh ‘larger than life’ monuments of an era only foretold to me (and people of my generation) from Hollywood films and (for those fortunate by their Grandparents, sitting on their knee and be told stories of a lifestyle which today many of us take for granted.

The snowy haul to Moscow
If you haven’t already realized by now dear reader snow is something that I am easily excited about. Having seen snow only once (in my life) for a week whilst skiing in Australia before this trip, I have now seen it multiple times in different countries and it is fantastic. Unlike the locals I am not as yet put off by the slushiness occurrence that happens after snowing, it is still rather magical to me.

We are currently travelling by train from St Petersburg to Moscow, and the outside view for lack of a better word is spectacular; we have passed a number of snow lined forests, villages and streets buried in snow with dim light glowing from the windows and smoke pouring from the chimneys, it is incredible to see.

The railway yard leaving St Petersburg was also rather extensive, it seemed to take forever to finally leave the compound, passing various war torn buildings and rail lines and engines that had long since been discontinued.

I am eagerly looking forward to Moscow, but I have been warned that it is a lot different to St Petersburg. For one, the population is incredibly larger, and that alone produces its own problems. Law enforcement is a lot more strict; in the metro stations random passport checks are done on both tourists and locals (yes, Russians have both domestic and international passports), and in earlier reported cases, most dating back to 2004 some police officers would for no reason confiscate a tourist passport expecting the tourist to pay a bribe to have it back. In addition, pick pocketing in metro areas and around various tourist attractions is also a high risk.

As an initiation to Moscow we have arranged an ‘on foot’ tour in the morning to introduce us to the metro system (and hopefully purchase a week long ticket) and various other parts of Moscow. Two hours after that tour we start a night tour which is a more generalized city tour. The photographer in me whom especially likes to take night photos will be seizing this opportunity (with a Russian speaking guide) to do so, as I am not yet too sure just how much roaming the streets at night I want to do in Moscow, let alone with a camera and a tripod – it couldn’t be more obvious that I was a tourist even if I had a flashing neon sign saying so in Russian.

Aside from having to be a bit more travel conscious, which we initially treated St Petersburg with also, I am looking forward to a new landscape, new tours and a different perspective on historical significance. I will however miss the extreme low minimums and maximums that St Petersburg had on a daily basis, Moscow from the looks of the forecast is a lot warmer, with a maximum of around 14 degrees and a minimum of 6. I’d say there was a very slim chance of us seeing snow in Moscow.

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.

I am currently on a train bound for London on my way back from a day trip out to Bristol where I visited the United Kingdom head office of Roland DG. It has been pretty much my first chance since arriving in London three days ago to get up to date with my writing having just finished ‘Australia: The land of The Crocodile Hunter and Elle McPherson – according to Yankee’ a few moments earlier.

The day trip out was great, it was really interesting to see Roland operations from behind the scenes. I was there mainly to meet with their head sales distribution coordinator to do a presentation of the software I have been slaving over for the past three and a half years. As with the stops before, one at Epilog Colorado (Laser Engravers) and another at Vision (Phoenix engravers) the presentation was very well received and as with all three presentations of the software there was something specific that Symmetry performed which resulted in a Wow moment from all of them. I hope this early foot work of introductions leads to some prosperous options down the line. Although it has been somewhat a pain to orchestrate this in with a holiday, it has been beneficial, and it has been great fun to get to know the industry from the other side of the fence. It’s been invaluable really, I have made a lot of good contacts.

Currently I am about five minutes out of London. The train has been rocketing back to Paddington, the scenery a blur of green fields and Victorian style cottages with the odd speedy-blur of a train passing in the opposite direction for dramatic flair. I have truely enjoyed my time in London so far, and would love nothing more to come back in a year or two time and spend a good month just traveling around; spend about four days in London and then hire a car. Very similar to the road trip I did with my folks back in 1997. Mum, Dad, although I loved the holiday at the time, I think its only now that I can truly appreciate how memorable and special you guys made that trip be for me, its been something I have thought a lot about since returning. How I would love to once again hire a car, visit Wales, the pier at South End of Sea and drive through the Lake District and in through the Yorkshire Moors. Next time… or perhaps the ‘time after next’ or the one after that? Colorado definitely left an impression too.

I have arrived at Paddington Station. Time to hit London’s West End.

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!