It’s been several days without an update because the Internet access I was supposed to have at the apartment I lined up didn’t materialize. There is a limit imposed by our Telefonica router that prevents more than two computers from connecting but even after turning one of them off, I still couldn’t get online.
And [...]
I awoke to rain this morning at about 8:30am. At least, I thought it was rain. But then I remembered that it seems to be raining every morning when I wake up and yet the ground is never wet. Just then, the sound of a toilet five floors above me flushed and [...]
Last Saturday, I checked out of my hiding place at the High Tech Arenal hotel (which, had the best shower I’ve experienced yet) and hopped the metro to Barajas to catch my EasyJet flight to London Luton. I was en route to meet up with Jennifer who was in England working for Ask [...]
Not that it’s very England or London specific, but our hotel was just down the street from a collectible store called the Forbidden Planet. If it’s geeky and sci-fi, it’s in this store. You can buy anything from posters to action figures (or dolls, as they really are) to a “real” light sabre. [...]
The French Eurostar tops out at 186mph (300km/h)
Jennifer and I got up at 3:30am to get to the train station in time to catch our 5:30 Eurostar departure for Paris. It was still dark outside and we weren’t doing much other than keeping our eyes open. My ticket had some kind of problem [...]
On our way back from the bike tour, Jennifer and I took the metro to what we thought was the closest station to our hotel, Monteparte. This was a major connection with multiple lines and the station was a labyrinth of stairs, escalators and long, winding corridors. What made it creepy was the [...]
This airport sucks.
Who designs an airport with such few wayfinding aids? It’s more like a citadel than an airport! With only one boarding pass checkpoint into the upstairs departure level, the airport funnels out but works hard to prevent entry. On the plus side, our luggage was 12kg over our allowance [...]
What a difference twelve hours can make! We made our connection in Athens and hopped a thirty minute flight to Santorini. Although the faxed reservation we had made for Hotel Keti were somehow lost in the shuffle, we managed to negotiate a reasonable price from a tout at the airport. A guy [...]
On a high speed catamaran to Athens, I have a few spare moments to recount the last few days of Greek island living at its best in the island of Santorini…
With a monstrous 80cc scooter at our disposal, we kicked off Monday morning with a ride across the island to visit the ruins of ancient [...]
Tuesday was beautiful; we woke up from an amazing nights rest, took high-powered hot showers with a curtain. I wasn’t even sure what the weather was like but already I liked how this day was starting. A room-delivered breakfast to our private terrace looking out on the caldera and clear skies only cemented [...]
I can’t wait to finish writing about our time in Santorini although Athens has already been classic last-minute-planning. A basic recap: we had no reservations or anything lined in Athens. I knew that we would find a number of touts at the port waiting to pick up people and find them “deals”. [...]
The last two days have been a whirlwind as they consititute our entire time in Athens for the Olympics. Our 270€/night hotel was not exactly stellar but hey, we’re in Athens for the 2004 Olympics, it’s not so bad. So we went to sleep…
At 4am I woke up in a cold sweat, [...]
If the first day was any indication, there were not a lot of Americans at the games. But more obviously, there just weren’t a lot of people. The women’s basketball game was a semifinal and the stadium was maybe 1/3rd full. The atheletics event was better attended but still, it was maybe [...]
And now for something completely different…
Welcome to Cairo, Egypt! For all of the interesting things Western Europe has to offer, the first time you have to get a visa for your passport as an American, you know you’re not in Kansas anymore.
Our flight from Greece left Athens International at 12:50am this morning [...]
Somewhere in the Nile Valley, I’m sitting in the top bunk of a two-person overnight sleeper train en route from Cairo to Aswan. Jennifer is reading a book on the bunk below and we’re somewhere about three hours outside of Cairo. We’re scheduled to arrive at Luxor around 5:45am and into Aswan about [...]
Breakfast came quicker than I would have liked with Money giving us a brisk wake-up knock around 7am. I slept alright although I tossed and turned a good bit. I left the top bunk ladder against the wall and it rattled until about 4am when I realized what it was and took it [...]
While the rest of the boat is out visiting the Temple of Esna here in Aswan, I am sitting in our room typing away. Last evening I came down with some stomach cramps and an upset stomach. I wanted to get some Pepto-bismol so we called the on-board doctor. This experience was [...]
Despite the dire plane ticket situation, Jennifer and I both managed to score flights out of Cairo tomorrow using the good ole Internet today. That means we only had the afternoon if we wanted to go see the Pyramids. Abercrombie & Kent was unable to get a guide together on that type of [...]
Leaving Cairo, it certainly feels like retreat as my Egyptian travels come to an end. I’m sitting in Air France business class flying over the Mediterranean en route to Paris CDG before connecting to Madrid this afternoon. I picked my seat using Travelocity yesterday and was surprised I could pick seats 1-8, assuming [...]