Monday, June 16th: Well, the car needed an oil change and since Lewis was the first one up, he took care of it. Really, he was nearly back before Bethany and I were even out of bed. The three of us grabbed breakfast in the hotel and hit the road. The goal of today was to get on over to Custer, South Dakota, which is just spitting distance from Mount Rushmore. Really just a nice, long drive today. The coolest part of the drive was our accidental discovery of a monument to Abraham Lincoln on I-80 (formerly US-30), known as the [View Full Entry]

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We had a fun few days starting our journey north from Albuquerque up through Colorado and into South Dakota. We added Bethany’s dad, Lewis, to our company and I got a chance to see Simon Schwartz, which was a tremendous joy as he and I haven’t see each other since I was last in Denver - New Year’s 2004-2005 - and were very due to catch up and hang out. This is also where I really learned the Zwicks’ love of hot springs. Friday, June 13th: Up and ready to go this morning, Bethany and I said out goodbyes to Josh [View Full Entry]

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And so the journey begins as we drive off into the sunset - yes, I know that scene generally ends Westerns, but it was kind of necessary, as we are starting off going west. The first stop on our trip is Albuquerque, where I had spent a month in the summer of 1999 working at UNM for my Aunt and Uncle helping out with their vegetation and biomass mapping of the area. Bethany and I are both glad to be starting the trip this way, though, as she had not been to New Mexico in quite a few years and I [View Full Entry]

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New Haven was again really just a stop over with a chance to get the local food and see my family, and, hopefully, catch up with some friends. It was also a nice little opportunity to relax and reset myself for the upcoming 7-week road trip with Bethany around America. Tuesday, June 3rd: I guess I was still on European time, because despite the little sleep I got, I was up early and talked to mom before she was off to the office. Just caught up about life and everything, nothing special. I spent most of today down in front of [View Full Entry]

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And so ends of my European experiment. I would call it a success, on the whole. Apart from housemates who were not the most inviting of people (they were nice and easy to get along with as long as you were perfect in everything you did) and living in a place where the dollar went nowhere, I made some great friends from all around the world, had a good job with people who were welcoming, easy to get along with and fun, got to live in the financial capital of the world in a foreign country, and was able to see [View Full Entry]

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These last two days were complete randomness all around. It was Vienna, which I had been to before, and Ljubljana, which I thought could be a cool place to go and really only had to go to because the flight back to London was from there. We were going straight and at a heck of a pace, but as it was the end of the trip, neither Aaron nor I were worried about getting too tired. Friday, May 30th: Up this morning at the hostel to check out, bumped into Paul again and said goodbye, and down we went to the [View Full Entry]

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Bratislava is one of those cities that people simply reject off hand; case in point: when I was in Vienna 3 years ago, there were 3 Swedish guys who wanted to take the bus to Bratislava for the day, and everyone asked why - their reason: EuroTrip, the movie where the 4 Americans live like kings in the city for pennies. Now, to be fair, there is not a whole lot in the city, but it is worth the visit for a day. It does have a lovely area that feels very European with the outdoor cafes and the squares with [View Full Entry]

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I nearly went with a comedic title here, like "How Many Aarons Does it Take to Screw in a Lightbulb?" (we are in Poland) or with something more directly regarding the camp at Auschwitz that was the real reason for our visit here, but didn't think either was approporate for this particular entry. We did have a wonderful time in Krakow, a city know for being lively and fun and active, although we never really did got out and party. It is also a town where this history is evident and all around, as it was not destroyed during WWII, unlike [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick stop over in Berlin to pick up Margo and to see Kit Belgum and Michael Herring for dinner. Yes, it is a bit of a detour off the road from Budapest to Krakow, but definitely worth the trip. I got to show a friend a bit of a city I love, see two friends for dinner and catch up on something I missed. What could be a better 2 days than that? Saturday, May 24th: Easy train ride to Prague, though there was a bit of confusion at the very end, and I had to make sure I [View Full Entry]

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Ok, I honestly think I have heard more German in Budapest than Hungarian. The Germans, or at least German speakers, are everywhere. To be honest, that does make me quite a bit more comfortable with the city, as they generally don’t love English speakers because the Brits tend to come in and use the whole of Eastern Europe (particularly Hungary) as a playground for stag and hen parties and generally make a nuisance of themselves without respecting the locals all that much. I did find most to be friendly, though, and had a great time in the city. It is very [View Full Entry]

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