Eliot Murray
Ahoy!Captain Eliot
My name is Eliot and I just graduated from Chapman University in Orange, CA with a degree in Film Production. I am taking off to Europe for a bit, then perhaps returning to Los Angeles. I'd like to write for TV and Film down the road, and also play dusty old country music and rock n roll. I grew up in Portland, Oregon and went to High School in Vancouver, WA for Film/Video Production (Vancouver School of Arts and Academics). After a gap year of "what the hell do I do now," I enrolled at Chapman and have been enjoying California ever since. During my Junior year, I took off on Semester at Sea, a Study Abroad program that sails a bunch of hooligan kids around the world on an overgrown dingy to visit the many unique countries of the world. Among them were the Bahamas, Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Burma, Vietnam, Hong Kong/China and Japan. Needless to say, it occurred to me that perhaps I should spend a significant portion of my life moving around from place to place, and thusly, off I go to Europa.
I depart for the UK on May 22nd. I'm currently working on graduating and ratcheting down all the minute details that are less than glamorous but certainly necessary to pay attention. I'm going to miss my cat, Merlin; we're pretty close, and if it weren't for that darn quarantine, I'd probably have him sitting atop my shoulders the whole way through. England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Austria are the countries currently on the slate to visit; however, depending upon the direction of the wayward winds, Eliot may or may not end up in said places, who knows? I've got the proverbial backpack, rail pass and el cheapo guide book, ready to venture forth into the throngs of hectic Summer travel in EU. Hope you have time to check in every now and again to my ramblings and I hope they bring you along with me as I stumble my way through the many lands and histories Europe has to offer.
Cheers,
Capt. Elioto'
Travel Blog Posts
To Slovenia - and beyond!
Published: August 23rd 2007North America » United States » California » Los Angeles
August 23rd 2007
BLOG ENTRY - Slovenia, Austria, Czech and beyond.... Due to our last exhausting exercise in travel terror, Julie and I decided to nap on the bus to Piran. Waking occasionally along the way, my eyes were treating to fleeting views of blue, blue ocean water thru the pines and other deciduous underbrush. Winding all over the many tiny hill roads and avenues, we eventually arrived at the edge of Piran, a little hamlet on a spit out in the very top of the Adriatic Sea. The town looked like the sort of Italian hill town you might expect to see in the distance from a Tuscan train, but pushed right up to the water. It had a nice little bay chock full of yachts, sailboats and other slowly decaying sea craft. The town was primarily just ... read more
Here Comes More.....
Published: July 14th 2007North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » OrangeJuly 14th 2007
Howdy! Right, so one thing about backpacking is you tend to have erratic amounts of downtime, ranging from many grueling travel hours to just a few sweet moments to somewhere in between. Although I did spend a pretty good portion of my trip hackin' away words for this little blog, I found myself often straying away to see a Jewish ghetto or a mountain lake or an ancient castle or something similarly fascinating and nearby. This hindered my time to report the goings on via blog, and, lo and behold, here I sit in my former collegiate kitchen in Orange County, CA, desperately attempting to fill in the gaps. However unsatisfactory this may be to the technical definition of 'travel blog,' I must insist that many frantic notes were taken upon many frantic trains, busses and ... read more
July 4th 2007
Right- So I got more time to write as we wait, more or less nude, for clothes to dry in the overworked and underpaid dryer downstairs. On the bus to Valencia, we crossed the highlands of Spain, which basically look a lot like Iowa or Eastern Washington state. At a lonely truck stop off the freeway, I strolled along the same sort of side access road that skirts US freeways from Arizona to Alabama, it was a strangely comforting feeling. Upon arrival in Valencia, we found a sweet little hostel and after setting our stuff down, hit the streets. Valencia is a superbly walkable town, with many old alleyways and corner cafes and, big surprise, more weddings in 500 year old churches. At night, the gelato places stay open til 2 or 3am, and one can ... read more
July 4th 2007
Ahoj! Happy 4th to all yanks in earshot, I will be prosting from the faraway Eastern region of the Czech Republic! But before I get to that, lemme start from where I left off before. So we just boarded a train from Barcelona headed for San Sebastian, a little coastal town on the border b/t France and Spain. My folkies happened to be in the Bordeaux area and did us the great favor of coasting down and picking our smelly selves up for a few days of wine-country respite. We drove the squirrely little French roads from town to town, eating at patisseries and drinking wine, stumbling across oddities of the natural world such as a massive underground cave that local farmers used to think was the gate to hell, as well as a moth/butterfly that ... read more
June 27th 2007
Hola, Last bloggotime, we were on round two of a trip to Barcelona from Paris. Bidding farewell to Paris in the Springtime is tough, but one must sally forth. We caught another night train to Barcelona, this time in recliner chairs. Now, last time I bashed overnight trains as loud, hot and uncomfortable. They are not ALL like that, and can be a delightfully cheap option to coughing up cash for a hostel or hotel. However, the constant stopping and going of the train and snoring Slovenian guy next to you may contribute to a less than peaceful nappy time. Julie and I were zonked by 7 am when we rolled in Espana the next morning and crossed the border at Port Bou. 2 hours later, we were in Barcelona town, tired but happy to be ... read more
June 25th 2007
Ahoy, So it's been a little while since my last post, i.e. a looooong time. As you may have imagined, much has happened in that time out here in Europa, so lemme get going and tell you all about it. Last blog, we were headed for Barcelona from rainy Koblenz, GER, via Paris. Wellll, we never quite made it outta Paris. From Germany, we took an overnight train via Frankfurt and on to Paris. For those of you inexperienced with overnight trains, here's the scoop: they suck. Their sucking mainly spurs from the fact that one has two choices in overnight train lodging, recliner chairs and couchettes. The chairs are nice enough, but recline to a certain angle that is just before comfort, leading to consternation on the part to the reclinee. So, the savvy traveler ... read more
June 2nd 2007
Ahoy! So I'm actually out there, now, writing my first travelblog from Amsterdam. Much has happened recently, so I won't waste time. I flew into London 5 days ago and then quickly hopped over to Ireland to rendevue with my Mum in Dublin. We Spent a couple of days kicking around town, exploring museums and parks and the like, visiting Oscar Wilde and the Viking City and a couple of homey pubs with a load music makers and cozy singing partners toasting the Guiness. After that, we made the wildly interesting choice of renting an automobile and driving on Irish roads down to our family friends house and restaurant in Ballycanoo (?). Now, I don´t wanna knock my MUM´s ability to drive under adverse conditions, but I did fear for my life several times as we ... read more
IN THE BEGINNING.......
Published: May 16th 2007North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » OrangeMay 16th 2007
Indiana Jones Flies Around El Mappo Eliot MurrayAhoy! So amid a flurry of cramming for my Spanish final and trying to turn in my Commencement info and squeeze that black square hat on my head, I'm giving birth to this travel blog about my trip to Europe. In case you missed my little profile info and background, my info is as follows: My name is Eliot and I just graduated from Chapman University in Orange, CA with a degree in Film Production. I am taking off to Europe for a bit, then perhaps returning to Los Angeles. I'd like to write for TV and Film down the road, and also play dusty old country music and rock n roll. I grew up in Portland, Oregon and went to High School in Vancouver, WA for Film/Video ... read more
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.002s; cc: 19; qc: 68; dbt: 0.0581s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.61.183); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.6mb
