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Honest Abe - Bret Labadie

This is something I have been waiting to do for a long while. This is hopefully the first of many travels in my future.

I leave on January 14th with my best friend for Paris. From there we will spend five weeks traveling through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia, and Italy.

From there I will fly to Bangkok, Thailand via Bahrain on February 20th. A week later I will fly to Sydney, Australia and will spend the better part of three weeks traveling up the coast to Cairns. On March 18th I will fly over to Auckland, New Zealand to explore the bay of islands. I will even have the opportunity to visit Fiji for three days before I make the long flight back to the states on March 28th.

Please feel free to send me a message or post a comment on my blog at any point along the way. The website allows you to 'subscribe', which means that you will be alerted via email every time I make a new post to my blog. I will post many pictures, and there is even a world map that will allow you to follow along.

This journey should offer me a myriad of experiences that will without a doubt change the way I see things in the future. I wish everyone the best while I am away.

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Joined on: December 31st 2005
Last Login: October 10th 2008

Blog Entries: 9
Photos: 115

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Honest-Abe, order by Date newest first.

By Honest Abe
April 2nd 2006

So it goes...

North America » United States » Texas » Houston

Leaving Doubtful Sound
I cannot emphasize enough how beautiful this country is.

The day that never seemed too far away finally came this week. I had mentally prepared myself for my return, and for the last few days I was pretty amped about returning. The thing is, if I had been gone 6 months or a year I would not have been itching to return at this point, it just so happened that I was aware of my retrn date and therefore I had become prepared. So now I'm back and my life is about is soon to encounter some serious changes. Nonetheless, here is a little more of the trip and a [View Full Entry]

By Honest Abe
March 24th 2006

Australia

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

Sydney
Sydney skyscape.

So I arrived in Sydney at 9 am after a long flight on Emirates Air. Checked into my hotel and found out there was a huge parade/festival going on that day that I gladly found myself participating in on 2 hours of sleep. My initial impressions of Australia are that a) it reminds me a lot of Southern California with the heavy surfing vibe present everywhere, b) it has a unique English influence on it (the left-driving roads, queen on the currency, funky use of words, and constant presence of Brits everywhere) and c) it is absolutely beautiful. Sydney is quite [View Full Entry]

By Honest Abe
March 24th 2006

New Zealand

Oceania » Fiji » Viti Levu » Nadi

Queenstown
Small, touristed town in the South Island

New Zealand....what can I say? This place was absolutely incredible. Unfortunately, I only had a bit over a week to spend there, but nonetheless it was incredible. I've been to a lot of places in my life, and a lot of places on this trip, and don't know how far from the truth it would be to say it's the most beautiful place I've ever been to. This is after seeing a measily 5% of the country. Originially, I had my place booked to fly into Auckland and travel via bus to the Bay of Islands in the north. This was [View Full Entry]

By Honest Abe
March 17th 2006

The last month....

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

Normandy
In freezing rain on the beaches of Normandy.

Ahhhh...some time. Well, what can I say. This is going to be very difficult to sum up the last month into a few paragraphs, but i will attempt nevertheless. So I guess my last post came from Paris...here goes... Paris After I made that post my luck turned around for the better. I knew there had to be a reason that I missed my flight. It turned out to be a wonderful experience. No longer did I feel like a tourist, but more like someone who lived there. I was running errands, riding the metro all the time. I think I [View Full Entry]

By Honest Abe
February 21st 2006

Back in Paris

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris

Barcelona
From the roof of the Miro museum. Beautiful day...

So before I explain the title, let me first say that since my last update things have been great. Warm weather, beautiful cities, and tired bodies pretty well sum it up. We had the opportunity to see Venice and really spend some time in Rome and Barcelona, both of which are incredible cities. By the time we hit Barcelona all the traveling started to catch up with us physically. Our legs were just tired and we took a much more relaxed approach towards that city. Anyway, so we took 4 trains over 20 hrs to Torino and arrived on the 18th. [View Full Entry]

By Honest Abe
February 7th 2006

Berlin - Poland - Czech Republic

Europe » Hungary » Budapest

Soccer Game
This is immediately following the game in Berlin.

I finally have a little time to upload some pictures and tell a few stories. First we'll start with end of our stay in Berlin. The last day we went to the soccer match between Berlin and Hanover. It was a great game. We sat in the Hanover fan section which was definitely crazy. They serve beers in liter glasses. It's definitely a bit different than your typical football game in America. They had a huge firework show after the game since they are getting ready for the World Cup. It was pretty crazy sitting there looking up at the balcony [View Full Entry]

By Honest Abe
January 26th 2006

Berlin

Europe » Germany » District of Berlin » Berlin

East berlin TV Tower
This was in Alexanderplatz. The TV tower was viewed as a symbol of East Berlin and can be seen from the entire city.

Berlin is amazing. This is definitely one of the most interesting places I have ever visited. It is unbelievable how much has happened here in the last century. We are incredibly fortunate to be staying with Chad Robertson, a fellow Kingwoodian, in an apartment in East Berlin. We got here a little earlier than expected and we will stay a little longer than expected, but it is well worth it. There is a lot to be said about knowing someone in a city that can show you around. He has lived here for 2 years and knows very much about Germany [View Full Entry]

By Honest Abe
January 19th 2006

Day 5

Europe » Netherlands » North Holland » Amsterdam

So, we are in Amsterdam. Yesterday was by far the hardest day so far. It seems like every decision we made was wrong somehow. John and Josh can probably remember how crazy this city is, and showing up lastnight in the dark with no reservations definitely helped add to our problems. So we get here at 5:30 pm and head to an internet cafe to book a room. SInce it was so late, only one 'hostel'had any space (or so they led us to believe). We book it, only to come to find out that it is a room on a [View Full Entry]

By Honest Abe
January 14th 2006

Itinerary

North America » United States » Texas » Houston

Packing
Trying to stuff everything in my pack. As you can see, I buzzed my hair so that I wont have to deal with it while on the road. I also was curious to try a uniform length of hair/beard.

Before I leave for the airport I wanted to list my itinerary. This is just a guide and things may change along the way... January 14 - Paris, France January 18 - Bruges, Belgium January 20 - Amsterdam, Netherlands January 23 - Berlin, Germany January 27 - Prague, Czech Repulic January 31 - Munich, Germany February 3 - Vienna, Austria February 6 - Budapest, Hungary February 10 - Bled, Slovenia February 13 - Venice, Italy February 16 - Torino, Italy February 20 - Paris, France February 21 - Bangkok, Thailand February 23 - Koh Phangan, Thailand February 27 - Bangkok, Thailand [View Full Entry]

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