http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/JoshuaGS/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from JoshuaGS en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:44:27 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:44:27 +0000 For some strange reason it was cheapest for me to stop in portland oregon before heading to south america. so i made it a weekend. it just so happened that my mother and my niece were in portland during this time visiting my brother Zach. The three of them picked me up from the airport. They were excited to see my mustasche. it was great to see family. zach set me up with our friend craig http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-379566.html I was not excited to be back in Kauai. It was like starting all over. there was nothing new. i was going back to the same farm which had the same people. i had grown hadnt i i had started onward and upward. i was on a roll. it seemed like a step back but i fell back into the island rhythm. from the airport i had no ride or numbers to call. so i just started walking and managed to hitch back to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Kauai/blog-379563.html leaving the relaxed atmosphere of Pai was difficult but time was running out. from chiang mai i took a night train to bangkok. i walked around downtown bangkok and rode the elevated monorail and metro just for fun. both were very nice but stayed in the business district. after a couple parks and a mall i caught another night train to surat thani where at 5am i was herded onto a bus that i was tol http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/blog-393790.html After leaving the family of whom i had grown so fond i made my way to the bus station. i was on my way to Chiang Mai. i took an overnight bus and arrived in the morning. nothing was open. so i just walked around keeping my eyes open for breakfast or a guesthouse. i ran into a few backpackers doing the same. i joined them in the search for a place to stay. we all had breakfast together but soon pa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/blog-379562.html i felt ok taking the bus to Cambodia because i had researched the scams and knew to look for them. i avoided the package deal. took a tuk tuk to the bus. got in a tuk tuk to the border and shared with an american on the bus. he reassured me that he had done the bordercrossing many time and he would help guide me through. so the first thing that happened was that the tuk tuk stopped off on a side s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-353928.html helen got a seat that when darkness fell was converted by an attendant to a bed with a curtain to separate from the aisle through the middle of the car. the light was always on. a compartment was pulled down out of the cieling that made another bed above the seat bed. a plastic bag containing sheets and pillow came with each bed. the lower bunk is preferred as it does less swaying as the train http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/blog-380260.html the distant future the distant future...it is the year 2551. my trip to thailand occured in the year 2551. Thailand has a different calender. anyway... i limped out of the airport and took a shuttle bus to khaosan road where all the backpackers hang out. khaosan road started out small but has become a huge gathering place for foreigners on a budget. the austrian girl i had met in kauai gave me s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-379500.html Hitchhiking is the best way to get around Kauai. The bus is only 1.50 but it doesnt run on sundays or holidays. and the bus only runs to 730pm. and the buses dont go everywhere. people really do pick up hitchhikers on kauai. noone should drive in a car without at least one passenger to lighten the carbon footprint. it is pleasant. i like being able to have a 15 minute personal conversation with a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Kauai/blog-353703.html I landed in Lihue the county seat of Kauai in the same plane as Rob and Danielle. It was dark when we arrived but the weather was pleasant. i didnt get to see anything on the way to Rob's place. they put me up for the night. i awoke the next morning while it was still dark. i followed the sound of waves crashing on a beach. i found myself in the middle of a huge bayhanalei bay yes this is where http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Kauai/blog-345296.html I spent my summer working odd jobs in wooster Ohio. the tedium eroded my sunny disposition. i couldnt bear to get lost in the undulating waves of past and present. i couldnt hold on to any train of thought. i had nothing to hold on to at all. so all it took was a whim to uproot me. i have moved to the island of Kauai. but first i wanted to spend a week with Vince Mariola in Arizona. This was http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Flagstaff/blog-341467.html When we landed in Dublin i was shocked to find that all of the signs were written in english. Conversations going on nearby were in english. my native language was so familiar but its ubiquity was out of place. we arrived after midnight and were promptly herded to the city buses. even though the hostel was right across the street from the main bus station there were no buses going anywhere near t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Clare/The-Burren/blog-299168.html We spent the afternoon and evening on the train from Briatico to Rome. From the trainstop we had to take a shuttle to the Ciampino airport. We arrived just after midnight which is when the Departures area of the airport closes. we ended up sleeping on the concrete in a corner of a construction area but we at least had some shelter against the rain. When the airport opened we found our gate and f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/blog-271603.html San Giorgio seemed more like a home after taking a vacation from it and returning. We had puppies that needed nurturing. We fed them milk and found shelter for them at night. When we first got them I put both of them in the pocket of a hood I wore but they grew quickly. Francesco appeared one day with a man who took one of the pups home with him. Morgan cried at the way the pup that was left over http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Calabria/blog-268713.html Morgan and i took six hours of trains to Rome the day before Dad and Eddie were to arrive. We arrived in the afternoon and walked to our hostel10.90night hotel Lodi. it was a 20 minute walk from Termini Station. We should have taken a bus but it was a nice day. The owner Fabrizio greeted us and showed us around. He also made us coffee and gave us grapefruit from the hotel's garden. We spent t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Calabria/blog-267452.html I begin writing this account more than three months after our arrival. Sorry to those trying to keep up on what we are doing but internet access is difficult to come by in our current situation. Because i am behind i will break our time up here into three partsPart I Arrival here to my father's visitPart II My father's visitPart III Our remaining time here in CalabriaGiuseppe Riggio opened http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Calabria/blog-260693.html We left Marsciano Dec 4 for a 20 hour train ride through Rome and Naples to Sicily. We rode the train through the night. At about 5am we reached Villa San Giovanni at the toe of Italy. i watched in wonder as the train we were on was broken apart and loaded onto a ferry to cross the water to Sicily. Apparently Italy wanted to build a bridge but it would be too costly and with the constant seismic a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Sicily/Noto/blog-234974.html We finished the olive harvest at San Fortunato November 27. the family took morgan jenna and i to a great seafood ristorante tucked high in the hillsstrange for seafood called 'piccolo mondo'. They also finally showed us the chapel on the farm where the monks met for mass. We didnt have a farm lined up because we had finished the olive harvest earlier than expected. luckily though morgan's fri http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Assisi/blog-225319.html We left Cecina on a sunday. we decided to stay in FlorenceFirenze for a night to break up the 5 hour train ride. we had booked at hotel ester just around the corner from the train station. after dropping off our packs we explored the city. we walked along the shops to duomocathedral. the design is so intricate and ornate that you just stare in wonder at the placement of each block the carving http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/blog-219557.html After a 14 hour train ride Morgan and i arrived in Ccina in Tuscany on the west coast of Italy. Ursula our German hostess met us at the train station and drove us to the farm nestled in the hills between Cecina and Riparbella. On the way to the farm there were banners and flags and balloons all along the way because apparently the Hadelich farm is next door to an Italian bicyclist who had just http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/blog-215519.html Austria is a paradise for those who love to ski or snowboard love to hike mountainbike rock climb and for those who like to delve into other various outside sports and activities. Austria is also the 5th most healthiest country in the world which in knowing this made the spent there more enjoyable. Joshua and I were fortunate enough to stay at a pension Hofbauer in Rohrmoos which is the vill http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Styria/blog-210182.html