Italy - Florence, Salerno, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii and Naples Dave B 5-11-07 I got up and got going around 7:45. The Japanese guy had left really early around 6 and the Italian had left around 7:00. It was just us two lazy Americans in the room. I headed back to the hostel and checked out. The breakfast included a roll and several different options on the warm drink side of things, including hot chocolate which is what I had. Again the bread was very good and really the meal although very small, was quite good. I headed t [View Full Entry]

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Italy - Milan, Lake Como, Dolomites and Venice Dave B 5-2-07 I had laid down for about 15 minutes when the guy that had been missing came back. Not sure what he had been doing the whole time, but whatever it was he was done doing it and was back. All of the sudden our door was opened and this uniformed lady said something. The Italian guys snatched there identification then I realized she had said passports. She looked at the new Italian man's passport for a long time and called someone to check his background. Finally a [View Full Entry]

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Holland and Belgium Dave B 4-20-07 Upon arriving in Amsterdam I looked around the train station and everybody appeared normal. I guess I was expecting some sort of freakshow are something. I did notice a copious number of bikes. Actually a freakish number of bikes. Bikes on top of bikes. Well you get the point. They predominantly appeared to be junky bikes as well. The locks however appeared awesome. I walked across the street and as in all European City's I approached the street with caution being sure to look both ways. [View Full Entry]

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England Dave B 4-14-07 I got up around 8 at my Dublin Hostel, got some breakfast at the hostel and headed for the bus stop. The person working at the Hostel said the bus stop just outside the hostel door goes to the airport. Once there I asked another person waiting for his bus and he said he doesn't think this stop does take you to the airport. He seemed pretty certain and suggested I ask the next bus driver. The driver said no and that I needed to go across the bridge and pointed in that direction. Once there [View Full Entry]

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Ireland Dave B 4-3-07 Wow first day on the European leg of this trip and it was eventful. The forecast was for the rain to come later in the day, but instead it arrived a little after 11:00, the same time as my flight. The flight to Chicago I was to take was cancelled. I guess they received a lot of rain and lightning in Chicago. The next flight they put us on had to land in Springfield, IL and they were very late in getting to Lambert. They kept delaying the flight. 11:00 to 12:00 to 1:00 to 1:30. [View Full Entry]

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Seattle Dave B 3/10/07 Helen and I got up around 7:00 and got ready. I fixed some pancakes as I needed to start using up the remaining food as I didn’t want to throw anything out and my US leg of the trip is quickly approaching the end. We quickly had breakfast and then headed to the bus stop so as to not deal with parking and the associated cost once we got down town. We had to wait for the bus for a little while and I was a little concerned about making it their on time as the [View Full Entry]

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Crater Lake Dave B 3/8/07 Jim, Rosey and I all got up around 6:00 the next morning. We had some breakfast and got going around 7:00. Jim is a great host and stopped at a couple locations along the way to show me some noteworthy sites. In one location the river is known to be a world renown trout and salmon fishing stream. Jim let me lead so I could stop when I wanted to take a photo. We made it to Beckies restaurant near Crater Lake to drop my truck off and then I got in with Jim. I [View Full Entry]

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3/3/07 The next morning Mark and I got up around 7:00 and headed for the Hollywood Hills area. The place we were going to allowed unleashed pets and there were hundreds of dogs of all shapes and sizes. The hike was pretty grueling. I believe Mark said it was between 2 and 3 miles and lot of it was uphill. Towards the top of the hike we had a clear view of the infamous Hollywood sign. Very cool. I took several pics. One lab pup kept getting way ahead of his owners. I tracked him down and brought him back to [View Full Entry]

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Joshua Tree National Park Dave B 2/28/07 I got up around 7 and got organized to get back on the road. I had a quick bowl of cereal and some Chai Tea. Terri was busy that day so I needed to try and stay out of her way. I left around 8:30. As I drove from her place I saw another plane fly low into the City. I loved watching the planes do that, so I tried to find a place that really showed the planes height in relation to the San Diego skyline. I drove around the neighborhood looking [View Full Entry]

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