http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Ol_boss/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Ol_boss en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:45:24 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:45:24 +0000 Merry Christmas or ldquoHappy Holidaysrdquo for the PCUS. Hope you all had a great day sharing food and drink with family or friends and took a few stuffed moments to reflect on things that ruled this yearhellip And those not able to be there with you for their greasy share of the celebration Irsquom on a United flight back to London after being bumped off a Delta one yesterday and sp http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-357274.html Therersquos a critical time that defines the transition from summer to winter or vice versa. It doesnrsquot have much to do with the temperature or length of the day or whether Christmas is coming soonhellip But itrsquos the time that flicks the switch in my mind from enjoying one season to looking forward to the next. Itrsquos the Toys digging out touch shoes waxing edging a snowb http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/Z-rich/blog-353451.html There are good times and bad times to be away from home meeting new people discovering beautiful landscapes experiencing new unfamiliar thingshellip these are the key. Birthdays Christmas funerals getting hit by a bushellip always a good time to be with loved ones.Sometimes everything well almost everything seems to fall at once. Thatrsquos how Irsquod describe turning 30. I spent http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Leukerbad/blog-326817.html So it seems I'm really getting behind at this and No not just because I'm lazy.... Spring's over the Boog's been burnt avalanches have stopped thundering in the valleys the Alpe meadows are covered in flowers and the Limmat River in Zurich is up to 23deg perfect for a postwork dip.Looking back it seems i've been pretty busy it feels like I've been busy. I guess that's the bright side of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/Z-rich/blog-299056.html One of the best things about travelling is knowing that you have a beautiful country to come home to any time you need... even if it is on the other side of the globe The chance to be a tour guide at home was brilliant Especially given the opportunity to hang outstay with so many friends Asia was very impresed. Apologies to those we missed seeing.. with highlights such as the Canty Uni Geolo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-247673.html I've managed to fit a bit of snowboarding around a lot of working since I've been back. at the moment I'm sitting on a train to Zurich full from dinner and feeling pretty well worn after joining a few other exTTers for a weekend on the slopes of Lenzerheide. It's pretty good but I'm still without a solid source of funding for work so despite the full stomach and tired legs I'm still a bit st http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/Z-rich/blog-255167.html Autumn has just flown by. A little over a month ago I was wandering round a tiny mountain village perspiring in a tshirt and shorts. However a week later things really started to cool off. Anja and I went up to her family's mountain place in Breil for the weekend. Kidding as you do while walking through the five or six streets that made up the village the cool but not cold mountain air s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/Sankt-Gallen/blog-221023.html An email arrived in my inbox this week suggesting a trip to visit a mountain landslide with another PhD student in the weekendhellip ldquosounds goodrdquoIt went on to say the circumstances of the trip will require us to use a helicopter for access.. ldquoyeah sure thatrsquos finerdquo ldquoha ha.. sweet how can I sleep for the rest of the weekrdquo So on Friday I took t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Sion/blog-211857.html Hey big news this time... I've got somewhere to live And it's pretty cool a ground floor apartment with a couple of Swiss girls who have a taste for red wine and understand a Kiwi accent. It's great i've got a room stokedThe girls are pretty relaxed and fully subscribe to the Swiss tradition of filling the house with plants the kitchen's covered in creepers and their rooms resemble http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/Z-rich/blog-209527.html Buy the ticket take the ride Dr H.S. ThompsonWith ticket in hand I suddenly see a paradox in Hunter's statement.. How much of the ride is what you make of it How often is the ticket just the licence to get startedThis time my ride is with the Eng. Geologists here at ETH and it's going to last for probably the next 3 years. I have a seat with a table a card to get me cheapish food at http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/Z-rich/blog-202677.html I last wrote from Edinburgh not really sure what I was in for over the next month. Asia was coming to visit and we had time to spend at the Edinburgh Festival tickets to another festival in Bristol and a flight from there to Croatia shortly after. The plan was to spend some more time touring Eastern Europe before starting back at work in Zurich in September.All began well and we had a few rea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-198167.html How to quickly choose a place to visit with a couple of spare weeks and all of central Europe to pick from Lying in Asiarsquos apartment with a couple of beers and a map laid out in front of us we faced just this dilemma. Fortuntely the boys at the brewery made our decision a whole lot easier by naming their town after the beer or perhaps vice versa. We were after somewhere between southern http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Silesian/Zywiec/blog-198173.html We spent slightly over 24 hours in Ostrava enough to say wersquod ldquobeenrdquo but little more. Actually we wouldnrsquot have spent any time there if it werenrsquot for the relevant stars coming into alignment at the right time. Concord Dawn one of NZrsquos DnB production legends was to be playing in the city around the same time we were to be travelling past. It wouldrsquove be http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Moravian-Silesian-Region/Ostrava/blog-198179.html Ask a Pole and disappointingly theyrsquoll tell you itrsquos pronounced ldquocheshinrdquo not ldquocheeseinrdquo.. and there isnrsquot any special cheese to be found Itrsquos a small border town divided by a shallow river half in the Czech Republic and half in Poland. These new EU id cards are a blessing for the border guards who work the bridges over the river. A quick look http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Silesian/Cieszyn/blog-198177.html Once back on the more normal tourist trail we spent a couple of days eating in Olomouc and then the better part of a week eating sleeping and drinking in Prague. We tried to offset the aforementioned activities by high intensity sightseeing activities climbing church towers and the like. Unfortunately the beautiful narrow disorienting Old Town streets of the two cities cleverly hide a pletho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Olomouc-Region/Olomouc/blog-198184.html Amazing new experiences marking brief respites from intense lifelessness is how I would describe the last few months. The situation I've found myself in has to be one of the worst of my life. But at the same time it's put money in the bank and provided opportunities I could never have imagined. Long commute miserable weather unfulfilling job best forget about it. I've been looking for somewher http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-189096.html About a month ago I was looking for new jobs for myself as well as work for Asia in Scotland. I came accross an ad for a PhD studying a large landslide in Switzerland. The position was at at one of Europe's top universities. The more I read the more I realised how similar the project could be to where my MSc research had been heading way back in 2003. I figured there's nothing to lose by applyin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/Z-rich/blog-189084.html In the last week and a half I've been through Poland Lithuania Latvia and Estonia. I've said Arrr to a drink with a reallife Sweedish pirate in Riga ahh... to some incredibly hot 'dancers' in Tallin uhh to ticket sales and collection people pretty much everywhere and most importantly aha finally finding Shane sleeping in a backpackers in the far north of mainland Europe. Right no http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-129502.html Ah... a month of freedom My last month in the office has very slowly come to a close and I am now once again gainfully unemployed enhancing my wellbeing and enjoying the northern summer. Work in Suisse starts at the beginning of September until then Asia and I are putting our relationship to the test and will be travelling for a month in the UK and a few select spots in southeast Europe. We http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-188277.html Hey guys I guess you thought Irsquod abandoned you or at least this blog. .. Truth is I havenrsquot really been in the writing mood. I stayed in Glasgow for two months living in a heartless hostel in the centre of the city while Scottish weather hasnrsquot been as bad as the Scots make out the short days and hard grey streets have been depressing. I tried looking for a flat for a while http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-158464.html