What's up peeps! Brian (or as my nephew has taken to calling me - Farmer Pickles) here. Are you ready for the post on Italy?! Sorry but if you really want to motivate a two-year-old, you've got to make it sound like the most fun thing *ever*. So are you ready for the post on Italy?! Yay!!!!! Well, alright then! I've got some pics up here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8870546@N03/collections/ And I've included some pics of my family but they are marked for friends and family only - if you'd like to see those too, p [View Full Entry]

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Hi folks! I am back in the U.S. and very glad about it too. I can't describe the joy I felt at hearing my first nonrhotic accent at JFK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonrhotic I think I hit a little bit of a wall in Vienna and Italy. I enjoyed both but I just really needed some down time - mainly just to process all that I had experienced. Right now, I'm resting and relaxing in New Jersey - I'll more than likely be back in the Bay Area after the New Year. After the last post on Romania, I visited Budapest for about 10 [View Full Entry]

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Hi folks! Greetings from Budapest. I know I said that I probably wouldn't do another blog entry before I returned to the States but I felt that I would forget some stuff by that point so here ya go. And here are some pics for you: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8870546@N03/collections/ I finally got around to organizing my pics by country - enjoy! After Bulgaria, I made my way through Romania visiting Bucharest, Sinaia, Braşov, Bran, Sibiu, Sighişoara, and Cluj-Napoca. In the last post, you may recall that [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Transylvania! That's right, I made it to Romania. Or if you really want to look hip and in the know, you might want to refer to it as "Ro-land". But I'm not gonna touch "Ro-land" right now - I'd like to tell you about Turkey and Bulgaria. Since the last post, I visited Istanbul, Cappadocia, Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria), and in Romania - Bucharest, Sinaia, and now Brasov. I was in Istanbul for approximately 2 weeks, Cappadocia for 5 days, and Veliko Tornovo for about 3. Here are some pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8 [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Istanbul! Yes, for a variety of reasons I decided not to go to Syria - I flew straight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul. Since the last post I made my way around Israel, visiting Jerusalem, Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea, Masada, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Akko, and Jaffa. Here are some pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8870546@N03/sets/ Israel, where do I begin?! Well, perhaps I should just cut to the chase and tell you what my word is: "juxtaposition" or the placement of two things side by side. The most obvious [View Full Entry]

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Shalom! Yes, I made it to Jerusalem (or as I've heard a few people call it - J-town!). But I'm not going to touch upon Israel/the Palestinian Territories right now. I still have to discuss Jordan. Since the last post, I've visited Aqaba, Wadi Rum, Petra, Amman, and now Jerusalem (though I haven't really done much here yet). Here are some pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8870546@N03/sets/ Jordan is the most expensive country I've visited on my trip. That said, I found it to be a very easy place to travel......and hence [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Aqaba! Hope all is well. Thanks to all those that have sent me messages and posted comments. I've really appreciated all that you guys have had to say and if I haven't responded in a timely fashion, it's only because I've had limited access to the internet. These posts also take a while to put together and I want to ensure that all of you can experience my trip as best as possible - hence, the blog has become the internet priority. Also, I wanted to say that I hope that this blog will act as a bit of [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Cairo! Hope all is well. Sorry it's been a little while. In the last post, I covered the first half of my trip in India - this post will cover the second half......from Gangotri, I went to Chandigarh, Shimla, Manali, Leh, Amritsar, and then returned to Delhi. I arrived in Cairo (via Kuwait City!) just a few days ago. Here are some pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8870546@N03/sets/ So I have to say that I enjoyed the second half of my time in India more than the first. Going to Delhi, Agra, and Varanasi r [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Manali! Sorry it's been a while. Here are some pics for you: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8870546@N03/sets/ Since the last post, I've been making my way around India. Thus far, I've been to Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, Sarnath, Rishikesh, Gangotri, Chandigarh, Shimla, and now Manali. I've decided to break my India post into 2 parts so I'm only going to cover through Gangotri on this post. From Manali, I plan to go to Leh, possibly Dharamsala, and Amritsar. So India. You're like, "dude, what's your word for In [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! So I'm in Delhi right now but I'm not going to say anything about India at the present moment as I still need to catch you up on Laos. You're welcome to look at the Delhi pics though - I'm sure I will have *a lot* to say when the time comes. Also, there was at least one factual error in the last post. The name of the movie I mentioned should have been "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - I'm sorry if I offended any Brangelina fans out there. I'm going to name my first born Shiloh Nouvel [View Full Entry]

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