http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/jawilso/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from jawilso en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:08:03 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:08:03 +0000 What though the radiance which was once so brightBe now for ever taken from my sightThough nothing can bring back the hourOf splendor in the grass of glory in the flowerWe will grieve not rather findStrength in what remains behindOde to Intimations of Immortality William WordsworthEverything is easy learning to read arithmetic riding a bike driving a car baking a souffl climbing a mo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Illinois/blog-454012.html Hi EveryoneDuring these last few days of my trip I have tried to take the utmost advantage of being in big city. I visited the Hong Kong Art Museum History Museum Science Museum Zoological and Botanical Gardens Lo Pin Monastery with the Giant seated Buddha I took a cable car ride up the mountain and lets not forget Disney World. I found Disney world a disappointment after Ocean Park but http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/blog-452646.html Hi EveryoneI have finally left India behind and am in my last stop on my world tour Hong Kong I have actually been to Hong Kong before about 4 years ago when my best friend studied abroad here for a semester. I saved for three months on ramen noodles to afford a 900 dollar ticket and because I had just started full time at Walmart I didn't have any vacation time so I could only afford to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Kowloon/blog-451657.html Hi EveryoneDelhi seems to me to epitomize all that is wonderful and horrible about India. I ended my trip here but most tourists start here because Delhi is a major international destination. I heard more than one horror story from fellow tourists that I met in Agra and Varanasi about the tourist scams that go on. One couple told me that instead of taking them to their hotel their taxi driver http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/Delhi/blog-450479.html Hi EveryoneI spent the last week in Jaipur and Udaipur in Rajasthan India. Jaipur is home to the Amber fort and the Pink City. The Pink City gets its name from its pink city walls but don't let the locals hear you call it that or they will laugh at you. Apparently to them it is the 'Old City.' While I was in Jaipur a met a group of girls who showed me around their college and took me to the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-449660.html The Taj Mahal in Agra India is one of my most anticipated sight seeing events. Anticipating it allowed me to get through the tedious and annoying visa application process in Rome that took 10 days. A breathtaking wonder of the world it is faced in weather defying marble. It costs foreigners 750 rupees or 15 US dollars to enter. 250 of those rupees go to the Archeological survey of India to pr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-446660.html The very first thing that I ever learned about Varanasi had to do with Turtles. Varanasi is considered on of the oldest living cities on earth. It is a holy pilgrimage site for both Hindus and Buddists. Buddha himself is supposed to have given his first sermon at nearby Sarnath around 540 BC. Varanasi is known as the City of Light devout Hindus hope to die and be cremated there in order to esca http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-446655.html Hi EveryoneCan you believe that at this moment I am in India I have to admit to being a bit apprehensive about traveling here. I think I had this image of myself as being mobbed everyday that I stepped on to the street by beggars and touts. Mumbai particularly is famous for its slums and rampant poverty. And I find that homelessness is very pervasive and apparent there even in the tourist pa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-443698.html Hi EveryoneThe atmosphere in Egypt is quite different from anywhere I have ever been. I wonder if Egyptians would find cornfields as exotic as I find camels. Walking down the street is an adventure. I am glad that I came with a tour group because traveling in Egypt is very difficult without private transportation. Not to mention that everyone sees a tourist as a giant money bag waiting to be http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-441269.html Hi EveryoneIn the last few days I have realized the pinnacle of my round the world trip. Seeing the Egyptian pyramids is the number one thing I have always wanted to do. I booked a tour for this trip as I thought Egypt would be the most difficult place to travel alone. I did spend one day by myself in Cairo before the tour started and I did find a woman alone to be besieged by vendors and tout http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-438551.html Hi EveryoneI have spent the last five days in Istanbul. It was supposed to be six days but I missed my flight on the 11th because I decided to take the train to the airport instead of the bus. I figured that the train would be faster which it was but it was also about an hour late and then it was too late to catch the bus. So I ended up paying an extra 49 euro to change my plane ticket and http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-437427.html If there is one thing that you learn when you are traveling by yourself is how to entertain yourself. Not only do you have to be prepared to rely on yourself to deal with all the difficulties that arise to make all the necessary decisions but you have to be in your own company all the time. I know everyone has that problem but it takes on new dimensions when you are traveling alone. Just lik http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Santorini/blog-435149.html Hi EveryoneMy trip through the Greek Islands was planned to take 9 days. I have heard great things about all the islands. While I was in Athens people would show up in at the hostel raving about what a great time it was on the Islands. The hard part was choosing which islands to see. I chose Crete Santorini and Mykonos. I chose Crete because it had several archeology sites as well as natura http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Crete/Rethymno/blog-433288.html Hi EveryoneI have spent a week here in Athens. Before I got here and even after I got here I heard from many fellow travelers that Athens was a miserable place to be for any length of time. I have to say that once an opinion has taken root in my head it is hard to shake it off even if wasn't my own opinion. It is so easy to see negativity everywhere. The cars are loud the people are intrus http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-432969.html Hi EveryoneHere is an excerpt from my journal for Venice.August 21 2009Today I am in Venice. I love Venice in the sense that it is the most unique place I have ever seen. I canrsquot believe that it has been around for so many years. Rick Steves sais that it has been a tourist destination since the 14th century and I can imagine there is truth behind that. Its like the original Disneyland. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-432471.html Hi EveryoneIndependent travel is a fascinating business. Planning everything yourself and finding your own way around can be almost a full time job in itself. This is the opposite of joining a tour group and letting someone else do all the planning and following them around blindly like a puppet. You don't have to think about anything you can just let someone hold your hand. I don't approve http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-432118.html Hi EveryoneI have often had the sneaking suspicion in my life that I am lacking an important female gene. This female gene is responsible for appreciating shoes and handbags. It is also responsible for the strange compulsion that women seem to have that wonrsquot allow them to leave their home without paint on their face. It is probably a good thing for this trip that I donrsquot have this http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lombardy/Milan/blog-431119.html In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare terror murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did they produce The Cuckoo Clock. Orson WellesI like this quote because to me sums up the realit http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-428986.html Hi EveryoneI am here in Florence home of Michelangelo's David...and other interesting things. When I thought of Florence Michelangelo's sculptures are the first thing I thought of and every one in the tourist industry here is happy to profit from that acquisition. I wonder how Americans would behave if their city contained works of art that were over 500 years old and created by one of the all http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-426763.html Hi EveryoneMy time here in Rome has been great. I got to see great masterpieces of art and I had enough time to enjoy the city. Even two weeks in Rome isnrsquot enough to fully see everything in Rome that there is to see. My cousin Kari from Seattle came to Rome on a school trip and we got to spend a day together. It was very freaky to meet up with a family member who you normally see in a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-423891.html