Hi Everyone! I 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 I have been told that it could have been a lot worse. Istanbul straddles the boundary between [View Full Entry]

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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 like how traveling with a friend can be trying if you don’t get along all the time. An eight hour ferry ride or a two hour [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone My 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 natural gorges and mountains. Santorini because I heard it had beautiful architecture and black sand beaches. When I got there I heard there is also a red [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! I 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 intrusive, the streets are dirty, and lets not even talk about the heat. But I think my reaction to a [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! Here is an excerpt from my journal for Venice. August 21, 2009 Today I am in Venice. I love Venice in the sense that it is the most unique place I have ever seen. I can’t 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. A magical man-made oasis. Venice it a city on a man-made island. It is in a lagoon that has been engineered by humans to drain [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! Independent 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 of tour groups for alot of reasons. What you gain in easiness you sacrifice in understanding. If you can't find your place on a map or use it to get from point [View Full Entry]

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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 Welles I like this quote because to me sums up the reality of the artistic temperament. In order to produce great art you have to go to the extremes of emotion. You have to be inspired and possess the arrogant belief that your vision is valuable, no [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! I 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 won’t allow them to leave their home without paint on their face. It is probably a good thing for this trip that I don’t have this mystery female gene because if I spent the same amount of money on makeup and accessories that most women do I couldn’t have afforded this trip. Has anyone checked the cost [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! I 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 time best artists in history. I must say that it is hard to immerse yourself in culture when you are surrounded by beggars and souvenir hawkers. But on the other hand for [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! My 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 isn’t 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 completely different setting. Particularly because we arrived separately. Rome has so much art to be enjoyed for free. The [View Full Entry]

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