http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/stinny/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from stinny en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:23:32 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:23:32 +0000 Herein begins my journal about Boston I'll try to update when I travel as well.The move from San Diego to Boston which I did with Jaime was a bit of a whirlwind. I'd miscommunicated with the Harvard Chemistry Department and realized that I was supposed to be on campus a week before I thought. As a result we cut out drive a day short and I flew from Indiana to Boston as soon as I could. R http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Cambridge/blog-362474.html My apologies for not updating sooner... the world became a very hectic place on my return to the US. Hopefully this entry will bring some brief closure to my trip. I DO plan to keep this blog operational as a pseudojournal and as a way to keep in touch with many of you that I don't see regularly. The majority of my time in Fiji was spent on a bus tour much like the one I did in New Zealan http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Nadi/blog-362242.html Not a standard entry but...Things I missreal hot sauce not sweet chili sauce ketchup proper pizza crust seasonings bathtubs dressers speaking pedestrian crossing signs Walk sign is on across University... free internet IPA gay people recliners my cell phone seriously Bloody Marys my car fantasyscifi books 2ply quilted toilet paper thick pillows card games intellec http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Nadi/blog-316352.html I've had quite a few exciting things happen over the last several days. After the rather unpleasant incident at the bar in Rotorua with the homophobes I went to bed. We woke up early the next morning and went to another park nearby called Te Puia it's a natural geothermal reserve and we saw geysers bubbling mud pools then sat on 110degree rocks which would serve as excellent substitutes http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-315443.html I had a really unpleasant experience this evening. Tonight was the only night our entire tour group agreed to go out for drinks after our adventures for the day were completed so we all went to the backpacker bar next to our hostel. Despite the bad music the expensive drinks and the rather dead crowd we were managing to have a good time. Eventually we dispersed to mingle with some people http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-314606.html The last two days I've spent in Rotorua The Geothermal Capital of New Zealand named such because the town lies in a sulfursmelling volcanic crater with geysers and hot springs everywhere. It's a larger town but is almost entirely full of backpackers because there are so many things to do here whitewater rafting relaxing in hot springs swimming in the nearby Lake Rotorua skydiving bun http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-314508.html Last night I was reminded why I haven't stayed in many dormstyle hostels on this trip. Throughout the night my seven roommates kept coming and going stumbling in most of them were drunk I'm sure clattering about and occasionally turning lights on in the middle of the night mind you. On top of that the fire alarm in our room kept going off at random intervals despite the complete lac http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Whitianga/blog-313777.html The last several days in Melbourne were grand fun The day after my last entry Gary Rachel Gary's sister Kelly and I went to an Australian Rule Football game between the Melbourne Demons who we were rooting for and the West Coast Eagles. It was a great time despite the frigid temperatures. It rained on and off throughout the game and was a tad on the brisk side but we managed to have a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-313414.html It's been ages since I last made an entry I suppose nothing terribly exciting has happened in that time which may explain things. The first several days in Melbourne were good but stressful. I had run out of money so was having to borrow from my Aussie friends until I could arrange to get some from the States. That turned out to be no big deal but it also meant I couldn't do anything very http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/CBD/blog-312263.html How lovely it is to be in familiar surroundings again After my last entry I found a tour bus around Dubai and actually got to see a few sights which was good since I'd seen almost nothing of the city up to that point. The pictures attached here are entirely from that bus tour. Among the sights was the soontobecompleted tallest building in the world the oldest structure in Dubai which http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-309965.html Ahhh how strange is the Middle East Almost everyone here walks pigeontoed. Straight men hold hands all the time. The only things you seem to be able to buy here are mobile phones spare auto parts and furniture see my snapfish page for a small sampling of your options. Ketchup tastes like mashed rotten moldy lemoninfused vinegary POOP. Very few people seem to be drenched like me d http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-308883.html I've safely arrived in Dubai after a fairly uneventful set of flights from Cape Town. Lourens took me to the airport yesterday morning and hung out with me until I went through security. My flight to Johannesburg was uneventful. When I arrived in JoBurg I was expecting to be able to claim a refund for the tax I'd paid on some of the purchases I'd made while I was in South Africa particularl http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-308183.html Today was just delightful I spent most of the day with a tour group traveling amongst the wineries of Stellenbosch Franschhoek and Paarl South Africa. Our tour guide was a man named Tim who was a Brit who's lived in South Africa for nearly 20 years... and it showed He definitely knew his stuff and kept us entertained with historical commentary hilarious stories and savvy insights into http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-307241.html Here's the storyYesterday afternoon I left the guest house on a wander around Cape Town carrying my shoulder bag which contained WAY more important stuff than I should have been toting around including my passport driver's license credit and debit cards all my cash my camera cell phone medicines and journal. I found an Internet cafe several blocks away and sat down for a quick check http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-306690.html Worst possible thing ever Passport wallet camera credit cards debit card cash my medicines.... all stolen. This probably means I will be returning to the US sooner than anticipated. I'll keep you posted. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-306374.html I woke up this morning to a gorgeous day... probably 65 degrees totally sunny and allaround perfect. Soooo I decided to go back to Table Mountain and take the cable car to the top. I walked the 25 minutes to the lower cablecar station only to discover that the car was undergoing maintenance and won't be functional until August 4 after I leave The only option was of course to climb the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-305718.html 'Ello from Cape TownI arrived in Cape Town after yet another misadventure I got up early yesterday morning in Berlin to catch a train to Frankfurt where I was to fly to Doha Qatar and then catch a connecting flight to Cape Town. It turns out I took a train to the WRONG Frankfurt there's another Frankfurt that's a distant suburb of Berlin and when I got there it turned out I was even furt http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-305176.html So I didn't get to do any of the sightseeing I thought I was going to do in Berlin but I did get another pretty cool opportunity instead Barack Obama was giving his first and only speech in Europe today in Berlin and I went He's an amayingly charismatic speaker and he didn't once consult notes or a prompter for what to say amazing. While it wasn't a particularly policyladen speech he d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-304101.html I arrived without mishap in Berlin last night and have had nothing but a great time so far. I got an excellent deal with a private accommodation service in Germany people rent out studio apartments that they own for much below the goingrate for hotels so I have a 12th floor studio to myself in central Berlin for only euro35night I've spent most of today sleeping in doing laundry buy http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-303653.html Hello hello from Trondheim the capital of Middle NorwayI had another misadventure... my flight from Amsterdam to Oslo Norway was delayed by about an hour so I missed my connecting flight from Oslo to Trondheim and after sprinting through the airport only barely made it to the checkin gate for the last flight of the night. Luckily they got me on the flight but they didn't get my bag on http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Trondelag/Trondheim/blog-302797.html