This blog entry will cover the last part of my "European Vacation," specifically Venice, Cinque Terre, and Vicenza. These are the areas in Italy that Jim and I checked out in the limited time we had in the country. Most of you are familar with Venice. Many of you are familiar with Cinque Terre (travel writer Rick Steves raves about it). But how many of you are familiar with Vicenza? Well, Vicenza was our first stop in italy. It is where we would be staying our first two nights in Italy. It is a city 45 minutes west of Venice (Venezia) [View Full Entry]

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I've returned to America and am now able to finish up my blog covering my travels in Europe. It was just too busy to get the internet time needed to cover the last 1/3 of my trip, so here goes (part 1 of 2)... In my previous blog, I was in Ulm, Germany (southern city). Jim and I left Ulm on Saturday night (May 6) and headed south on the autobahn (A7). By the way, I should comment on the autobahn. First off, as many of you know, there is no speed limit. To deal with the speed differentials, most of [View Full Entry]

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It's Saturday, May 6, and I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Ulm, Germany. My friend Jim is at another swap meet (mostly old cars and antiques) while I'm on my own for a few hours in this city between Stuttgart and Munich (Southern Germany). It's good to be getting another update in. It's way overdue. What have I been up to since my last update? Let me tell you. Well, let me try to tell you (at least to the extent that my memory doesn't fail me and time permits). In my last update, I was in Hannover, Germany (Northern [View Full Entry]

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On Saturday evening, April 29, my friend Jim and I departed LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) to begin our "European Vacation." Almost 24 hours later we would reach our initial destination of Hannover, Germany. Our actual travel time, however, was only 15 hours (including a layover in London). The remaining 9 hours resulted from the jump from Los Angeles' time zone to Germany's time zone. The journey itself was fairly comfortable - the longest leg of the trip was a 10 hour flight on American Airlines from Los Angeles to London. The second leg (London to Hannover) was a really qu [View Full Entry]

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I'm sitting in front of my desktop computer at home in Thousand Oaks, California, gearing up to write an entry covering my recent trip out east (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland). It's been over a month since I returned from SE Asia. I loved my experiences on the other side of the globe and have every intention of returning. One of the biggest developments from my travels in SE Asia was meeting Saai, my Thai girlfriend. My trip out east was a result of my desire to see Saai again. Saai is working in Carneys Point, New Jersey, [View Full Entry]

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I have returned to America. More specifically, I have returned to my suburb on the outskirts of Los Angeles. It does not appear that much has changed here. However, that does not mean nothing has changed. I am not exactly the same. My trip to southeast Asia was such an amazing experience, and one that I believe will influence my future. My travels have certainly not ended; they have paused. In addition, I am more open than ever to living overseas. In spite of all that, it is good to be home. There is much that needed to be handled here, [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Bangkok a few days ago, and it's been a whirlwind of activity ever since. What have I been doing? It began on Wednesday afternoon, March 8. I flew into Bangkok and checked into my hotel, Samran Place ($22; located in the Siam Square area). That night I connected with my friend Saai (pronounced "sigh") and some of her university school friends. It was fun to see Saai again and to meet a few more of her friends. We went to Khao San Road (via the skytrain and a river boat) for dinner at a popular, reasonably priced Indian [View Full Entry]

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This may be too ambitious, and quite frankly, impossible in some cases...but I am going to attempt to give some kudos/awards to the "best" of southeast Asia, or at least, my personal favorites discovered during my travels these last 2 months. Some of you may be thinking, "but your trip isn't over yet?" True, so true. However, it is winding down and I'm sure things will be too crazy once I get back to America to update my blog for awhile (don't think for a moment though that my travels are finished after I return to America!). I'm currently in Phuket [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to my blog. I'm sitting in the open-aired lobby of my guesthouse, typing away on their only computer while the owners/staff keep bringing me things. What do I mean? Well, there are bananas, slices of watermelon and bottled water in front of me. I didn't order any of it...but I like it! This guesthouse, Lanta M.P. Seaview Guesthouse, is a small operation consisting of 8 rooms located at the end of the "big" village, Sala Dan, on Ko Lanta. The guesthouse opened in September of 2005 and is very clean, nicely decorated, with a friendly staff (although they don't speak [View Full Entry]

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It's Thursday, March 2. I spent much of today traveling over dirt, sand, asphalt, and concrete in my exploration of Ko Lanta. Although I had been on the island for a couple of days, all I could claim to have seen was Long Beach. As much as I like Long Beach, I was ready to check out the rest of the island. I had been talking with one of the guys working at the restaurant at Lanta Palm Beach Resort where I'm staying, and he arranged for a driver (brother of his wife?) to take me around the island. Now, I [View Full Entry]

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