Life is a strange, strange thing. It's funny sometimes when you sit back and look around, and look out the window and think about where you've ended up in this life. You fill up the days with work and lunch and coffee breaks and the clock ticking down, and playing interested, and staring out the window, and holding on to focus, focus is wandering, take a breath, two more meetings, mental picture of a hazy beach, ok, half hour left, everyone leaving the office, and you can finally breathe, and the short walk home to this place, which is now home... [View Full Entry]

---

---

I am back from my trip to Hawaii. now i'm making last minute preparations for my trip to Asia. Lot of small irritances now... I got a call from my ticket consolidator and he says that my trip to Thailand will be delayed a day... No worries. I do need to call China airlines, though. i contacted Bangkok hospital and Bumrungrad as well to schedule an appointment. I plan on getting an MRI, yellow fever vaccine, and the rabies vaccines as well. Things to do -------- Call American Express. Collect money from people. Clean my linen shirt. Find more things in [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hallowe'en in Castro After we got to San Francisco we parked the car and went into a cafe for liquid refreshment and to get our bearings before looking for a place to sleep. As we were drinking our coffees the other customer in the cafe suddenly asked "Where are you guys from?" "Britain" we told her, thinking we would then get something along the lines of "Oh, England, I went there, whereabouts are you from?" Instead she carried on with "Are you looking for somewhere to go this evening? Somewhere exotic, fun, whacky, stupendous, erotic, exciting, unusual and completely unique?" We [View Full Entry]

---

---

This is an old travelogue I wrote up in 2005 outlining my trip to San Francisco with my friend Marta. We'd originally gone over there for an anime convention, but we stayed an extra week in a hostel and saw the sights. (The detail in this log is not what I write in my later logs, but it is the first trip log I'd ever written, and I felt it was appropriate to begin my new travelblog with this.) ++++ This report was written on the road. I left Toronto on October 28th and didn't return until November 4th, so the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Another quick update here to pass on some pics of my latest travels. I think last time I put up an entry I was in the UK, but since then I've upped roots again and crossed another ocean to take up residence on the West Coast of the US, San Francisco, California to be specific. I jumped employers and am now consulting on a banking client until Christmas. Not a bad place to spend the autumn. They got me set up in a beautiful serviced apartment up on the 23rd floor with a wall to wall living room window overlooking the [View Full Entry]

---

---

The third biggest tourist attraction in America. Only Disneyworld and Disneyland (Ugh) are more popular than Alcatraz. It's a quick ferry trip from Fishermans' Wharf to the most secure federal penitentary in the US. I though it would be further offshore because a good swimmer could make it relatively easily. It's quite rundown and it's strange to have a national park ranger dressed like a mountie, show you around. Looks a bit silly. They should at least look like prison guards. It's a very small island so I though it'd be a quick trip but it took me longer to see [View Full Entry]

---

---

A big change from the rest of America. San Francisco is fantastic. It's unlike any city I've ever seen and can't really be compared to anywhere. It has it's own feel. The accents are stereotypical californian like shaggy in Scooby Doo. 'Califooornia maan' The bay is beautiful. The streets are striking. The hills are exhausting. Patrick's Hill in Cork is a little bump compared to some of these. The cable cars are most certainly necessary. San Fran doesn't have any of the big pick up trucks or the number of fast food joints. It's much more relaxed and the people are [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello All, Thanks for resending the blog stuff. I somehow misplaced it. Anyways... California is great! Being from Boston I am NOT used to this perfect weather every single day. Its almost frustrating. My work is about a 45 minute walk from where Aaron and I are living so they gave me a bus pass. But on nice mornings I say to myself "self, today is a nice day, I think I'll walk". So I have pretty much been late to work everyday since it is always nice and I never take the bus. Work is great and is usually entertaining [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sara - We spent 3 days in San Francisco. We managed to book into a pretty good hostel, recommended to us in New York, called the Green Tortoise. Standard room, free internet access, breakfast, an evening meal 3 nights a week and free beer on Wednesdays. Plus an opportunity to wash our clothes. We set out to discover 'The City'. We checked out the usual tourist attractions. Rode bicycles over the Golden Gate Bridge, quite a long way you know, bought coffee in a starbucks, rode on a tram (although I've done that in Blackpool), had cocktails at the top of [View Full Entry]

---

---

It’s almost here, only one day until I leave for New Zealand. I have been looking forward to this moment since I first got the idea to go to New Zealand to live and work for a year. I am completely ready to go except for the fact that I haven't packed yet. Everything is clean and ready to go I just have yet to go through the actual process of putting my things into my suitcase. Packing for an entire year creates a slight dilemma however because it is quite hard to figure out everything I will need for a [View Full Entry]

---

---