Paul Signoretti

The Hippo

Paul Signoretti

Just a guy who is frustrated with the modern world .... I want to live in a shack and travel the world.

Im an air steward, cabin crew, trolley dolly .. what ever you wanna call me so some of my adventures are work trips spending only a couple of hours in a place or a couple of days.... Hopefully one day I will save enough money to do my round the world trip untill then ..

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” - Cesare Pavese

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didnt do more than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” - Jawaharial Nehru

The Big Budda ...

Asia » Hong Kong » Lantau Island February 5th 2010

Foggy View From The Peak

The Hippo

Day 3 – Hong Kong / Lantau Island - 5th Feb Another overcast day in Hong Kong; suppose I shouldn’t complain though, I mean it hasn’t rained yet. Eventually, I got off the MTR at Central and consulted the map as I was looking for the tram that climbs the peak for stunning views across Hong Kong; however I wasn’t too convinced that I would see anything. After consulting my map and more to the point directions from some helpful people, I made to the entrance of the Peak Tram. Boarded the tram and was thrown against the wooden seat as it climbed the 370 meters to the plateau at a crazy angle; apparently a 14 degree gradient. As I thought it would be, the further up towards the plateau we went the thicker the fog ... read more

Hong Kong ....

Asia » Hong Kong » Kowloon February 3rd 2010

Nathan Road

The Hippo

Day 1 – Hong Kong / Kowloon - 3rd Feb Half the fun of arriving in a different city, in a strange country is the process of getting into town and getting to your accommodation. After claiming my bags and saying goodbye to the crew I started this process, the directions that the International Crew Member had given me was to get the airport shuttle bus downtown, there was but one problem with this and that was that I couldn’t seem to find it. I wondered around the airport looking like the preverbal lost sheep and then I made the decision to simply jump on the airport express train. I ventured up to the ticket machine and looked at the map followed by the various options on the ticket machine. I wasn’t exactly 100% sure where ... read more

Longing For More

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Croydon September 30th 2009

Kenya and Mozambique Zisas

The Hippo

Croydon 30/9/09 After a couple of days of being home I took out my guide book and looked at the notes that I had jotted down; not of the trip that I had just done but of the one that I wanted to take. These two months away in Africa have totally captured my heart as I have fallen totally for the region. What was in my guidebook was a plan to explore West Africa; well a plan was a overstatement, actually what it was was a line joining cities up with countries split in half. The line started from Yaounde in Cameroon (where I had actually had a job offer) linking up Lagos (Nigeria), Porto Novo (Benin), Accra (Ghana), Abidjan (Cote D'Ivoire), up to Bamako and the legendary Timba (Mali) back down to Freetown (Sierra ... read more

The End Is Near

Africa » Mozambique » Southern » Tofo September 29th 2009

Me And Michelle

The Hippo

Day 58 - Tofo - 25/9/09 Woke up a very sleepy Michelle at about 0430 to make sure she would be ready to catch the minibus. I, like always was up earlier then needed, I packed the final little bit into my rucksack and waited in the reception area for the shuttle bus to arrive. The driver came into the reception and beckoned everybody onto the minibus; we all pilled in and set off. We stopped off at the bus stop, I actually use the term bus station very loosely; actually it should be described as a car park with 100's of buses all parked up looking for passengers. We took our seats, leaving our bags on the ground outside, we sat there never seeing our bags being loaded and as a result spending the whole ... read more

A Portuguese Twist

Africa » Mozambique » Southern » Maputo September 25th 2009

The Local Brew

The Hippo

Day 55 - Maputo (Mozambique) - 22/9/09 Woke up at 0700 because Michelle and French needed to leave by 0830 to get to the Mozambique High Commission to get their passport back with their visas. We jumped into the hire car and we were off, we headed down to Mbabane, I remained inside the car with bags whilst the others went and sorted out returning the hire car. This took a while as the hire company had charged French too much for something, I don’t know exactly what. Whilst they sorted this out I went across the road, I went a brought a Swaziland sticker for my work suitcase, I returned and nothing had been sorted. A few heated words were spoken but the company stood firm. We paid and went up to the bus stop, ... read more

The Happy Hippo

Africa » Swaziland » Manzini September 21st 2009

The Hippo

Day 53 - Durban - 20/9/09 Up early to get packed and sorted to get the shuttle at midday. Actually wasn’t up that early; about 1000. Aaron and Rachel went to ride a horse for a couple of hours whilst I baked in the sun, still pissed off at the 600 rand being taken out of my wallet. Finished my breakfast and went over to reception to see how much damaged the tab was going to do to my wallet, by itself it came to 800 which would have been about $600, that in itself was pretty good but when you add the $50 stolen, it was pretty expensive.. We jumped into the shuttle and started to drive back to the petrol station where we were being picked up, the journey seemed to go on for ... read more

Buffalo Rules

Africa » South Africa » Eastern Cape » Coffee Bay September 19th 2009

Buffalo Rules

The Hippo

Day 50 - Coffee Bay - 17/9/09 The Baz Bus journey was the same as yesterday; long and boring. It arrived for me at the backpackers at 0630, the morning was grey and cloudy and that pretty much was exactly the way I felt about everything!! The same people got on at the various places they had been deposited around Port Elizabeth the previous night. We stopped off at various points to pick up extra people who hadn’t been on the bus the previous night; in fact when we left Port Elizabeth it was quite uncomfortable as the bus was completely full. We continued though the Eastern Cape, dropping people off and picking other people up until we reached the town of Mthatha where we passed by the house where Nelson Mandela grew up, the driver ... read more

Cheese And Wine .....

Africa » South Africa » Eastern Cape » Port Elizabeth September 16th 2009

Welcome To Paarl

The Hippo

Day 47 - Paarl - 14/9/09 Set off from the car hire office at 1000 as we pulled out and made our way to the vineyards. Earlier on that morning I was getting my hair cut I was talking to her about my toe and pick pocketing episode and she told that Cape Town was the 4th most dangerous city in the world, using what stats? In what context? Behind who? Basra? Bagdad? Jo'burg? We hit the road and made our way out of Cape Town, eventually we started to see beautiful vineyards and rolling countryside. We arrived in Paarl, stopping in the town to get a better map of the vineyard region from the tourist information office. The first vineyard we stopped at was the Nederburg vineyard where we were greeted with a glass of ... read more

Blood And Pickpockets

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town September 13th 2009

My Dressed Toe

The Hippo

Day 44 - Cape Town - 11/9/09 I was really excited as Duncan, Cat, Pascal and Danielle were in Cape Town today. I wondered down to the Waterfront, relatively early just to enquire if the ferry to Robben Island was running today. It was and tickets were already sold out up until to the 1500 ferry, so I snapped up a ticket. Walked up the length of Long Street, up Kloof Street to the Ashanti Lodge; which is where the guys were staying, they arrived at midday. Midday rolled around and I quite literally bumped into Duncan, it was really good to see them. I feel like I would really like to stay in touch with them in the future. Duncan asked if I wanted to join them for high tea but having booked Robben Island ... read more

Great White Adventures

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town September 10th 2009

I'm Watching You!

The Hippo

Day 42 - Cape Town -9/9/09 Arrived in Cape Town at 11 and was met by the driver of my transfer to the hostel, we discussed in great details the 2010 World Cup that is being held here in South Africa, about what the locals expect from the national team and his reply was not a lot, we expect to go out in the first round but what we will do very well is hold an excellent party for its duration. Walked into the hostel, which was located in a huge purple high rise building on the 6th floor, it was actually a pretty funky little hostel; defiantly the best one I've stayed in so far, I’m in the 20 bed mixed dorm (good for meeting people) in a room called to Fantasy Forest Room, each ... read more

Joined	March 24th 2006	Trips	1
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