Europe, Italy

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Only 7 more days to go, and it is a good thing too, because we’ve changed some of our travel plans within the last week. If we had more time to look at other interesting stops, we’d be in trouble! So now instead of London, Paris, Venice, Rome. We’re doing London, Paris, Milan (train station only–because that’s where it goes!), Venice, Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio, Rome.  Both new stops look super interesting. They’ll be a nice change after busy cities and tons of museums.

Orvieto’s Duomo and St Patrick’s Well look like they will be well worth the added stops on the itinerary.  The footbridge that connects Civita to the old city of  Civita di Bagnoregio is rather impressive considering there are only about a dozen people who actually live there year round!  That’s quite the infrastructure for a tiny population.  We have a couple more things to sort before we leave, but we’re pretty much ready to start packing up the back packs.  It is going to be an amazing trip.

Update

Yikes Bikes!

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Thanks Air Canada for turning me into a total stress ball! Last night we got an e-mail saying our flight home had changed. Originally we were leaving Rome at about 8:30am, flying Lufthansa to Munich, then Air Canada from Munich to Toronto and then to Vancouver, arriving at 8:20pm.So, the flight was switched to leaving Rome at 6:50am. That most certainly doesn’t work with having to be at the airport hours before check-in, and having no trains going to the airport until after 5am. Either we had to spend the night before in the airport (so, check out of our hotel a day early, carry all our crap with us for the day of sight-seeing, and then waste a ton of time at the airport) or take a taxi super early in the morning for like a billion Euros. Anxiety much?!?!

The flight was also rerouted through Frankfurt and the second leg from Frankfurt to Toronto was on Lufthansa instead of Air Canada. I don’t really care about the air line change, but the time change…not cool. Jon was on hold with Air Canada for 2 phone calls, so about 2 hours, but now we’re leaving Rome just after 10am. Hopefully they didn’t mess up the booking.

Update

Final Prep

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Ok, 46 more days to go! I’m a bit of an excessive planner–for those of you on the Vegas Vacation, y’all know that’s true! You got the pre-trip briefing.

Le Bistro Pet FeederYesterday we managed to get prepped for abandoning our pets for 22 days. We picked up an automatic food and water set up, 2 more litter boxes, and a lot of litter. Before you go crazy, we will have humans looking after them. They’re cats, they’re smart, but they don’t have opposable thumbs, so they’ll need some care. But, with the new set up we don’t have to worry about Matilda starving to death, or Cal dying of dehydration.

Today, I read through the Air Canada list of restrictions on liquids, gels and aerosols. Who knew that you could take compressed air cylinders on board to work mechanical limbs and/or to inflate your own self-inflating life jacket? Not I, that’s for sure. I already knew the whole 3oz limitation, but I wanted to know the zip lock baggy size restriction for said liquids and gels. One Quart. Come on Air Canada–a QUART?!? We live in CANADA, get with the program, it’s called METRIC. ps: It is 1.136 Litres. Thanks Google!

And, I also went to the Bank to see about the “new” Visa Chip & Pin cards. They couldn’t help me at the branch, so I had to call the number on the back of my card. Thank-you Michael from Visa for setting me up with a sweet new card that will arrive in 4 to 5 business days!

Europe, France, Update

Il dort dans les choux-fleurs

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When we were looking for accommodation in France, one of the places that made the short list was in Montmarte near the actual café that was in the movie Amélie. If you know me, you know that I LOVE that movie! Eventually, we decided not to stay in Montmarte after all, and choose a location closer to the sites that we’re going to see. After reading a ton of reviews, and looking for location and price, we ended up booking a hotel that has a few sketchy reviews about the area it is located in.  Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a nightmare.

Tomorrow, I’m going to re-read the travel books and make a list of places that are a must see, places that are a hopefully see, and places to fill the time if we have any left over. I’m sure between the Eiffel Tower and Versailles we won’t have much spare time. After re-reading the travel books, will be movies–Amélie for sure, and Marie Antoinette. Even though Kirsten Dunst is moderately annoying, I’d like to see more of Versailles.

Update

“Am I Going to Die?”

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I’m back! December was a little hectic. Slowly but surely we’re getting things ready for the trip, like buying journals, voltage adapters, memory cards etc. We still have a ton of stuff to do before take off, but the voltage adapter reminded me of this Travelocity commercial. I LOVE HIM! And, now I have my very own Squatzi.  He will be roaming through Europe with us.

Happy Travels,
~j

England, Europe, United Kingdom

“Look kids–Big Ben, Parliament!”

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How could we go to London and not do all the touristy things like see Big Ben & Parliament? And true to total geekfest style, I’ve been reading up. Of course everything you read on the wikipedia is gospel! Who knew that Big Ben’s official name is actually the Great Bell? Or that it chimes on BBC radio every hour? Or that the bell weighs 13.5 tonnes? I’m sad that overseas visitors can’t go on a guided tour of the clock tower—only locals are allowed to, and only if they arrange a visit through their MP. Anyway, I’ll be seeing it soon enough even if I can’t climb to the top.

Update

L’aventure est dans le sac

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Before we’d even looked at flights we started looking at backpacks. Jon’s has an Osprey pack right now, but after using it for Thailand, he decided to get a new one with a few more features. I didn’t actually have a pack beyond daypack size, and I sure wasn’t going to be trekking a suit case with me!

So, we checked out a few websites and a few stores to try them on, and I found one that was awesome. The one requirement I wanted for sure was the side zip the length of the pack. If you think about it, a pack that only has an opening at the top would be extremely frustrating. I know I would always want something at the very bottom of the pack—so I wasn’t going to budge on having a side zipper. The separate bottom compartment is also convenient because it also opens into the pack from the bottom if needed. I also like the watertight zippers (slight overkill for my needs, but it could be rainy!) That said, I especially think I’ll get the most use out of the ice axe holders…

 

Update

Motivation?

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Why start a blog at all? Well, some people we know aren’t so good at e-mail (checking or composing), and some people we know are not so good at the internet! (Psst, that’s you ma!) So if we made one central location with all the what not and where with all that’s going on, they’d be able to know that we’re alive and well with little effort on their part.

ps: Just so you know to which degree of computer illiteracy we’re dealing with—my fazh can turn OFF the computer, but not ON. True story!

pss: Yes, I’ll bookmark the site on the desktop so they won’t even have to look for it. That’s just how nice I am. You might want to too, just to stay all caught up!

Update

London Calling

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I found our first accommodation, the easyHotel, in one of my million travel books. I remember reading, “Our rooms come in three sizes: small, very small and tiny.” And apparently they also come in CLEAN and CHEAP which works just fine for me!

It’s gonna be awesome! Check out some of the reviews from trip advisor. I especially like the boneheads who complain about the rooms being too small. What were they expecting?!? Note the one reviewer claims “I have seen prison cells that are more spacious.”

But, it sounds like a great location. “The easyHotel Victoria is a short stroll from Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park and the Thames.” Who doesn’t want to see all of those?

Have you ever stayed anywhere tiny or quirky just because you could?
~j

ps: we’ll be sure to post photos of our actual room. I’m sure we’ll be wishing we’d spent more for the room with a window.
Update

But slowly, slowly

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We’re going on vacation in just over 4 months. At first, the whole idea of taking 3 weeks off work and jetting off to Europe seemed utterly impossible. But, somehow it all worked out—flights and accommodation are booked and there’s no turning back now!  Hopefully this will help me make sense of all the places we’re going to visit for sure, and all of the places that we end up along the way. If you’ve got any suggestions for amazing things to see or do in London besides the usual, by all means send them.

Here’s to waiting until February 21st, 2009 to hop a flight to London.

O snail
Climb Mt Fuji
But slowly, slowly!
~Issa