I felt bad for not updating the site recently so here I am… and I forget to bring my camera’s cord. I improved - and the quality is terrible. But you’ll get the idea.
Tonight I’m having a big good-bye dinner with some of my friends. Tomorrow I’m hitting up a party… packing on Sunday, then leaving on Monday. Wow.
So here’s everything so far:
I arrive in London on the 21st, and then I stay there for three days until Friday the 24th. I have a hostel booked in Valencia on the 28th, so we need to plan how I am going to get there. I’m thinking it would make sense to train from Barcelona in the morning of the 28th… so if you want to think of towns I should stay at along the way, let me know. It just has to make train sense.
If the answer is no, please don’t tell me. Today I purchased my incredibly expensive $1,000 Eurail pass. I guess this will be the ultimate test of its worthwhileness. The problem with all the information I found about them on the internet is that the info is coming from people who sell the things. How trustworthy is that?
Anyway.
My thoughts are this: even if the pass isn’t worth it, I am sure it is worth at least $500. And in the scheme of things, if I really want our adventure to be fun, having the flexibility to travel whenever you want me to is sort of important. So I bit the bullet and bought the Eurail pass. In three months I’ll let you know if you should buy one too, ha ha.
We really don’t have any guidelines set up about changing a decision that’s already been made. 13 people voted, and most people said I should skip Ireland and try to go to the festival, and it looks like I am going to make a go of it. I read on about.com something about taking a night bus there, and I think that might be the only option at this point, since it is less than 18 days away and all the hostels are booked. As long as I can say the words “La Tomatina!” I’m sure i’ll be fine. And the uncertainty will only make the story better.
I’ve booked 3 nights at Palmers Lodge in London. It was a suggestion left in my FaceBook group, so there we go.
Does anyone have any ideas how I should make my way down to the festival?
In the last week of August, in the tiny town of Bunol, Spain, thousands of people throw tomatoes in the street during La Tomatina: a food fight of epic proportions.
Unfortunately, all the hostels in the surrounding areas are booked up and finding a place to stay to would be a challenge. But Kristy from travoholic has suggested that I make my way down there and give it a shot anyway.
The adventure you’ve designed so far looks something like this:
Arrive in London on Tuesday the 21st. Stay for 3ish days, then head to Ireland on the Friday or Saturday.
Here’s the next branch: I could head to Scotland before Ireland as per Rex and David’s suggestion; or I could go right to Ireland (and start using my Eurail pass) and chill there for a bit; or I could hit up Ireland later and make my way to France and train train train down to Spain and try to catch the tomato festival.
I can’t afford the available $120 canadian hotel rooms, but I’m sure with enough coffee I could somehow make it work. And if not, the failure would be an interesting story nonetheless. The only issue is what am I going to do with my lap top. I’m totally up to carrying it around… but not when people would be throwing tomatoes at me, ha ha. If you vote yes, try to think of an idea :D.
Wow we’re really getting close to the departure date. Jess and Lee made some great suggestions: stay in a few hostels in London. Sounds like a plan to me. Do you think I should try to find someone to stay with on courchsurfing.com as well?
Today is a very exciting day. You get to start choosing my adventure! Yup! It’s all up to you. I finish University this week, and then my decisions become yours.
I fly into Gatwick, London on August 20th (arriving Tuesday the 21st). And then, well… I’m waiting, ha ha. Where should I stay that first night?
Logistically, I think we should keep a 10 day lead on traveling itineraries so there’s time to book hostels / find people to stay with on couchsurfing.com / etc. I don’t want to have to sleep in an airport. Ok, actually that would probably be really fun, but not on a regular basis. Anyway. The day to day stuff can happen on the fly. If we can find cool people for me to stay with (for free), it will free up more money for me to do the fun things you want me to… like heading over to Ireland and having my first Guinness there… or whatever.
My budget for the trip is $5000 – $70 Canadian per day for the 70 days I’m abroad. It’s certainly doable. I am going to have a Eurail pass for the majority of that time which should cover the cost of transportation, but I have no idea if there are “reservation fees” or whatever associated with that. Let’s hope not.
So if you have any ideas, leave them in the comments!. This is going to be a lot of fun!
Tomorrow’s the big day. We’re going to start planning the trip. It’s also the day I present my end-of-term project to my class…
so I need your help.
What suit should I wear?
And make a fool of myself, in front of the faculty and some Venture Capitals.
or
And look more business-esque. Hopefully I don’t have those weird shadow things going on during my presentation.
You decide! By tonight, ha ha.
[update] Ok I had to close the poll… and pack away my white suit ‘cus I moved today. Well, my clothes and books and possessions moved today. I’m still in Victoria until Friday. I guess I’ll skip making a fool of myself in front of my professors and some banking people. Ha ha, I would have if you asked
I just wanted to quickly apologize for my lack up updates (and take a break from writing my 30 page marketing plan). I finish University in 15 days, so the crunch is on. I’ve been working pretty much non-stop on end-of-term projects… I have about 6 left. But come August 3rd, I’m all yours.
That’s right. Starting August 3rd the adventures begins, and I no longer have control over my life. You do.
I think we should probably should start planning the trip soon… and by “we” I mean you. I just have the pleasure of putting your ideas into the polls. On August 1st I’ll clean up the site a bit and get ready for adventure selection. I fly into Gatwick, London… so put on your adventure caps and start thinking about where you want me to go and what to do!
I have my grad photos on Wednesday, so I’m happy you let me get a haircut, ha ha
Don’t worry… all you beard lovers out there. I’ll have many chances to grow another.
I spent all weekend working on a project for school. I got to survey people and find out what they think about this website idea, which is pretty cool. Everyone said they would be really interested in videos as I’m traveling around. An interactive online travel show, of sorts. Sounds pretty cool to me - the only difference really is carrying around a computer and editing movies while I’m away *shudder*. But this isn’t about me. It’s about you. What do you think? Would actually seeing what I do in real time be more interesting? And fun? ‘cus I want you to have oodles and oodles of fun.
I’ve grown bored of the whole facial hair thing. Especially when I’m interpretive dancing. And eating I’m constantly fearful that tiny bits of food will get stuck in it. And when I’m backpacking I don’t want people to think I’m a bum.
For the last three days we had to reach our hands into the water and manually lift up the flapper thingy to flush the toilet. Repulsive. So being the man of the house (ha ha), I took it upon myself to remedy things.
I went to Canadian Tire and the little flapper thing was $9.50! To buy the whole apparatus (the “overflow tube”, “valve set”, blah blah blah) was $10.00. I didn’t understand. Anyway. At least we do not have to put our hands in the toilet to flush it anymore. Celebration.
This thirty day adventure you have me on is making all sorts of bizarre ads pop up on this site. So for now on the V word will be “Operation V Word” ha ha ha. I think if I write six more posts they will disappear… which is good.
I should probably saturate this post with words like backpacking and adventure travel. But I wouldn’t want to do that… so when I get close to my travel date I’ll start dropping the backpacking bomb, maybe throw in hostel, Europe, and Australia too.
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