Friday, June 29, 2007

Vegging out

I told myself I'd try something new once in a while. Seeking new experiences makes life interesting.

Rewind about 2 weeks ago. At work.

I go to lunch with 2 of my colleagues more or less everyday. They are vegetarians. Its interesting eating with vegetarians because they always have interesting food to eat. I find it mind boggling how they can constantly not eat some form of meat! I always have to have some piece of flesh in my meal!

So we were having our casual conversation and I told them I'd try being vegetarian for a week.

I started on Monday. How am I doing?

Not bad! Well, out of the 15 meals I've had this week, I slipped once. And that was so unintentional!

First off, when I say vegetarian I mean: no chicken, pork, or red meat! Fish, would be the exception. I had it once this week.

Monday and Tuesday were easy. Unfortunately, on Wednesday, I didn't have lunch with coworkers, so it totally slipped my mind and I had a chicken sandwich!

But since then, I've been good!

I had my weakest moment last night when I went out with a colleague for drinks and we ordered a appetizer plate that included chicken, sausages, and pepperoni pizza! URGH. I held to my guns and only at the onion rings, veggie spring rolls, and potato wedges. It was torture.

I'm not sure how long I will go with this. I want to see if I can last a week. But here are a few things I've come to appreciate and realised:

  • Tofu is pretty good. Especially with Pad Thai and Pad Si Yew

  • I didn't appreciate how good Eggplant is until now.

  • Indian food is perfect if you are vegetarian.

  • Vegetarian = more cheese = more gas. Nuff said.

  • I'm eating more vegetables! Who would have thought!

  • Vegetarian dishes are pretty creative!

  • I get hungry quite quickly.


I think this weekend will be the biggest test as I'm sure I'll be craving chicken or beef very soon.

Nothing like making life a little challenging sometimes! I think this whole experience will force me to try new dishes that I normally wouldn't try!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

inhibitions

I think its funny when you are drunk and you free all inhibitions. Why is that? I'm sure there's some weird scientific reason... perhaps its because your blood thins out in your brain and you really can't over analyse what you are thinking or saying.

So I was thinking..

How in the hell did I end up in London? I mean, seriously. This is some crazy stuff. I seriously thought I'd be one of those guys that got into those serious relationships and probably be one of the first to get married.. but man... talk about taking a different path in life. I'm not complaining by no means... its just amazing what you have pictured in your head, and what really happens sometimes...

I mean, who in the hell thought I'd end up here! The first time I visited London, I hated it. But here I am, almost 2 years since my move, and I'm still here!

I seriously think about going home from time to time. I think about how convenient it is back in Chicago and how all my friends and family are there. Even the past couple of weeks I'll admit, I've been having the itch to go back.

But then I think about what I've accomplished in the past 2 years and how amazing my life has been because of my move. Sure, my best friends in the world are miles away, but what I've gone through now has changed my overall outlook in life. The things I've seen and experienced have been priceless.

I think there's going to be a point... when I wake up one morning and say...

"That's enough. I'm going home."

I think tomorrow morning won't be one of those times.

I think it will be like..

"Wow. I have a headache. I drank way too much."

Monday, June 25, 2007

Imagery

I think one of the most powerful things the human mind can do is remember an image. It could be anything. It could be the first time you've seen your favourite band live in the middle of the scorching summer. Perhaps it was the last time you saw a rainbow after a spring rain. Or maybe even a piece of artwork that you checked out in a gallery with a best friend. Images can be very memorable.

Bri and I were talking about everything and anything as usual, and I was telling him about the latest image that was playing in my head lately. It was of a smile.

Have you ever looked at someone, just by chance, and they look straight back at you, as if they knew you were looking the whole time, and they just flash you a smile?
At that moment, you get caught and all you can do is either smile back or sometimes even look away?

Its an image that's so hard to forget. Especially if that person's smile is so contagious, you can't help but smile back!

The image is so powerful that all you want to do is click "File->Save" in your head and keep it forever.

It so funny because you'll be randomly doing something and then unconsciously, you'll play that image in your head and just smile to yourself! Its so hilarious.

As much as you have it in memory, I realised that sometimes that image in my head is not enough, and I just wish I could see that person again and have them smile back at me the way I experienced it the first time!

So next time you make casual eye contact with someone, be it a friend or the opposite sex; without saying a word, flash them a smile and give them an image they'll never forget. =)

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Wow. That's deep.

What a night. I wanted to make sure Bri remembered his last few days of this Euro trip by partying hard, as well as what we are so famous for: engaging in deep, thought provoking conversations about love and relationships..

In the risk of sounding gay, he and I click when it comes to

1. Partying hard
2. Deep conversation

Partying hard.
I'll confess and say that there was one time in my life where I drove down to UofI from Chicago, at 9pm in the evening, just to make it to a party that Bri was throwing at his apartment.. 2.5 hours away. There's a selected few of people that I can party really hard with and he's one of them. When I mean partying hard, I mean... waiting in line for 1.5 hours just to get in a club and staying till the break of dawn, completely exhausted by the physical strain of dancing all night long.

Its called Fabric. Probably one of the top clubs in London. It was probably one of the more memorable club nights that I have had for a while, probably because we experienced the sights and sounds of DJ Qubert and DJ Goldie in one night entirely on accident! Legendary DJs of our time. What a memorable night of hip hop, ol' school and drum and bass.

Deep conversation
After having a short amount of sleep, we were hungry for thai. We headed to a restaurant about 5 minutes away and had one of the longest lunches I've had for a long time. I think we got there around 2pm and left around close to 7. We went back and forth about so many topics, including our past and relationships in general. We compared notes on what we looked in a woman and how our past has made us what we are today.

I remember telling him about what I was thinking lately and I'll never forget what he responded with:

"Wow. That's deep."

Deep conversation is refreshing. Its a skill. Being able to engage with someone and having the ability to share what your thinking can be so powerful and at the same time cleansing to the soul, especially if that other person knows where you are coming from and just understands. Its just nice to unload all these thoughts in my head once in a while and have someone there just to listen.

Writing can capture what you are thinking at an exact moment in time and indeed, can be therapeutic. But bonding with someone and sharing what you are thinking and having them engage in your deep thoughts and opinions on life, can sometimes be so much more powerful.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Life is simple

I've been lucky enough to have SkyTV in my flat. This gives me the benefit of watching Fast and Furious 3: Toyko Drift every day this week at 9pm.

I'm not a movie quote freak like my other good friends, but I just love these quotes from the character Han:

"Life's simple, you make choices and you don't look back."

I know in the past that once I've made a choice, I'll sit there and analyse my decision and whether or not I made the right one. But man, just like Han said, make a choice and just live with the benefits or the consequences!

Also,

"Who you choose to be around you lets you know who you are."

Brilliant! I tend to surround myself with improvisational actors. I guess this is a good sign. Although, when we sit in the pub they talk alot about Artsy stuff - like what shows they've seen or theater performances they've attended. And I have nothing to contribute! Guess I have to work on that.

Not sure what's better though. Talking about theater or thespian-like topics with my fellow players, or meeting up with colleagues and talking about geeky stuff like Macs or the latest NP Complete problem. I'd say the former.

But I guess that's the power of "who you choose to be around" because one can run with many social circles! Just have to keep reminding myself of that.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The cure to Homesick funk

Admittedly, a good amount of homesickness took over me after the two week holiday with everyone. I got into this weird funk of introspection and why I was here. I started to think about the importance of a support system and how it wasn't as strong as it is here than in Chicago. Being surrounded by close family and friends started to weigh heavily on me, more than it did in the past.

This familiar "funk" comes and goes, and it was pretty bad last week. But I think I'm off the funk after impro class yesterday.

The impro class gives me a familiar sense of belonging. Its probably the closest thing I can get to friends and family back home and gives me a chance to be my goofy self. I had missed the first week because of the "funk." But decided last week I needed to sign up for another term after a 3 week break. Sure enough, my instructor mentioned that people were asking about my absence.

I turn up yesterday and familiar faces were happy to see that I was back for another term. I can't explain how powerful this is. Just small comments about how people are happy to see you again goes a really long way. A true cure to the homesick funk.

So next time you haven't seen someone for a while, remind them how nice it is to see them again! Its a very powerful compliment!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Guest Blogger: Qualifications for the Amazing Race

The trip had many memorable experiences and what better way to share more of these memories than to have one of members of the trip who also happens to be a one of my loyal readers guest blog! DK shall follow up on my last blog post and share his #1 overall experience.

Its basically composed as a short story, so sit tight and enjoy the ride. =)

--

Chris, already made his rankings on his blog. As for me, what was Chris' #1 experience on his Honorable Mentions rankings, my #1 overall experience was the 17 Hour "Qualifications for the Amazing Race" Day. I even already gave a speech on it on the Wednesday that we got back. Here is quick recap of that faithful day from hell which really challenged us, obstacle after obstacle, trying to bring our spirits down but failing to do so because of our perseverance and great positive attitudes.

Wednesday night was a great night, drinking wine and watching photos till the wee hours of the night between 10 sweaty, smelly, intoxicated friends, who somehow found themselves blessed with having delicious pesto, pasta, and seafood in Vernazza and drinking wine in Monterosso after 8 hours of cliffside, oceanside hiking through the terrains of Cinque Terre, Italy. With the view of the aquamarine blue waters of the Ligurian Sea, the taste of banana and strawberry gelato, and the smells of the delicious pesto still lingering in my senses, it was sad to face the harsh reality that we must depart the following Thursday morning on one of 2 trains: either the 7:30 am train (way too early - no way - we need more sleep, we don't want to miss the wonderful free breakfast at our hotel, and we would end up waiting at the airport for our 1:20 pm flight for over 3 hours) or the 10:45 am train (way too late - as we would miss our 1:20 pm flight). We decided to figure out an alternative train that would take us back to Genoa from Monterosso the next morning. We got our extra 1.5 hours of sleep, had our breakfast, and the hotel manager told us that we could hop on a 10:18 am train back to Genoa. It's not supposed to take us back to Genova Principe (the train station we need to go to), but rather it would take us to a different train station, Genova Brignole...however if we stayed on the train and not get off at Genova Brignole, we could still end up at Genova Principe. Wonderful!

10:18 AM
(1) We get on our train from Monterosso station to Genova Brignole.

12:00 PM
We arrive at Genova Brignole, and to our surprise, the train conductor kicks us all off the train as it is the end of the line, and no! they will not take us to Genova Principe station. CRAP! This is no good, as we need to get to the Genoa Airport by 12:20 PM to check-in for our 1:20 pm flight back to London. We have 20 minutes to get to the airport. There are only 2 ways one can get to the Genoa Airport, and that is by the Volabus, which is a bus that runs once an hour from the Genova Principe train station to the airport (no time for that as we are at the wrong train station), or by taxi cab...alright, I guess we have to use our contingency plan and hop into taxi cabs to drive us straight to the airport. There are 2 taxi cabs waiting around right in front of us. I ask the cab driver for 2 taxis to take 9 of us to the airport....AND...to my shock, we get the following reply "NO TAXIS! WE ARE ON STRIKE FOR THE NEXT 2 HOURS!" This is the case for all of Genoa. Was this a cruel joke from God? Were we on candid TV? The blank stares from each one of us with luggage in hand and backpacks on backs produced a feeling of initial dismal terror. Well this was quite an unfortunate turn of events...we did not have a contingency plan #2 ready for our failed contingency plan #1. The mad scramble started. Nobody in this city speaks English, and we have to figure a way out to get to the airport before our flight leaves. It is DEFCON 5 for us. Chris manages to buy Volabus tickets for all of us, and after the purchase, when he asks the ticket counter lady where we get on the bus, she says at Genova Principe Station!!! not here at the Genova Brignole Station!!! So, how do we get there? Based on local maps, people are thinking about walking/running to the airport from where we were when we had absolutely no idea how far we really were. Panic? Maybe. Darlene manages to speak to a local who explains where we need to hop on a Metra Bus that would take us to Genova Principe train station.

12:15 PM
(2) We get on the Genoa Metra Bus as we're packed in there like sardines with our luggage and backpacks hoping to God, that this bus gets us to Genova Principe train station. While on the bus, we hear Tagalog being spoken, so Jim and Darlene manages to strike up a conversation with fellow Filipinos on the bus to make sure that we are indeed on the right bus. A big "Salamat" to them.

12:30 PM
We arrive at the Genova Principe station and we have to quickly find out where we board onto the Volabus - the bus which takes us to the airport. We find out that we just missed the bus by a few minutes, and the next one doesn't arrive for almost another hour. (sigh) Realization has now settled in to know that we will not be making our 1:20 PM flight back to London.

By missing this flight, this unfortunate turn of events could potentially create a cascading trickle effect to not 1 travel itinerary, but to 4 different travel itineraries. Aside from Chris, Allison, Tim, and Darlene getting back to London, Jim and Phuc had pre-bought return train tickets from London to Paris for that afternoon right after we land in London. Similarly, Dan and Brian had pre-bought plane tickets from London to Amsterdam for that late afternoon. I had planned to take a train to Manchester that afternoon too. However, there was still hope that if we miss this flight, we could find another immediate flight back home. We shall see when we get to the airport.

1:15 PM
(3) The lavender colored Volabus finally arrives, and we depart for the airport. I find out that our flight back to London is delayed by 10 minutes, so it doesn't leave till 1:30 pm. It doesn't help, as we finally make it to the airport at 1:40 pm. We look a bit dejected, but still remain hopeful. We go up to the ticket counter, and they tell us that our return ticket on Ryan Air has been forfeited. Since we arrived after the flight had already departed, our tickets become garbage. What a waste. We would have to buy brand new one-way plane tickets to get back to London. Well...we soon found out that the 1:20 pm flight from Genoa to London was the ONLY flight back to London that day on Ryan Air. YIKES! There were no other flights back to London without having to pay over $1000, so we had the new challenge of just getting back to London on that day. We leave the ticket counter, and we find an internet kiosk.

2:00 PM
All of us are huddled around this red internet kiosk in the middle of the airport. We start feeding coins of Euros into this internet kiosk as we get onto kayak.co.uk to start searching for one way flights back to London from other nearby major hubs like Rome and Milan. We also tried to get tickets for going straight to Amsterdam, Manchester, and Paris for the other itineraries. We were doing searches for that evening, the next morning, the best fares, departing from various airports, etc...we did this for Milan to London, Rome to London, Milan to Manchester, Rome to Manchester, Milan to Amsterdam, Rome to Amsterdam, Milan to Paris, Rome to Paris, multiply this by 2 as we checked for both that Thursday evening and for the following Friday morning. Once we wrote down all the various options. We focused on the cheapest fares. While we have people at the internet kiosk, we have others finding out train schedules from Genoa to Milan. We find out that there is a train that goes to Milan from Genoa every half hour from the Genova Principe train station. We first book a flight for Jim and Phuc departing from Milan's Malpensa airport at 8:45 pm to Paris on Vueling Airline for the cheapest available fare of $190 per ticket. Now, that they have their flight booked, they need to get themselves back to Genova Principe train station via the Volabus (which runs only once an hour) and then get on the next train to Milan which leaves at 3:47 pm. We tell the reluctant couple to go on without us so that at the very least, they can make their flight from Milan to Paris. The clock is ticking and the internet kiosk meter is running a big bill as we keep throwing in Euros to buy more minutes. Next, I realize that there are no affordable flights to Manchester, so I give up on flying directly to Manchester. Instead, I decide that I will just take a train from London to Manchester. We find a flight on Air Alitalia from Milan's Malpensa Airport to London Heathrow departing at 8:40 pm for the cheapest fare of $264 per one-way ticket. It was the best we could find; I need to purchase 5 of these (for Chris, Tim, Darlene, Allison, and myself), but I keep getting an error page when I try buying the tickets. ARGH! So, at this point, I try going to the Air Alitalia ticket counter, and they quote me prices that are more expensive than the internet!!! Well, that won't work, so I head back to the internet kiosk. Dan and Brian chose to buy a $130 ticket on EasyJet from Milan's Malpensa Airport to Amsterdam, but departing at 7:00 am the following morning. They would need to sleep overnight at the Milan airport. They successfully buy their tickets, and now I get back on the kiosk, and I decide to go straight to the Air Alitalia website. I see that I can only buy 4 tickets at a time...maybe that's why we were getting the errors before. So, we decide to buy 3 tickets (Chris, Allison, and me) together, then quickly buy 2 more tickets (Tim and Dar) together. We luckily get the same price from kayak, and we successfully book the first set of tickets. Now, we quickly try to buy the last set of tickets, but wait!...is anyone watching the meter on the internet kiosk?!!....it's down to 30 seconds!...it would be terrible if we lost internet connection at this moment in the middle of the ticket purchase transaction. Tim yells out we need more money! Allison throws in a Euro in the kiosk, but it doesn't take the coin! Who put a damn cup on the kiosk which is in the way of the coin dispenser hole?! Tim yells out, "Get that cup out of the way!", we put in another Euro and with seconds to spare, the meter is back up to 6 minutes. Thank goodness. We successfully finish purchasing the last set of plane tickets. YIPEE! After spending maybe 20 Euros on the internet kiosk and being our own travel agents, we finished booking 4 separate itineraries. What time is it now?....It is 3:33 pm. The next train for Milan departs 3:47 pm. If we hop into taxi cabs (which by this time, the damn 2 hour strike is over), could we make it to Genova Principe train station from the airport in 14 minutes? I say YES! We have to try because if we miss it, we would have to wait another 30 minutes for the next train....at the luck we've been having, those 30 minutes could mean another catastrophe, so we are now in full Amazing Race mode. Where are the camera-men?

3:33 PM
(4) We hail 2 taxi cabs down, and we zoom off on the way to the Genova Principe train station. As the minutes quickly tick away, we determine that we will just buy our train tickets on the train. We call up Phuc and Jim who are sitting on the train, and they tell us the platform number. When we arrive there, we will need to jump out of our taxi cabs and sprint for the platform and jump on the train. We finally arrive at the train station at 3:47 PM. The 7 of us with backpacks and luggage race through the train station like mad banshees as Dan's big backpack plows over and through innocent pedestrians in the station like an NFL runningback breaking tackles to reach the endzone. We sprint in the train station going down the stairs, up the stairs, and Chris is the first to make it to the train platform. He yells "THE TRAIN IS STILL HERE!!" Jim and Phuc hears his voice and they see us. By the miracle of God, all 7 of us safely get on the train. As the last person gets on the train, the doors close, and the train departs. It departs not at 3:47 PM but at 3:50 PM. It was 3 minutes late, and it was those 3 minutes that bought us that extra time of making this train. We're out of breath but have smiles on our face as Jim and Phuc had their doubts of us making it.

3:50 PM
(5) The 9 of us are once again all together, and we are now on our merry way to Milan...a city that was not on any of our travel itineraries, but is now. We seem like we have created some good buffer in time as our first flight of the group leaves Milan at 8:40 pm. That is until Darlene asked Brian to see his "Let's Go Europe" travel book. Now, we're thinking that the airport would be somewhat close to the train station....OH...how wrong we were! The book shows us that Malpensa Airport is actually a whopping 47 km away from the central train station. We had a new challenge of figuring out the best way to get from the Milan train station to Malpensa Airport. We tried to figure out the Milan rail system by reading the travel book.

6:00 PM
Our train arrives in Milan, and we go into the subway system. We are in the fashion capitol of Europe and I can definitely see the high fashion sense by noticing numerous women who look like models with endless long legs that the eyes cannot avoid. Milan also has Il Duomo and the Last Supper painting, but sadly we had no time to do any sight-seeing. However, Brian and Dan had time as they didn't have to depart Milan till the next morning. We have to say our goodbyes to the two of them...but wait! We needed to get the train directions out of Brian's "Let's Go Europe" travel book, so we proceed to write down some of the major train stops onto Darlene's hand. I'm trying to figure out where to buy tickets for the express train to the airport, and I find out that I'm in the line for express buses. Chris patiently observes the locals buying their subway tickets from the ticket machines, and he copies the process to buy a subway ticket for 1 Euro for himself; he tests it out, and it works, so the rest of us buy our own subway tickets too. We say our goodbyes to Dan and Brian, as the 7 of us head for the airport. We don't know which way we're going or which subway to take as we're trying to figure out the rail system. (6) We hop on the first subway train which looks like is going to where we need to go. Once on the train, it takes us 3 subway stops to figure out that we were going the WRONG way. (7) We hop off the subway train, and then we hop back onto the subway train going in the right direction. We figured out which train station we need to go to in order to get on the Malpensa Express train. Tim, Dar, Allison, Chris, Jim, Phuc and I arrive at the Cadorna Railway Station by subway at 6:35 pm. We're starting to breathe a little bit easier.

6:55 PM
(8) The Malpensa Express train departs Cadorna station, and the 7 of us are on our way to the airport. There is no rest for the weary as we all need to check in at least one hour before our flight departure. Jim and Phuc depart at 8:45 pm for Paris, while the rest of us depart at 8:40 pm. The train arrives at Malpensa airport at approximately 7:30 pm. We say our goodbyes to Jim and Phuc as they are off to check-in with Vueling Airlines, while we have to check in with Air Alitalia. The 5 of us (Tim, Dar, Al, Chris, and I) successfully check-in and get our boarding passes at 7:40 pm. Now, you can imagine how important it was to catch that 3:47 train from Genoa to Milan; if we had missed that train, we would be running over 30 minutes behind, and we would be in jeopardy of getting on this last flight out to London from Milan.

We arrive at the gate and we wait in line to board. There is no jet way for us to board the plane, but rather, we have to hop on a bus from the gate which drives us to our plane parked in the middle of nowhere. As we wait in line, I get a phone call from Jim and Phuc, and they tell us that they are on their plane and getting ready to take-off. We wish we were in their shoes at that moment as we were still waiting in line at the gate. All of a sudden, we look up at the monitors in the gate, and it says that our flight has been suspended! Then, we see the first group of people, who boarded the bus, getting off the bus and coming back into the gate. Through word of mouth, we find out that the plane is having mechanical issues as a piece of the plane is broken. At this moment, I have a flashback, and I can recall one of my co-worker's stories. My co-worker/friend, Markus, had flown on Air Alitalia to Italy for his honeymoon last year, and after that trip, he vowed to never ever fly Air Alitalia again because of all of the delays dues to mechanical failures. He didn't get home back to the states until the following day of his scheduled return date. He warned me about them, but nevertheless, with our current desperate situation, we didn't have many other choices outside of Air Alitalia. Now, we're sitting in the gate waiting and waiting. It's been one hour, and we notice the first group of people get back on the bus...wonderful, they fixed the plane, and we might be departing soon. But! Alas! We see the monitor say that the flight has been suspended again, and we see that group of people come off the bus again! We find out through word of mouth, that the airline decided to change planes! We're not sure why, but we hear that they had to change to a smaller plane, and that they need to kick 6 people off the flight, as the smaller plane doesn't have enough seats for everyone. Mind you, there are no public announcements on the loudspeaker system because with the bad reputation that Air Alitalia has with on-time departures, they don't want to alarm the passengers, and they decide to just keep quiet about it. We know what's going on just through word of mouth. At this point, I really don't know if we'll be sleeping over night at the airport. Almost 2 hours have passed as we continue to wait in the gate with some very irritated waiting passengers. Finally, we start boarding the bus standing on the tarmac. (9) The bus drives us from the gate down the tarmac to the middle of nowhere. Our plane awaits us, and we board the plane. While I'm looking for my seat, I see that my seat doesn't exist on this plane. Of course, we're on a totally differently configured plane. The flight attendant tells us that it is open seating - first come first serve, so therefore, the 5 of us immediately grab the emergency row seats. I can understand why open seating was not announced back in the gate; there would've been a mass riot of people trying to mob their way onto the bus to get first dibs on seats on the plane.

10:40 PM
(10) After a 2 hour delay, our flight finally takes off and we are in the air. This was the first flight I had ever been on with an all-male flight attendant crew...strange. Also, I finished off the worst airplane meal; it was some sort of sandwich with 2 layers of cheese and green colored bread inside 2 white bread. The flavor was just simply very foreign and odd to me. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten this meal because of what to come later on.

11:30 PM
We manage to gain an hour by changing time zones as we land in London Heathrow. Chris' flat is on the opposite side of town from London Heathrow as this is the most inconvenient airport for getting to and from Chris' flat. We understand that the London Underground shuts down at around midnight, but we race through customs and we hope we can grab the last tube train from London Heathrow to the city center. When we arrive at the Underground, we dejectedly find out that the Underground is closed. Our next option is to take the night buses from London Heathrow Airport to the city center. We make our way to the bus stop, and wait for the N9 bus.

11:55 PM
(11) We hop on the N9 double decker red night bus. We sit at the top level, and we start a new 2 hour journey to Trafalgar Square in the city center. We are very, very far from the center of London, and Chris tells us that it will take 2 hours to just get to Trafalgar Square and then another 1 hour by bus to get to his flat. Wow! The day and night of travel seems never-ending. At some point, our bus comes to a complete stop, and the driver tells us that we all must get off the bus and transfer onto another N9 bus. Huh?! We are absolutely baffled. This is a very odd occurrence. We're transferring from one N9 bus to another N9 bus. Did our bus break down? Well, nothing would surprise me at this point. (12) So now, we're on the 2nd N9 bus of our trek to Trafalgar Square at the city center. We have a long ways to go still, so Chris pulls out his Nintendo DS and Dar/Tim pulls out their Nintendo DS, so we can all play some one-on-one Mario Ware games. I take my turn, and I'm playing Nintendo DS while in the moving bus. This was a mistake on my part. For me, personally, I get motion sickness whenever I read or focus my eyes on something small like playing video games in a moving train or car. Well, I started to get sick in my stomach, and remember that messed up green sandwich I had on the Air Alitalia flight?...well, that wasn't helping my symptoms of nausea. I had to stop playing Nintendo DS, and just try to control my nauseous stomach. We've been riding on this bus for almost 2 hours, and I'm a little afraid of hurling up my green sandwich on the bus.

1:45 AM
The bus finally comes to the end of the line at Trafalgar Square. We get off the bus, and I graciously welcome the cool fresh air to help rid my nausea. This is when I inform my travelmates, that I may vomit at any point. Luckily, I did not. Chris says that there is another bus we would need to hop onto for another 1 hour ride to his flat, and I said NO!....let's get into a black taxi and try to get home as quickly as possible. (13) We find a black taxi, pay the extra quid, and head for Chris' flat.

2:18 AM
We arrive into Chris' flat at 2:18 AM. We are greeted by his sister and her boyfriend who had just flown in from the states. After a day that started in Monterosso, Italy at 10:18 AM, we finally arrived at our destination 17 hours later (including the 1 hour from the time zone change). It was quite an experience to remember. For many, it was all just a blur, but for me, it was quite vivid. As for me, I still needed to get up early the next morning and find a train to Manchester and I arrived in Manchester 16 hours behind schedule on the following Friday afternoon.

In summary, what was supposed to be a 6 hour travel day from Cinque Terre to London, turned out to be a 17 hour travel day, and a $305 breakfast after adding up all of the additional on-the-fly transportation costs. As you read through the journey, you may have noticed parenthesized numbers - these represent each form of transportation which totaled up to 13 different transportation vehicles we had taken by the end of the 17 hour trek. Based on my experience, that is unprecedented. Disclaimer: some times are not accurate, but rather estimates.

So, in conclusion, was this most-memorable experience a good one or bad one? hmmm...I'll let you be the interpreter and judge on that for yourself. As for me, honestly, I wouldn't mind doing it all over again. After all, it makes for a great story to be told for years to come. There is conflict, villains, suspense, surprise, underdog heroes, triumph, and conclusion.

After speaking to other people about the taxi strike, which triggered our doom, I found out that these strikes are a very common occurrence in Italy. There are train strikes too. Even the semi-trucks go on strike, and when they do, they stop in the middle of the highways and roads to block all traffic. It's just a way of life that people deal with in Italy. If that is indeed the case, well then, we can certainly proudly say that we lived through it too.

As you may all remember, before the trip began, during the preparation stages, when Phuc asked what should we bring to Europe, Chris and most of us all responded with one of the most important ingredients needed for a successful trip - that being an open-minded, positive attitude. Boy, did this come in handy during our most challenging moments. Smiles, laughter, joking, and our care-free spirit really helped make light of the more potentially stressful situations. I can guarantee you that this was not the first time we missed a flight, and it won't be the last time either. I'm looking forward to our next Amazing Race.

Monday, June 11, 2007

And then there was one.

The silence is deafening.

What was once a virtual hostel, full of luggage, make-shift beds and filled to capacity of 8 of my lovely friends, my flat has started to transform to its old self.

Evidence of its formal self are everywhere. Left over toiletries, collected souvenirs, a pile of blankets, pillows and towels, folded up and deflated airbeds, and a hard drive full of memories.

It was an amazing two weeks with many lifetime, unforgettable memories of the trip. There were many blogworthy moments on this trip.. its hard to keep them straight in my head but here are my "unofficial top 5"

1. Conquering Cinque Terra - over 9 km of hiking, all 10 of us made it to the end.
2. London Eye - Meeting up with Jim and Phuc to make the group complete, the London Eye ride was unforgettable.
3. Dinner, Drinks, and Wine in Cinque Terra - The 2nd night after the long hike we went out and had a brilliant dinner and wine by the beach. We headed back to the hotel to continue the party. We clicked.
4. Budapest partying - Partying till the break of dawn. We all got a little closer this night.
5. London Partying - After a whirlwind tour of London in the rain in one day, Bri, Dan and I chugging redbull and vodkas in a empty club before the rest of the crew show up.

There are many more memories, but these stick out in my mind. Honourable mentions:

1. Missing the flight back to London - resulting in rebooking flights/trains on an internet kiosk in the Genoa Airport. Damn taxi strikes. Unforgettable.
2. Prague Police - Getting caught without train tickets and being fined 2500 KC.
3. The 10 Euro Bribe - "Shhh!" Without "train reservations" for the train ride to Prague, we had to negotiate the 45 Euro charge to a reasonable number.
4. Running for the Milan train. - After booking all flights, we had to make the train to Milan. Taking a cab and running for the train just like the Amazing Race.
5. 35 and white wine. - Nuff said.
6. 9 is enough - Fitting 9 people in my flat, coordinating shower orders, and making the early flight out to Genoa.
7. Krakow clubbing - Women outnumber men yet again!

I'm already going through friend withdrawal. Being surrounded by so many close friends in two weeks, then returning to reality is painful. I was spoiled by the constant hanging out of laughing and bonding. Its sucks to get back to reality sometimes, especially after a trip like this.

Friday, June 08, 2007

It smells like Poland

Crazy Itinerary. Partying till the sun comes up. I'm just getting too old for this.

Krakow didn't let us down with a repeat of my Warsaw experience. Girl/Guy ratio: 16:1. Sheesh.

Budapest - Beautiful city. Too short of a stay. Partying till the break of dawn.
Palinka shots! Bri and I were brave enough to ask a Hungarian bartender what shot he recommended.

Its called Palinka and it burned like gasoline. Probably the worst shot I've ever had in my whole entire life and I think the rest of the group would agree with me. Its was one of those shots were you try and swallow it but it comes right back up.

Partying in Budapest was crazy. It ranks pretty high in one of the top memorable moments so far on the trip. I just wish I had more sleep. =)

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

2nd leg countdown..

2nd leg begins at 3 hours and 20 minutes..

Cab picks Al and I bright and early at 4:30am to catch a 7:25AM to Krakow. From Krakow, we're going to hit up Budapest, Vienna, then finally Prague in 6 days. Should be interesting.

Jim and Phuc left early this morning at around 5am... and I was up to wish them goodbye after staying up till 3am. I thought holidays were about sleeping in and relaxing... its been pretty hectic so far... but oh so fun!

Quick recap of last few days:
Yesterday: Missed train to Bath, ended up going to Oxford and hitting up a sightseeing tourbus and catching afternoon tea and scones...then off to Notting Hill and Portobello Road in search for the "bookstore" from the movie. Ended up eating at Gourmet Burger with 15 minutes before closing...

Today: Finished up Al's sightseeing list with Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Texas Embassy's Tex-Mex, St. Paul's Cathedral, shopping at Virgin, and performing my custom "South Bank walking tour" as performed early this week...

I'll try and recap during the week.. but if not, see you in a week!

Sunday, June 03, 2007

9 to 6

With Bri and Dan moving on to Amsterdam and Dublin, and Mike and my sis arriving on Thursday, we were still 9. But today, 5:19am, Dar, Tim and Dave have just left for their morning flight back to the States.

Quick Recap of the last two days:

Friday - Late start after a grueling 17 hour journey from the night before. Covent Garden, Blue Elephant Thai Food, Koko club and Old Street kebabs.

Saturday - English Breakfast in Limehouse, Riverside walk to Canary Wharf, Westminster Abby, Big Ben / Parliament Pictures, St. James Park for Ice Cream and Don Johnson, Quick Walk by of Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Oxford Circus with a Tori Spelling sighting, Jade Garden Chinese food, and Pearl Drinks.

Next few days will be hanging out in London before the Poland departure. Hopefully the weather stays nice and sunny!

I promise more detailed blogs later! For now, I'm off to bed.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Back in London..for now.

What a trip. I think one of the best things in traveling is not only the destination, but the people you are traveling with!

Cinque Terra is definitely on my recommendation list of destinations! I will have pictures and stories very soon!

We got home late last night after a grueling 18 hour trip back home, covering over 9 methods of transportation, all due to a taxi strike! But that's a story worth telling later! For now, I continue my hosting duties for the next few days until Poland!