I’ve been traveling, and traveling, and traveling lately…

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Tonight I stumbled across the blog we put together when we were backpacking all over Europe two years ago. We hit 15 cities in 30 days… obviously too much, but we got to see a lot. Since then, I’m much more likely to go to only one (and max 2) places on a vacation. Turbo tourism is fun, but I think the best part of Europe is when you’re staying in one place and meeting people.

Check out the Miami Backpackers Blog…

Oslo, Norway…where a McDonald’s combo meal will cost you $18 USD and even the airport looks like a ski lodge.

Here are a few pics from my trip last week to Paris (more, as usual, on Flickr):

Tomorrow is a holiday here, and I’m heading to Manchester, England for the night. Then I have two days of work in Leeds, England on Tuesday and Wednesday. So when I’m not pent up in an office or riding on a train, I’ll be trying to see these two cities. This is my first time to England…

I just added a calendar showing some of my confirmed travel dates.  Check out the right side of this page.

More posts, more frequently now – I promise. I now have Internet at home, so I have no excuse.

Since I last wrote, a lot has happened here. I moved into a new apartment and out of the hotel. All of my clothes are permanently suitcase-creased, but it was worth the wait. The new place is amazing! Cool architecture, furnished, and right in the center of town:

Check out the awesome view of Grand Place!:

I broke the new pad in with a little party last weekend. Naturally, I wanted to put my best foot forward, so I decided to iron my shirt before everyone showed up. As soon as I plugged the iron in, all the power went out and, to make a long story short, it took 30 minutes and a trip down to the cave of a basement to get the lights back on. Luckily, only a few guests showed up before we figured it out. I mean, I like parties with music from laptop speakers and two candles for light as much as the next guy, but that would have sucked. Why do I keep having power issues?

Most people brought some alcohol to the party – more as a gift than something to drink that night. This is pretty different from the U.S. I think I actually ended up ahead because people brought so much. So it just solidifies the obvious: Having a party is almost always a good idea.

Other recent happenings include a visit from Grant, a friend from MKE. After he broke my water heater,

we hopped on a train and went to Antwerp for the afternoon,

before heading to Essen, Belgium for his girlfriend, Femke’s, graduation party. I can speak a bit of French which gets me around fine in Brussels, but I speak zero Dutch. So, it was a cool experience to see a traditional Dutch graduation party, but there was quite the language barrier.

We finished off the packed weekend with an afternoon in Amsterdam. Not really enough time to see the city, so I’ll have to go back. It’s only about 2 hrs by train from here.

 Don’t you love checking websites daily when they only get updated every other week?? I know I do.

Seriously though, sorry for the delay between posts. I originally wanted to wait until I had good news about my apartment search here in Brussels… and I’ve had two weeks of bad news…UNTIL TODAY! I’m moving in tomorrow (I’ll actually believe it when I’m through the door). I will post some pictures of the new place soon.

Since my last post, I’ve moved to my 3rd hotel in the last month. This one is much closer to work at least which is so much better than the first.

I went to Brugge over the weekend with my friend from work, Remi, and his girlfriend Amandine.  It’s a beautiful city in the North of Belgium with great architecture.  Check out some pictures:

We took a canal tour which was dirt cheap at 5 Euros…compared to 60 Euros in Venice.

I did a little experimentation with motion photography while we were there as well:

Overall, great trip.  Thanks Remi for the ride!

Here is my initial brain-storm of places I’d like to visit while I’m here for the next 5 and a half months.  Obviously, I may have to strike some from the list if time isn’t permitting.  What am I forgetting?  Let’s talk about it in the comments section.

• Paris
• London
• Budapest
• Munich
• Madrid
• Copenhagen
• Switzerland
• French Alps
• Greece
• Cannes
• Amsterdam
• Brugge
• Antwerp
• Prague
• Barcelona

I just got back from Beijing a few days ago — very cool trip. It all started when we met up with our tour guide Ricky on Saturday morning:

Ricky was a cool guy, and answered most of our questions. He definitely learned as much about the U.S. as we did about Beijing though. I think he examined my iPod for 20 minutes, trying to figure out where it was manufactured (I think he’s in the export biz).

Ricky led us around Beijing on Saturday and Sunday. Here are a few highlights:

1. The Great Wall

We lucked out with some perfect weather for The Great Wall. I’m not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but the stairs there are really steep and inconsistent. Regardless, we made it to the highest point, and got a glimpse of some amazing views. I later heard that another tour group (more of our friends) went to a part of the wall where you could ride a slide/bobsled thing down after reaching the top. It sounds like a cheesy experience — a cheesy experience I wish I could have had.

2. Kung Fu Show

I didn’t get many photos here for two reasons… 1. I didn’t want to get thrown out…. 2. I didn’t want to get round-house kicked in the face (cameras weren’t allowed). The show was AWESOME though. If you’re ever in Beijing, check it out at the Red Theater. It started out with a 7 year old doing a hand springs without hands (on his bare head)…. need I say more?

3. Silk Factory
Yes, this had a good possibility of being pretty uninteresting. However, I was delightfully surprised by the private fashion show:

…and my buddy Dan serving as comic relief on his birthday:

4. Summer Palace

I only wish we could have had some better weather here, because this place was beautiful.

5. “Christmas Father”

(self explanatory)

6. Pics of My Friends Creeping

I’m still laughing at these.