A stationary blog...

Now that I am in Marbella and unlikely to leave it for the coming days, I thought I would give you a quick update.

School has been going well. We are focusing on learning the 3 past tenses for Spanish which has always been tough for me because there isn't necessarily a good translation into english. For example whenever you say "I have _______" that pretty much always translates "Yo he _____(a/i)do". Easy. Or "When I was younger I used to ______" is always "Cuando era mas joven, _____(aba/ia)". Also pretty easy. But if you are describing let's say, a car accident. Crap it becomes hard. If you cross the road then crash, you cruce if you are hit while crossing, you crucia.

There are lots of "little" things like that which make it a pretty aggravating language.

Otherwise, life in Marbella is good. Each day I go for a walk, grab some lunch (today was at La Casa de Empanadas right off Ricardo Soriano), do a little studying of both my engineering course and Spanish (Chinese has slid a little). Over all a pretty good deal. More to come when events warrant :)

--Joey

Flight Makes Right

My 2008 year o' backpacking is officially underway. Stay tuned to the blog for all the usual stories and commentary. (Related note: Apparently my RSS feed is broken (in Mozilla it keeps telling me it is (Empty) not sure why...) so I am working on a fix, or at least a work around.

Long post warning

My flight over I thought would be pretty decent. I had a bulkhead aisle that was being shared by a young English couple and their adorable-when-not-crying 7-month old daughter. Unfortunately, she waited until after meal service to start. Otherwise, flying non-stop to Europe has it's advantages. On the route map, they took off to the south and hung a hard left just south of Fort Myers before heading north. On a trip of that length, the difference in miles is hardly worth mentioning.

So that's what London is like the majority of the year...

Having only seen London during the beautiful month of May, I have avoided the harsh reality that it is seldom like how I remember it. In addition, London was always among the cleaner cities I had been to because my experience was limited to a hotel on top of the Piccadilly, Jubilee, and Victoria lines at Green Park (thank you Dad and your Holiday Inn points!) that runs just shy of 400 USD a night this time of year. I was headed for more modest accommodations ;)

The Generator is one of those hostels that everyone has either been to, or knows someone who has been there. People also either love it or hate it. It is a complete party hostel with an 800 bunk capacity. The rooms smelled like a gym locker room but were reasonably clean. Lockers off in the corner for your stuff etc. My first day in any country is primarily a work off the jetlag day.

So when I arrive at the hostel my plan was to see the Tate Modern and chill with my fellow backpackers. My pack was loaded down with an extra 6 lbs of clothes for my host family in Spain which did two things.

1.) Added 6 lbs
2.) Made it tougher to cinch down the pack and keep the mass closer to my back

I decided to wait the hour and change until my room was ready so I wouldn't have to find a place for my bags. I collapse on a couch and start talking to a few Irish girls and an American guy about the usual sort of thing when a guy with a walker approaches the back of the American guy who is sitting on a stool. One girl mutters "look out" and he turns around, looking slightly annoyed. The guy then comes over and sits next to me and starts telling me about his life in Hungary. I learned about how much it costs to build a shed, how he broke his foot and several other things I didn't care about but he still felt like I needed his 2 Forints on.

During this distraction the 6 girls and the American made a break for it leaving me with Mr Magyar's stories that faded in and out of English and Hungarian. After 15 minutes of zoning out during the rambling it occurred to me that maybe I would be able to use my key, sure check-in was at 2 but maybe they already activated it and my room was done? So I told him I would see him around and got a green LED on my door handle! Awesome :)

After stuffing my bag in a locker I headed off for the Tate about 60 pounds lighter. Southwark station was apparently main station for doing a lot of museums along the Thames. I stumbled around for a while trying to find it, and it quickly became 4 and 4:30 so I realized today was just going to be a stroll around day. Even on a Sunday there are people out for walks, a docked boat pumping out some Count Basie, street vendors selling hot dogs and yes, even tourists during this less than desirable time of year. Ironically, I heard a lot of Spanish being spoken. At a time when visions of the Costa del Sol dance through Briton's heads, the Spaniards were soaking in the bleakness. Irony huh?

By 7p it was pitch black and I was sleepwalking. I tried to make it an early night and do the hanging out at the bar downstairs bit the next day. Dinner consisted of a stop at Valencia's for some fish and chips prepared by a guy who collected money and still picked up food from his plate to plop it on yours. It was that questionable sanitary condition that made me only eat there twice...the food was damn good ;). Straight off to bed. Between people running/screaming in the hallway, my roommates coming and going, and an early morning jackhammer I was wishing I had the infant's crying to block out the noise. No more than two hours sleep for the second straight night. Unfortunately that sleepwalking first day feeling left room for a sequel.

From Mondrian to Jackson Pollack and everything in between

The best way to get around the tube is with an Oyster card. Instead of 4GBP one way or 5-7GBP for a day's Zone 1-2 pass, it is only 1,5 each way, and the card knows change your ticket to the cheapest available. So you use it 8 times in a day, no problem it is still a day's pass cost. Plus it makes for a great souvenir.

Not being a huge fan of Modern Art, I figured I could blitz through the Tate in about an hour or two leaving time for the British Museum, or the Imperial War Museum. I had the typical cereal and toast hostel breakfast and hit Southwark again. I followed the "lights" as a sign instructed me to the Tate (turns out they meant the orange light posts which didn't show up in the twilight hours the day before). I question whether that is the closest stop though. St Paul's appeared just as close and more direct.

The main entrance to the museum is pretty empty with a small crack in a concrete floor that extended all the way to the otherside. I believe this was done to draw attention to the abnormal floor. Just in case you wouldn't otherwise notice, the Brits have some signs warning you of a trip hazard on both entrances. Just as the artist who designed it wanted, I'm sure ;)

As you might expect there was a lot of real crap there that didn't resemble art, but there was some really cool stuff there as well. My highlights were getting to see a famous Mondrian up close (he did paint the white squares Em), some of the surrealist paiintings, and some hanging woven tapestries that when flight shines through, cast a Moorish shadow pattern. On closer look they are actually words. Then there was a video of a man tripping but the cause is always blocked by something. As you walk through the floor you get different angles on it.

Through the museum visitors have a great view of St. Pauls, the connecting Millenium Bridge, the river Thames, Downtown, and at times Tower Bridge.

After two hours I had my fill, and left for the tube station near St Pauls. I saw a sign that directed me against my intuitive sense of direction (which in the past has proved a bit faulty ;) ) so I followed it and ended up making a half hour loop. When I got back to the Tate, the misty air turned to rain so I took some cover next to a group of Americans. We decided to make a run for the St Paul's stop. Along the way they asked where I was from. "Tampa? Really?! No way!?!" Hehe, what newbies. I told them about running into people from my university in Salamanca, fellow hostelmates in Munich, and an elementary school classmate in Vienna and again by chance in Dublin. They were from Eckerd college and after a month in Paris and London were very happy to be heading back to warmer, sunnier weather.

I stopped back at Valencia's for a 5 GBP special kebab and chips before heading home. My room was ready so I got my backpack out of the luggage room and my laptop bag out of a locker and settled in. The room was a mess from the regulars that have been staying/working there for a few months. Five Aussies, two Czechs and yours truly. Apparently the nation of Australia has no one between 18-30 left because every hostel in the world has 20 of these characters.

The bar area was pretty empty so I went back to my room and thought it would be another chance to get some sleep. Apparently not. More running, yelling, which culminated in about 10 people getting kicked out of the hostel by police. I woke up around 11a to a maid telling me that I leave today. Fine, sounds like a good idea actually. I headed to where I should have gone after night one, the Globetrotter Inn in Hammersmith, just off Ravenscourt Gardens (sounded like a place I could make myself at home ;) )

Tuesday was just going to be Indian curry night and I strolled King Street looking for a place open at 6a and that wasn't 40 USD for a meal. The combination proved difficult so I stopped off for a Burger, Fries and Cider at a local pub. I finally got sleep in London thanks to sane roommates who also had morning flights (one to Sweden, one to Shanghai, and I to Spain) with one or two interruptions.

My pack was loaded and I was out at 10. My flight was at 14:55, so using my famous 3 hour rule for large cities, I had to be leaving wherever I was in London by 11:55. So by the time I transfered at Green Park for Victoria station it was almost 10:30. Leaving me roughly one hour to tour the British Museum. I felt that wouldn't do it justice, so I opted for leaving on the next train to Gatwick and using the time to complete some homework for a class I am taking online. The picture to the left is of a bar in Gatwick with these water cyclones that are pretty cool.

The flight to Gibraltar was delayed which meant my chances of flying by the rock in the daylight diminished significantly. When the all clear was given, we made our way across Guersey, Bilbao, Madrid, Cordoba and eventually to a bumpy landing on the one mile landing strip (a seated ovation from the main cabin). During our descent I kept seeing boats passing us getting closer and closer and then I could see the waves. The whole time I was thinking wow, I better see some runway really soon and no sooner did I swear we were in for a water landing did I feel the touchdown, I saw the edge come into view. In typical British humour, the pilot comes on to say "Well folks, glad to have made it here, the landings are always a bit interesting here". Had I thought about it, seeing almost any of the runway without having touched down would have been far worse.

At immigration they stamped my passport with the distinctive Gibraltar logo. I headed off to a youth hostel that I wasn't sure was open as they don't have a hostelworld reservation ability. It was easy to find Emilie Youth Hostel. From the main square go past the Burger King on your left and straight up the hill on the otherside of the street. A bunk is 15 GBP which is pricey but not bad considering the options and that they have a monopoly on hostel accommodation (For comparison the Generator was 20/10 GBP for 4/8 bed dorms, and the Globetrotter was 6,50 GBP for a 6 share--Zone 2 pricing for people who book online, otherwise it is 19,5 for people that show at the door). The hostel was pretty bare but comfortable. It appears that it was a house that got converted. Three rooms with 4 bunks each means you may show up without a place to stay (particularly if you are in a group) so Gibraltar is still best visited as a daytrip from the Spanish coast. That night I finally got some mild Curry before leaving the UK :)

The next morning I crossed into Spain with a hand wave that didn't even check my passport. I had missed the Marbella bus by about 20 minutes so I would have to wait until 12:15 which was only 30 minutes. Awesome! Good time to pick up an El Pais and an Aquarius. I looked at my ticket and saw that my 30 minute wait got extended by two hours. It wasn't "Doce y quince, it was Dos y quince". Meh, all part of travel, and more time to start my Spanish practice.

Deja view

Around 3:30 I was back in that familiar bus station at the top of the hill leading down Avenida Trapiche, through Mercado Municipal right down to the main drag, Av Ricardo Soriano. Nice! I had the strangest deja vu entering Betty and Rolo's apartment. It was like two years of my life hadn't happened. With the exception of some new furniture and a new room, everything was as I remembered it. The weather, the Paseo Maritimo and the like were exactly the same.

On a budgetary note for anyone heading to London from North America, expect to spend at least 50 GBP a day. I spent 100GBP in three days staying in a hostel, eating very modest food, and visiting attractions that were free since I had done all the "must do" things last time. Everything is pretty much double US prices.

--Joey

London (Temp Blog)

I made it safe and sound. The wireless connection here is not the greatest so my first real update will probably be on Thursday morning when I get to Spain. My hostel is decent but kind of loud and I am trying hard to get on a normal sleep schedule. My flight over gave me an hour sleep, and night one was about 4-5 hours. To make up for it I went to bed at 8:30 but woke up at 1:30 unable to get back to sleep.

I spent today at the Tate Modern Art museum and enjoyed the surrealist exhibits...everything else... meh. I more or less ended it, with a rainy run across Millenium bridge with some other Tampans from Eckerd College. The kids thought it was quite a coincidence to meet someone from Tampa abroad...how cute ;)

Pictures and flushed out entry to come.

--Joey

In the west Texas town of El Paso

The Bulls topped off a really good season with a trip to a prestigous bowl game. El Paso is a perfectly sized town for such an event. In Tampa, most people have no idea who is in the Outback Bowl. In Birmingham, they seemed unbelieveably illprepared for the game. El Paso is different. It is a "small" town that can sell out the Utep stadium without a traveling presence from the participating schools. It's also the biggest event in the town and they definitely celebrate it.

Em and I arrived on 12/28 late to our Holiday Inn Express downtown. With a full day ahead of us and Em coming down with a little cold, we called it an early night and slept in. The plan for 12/29 was to catch one of the bowl games down Mexico way with Margaret and her crew of Bulls fans who were driving in from Dallas. Unfortunately, flying standby has its diswindows and they got a complimentary night in the Hartfield concourse due to some weather problems in Chicago.

Ay Chihuaua...

When Em came to around 3, we crossed over into Juarez. While on the bridge we met a few Americans telling us to relax--I guess my state of readiness was apparent. Being a Friday night there were tons of people on the streets and a situation that was perfectly situated for losing your belongings. Wallets, phones, and other valuables into the front pocket, we went from Estacio Sants escalator mode to Bucharest during a Roma pride march mode upon arrival.

Given Juarez's infamous and dubious honor of being one the most dangerous cities in North America, we kept our visit on main roads during daylight hours. The outskirts of the city is quite poor and to the extent that they rely on the trickle down of Gringo Greenbacks to help change that, the future is going to be rough; Come the end of January a passport will be required to visit Mexico. Em tried a little haggling with a nice guy from Seattle. He got deported and is waiting to get back to the US. Shortly thereafter a girl approaches us and tells us she got stranded in Mexico and was asking if she could catch a ride with us across the border. Slightly suspicious as the border was within easy walking distance. She was probably Mexican and wanted across. Assuming my diagnosis was right, her English was impeccable and could fool anyone. The stateside immigration checkpoint was only a 25 minute wait so we felt confident that we could visit again on January 1st with Scott and Kim and still leave them enough time to get back to their plane.

With night quickly approaching we made a beeline to the hotel to meetup with Dad who was flying in from Toronto. Mexican food rocking the way it does, I was in the mood to try some of the local specialties. Avila's is an El Paso favorite and the plate of carnitas was just a ton of food. A good way to close out the day.

Carlsfrigginawesome Caverns

Chalking up another country was definitely going to be a highlight of the trip but if possible I wanted to hit up White Sands or Carlsbad Caverns. We chose the latter and Em, Dad and I headed out on an Americana roadtrip past Guadalupe peak (Texas' tallest).

The entrance to Carlsbad makes you wonder how it was ever found. It is quite isolated from the world and the trailers for ticket offices didn't quite mesh with how we envisioned the park. We opted for the 700 foot elevator into the cave rather than the 1.2 mile "natural entrance"


The Big Room was well marked and beautifully lit. Soaring stalagmites and bizzare formations resembled everything from Jabba the Hut to large seals with scary teeth. As an interesting sidenote the flash from the camera made the cave glisten with a warmer color palette. Not sure if it is some kind of reflection or constructive interferance but unfortunately what you are seeing in the blog is not what you see in person. Eitherway I rank Carlsbad in my natures top 10 and it is a must for any traveler.




Ro-cky! Ro-cky!

The trek back to El Paso went fairly quickly and we were pushing it for the "Battle of the Bands" between the USF herd of thunder and the Oregon band. Dad pulled into the convention center parking lot and they asked for five bucks. Dad said "20?" kind of jokingly. The ticket taker reacted with surprise and said "Wow is it 20 bucks to park in Tampa?"

"No, it is actually free and I think you should extend the same courtesy"

Em and I were too busy rolling our eyes to hear him say "Umm.. Okay.. go ahead". When does that EVER work?

Inside the Mayor was doing his best to rile up both sides. Our section was a lot louder (the general observation was that Bulls outnumbered Ducks by 2:1) even if Oregon had some better tunes. The firework show afterwards was pretty spectacular and it capped another great day.

BRUTal game....

The Bulls came into the Sun Bowl favored over the Oregon Ducks who were on their 4th and 5th string QBs. The game started a little shaky and by half time we were trailing 18-14. A quick strike by Oregon, a USF fumble on our 25, and an interception runback for a touchdown on the ensuing drive sealed our loss to end the season with 20 minutes left to play. The end result was a 56-21 lesson in humility. At least the stadium was kind of scenic and there were some scuffles in the crowd. Ready for more Mexican food, we returned to Avila's and again left fat and full.

Celebrating New Years at the stroke of 10p

This being my first Dec 31 outside of Eastern Standard time I went ahead and just celebrated the Time Square version. I was coming down with a cold so I was not eager to make stay up much past 12 local time. The Ropers, Margaret, Carmen and I rang in 2008 in a Cincinatti Ave bar with a bunch of Bulls fans. I sipped my margarita outside of the most horrendous smelling ladies room I have ever come across. Any guy would be proud to leave that stench behind. Just before returning home, we made a quick drive to Rim road to overlook Mexico and El Paso. Very windy and very pretty.

Our New Years resolution was to make a three hour trip into Juarez and then get to the Holiday Inn by the airport. We lined up our 35 cents to cross the bridge and found a much different Mexico than the one we saw last Friday. No one was on the streets. Most shops were closed outside of Avenida Juarez (including the famous Mercado Reforma).

We headed to the cathedral roamed around a bit and headed to a tourist trap restaurant on the strip. We had some Mexican Coca Cola and a plate full of Enchiladas. Salimos lleno y satisfecho. One more thing to check off our list. Em needed to get that dog again. She succesfully haggled from 5 dollars to 4 in a shrewdness found only in the souks of Marakesh.

One more lap up to Rim road to check out the view and it was on to our hotel. Scott and Kim could only stay for a few minutes to catch the kick off for the Rose Bowl before they had to get their mosy on for the flight back.

--Joey