Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Planes

I don't think I ever posted my final flight itinerary. All of my plan flights are purchased, and I verified with the travel agent that there's a little bit of room for modifying the itinerary if (for instance) I decide that I want to spend a little more time in Hong Kong or spend a little extra time in California.

Here's where I'm flying:
7/12/08 8:30AM New York JFK to
8:30PM London Heathrow on American Airlines
8/9/08 11:20PM Bodrum, Turkey to
12:20AM (8/10) Istanbul Turkey on Pegasus Air
8/10/08 5:25PM Istanbul, Turkey to
7:35PM London Heathrow on British Airways
8/10/08 9:35PM London Heathrow to
5:15AM (8/12) Sydney, Australia (via Singapore) on British Airways
8/15/08 8:35AM Sydney, Australia to
1:35PM Christchurch, New Zealand on Quantus
8/20/08 2:35PM Christchurch, New Zealand to
11:15PM Bangkok, Thailand (via Sydney) on Quantus
8/28/08 11:30AM Bangkok, Thailand to
3:20PM Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific
8/29/08 4:25PM Hong Kong to
1:50PM San Francisco (same day) on American Airlines
9/5/08 9:50AM San Francisco to
8:50PM Washington Dulles (via Dallas) on American Airlines

Trains

My BritRail and my Greece-Italy EuRail Passes are here, which I ordered from the ISE card people. I picked up the Fed-Ex Envelope last week and found all sorts of goodies inside. The $20 discount came in the form of a personal check, which I have to go to the bank and deposit. I got my Hostel Res Card membership card, a second ISE calling card, a big map of Europe with all the rail and ferry lines, a booklet of Eurail time tables, a discount code for ordering an international cell phone, a coupon for 11% off regular, sale, and clearance priced merchandice at Macy's, and a couple of advertisements for other products (travel protection insurance, Britain's Heritage Pass).

I have a good idea of how I'm going to be traveling in Britain, but as I mentioned in my previous blog, Greece and Italy are a bit fuzzy... but the ISE agent and many of my Greek friends have assured me that fuzzy is ok. I'm excited I like fuzz! It makes getting from point A to B that much more adventurous!

Automobiles

A very large part of me wants to take a motorcycle class right now, buy a motorcycle and use that for my east coast road trip, which I plan to leave for on July 2. I keep telling myself that I have to save something exciting for the fall, so the whole motorcycle thing will be the new hobby I look forward to in September/October. For now, I'll rely on my trusty, high gas mileage '97 Nissan Sentra - windows open the whole way!

On July 2, I'll be playing one last frisbee game with my lab group, one last soccer game with my team, and then showing up smelly at my friend's house in Franklin, MA. I've been showing up at her house before or after soccer since the 10th grade, so she's used to it. She's the one who told me that she didn't mind this, I just "smell like Cappy, only stronger."

Between July 3 and July 10 I want to try to make it to: Philadelphia, PA, Washington, DC, Portsmouth, VA, North Caroline, Atlanta, GA, and Ashburn, VA. This trip is fuzzy too because I just want to wander for a bit, but still visit as many friends and family as I can. I also want to take some roads I've never taken - like going through Pennsylvania on my way to Virginia, or skipping DC to get to Portsmouth, VA by way of the Virginia Peninsula and Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

On July 10, I'll stash my car at my parents' place in Ashburn, VA, and take a bus from DC to New York city in time for my brother's birthday in New York. And then I'm off! On a plane. Since I'm flying to Dulles on the way back, I'll pick up my car and head back to Boston and I may or may not stop along the way - whatever fits my fancy. I just have to be back for work on September 15, so there's no rush and I could do a mini road trip (or I could rush back to Boston and start with the motorcycle lessons then!)

A "Throwin' out Good Time"

Before I start - Sorry for the double post. I accidentally hit "post" right after typing only 1 letter of the title... Here's the whole post:

The title of this blog is one of my favorite quotes from my dad in honor of Father's day. I was cleaning out my apartment to make room for a sub-letter who's arriving in 2 weeks. I've always been a pack-rat. You just never know when something is going to come in handy - LL Bean ice cream maker, a jacket I haven't ever worn, discount coupons that expire tomorrow. Unfortunately, when you're a pack-rat, the law of entropy starts taking over your life, and your environment ends up being one big mess of probably-useful stuff. I tend to get to a point where I have so much crap lying around that I have to get rid of it or go insane. I hate cleaning - let's face it, there's too much stuff in life that is way more fun than cleaning... so it's a rare occasion that "throwin' out" and "good times" actually go together. But eventually the crap content in my living space reaches a critical mass. Dad used to motivate me to clean by telling me that we're going to have a "throwin' out good time."

I'm getting to the point where I'm supposed to be leaving Boston in just over 2 weeks. I've spent the past couple of weeks trying really hard to iron out my ground transportation and lodging though Europe. After I got my International Student Exchange (ISE) card (for $25), I looked into booking my Eurail passes. While I am considered a student, I still had to book the adult rail passes because I'm not a youth - you have to be under 26 to qualify for youth rates. The ISE card has still already paid itself off, though. It came with a $20 off coupon for Eurail passes. Also, with the purchase of a Eurail pass, I got a free Hostel Res Card (HRC), which costs $18 by itself. With the HRC, the hostel booking fees are waived, which is usually the equivalent of $2 per hostel. With the HRC, you can book hostels all over the world, not just in Europe.

As much as I'd like to leave this trip open ended for wandering, I'm finding that I do need a bit of a concrete itenerary. Many of the really popular hostels from Hosteling International (HI) (www.hihostels.com) tend to get booked quickly in the summer months. The HRC offers bookings at many other hostels, including the HI hostels. On the HRC website, these hostels are all ranked and the culture of the hostels are thoroughly described, and there are maps and public transportation directions to all the hostel sites, so you have a lot of information to draw on when choosing a hostel.

Here's what I have so far for an itinerary through Europe:

I'm arriving in London at 8:30PM on July 12. I'll be staying at YHA London Central and checking out on July 14.

On July 14, I will head out towards Oxford and Stay with cousin Davy until July 17.

July 17 - Head to Liverpool, and visit and stay with family there.

July 20 - I'm going to Edinburgh and spending a couple of nights at the Argyle Backpackers Hostel.

On July 22, I will head back to Liverpool and stay with family for another couple of days.

On the morning of July 24, I will take a flight to Rome, where I will stay at Hotel Lodi for 2 nights.

On July 26, I will head over to Pescara and spend a couple of days with cousin Nikki.

This is where my plans get a little fuzzy -I bought a Greece-Italy Eurail Pass, and I'm really excited about traveling in Greece, but it seems that booking ferries can be a bit tricky. With my Eurail pass, I get free deck passage on the Superfast and Blue Star Ferries between Italy and Greece. I can take the Ferry from Bari, Italy, to Patra, Greece. From Patra, I can take the rail to Athens. So far, I've booked 1 night in an Athens Hostel: Hostel Aphrodite on July 30. I might book an extra day here, but I'm not sure what the plans would be getting to Turkey.

Remember, the primary reason I decided to travel through Greece is that I need to get to Turkey and meet up with some friends at the Port of Marmaris on the afternoon of August 2. The Greek Island, Rhodes, is really close to Marmaris, and seems like the most fun and economical stepping stone on my way to Turkey. I'm also supposed to get a 30% discount on Greek Island Ferries with my Eurail Pass. However, Greek Ferry Schedules can be a bit difficult to attain if you're not already in Greece or working with a Greek travel agent. Luckily I have a lot of Greek friends who are giving me pointers; and I found a really great website on traveling in Greece. If you are traveling to Greece, I highly recommend checking out this website:
http://www.greektravel.com/
or
http://www.greecetravel.com/
A guy named Matt Barrett loved traveling in Greece so much that he's been putting together a Greek travel website, and it's kind of like the bible of Greek travel. There's a ton of info and you can even email Matt directly for advice. Aparently this website started as a hobby 10 years ago, and now it's a really popular site. I've gotten a lot of good information off of it. It does seem like I'll be able to wander my way over to Marmaris between July 30 and August 2, but I should allow extra time because it's peak travel season. I guess there's still a bit more de-fuzzing to do for Greece.

Once I'm in Turkey, I'll be going on a boat with a couple of my friends from the Boston area. We'll be sailing north on the Mediterranean Coast of Turkey from Marmaris to Bodrum. We'll be be stopping at points of interest along the way. My friends said that I shouldn't really worry about spending too much time in Rhodes because we may be stopping there on our boat trip. We'll be landing in Bodrum on August 9. I then have a flight to Istanbul, where I'll be staying the night at my friend's parents' flat. I'll have the day in Istanbul before I have to catch a flight back to London, so I can catch another flight to Sydney (through Singapore). I'll be spending a lot of time on planes during this part of the trip. Luckily planes and airports don't stress me out.

So... That's the craziness that will be the Europe part of my vacation. I've been meaning to put together a to-do list. The thowin' out is definitely on the top of the list and I did start that today. I've received a lot of really great advice from friends about what to bring with me and the little things I need to do before I leave. I've done some of them, but until I write it all down, I doubt I'm going to get through everything. It's a bit late to do a to do list tonight, so my agenda for tomorrow - 1) sleep in, 2) write a to-do, 3) write a have-done list - so I can feel good about what I've already accomplished - and so I don't get discouraged about all the things I really do have to do - like throwin' out, 4) do some of the to-dos, 5) Play soccer!!! 6) Hopefully meet up with one of those Greek friends, someone I haven't seen for a couple of years.

Good night all!