Bounce

I just got back from camping in the Sierras with my dear friends Joe and Jordan. We hiked and saw some beautiful lakes and shot some rifles for kicks back at the camp. I know these guys from when I studied in Paris and in their company I had the space to realize some things about my life.

I have been back for two weeks. I am not the person that I was when I left and I have no desire to start a life here in San Diego again. So where does that leave me? With the urge to flee. Tomorrow I am flying to Oakland to chill with my girls in the north for a week. Time to clear the head. I am currently in the process of filling my Peace Corps Application out and question #11 is a toughy. When am I available to leave? Most likely sooner than later.

Run For Your Life

10 abroad months... tick tick tick... 7 months in France...tick tick tick... 3 months backpacking Europe... tick tick tick...5 weeks in Greece... tick tick tick... 19 hours and 40 minutes until I fly home... BUZZZZZZ!!! My European life is slipping away one minute at a time. I fly home tomorrow morning. It is hard to accept that I will have to return to working life with a boss and schedule. I mean that is real life, isn't it? I have had such a good life here. From learning how to live in French culture to chasing my fantasies all over Europe, life has treated me well. I have met amazing people, I have learned so much about myself and what I want, and all the while I have been seeing the most beautiful sights.

This chapter is ending. My year in Europe. But the book is not nearly finished. I will go home for a breif sejour with the family and be back out on the road to another hemisphere as soon as I can, probably by mid-October.

For those of you who have read my website, thank you. I never knew who in my life cares enough of check in. I will keep this website updated with my summer in San Diego and all the trouble I get into there and will post more travel stories as soon as I get back out on the road. Considering I am a fan of the road trip, my first travel story will probably be in California.

Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Kavala and the island of Thasos

So Kavala was amazing, just like everything else in Greece. A small town on the sea with an old castle overlooking the port. The beaches there rival anything I have ever seen in San Diego, or even Cali. Warm crystal blue water and sand bottoms, perfect for swimming. On Sunday I headed out to the island of Thasos with my mom's friend Maria and her husband. Thasos has thousands of olive trees and just like Kavala it has great beaches. Unlike Santorini or Ios, Thasos has many trees and looks great for camping. My mom wants to retire there and I don't blame her. Perfection.

So Anne Marie is returning home tomorrow morning and I am heading back on Friday. We returned to Athens today and just like every other day in Athens it is freakin hot. Poli Zesty in Greek. I have two days to shop and lounge around till I have one long flight and a whole lot of culture shock.

But don't worry my dear reader, my adventures are not nearly over. I am only going home to get enough money to go to Australia and Thailand, maybe even India. You never know tho, life takes funny turns and you can never really plan for anything. Like the old joke goes, if you want to tell a funny joke tell God your life plans.

Comment if you think I should keep the website.

Thessalonki

So I have traded in my party hat for my church dress. Been hanging out with the Kofikotsios family and have been welcomed like I was their blood. They helped my young family back in the 70's get their start in Greece and are thrilled to have the babies they knew back as young ladies. They have like a million kids that love to learn English and the cooking has been amazing. Have visited a monastary and done a good amount of shopping. Sad to say that we are leaving tomorrow for a smaller town called Kavala to see one of my mother's friends. Anne Marie leaves next Tuesday back to the states and it is fair to say that she is happy to go home. You know how it is when there is a boyfriend involved. (gag) So I am heading back stateside next Friday and it is fair to say that I am FREAKING OUT. It will be nice to see my fam and all that but the culture shock is gonna be tragic. Just looking forward to getting back out on the road as soon as I can afford it.

Until next time.

Santorini and Ios

Annie and I have been having a great time together in Greece. In Athens we mostly slept and layed low cuz of her jet lag. On the island of Santorini we rented a quad and checked out the whole island, including the world renowned sunset. The island looks just like the postcards, white churches and houses with cobalt trim. The ocean is clean and glorious with black sand beaches. While we rode around we played a game of coiunting churches, we got to 39 before getting bored.

We have been on Ios staying at Far Out for a couple of days. Any wasn't exactly ready for the wild on spring break atmosphere, but she has handled it well. We have been laying poolside by day and partying by night. The only drawback is our crappy bungalow which is nothing more than a free standing round room with a thatched roof and no windows. Seriously weird.

On to Thessaloniki to visit family friends this weekend. Looking forward to some culture before heading back into the real world.

What is Urban Pigeon Hunting?

We all hate them, some more secretly than others, those filthy flying rats... Pigeons. Then there are the proud few of us who do something about them, we are the Urban Pigeon Hunters. In the National Gardens of Athens there we were, an engineer, a renaissance man, and your truly all with the same goal, to catch a pigeon.
First we did recon on our prey. They could not be those ferrel tree pigeons. No they would never approach a human. We had to go after those begger types, the ground peckers. A slip knot of twine and a few pieces of well placed bread later we were getting somewhere. They came, oh yes they came in droves, but only one stepped perfectly inside the ring of demise. SNAP, we had it flying around in all directions sometimes straight at the brave hunters. We were on the ground howling with amusement when some bleeding heart canadian teenage girls ran to see what we were doing. "Oh my god you are hurting that bird! Is this some kind of sick sport." Yes this is Urban Pigeon Hunting, and if you would like to see what dumb girl hog tying looks like we can arrange that. We cut the bird from the line and he flew off to a near by tree a string of glory hanging from his feet. We three proud hunters left the park safari glowing from a great day of urban pigeon hunting.

Ios

Hey everybody. So I took the bus from hell from the Pink Palace to Athens. They made it sounds like a really good comfy convenient bus but in reality it was an expensive ride from hell. You couldn't sleep and the seats were so uncomfortable that everyone had crazy neck cramps. Seriously stupid. So me and my fat camp squad Tony and Bryan rolled off the bus and dashed to the port to catch a ferry to Ios but there wasn't another one till midnight. So we sightsaw Athens for the day and I ended up falling asleep on the steps of the Archeological Museum... CLASSY! After a day in the hot sun we finally got to the ferry but they were trippers about letting people sleep on the couches. None of us had slept in 2 days so we passed out anyway. We made it out to Ios and slept and swam all day yesterday, not to mentioned partied at night. The people here are way more attractive than the Pink Palace crew and the island has better beaches. We are gonna party tongight and then catch a 4:45am ferry back to Athens where I will be meeting my sister. Very excited to see a familiar face and to get out of the crazy party modet that I have been maintaining for over a week now.

Love you all.

Get back on the crazy bus

Well my stay here at the pink palace is coming to an end. Tonight me and my cohorts are boarding the bus to athens for one final party. These last five days have consisted of a booze cruise, cliff jumping, a quad safari, a toga party, and lots and lots of alcohol. I am really almost tired of it... almost. Anyway the hardest partiers in the place are on the bus tonight and we just so happen to all be going to the island of Ios. I wish I could just sleep but it doesn't look like that is going to be happening anytime soon. Maybe by the time annie gets here we can have a relaxing vacation. A vacation from my vacation. Until next time.

Corfu Madness

Decided that I was OVER Italy, skipped Sicily and had to get to Greece. Couldn't be happier with the situation really. It actually would be better if I had slept since Sunday night, but so far my stay has been great. I left Marika's house in the south of Italy on Monday morning, rode on a train to Bari, took an overnight ferry to Igio...something in Greece, took another ferry to Corfu, arrived at the Pink Palace, took a shot of ouzo, checked into my room and am heading down to the beach. It's Tuesday at noon and I am out of my head. I bet I should catch a nap before the debauchery tonight, but some zzzz's on the sand might just have to do. The word is that this place is like a party summer camp that people just can't leave and I suspect that it is true. I booked 5 nights, my final night being a real deal toga party, and expect the craziest to occur. Now mom, I know what you are thinking, that this is totally not culturally Greek and that I am hanging with a bunch of drunk anglophones, well you are right. This is madness, utter hedonism. I will get to the cultural stuff later but for now I just need the beach, my bathing suit, and an ivory smile.

Pompeii and Lamezia Terme

Pompeii was cool I guess. I mean with the foot it was a bit of a challenge, and you are right Matt, those dogs are vicious. There are like 80 stray dogs laying all over the ruins with gooey eyes and frothing mouths. There was no way I was gonna touch those mangey mutts and I stopped a couple of little girls from playing with them. I couldn't save the japense tourist from sharing her sandwich with them tho, and when she ran out of food all hell broke lose. Let's just say that those dogs are thicker than theives and had their snarling vengence.
I liked the caster molds of the people dying. Pretty morbid but unlike anything I have ever seen. The coolest part of the ruins was all the freakin pornography saved from over 2000 years ago. Let's just say they had a thing for exagerated size.

After my trek thru the ruins I jumped on a train to Naples then on another train to Lamezia Terme, the home of my old roommate Marika. If Italy is a boot then I am chillin on the top of the foot. Let's just say that I have died and gone to heaven. She actually lives in one of the adjoining towns of Lamezia in the Calabria region. Her house is in the country side and OFF THE HOOK! Her mom has been cooking every meal with all homemade ingredients, the shower has more bells and whistles than a mercedes dealership, and her family is so sweet although we have no common language. This is just the vacation from backpacking I have needed. Today we are going into town and I am getting a full body masssage for only, count em, 21 euros! I just gotta make sure to keep the chick away from my busted foot. By the end of this weekend I should be fully recouperated and ready for Sicily and then... dun dun dun... GREECE!

My foot in Sorrento

UPDATE ON INJURY: Today I went to the hospital in Rome to make sure I wasn't going to have some horrible turn of luck when I was up Mt. Vesuvius. Word is all is well, the docs checked me out and wrapped me up. No stitches! They did say to stay off my feet for five days, at which I just laughed. Best part was they let me go without paying a cent! Once again, yippee for socialized medicine.

Made it to Sorrento and after checking out the town I decided to only stay one day. It is nice and mellow but since I can't enjoy the beach there is really no point treking out to Capri. The town itself if beautiful, perched on the Bay of Naples with Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background. Tomorrow I am going to wonder around Pompeii and then head down to my girl Marika's house in Lamezia Terme. I am not sure how long I am going to spend there but according to doctor's orders I need to take a rest.

Bad Luck in Rome

Well I wasn't going to come here. I was going to skip it and say to hell with the tourist hype, but no I fell into the trap. The past 24 hours have been rather unfortunate for Miss Shaw.
It all began with some nutella and my Swiss army knife. I was trying to clean the sticky substance off my knife when... slit... cut my finger wide open. If that were only the end of it.
Later that night after the pub crawl I was walking home. I slipped out of my flip flops and slit THE BOTTOM OF MY FOOT wide open. Now maybe for a normal person with a car and health coverage this may only be a minor accident. But for me, a backpacker with a first aid kit and no money to go to the doctor this is like a death sentence. So I bandage my foot up cuz there is a lot of Rome I hadn't seen yet and go walking thru Vatican city today. I let a guy I just met at the hostel hold onto my swiss army knife while I went into see what every one else comes here to see cuz of security and all. Well I guess I did a poor wrap job on my foot cuz it layered the the top of my afflicted foot with blisters.
And the freakin cherry on top, the guy never gave me back my swiss army knife. Nope, he just got on a train and left for Florence. So not am I physically disabled now I also don't have the best tool a traveler could ask for.

I am over the city and can't wait to leave. Gonna go try to do Pompeii tomorrow. Hopefully will get better soon and get back to having fun. Keeping my chin up and my foot clean.

Leaving Croatia

A few days in Split made me realize that there is a lot more to the major port of Croatia than the tour books let on to. It is a beautiful walled city situated on the bay and has a fair amount of stuff to do. It is not seedy like many other port towns and has great shopping. Counterfit everything sold openly, as opposed to cardboard boxes on Italian street corners.

I headed down to Dubrovnik on Friday 3 June with Sarah and Nathan, our newest travel buddy we picked up at Plivtice Lakes park. Dubrovnik is hands down my FAVORITE CROATIAN CITY and I wished that I had started there. It has complete fortified city walls, a rich history, and the recent turmoil of the bombings in 1991 lend it an interesting story. When one stands on the city walls one can see all the direct hits from Yugoslav bombs on the roof tops cuz the tiles are different colors, 166 direct hits in total. Mind you these are peoples homes and not military bases. The city has been completely rebuilt and shows few scars of it's troubled past. We swam off the shores and never made it to more islands. Although the water was so lovely I didn't really care. It is so clear that you can see the ocean floor as if it were right under your feet but when you try to dive and touch the bottom it is impossible.

Took a bus back to Split today and am going back to Italy tonight. Will be arriving in Rome tomorrow to go see what everyone else sees just to say yes when people ask me if I saw it. Freakin tourists.

Get on the Bus!

Just got off a 7 hour bus ride. That is better than the 12 hour one I did two days ago.

So the rhythm of Croatia goes as such. Take a bus to where you are
going. Get off and negotiate a room to stay in with a random person
at the bus stop. End up paying 12-15 euro to stay in a double room
with a private bathroom in someone's house. Go out to eat. Go to the
beach. Get on another bus and do it all over again. Internet is hard
to come by and can be expensive but right now I am in the major port
of Split and this internet place RULES. Cheap, clean, and american
keyboards. Can't go wrong.

Another funny thing about Croatia is that no one speaks English. Everyone speaks freaking german. Me and the girl I have been traveling with only spoke to eachother the first week. Then as soon as we remarked that we met three aussie guys, one of who is now traveling the rest of Croatia with us. So as I have said a million times, I am traveling Europe by myself but am never alone for very long.

The waterfalls were great. As beautiful as all the pictures that we saw. The colors were unreal and turned out to be a really peaceful place. Going to more islands tomorrow. Will it ever get old?

You know you are a backpacker when...

10. The only bug that scares you more than foot fungus is a bed bug.
9. a) a hot shower beginning to end is like a gift from god that you just can't stop talking about.
b) the person who takes a shower after you curses you for using all of the hot water.
8. Even the tastiest pizza makes you want to hurl but you just can't stop eating it due to price constraints.
7. You can' remember the last time you sat on a toilet seat.
6. You walk past a group traveling with rolling suitcases and think, "Losers."
5. A 'travel day' is synonymous with running with over 100 lbs of bags while having a simultaneous headache and backache.
4. Everything on your MP3 player drives you mad but you keep on listening to it anyway.
3. Even tho half of the information in the Lonely Planet guidebooks is wrong you still haul 1-3 around, each weighing 5 lbs.
2. You have ask where the bathroom is in 12 different languages but you can't understand the answer.

and the number 1 way to know that you are a backpacker when...

Having all 10 toenails is a thing of the past.

The Islands of Mali Lošinj and Susak

Laying on a deserted beach watching the warm blue water lap the fine sand I thought about writing this blog with much pleasure.

On 27 May we headed on a bus all the way from the port town of Poreč to the adriatic island of Mali Lošinj (pronounced lotion) in one day, which is quite impressive by my standards. Mali Lošinj has about 6500 inhabitants and a cute and colorful port. It reminded me a little of Cinque Terre, Italy in the colors of the facades. The island is covered in dense pine trees which gave me the feel of being at summer camp. The first day we treked to the far side of the island and sunbathed all day. While the bay was a beautiful color of turquoise I was not overly impressed. The beach was a gravelly at best and OVERUN BY GERMANS! Actually that could be said for all of Croatia. So we laid out till we couldn't handle anymore sun and we back in our cush beds before midnight. Needless to say the nightscene on Mali Lošinj doesn't pop unless you are interested in teenage german boys. Guten tag!

So the next day we took a day we took a ferry out to a tiny island called Susak to get away from the Germans. Population 188 and about 3 sq. miles when we stepped off the boat the thought, "Is this is?!" slipped out of my mouth. While the the buildings around the port are a bit dreary the old town up on the hill is quaint. There are no street names in Susak, just numbers. Mass had just let out and the old women were wearing their regional outfits which look like the top half of a nun's habit and the bottom half of a school girl uniform with thick stockings. After getting lost and talking to a local we found out that the nice beach took a 20 minute trek around the bend past a cave. When we arrived it was like that scene out of the movie The Beach. The water was crystal clear and warm with little fish swimming around. We threw down our gear and jumped in. The shalllow bay stretched out for at least a hundred metres. Everyonce in awhile boats manned by nudists would come into the cove. Nudism is a big thing here in Croatia and I have seen more than my fill of old man bits.

We laid there for what seemed like forever before making our way back to the first tourist beach which had been once again overrun by a group of school kids.

Today we got a 4:45am bus to Zagreb where I currently am writing this before heading to the Plevtice Lake Park in the middle of the country. The park is known for beautiful waterfalls and lakes. A nice change from the beach.

Porec, Croatia

Croatia is everything I ever could have hoped it to be and more. Welcoming locals, good food, plentiful clean beaches, and knock off designer sunglasses and bags galore. Not to mention cheap jewelry, I think I am in heaven.

Took a ferry from Venice to Porec, Croatia yesterday. Walked off the boat and was offered a cheap room from a nice (and slightly inebriated) croat named Miro. My travel buddy Sarah and I dropped our bags off and started walking around the small port town. Blue water, sailboat filled bay, pink sunset, and cobblestone streets. The people in Porec are very lovely and kind although the city is overrun by German tourists.

Today we took a boat to tour the Istria coast. Croatia is spotted with tiny uninhabited islands that are covered in pine trees, a nice color contrast to the cobalt sea. I saw we a pirate cave that was too cool. Tonight we are going to feast on the local truffles that are supposed to have some trippy effects.

Tomorrow we are headed to Rijeka as a base for island hopping.

Current Philosophy

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
~Mark Twain

Heading to Croatia tomorrow. No reservations, no preconceptions, nothing but me.

Venice

Canals, boats, bridges, blah blah blah... I am staying at a campsite outside of Venice and sadly enough that might be my favorite part of Venice. Sleeping in a tent is so much fun and really cheap. But back to the city. It is over run by tourists and to ride one of those gondolas down a canal cost 80 euros. No thanks. I went around yesterday and saw everything that I wanted to see, including the Guggenheim collection that rocked. No more Madonnas only contemporary art. So today I am sitting at the campgrounds doing laundry and trying to plan my trip to Croatia. Seriously there is almost no literature and no internet help booking hotels so I am kinda going renegade style. Showing up at the port city of Ancona on Wednesday and gonna get on a boat and see where it takes me. Wish me luck cuz I am gonna need it.

Next stop Split (If I can keep up the nerve.)

Florence

Florence was lovely. There is more Renaissance art there than you can stand and I decided that if I saw another Madonna with Child I was gonna freak out. Seeing Michelangelo's David was poignant moment. I was captured by his perfection and is it strange to be physically attracted to a carved piece of marble? What a man.

The best thing that I did in Florence was charm a sweet Italian man into take me wine tasting in the Chianti region. We drove in his convertable thru the Tuscan countryside to a little town called Greve. All along the way there were rolling green hills and winding roads. We feasted on Wild Boar and truffles before tasting at least 20 different kinds of vino. Wine is the international language I prefer to speak.

On to Venice...