Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Welcome to my traveling blog.

My (general) itinerary for this year's big travel extravaganza is as follows:
Sept. 4 - leave SFO for Venice, arrive Sept. 5
Sept. 5-6 - Venice
Sept. 7-8 - Florence
Sept. 9-10 - Rome
Sept. 11-22 - Rick Steves' tour - Berlin, Prague, Vienna
Sept. 23 - leave Vienna for Amsterdam
Sept. 23-25 - Amsterdam (may meet up with Meta)
Sept. 26-29 - Paris
Sept. 30 - leave Paris for SFO
Ed. note - Changed date because that way I could have an extra day in Paris.

Access and Updates:
I'm not sure how often I'll have internet access, or if I'll be able to upload photos from the road. But have no fear, I'll force all of you to sit through looking at my 8 gazillion photos. And I'll try to send updates from the road, but I may have to just update the blog when I get home. For those of you who gave me your snailmail address, I'll try to send postcards. But no promises there. I will have my cell phone with me for emergencies, but it will be VERY expensive, so if you call me, it better be because there's an emergency. I may have access to my gmail and yahoo accounts from my phone, but won't be checking very often. Do feel free to send me mail or reply to my email or posts, just don't expect fast replies (or a reply at all).

Obsessive Preparation:
I'm taking one 24" rolling suitcase and a regular backpack and purse. I'm nervous that it'll all be a bit heavy or a pain in the ass to lug around, but we'll see what happens. I've already packed and repacked a few times and I will probably do so again before I leave on Sunday. I've been thinking of even small details like what if my purse gets stolen or sliced open (I won't carry most of my cash or my credit cards in my purse - I have a money belt to wear under my clothes), and what jewelry will I bring (I bought some cheap silver rings and such so that if they get stolen I'll be annoyed, but not missing out on real money). I've got a small pharmacy just in case of sneezing, sleeplessness, bug bites, blisters or Montezuma's revenge.

You'll notice that I haven't mentioned stuff to do once I'm there. And those of you who were around for the other 2 trips (in 2001 and 2003) will realize that with the exception of the tour, I've been to all the cities on the itinerary before. So I think I'll actually mostly just be chillin' out, taking photos, wandering around looking for good food, good wine and seeing who I can meet. I've already hit the museums I want to hit in all those cities (although there are a few that I'll see again just because I love them so much - Musee d'Orsay, Van Gogh museum, etc.), so I'll have to see what other cultural attractions I can see.

Photo/blogging themes:
I think this time I want to have some themes in mind while I'm out photographing things. One of the themes from last time was alleys and doorways. That's always a good one, as is canals (given that I'll be in Amsterdam and Venice both - I'll be thinking about comparing and contrasting those). Another one is signs aimed at stupid tourists - they are pretty funny. I did lots of food market or fruit/veggie stands last time, but they are always so colorful and fun that I may do that again. I think maybe I'll look for worst tourist getups and/or worst shoes (I never understand how women think they can tour around all day on cobblestones in 4 inch spike heels). Since I gave away my idea to photograph my meals to remember those, I think I may have to take that back and do that this time (even if it's not interesting to anyone but me). If I remember in time to get the camera out, I may take photos of hot girls for all my guy friends (but don't count on it). Heck, maybe I'll take photos of hot men for my female friends!

I'm not sure what I'll blog about - it may depend on how much time I have. One of the things I really like about travel is that it opens your mind - that you see and experience things, people, vistas that you wouldn't experience in your normal life. And it's interesting to see what connections you then make back to your regular life. And that's why I really enjoy museums - it's like you're in on a shorthand to what the artist was thinking or feeling or what was going on in his/her world at the time the artist created the work. I like taking those shorthand ideas and figuring out what it means to me - what synapses fire differently from seeing/hearing/touching/tasting/smelling that new thing.

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