I've only been home a matter of days and already 5 months worth of travel seems to be officially making its way into the "past". For those that somehow missed it and are interested, I spent 5 months traveling all around South America from Ecuador to Antarctica and all the way back to Colombia. You can read about the trip itself via the Wandering Gringos blog and browse the Wandering Gringos photos on Flickr.

I thought it would be strange and in some ways uncomfortable the first few weeks being home but actually it has been really easy. It's truly amazing how fast you can adapt to a virtual 180 degree turn in your life without even missing a step. So, welcome home me!

The travel blog for the South America trip is here

A week ago today I was on my way back from Munich, and after being sick this week, dealing with my busted leg, and just the normal stuff associated with returning from vacation, I am just now finding the time to post something about the trip here.

It was a truly amazing trip in countless ways. Thanks *so* much to my new friend Michael Loebmann for hosting me at your house for a couple nights ... hopefully I can find a way to repay you some day. Cheers and godspeed to all the different travellers I met during my stay, it is always a pleasure and may we meet again some day.

As for photos, well, all I can say is that I am a pretty lame photographer. I think my biggest problem is that I consider it a hassle to stop and take out my camera to use it as well as carry it around all the time. Despite that I did manage a few photos here and there which are in my Munich Photo Album.

It really is my greatest joy to travel. Read on for more details if you like.

!!--

Okay, so here's some more details about the trip.

Itinerary:

Sep.23 - Depart OAK @ 8:30am
Sep.24 - Arrive MUNCHEN @ 9:00am
Sep.24-25 - Home stay with Michael ... you're the best!
Sep.26-30 - Oktoberfest ... yes, I went every day ;)
Oct.01-02 - Sun World Cup 2004
Oct.03 - Depart MUNCHEN @ 11:00am ... Arrive OAK @ 8:30pm

Oktoberfest stats:
[ 1 beer = 1 liter (1 liter ~ 2.1 pints) ]

# beers drank ~ 22 (roughly 6 gallons or 45 pints)
# beers drank in 1 day ~ 7
biggest night - Sep.29, Sep.30 (too close to tell)
# mornings with pounding headache - 2
# of days off from drinking - 1 (ah c'mon, it was for the tournament)
latest night ~ 4am

*Note that stats represent 6 days starting on Sep.27 and all quantities are conservative estimations compiled days after the fact.

Summary of Events:

Okay, so the trip started off with a rather reasonable flight from CA to MUN where I arrived on a Friday morning. From there I proceeded to the Sun Munich office to meet Michael, hang out a bit and have lunch, and eventually catch a ride back to his place. I was pretty tired after the flight, but managed to muster enough energy to go into the city for a bit and walk around.

Saturday and Sunday were my big tourist days. I had heard that the Oktoberfest is overcrowded on weekends and so I figured I would lay low and do the touristy stuff over the weekend instead. So I did all the main museums, churches, and walking tours over my first weekend.

Monday was my last real touristy day where I spent all day doing more touring, and then that night began my Oktoberfest. So, beginning monday night and through the week my level of intoxication could basically be viewed as a sin graph with various levels of amplitude peaking on Wed & Thurs nights.

Tuesday was a very cool day because I joined the Sun Munich office at Oktoberfest for a number of hours when they had a reservation, then left the Oktoberfest to go immediately to the FC Bayern Munich vs. Ajax Amsterdam Champions League game.

Wednesday I don't really remember what happened, but I know that I met a group of people at the hostel next door and spent the night with them & many, many beers.

Thursday was my longest day at Oktoberfest, starting at 2:00, where I went with Markus and Axel. It was a bit tough to get started that day, but it was well worth it. To make the day even more classic we ended up at a really killer bar after the festival where I met a couple of girls who were excellent dancers, very fun.

Friday I rested for the tournament, so no beer, then on Saturday I messed up my knee in the first game :( Then as usual everyone from the tournament went out together on Saturday night and had a great time, luckily it wasn't too late of a night.

Sunday I was up early and on my way to the airport. Then to make things interesting I realized about half way through my flight home that my whole leg was swollen and gross and had to get a bunch of assistance from that point on to get my leg elevated. It was a pretty shitty day.

So that's the summary. I'll leave all the really good details in my head where they belong ;)

Things have been moving pretty quickly this week and I just realized I never got a chance to write a note about the trip to the JAX.

What a fantastic trip it was. It was really great to see some other family members since we all seem to be so spread out these days :( I was also quite impressed with the cities of Savannah and Charleston which had some really great atmosphere and history, and best of all was the great assortment of southern cooking we stuffed ourselves with. My fav ... shrimp n' grits :D

Highlights:
- our kick ass 4th of July southern style shrimp boil w/ corn on the cob and wedge salad ... mmm. Add in some corona's, a beatuiful beach, and fireworks and you've got a perfect night.

- dinner at the Homestead ... grubbin' southern food.

- walking around Savannah ... a beautiful yet eerie place.

- dinner at Hominy Grille ... best shrimp n' grits i've ever had. yum.

- sea kayaking w/ dolphins @ hilton head island.

- martini club followed by dog races. no explanation needed :)

There were a couple times that the whole trip seemed iffy and we weren't sure we were going to be able to go, but I'm glad we did. Can't think of a better way to have spent the 4th this year.

-- AG

yay, it's now been nearly 2 months since I got back but oh well. You can find the images in the gallery, which I am just realizing doesn't actually have a link as of yet, oops.

Australia Photo Gallery

i put up the originals so that people can actually print them out if they like.

Enjoy!

-- Allen

Blogging from Bob's house :)

On to the main event ... 1 month of travel in Australia featuring Melbourne (pronounced Melbun), Hatch & Jane, the Great Ocean Road, the Grampians, Adelaide, Damo & the Adventure Tours gang, Uluru, King's Canyon, Coober Pedy, Parachilna, 2200 miles of nothing, and Perth.

I find it a bit amusing that I barely consider this trip "travelling" because if its short length, however almost nobody that I know at home goes on trips longer than 2 weeks ... :)

So this time it was just me, Chels, and Jacks bummin' around Australia with some rucksacks. We saw tons of great sites and met so many great people ... special love to Hatch&Jane, Rachel, Sue, Helle, Martin, Ulrich(spelling?), Anna, Sally, Jemma, Sabina, Jean-marc, Liza, Sarah, Bert, Damo, Tiffany, Amy, and good 'ol Dr. Bala.

Such a blast, can't wait to do it again. Isn't travel the greatest?

-- Allen

!! --

Work in progress ;)

Itinerary:

Apr.21 - leave SJ
Apr.22 - arrive Sydney
Apr.23 - Sydney -> Melbourne via overnight bus
Apr.24-27 - Melbourne
Apr.27-30 - Great Ocean Rd & Grampians
Apr.30 - Adelaide -> Alice Springs via overnight train
May.01 - Alice Springs
May.02-07 - Damo & the Adventure Tours gang do the outback; end in Adelaide
May.07-10 - Adelaide
May.10 - Adelaide -> Perth via plane
May.10-15 - Perth
May.15 - Perth -> Sydney via overnight plane
May.16 - Sydney -> SJ ... arrive back home

Ah yes ... first trip of the year. Always feels good to ditch work and get out somewhere new.

The whole trip was *out of this world!* crazy fun ... it really can't be described, but i will try. There is far too many memories to put in this humble blog entry, so i'll be using the extended entry feature to go above and beyond ;)

Special love goes out to ... chels, jacks, liz, selena, sorraya(spelling?), josh, jess, jess, alicia, jen, katie, carla, bethany, cary, and justin ... it was truly a pleasure to party with such a great crowd. And of course, much love to my great australian roomies ... chels, selena, amanda, mo, ash, jonathan, anthony, and nordberg ... you guys rock!

Can't wait for 7 weeks to come and go so i'll be on my way back to the fun.

from a cold & wet cali
-- Al G

!! --

Chapter 1 - Forgotten Time

10.02.2004 - left sj for sydney @ 20:00
11.02.2004 - totally non-existant time in my universe
12.02.2004 - arrived in sydney @ 9:15

Chapter 2 - Go Wild

14.02.2004 (V-Day) - on saturday we left on our "Go Wild" overnight tour through some parts of the rainforest and up to cape tribulation where we spent the night at PK's Jungle Village. The day was rather plain and certainly overshadowed by what would be a hell of a night. Because it was V-Day the managers/owners of the hostel organized to have some activities and games to provide a bit of fun for everyone. The main attractions were two games of perfect match (i.e. the dating game) and of course i was selected as a contestant. So there i am sandwiched between 2 cheecky australian guys about to play the dating game in the australian rainforest ... trouble.

Now this next bit threw me for a loop ... not only did they select Alicia (part of the B.U. gang) as the female contestant, which i was happy about, but for some uber-random/coincidental reason she had stated on her entry form that her perfect man was someone who's last name began with "G" ... that goes way beyond bizarre. I'm still not sure if it was my witty answers or if the game was rigged, but I managed to come out as the winner and won of a bottle of champagne and a hot air balloon ride at sunset to be shared with my perfect match, Alicia. Then to my disappointment she refused to drink any champagne and promptly gave the balloon trip to my sister ... ouch :( Anyways, that was a long-winded description ... the other perfect match game featured 3 girls all from the B.U. troop, so that was fun to watch as well.

At this point the whole gang was engaged in dancing and drinking the 3 bottles of champagne we had won as well as celebrating all the great prizes we had won, in total i think it came out to 5 snorkeling trips and 2 balloon rides. So while we were all dancing and enjoying our drinks a final contest came over the air ... **the first guy that comes up to the bar with a bra over his head gets a free jug of beer**. Now I was too busy dancing to pay attention, but Chelsea's ears were keen, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye she grabbed me, ripped her bra off (very skillfully i might add), threw it over my head, and pushed me to the bar. I clocked in at a PK's record time of just over 10 seconds and was met with a look of total shock and what i might call envious amazement on the looks of the announcer. He said "Damn, you're good!" looking slightly puzzled at the same time. So I collected my free jug of beer with a smile, turned around, walked back to the dance floor, where I learned that Chels had gotten so excited that she rolled her ankle while jumping for joy ... poor thing. So the beer was only bitter sweet, but at least the memory will last a lifetime. Of course Chels would not go down so easily, and despite a bit of pain she returned to the dance floor to finish out the night.

Ahhh ... so that was the first day of the trip :)

Sunday - luckily we didn't have to get up too early for anything, and with chels' ankle in pain we decided to just rest that morning. the "go wild" trip continued that afternoon with a pretty lame little boat ride ... *time passes* ... an we're back in cairns and still a bit tired from the previous night, so nothing much happens.

Chapter 3 - Cairns

Day 3 (Monday) - we did a day trip to the resort at Fitzroy island where we basically just layed around and tried to get some sun/rest/who knows. i remember that i wasn't too fond of the lunch menu so i ordered what they called a kabob, but was really iceberg lettuce, tomato, cheese, and chicken breast wrapped in a tortilla. yup ... definitely the very worst thing i ate the whole trip. overall the fitzroy trip was pretty lackluster except for the fact that late that afternoon i connected with Alicia & Jen who would become my new drinking partners ... shots only of course ;) That afternoon we would take the first in a long line of shots taken over the course of the trip.

Now ... we started early, but would finish quite late in what be *supa-nite #2* of our 9 day joy ride. Everyone returned from Fitzroy and split up ... shower, get ready, yadda ya, etc, ate dinner ... and rejoined at something something O'briens (i think). So we finally got to the bar where we started off nice and slow with cocktails and conversation. Eventually the party really began once the crowd began to thicken and the dance floor got a little action. Drinking and dancing at P.J. O'briens (or whatever) was a decent start, but really the music was pretty wack and the dance floor was only marginally full. The bartender was nice enough to recommend a better spot for dancing and so not long after we decided to split and check it out.

balloon ride, bus trip.

Chapter 4 - Whitsundays

the motorized sailing cruise.

Chapter 5 - Sydney

Chapter 6 - Flying Back in Time

29.02.2004 - Depart Sydney @ 11:35
flight time ... 13 hrs
29.02.2004 - Arrive L.a. @ 6:00
and they thought time travel was impossible.

to the best of times ... cheers.

It wasn't a long trip, but it sure felt pretty long!

The trip over felt like the longest 2 days in my life. I had basically 2 hours of sleep before getting up to leave Wednesday morning. The I got pretty much 0 sleep on the way there because we all know that plane sleep is worth about 1/5th of normal sleep. After planes, trains, and automobiles we finally got to the hotel and had a chance to relax for a couple hours before going out for a full night of drinking and fun. yeah ... long day, but well worth it!

Friday was a chance to rest before the tournament ... almost nothing went on.

** tournament happens ... read previous post **

Sunday we woke up and got moving on our way to Rome. Luckily we were able to hitch a ride with a teammate on the way back and so the trip back only took a few hours and was rather painless. Somehow this doesn't feel like the time for details, so lets keep it simple and say that in Rome I basically did a few laps of the city and hit a bunch of good spots that I knew. Then tuesday was the marathon back home. voila!

The stage ... Porto San Giorgio, Italy.

The teams ... Italy, Spain, USA West, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland/Whales, England, USA East, Japan, France.

The conditions ... Overcast with mild to fair winds.

The pitch ... spectacular.

The results ... read on!

Game 1 - Germany
This game was a sight ... we put in 2 goals pretty
quickly and nearly had about 6 more. We were in top
form and as it turns out Germany had one of the worst
teams, so this was a romp. final 2-0

Game 2 - Italy
We got off to a quite start with a goal in the first 2
minutes, but failed to make good on any of our other
attempts. The italian team was a bit disorganized
though and sported a whopping 0 shots on goal. final
1-0

Game 3 - Scotland/Whales
Easily the most brutal of our games as you might
expect. Quite a bit or swearing and yelling too.
Scotland played hard, but suffered from a lack of
attack. We played fairly well and had many chances, 2
which were nullified by the keeper grabbing the ball
outside the box yet we only got simple free kicks as a
result. However, late in about the 22nd minute we put
one in. final 1-0

Game 4 - Japan
Japan was easily the most skilled team we saw at the
tournament, they were very impressive. We played
fairly even with them the entire 25 minutes, and once
again the defense kept out any real threatening
attacks. The lone goal for us came on a bit of a
fluke ball launched from about 40 yards out that just
happened to fall behind the keeper. final 1-0 **on a
very unfortunate note our win here caused a tie
between Scotland and Japan for the second spot in our
bracket, which Scotland was awarded based on total
goals. However Japan was the far better team :(

Game 5 - Semi-final vs. France
France basically got in on a fluke and probably didn't
deserve a semi-final spot, but oh well. We took it to
them pretty easily and managed to put one in to secure
the game despite losing out sweeper to a mid game
injury from a collision. final 1-0

Game 6 - Championship vs. Spain
Spain looked clearly above most teams, yet very
managable. The game got rough early and the Spanish
were as dirty as can be. We clearly dominated the
game, but 30 minutes is not much time and we couldn't
get one in the net in time so match would have to be
decided by penalty kicks.

We had a good lineup, one which i would have expected
at least 4 goals from, but we began to sink early.
Our veteran leader shot first and blasted it off the
crossbar for a miss, oi. Luckily the Spanish bloke
sucked more and blasted his clear over the goal. Our
second shooter put his away in the right corner, but
the ref called it back complaining that he hadn't
blown the whistle yet. The second shot was in the
same spot, but this time the goalie was there and we
were now 0 for 2. The second spanish shooter put a
good foot on it and looked well, but it caught enough
of the post to deflect it back out for another miss.

4 shots ... no goals. Our striker shot 3rd and
finally someone put one away easily, this time in the
left lower corner. The spanish answered back with
equal authority blasting their kick firmly into the
side of the net. US 1 ... Spain 1. Our sweeper shot
4th and pounded a good shot firmly into the back of
the net to put us ahead once again. Spain was a bit
lucky on their reply which hit the crossbar but
bounced into the goal. US 2 ... Spain 2.

Our second striker shot last and was able to put his
out of the reach of the keeper and into the side of
the net. Victory could be secured. The spanish sent
their striker in as well and made quick work of the
attempt. After 5 each ... US 3 ... Spain 3.

Shooting 6th was midfielder 'ol MacGilliland, a lefty
sporting some intimidating cut tape over his right
eye. The keeper was shakin' in his boots trying to
figure right or left. The shot is fired ... the
goalie dives ........... whoa, that keeper was way
off, easily hitting the back of the net on that one.
Once again the US has a chance for victory. The
spanish now smelling defeat send in their 6th man.
Shot fired ... golie dives ... bah! goal! This will
require another round folks.

Shooting 7th for the US was a substitute midfielder
borrowed from the US East team (we were trying not to
let the defense shoot. heh). A young scottish lad,
but he had a bone to pick after have his penalty shot
blocked by the spanish goalie in his first game in the
tournament. He's calm. He's poised. He fires. It's
good!! And for yet another round the pressure falls
on the spanish to stay alive. Up marches the spanish
kicker ... a stout fellow. The whistle blows. The
shot fired ... and it's over!? no. it's good. We
continue to an 8th round.

The intensity is thick enough to cut with a knife.
The US marches out its 8th kicker ... a substitute
attacker from the US East team again. The fear of an
eventual miss is mounting quickly. The shot is away.
The goalie dives. It's good. 6 in a row. Once again
there is a chance for victory. The US keeper steps
back into the box. The shooter lines up. He fires.
Its in. No! Blocked! Blocked! Blocked! And the US
wins the cup!

Yup, so we came, we played, we won! And in true
American form we took the cup to the closing dinner,
got really drunk from drinking many bottles wine out
of the cup, then broke it :)

So ... the short story is that we won and then broke
the trophy ... hah!

Got back from a week in Cape Cod and Boston ... 4th of July in Boston is awesome =)

This'll be a good occasion for using the extended entry i'd say.

Don't know how much detail I will go into since ... well, I am impatient and don't want to sit here typing and remembering for an hour. Anyways ... here goes.

Saturday was a big fat waste of a day ... not only did i get about 4 hours of sleep and wake up at 5:30, but then I got to sit on planes and buses all damn day. We got to Cape Cod at about 10:00 EDT after leaving home at about 8:30 their time ... i sure wish somebody would hurry up and invent the teleporter ... cuz you sure waste a lot of time in transit.

Sunday we didn't have too much time since we got up late and my sister had to work that night. We basically drove around and saw the town of Falmouth, where we were staying. To be nice the rest of the family decided to go eat at my sisters restaurant to see her, and so we had to eat fairly mediocre mexican meal. I guess we are just spoiled here in CA.

Monday we finally got rolling and did a full day driving tour of the entire cape which ended at the tip of the cape in Province Town. Along the way we counted the bagillion ice cream parlors in every town ... no wonder east coasters are such fatties, there is an ice cream shop and dunkin' donuts on every corner! That night we decided to continue to sit on our asses and watch Charlies Angels: Full Throttle, which despite being fun is still quite lame. I was pretty disappointed because I actually thought the first film was suprisingly fresh and worked well, but the only thing worth watching in this film is Bernie Mac.

Tuesday we hit up Martha's Vineyard, which basically ended up being another driving tour. We were seriously contemplating renting bikes or mopeds, but the guy we were going to rent from basically said "take the mopeds and you will probably die!" So for the sake of mom and sis we did the jeep thing, which was probably just as nice. When we got back from touring around the island we met up with a group of my sisters friends, had dinner, and then magically ended up a bar 'til 1 AM. After drinking the whole night I actually got to take my first breathalizer test ... 2 large shots + 6 rum & coke + 2 large rum punch = 0.078 :)

Wednesday we split up a bit ... my dad and I did some sea kayaking in some of the bays around the Falmouth while my mom and sis went out to the beach. right before returning the sea kayaks I was messing about and flipped my kayak ... that is a mistake. you would think its easy to flip them back over and just hop back in, but no, they actually fill with water very quickly and you pretty much have to take them out of the water to drain them. Luckily I was right by the shore, but if you were actually out a ways this would be a serious pain. blah blah ... tired of the details now.

maybe i'll finish up later.

So the Chicago trip has come and passed. I said I would post from Chicago, but that didn't work out and I just couldn't bring myself to go online for more than about 2 mins the whole trip. Anyways ... that means I'll have to cover what I can in one monster entry, so here goes.

Gunna have to use the old extended entry feature for this one ...

!!--

So, Tuesday was travel day. Tuesday was pretty awesome because it was so relaxing. There was basically nobody at the airport or on my flight over, so I was able to spread out, get comfortable, and just relax on the way the Chicago. Once I got there I was going to get some food while waiting for Gun to get in on his flight, but unfortunately I left the security area to pickup my baggage, then couldn't get back in to any of the restaurants ... lame! Anways ... I just hung around until Gun came and we had to get his car and head over to Midway to pickup Panos and Tim. Once the team was assembled it was major chow time, so we ended up stopping at Portillo's in the city for some Italian beef and sausage. Then it was back to the apmt to chill for the night.

Wednesday was touring day 1. Tim, Panos, and I set out reasonably early to wander the streets of the city and check things out. We walked all the way up and down Grant park and eventually made our way the Art Institute where we spent a good couple hours browsing around. I was actually impressed with their collection, a lot better than I would have guessed. After that it was time for a bit of a late lunch, so we stopped at Potbelly's for sandwiches, then left still feeling a bit hungry and decided to hit up Joe Ma-something's for some deep dish pizza. From there we walked back to Gun's place just in time to meet him as he got home. We relaxed for a bit before heading back out to Hugo's Frog Bar and Fish House, where we had an excellent meal including: oysters, frog's legs, bouillabaisse, fish and chips, and a stunning dessert. We headed back after that so that Gun could go pickup Danny and Justin from the airport and make the team complete.

Thursday was touring day 2. This time its Panos, Tim, Danny, Justin, and I making our way around the city together. We started out with the obvious, the Sears Tower, which was a kewl visit. After that we grabbed some lunch and kept wandering around, eventually ending up at Virgin where I got a couple new cds :) At night it was time for the madness to begin, March Madness of course, so we hit up the ESPN Zone and basically watched the first game on foot at the bar while we waited for a table. Before the start of the second game we got our table and were setup to relax, watch the game, have some food, and drink. This practically marks the beginning of a 3 day drinkfest that continued until Sunday when we left. The game actually ended pretty late and some time after that we headed home.

Friday was "I barely remember" day 1. I don't remember when we got up, but it wasn't particularly early. We must have done something during the day, but I can't seem to remember all that well. I do remember that we set ourselves up to watch Friday's games at Hooters. Then around halftime of the later games we left and went to the Harry Carey bar for some reason. Once we were there we just kept the drinks coming and decided to go to a club, but rather than dance we figured we would go to the Crazy Horse and let others dance for us. Unfortunately our experience there left much to be desired, and really it was a bit of a waste. We got back from that sometime really late.

Saturday was "I barely remember" day 2. This time I know we got up really late then headed over to the famous Gino's East for what is supposed to be the best pizza in town. It was good, but I am still more of a fan of thin crust. After that it was time to prepare for Medieval Times which was a whole lot of fun. After that it was time to hit up yet another bar. This time it was the Goodbar where we met Liz :) We spent quite a while at the bar drinking "black cherry's" before Liz and I decided to ditch the guys and head to the Green Mill, a bitchin' jazz club. We left the jazz club I dunno when and then it was time to retire for the night.

Sunday was try and stay on your feet day. Come Sunday I was just fully exhausted from the weeks activities and well hung over from 3 days of drinking. Sunday was a slow day and all we really did was grab some brunch with the boys + Liz. By the time we got back from brunch it was almost time to head out to the airport and back home. My flight was a major pain in the ass because I was so tired, and then the plane was reasonably crowded and unconfortable. Anyways ... I dunno if its neccessarily nice to be home, but its nice to have a little break.

This was one of the kickass trips of all time and I know I'll remember it my whole life. It was especially great to get all the boys together in a place where we were all just hudled together and having fun all the time. Sorry to say, but now its back to the grind ... crappo!

~~ To good friends and great times :) ~~

Cheers.

-- AG