Dan
Saturday, 8 May 2004 5:13:15 a.m.
Welcome back to Spackos online travel newsletter....
My first introduction to Turkey wasn't a good one. After 12 hours on a bus from Bulgaria, I didn't think a normal toilet wouldn't be too much to ask for. Instead, I found a hole in the floor accompanied by a bucket of water. Thats all I'd like to say on that one.
Istanbul was fantastic. The turkish people are the friendliest I have met in the world. Unfortunately, many of them are trying to sell you carpet or get you to part with a few million lira - which brings me to my next point: the currency. The exchange rate is 2,500,000 lira to the British pound. What the.....? They have "Who wants to be a Millionaire" only they call it "Who wants to be a Multi-Gazillionaire". You can ask the audience, take 50-50 or phone a cousin who owns a carpet shop and has a brother with a wife from Perth.
The funniest thing I came across: the turkish word for "Goodbye" is "Allah Ismalardik". When the turks say it quickly, you'd swear they were saying "I lost my dick". You can only imagine how much fun I had with that one.
I thought I'd take a world-famous turkish bath. I had visions of receiving a steamy rubdown in a hot tub from a young, scantily clad female belly dancer. Oh how wrong I was. Instead, I had four layers of skin removed with a scouring pad and got a massage from an overweight, middle-aged Turkish man. The massage was parallel to cold war interrogation techniques.
After a few days in a tree house and a four day cruise, I strapped on a parachute and a turk named "Typhoon" and jumped off a mountain. I then hooked up with a crew from Melbourne and headed up to Gallipoli for Anzac day. This was definately the highlight of the trip.
So after three weeks in Turkey, I headed back to London for a night and flew out to LA the next day. Before I knew it, I was listening to some Jazz on Bourbon Street in New Orleans with my mate Jon from Boston. I even managed to squeeze in a fishing trip on the Bayou (Mississippi delta), staying at a camp in the swamp 40 miles from the nearest bottle shop.
So now I'm back in LA at Craig and Heidi's house. It has long been my dream to steal a V8 1965 convertible mustang and spend a few months driving around the states on the run from the law. Given the legal and logistical implications of such a dream, I decided to buy a 4-cylinder mazda with air conditioning and a sunroof. I begin my trip up the west coast of the states tomorrow.
More footy updates please....
Dan
Tuesday 18 March 2004
" Welcome back to Spacko's online travel newsletter...
Well after the fireworks in Spain, I jumped on the tin pigeon to Rome. Upon disembarking the plane, I gave the crowd the papal wave. I stopped short of kissing the ground as I thought the locals may might not take too kindly to me taking the mickey out of big JP. Met up with my American friend Shelley and my mates from home Bass and Rebekka and her friends. After a buying a beer for ¤6.50 (AUD$11), it became immediately apparent that I wouldn't be drinking much while in Rome.
They say Rome wasn't built in a day. No Sh!t....It took me a day just to walk through the Vatican, let alone build the thing. On the first day, we saw the tombs in the catacombs (people have been dying to get in there) and walked around the forum and Colloseum. Obviously, no trip to the colloseum would be complete without yelling at the top of your lungs "Friends, Romans, countymen - lend me your beers".....
The next day was St Paddy's day. I hadn't been to church in about four years so Shelley and I went to Saint Peter's square in the Vatican to listen to the big man (Pope JP) say mass and give us his blessing. I figure this makes up for the last four years and should excuse me for another four....
They say that when in Rome, do as the romans do. Consequently, I have eaten plenty of pizza and pasta and I find myself waving my hands a lot. I don't have a scooter, but if I did, I would ride it like I stole it - ignoring traffic lights and using footpaths at every opportunity.
Not sure where I'm going next. Maybe up to Florence for a couple of days.
Until next time, its Ciao for now!
Dan "