Island of Women

Its been nearly two weeks (?) three countries and two continents since Rome but I have finally managed to pull myself off my little piece of the carribean and find an internet cafe.

As luck would have it, I find myself on the Island of Women. (Isla Mujerres).

Not sure what the attraction was initially either, but certainly a beautiful little piece of paradise to finish off the trip and work on the tan. (not that it needs it after 4 months of summer and a trip back home to get some more).

Julie and I left Amalfi and the local constabulary and found our way back to Pompeii and then Rome. As always, I managed to find myself on top of St Peters (with Julie, and the twelve aposltes who are covered in electric wire to keep the pigeons away) and it was raining. For me it was just a flying visit to Rome (2 Days) before leaving Julie and Europe and taking what seemed the worlds oldest Jumbo Jet to fly to Miami. But only just....

As usual, a funning steat of Italian Administrative excellence nearly floored me.

I had to get the 5.56AM Train to the airport (the first train of the day) and to make sure I got this right had a trial run the night before to make sure I knew which platform the train left from. All was good. Follow the BIG signs to that say AIRPORT TRAIN and you can´t go wrong - right? Err, this is Italy.

Arrived at Roma Termini station at around 5.30 to find that the train waiting at the AIRPORT TRAIN platform didnt leave until 6.30. Too late for my flight. Only other passenger was a short rotund indian man with a trolley full of luggage (probably off to sell fake Louis Vuitton handbags or plastic Llamas - i thought). We both discussed that we had come the night before to make sure that the 5.56 train left from here.

I had an inclination to look at the posted timetable which all italian stations have, that show departure platforms. Sure, the 5.56 train left ok, but from platform 13. We were on 25. Its now 5.45. (and thats a lot of numbers for one sentence). Luckily, luggage man and I managed to do the 600M sprint to platform 13 just in time. A little tired but made our flights.

Miami had Miami attitude and I was glad I was only there for a few nights before I set off for Cancun.

Now I knew this was going to be an interesting choice of destinations, but my fears began to surface when the clutch (is that the collective term) of American 20 something teen-queen pageant participants (well thats what they looked like) began to squeal with delight as we passed every american fast food chain outlet known to man on the way in from the airport.... Its sort of true that Mexico is like the 51st state.

But all in all Cancun was pleasant enough and staying in the downtown area away from the hotel strip was a much more pleasant experience and a bit more ´real´. Spent a day at Chichen Itza which was incredible...

I leave Mexico tomorrow, after 15 countries, and 110 odd days and some fantastic memories. I have one night in Dallas on Tuesday and then arrive back in Aus on Thursday AM.

Police

It can only be summarises as "That was the week that was" - but here's a list of things NOT to do on your holidays.

1.. Don't visit the greek island called Paros. "Small and quiet" is Greek for "Ghost Town". Try not to get trapped there for too long when the weather gets bad and the ferries stop running.

2.. When on a small dead Greek island called Paros - Don't loose your only ATM Card and hence only access to cash by leaving it in the ATM machine because you are too busy looking at your reciept (which said machine issued first) which for the first time in 4 months of travel shows your account balance.

3.. Don't go back to bank owning ATM Machine 15 minutes later (when you realise you left card in said ATM Machine) expect staff to do anything. It is Greece after all.

4.. When you call American Express asking about Cash Advance, dont be silly. You should already know that your American Express card doesnt automatically have Cash Advance facilities - without having to PERSONALLY fill in forms (in SYDNEY), wait 14 days and proivide samples of DNA.

So what next - I though..... Luckily I had a ticket out of dead town for the next day but only limited cash and travellers cheqs left. A bit of a mad panic and a nightless sleep later I decided I'd had enough but then..... woke up in Italy.

Julie had left Greece the week before and was somewhere in Naples. I Managed to get hold of her and got back to Athens, got the train to Athens airport and then bought a plane ticket to Rome and got the train the next day to Naples to meet up with her. Thanks to her help (and the fact we're both with the same credit union) I am now financial again.

And so (we) continued on. The last few days have been a tour some architectural ruins in some of the most BORING places on the planet. After the man sitting on the table in front of us at lunch was mugged and had his ROLEX stoled off his wrist, we left Naples and made our way to Paestum which has some amazing greek temples but not much else (unless you include the beggars whe drove off in thier mercedes).

From Paestum we visited Matera. Amazing place and world heritage listed, but REALLY Italian. This place is shut even when its open. I think we might have been the only tourists in town. Come to think of it, we might have been the only PEOPLE in town. Finding a restaurant would have been easier on the moon and you could have fired a cannon down the main street and only wounded a lost pigeon.

We hired a car to travel around (read - hired a car for Julie to drive and me to navigate). I had spent 2 days training Julie to say "Mi Dispiace Molto senior polzzia, Come si functionari il commande" which translates into something like "I'm very sorry officer, can you show me how to operate the car".

This would have been great, especially when the ONLY time we came across police, they pulled us over. Julie stalls the car about two feet behind the police car and it bunny hops nearly impaling senior polizzia against his Alfa Romeo.

Senior Polizzia comes to window and Julie (we're both laughiung and panicking at the same time at this stage) asks if he speaks english. Before we had a chance to use our line on him, senior Polizzia looks at Julie and asks in Italian "do you know how to drive the car".

All very funny until the three of them stand at the windscreen and start pointing at Me. Fortunatley I hadn't done anything besides get a tattoo on my arm which they were all fascinated by. One last laugh at the fact that I have the same last name as Inspector "Dirty Harry" Callaghan and we're off.

I'm now in Amalfi in Italy and back to Pompeii today. Rome tomorrow and Miami on Friday. There for three days before Mexico and then home on schedule 28th October.

Fossil

Some of you might have missed the last email due to yahoo address changes. Hopefully this one works...

Mykonos. According to Lonley Planet this is "Polished Greek Island perfection" Hmmmmmm.. Perhaps Helen Keller did the update. More like Fantasy Island for ageing cloned gay couples who still party so hard they look 10 years older and dress 25 years younger than they should. Don't forget to walk with a lisp and use the same hairdresser.

Speaking of fossils - having avoided the whordes and found some nice quiet beaches, I managed to make the decision to remove myself from the beach before the sun and salt crystals fosslised me into a part of the landscape. After 7 days I think I'm bored, and have the next boat out this afternoon.

Despite the commercialism Mykonos is pleasant enough with beautiful beaches and plenty of exploring to do. Some of you might recall that when I was in Dubrovnik I nearly got run over by the cruise liner Costa Victoria - which I encountered again in Mykonos. Some massive cruise ships have been thru here in the last week.

Our first choice of abode turned out to be Fawlty Towers on a bad day, so without even staying there we found Fraskoulas Rooms on a beach just out of town which was much more pleasant. The fact that we were a 5 minute drive or 30 minute walk out of the centre encouraged me to rent a motorbike.

The first day I had said motorbike and had made my own (clone-like?) decision to not use a helmet I got home in the evening, got out of the shower and hit my head on a chair giving myself a FANTASTIC scar on my left eyebrow. I now wear the helmet around the house just in case.

So yesterday I was riding the bike (a Quad bike to be honest)without a license, without a helmet, when I passed two greek policemen standing on the side of the road who waved at me when I rode past. I don't think they wanted me to stop, but...??? Benig slightly worried, I decided to take the backroads home, got lost, ended up in someone's driveway in the middle of the island, found what I thought was the way out, only to discover that I ended up on the same road the police were on when I started the trip. Luckily of course they had changed sides and were now on my side of the road again. Luckier still they pulled ovewr the two girls in front of me and I sailed past. Goes without saying I didn't ride much more after that.

I have been collecting some little curios along the way (when I think of it). So far I have acquired small pieces of the Acropolis, Ancient Thira on Santorini, and three bullets from Bosnia. It could make for an interesting experience thru customs.

I have decided against visiting Turkey - means i'm moving in the wrong direction and cost-wise it means additional airfares which are more expensive than island hopping thru to southern Italy which is where I need to be for my next flight. Julie left on Thursday for Naples and we are going to try to catch up before I head off to Miami and Mexico on the 15th.

Fossil

Mykonos. According to Lonley Planet this is "Polished Greek Island perfection" Hmmmmmm.. Perhaps Helen Keller did the update. More like Fantasy Island for ageing cloned gay couples who still party so hard they look 10 years older and dress 25 years younger than they should. Don't forget to walk with a lisp and use the same hairdresser.

Speaking of fossils - having avoided the whordes and found some nice quiet beaches, I managed to make the decision to remove myself from the beach before the sun and salt crystals fosslised me into a part of the landscape. After 7 days I think I'm bored, and have the next boat out this afternoon.

Despite the commercialism Mykonos is pleasant enough with beautiful beaches and plenty of exploring to do. Some of you might recall that when I was in Dubrovnik I nearly got run over by the cruise liner Costa Victoria - which I encountered again in Mykonos. Some massive cruise ships have been thru here in the last week.

Our first choice of abode turned out to be Fawlty Towers on a bad day, so without even staying there we found Fraskoulas Rooms on a beach just out of town which was much more pleasant. The fact that we were a 5 minute drive or 30 minute walk out of the centre encouraged me to rent a motorbike.

The first day I had said motorbike and had made my own (clone-like?) decision to not use a helmet I got home in the evening, got out of the shower and hit my head on a chair giving myself a FANTASTIC scar on my left eyebrow. I now wear the helmet around the house just in case.

So yesterday I was riding the bike (a Quad bike to be honest)without a license, without a helmet, when I passed two greek policemen standing on the side of the road who waved at me when I rode past. I don't think they wanted me to stop, but...??? Benig slightly worried, I decided to take the backroads home, got lost, ended up in someone's driveway in the middle of the island, found what I thought was the way out, only to discover that I ended up on the same road the police were on when I started the trip. Luckily of course they had changed sides and were now on my side of the road again. Luckier still they pulled ovewr the two girls in front of me and I sailed past. Goes without saying I didn't ride much more after that.

I have been collecting some little curios along the way (when I think of it). So far I have acquired small pieces of the Acropolis, Ancient Thira on Santorini, and three bullets from Bosnia. It could make for an interesting experience thru customs.

I have decided against visiting Turkey - means i'm moving in the wrong direction and cost-wise it means additional airfares which are more expensive than island hopping thru to southern Italy which is where I need to be for my next flight. Julie left on Thursday for Naples and we are going to try to catch up before I head off to Miami and Mexico on the 15th.

Beach

This update is running late and out of timetable order.

I am now in Santorini getting a tan on my tan and drinking far too much. I have just climbed over a very large mountain to get to the next beach from ours. My biggest and most stressful decision seems to be wether or not to go to another sun drenched Greek Island full of beautiful (available) people (well, im thinking of Mykonos. We all know what happens there) or go to Turkey.

Allow me to continue from where I didn't leave off.

....I was sitting on the beach afterwards when a large piece of watermelon hit me in the back of the head. Strategically aimed by a Girl from Melbourne who had been in Athens doing a course (obviously not on watermelon throwing) and had not wanted it (the watermelon) in her drink. We were all sitting around a beach fire and at one point a group of people (ok, Drunk, brazen people) decided to take all thier clothes off and jump in the water.

One night we were followed home by a large dog that scratched the door for 1/2 an hour trying to get in.

I'm not sure where I was the last time I wrote or what had happened, so i'm not sure if I mentioned that when we landed at Madrid half of the plane went to the wrong baggage carousel to collect thier bags which (obviously) didn't arrive. We all passed through customs (with nothing to declare except that we had no bags)and into the outside world and then had to fight our way through all the welcomers waiting outside the OTHER arrivals gate until some poor unsuspecting sod came through the (usually) one-way doors and we all did the reverse dash the wrong way through customs to collect our goods. Continuing with Spanish airport dramas our flight to Athens was delayed two hours for no apparent reason. The two dogs on the plane didn't seem to mind.

I have been taking photographs of Nuns. Not sure why. I took one once and liked the look of it. I now have quite a collection. All Nuns photographed so far have no idea. (Unless they have been told by a higher source which may be why I haven't seen any for a while).

We arrived for the opening ceremony of the paralympics only to find that every Greek on the planet had apparently come home especially for the opening ceremony of the paralympics which meant for quite a number of people who had travelled half way around the world there were NO TICKETS left. We queued for a while outside the stadium with 50 other people all holding little signs asking for spare tickets, which in the interim were being bought for ridiculous prices by a shifty looking cockney scalper and his extended shifty-looking entourage. There was really no hope so we went out and got drunk.

I was told we didn't miss much at the opening ceremony from someone who should know. Apparently just a lot of people limping around a big tree which got in the way of everything.

We did go and see the Aussie women beat(just) 62-61 the Americans (Reigning Olympic Champs) at thier first match this morning. The girls have gone on to win at least one more match at last update.

Now I go and contemplate the 32 days I have left. Mykonos on Sunday. Possibly Turkey and possibly not. I could spent anothewr three weeks here and meld into the lifestyle.

Rain

I know what you did last Sunday and you should be ashamed.

No real Italian would fall asleep during the telecast of the Monza GP.

I think you should have been there battling through the pouring rain on what seemed like someone´s farm. Picking your way through a pitch black underpass where the local fans (who had been camped out for weeks to get the best spots on the northern curves) were living in shelter on either side of a 2-foot wide passageway for the visiting racegoers to trip thier way to the track. Of course, Ferrari came first, Minardi didnt.

Speaking of trips, I made the journey from Dubrovnik to Milan in a record 34 hours on a catermaran made in Australia. I dont normally share hostel dorms, but next time, I´m really looking forward to another room containing an obese man with a chest infection who snores, and a drunk, pungent italian who mutters to himself in his sleep.

Ancona is just Another Nondescript City Offering Nothing Amusing. Its the sort of place to which my Grandmother would say "What would you want to go there for".

This weeks facts.

If you talk with your hands too much and look behind you at the same time you will fall down the stairs on the Milan Subway.

If you take all of the tourists out of Verona, there would be no one left there for the homeless people to sell plastic Llamas and clothes pegs to.

If you took all of the Nigerians selling fake Louis Vuittion(?) handbags out of Milan it would probably just still be Milan and it would still cost AUD$15 for a beer.

Now in Madrid and what an amazing place. Here for 3 days and then off to the Paralympics in Athens. Milan was a little nondescript although the shopping was great (new sunglasses). Unfortunatley you needed a 7 figure bank balance to buy anything. Including Beer. The race was wet.

For some reason in the last two weeks I have ben approached three times by church of scientology worshippers trying to get me to buy something. Should I be nervous?

Have rejoined Julie for a few weeks and will probably now change my itenerary to take in some parts of Turkey and attempt to return to Rome by 15th October to head for whats left of Miami and Cancun.

Adios for now.

Pigeon

If (perchance) you were to meet a retired Financial Planner (age=young), a Banker, and a drug dealer - How do you know which one is the REAL criminal?

Why do pigeons heads wobble when they walk? (Note to self. Do not throw food at Pigeons when sitting near glass window. Result=Pigeon makes loud bang as it misses food, hits window, scares crap out of all other pigeons in vicinity (causing major pigeon havoc and mass pigeon fright/flight reaction) and results in several tourists to leap from seats and run.)

And - If you jump off a rock into the sea, make sure there is another rock so you can jump back out of sea when 200M Long Cruise Liner COSTA VICTORIA Passes within 20 metres causing major water turbulence and several people (OK, maybe just one) to scramble onto sharp rocks and try to get out of water. (I think it was more the fact that a huge ship was bearing down on me than the water was rough).

Thursday was my half-way day. 54 days down, and (at this stage) 54 to go. This part of the world is incredible and I am thinking of heading to Albania, Macedonia and Turkey instead of re-visiting Italy later in the month.

I arrived in Dubrovnik on Wednesday and LOVE this place. It is just incredible here. My apartment is high up and level with the old city walls (the whole old town is UNESCO Heritage listed). I sit on my balcony and have the perfect (and highest) panorama over the whole of the old town and out over the Adriatic.

Cruise ships and sailing ships dot the harbour. I'm pretty sure Kerry Packer's boat came in yesterday (Although the boat I saw was called "ARCTIC" and I think his is the "ARCTIC P")

This really is the most amazing place and I am so glad I came. Must admit that it is a little of a tourist mecca and that is a bit overwhelming, having just come through places which were predominantly tourist free. There are more Irish and Aussies here than i've seen since leaving Sydney.

Bought my ticket to Italy today. Bus to Split tomorrow in time for the 5PM Ferry across to Ancona and to Milan in time for the F1 race on Sunday next week.

More soon.