TravelStream™ news feed for member barrettbingley on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/barrettbingley en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:52:21 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1149660360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1149660360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1149660360/tpod.html Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:52:21 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Paris, France

Our friends Tyra and Phillipe hosted us for 3 days in Paris, truly a wonderful way to finish up our trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1106326980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1106326980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1106326980/tpod.html Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:29:41 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Sharm el-Sheik, Dahab, Egypt

After our film-making debut in Petra Mike and I got on the ""fast"" ferry to Nuweiba, Egypt from Aqabe, Jordan. Much running around and confusion. Expensive but far better than taking the slow ferry. By nightfall we arrived in Sharm el-Sheik. Not at all a place I have been recommended except for the diving. Its full of tour groups who don't deign to speak to backpackers and feels like an Egpytian Las Vegas but not as fun. By this point, having negotiated everything for two people for 5 days, as opposed to just myself, I was stressed big time. Then some Arab guy tried to up the price on a dive 100% and I just about lost it on him. So we spent a day on the beach as I took a mini-vacation from my travels. At last I did my diving. It was good to be in the water again but the diving wasn't spectacular. The coral near the shoreline has had the shit kicked out of it by development and divers. Mike, the materialistic bastard, was loving Sharm.
Next we headed up the coast to Dahab, a noted backpacker chill-out area. Awesome place, totally recommend it. Stay at Bishbishi. Very clean, new rooms with friendly staff and near Penguin Divers which is cheap but very professional. The chill-out Bedouin lounges overlooking the Red Sea were great and we spent hours there just talking to other backpackers and sipping juices and chocolate milkshakes. Mike and I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing Ages of Empire II. We did a camel trek to a Bedouin sea-side village. His damn camel bit mine so hard its ass was bleeding and it went berserk on me. If not for equestrian experience I would have been thrown and let me tell you a camel is a lot taller than a horse. We did some fabulous snorkelling as well. In fact the snorkelling is just as good if not better than the diving around the Red Sea. I did one more dive cause it was so cheap there. Glad I did cause I saw a big red octopus! My first one and we watched it munch coral and then tentacle its way over the rocks. A couple good nights out dancing in Sharm and Dahab but nothing incredible. The we powered up the laptop and got ready for our ride back to Israel. Its great that Mike has his laptop cause I'm catching up on all the movies I've missed while traveling. I've also totally busted my budget while traveling with Mike. Easy to do when you are diving and see expensive sights like Petra, as well as eating at decent, non-street places. Oh how I miss the prices of SE Asia.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1115100120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1115100120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1115100120/tpod.html Sun, 28 May 2006 01:06:19 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Cannes, France

Tina and I camped in Cannes, shopped and took the train to Monaco. Just after the Festival (sorry we missed it) so it was quiet but still very nice to be chilling on the Riviera near the end of a very very hard travelling trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1118956800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1118956800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1118956800/tpod.html Sat, 18 Jun 2005 01:56:49 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

INCREDIBLE!! I'm actually home after the most amazing and unlikely trip of a lifetime.

I have been back for a few days now and the initial strangeness of it all is beginning to wear off. After nearly 2.5 years outside of Canada the North American culture seems really rather odd to me. I can't believe how BIG and NEW everything is. After spending so much time in the age-old capitals of Europe, with their relatively quiet sense of culture I was gob-smacked at the size of the trucks and SUVs here, the size of the portions (I struggled to finish a small pizza my first night back in Canada), how new even the 'historic' buildings are, how loud peoples voices are. But I am also equally pleasantly surprised at how nice everyone is, how laid back the West Coast is, and the true glorious beauty of my own home country. We couldn't even concieve of 4000-year old monuments and temples but our 100,000+ yr old landscapes are in a league of their own. Travelling for so long has left me with a keen eye for cultural differences and the valuable ability to look at my own culture from somewhat of a removed perspective, although I must admit having a Kiwi girlfriend, to whom this is all new, quite helps as well. A perfect wrap-up to the trip was provided by running into my Canadian friend Sarah, who was my nextr-door nieghbour in NZ and who just happened to be in Gatwick airport at 1am returning from backpacking India and Europe for a month each. God works in mysterious ways.
I am just getting on my feet here in Vic, seeing everyone and taking the baby steps into building a life in Canada, although I'm not yet sure in what career or in what city. I'll be back-updating the travelogue with a lot of cool new pics I never had a chance to upload while in Europe so keep checking back! I'll be doing entries for Madrid, Barcelona, The Riviera, and Paris. If you want to get in touch drop me an email and I'll send you my contact details.
This trip has been life-changing and I reckon I'll be ruminating on it for a long, long time.

HERE'S A BIG BIG THANK YOU TO THE WHOLE WORLD FOR MAKING THIS AN ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE JOURNEY.

Barrett.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1115548440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1115548440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1115548440/tpod.html Wed, 11 May 2005 06:47:10 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Valencia, Benidorm, Cabo di Gato, Spain

On our Ryanair flight Tina and i discussed how Valencia didn´t seem like it would be an interesting city and we got some weird looks for our fellow passengers. We arrived and understood why. Valencia is a beautiful city with and interesting past, with the requisite churches and UNESCO World Heritage site to prove it, but also a city charging into the future. It has innumerable cool bars and cafes, is going to host the 2007 Americas Cup and best of all, had the vision to build the architecturally stunning City of Arts and Sciences with its spectacular futurist layouts, concept and content. You´ll have to see the pics. Its like something right out of Minority Report. We spent a couple days here seeing the sights, then decided to camp our way down the Costa Blanca. The camping, sad to say is uniformly bad compared to Canada or NZ. No kitchens and if you get dirt instead of rocks to set your tent up on, you´re happy. Luckily the beaches are far better. Devesa was deserted except for 4 naked Spanish women and nearly naked us. Then Benidorm was the extreme opposite; the biggest resort town in Europe, it was packed solid with Brits, most of them topless regardless of age or shape. It reminded me most of Surfer´s Paradise, and you know how I felt about that place if you´ve been reading this travelogue for awhile. Still this megabeach type holiday was all new to Tina and fit in well with our theme: Weve decided to stop focussing on history so much and get to know modern Spain. Its the best bit anyway and frankly no history can compare with what we saw in Italy. We are now in Cabo de Gata national park in Andalucia soaking up the sun and relaxing before a big week of fiesta in Madrid.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1115052180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1115052180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1115052180/tpod.html Sun, 08 May 2005 12:59:38 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Rome, Italy

We stepped off the subway and directly in front of us was the Colusseum. Tina´s first view of Rome, one of the most interesting and important cities in the world. I had been here 10 years ago but its all seems to be an adolescent mist now, barely remembered. Now I see the city with new eyes, and there is so much to see. Basically, Tina and I divided the city into Roman, Christian, Dan Brown a la Angels and Demons, and modern life sections and tackled parts of each. So we wandered and imagined our way through the Roman Forum, the Pantheon and Palantine Hill, including the huge new excavations of the last 5 years and pulled fighting poses inside the Colusseum. We visited many of the sites of the novel Angels and Demons, most of whih happily coincide with the major attractions of Rome. St. Peter´s was very impressive the second time around for me, as I knew so much more about it this time. All those art, history, and guide books really do help. WE whizzed through the Vatican Museums until stopped in our tracks by Raphael´s masterpiece frescoes, particularly a long time favourite of mine, The School of Athens (remember Western Civ in Grade 12 Jay?) and then the best of all, The Sistine Chapel, cleaned since I was last there. The colours are vibrant and the genius of it all leaps out at you. To think there was a conclave held there only 2 weeks before gave me a tingly feeling. The frescoes on the walls are worth appreciating too, espcially the Botticelli and Pinturicchios, but nothing beats Michelangelo. The it was May 1st. Wild day. First we went to St. Peter´s Sq., another masterpiece by Bernini, to watch the new Pope give his blessing at noon. It was packed solid and to hear Benedict XVI and feel the love and devotion was truly special. Then we walked a huge portion of the city and every public space was full with tourists and Italians celebrating the holiday. Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps were excellent in the late afternoon with a bottle of bubbly. From there we went to the biggest outdoor concert in Italy, outside St. John Lateran and grooved to all sorts of Italian bands, including there version of Linkin Park.
We ate well in Campo Del Fiore and stayed in two hostels. I certainly can´t recommede Enjoy Hostel as the place small, dirty, no security and the manager is drunk or stoned the majority of the time. Lots of other good places to stay in Rome.
And then we got on a plane to Valencia, Spain.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1114456080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1114456080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1114456080/tpod.html Wed, 04 May 2005 17:13:07 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Milan, Venice, Pisa and Florence, Italy

At last we have truly made it to the heart of civilization, Italy!
Land of scrumptious food and gorgeous art history. Tina and I began
our time here by flying into Milan where my good friend Massimo met us
and introduced us to the wonders of apperitivo; basically you buy one
cheap drink and get a free meal! Most bars between 7-9pm in Italy.
Backpackers take note, this is the best value for money meal in the
country, possibly in the world. Massimo took us up to the lakes, to
medieval townships and castles and showed us the high fashion,
beautiful churches and massive fortress of Milano, all the while
plying us with wine and gelato and oodles of home-cooking. Emily, Tinas good friend from NZ showed up and we all had some hard-out nights at the bars, salsa dancing and booty-dancing. Alcohol (not from bars but from supermarkets) is soo cheap here. For inexpensive entertainment Tina and I usually buy
a couple bottles of wine and watch the sunset in some prime location.
Then it was onto the magical city-state of Venice. I mean it when
I say magical as this city lives up to all its romantic hype, even
though it was wet and the HI hostel there is unwelcoming. We bought a
guide which gave us insights into the maritime and art history of this
floating city, and enjoyed our time cruising the Grand Canal looking
at Palazzos. I stood awestruck in Piazza San Marco, looking in
astonishment at the church with its Byzantine, Gothic, Baroque and
Moorish influences. Such glorious fusion, such a ethereal fairy-land
feel. And next door is the Palazzo Ducale with the most impressive
rooms, ie some of the biggest and best decorated in Europe, I have
ever seen. We attended a Vivaldi tribute concert, were beguiled by
the Carnevale masks (now there is an event I MUST attend), found cheap
eats against the odds and took so many pics I thought my camera would
overheat.
We have now spent a week in the epicentre of the Renaissance, the
Medici glory known as Florence. So much art, so little time. I still
have much left to do, should I ever return and I cant imagine not.
Highlights were the Davids by Mike and Donnie, Birth of Venus and
Prima Vera by Botticelli, the hands on Da Vinci machine exhibit, the
whole Palazzo Pitti, oh! those opulent Medicis! and wandering the
streets, with the best wander being up to Piazzale Michelangelo to
watch sunset over the golden Arno river and the Ponte Vecchio. Weve
also done day trips out to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which
astounded me with is size and the beauty of the Field of Miracles, and
into the Florentine countryside for a walk in the olive fields of
Tuscany. While in Florence we camped at Villa Camerata in the hills.
Very nice place to be and the Tibetan tent held up well.
Now we are off to Siena.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1112809920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1112809920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1112809920/tpod.html Sat, 09 Apr 2005 04:11:09 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Olympos, Kas, Turkey

A combined Barrett and Tina contribution:
After Cappodochia we bussed overnight to Olympos, a tree house establishment in a
beauitiful valley with forests, snow
capped mountains resembling Lake Rotoiti in NZ and a coastline exactly like
Kaikoura complete with tunnels.
There are many tree houses in Olympos
because, being an archelogoical excavation site they are forbidden to
lay down concrete roads because they are often unearthing ancient
ruins. They capitalise on this by using innovaive ideas like tree
hut accommodation! It is the quiet season in Turkey which means we are
able to negotiate cheap prices but unfortunately very few people are
around, so we are really losing out on the partying side.

Still we met a wonderful American couple in Olympos, each studying
their MA's in London in
International Relations and the Economics and Environment, and they
followed us to Kas, a town which we originally visited for
the adventure activities such as kayaking and horse-trekking
Barrett did horse
trekking in Fethiye, he soon realised they were using him to break in
the horses for the season, as they went sideways, and bucked, and
did anything but behave!

Meanwhile, I was being shown around a "ghost town" = Kayakoy = which
has been abandoned ever since the 1923 population
exchange when the Greeks were forced to leave Turkey. The newly-transferred Turks refused to live in the houses but stole all their roofs and
windows to build their own settlements!

In Kas Barrett swam in the rather chilly, but gorgeous, Aegean sea and the next day we took a daytrip to see the 'sunken city of Lycian Kekova' which was
not a city at all but two ruined walls! But a good relaxing day on a
boat in the sun with Adam and Lizzie (above), an alcoholic Auzzie, and
a Yale/Harvard/Oxford graduate with "a photographic memory, the rarest
bloodtype, and the rarest ability to sing both the top and bottom
notes of a scale" = a reason he attributed to being selected to star
in Broadway and flown between the States and UK for a term. And he's a Skull. Interesting company.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1111599300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1111599300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1111599300/tpod.html Wed, 06 Apr 2005 13:47:41 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Istanbul, Turkey

On arrival in Istanbul one would think that the favourite band of Turkey is the Pet Shop Boys, particularly the song "Go West!" I say this because this country is clearly seized with the idea of joining the EU and all the real or supposed benefits this will bring. The English language daily here trumpets in its banner that it is your Guide to Turkey becoming part of Europe. The paper, which I must say is not very good, is filled with stories of the Turkish people and government trying to march towards EU membership but being clawed back by old tendencies. For instance, while sanctioned protests are now allowed an unregisterd protest on Women's Day by a mixed group of protesters resulted in the police laying a severe beating on a number of men and women. Turkey purports to be steadily meeting the Copenhagen Criteria and yet, according to sources in a new survey in the Economist, torture is still used commonly by the security services and there have been up to 21 extra-judicial killings so far this year. Istanbul, a melting pot of all Turkey's ethnicities, opinions, economic classes and any other division you can think of, is a great place to watch this hesitant transformation unfold. For some people here, even if Turkey never joins the EU, the prospect of joining has already wrought the most important, and hopefully irreversible, positive changes. Already, walking down crowded Istiklal Caddesi, from the top of Taksim Square, one feels that European values and society have sunk there way into the cobblestones.
Of course, there is far more to Istanbul than the modern life. Tina and I are staying at Orient Hostel, with is awesome bars and good staff, right in the heart of Sultanahmet. Amidst all the modernity of Istanbul, history dominates in this neighbourhood. Out one window I can see the 'museum' of Hagia Sophia, another the Blue Mosque, and a third the storied Bosphorous and the Sea of Marmara. If I had a one-wood I could hit a golf ball at the Topkapi Palace, the biggest, best preserved palace I've ever had the privilege of exploring. The emeralds, rubies and diamonds in treasures such as the Topkapi Dagger, the Sultan's swords, the thrones and turban decorations, are the biggest gems I've ever seen. In sheer karat weight this place dwarfs the Crown Jewels of England.
Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque sit across from each other, remarkably similar architecturely despite their construction being separated by 1100 years. Hagia Sophia used to be the greatest church in the world, and one has the feeling that even though Suleyman the Magnificent made it into a mosque upon seizing Constantinople, the Muslims never really felt it was their own. I stand in the park between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and wonder if these two architectural wonders stand in opposition to each other, a stone personification of Samuel Huntington's clash of civilization theory or does their similarity speak of a co-operation and mutual respect between two of the world's great monotheistic faiths?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1112208060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1112208060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barrettbingley/worldtrip/1112208060/tpod.html Wed, 06 Apr 2005 13:22:39 -0400 Barrett's World Trip 2004-05

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Goreme, Turkey

Cappodochia is a wonderfully strange land of beautiful hikes, psychedelic rock forms and kind people. Tina and I spent two days there and got off to a good start by staying at Kose Pension, owned by Dawn, a Scottish lady, who was full of information and helpful well beyond the call of duty. Free apple tea started our day and then we hiked into Sword Valley, connecting to Rose Valley and its well-preserved cave church. Its hard to describe the static yet melting, flowing, improbable landscape through which we hiked so you will have to look at the photos. Finding all the remains of 4th-11th century cave churches was exciting too. We ate gozleme made by a man who had Helen Clark, the PM of NZ, visit his house a few years ago and then headed to the Goreme Open Air Museum. Its over-priced at 12 Lira but still very interesting. Worth it to sneak in with a tour group and listen to the guides explain the dozens of Christian frescoes. Its best to go there really knowing your New Testament as you will get far more out of it. I think its great the way Goreme not only has an incredible landscape but also this important contribution to the Christian heritage.
We ate a sumptuous meal at Kose, including ice-cream dessert with carmelized bananas and drank the local wine. The fortified us for the next day of exploring when we bussed out to Derinkuyu, the largest of the over 60 underground cities in the area. These cities were refuges when Persians, iconoclasts and other nasties came by. They had schools, churches, stables and most importantly for people trapped underground for months at a time, a winery.
After being deep in the tufa, the soft rock of the Cappodochia region, we ascended the tufa citadel in Uchisar for grand views of the fairy-chimneys, and rock cove pensions. We hitched a ride back to town and chilled with an English couple and their kids who drove from England to India and now to the Middle East in their trusty landrover. I guess kids don't have to tie you down.
And then it was on a bus to the Aegean Coast.
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