TravelStream™ news feed for member madman96 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/madman96 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:59:55 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215709080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215709080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215709080/tpod.html Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:59:55 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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London, England, United Kingdom

Due to some creative travel planning while in Ibiza, we arrive in London just in time for me to miss my flight back to the states for my buddy Tommy's wedding in New Orleans... I have the options of getting to New Orleans on Saturday evening in time for the end of the party, heading back home, or sticking it out in London for a long weekend with Phin!  As if the past two weeks with Phin weren't insane enough, I decide to spend another four with the only guy who I've ever actually introduced as my brother... at some point along the way we decided it was just easier to do this as everyone inevitably asked the question anyways!The next four days were an extension of the previous two weeks' debauchery, with brief tours of the city mixed between great nights out and plenty of precipitation.  We spent our days walking around Notting Hill, hanging out at the pool at the Shoreditch House, playing basketball, and catching up on sleep lost during the past few weeks and the nights out on the town.  Our nights were spent dancing at some of the best hot spots London has to offer, including Boujis and Kitts.  All pictures were courtesy of Phin, as I didn't have my camera after the Ibiza stint, and I somehow managed to shed yet another credit card over the weekend... thank gosh I was heading home as I was left without any at the end of this epic week-long party!I was also able to meet up with my cousin Dan, his fiancé Audrey, and their baby boy Gabriel, who happened to be the happiest kid I've ever met!  I gave Gabriel the bib I had picked up in Melbourne and he helped me shed my fear of babies.  Dan and I got to do dinner and drinks one night and we all went for brunch with Audrey's father another morning!  Quite nice to see some family after an amazing 7 months that seemed like 7 years.I even got to meet up with Cath and Asher, two of the three Australian girls I met in Thailand that were on their way to London at the time.  They came out with us for a big night on the town at Kitts and provided some great additions to the dance team comprised of Phin, myself and a few of his buddies that were absolutely awesome!London was a ton of fun but by the time I got to the airport to head home, I was ready for a break... a loooong break to recover from the past 7 months of fun and games around the globe!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215367980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215367980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215367980/tpod.html Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:24:24 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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Playa d'en Bossa, Balearic Islands, Spain and Canary Islands

Phin and I arrive bright and early with suspicions of what to expect but not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into.  We spend the next few days lazing around the pool and walking Playa D'en Bossa during the day, and exploring the wild nightlife that Ibiza town has to offer.  We hit up Club Pacha for Flower Power night and walk into one of the craziest parties I've ever been to.  The club was decked out with decorations and everyone played the part and dressed up, while the music was a perfect mix of hippy, hip hop, and club music!  At one point in the night, "Yoko and John Lennon" were carried around the club on a bed and I had to look twice to realize what was actually going on.  The night ended sometime around 7 or 8 am and me, without my camera and at least one credit card! One day, we hopped on a boat to idyllic Formentera where we spent the day swimming and relaxing on a two-sided beach similar to the ones I saw in Thailand.  Truly an amazing destination, despite the crowds.  On the boat we met Iva and Jana, two sisters from the Czech Republic who turned out to be tons of fun!  We met up with them that night and had a great night out at El Divino, or maybe it was Amnesia, I can't quite recall the name of the club that night, but it was set on the marina with great views of Ibiza.  That night wound up with a group of 8 or 9 people hanging out on the large boulders that formed the marina's breakwater... We left Ibiza at 5:30 am on the last day having not slept in entirely too long, down a camera and two credit cards, and feeling like I never needed to go back, but having had an absolute blast for the few days we were there!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215269520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215269520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215269520/tpod.html Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:53:31 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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Rome, Lazio, Italy

We have to leave to catch a ferry so we can make our flight to Rome and move on to Ibiza, even though neither of us wants to leave.  We make it to the ferry JUST in time but get to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our flight.We get into Rome and run into the two Australians from Carpe Diem a few nights before.  We check into our hotel and relax over dinner before heading to bed nice and early in preparation for the madness of Ibiza to come!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215149220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215149220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215149220/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:35:05 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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Hvar, Hvar Island, Croatia

Once again we decide to extend our glorious stay at the Amfora hotel in Hvar and completely write-off Split.  We wake up just in time to get the last available room and surprise, surprise, we have to change rooms again. We head down to the port and rent a yacht, ok a little boat, for the day.  We chug over to a nearby island for lunch and a day of fun in the sun at the beach.Back in time for an evening nap, we wake up later than planned and make it to Carpe Diem by 11:30 and meet up with the Haitians and buy a few bottles at a table.  We make plenty of friends and then head back over to the castle late night where the debauchery continues until we find ourselves back on the steps at 5am. We don't make it to breakfast this time around and fall asleep like its my job.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215061260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215061260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1215061260/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:24:17 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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Hvar, Hvar Island, Croatia

We wake up slowly and wind up extending our stay in Hvar another night but have to change rooms.  We set up shop at the hotel pool and enjoy a relaxing day by the pool and beach doing not much of anything other than having fun and meeting new people, including a family of Haitians (3 sisters and a brother) travelling around Europe for the summer who I had seen at Villa Argentina in Dubrovnik. An evening nap, Phin's genius idea, serves us well to prepare us for the night to come.We start the night out with a slice of pizza and head to Carpe Diem for drinks.  A few drinks lead to a few more and next thing we know we are headed to "The Castle" at 2:30 to continue the party.  At this point we have taken to hanging out with Barbara and Robby, the two Haitian sisters, however, that doesn't stop us from having fun playing around with other people! The night ends with all of us hanging out on some steps and chatting about this and that before Phin and I head back to our hotel to grab breakfast, which has never been so good at 6:30am!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214974140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214974140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214974140/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:59:51 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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Hvar, Hvar Island, Croatia

I head straight to the old town to do a walk on the city walls before finding a good spot at the hotel beach to finally fall asleep for a few hours.  I wake up and grab the "complementary" breakfast yet again before returning to my "bed" and falling asleep for another hour or so.  Phin and I have lunch, say goodbye to Irina, and hop in the car to head up to Hvar. We drive through Bosnia and Herzigovinia and make it to the Ferry terminal no more than five minutes after it left.  We pass the time with pizza and ice cream. The ferry drops us off on Hvar and we drive across the island to the town of Hvar, making it by early evening after seeing unreal landscapes and views.  We get into our hotel, that we booked that morning, and head out for dinner at one of the hotel's many restaurants.  We share and enjoy the traditional fish soup dish that is boney, yet tasty!  We head downtown to check out what turns out to be an absolute scene.  A few drinks and we are ready to head home nice and early (2am) to get a decent night's sleep!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214887020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214887020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214887020/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:48:04 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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Kotor, Croatia

It's JULY!!! REALLY!!!I head down to the hotel and enjoy the "complementary" breakfast before heading to the rocks/beach to secure a good spot... We spend the morning swimming and relaxing beachside.  I head upstairs to get the rental car delivery and then organize a hotel for tomorrow in Hvar.  Phin and I are planning to drive to Montenegro to see the bay of Kotor and the Stali Grad (Old Town) of Kotor which is also a world heritage site.  While talking to the concierge, I see the girl from the night before.  She is speaking English with a strong and clearly Russian accent and is looking for a place to eat dinner!  I quickly step in and recommend Gil's from the night before, and we start talking.  I take a long shot, and say that she should probably join my buddy and I for dinner in Montenegro instead of going to Gil's.  She agrees, somewhat shockingly, and then Irina joins Phin and I down at the beach for a swim before we agree to all head to Montenegro for dinner. The drive down was amazingly beautiful and we all enjoy getting to know each other while giving each other a hard time.  Irina is clearly intelligent, able to hold her own with the two of us giving her a hard time, and it comes out that she has graduated from Stanford Business School.  She just quit her job at Google Russia and is doing a little traveling much like we are.  We get to Kotor after a long delay at the border and walk around the old town to find a good dinner spot.  Irina loses credit card roulette and we enjoy our free meal as well as the company. Heading back to Dubrovnik, we hop on the ferry across the bay of Kotor to save time but still don't make it back to the hotel until just after midnight.  We head into the old town for drinks at a few different watering holes.  The brilliant idea of swimming leads to an adventure of sneaking into an adjacent villa to swim in the hot tub and "private" pool.  We all have a blast and wind up forgetting about the whole sleep thing quite easily...What  great adventure!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214798880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214798880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214798880/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:34:21 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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Dubrovnik, Croatia

I wake up early and head down to the Croatia Airlines office at 8 am as we have decided that enough is enough with the trains... I book flights for us that leave 3 hours later and then go for a run around the old city.  We have breakfast and head to the airport.Next thing we know, 55 minutes later, we are in Dubrovnik.Head to the Avis station and schedule a car pick up and then call up a hotel, Villa Argentina, to book a room.  We get to the hotel and discover that our hotel room price almost doubles the next day when July 1 high season kicks in.  After a brief protest, the concierge lets us know that he has an apartment across the street not technically associated with the hotel that we could rent from him, complete with a balcony view that was much better than the hotel rooms that were more than double the price before the high season increase. Only issue is that we had to climb 150 stairs to get there... No problem, and we take it! We put our stuff down and spend the rest of the day at the "beach" pool, diving off rocks, swimming, eating and relaxing. The night takes us into the old city for a constitutional stroll, drinks at the outdoor cafes and then dinner at Gil's, which is taken on the top of the city walls.  While sitting down for pre-dinner drinks, Phin spots a girl who is clearly walking around alone and looks relatively lost.  Neither of us approaches her but make a mental note for tomorrow's entry.  After dinner we hit up Fuego, a latino club that is entirely way too hot and has an average age of no more than 19.  We head home by 4 am and are dead tired by the time we get up to our sweet apartment.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214797380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214797380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214797380/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:05:37 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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Zagreb, Croatia

We get into Belgrade at 7 am and walked around downtown for 3 hours before hopping back on the train to Zagreb.Zagreb is beautiful and we walk around before finding an outdoor café/restaurant to have dinner at and watch the Euro 2008 finals.  Spain 1-0 over Germany, but an entirely unexciting end to the best tournament of all time.  We walk around and have a few drinks at the outdoor cafes before heading back to the hotel.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214706720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214706720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/madman96/1/1214706720/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:01:19 -0500 Livin' the Dream...

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Belgrade, Serbia

Getting into Sofia after a long 14 hour train ride, complete with customs stops and several other interruptions, we head out on a walking tour of the Bulgarian capital.  We meet a buddy from Japan who has been travelling for three years including 2 years in Afghanistan, 3 months in Iran and now is living in Istanbul but was on a visa run.  Talk about an interesting guy... We see all sorts of sights, not all pleasant to the eye, and then hop back on a train for an overnight trip to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.
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