our posh house in athens
already into that sort of thing
cool castle in Nafplio
Saturday, January 31, 2009
paris stuff
This is after our worst (and one of the most expensive) meal on the entire trip.
My son decided to take a swing at me. It was very cold, and he did not like wearing his big coat and mickey mouse mittens.
Killarney Ireland
This is the view from the 35 year old mobile home we stayed in during our time in the fairytale town on Killarney. It's one of few pictures sadly, as our camera was drowned in a quick cleansing of my jacket that our child had just thrown up on.
I'd always heard that Ireland was amazingly green, but I'd just figured it was a cliche. Killarney is a small town in southwest Ireland - on the edge of the nation's largest national park. It was quite amazing - castles, ruins, mountains, lakes, and beer. Our hosts loves to take us on night walks through the most amazing scenery. Our mobile home was located behind our hosts house(an old friend of my wife's +her husband and 2 kids). It was great to have our own space after Paris, even with the pain in the ass wood burning stove. Very smoky, 3 kinds of tender, and so small that I had to wake up every 2 hours o refill it or wake up freezing.
It rained quite a bit, but it was nice to be away from a big city. The guinness is indeed better here. Sadly, another trip is winding to an end. Just one day in London before our flight back to
LA. I'm amazed we did it with a baby.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Paris with kids
It's been ages since I've had a free moment to blog, but that's traveling with a baby.
Right from the start, our trip to France was hectic. We stayed with my wife's sister and her 2 kids (8 and 5 year-olds), plus her boyfriend in a small 2 bedroom apartment in witch the kids each had their own bedrooms and the adults slept in the living room. Luckily, the kids shared a bedroom and let us have one while we were there - this did not stop them from running in the room and climbing all over us at any moment. My wife had never met her niece and nephew and they really loved hanging out with their new baby cousin. Our son was much happier being around other kids and it was nice to not have to watch him every single moment.
This trip is unlike any other I've been on, not just traveling with a baby, but staying with people almost the entire time is not something I'm used too when I'm on a big trip. You're not really free, you're locked into whatever situation your hosts are living in when you stay with them. Sometimes it's a private 2 story guesthouse in the remote hills of Athens, sometimes it's a really small apartment in a ghetto neighborhood (Clichy) in Paris.
My sister-in-law was a great host and she and her boyfriend (a super cool Algerian who's 10 years younger than her) treated every day as if it was a party. Over the top breakfasts of croissants, coffee, brioche with jam - tons of cheese. Dinner parties with whatever random friends of their might stop buy meant cranking up the music and downing a ton of wine all while also dealing with their kids schoolwork and still managing to get them up at 7 the next morning. Needless to stay the only rest was when we slept.
It was quite cold, the coldest of anyplace we've been so far. It is slightly easier to deal with the metro system (with baby/stroller in tow) here than in London, though it still means a lot of transfers in stations that only have stairs.
Of course I forgot to mention that I don't speak much French. Maybe I have 15 words/ phrases. Luckily my wife speaks some. Her sister speaks English and her boyfriend speaks some, but her kids don't speak any. I'd found this to be a bit of a problem when I visited in the summer 10 years go - a lot of the French gave me shit about it, but I think because I had a baby with me they let it slide. I'm not talking about my wife's family, I mean the people I had contact with on the street/ bars/ restaurants/ museums/etc.
Paris was with liveliest spot we've visited so far. It was nice to stay with family and have our son have fun with other kids. Staying in Athens was nice, but out host did not have kids, nor did she really get what it meant to have kids - naps, going to bed at 9pm, sudden tantrums, your child not wanting to be in a car any longer...etc.
Up next - small town southwest Ireland...
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Greece on the high end
Not much free time now - so I'll just spit out what I can. We meet up with my wife's friend and we've been staying in her guest house for the past 5 days. The main house is 10,000 square feet - I'll post some pics later, and we're staying in our own 2 story guest house. We're nestled in the Ekali hills high above Athens - her friend's father is a famous Greek Architect. It's nice to be whined and dinned, but we wanted to stay out of their hair so we took a couple of day trips in our rental car.
The first was to an amazing town called Nafplio in the Peloponnese peninsula. A great old town with a few castles (including 1 built out in the middle of the harbor). The food here was even better than Athens, and far cheaper too.
Our second trip the next day was up to Marathon to see the ancient burial tomb. It was very difficult to find due to conflicting signs, but the locals helped us out. Then we cruised down the coast to the Temple of Poseidon at sunset - again with much difficulty as Greek highways can just breakup without warning or signage. You just sort of keep going then you find things by chance. A lot more happened of course - like out stop in the crazy kids indoor playground in a posh beach town at night, like everything in Europe it had a huge bar. Why doesn't stuff like this serve alcohol in the states?
Off to Paris very early tomorrow - more to come.
The first was to an amazing town called Nafplio in the Peloponnese peninsula. A great old town with a few castles (including 1 built out in the middle of the harbor). The food here was even better than Athens, and far cheaper too.
Our second trip the next day was up to Marathon to see the ancient burial tomb. It was very difficult to find due to conflicting signs, but the locals helped us out. Then we cruised down the coast to the Temple of Poseidon at sunset - again with much difficulty as Greek highways can just breakup without warning or signage. You just sort of keep going then you find things by chance. A lot more happened of course - like out stop in the crazy kids indoor playground in a posh beach town at night, like everything in Europe it had a huge bar. Why doesn't stuff like this serve alcohol in the states?
Off to Paris very early tomorrow - more to come.
Friday, January 02, 2009
London - Athens
I'm starting to realize that I'm likely to be tired every time I put up a new post, which isn't really good for blogging. Right now I'm in this internet cafe that is filled with young kids all playing the same video game, a few of them are smoking (they couldn't be more than 12, but that's Greece for you).
So new years was spent outside London in a town called Gerrads Cross. It was a nice little country village, but as you might expect, we were not partying that hard with a young child. Plus it ended up being an all day trek taking 4 trains to get to the airport, flying to Athens, then 2 trains into town. Athens is cold, but not nearly as cold as London.
Not much to say for Athens so far. We've been taking it slow, saw the Acropolis and just strolled through the old city. 99% of things have been closed. New Years day plus the 2nd of January are holidays here. I could not find diapers today and were down to our last one. Well, I did see some in a little tourist shop, but they wanted 14 euros for a pack of 12 - I couldn't do it out of principle. Shops will be open tomorrow though, so we should be okay.
The adventures should heat up tomorrow as we're renting a car for the week.
So new years was spent outside London in a town called Gerrads Cross. It was a nice little country village, but as you might expect, we were not partying that hard with a young child. Plus it ended up being an all day trek taking 4 trains to get to the airport, flying to Athens, then 2 trains into town. Athens is cold, but not nearly as cold as London.
Not much to say for Athens so far. We've been taking it slow, saw the Acropolis and just strolled through the old city. 99% of things have been closed. New Years day plus the 2nd of January are holidays here. I could not find diapers today and were down to our last one. Well, I did see some in a little tourist shop, but they wanted 14 euros for a pack of 12 - I couldn't do it out of principle. Shops will be open tomorrow though, so we should be okay.
The adventures should heat up tomorrow as we're renting a car for the week.
Monday, December 29, 2008
New Travels (with a baby this time)
Where to begin - I was lazy on my India/ Thailand trip a year and a half ago. I didn't use my blog, I don't want to get into it now, nor that trip. Frankly I'm too tired and I want to get as much out as I can.
The movie I'm currently working on (The Factory starring John Cusack) has been shut down for a bit. I will be going back to it at some point - hopefully a few weeks into January. So do you know what that means........It's time to Blow My Money!!!!!!!
In between my last journey and this one I got married and had a child. So this trip has a baby to really spice things up. That being said, I don't know how often I'll get to update this blog. MY wife and child are sleeping at the moment, so I have time to blog.
Our journey will be a brisk 3 weeks of London, Greece, Paris, and southwest Ireland. All with free places to stay! Except for a few nights in hotels. We've just landed in London (where my wife's uncle lives) m then it's off to Athens to see on old friend of hers, then to Paris to see here sister and family, then we fly to Cork and train to Killarney to see another old friend of hers. So really this trip is about her friends and family. I won't be getting into my normal sort of troubles(unless I get sick again). But with a baby it's a new kind of travelling. Right now the most important thing is getting him to adjust to jet lag. I hope we don't have to get up at 3am, but who knows.
So check back here for more adventures, Blow My Money is back in business.
The movie I'm currently working on (The Factory starring John Cusack) has been shut down for a bit. I will be going back to it at some point - hopefully a few weeks into January. So do you know what that means........It's time to Blow My Money!!!!!!!
In between my last journey and this one I got married and had a child. So this trip has a baby to really spice things up. That being said, I don't know how often I'll get to update this blog. MY wife and child are sleeping at the moment, so I have time to blog.
Our journey will be a brisk 3 weeks of London, Greece, Paris, and southwest Ireland. All with free places to stay! Except for a few nights in hotels. We've just landed in London (where my wife's uncle lives) m then it's off to Athens to see on old friend of hers, then to Paris to see here sister and family, then we fly to Cork and train to Killarney to see another old friend of hers. So really this trip is about her friends and family. I won't be getting into my normal sort of troubles(unless I get sick again). But with a baby it's a new kind of travelling. Right now the most important thing is getting him to adjust to jet lag. I hope we don't have to get up at 3am, but who knows.
So check back here for more adventures, Blow My Money is back in business.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Rome
My arrival in Rome after a fancy train ride was at the Alessandro Downtown Hostel. This place dubbed itself as the ultimate party hostel of Rome, this was immediately confirmed by the people at reception where I received my free shot and pitcher at the hostel bar. Everyone aparantly gets a free shot, but the receptionist was also named sam, so I also got a pitcher as well.
It was amazing what I managed to squeeze in, in two and a half days here. Considering all the drinking I did, and that I was staying in a big party hostel with 6 people per room. Actually the hostel was one of the better ones I'd had on the trip. I never had a problem getting a shower, the room was big, there was a big kitchen with free breakfast, and I meet a lot of other travelers. But somehow everything I didn't look up in the during the day was stolen. Weird things like my wet towel, my comb, flip flops (which were nasty at that point because I'd used them in showers for a month.)
Rome was kind of the worst part about Italy. I still had fun, but it's just an old big city. Lots of ruins ofcourse and I went to the Vatican on 6/6/6. It was just too much to resist. I still had to wait 2 hours to get into the Sistine chapel. There's was this american girl in line who was a guide for a small group. She kept stopping people who were trying to cut in line and people who were trying to buy their way in with other guides. This is a common practice in places with long line. But when we were almost to the front, she let a british family of 4 buy their way in for 25 euros a person. I thought for sure someone would speak up, but when no one did - I took it upon myself. I called her a hypocrite for stopping others, the whole line behind me started to back me up. She was apologetic and offered to let me go ahead, but I said no. After we got inside she came to talk to me quietly off to the side. She told me that's how she makes her money. I said I knew what she was doing, I've been around the block. No problem, just don't call out others for doing the same I said. We chatted for a minte, she was from Dallas. Ha! I can't escape Texas.
Another night of drinking with instant friends that last night. I made sure to splurge on good meals that whole last full day. Italy really lived up to it's food reputation. I feel like I'm just getting into traveling. Just now really getting comfortable with it. Maybe I just feel that was because it's ending. I know I've got to back to Los Angeles and return to a normal life. How terrible!
The next morning I have breakfast and hang out with a few friends. I really like this hostel. It's the first really social one since Barcelona a month ago. I was in no mood to be social back then. And the one in Rome is like 70% girls. It seems that every american female college graduate makes Italy the priority on their European trip.
The train to the airport. One 11 hour flight. Wait 2 hours in Atlanta. 4 more hours then I'm back home at midnight. It's thursday and I stay up all night and don't fall asleep till 6 am. The boredom sets in. Ah yes, another adventure comes to an end.
It was amazing what I managed to squeeze in, in two and a half days here. Considering all the drinking I did, and that I was staying in a big party hostel with 6 people per room. Actually the hostel was one of the better ones I'd had on the trip. I never had a problem getting a shower, the room was big, there was a big kitchen with free breakfast, and I meet a lot of other travelers. But somehow everything I didn't look up in the during the day was stolen. Weird things like my wet towel, my comb, flip flops (which were nasty at that point because I'd used them in showers for a month.)
Rome was kind of the worst part about Italy. I still had fun, but it's just an old big city. Lots of ruins ofcourse and I went to the Vatican on 6/6/6. It was just too much to resist. I still had to wait 2 hours to get into the Sistine chapel. There's was this american girl in line who was a guide for a small group. She kept stopping people who were trying to cut in line and people who were trying to buy their way in with other guides. This is a common practice in places with long line. But when we were almost to the front, she let a british family of 4 buy their way in for 25 euros a person. I thought for sure someone would speak up, but when no one did - I took it upon myself. I called her a hypocrite for stopping others, the whole line behind me started to back me up. She was apologetic and offered to let me go ahead, but I said no. After we got inside she came to talk to me quietly off to the side. She told me that's how she makes her money. I said I knew what she was doing, I've been around the block. No problem, just don't call out others for doing the same I said. We chatted for a minte, she was from Dallas. Ha! I can't escape Texas.
Another night of drinking with instant friends that last night. I made sure to splurge on good meals that whole last full day. Italy really lived up to it's food reputation. I feel like I'm just getting into traveling. Just now really getting comfortable with it. Maybe I just feel that was because it's ending. I know I've got to back to Los Angeles and return to a normal life. How terrible!
The next morning I have breakfast and hang out with a few friends. I really like this hostel. It's the first really social one since Barcelona a month ago. I was in no mood to be social back then. And the one in Rome is like 70% girls. It seems that every american female college graduate makes Italy the priority on their European trip.
The train to the airport. One 11 hour flight. Wait 2 hours in Atlanta. 4 more hours then I'm back home at midnight. It's thursday and I stay up all night and don't fall asleep till 6 am. The boredom sets in. Ah yes, another adventure comes to an end.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Venice
We loved the Cinque Terre so much we tried to stay an extra day. But it was an Italian holiday and everything was booked up. So we hit the college town of Bologna for a day. There's noting to special about it, it's a medium sized town that has a major university. The one good thing is that it's cheap, a rarity in Italy. So after resting up, we headed for Venice for our friends' wedding.
Well, I'm sure you don't need to hear from me how beautiful Venice is. It's quite an amazing city that has a look (and price) like no other. I live in the other Venice (California) so it also holds a special connection to me.
But we weren't here just for scenery. Our friends John and Patty decided to have a destination wedding here. And after this experience, I might just have to do the same some day. Our second night in town some of the wedding guests threw a party at their unbelievable apartment they rented. This place was amazing - a high-end 3 bedroom modern apartment right on the grand canal. It was really cool to see people I knew on the far side of the world. Even those there that I barely know back in Los Angeles become instant close friends just by the fact that were meeting up halfway around the world.
The next day John and Patty got married at this small palace in a non-touristy part of town. Afterwards they had water taxis shuttle us thru the small canal alleys to an extravagant hotel on the grand canal. We ate dinner at a rooftop terrace hotel restaurant. Now everybody says how good the food in Italy is, and I'm always skeptical since I'm not all that into Italian food (don't get me wrong, I like it, but I'll take sushi over Italian anyday) but this was one of the BEST meals I've ever had the pleasure of eating. It was 6 courses! The salad alone was amazing - it had lobster and truffles. On top of all that, the view of the grand canal at sunset was just as amazing. Needless to say I was impressed. After dinner they moved us inside to a private room for cake and coffee. There were speeches and hugs, when it was all over we said our goodbyes.
It was also the last night for Ariel and I. The next morning I took a train to Rome and she headed for the Dolomites. My trip is coming to a close, but the party's not quite over yet.
Well, I'm sure you don't need to hear from me how beautiful Venice is. It's quite an amazing city that has a look (and price) like no other. I live in the other Venice (California) so it also holds a special connection to me.
But we weren't here just for scenery. Our friends John and Patty decided to have a destination wedding here. And after this experience, I might just have to do the same some day. Our second night in town some of the wedding guests threw a party at their unbelievable apartment they rented. This place was amazing - a high-end 3 bedroom modern apartment right on the grand canal. It was really cool to see people I knew on the far side of the world. Even those there that I barely know back in Los Angeles become instant close friends just by the fact that were meeting up halfway around the world.
The next day John and Patty got married at this small palace in a non-touristy part of town. Afterwards they had water taxis shuttle us thru the small canal alleys to an extravagant hotel on the grand canal. We ate dinner at a rooftop terrace hotel restaurant. Now everybody says how good the food in Italy is, and I'm always skeptical since I'm not all that into Italian food (don't get me wrong, I like it, but I'll take sushi over Italian anyday) but this was one of the BEST meals I've ever had the pleasure of eating. It was 6 courses! The salad alone was amazing - it had lobster and truffles. On top of all that, the view of the grand canal at sunset was just as amazing. Needless to say I was impressed. After dinner they moved us inside to a private room for cake and coffee. There were speeches and hugs, when it was all over we said our goodbyes.
It was also the last night for Ariel and I. The next morning I took a train to Rome and she headed for the Dolomites. My trip is coming to a close, but the party's not quite over yet.
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