Hotel Junior, where we stayed in Padua, was the only hotel to actually provide breakfast (regardless of the ones who offered, even at an extra cost). Breakfast is served from 8-9:30 daily and consists of rolls with butter, cheese, jam and Nutella along with a cup of coffee and/or juice. Sunday morning we got to the breakfast room at 7:45 but were still welcomed with genuine Italian family warmth. We ate hungrily then grabbed a smaller bag (it was nice not to have to take our backpacks for the whole day) and headed out. Continue reading “Italy – Day Six – Venice – Tastes and Tours”
Category: Travel
Italy – Day Five – Venice – Not like Vegas, Baby!
Checking out of our hotel, the Arcoveggio, was easy. They were the only ones who actually took the credit card from Booking.com to cover the room (we still had to fork over the room fee, which I paid in cash but probably could have put on the card) and our walk to to the train station took no time at all. The ride itself was beautiful, with mountains in the distance and a long bridge leading to the Venice train station. Upon entering the city, we chose to walk, rather than take a water bus so we could really get the lay of the (is)land. Continue reading “Italy – Day Five – Venice – Not like Vegas, Baby!”
Italy – Day Four – Modena/Marenello – The Prancing Horse!
Our first full day in Bologna wasn’t spent in Bologna nearly at all. Instead we were going to be taking a little excursion to Modena and Maranello. For Rasa, these were the places to be excited about. While she certainly enjoyed where we’d been, today was all about her passion: Formula 1 racing. Continue reading “Italy – Day Four – Modena/Marenello – The Prancing Horse!”
Italy – Day Three – Florence is hungry!
Waking up in Florence, in our private B&B, was a weird experience. We knew we wanted to make the most of the day (we’d planed our route the night before) so again we got up early (not as early as yesterday, however, we learnt from that mistake) and showered and packed all without seeing another person (and in fact, the other two rooms on our floor were demonstrably empty). As we were leaving, though, a door opened downstairs and our host sleepily stumbled out, asking for payment. I proffered my bank card and was asked for cash. Two hotels booked through Booking.com and two hotels asked for cash after requiring a credit card for booking purposes. Inconvenient to be sure. The other thing to remember about Italy – they charge you a tax for existing. There is a city tax per person per night at each hotel and most restaurants add in a per person fee for the pleasure of dining in. Additionally, something I didn’t know, but if you stand at the bar and drink your beverage, you’ll pay significantly less than if you take a seat at a table. Important tips. Continue reading “Italy – Day Three – Florence is hungry!”
Italy – Day Two – Genoa and Pisa – Rain drops all fall at the same speed…
Our plan was to see as much as we could in Italy, even if that meant not seeing things in great depth. To that end, our horrible experience in Hotel Valley would only last the one night and we would get up early to get to the train station and get down the coast to Genoa. We had planned for a 7am wake-up. Unfortunately, the best laid plans… Continue reading “Italy – Day Two – Genoa and Pisa – Rain drops all fall at the same speed…”
Italy – Day One – Milan – The Last Supper and a late dinner
I knew I needed to get away for a few days in January. It’s not just the cold and the lack of sun, but they don’t help. I needed a routine break. At the end of September Monika had done a ten day train trip and something like that sounded good. I also wanted to go to Malta or a Greek island would have been nice. I also wasn’t sure if I’d be going alone or with Rasa, since she had her own work to do. There was talk of going to India with Jennica, but timing on that didn’t quite work out (and the cost was a bit prohibitive as well). So I was in a bit of a quandary. Continue reading “Italy – Day One – Milan – The Last Supper and a late dinner”
A Palace, a Castle and Some Lights… What’s involved with a day trip to Riga?
When Monika says “There’s a bus tour going to Riga to see the light festival,” your first response should be “I wanna go.” At least that’s my response. Going with Monika on a day trip is always fun, especially to another country, so I was in! Rasa was game as well so we told Monika to book it for us. See, this wasn’t just a “let’s go” trip, this was actually a bus tour operated by the company she works for, Guliverio Kelionės. Continue reading “A Palace, a Castle and Some Lights… What’s involved with a day trip to Riga?”
London 2014: Day Seven & Eight – Cars and Cards
Tuesday was our last full day in the Big City and we still had a full day’s use of the CityPass to take advantage of so naturally, we were once again up and out early in the day. This time, our destination was a bit outside the city center and was looking like it would take close to an hour to get there: The London Motor Museum.
Continue reading “London 2014: Day Seven & Eight – Cars and Cards”
London 2014: Day Six – There’s popular and then there’s POPULAR!
With the Con basically behind us, we were all set on Monday to start really exploring London and making full use of our CityPass. Of course, in order to do this, we figured we needed an early start so we were up, had breakfast and were on the train by 9:15, heading out to the Tower of London. This seemed the best place to start, to reverse our trip of Thursday. Do the Tower, then the Bridge, then The Globe. Made perfect sense. Continue reading “London 2014: Day Six – There’s popular and then there’s POPULAR!”
London 2014: Day One – Getting there is half the fun
This trip actually started a few months ago when AAron and family couldn’t make it to LonCon3, the World Science Fiction convention, this year held in London. Since they couldn’t go, but had already gotten memberships, Rasa and I took them over and planned a tourist trip around the con.
Of course, this wasn’t the only way AAron was involved. See, we were flying RyanAir which is notorious for how cut-rate they are. Until very recently, they would only allow one carry on bag, no more than 10kg, and anything else would be charged an exorbitant fee. They’ve since loosened policy a bit, but not much. In any case, we still weren’t checking any bags, but we had the ability to take two onboard. Continue reading “London 2014: Day One – Getting there is half the fun”
The Stones of Anykščiai
A few days back, my friend Monika asked what my weekend plans were and if I wanted to go to Anykščiai, a village of about 12,000 people in the north midwest area of the country. Now, for those playing at home, Monika is a great friend and in the past we’ve done some great road trips like to Tallin and Finland, just to ride the roller coasters (of course, that trip was before I was blogging so no good record of it exists outside of incriminating photographs). Now, though, Monika has a car so there’s a whole new world open to us. Add in the fact that LAST year for my birthday, she gave me a stuffed creature and a book of 100 sites to see in Lithuania in which I had to take pictures of the creature and I was falling behind due to my lack of independent transport. Continue reading “The Stones of Anykščiai”
No Extroverts on Mars, Please
No Extroverts on Mars, Please.
“Bell said that usually extroverts are good on teams because their tendency to speak up and engage with others makes planning easier. She added that because extroverts are outgoing, they know more about their teammates — their strengths and weaknesses. That helps team coordination.
However, the unique properties of long-haul, confined missions add new elements to that usual dynamic.”
Basically, if you talk to much, in a small space, people are gonna wanna kill you. And since I’ve gotten yelled at for talking to people in an elevator, this may just be the end of my dreams of interstellar travel.
The Audition
So last week I get a call from a number I don’t recognize. The problem here in the LT with screening calls is that, well, you can’t. There is no answer-phone system easily discernible (which is to say I can’t access it. I think one exists but the instructions are in Lithuanian and besides, I get very few phone calls and the ones I get are usually students and since this was the last week of instruction and studying for finals was about to begin, my initial thought was that the call was from a panicked student wanting to know what chapters in the book were absolutely going to be on the exam because, well, job and no time to actually study. Continue reading “The Audition”
The Most Inspiring Travel Video I Have Ever Seen. Hands Down.
The Most Inspiring Travel Video I Have Ever Seen. Hands Down.
Two things I learned from this video:
1) I need to travel more. There’s so much more of the world to see. And naturally doing it via motorcycle would be the best way to do it.
2) I really need a GoPro camera.
This summer for sure I’m gonna edit a bunch of my photos into a nice music video. I wish I had had the foresight to do the same kind of picture everywhere so it could seamlessly blend together but oh well, lesson learned and I can do it moving forward!
Spring 2014: Day Four – The Magique of Disney
Thursday morning we had a choice. We had spent two very full days at the parks and seen most of what there was to see. The decision now was whether to forego the parks for a day in Paris or forego Paris and keep the trip Disney. We decided to at least start at Disney since we really wanted to see the Cinemagique show, which would be starting at 11:15 (and had been cancelled yesterday). Of course, since the parks opened at 10, this meant we could sneak in some other stuff before the show and then decide about heading into the City of Lights. Continue reading “Spring 2014: Day Four – The Magique of Disney”
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 