The trip that was...
Note: This is a long post that probably goes off topic a little and was actually written a long time ago. Sorry for any odd things
Well this is a little late, have been back in New Zealand for a few months now (it feels like forever), but I thought I would reflect on quite possibly one of the coolest things I’ve ever done – Travel around Europe.
Code Camp – Auckland, New Zealand
I flew out of Wellington very early in the morning on the 31st of August to Auckland to attend Code Camp. Arrived in Auckland around 8 am, checked into my accommodation, and went off with Owen to the venue.
The day, while long, was really interesting and I learnt quite a lot that I otherwise wouldn’t have known, especially around Linq to SQL which I now love. Met a few people there, and also saw Scott Hanselman do his thing – that guy is brilliant at speaking.
The biggest surprise of the day was winning a 30gb Zune which is rather cool.
Tech Ed 2008 – Auckland, New Zealand
Would love to go to this again, there was so much to do and learn. I was stuffed by the end of each day, but it was real fun and the hands on labs were real cool. Love (some of) the free stuff that came in the bag, but most of all the bag. Used it since I got it.
Also enjoyed Auckland more than I thought I was going too.
On the Tuesday night I boarded the Air New Zealand flight to Los Angles International. It was my first long haul flight and time on a 747 since I was a couple of months old. Was far to excited to sleep for the first few hours, but boredom kicked in eventually and the earplugs came to the rescue.
LA Airport
Landed in middle afternoon and MAN it was hot! The guy at customs didn’t understand what I mean when I replied to him saying “How are you?” with “Not bad”. Had to explain it to him. Maybe it’s a kiwi thing? I thought it was quite funny personally.
Walked around the airport a bit, but when you have 9 hours to kill, it’s not the most exciting place in the world to be. Spent most of that time trying to get my cell phone working, turned out to be quite easy once I found out it was on “Flight Mode” ;-)
Orlando/Disney World
After a horrible flight from LA (we had to dodge a hurricane which made the flight about 2 hours longer and extremely bumpy) I spent the morning and lunchtime sitting around the airport waiting for Katie. And after spending 9 hours in LA, Orlando airport was amazing, there was so much more to do.
Disney World was incredible. If there’s one thing you have to do before your old, it’s that. We stayed at one of the Disney World resorts (see here) which meant we got to skip certain lines and various things like that. But the best part was free transport between all the parks, Downtown Disney AND the airport. Disney made it incredibly easy to make the most of the time there.
We made it to all of the parks, one a day. Wouldn’t recommend it, you end up very exhausted by the end. But all the parks are really well done, especially Magical Kingdom, Epcot and the water parks.
I would highly recommend the Disney World Resorts to anyone wanting to go to Disney, it makes life a lot easier, and the whole experience a lot more “Disney”
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/dwnz/sets/72157606687695353/
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/dwnz/sets/72157607361713553/
London
Out of all the places we went, my favourite has to be London. There was just something about the whole place that I loved. Sadly we only got to spend two days there, but we got most of the “touristy” things we wanted done. I will definitely be going back there one day. Hopefully to work and live as well.
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/dwnz/sets/72157607362064459/
Penkridge, Middle of nowhere, England
Spent a few days with Katie’s family in a tiny village. It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t amazing.
Alicante, Spain
Spent a week in Alicante staying with Katie’s brother. It was really nice, heaps of sun, and hot. It’s really fun being in a place that doesn’t speak English, even if you end up with the wrong food and can’t understand what they’re yelling at you.
The beaches there are really nice if you don’t mind the occasional topless old oily lady walking past. The castle is definitely something you have to do there as well – the view is amazing.
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/dwnz/sets/72157607361570731/
Nice, France
We arrived in Nice after spending a night in an airport in Switzerland, so we were both really tried. But we still went out and explored the area, and man was it worth it! Nice is beautiful! We stayed in a hostel up a big hill (for lack of a better term) and caught the trams in and out of the downtown area. Gotta love 1 euro tram rides.
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/dwnz/sets/72157607570851172/
South Coast of France
Katie’s (other) brother met us in Nice with a rental car to drive us around in. He took us around a couple of place in the South Coast of France. Can’t remember all the places we went to, but I know we made it to Cannes, Monaco, Juan le Pin and a few others.
Out of all the places we visited on the South Coast, Monaco was my favourite. It would have been nice to spend a night there, but of course, its incredibly expensive.
South Coast: http://flickr.com/photos/dwnz/sets/72157607539313100/
Monaco: http://flickr.com/photos/dwnz/sets/72157607801671343/
Genoa, Italy
Katie’s brother dropped us off at the train station in Genoa, so we didn’t really see very much of it. The port was nice though.
Milan, Italy
I was quite disappointed with Milan, it was really polluted and… I’m not 100% sure… there was just something about the whole place that didn’t feel right.
The stores were real cool though (obviously). I found a three story electronics store which was interesting. Brought a digital camera from there as well which proved to be fun as no one spoke English or anything close to it. But we got it in the end.
I did enjoy the hotel we stayed in though. It was simple to say the least, but you can’t go wrong with free breakfast and WIFI.
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/dwnz/sets/72157607802512473/
Venice, Italy
Amazing amazing amazing! Seriously, Venice is sooo cool! Even though we didn’t stay in Venice itself, the camp site we stayed in was only a 10 minute bus ride to the main area.
The strangest thing about Venice is that there were no cars (obviously, but still). It’s strange after being surrounded by them all the time. Makes you realise how loud and annoying they are. That’s not to say some of the boats aren’t loud though.
Venice was very touristy, I’m not sure how many of the people there are locals, but unlike other places, because there were so many tourists and no locals, they weren’t really annoying.
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/dwnz/sets/72157607755825493/
Second part coming sometime...
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