ESTONIA - TALLINN

We caught a ferry to Tallinn … WOW (Tallink) …. More like a luxury cruise than a ferry ….. highly recommended. An absolutely beautiful old town … one of the most impressive I have seen in Europe, and I suspect that mainly because it had not been destroyed in WW2…. But still lacks atmosphere.
Still jet-lagged …. Worse I have been for years … stopped drinking, lots of sleep….. hoping body recovers soon….. worse being so far north … it doesn’t really get dark … so at 2am its like dusk….. so everytime I wake up, it feels like its daytime…… body is really freaked out by this experience.

Moving slowly towards Riga….. My opinion of Estonian buses has just increased 99% after discovering the bus from Tallinn to Riga has power, and WiFi … uploading this blog post from a f%iking Bus!!!!

The photos below were taken at (midnight with no flash), so it gives you an idea of how odd it is to have daylight at that time

Also, I have decided that will fit in a trip to Egypt, before heading off back to Australia (probably last week in June, after returning to London for few days)

HELSINKI

We landed in Helsinki, and everyone that advised that it was a boring place …. They are absolutely right!!! Don’t get me wrong, a very clean, pretty place, just not much atmosphere … but the fact that I was still feeling jet-lagged (and exhausted from weekend in London), didn’t help either.
My camera started playing up (so I lost it, and ended up throwing it away) …So After Day 1, we are stuck with Damian’s camera … do you think he bought a charger with him …. NOT!!!! …. So photos may be limite… Reminder to self …. Buy a cheap camera ASAP.

BACK TO LONDON

Couch surfed with Mate for few days, and after numerous nights chasing daylight (getting to bed at 10am),….jet-lag still there.

On Saturday night, went to an awesome rave/party in Brixton, where everyone was dressed in costumes (the party supplied various fancy dressed on arrival, as part of the cover charge). There were several bands there playing gypsy/yiddish music … and as we danced the night away into early hours of the morning, it was one of the best nights out I have had for a long time … just wished I had taken some photos.

After continuous nights partying, Im feeling pretty drained …. I think it is Mate’s revenge for knocking him out (drinking on my last night in London) the last time I was here.
Next part of my 2 months off work is travelling around Northern Europe with Sully.

WEIGHT LOSS

I guess I got to a comfortable stage (around 85kgs), and know that I lost enough to feel that I no longer have to keep track…..Having said that, moving out of OC, and travelling around Europe it would be just too hard to keep track…..

LAX – LHR – HEL --> ??

In London for a weekend, couch surfing with Mate, and then on Monday, with Sully heading off to backpack around Baltics for few weeks.We land in Helsinki, and then onto Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and anywhere else that takes our fancy. Initial plan is 2 weeks, but then with me, anything is possible... could easily turn into 4 or 5

LAST NIGHT IN OC - SIX FLAGS & SKINNY DIP

The eternal man-child lives on!!! ..... and our last day in SoCal we spent riding roller-coasters at the huge amusement park called SixFlags ..... what a great way to finish off the SoCal experience. By far the most amazing ride was X2 ... I have never been so shit-scared in my life!!!!

To top it off, all the usual suspects drank my house dry (as you expect when vacating a house)and we ended up out on a bender down Newport penniunsular , which resulted in numerous cheese-and-ham-croissants (fu*&ing delicious, I had 3 again), and myself and Greg skinny-dipping at the end of 29th Street...... felt great (although as expected, shrinkage was considerable)

ANOTHER BENDER IN VEGAS

Well, on a spur of the moment, myself, Sully and Isaac decided to head to Vegas for a bender (2nd week in a row) ... and awesome time had by all, partying/gambling at night, and hanging around the pool during the day, watching bikini clad girls ... must say, very relaxing.

AUTOCLUB - END OF PROJECT

So after 19 months consulting for Autoclub of Southern California ... it is that time, and I roll-off.
I had great time working there, but all good things come to an end (especially in a consultant’s life).
Its not all bad though .... as it happens, due to some personal circumstances, I also resigned my UK employment, and will be returning to Australia, to continue working for Guidewire Australia, continuing the same career path which i have been on for past 3 years.

The good news is that I don’t start my next job till early August, which gives me 9 weeks of freedom, to travel and do whatever I want..... and for those of you that know me .... Im a perfect candidate to use that time off for self-discovery (or simply bumming) around the world.

Sully is down in OC for another week, so we’ll relax around Newport and then head together to London for weekend.

SULLY & VEGAS

So Sully is on the way back to London ... and he decided to fly throughUSA , crash with me in OC for week or so. He flew into Vegas, and this time we stayed at Binions, downtown on Fremont St ... AWESOME!!!! ... we didnt even make it to the Strip.... the booze and food were cheap and plentiful, and people were really friendly.

On way home we drove through Boulder City, to check out Hoover Dam.

QBE - SYDNEY

As my time on the California project comes to an end, I have decided to accept a 4 month contract with QBE in Sydney, starting mid June. (which means resigning from my current UK employment of 2 ½ years)…. After 3 years of jet-setting around the world, it was a tough decision, but I look forward to catching up with everyone, and having a more settled lifestyle over rest of 2009.
Don’t get me wrong … it will still be busy, relocating, and then as I expect to fly back to Adelaide every 2-3 weeks, and enjoy catching up with everyone.

I will continue to work on the Guidewire ClaimCenter implementation, so it will be an interesting experience going from “Technical Lead” to a contractor.

So .. its back to Adelaide for a week (back on 4th June)… and then straight to Sydney a week later.
For reminder of 2009 I will most probably be in Australia, spend Summer, Xmas, New Year .. and then see what happens in early 2010…. If the QBE contract gets extended, continue, otherwise maybe shoot of to Thailand/Vietnam, and there is always a possibility of visiting Máte in South Africa (if he ever makes it there).

CAVEAT EMPTOR: "Let the buyer beware”

So today the guy who purchased my Porsche (Ron, 20 days ago) rings me to inform me that the car overheated, and the mechanic found oil in the coolant ... sounds like cracked head/head gasket ... or worse.... either way ... it will probably be an expensive rebuild.

I don’t know what Ron thinks he will achieve by talking to me .... like I’m going to offer to pay for the repairs!!!!

While I had the car ... I never had an issue, and only did 5000 km in it ... now when he bought it .. he had opportunity to pay for a mechanic to inspect it ... which he did not do, and on the day of the transaction, he would have driven nearly 200 miles to sort out the transfer (at 85 mph.... LA has huge distances) ... so that would have been a pretty good test drive.

Either he thrashed the Porsche and cooked the engine, or it was always going to happen and I got extremely lucky with timing of the sale .... but as I see it ... Caveat emptor applies!

APRIL WEIGHT - STILL IN THE HIGH 180s

OK .. so I spent most of the month in the 180's ... and despite my Europe trip (with lots of beer, and midnight curries) .... I still ended the month below where I started ... ie. .. still losing weight (not much).... but at least better than gaining.

BTW .... the spike at the end of April can be contributed to "few beers after work" followed by munchies of chips/pretzels .... hmmmm ... must be more disciplined

ITS ALL GOT TO GO ..... AGAIN

Just sold the Porsche ... took a small $$$ hit (but not as bad as I thought I would, given state of economy) ...but the experience was worth it!! Had it, enjoyed it .... realized that its not really me .... and sold it.

Im starting my purging mode again ... anticipating next job move in June09 (ie. leaving OC) ... current expectations, Montreal, Canada

BACK TO LA

Recently I decided that I am going to make more effort in my appearance when I travel back to Europe this summer....I’m pretty relaxed traveler ... and usually on long-haul overnight flights I choose to wear tracksuit ... for comfort/warmth.... and could easily be mistaken for a back-packer (always have a pair of shorts/thongs handy if it gets warm upon arrival).
Well, with work, I fly Premium Economy .... and decided that I need to start looking more the part of a professional consultant .... and less like a student back packer.

I noticed that this makes a lot of difference how an Airlines (and their staff) treat you.
On the flight to London ... I noticed in the attitude of the airlines staff ... and today .... on way back to LAX, I got upgraded to Business!!! (awesome way to fly, would love to see what First class is like).....so maybe there is something in the way one is dressed, and being upgrade ...... stay tuned ... will keep you posted on future experiences.


If this sort of treatment continues.... I may have to reconsider my opinion of British Airways.....after all ... I fly 6-8 times a year with them .... so they should consider me Frequent Flyer!.

Arrived to 34 degree weather in OC ... would be great if didn't feel crap from yesterdays’ “Creeper” hangover/today's jet-lag.... with an 8 hour time-zone difference .... whatever the cause of pain ... its a long day!

KNOCKING OUT TWO KRANTZs IN ONE NIGHT

Last night in London ... caught up with the Krantz boys (and their Hungarian friends) for few quite “afternoon” beers in Northfields........ ok 8 hours later ... we missed the last Tube back to Earl’s Court ..... and decided on alternative transport (ie. Private car) ... pizza ... and for me ... last trip back to the Earl’s Court road falafel shop.... for a post-midnight curry. (4th Curry for the week!!! And with all the eating and drinking, I think the scales are going to be back in the 190s when I get back)

Anyway ... next morning ... both boys were extremely messy....as for me it was different .... I felt surprisingly OK, and expected the hangover to be the “Creeper” type .... you know, the one where:

You wake up (still drunk) ... and think .... oh ...feel great (of course one does ... you’re still drunk) ... I don’t have a hangover !!!! (of course not ... cant get one if still drunk).... got bloody luck to get away with that one ... and then few hours later ... you get a tap on the back of shoulder ... and the hangover goes “ello ello ello .... remember me??!!!” ... and knocks you over the head with a baseball bat ... for the next 12 hours.

Anyways .. I had a flight to catch .... so quick goodbyes ... and last trip on tube for this trip ... and back to Heathrow.

BACK IN LONDON

After the Easter break, Spent the rest of my time in London staying (or more correctly couch-surfing) with Máte and Gaspar, in the Earl’s Court “Cabin” ....It was great being back (its been 7 months since last time I was back).

Few comments:

• Falafel at SheBoo markets did not taste as great as I remembered
• The new SheBoo Westfield shopping center (biggest in Europe) not as large as i expected .. although pretty impressive
• London a lot cheaper than I remembered (maybe I’m just used to OC prices)
  

INTO SWITZERLAND

It is quite amazing how within less than 100km ... we went from sunny warm spring .... to high altitude (St Moritz is 1600m), and snow covered countryside/mountains.
It was definitely past skiing season (being mid-April and all) ...but there was still plenty of people skiing ... and as we went to top of Corvatsch (altitude 3303m, minus 5 degrees C) .. we were impressed with the runs, and wished we could spend few days here just relaxing and skiing.... not that we were prepared for this ... having only few warm clothes, and not much more.

BTW ...Switzerland is extremely expensive, compared to Italy (and pretty much rest of the world)

DRIVE AROUND NORTHERN ITALY – From Burgamo around Lake Como

Máté getting in touch with nature!!

We stayed only a few nights in Milan... and then decided to head off to see a bit more of the countryside .... We hired a car in Burgamo and decided to drive around Lake Como ... and do a bit of “Clooney spotting” ... no did not find/bump into him.

Not really realizing how big Lake Como is ... not to mention how slow it is to drive around it ..... rarely exceeds 40 kmph ... and in Easter ... roads were very busy with all the locals away for their breaks.

Máte was the navigator .. and once we got to the top of Lake Como .... we saw signs for St Moritz ... and it was like

• Q (Máte); “Do you want to go into Switzerland???”
• Q (me): “What’s in Switzerland??”
• A (Máte): “Some mountains, chocolate, banks”
• A (me): “Ok .. why not” ... “Ok, lets do it”

MILANO FOR EASTER

I had a whole bunch of frequent flyer points (from flying with Lufthansa between Boston-Poznan back in 2007) ... which doesn’t really get you anything ... except that Lufthansa had a promotion for new route they opened (London, Heathrow - Milan) ... and thought it was a great way to use them up.
Of course travelling on your own is not as enjoyable (as doing it with good friends) ... and so I planned it to do with my little “Hungarian” buddy .... Máte.

My goal for this Summer is to visit more of Italy and Southern France ... so this was a great way to get the ball rolling.

Milan is pretty much what you expect .... lots of beautiful (extremely well dressed) people, and some spectacular buildings.... not to mention a quick espresso around every corner .... and we also got extremely lucky with the weather (low 20s ... no rain).

CRACKED INTO THE 180s !!

So even with 2 weeks in Australia (boozing & eating), I still managed to lose weight in March … and cracking the 190 lb mark….. so the chart is heading down the right path … ie DOWN.
At the end of month … I weighed in at 189lb (approx 86kg)…. Hopefully April will also be a kind month.