Friday, 2 November 2007
Olympic Downer
Unfortunately, I have just been informed by the people that supply the tickets for the Olympics that they have only been allocated about half of what they were expecting to get. This means that my tickets for the diving and the closing ceremony are unavailable and I am still waiting to hear about the gymnastics and the second day of athletics. I have got tickets for the first day of athletics though. My plans will remain the same, and if it comes to it, I will just buy tickets on the day from a tout.
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
First Hostel
I got an e-mail today confirming that my payment for my first hostel in Beijing was received. It was a bit of an arse as i had to transfer the money from my bank to china at a cost of £21. But alas, there is no other way of transferring the monies apparently. I spoke to Western Union, but they can only do it if there is someone at the other end waiting to pick it up. At least its done now!
Friday, 5 October 2007
Camera Buying
Not a lot to report right now, so i thought I'd share some of the books and stuff that I've read so far.
I've read Rough Guides First Time around the World and First Time Asia, and also Lonely Planet's Gapyear Book. Personally I prefer the Rough Guides style, although they do seem to have a fair amount of grammatical errors in!
A great resource for anyone thinking of doing anything similar is Gapyear loads of great info and the forums rock!
I bought my camera yesterday, so have been getting to grips with it. Its a Ricoh Caplio R7, I was going to get the R6, but saw the R7 was getting released was better, and didn't cost much more :D expect loadsa random photos on my facebook!
I've read Rough Guides First Time around the World and First Time Asia, and also Lonely Planet's Gapyear Book. Personally I prefer the Rough Guides style, although they do seem to have a fair amount of grammatical errors in!
A great resource for anyone thinking of doing anything similar is Gapyear loads of great info and the forums rock!
I bought my camera yesterday, so have been getting to grips with it. Its a Ricoh Caplio R7, I was going to get the R6, but saw the R7 was getting released was better, and didn't cost much more :D expect loadsa random photos on my facebook!
Saturday, 22 September 2007
Keyboard Konfusion
I had hoped i was going to update this blog weekly, but due to virgin media being arses, my keyboard breaking (although it was replaced efficiently thanks to apple/UPS) and working nearly 60 hours before i go back to uni to try save a bit of money, i just didn't get round to it!
I met up with my friend Yiran from Chengdu in China last Sunday and he was advising me on the best way to go around China to get the most out of it. I hadn't originally planned on going to Tibet, but he said you can get a flight relatively cheaply from Chengdu to Lhasu, so i may look into this.
As Nevisport have got a 20% off everything in store type sale, i bought myself my first piece of equipment which is a theft proof money belt. It's worn under clothing, and has wire running through it so it can't be cut off if it is spotted. You use it to keep all the essentials in, like passport, visas, certificates and a bit of emergency cash.
So far i have been reading up a fair bit, and have read Rough Guide's 'First Time Around the World' and 'First Time Asia' and am now half way through Lonely Planet's 'The Gap Year Book'. I prefer the Rough Guide books as they are a bit easier to read, and the Lonely Planet one seems to use loads of quotes, which can get a little annoying.
Not really a lot else to report at the minute.
I'll try update more regularly from now on!
I met up with my friend Yiran from Chengdu in China last Sunday and he was advising me on the best way to go around China to get the most out of it. I hadn't originally planned on going to Tibet, but he said you can get a flight relatively cheaply from Chengdu to Lhasu, so i may look into this.
As Nevisport have got a 20% off everything in store type sale, i bought myself my first piece of equipment which is a theft proof money belt. It's worn under clothing, and has wire running through it so it can't be cut off if it is spotted. You use it to keep all the essentials in, like passport, visas, certificates and a bit of emergency cash.
So far i have been reading up a fair bit, and have read Rough Guide's 'First Time Around the World' and 'First Time Asia' and am now half way through Lonely Planet's 'The Gap Year Book'. I prefer the Rough Guide books as they are a bit easier to read, and the Lonely Planet one seems to use loads of quotes, which can get a little annoying.
Not really a lot else to report at the minute.
I'll try update more regularly from now on!
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
More Bookings
I tried yesterday to book my Olympic tickets, but the system was so confusing i had to wait until today to give them a call to help me figure it out!
With it all sorted this is what I plan on seeing as long as the tickets are still available (should receive confirmation middle of October):
18th August: Artistic Gymnastics (Mens Rings Final, Womens Uneven Bars Final, Mens Vault Final, Womens Trampoline Final)
19th August: Diving (Mens 3m Springboard Final)
22nd August: Athletics (Decathlon Javelin, Womens Long Jump, Womens 4x400m Round 1, Mens Pole Vault Final, Mens 4x400 Round 1, Womens 5000m Final, Womens 4x100m Final, Decathlon 1500m, Mens 4x100m Final)
23rd August: Athletics (Mens Javelin Final, Womens High Jump Final, Mens 800m Final, Womens 1500m Final, Mens 5000m Final, Womens 4x400m Final, Mens 4x400m Final)
24th August: Closing Ceremonies
I was hoping to see a bit of swimming, but the last day of competition for the swimming is the 17th August, which would be fine if it was in the evening, but unfortunately it starts at 10:30 am, and the train arrives in Beijing at 7am, so i don't think i would be able to make my way to the hostel to drop my stuff off, freshen up and get up to the stadium in time, especially if there is a delay.
In other news i sent an email to the hostel and they changed my arrival date to one day later no problem.
With it all sorted this is what I plan on seeing as long as the tickets are still available (should receive confirmation middle of October):
18th August: Artistic Gymnastics (Mens Rings Final, Womens Uneven Bars Final, Mens Vault Final, Womens Trampoline Final)
19th August: Diving (Mens 3m Springboard Final)
22nd August: Athletics (Decathlon Javelin, Womens Long Jump, Womens 4x400m Round 1, Mens Pole Vault Final, Mens 4x400 Round 1, Womens 5000m Final, Womens 4x100m Final, Decathlon 1500m, Mens 4x100m Final)
23rd August: Athletics (Mens Javelin Final, Womens High Jump Final, Mens 800m Final, Womens 1500m Final, Mens 5000m Final, Womens 4x400m Final, Mens 4x400m Final)
24th August: Closing Ceremonies
I was hoping to see a bit of swimming, but the last day of competition for the swimming is the 17th August, which would be fine if it was in the evening, but unfortunately it starts at 10:30 am, and the train arrives in Beijing at 7am, so i don't think i would be able to make my way to the hostel to drop my stuff off, freshen up and get up to the stadium in time, especially if there is a delay.
In other news i sent an email to the hostel and they changed my arrival date to one day later no problem.
Monday, 10 September 2007
The First Post
Welcome to my blog, for the time being this will be a blog of me planning my round the world trip. That is until I leave, then it will be a blog of my journey!
Today i booked my ticket, its taken a while because plane tickets generally aren't released until 11 months prior to the departure date, but i wanted to get them booked asap as my first stop is Beijing for the Olympics, and I know the flights are going to fill up quickly. However, the flights to Beijing look like they've all been block booked by travel agents, so i have to go to Shanghai instead, and make my own way.
My itinerary is:
15th Aug 2008 Fly London>Shanghai
16th Aug 2008 Arrive Shanghai overnight train>Beijing
17th Aug 2008 Arrive Beijing for Olympics
17th Aug 2008 Swimming events
18th Aug 2008 Gymnastic events
21st Aug 2008 Athletics events
22nd Aug 2008 Diving events
23rd Aug 2008 Diving events
24th Aug 2008 Closing Ceremonies
25th Aug 2008 Make my way to Tianjin to catch ferry to Seoul (south korea)
from here i don't really have any set dates but plan to do the following:
travel across south korea to catch a ferry from Busan to Shimonoseki (Japan) then make my way across Japan via Hiroshima, Himeji, Kyoto, Gifu, Matsumoto and Kofu to Tokyo, then back down via Tokohama, Shizuoka, Nagoya, Osak to Kobe. At Kobe I plan to get a ferry back to China docking at Shanghai. From here my route will take me up to Xi'an to see the terracotta Army, then down to Chengdu and down to Hong Kong. From Hong Kong I will work my way down to Vietnam, down to Cambodia, up through Laos, then into Thailand. The idea is to be in Koh Pha Ngan for the new year party 2009. I will then continue through Malaysia to Singapore.
That will hopefully round up the first 5 months, from Singapore I will get a flight to Brisbane (Australia). Hopefully I will be able to buy a cheap car or preferably a camper van which i will then drive round the coastal road via Gold Coast, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Geelong, Adelaide then to Perth, then driving back to Sydney taking a total of around 10 weeks. Then get a flight from Sydney> Auckland to spend a couple of weeks in New Zealand, before flying over to Santiago (Chile) where i will spend 4 months travelling around South and Central America before flying back home on 14th August 2009 from Guatemala City to London!
As well as booking my ticket i also booked my first hostel in Beijing, the Beijing Jade Youth Hostel (Utels), as well as making my first date cock-up! i booked the room from the 16th August, but as i will be catching the overnight train from Shanghai>Beijing I don't arrive until the 17th!
Sorry the first post was so long, I'll try to update whenever something big has happened so there aren't any huge posts like this in the future!
Today i booked my ticket, its taken a while because plane tickets generally aren't released until 11 months prior to the departure date, but i wanted to get them booked asap as my first stop is Beijing for the Olympics, and I know the flights are going to fill up quickly. However, the flights to Beijing look like they've all been block booked by travel agents, so i have to go to Shanghai instead, and make my own way.
My itinerary is:
15th Aug 2008 Fly London>Shanghai
16th Aug 2008 Arrive Shanghai overnight train>Beijing
17th Aug 2008 Arrive Beijing for Olympics
17th Aug 2008 Swimming events
18th Aug 2008 Gymnastic events
21st Aug 2008 Athletics events
22nd Aug 2008 Diving events
23rd Aug 2008 Diving events
24th Aug 2008 Closing Ceremonies
25th Aug 2008 Make my way to Tianjin to catch ferry to Seoul (south korea)
from here i don't really have any set dates but plan to do the following:
travel across south korea to catch a ferry from Busan to Shimonoseki (Japan) then make my way across Japan via Hiroshima, Himeji, Kyoto, Gifu, Matsumoto and Kofu to Tokyo, then back down via Tokohama, Shizuoka, Nagoya, Osak to Kobe. At Kobe I plan to get a ferry back to China docking at Shanghai. From here my route will take me up to Xi'an to see the terracotta Army, then down to Chengdu and down to Hong Kong. From Hong Kong I will work my way down to Vietnam, down to Cambodia, up through Laos, then into Thailand. The idea is to be in Koh Pha Ngan for the new year party 2009. I will then continue through Malaysia to Singapore.
That will hopefully round up the first 5 months, from Singapore I will get a flight to Brisbane (Australia). Hopefully I will be able to buy a cheap car or preferably a camper van which i will then drive round the coastal road via Gold Coast, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Geelong, Adelaide then to Perth, then driving back to Sydney taking a total of around 10 weeks. Then get a flight from Sydney> Auckland to spend a couple of weeks in New Zealand, before flying over to Santiago (Chile) where i will spend 4 months travelling around South and Central America before flying back home on 14th August 2009 from Guatemala City to London!
As well as booking my ticket i also booked my first hostel in Beijing, the Beijing Jade Youth Hostel (Utels), as well as making my first date cock-up! i booked the room from the 16th August, but as i will be catching the overnight train from Shanghai>Beijing I don't arrive until the 17th!
Sorry the first post was so long, I'll try to update whenever something big has happened so there aren't any huge posts like this in the future!
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