... and the things I've seen!!!
(Getting there)
I managed to make a trip of a lifetime happen, with literally zero notice.
I have always loved traveling, seeing new places, meeting new friends, and for lack of a better term, just gaining new experiences.
Changing jobs, I had about 3 free weeks till I started at my new job.
Finished my job Wednesday evening, and spent Thursday unwinding; thinking whether to take care of logistics and relax for 3 weeks or to make a great trip happen. Pretty easy decision, it turned out to be.
So, on Friday I got in touch with G.A.P Adventures and spent the better part of the day booking airline tickets and a safari in Tanzania. The safari was still tentative, but I took a chance and finalized the airline tickets.
At this point, I had a ticket leaving SFO the following Tuesday (9/29/2009) and getting me to Amsterdam for 4 nights. Then I would leave for Cairo, Egypt - spend 6 nights there - and then onto Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The only plan for what to do once I got there was a tentative safari in Tanzania. I would get back on October 18 around 1:00pm, and start my new job on the 19th.
When it sank in that I would be in Europe for almost 5 days, I decided to go to Italy and check out the Coliseum.
Spent the weekend trying to plan activities in Europe (pretty successfully) and Egypt (semi successfully) and Monday taking care of packing and local logistics, and then made it to the airport on Tuesday at 6:45am to catch the plane out. That whole weekend, including getting to the airport is just a big blur to me now.
So, by now you are probably thinking... isn't this supposed to be a photography blog? Okey dokey then... let's get to the meat of the trip... :-)
...I will mention that several of the photographs posted here will not be anything special... Some were taken in a hurry, others with my phone... This particular set of posts is more about my travel than just the photography...
The days all got blurry very quickly, so I'll go with the dates instead. Left San Francisco on Tuesday, Sept. 29 around 8:30am or so. A few hours layover in Minneapolis, Minnesota (luckily I wasn't on this flight), and then onto Amsterdam.
Arrive in Amsterdam around 4am on the 30th.
In my haste, I had not been able to get any traveling cash. Took care of that, and then hung out for a few hours, and this is what I felt like as I was about to leave - taking a flight to Rome, connecting through Frankfurt.
Waiting for the flight... (and I am smiling!!!)
It was raining in Amsterdam, and I couldn't resist taking this pic.
Frankfurt from the air
Waiting at Frankfurt airport, the computer system for Lufthansa went down. The flight was delayed by an hour or so, but since it was the last leg for a few days - no missed connections - it wasn't that big a deal.
Sitting there, I rediscovered Scorpions, Accept and Rammstein - LOL. Only listened to German bands while I was there. I remembered what a great song Believe In Love is - the lyrics.
Leaving Frankfurt, flew over the Alps (I think) - just beautiful scenery all the way
Close to Rome, I saw the shadow of the plane... woo hoo, 3 more weeks of traveling in the future.
Finally, I arrive in Rome - it was around 6pm on Sept. 30 by the time I had checked in into the hotel.
Originally, I had planned to go out that evening, but decided against it. Instead, I just enjoyed the view from the balcony and got some rest, soaking in the fact that I was in the capital of the Roman Empire, and going to see the Coliseum the next day. Took a few photographs from the balcony. The photo at the beginning of the post was also taken from the balcony.
Finally, some rest and onto tomorrow (and the next post)
More photographs (getting there or the whole trip) at Flickr.
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