Fourteen hours after takeoff and we landed in Rome. I was in a non-reading mood, only getting through about 50 pages, so I spent my time mindlessly watching terrible, terrible movies. Specifically He’s Just Not That Into You, Mall Cop, Inkheart, and Marley & Me. Really could have gone with never seeing any of those, but it still beats the flight I watched a full-length Backstreet Boys documentary…twice.

I don’t know why, but there’s something about airline food that I find incredibly enticing. I know it’s horrible, and as a borderline foodie I’m deeply ashamed of myself, but I savour those dishes like a death-row inmate does his final meal. I think it’s the sport of it. Waiting in anticipation while they slowly come down the isle, pulling back the foil on the entrée in wonderment to see what horror lies beneath, picking at the assorted crackers and cheese and deserts.

Once landed, I took the train into town and set off to find my hotel. I got turned around and lost for a bit, but once I finally found the hotel I grabbed a quick shower and set off for the Colosseum.

It was neat seeing the Colosseum after hearing about it for so long. I took a guided tour, which was a good time and quite interesting. The tour guide was a little corny, in that way a lot of Italian guys are corny, but he painted an interesting picture of ancient Rome. I have to say, though, it’s quite a bit smaller than they make it out to be in the movies.

I ended up just wandering around in a zombiefied, exhausted state before catching the metro home and crashing, thirty-something hours after setting off from Canada.

The next couple of days I spent being a super tourist – visiting Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the National Museum, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Spanish steps, and other such sites. When I have some time, possible not until I’m back home, I’ll post some photos.

I spent today in Vatican City, which is a terrific way to spend a day. The museum was fantastic. It seemed like a lot of people were rushing through to see the Sistine Chapel though, which is a shame. Most people didn’t even notice the Dali’s before you went in. After the museum I popped into St. Peter’s Basilica – outrageous. It’s stunning, but it’s also a little sickening when you think of how much wealth they’ve accumulated there that could have gone towards, essentially, feeding everyone in the world.

I climbed the dome and got some great shots of the city. It’s quite expensive, 7€ to go up, but at least it’s for a good cau….well, it’s pretty up there.

I spent the rest of my time stuffing my face, walking about the city, and dodging scooters. Rome’s been a blast, but I’m off to Florence tomorrow.

The vacation has begun, and a day early at that! A coworker thoughtfully pointed out to me that my schedule for tomorrow had the potential to come crumbling down around me, so I decided it best that I set out today instead of tomorrow morning as planned.

My flight for Rome leaves at 11:30am tomorrow from Vancouver airport, and in order to get there on time I would have had to catch the first ferry off the island. Miss that, and I’d likely be spending my vacation in Kamloops. The ferry service from the island isn’t terrible, but I’ve seen sailings get delayed and cancelled more than a few times, so I decided I probably shouldn’t take the chance.

Cue mad panic!

I had planned to do a lot today – tie everything off at work, buy a few remaining items, clean my apartment, clear my bathroom for some painters that are coming in while I’m gone, and pack. I feel like I managed to make good time, but I’m sure I probably forgot to pack something vital in my rush. I’ve already noticed that I forgot my cellphone charger and my travel alarm. Forgetting the charger at home is annoying but not surprising. I’ve sprinkled the countryside with my forgotten cellphone chargers over the last few years.

The flights to the mainland were ridiculously expensive, so I got stuck taking an incredibly choppy 9:00pm ferry over. I’m crashing at my friend Chris’ house tonight, abandoning my car there, and catching a taxi to the airport in the morning. It’s too bad I hadn’t planned this better, as it would’ve been nice to have arrived early enough in Vancouver to grab a bite to eat with my friends, but at least I’ve finally set off. I’ll grab a drink with them on my way back.

Only a week until I’m off to Italy! I was initially supposed to be meeting up with some friends who were living there for the year, but they unfortunately had to come back to Canada for a family emergency.

I’ve traveled solo before, so I plan to still enjoy this trip. Traveling alone has its pros and cons, but it’s overall just as satisfying an experience for me. It allows for a certain amount of freedom that you don’t normally have when traveling with others, and you tend to meet more people when you’re alone than you otherwise would.

Since I’m no longer tied down to Italy, I decided to seize the opportunity and spend the second week in Scotland. I’ve been meaning to visit the motherland for years and years, but it never panned out, so I’m really looking forward to this portion of the trip. As a secondary motive, while I’m there I’ll be visiting my uncle from my father’s side of the family. He and my dad had a falling out over 30 years ago and haven’t spoken since, so you could say I’m trying to reunite the clan in a way.

Only a week away – I should probably start making some plans…

I was at a local bookstore after work today, picking up a guidebook to research my vacation, and it turned out David Sedaris was having a book signing and reading.

I’d seen some of his clips on YouTube before, and listened to some of his stories in podcasts, so I stuck around. I knew he would be hilarious and I wasn’t disappointed. I didn’t stay for the book signing, but I do plan to pick up some of his books. He’s been on my to-read list for a while now.

Here’s an appearance he made on Letterman:

My parents were in town this last weekend, and we visited a few wineries while they were down. We did a small tour last time they were here as well, and I have to admit these wine tastings are a great time.

I never really thought I’d enjoy wine tasting. I very much like to drink wine, but I’ve never been any sort of connoisseur. I don’t know much of the wine-making process, and when trying to pick out the subtle nuances in the flavour the closest I usually get is ‘a hint of grape’, so I figured a tasting would be wasted on me.

Turns out it’s a fantastic way to spend a sunny afternoon. You get to drive through interesting countryside, spend time in vineyards, learn about and discover new wine, and come home with armfuls of booze. What more could you ask for?

I definitely recommend anyone with even a passing interest in wine go out and visit a local winery. I think I might try to join a tour for an afternoon while I’m in Florence at the end of the month.

I became an Internet hermit these last few weeks. There were no social applications for me, although I did keep an eye on my Google Reader. I’m not strong enough to give that up, but I only really lurked.

This was due partly to my feeling I was getting a little too tied in to these online networks, partly because I was lazy, and partly because my home computer recently died. After dragging my desktop over to a friend’s for investigation, the problem turned out to be the power supply. It’s annoying, but it could’ve been much worse, so I’ll try not to complain too much about that.

Thankfully, I conveniently bought a wee netbook just before the desktop died – an HP Mini 1030NR. I’ll post photos of how little and shiny it is later. It’ll be perfect for travel, and I got a smokin’ deal on it (refurbished for CAD$299), so I’m quite happy with it.

Beyond travel, my ulterior motive was to use this new, easily-mobile machine to motivate myself to write more. We’ll see how that actually pans out, though.

They use chalk animation on blackboards for the video. It turned out really cool, I think. I love the trails the animations leave behind.

I caught the travel bug something terrible a couple years ago after studying abroad for a semester, but my wanderlust fund has been dry as a bone since. I could have pulled off a cheap trip, but I lost sight of priorities and whittled my spare money away on things I didn’t need.

I have some friends living in Italy right now, and I decided this would be great opportunity to visit the country, so I booked my flight this morning. I’ll be there at the end of June and coming back in the middle of July, only a wee trip, but I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ll be flying into Rome, spending a few days there, and then heading up to Perugia to visit my friends. From there I’ll make some day trips to nearby cities, and then possibly up to Florence and onward to Venice.

I’ve never been to Italy, and my first instinct is to push myself to see as much as I possibly can, but I’m going to try and resist that. I want to enjoy myself and take a natural pace. No formal itineraries – just a list of events and places that I’d like to see if I have time. I’ll be traveling solo, so I plan to use that flexibility to the fullest.

Any itinerary suggestions are more than welcome!