Say it slowly tour Day 0: Preparation

Welcome to the trip with no name (29/07/2009)

As it says. the adventures of a white guy as he takes a couple of months wandering through Europe. From Albania to Zagreb, maybe. The title is ironic, based on the idea that if you go somewhere and can’t speak the language, repeating yourself slowly and louder will make all the difference. Of course, I know this not to be true. I\’m told that trying a few words in the local language goes a long way. Except in Liverpool.

Possible itinerary (29/07/2009)

• August 23: London, England then Birmingham (dinner  at Purnell’s), maybe Islay…
• August 30: Edinburgh, Scotland
• September 2: Pristina, Kosovo
• September 5: Tirana, Albania then maybe Sarajevo, Zagreb, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Tromso, Longyearbyen, Milan…
• September: Budapest, Hungary September: Sarajevo, BiH
• September: Warsaw, Poland
• September: Paris, France
• September 26: Venice, Italy
• September 28: Florence, Italy
• October 3: Naples, Italy
• October 6: Rome, Italy
• October 10: London, England
• October 17: Perth, Australia

Packing list (30/07/2009)

Things I’ll be taking…

• Australian Passport
• UK Passport
• iPod nano 8GB (purple)
• Daypack: Nucleon 20L
• Nokia E71
• Lonely Planet Guide: Central Eurpoe
• Lonely Planet Guide: Western balkans
• Lonely Planet Phrasebook: Eastern Europe
• Fujifilm F100fd Camera
• Asus eeepc 1000HE
• Cash passport EUR
• Cash passport GBP

Ramadan (31/07/2009)

Realised last night that I’ll be in Albania and Kosovo during Ramadan.

I’ve done a bit of reading, and I don’t think this will pose any issues. Approximately 90% of Kosovo’s population are muslim, but some articles suggest they’re “secular muslims”, and most don’t go for the fasting.

Interestingly, this year will be Kosovo\’s second Ramadan since declaring independence. That’s kind of neat, I think. I do hope that I’ll be able to find breakfast. When I travel, I like to get a good breakfast, as I’m usually too busy wandering and exploring to want lunch.

Notes (August 2009)

• (6/08/2009) Been budgetting and itinerising, and Norway is off the list. I’m a bit sorry about this, as I was looking forward to crossing the arctic circle. Next time, though.
• (12/08/2009) looking through, or wading through various product disclosure thingoes… jargon jargon. Allianz don’t cover me for terrorism, so they are a no. next..
• (14/08/2009) a few more preparations today. Just tidying, sorting out papers, adding tunes to the ipod. Also did some road testing of my walking shoes, and the new daypack, and both seem to be pretty swell.

Preparations (13/08/2009)

So far this week I\’ve sorted out the following: Travel Insurance: I’ve gone with HBF, if I read their PDS (Possible Denial of Service, or Product Disclosure Statement, take your pick) correctly, they don’t explicitly rule out damage to my person due to acts of terrorism, nor do they require extra paperwork for Existing Medical Conditions (they just don’t cover claims arising from these, but then none of the  policies I looked at do). It’s the standard deal, really, they try to exclude everything they can. I’m not planning to get sick, or stuff ripped off, so I hope not to have to use the policy. From previous experience, HBF are next to useless, but I don’t exactly hold high hopes for that whole damn industry.

I’ve got cash passports for EUR and GBP. Some teething issues with the GBP one, tried for a couple of days to get the card working on the web thingo they have, tried calling a couple of times, got told that they hadn’t registered the cards that I was holding in my sweaty hands. Turns out they sent the wrong type of cards, and had to do some fixing at their end. The moral of the story: check this stuff before leaving, before I actually needed to use it.

I’ve been adding to the list of things to take: phrasebook, and got a daypack. After much searching, went with the Nucleon 20L from Kathmandu. It’ll hold my laptop, a couple of books, water, and the top flap zips the wrong way which will probably make it less convenient to pilfer from. I didn’t buy it for that, it’s just a bonus I guess. I have to say that,  right now, the choice of day pack on offer from places  like Kathmandu, Mountain Design et al is pretty poor. There are some fine ones if you want to do outdoorsy-throw-yerself-off-cliffs-with-a-bike/board/whatever, but little for the wandering traveller. A comfy fit, some pouches, enough room for a laptop and some shopping, and not too big and bulky. Am I asking too much?’

Day -1 (22/08/2009)

the $64 question: Will the 5th Test be over by the time my flight hits the tarmac at Heathrow, ETA 7:10pm BST, 23/08/09.

As a dual UK/Australian national, I win no matter what the result, but I’m kind of hoping the English win, it’ll make travelling around Europe more interesting I think. I also think that the Australians have played some fairly ordinary cricket, and I haven’t seen much to make me think they deserve to win.

But here I am, on the eve of my longest trip out of WA, and I’m thinking of the cricket. That\’s what it means to be me, I guess.