Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going. – Paul Theroux

Australia – Cairns, Townsville, Mt Isa, Alice Springs, Darwin, Broome, Port Hedland, Tom Price, Exmouth, Coral Bay, Carnarvon, Monkey Mia, Geraldton, Lancelin, Perth, Freemantle, Bunberry, Margaret River, Albany, Esperence, Port Ausgusta, Adelaide, Grampians, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Port Macquarie, Tweed Heads, Noosa Heads, Torquay, Bunderburg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Port Douglas
America – Miami, Orlando, Kissimee, San Jose, San Francisco
Brussels – Belgium
Cyprus – Ayia Napa, Pathos
Czech Republic – Prague, Svoboda Nad Upou, Pec pod Snezkou
Dominican Republic –
Egypt – Hurgharda, Luxor
France – Paris, Serre Chevalier
Germany – Munchengladbach, Dusseldorf, Berlin
Greece – Corfu – Kavos
Italy – Venice
Netherlands – Amsterdam, Scheveningen, Kinderdijk
Norway – Oslow
Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Langkawi, Palau
Maldives – Paradise Island
Malta – Malta, Goza
Poland – Krakow, Wroclaw, Tychy, Kolo, Warszawa
Romania – Bucharest, Translyvania
Singapore – Not much to put here
Spain – Costa del Sol, Barcelona
Tanzania – Moshi, Killimanjaro
Thailand – Koh Phi Phi, Bangkok, Khon Khan, Satun, Koh Phi Phi, Phuket, Krabi, Kata
Turkey – Alanya

On one side it could be seen as terrible but to me it’s been one of the best years ever.

I’m sat here typing with a broken scaphiod in my right hand with my arm in cast after breaking my wrist in a bizarre and freak snowboarding accident in Milton Keynes. YES before my actual snowboarding holiday!

I’ve worn out my knees and have had to have anthroscopy in my right knee and a lateral release, which allowed me to wear amazing paper pants and involved the cutting of around 6 inches of tissue around my knee. With physiotherapy still ongoing. I’m so looking forward to having the next one done. I’ve had my zygoma broken whilst being on the end of a punch from Gary at karate and another broken nose from getting my face squashed by Casey in BJJ. Whilst with the consultant at Brighton hospital viewing the x-ray of my face to check that my zygoma had healed properly he was more concerned about the top of my right eye socket as it appears that I broke that too. Not sure how as I don’t especially remember being hit there? (I’m still trying to get a copy of my x-ray, it amazing to see an x-ray of your own head!)

I have just had a blood test for Helicobacter Pylori as it now appears that I have been eating human fecal matter. Ever since returning home from travelling Asia I have been unable to eat bread due to servere indegestion which temporailly stops me from breathing from the pain. After numerous trips to my doctor Dr Rogers and the pain becoming more frequent he believes that I have this strange coil shaped bacteria living in my stomach

… and with thanks to the Wikipedia:

Helicobacter pylori is a gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium that inhabits various areas of the stomach and duodenum. It causes a chronic low-level inflammation of the stomach lining and is strongly linked to the development of duodenal and gastric ulcers and stomach cancer.

… and again:

Person-to-person transmission by either the oral-oral or fecal-oral route is most likely.[3] Consistent with these transmission routes, the bacteria have been isolated from feces, saliva and dental plaque of some infected people.[3] Transmission occurs mainly within families in developed nations yet can also be acquired from the community in developing countries.[64] H. pylori may also be transmitted orally by means of fecal matter through the ingestion of waste-tainted water, so a hygienic environment could help decrease the risk of H. pylori infection.[3]

Even with all this I’ve still had an amazing year with trips to 10 countries, meeting Dorota, an amazing girl who also shares my passion of travelling, scuba diving, adventure and knowledge with which I went to the last 8 countries with:

Norway – Oslow
Romania – Bucharest, Translyvania

Turkey – Alanya
Netherlands (x18) – Amsterdam, Scheveningen, Kinderdijk + many more places I can’t think of right now
Brussels (x3)- Belgium
France – Paris
Egypt – Hurgharda, Luxor
Czech Republic (x2) – Prague, Svoboda Nad Upou, Pec pod Snezkou
Poland (x2) – Krakow, Wroclaw, Tychy, Kolo, Warszawa
Germany – Berlin

So for 2009 I will try my upmost not to eat developing world feces and hope that I don’t get stomach cancer. We have booked a trip to Venice, have one planned for Sydney and not sure what else as yet. Ideas on a post card.

Bring on 2009!

On Friday 19th December I took my EasyJet flight to Schiphol (AMS) airport in Amsterdam to meet Dorota. We would have a nights rest before we set off on our 2,746km roadtrip to Poland and back.

We got to Tychy in Poland around 2100 after 1,157km and an 11 hour drive. The best part of the drive there was driving from perfectly flat roads in Germany to passing through the old border control and entering Poland the other side. Video to follow

I will write about the places we visited in more detail later but here is our itinary below.

20th Dec – Amsterdam to Tychy

21st Dec – Tychy

22nd Dec – Drove to Krakow from Tychy
Stary Rynek (Main Market Square)
Brama Florianska (Florian’s Gate)
Barbakan (Barbican)
Bazylika Mariacka (St. Mary’s Basilica) with Oltarz Wita Stwosza (Altar of Veit Stoss), 2m Wooden People, Trumpeter who know one knows

Sukiennice (Sukiennice Cloth Hall) – Middle age cloth hall
Wieza ratuszowa w Krakowie (Town Hall)
Adam Mickiewicz Monument
Wawel – Hill, Castle, Katedra (Cathedral), Dzwon Zygmunta (The Sigismund Bell), Groby Krolewskie (The Royal Tombs), Private and Royal Apartments, Smok, Vistula River (Wista)
Kazimierz Jewish Ghetto – The biggest in Poland

24th – 26th – Polish Christmas in Tychy
Here are some of the Polish dishes we got to enjoy:
Sledzie w Smietanie (Herring in cream) i ziemniaki (with Potatoes)
Smazony Karp (Fried Carp)
Kapusta z grochem (Cabbage with Peas)
Duszone grzyby (Strangled Mushrooms)
Barszcz z uszkami (Borsch with “earlings”, dumplings stuffed with minced meat)
Pierogi z kapusta i grzybami – dumplings with cabbage and mushroom
Kompot z suszowych owocow – dried fruit compote
kaczka z nadzieniem – stuffed duck (with herbs, spices and chicken liver)
Karczek – Pig Neck
Salatki Warzywne – Vegatable Salads
Kielbasa – Sausage
kurczak w galaretce – jellied chicken
Kapusta z grzybami w ciescie francuskim – cabbage with mushroom in French bread
25th Dec – Ice Skating in Pszczyna
27th Dec – Oswiecim /Auschwitz, Brzezinka / Birkenau – the Museum
My first sample of Zapiekanka (Halved baguette topped with mushrooms and Ketchup)

28th – 29th Dec – Czech Republic
Svoboda Nad Upou, Pec Pod Snezkou

30th Dec – Wroclaw
Panorama Raclawicka
Krasnale (Dwarfs)
PRL
Spiz (http://www.spiz.pl/) (Underground pub built within mini Brewery)
Piwnica Swidnicka (http://www.piwnicaswidnicka.com/ Oldest Pub in Europe)
Jatki
Jas i Malgosia (Two buildings)
Garnizon Church & Tower, today Kosciol Sw. Elzbiety (St. Elisabeth’s Church)
Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island) with Wroclaw Cathedral
University

2nd – 3rd Jan – Berlin
Feeling extremely rough both with flu and after a near crash experience that day we managed to bear the 1 hour queue to go to the top of the Fernsehturm (TV Tower), the view was ok, but nothing as spectactular as the Eiffle Tower.

The next day we decided to take the easy route and paid for a tour bus to take us to the following:
Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie
Kurfürstendamm – The Protestant Kaiser William Memorial Church (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche
Dom Aquaree/Sea-Life
Hotel Berlin
Kulturforum, Kemperplatz
Potsdamer Platz
Judisches Museum (Jewish Museum)
Gendarmenmarkt
Alexanderplatz
Friedrichstrabe/Unter den Linden
Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate
Berlin Hauptbahnhof/Central Station
Flohmarkt
Schloss/Palace Charlottenburg

4th January – Amsterdam then back to Brighton

More to come…

Unfortutely it can’t be too active, well by that I mean I can’t do any repetitive knee movements (well not for the next 6 months). I injured my knee training for the South Downs Randonnee in 2007 and I ended up having to have a lateral release, real life example here. I’ve had to have one operation and am waiting on the other now, with a 12 month recovery period. Anyway the South Downs Randonnee is a 100 mile mountain bike ride from Winchester to Eastbourne across the south downs way and has to be finished in around 12 hours.

My second big event was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa which was simple amazing. It is just short of 6000m and took 7 days to complete the climb. I’m one of the above in the photo, that was an additional bet for a few additional pounds.

But now I am stuck for what to do? So far I have thought of maybe climbing Mount Cho Oyo, or infact summiting any mountain naked, walking the Bering Straight, or canoeing the Amazon, your ideas and suggestions below please.

Anyway about the camera it shoots full HD 1080p, records onto memory card so I don’t have to worry about damaging tapes and moving parts, meaning I can just throw it in my backpack without any care in the world. AND most of all it’s TINY!

The only drawbacks with the camera are firstly the fact that you need to be around 4m away from a person to get a full framed shot (this is the same problem with all compact camcorders) and you are lucky if the battery lasts an hour. So I have also ordered the Canon TL-H37 Wide converter (MVX150i) which will enable this distance to be almost halved, and of course the Double Capacity Canon BP-819 battery. Don’t be fooled by the cheap alternatives on Amazon as the majority of these are 1400mah and not 1780mah the same as the genuine one, AND you won’t be able to charge it on the camera but they are a quarter of the price.

Anyway in the meantime before I update this post there is a great review over at Trusted Reviews on the Canon HF10.

**** EDIT ****

Well after some use my first impressions are the same, it’s fantastic.

It’s TINY
Amazing image quality
Has great image stabilisation
Has manual controls including exposure, perfect for my dive filming
Uses standard 37mm filters
Uses readily available SDHC flash cards (Min. Cat 4)
Has mini hotshoe and mic/headphone jacks

However there are a few issues you should be aware of:

Standard battery life is very short so expect between 50-60 minutes of video
There’s no viewfinder, only the LCD screen
Built-in microphone is very susceptible to wind noise, like all camcorders!
No firewire

Anyway I explained to the man on the phone that this is often happening to me and he informed me that when I know that I am going to be travelling to many different countries in a short space of time to let them know and they can stop this from happening. I told him of my future destinations for the next two months which consist of Poland again, USA, Netherlands and Brussels and to my satisfaction I’ve been informed that my card use will be fine. Horary to Barclays

I suggest that anyone who is travelling frequently to call your credit/debit card provider and let their fraud department know where you are travelling. You don’t want your card suspended whilst thousands of miles away from home.

Have you encountered your card being suspended whilst travelling away from home?

All flights out of the UK from Luton airport have been suspended due to air traffic control restrictions.

Even arrivals have been subject to delays. Travellers have been advised to contact their airline before flying. Europe’s busiest airport Heathrow is also reporting disruption on all flights due to the associated technical issues.

Eurocontrol, the Control Flow Management Unit in Brussels has confirmed that the London Area Control Centre, covering the entire south east of England, has suffered a major computer failure.

Read more about the cancelled flights on the good old BBC website.

Have you been affected by delays or cancellation of flights?

Let’s look where I have been this year… Do Brighton Sewers count?

Bucharest (Romania),
Alanya (Turkey),
Brussels (Belgium),
Amsterdam, Kinderdijk, Maastricht, Scheveningen, Schiermonnikoog and Volendam (The Netherlands),
Paris (France)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Hurghada (Egypt)

Actually when it comes to Amsterdam I have been there the 10th time this weekend, hence why I have been so rubbish at updating my travel blog.
I have some great photos of many of these places to put on in the gallery and some great places to write about. However I’m off to Amsterdam this weekend and Poland next weekend so doubt I will get round to starting to write any of my trips up until then.
Well I shouldn’t moan about all my travelling as one day it will have to stop, but my next proper planned trip is for 10 days to travel round Poland for Christmas.

Bring on Polska!

If you have done this and have any good ideas, recommendations please send me a mail.