MichaelGuo.com

…Waste plenty of time using your slower than molasses computer to check your email and update your blog.

I got into Rome this morning after an exhausting trip on an overnight train from Paris. Annoyingly, I couldn’t get a spot on the direct train for cheap and ended up having to switch trains in Milan this morning instead. However, instead of spending 130 euro, I spent only 40. It would’ve been less if I could’ve gotten a simple reclining seat instead of a couchette, but that choice apparently didn’t exist on this train. Couchettes, by the way, truly stink. I would’ve preferred to sit and sleep than have to coordinate making beds with five other people whose knowledge of English spanned non-existent to fluent.

Anyway, I haven’t really done much today except for eat lunch, check into the hostel, and lounge around in the bar. I guess I should shut this thing off and go outside, but the free wireless is addictive. Plus, I’m trying to do a little actual work to ensure that money keeps on lining my coffers to pay for this ridiculous trip of mine.

I arrived in Paris this morning after a very long day of travel and am now just loafing around the hostel using the wireless internet. I was actually going to go to bed rather than continue using the internet, but apparently, there’s no way to save the remaining minutes on the card. I might as well use them all. I did pay two euros for it!

After getting into CDG, I took the RER in and dropped off my bag at the hostel. Then, I hied my way to L’As du Fallafel to meet a friend for lunch, amazingly getting there right at noon, which is when we agreed to meet. Considering I don’t have a phone or regular internet access, coordinating meetings is a giant pain, so I’m amazed whenever this sort of thing works out. How did people ever meet up before the era of cell phones?

Afterwards, I just slowly wandered around Paris, seeing a bunch of sites and taking some more pictures. After hours of that, we met up again for dinner, ate some French food, and I left to head back to the hostel. Since then (and before), I’ve just been thinking about sleep.

Tomorrow, I think I’ll head to the big cemetery nearby to see some famous graves and then to the Louvre for the remainder of the day. For Thursday, I’m thinking about doing a day trip to Versailles before taking the overnight train to Rome. Of course, I need to figure out if this is even feasible, and I still need to reserve my seat on the train.

Later on, I think I’ll try using Rome as a base for day trips to the Vatican, Naples, Pisa, and Florence. Maybe I’ll end up spending more time in Italy than I originally intended, but I still need to figure out how to loop around Eastern Europe back to Paris in time to catch my flight back to the USA. Obviously, I haven’t truly planned anything aside from tomorrow, and even that is still very much up in the air.

I hope my roommates tonight aren’t total douchebags.

Well, I’m now set to leave for Paris in a couple weeks and to get back a month later. I’ll probably figure out where to go once I’m there, though I already have a general idea of what I want to see this time around.

What’s possibly more exciting, though, is my plans for traveling a bit on the Eastern Seaboard here in the US. Megabus recently announced new routes, mostly between New York and a ton of other cities, and from May 30 to June 5, all travel is free. There’s just a $0.50 reservation fee. After hours of searching, I came up with an itinerary for myself that involves going to New York, Philly, and DC for two nights each all for only fifty cents! What a freaking steal! Sure, I have to put up with riding a bus, but spending fifty cents for that compared to spending hundreds on comparable plane tickets is a no-brainer to me. I was trying to work Toronto into the trip, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to get back from Toronto until after the promotion period ends. However, even after the first week, travel still seems to be an incredible bargain. If you can travel at off-peak hours and book a month-and-a-half in advance, trips often just cost one buck, including trips between Boston and New York. This should really give Fung Wah and Greyhound a run for their money.

Fifty freaking cents! Unbelievable! I can’t even travel to the next stop on the T for that much.

I think I’m pretty set on heading back to Europe for another trip. I missed a lot of sights the last time around, and it seems like a good time to return for a month or so before I’m forced to accept the grim realities of life. I’m just a little concerned about the weakness of the dollar, the weather, and my own budget. However, when would I have time to go for a whole month or more again until maybe old age? Let me know if you’re interested. I’m always happy to have a travel buddy! I’ll probably leave in mid-April and return in mid- or late May.

I finally finished uploading the remaining photos I took in Europe. The new albums are Dublin, Ghent, Lisbon, Milan, Prague, Venice, Vienna, and Zurich. My next project will be sifting through the 723 photos I took in Vancouver last August. Then, there’s a lot of film I hope to scan in and upload. I’ll be doing all that a bit more slowly, though.

Wow, this took forever to do, especially considering I took these photos in March. Oh, well.

This and many, many more photos are now up in my gallery. I’ve been busy editing, tagging, and uploading over the last few days, and to think that there are still hundreds (if not thousands) more to sift through!