time to hit up the track this summer - woot

that's my vacation... and the infamous ricer line "to each his own"

hahaha have fun boys and girls!!!

cb and stampy going to italy!! that's so awesome!!!! ck going to greece. lucky!

i'm staying around town too :p so to those who are stuck in bc... i feel your pain!!!

We're back! Still recovering from a Roman Flu, but feeling oh so enlightened ;)

Here are some pictures I took over in Britannia and Italia

London - The Tower of London from the Thames. That phallic shaped building is 30 St. Mary's Axe. Dildo jokes abound.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...ues/London.jpg

Venice - Classic scene. Side canal with quintissential gondolas.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...ues/Venice.jpg

Florence - The Duomo (Main Cathedral) at dusk.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...s/Florence.jpg

Siena - Piazza del Campo and a shot of the surrounding Tuscan countryside.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...lues/Siena.jpg

Rome - St. Peter's Square as seen from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...Blues/Rome.jpg

and what would it be without the warm greeting that all Italians love to display, even their dead saints :D

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...ues/Finger.jpg

Ciao! :D

Beautiful shot of Rome and isn't that Gaius Julius Caesar giving us the finger?

nah, I believe its one of the 12 Apostles. The statue's sitting on the Facade of the Main Cathedral in Florence (same one in the previous pic)

Ah I see

So how long was the vacation and did you guys do any interesting/new things

err....yah? :)

Details :p

well what would you consider interesting? Just wandering the streets of any of those cities was immensely fascinating for me. Just imagine any given city block there has perhaps seen more history that all of Canada.

We ate some really wierd crap like squid ink spaghetti and egg pizza, all downed with crappy but cheap and plentiful house wine ($5/L!). Drinking in England was especially interesting, found out the hard way that 1 pint = about 3 beers.

I found staying in B&Bs (i.e. rented rooms), albeit less comfortable, more rewarding than staying in hotels. Met some really friendly fellow travellers, which counterbalanced the relatively rude reception we recieved from the locals.

Things like wandering into a renaissance ceremony re-enactment, figuring out Italian bus schedules, or having an 11oclock dinner on a pitch black street next to a canal. Well, those can't really be described :)

As I suspected... now that i've spilled the details i see no one cares. haha this is why I don't like to share :)

i care!!!!

great pictures cb!!! that's sooooo cool! it's good to hear u guys had a great time during ur trip!!! :)

oooh squid ink!!! i have that with my pork!!!! it's good with vinegar!!! ^____^

i wish i could go there one day. looks amazing! :) is it really a romantic place??? :)

you went on a trip? damn, sounds nice....did you have a plan as to where you wanted to go or was it kinda last minute in terms of the sights and scenery?

Europe in late-May? you gotta plan ahead for some places unless you want to spend the night at the train station. Usually saw the Must-sees of a city in the first day or two, then just chilled and saw some lesser known stuff the rest of the days. I would have loved to just travelled spontaneously, but with 2 weeks you don't have much slack to work with.

I love planning for trips, it may not be half the fun but its definately a good part of it!

how did you find out of the bed and breakfasts that were there? is there a listing online somewhere or in a travel guide? Seems like a much better way to travel than using a hostel or a hotel.

word of mouth from friends

www.tripadvisor.com (search the city, then by B&B tabs)

www.venere.com very good site for booking, although I hear you pay a bit of a premium for using them.

Alot of places are hit or miss, so you have to go by user testimonials.

Hey guys! This thread is still alive! hahaha Greece was awesome. Egypt and Jordan was great too. I'll try and remember to post a few pics for you guys. I've started editing my Greece ones.

I'm off to Botswana and South Africa for a safari next. :)

Nice pics Matt! I love Italy and Florence is my favorite city there.

I'm 90% sure I'll be back for Xmas so it'll be nice to get to see everyone if possible!

oh crap the mack is back! :D

did you go to any of the Greek Islands? gotta tell me which ones you went to, I wanna plan a trip there soon too :)

hahaha yeah i'll be back with some luck :D

Definitely hit the islands. You only need 2 maybe 3 days in Athens and then off island hopping. Crete was great. It's the biggest island with lots to see. Santorini is also very pretty. It's smaller but it has the nice beaches (white, red and black sand!). Mykonos is overrated. It's got great night life but not much to see. Rhodes is supposed to be nice but it was too far for us to get there in the short time we had.

post pics man!

did you fly direct to athens or did you go with one of the discount airlines from London?

Damn. Looks like you had an awesome trip, CB. I miss Venice and Florence. :(

hahaha I will :) I'm almost done going through them.

I flew Swiss Air through Zurich. I don't have to pay for my airfares so i don't care about costs. hahaha I fly business class too. hehe :D

If you're going from Vancouver it's probably cheaper to go through London.

wtf! are these vacations or business trips?

lucky ck!!!!

and here's the rest of us trying to save up! hehehe

i bet ck's tanned like chocolate!

hahaha They are all vacations of course but my company pays for my airfare as part of my compensation for being out here. :D I get a total of 12 weeks vacation which also makes up for it. hehe

hahaha Well i've been hiding from the sun since i got back from Greece so I'm not chocolate tan anymore thank god! :)

I'm saving up too! Just being compensated for working in Africa. :D

Congrats on your new job!