StephersonAirplane

Cambodia was as amazing as I thought it would be. Although I could have lived without visiting Sihanoukville.

(Entry from an email- August 2002)

Hey all my little pets, Okay I know it is a little soon to be sending yet another group email but I couldn’t resist. The emailing place is right in the terminal so it is very hard to pass by without a quick check. Yep, so Magda and I are in Florence right now…very fun! Nothing tall to spit off of like in Paris with the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triumph…..but there is the river timbre which is a bit like the Seine….okay, I am quite sure I have made a variety of spelling mistakes but you will have to forgive me. Actually yesterday Magda and I saw some sort of animal swimming in the river….I think it was a seal, but she was trying to tell me it was a crocodile..and then today she said it was the lockness monster…whatever! I think Magda and I are going crazy because we have been laughing at the dumbest things. Oh an update on our joining the communist party in Italy. The day after our attending the “jazz festival” we were lost and walking down some street (away from where we actually thought we were heading as it turned out) and it is really quiet….like eerie quiet. There was this helicopter above and gradually we notice few people that are on the street are gazing behind us. So we look behind us and there is this mass of people heading straight for us in the street. Who was it? The communist party of course….apparently having a huge parade….so eventually they overtake us…and so we are now in the parade! We followed the parade for a while until we started seeing a ton of cops in all their gear (i have pictures of this)so we excused ourselves and went on our way of trying to figure out where we were. Later that night right outside our hostel there was this guy waiting with a red flag…we figured that he was coming to bid us goodbye but we avoided him and went for Chinese food instead. So ends our communist saga…for now anyways.

Magda and I went to see the Uffizi gallery the other day which was absolutely amazing. We did not go to the gallery where Michael-Angelo’s David is but there are two other fake ones in the city, and they don’t cost 8 euro to go see…(cheapy-pete hath spoken !!!!! ) We went up to this point at night with these three other backpackers from our hostel that you can see all over the main part of Florence. The next day we went to Siena with the three backpackers….Baygo, Memo (both from Hungary) and Mark(from New Zealand). First we stopped outside San Gimignano for some free wine tasting. After all these years of absolutely detesting wine I think I might have developed a small taste for it…but the best part was that the vineyard we ended up at was breath taking.
I will show you all pictures later. So we left there and went into San Gimignano this
cute little medieval city…pretty touristy though. Due to the fact that we were dragging
our feet all day the hostel in Siena was full by the time we got there. Luckily Mark and
Magda managed to find this hotel that would take us for 24 euro’s each…which is a little steep, but we didn’t have much of a choice. So we settled into the hotel, Mark made us this awesome Pasta dinner, and we drank lots of wine (in honour of Beygo’s birthday and for no other reason of course!) . Then we headed into the main square and drank a little more…and then we went for a walk. This is where my up until now fairly boring email gets a little more entertaining. So we are all walking along…when we hear this singing and a drum…and it is getting closing and closer….all of the sudden there is this mass of people in the street. Of course with all our luck lately Magda and I were sure it was those communist…but as it turns out it was just a mass of Italian drag queens having a parade at 12:00 in the evening. There are pictures and I am going to attach them to an email when I get home because there is this particular one of Memo who was taking the picture, has taken a picture of a gentleman with his hand outstretched just before he grabbed Memo’s frontal area….It was pretty funny…although the boys felt a little violated. It was crazy because it happened so fast we were all looking at each other saying ” Did that really just happen?”. After that we had this great idea to borrow some flags that were within the vicinity as a little memento…of course after some serious labouring when we actually got one down this guy started yelling at us…so we left the flag and took off. Then we ran into the drag-queen parade again, apparently still marching around…and of course that much more drunk. We stayed out a bit later, had a bit more fun and still made it home for our 1:00 curfew. Oh yeah, today when we were leaving Siena we ran into the communist again (no joke)....we are pretty sure it is a good thing that we are leaving for Nice tonight! Well that is about it for now…

(from an email-Aug 2002)

So yesterday Magda and I were trucking around…..At this particular moment in time we were not even lost, which is in our books a pretty good thing. We were over in this area called “Campo di Fiori” which is a place where a lot of backpackers and locals sit and hang out in the square. So we were walking around…probably looking for a place to eat…..just because that is what we always seem to be doing. In the square over they were setting up this stage. We figured it must be for the jazz festival that is going on in Rome that we had seen signs for earlier. So we sit and wait to see what is going on. We wanted to ask someone what time the concert started but we were too embarrassed, as our skills in Italian are quite lacking. So we sat around for about thirty mins before we finally asked someone when they thought the concert started. The guy we ended up asking turned out to be from the US and had no idea. We sat around for about another thirty mins and then we decided to leave. As we were walking away we noticed a sign that actually had the timetable outlined….at it started at 6:30…which was only 40 mins away so we went for a walk. Did I mention Romans have absolutely no concept of time? To make a long story short the “concert” did not start until about 8:00….Here is the best part though. Now that the concert had finally started Magda and I started talking to this couple that were backpackers…the jazz festival? Not a jazz festival…apparently we were at a political rally for the communist party. Yep, those communist sure know how to party! We stayed to listen to the music but after that this guy started making a speech and working the crowd into a frenzie…so we took off. Still we thought it was pretty funny that the Polish girl and the Chinese girl would happen to wander into a communist party function….That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

(From an email)

So I guess you all can figure out where I am? Amsterdam is absolutely amazing….crazy…but amazing. Almost everyone here speaks English which is super handy because Madga and I seem to have absolutely no ability to read a map. Yesterday we were looking for the Anne Frank Huis and we had to ask about ten people where we were going. It is funny because looking at the map we thought we were going to have to walk like an hour and instead is only 20 mins away and we completely over-shot it. We left Poland on Thursday and we arrived in Amsterdam on Friday morning. First thing we decided to do was find a hostel, and what do we find out? There is a CBI conference that over
50, 000 people are attending here, and there were no hostels available. So we stayed at this camping hostel about 20 mins outside of Amsterdam for the last two nights. So far we haven’t done too much. We have done a lot of eating, quite a bit of walking, and even more window shopping! This whole backpacking thing is killing me…I want to buy all this stuff, but the thought of carrying it on my back for the rest of the trip makes me reconsider. Madga and I are staying in a new Hostel downtown now so that will make things a bit easier. We are going to see the red light district today! Well, I have to go but I hope you are all well! Email me, i like to hear how you all are doing well I am away! We will be in Paris on Tuesday

The trip here was quite the adventure….I apparently was one of the first lucky victims of a new spot checking policy they have at Pearson Airport….What fun! Air France has really great food, and everyone has their own TV screen. If they hadn’t lost my luggage I might have actually considered flying with them in the future. Yes, that’s right they have lost my luggage! Didn’t I tell you all something was going to happen to me. The good news is that apparently this happens to a lot of people and I have been told my luggage might be arriving today on the next Air France flight. However, I have prepared myself for the worst and should I never see any of my sweet belongs again it will not be the end of the world. Thank goodness for travel insurance. So if any of my immediate family is worried please don’t, I promise I am fully in control and will call the minute I hear anything about getting my stuff. I am actually happy that if that is the worst thing that happens to me this trip, that I have gotten it out of the way!

It is raining here right now….but the weather here the past few days has been amazing and krakow is absolutely beautiful! It is pretty hard to communicate since I only know a few words in Polish…the people here laugh because apparently I speak with a lisp..but I am trying. Magda’s friends are really awesome, and I have realized when I am drunk I don’t even care that I can’t understand anyone! Tomorrow we are all going to climb some Mountain…which I have been assured is only a small one…we shall see. Well, I better go.

I miss you all though…and I will be calling home soon! Hope you guys are all well.

A friend of mine lived here teaching at a University for almost two years. I was traveling around Europe at the time but didn’t get a chance to make it over to see her. All the Turkish people I have met are always so warm and friendly. It make me think it would be a wonderful place to visit!

I love Montreal for the excellent party scene…but the history and beautiful scenery of Quebec City make it my favorite place in Quebec. Plus the crepes….Ummmm….crepes!

I love NY!