*Updated* Travel!

*Update*

The Europe itinerary (square brackets denote places I am visiting for the day from the preceeding city, but not staying in) is:

Italy (Naples, Palermo [Syracuse, Agrigento], Rome, Verona, Milan [Genoa, Turin]), Switzerland (Zurich), Germany (Fussen, Munich, Dresden, Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Heidelberg, Freiburg), France (Strasbourg, Le Mans [Rouen, Blois, Vitre, Mont St Michael], Bordeaux [Sarlate a Caneda], Lourdes [Carcassone]), Spain (Bilbao, Olviedo, A Coruna [Santiago de Compostela, Leon], Cordoba [Granada, Seville, Cadiz])

Then William comes over for six weeks and we go to:

Spain (Madrid [Toledo], Valencia [Mallorca], Barcelona [Girona]), France (Toulouse, Marseille [Nimes], Nice [Monaco], Paris [Versailles, Carentan, D-Day Beaches), Belgium (Brussels), Germany (Frankfurt), Czech Republic (Prague), Austria (Vienna), Italy (Venice, Florence [Siena, Pisa], Rome [Vatican City], Naples) and then back to Spain to fly out from Madrid.

So basically, I'm landing in Italy and doing a circuit through to Spain, then William comes over and we reverse the circuit back to Italy, but are visiting the more well known places. Should be a good trip, I think. I'm particularly looking forward to the 2 weeks I have in Cordoba to just relax, walk around, see the city, and pretend I'm a local. Hopefully by that stage, after 3 months in SA and 4 weeks in other parts of Spain, my Spanish will be up to scratch! I'm conversational at the moment, but not fluent. I really hope I develop my skills more while I'm over there.

So, any more tips? I've had a look at that couch surfing site, Kiki, and I think I will give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, then I haven't really lost anything, have I? So thanks for the tip! That will certainly cut down on my costs.

*****

After a productive week of having my nose buried in travel guides and travel sites, I have completed the first 3 months of my travel itinerary.

Chile (Santiago, La Serena, San Pedro de Atacama, Arica), Peru (Arequipa, Cuzco, Nazca, Lima, Trujillo), Ecuador (Cuenca, Guayquil, Quito [Esmeraldas]), Costa Rica (San Jose), Nicaragua (Granada, Managua), Honduras (Tegucigalpa, Copan Ruinas), Guatemala (Antigua, Panajachel [Chichicastenango], Flores), Mexico (Playa del Carmen, Merida, Palenque, Oaxaca, Mexico City).

If any of you have been to any of those countries or cities/towns, I'd appreciate any tips!

After Mexico City, I fly to Italy, then travel through there, Germany, France and Spain for an additional 4 months. I haven't finished that itinerary yet. I'd love to more extensive travel throughout Europe and visit Russia, Croatia, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, etc, but I just don't have enough time. I'll just have to go back another time!

I've also worked out that with flights, travel insurance, accomodation in SA, land travel in SA, spending money in SA (calculated on the "cost per day" in the Lonely Planet guides) and spending money in Europe, the trip is currently at $25,000. To that needs to be added accomodation and land travel in Europe, plus the cost of the gear I'll have to buy before I leave, and another $1600 to hire a storage facility to store all my stuff while I'm gone (so William can lease out my study for rent, and so all my stuff is packed up if we have to move when the lease ends while I'm gone).

All up, I'm estimating it will cost me about $40,000 for the 7.5 months I'm gone. Has anyone else travelled for this long through similar countries? Is this estimate correct? I think the Lonely Planet estimate of daily costs must include a large hunk for alcohol, because I really can't see myself spending over $100 a day in Europe, when my accomodation is already paid for and land travel accounted for separately. But I'm going to plan for that much just in case I do need it. I suspect I may get out of it cheaper, however.

The accomodation I'm booking is all Single Private Ensuite rooms. Slightly more expensive (mostly around the $10 - $20 a night mark in SA, and it looks to be around the $50 - $80 mark in Europe), but I think I will enjoy myself more that way. There's no way I could deal with sleeping in a room with 7 strangers who are drinking, farting, snoring and having sex, and possibly vomitting into the toilet/missing the toilet while drunk, etc. If I want to join the revelry, I'd rather do it in the common areas than in my sleeping area. So yeah. I don't care what the rooms look like or anything, as long as I have my own room and my own bathroom, I'm happy.

So, any tips? I'll post the Europe itinerary when I've finished it.

Stressed!

Assignment due last night. Group assignment due tonight (which, as usual, no one else has done anything on). Exam Friday. Exam Saturday. 3 day external attendance school Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Work full time.

I can't be in so many places at once. I've had to defer one exam already. I have no idea what to do about the assignment due tonight since the other group members are useless.

And I'm just so tired. I've been staying up to at least midnight this whole week trying to study and finish assignments. This would be ok if I started at a normal time, like 8.30 or 9.00. Starting at 6.30 means I'm only getting 5 hours' sleep.

And I'm going to have to start organising my overseas trip myself. I really wouldn't think it would be so difficult for a travel agent to work out. I gave them a list of the places I wanted to go, said I needed airfares, inter-country transport (train, bus, etc) and accomodation sorted out. I said I didn't know how long it took to get to each place or how long to spend in each place to see the things I wanted to see, so if they needed to take some small towns out along the way, that was fine. The travel agent keeps emailing saying she needs exact dates. I can't give exact dates. I don't know how long it takes to get from Santiago to Lima, for example. I'm not a travel agent. I don't know the options. You're a travel agent. You know the options. You tell me! You tell me how long it will take and then tell me the dates! It's no good me saying to you, "I want to be in Lima 2 days after I land in Santiago" if that's not even possible!

Anyway, I bought some Lonely Planet guides, and it appears everything is written in those (transport, accomodation, things to see, daily cost, etc), so I might just do up my own itinerary, then show the travel agent and say, "I think you need to get a Lonely Planet. This took me 2 weeks. You've had my plans since October and you still haven't sorted anything out."

*sigh* I need sleep.

Waste of a weekend

For someone so organised, I sure screwed my weekend up!

I was supposed to go and watch Miss Giggles' performance on Friday night, but after all my work that day I had hurt my neck (bringing boxes of old files up from the basement, where the lift doesn't go, to reconcile information). I had dinner and went to lie down for a few minutes before getting ready and leaving. Next thing I know, I wake up and it's 11.30pm! Oh no! I looked at my phone and sure enough, there was a message from Miss Giggles saying the performance had gone really well. Damnit. I really wanted to see their routine (shut up! It was not all about Supermodel in lingerie!).

Saturday morning I had decided I was going to go to the library at uni after getting my nails done to work on an assignment I have due in a couple of weeks. I got my books together and then looked through the material. The assignment is due 7 April (today), not 17 April! Oh no! I had only a vague idea of what I was going to write about, and hadn't even started researching it yet!

So the entire weekend was spent at the library, trying to write an entire assignment from scratch. And to make it worse, it's only a 1000 word assignment. I hate those. It is impossible to write about something in-depth in 1000 words and form a complete argument. I can write a 10,000 word assignment no worries, but 1,000 word ones? I'm screwed. My strengths lie in my ability to babble and explain things i n - d e p t h! I initially wrote 5000, then cut it back to 3,000, then 2,000, and finally down to 1,400. I have to continue to edit it today so I can get it to the word limit and hand it in. In this course, they are very strict on word limits, and penalise heavily for going over them. I have no idea how I'm going to cut out another 400 words and still make the assignment a cohesive argument. Ugh.

Tonight won't be any better. I have an assignment that needs to have its progress signed off by the tutor tomorrow night. I haven't actually written anything since the last sign off. I was going to work on it over the weekend, but obviously that didn't happen. So I suspect I'll be up late tonight, trying to make it look as though I've done a lot more work than I have.

*sigh* I am so far behind this semester. Sometimes, I really hate my decision to work full time and try to study 3 degrees at once. What was I thinking?!

Miranda Devine, you're a complete asshat...

I've long thought your unintelligible right-wing ramblings were annoying, but this one just shows how ignorant you really are.

This story (the bottom one about the pregnant man) makes me very angry. Who is she to tell people the photo of the pregnant Thomas Beatie is "repulsive"? Putting aside whether the story is true or not, I actually didn't feel revulsion looking at the photo. I was intrigued. I wondered what implications this had for the world, but in a good way. It made me think, not want to throw up. I disagree that society isn't ready for such a thing. I didn't have any knee-jerk reactions when I first read about Beatie. I simply thought, "Well, that's new." I'm sure many others thought the same thing.

Repulsive? Meh.

And what the fuck is Miranda's point that Thomas has just proven he is still female? It's like she's taking that as some sort of victory for the anti-gay/transgender/etc group, to which she obviously belongs. Who the fuck cares if he is still technically female? If he wants to live as a male, regardless of whether Miranda thinks this is "pretend", then let him. If that's what makes him happy, who are we to step in and say otherwise? And to repeatedly call Thomas "she" throughout the article is just plain disrespectful. Saying that no matter how "hairy or freaky looking" Thomas becomes in transforming into a man, he will never be a man because he doesn't have a Y chromosome, because this "is reserved for males, "an individual of the sex that produces sperm"" just makes me want to punch her. How fucking ignorant and intolerant!

Then there's the part that really makes my blood boil - "by turning her pregnancy into a political act, she invites censure". What the fuck?! How does this invite censure? And for what reason should he be censured? There's absolutely nothing wrong with what Thomas has done. So he's a female-male transsexual who got pregnant (if the story is true). So what? I, for one, honestly do not give a shit. I do, however, care that the SMH let Miranda continue to print this particular brand of intolerant ranting. I really do think I will cheer the day she is knocked down a peg or 1,000.

I don't have a mental illness, so nya!

Yay! I'm safe! I hate text messages, and almost never respond to emails, especially when the person can't type properly. Plus, it's generally easier to just pick up the phone and speak for 5 minutes than to send a billion texts or emails back and forth.

I do, however, get very annoyed if I'm not connected to the internet. I have an obsessive need to read the news every 2 seconds, and I get annoyed if nothing new or interesting has been reported during the day. So perhaps I'm not so safe!

Things that are irritating me

- People who say "any/every/some/nothink". It's a 'g' you retards, not a 'k'! Send them to gaol (yes, we're in Australia, it's spelled "gaol" not "jail").

- SMS-speak. I've spoken about this before. I hate it. There is no point to it. It's just plain laziness. Learn to fucking touch type you retards.

- Charities harassing people on the street. See previous post.

- Scooters and scooter riders. Or at least those who think because they're not going faster than 60kph, they don't need to learn to ride a bike, or wear safety gear. My fsm, scooter riders shit me. I pray they'll fall off in the middle of traffic and have to get their skin debrided. Then they might learn that riding a scooter in traffic is exactly the same as riding a motorbike, and it might actually be a good idea to wear proper safety gear, and possibly learn not to ride on the road markings.

- The 'verbing' of nouns. Ugh.

- 'Your' instead of 'you're' and the transposing of their/they're/there and too/two/to. It's not that difficult. This is basic 3rd grade stuff. Stop being a dick and get it right.

- Not to mention apostrophes. It's not that difficult to remember the rules and use them correctly. My mother is the worst one. I'm always correcting her emails. That's not right. She's older. She should know better.

- Fucking stupid bogans who call me and end every sentence as if they're asking a question. "Hi?! This is Madisyghhpsngndon (pronounced "Madison" if you couldn't tell)? I'm calling from Telstra?". Ugh. You do not need to inflect up at the end of every fucking sentence, you twat.

- Naming your child something "unique". I think we should take a leaf from China's book. A set list of names available, no weird spellings. Excellent idea. Although "unique" names, like personalised number plates on cars, are a great way of picking those that weaken the gene pool. Easier to organise a "cleansing" I suppose.

- The receptionists at Fitness First who call me by my first name after they've swiped my card and looked at my name. If you don't know me, then don't address me. Simple. Do not say, "Hi!" then process my card and say, "Thanks Angelina!" as if you know me. Insincerity irritates me.

- TT/ACA and any bogans that watch this crap and actually believe it.

- Ignorance.

- Not dressing to your body type. I swear if I have to see one more obese chick wearing a mini skirt, I'm going to go postal. The same can be said for people who wear the latest fashions who really shouldn't. Maxi dresses are apparently in at the moment, but you won't catch me wearing one, because they look hideous on me. Everyone else needs to develop the same objectiveness. Sometimes, I'd really love to start another blog, and just have photos of the horrible fashion disasters I see in the city. No commentary or anything, because the photos would speak for themselves. Too bad I have a job. That would be a great pastime if I were unemployed.

- Any film with Catherine Zeta Jones in it.

- Will Ferrell. I fucking hate him with a passion. Not funny.

- Saying/writing "literally" when you don't know the definition. "I literally laughed my head off." Oh did you? Must have been fun.

- Saying dry-reach. It's "retch" you retards!

- Writing could/should/would "of" - it's "have"! Again, this is basic third grade grammar. It's not that difficult, people.

- Cricket. So boring even birds sleep on the field. Small mercy that it's finished now. But I don't like football much more.

- Leggings.

- Wedges. As in shoes.

- The dickhead "personal trainer" at my gym who really should not be a PT. He is a fat lump of lard, and walks around sucking his gut in and pushing his chest out, and holding his arms out slightly as if he has massive biceps. My fsm that dude irritates me. You are not "built"! You are fat! Stop walking around as if you're all muscle!

- "Friends" who never return emails, calls, etc. That's it. I've culled you. Not that you read this, so you'll have no idea. But I'm sick of trying to be a good friend to you when I get nothing in return. Yes, you've had a hard time of things lately, but it's been over a year since I saw you last, and I'm giving up.

- Those stupid mobile phone ads on TV. Is anyone actually stupid enough to text their details to these things, and thus get charged $2 per message? Those things really should be illegal.

- In-laws. I have had a great relationship with every previous boyfriend's parents, especially their mothers. So what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you always so miserable? Why do you insist on making conversations so difficult? It's like trying to extract teeth.

- People who add me on Facebook and then don't interact with me. If you add me and haven't interacted within 2 weeks, that's it, you're getting deleted. I don't condone friend collecting. In fact, my list of blocked people on Facebook is longer than my list of friends.

- People who post photos of me on Facebook without asking me. If I wanted my photo up there, I'd put it up myself, wouldn't I? So don't get all shitty with me and act like I'm being the unreasonable one when I ask you to delete my photo from your album. I don't want photos of me all over the internet. Simple.

- Trying to find a replacement for me in my job for when I go travelling at the end of this year. This position is pretty full on - early starts (before 7.00am), working through lunch hours, no days off allowed (unless you're practically dying), doing everything that's asked of you, even if it's outside the scope of the job description. Apparently some people think this type of work is objectionable. Despite the massively fat paycheck they would receive for their efforts, which more than compensates for the conditions.

And that's all I can think of for now. I'm sure there are many others, however. So, what's bugging you right now? Self-righteous, judgemental bloggers, perhaps? Tee hee.

So tired

I think I need a holiday to recover from my long weekend. I did so much work around the house, it was crazy. It took me 6 hours just to clean the house on Friday, and that didn't include the washing, which I only started at 4pm. Saturday was more cleaning, doing my garden and organising for a barbeque that night. William's parents and sister came over. My fsm they irritate me. And I can never cook anything nice when they come over because his mother has some phantom health issues. They don't exist. I caught her eating great big globs of whipped cream at Christmas time (when she thought no one was looking), even though she says she can't have any fat, or she gets really sick. I swear the next time they come over, I'm going to cook up something full of butter and cream and tell them it's low fat. I guarantee she won't get sick. It's all for attention.

Sunday morning I started a 1000 piece puzzle of an island on the ocean (party time at Angelina's house!). By 7pm, I had practically finished the whole thing. And we'd gone out to the movies during the day, too. I took a photo and sent it to Miss Giggles, who told me I was insane. Probably doesn't help that she's had a puzzle sitting unfinished under her bed since Christmas! I had completed it (with help from William) by the next morning. Next up is a 2000 piece one of Neuschwanstein Castle.

Yesterday William and I went up to Mt Glorious for a picnic and to walk through the rainforest. Yes, you read correctly. Walk. In the rainforest. With nature. And flat shoes. Ugh. It was somewhat pleasant, because there was a path which meant I didn't actually have to touch too much nature stuff. Except for the mud. Which some immense fatties in front of us were churning up by stomping through like 4wds. We gave up about 15 minutes in and turned around. I did get some nice photos though. William asked if I would agree to give camping with him a try. I laughed. And then laughed some more. I do not camp.

So yeah. Apart from William's parents coming over, the weekend was pretty good.

Not so good for my neighbours, however. They went away after throwing out their flatmate (he apparently became violent after taking steroids) and came back to find a massive human shit on their doorstep. Complete with the toilet paper their ex-flatmate used to wipe his arse. How disgusting is that? I couldn't help but correct the guy when he came to ask us if we'd seen anything. "I'm probably going to reach when I clean it up." "Reach?" "Yeah, you know, throw up." "Oh! Retch. R-e-t-c-h. Reach is something you do with your arm." He just looked at me. I couldn't help myself. Saying "dry-reach" should be illegal.