Status update:
- it is snowing heavily outside at the moment, blizzard warning is up
- I have no visa to enter Dubai
- the person who needs to arrange me a visa is stuck in Brisbane (yes in Australia) for all I know
I was assured that all will be ok... so I try not to panic :)
I guess the biggest challenge will be getting on the plane from Riga as apparently they do check visas already there. Oh well, will see what happens :D Not to worry.
The worst case scenario is that I will be stuck in Dubai airport for couple of days I guess :) Simply waiting for my friend to get the visa arranged :D Fun huh? It will be an interesting trip... and I will call it a success if I get into Dubai before my birthday :)
I'll try to keep you all up to date via tweets at least (they are displayed on the right hand side on my blog as well)
Showing posts with label preparations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preparations. Show all posts
Friday, February 19, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Leaving the day after tomorrow
The bad news are:
a) I still have no visa :)
b) I have not even started to think about all the necessary preparations like packing/money exchange or anything of that sort... I really hope I can figure out in time where I keep my passport :)
The good news are:
a) My friend who I'm going to visit promised to arrange the visa for me by tomorrow - it should arrive to my e-mail during the day
... and that was the only good news I got :D
Ok, well I can think of few other positive aspects, for an example the temperatures while I'm there:
No complaints :)
a) I still have no visa :)
b) I have not even started to think about all the necessary preparations like packing/money exchange or anything of that sort... I really hope I can figure out in time where I keep my passport :)
The good news are:
a) My friend who I'm going to visit promised to arrange the visa for me by tomorrow - it should arrive to my e-mail during the day
... and that was the only good news I got :D
Ok, well I can think of few other positive aspects, for an example the temperatures while I'm there:
No complaints :)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
about 40 minutes to go
last set of e-mails have been sent. sitting at the airport, listening to music, tweeting, facebook and staring at the dark clouds outside. i have not snapped out of the daily hassles yet. yesterday was a long day.. preparations for Long Distance Triathlon started at 6am for me and event finished 11:30pm. it was a tough, fun, exciting and a happy day. i'm so proud of all of you who competed and all of you who assisted with organizing the event. i'm a lucky person to have such good people around me!
this morning alarm went off 9am, good solid 8h sleep, new morning full of hassles started. all in all i managed and i managed good. now there are 17 flights waiting for me in the next 6 weeks and then i'll be back where i started from. but that i won't think about before i'm off the last flight ;) .. and that won't be anytime soon :D
life is sooooo gooood :)
you all take care and be good!
stay tuned! liftoff coming up shortly :D
this morning alarm went off 9am, good solid 8h sleep, new morning full of hassles started. all in all i managed and i managed good. now there are 17 flights waiting for me in the next 6 weeks and then i'll be back where i started from. but that i won't think about before i'm off the last flight ;) .. and that won't be anytime soon :D
life is sooooo gooood :)
you all take care and be good!
stay tuned! liftoff coming up shortly :D
Friday, August 28, 2009
about 40 hours to go
I have finished packing of my check-in luggage. Now either I'm getting very good at packing or I have just totally missed about half the things I will need on my trip. The problem (not entirely sure that is a problem of course) is that the bag is half empty :) All the things in my list are in there plus things to bring to Ave plus things for her friend and my back bag is half empty still! Too unrealistic. Good thing about it is of course that once I get to Brisbane and hand some things over I'll have even less weight to drag around :D weheee! Still it makes me think I have totally missed something. I guess I will find out soon enough :)
Last load of laundry is spinning away in the washer, big back bag is packed, carry-on bag contents are spread all over the couch and I have about 40h till it's time to do the check-in. Meanwhile my time is filled with a 20h triathlon event I'm in charge of, starting tomorrow morning at 6am, a bit of rest tonight and tomorrow night, say about 2x6h, so it seems that I still have 8h to spare - that is a whole day! Perhaps I'll treat myself for 8h sleep before getting to the airport :)
Vacation does not start before I finally sit on the plane so there is still bits to go till I can confirm to be on vacation.
Last load of laundry is spinning away in the washer, big back bag is packed, carry-on bag contents are spread all over the couch and I have about 40h till it's time to do the check-in. Meanwhile my time is filled with a 20h triathlon event I'm in charge of, starting tomorrow morning at 6am, a bit of rest tonight and tomorrow night, say about 2x6h, so it seems that I still have 8h to spare - that is a whole day! Perhaps I'll treat myself for 8h sleep before getting to the airport :)
Vacation does not start before I finally sit on the plane so there is still bits to go till I can confirm to be on vacation.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
technology rules :)
In order to keep you all up to date with my doings I have added twitter updates to my travel blog. It shows last 3 updates from my Twitter account. Through Twitter I can send updates from my mobile so I can send updates from anywhere now :) Oh the fun! I'll be testing it in the following couple of weeks. Also feel free to use RSS reader to get my new posts to your e-mail immediately.
About my travel planning and progress, well, not much to tell. My friend Ave who I'll visit in Brisbane is doing great work on figuring out our plans there. We will also travel to Sydney together. It will be so great to see her!
Currently I'm doing some local tourism in Võru, heading over to Tartu shortly and then on to Leigo Järvemuusika festival in the evening :)
About my travel planning and progress, well, not much to tell. My friend Ave who I'll visit in Brisbane is doing great work on figuring out our plans there. We will also travel to Sydney together. It will be so great to see her!
Currently I'm doing some local tourism in Võru, heading over to Tartu shortly and then on to Leigo Järvemuusika festival in the evening :)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Exactly a month till packing needs to be finished :)
I need to have everything packed by the evening of 28th of August :) and no I'm not overplanning. The deal is the same as last year: I will be organizing a triathlon event that starts 6am on 29th of August and ends around 3am on the 30th of August. I have to be at the airport bit before noon on the 30th, which gives me couple of hours to get some sleep and that is it :)
The progress so far is:
- plane tickets bought and initial dates for all flights fixed
- travel, health and luggage insurance done
- Australian visa gotten
- training in San Jose arranged and U2 concert tickets purchased
Nothing else needed really :) Easy trip this time huh? Maybe I'm just a bit more spontaneous, maybe it is just the nature of the countries I'm going to - I don't know, but besides few accommodation arrangements (San Jose and Atlanta) there is nothing more to do :) I have decided that I won't arrange any local trips up front, I have looked up what I'd like to do and I'm betting on walking into organizers office the same day to take the trip. Same with car rental. So I just need to pack my bag at some point and that is it :)
It all seems so far away though, I'm not even thinking about it yet, no excitement, nothing. Must be the current busy schedule? Very strange.
The progress so far is:
- plane tickets bought and initial dates for all flights fixed
- travel, health and luggage insurance done
- Australian visa gotten
- training in San Jose arranged and U2 concert tickets purchased
Nothing else needed really :) Easy trip this time huh? Maybe I'm just a bit more spontaneous, maybe it is just the nature of the countries I'm going to - I don't know, but besides few accommodation arrangements (San Jose and Atlanta) there is nothing more to do :) I have decided that I won't arrange any local trips up front, I have looked up what I'd like to do and I'm betting on walking into organizers office the same day to take the trip. Same with car rental. So I just need to pack my bag at some point and that is it :)
It all seems so far away though, I'm not even thinking about it yet, no excitement, nothing. Must be the current busy schedule? Very strange.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Curious about the land down under
I've always wondered about what is there in down under, what is it like to walk upside down that is :D No need to wonder any longer as this is where my travels during fall vacation take me. Somehow I've always explained of why I have chosen a certain area for the next destination so here it comes again: my friend Ave moved to the down under land this year :) Her initial plan is to stay there for a bit, so I figured to go and visit her.
As usual, I got limited time for my travels and as usual I'm going to try to take most out of those few weeks I've got. Planned routes and destinations:
1. Cairns, AU - good 3.5 days
Will arrive there through Stockholm, London and Hong-Kong (please make it so that there are no tropical storms in the area this time, although I will be in Hong Kong airport almost to the date a year later!). Activities should definitely include some adrenalin kick, for an example bit of whitewater rafting? Definitely some ocean activities on a boat to study the Great Barrier Reef and water animals.
2. Brisbane, AU - for about 5 days
Noosa and Rainbow beach here I come with my surfing gear to have the best pancakes in the world :-P ! Hopefully some animal parks will be open during my stay, will check out some sand hills in the ocean (islands made entirely of sand!), the city and the beaches and spend time with my friend, and night clubs and all that this area has to offer.
3. Sydney, AU - 3 days
Of course the city, perhaps some cultural events. Oh and close to Sydney there are mountains called blue ;) and something about a tramway, will see what i can manage there.
4. Tasmania, AU - 3 days
Everything that this little island can offer in 3 days, will be in Hobart area, driving around by bikes and cars like a maniac :-P
5. Christchurch, NZ - 6 days
The city and the most beautiful train ride in the world plus ice climbing on glacier and ocean life with itsy-bitsy dolphins and couple of museums and animal parks hopefully, perhaps even some activities full of adrenalin rush.
6. Auckland, NZ - 6 days
The caves and more Maori culture and Rotorua and Rongitoto and all kinds of fun.
7. San Jose, US - 3 days
Short training course, work related, will try to snap out of the vacation mode and be down to earth for just 2 days.
8. Santa Cruz, US - 4 days
"surf city" is the nickname of this wonderful town in California, so I'll be just surfing.
9. Atlanta, US - 1.5 days
Just to attend U2 concert on the 6th of October in Georgia Dome :)
As of today I will be traveling mostly alone, I got one potential travel companion, but this is to be confirmed still. I'm particularly happy about the U2 concert on the last evening of the trip, tickets to the event are purchased :)
As usual, I got limited time for my travels and as usual I'm going to try to take most out of those few weeks I've got. Planned routes and destinations:
1. Cairns, AU - good 3.5 days
Will arrive there through Stockholm, London and Hong-Kong (please make it so that there are no tropical storms in the area this time, although I will be in Hong Kong airport almost to the date a year later!). Activities should definitely include some adrenalin kick, for an example bit of whitewater rafting? Definitely some ocean activities on a boat to study the Great Barrier Reef and water animals.
2. Brisbane, AU - for about 5 days
Noosa and Rainbow beach here I come with my surfing gear to have the best pancakes in the world :-P ! Hopefully some animal parks will be open during my stay, will check out some sand hills in the ocean (islands made entirely of sand!), the city and the beaches and spend time with my friend, and night clubs and all that this area has to offer.
3. Sydney, AU - 3 days
Of course the city, perhaps some cultural events. Oh and close to Sydney there are mountains called blue ;) and something about a tramway, will see what i can manage there.
4. Tasmania, AU - 3 days
Everything that this little island can offer in 3 days, will be in Hobart area, driving around by bikes and cars like a maniac :-P
5. Christchurch, NZ - 6 days
The city and the most beautiful train ride in the world plus ice climbing on glacier and ocean life with itsy-bitsy dolphins and couple of museums and animal parks hopefully, perhaps even some activities full of adrenalin rush.
6. Auckland, NZ - 6 days
The caves and more Maori culture and Rotorua and Rongitoto and all kinds of fun.
7. San Jose, US - 3 days
Short training course, work related, will try to snap out of the vacation mode and be down to earth for just 2 days.
8. Santa Cruz, US - 4 days
"surf city" is the nickname of this wonderful town in California, so I'll be just surfing.
9. Atlanta, US - 1.5 days
Just to attend U2 concert on the 6th of October in Georgia Dome :)
As of today I will be traveling mostly alone, I got one potential travel companion, but this is to be confirmed still. I'm particularly happy about the U2 concert on the last evening of the trip, tickets to the event are purchased :)
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Travel plans
I noticed that I have not given an overview of the travel plans. Here it is:
7.02 - St.Paul Minnesota - leaving Tallinn early morning and arriving in the cities at noon, will spend the day with Mare
8.02 - arriving in Duluth - leaving the Cities and arriving in Duluth, visiting with Nikki in Virginia Minnesota for 5 days
13.02 - leaving from Duluth, arriving in Kahului - spending the next 6 days in Hawaii, island of Maui
17.02 - luau :) - celebrating my friends birthday the Hawaiian way!
20.02 - Honolulu - spending the day in Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, leaving close to midnight to head back home
20.02-22.02 - spending couple of days on planes and airports on my way back home, arriving in Tallinn in the evening
:)
7.02 - St.Paul Minnesota - leaving Tallinn early morning and arriving in the cities at noon, will spend the day with Mare
8.02 - arriving in Duluth - leaving the Cities and arriving in Duluth, visiting with Nikki in Virginia Minnesota for 5 days
13.02 - leaving from Duluth, arriving in Kahului - spending the next 6 days in Hawaii, island of Maui
17.02 - luau :) - celebrating my friends birthday the Hawaiian way!
20.02 - Honolulu - spending the day in Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, leaving close to midnight to head back home
20.02-22.02 - spending couple of days on planes and airports on my way back home, arriving in Tallinn in the evening
:)
Friday, January 30, 2009
Taking off in a week
I have made no progress with anything basically :-P This just seems like such a relaxed trip, going mostly to familiar places and meeting with familiar people. This will be all so great - just an easy and relaxed get-away :)
Now I mentioned the weather, here is the proof:
....... brrrr?
vs.
Many of my friends have left the country, either for longer or shorter time. This in turn makes me itch for the airports :) Although it would be so much easier if I would not have to pack though, just drive to the airport and take off - maybe someday I'll be able to travel like that as well.
Now I mentioned the weather, here is the proof:
....... brrrr?
vs.
Many of my friends have left the country, either for longer or shorter time. This in turn makes me itch for the airports :) Although it would be so much easier if I would not have to pack though, just drive to the airport and take off - maybe someday I'll be able to travel like that as well.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
US trip 2009 - in less than a month
Next travel planning has started already some time ago :)
This time the road will lead to Hawaii ... well actually the plane will take ;) Full story behind the short winter vacation is that my freshman year roommate from UND came to visit me in Tallinn in May 2008. We hadn't seen/talked/written to each other for about 7 years or so. And suddenly she informs me in the beginning of the year that she will be in Sweden and would it be fine if she would stop in Tallinn as well. So she came to visit me for 5 days. Oh it was great, I had really nice time while she was here.
Some background information is needed: we both have our birthdays in February, hers is 17th and mine is 5 days later, we are same age. So she was saying of how an important and round birthday will take place next year and that her parents will organize a trip to Hawaii for her as a birthday present - she invited me to join them. My first reaction was: oh sure, like I could do that. After giving it some thought once I returned from my Asia trip I started to look for options of how I could join her in Hawaii. Finally I got the plane tickets right before Christmas :D
As my friend&co already had their flights arranged I just tried to get matching ones - I'll arrive in Hawaii on the 13th and will leave on the 20th. So just a week on the spot. Since I'm going to that side of the globe anyways it is a must that I stop by to see my friend Nikki and her family. I'll be arriving in Minneapolis on the 7th of February :) Will hopefully meet other people while visiting at the cities as well. Will see.
This time there are not many preparations to be made other than the flights and travel insurance (both done already). Of course I need to arrange the logistics and meeting people in the Cities but that is just peanuts to space (as Douglas Adams would say ;) ) It will be just traveling this time... not gonna be a backpacking trip as the few last ones have been - and that is totally fine by me :) It will be a great trip to spend some time with my dear friends on the other side of the globe - I can't wait.
Oh, the packing will be fun this time :) I'm going to Minnesota for a week where it is probably like -20C and then to Hawaii for a week where it is about +25C :D :D So I take my warmest jacket and then bikinis :D - that should do right?
This time the road will lead to Hawaii ... well actually the plane will take ;) Full story behind the short winter vacation is that my freshman year roommate from UND came to visit me in Tallinn in May 2008. We hadn't seen/talked/written to each other for about 7 years or so. And suddenly she informs me in the beginning of the year that she will be in Sweden and would it be fine if she would stop in Tallinn as well. So she came to visit me for 5 days. Oh it was great, I had really nice time while she was here.
Some background information is needed: we both have our birthdays in February, hers is 17th and mine is 5 days later, we are same age. So she was saying of how an important and round birthday will take place next year and that her parents will organize a trip to Hawaii for her as a birthday present - she invited me to join them. My first reaction was: oh sure, like I could do that. After giving it some thought once I returned from my Asia trip I started to look for options of how I could join her in Hawaii. Finally I got the plane tickets right before Christmas :D
As my friend&co already had their flights arranged I just tried to get matching ones - I'll arrive in Hawaii on the 13th and will leave on the 20th. So just a week on the spot. Since I'm going to that side of the globe anyways it is a must that I stop by to see my friend Nikki and her family. I'll be arriving in Minneapolis on the 7th of February :) Will hopefully meet other people while visiting at the cities as well. Will see.
This time there are not many preparations to be made other than the flights and travel insurance (both done already). Of course I need to arrange the logistics and meeting people in the Cities but that is just peanuts to space (as Douglas Adams would say ;) ) It will be just traveling this time... not gonna be a backpacking trip as the few last ones have been - and that is totally fine by me :) It will be a great trip to spend some time with my dear friends on the other side of the globe - I can't wait.
Oh, the packing will be fun this time :) I'm going to Minnesota for a week where it is probably like -20C and then to Hawaii for a week where it is about +25C :D :D So I take my warmest jacket and then bikinis :D - that should do right?
Monday, August 11, 2008
ticketytickets :)
WOHOooooo!!! Today I picked up the tickets to three Olympic events! YAY. I was getting worried already that they might not arrive before our departure.... buuh.. but we got them :)
19th of August - 10:00 - Triathlon venue ... which is somewhere north of Beijing called Changping
20th of August - 19:00 - National stadium
21st of August - 09:00 - Chaoyang Park Beach Volley Ground
I also managed to finish the Asus install, skype/ICQ/Y!/MSN - all ready and configured.
So now... basically... we are ready :) Got the most important things together and now the adventure can start. I'm getting excited about the whole thing already :) weeh! It is a bit scary as well of course, but that will pass once on the plane.
One of my co-workers asked me today of how long the plane ride is, well, honestly, i don't wanna know :) probably way too long.
Also interesting to see reaction of different people, some have given me very concerned looks and asked "so you are really gonna go?" :) ... others have stopped talking about October (well my students) in the middle of the sentence and reminded that "well first you have to make it back alive from there you know!" hih ... 5,5 days left :D YAY!
19th of August - 10:00 - Triathlon venue ... which is somewhere north of Beijing called Changping
20th of August - 19:00 - National stadium
21st of August - 09:00 - Chaoyang Park Beach Volley Ground
I also managed to finish the Asus install, skype/ICQ/Y!/MSN - all ready and configured.
So now... basically... we are ready :) Got the most important things together and now the adventure can start. I'm getting excited about the whole thing already :) weeh! It is a bit scary as well of course, but that will pass once on the plane.
One of my co-workers asked me today of how long the plane ride is, well, honestly, i don't wanna know :) probably way too long.
Also interesting to see reaction of different people, some have given me very concerned looks and asked "so you are really gonna go?" :) ... others have stopped talking about October (well my students) in the middle of the sentence and reminded that "well first you have to make it back alive from there you know!" hih ... 5,5 days left :D YAY!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
10 days before departure
count down has started long time ago :)
Asus Eee 900 laptop arrived, white one, as black ones ordering time was way too long. I "modified" it a bit according to the instructions found here , now it looks much much better :D I still have to set up all the accounts for IM's (pidgin and skype), CouchSurfing, Gmail, Flickr, couple of important bookmarks and so on. I got Thunderbird all configured with mail filters (which I simply copied over from desktop), although I'm not planning on reading my e-mail whole lot while there ;)
I have not decided if I'll bring my phone with. It would be very convenient as it has GPS on it. I already downloaded the Nokia maps and everything. Although I have heard that those aren't very good. So I gotta think about the phone a bit.
Back bag has been bought :D It's green :D And it is identical to my friend Riinas with whom we will be traveling together. Travel insurance has been arranged as well.
By the way I have created a separate set for Asia trip 2008 in Flicker (check the right hand side menu, first link under 'Links' heading). Understandably I don't have whole lot of information there yet, but the pictures will be there once the time is right.
I have managed to upload all the travel documents on a server by now. This would include passport, visas, ID card, drivers licence, VISA/debit card, travel insurance, hotel bookings, flight information, immunization passport scans or PDF's. I also put some digital photos there just in case. Of course this is all uploaded into password protected area.
Things that I still need to arrange/do:
- buy a watch... this is a complicated task :( all I need is a digital watch which has stopwatch and alarm. All the digital watches have heart rate monitoring and calorie reading functionalities. I don't need the heart rate monitor, I'm fine with my heart rate as it is - it does not need to be monitored. I also don't care about any calorie reading - no need for that.
- put together the first aid or pharmacy kit, I got to do some research on it still. I need to review the insect repellent options for sure as I have heard mixed things about it. Also gotta check if there is anything about the pollution that I should take note of.
- I'm still missing tickets to the Olympic event. The travel agency who is responsible of it in Estonia is doing such a poor job with the whole thing, they keep amazing me with new mess ups day after day. How come a company like that is still on the market? Beats me.
Other than that all else is getting arranged bit by bit. Vacation notification e-mail sending has started already some time ago :)
Asus Eee 900 laptop arrived, white one, as black ones ordering time was way too long. I "modified" it a bit according to the instructions found here , now it looks much much better :D I still have to set up all the accounts for IM's (pidgin and skype), CouchSurfing, Gmail, Flickr, couple of important bookmarks and so on. I got Thunderbird all configured with mail filters (which I simply copied over from desktop), although I'm not planning on reading my e-mail whole lot while there ;)
I have not decided if I'll bring my phone with. It would be very convenient as it has GPS on it. I already downloaded the Nokia maps and everything. Although I have heard that those aren't very good. So I gotta think about the phone a bit.
Back bag has been bought :D It's green :D And it is identical to my friend Riinas with whom we will be traveling together. Travel insurance has been arranged as well.
By the way I have created a separate set for Asia trip 2008 in Flicker (check the right hand side menu, first link under 'Links' heading). Understandably I don't have whole lot of information there yet, but the pictures will be there once the time is right.
I have managed to upload all the travel documents on a server by now. This would include passport, visas, ID card, drivers licence, VISA/debit card, travel insurance, hotel bookings, flight information, immunization passport scans or PDF's. I also put some digital photos there just in case. Of course this is all uploaded into password protected area.
Things that I still need to arrange/do:
- buy a watch... this is a complicated task :( all I need is a digital watch which has stopwatch and alarm. All the digital watches have heart rate monitoring and calorie reading functionalities. I don't need the heart rate monitor, I'm fine with my heart rate as it is - it does not need to be monitored. I also don't care about any calorie reading - no need for that.
- put together the first aid or pharmacy kit, I got to do some research on it still. I need to review the insect repellent options for sure as I have heard mixed things about it. Also gotta check if there is anything about the pollution that I should take note of.
- I'm still missing tickets to the Olympic event. The travel agency who is responsible of it in Estonia is doing such a poor job with the whole thing, they keep amazing me with new mess ups day after day. How come a company like that is still on the market? Beats me.
Other than that all else is getting arranged bit by bit. Vacation notification e-mail sending has started already some time ago :)
Friday, July 4, 2008
possibilities for communication in Asia
By reading the forums and talking to people I have started to realise of how bad the communication problems can get there (in China and in Vietnam). That worries me a bit. If it is pretty much impossible to even buy a simple train ticket from point A to point B, then things can get pretty tough I guess :) But oh well, everybody else has managed, so will we.
Also as i would like to be able to use internet freely once there and i'd also like to be able to understand what is written on the keyboard on the computer that i'm using, i figured that it would be best if i'd have a laptop with me. Initial idea came from one forum entry that i found where people who traveled China in February are selling their 7" little laptop that they brought while there. They have no use for it anymore and would be happy to sell the computer. I met up with them to see the laptop, while visiting I got so much useful information about the housing possibilities and distances and transportation and everything. I did not end up buying their laptop as I found a newer and better version (I'll have the Linux only version): Asus Eee 900 Laptop has been ordered, black version, should arrive in a week or two.
Now I still need to figure out travel insurance, buy a decent backpack and review other things that i might have to buy for the trip (pharmacy goods for an example). Perhaps we will get a hotel for the way back as well, gotta check that at some point also.
Also as i would like to be able to use internet freely once there and i'd also like to be able to understand what is written on the keyboard on the computer that i'm using, i figured that it would be best if i'd have a laptop with me. Initial idea came from one forum entry that i found where people who traveled China in February are selling their 7" little laptop that they brought while there. They have no use for it anymore and would be happy to sell the computer. I met up with them to see the laptop, while visiting I got so much useful information about the housing possibilities and distances and transportation and everything. I did not end up buying their laptop as I found a newer and better version (I'll have the Linux only version): Asus Eee 900 Laptop has been ordered, black version, should arrive in a week or two.
Now I still need to figure out travel insurance, buy a decent backpack and review other things that i might have to buy for the trip (pharmacy goods for an example). Perhaps we will get a hotel for the way back as well, gotta check that at some point also.
progress on Asia 2008 travel preparations
There was a little setback when we discovered that in order to get visas to China and Vietnam one needs to have hotel bookings for the whole traveling period. Well bookings are fine I guess, one can always cancel them. BUT due to the Olympic games it is not possible to book a hotel - one has to purchase the hotel up front :( Initially we got misleading information that this rule applies to whole China, luckily that was not the case and this restriction applies only to Beijing. So, I turned to my contact person in travel agency to get offers for hotels in Beijing as this is the first destination and it would be good to have hotel at least for the first night figured out. The cheapest offer we got for the hotel was 4000EEK (406USD/255EUR) per night :( and all the rest were way above that! Despair.
Started to go through all the forums and traveling tips on China that I could get my hands on. In quite many places it was suggested to use CTrip.com and so I tried this. And that worked like a charm - or so I think for now at least. I registered, found a hotel in central Beijing for 88USD (so 867EEK/55EUR) per night. Took the hotel for 3 nights and did the prepayment using VISA. It is probably not the best hotel ever, but it should do. And hopefully the booking will hold just fine and no misunderstandings will appear once at the spot.
All other bookings were made (will be cancelled once we have the visas) so visa applications could be sent in. Now the visa applications were not the easiest task either - lots of paperwork. Applications + pics + passports + very formal and specific guarantee letter from an employer where your income is stated and guarantee is given that your position will be there once you return and so on and so on. Oh uh. But all got done.
And today I received an e-mail that we got Vietnam visas!!! Now the documents go in for China visas :)
6 weeks and 1,5 days to go!!
Started to go through all the forums and traveling tips on China that I could get my hands on. In quite many places it was suggested to use CTrip.com and so I tried this. And that worked like a charm - or so I think for now at least. I registered, found a hotel in central Beijing for 88USD (so 867EEK/55EUR) per night. Took the hotel for 3 nights and did the prepayment using VISA. It is probably not the best hotel ever, but it should do. And hopefully the booking will hold just fine and no misunderstandings will appear once at the spot.
All other bookings were made (will be cancelled once we have the visas) so visa applications could be sent in. Now the visa applications were not the easiest task either - lots of paperwork. Applications + pics + passports + very formal and specific guarantee letter from an employer where your income is stated and guarantee is given that your position will be there once you return and so on and so on. Oh uh. But all got done.
And today I received an e-mail that we got Vietnam visas!!! Now the documents go in for China visas :)
6 weeks and 1,5 days to go!!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Little reasoning and initial schedule
About the choice of the destinations
So why China you ask? Well, it is quite simple actually:
- to see my friend competing at the Olympics :)
- go to a country i've never been to before
- experience the wonders of Asia
- have another great pack-packing trip and long vacation
And then Vietnam came just as a bonus on its own, some of my friends have been to Vietnam and they praised the country a lot. It is nice and close to where I'm going - so why not :)
To be honest, I don't need any excuses for travelling actually. It is simply one of the greatest things to do - to experience another culture, wonder on foreign land and see the miracles of the world.
Initial schedule
I've got the plane tickets bought so now I can post the schedule with bigger confidence:
- 17th leaving Tallinn via Helsinki and arriving to Beijing the next day
- 18th-22nd Beijing: triathlon competition, beach volley and track&field + THE Great Wall + lots of museums (because I love museums) + galleries + everything that we can possibly fit in
- 23rd Tianjin and in the evening to Quingdao
- 24th-25th Quingdao
- 26th Zhujiayu
- 27th Tai'an
- 28th-31st Shanghai: definitely will go on one Maglev ride :)
- 1st of September Tongli
- 2nd Süzhõu
- 3rd-4th Hangzhõu
- 5th Xiamen
- 6th-8th Hong Kong
- 9th-10th Macau
- 11th-23rd Vietnam.. haven't managed to plan anything to that country yet
Of course this schedule is idealistic and will probably change daily once there :) I guess I'm not estimating the distances accurately and probably the schedule is way too packed at the moment.. but we will see.
For the preparations part, not much is done. I've got the tickets, I've got whole lot of vacinations throughout the year (2nd and 3rd shots) and I got all the documents and requirements printed out for the visas application. That is it too for now. Will continue in a month with arranging all the rest :)
So why China you ask? Well, it is quite simple actually:
- to see my friend competing at the Olympics :)
- go to a country i've never been to before
- experience the wonders of Asia
- have another great pack-packing trip and long vacation
And then Vietnam came just as a bonus on its own, some of my friends have been to Vietnam and they praised the country a lot. It is nice and close to where I'm going - so why not :)
To be honest, I don't need any excuses for travelling actually. It is simply one of the greatest things to do - to experience another culture, wonder on foreign land and see the miracles of the world.
Initial schedule
I've got the plane tickets bought so now I can post the schedule with bigger confidence:
- 17th leaving Tallinn via Helsinki and arriving to Beijing the next day
- 18th-22nd Beijing: triathlon competition, beach volley and track&field + THE Great Wall + lots of museums (because I love museums) + galleries + everything that we can possibly fit in
- 23rd Tianjin and in the evening to Quingdao
- 24th-25th Quingdao
- 26th Zhujiayu
- 27th Tai'an
- 28th-31st Shanghai: definitely will go on one Maglev ride :)
- 1st of September Tongli
- 2nd Süzhõu
- 3rd-4th Hangzhõu
- 5th Xiamen
- 6th-8th Hong Kong
- 9th-10th Macau
- 11th-23rd Vietnam.. haven't managed to plan anything to that country yet
Of course this schedule is idealistic and will probably change daily once there :) I guess I'm not estimating the distances accurately and probably the schedule is way too packed at the moment.. but we will see.
For the preparations part, not much is done. I've got the tickets, I've got whole lot of vacinations throughout the year (2nd and 3rd shots) and I got all the documents and requirements printed out for the visas application. That is it too for now. Will continue in a month with arranging all the rest :)
Sunday, March 23, 2008
2008 holiday preparations
Guess what the destination is?? Well just guess!!!
China - of course. And then Vietnam will be just a nice bonus in the end :) Trip dates are pretty much fixed already:
- leaving Tallinn on the 17th of August
- arriving back in Tallinn either on the 23rd or 24th of September
I will be travelling with my friend this time, who will have to leave at the end of week 4 though. End of the trip I'm still on my own, that would be Vietnam then. Currently I'm working on getting the plane tickets figured out as well as rough travel plan. Will post it as soon as plane tickets are fixed and bought.
Some links on interesting facts about China and Vietnam (I will probably keep updating this same entry with other interesting links as the time goes by):
Internet in China
China - of course. And then Vietnam will be just a nice bonus in the end :) Trip dates are pretty much fixed already:
- leaving Tallinn on the 17th of August
- arriving back in Tallinn either on the 23rd or 24th of September
I will be travelling with my friend this time, who will have to leave at the end of week 4 though. End of the trip I'm still on my own, that would be Vietnam then. Currently I'm working on getting the plane tickets figured out as well as rough travel plan. Will post it as soon as plane tickets are fixed and bought.
Some links on interesting facts about China and Vietnam (I will probably keep updating this same entry with other interesting links as the time goes by):
Internet in China
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Initial preparations
Just as I spent quite a bit of time on the research of where I should travel, I also spent about 5 months collecting money for it :) After the famous Inca Trail booking I started to build the schedule around the booked 4 day hike.
Full route (almost)
The schedule looks like this:
- 12th leaving Tallinn, going to US
- 12th-16th of June in San Francisco
- 16th-22nd of June in Minnesota
- 22nd of June leaving US, going to Peru
- 22nd-24th of June in Lima
- 24th-27th of June in Cuzco
- 27th-30th of June is the Inca Trail
- 30th of June till 1st of July in Cuzco
- 1st of June leaving Cuzco, going to Puno :)
- then there is some mystery, trying to come back along the coast, don't know the exact route yet
- 18th of July leaving Lima, going to Tallinn via US
- 19th of July, arriving in Tallinn
On the 24th of June there is the biggest celebration of the year in Cuzco: Inti Raymi - Festival of the Sun. That is why I'm not staying in US any longer, because of school I can't leave any earlier from Tallinn either.
What is required for the trip
As much as I wanted to just get the tickets and be done, it is not quite that easy. Here are the things I have managed to get done already:
- plane tickets: all the way around :)
- US visa: go figure they gave me 10 year visa, last time I visited I got only 2 year one (perhaps one helping fact was that the guy who interviewed me graduated from the same university as me, no idea, it is pretty rare to find a UND alumni in Estonia though)
- Inca Trail booking
- vaccinations: I got a whole deal including hepatitis A and B, yellow fever and typhoid fever
- hotel in Lima and Cuzco (as I want to be able to go straight to the hotel after the long flight and in Cuzco I read that during the festivities time it is quite impossible to get a room)
- bought the hiking shoes
What still needs to get done:
- travel and health insurance
- equipment for the hike: some iodine drops (and gotta learn to use them as well), some medications suggested by the doctor and a smaller back bag
- finish the finances planning as I want to have enough money with me to survive :)
- finish the urgent preparations and research (like check where to call or what to do if all my things get stolen, make a backup plan if something goes totally wrong, make copies of my documents and write down any phone numbers that I might need at the trip and so on and so on)
I won't book any more hotels or reserve any transportation in Peru, will most likely figure it out on the road.
As you can see, I can't wait for the trip. But I just started with the blog since I know I should not leave it to the last minute. I probably won't update much before June, when the trip gets closer.
Full route (almost)
The schedule looks like this:
- 12th leaving Tallinn, going to US
- 12th-16th of June in San Francisco
- 16th-22nd of June in Minnesota
- 22nd of June leaving US, going to Peru
- 22nd-24th of June in Lima
- 24th-27th of June in Cuzco
- 27th-30th of June is the Inca Trail
- 30th of June till 1st of July in Cuzco
- 1st of June leaving Cuzco, going to Puno :)
- then there is some mystery, trying to come back along the coast, don't know the exact route yet
- 18th of July leaving Lima, going to Tallinn via US
- 19th of July, arriving in Tallinn
On the 24th of June there is the biggest celebration of the year in Cuzco: Inti Raymi - Festival of the Sun. That is why I'm not staying in US any longer, because of school I can't leave any earlier from Tallinn either.
What is required for the trip
As much as I wanted to just get the tickets and be done, it is not quite that easy. Here are the things I have managed to get done already:
- plane tickets: all the way around :)
- US visa: go figure they gave me 10 year visa, last time I visited I got only 2 year one (perhaps one helping fact was that the guy who interviewed me graduated from the same university as me, no idea, it is pretty rare to find a UND alumni in Estonia though)
- Inca Trail booking
- vaccinations: I got a whole deal including hepatitis A and B, yellow fever and typhoid fever
- hotel in Lima and Cuzco (as I want to be able to go straight to the hotel after the long flight and in Cuzco I read that during the festivities time it is quite impossible to get a room)
- bought the hiking shoes
What still needs to get done:
- travel and health insurance
- equipment for the hike: some iodine drops (and gotta learn to use them as well), some medications suggested by the doctor and a smaller back bag
- finish the finances planning as I want to have enough money with me to survive :)
- finish the urgent preparations and research (like check where to call or what to do if all my things get stolen, make a backup plan if something goes totally wrong, make copies of my documents and write down any phone numbers that I might need at the trip and so on and so on)
I won't book any more hotels or reserve any transportation in Peru, will most likely figure it out on the road.
As you can see, I can't wait for the trip. But I just started with the blog since I know I should not leave it to the last minute. I probably won't update much before June, when the trip gets closer.
Introduction
I will be taking a bit longer holiday this summer :)
Dates of the trip
The longest time I could figure out are 5 weeks that are in a row without any responsiblities. There are no longer gaps in year 2007 at all: school till June, one wedding to attend to in July, being the head official on a competition in August and then school in September again. Finally the dates ended up being 12th of June till 19th of July.
Destinations
There were 2 main purposes of my long trip:
1. visiting my 2 best friends in US
2. having some quality vacation in a country I've never been to
First point was easy, second one was a bit more difficult. By then I had decided that I will be going alone. I tried to arrange schedules with friends, just impossible. The ones who have free schedules don't have the finances and so on. So I'll go alone :) What is the worst that can happen :) I'll be fine.
So where should I go to? I was very keen to go to India, but the route did not suite at all. It would mean that I'd go to other side of the world to the west and then coming back the same route and then travelling to the east. So no go with that, Australia and Asia are out for that reason as well. I've been to Thailand so Asia can wait for a bit as well. Africa, well, I'd rather not take that up by myself :) So I had to find something that is "close enough" to US:
- Canada: not interesting and exotic enough
- US: been there done that (although it is a huge country, but still, not interesting enough)
- Mexico: well, not too interested in it, maybe some other time
- Nicaragua and the rest of the Central America: too dangerous to go alone
Then it started to get interesting :) I did some research about Columbia and Ecuador, but somehow it did not look too tempting. Can't even remember why, perhaps the sentence in some web pages that if you don't speak Spanish then there is no point to go there. So I kept looking. Brazil: well I want to go there someday, but this can be done anytime, I want something special :) After asking around a bit, I got it!!! PERU!!! WEHEEE! Somehow everything looked just right about that country. After doing some initial research I found out about the famous Inca Trail. After reading 2 web pages about it I booked the 4 day tour, that was in the beginning of January. So it was all decided. By the end of February I had all the plane tickets bought for the whole trip.
Dates of the trip
The longest time I could figure out are 5 weeks that are in a row without any responsiblities. There are no longer gaps in year 2007 at all: school till June, one wedding to attend to in July, being the head official on a competition in August and then school in September again. Finally the dates ended up being 12th of June till 19th of July.
Destinations
There were 2 main purposes of my long trip:
1. visiting my 2 best friends in US
2. having some quality vacation in a country I've never been to
First point was easy, second one was a bit more difficult. By then I had decided that I will be going alone. I tried to arrange schedules with friends, just impossible. The ones who have free schedules don't have the finances and so on. So I'll go alone :) What is the worst that can happen :) I'll be fine.
So where should I go to? I was very keen to go to India, but the route did not suite at all. It would mean that I'd go to other side of the world to the west and then coming back the same route and then travelling to the east. So no go with that, Australia and Asia are out for that reason as well. I've been to Thailand so Asia can wait for a bit as well. Africa, well, I'd rather not take that up by myself :) So I had to find something that is "close enough" to US:
- Canada: not interesting and exotic enough
- US: been there done that (although it is a huge country, but still, not interesting enough)
- Mexico: well, not too interested in it, maybe some other time
- Nicaragua and the rest of the Central America: too dangerous to go alone
Then it started to get interesting :) I did some research about Columbia and Ecuador, but somehow it did not look too tempting. Can't even remember why, perhaps the sentence in some web pages that if you don't speak Spanish then there is no point to go there. So I kept looking. Brazil: well I want to go there someday, but this can be done anytime, I want something special :) After asking around a bit, I got it!!! PERU!!! WEHEEE! Somehow everything looked just right about that country. After doing some initial research I found out about the famous Inca Trail. After reading 2 web pages about it I booked the 4 day tour, that was in the beginning of January. So it was all decided. By the end of February I had all the plane tickets bought for the whole trip.
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