On the road again.

Well, the blog once again serves a purpose. So I've fired 'er back up. It seems like it's been a long time coming, but finally-next friday-I leave for my 'worlduh touah' as my former boss always told anyone who would possibly listen.

I know it's kind of all I've talked about for the past month or so, so most of you know the itinerary, but for those of you who don't, here's a rough lay down of the plan:

March 26th-Fly to Budapest, Hungary.
From Budapest I plan to travel to Vienna and then down into Italy. I plan on spending 2 or 3 weeks in Italy. Rome has always been #1 on the places I want to see in the world. Originally, I had planned a different direction for the trip, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I better go the places I really want to go, because you never know when you'll get the chance again. But I plan on trying to get down south (possible just south on Naples) to spend some time on the quiet seaside. The nice thing about having 9 weeks, is you don't have to spend it all in cities and tour groups.

Then, via plane or speed boat, to Greece. 2 or 3 weeks in Greece. The theme of the first part of this trip is kind of trying to see the origins of Western civilization. Rome, Athens, Sparta, Thesselonia, Istanbul. So I'm looking to do more of the ancient history tour, and less of the euro party trash tour. Hopefully though, I'll get a little of both though.

I'll slowly make my way over to Turkey though Greece. Where I go in Turkey is largely dependent upon how long I take getting there. I'm hoping to have 3 or 4 weeks left, I would like to get down to the Lycian coast. It's a bit far from Istanbul, but it seems really nice(and relatively cheap!) So it's definitely on my hope list. I'm sure there's plenty to do in and around Istanbul though if I'm left with only a week or 10 days.

The only thing I have booked on this part of the trip however is the first nights stay in Budapest, after that it's up in the air. If I get convinced to go to Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, instead. Fine. If I get convinced to travel up into Germany, fine. Hell, I haven't even totally ruled out that I might get bored and fly back to the States for a few weeks in there. Point is, I have to be in Istanbul on May 31st. Besides that, whatever.

Then I have a flight from Istanbul to Johannesburg on May 31st.
The main reason for going down to South Africa is for the World Cup. The cup doesn't actually start until June 12th or so, but flying in 2 weeks early saved me about $1,000. So it was worth it. I'm planning on using the first 2 weeks to visit with Alex, maybe go to be big game reserve in SA(Kruger Park), maybe go to Mozambique. Not to sure yet. I'll make those plans along the way.

After that it's down to Durban, where all the World Cup games I have tickets to will be held. We've got a bit of a crew coming(Up to 9 guys at one point.) Including Derek DeBarr and Matt Potocki from back home. So we've been able to pool together our money and rent out a pretty nice villa for 2 weeks. This will definitely be one of the highlights of SA. Just be a nice relaxing, fun, time.
Games I have tickets for:
Germany v. Australia
S. Korea v. Nigeria
Portugal v. Brazil
and a round of 16 game which looks to be The Netherlands vs. Paraguay probably.

Everyone besides Michael, Alison, and I head back to their countries after that. The 3 of us though plan to take the Garden route through the southern portion of South Africa for a few days and wind up in Cape Town. 7 or 10 days in Cape Town, meeting up with a lot of old friends. Then back up to Jo'Burg for a day or two before flying out to Manchester on the 16th of July.

Once in northern England, Michael and Ally've got big plans for me. All over the country side. Camping up in Scotland. Down to Ally's family pub in Dorsett. Big things folks, big things.

Then the Northern Europe portion of the trip is wrapped with 2 or 3 days in Amsterdam with Michael and a few of his mates. No better way to end Europe.

THEN, New York for 3 or 4 days-just because-hopefully including a Sox/Yankees game on August 6. Flying from there to Milwaukee to meet Matt for a Brewers game on the 7th. Sunday Cubs game on the 8th. Back down to the St. Louis area in time for Cardinals/Cubs on the 13th.

THEN THEN, Jeong is coming over to the U.S. sometime around the 15th of August. I think we're going to fly out to San Francisco, or drive around the grand canyon/yellowstone area. I haven't really decided yet. Depends on what opportunities pop up. (i.e. places we can stay.)

Then a week or two or three back resting in good old Illinois, and back to Korea once I pick a job I want. Probably starting sometime around September.

So there's the course outline, very roughly. 10 or so countries, 4 continents, 9 sporting events, a ton of cash, and *hopefully* some worthwhile memories/stories.

I'm goign to try to avoid being a daily internet user while I'm gone(We'll see how possible that is.) But I am going to set aside one day a week to update on here. So for those interested, you can follow along.

Before I go, I'm going to post a few more updates. Oregon trail style lists of things I'm taking with me. (Only 1 back pack for 6 months-lots of decisions to be made there.) My iPod playlist. And some final thoughts on my 3+ years since this Korea adventure started.

'Shire.