Travel Tip: Laundry

I received this tip from Julie in Tennessee:

A friend and I just returned from a trip to Japan, and what we learned along way can easily be translated to European travel. I used a XL Ziploc bag as a clothes washer, and it worked wonderfully! Just put in the clothes, add the soap and water (I had individual packets of Tide for sink washing), close the bag and agitate. It got everything WAY cleaner than just washing in a sink, and it made rinsing equally easy. When it was time to come home, I purchased about a dozen bottles of Japanese soda to bring home to friends, so I just put all the bottles inside the Ziploc bag to prevent leakage in case any of them came open during the flight. The bag folded down very small and was packed into an interior pocket, so it only took up room that would have otherwise been empty!

Seems like a good idea! I might do this is a backup. I will have to do laundry probably 2-3 times while over there and most areas I will be in will have easy access to a laundry room.

Ordered my Dell Mini 9!

I have just placed the order for a Dell Mini 9.

As much as I wanted to just take the iPhone, I could not talk myself out of having a full fledged internet browser. Since I am only going to go over with the first 3-4 nights planned and booked, I will need a way to make reservations on the fly. This thing will work perfectly and will fit in my backpack without the need for a full blown laptop.

For those of you interested, I do plan on converting this into a Hackintosh! :)

Europe Travel: Intial Thoughts

I've done a bit of homework over the last few days on how I will be able to fit in all this travel in a two week time frame. At least one city will have to be cut out of my original plans and right now, I am leaning towards removing Rome. As you can see below, it has already gotten the axe. I am going to be in Italy, but only for a short time and that will be in Milan. One of the issues I am running into is there is no quick way into or out of Interlaken, Switzerland and there is no way I am removing this destination from my list. What I will probably do is use Milan as a hub. I can board a 3 hour train from Interlaken in the morning and head south to Milan and then later that day take a RyanAir flight from Milan to Barcelona. It adds an additional cost for the flight but it will be worth it because I would burn 12 hours on a train from Interlaken to Barcelona otherwise.

Depending on my situation, Berlin might be kicked off as well. I've decided that at least two overnight trains will be needed and at least one additional RyanAir flight.


London, England <-> Amsterdam, Netherlands (Overnight Ferry)
Amsterdam, Netherlands <-> Brussels, Belgium (2Hr 45min DIRECT)

Option 1 - Visit Berlin
Brussels, Belgium <-> Berlin, Germany (6Hr 20min w/Connecting Train)
Berlin, Germany <-> Prague, Czech Republic (4Hr 50min DIRECT)

Option 2 - Skip Berlin
Brussels, Belgium <-> Prague, Czech Republic (OVERNIGHT 12Hr 58min w/Connecting Train)

Prague, Czech Republic <-> Munich, Germany (6Hr 4min DIRECT) (Speed Rail looks to be available at 3Hr 16min)
Munich, Germany <-> Interlaken, Switzerland (6Hr 50min w/Connecting Train)

Milan will be used as a jumper to Barcelona.
Interlaken, Switzerland <-> Milan, Italy (2Hr 50min w/Connecting Train)

Milan, Italy <-> Barcelona, Spain (RyanAir Flight)

Barcelona, Spain <-> Paris, France (OVERNIGHT 11Hr 55min)
Paris, France <-> London, England (2Hr 27min)

P.S. I used Rail Europe to get the times listed above.

http://blog.ryanbirk.com

Step 1

An old friend...

So, I figured I'd try to hit my buddy Paul Sperl up when I ventured into Germany. Paul (Moritz) was a German exchange student my junior year of high school. We were in a funk band called Blu Martini. Yea, we won the battle of the bands in case you were wondering! :) I rocked the drums and he rocked the trumpet. Needless to say, we've not seen each other in quite some time. I figured I would try the email addresses that I had for him back in high school.

Drafted up an email....email bounced back. "Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:" Weak!

Tried another email I had for him....email bounced back. "Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:" Again, Lame.

I tried an international phone number I had for him. "This number is no longer in service." Well, damn.

Enter Internet.

This is where having some searching skills comes in handy. I MaltEGO'd his name using various search libraries and plugins. Now we are talking.

About 30 minutes of filtering and I found several pages of soccer teams he had played on. They were all removed, so I hit the Google cache, still no emails or contact info. I found a few pages that linked to a University in Munich, Germany and looked at the geography. There was a high probability that this was him. I revised my search terms and found another dead link. Google cached that up and whaalaa, email address.

Drafted up an email...."Hey!!! Blu Martini kicks ass, give me a call at xxxxxxxxxx"

Needless to say, if you want something bad enough on the internet, you can find it.

Paul does go to that University and we are meeting up in Munich for 1,2,3,4 or maybe a few more beers.