India, UAE and Africa here I come!

Well after my last trip to Beijing and Hong Kong, I have come home, recharged and am in the midst of making my final push towards my second year law school finals. I have a final next week and then three the following one. It will be stressful but then three days after my last final I am off to India to start my summer 2008 trip! Now most people say I’m stupid for going away instead of working and being part of the bullshit that goes along with law school and getting a job. I say to the hell with them. I do it on my own terms, have been doing so for the past twenty four years and it was worked for the most part, so why change now? I worked this semester, will work the next two semesters, I’m networking and feel like when I graduate something will happen.

Anyway the countdown to my trip continues and sits at 19 days till take off from today…

Well I have taken my first step to starting my own travel consulting business.  My goal is to be more active with it after I get back to my trip.  I will be having a friend help create the website and make it look more official.  I have also submitted the website to google for the googlebots to pick it up and make it a searchable website.

Basically my goal is to help people plan their trips.  I know it sounds like a travel agency, but it is not.  It will be a full service, one stop shop firm where I will help people create a plan for their travels, based on goals the individual of the client i.e. what they want to see, do, and what their objectives are on their travels.

Since I have started traveling I have noticed many people who ask what to expect, where to go, what to see, how to get around, what visas do I need, etc and I figured that I would start a company which helps potential clients answer all these questions.  As I said based on some of those answers we would work to create a plan, and go from there.

This company will also have the capability to make flight arrangements, hostel and hotel arrangements, book tours, and possibly obtain visas (through a third-party company).

So check out my site when you get a chance, it is very bare, with just a name and mission statement, but nonetheless check it out!

www.linktravelconsulting.info

if you are interested in a free consultation contact me at

linktravelconsulting@gmail.com, I promise my fees will not be excessive and I can probably find you cheaper prices than you have searched yourself!

Thanks.

Josh

After a long hiatus my daily thoughts on life are back!  For those of you out there that go to school or work in a corporate environment with a floor bathroom will absolutely relate to this thought.

Anyone and everyone knows how crucial it is to time when you have to go number 2 at work or school.  At school you try to go during classes where traffic into and out of the bathrooms is signficantly reduced, except for the ocassional straggler that can’t hold it during class.  You try to go on an weird floor, in the basement or some handicapped bathroom which is like a suite in a hotel, so spacious and private.  For me my morning number 2 takes place at work three days a week.  I generally try for the early morning (I arrive at 830am) and hope that nobody has soiled that all important “first number 2 of the day.”  When I walk in to the bathroom and push open the stall I creep past the barrier and look to see, I pray and hope that the toilet seat is up.  See everyone knows that when the cleaning staff is done cleaning the bathrooms they always leave the seat up.  I think it might be the universal sign that “this toliet has officially been cleaned.”

To have the first number 2 of the day either at school or at work is important.  It provides that care and comfort that usually only my bathroom at home provides for me, when you know that the toilet is clean and ready to go.

So my daily thought of life is to get to the bathroom early in the morning or late in the afternoon (depending on when staff cleans them), to ensure you get the first number 2 of the day, this will provide the comfort and care we all look for in a toliet, and it is great to get to it before anyone else does!

Thanks.

Josh

Before my mega summer trip I decided to wet the apetite and do a little traveling during my passover/spring break.  On April 18th, 2008 I will be flying direct to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific (HK’s national airline and a top 3 airline worldwide).  I arrive at approximately 205PM April 19th.  When I arrive in the airport I will have approximately 2.5 before my connecting flight leaves from Beijing, China!  I will be going to Beijing with my friend Raymond.  For those of you who didn’t read my blog detailing my experience in Hong Kong, Raymond was one of my roommates at Deakin when I studied in Melbourne in 2004.  We have stayed in contact throughout the years and last year when I went to Asia I visited him and spent a lot of time in Hong Kong.

So we are taking Dragon Air (subsidiary of Cathay Pacific) to Beijing.  The flight takes 3 hours and it is direct.  The great part of the trip and reason why I am going to Beijing is that Raymond has a friend Benny who has a nice sized apartment in Beijing.  This will save us money on a hotel or hostel for 4 nights!  I am sleeping on a couch, but I am bringing some sleep enhancers if you know what I mean!

Also many of you are probably thinking to yourself “How the hell are you flying 15.5 hours direct to hong kong, getting off the plane and then another 3 hours to Beijing?”  Well the answer is simple, I am a seasoned traveler, and by doing it this way, I am maximizing my time in Beijing with Raymond.  Raymond has asked to take leave for a holiday to go with me, and instead of having Monday and Tuesday and coming back wednesday, now we will have a full day on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday.  I will be jet lagged anyway, up early in the morning ready to go so it will be fine.  When I return to Hong Kong and wednesday I’ll relax check out some sights I haven’t seen yet, revisit a few (like victoria peak and the star ferry at night) and chill out…

The goal which I have to accomplish is to have my outlines done and already read over several times before I leave.  Starting April 5th all of my legal process crap is finished giving me about 2 weeks to complete my outlines.  I have started a few of them, and have to start from scratch on others, but over two weeks I should get it done.  I will probably dedicate an entire week to just doing outlines, study them the second week and so on.

So that is my Spring Break 2008 Trip!

Thanks.

Josh

As a long time New York Giants fan, technically alive for all three Superbowl victories, 2008 will always be remembered by me, as the greatest sports victory these eyes have ever seen. In 1986 I was 3, so that didn’t count and in 1991, I fell asleep before “wide right” but do remember the Giants beating the 49ers in the NFC Championship game to make the dance.

But last night, as the cliche goes, on “any given sunday” my New York Football Giants pulled off the greatest upset in Superbowl history, football history and New York sports history. This game will be remembered with the likes of Broadway Joe and the Jets in Superbowl 3, Willis Reed walking into Madison Square Garden during the NBA Finals, and Mark Messier’s natural hat trick in game 6 of Eastern Conference Finals.

Other cities have had their day the past few years, but Sunday night showed the world why New York is the greatest sports city of them all.

Well after saying “this is my last summer of traveling” for the past four summers, I have lied yet again. Starting May 20th, 2008 I will fly to Mumbai via Abu Dhabi and start my summer traveling. This time around I will spend approximately 3-4 days in Mumbai, then take an overnight train to Delhi. When I arrive in Delhi I will meet up with my law school and start my summer abroad program with Touro Law.

On June 30th, 2008 I will fly from Delhi via Kingfisher air to Mumbai and catch my fligth to Abu Dhabi on Etihad Airways. I will be spending approximately 3-4 days in Abu Dhabi at the luxurious 5 star Hilton Abu Dhabi. Since I am going during the middle of their summer, hotels are about 50-70% off their normal price. Unfortunately since I am going during the middle of their summer it will surely be hot (41C or 115F) wow!

On July 3rd early morning I will be flying from Abu Dhabi to johannesburg enroute to my final destination of Capetown, South Africa. I decided to pass on Jo’burg for various reasons, but mainly to explore Capetown and the surrounding coastal region. Thanks to Jordan I have booked up with Big Blue Backpackers and will be spending 3 nights on C’Town.

On July 6th, 2008 I will meet up with my camping trip booked through Detour Travel (at a very affordable price, mention my name for a discount), but the actual company running the trip is Nomadtours.

This 26 day, 25 night camping trip will take me through western South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Official Countdown

Now that it has been a few months since my trip to Asia this summer, a great way to view my previous posts is to go to the archives portion of the blog and click on April, May or June.  If you start with April you will start from the beginning of my trip.  Hope you enjoy

Thanks

Josh

June 22nd, 2007

Even though my flight leaves at 3am on the 23rd I have to go to the airport before on the 22nd to check in and stuff.  Today is my final day in Asia.  It is bitter sweet.  I would love to continue to travel, but part of me is very excited to go home.  After more than 60 days of traveling straight, it really begins to take a toll on your body, mind and soul.  You hate your pack and all the stuff in it.  You hate having to repack and unpack and all that crap.  You start to miss your own bed, home, shower, and most important toliet!  So I am happy to go home, but sad to leave Asia.

My next entry will be from home:  good ole’ Great Neck, NY, USA.  I think I will continue to blog my life.  I will be going to California for 3 weeks with this traveling camp for kids, so I think I will write a bit about that.  If there is a way to split my blog between Asia and then post-asia life I will have to figure that out, because that would be the easiest so people can read about my journey through Asia.  Maybe I will just create another blog.

Ok that is enough rambling.  I have officially checked out of the D&D, my bags are stored and I think I will just sit at the pool for most of the day, get a tan and head to the airport when I feel like it.

Thanks for taking this incredible journey with me, more of my thoughts and reflections on my trip will come after I get home, relax and chill out.  Oh and look for my long awaited awards!

Thanks,

Josh

June 21, 2007

Believe it or not, this was my LAST full day in Asia :-(  and I had nothing planned.  The only thing I had to do was to go downstairs around 10ish to see if I could switch to another cheaper room for the last night.  That didn’t happen so I had to fork out a little more than I thought, which was really fine.  All my crap was all over the place and there was no way I would be bothered by moving to another room.  I got some breakfast, and headed to the pool.  I wanted to get a little tan action going on.  I laid out at the pool for about 2 hours.  Did a little swimming, and a little reading of my Angkor Wat book that I bought for 5 bucks and was retail for about 30.  It was real and not photocopied like the last book I bought.  Great coffee table and conversation book.  I also read more of my book about the Cambodian Genocide “First they killed my father.”  I got bored after a while and wanted to go off and do something.  I headed across town to Suk area and got a 2 hour oil massage (legit of course).  It was cheaper than usual and was very nice.  After that I had to bargain like crazy to get back and ended up paying less than what the meter was reading “score!”  That is what the cab driver gets for trying to exploit me and not use the meter!  Bastardo!  I got back to the hotel and was tired.  I did a little more shopping, then went back to the room to watch whatever movie was on.  I chilled out for a bit and then around 730 or so decided to walk the street and go out.  Khao San Road is fabulous at night.  So many touts, shops, street vendors, hawkers, you name it, it comes to KSR at night.  Oh and there are hundreds if not thousands roaming the street.  I can only imagine what it is like during the high season, because it is pretty darn crowded during the night now.

The night was a crazy one and let me sum it up for you like this:

I was drunk at 930pm, I woke up naked, still drunk and with a new piercing (yet to be revealed).

Well I had finally come around full circle and made it back to bangkok in more or less one piece.  It was 7am and I was up early.  The tour was officially over and all that was covered was breakfast.  Today I had to find a place to sleep for the next two nights and had an idea where I wanted to go; Khao San Road.  KSR is where all the backpackers go.  It is touristy, but has everything you need, and if your bargaining skills are up to par you will get the same deals here that you could get in other markets.  Last time I was in Bangkok Minette took me to D&D where she was staying and it was pretty nice.  Rooftop pool open late, internet that was competitive if not cheaper than the surrounding area, and a great atmosphere with loads of backpackers.  Definitely a different atmosphere than Suk 11 which I personally thought was a little overrated from what others had told me.

So after packing up all my stuff, which consisted of now three huge bags, including my duffel that I normally used to protect the straps on my big rucksack, that was full.  It would be a pain in the butt getting to wherever I needed to go and then have to carry it to the place, but I was up to the challenge.  I decided to leave as close to 12pm as possible, since that is when we had to check out and that is the time that D&D had told me to come back to see if they had rooms available (you know who checked in and out).  So that is what I did.  I waited till 12pm, split a cab with Elizabeth who was also on a mission to find a place to sleep and that was that.  The cab was really full, and luckily everything fit.

When we arrived at D&D, we each got a room, which was nice, and then spent the day kind of just going around Bangkok.  I wanted vegemite, and some more clothing and things to buy (naturally of course), so that is what we were off to do.  Unfortunately the vegemite was all the way across town at the supermarket right near Suk 11.  So we first hopped in a tuk tuk that said 1 stop only, we agreed and the price was cheap.  We were a bit worried about where he might REALLY take us and if he would just leave us someplace random after getting his gas coupon.  He brought us to a tailor shop called Manhattan.  SO MUCH more expensive than Hoi An.  To anyone going to Hoi An, Vietnam, BUY ALL YOUR CLOTHING THERE.  Thailand is a HUGE rip off compared to Hoi An, and I would venture to guess that the quality is better in Vietnam.  So after spending 10 minutes which we agreed to with the driver, we were off, or so we thought.  Eventually the tuk tuk driver dropped us off at the BTS Skyrail station, and was like get out.  I was like “what do you mean get out?”  He basically was telling us that he didn’t want to take us any farther and that he really didn’t care if we paid or not because he got his coupon from the tailor shop.  After I started to get a little angry, Elizabeth took over, and I just said “fuck it, let’s get out.”  We didn’t even pay, but he knew that it would cost us the same to get to where we wanted to go by the skyrail, then for him to take us, which is was, ironically enough.  What a bastard, I was steaming from that.  I knew where we were and how to get to where we were going, but it was just annoying to have to deal with that type of shit, you know?

So we hopped on the skyrail, transferred at Siam station and headed to Nana station which was right in front of Suk Soi 11.  We walked to the supermarket and found the vegemite.  It was really expensive, but worth it considering they were taken off the shelves in America, something about one of the ingredients, screw the FDA I love yeast and beef extract!  I also got some water and crackers, so I had something to spread the vegemite with.

After going to the supermarket I had the idea of going to see a movie.  Mom had told me that Oceans 13 was great when I phoned her last, so I was keen on seeing that.  Elizabeth agreed and went in to Suk 11 to use the internet and find out where the heck the movie theater was.  It was convienently located only a few stops away by the skyrail, on the same line and you could walk from the station in to the shopping center; and what a shopping center this was.  There must have been like 10 stories to it and it had everything.  It was called “The Emporium” for anyone going to Bangkok and it had probably the nicest movie theater I have ever seen, and cheap.  We ended up paying 160 baht each, more than usual because it was in the new Digital 2.0K theater.  No more reel to reel, this scene projected digital quality movies, and it was spectacular.  Between the sound and picture the movie looked awesome and the seats where so comfortable.  Also fyi, if you go to the theater AFTER 830pm it is only 80 baht for a movie, which is like 2.50!  This just shows me how much we get ripped off back in America!

We also had Burger King before the movie.  I hadn’t had fast food in ages, and probably won’t have it much when I go home.  I am done with fast food.  I want to become part of the “Slow food” movement happening in Italy and other parts of the world.

There were a ton of previews and the movie was good, over 2 hours so when we got out it was now the evening.  The night was rather quiet.  I stayed in and just enjoyed the big bed, tv, and walked a bit around KSR.