28 NOV 2008: Naples is a great city!

Napoli turned out to be a lot of fun. Rome is a more conventional international city that has compromised much of its own personality o accommodate the standards and expectations of visitors (tourists, business people, &c.); whereas Naples remains very much its own place. The center at least, where I spent most of my time, is very much university town. Very vibrant, full of smartly-dressed and attractive people, and non-stop events (concerts, plays, film screenings and political events [like a major Palestine conference on the 28th]). The center is full of bars, cafes, piazzas, and little independent shops. The traffic is utterly chaotic and takes some getting used to, for example if you want to cross the street – any street – you really do have to just walk out into oncoming traffic and hope they stop (they do).

Even though I wasn't able to get hosted through CouchSurfing at first (I did later) and got a very cheap room for my first five days, I did get to meet a lot of great people through a CS event that happened my second day in town. This made an enormous difference. Though I am sure I would have had a good time just by myself, meeting cool people that live here and really love the city and have an endless supply of ideas of interesting things to do made my time there better in every respect.

I guess there is a big NATO base here with a lot of Americans at it, but knowing my views on things, I pretty much avoided that crowd. The last thing I want to do is travel half way around the world to hang out with a bunch of US soldiers and sailors. I did meet a few Americans – three to be precise – that I enjoyed hanging out with; but for the most part I hung around with British and Italian people.

Naples is a very ancient city and you could easily spend a month here visiting interesting sites. But assuming you want to get a feel for the place, you have to take it slower and spend at least some time doing as the people who live here do. he one thing that takes a bit of getting used to is that all the restaurants and the like close in the afternoon and then re-open in the evening, everyone eats much later than I am used to. I still managed to do some touristy things: we went to the top of Mt. Vesuvius (the volcano that over looks the city), visited a number of the major castles and piazzas, went to Pompei (the ancient Roman city that was buried by an eruption of Vesuvius and has now been largely excavated) and did the tour of the ancient Greek and Roman water system deep (30 meters, so about 100 ft) under the city. [There are a LOT of photos in my Napoli folder in MySpace]

Through Dario, the Italian couchsurfer who hosted me the last three days, I got to sample some of the uniquely Neapolitan things like their excellent pizza (which has virtually nothing in common with what we call "pizza" in the States) and Lemonciello (a sweet, lemon liquor).

When I originally wrote this I was on the train back to Rome to catch my flight to Bucharest, but I wasn't able to actually type it up and upload it until now, my first full day in Bucharest.

20 NOV 2008: Finally in Napoli and my rethinking...

So I finally made it to Napoli, though that turned out to be a bit of a hassle. First the train that brought me to Terracina did go on to Napoli, so I had to take a bus to another nearby town, then a train to Formia, and then a different train to Napoli. I could have taken a different bus which would have brought me here, but my plan for a place to stay was based on arriving at the Napoli Centrale train station, not whatever bus station was there. However, I did in fact make it as was inevitable; there for a few I was considering taking the train back to Roma and then taking another one back to Napoli as a last resort.

Anyway, the place I was intending to stay at wouldn't open the door, so I found another place for about the same price. Not exactly nice per se, but it meets all my basic requirements. I did some walking around town this evening, but I think it would be better to turn in early so I can explore around during the daylight tomorrow morning. Plus, apparently CNN has a English-language channel here, or at least it is in English right now, which is very cool. This is the first time I've caught the news since I left Ireland. Also, tomorrow night there is a CouchSurfing event here in town (eating, of all things, Mexican food), so I'll get to meet some local people and other visitors.

Okay, so now my rethinking of things. I am in fact having a lot of fun, but I am tearing through the money and not really staying in anyone place long enough to make any money, which is a problem. The larger goal is permanent resettlement over here, preferably in Romania or Bulgaria, as if I can get legal permanent residency in either country before 2011 that is my back door into Europe as both these countries are scheduled to be integrated into the Schengen Zone at that time. However, in order to make this work, I need some basic functional language skills to get by. Even here in Italy, where the language is similar enough I can get by as a tourist, it would be a real pain in the ass to try to get a job or make a business arrangement. This means it would be even more difficult in Romania or Bulgaria, where the language is a lot more difficult.

So what I am thinking is that I should not spend all my money on holiday touring around the Mediterranean, but should go ahead to Romania and Bulgaria to explore the opportunities there. I'm thinking it can't be too difficult to find some intensive "learn Romanian in Bucharest" and "learn Bulgarian in Sofia" program run by some university or language school, but it would probably cost a decent chunk of money. If I can go there and find such a program, hopefully I would learn enough of the language to operate, plus the money would go further as it is cheaper, and I would be there long enough to find some commodities I can sell online to create at least a little income. Of course I still only get 90 days in either country, so obviously my days of travel aren't over, but at least I would be taking care of important things while I still have some money.

The next question is, which country should I go to first, Romania or Bulgaria? Bulgaria is much cheaper, but it is also much more Eastern (for example, Bulgarian uses the Cyrillic script, so there is a steeper learning curve) and with 20% of its population being Roma (Gypsies), there is some question as whether the country will ever be integrated into Schengen (the last thing almost all of Europe wants is a new and massive Gypsy population with legal permission to travel throughout the borderless zone). On the other hand, my money will go further in Bulgaria (I've checked into it and can even afford a nice little house there) and since Bulgaria is more Eastern, there is probably a LOT of opportunity for someone with excellent English and functional Bulgarian and they are somewhat behind the curve with respect to the internet, so I think my website skills might be marketable there.

Romania seems more likely to be integrated into Schengen on schedule (2011), is fairly pro-western in outlook and even American-friendly. While their language is still a lot different, there are a lot more English-speakers there (many Romanians that fled to the West and then returned after the fall of their Stalinist regimes), so I think I would be more likely to find some good language courses. The money would not go as far in Romania, but still would go further than it will in most places in Europe. However, most of the above relates primary to Bucharest, but Romania is a very large country with a weak infrastructure (meaning a lot of development will inevitably be in the works as it integrates into the EU), so with basic language skills there might be good opportunities in other parts of the country. Wouldn't it be cool to have a nice little house in the middle of the Transylvanian Carpathians? hee hee.

So what do you guys think? Romania or Bulgaria? The only viable alternative is to direct all my efforts toward English-speaking Europe: the UK or Ireland. Paul has already so much as said that he'd help me in Ireland, but he's already helping a lot and I don't want to take too much advantage of that. Not to mention, I think I'd rather live in the UK, but my money wouldn't go very far there at all and they make it particularly difficult to immigrate there legally. I don't even where I would start trying to work that out, without going back to my employer scheme (setting up my own company and then inviting myself to work there).

Here in a couple days, I am going to do some research.

> Which is cheaper to get to from Napoli, Bucharest or Sofia?

> Which is warmer right now?

> Which country – Romania or Bulgaria – has easier immigration standards?

> Which country – Romania or Bulgaria – has a more business friendly legal regime?

> Is there an intensive language course available that can be completed in under 90 days (my legal visa limit) and doesn't cost too much?

I think these will make the case on which one to go to first.

I really am having fun just going around around traveling, but without generating any money at all virtually everything I am doing is being jaded by money concerns. Just the thought that I am spending significant amounts of money and not generating any at all is taking some of the fun out of it. If I go ahead and start laying the groundwork for my permanent resettlement, I still get the same benefits (going to new places, meeting new people, learning new cultures); but then I also have a mission, or a point.

This is my rethinking of things. Any comments?

18 NOV 2008: Terracina, Italy

So today I went exploring around Terracina, which is a very nice little town that is over seen by an ancient pagan temple:

Last night after getting in, I had quite a run around arranging a place to stay, so after finding one I went to the local pub - a cool place called La Pinta - and had a LOT of drinks, went back and crashed.

So this morning, after walking around the town, getting some food, and visiting the remains of the town's Roman Forum, I walked up the hill to visit the temple.

There are a lot more photos from Terracina in My Photos section. I had a great day.

The boats going out to Ponza - see my earlier post - only run on the weekends and since I don't want to spend more time here, I am off to Naples tomorrow.

Even though I am having fun and have not run into any major problems, I am also not making any money but tearing through it pretty quickly. This is leading to something of a rethink about what I am doing. But more on that a bit later...

17 NOV 2008: Off to Terracina...

... today. I wanted to stop in some small place between Roma & Napoli and by most accounts, Terracina is a good place to do so. As it stands right now (and of course this could change any time I feel like it), the idea is to go from Terracina to the island of Ponza, then to Ventotene (anoher island), and then straight into Napoli.

14 NOV 2008: Went to see the ruins & joined a protest in Rome

Today the plan was to go see all the Roman ruins in the middle of the old city of Rome. So I left nice and early and while going past the Termini down the Via Cavour I kept running into assorted feeder marches of protesters, who were joining into an absolutely enormous protest near the Colosseum. This was clearly a Left'wing protest, though it took me a few minutes of making out what the signs were saying to figure out that the key issue was attempts by the right-wing government to cut educational spending so as to privatize more of Italy's public sector (sound familiar?). Apparently all the students and teachers are on strike today. Click here for a good article about the background to the situation, and click here to read about today's protest.

I took a lot of video, but have had a bitch of a time getting this blog posted and lost most of it in the process (Internet Cafe's in Rome suck). So there is one short video uploaded and more pictures than I'm posting here (see in My Photos). There was a large Palestine contigent, but that is one of the videos I lost...

And yes, I did make it to the Roman ruins (more pictures in My Photos)...

So, I had a good time today. I need to get some food...

12 NOV 2008: Now I’m barely in Rome...

Well, I am now in Rome, but things didn't work out exactly as planned.

For reasons that I won't discuss (and no, nothing to do with me), I ended up taking the bus from Tralee to Cork, and then flying to Rome. All of this went quite smoothly. However, for the same reasons that I took the bus, I wasn't able to do my homework last night. I guess that is a lesson in waiting for the last minute to do things, but oh well.

The point is once I arrived in Rome I had absolutely no idea what to do. As it was, I didn't arrive until 7:30 so it was already dark and of course I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. Anyway, I dropped a LOT of money for a nice hotel close to the airport and am now sitting in their bar, drinking grossly overpriced Heineken. However, the main thing I needed to do was sit down, hop online, and work out a plan; which I have now done.

Tomorrow, I'll go get a much more reasonably priced place in the City Centre. I'm thinking I'll only spend a few days in Rome - which is absolutely full of Americans - and then start working my way south. This is my first major foray on my own, in a place that doesn't speak English, and so on. I found fun club things to do here in Rome, but I'm not totally sure I even want to do that; we'll see.

[After four beers on a fairly empty stomach - I'm used to Diatou feeding me big meals, and today I've eaten nothing more than a Panini - I'm think I'm about set.]

10 NOV 2008: Quick update...

Just a quick update. I'm getting ready to head off to Italy on Wednesday. The couchsurfing thing didn't work out which really sucks since this will be my first foray into a totally non-English speaking country. I did, however, find the right clubs to go to in Rome, which is good. I'm sure I'll manage.

The basic outline is to spend a bit of time in Rome and then head further south for the winter. Once I get tired of Italy, I'll hop over to Greece, and then when I have to leave Schengen, to Turkey. I'm looking to spend as much time as I can in the East, where my re-settlement opportunities are better and the money goes farther.

On Wednesday, Paul is giving me a ride to Cork (where my flights leaves from) and as long as nothing utterly horrible happens, I shouldn't be back to Ireland until the Spring at the earliest.

The next blog post should be from Rome, Italy.

Not to mention it is MUCH warmer there. The formula for converting celsius is
T x 2 + 32 (where T is the celsius temperature). So here in Ireland it is averaging about 9 [7 x 2 = 14 + 32 = 46F] whereas in Rome it is averaging 18 [18 x 2 = 36 + 32 = 68F].

5 NOV 2008: Last night I got back to Tralee and watched the election...

... on CNN. The Obama sweep went pretty much as I expected and have been saying since before I left the States. I still believe beyond anything else, it was the debates that killed McCain; just as soon as you put the two together - side-by-side - and look and listen to them both, there really is no choice. Obama totally outclasses McCain at every level. Of course, now this that Obama has won the next big question is whether it actually amounts to anything. Frankly I have no idea what he could do to even start getting us out of all the messes Bush has put us into. I suppose we'll see.

In other election news:

My Mom lost her bid for the Georgia State legislature, but that isn't a big srprise since she lives in a die-hard right-wing conservative area and ran as a progressive Democrat. Nevertheless, she pulled in 30% of the vote, which is respectable. For more: Click Here.

Outspoken anti-war Congressman Dennis Kucinich managed to hang on to his seat in Congress for Ohio, which is a good thing. That presimably means that indicting Bush for his many crimes is still on the table in Congress. For more: Click Here.

The Al Franken race is Minnesota is, as of this time, still too close to call. FOX is calling it for Coleman, but that's FOX and no one with a lick of sense considers that a reliable source of news. All the other sources are still saying it is too close and there will probably be a recount.

Another thing that was on my nerves was the way that the MSM was describing Colorado as a "battleground state" and suggesting that it would be very close. This is because I didn't see this at all and predicted an Obama sweep and it looks like I was right about that. The Denver Post is reporting 52.6% to 45% in favor of Obama, Udall got in, and that evil bitch Marilyn Musgrave lost her seat thereby removing a major stain on COlorado. For more: Click Here. Luckily it also seems that the "right-to-work" anti-labor union amendment is about to fail (Amendment 47), the radical anti-choice amendment (Amendment 48) looks to have lost very heavily, and the anti-Affirmative Action amendment is still in the air.

And I don't see anything yet about how the Green Party fared.

Anyway, I'll post another blog later today describing in detail my trip to Navan & Dublin.

4 NOV 2008: My trip to Navan & Dublin

The whole idea behind this trip was just something of a practice run before setting off to the Continent next week and everything went brilliantly.

The first day was just a long – almost all day – bus trip to the other side of the country:



The plan was to make it to Navan and hook up with a Couchsurfer guy there that was going to let me crash at his place during my visit. The only real snag on this day is that once I got to Dublin, it occurred to me that although I had given Cormac my mobile number, I hadn't got his so had no way to contact him once in Navan. Luckily, as it turned out, he realized he hadn't given me his number and sent me a text five minutes after getting off the bus. So everything went well.

We went back to his place, had a couple beers, and both went to sleep early. Cormac had to work the next day and I was just tired from the trip.

The next day I set out with the idea of taking the bus down to Tara, but it was such a nice clear sunny day I decided to walk it instead. It took a couple hours, but was a nice walk. I wanted to see Tara in the day light, before the druids did their fire thing that evening (see previous posts).

One thing that I didn't realize is that the Mound of Hostages, one of the most prominent features at Tara was a megalithic chamber that was open...







I was also a bit surprised to see another standing marker next to the Stone of Destiny (another megalithic standing stone, that was used in the coronation of the ancient Irish kings and would supposedly "sing" when the pagan gods approved of the new king). What was it? A memorial put up by the IRA at Tara in 1938…



After visiting the site in daylight for a couple of hours, I decided to go waking to other sites in the area, like Rath Maeve and the castle at Dunsany. As it was starting to get dark – and cold – I stopped for a bite to eat and went back to Tara.

Unlike last year, when apparently the revival of the Beacon Fire ritual at Tara took the authorities by surprise, one thing I noticed from the outset was that there were large signs all over Tara saying that you could not start fires there anymore. So this already made me suspect that maybe it wouldn't be a big event like it was last year. As the sun went down over Tara, there were a few very small groups of people who obviously knew one another and were up to something, however, a few arsonists on a hill isn't what I had in mind. Further, they all had cars, so if the idea was to just light the fires and leave, I'd be stuck there. I waited until about an hour after dark just to see if all of a sudden a lot more people were going to show up, however, when that didn't happen I walked back to Navan. That was the whole "Halloween was a bust" post earlier. If they had the ritual on the Hill, either it was about ten people in the dark or it happened much later at night.

I had a few drinks with Cormac and went to bed early. Oh well.

The next day I hopped the bus from Navan to Dublin, for the whole goth/EBM night thing I talked about earlier. I found the club easy enough as it was close to the bus station and got a room in a hostel (a whole lot of Americans and Germans there) right around the corner. The rest of the day I just walked around Dublin, which is a big city, just exploring around. I came back to my room and took a nap. Like all of Ireland, Dublin is absurdly expensive, just moreso. So instead of hanging out in the pubs before the club, I just got a bottle of vodka, mixed it with some apple juice, and wondered around some more.

By the time I went to the club – about 11:15 – I was already half tanked which is a good thing since the drinks at the club were even more expensive than in the pubs. The prices really were ridiculous, but that didn't stop me from buying more. The venue was very small – think of maybe the basement level of Milk in Denver – and most people didn't show up until after midnight. Some people I was talking to said this was particularly slow, and probably because it was Halloween weekend and everyone was probably at private parties or broke.

On the upside, the music was excellent, and since the goth/EBM thing is definitely not big in Ireland a number of the other people there were foreigners too. I ended dancing with and then hanging out with a girl from Argentina and had a good time despite the fact that we were both entirely too drunk. It was a good night.

The next day I explored a lot more Dublin; Dublin Castle, the Guinness Brewery, and so on. Then I took the train out to Leixlip where Cormac was, and we went back to Navan. We went out to a couple pubs and had a few pints and that was that.

The last day, as mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to make it out to Newgrange, near Slane. Again it was a lovely day so I decided to walk it and at Cormac's suggestion took the Ramparts walk which is incredibly picturesque:

The castle is Dunmoe Castle, held by the D'Arcy family and burned down in 1799.



The problem was that after I left the Ramparts walk, I didn't know which way to go and went the long way around to the town of Slane. However, from there it was another 10 km to Newgrange, and there was no way I could make it (without calling a taxi) before it closed. So instead I stayed in Slane, ate dinner and had a lot of pints. Later, since it was cold and I was drunk, I did give in and called a taxi back to Cormac's place. There Cormac, his roommate Sara, and I all had some drinks into the morning having a good time talking all manner of stuff.

The next day – yesterday – I got the bus back to Tralee and watched the election (see my earlier post).

So all said it was a successful trial run. I got to do at least some of what I intended, met some cool people (Cormac & Sara in Navan, and people at the club in Dublin), and have a better sense of what I need to take with me as I set off next week.

28 OCT 2008: Heading off to Rome...

Yet again another change of plan. Instead of staying in Ireland, where everything is so absurdly expensive, I'm flying out of Cork to Rome on November 12. The flight is bought and paid for and cost like E30.00, so less than four packs of cigarettes here. I'm still going to Navan for the thing at Tara on Thursday; but I'm not 100% sure I'll be able to make it to Ireland's only regular goth/EBM night in Dublin on the 1st. However, I might be able to make it back to Dublin on the 8th and then go directly from there to Cork.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Rome and will do some looking around on Couchsurfing to see if I can get a place to stay. But either way, it should be LOT cheaper for everything there so I'm not too worried about it. Not to mention Italy is close to a number of places to hop out of Schengen.