Taylor Vafiades

Well it’s been about almost a month since I got back from Europe and I have to say its really good to be home. Although I enjoyed my time away it really made me appreciate being back in the USA. I will take the California sun over England’s constant rain and clouds any day! My only regret was not having time to say goodbye to all the great people I met along the way. Hopefully some of you will come out to visit! In the short time I was back in California I was able to go fishing with Glen a few times and make it to Nocturnal Wonderland with Brian and Shelly before jumping on a plane to New York. I’m going to be here for at least another week or two handling some business with my Mom and should have the opportunity to take some great photos. The air is remarkably clear here so I’ve used the past week to cough Europe out and get back to exercising. I ran two miles last night which isn’t much but after 3 months of partying you got to start somewhere.  Some notable pictures so far are this grocery store in Queens that looks like a prison, this egg at Wholefoods and a line of 50 people outside of Trader Joes Manhattan.

I like to think of myself as a pretty open minded guy but this I just couldn’t get my head around black pudding. And because of that I wanted to try it and came pretty close to doing so. Eventually I realized that there is really no reason these days to eat such a thing. Organs I understand in rough times but I can’t imagine the situation that would come up where you would need to eat blood. That’s super rough. At least I found my limit which I don’t think is too bad.  My trip to Scotland was great except the hotel I stayed at was in the middle of nowhere and was about 20 miles from town. Plus they didn’t have any food really except breakfast where I could get some lovely black pudding. I had one really good day of weather there so I did manage to take a boat out on the Loch, go to the Foyer and see the Eilean Donan Castle where Highlander was filmed. I was also able to snap a pretty good shot of Nessie below.

I met a pretty cool cab driver who took some pictures of me also. I didn’t eat much while I was there and ended up catching the Scotch Flu as Toenails put it. It’s basically just a really horrible cold and I ended up passing it to Eric and Mark when I got back. In fact I have been in England for a few days now just trying to get geared up for driving up to Holland with Eric and TIffany tonight. Copious amounts of rest combined with Trailer Park Boys and Futurama over the past few days and I feel great today and ready to take the ferry to France! Waste of time? Nope. I am, after all, on vacation.

Tiffany just got here and we’re getting ready to leave when Eric gets home from work.  Only two more weeks in Europe and then its back to California. I’m only in California 6 days and then I’m off to New York for a month with my Mom. Originally I intended to keep this blog just for my Europe trip but I think I’m going to continue to keep it for my trip to New York and travel beyond. I can’t wait to get back to California and work on Media Medic with much support from friends like Brian and Shelly and Jurgen. Working for myself should allow me to continue to do the things I like to do and travel and still be in “the system”.

The weather here has been typical for a summer in England but has been driving me nuts. Sunny outside one minute raining harder than you’ve ever seen sideways the next then sunny 30 minutes after that. Because of this I wasn’t able to iron out a beach trip to Cornwall. I was able to work with Eric and get the website for one of the businesses (www.mediamedic.org) we are going to be working on in the states. It’s live but still needs minor corrections and additions.  If you see any errors please send them to Taylor@mediamedic.org.  Eric’s dad has already let us know about a few things we might want to look at and those should be corrected shortly.

Back to my trip.  I decided to take a train up to Inverness in the highlands of Scotland for a few nights. It was tough for me to find a place to stay in such short notice but I was able to after a few hours on the phone. I’m excited about seeing the castles and William Wallace exhibit.  Maybe I’ll even catch a glimpse of our underwater ally. I should be able to take some amazing pictures there assuming the weather is somewhat decent.

A side note before I leave. My power adapter I brought from the states for my laptop melted tonight. I have 1 hour or so until my computer is dead for the rest of the trip unless I go and try to find another one. I’m bummed because it just happened but won’t worry about it until I get back.

So I’ve been trying to get a few websites up before I leave to the beach because lately the weather has been shitty here in England. It’s given me time to dust off my HTML skills and think about new ways to generate traffic. I was thinking Spain but might just go down to Cornwall and chill out for a few days before I begin the last stretch of my trip.  I have also been trying to keep up on emails and getting pictures up. I was able to get a few for DOTS that Eric took but I have tons more for it as well as Brighton , Ghent and Rotterdam. I will do my best to get this done before I leave in the next few days. I wasn’t sure if anyone actually read this blog for the first month or two but it’s worth all the time I put into it knowing that some people do even though they might be busy with other stuff. I have been listening to a lot of good music out here in the UK as well and wanted to make a video section on this blog but it didn’t work out. I can’t link most of the stuff I want to from youtube. Sam Sparro - Black and Gold is the first song I really heard in the UK. I dig that new Weezer video Pork and Beans and Perfect Situation too. Euro late night MTV is unmatched. Time for me to go upload some more pictures.

Eric got his .mobi address for his http://www.pixelfactor.org website which is really great because it can be accessed via cellphone now. Below is a blurb from his new http://pixelfactor.mobi address. To the right is a few other blogs I enjoy reading from different people I know.

I just got off a night train from Amsterdam to Berlin and am waiting a few hours to check into the hostel I am staying at on the east side. As the fog clears I can finally reflect on my experience in Amsterdam. I really wanted to do a day by day post while I was there but as soon as I got into the groove of things there I quickly realized that wasnt going to happen. I really believe that I got the true Amsterdam experience though. At first I was eager to go see this or that museum simply because it was there and I felt like I needed to since I was there. After the second day I stopped beating myself up for not making it to any of the sights I intended to and began to really dive into the heart of the city. What Amsterdam is really about in my opinion is this.

- Meeting new interesting people going to and from all around the world
- Taking yourself to new heights never before been reached
- Being in the most relaxed social setting of like minded people imaginable

I think me staying at the flying pig hostel had a lot to do with the outcome of my experience. The staff there are great and the setting unmatched. I met more people in the past week than I have ever met in my entire life. This trip really forced me to be social which was tough at first but very rewarding in the end. The great thing about traveling around Europe is that you always have an instant icebreaker. “Where are coming from?” and “Where are you going after this?”.

Besides the fantastic atmosphere what else does Amsterdam offer that nowhere else does?Convenience. Where else can you stumble out in the middle of the night worry free and get booze, munchies, weed and a woman all on the same block? And while the states offer all these things individually Amsterdam packages them up nicely for you and puts a bow on top by turning a blind eye. Nayesayers to the legalization of marijuana and prostitution might lead you to believe that this type of setup would surely cause mayhem when in fact its just the opposite. I didnt see one fight or one person out of control. Plus you have to love the fact that everyone rides a bike! They even have separate lanes just for the bikes. I didnt ride the tram there but to anyone planning on going to Amsterdam be mindful of them for sure. They are so quiet that you can turn around and see one about to hit you if you arent paying attention when you are crossing. Also bike and cars have the right of way.

*I just saw this guy Phil I met in Amsterdam in the lobby. Pub Crawl Berlin style tonight maybe*

If I have one regret its not taking as many pictures as I could’ve while in Amsterdam. The first day I went out I didnt take my camera and ended up seeing a guy on a 10 foot unicycle blindfolded juggling flaming torches in Dam square. Besides the few photos of the city I was able to take I did manage to get one or two photos of myself with other people. Finding someone who could actually operate my camera properly proved difficult. Yes I know pushing a button down half way until it focuses and then pressing it down all the way seems simple to you and I now but explaining this in a smoke filled room over music never seemed to work out well. The shots I did get I should be able to post in about a week.

Oh and mayo on fries is the bomb. ;D

Well in a few hours Eric is off to the states and I’m headed into London with him. I got two days to mill around before my flight leaves for Holland. The most important thing I have to get done before I leave is finding a power cable for the Tom Tom GPS Eric is letting me use. This thing is sweet and I should have no problems navigating around as long as I can keep it powered up. Also, I was able to pick up a cell phone while I’ve been here. It also keeps me logged into skype so I can send and receive text and voice over IP calls too while I am in England. Anyone that has a computer can download it and install it for free. That part wont work on my cell while I am traveling for the next two weeks however. I should be able to have a lot more time to sit down and post descriptively and email people assuming I can find Internet cafes along the way. Eric and I have basically been out every night since I got here and its been a total blast. Now I’m ready to do ton of walking and take some pictures!

Phone number is 0 7533355265

skype is buffw1

Here is a picture of me and two Italian girls we met at Brainfeeder last night.

Things have been crazy and I really haven’t had a chance to sit and the computer and post. I was able to post pictures from this last weekends rage, Stonehenge and Windsor Castle here. We got to Windsor too late to go inside so I will be going back another day. Eric is headed back to the states on Monday for two weeks so I will be flying to Holland on Wednesday and probably take a train to Germany from there. Since I will be leaving my laptop at his house hopefully I will be able to find an Internet cafe along the way. Also, I should be picking up a cell phone today if I can get there in time today.

I was finally able to get my first batch of photos off my camera and uploaded a few of them here. This photo site is also available by clicking the hobo turtle on the right. I’m still working on getting the slideshow to work on the blog page and will move it up once I do. I spent most of yesterday at the British Museum . For those of you that know me I don’t have to tell you I went right for the Egyptian and Mesopotamian artifacts. I ended up walking through the entire museum twice to make sure I did’nt miss anything.

I’m off to get ready Eric should be here soon and we are headed into London for the rest of the weekend. Cheers!

I’m guessing some of you are wondering why I haven’t posted any pictures. Well, quite simply, getting an American appliance(i.e. laptop) to work in Europe can be a major pain in the ass. At first I thought I fried my laptop and I still might have but I’m leaning more towards this US power adapter I brought being a piece or the fact that Eric has this power strip I’m plugging into bridged off like 3 other power strips. Or it could be solar flares I really don’t know. Either way I’m only able to charge my laptop for about 15 minutes before this adapter gets too hot and in turn stops charging. That’s with the laptop off. If I turn the laptop on the adapter lasts about 5 minutes before meltdown. So what I’m doing is plugging it in and charging then unplugging and waiting. I should be able to get enough juice in it this way to at least get my pictures off my camera. If I don’t figure out this power problem soon though I may have to shelf my laptop and go to plan B.