Gettin' Closer

The weather has been so nice that I am actually a little sad to be leaving the paradise that is Deep Cove. But, as we all know, the paraside ends at my front door - where there is a long drop to the pit-of-hell apartment I live in.

The landlord, being a really nice guy, is showing the place while I work today (Sunday) at CTV. My hope is that someone has taken it - and for the 15th - meaning I can get half my rent back for the month.

We'll see.

In other news, Border Freak #1, Peter Hering has issued the latest itinerary for the Great Southeastern European Border Expedition (GSEEBE) -- the fourth one. It is scheduled for May 8 - 21, 2005. Which means I will be planning to take the entire month of May off to travel to my beloved Euroland!!

The highights:

- The adventure begins and ends in Vienna. I will probably fly to London, Dublin, or Copenhagen first - and then to Vienna. This will be the most expensive part of the trip. But I already have 500 Euro kicking around and I will start buying 100 more per payday. They're only $1.56 each. Yikes.

- From Austria we head to Slovakia and Hungary (Gyor, Budapest Szeged).

- Then Romania (Arad, Timisoara)
- Serbia (Belgrade)
- Nice drive along the Danube in Bulgaria (Vidin, Stara Zagora)
- Edirne, Turkey
- Kavala, Greece
- Skjopje, Macedonia
- Triana, Albania
- Podgorica, Montenegro
- The Adriatic Coast
- Dubrovnik, Croatia
- Rural Bosnia (4th visit!)
- Trieste, Italy
- Nova Gorica, Slovenia
and back to Vienna.

The stats:
12 or 13 countries depending on time. 5 or 6 tri-points (places where 3 countries touch), 16 border crossings and visits, and 4500 km of driving.

And for me, it will mean that I'll be adding some new countries to my hitlist:

#40 - Serbia and Montenegro (I was there when it was Yugoslavia)
#41 - Bulgaria
#42 - Greece
#43 - Turkey
#44 - Macedonia
#45 - Albania

Which will mean that by age 42, I will have visited 45 nations. Yay!

This reduction in rent also means that I can count on go on my Guatemala and Belize adventure in February.

It's a busy week ahead: lots of work, lots of packing. If I move on the 15th, there is a crapload of stuff to get at. I almost hope its not until the end of the month... but saving $600 is a good thing too.

Back to the local news grind...

Cheers