An interesting note...

Logging in from Pisa has changed the language for blogger.com to Italian -- which is making a simple post, well...not as simple. :) For example, all but like three words in this post are apparently spelled incorrectly. :)

Rob v. Kipp's Sleep

So far the battle's not even fair -- Rob, is winning hands down. I'm working on about 4 hours of sleep though...over the past 3 nights, which makes me do cranky things like...well, like this :D: Re-live my nights by doing the following: + download this: + set your volume to max + loop the wave file... I tried, earplugs...I tried noise-cancellation headphones...finally, I tried earplugs AND noise-cancellation headphones AND loud music! The last one worked, but it was hard to sleep with... :) He's not a man, he's a snoring machine! To be fair, I think it might have more to do with jetlag, but this is a lot funnier... :)

Ciao!

We made it to Pisa! After a lot of walking we think we've finally stumbled on the tower...long story. Actually, short story...we have not bought a map. I decided to use the "force" to guide me to the tower. Either the "force" is a crock of sh*t or I don't have any...because we got lost. I'm going with I don't have any... Ok, time to see the tower! P.S. Funny story about our cab ride from the airport...to be continued.
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A couple pics to tide you over...

Another busy day is down and Rob and I have <4 hours to sleep (and pack and shower...) before we head to the airport for Pisa. So not much time for a detailed report, but I'll give a quick recap of our last two days. Wednesday: British Museum, a (very) quick jog down Picadilly Circus, a pass through Trafalgar Square, a jaunt through St. James Park, a peek at Buckingham Palace, a lunch at the pub, and the football match... Thursday: A couple quick pints, Tower Bridge, a look at the Thames, Tower of London tour, and dinner... Friday: Current plans are an early trip to the airport and then a relaxing day in Pisa... Rob and I both promise lengthier, more detailed posts when we get a little more time to relax in Florence (or maybe Pisa). Hope all is well in the States! Cheers, Kipp Here are a couple randomly selected pics from the last couple days to tide people over...

Arsenal 3 - Prague Sparta 0!

Well, there was some surrounding drama about how we finally got our tickets, but in the end we got 'em and the game was great!! I promise a more detailed post in the morning (with pictures from a variety of other spots), but for now, enjoy a couple shots and a video from tonight's game (use headphons for the video)! Cheers from London! Kipp and Rob

We're in!

Well, we just got off a very nice, fast flight to London, have our bags, went through customs, and are now awaiting our train to Paddington. All that and we've only been given two dirty looks (that we noticed) - one for saying Heathrow smelled better than SMF and one when Rob said, "Oh man, I don't think my cell ever turned off." :)

Off the train now which emptied nearly directly into the hotel lobby. Fosha already looks like a local - Brits are asking him for directions!

Bangers and mash for me and fish and chips for Rob...welcome to London!

Waiting for the hotel room then it's off to beg for our Arsenal tickets! Bye for now!
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And we're off...almost.

Rob and I are on board and sipping some champagne - woot! 9 hours and 1 minute flying time today... Next time I blog, hopefully, will be from London!
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I'm not even in Europe yet and I'm already the dumb American...

I've run into a couple minor, but humorous, snags trying to secure the apartment in Florence. The initial booking was easy enough, but this week payment in full was required, as was a deposit of 1000 euros. It seemed simple enough. I clicked on a link and some data was requested. All of it was pretty standard. I fumbled a bit when it came to the passport number which is (hopefully) just a 9-digit number found in the back of the passport. Unfortunately, I didn't know that and was trying to figure out how to decipher the 39-digit, 4-character code in the *front* of my passport. :) Still, I persevered and all looked to be in the clear until I came upon the mysterious "Reg. N." field. I had (have) no idea what this could be. So, rather than screwing something up, I emailed the apartment company for some assistance. Perhaps the company is based in Sparta or at the very least lives by their code, because after two days my response was no response at all...which I translated into "You've got to be kidding me...you need to figure that out on your own." And figure it out I did!! ...I think...my guess was that it was my order number from back in May. Fortunately I still had the old email and I punched in the number and happily hit send. Here's where the real fun began. The deposit cleared my card, no problem. "Sweet!" I thought, "This is cake." I moved on to the rent payment. The data (including my possibly bogus "Reg. N." value) was all automatically loaded in! This left me with a quick entry for my credit card (and a completely false sense of security and accomplishment) and voila! I was done...wait...something wasn't quite right. As I stared at the two emails in my inbox it took me a second or two to figure out why they looked a little different. Short story...the rent payment was rejected! Gasp! "Crap," I thought, "I must have entered the wrong credit card number." Attempt 2...rejected. Attempt 3...rejected. "What...the...f*ck!" I exclaimed. As I began the fourth attempt I noticed another email in my inbox. The name looked familiar. "Oh crap." It was the Italian woman assigned to help me a while back with securing the apartment. I won't quote the exact email, but it very politely said basically this: "Dear Chris. I see that you're being repeatedly rejected in your attempts to pay the rent. Maybe it would be a good idea to call your credit card company rather than just submitting the charge over and over again and expecting different results. Just an idea. Best regards." As you can see, I've made a stellar first impression. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm already down two strikes with my new Italian friends. Here's to hoping they like p*nis jokes!! :D

The Mall

As some of you who are familiar with the area have noticed from the tracker, Rob and I are shopping! It's pretty much the best girls' day ever!

I haven't shopped at the mall in a couple of years, but it's still as entertaining as hell (which I imagine would be pretty damn entertaining...pun sadly intended). Basically, it's a bunch of moms, trophy wives, and two 30-something dudes shopping for their european vacation. :| Hmmm, maybe this is hell. Hey at least we're non-threatening... Which was proven when the girl at nordstroms started talking about her super-great boyfriend... Sigh.

I think it's time for a beer...find out where to meet us via the tracker. :)
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Tech Check and Tracking Info

Well, we're just a few days away from the big sabbatical trip and it's time to ensure all my tech is working. This entry is being written on my new Blackberry. If things work correctly we should also get a nice pic of the new toy with this post as well! In addition to the blog test, I'll also be testing the GPS functionality. And good news...you get to have some fun too! You can check in on me and get my current location by going to http://bb.tech9computers.com/login/ and using the following account info: Username: trackrobandkipp Password: track Once in you can "Track Friends!" And follow the next couple links to get my latest location. It's not the most straightforward way to go I know, but it's free and it works worldwide. :) That's all for this experiment. Please be sure to leave some comments about how things work and what else you'd like to see! Cheers! -KO Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T