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Say you’re leavin’ on the 7:30 train and that you’re headin’ out to Hollywood

Well, actually it’s the 11:00 train to Kings Cross, but anyway…the time has come for me to ship out of Edinburgh. My gear is mostly packed up, and I’m heading out tomorrow, to spend the next few months on the road.

Edinburgh is a fabulous city, both to live in and to visit. Even when you’ve been here a while, you still find that it will suprise you when you go into a new area, and find more amazing views, or beautiful architecture. Last week I went on a bike tour of the city, and even though I knew the general area, I still found myself suprised by different views on the city. If you are in the city, the bike tour is well worth doing – it’s much more interactive than a bus tour, and you find yourself getting much more involved. For the less fit out there, don’t worry, it’s not too difficult, as there are lots of stops, and you don’t have to go straight up any of the steeper parts.

The other thing I did was go along part of the Waters of Leith Walkway, from Stockbridge up to Roseburn. This is a really nice walk, well worth the effort. It’s not especially widely-known or utilised, but it is well worth the effort. It gives you a much different view of the city to walking along the roads.

Last night I went out to the England/Scotland game with Craig – fantastic evening, great atmosphere at the game, 67,000 people all screaming for Scotland. The crowd went crazy at the end, with Scotland pulling off a great upset win. Town was packed later on, with plenty of happy fans, and a few Englishmen drowning their sorrows. I was fully looking the part, with a kilt and Scotland jersey on. Apart from risking hypothermia, it was good too. Women seem to go a bit crazy over a man in a kilt though…

I’m not sure how regularly I’ll be able to post updates over the next few months, but I’ll try and put some on content every now and then, even if it’s just a short note on whatever country I’m currently in.

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Where I’m at, where I’m going, and LOTS OF PHOTOS!

Thought it was about time for a bit of an update on what’s happening in my life, and where I’m planning on traveling.

I’ve only got three weeks to go at work here, and it can’t come soon enough – I’ve got very itchy feet, and I’m looking forward to being on the road again. End of February I’m on the road, heading to NZ for a month. I’ve got a few things planned – Tongariro Crossing, Queen Charlotte track (by bike), the Otago Rail Trail, plus a fair bit of driving around. And perhaps more importantly, catching up with friends and family.

After that, I’m going to San Francisco for a few days, before carrying on to London. I’ve wanted to go to San Fran for a while, and this is a good chance. Plus I get to fly Air NZ, presumably on the fancy revamped planes. Plan is to catch up with Bruce and Blair in London, before flying to Libya for a couple of weeks. Due to visa hassles, I then fly back to London, stay overnight, then on to Cairo. From there, I’ll work my way around Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Depending on timing, I’ll then either go overland back to the UK, or fly. The only set date I have is to get back to see The Eagles at Twickenham on June 17th. Should be a good trip through the Middle East, hopefully the political situation isn’t too bad along the way. I’m sure things are often different on the ground anyway. After that, I’ll probably need to find another contract, to get some more cash.

I’ve told some people about this, but not everyone’s aware of it yet – I’ve got my own complete website up and running now. It works out a bit better for me in terms of uploading photos, and formatting things just the way I want to. Problem is that I don’t really know how to do the formatting I want, or for that matter, what formatting I actually do want. So it’s still a work in progress, but I’ve got quite a few photos uploaded now – everything from 2005 onwards. I still want to upload some photos from my 2004 travels, but for that can wait for now. I’ll keep fiddling around with the formatting until I get something I like a bit more, but it’s passable for now. Suggestions are welcome. I would like to integrate my blog stuff more with it, but that could be a bit of a hassle, so for now I’ll keep my blog here. So check out Northland Boy. Dig around in the photo sections, see what you think.