Its bizarre what I consider when I choose the next destination. Should I save it for next year? Will anyone else want to go? Will it be good weather? Would it be better going another time? How much is it? It makes it really hard. I have always planned to make Italy and Switzerland my big two - but having dipped into Switzerland already, I think I could probably quite happily to multiple trips to different cities rather than doing a big two week trek through them.

So these are my choices:

• 2 weeks through Slovenia and Croatia
• 2 weeks from Madrid through Barcelona the French Riviera and down through Italy to Rome
• 1 week just in Spain + 1 week (later) just in Italy
• Somewhere entirely different.

Arghhhh!

It’s just not quite what I thought I would get in there for.

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It was actually terrible weather and we proabably saw no more than 4 hours of play, despite being there for nine.

First up we saw Ashley Harkleroad play terribly against Vinci, which kept Dave’s Italian roots happy and saw googbye to my piece of eye candy - oh well, I won’t be back. Afterwards, Dane and Jacqui joined us from work and we caught up and watched Molik smash Rodionova. Halfway through we spotted Adam Hills from Spicks and Specks in Molik’s corner. Later he joined Todd Woodbridge and in came Liz Smylie and her daughter - who, apparently, Dane taught. So off he went and mingled with ‘the stars’.

All in all it wasn’t a bad day - just ruined by the weater. By 6pm it was bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky. Just our luck! I had my strawberries and cream, but I know for sure, I don’t care who is playing - I will never want to line up overnight for tickets!

For those that don’t know, Wicked is based on a novel by Gregory Maguire, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”, which I have to say was an unusual read - but a very entertaining musical.

The story centres around the back story of Oz and ties up all of the loose ends about everything you didn’t know from the Wizard of Oz. How did the Wizard get to Oz? How did the Tinman, Scarecrow and Lion come to be and what exactly did ‘The Wizard of Oz’ not show us?

I’ve got to say I loved it. The story was strong, the music was great (although a little out of balance and hard to hear clearly in parts) and they certainly spared no expense on the set or props.

After a little bit of difficulty getting into the start of it, I think it really grew on Gran and Al and in the end, they thought it was great. I really didn’t know what to expect because it was always going to be a gamble whether or not it was their kind of thing.

All in all a great night out.

On Sunday afternoon, I caught up with them again and we went for a drink and some food at the Shakespeare, near their hotel. Not a bad little pub, but again, part of a chain, so the menu (to me) was very familiar. Still, you can’t go past the Chicken Kiev.

And that was it. Short and sweet. It was really nice to catch up with them and is probably the last time I’ll see them face to face for at least a year. Still, I guess I get to see all of their hijinx on the rest of the tour, when I edit their video.

Firstly, I moved into my new place. Things are going to be really good there, I can feel it. It will take a little while to get used to new noises (living on a main road) but the flatmates from first encounters appear to be my kind of people.

So not only do I get a new place, but I find a shop that sells Milo. I hadn’t craved it until that little green tin started calling me. I did limit myself to just one tin though.

Content with that, I went home and stopped off at the local Tesco for some dinner ingredients (to put in my fridge that I don’t have to share with 100 others)…. I found good Vegemite! Apparently there are two Vegemites in London (both rare) one is Made in England and the other Made in Australia - you know which will taste best.

So, all I need to do know is stumble across a small pile of burger rings and cherry ripes and the world is my oyster!

So I had discussions at work. This was a unique opportunity, not only could I leave Ireland ahead in terms of gambling, but I could also leave the UK ahead if I stopped now. It was decided that stopping now would be no fun, so I cashed out £2 and bought another ticket.

Scratch…scratch…scratch… WIN! £18. This, when converted to $A, is my second biggest win. So I’ve cashed out for now safe in knowing that I can live to fight another day.

I’m a traveller in London. I’m a freelancer at an agency. I have two days left before I leave and yet I’m here past 8pm three days in a row getting things in order.

I see people wave goodbye and wonder, why am I still here? Yet cannot seem to leave this half finished.

Damn you! *oooh, dinner just arrived!*

1. Waitangi Day Pub Crawl. So I’m not a kiwi and nor do I want to be, but I caught up with Kel and her kiwi friends for the circle line pub crawl. In short, the concept is remarkably simple. Get on the tub at Paddington and catch it to Westminster, stopping at each station for a pint. You cannot sit down on the tube and you cannot hang on. I passed with flying colours and managed to watch 8,000 crazy kiwis and a few others stand in Westminster square to do the haka. Then it was off to the Walkabout for a few more.
2. Camden Markets. Hmmm very interesting. Cool place with a heap of weird stuff to buy, but you really need to go there to sit in a pub and just watch people.
3. Chinese New Year. The year of the Pig. WHile watching the parade going down Chinatown its easy to see that the Chinese have been steering their dragons for years and the British are amateurs. For the largest Chinese New Year celebrations outside of China, I had to question where the Chinese actually were.

The trip, I will never do again. By the time I had checked into my hostel, I have been travelling for over 27 hours. Despite that, the trip wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Soon after boarding, we were told that the flight had been delayed by 40 minutes for repairs (that instills a great deal of confidence). The positive however was that it meant rather than three hours transit in Thailand, I only had to wait for two.

Its a big thumbs up to Thai Airways “Entertainment on Demand” service. I managed to program in some of my favourite music, played some Nintendo and watch Open Season and Pirates of the Caribbean 2 before arriving in Thailand.

Thailand was a bit of a blur considering I didn’t leave the airport. I did manage however to find a soapie that was a cross between Days of Our Lives and Home & Away. The ads however were more fun. Very familiar ads, very familiar products, just with Thai faces and Thai writing. A soap ad is a soap ad in every country it seems.

Also, a hot tip: McDonald’s has released in Thailand what they choose to call the McRice burger!

The second leg was very uninteresting. More leg room but no Entertainment on Demand, so being predictably boring I chose to sleep (in 15 minute intervals). Once I got into London I was very tired and it was a delightful 1 degree. It did however snow in my honour.

The hostel is quite nice and the guys I am bunking with are all Aussies (you can count the non-Aussies on one hand: Canadian, Kiwi, South African, Norweigan and Slovenian) After a few beers last night today is not so wonderful, but being Australia Day I have a BBQ and a cricket game to go and get involved in (and £2 crownies).

Stay tuned!

Whilst technically, I am still in Beta Mode until I completely modify the theme, I have decided that I have done enough to relaunch in the lead up to my move overseas.

The whole process has been a steep learning curve. Originally starting with Ben Gray’s Unsleepable theme for Wordpress, I have spent far too long a little while learning how to customise themes through image replacement and CSS.

So what comes next? In the essence of keeping a log for the next few weeks…

• There is a bug with the theme and my Google Maps plugin (I’d better email someone who knows)
• I haven’t yet modified the CSS for plugins and other areas that aren’t in use
• I need to populate my pages with content!
• The contact page probably needs a form

So, stay posted and hopefully we will all see this improve over time.