get another stamp in my passport

Got three Chinese visas, various entries/exits to China, and a Vietnamese visa…which is where I am now! Hooray!

It would be so cool to get the whole thing stamped. Living in England, when i travel within most of Europe i don’t get it stamped which is disappointing because i like having the record of everywhere i’ve been.

this is a neverending goal for me…more and more and more…however, this time I managed to achieve two of my other 43things goals at the same time…So worth doing!!!

In China. Wut Wut.

Each year since Venice,,,i’ve been toying with going to some other place in Europe. Of course, being almost constantly unemployed over the past 3 years, and being deep in debt,,,this hasnt been anything i could seriously consider….

But with the new Real Jpb looming, i’ve started daydreaming again. I’ve long been fascinated with the areas around Normandy/Brussles (probably from my Medieval History studies). And for no one reason i can think of, Antwerp is a city that calls to me.

I had asked my friend who is a travel agent, what was the overall cheapest airfare to Europe, other than Paris and London, and she said that would be Frankfort. I looked up info about what Frankfor had to offer, but found i’d rather go to Heidelberg. But the costs of flying to one and then getting to the other made it abit prohibative for now.

So i started researching Antwerp…(havent asked about the airfare just yet. I found i could get a very nice youth hostel that included breakfast for less than $500 (american) for 5-6 nights (not bad condsidering the Euro Exchange Rates). There much to be seen just walking around the central area: many many historical churches, ancient foundations (it was established in approx. 970 c.e.) (for me, the OLDER the locale, the BETTER! :), much unique culture and ties to the old spice trade routes. ‘Sound like my kind of place-!

‘Have figure out the cost of airfare yet, and how much i’d need to save to comfortable pay from the daily expenses. (meals, souvineers, museum tickets, etc). But when i get the go-ahead for the new good job,,,,i’m going to start trying to set this up for Nov 2007 or Feb 2008…

‘Cant wait to taste a Genuine Belgian Waffle -!!

:D

I just got a new passport this year, so it’s ripe for new stamps. I got Brussels, Belgium on my way to Morocco (who put it in the very back of the book—good job, Arabic). Next on my list is probably China… we’ll see how that goes.

No passport stamp here for sure. In fact, was told at the border before Port Bou that I couldn´t get into Spain at all with my passport. The exact words were – “Spain not possible, not possible”, weilded with more force than the baton and the revolver the blue suited flic was carrying. But then he walked off, and the train moved on. Since it takes sticks and stones usually to drive me out of a country, here I am… lost in Sergovia at an internet cafe cuz I missed the 1650 to Madrid, and have nothing to do till 1855.

¿Comprende?

With jaunts in Amsterdam, Holland and Brussels, Belgium. (Though, with a carte de sejour, they don’t stamp your passport, but I dare say it counts.) Next on the cards – Italy.

Woo hoo! Genius put it on page 19 – BUT I KNOW IT’S THERE!

My friend Anna mentioned going next spring, when the air rates are lower.