Brandon O'Brien

Friday, May 20, 2011 @ 7:50 PM in 2011 London

On May 16th, Eric messaged me saying he wanted to go on a vacation before he started his new job. A few minutes later he mentioned going to London. We had been talking about going back to Europe since a group of us went in August / September 2008 for a friend's wedding. After giving some flights a quick look and seeing the pricing was fairly reasonable for such short notice, I said sure.

Eric still needed to get confirmation that he had the time available before starting his new job to take a full week long vacation. After a day of waiting for confirmation, he finally got it. We really started looking at flights then and finally booked them on May 18th. That night we also did a lot of research and found a hotel that got a lot of good reviews, had free breakfast and was close to a tube station. We made our reservations and then started compiling a list of everything we might want to see.

I created a shared Google Docs document and we started adding things that night and the next day. On the 19th we started putting a rough itinerary together based on the location of the areas of interest, the time we planned on spending there and the hour of operation (if applicable).

Our first iteration had us in London every day except for one that we allocated for getting outside the city. After checking Frommer's, we decided we were grossly over estimating the time we needed to spend at each location. We also cut out a few things that weren't really high on our list.

Our final itinerary, shown at the bottom of this post, is what we ended up with. We thought that doing a bike tour to hit the major sights and get some information about them was the best way to start the trip.

We allocated Monday the 6th to seeing a lot of the Royalty and governmental sight seeing destinations. Tuesday takes us to the Tate Modern and Tower of London to see the crown jewels. We're also planning on seeing a performance at Shakespeare's Globe that night. Wednesday sees some more tourist spots as well as the National Gallery and British Museum. Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be spent touring some areas outside the city, including Dover, Canterbury Cathedral, Windsor, Cotswolds, Bath and more.

All in all we got quite a bit planned and figured out in the matter of a few days. We're hoping that by putting the itinerary together, it'll help us see everything we want and not resort to aimlessly walking around hoping we run into something cool (which happened more than we'd like to admit on our last trip to Europe.) Stay tuned for more updates and information as the trip gets under way!

Trip Itinerary

Everything we're seeing (Google Maps)

Friday, June 3

• 12.45 - Eric departs from LAX
• 16.15 - Brandon departs from ABQ

Saturday, June 4

• 10.35 - Eric arrives in LHR
• 12.25 - Brandon arrives in LHR
• 14.00 - Check into our hotel
• Walk to Hyde park / Kensington Gardens from our hotel
• Dinner, then sleep

Sunday, June 5

• Bike tour along River Thames
• Regents Park
• Jack the Ripper tour at night

Monday, June 6

• Buckingham Palace
• Downing Street
• Big Ben / Parlament
• Westminster Abbey tour
• London Eye
• Harrod's

Tuesday, June 7

• Tower of London tour
• Millennium Bridge
• Tate modern
• "Much ado about nothing" at Shakespeare's Globe theatre

Wednesday, June 8

• Piccadilly Circus
• National Gallery
• British Museum

Thursday, June 9

• Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath tour (all day)

Friday, June 10

• Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral and Dover tour (all day)

Saturday, June 11

• Blenheim Palace and Cotswolds tour (all day)

Sunday, June 12

• Check out of hotel
• Depart back to the US

Tags: london, england

Posted from: United States

Monday, September 6, 2010 @ 7:00 PM in General Travel

On our last day out, we decided we had enough freeze dried backpacking meals for breakfast and I had some poptarts I brought. We headed out after that and started riding to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

About 20 miles outside Pagosa Springs we had to climb a few thousand feet in elevation (the shots from Day 2 when we were overlooking the big valley). The temps dropped dramatically and we started to freeze. Fortunately it warmed up pretty quick after that.

The ride to the Sand Dunes area was nice and scenic. There are a few towns along the way where it goes from 65mph to 25mph in about a half mile, so you really need to watch out.

We got to the sand dunes at around 11am and walked around there. It was like being in the middle of a huge desert. Sand everywhere and the dunes were probably 1,000 feet high off the ground at some spots. We saw people sledding and sandboarding.

Since we still had a long day ahead of us, we didn't climb all the way to the top, but we did get to walk around on them for a bit.

After leaving there, we got stuck in a long line of cars heading back to the interstate. When we hit Walsenburg we split up and Ryan headed back to Denver and I went south to Albuquerque.

I stopped in a little town called Wagon Mound to fuel up, stretch and get a 5 hour energy when all of a sudden some ambulances flew by and a medi-copter landed on the interstate. Apparently there was some huge accident just before I got off the interstate that I wasn't aware of (it was the direction opposite the way I was going).

They had the interstate blocked both directions about 1 mile out each way. Luckily they hadn't closed the onramp and I was able to get on the interstate just fine. The road was my own for about 20 miles before I started coming across any cars again. It was a very strange feeling.

All in all the trip was a blast. My ass hurt beyond belief the last day from riding so much, but I guess that's all part of the experience.

Total miles today: 487

Teaser photos:

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Tags: motorcycle, labor day 2010

Posted from: United States

Sunday, September 5, 2010 @ 7:00 PM in General Travel

Today we got up early and had breakfast (more freeze-dried backpacking meals). We then hit the road and headed out to Mesa Verde. It was about 100 miles to get to the National Park, and then we had to ride through it.

On the way there, it started to get overcast and we thought it might rain, which i wasn't too excited about since I had left my saddlebags and rain gear at the campsite. Fortunately the clouds broke and the day turned beautiful.

We got to Mesa Verde and rode through the park looking at all the sites. The way the park's set up is pretty much everything is within a 1/2 mile walk from the road, so you just drive/ride around and pull over at designated areas and walk to see things.

We started by going to the visitor center and learning we got there too late to go on the guided tour through the biggest cliff dwelling there (Long house). They had some later tour spots open but we didn't want to wait around there all day or else we'd be riding back to the campsite at night.

We ended up doing the driving tour and got to see Long House from across a valley and got to see some other dwellings up close.

I'd highly recommend this as a place to go see. Just make sure you fuel up first because there's about 50-60 miles of road back through here to drive around.

We stopped for a late lunch in the park then headed back to the campsite.

When we got back to our campsite, we realized the beer we had leftover from the night before was rather warm. Since our campsite was against a river, we decided to ghetto-cool them and just put them in the river for a half hour and then sat there and drank them as they got colder.

We still had one bundle of firewood left but decided we wanted to get more, so before it got too dark we found a huge log we could burn and proceeded to burn it down the middle so we could have free firewood for several hours (vs. paying $5 per bundle). It worked well then we got tired and went to bed.

Total distance today: 240 miles

Teaser photos:

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Tags: motorcycle, labor day 2010

Posted from: United States

Saturday, September 4, 2010 @ 7:00 PM in General Travel

We woke up and ate and then started riding around 9:00am. We took 285 to 112 to 160 which lead us right to our campground (about a mile east of Pagosa Springs).

There was quite a bit of traffic the first half of the ride, but the scenery was amazing. We only almost got lost once (almost started heading east on 24 instead of staying on 285/24W).

We started getting really hungry but couldn't find any places that looked good to eat along the way, so we decided just to wait until we got to Pagosa. When we got into town we stopped at the first place we could find and got some burgers. This was about 2:30 and there must have been 2 waitresses working for the entire restaurant. That would have been fine any other day, but it just so happened there was a huge motorcycle rally about 40 miles away in Durango and there were a ton of people looking to eat here. We finally got our food and ate and went to check into our campsite around 3:45.

We got our campsite set up and then decided to go into town and relax in some of the hot springs after being on the bike all day. The hot springs were nice, but smelled like sulfur. The pools ranged from 89-109 degrees. We stayed in the 100 degree pool the whole time.

After drying off, we decided to hunt down a liquor store and buy some beers for the night. After riding back and forth along the main drag 3-4 times looking for a liquor store the iphone said existed, we finally stumbled upon one and bought some beers.

We got back to the campground and started a fire and ate (we just brought the freeze-dried backpacker meals and had those for breakfast and dinner).

After eating an when the fire died down, we decided to call it a night and went to sleep. It got down into the high 30's that night, but luckily our sleeping bags were good for temps well below that.

Total distance today: 275 miles

Teaser photos:

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Tags: motorcycle, labor day 2010

Posted from: United States

Friday, September 3, 2010 @ 7:00 PM in General Travel

I purchased some Nelson Rigg CL-950 saddlebags from NewEnough and packed them up the night before. In the morning I attached everything to my bike and headed off.

Since we were camping, I had to pack a sleeping bag and my sleeping pad. Amazingly, I was able to fit everything on the bike without any real issues. I also bought a magnetic tank bag that came in handy for gloves, camera and other misc. stuff.

When I left Albuquerque at 7:30am, there were wind gusts hitting about 50mph. Luckily that died down a few miles out of the city. It got colder and colder and I had to stop and put on my heavy gloves.

I stopped for lunch in Trinidad, CO and then started riding again. By now the temps were warming up and I could switch back to my summer riding gloves.

The ride was pretty uneventful, just normal highway riding, and I made it to my buddy's house around 3pm or so.

That night, we went to REI and bought a new camping stove and I bought a little folding chair (which you'll see below). We ate and had some drinks and then went to sleep.

Total distance today: 440 miles

Teaser photos:

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Tags: motorcycle, labor day 2010

Posted from: United States

Tuesday, December 25, 2007 @ 12:00 PM in General Travel

This year my parents decided to book a four-day cruise for the family. The cruise stopped in Key West and Cozumel, Mexico each for a day and then we had a day at sea on the way back to Tampa. The cruise was a lot of fun aside from some of the huge lines we had to wait in to get on and off the ship in the ports. The ship was the Royal Caribbean "Grandeur of the Sea" and was a little smaller than the cruise we went on a few years ago (this one didn't have the putt-putt course on the 9th floor).

In Key West we went on the "Conch Train"... a tour through the island that pointed out different historical facts and showed various aspects of the island. The tour guide was funny and informative and made the tour fun. After that we walked up and down Duvaul street (the main drag in Key West) and went into a lot of the little shops. There were a lot of bums/street performers lining most of Duvaul street. Some of the better ones were the people who dress up like statues and pose. That night was formal night on the cruise, so we had to leave the island a little early to get dressed up and do photos and everything. The food was good and we had some wine with dinner.

The second stop was Cozumel, Mexico. When we got off the boat we took a taxi to Chankanaab State Park where we planned to relax on the beach and snorkel. When we got there, we picked out some seats and rented some snorkeling gear and got into the water. The water was surprisingly clear and warm. We stayed there for a few hours and then got a taxi back into town where we walked through some shops. The shops mostly had the same things over and over... if you saw one store, you saw about 95% of them. Instead of eating on the boat we grabbed dinner at a restaurant overlooking the main street and ocean.

Our last day on the ship was spent at sea. I spent most of this day laying out on the deck or in the hot tub. When not relaxing I was usually eating. All the free food on the ship was definitely cool and I got my fare share of food on the trip.

The trip went by pretty fast but it was still fun. Hopefully next time we won't have to wait in lines like we did this time and we can cruise for a few more days.

I uploaded some of the photos I took from the cruise. Check them out by clicking on the image above or the photo icon below.

Teaser photos:

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Tags: old blog

Posted from: United States

Saturday, April 28, 2007 @ 12:00 PM in Miscellaneous

I'm trying to take one day each week and go on a few mile hike and explore the area around Albuquerque. Today I decided I'd go up to the top of the three extinct volcanoes just west of Albuquerque. They're located in the same Petroglyph National Monument that I went hiking in last weekend.

The day was perfect. There were very few clouds in the sky and it was probably 80 degrees with a little bit of wind. The hike I took went through all 3 of the big volcano cones and was probably about a 3 mile hike. The views were pretty neat from up at the peaks and completely different than what you find down in the city or over at the Sandias.

The hike lasted a couple hours and I took about 140 pics with my Nikon D50. There were very few people out when I was there... in fact, I went about an hour without seeing any other people. It was a nice relaxing hike. I think next week I'm going to hit up the La Luz trail over on the north side of the Sandias.

I uploaded some of the photos I took from the hike. Check them out by clicking on the image above or the photo icon below.

Teaser photos:

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Tags: old blog

Posted from: United States

Sunday, April 22, 2007 @ 12:00 PM in Miscellaneous

Today I was working on some website stuff and kept looking out my window and getting distracted by how nice it was. After wrapping a few things up I decided to take my Nikon D50 out to the Petroglyph National Monument here in Albuquerque to check it out.

I got there at about 2:30 and saw there was a sign in the parking lot saying the gates closed at 5:00. I was thinking about trying to get all the way to the Volcanic cones, but realized that was a lot farther than I had time to go. The temperature was perfect, but it started to cloud over after I had been walking for a while. The hike was mostly on sand with some desert brush and a lot of basalt rocks laying everywhere.

On the rocks there are Petroglyphs that were carved into the rocks from the natives between 1300-1600AD. Unfortunately there has been some vandalism around them (people carving their initials into the rocks next to the petroglyphs), but there are some that have been left untouched. I ended up walking for about two hours, which I'm guessing was probably 3-4 miles (considering I was taking a lot of pictures).

I uploaded some of the photos I took from the hike. Check them out by clicking on the image above or the photo icon below. Also, I did use the appropriate color profile on these, so they're much brighter and vivid than the previous sets I've uploaded.

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Tags: old blog

Posted from: United States

Saturday, April 14, 2007 @ 12:00 PM in Miscellaneous

My parents are in town visiting from Tampa, FL and we planned on taking a hike today in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains here in Albuquerque. The weather had been pretty crappy the last few days (rain and snow) and the weather was calling for today to be nice. We crossed our fingers and hoped the rain wouldn't make the trails all messy and muddy. Luckily by the time we got up to the trails the sun had burnt off most of the water and the clouds had parted.

The weather was pretty much perfect when we got there. It was sunny with a few clouds and probably about 65 degrees. As we were walking I was taking pictures with my Nikon D50 and new Sigma 10-20mm lens. I got some really nice shots and uploaded them to the gallery here. We ended up hiking around 2 miles and got to see some great views (and even a few rabbits).

The trails we hiked at can be reached by going east on Montgomery until it turns into a one lane road (this is past Tramway). Turn left on Glenwood Hills and go about a half mile. Turn right on Trailhead and you'll reach a big parking lot. There were a lot of mountain bikers up there as well as hikers and joggers.

After the hike we drove a little farther south in the foothills to look at some condos I saw online. I'm totally going to have to find a place in the foothills so I can be right at the mountains and trails. If anyone knows of a place around there, let me know.

Teaser photos:

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Tags: old blog

Posted from: United States

Wednesday, December 6, 2006 @ 12:00 PM in Miscellaneous

Eric, Matt and I just completed one of the single nerdiest things I've ever done in my life. We camped out at Walmart for a Nintendo Wii. I'm not a console fanboy or anything, but the Wii seems like it's a pretty solid piece of hardware and has some cool games so I figured I'd wait with them. I called Walmart last night to find out how many they had and they told us around 30.

Our original plan was to show up to Walmart around midnight and wait in line. We went by around 9:30 to check out the situation and the lady told us we'd have to wait outside for a while, then we could go inside. Eric and I came back home and put on our cold weather clothes and then met up with Matt again at Walmart. By now it was around 11 and we went to sit outside.

I went inside to double check that we were in the right place and discovered about 5 people waiting in the Lawn and Garden section. They had a sign up sheet and everything. I quickly called Matt and Eric and told them to come inside. We got there, signed up and waited, and waited, and waited.

We talked a lot with the other people, played Simpsons trivia, watched movies, slept (or tried to... as much as you can on a cold concrete floor). The 30th person finally showed up around 4:15 in the morning. Walmart wasn't doing anything to help with the flow of people or organization, so we all took it into our own hands to make sure a riot didn't break out.

The first few hours went by pretty quick, but the last two seemed to take forever. Finally a Walmart manager came over, gave everyone tickets and had us go buy our Wii's. I got Zelda with mine. I probably wont be able to play it for at least a week due to moving and everything.

Tags: old blog

Posted from: United States