Yep, thats right, 12 days. Im a headin overseas for 5 weeks. Gonna be awesomeness. Here’s a ‘quick’ run down:

Flying Sydney to Los Angeles, staying 2 nights there. Prob do a half day tour of celebs houses or something along those lines. Then hit up a totally hip and happenin club and get in, and by that I mean loiter around with my camera looking like paparazzi hoping to see someone. I figure the chances of seeing at least Lindsay Lohan are pretty high. Ill just have to stay up till 4am and watch for stumbling people.

Next up is a flight outta LA to New York in the morning. I don’t think its possible to NOT have a good time in NY, so that should be good. Ill be taking lots of snaps around Times Square and the usual places. Got a few things booked already for NY. A Sopranos tour the first day, which goes all around New Jersey and goes to several key locations in the show including Satriale’s Pork Store and BADA BING! YES! Should be able to buy some pretty sick merchandise there. Then later in the week im headin ‘up town’ to Yankee Stadium, to watch the Yankees go up against the Minnesota Twins. I have no idea who the Twins are, but I hope they are shit and the Yankees hit like a thousand home runs. Tickets are pretty expensive ($80), considering they practically play every day, but the seats are so damn awesome. None of this bleachers non-sense. I’m in NY for 6 days so I should pretty much fit in everything I need to, all the touristy stuff. If ive got time ill head ‘up state’ to Montgomery which is the home of Orange County Choppers, which feature in the show American Chopper. Wouldn’t mind buying some stuff from them and seeing the bikes, especially the LiveStrong bike. NY will probably encompass the bulk of my spending, im staying in the middle of Manhattan, about 2 blocks away from the Empire State Building, so everything is basically within walking distance. Gonna be costly…

After that im flying off to London. Being in London at this time is pretty special this year, as the annual cycling race, the Tour de France, is actually starting in London, which is a big reason for my trip. So its going to be pretty hektik around the city. The day I fly in is the opening ceremony in Trafalgar Square for the Tour, and they will be introducing all the teams and riders. AND HOLY CRAP LANCE ARMSTRONG IS GOING TO BE THERE. I really hope I can get from the airport to my hotel, get checked in, get all my camera gear ready, then make it back in time to not miss anything. Next day is the Prologue for the Tour, a short 7km time trial circuit around central London. They are riding in front of such things as Buckingham Palace, so figuring out a good vantage point is going to be very hard as there are so many good spots. As I don’t imagine being able to move around the course much because it will be pretty packed out, ill have to choose wisely and bunk in for the day. Will get some good shots though, its also the first test of the camera for taking photos of the Tour. Not sure how good ill be at panning with a rider going at 50km/h 3m in front of me, but we’ll see. Next day is the first Stage of the Tour, with riders making their way from London to Canterbury. I might try and couple taking photos of the riders somewhere and making my way down to Stone Henge, or some other castles. Not sure yet. The rest of the London stay, which is about 4 days, will be all touristy things, London Eye, etc.

Then its off to EUROPE in the form of a 9 day Contiki Tour. I had about 11 days spare between the stages of the Tour that I wanted to watch, and this Contiki Tour fitted in perfectly. Hop on the bus in London at around 7am and make our way to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Probably be a pretty big night, with no doubt most people wanting to party. Might see some green fairies floating around. Next day bus it to the Rhine Valley in Germany, which is going to be full of very very photogenic scenery. Ill definitely have my 17-40 out with my shiny new Circ Polarizer on for some sweet sweet panos and landscape shots. Keep heading through Germany on to Munich, and eventually get to Venice, Italy. Take a canal ride, take some more once in a lifetime shots of the strange and wonderful canals. Then on to Lucernce, Switzerland, which will probably top the Rhine Valley in terms of scenery. From what ive seen from other people, shots of the mountains are absolutely stunning, very poster worthy. So heres hoping. Its strange thinking of landscapes and scenery now, I used to find it dead boring and not really care for it, but now I love the photos that you can get from it. Finally end up in Paris for the first time in my trip. Do some typical Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Arc de Triomphe shots and tours. Also have the option of seeing the real Moulin Rouge which would be very cool, little expensive though so ill have to see how the funds are holding up.

By this time its the 20th of July and im catching a plane from Paris down to a little city in Southern France called Toulouse, sitting just above the mountains of the Pyrenees. For the next 7 days ill be following the Tour around. The first stage ill see is a Time Trial, which will be good for getting A LOT of individual rider shots. Then the real stages start, the climbs up into the Pyrenees, where the race is either won or lost. Not entirely sure what ill be doing at this moment to watch the stages, ive hired a car so ill probably mix it up a bit between the days. Some days go see the start and maybe the middle of the race, then other days see the middle and the finish. Depends how crowded it is, and what the access on the roads is like to get to certain sections of the route. Hopefully its not too hard. Maybe ill hook up with some other Aussie fans and get a ride with them.

After they’ve ridden through the Pyrenees they start to make their way back up to Paris, so im flying back earlier to have a bit of spare time to do some more touristy things. 29th of July is probably going to be the best day of the whole holiday. Its the final ‘ceremonial’ stage of the Tour, ends with 6 laps around arguably the most famous boulevard in the world, the Champs Elysees. This is likely also to be one of the busiest days of the whole Tour. Ive watched the Tour in the past and seen rows of 5 or 6 people on the main parts watching the riders go past. So it looks to be a VERY early morning to camp out my spot. If I can get a photo with the riders in the foreground and the Arc de Triomphe in the background then ill be a happy snapper.

So that pretty much wraps up the holiday. I have a spare day after the Tour to do more of whatever I want, then its time to fly home and go back to work :(