Itinerary

This is tentative itinerary so one can get a general idea of where I will be at certain points of the trip.  I will report all of the actual happenings in my section titled, "Around the World Trip"

(Click on all pictures to see large version)

Summer 2001 - I came back from our pseudo vacation with the thought of possibly visiting my friend
Cassidy in Rome and then making it to New Zealand to Kevin Strange.  To make a long story short, I found an around the world ticket which allow someone to go West-East with up to 20 stops for one price.  From that point on, I had my goal for the next 6 months.  

    The summer consisted of working with my Aunt Nancy and the NY Rican selling bottles on the streets of NYC, fixing up my grandma's house as well as hanging out with my cousin Jake. I made stops down at the Jersey Shore as often as was possible but pretty much ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to pay for the bills I knew I would incur in the next 6 months.

August 8 - Last night before leaving.  My family went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday that I would be celebrating in Italy.  

August 9 -     Leave Charlotte, North Carolina

August 10 -   Arrive in Rome, Italy at 10:00 in the morning.  Thus begins my European adventure.  I will be with  Cassidy Lundin who was my college teammate and roommate whose family is living in Rome for the year.  The Lundin's have been living in Rome for about 11 months when I arrive.  This is Cassidy theorizing
.(Casey Weed London)

       What Cassidy and I will do for 10 days is yet to be determined.  There will not be a lack of things to do for we need to put some thought towards our month of September expedition through Europe.

August 20 - Leave Rome for Stockholm, Sweden.  I will fly through London on my way to Sweden where I will meet another Davidson Baseball alum, Jamie MacDonald.  This should be interesting.  Jamie is playing baseball in Sweden for a team that he would like to think as professional.  Actually, Jamie is enjoying traveling while playing baseball and making a little dough in the meantime.

August 27 - Leave Stockholm for London, England.  I am flying into to London to meet with the Mullervy's.  I grew up with the son Mark who played football at Clemson and like's to think of himself as a world traveler...because he is.  He's been all over and then some. 
 (this is Mark Charles Mullervy with the rest of the "smaller" Davidson crowd)

August 28 - Cassidy Lundin and another friend of mine, Dave Rosenberg meet me in London.  Dave and I lived in NY last summer and had a blast so I expect nothing less.  The three of us meet in London and will stay at the Mullervy's until about the the 30th when the Mullervy's head for Switzerland where we will then start our journey of Europe.
(David Bly Rosenthall)

August 30 - Dave, Cassidy and I will start out for Europe.  Where, we're not sure yet, but we plan to hit up a few countries and friends on our way.  We may hit Edinborough, Scotland and/or Ireland.  We're definitely going to take the the train under the channel to Brussels and then make our way to Amsterdam where a buddy of ours, Steven Marshall is playing basketball for a pro team in the area.  We plan on smoking crack and shooting heroin.  

    Other destinations that we plan to hit on are Pommern, Germany, where my grandfather was shot down and taken prisoner in WWII.  Stalag Luft 1 to be exact.  Berlin may also be a place of interest. We will eventually make it out to Prague where my brother Robby visited just this past year.  
(Robby Stroker)

   We will probably end up going to Austria or Switzerland depending on our timing.  

September 22 - Much of our trip will based around getting to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest which begins Septemeber 22.  That should be a blast.  We will hopefully meet up with another Davidson graduate, Nick Stockert in Munich who is a native of Germany and could show us the ropes.  However, he arrives the 26th of September and we will arrive the 22nd.  

    The other animal that may catch up with us in Munich is none other than the world traveler himself, Jamie MacDonald.  It will depend upon his baseball schedule whether he will be able to come.

    We will continue onward and upward to Florence, Italy to see some other Davidson friends, and then continue on to the Italian and French Riviera.  Tentatively, we will stop by Nice and Cannes, France as we make our way to Barcelona, Spain.  Time permitting, we will make it to Madrid and Seville.  We may even make it to the Island of Ibiza depending on out money situation. 

October 2-4 - Barcelona to Auckland, New Zealand.  The trip will actually take up two days and is 20 hours long!  The first leg of my trip, Europe, is complete.  I will meet up with Kevin Strange and his family in NZ.  Kevin has a tongue ring. 
 (Cassidy, Kevin and I at graduation)

    I'll hopefully travel all around the north and south Island's of New Zealand.  Andrew Nash-Webber, John Adler and Christa Conner are all in the South Island working and skiing so I am hoping to catch up with them.  I actually caught up with the three of them this past winter and skied in Vermont.  

November 15 - Auckland to Sydney, Australia.  Originally, I was just going to go to Australia by myself until I found that John Lewis (pictured below) was also going to be there.  So, I will be in Australia for about two weeks.

November 29 - Sydney to Hong Kong, China.  I meet up with my old buddy Kurt Davis who was a Davidson Baseball grad in '98.  He is working in Hong Kong with GE Venture Capital and better treat me the entire weekend.  This should be really interesting, and I can't wait

December 4 - Hong Kong to Bangkok, Thailand.  I am visiting Kitty Lawn who is a friend of mine from Ridgewood.  She just graduated from Loyola and is teaching English for a year.  I am being sent over by her parents to make sure that she will be back in a year. 

December 10 - Thailand to Osaka, Japan.  I don't know what the hell I am going to do in Japan.  I think I'll get a cab and go to the Sony plant, should be some good deals.  Actually, there are quite a few people in Japan that I know and will visit.  I am first going to see Dave Nutt who is good buddy of mine from Philly. (so Dave, in case you didn't know, mark your calendar.)  
(Nutter)

    From there, I hope to catch up with Ryan Hutto who is also teaching English but not to little chinamen, big chinamen.
(four world travelers, John Lewis, Ryan Stroker, Ryan Hutto and Kevin Strange)
Who would have thought the four of these guys who were sitting on the Stroker porch just yesterday would be scattered around the globe.

    After Nutter and Hutto, I am going to meet up with some girl named Mara Mordini who apparently is desperately looking for someone for show her new apartment off to.  Once again, let me stress that all of these JET students who are teaching English all have jobs and WILL be more than happy to foot the bill while in Japan.  
(Mara and I at Graduation)

January 2, 2002 - Tokyo, Japan to Seattle, Washington.  After Japan, I may make it to Seattle and/or San Francisco for a couple of days.  My tentative arrival date back in Charlotte is January 13, 2002.  Wow. 

January 13, 2002 8:00pm - Arrive in Charlotte, NC.

January 13, 2002 8:01pm - Find and get a job in NYC.