I ♥ NY

Ok, after being upset the last days for the most unfriendly and unhelpful hostel staff ever, the worst guests at all, the rains, the cold frozen wind blowing all day long over my congested throat and no warm clothes to face it, now it`s time to have a step back and saying what I think on New York. New York is not a nice city if considered within the common aestethic standards, the people is pretty unfriendly compared to the rest of US where everybody is amazing, the weather is tough, many areas are crap, but... it`s so damn` charming! You can`t describe the unbelievable melting pot of people and culture here, each area seems to be a different city with its own culture and identity. Just think that today I made my round the world journey once more: from Little Italy to Chinatown and then Manhattan, thousand kilometers resumed in a few minutes walk! New York is one of those cities to live more than visiting, you can easily spend days simply strolling around the city neighbourhoods while takin` tons of pics... and I`m sure this won`t be the last time for me in NY. People knows I`m a country boy, I don`t like big cities and blah blah blah, but I feel to fit perfecly into this society, this lifestyle.
I feel home much more here than Milan.

Ode to star-spangled banner

United States are squeezing me out the last drops of energy, I`m pissed off and sick of it. It`s insane thinking there is no way in New York City to backup a bunch of stupid pictures from my camera to a portable hard disk, but that`s the way it is. It`s almost one day I`m running all over NY trying all the ways to find a working computer but it seems there is no way at all. At the hostel they have vendingmachinelike computers without USB ports (2$/20 minutes). So they said me to go to a lundry shop where I paid 5 bucks for using a broken computer, and no way to do anything on it. I`m at the public library now, but there is no software for my job... But, hey, they say I could go to FedEx where renting a computer comes just 12$per hour: fuck off! Everybody here has his own laptop, so if you don`t have your own this mean you`re a poor bastard, and you gotta pay for that. You gotta pay because you cannot afford a trendy Macbook from fuckin` Apple Store on Fifth fuckin` Avenue. Same as the unbelievably bad public transportation all over the US: everybody owns a car, if you don`t have your own this mean you`re starving, so you don`t even need to move out of your ghetto. They say America is the land of freedom, but for most of the people I see on the streets the only freedom they have is the freedom to die. Is this real democracy?

Washington, District of Columbia

I`m in Washington DC at the moment, going to New York City by bus in few hours. I hope to find the way there to have a cheap internet connection to update blog and everything...

Lowell, Massachusetts

Jack Kerouac has been for long time one of my favourite authors. Years ago, I loved to read his books over and over again: On the Road, The Dharma Bums, Desolation’s Angels, Big Sur… His books were pure inspiration to me as I always found his writings close to my personality, close to my feelings, close to my deepest thoughts. For this reason, today I've decided to have a detour (but it’s better saying a death tour…) to visit his grave in Lowell, an industrial town one hour by train North of Boston. The anonymous grave of the “Father of Beat Generation” lies in a big English-like cemetery, lost in decay among other thousands stones. His worldwide fame during life wasn’t enough to escape him from the misery of death. The employer at the cemetery didn’t even know he was buried there together with his wife. Nothing else but the words carved upon his stone remembering us that “He honoured life”, few cigarettes brought as offering by someone else, one small papier-mache bird and one Halloween pumpkin. Nothing else, nobody else but me.
Standing there in a chilly grey November day, among the falling leaves of New England's colorful autumn, has been my own tribute to a great writer, a good person, a friend I never met.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Niagara Falls, Canada

News from Usa

Dear friends, it`s more than one week I`m in Usa. The reason of my silence is easy: I cannot update my blog `cause internet is very expensive everywhere (about 1 dollar per 10 minutes) so I`m writing down all my thoughts on paper and I wish to update it as soon as possible. Well, after partying in LA, I bought a bus pass allow me to travel all over the Us, so I`m living on the road since few days, sleeping on overnight buses and making the stations home... who has been to Usa knows how it`s difficult to travel here without a car. Stay tuned then, if you wanna know how to get on a flight when you`re refused to board, how to hitchike in South Dakota in a snowy day or how to live for 5 days on awful Greyhound buses. Actually, I`m writing from Chicago, Illinois.

The wind of change...

Until now I played the role of Marco Polo, now it`s time to change character and put myself in Cristoforo Colombo`s shoes.

How to get (illegally) into United States

Lonelytraveller breaks the promise to travel overland for crossing the Pacific ocean to United States. He buys an e-ticket for a flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles with Singapore Airlines, then he reaches Narita airport to board it...

- Konnichiwa Sir, passport and ticket please.
- Hello, here is my ticket. And this is my passport.
- Tokyo-Los Angeles, one way only? Where are you from?
- Italy.
- Oh! Do you have a return ticket?
- No, because I'm going to South America, so I'll go back to Italy from there.
- Do you have a ticket to South America?
- No, I haven't. I have a bus ticket allowing me to go everywhere in US and Canada, so I can reach easily Mexico by bus... I think it's enough, isn't it?
- Oh! Sorry but Mexico is not valid. You need a return ticket to Europe or South America!
- Why a ticket to Mexico ain't valid?!?! Is perhaps Mexico one of the 50 States of the federation?!?!
- Oh! No it isn't. But a ticket to Mexico ain't valid for us.
- Listen, why should I buy a ticket to Europe from Usa if I'm going to South America, or maybe Argentina?!?!?
- Do you have a ticket to Argentina?
- Are you kidding me?!? No, I haven't, I'm traveling overland, look at my passport! I reached Japan overland from Italy... But I'm going South, how can I buy a ticket if I'm traveling by bus???
- Oh! If you book now a bus ticket from Usa to Argentina, that should be right!
- I guess the direct bus from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires is fully booked right now, but I could try with the bus from Los Angeles to New Delhi...
- Sorry. No return ticket, no check in. It's the law.
- Hey, it's not the law! I've already been in USA, I know USA pretty well and I'm sure there are no problems if I explain my situation at the officers at the border!
- Oh! Sorry but we cannot board you...
- So are you going to make me miss the flight, eh? Hey, I'm not a thief, I regularly paid for that bloody flight! And listen, if I have a return ticket or not, it's just a problem between me and the officers at the US border, not between me and you stupid airline!
- I'm sorry, Sir, but we cannot check you in.

Lonelytraveller understands it's just wasted time trying to have a regular conversation with that girl as she speaks the language of computers, not the one spoken by humans. He understands that all his journey is in danger and it could end soon just because of this stupid bureaucratic matter. So he decides to follow a different strategy...

- Ok, if I need a return ticket, please tell me where's an internet cafè to book it...
- Oh! There's an internet cafè at the upper floor!
- Thanks.

Lonelytraveller reaches the internet cafè. He has 44 minutes left before the departure of his airplane. He opens his email account, he quickly searches for the oldest mails there. He searches and searches among the mails received in 2005. 32 minutes left. He finds the electronic ticket of the flight used 5 years before to fly from Los Angeles to Dublin at the end of his journey from Alaska to Mexico. He opens the mail with the editor and changes all the details of that ticket into a new one. 25 minutes left. He prints the receipt of his "brand new" ticket and runs back to the boarding gate...

- Hello again. Here is the return flight I've just booked online...
- Oh! Aer Lingus to Dublin? Didn't you have to go to South America?
- I've changed my mind. Aer Lingus is a great airline with cheaper fares than yours. And I love Ireland too.
- One minute Sir, we have to check the code of the flight.

Lonelytraveller realizes he made a huge mistake in not checking previously the flight code. He waits and watches all those officers reading, calling, asking, in search of that fake code printed on his fake ticket. He waits for a while then tries the all-out...

- What's the problem now!
- We cannot find the code of your flight, Sir.
- Hey, the plane is taking off within minutes. It's not a problem of mine if you're not able to find the code of the flight I've just booked!
- Okay, Sir. Here is your boarding card...

Made in Japan

Few knows that when I was a young teenager, before getting into the endless tunnel of rock/metal music, I was manga lover, videogame addicted and computer nerd... So Japan represented to me a dream destination, something like the Eldorado on Earth. Well, time as gone but the charme Japan has on me is still high and, now that I've seen it, I must admit that it exceeded my expectations. The people, in particular, they all are absolutely incredible, friendly, kind, extremely polite and respectful. A dream comes true.
The Japanese society seems to me like the electronic devices that they produce and export all over the world. It's efficient, precise and scrupulously programmed to the smallest degree of detail. A perfect oiled machine where all the functions are strictly planned in advance and everybody has one role to play, many times one role only. As I'm Italian, as Italy works the opposite, all this seems to me amazing, a really delight to my eyes and thoughts. Anyway, trying to look the other side of the story, I ask myself which is the price they have to pay for such efficiency and perfection of the society. As we are all humans, not machines, I wonder if in the long term it maybe leads people to frustration as they become slave to rules, or maybe leading to a lack of creativity and freedom. Don't know... As perfection is not of this world, I'm just trying to find something wrong in something apparently too neat to be true.
Usually people has jokes on my addiction to photography. Well, here in Japan it's not only usual to bring cameras in your hand and shoot almost everything, here people even suggests you the right angle for taking a better picture!

Tokyo, Japan

What if I say that I love Japan, and particularly Tokyo? What if I say that it took three months but finally I've found the right city for me? What if I say that I want to apply to get a job here? Tokyo is simply unbelievable. I usually don't like metropolis, but Tokyo is well different than regular big cities: it has 12 millions people but the order, the cleanliness, the politeness make you feel like in a town. It's on a higher step of civilization. Businessmen reading comics or playing pachinko in an addicted mood, manga-style goth ladies walking down the streets, plastic food displayed on windows, music and singing birds broadcasted on subway, electronic toilets and even more... Yeah, Tokyo is much more. Japanese have done their own best to make me feel sad and regretful to leave the country, they've been perfect, that's the right word. It's the first time I'm in Asia, so every day there's something new to learn, something unexpected, something to discover, but honestly I didn't think I would have experienced such a sense of hospitality and kindness... Tokyo, in my memories, will also have the name and the face of a girl met previously in Turkey, she hosted me and her company made my stay even more pleasant.
Everything goes quick when you're on the road, so many feelings you don't even have time to realize what is going on. The past is gone and the future uncertain: present is the only thing that really matters.

Mount Fuji, Japan

The art of motion

I had a very long way from Italy to here. Seems unbelievable thinking that I'm in Tokyo right now, and I reached it with a train ticket to Venice as first step. Overland, no flights, that was the promise, the challenge. It's almost 3 months I'm on the road, but they worth like years: all the memories I'm collecting will be tattoed forever in my mind, all the experiences I'm living, all the great people met till now. This travel is one of the coolest things I've ever done. Anyone who thinks traveling is just a waste of money and time has understood nothing from life. Traveling is an investment to life, well different stuff to simple holidays.
I'm enjoying each euro I'm paying, each day I'm living, each person met on my way. I don't give a fuck to what people thinks about me, or what society is expecting from me. This is my life, I live it my own way.
I'm doing what I always wished to do. I'm happy.

Where to go next?

Im in Tokyo, the city is really amazing and Im having great times here. But what to do next? I dont know which way taking after Tokyo, not really sure where to go... So, please, my dear trusty readers, help me in deciding the next stop submitting the poll on the right side of the page! You can decide my journey. I will definitely take the result in consideration to plan my next moves.

What the hell is a manga cafe`???

I`m just arrived in Tokyo by Shinkansen after a nice day spent in Kyoto visiting some very remarkable sights, and I`m already deep into the capitol`s lifestyle going overnighting into a manga cafe... A manga cafe` is similar to a regular internet cafe` but you have showers, toilets, free drinks and small private box where you can use internet, watching tv or reading in absolute freedom all the comix you want from the library (manga=japanese comic book). The price is usually low for Japanese standards, about 13 euros for 6-8 hours, and the small room clean and comfortable. In all honesty, the feeling I had as soon as I got inside it was that officially that place is made for manga readers but, in reality, is something closer to love hotel for lonely teenagers... Time to sleep for me now: you pay per hour and after the six hours' package the price dramatically increase! Oyasumi nasai!

We are but falling leaves

Si sta come d`autunno, sugli alberi, le foglie.

(G. Ungaretti)

Kyoto, Japan

I`m pissed off. Why? Because it`s raining since 3 days, maybe more.
I`m starving. Why? Because prices are out of my budget and I`m eating just a little every day.
I`m freezing my ass. Why? Because to save money I`m in a shitty place without heater.
I`m in a temple-overdose. Why? Because of the too many temples visited the last few weeks.
I`m scratchy. Why? Because an adorable bed bug decided to make my backpack home, and now each day the little bastard bites my arms without way to find him.
I`m drinking loads of sake. Why? Just read above.