ChiTownMike's VirtualTourist Home Page

I sort of checked out of Virtual Tourist for awhile after having gone to graduate school. I have done a decent amount of traveling during that time and am now working on updating some of my pages.

During the summer of 2006, I went on my honeymoon and we went to:
China
Hong Kong (ok, part of China)
Singapore
Malaysia
Myanmar
Thailand
Laos
Vietnam
Cambodia

Over the past couple of years I have also been to New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Morocco, France and Germany. So, I have a bit of catching up to do!

My excitement for travel started several years ago on a trip to Ireland. After a hiking trip though the Alps a couple years later, I became hooked. Now, I am continually researching travel ideas and destinations. Some found it odd that I thoroughly enjoyed heading off on vacation to Europe alone. I liked to think of my trips as exciting adventures. Interacting with people from around the world is an enriching experience. And to witness firsthand destinations I have previously only seen pictures of in books can be mesmerizing.

I hope that some of the tips on my pages are helpful. I plan on adding more.

Most impressive city: Paris
Country in which I would like to live: Sweden or Norway (but I am flexible on this)
Most amazing natural site: Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. 700 feet straight down to the ocean...and no fences!
And just about all of New Zealand!
Favorite beverage when traveling: Guiness (my favorite when not traveling as well)
Best beer: Brussels
Best chocolate: Brussels
Miss about the States when gone: Cheap soda with free refills
Most unique place I have visited: Myanmar (Burma)

Mike is a legend across the seven seas. When upright, he measures 10 cubits high and tips the scale at 50 stone. He is the largest bipedal creature I have ever met and the only man with hooves for feet.

His mouth is a cavern of teeth rotten and jagged, with breath so foul as to bring brave men quivering to their knees. When hungry, he will bring down a herd of wild buffalo with his bare hands and slurp the flesh right off their bones. Upon defecating, a fetid event, nearby villagers flee from the fumes while steam from his dung blocks out the sun.

When singing arias, his voice booms forth with the angelic quality of a Siren, yet he farts "Another one bites the Dust" during weddings with the drunken cackle of a hyena. He will kill, pillage and plunder with the worst of them, yet hold a newborn tenderly in his arms. Respect for him runs so deep men wait in line to offer up their wives for him to bed. His member is legendary, once used to topple ramparts in battle.

Upon giving birth to 8 white tigers, Mike shot them just to watch them bleed. Unable to read, write or spell, his novel won a Pulitzer; its verse still passed down through the generations. His footprints leave craters, his p*ss turning them to lakes. He once cut off his hand to see if it would grow back. It did.

I declare everything I state about this man to be true. Should you meet him and live to tell the tale, thank the devil for good graces.

In checking out other people's pages, I have found that seeing some personal information adds to the overall enjoyment of reading the pages. So, I thought I would do the same.

Unfortunately, one will not find great poetry on my pages or some really deep philosophical insight into the world. That's just not how my mind is wired.

A few facts about me.
1. I like to travel
2. I watch way too many movies
3. I like bars and pubs but hate clubs
4. Monkeys are my favorite animals
5. I like it when it rains
6. My sense of humor is not what one would call refined
7. My favorite band by a longshot is U2
8. If I owned a dog I would want a Shih Tzu

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
-- Theodore Roosevelt

"It is at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys"
-- Emil Zatopek

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift"
-- Steve Prefontaine

"Try not. Do or do not. There is no try"
-- Yoda

"How did I know you ran the mile in 4:30 in high school? That's easy. Everyone ran the mile in 4:30 in high school."
-- Frank Shorter

"Where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within."
-- Eric Liddell, Chariots of Fire

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
-- Jack London