Verona was very cool. Maybe I just had a good day, but I really enjoyed my time in Verona. You can get the Verona day pass for only 8 Euro for 24 hours and a 3 day version is also available. With this you gain entry to the main attractions. There were so many things, that I didn't even make it to them all in my 24 hours.

Verona's Arena is the third largest of its kind and much easier to get into than the Coleseum. Although its outer wall was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake, the inner wall is still fully formed. Verona's Arena is still in use today with concerts being held there.

Well, Venice has such a larger than life reputation, so it was always going to be hard for it to stand up to it. Venice is best seen from the canals. Floating down the Grand Canal on a vaporetto (which can get awful crowded and not quite so enjoyable) is so much nicer than walking around. The buildings are nice from the water, but when you are trying to navigate your way through tiny alleys and bridges, it gets quite frustrating. It is very easy to lose track of where you are going as you backtrack and try head in the direction you want to go.

Knowing what I do now, I could have happily checked out Venice in half a day. San Marco's Piazza is very much worth checking out. The Basilica is very cool and different enough from other churches I had seen to make it worth seeing.

I was originally going to try spend a night here. After looking at the accommodation prices I had decided against it. After talking to some fellow travellers, they suggested leaving my bags at the station and having a look around for a few hours. This turned out to work really well.

Bologna's architecture (and there is a lot of it) is all very red. My favourite part was climbing a 90 something meter tower. I've climbed a lot of stairs in Europe, but climbing the tilted stair cases of this tower had me wondering how stable it was. Plenty of people had been up it before I though, so it was one step after the other.

I only had a couple of hours to look around Viareggio. Viareggio is half way between La Spezia and Pisa. I had originally planned to check out Pisa, but on the way to Cinque Terre, I had noticed most of the guys on the train with their trinket bags had got off at Viareggio and not Pisa. This had originally got me thinking of stopping at Viareggio. The idea of checking the beach out also seemed more appealing than some leaning tower. I had already seen a few leaning towers and even climbed one that was nearly 100 metres high in Bolognia.

The baggage self storage lockers were out of order, so that kind of slowed me down and limited my enthusiasm having to carry all my luggage.

Climbing Mount Kinabalu is not the easiest thing to do and is pretty much uphill the whole way!

You start with a 6km walk to the base camp, heading off from the gate before 11am (or else they won't let you go) with your guide. Make sure you book some accommodation before you go as it is always busy.... it is also mandatory to book beforehand. There is also the problem that many of the big fish tour operators book beds without clients. Given the markup they charge on a bed, they can make money even if they don't manage to sell them all.

After a punishing walk, you get to eat and have a sleep for a little while. Around 2am, you will need to be up and start getting ready to climb to the summit. The last 2.7km is made in the dark. Your aim is to reach the summit just before sunrise. Too early, you will be freezing cold sitting on top of the windy and very cold summit.. too late and you miss the sun coming up. Gloves, a headlamp and some nice warm gear and needed as you will be pulling yourself up ropes. Nothing too serious, but constantly uphill.