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About Us
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Welcome to mikeandkings.com. You may be wondering why you´re looking into the lives of these two guys, and exactly who we are. So here goes. Mike (Michael Long) and Kings (Kingsley Faulkner) are two guys from Perth, Western Australia, who have been friends for over a decade. For some reason we thought it would be a good idea to travel together for two years around the world, so Kings got the task of writing the web page.
The pages contained here are all about who we are, who we meet, and where we´ve been. Please add to our growing guestbook and let us know what you think (of us or the page :) or just leave us a little note.
You can email Mike or Kings if you want to send us a more personal message.
Again, thanks for visiting our page, and please let us know what you think!
DONATE TO MIKEANDKINGS.COM
yes, that's right, it's finally happened! help keep mike and kings alive on their long journey around the world by donating a small OR LARGE amount to us! it's quick, easy and painless to donate, and you know that you'll be helping mike & kings keep warm in this damn cold english winter!
so go on -- stop thinking about it, and DONATE TODAY!
Donations so far
Paul £52! Thanks Paul! You rock!
Jeebs £20! On-ya Al!
please note: £70 of that £72 above were birthday presents for Michael...not donations really...
CONTACT
Mike
msn: mike@mikeandkings.com
Kings
msn: kings@mikeandkings.com
TRAVEL THROUGHOUT EUROPE & THE USA
2003
july 7: perth - singapore - frankfurt
july 8: frankfurt - berlin
july 14: berlin - dresden
july 17: dresden - cologne (via frankfurt)
july 19: cologne - paris (via brussels)
july 27: paris - lyon
july 31: lyon - marseille
august 2: marseille - nice
august 3: nice - monaco
august 4: monaco - toulouse (via nice)
august 6: toulouse - bordeaux
august 8: bordeaux - amsterdam (via paris)
august 15: amsterdam - paris
august 16: paris - san sebastian (via irun)
august 20: san sebastian - madrid
august 26: madrid - barcelona
august 27: [mike] barcelona - san giminagno (27 hours!!!)
september 1: [mike] san giminagno - florence
september 5: [mike] day trip to pisa
september 6: [mike] florence - nerano (just outside sorento)
september 9: [mike] day trip to capri
september 10: [mike] nerano - rome
september 16: rome - la spezia
september 17: hike through the cinque terre
september 18: day trip to portofino
september 19: la sepzia - interlaken (via milan)
october 1: interlaken - munich
october 5: munich - london (11:55am flight)
2004
march 11: london - stockholm
march 14: stockholm - bruge (flight to brussels)
march 16: day trip to gent
march 17: day trip to brussels
march 17: brussels - london (8:25pm flight)
may 28: [kings] london - edinburgh
may 31: [kings] edinburgh - london
june 4: [mike] london - edinburgh
june 5: [mike] edinburgh - isle of skye
june 8: [mike] edinburgh - london
june 9: london - amsterdam (1520 flight)
june 13: amsterdam - london (0715 flight)
december 13: [mike] london - new york (1750 flight)
december 15: [kings] london - new york
december 17: [mike] new york, NY - milford, CT
december 19: [mike] milford - new york
december 26: [mike] new york - cornwall bridge, CT
december 28: [mike] cornwall bridge - new york
2005
january 4: [kings] new york - london
january 6: [mike] new york - boston, MA
january 8: [mike] boston - portsmouth, NH
january 9: [mike] porstmouth - boston
january 9: [mike] boston - toronto, ON
january 15: [mike] toronto - vancouver, BC
january 24: [mike] vancouver - seattle, WA
january 27: [mike] seattle - san francisco, CA (24 hour train ride)
january 31: [mike] san francisco - los angeles, CA
february 7: [mike] los angeles - chicago, IL (44 hour train ride!)
february 9: [mike] chicago - new orleans, LA
february 12: [mike] new orleans - atlanta, GA
february 16: [mike] atlanta - washington, DC
february 18: [mike] washington - atlanta
february 20: [mike] atlanta - new york, NY
february 24: [mike] new york - LONDON, ENGLAND
march 16: [kings] london - dublin
march 18: [kings] dublin - belfast
march 19-20: [kings] belfast - dublin - london
kings usa trip is in here
july 16: london - amsterdam
july 21: amsterdam - leiden
july 25: leiden - aachen
july 27: aachen - berlin
july 31: berlin - prague
august 4: prague - cesky krumlov
august 7: cesky krumlov - vienna
august 10: vienna - budapest
august 13: budapest - vienna
august 15: vienna - interlaken
august 19: [kings] interlaken - leiden
august 19: [mike] interlaken - rome
august 23: [mike] rome - florence
august 27: [mike] florence - ancona - patra
august 28: [mike] patra - corfu
setpember 3: [mike] corfu - athens
september 4: [mike] athens - ios
september 10: [mike] ios - santorini
september 12: [mike] santorini - athens
september 13: [mike] athens - patra - ancona
september 14: [mike] ancona - rome
september 15: [mike] rome - london (flight)
september 17: london - sydney (flight)
september 22: sydney - perth (flight)
september 23: perth - mandurah
september 26: mandurah - perth
2006
january 20: [mike] perth - sydney
january 22: [mike] sydney - perth
september: [mike] perth - siem reap (cambodia - dates to come)
october: [mike] perth - auckland (dates to come)
november 23: [mike] perth - kalbarri
november 24: [mike] kalbarri - dennam
november 25: [mike] dennam - coral bay
november 26: [mike] coral bay - exmouth
november 28: [mike] exmouth - northbrook
november 29: [mike] northbrook - perth
2007
february 08: [mike] perth - cape town (via kuala lumpur)
february 14: [mike] cape town - port elizabeth
HISTORY OF MIKEANDKINGS.COM
 | Mike and Kings do Europe (Version 1, July 2003 - November 2003)
Mike and Kings Version 1 was developed in little less than a week while I (Kings) was in Manjimup visiting family. The site laid the foundations for all core features such as the chronological blog-style entries with a ‘where are we’ list and recent photos, the Guestbook, the Media section and the About Us section that you are reading right now.
Since neither Mike nor I had travelled anywhere yet the images used at the top of the site were 'borrowed' from online sources and made spiffy Julls. Thanks Julls!
The site wasn’t perfect and a little on the dark and gloomy side but it served its purpose well. |
 | Mike and Kings (Version 2, November 2003 - January 2005)
Version 2 was developed shortly after I arrived in London. There were several limitations which were annoying for Mike and I that were only discovered while on the road and the site really needed a face lift to get rid of the depressing black background.
Several features of the original site were cut, most notably the recent photos and ‘where are we’ list. This was mainly because the site content was about to enter a rather stagnant period while Mike and I settled into London.
During our 3 month tour of Europe we uploaded a little over 1500 pictures onto the site giving us a fantastic opportunity to get rid of the old ‘borrowed’ headers and create some of our own. The result was over 80 unique headers which change with each successive page request, showing a little snapshot of somewhere or something that we’ve seen since we left.
The only other main improvement that people would see involved adding new sub sections to folders within the Media section. About 80% of the re-development focused on getting the media section up to scratch. Moving from a 3 column to a 4 column list with file details moved into tool-tips rather than displayed next to each item. The images and regular files were separated only displaying thumbnails for image files and file names for the rest.
Behind the scenes several improvements allowed us to upload images in bulk. An improved web interface allowed us to upload several images at once and the Windows ‘Image Injector’ application allowed for entire folders to be injected into the database from our PCs.
During one of Mike’s poorer (financially) moments the infamous DONATE link was added to the menu and About Us section. While we never really received any donations it certainly paid for itself in controversy.
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| | Mike and Kings (Version 3, January 2005 - Present Day)
You're using it right now, what do you think?
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THE MIKE AND KINGS HEADER ARCHIVE
Visit the Header Archive and see all the headers used on mikeandkings.com.
TESTIMONIALS
"Hello fellow travellers, I love your site! Its awesome.You guys are great with the camera too. love almost all the pics, including the chaotic street parade stuff!I've been travelling Europe for the last 4 weeks, heading to Italy tomorrow.. any tips on what to miss and what not too? I have a week or so there, did u guys only say in hostels, or can you recommend anything a little more up market? I wouldnt mind chilling from the party scene for a night or so, u know, a girl needs her own room once in a while! I will be checking out your site regularly now that i have come across it, keep up the good work guys!" - Erica
"I just have to say thank you so much your web site, reading it makes me so happy and gives me such fond memories of the two of you and of my trip. Thanks again." - Sheila (met in Berlin, from Vancouver)
"Just wanted to say thanks for being able to read a bit about Will's trip ... and that he had a great adventure." - Will's (Spain) mum
LINKS
Talented Friends (?)
russell lewis - everyone's favourite events supervisor at the gen, check out his site (he plays music too!)
Hostels
hostelbookers.com - THE place to book hostels...great hostels, free booking, no worries! PLUS it's run by our good friend and generator owner louise!
generator hostels - we stayed at both the london and berlin hostels...mike now lives in and works at the london generator.
sunflowers - a great hostel in berlin
funny farm hostel - THE place to stay in interlaken!
los amigos - another hostel, this one's in madrid and well worth a visit
green tortoise hostel - mike stayed at the san francisco hostel in january 2005 - come check this place out, it's one of the best hostels in the world
usa hostels - there's 6 of these hostels in the west of the US. come check them out!
Blogs
traveldeskguy - mike's very own blog, fear & loathing from... the traveldesk, north america, the generator, the road...
pingu-super-star - cosmo's & chanel, is there anything else? not for miss prue
russ's myspace - check out the original mincer in his new online home!
em in manila - mike's sister em is spending a year working in manila. check out how she's going.
olga - olg's place online. youreahipster tells it like it is...
katie - we met kate at the gen in london, she lives about 6 minutes from where we live in perth!
nadia - our fabulous friend from home
anke - miss spass-bunny herself...anke's online place
penum.org - yes, it's scotties very own site. scott is one of our friends and quiz partners in london. check out his weblog!
steve's lame webpage - steve is a fellow generator employee, and also live's in mike's room. oohh canada!!!
trev and jen vs. europe - trev and jen are heading over to europe!
dion's photo galleries - mike's pool partner's place online. check out his pics
the weblog of anthony hicks - a very similar site to this one.
melissa girl - mike's 'sister' melissa's own little online world...
ben feibleman's homepage – a US Marine living in the armpit of the third world that we met in Amsterdam
alex's blog - a few thoughts, from some guy on the net
martin's website - mike met martin in san francisco, check out his site
roadtrip.beimers.com - a cool US road trip taken by some crazy canadians
the travoholics guide - articles, pics etc on travelling europe & australia (also visit the blog here)
Travel/General
student flights - best travel company in the world!
overseas working holidays (OWH) - want to do a trip like ours? get yourself a work visa from these guys...
Western Xposure - fantastic touring company operating tours all over the great state of Western Australia
seat61.com - THE ultimate train travel guide online. set up by a former BritRail employee, this site has quite literally every single conceivable piece of train information anyone could want
blues for beginners - (5 articles) mike's old blues lessons for guitar on guitarnotes.com
the gum tree - great site for london jobs etc
google maps - google's new(ish) map resource, this is FANTASTIC for finding where stuff is!
map-o-rama - this is a great resource if you need to find where something is anywhere in the world
dateandtime.com - a useful reference to get calendar details
news.com.au - one of the ways we stay in touch with australian news
triple j - australia's youth radio network; you can listen online
icq 2 go - web-based ICQ to chat to friends around the world!
software in partnership - the company kingsley subcontracts to...
boden - mike's used to work here before leaving london for the US. visit and buy some clothes!
where are you now? - a great site to catch up with friends you've met whilst travelling.
planet reunited - another catch up with your old friends site
the point of travelling - if you're wondering why mike and kings have been on the road so long, some of these pics might explain it.
...more coming soon...
OUR FLIGHTS
Perth to Singapore - Mon Jul 07 2003
Flight # QF17
Depart Perth 15:30 Mon Jul 07 2003
Arrive Singapore 20:35 Mon Jul 07 2003
Singapore to Frankfurt - Mon Jul 07 2003
Flight # QF5
Depart Singapore 22:50 Mon Jul 07 2003
Arrive Frankfurt 05:30 Tue Jul 08 2003
Munich to London (Heathrow) - Sun Oct 05 2003
Flight # BA949
Depart Munich 11:55 Sun Oct 05 2003
Arrive London (Heathrow) 13:05 Sun Oct 05 2003
London (Stansted) to Stockholm - Thu Mar 11 2004
Flight # FR052
Depart London (Stansted) 08:35 Thu Mar 11 2004
Arrive Stockholm 11:40 Thu Mar 11 2004
Stockholm to Brussels - Sun Mar 14 2004
Flight # FR9571
Depart Stockholm 12:40 Sun Mar 14 2004
Arrive Brussels 14:50 Sun Mar 14 2004
Brussels to London (Stansted) - Wed Mar 17 2004
Flight # FR1019
Depart Brussels 20:25 Wed Mar 17 2004
Arrive London (Stansted) 20:25 Wed Mar 17 2004
London (Gatwick) - Amsterdam - Jun 9 2004
no flight details at this time
Amsterdam - London (Gatwick) - Jun 13 2004
no flight details at this time
(mike)London (Heathrow) - New York (JFK) - Dec 13 2004
no flight details at this time
(kings)London (Heathrow) - New York (JFK) - Dec 15 2004
no flight details at this time
(kings)New York (JFK) - London (Heathrow) - Jan 04 2005
no flight details at this time
(mike)Toronto, ON - Vancouver, BC - Jan 15 2005
no flight details at this time
(mike)New York (JFK) - London (Heathrow) - Feb 24 2005
no flight details at this time
(kings)London (Heathrow) - New York (JFK) - May 09 2005
no flight details at this time
(mike)London (Heathrow) - Berlin (Tegel) - May 17 2005
Flight BA990
Depart London 07:15 Tue May 17 2005
Arrive Berlin 10:00 Tue May 17 2005
(mike)Berlin (Tegel) - London (Heathrow) - May 18 2005
Flight BA983
Depart Berlin 12:30 Wed May 18 2005
Arrive London 13:25 Wed May 18 2005
(kings)Seattle, WA - Toronto, ON - June 20 2005
no flight details at this time
(kings)New York (JFK) - London (Heathrow) - July 02 2005
no flight details at this time
London (Stansted) to Amsterdam - Sat July 16 2005
Flight #3885 (Easyjet)
Depart London 14:05 Sat July 16 2005
Arrive Amsterdam 16:10 Sat July 16 2005
(mike)Rome to London (Stansted) - Thur September 15 2005
Flight FR3009
Depart Rome (CIA) 16:30 Thursday September 15 2005
Arrive London (STN) 18:10 Thursday September 15 2005
London (Heathrow) to Sydney - Sat September 17 2005
no flight details at this time
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