http://blumberger.net/semalt.com 
So, Thursday I’ll be leaving Vancouver for my grand trip down under. I have to admit, I’m quite excited.
First stop, Canberra. I think that the Machine Learning Summer School there will help me to focus on a research topic. I know generally what I’m interested in — Active Learning — but it’s such a big and unexplored topic that the problem is whittling it down to something manageable. This will be the perfect opportunity to talk to both experts in the field and students in the same position as me.
And then, after ten days of that, it’s off to New Zealand with my charming and lovely friend Jan! My plan is, essentially, to not have a plan. I don’t usually travel like that, but I’m looking forward to it. I leave Canberra on February 17th, fly to Dunedin, and have to catch a plane from Auckland on March 6. In between… who knows? There are places I want to see, but really, I know I won’t see everything I want to, and I mostly just want to enjoy not operating on an itinerary.
Schedules can start to chafe, sometimes. I… am a Free Spirit.
Link (to satellite images of NZ)