Snow, snow, everywhere.
But not a drop to drink
Just don't eat the yellow snow.
As the title suggests 'Bring on Christmas' I say. Work has been crazy busy. I have been running around like a mad man trying to finalise drawings and specs for a building conversion I have been working on. Like I have literally been mad; talking to myself, winking uncontrollably with head jerks to coincide.
I worked 12 days in a row just last week and the week before that.
Epic.
Enough about work anyway.
You would have thought that the cold miserable weather would put a dampen on the Christmas attitude. It has done, in fact, quite the opposite. I have never seen such cheer. Everywhere is decked out with real Christmas trees, selling food and drink to hail the festive season. A few weekends ago we went out to Winter Wonderland, an area in Hyde Park that has been converted into a Christmas playground. It has been bloody well done. I didn't expect it.
Temporary stalls sell one off craftwares like jewellery and so forth. There are food stands everywhere, fun park rides, fair games, and of course a whole lot of bars selling mulled wine and hot ciders. We headed into the Jamie Oliver stall and made our own gingerbread men which we then decorated with as much chocolate buttons and icing as was structurally possible. Lucky I realised the bending moment of biscuit was invertly proportional to the quality of flour used in its production.
We ate them and felt crook so decided the best thing to do would be to go on a rollercoaster and a giant drop.
Renee nearly spewed.
I said "If you're gonna spew, spew in this" and offered her a small white lolly bag.
We finished off the night with dancing where I pimped my shirt and Cossack danced.
I've been to a few Christmas parties with work recently. Our clients for the project I was talking about earlier took us out and shouted us beers. They are all Irish so they said "As long as there is Guiness on tap, I don't care. Howty towty" That night was good.
I got smashed.
On Friday we had our own office Christmas party which got pretty loose. We were taken out to a French restaurant where I had a steak that I'm sure must have been cuddled and read books before it was sliced and diced. It was amazingly tender and literally melted in my mouth. That came with Foie Gras, which is a portion of liver from ducks that have been force fed corn until they bloat and die.
A fitting end.
Things then got messy, with someone mentioning that Sambuca would be great to have right now. Idiots. I tried to sing Karaoke and everyone stopped dancing and just stared at me.
That is the last time I try and sing George Michael
Once things wound down, I tried to walk to Trafalgar Sqaure to catch a night bus. It was during this walk that I found myself in a spot of bother. You see, there are few public toilets in London at the best of times.
Let alone at 4:30 in the morning.
I did what every self respecting man would do and wee'd against the side of a building.
I was close to my station and thought I could just walk there from my wee spot of relief. Until I saw that I was down a one way street and the only way to get back on track was to turn around and walk a km back. I could literally see the station through the gates of a park that had been locked up and posed the only obstacle in my path to victory.
I jumped the fence and swore as I noticed my phone had fallen out of my pocket and smashed everywhere. You have no idea how hard it is to find pieces of phone, in the dark, in the snow, amidst a foot thick of dead leaves. And I was pissed.
I managed.
Then I realised that the park I had jumped into was being patrolled, so I Mission Impossible styled it between trees to the fence on the other side. Upon getting there, unavoided, I noticed that this street that the fence bordered had much more foot traffic than the street I entered the park from.
Actually, that street had none which led me into doing all this in the first place.
After assessing my options, I jumped a fence adjacent and then found myself in the backyard of some inner city apartments.
'This is going from bad to worse' I thought.
I'll let you know, these weren't no ordinary fences either. They were the fences with spikes on top of the railings. Spikes that could easily have made me a eunuch.
I decided to call it a day and made for the fence near the station with the heavy foot traffic. I jumped it, springing like a pansy when pins and needles shot through my feet due to the impact, and finally sorted out my manbag and dusted off my jeans. Then I looked up.
Officer Billy was staring straight at me.
I put the horse blinkers on and hurriedly made my way to a street corner, just expecting a loud yell and a hand on my shoulder.
It didn't happen.
I started sprinting, got to my station, jumped into the bus, scaled the stairs and slid down into a seat on the upper level, counting myself lucky.
I then fell asleep and nearly missed my stop, waking up just at the right moment to get off the bus, startling the pissed teenager that had ended up sitting next to me.
.....................
Just recently, it has started cranking the snow. Saturday was spent staring out the window as mini snow storms wrecked havoc on the backyard. It was sensational. Our water pipes froze which stopped us from having hot water, but still, it was awesome.
We went down to Wimbledon Park and attempted to make a snowman. After half an hour of freezing snow packing I gave up and then noticed other people round the park had huge snowmen. I'm talking 2m in diameter. these things were about 10 ft tall. The English are pro's at this sort of thing.
I laughed, rolled a snowball and smashed my flatmate in the face with it.
Tou-che.
Finish up work on the 23rd, celebrate Christmas at our flat with a few other orphans and then head off to Portugal and Spain for 10 days on the 27th.
Lets hope I can get to the airport.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The Land of Fire & Ice
The weather really hasn't been all that bad. Since my last post, it seems like that week with all the cold temperatures was a bit of a freak occurrence and things have certainly got more mild. We are in for the worst to come, so I'm told.
I caught up with Pom and Bridget to watch the AB's take on Aussie a few Saturdays ago, the game being played in Hong Kong
"Look out for Ryan and Jo" I shouted.
People stared.
"Just look out for that stupid southern comfort beanie of his" Pom suggested.
We didn't see them.
That game was on at 9am on a Saturday morning, which did mean an early wake up to get out to the pub. (I tell ya - big cities ain't all that great when a game is on). Over the ensuing hour and a half, we each managed to polish off around 5 beers and a shot, hitting up some Steinlager Pures in the process. They tasted like awesomeness.
"Lets have lunch at Westfield and do some shopping!!!!!!:)", Renee suggested.
The pizza lunch was a blur and we found ourselves hungover at around 2:30 in the afternoon before deciding to forego the shopping and hit the hay.
The next Saturday, we met Pom and Bridget at a different bar, this one located on the Thames River. We discussed travel destinations that would be awesome to hit up and instantly decided on a group trip to New York............. More on this breaking news story later.
The England vs AB's game was much better than the one previous. We won it, which helped. It was the biggest mission ever trying to break through the crowds at the bar to get a beer. Renee left at half time to get some drinks and came back with around 15 mins of game time remaining.
We headed on down to another bar after the game; a bar where Pom had spent a good portion of the year working. We maintained our drinking pace. An hour or so later, we stumbled out into the city. The lights on Fleet Street glowed warmly as we bade our farewells and headed off in our own directions into the London night.
Renee had jacked up drinks with a couple of her mates, so we met them in Putney for a pub dinner before heading to a cocktail bar. The night ended heavily at four o'clock and we made our way home using our legs, as Southfields was relatively close by. It was on this walk home where I broke my existing 'fox sighting' record by witnessing 5 of the furry creatures crossing our path. Some came close, about a couple of metres away. If I wanted, I could have jumped on the back of one and rode away into the night.
But I would probably break its spine.
All these nights out in London are fine, but the real reason I am here is for the adventure; to check out new and exciting places. Well, Iceland did not disappoint.
Lets just say- it certainly lives up to its name.
You hear those people saying that common phrase that 'Greenland is all Ice, whereas Iceland is all Green'. Well, I can tell you, they lie.
We arrived in the late hours of dusk (around 4:30pm) and as I peered out of the little plane window with rounded corners, a feeling of unprepared dread swept across me. I felt like Rocky arriving in Russia to fight Ivan Drago, as was depicted in Rocky IV. Only I wasn't in Russia.
And I'm not a boxer.
Perhaps not good use of analogy there. Hey, I failed 7th form English. Give me a break.
The sheen of fresh, and very slippery ice, coated the tarmac and the surrounding landscape resembled some kind of alien planet.
Ain't no 'green' in Iceland, I'll give you the tip.
Apart from the green of frozen lava, but we'll get to that.
The hotel was nice enough, located near the centre of Reykjavik, and providing an easy launchpad to check out the surrounding area. Through some clever deduction and extreme use of time management skills I had asked a local tour operator to take us out to see the Northern Lights a day earlier than expected.
The Northern Lights are never a guaranteed activity. In fact, you 'don't see them' a whole lot more than you 'do see them', if that makes sense. I was worried about the forecast for weather over the remaining nights so urged for a first night tour.
We got lucky.
Some of the strongest Northern Lights around were witnessed by yours truly. Even the tour guide was amazed at them. It was a truly amazing sight. A green wisp appeared over the horizon and drifted its way across the frozen sky of rural Iceland, taking around half an hour to fully encircle us. The arc of the circle (that surrounds the North pole) was clearly visible.
You need specific conditions to see these lights and we hit them all; clear skies, lack of artificial light, and the perfect time of year.
Through all the amazement of actually witnessing the lights, I felt urged to record this on film (SD card nowadays, but the phrase still works).
First photo - blackness.
Second photo - blackness
'Hmmm. I better change some settings' I thought to myself.
I fiddled with a few nobs and stated out loud what I was doing so some rookies nearby knew who they were dealing with. They looked at me with idolescent eyes. At least thats what I thought. I couldnt really seem them all too well, it was so dark.
"So, Im just going to turn this nob here" I exclaimed, "adjust the pitch of this setting, take this battery out and turn it this way and then divide this number shown here by the average amount of spanners found in a standard Sikram toolset. and, walah, we should have the perfect setup"
Third photo - slight hint of green wisp.......
I peered over to a group of Asian girls. "Oh my god", "Wow!", "Oh, that's so going to be my profile pic!!!!!!"
'What the hell' I thought, and then I saw what they were raving about. Their little camera was taking some of the most amazing photos I had ever seen. And they were taking it with a flash on and everything. I lost the plot, internally that is. How. The. Hell. Could. Their. Photos. Be. So. Good????
Fiftieth photo - finally some payoff. Through all this stress with trying to capture the miracle on film, I had failed to realise my purpose of being there. I took a step back.
Booya. What a sight they really are. My camera was left dangling at my neck as I spent a good 10 mins staring at them in awe.
My fingers started to tingle. I then felt the cold hit me all at once. My toes were numb, my cheeks ached and my lips were physically trembling. 'How cold was it?' I hear you ask with intrigue.
-7
Me no lie.
It was freezing. I had to jump into the bus, kick my shoes off and massage my feet for a good quarter of an hour before I started to feel anything in them.
I did manage to get a few photos of the lights, however the shots are too grainy for my liking, but you get the idea. I was just happy to see them.
I was also joyous about the fact that I witnessed the Northern Lights on the first night of our trip. It meant we didn't have to keep trekking out there every night. It resulted in the next day being a day of relaxation. We wandered around the city before making our way out to the Blue Lagoon, a natural thermal spa drawing water and minerals from deep in the earths crust. There was hardly anyone there and it was amazing. Total solitude. there were buckets everywhere stacked with white mud for you to rub on your face; mud that miraculously makes you appear younger and all that bullshit. I layered it on. As for the pools themselves, what a setup. Being Icelandic, preperation for the pools was very Scandinavian. I witnessed a lot of old mens willies as I myself had to get starkers and shower publicly (in the mens change rooms, but still...) before taking the plunge.
If you have seen Hostel 2- it is the spa that they relax in, just before getting dismembered.
Anyway, we stayed there for a good 6 hours and had some beers from the poolside bar. It started to rain and blow some serious gales so it was quite strange being warm as toast in my body but absolutely freezing from the neck up. Teeth chattered.
We had booked in a tour through the Icelandic countryside for the next day. It was a great tour and took us through the waterfalls, geysers, and geological extremities of the surrounding area around Reykjavik.
Being from NZ, this wasnt too far of a stretch from our geological sites, but the snow and surrounding landscape definately set things at a different pace. You will notice in some of the photos that the rocks are covered with a green tinge. That is frozen lava. Basically, the whole country is a rock of lava. There are few trees and next to nil wildlife.
That night was our final night in the land of fire and ice, so we decided to make it special. Heading to a Tapa's bar, we proceeded to order whale (minke to be precise), puffin (that black and white bird with the coloured beak), snail, and, to bring things back to earth for a bit we topped it off with meatballs and chorizo potato salad.
I can literally hear Greenpeace knocking at the door now.
No.
Wait.
That's just a courier.
Phew.
So, I know what the question on everybody's lips is...... The whale was surprisingly delicious; akin to an eye fillet steak, tender and cooked rare, with a hint of an earthy aftertaste. The puffin was cooked, yet was served cold and was probably the least favourite dish of mine. It was a chewy, slimy meat with not an appetising taste. The whole meal was great though and definitely filled the void. However it didn't fill the void of my guilt. Only made it larger.
After the meal, we headed out to an Ice bar, one of those bars made entirely of ice, for a quick beer. It was pretty disappointing. For one, we were the only ones there. Apparently Icelanders don't party too hard on a Tuesday night. The bar itself was basically a big chiller with blocks of ice strapped to the wall. And it leaked. It was enjoyable for the novelty factor but that was about it. The trip to iceland wound up on the wednesday with a flight back to Heathrow where I stood next to Heston Blumenthal, celeb chef, whilst trying to retrieve my bags. The highest temperature we experienced in Icleand was 2 degrees, with that -7 being the lowest.
I didnt take my beanie and scarf off the whole time I was there.
And now, here I am back at the office. The trip to Iceland was great and I am looking forward to Christmas / New Year when we are off to Portugal and Spain. Little sis is coming over in January and then, wait for it, we head off to the bright lights of New York. Flights are paid for and locked in, so that is all happening at the end of Feb. I won a lonely planet guide from a local travel mag here so I will be thumbing that with delight in anticipation for this trip.
It should be epic.
I caught up with Pom and Bridget to watch the AB's take on Aussie a few Saturdays ago, the game being played in Hong Kong
"Look out for Ryan and Jo" I shouted.
People stared.
"Just look out for that stupid southern comfort beanie of his" Pom suggested.
We didn't see them.
That game was on at 9am on a Saturday morning, which did mean an early wake up to get out to the pub. (I tell ya - big cities ain't all that great when a game is on). Over the ensuing hour and a half, we each managed to polish off around 5 beers and a shot, hitting up some Steinlager Pures in the process. They tasted like awesomeness.
"Lets have lunch at Westfield and do some shopping!!!!!!:)", Renee suggested.
The pizza lunch was a blur and we found ourselves hungover at around 2:30 in the afternoon before deciding to forego the shopping and hit the hay.
The next Saturday, we met Pom and Bridget at a different bar, this one located on the Thames River. We discussed travel destinations that would be awesome to hit up and instantly decided on a group trip to New York............. More on this breaking news story later.
The England vs AB's game was much better than the one previous. We won it, which helped. It was the biggest mission ever trying to break through the crowds at the bar to get a beer. Renee left at half time to get some drinks and came back with around 15 mins of game time remaining.
We headed on down to another bar after the game; a bar where Pom had spent a good portion of the year working. We maintained our drinking pace. An hour or so later, we stumbled out into the city. The lights on Fleet Street glowed warmly as we bade our farewells and headed off in our own directions into the London night.
Renee had jacked up drinks with a couple of her mates, so we met them in Putney for a pub dinner before heading to a cocktail bar. The night ended heavily at four o'clock and we made our way home using our legs, as Southfields was relatively close by. It was on this walk home where I broke my existing 'fox sighting' record by witnessing 5 of the furry creatures crossing our path. Some came close, about a couple of metres away. If I wanted, I could have jumped on the back of one and rode away into the night.
But I would probably break its spine.
All these nights out in London are fine, but the real reason I am here is for the adventure; to check out new and exciting places. Well, Iceland did not disappoint.
Lets just say- it certainly lives up to its name.
You hear those people saying that common phrase that 'Greenland is all Ice, whereas Iceland is all Green'. Well, I can tell you, they lie.
We arrived in the late hours of dusk (around 4:30pm) and as I peered out of the little plane window with rounded corners, a feeling of unprepared dread swept across me. I felt like Rocky arriving in Russia to fight Ivan Drago, as was depicted in Rocky IV. Only I wasn't in Russia.
And I'm not a boxer.
Perhaps not good use of analogy there. Hey, I failed 7th form English. Give me a break.
The sheen of fresh, and very slippery ice, coated the tarmac and the surrounding landscape resembled some kind of alien planet.
Ain't no 'green' in Iceland, I'll give you the tip.
Apart from the green of frozen lava, but we'll get to that.
The hotel was nice enough, located near the centre of Reykjavik, and providing an easy launchpad to check out the surrounding area. Through some clever deduction and extreme use of time management skills I had asked a local tour operator to take us out to see the Northern Lights a day earlier than expected.
The Northern Lights are never a guaranteed activity. In fact, you 'don't see them' a whole lot more than you 'do see them', if that makes sense. I was worried about the forecast for weather over the remaining nights so urged for a first night tour.
We got lucky.
Some of the strongest Northern Lights around were witnessed by yours truly. Even the tour guide was amazed at them. It was a truly amazing sight. A green wisp appeared over the horizon and drifted its way across the frozen sky of rural Iceland, taking around half an hour to fully encircle us. The arc of the circle (that surrounds the North pole) was clearly visible.
You need specific conditions to see these lights and we hit them all; clear skies, lack of artificial light, and the perfect time of year.
Through all the amazement of actually witnessing the lights, I felt urged to record this on film (SD card nowadays, but the phrase still works).
First photo - blackness.
Second photo - blackness
'Hmmm. I better change some settings' I thought to myself.
I fiddled with a few nobs and stated out loud what I was doing so some rookies nearby knew who they were dealing with. They looked at me with idolescent eyes. At least thats what I thought. I couldnt really seem them all too well, it was so dark.
"So, Im just going to turn this nob here" I exclaimed, "adjust the pitch of this setting, take this battery out and turn it this way and then divide this number shown here by the average amount of spanners found in a standard Sikram toolset. and, walah, we should have the perfect setup"
Third photo - slight hint of green wisp.......
I peered over to a group of Asian girls. "Oh my god", "Wow!", "Oh, that's so going to be my profile pic!!!!!!"
'What the hell' I thought, and then I saw what they were raving about. Their little camera was taking some of the most amazing photos I had ever seen. And they were taking it with a flash on and everything. I lost the plot, internally that is. How. The. Hell. Could. Their. Photos. Be. So. Good????
Fiftieth photo - finally some payoff. Through all this stress with trying to capture the miracle on film, I had failed to realise my purpose of being there. I took a step back.
Booya. What a sight they really are. My camera was left dangling at my neck as I spent a good 10 mins staring at them in awe.
My fingers started to tingle. I then felt the cold hit me all at once. My toes were numb, my cheeks ached and my lips were physically trembling. 'How cold was it?' I hear you ask with intrigue.
-7
Me no lie.
It was freezing. I had to jump into the bus, kick my shoes off and massage my feet for a good quarter of an hour before I started to feel anything in them.
I did manage to get a few photos of the lights, however the shots are too grainy for my liking, but you get the idea. I was just happy to see them.
I was also joyous about the fact that I witnessed the Northern Lights on the first night of our trip. It meant we didn't have to keep trekking out there every night. It resulted in the next day being a day of relaxation. We wandered around the city before making our way out to the Blue Lagoon, a natural thermal spa drawing water and minerals from deep in the earths crust. There was hardly anyone there and it was amazing. Total solitude. there were buckets everywhere stacked with white mud for you to rub on your face; mud that miraculously makes you appear younger and all that bullshit. I layered it on. As for the pools themselves, what a setup. Being Icelandic, preperation for the pools was very Scandinavian. I witnessed a lot of old mens willies as I myself had to get starkers and shower publicly (in the mens change rooms, but still...) before taking the plunge.
If you have seen Hostel 2- it is the spa that they relax in, just before getting dismembered.
Anyway, we stayed there for a good 6 hours and had some beers from the poolside bar. It started to rain and blow some serious gales so it was quite strange being warm as toast in my body but absolutely freezing from the neck up. Teeth chattered.
We had booked in a tour through the Icelandic countryside for the next day. It was a great tour and took us through the waterfalls, geysers, and geological extremities of the surrounding area around Reykjavik.
Being from NZ, this wasnt too far of a stretch from our geological sites, but the snow and surrounding landscape definately set things at a different pace. You will notice in some of the photos that the rocks are covered with a green tinge. That is frozen lava. Basically, the whole country is a rock of lava. There are few trees and next to nil wildlife.
That night was our final night in the land of fire and ice, so we decided to make it special. Heading to a Tapa's bar, we proceeded to order whale (minke to be precise), puffin (that black and white bird with the coloured beak), snail, and, to bring things back to earth for a bit we topped it off with meatballs and chorizo potato salad.
I can literally hear Greenpeace knocking at the door now.
No.
Wait.
That's just a courier.
Phew.
So, I know what the question on everybody's lips is...... The whale was surprisingly delicious; akin to an eye fillet steak, tender and cooked rare, with a hint of an earthy aftertaste. The puffin was cooked, yet was served cold and was probably the least favourite dish of mine. It was a chewy, slimy meat with not an appetising taste. The whole meal was great though and definitely filled the void. However it didn't fill the void of my guilt. Only made it larger.
After the meal, we headed out to an Ice bar, one of those bars made entirely of ice, for a quick beer. It was pretty disappointing. For one, we were the only ones there. Apparently Icelanders don't party too hard on a Tuesday night. The bar itself was basically a big chiller with blocks of ice strapped to the wall. And it leaked. It was enjoyable for the novelty factor but that was about it. The trip to iceland wound up on the wednesday with a flight back to Heathrow where I stood next to Heston Blumenthal, celeb chef, whilst trying to retrieve my bags. The highest temperature we experienced in Icleand was 2 degrees, with that -7 being the lowest.
I didnt take my beanie and scarf off the whole time I was there.
And now, here I am back at the office. The trip to Iceland was great and I am looking forward to Christmas / New Year when we are off to Portugal and Spain. Little sis is coming over in January and then, wait for it, we head off to the bright lights of New York. Flights are paid for and locked in, so that is all happening at the end of Feb. I won a lonely planet guide from a local travel mag here so I will be thumbing that with delight in anticipation for this trip.
It should be epic.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Roll on Winter
Shit, its cold.
I mean, we are in for trouble. I can just feel it. The other morning when I woke up, got dressed to a Dire Straits number and eventually stepped out the door, I had no idea the snap that would hit me. It was like being smacked in the face. With a frozen chihuahua.
A balmy 0 degrees Celsius (that's 'zero').
Yes, there was frost.
Kew Gardens, about 15 km north of where I live recorded the lowest temperature for London that day getting down to -2.5 degrees Celsius.
........... And we are only in October!!!!
The weather seems to have affected the tubes already with serious problems attacking the underground. One line had to close down during service and people had to leave the train in the deep murky depths of the tunnel and walk for around 15mins to get to an exit. It is utterly ridiculous. I am not looking forward to the break downs that I have been told happen so regularly in the winter. It already takes me the good part of an hour to get to work!
The other day was chaos, as usual, and my train decided it didn't want to go to the station I needed to get to. I decided to hop on another line, thinking I was clever, and I turned the corner to find that there are also a heck of a lot of other 'clever' people in London. The place was packed. I spent half an hour wondering what train I should get on before I noticed that my original train was free again.
I jumped on it, amazed that I got a seat and it wasn't until a couple of stops down the way that I realised I was heading out to Heathrow airport, the exact opposite direction to work.
' Shit' I said, and I had to 'Terminator Run' it to get to another train. (You know the scene)
Bloody tubes.
It took an hour and a half that day to get to the glorious bright lights of work.
Oh, that's another thing. It is dark too. really dark. I leave for work in darkness. I come home in darkness. And its still daylight savings at the moment....!.....
Despite the cold and chaos, London life hasn't changed much. I'm still going to work, still inching closer and closer to the final payment on my student loan (might have a celebratory Guinness once that beast has been tamed), and still keeping an eye out for new travel destinations to head to. The opportunities really are endless. There is just too much to see in this world.
Last weekend, I went to a casino near Piccadilly Circus on the Friday after work. I didn't do too badly, up 60 pound at one stage, before inevitably losing it all on some stupid hands. How can that dealer consistently hit 21??? I night bused it home by myself at around 4am and had to wake up at 8am to head to a travel show. My head did not like that decision. Still, the travel show was fun. We caught up with Ryan and Jo there, and they broke the news to us that they are calling it a day with London and heading back to the land of the long white cloud. I was disappointed, but stoked that they figured out what they were doing. Here's hoping they find what they are looking for in Tauranga.
I have just now got back from a spot of shopping at Camden and Westfield. It was good stuff. Just being out there you can see that London is gearing up for winter events, which should subdue the miserable effect that the cold will bring on. We are looking to have a Halloween party (it is huge over here), followed by a Guy Fawkes Bonfire night located just down the road at Wimbledon Park. They do it proper here, with massive bonfires, fairground stalls, rides, and, of course, huge fireworks displays. It should be a little ripper.
Christmas time is seeing the introduction of heaps of temporary ice skating rinks, most of them located in some pretty picturesque spots; namely Hyde Park, the National History Museum, and directly under the London Eye. I am keen to get on the ice and see if I can snap both ankles at once this time. They also deck the city out with fairy lights and all that crap to add to the nostalgia. Snow is expected mere weeks from now and the whole city is meant to transform into a winter wonderland. So, I guess it cant be all that bad, can it?
Iceland is still all go in around three weeks from now. That is meant to be colder than here, so I might have to get some thermals for it.
Still, should be good.
I mean, we are in for trouble. I can just feel it. The other morning when I woke up, got dressed to a Dire Straits number and eventually stepped out the door, I had no idea the snap that would hit me. It was like being smacked in the face. With a frozen chihuahua.
A balmy 0 degrees Celsius (that's 'zero').
Yes, there was frost.
Kew Gardens, about 15 km north of where I live recorded the lowest temperature for London that day getting down to -2.5 degrees Celsius.
........... And we are only in October!!!!
The weather seems to have affected the tubes already with serious problems attacking the underground. One line had to close down during service and people had to leave the train in the deep murky depths of the tunnel and walk for around 15mins to get to an exit. It is utterly ridiculous. I am not looking forward to the break downs that I have been told happen so regularly in the winter. It already takes me the good part of an hour to get to work!
The other day was chaos, as usual, and my train decided it didn't want to go to the station I needed to get to. I decided to hop on another line, thinking I was clever, and I turned the corner to find that there are also a heck of a lot of other 'clever' people in London. The place was packed. I spent half an hour wondering what train I should get on before I noticed that my original train was free again.
I jumped on it, amazed that I got a seat and it wasn't until a couple of stops down the way that I realised I was heading out to Heathrow airport, the exact opposite direction to work.
' Shit' I said, and I had to 'Terminator Run' it to get to another train. (You know the scene)
Bloody tubes.
It took an hour and a half that day to get to the glorious bright lights of work.
Oh, that's another thing. It is dark too. really dark. I leave for work in darkness. I come home in darkness. And its still daylight savings at the moment....!.....
Despite the cold and chaos, London life hasn't changed much. I'm still going to work, still inching closer and closer to the final payment on my student loan (might have a celebratory Guinness once that beast has been tamed), and still keeping an eye out for new travel destinations to head to. The opportunities really are endless. There is just too much to see in this world.
Last weekend, I went to a casino near Piccadilly Circus on the Friday after work. I didn't do too badly, up 60 pound at one stage, before inevitably losing it all on some stupid hands. How can that dealer consistently hit 21??? I night bused it home by myself at around 4am and had to wake up at 8am to head to a travel show. My head did not like that decision. Still, the travel show was fun. We caught up with Ryan and Jo there, and they broke the news to us that they are calling it a day with London and heading back to the land of the long white cloud. I was disappointed, but stoked that they figured out what they were doing. Here's hoping they find what they are looking for in Tauranga.
I have just now got back from a spot of shopping at Camden and Westfield. It was good stuff. Just being out there you can see that London is gearing up for winter events, which should subdue the miserable effect that the cold will bring on. We are looking to have a Halloween party (it is huge over here), followed by a Guy Fawkes Bonfire night located just down the road at Wimbledon Park. They do it proper here, with massive bonfires, fairground stalls, rides, and, of course, huge fireworks displays. It should be a little ripper.
Christmas time is seeing the introduction of heaps of temporary ice skating rinks, most of them located in some pretty picturesque spots; namely Hyde Park, the National History Museum, and directly under the London Eye. I am keen to get on the ice and see if I can snap both ankles at once this time. They also deck the city out with fairy lights and all that crap to add to the nostalgia. Snow is expected mere weeks from now and the whole city is meant to transform into a winter wonderland. So, I guess it cant be all that bad, can it?
Iceland is still all go in around three weeks from now. That is meant to be colder than here, so I might have to get some thermals for it.
Still, should be good.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sveden Yar?
Work was very hard to get back into after returning from a mere week away in Scotland. But I managed.
The following Saturday, Renee and I went out to the theatre to watch the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
And what a little beauty it was. The costumes, the performances. Sensational stuff. I can see why people take out second mortgages on homes to buy tickets to see these plays. The guy sounded exactly like Frankie Valli and all the songs they played were bang on.
So - there is a 'highly recommended' from yours truly.
We had a few drinks during the show and headed out to farewell Tara, a Contiki friend, who had unfortunately decided that another unbearable winter in the UK was not for her. It was a shame to see her go, so we all went out to a really cool blues / jazz bar and boogied on down. My dance moves consisted of a rotation of the left foot using my big toe as a pivot, hip swinging to coincide and a rocking motion of my arms, in finger clicking position.
"It was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well......"
The big finale of the night came when, on the night bus ride home (biggest pain in the ass ever, btw), I saw four foxes roaming the streets! I had seen two on the bus ride itself (outside the bus - not just chilling in a window seat) and then I said to Renee
"Whats the bet there is a fox down this sidestreet", as we walked on home from the bus stop.
"You little Anzac!!!" Sure enough, there was.
Then just as we were walking into the flat another burst out behind the garbage cans and ran across the street. That rounded out the Quad-fecta.
Last Friday, I took work off an hour early and made my way to Gatwick Airport for a weekend in Sweden that we had booked. It almost didn't happen mind you. With my trigger happy fingers I had mistakenly booked our return flight home a week later than what it should have been.
"Damn it" I said out loud in a less PC way, and I instantly started looking for an alternative one way flight back from Sweden to replace that initial one. The numbers rang true to me.
"180 POUNDS!!!! EACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I couldn't believe the price of it (or the amount of exclamation points it took to describe the situation).
This discovery had essentially made the flight not worth all the effort. However, my eagle eye was at work and I managed to find a return flight a few days later for fairly cheap so I grabbed it. All up the flights were around NZ$100 return. Which still isn't bad.
So, we were all set to meet up with my mate Richie in Sweden. The tubes were chaos and trying to find Renee posed a mission. We got to the airport in time to see our flight had been delayed.
This spelt problem, with a p-r-o-b-l-e-m. Richie was meeting us at the other end. With the delayed flight it meant he had to meet us at the central station at 2am, which he did hang around for.
What a trooper. We couldn't thank him enough. Lucky we had purchased some duty free alcohol to make amends. On the tube ride to his place, this guy asked where I was from, and in a proud voice I said "New Zealand". He then went off his (drugged up) rocker and started calling us racists.
"Be careful round here" he warned, "People don't like you guys because you are all racists, all you Australians are"
Richie puffed out his chest and stepped up to the plate "Yeah, but he said he was from NEW ZEALAND. Its a different country. Its like saying Sweden and Norway are the same country"
This didn't phase the guy.
"It doesn't matter" he said "Same thing. You're all racists"
"What the hell was that all about" I asked as the guy gingerly made his way off the train.
Richie shrugged.
The Saturday was spent hurriedly making our way around Stockholm in blur to see everything and still have a good time. Which, with our well travelled expertise, was easily done. First off, Richie sent us to a mysterious museum that was meant to be a little pearler.
"Whats in it man?" I quizzed.
"I don't want to ruin it for you"
"OK" I though and I balked at the price of entry.
'Better be one hell of a ............ thing' I thought with a puzzled yet intrigued look on my face.
We got up to the ticket counter and were about to pay when I got a tap on my shoulder and there was a couple with two free tickets to give us.
"Ohhhhh chur bro" I said in a heavy kiwi accent and they giggled.
To be fair to Richie, the museum was a little ripper. The mystery of it..... should I tell you ........ OK, I will. It was a 400 year old pirate ship they had recently drawn up from the murky depths of the ocean. And what a ship it was. The timber had been heavily water beaten and gave the entire ship a ghost like appearance. And it was HUGE. Around 80 metres long maybe, and just as high. The whole museum was about the life and death of this vessel. Check it out in my photos if you wish. It was hard to get proper photos without the use of a tripod so I tried to make some of the photos resemble the ghost ship that it is.
This set our spirits in good steed. We met Richie afterwards, in the centre of Stockholm, for a bite to eat and then he took us on a walking tour of the city. Stockholm is what is known as an archipelago, which is essentially a city built around a whole plethora of small islands.
We strolled from island to island, before we got the need for a drink and we decided to head up to a bar in one of the highest spots in the city for a quick beer. The only beer they serve in Stockholm is Carlsberg, and I tell you, it is shithouse. It was lucky the place had good views, I can tell you that much.
That night, we went to the supermarket and put together a whole antipasto platter of Swedish foods, one of the main delicacies being a shrimp coleslaw. Oh yes, they are heavily into their seafood over there. We made our way through the bottle of vodka and a bottle of Jagermeister that night and slept (coma'd) at around 2am.
Just joking Mum, I didn't coma.
The next day we were due to leave early afternoon so we had another stroll through the city and finished the trip off with a burger from the Swedish McDonalds, known as MAX. It was pretty good stuff.
Two things I noticed from Sweden, and I will impart my new found wisdom onto you; it is bloody expensive and it is bloody cold. We had great weather, but being in my usual state of dangerously unprepared (Bear Grylls - have I shamed thee???), I was shivering, even though I had a SINGLET on, under my top, of course. Im not a bogan.
If it weren't for Richie our trip would have been all the more expensive, so a big ups to him for putting us up. It is always good to go to a foreign land and know someone.
Iceland in 5 weeks. Till then.
The following Saturday, Renee and I went out to the theatre to watch the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
And what a little beauty it was. The costumes, the performances. Sensational stuff. I can see why people take out second mortgages on homes to buy tickets to see these plays. The guy sounded exactly like Frankie Valli and all the songs they played were bang on.
So - there is a 'highly recommended' from yours truly.
We had a few drinks during the show and headed out to farewell Tara, a Contiki friend, who had unfortunately decided that another unbearable winter in the UK was not for her. It was a shame to see her go, so we all went out to a really cool blues / jazz bar and boogied on down. My dance moves consisted of a rotation of the left foot using my big toe as a pivot, hip swinging to coincide and a rocking motion of my arms, in finger clicking position.
"It was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well......"
The big finale of the night came when, on the night bus ride home (biggest pain in the ass ever, btw), I saw four foxes roaming the streets! I had seen two on the bus ride itself (outside the bus - not just chilling in a window seat) and then I said to Renee
"Whats the bet there is a fox down this sidestreet", as we walked on home from the bus stop.
"You little Anzac!!!" Sure enough, there was.
Then just as we were walking into the flat another burst out behind the garbage cans and ran across the street. That rounded out the Quad-fecta.
Last Friday, I took work off an hour early and made my way to Gatwick Airport for a weekend in Sweden that we had booked. It almost didn't happen mind you. With my trigger happy fingers I had mistakenly booked our return flight home a week later than what it should have been.
"Damn it" I said out loud in a less PC way, and I instantly started looking for an alternative one way flight back from Sweden to replace that initial one. The numbers rang true to me.
"180 POUNDS!!!! EACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I couldn't believe the price of it (or the amount of exclamation points it took to describe the situation).
This discovery had essentially made the flight not worth all the effort. However, my eagle eye was at work and I managed to find a return flight a few days later for fairly cheap so I grabbed it. All up the flights were around NZ$100 return. Which still isn't bad.
So, we were all set to meet up with my mate Richie in Sweden. The tubes were chaos and trying to find Renee posed a mission. We got to the airport in time to see our flight had been delayed.
This spelt problem, with a p-r-o-b-l-e-m. Richie was meeting us at the other end. With the delayed flight it meant he had to meet us at the central station at 2am, which he did hang around for.
What a trooper. We couldn't thank him enough. Lucky we had purchased some duty free alcohol to make amends. On the tube ride to his place, this guy asked where I was from, and in a proud voice I said "New Zealand". He then went off his (drugged up) rocker and started calling us racists.
"Be careful round here" he warned, "People don't like you guys because you are all racists, all you Australians are"
Richie puffed out his chest and stepped up to the plate "Yeah, but he said he was from NEW ZEALAND. Its a different country. Its like saying Sweden and Norway are the same country"
This didn't phase the guy.
"It doesn't matter" he said "Same thing. You're all racists"
"What the hell was that all about" I asked as the guy gingerly made his way off the train.
Richie shrugged.
The Saturday was spent hurriedly making our way around Stockholm in blur to see everything and still have a good time. Which, with our well travelled expertise, was easily done. First off, Richie sent us to a mysterious museum that was meant to be a little pearler.
"Whats in it man?" I quizzed.
"I don't want to ruin it for you"
"OK" I though and I balked at the price of entry.
'Better be one hell of a ............ thing' I thought with a puzzled yet intrigued look on my face.
We got up to the ticket counter and were about to pay when I got a tap on my shoulder and there was a couple with two free tickets to give us.
"Ohhhhh chur bro" I said in a heavy kiwi accent and they giggled.
To be fair to Richie, the museum was a little ripper. The mystery of it..... should I tell you ........ OK, I will. It was a 400 year old pirate ship they had recently drawn up from the murky depths of the ocean. And what a ship it was. The timber had been heavily water beaten and gave the entire ship a ghost like appearance. And it was HUGE. Around 80 metres long maybe, and just as high. The whole museum was about the life and death of this vessel. Check it out in my photos if you wish. It was hard to get proper photos without the use of a tripod so I tried to make some of the photos resemble the ghost ship that it is.
This set our spirits in good steed. We met Richie afterwards, in the centre of Stockholm, for a bite to eat and then he took us on a walking tour of the city. Stockholm is what is known as an archipelago, which is essentially a city built around a whole plethora of small islands.
We strolled from island to island, before we got the need for a drink and we decided to head up to a bar in one of the highest spots in the city for a quick beer. The only beer they serve in Stockholm is Carlsberg, and I tell you, it is shithouse. It was lucky the place had good views, I can tell you that much.
That night, we went to the supermarket and put together a whole antipasto platter of Swedish foods, one of the main delicacies being a shrimp coleslaw. Oh yes, they are heavily into their seafood over there. We made our way through the bottle of vodka and a bottle of Jagermeister that night and slept (coma'd) at around 2am.
Just joking Mum, I didn't coma.
The next day we were due to leave early afternoon so we had another stroll through the city and finished the trip off with a burger from the Swedish McDonalds, known as MAX. It was pretty good stuff.
Two things I noticed from Sweden, and I will impart my new found wisdom onto you; it is bloody expensive and it is bloody cold. We had great weather, but being in my usual state of dangerously unprepared (Bear Grylls - have I shamed thee???), I was shivering, even though I had a SINGLET on, under my top, of course. Im not a bogan.
If it weren't for Richie our trip would have been all the more expensive, so a big ups to him for putting us up. It is always good to go to a foreign land and know someone.
Iceland in 5 weeks. Till then.
Monday, September 13, 2010
The Scottish Highways
As a celebration of my 50th (!!!!!!) blog post I am treating you all to an extra long, behind the scenes, VIP member, uncut, description of my latest travellings through Scotland.
Cool.
Well, as work drew to a close on the Friday, I started habitually spinning my pen around my fingers and staring at the clock on the computer willing it to tick faster, the whole ordeal akin to a Britney Spears video. Oh baby, baby.......
The whistle went off, "Ya ba daba doo" I screamed and I slid down a dinosaurs back and onto the tube. It was Renee's birthday so we went out for drinks at a few bars along the river Thames, central city styles. It was actually a really nice setting, with all the fairy lights etc in the trees and the hustle and bustle of people walking by. I got Renee tickets to 'Jersey Boys' a stage show centered around the story of Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons for her birthday.
And that's all I got her.
No stupid vouchers this time.
We hit the drinking fairly hard and caught the last train home so we could wake up early and prep for our big trip.
Kel, Clint (Renee's visiting friends), Renee and I decided to hire a car from Heathrow airport to allow for an easy getaway from the city, and the feds.
Just joking about the feds.
But seriously.
The lady at the counter handed us the keys to a car I had never heard of and pointed us in the general direction of where it was parked. Well, I had never seen a more ugly car. The Vauxhall Zafira, what a machine. It was a station wagon because they obviously thought we would be sleeping in it, the height of it would rival the Petronas Towers and the sleek lines of the body seemed to echo disaster.
"We cant have this" I exclaimed in a rather authoritative, yet casual manner. How does that work, you ask. Beats me.
"Lets get it changed"
The dude came out with the keys and we argued with him, saying that we wouldn't be able to park the car in any regulation parking spaces, instead we would have to find a local airport and rent a hangar for the night. He grumbled something and went back into the building. We mosied on over to a brand new Peugeot 308, a sexy looking beast with rims, 5.1 surround sound and a steering wheel. Our man came out saying he had no keys for that car and instead we would have to make do with a new Mercedes.
"We can do that" we said and piled into the Merc with remarkable efficiency.
"I shouldnt be doing this" I thought I heard him mutter.
"What?" I said.
"Nothing" he replied rather quickly and scurried off. I stared him off with slit eyes.
Now don't get me wrong, this Merc wasn't the SLK supercar you all might think we got given. Oh no. Far from it actually. It was still a four door but a hatchback model with slow pickup and weak bumpers. Still, it was miles better than the Zafira, so I led the charge by pulling a quick doughie and peeling out of the car park with people behind me shaking pitchforks and lighting makeshift torches.
We got onto the 4 lane motorway alright and then found out we were going the wrong way. 'Pullin' a 'U'ey' was out of the question so we drove for a couple of miles before eventually finding a turnoff. I drove most of the way from London to Birmingham, then we swapped drivers all the way up until reaching Glasgow for the night. It was an epic 8 hour drive but necessary to complete in one day to save us mucking around and missing out on things for the rest of the trip. It was a great drive actually, as it was basically motorway the whole way.
"Whats the speed limit round here?" I asked, and Clint shrugged his shoulders.
"Just go as fast as everyone else"
"Dude, I'm doing 100 mph!"
We were screaming along at 160 kph (easy conversion between imperial and metric) and it still seemed as if cars were passing us. I pegged it back to 90mph and cruised most of the way at that speed. We were constantly doing sums in our head to find out how fast we were going in kph until we realised the dashboard had a digital odometer telling us the whole time.
We stayed in the "accommodation of the trip" in Glasgow; cheap and private and clean. It was a wee beauty. We caught a taxi ride into town and had pizza along the main strip. Glasgow wasn't much to look at. The guy at the hostel said that the only thing to do in Glasgow was to eat and drink, so we did both. The next morning we parked up in the centre of the city and had a quick look around, buying a cheap rugby ball while we were at it.
Verdict - Glasgow = average
We peeled back onto the motorway and hooned past Lake Lomond to our destination for the day; the quaint little town of Inverary. Editors Note: 'Peeled' means embarked, and 'hooned' refers to casually cruising in a motor vehicle.
Due to poor planning, we had only booked one night of accommodation prior to the trip, that being that first night in Glasgow. We arrived in Inverary and hunted out a place to stay where we could also park the silver beast. The local student hostel took us in with open arms and a bear hug. The town was quaint, set alongside the coast of one of Scotland's inlets, and we had a feed at the only pub before heading to a nearby corner store and buying some chocolate and Irn Bru.
Thats right - IRN BRU
Pronounced "Iron Brew", this drink is the number one beverage in the whole of Scotland, outselling Coke/Pepsi thus making Scotland the only country in the world to accomplish that feat.
It tasted shit house.
I mixed it with Vodka, and would have preferred the vodka served straight, or even with Mountain Dew. It tasted like a mix between Fanta and Creaming Soda.
The next morning we hopped in the car again (Oh don't get me wrong - we basically hopped in the car every day for a quick 4 hour drive). We drove around the isles of south west Scotland, stopping in Crinan for a quick sightsee. It boasts a manmade loch that would rival most European countries for sheer size. It was fairly cool and we had a quick slice of lemon (ummmmm) ..... slice before moving on.
Through the nice town of Oban, where we stopped to get the supermarket lunchtime meal deal, and then off to Fort William.
Or so we thought.
"Are we going the right way Renee" I pondered.
"I dunno" was the reply.
I found this incredibly hard to believe, as she was the one holding the map. The environment seemed to be speaking more of mountains and valleys instead of the coastal road I had imagined.
Through map analysis, we discovered we had veered of course by a good 100 km that had taken us from the coastal road to the centre of the highlands. It was a welcome detour actually as we passed through some great scenery and stopped off at a mountain range known as 'the 3 sisters' for a quick photo.
We got back to Fort William after an hour and a half trip, which should have taken 25 mins. To be fair, I was looking at the signs in Oban and they did seem to say that there was a portion of that coastal road closed down, so it was probably inevitable.
You would think we would have stopped in Fort William for the night, but we pressed on and drove on over to the Isle of Skye. I had been thinking the whole way driving through Scotland that the landscape reminded me of 2 things; New Zealand and Final Fantasy 8. This was confirmed when we entered Skye. It was stunning, and worth pushing our road time to get there. We were looking to get to the very top of the isle that day but our plans were thwarted by time and the supposed lack of accommodation in the small town of Uig. Instead, we decided to pull up short in an awesome little town called Portree. After parking up and checking out the area we noticed a large number of tourists making regular stops in various hotels and b&b's.
"Oh shit" I am sure we all thought when we discovered that the town was basically booked out for the night. Some places had one bed left but not 4.
"Damn" I thought and flicked through the handy Lonely Planet book that had wedged itself in between a chocolate bar wrapper and the used drink bottle located at my feet. A place in that book seemed to ring out, loud and clear: "Try Mrs Milne", it said "There is no signage or anything but she is a b&b and she will put you up"
"OK guys" I said and directed Clint through a small suburb to her house. It seemed the most random thing but it worked out. We ended up staying at her place for the night and she was fully equipped to take us all in and cook us a feed in the morning. The town really was a little beauty - something mum would like, and after a spot of dinner, we bought tubs of ice cream and drank the night away watching 'Last of the Mohican's' on the 14" TV provided.
Ms Milne informed us of a great wee detour to start our day the next morning, so we took her advice and drove on a road that was comparable to a 4WD dirt track. It was a ripper of a drive though. We pulled up at the tip of the Isle and took photos of the landscape. Further down the track we saw another turn off and we were treated to a huge waterfall that disappeared over the cliffs and into the pounding surf below. We were practically alone out there and it was a welcome change from the busy tourist bullshit that is normally so commonplace nowadays.
That day was a big day of driving and we sped past Loch Ness with blatant disregard for monster hunters. We stopped off in a small town and went into a tourist hotspot to experience a 5-star Loch Ness monster attraction. It was crap. It basically said at the end of it all that most images and so forth that you see of the monster are all made up anyway. Still, we went to the waters edge and looked into the loch to try and catch a glimpse of something whilst we ate a soggy croissant that was a few days old.
We drove on up to Inverness that night (different from Inverary)and stayed in a youth Hostel again. Didn't really have much of a look around apart from the inside of a Pizza Express restaurant, where we bought dinner.
"I'll have a scotch on the rocks, please. Any scotch will do, as long as it's not a blend, of course. single malt, Glen Livet, Glen Galley, perhaps, any glen."
The next day Clint and I decided to throw caution into the wind and allow the girls to drive and navigate us through the highlands to Edinburgh.
We did three separate U-Turns.
That drive was really nice. We went made our way through the Scotch county of Scotland where all the 'Glens' are distilled and through the highest point in Scotland, being the mountain of Ben Nevis. It was champagne driving.
We attempted to get into a castle along the way but found out Prince William was entertaining good ol' Kate Middelton in the estate so we had to move along.
We arrived in Edinburgh late, and quickly made our way from the guest house into the city. It is awesome. What a city. It shat all over Glasgow. We ate near the castle and caught a late bus home.
The next morning, we left our things in the guest house and hooned (ref editor note earlier) off to Stirling to see their castle and the William Wallace Monument. I hit a wall regarding paying for entrance into monuments, so I packed a sad and stayed by the car while Kel and Clint went up to check it out. It is absolutely ridiculous the amount of money they charge to see places that should technically be free.
After Stirling, it was still fairly early (around lunchtime) so I made an executive decision (starring Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal) and drove us all to St Andrews; the birthplace of Golf. It was a little ripper of a town. I jumped the fence onto the golf course and pretended to swing away with an invisible club.
I yelled 'Four' and people ducked.
I can see why it is a pricey course, absolutely immaculate.
On the Friday we stayed in Edinburgh and spent a day visiting the castle, the Scotch whisky experience, and about a million shops so the girls could find some crappy souvenir. It was a great city and not even the rain downpour deterred us.
For the final day, we drove back across the English border and checked out the Angel of the North statue in Newcastle, then along the road that runs parallel to Hadrians Wall; an old Roman wall that used to separate the two countries. We holed up in Manchester for the night and decided to hit the casino for one final blow out. Clint and I stormed the Black Jack tables and both came away with around £75 each. While we were playing, some English dude came over and threw around £50 on one of Clints hands, Clint won, and the guy did it again, walking off with around £200 from 2 minutes work. Lucky bugger.
We drove back to Heathrow early on as we were all fairly buggered by the (supposed) holiday and keen to chill for a bit. All up we drove a little under 3100km. That is nearly the full length of New Zealand, TWICE!
Epic.
Just booked a cheap flight to Sweden for a cheeky weekend to catch up with my mate Richie. He is keen as to put us up for a couple of nights so it is just a weekend thing. The flights were 5 pound each way!
You know it.
Cool.
Well, as work drew to a close on the Friday, I started habitually spinning my pen around my fingers and staring at the clock on the computer willing it to tick faster, the whole ordeal akin to a Britney Spears video. Oh baby, baby.......
The whistle went off, "Ya ba daba doo" I screamed and I slid down a dinosaurs back and onto the tube. It was Renee's birthday so we went out for drinks at a few bars along the river Thames, central city styles. It was actually a really nice setting, with all the fairy lights etc in the trees and the hustle and bustle of people walking by. I got Renee tickets to 'Jersey Boys' a stage show centered around the story of Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons for her birthday.
And that's all I got her.
No stupid vouchers this time.
We hit the drinking fairly hard and caught the last train home so we could wake up early and prep for our big trip.
Kel, Clint (Renee's visiting friends), Renee and I decided to hire a car from Heathrow airport to allow for an easy getaway from the city, and the feds.
Just joking about the feds.
But seriously.
The lady at the counter handed us the keys to a car I had never heard of and pointed us in the general direction of where it was parked. Well, I had never seen a more ugly car. The Vauxhall Zafira, what a machine. It was a station wagon because they obviously thought we would be sleeping in it, the height of it would rival the Petronas Towers and the sleek lines of the body seemed to echo disaster.
"We cant have this" I exclaimed in a rather authoritative, yet casual manner. How does that work, you ask. Beats me.
"Lets get it changed"
The dude came out with the keys and we argued with him, saying that we wouldn't be able to park the car in any regulation parking spaces, instead we would have to find a local airport and rent a hangar for the night. He grumbled something and went back into the building. We mosied on over to a brand new Peugeot 308, a sexy looking beast with rims, 5.1 surround sound and a steering wheel. Our man came out saying he had no keys for that car and instead we would have to make do with a new Mercedes.
"We can do that" we said and piled into the Merc with remarkable efficiency.
"I shouldnt be doing this" I thought I heard him mutter.
"What?" I said.
"Nothing" he replied rather quickly and scurried off. I stared him off with slit eyes.
Now don't get me wrong, this Merc wasn't the SLK supercar you all might think we got given. Oh no. Far from it actually. It was still a four door but a hatchback model with slow pickup and weak bumpers. Still, it was miles better than the Zafira, so I led the charge by pulling a quick doughie and peeling out of the car park with people behind me shaking pitchforks and lighting makeshift torches.
We got onto the 4 lane motorway alright and then found out we were going the wrong way. 'Pullin' a 'U'ey' was out of the question so we drove for a couple of miles before eventually finding a turnoff. I drove most of the way from London to Birmingham, then we swapped drivers all the way up until reaching Glasgow for the night. It was an epic 8 hour drive but necessary to complete in one day to save us mucking around and missing out on things for the rest of the trip. It was a great drive actually, as it was basically motorway the whole way.
"Whats the speed limit round here?" I asked, and Clint shrugged his shoulders.
"Just go as fast as everyone else"
"Dude, I'm doing 100 mph!"
We were screaming along at 160 kph (easy conversion between imperial and metric) and it still seemed as if cars were passing us. I pegged it back to 90mph and cruised most of the way at that speed. We were constantly doing sums in our head to find out how fast we were going in kph until we realised the dashboard had a digital odometer telling us the whole time.
We stayed in the "accommodation of the trip" in Glasgow; cheap and private and clean. It was a wee beauty. We caught a taxi ride into town and had pizza along the main strip. Glasgow wasn't much to look at. The guy at the hostel said that the only thing to do in Glasgow was to eat and drink, so we did both. The next morning we parked up in the centre of the city and had a quick look around, buying a cheap rugby ball while we were at it.
Verdict - Glasgow = average
We peeled back onto the motorway and hooned past Lake Lomond to our destination for the day; the quaint little town of Inverary. Editors Note: 'Peeled' means embarked, and 'hooned' refers to casually cruising in a motor vehicle.
Due to poor planning, we had only booked one night of accommodation prior to the trip, that being that first night in Glasgow. We arrived in Inverary and hunted out a place to stay where we could also park the silver beast. The local student hostel took us in with open arms and a bear hug. The town was quaint, set alongside the coast of one of Scotland's inlets, and we had a feed at the only pub before heading to a nearby corner store and buying some chocolate and Irn Bru.
Thats right - IRN BRU
Pronounced "Iron Brew", this drink is the number one beverage in the whole of Scotland, outselling Coke/Pepsi thus making Scotland the only country in the world to accomplish that feat.
It tasted shit house.
I mixed it with Vodka, and would have preferred the vodka served straight, or even with Mountain Dew. It tasted like a mix between Fanta and Creaming Soda.
The next morning we hopped in the car again (Oh don't get me wrong - we basically hopped in the car every day for a quick 4 hour drive). We drove around the isles of south west Scotland, stopping in Crinan for a quick sightsee. It boasts a manmade loch that would rival most European countries for sheer size. It was fairly cool and we had a quick slice of lemon (ummmmm) ..... slice before moving on.
Through the nice town of Oban, where we stopped to get the supermarket lunchtime meal deal, and then off to Fort William.
Or so we thought.
"Are we going the right way Renee" I pondered.
"I dunno" was the reply.
I found this incredibly hard to believe, as she was the one holding the map. The environment seemed to be speaking more of mountains and valleys instead of the coastal road I had imagined.
Through map analysis, we discovered we had veered of course by a good 100 km that had taken us from the coastal road to the centre of the highlands. It was a welcome detour actually as we passed through some great scenery and stopped off at a mountain range known as 'the 3 sisters' for a quick photo.
We got back to Fort William after an hour and a half trip, which should have taken 25 mins. To be fair, I was looking at the signs in Oban and they did seem to say that there was a portion of that coastal road closed down, so it was probably inevitable.
You would think we would have stopped in Fort William for the night, but we pressed on and drove on over to the Isle of Skye. I had been thinking the whole way driving through Scotland that the landscape reminded me of 2 things; New Zealand and Final Fantasy 8. This was confirmed when we entered Skye. It was stunning, and worth pushing our road time to get there. We were looking to get to the very top of the isle that day but our plans were thwarted by time and the supposed lack of accommodation in the small town of Uig. Instead, we decided to pull up short in an awesome little town called Portree. After parking up and checking out the area we noticed a large number of tourists making regular stops in various hotels and b&b's.
"Oh shit" I am sure we all thought when we discovered that the town was basically booked out for the night. Some places had one bed left but not 4.
"Damn" I thought and flicked through the handy Lonely Planet book that had wedged itself in between a chocolate bar wrapper and the used drink bottle located at my feet. A place in that book seemed to ring out, loud and clear: "Try Mrs Milne", it said "There is no signage or anything but she is a b&b and she will put you up"
"OK guys" I said and directed Clint through a small suburb to her house. It seemed the most random thing but it worked out. We ended up staying at her place for the night and she was fully equipped to take us all in and cook us a feed in the morning. The town really was a little beauty - something mum would like, and after a spot of dinner, we bought tubs of ice cream and drank the night away watching 'Last of the Mohican's' on the 14" TV provided.
Ms Milne informed us of a great wee detour to start our day the next morning, so we took her advice and drove on a road that was comparable to a 4WD dirt track. It was a ripper of a drive though. We pulled up at the tip of the Isle and took photos of the landscape. Further down the track we saw another turn off and we were treated to a huge waterfall that disappeared over the cliffs and into the pounding surf below. We were practically alone out there and it was a welcome change from the busy tourist bullshit that is normally so commonplace nowadays.
That day was a big day of driving and we sped past Loch Ness with blatant disregard for monster hunters. We stopped off in a small town and went into a tourist hotspot to experience a 5-star Loch Ness monster attraction. It was crap. It basically said at the end of it all that most images and so forth that you see of the monster are all made up anyway. Still, we went to the waters edge and looked into the loch to try and catch a glimpse of something whilst we ate a soggy croissant that was a few days old.
We drove on up to Inverness that night (different from Inverary)and stayed in a youth Hostel again. Didn't really have much of a look around apart from the inside of a Pizza Express restaurant, where we bought dinner.
"I'll have a scotch on the rocks, please. Any scotch will do, as long as it's not a blend, of course. single malt, Glen Livet, Glen Galley, perhaps, any glen."
The next day Clint and I decided to throw caution into the wind and allow the girls to drive and navigate us through the highlands to Edinburgh.
We did three separate U-Turns.
That drive was really nice. We went made our way through the Scotch county of Scotland where all the 'Glens' are distilled and through the highest point in Scotland, being the mountain of Ben Nevis. It was champagne driving.
We attempted to get into a castle along the way but found out Prince William was entertaining good ol' Kate Middelton in the estate so we had to move along.
We arrived in Edinburgh late, and quickly made our way from the guest house into the city. It is awesome. What a city. It shat all over Glasgow. We ate near the castle and caught a late bus home.
The next morning, we left our things in the guest house and hooned (ref editor note earlier) off to Stirling to see their castle and the William Wallace Monument. I hit a wall regarding paying for entrance into monuments, so I packed a sad and stayed by the car while Kel and Clint went up to check it out. It is absolutely ridiculous the amount of money they charge to see places that should technically be free.
After Stirling, it was still fairly early (around lunchtime) so I made an executive decision (starring Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal) and drove us all to St Andrews; the birthplace of Golf. It was a little ripper of a town. I jumped the fence onto the golf course and pretended to swing away with an invisible club.
I yelled 'Four' and people ducked.
I can see why it is a pricey course, absolutely immaculate.
On the Friday we stayed in Edinburgh and spent a day visiting the castle, the Scotch whisky experience, and about a million shops so the girls could find some crappy souvenir. It was a great city and not even the rain downpour deterred us.
For the final day, we drove back across the English border and checked out the Angel of the North statue in Newcastle, then along the road that runs parallel to Hadrians Wall; an old Roman wall that used to separate the two countries. We holed up in Manchester for the night and decided to hit the casino for one final blow out. Clint and I stormed the Black Jack tables and both came away with around £75 each. While we were playing, some English dude came over and threw around £50 on one of Clints hands, Clint won, and the guy did it again, walking off with around £200 from 2 minutes work. Lucky bugger.
We drove back to Heathrow early on as we were all fairly buggered by the (supposed) holiday and keen to chill for a bit. All up we drove a little under 3100km. That is nearly the full length of New Zealand, TWICE!
Epic.
Just booked a cheap flight to Sweden for a cheeky weekend to catch up with my mate Richie. He is keen as to put us up for a couple of nights so it is just a weekend thing. The flights were 5 pound each way!
You know it.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Crazy Nights
OK. Well, first things first.
I am semi lucky to still have a job as it seems that this recession is still going with the architecture profession. Only recently, the powers that be have let 3 staff members go. Wow oh wow, I thought as they confirmed that it wouldn't be me they were getting rid of. Phew.
It definitely is nervous times though.
Especially since I have booked in all these holidays, and it would completely suck if I had to find a new job and convince new employers to let me go on holiday straight away.
Never mind.
Renee and I have both booked in a 4 day all included stay in Iceland. It was a ripper deal and we were considering it for about a couple of days before some wise advice from Yifan convinced us to do it.
"Just do it" he said
I think he got it from an advertising campaign or something.
So yeah, we are flying into Reykjavik on the 14th November and staying at a 4 star resort till the 17th. We get a trip to the blue lagoon included too, which should be awesome. Wait for it.... here's a link to give you an idea of what the blue lagoon is.
Shot-ski, goal-ski. How tech is that!!!!
To celebrate our booking, we caught up with Tara (a friend from Contiki last year) at her central city pub and went on a party night in Camden town. Met up with Yifan and his girlfriend Shan there and we drank the night away. Renee and I then strolled from Camden to Trafalgar Square to catch a night bus home that night and we got home in the late hours of the morning.
What was Camden like? you ask.
Meh, it was OK.
I was expecting cool lounge bars but instead it was all teeny bopper crap. The final bar of the night had a movie theme song night and played all the songs of the movies such as 'Time of my life' by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and John Parrs chart topping hit 'Man in Motion'. Ripper.
Really, the only good thing was the free popcorn they handed out at the end of the night. I was soooo hungry that I ate it like cookie monster had switched snack foods. There was rapid movements of my hand from popcorn bag to mouth, resulting in more popcorn being strewn over the pavement and getting lost in my collar than ending my in my belly.
Good though. Salty.
Just last weekend, Renee and I had the flat to ourselves as it was a long weekend and all the flatmates decided to ship out to different parts of Europe. We didn't go anywhere because we have Scotland in a few days time. So anyway, we were pretty lonely and turned to fish and chips on the Friday night followed up with a few bottles of wine. That next day, at the supermarket, we decided to buy a big bottle of vodka instead of wine so that it would last longer.
At 10pm, wen we had finished that bottle, we decided no more drinking for the weekend.
So Pom shows up on the Sunday and its off to the bar.
We had a few beers before shit got rowdy, and Pom pulled out Absinthe shots. Double shots actually. Then we had a brilliant idea to go all the way to Camden again and keep the night alive. It was a better time in Camden than the first time, but we were shagged and headed home early.
That Monday, our day off, we went to the Notting Hill Carnival, which is apparently the second largest carnival in the world, slotting in just behind Rio de Janerio and apparently bigger than New Orleans Mardi Gras.
Apparently.
It was busy, that's for sure; about a million people. But it was too spread out. It was like you were walking empty streets between small hot spots of activity where people were all pissed and eating Jerk Chicken, the dish of choice for the carnival. There was a parade and stuff with people wanting to dry hump more than dance, so we got out of there, and fast.
It must have been the largest gathering of scum of the earth.
Too honest?
Hmpf.
Anyways, this was just a short update. Will have a big one next time after Scotland.
Ciao
I am semi lucky to still have a job as it seems that this recession is still going with the architecture profession. Only recently, the powers that be have let 3 staff members go. Wow oh wow, I thought as they confirmed that it wouldn't be me they were getting rid of. Phew.
It definitely is nervous times though.
Especially since I have booked in all these holidays, and it would completely suck if I had to find a new job and convince new employers to let me go on holiday straight away.
Never mind.
Renee and I have both booked in a 4 day all included stay in Iceland. It was a ripper deal and we were considering it for about a couple of days before some wise advice from Yifan convinced us to do it.
"Just do it" he said
I think he got it from an advertising campaign or something.
So yeah, we are flying into Reykjavik on the 14th November and staying at a 4 star resort till the 17th. We get a trip to the blue lagoon included too, which should be awesome. Wait for it.... here's a link to give you an idea of what the blue lagoon is.
Shot-ski, goal-ski. How tech is that!!!!
To celebrate our booking, we caught up with Tara (a friend from Contiki last year) at her central city pub and went on a party night in Camden town. Met up with Yifan and his girlfriend Shan there and we drank the night away. Renee and I then strolled from Camden to Trafalgar Square to catch a night bus home that night and we got home in the late hours of the morning.
What was Camden like? you ask.
Meh, it was OK.
I was expecting cool lounge bars but instead it was all teeny bopper crap. The final bar of the night had a movie theme song night and played all the songs of the movies such as 'Time of my life' by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and John Parrs chart topping hit 'Man in Motion'. Ripper.
Really, the only good thing was the free popcorn they handed out at the end of the night. I was soooo hungry that I ate it like cookie monster had switched snack foods. There was rapid movements of my hand from popcorn bag to mouth, resulting in more popcorn being strewn over the pavement and getting lost in my collar than ending my in my belly.
Good though. Salty.
Just last weekend, Renee and I had the flat to ourselves as it was a long weekend and all the flatmates decided to ship out to different parts of Europe. We didn't go anywhere because we have Scotland in a few days time. So anyway, we were pretty lonely and turned to fish and chips on the Friday night followed up with a few bottles of wine. That next day, at the supermarket, we decided to buy a big bottle of vodka instead of wine so that it would last longer.
At 10pm, wen we had finished that bottle, we decided no more drinking for the weekend.
So Pom shows up on the Sunday and its off to the bar.
We had a few beers before shit got rowdy, and Pom pulled out Absinthe shots. Double shots actually. Then we had a brilliant idea to go all the way to Camden again and keep the night alive. It was a better time in Camden than the first time, but we were shagged and headed home early.
That Monday, our day off, we went to the Notting Hill Carnival, which is apparently the second largest carnival in the world, slotting in just behind Rio de Janerio and apparently bigger than New Orleans Mardi Gras.
Apparently.
It was busy, that's for sure; about a million people. But it was too spread out. It was like you were walking empty streets between small hot spots of activity where people were all pissed and eating Jerk Chicken, the dish of choice for the carnival. There was a parade and stuff with people wanting to dry hump more than dance, so we got out of there, and fast.
It must have been the largest gathering of scum of the earth.
Too honest?
Hmpf.
Anyways, this was just a short update. Will have a big one next time after Scotland.
Ciao
Monday, August 16, 2010
Booking Holidays
Ahhh, still haven't been anywhere exciting since my last blog but plans have been made.
Renee's Friends came over from oz and they are currently on a contiki trip through Europe. Once they have that finished we are off through Scotland for 9 days in a rental car. I was fortunate enough to grab 5 seconds of my bosses time and he drew out a fantastic map through the Scottish countryside and pointed out the must see places. He even got down to the finer detail of what restaurants we should eat at and who we should ask to serve us. These Scots are a proud folk.
So that is exciting. We are leaving on 4th September for that mission. I am semi worried due to the fact that you can only really hire manual cars here and all the Aussies only know automatic. I hope it means I wont get lumped with all the driving. We may have to pay extra for an auto if we can get one.
Renee and I have also booked in our flights to Portugal and Spain for the Christmas / New Year period. We are flying into Lisbon on the 27th Dec and flying out of Madrid on the 4th Jan. We will probably spend new years in Portugal and only spend a few days in Spain, though I am keen to get a train or bus up to Bilbao to see Gehry's Guggenheim museum. Our flights were £70 return at that time of year so we were pretty stoked
Right now, we are considering a short visit to Iceland in November. Yes, I know it will be freezing but I can man it up. Don't know about Renee though. Mu haha
We can get return flights and 4 star hotel, transfers and entrance to the blue lagoon (siiiickkk natural spa with snow all around it and so forth) for £290 so we are definatley considering that.
I sound like a travel promoter
The reason why I haven't booked Iceland already is because I don't know how much longer I may have at my job here. Everyone is on edge and the office is super tense because the directors are going mental at anyone. We all know we are being underpaid and I have been considering looking around elsewhere. Its not really a fun environment at the moment. Now they have scheduled staff reviews for.... tomorrow, and we are all kind of stressing as to whether we will have a job at the end of it or not. I don't really want to look for other jobs but I don't want to stay in an office like this for too long. It is miserable at the moment.
Onto brighter subjects..........
Darren and Nicky stopped by for a brief visit recently. We had a few beers at a pub local to my work and then a quick bit of dinner. It was good to see them. They are now making their own way through Europe right now.
Ryan and Jo got back from their European trip and Ryan stopped by for a night of wine drinking and to pick up some of their stuff. He had tried to ring me about a million times but my phone was left behind at my flat so he had to wait around drinking beers at the local pub until my return. Poor guy. I really felt for him.
The reason for my absence was because I had spent the whole day shopping with Renee and carrying all her bags. Stupidly, for our one year anniversary (which was a while ago now), I had made her a set of redeemable vouchers that she could use at her leisure. One of them was a 'shopping assistant for a day, carrying all bags, and giving honest opinions on clothing'. What an idiot I am. That voucher alone was worth an anniversary present, but instead I gave her 8 different ones. Yes, 8! At the time I thought I was clever because I was essentially giving her a present without spending money.
Now I am paying for it.
In blood.
And manliness.
So yeah, I was a fur ball of shopping bags when Ryan arrived. That girl can shop!
Right now, Ryan and Jo are making their way through Scotland and Ireland and I think they have just booked Egypt also so props to them. I suggested they come to Portugal for Christmas if they are still here. That would be sweeeeeet.
Last weekend, I caught up with Yifan, his girlfriend Shan and Tara, our friend from Contiki in town. It was a relaxed night and Yifan sounded highly excited about Iceland.
Looking into the near future, we have Jason Derulo playing a gig near us for £20 which is fairly cheap so I think Renee is keen to see that. She may be riding solo, riding solo, riding solo, solo. (Literal humour for those in the know- clever huh)
So there it is, the last four weeks of my life in a short summary. Enjoy.
Renee's Friends came over from oz and they are currently on a contiki trip through Europe. Once they have that finished we are off through Scotland for 9 days in a rental car. I was fortunate enough to grab 5 seconds of my bosses time and he drew out a fantastic map through the Scottish countryside and pointed out the must see places. He even got down to the finer detail of what restaurants we should eat at and who we should ask to serve us. These Scots are a proud folk.
So that is exciting. We are leaving on 4th September for that mission. I am semi worried due to the fact that you can only really hire manual cars here and all the Aussies only know automatic. I hope it means I wont get lumped with all the driving. We may have to pay extra for an auto if we can get one.
Renee and I have also booked in our flights to Portugal and Spain for the Christmas / New Year period. We are flying into Lisbon on the 27th Dec and flying out of Madrid on the 4th Jan. We will probably spend new years in Portugal and only spend a few days in Spain, though I am keen to get a train or bus up to Bilbao to see Gehry's Guggenheim museum. Our flights were £70 return at that time of year so we were pretty stoked
Right now, we are considering a short visit to Iceland in November. Yes, I know it will be freezing but I can man it up. Don't know about Renee though. Mu haha
We can get return flights and 4 star hotel, transfers and entrance to the blue lagoon (siiiickkk natural spa with snow all around it and so forth) for £290 so we are definatley considering that.
I sound like a travel promoter
The reason why I haven't booked Iceland already is because I don't know how much longer I may have at my job here. Everyone is on edge and the office is super tense because the directors are going mental at anyone. We all know we are being underpaid and I have been considering looking around elsewhere. Its not really a fun environment at the moment. Now they have scheduled staff reviews for.... tomorrow, and we are all kind of stressing as to whether we will have a job at the end of it or not. I don't really want to look for other jobs but I don't want to stay in an office like this for too long. It is miserable at the moment.
Onto brighter subjects..........
Darren and Nicky stopped by for a brief visit recently. We had a few beers at a pub local to my work and then a quick bit of dinner. It was good to see them. They are now making their own way through Europe right now.
Ryan and Jo got back from their European trip and Ryan stopped by for a night of wine drinking and to pick up some of their stuff. He had tried to ring me about a million times but my phone was left behind at my flat so he had to wait around drinking beers at the local pub until my return. Poor guy. I really felt for him.
The reason for my absence was because I had spent the whole day shopping with Renee and carrying all her bags. Stupidly, for our one year anniversary (which was a while ago now), I had made her a set of redeemable vouchers that she could use at her leisure. One of them was a 'shopping assistant for a day, carrying all bags, and giving honest opinions on clothing'. What an idiot I am. That voucher alone was worth an anniversary present, but instead I gave her 8 different ones. Yes, 8! At the time I thought I was clever because I was essentially giving her a present without spending money.
Now I am paying for it.
In blood.
And manliness.
So yeah, I was a fur ball of shopping bags when Ryan arrived. That girl can shop!
Right now, Ryan and Jo are making their way through Scotland and Ireland and I think they have just booked Egypt also so props to them. I suggested they come to Portugal for Christmas if they are still here. That would be sweeeeeet.
Last weekend, I caught up with Yifan, his girlfriend Shan and Tara, our friend from Contiki in town. It was a relaxed night and Yifan sounded highly excited about Iceland.
Looking into the near future, we have Jason Derulo playing a gig near us for £20 which is fairly cheap so I think Renee is keen to see that. She may be riding solo, riding solo, riding solo, solo. (Literal humour for those in the know- clever huh)
So there it is, the last four weeks of my life in a short summary. Enjoy.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Updating stuff
I would like to say that I have travelled to far and exotic countries, experienced fun and exciting things and met interesting and dangerous people, but, alas, I haven't. There is not much to report really.
I guess, an interesting point is the update of this tired old blog, which I discussed in my previous post. The photo slide show that shows the picture (to the right) is a collection of my favourite photos from my travels. Below that, I have listed the countries I have visited and clicking on those links will take you to any photo I have taken whilst in that country. Pretty exciting. It basically means that when I comment on a country / event in the future, I should have some photos linked within that specific country that it was taken in. I will organise it so that the most recent photos will appear at the front of the series.
Check them out when you get the chance.
Phew, glad that admin is out of the way.
Anyways, what has happened since the last post......
Been chilling most weekends. The constant travelling to and from work is really taking its toll and I am finding myself more and more exhausted by weekends. So.... I better man it up.
We are all booked in for travelling through Scotland for 9 days at the start of September. Renee has a few mates coming over and we are looking at hiring a car and burning some wubber on the woads. With a rental car. One of my bosses has offered to draw out the ultimate in Scotland travel routes so we can hit all the main spots.
"You'll need 8 days" he said
"I got 9" I retorted and snapped my fingers with hip hop flare.
His puzzled expression made me stop from pulling out more break dance moves.
So, anyway, that is all booked in. Lately, Renee and I have been thinking "Man, what are we going to do over Christmas????" Obviously we want to travel to New York / Vegas in Feb / March and we want to save us much moolah for that as we can. So we were looking at local places to jaunt off to.
"What about climbing Kilimanjaro for New Years Eve?"I suggested, then i looked at prices on the Internet and literally shat my pants. NZ$3000 just for climbing the thing!!! Then there is everything else on top of that - small expenses like flights and accommodation. Once I had cleaned my pants, I then double dared myself to look at the Antarctica tours. I slipped into a 3 day coma.
Soooo, we have decided on Portugal.. You know it!!! Just a backpack on our backs and a few bucks in our pocket is what we are thinking. Well that's what I am thinking. I am sure that Renee's makeup bag is bigger than my backpack.
"I will just go without any makeup products" she insists, and I laugh whole heartedly, in almost a mocking tone.
Whoa, she just read that. I'm just joking folks. It will be an exciting wee trip. We are looking to do it from the 27th Dec till around the 2nd Jan. Flights are fairly cheap if we book them now so it should be great.
Last weekend,we had a flatmates leaving party. We had a BBQ, and then got down to some rounds of "Circle of Death". We got smashed and this guy called Miles just wouldn't leave. I laughed at the situation and then walked off.
Renee and I have been sleeping in the lounge lately as our room had sprung a leak from the nearby bathroom and it was determined that our walls had 'cancer'. So, this Polish guy has been filling them up. It wasn't until last night that we actually got back into the room and had a proper nights sleep.
Oh man. I really wish that I had more to update. But, I don't. work is getting bloody crap. The bosses seem to be angry almost all the time and no-one knows why. The also seem to be hiring more people but not wanting to raise our pay rates to what is acceptable. I am thinking of leaving, maybe. Might start looking soon. No point spending a limited time here at a job that wont support me, financially and creatively. My boss did lend me his new Leica digital SLR camera to have a play with and it nearly melted in my hands. Sooooo good. Need to update the good ol' Pentax at some stage I feel.
I will update this thing in a couple of weeks time. Maybe when something has happened. Till then
I guess, an interesting point is the update of this tired old blog, which I discussed in my previous post. The photo slide show that shows the picture (to the right) is a collection of my favourite photos from my travels. Below that, I have listed the countries I have visited and clicking on those links will take you to any photo I have taken whilst in that country. Pretty exciting. It basically means that when I comment on a country / event in the future, I should have some photos linked within that specific country that it was taken in. I will organise it so that the most recent photos will appear at the front of the series.
Check them out when you get the chance.
Phew, glad that admin is out of the way.
Anyways, what has happened since the last post......
Been chilling most weekends. The constant travelling to and from work is really taking its toll and I am finding myself more and more exhausted by weekends. So.... I better man it up.
We are all booked in for travelling through Scotland for 9 days at the start of September. Renee has a few mates coming over and we are looking at hiring a car and burning some wubber on the woads. With a rental car. One of my bosses has offered to draw out the ultimate in Scotland travel routes so we can hit all the main spots.
"You'll need 8 days" he said
"I got 9" I retorted and snapped my fingers with hip hop flare.
His puzzled expression made me stop from pulling out more break dance moves.
So, anyway, that is all booked in. Lately, Renee and I have been thinking "Man, what are we going to do over Christmas????" Obviously we want to travel to New York / Vegas in Feb / March and we want to save us much moolah for that as we can. So we were looking at local places to jaunt off to.
"What about climbing Kilimanjaro for New Years Eve?"I suggested, then i looked at prices on the Internet and literally shat my pants. NZ$3000 just for climbing the thing!!! Then there is everything else on top of that - small expenses like flights and accommodation. Once I had cleaned my pants, I then double dared myself to look at the Antarctica tours. I slipped into a 3 day coma.
Soooo, we have decided on Portugal.. You know it!!! Just a backpack on our backs and a few bucks in our pocket is what we are thinking. Well that's what I am thinking. I am sure that Renee's makeup bag is bigger than my backpack.
"I will just go without any makeup products" she insists, and I laugh whole heartedly, in almost a mocking tone.
Whoa, she just read that. I'm just joking folks. It will be an exciting wee trip. We are looking to do it from the 27th Dec till around the 2nd Jan. Flights are fairly cheap if we book them now so it should be great.
Last weekend,we had a flatmates leaving party. We had a BBQ, and then got down to some rounds of "Circle of Death". We got smashed and this guy called Miles just wouldn't leave. I laughed at the situation and then walked off.
Renee and I have been sleeping in the lounge lately as our room had sprung a leak from the nearby bathroom and it was determined that our walls had 'cancer'. So, this Polish guy has been filling them up. It wasn't until last night that we actually got back into the room and had a proper nights sleep.
Oh man. I really wish that I had more to update. But, I don't. work is getting bloody crap. The bosses seem to be angry almost all the time and no-one knows why. The also seem to be hiring more people but not wanting to raise our pay rates to what is acceptable. I am thinking of leaving, maybe. Might start looking soon. No point spending a limited time here at a job that wont support me, financially and creatively. My boss did lend me his new Leica digital SLR camera to have a play with and it nearly melted in my hands. Sooooo good. Need to update the good ol' Pentax at some stage I feel.
I will update this thing in a couple of weeks time. Maybe when something has happened. Till then
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Out with the Old.....
Well,
If you are as eager to get to this website to find out what I have been up to as my Mum is, you would notice that I have updated that old, pathetic layout for a new, more streamlined version.
Choice huh.
Check out this photo do-hickey right here ---------------------------------------------->
(Note: arrow will be of no use, once next blog is posted)
Go on, click on it.
........
Not bad huh?
I will be uploading more photos to my flickr account periodically (once a month if I decide Im too cheap to afford Flickr Pro).
By the way. If you hover over it you will see a rnage of photos show up at the bottom. By clicking the small expand button to the left of the photos, you will see them in glorious full screen view. Nice
There is also a search bar at the bottom, just in case you want to relive past travel stories with me.
And you will notice a travel map at the bottom too which lists cities and countries travelled to.
Nice.
By the way. If anyone is on gmail, this blog comes through like a email message through the Buzz tab - it basically means you know when I have updated the thing, instead of having to check it at periodic intervals.
Cool - let me know what you think
If you are as eager to get to this website to find out what I have been up to as my Mum is, you would notice that I have updated that old, pathetic layout for a new, more streamlined version.
Choice huh.
Check out this photo do-hickey right here ---------------------------------------------->
(Note: arrow will be of no use, once next blog is posted)
Go on, click on it.
........
Not bad huh?
I will be uploading more photos to my flickr account periodically (once a month if I decide Im too cheap to afford Flickr Pro).
By the way. If you hover over it you will see a rnage of photos show up at the bottom. By clicking the small expand button to the left of the photos, you will see them in glorious full screen view. Nice
There is also a search bar at the bottom, just in case you want to relive past travel stories with me.
And you will notice a travel map at the bottom too which lists cities and countries travelled to.
Nice.
By the way. If anyone is on gmail, this blog comes through like a email message through the Buzz tab - it basically means you know when I have updated the thing, instead of having to check it at periodic intervals.
Cool - let me know what you think
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Lower England
Well. Getting paid monthly sure does suck.
There is two weeks after pay day that are glorious.
Then there are two weeks before pay day that result in every minute of the day in this expensive country being a complete struggle.
Still, my student repayment bonus came through so I did a Guido fist pump in the air.
"You little beauty" I said in a 12th man, Maxie Walker voice.
So, we had two separate visits from Renee's family occur over the last 3 weeks, and I can tell you, I am over being a tour guide. It was good at the start, but when you are showing people a market you have been to only a few days earlier, it got old pretty quick.
Anyway, went and checked out Portobello Markets which is based in Notting Hill. Its the markets that Hugh Grant walks through during the movie. No biggie. Its full of food and antiques, amongst other things, so it took Luke (Renee's bro) and I approximately 12 minutes before we started looking for a pub. I found one and Luke checked his watch to make sure it was after midday so we didnt become classed as alcoholics.
It was 12:04.
The girls took their sweet time, loading up on clothes and crap until they resembled Julia Roberts having just finished her shopping spree in Pretty Woman.
We showed them Camden also and went to the London Eye to top off the touristy shit.
Then Renee's parent came and it was the same schedule all over again. By the time we got to Portobello markets again, I was in a grumpy mood and had to wait at the bar again for the girls to shop. Its almost like an adult playcentre, this bar. "Lets just lose the boys so we can shop" the girls must say to each other in a secret dialect involving winks and head movements.
Ryan and Jo showed up not long after and I went and had drinks with them. They only had a short stay in London before heading off on their trip through Europe, but it was good to see them enjoying the sights and London lifestyle (namely drinking). I tried my best to convince them to stay on, as they have visas. Good stuff. Hope their trip goes well.
Last weekend I took the Friday off (ripper) and headed off in a hire car with Renee's family. It was pretty sweet, they shouted everything, and when I offered to pay they said "No. no". So I was like 'OK'. We headed to Brighton first. Brighton is fairly cool. Its known as a seaside town but the beach is made of stones instead of sand and there are no waves to speak of. Ever.
We had Fish and Chips on the beach, the fish being a whale fillet, or at least that's how big it was. The chips were shite - not up to my stringent standards.
We walked out on the pier and got stuck into the amusement park which is located at the end of it. After the dodgems, I decided to go on the log flume and the dickheads operating the thing, made me wait at the top of the giant drop until another log turned up alongside, thus completely saturating me from head to toe. I was not impressed and the operators seemed oblivious to the fact that they had unleashed the Perfect Storm on my ass. I was about to call out to Des and Troy to combine their powers, but decided against it.
It is a family park after all.
After Brighton, we headed to Salisbury where we stayed the night. Salisbury was really nice. Small and quaint. The cathedral was baller (Taylor word - I think it means cool). We tried to get inside it but they were holding a small mass for only 1500 invited guests. We had dinner at Wagamama and walked the tiny streets.
After Salisbury we made our way to Stonehenge. The place has been tourist-icised and it cost big bucks to get into it. I went in by myself and took heaps of photos. I think it was fairly cool, I have been told it is disappointing but I didnt think so. I have been to Belfast mind you.
We hooned off to Bath, stopping at Longleat park along the way. Longleat has one of those drive through Safari things, so we drove on through and saw Giraffes, Lions and Rhinos up close and from the comfort of our rent-a-car seats. I wound the window down a little to get a photo of the tigers and everyone freaked.
Bath was cool. Really cool. It used to be part of the Roman Empire and you can still see an Ancient Italian influence in the streets and buildings. We walked through the Roman Baths (ridiculously overpriced) and drove around the circular roundabouts bordered with terrace style houses (hard to explain). It was around here that I discovered how hard it is to give directions whilst driving through England. Every street is either one way or no entry and no street seems to have any precedence. We were driving down this tiny alley and found out it was the main road.
We stayed the night in Bath and drove out to Bristol, which was a shit hole, so we got back in the car and drove on through to Wales. We were keen to have lunch in Newport and followed all the signs to the city centre. Then all the signs started saying we were heading out of the city and back to England. What???!!! We didnt even get to stop.
We visited a small town called Arundel on the way home which is a little less known than Stonehenge but still has some Mysterious stones everywhere. There were a few tourists there that were in the know. I knew about it because of my Lonely Planet guide book (highly recommended).
After a whirlwind trip through Lower England we came back to London and had drinks in a bar overlooking Trafalgar Square and most of central London. Views were outstanding.
Renee's parents left this morning to head back to Oz. It doesn't rest up for me though. I have drinks tonight with some of my old old flatmates from final year uni days that I haven't seen in years.
The next few weekends should be quiet enough. Darren and Nicky arrive near the end of the month for a fleeting visit. Right now, I am trying to plan where to go for the next bank holiday weekend in August. It will only be a one city stop, so it is out of:
Kiev, Ukraine
Krakow, Poland
Budapest, Hungary
Any suggestions / alternatives out there?
(See how I phrased that as a question, thus provoking a response)
There is two weeks after pay day that are glorious.
Then there are two weeks before pay day that result in every minute of the day in this expensive country being a complete struggle.
Still, my student repayment bonus came through so I did a Guido fist pump in the air.
"You little beauty" I said in a 12th man, Maxie Walker voice.
So, we had two separate visits from Renee's family occur over the last 3 weeks, and I can tell you, I am over being a tour guide. It was good at the start, but when you are showing people a market you have been to only a few days earlier, it got old pretty quick.
Anyway, went and checked out Portobello Markets which is based in Notting Hill. Its the markets that Hugh Grant walks through during the movie. No biggie. Its full of food and antiques, amongst other things, so it took Luke (Renee's bro) and I approximately 12 minutes before we started looking for a pub. I found one and Luke checked his watch to make sure it was after midday so we didnt become classed as alcoholics.
It was 12:04.
The girls took their sweet time, loading up on clothes and crap until they resembled Julia Roberts having just finished her shopping spree in Pretty Woman.
We showed them Camden also and went to the London Eye to top off the touristy shit.
Then Renee's parent came and it was the same schedule all over again. By the time we got to Portobello markets again, I was in a grumpy mood and had to wait at the bar again for the girls to shop. Its almost like an adult playcentre, this bar. "Lets just lose the boys so we can shop" the girls must say to each other in a secret dialect involving winks and head movements.
Ryan and Jo showed up not long after and I went and had drinks with them. They only had a short stay in London before heading off on their trip through Europe, but it was good to see them enjoying the sights and London lifestyle (namely drinking). I tried my best to convince them to stay on, as they have visas. Good stuff. Hope their trip goes well.
Last weekend I took the Friday off (ripper) and headed off in a hire car with Renee's family. It was pretty sweet, they shouted everything, and when I offered to pay they said "No. no". So I was like 'OK'. We headed to Brighton first. Brighton is fairly cool. Its known as a seaside town but the beach is made of stones instead of sand and there are no waves to speak of. Ever.
We had Fish and Chips on the beach, the fish being a whale fillet, or at least that's how big it was. The chips were shite - not up to my stringent standards.
We walked out on the pier and got stuck into the amusement park which is located at the end of it. After the dodgems, I decided to go on the log flume and the dickheads operating the thing, made me wait at the top of the giant drop until another log turned up alongside, thus completely saturating me from head to toe. I was not impressed and the operators seemed oblivious to the fact that they had unleashed the Perfect Storm on my ass. I was about to call out to Des and Troy to combine their powers, but decided against it.
It is a family park after all.
After Brighton, we headed to Salisbury where we stayed the night. Salisbury was really nice. Small and quaint. The cathedral was baller (Taylor word - I think it means cool). We tried to get inside it but they were holding a small mass for only 1500 invited guests. We had dinner at Wagamama and walked the tiny streets.
After Salisbury we made our way to Stonehenge. The place has been tourist-icised and it cost big bucks to get into it. I went in by myself and took heaps of photos. I think it was fairly cool, I have been told it is disappointing but I didnt think so. I have been to Belfast mind you.
We hooned off to Bath, stopping at Longleat park along the way. Longleat has one of those drive through Safari things, so we drove on through and saw Giraffes, Lions and Rhinos up close and from the comfort of our rent-a-car seats. I wound the window down a little to get a photo of the tigers and everyone freaked.
Bath was cool. Really cool. It used to be part of the Roman Empire and you can still see an Ancient Italian influence in the streets and buildings. We walked through the Roman Baths (ridiculously overpriced) and drove around the circular roundabouts bordered with terrace style houses (hard to explain). It was around here that I discovered how hard it is to give directions whilst driving through England. Every street is either one way or no entry and no street seems to have any precedence. We were driving down this tiny alley and found out it was the main road.
We stayed the night in Bath and drove out to Bristol, which was a shit hole, so we got back in the car and drove on through to Wales. We were keen to have lunch in Newport and followed all the signs to the city centre. Then all the signs started saying we were heading out of the city and back to England. What???!!! We didnt even get to stop.
We visited a small town called Arundel on the way home which is a little less known than Stonehenge but still has some Mysterious stones everywhere. There were a few tourists there that were in the know. I knew about it because of my Lonely Planet guide book (highly recommended).
After a whirlwind trip through Lower England we came back to London and had drinks in a bar overlooking Trafalgar Square and most of central London. Views were outstanding.
Renee's parents left this morning to head back to Oz. It doesn't rest up for me though. I have drinks tonight with some of my old old flatmates from final year uni days that I haven't seen in years.
The next few weekends should be quiet enough. Darren and Nicky arrive near the end of the month for a fleeting visit. Right now, I am trying to plan where to go for the next bank holiday weekend in August. It will only be a one city stop, so it is out of:
Kiev, Ukraine
Krakow, Poland
Budapest, Hungary
Any suggestions / alternatives out there?
(See how I phrased that as a question, thus provoking a response)
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