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.

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

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.

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

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

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)

Oxford and Ireland

Well, it certainly has been a while since I have updated this.

Sorry to keep you waiting. I bet you are all wondering what zany and craaaaazy adventures I have been up to of late. OK, here goes.

Three weeks ago it was a bank holiday weekend. You gotta love the bankers round here (Even if they do take 3 months to make a simple eftpos card work. Actually while I'm at it - that banking here actually does suck really bad. It takes a few days for a simple eftpos transaction to show up in your accounts. At which stage I have quickly checked my balances online, get stupidly stoked thinking I have more money than I really do and go on spending sprees, only to find I am in hard core overdraft in a few days time when the bank decides to get round to updating my accounts).

That gripe gone, I do like there holidays. They have one - we all have one. Everyone wins!!!!! Apart from employers, they don't win.

So, for that long weekend, Pedro (flatties boyfriend) said that he was travelling to Oxford to sort out a house of his and offered us a ride and a place to crash. "YOU KNOW IT" we said and travelled out to the town famous for its sprawling university. In fact it is more like the university is famous for its town. The university basically is the town as each campus is scattered across the landscape with a few shops in between. After a spot of Burger King (I know) we tried to get into universities to see their prestigious campuses and immaculate lawns. Most were closed but we did break into one by jimmying open a back window with the pinch bar I brought along.

Whoa - only kidding.





After strolling the streets, we came across a university that hired boats out to the public, so we grabbed one. It was a pedal boat and worked the calves, glutes, and upper thighs in one easy motion. Some people hired those boats that have to be pushed along with a stick. Idiots. We burnt passed them, splashing water on their faces and laughing whole heartedly.

It was a nice wee boat ride through the surrounding rivers of Oxford and we pedalled for an hour.

After that we had a spot of dinner and tucked into some booze.





The next day Pedro took us out to Blenheim Palace for the day. He showed us a back entrance so we didn't have to pay the ridiculously overpriced £18 entry fee. The place was huge, the gardens alone were bigger than New Zealand (slight exaggeration). There were lakes and secret gardens and a hedge maze, and mini put and a butterfly enclosure. It was pretty awesome. So we spent the day there, milling around and causing trouble.





We finished the day off and drove back home, keen for work the next day.

The weekend after Oxford was a nothing weekend. Tried to save money. Did meet up with my long time mate Richie who currently resides in Sweden. My strolled through Camden markets and planned my own trip to Sweden in September.







Last weekend, Renee and I flew to Ireland for the two days. I booked the flights to leave London at around midday and lucky I did as when you take off waiting time, and transport time to get out to the airport we had to leave the house by 7am. We flew into Belfast and checked out the town. I was expecting the buildings to still be smoking and troops of soldiers in riot gear patrolling the city limits. Not the case however. In honesty, it was quite a boring city. We had a money scare and found out we only had £14 between us for the whole weekends food and drink. I made sure I got a Guinness from the tap and the rest we spent on noodles and meal deals.





That night, whilst staring out the window in the dorm, we noticed an old man get basically booted out of a bar before he could even step foot in there. "Piss off" they said "We don't want you round these parts".
Then this even older guy held him back on the ground and reiterated "Yeah, piss off". Renee was like "Oh my god, that poor man" and I explained that he was probably a catholic or something trying to walk into a protestant bar. So it is still fairly bad round here. That night, at around 4 in the morning I was awoken with
"No one stands on my friends fookin' head and gets away with it", said by some batty lady who must have been mental as she kept yelling it out about 100 times at the top of her lungs. Then this guy tried to bottle a girl nearby. The Irish get crazy when they are drunk!

On the Sunday we said "see ya later" to Belfast and drove out into the country to go see the Giants Causeway, a collection of very cool rock formations arranged so they look like hexagonal and octagonal steps everywhere. Its hard to describe. We crossed an ancient rope bridge and our driver, who was VERY Irish kept making jokes about it.

"300 years ago, when the rope bridge was built, you see, they had one handrail on it, as you well know. Nowadays however, they have NO handrails".

He paused for a few seconds and then finished his stories with a
"No, I'm only joking, eh"

Imagine this in a leprechaun voice and you can see why I nearly had to be admitted to hospital to have my split sides stitched back up. Hilarious.











We flew back into London and got home a little after midnight. No more weekend trips I decided as I was wasted for work, and I came in especially early to get stuff finished.

So now we have Renee's brother and his girlfriend staying with us for the weekend and then Renee's Mum and stepdad arrive for a few weeks so it is busy busy with them for a while. I am thinking that July is going to be quiet on the travel front and will probably be taken up with getting this apartment building out.

A few concerts coming up may be interesting including

Roxy Music
Paul McCartney
Blink 182
Pearl Jam and Ben Harper
Kings of Leon and Florence and the Machine together
Roger Waters THE WALL - which I have already purchased tickets for, sweet

Cool. Talk soon in a couple of weeks

Wales

Before I start with my wee adventure in the weekend, I will cap off last week.

On the Tuesday, went to the pub with a few workmates for ONE pint. That one pint turned into a few more than desired and I ended up stumbling onto the tube and feeling dizzy, wondering why it seemed to take a much quicker time than what it normally did. I couldn't help it - one of my bosses turned up and started forking out for drinks and telling these ridiculous stories about the office. It is crazy the things that have happened here.

Got me kinda worried.

Anyway, the next day, it was fair to say that I wasnt in the healthiest of head spaces. It was OK though because most others in the office were like that also. By Friday, with a lack of sleep, and a pounding head from too much computer screen action, I was fairly spent. Nevertheless, I always find a way to dig myself in deeper and I discovered that the weekend I had decided to go to Wales was the exact same weekend that the London Council had decided to complete uproot its entire underground network.
So, to get to Paddington station to catch the 7:30am train to Wales, we had to wake up at around 5am to catch all these alternative underground routes that will get us to a destination that should have taken 15 mins.

I am getting fairly over this underground. Its the whole 'over-the-under' situation.

Anyway, we got to Wales on time and felt like we had already been up for half a day. What was to happen? you wonder. Well, someone was found dead on the tracks. So that inevitably meant that all trains were shutdown until the police could investigate the situation. So, after all our mucking around, we could have slept in longer anyway. Its that Murphy's Law thing.

We finally got on our train and relaxed into a table seat, playing cards, as we were hurtled through the English countryside at break neck speed. They really have ramped up train efficiency over here. We stepped off the train in Cardiff at around lunchtime. Now, I realise that Cardiff is the capital of Wales but what I didnt realise is how tiny it is for a capital city. We walked the whole town in little under half an hour. Strolling out to the harbour, we decided to forego a bus tour and opt for a water tour. "Forget the bus" I said to Renee "Water is where it is at!" and I jumped on board having paid my £4 in excitement.





This was possibly the most boring boat ride I have ever been on. Instead of a tour boat it was more like a ferry with some guy rambling on about plants. "As you can see to your right, those bushes over there is what the harbour had by its water edge before they decided to clear it". Some people took photos. Of a bush.

I almost cried.



We headed back to the city after a spot of eating and found Cardiff Castle, which we paid over £10 to get in. It was fairly cool, I guess. I took heaps of photos and then bought a small Welsh dragon in the gift shop, as well as a tiny pencil sharpener fashioned into a working catapult. I cannot describe how cool it is, and for £2 I thought 'why not'.





Renee and I then headed to a local bar and sat down for some ciders. The sun was scorching and the ice evaporated quickly. It was then that I noticed something very strange. Everyone was walking around fulfilling at least 1 of the following descriptions; wifebeater singlet, tattoos, hot pants and/or, no top on at all (unfortunately it was only the guys). It would seem if you didnt adhear to these strict codes then you obviously weren't Welsh, ala myself. I stuck out like a sore thumb, what with my jeans, t-shirt, ink free skin, and sunburnt nose.

So, we got back on the train, had an interchange at a station in Bristol, had a smart ass kid try to tell me that my seat on the train was actually his before I started to position myself in boxing stance and he quickly moved. Idiot.
Got back home around midnight and fell into bed.

The next day wqas an absolute scorcher so the flatties and I headed to Wimbledon park for some beers, tennis ball petanque and dark glass observing. The place was packed, I would love to see it when tennis is actually played there.

So that weekend was great. I have Oxford this weekend (available funds permitting) and we have just booked tickets to Ireland in a few weekends time. They were £3 each way.

Nice

Whats new???

I have had a few comments recently asking why I havent put up a post in a while. Gee wizz, its only been a couple of weeks!!!.

Anyway, truth is, nothing much has happened. I would like to say that I flew to Kenya but, sadly, that hasnt happened. So, I will fill you in from where we left off.

OK. Seeing as it is summer and I still have to rug up in my oversized ski jacket to make the commute to work, I have been trying frantically to find an awesome coat to rock out in. I have looked everywhere. And nothing. I actually found a really nice one but found that it was too tight across my broad shoulders. I could have hulk smashed something, I was so angry. I did feel like the hulk in that jacket anyway; one tense of the arms and the thing would have torn at the seams.

So, my jacket hunt has taken me to Oxford St on two occasions, and Kingston Town a weekend ago before I gave up and decided to wait till winter, when they apparently come out of hibernation. Kingston Town was nice, I think UB40 wrote a song about it. Really big shopping town and it was a nice river winding through it so we grabbed a lunch on the rivers edge.

Last weekend, I decided to head to the Battersea powerstation and get some photos of the building made famous by Pink Floyd for their 'Animals' album cover. It is an awesome building but pretty derelict. After that we attempted heading to some food markets but found to our dismay that they were all closed up on Sundays. 'Damn it' I said aloud and decided to stroll along the Thames and visit the Tate Modern. We then went to Camden town for the third time since we have been here. Camden is so much fun. I ate a Churro, which is heaven in a donut. Renee got chocolate covered stawberries, with three types of chocolate, hold the nuts.



I recently purchased a monthly travel card (for £116 per month!!!!!! It hurts). It means I dont have to muck around with individual tickets and I can travel basically anywhere in main London, whenever I want for a whole month. Its good. Having it means that I am keen to go out and check the London hotspots every weekend. Coming soon: the Abbey Road pedestrian crossing from the Beatles cover. Maybe Notting Hill some other time

This coming Saturday, Renee and I are travelling to Wales. Why? you ask. Why not? Its £30 for a return train ticket to Cardiff, which is pretty good value. The travel time is 2, 3/4 hours each way so it will be a long day. The weekend after that, one of our flatties boyfriends, Pedro (his real name is Peter but he prefers Pedro because Peter is a pussy name, and he looks Spainish) is going to take us to his hometown of Oxford. Would be good to check out the university campus and hit the pubs up. Maybe challenge a few college students to a boat race of beer.
Its hard you know - literal humour.

So, The next post will be in 2 weeks time. Can you all handle the wait??? Im not so sure.

Just be strong.

Would actually be good to know who is reading this. Drop me an email to let me know what you are up to if you are. Would be keen as English mustard to have some chats

A month in......

So. It has been a month since we arrived in the UK. We have managed to do all the settling in stuff so it is smooth sailing from here which is good.

Work is going well. I have just been given an entire 40 unit apartment building to work through with one other guy. Yes, just he and I. I have to get the drawings out by the end of July so that will be a mission. Should be fun though and if I do well with it I should enevitably be looking at a promotion. I think they have given me the project to test the waters so to say, so I will be pulling some long and busy hours to get my head around it all.

Last weekend was a massive one. caught up with a few old universtity friends and we partied at a bar directly beneath the swiss re tower (the Gherkin building - Im sure you know of it). That was fun. The next day we went out in Soho and had a massive one, starting at around 4 or 5 to celebrate a friend of ours birthday. That Sunday was the actual celebrations so we all hopped on a river ferry and travelled to Greenwich to do some bar hopping. The ferry was really cool and the guy on the boat knew heaps of facts about all the buildings on the water, especially the pubs. He had done some in depth research into those pubs apparently.

It was fair to say that by the time I got to work on Monday, I was fairly haggled. The computer screen was blurry and eminating a soul destroying white glow. It was at 5:30 that my boss offered me a ride home, as he lives over the road from me. I gratefully accepted and skipped out of work half an hour early and knowing that I would miss my one hour ride home on the tube in favour of a much brisker 25 min car ride.

We drove past heaps of places in London I didnt even realise were famous. Like the fact that about 300m from my work is a massive building that marks the spot that William Wallace was killed. And that the gateway I walk under every day to work is around 800 years old. I also noticed that when I get to the next street across from my work, St Pauls Cathedral looms over me with its grandoise brilliance.

We pulled into my bosses driveway and I was like "Wow, thanks for the ride. That was awesome". and he was like "well, are you going to come in for a drink". So, nervously, I accepted.

That night was the biggest of all the 3 nights preceeding it. I got smashed with him and his wife. Renee came along later and we all went out for Indian, which I have discovered is considerably more spicy than back in NZ. I had the spice hiccups straight away and I checked my tongue in the mirror and it was blood red.

I found out that I am actually working in a bloody good office. My boss was one of the 40 under 40; a term describing the top 40 architects in the world under the age of 40. His practice that he had before this one had 200 people working under him. Now he has 17 but they have just received a massive contract and looking to double that staff number in the next month.

It was good to hear what he had to say about architecture, though I didnt remember it. I walked into work the next day purposefully early and asked him how he was feeling. He replied "Fine" rather nonchalantly, which basically meant that he wasnt hungover at all, so I quickly replied "yeah Im fine too" and painfully sat myself down at the computer screen.

Just watched the Black caps win against Sri Lanka in the world cup last night. Good stuff. Hope they do well this tournament. Was supposed to be going to Salisbury and Stonehenge etc this weekend but the weather is crap so we have decided to wait and will go shopping on Oxford St instead. Maybe watch Ironman 2. What am I saying 'Maybe'. Definately.

I need to buy some more undies too.

Settled in

OK. Moved into the new flat yesterday. Had a bit of a BBQ / Drinking session to kick things off which turned into a massive booze up. There was only a few of us but we polughed through enough alcohol to make people looking through our rubbish bins think that a rugby team had been there.

The flat is nice and the flatmates are nice. Went shopping to get sheets and the likes and fully unpacked everything so it is good to not live out of the suitcase anymore. You get over that stuff pretty quickly.

The other weekend Renee and I checked out Camden and went through the markets. Crazy place with heaps of small alleyways leading off to vintage clothing shops and so forth. You can get anything there. It is a bit more alternative than the rest of London so there are heaps of mohawks, peircings, fishenets and tatts.

Cool place though.

There is a bank holiday coming up in 2 weeks time so we are planning to do a day trip that will encompass visiting Salisbury, Bath and Stonehenge. Should be fun for a day, although I hear Stonehenge aint all its cracked up to be.

Chatting with Tara (a girl we went on Contiki with other here) and we have decided to plan a holiday for the new years break that will see us in Times Square for the big night and then to Vegas as an afterparty. Flights to the states, in particular Vegas with a stopover in New York are around the 200-300 pound mark (return) so that is crazy cheap considering I should be able to save around 200 pound per week on my salary.

Work is going well. Found out my boss lives over the road from me. London is a fairly small town after all.

Oh yeah, by the way. If you dont have it already, my UK number is 07 896 043 539 or if you want to get in contact from overseas (say NZ) then it is +44 7 896 043 539. Cool. We have internet all set up here so I can begin to do some skype dates soon.

All good. Will be checking in shortly after our visit to Salisbury and stuff so check back in 2 weeks or so.

P.S. Man. They closed all the airports over her and air travel is a state of anarchy. Lucky I aint travelling anywhere shortly but my mate Yifan is stuck in New York and cant get back. Poor bugger. Hope it sorts itself out soon cos I wanna fly to Portugal and Turkey. Holla

Back to the slog

So, within 10 days in London, Renee and I both have jobs and we have sorted out a place to live, not to mention bank accounts, tax numbers and cellphones. It has been hectic!

I managed to haul down a job in a central city architecture studio. It is around 20 people large and they specialize in a lot of large residential works and so forth. They all seem pretty friendly. My pay is still shit - I am getting over this whole architecture deal very fast, but I should be able to start saving in a wee bit. The other stink thing about the office is that they use computer programs that I have no idea about. I am trying to learn them now and semi struggling. They use macs also which is a bit different. Its all about hot keys.

I am just recovering from an untimely cold which I was not too stoked on getting. I had to start work and try to listen to what people where saying with a swimming head and a dripping nose.

It takes me around an hour to get to work each day. I hear this is the norm. Seeing I travel in the peak times it means I get up close and very personal with complete strangers on the underground.

We just locked down a flat in a suburb called Southfields (which, funnily enough, is also the area of the bar I am staying in temporarily for the moment). It is a nice place located right next to Wimbledon which should be fun come the summer. The flat is actually a house with 6 people living in 4 bedrooms. It was one of the nicest (and reasonably priced) places we could find. I tell ya, the majority of places out there are shitholes. I would know - I've visited nearly 20 of them in the last few days. So, this place has a backyard and a seperate living room to kitchen. It comes fully furnished so no need to buy beds etc (thats the norm).
We are right next to the entrance to the tube station which would make it way better when it starts snowing and crap in winter. It is absolutely freezing here at the moment and its meant to be coming into summer. When Mum used to visit us in Wellington and say "Oh, its so cold", and I would be like "What!! This is actually alright weather!!", it is way different here. I rug up to the point of looking more like a large beach ball than a human form and I still shiver. I think Mum would freeze like the T1000 did when he had liquid nitrogen sprayed on him.

Anyway, thats about it. Went to Soho last Saturday night and had cocktails all day. They were 2 for 1 which made them about £2.5 each. Not bad at all (thats Lond Island Ice Teas included). It was kinda for my birthday so that was cool.

Oh yeah - Renee got a part time nanny job. Its only Monday and Friday work but at least it will bring in around £100 a week for her until she finds something more full time.

Ok, thats about it

Australia, Malaysia and all

We arrived at Sydney airport and I was greeted with a hug by Nathan (there may have been a butt-grab also). He was good enough to come to the airport and escort us into town which was super mean. The room in the Novotel overlooked Darling Harbour and was simply superb. That first night sent us heading to the casino to spend up some cash. I had purchased a few bottles of booze going through duty free so that eased the night into proceedings. Before we went to the casino however, we took a short stroll around Darling Harbour itself and found ourselves in a bar buying cheap $10 cocktails. The toffee apple was the best by far.

Nathan won up large at the casino on that first night and we celebrated with more drinks. We left the night a few dollars up over when we started.

The next day we drove out to Bondi and checked out the ..... surf. There was a surfing comp on at the time and Kelly Slater was there. Didnt watch him surf as we had more pressing matters at hand. We drove back the long way (around the coast) to get into Sydney central again. From there we took a water taxi from Darling Harbour to the Opera House and spent our time strolling the harbour. We got back to the hotel just as it was about to piss down and set into some more drinks. Like idiots we decided to head back to the casino and things went slightly pear shaped so we decided to get the hell outta there before we lost heaps. The next day was spent just chilling out. Went to the nautical museum to go through the submarine and destroyer located in Darling Harbour (and now I have just realsied that I still owe Nath $20 for the entrance fee - shit, sorry man. Will sort it out somehow in the future)

We flew into Melbourne in the afternoon and had dinner at a funky restaurant called Groove Train. The next few days were spent relaxing in Apollo Bay and attacking internet sites looking for UK work. We drove to Melbourne again for the weekend and played some serious Wii at Renee's bro's (Luke) place (Wii Resort = Gold). Luke and I played a round of golf the next day which went pretty dismally I must say. We then drowned our sorrows with beers and more Wii. That night Renee was catching up with all her girl mates and I was dragged into it. I was the only guy amongst 5 girls. Who knew that much chocolate could be consumed in one night.

Met up with Renee's Dad for the first time the next day and we all went to the Bavarian Beer Gardens before finishing off the night with dinner in Fed Square. The beer gardens were a huge open ground with heaps of tables and live bands (like a mini Blues, Brews and BBQ's - so Im told).

A few days later we jumped on a plane and headed to Malaysia. City = Kuala Lumpur. First time for me in this city so it was fairly exciting. Due to the relative youth of the city, it was lacking in historical structures that could knock your socks off. The Petronas Towers were nice though and we went up and walked along the central connection bridge. Shops in Malaysia are all located in malls. Try to find a shop in the street and you cant, then you see a huge building and that is where they all are. I figure it is to provide a cooler air conditioned space to do the shopping in because the temperature was around the 37 degree mark with about 1000% humidity. The second day we did a few tours, one through the city to see all the landmarks and the other at night to a dinner and a show finished off with the Chinese markets. The dinner was buffet style and awesome and the dancing sucked. The chinese markets were just like any other asian country - cheap ripoffs of clothes and shoes etc. I brought a polo shirt and discovered that Renee and I had only a few bucks to get us through the next day.

So that next day we went to the largest mall in Malaysia, and this thing was huge - all 13 storeys of it. Yes, you read right - 13 storeys!!! We went straight for the indoor themepark complete with rollercoaster that puts Rainbows End to shame. After nearly throwing up on some ride we decided to go for a quick game of bowling. We were on lane 29 of about 80.

That night we shared a cup of 2 min noodles as that was all we could afford.

The flight to London was fine, and I met up with my mate Kevin who has put us up in a room above his pub and he even cooked us a roast dinner last night. Solid stuff. So, right now, I am about to head into the city and start sorting my life out. I wont be updating this blog as much as I used to but stay tuned as I may make updates around every 3 weeks or so.