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