OffbeatTravel

It was a cold, dark morning when I rolled out of bed on Friday the 29th of May, at it should have been, it was only 5am. I’d been waiting for this day for weeks and it was finally here, today was the day my Mum was arriving from Australia. It had been 17 months since I saw her last, on the other side of the world in Melbourne airport, seeing me off. Now, she was making the trek to England herself to have a 3-week holiday and travel around the UK with me.

               So that’s how I found myself at 7:30am, standing at arrivals in Heathrow’s terminal four with a Costa coffee in my hand waiting for my Mum to step through those doors. It really is a pretty magic moment when you see someone for the first time after a long time, you just can’t help but let the emotions show, the happiness just comes rushing out. I gave her a big hug and we headed down to the Tube to catch it back into Kings Cross in the centre of London.

               For the first four days of our trip we hung in London, hitting up some tourist spots, seeing the sights, exploring and catching up, which looked a little something like this:

DAY 1 –

               With Mum and her luggage all collected we headed back into London to a hostel I had booked in Kings Cross called Keystone House. Our room was this tiny little room on the underground level, complete with zero windows and just enough room for a bunk with a double bed at the base. A bit squishy but nice and quiet (except for the sound of the Tube rolling by) and really centrally located.              

               That morning we headed out to grab some breakfast at a Pret a Manger and had a catch up as we ate. As it turned out it was a pretty nice day weather-wise so we decided to make the most of it and headed up to Camden markets on foot. Camden is one of my absolute favourite spots in London and I knew Mum would enjoy it and as she was jetlagged walking around a market wasn’t going to be too strenuous. Up in Camden we wandered around for a few hours, talking in the buzz of the Stables and enjoying some street food from the stalls down by the canal.

               In the late afternoon, once we’d had a little recuperate, but not so much as to give Mum any opportunity to sleep, we headed down waterside to the Thames. One thing Mum had suggested doing which I hadn't actually done yet, was a river cruise and as we were both pretty tired we figured just sitting on a boat in the cool air, looking out at the view of London would do us some good. The boat we took went from Tower Hill, right by the Tower of London, all the way down the windy Thames to Greenwich, somewhere I hadn't been to in all my visits to London, which is a shame because it was really nice! In Greenwich we had a walk around for about 45 minutes between boats, took some snaps and soaked up some of the last warm rays of sunshine.

               That night we decided to have a meal out back in Kings Cross which was not what you might have expected. African, and quite interesting dishes at that. My meal was some type of meat with onions and this bizarre pancake-type bread which had a slight sour taste. Different, but nice. With dinner done it was more than time for bed for the both of us.

DAY 2 –

               One our second day down in London we decided to tick of some of the tourist hotspots down in the West End and what better way to do that than with a guided walking tour. Like many I had done before the walking tour started in Covent Garden and took us down through Trafalgar Square, down The Mall to St James Palace and Buckingham Palace, though St James Park and back up towards Big Ben the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the Thames. It was another cracking day for weather and our tour guide was a lady I had had before, this enthusiastic woman from New Zealand who knew how to put on a good walk. At the end of the tour we had a lovely pub lunch in a place called The Slug and Lettuce, just down the road from Westminster Abbey, some lovely pie and zesty salad, oh yeah!

               Around mid-afternoon we wandered back out for some more walking over Westminster Bridge and along Southbank, past the London Eye, the Tate Modern and all the way to the Borough Market. As it turned out we arrived at the market about 20 minutes or so before it closed but it was still just enough time to have a wander around, grab a coffee and a few other nibbles to try!

               That evening back at the hostel we did a quick turn-around, grabbed some food then headed back out, just up the road from Kings Cross to Angel, where there was this free Comedy event above a pub called the Camden Head that I had heard about but never got around the going to. We rocked up at around 7pm and got given a number and told we would be guaranteed a spot in the second show, popular! But that was ok because we were in a lovey area and the venue was over a lovely pub so we sat amidst the Saturday night hubbub and enjoy a nice drink in a beautiful old-timey pub!                          

               The show itself was an absolute hoot which consisted of four acts with a MC in-between, two musical and two regular stand-up, no instruments! Man, for a free comedy gig in the middle of London, what a show, such great quality laughs all the way through you just can’t go wrong, strongly recommend, it was an evening well spent!

               DAY 3 –

               East End day, another of the awesome areas of London that is a personal all-time favourite. At 11am we found ourselves down at Liverpool St station to meet another tour guide, on a walking tour that would take us around London’s old and trendy East End, through some of the most historic (though now very modern) parts of the city then up through Spitalfields Market, Jack the Ripper areas and into Brick Lane. The tour, which I had done before didn’t fail to impress the second time round and it was great to be back in the heart of the City of London and cool areas like Shoreditch, with all its wicked street art.

               At the end of the tour we decided to stay around Brick Lane as there was a pumping market going on all the way down the road. We grabbed some food and wandered along, stopping to watch a busking beatboxer, look at a whole array of stalls, sample food, dodge cars and just take it all in. From the end of Brick Lane we headed into the heart of Shoreditch, through the Boxpark and around some of the streets and lanes. By mid-afternoon we’d seen a lot and decided on a change of scene so we jumped on the scene and headed off to the West End so Mum could experience the chaos of Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus before chilling out in St James Park, complete with a little encounter some very cute squirrels, much to the delight of Mum.

               That night we had a chill evening back at the hostel, grabbed some takeaway and just hung out in the common room.

               DAY 4 –

               Our last full day in London we had a bit of a hotchpotch day with a few different things. In the morning we headed into Soho on the Tube to go find a little café that a friend from home’s son worked at. Will was working that day but not till midday so we headed down to Trafalgar Square to have a quick look in the National Gallery. We ended up starting on a guided tour of some of the highlights but both got distracted and lost the group, oops. Ah well, we did our own tour and saw a fair bit of the gallery, including some Van Gogh’s, Cezanne’s and Monet’s, a few of my favs. Before heading back to see Will at his café we stopped in St Martins in the Fields, a church right by Trafalgar Square where a classical show was being played featuring the talents of an amazing pianist and violinist, most impressive. Then we were hungry so we stopped off at a Vietnamese restaurant and had an amazing meal before saying hello to Will.

               It’s always special to see someone from home on the other side of the world, no matter how well you know them back home. Will greeted us with a big smile, a hug and a handshake, then sat down to catch up with us, despite how busy the café was. Oh and he made us some amazing tea and coffee, on the house, lovely!

               For the rest of the day we had a little wander down near the Thames, through the Tate Modern and around St Paul’s Cathedral, then it was back to the hostel to eat and sleep!

DAY 5 –

               On our last day in London we actually ventured out of the city for most of the day into Berkhamsted and Ashridge to see the area where I had been living and working at Ashridge Golf Club. Early in the morning we made our way down the road from Kings Cross to Euston station where we caught the same train I’d caught many times before. As per usual the journey was around 30-40 minutes so soon enough we were alighting in Berkhamsted ready for a bit of sightseeing. To be honest there isn’t much to see in Berkhamsted, but it is a lovely little place, known for being a historic market town.

               First things first, the castle. Now, the castle in Berkhamsted isn’t much more than a few dilapidated walls surrounding some grass with a hill in one corner but still, when you come from a country like Australia which has nothing like this, even some crumbling walls and the history they hold and represent are pretty cool.

               From the castle we headed down the main street of town, having a bit of a nosey in some of the shops as I showed Mum a few of my favourite little spots where I used to come to get out of the house and grab a coffee. We then went for a little walk behind the main drag and Mum got her first real taste of English canals and longboats. Lastly, back in the main streets we grabbed a bit of food before catching the local bus up into Ashridge.

               Ashridge has even less to do than Berkhamsted but even so we had a lovely walk around some of the Ashridge Estate, stopping at the monument for a bit to soak in the scenery. From there we walked back down to the golf club where I’d spent the last 6 months working, so I could show Mum around a bit and introduce her to some of my co-workers who were all smiles to see me for the last time and to meet Mum.

               Our last stop of the day out of London was the local pub in Little Gaddesden where I had spent many a night enjoying a few too many drinks. We had a lovely pub meal then caught a cab back into Berkhamsted, then the train back into Euston.

               And that was that our last day. Oh but wait there’s more, the night was young and we had tickets to a West End show! Now I know the theatre in London is a must-see and I should have been already, but I hadn’t and Mum was keen so we’d bought ourselves tickets to Les Miserable. Oh my gosh, what a show! Incredible, inspirational, outstanding. Les Mis, as it turned out was the longest running show with a whopping 29 years to its name, absolutely outstanding for a West End show were 6 months to a year is a good run and you could see why. We both left totally buzzing, such a great way to see London out, the perfect high note!

So, here I sit in my little flat, up at the golf club in Ashridge, done with my 6 months of work here. In less than 24 hours my mum will be here in the UK and we will be off sightseeing and exploring together and following 3 weeks with her I’m off on some more adventures till my money runs out and it will be finally time to head home. With that in mind I’ve been in a pretty reflective frame of mind, thinking about my time here back in England and even looking at my adventures in North America, Europe and the UK before this. Been so many places, done so much, met so many people and had a blast and yet there is still more to come. But before we get onto moving on, let’s look back at the last few weeks here in England.  

         If I was to try and recall the amount of times I’ve been down to London I probably wouldn't be able to tell you, too many to count. With all those visits under my belt I've managed to see a lot of the city and the various areas, all great in their own right. With that in mind however, up until a few weeks ago I hadn't seen much of the east end of London which is a real crying shame because I would now quite comfortably say it is one of, if not my top favourite areas (with Camden a really tricky tie or close second, depending on what we are talking about). The last few weeks, on my days off, I've stayed in two hostels I haven’t stayed in before and explored a lot of the east end and even Brixton down in the south and done some cool other stuff, which looked like this.

                A few weeks back I was looking through the hostel listings on Hostelworld, wondering where I could stay that I hadn't stayed before. As I was looking through the Dictionary Hostel in Shoreditch popped up. I’d seen their listing plenty of times but never bothered to actually have a good look. Well wouldn't you know it, it looked pretty bloody sweet so I went ahead and booked two nights for my days off.  

                My first night there at the Dictionary I ended up at the bar next door called Translate, with a crew of about 8 others from the hostel, participating in a sweet pub quiz. Such fun, bit of useless trivia about music, geography, pop culture at other random stuff, with some great like-minded company from all over, sinking a few drinks. Love it. As it turned out we ended up coming a close second, not too shabby if you ask me. Our prize? A 15 pound bar tab, which yes, granted, isn't much but second win of the night, this American guy and I were to only 2 who wanted to keep drinking, 2 shots and a beer each later we were dancing along to some funky tunes, happy as Larry.

              The next morning I dragged my hungover ass out out bed and downstairs to reception. The previous day I had seen this cool-looking east end tour run by Undiscovered London which started down the road at Liverpool Street station and took you around the highlights of east end, such as the Spitelfield markets, Brick Lane, some Jack the Ripper locations and through various cobblestone streets and alley sporting some wicked street art. Sounded like my cup tea. At 11am was down at Liverpool Street meeting with the group and headed off to learn about London’s oldest and now one of the coolest areas around. All in all it was a great tour, would recommend, solid work.    

               At around 1pm we came back around, out of Brick Lane after gawking at the all the amazing food and eye-popping street art, near the Spitelfields market. On the two hour walk around the east end tour I’d got talking a Kiwi and a few Aussies and we all felt pretty strongly that food was well in order, so we grabbed some lunch at the market and sat, chatting about out time over here, plans and just this and that, laughing and smiling as we filled our empty bellies. Lunch devoured we decided coffee would be a good idea. Two of the Aussies knew of a great little espresso joint down near Old Street underground station, a short 15-minute walk away so went for a bit of a wander and eventually ended up there, sipping on the quality coffee and munching these to-die-for chocolate muffins, lovely. Soon after we all went our respective ways and I ended up back at the hostel, just chilling.

               That night back in my dorm room I met this Swedish girl named Hannah who was doing some holidaying around Europe. We ended up hitting it off and decided to head to Translate for a few drinks and a chat. I don’t know how  long we were there, just talking but when we finally got back to the hostel it was well past midnight, time flies when you’re having fun with good company. I’m sure I've said it before but I’ll say it again, I love that about travelling, it’s so easy to get talking with a complete stranger, share stories, have a laugh, nothing quite like it, I fucking love it.

               In the morning I packed my backpack, said goodbye to the people I’d met who were still around then checked out. The next few hour I slowly made my way back home, tired, but happy, days off well spent.

               The following week on my days off I headed back down to London, this time to an area I've stayed in plenty of times, Kings Cross. I wanted to stay here because there was this hostel I had heard about from a number of people that was meant to be pretty good and I had been wanting to check it out for quite some time. I guess that week was the one. The hostel is called Generator and is part of a larger chain that have other hostels throughout Europe. It was pretty big and commercial if you like but it was really nice with good facilities so that’s a plus. On my first night I didn't do too much, grabbed some food then headed to the hostel’s bar to grab a beer and watch the football. As it turned out I ended up meeting a couple of people, one, an Aussie guy from Melbourne called Jesse. We ended up playing a game of pool, had a bit of a chat and a couple of bevos. In a couple of weeks Jesse is doing Busabout, the same hop-on hop-off transport I did around Europe, so I gave him some tips and basically just got really excited about it, love Busabout!

               In the morning down in the lobby I was deliberating whether or not to do a walking tour of the Royal part of West End London, when I bumped into Jesse. He was pretty keen to do the tour so that was settled. As a funny little coincidence the guy who took us to the meeting point was the same guy who met us halfway through my East End tour from Liverpool Station the week before. I remembered him because I thought his watch was nice and because he was wearing Dunlop Volleys and I haven’t seen anyone wear them in about 10 years… weirdo.

               The tour was pretty much the same sort of thing I’ve done there before. It took us to Trafalgar Square, the Mall, Pall Mall, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben etc. Honestly though this tour guide annoyed me, he always spoke in future tense about events that were hundreds of years in the past, which frustrated me an irrational amount. Still, it was ok, I met some cool people and we made the most of it. At the end of the tour I ended up buying a ticket to do a pub crawl around Camden, a daily event I’d seen advertised in various hostels but hadn't yet done. First time for everything. Jesse and I then jumped on the tube and headed up to Camden to grab some lunch and so I could give him a bit of my own walking tour of the area. He seemed pretty impressed with the markets and the Camden area itself. Who’d blame him, Camden is fucking sick. The rest of the afternoon I just bummed around in the hostel, got some food and stuff before headed back out at around 7:30 for the pub crawl.

               Camden, damn you never let me down, good during the day and the night, much love. The pub crawl started at a Belushi’s, a St Christopher's hostel bar, of which there are many, another hostel franchise. Part of the pub crawl was there was always a good crew, free entry everywhere, discounted drinks and free shots on entry, sick! On the pub crawl with me was James, this American I’d met earlier in the day during the walking tour, who I’d actually got lost with for about 10 minutes at Buckingham Palace, amidst the mayhem of the changing of the guard. We did find the group again, with the help of the Spanish sister tour and their guide. James, myself and a bunch of other nutters, including an Aussie, Kiwi and two Poms who had all just come from Retox in Budapest, the same placed I’d stayed when I was there, soon got too it, dancing, drinking and loving the Camden nightlife. All in all we went to 5 venues, the last being this sweet club in the middle of the Camden markets which I’d walked past a number of times but never really realised it was there. So much fun, well worth it for sure. At about 1am we decided to head out and after a bit of a stumble back to the hostel I find some more people I’d met, Jesse and these two American girls who were in my dorm room. More drinks and some pool until at some time around 3am (maybe) we called it a night.

               The next morning, feeling a little sorry for myself and worse for wear, I checked out of Generator. In the little café area I found the two American’s who had been in my dorm and we sat and chatted for a while as they had breakfast and I sipped on a coffee. Around lunch time we wished each other luck and went our separate ways, them to find a laundry before changing hostels and me back off home to Ashridge.

               Last week I had my last days off before I finished work and since I’d enjoyed my stay there so much I decided to head back down to Shoreditch and the Dictionary Hostel. I got down there late in the afternoon and the weather was just stunning, so I checked in, dumped my bag and headed back out into the sunshine for a skate. I've been back in England for 6 months now and that was the first day I had worn a t-shirt outside without my nipples turning purple, absolutely amazing, I miss the Aussie sun! I spent the afternoon skating around the Shoreditch area soaking up the glorious rays of sunshine. 

               Later that night I found myself down in Translate again, the Dictionary’s adjoining bar. I grabbed a pint and introduced myself to a couple of Aussie guys I’d overhead in the hostel common room. We had a bit of a chat until the pub quiz started at 8pm. As it turned out, the receptionist I’d met last time, Grace and another of the long termers in the hostel who’d been on our team last time joined us. The quiz was a good laugh and by the end of it we ended up 3rd, but because of our stellar comeback to top three they gave us all a free drink anyway, winner winner (well still 3rd but you know what I mean)!

               In the morning some of the boys and I had some breakfast down in the hostel, then grabbed a coffee and chilled out for a while, chatting shit and having a laugh. Around midday I headed out towards the Tube. In all my time in London I’d never headed down to Brixton so I thought I might go check it out. Down in Brixton I had a wander around it’s groovy markets and main streets, took some pics, did a bit of shopping and grabbed some lunch before heading back up central London way. Pretty cool area, bit rough around the edges but hey I like that, definitely worth a look. It was another nice day that afternoon so once again I grabbed my board and went for a bit of a cruise for a good 2+ hours, bliss!

               That night, coming in from getting some food somewhere I bumped into this guy Lachlan who I’d met last time I was in the Dictionary. Lachlan was living there temporarily while he was settling into a job after travelling and moving over from Aus. He was headed down the road with another guy from the hostel and to meet an English guy he’d met in Vietnam and invited me along for a drink. Why not? The bar was about 200 metres down the road and absolutely buzzing. The football was on… We all got introduced then sat in the window chatting, having a few drinks and watching to footy, great way to spend and evening.

               On my last day down there I checked out of the hostel then left my bag in the storage and went for a bit of a walk. Eventually I ended up at the British Museum, this fantastically impressive building with lots of geographically and periodically categorised exhibits. I spend about an hour wandering around having a squiz at a few of the things on display. My next port of call was food and then to a gallery called The Photographers Gallery just off Oxford Street. I’d been wanting to check out this gallery for a while but the times I’d gone down there the exhibits where still under construction. This time however they were ready for viewing. The gallery itself was pretty nice and the art was impressive but overall it was a bit of a letdown and at 3 pounds for entry, well there is plenty of free art around. Still it killed a bit of time before I headed back to the hostel to grab my bag and head home, ready for my last week of work!

Slack. I’ve been slack, slack with writing this, keeping up my blog but I will say this, there hasn’t been heaps happening, the day to day these days is pretty monotonous, but still here is a brief recap of the past few weeks and a few of the places I been and what I’ve done.

               Since the last time I wrote about my adventure down to London on Australia Day I’ve been a few places on my days of here and there but nowhere new. I’ve been back down to London a couple of times, been back up to Blackpool to visit Joe and also back down to Brighton, because, well I like it down there, there is something about being by the sea that I just love, love, love. I’ve also spent some days off just hanging around here, really not doing much, mainly due to temporary changes in my work roster which limited the amount of consecutive time off I had.

               One of the times back down in London I stayed with Shaina, my Aussie friends I’d met in Europe, who I celebrated Australia day with. She happened to have a spare bed in her hostel so I took advantage of the free accommodation and good company and paid her a visit. While I was down in London that time round I also met up with another friend of mine for a good few hours one afternoon.

The friend was Celina, a girl I had met back at the start of 2014 when I spent 2 months in Fiji dong an internship at the Fiji Times newspaper. Celina had been out there on a marine biology project and we had met through the organisation coordinating our respective projects. When I was first in England I had visited Celina at her university up in Sheffield and this time round in England she was living and working in London. Time for a catch up drink? I think yes. We spent a good few hours walking around the Shoreditch area in central London, stopping for lunch at a Wagamama’s and a few different pubs for some drinks. Late in the afternoon we ended up in the Stables at Camden chilling at a really cool semi-outdoor bar chatting and laughing, reminiscing about Fiji and when we met up in Sheffield. Good times.

               Back in January when I went up to Blackpool to stay with my mate Joe, who I met at the summer camp in Canada, I didn’t really see any of the coastal city. That time round it had been a stopover either side of a road trip up to Glasgow to see our mutual friend Rory’s EP release gig. This time round however I spent three nights at Joe’s place in Blackpool hanging out with Joe, having a ripper time hanging and getting shown around.

               My first full day in Blackpool, Joe took me for a drive into town to show me around. Blackpool is a pretty interesting place, kind of tacky theme park meets the seaside. There are three piers along the waterfront, sporting bars, restaurants and even showground rides. Along the beach there are numerous pubs and shops and all the things you need for a fun little English summer getaway that won’t break the bank. All that said it’s a pretty depressing place with some statistics to back the claim, lots of alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancies and the likes, nice… Joe and I had a little walk around the beachfront and he showed me down some backstreets with cool graffiti. That night, we went to a bible study sesh that Joe goes to with some friends from church, which was really good, great people. We then headed out to a club call The Warehouse in a town called Preston, about 15 miles up the road with one of Joe’s mates. There we danced the night away and I fell asleep in the car on the way home.

               My second and last full day there we had a good sleep in then really didn’t do a lot, just hung around Joe’s place playing video games and chilling. That night we went to another small group with another, younger, church crowd. It’s a really nice feeling to find yourself in a strangers house on the other side of the world and having them welcome you with a smiling face and hot cup of tea, restores in you a bit of faith in humanity. The next day Joe dropped me off at the station and we said our farewells, knowing this would probably be the last time we cross paths for a good few years at least, till we meet again somewhere, in some country.

               My second time down in Brighton a couple of weeks ago was pretty relaxing. I stayed somewhere different this time, a hostel that was right on the waterfront with a stunning view of the iconic Brighton pier. The first night there I met a couple of German girls in my room and we had a bit of a chat about our travels, study and just life in general.              

               In the morning I got up and tried to pretend like I was happy to be awake. Down in the common area where the continental breakfast was I sat with the girls I’d met the night before and we decided to go for a walk around the town together, seeing as I been before and knew a few spots.  I showed them down past the Indian style palace in the centre of town and up through the laneways with the funky specialty shops where you can buy stuff you didn’t even know you wanted. At some point the weather decided it hated us and it started to rain. Then it started to hail, time to duck inside for a coffee and let it blow over. Luckily it didn’t last long and the place we sat for our hot drinks did really nice coffee, pleasantly surprised. Oh and the company and conversation was pretty good too.

               After our tea and coffee we headed down to the waterfront to take a walk along the pier and fuck me it was windy… Really blustering and cold and horrendously unpleasant, but still we braved it and took a walk, enjoying the smell of the salt air numbing our faces. Later in the day, after we went separate ways, me to find food, the girls to shop, I hung out around the hostel just chilling. As the sun was setting on the horizon I grabbed my longboard and took a cruise along the boulevard, soaking up the beautiful scene, enjoying the peace of the present. That night I had a few drinks and headed down to the beach to this club I’d been to the last time I was in Brighton. For whatever reason it wasn’t as busy as the last time I was there but regardless I had some fun, met a few people and made the most of it.

               On my most recent days off I headed down to London and stayed at a hostel down near the Shard and London Bridge on the Southbank side of the Thames. The first night I was there I met a Portuguese guy, a Spanish guy, and two Canadians. As the night panned out we ended up at an arcade centre called Namco, down on the riverbank right by the London Eye. We wandered around the arcade, playing a few games, hanging out, talking and laughing. At some point we played a game of bowling which myself and the Spaniard dominated. Oh and to cap off the night’s antics, as we were leaving, security got called to this enclosed laser room where you had to dodge the lasers, ninja style. Turns out a couple of teens where having sex in there and had got busted by the security camera. They got thrown out pretty fast… and to top it off the security guard jokingly threatened to put the security tape on YouTube. Comedy gold.

               The next day I had a pretty chill one which basically involved going for a skate, getting caught out in the rain, then heading back to the hostel to nap for 2 hours. That night a similar crowd of us headed out to Camden have a look around at night, getting lost in the backstreets and eventually finding a cool bar (the same semi-outdoor one Celina and I had ended up at) for a drink. Fairly early in the night we ended up back at the hostel and had a few more drinks there, while we played some card games and were serenaded by some Spanish people with a guitar, lovely.

Well, well, well more days off, more people to catch up with, busy, busy back in the UK, with places to be and people to see. Weeks back a mate called Joe, who I shared a room with at the camp in Canada for 11 weeks, messaged me about a mutual friend Rory’s gig. A few weeks after I first got back to the UK I went up to Glasgow to see Rory and have a hang and catch up. This time round Rory was having a gig for an EP launch and Joe and I were in, what a good excuse for a road trip!

With work done for the week I jumped on my bike with an overnight bag on my back and headed down to the station. The trip up to Joe’s place was a bit of a long-winded one, all the way up to Blackpool in the North-West of England. But soon enough at around 6:30pm after about three and a half hours and three changes of trains, I arrived in Blackpool.

As I’ve said before and will say again, it’s always great to see a familiar face. Joe and I had been pretty close back at Muskoka Woods in Canada. Joe had chosen to stay on at the camp for another season but ever since he knew I was back in the UK we had been talking about catching up when he too got back to England.

Joe picked me up from the station in Blackpool North and we went for a little drive around town, despite the dark, so he could show me some of where he lived.  Back at Joe’s place we tore into these massive baby-sized kebabs we had picked up on the way home and watched the cinematic pleasure of Eminem’s “8 Mile.” What a film, great food, great chats, great company, awesome!

The next morning we had a pretty slow start to the day but after fluffing around we jumped in the car and were on the road headed up to Glasgow to see our singing, guitar-playing, Irish leprechaun mate. As far as car trips go it was a pretty eventful one. About an hour out of the city of Glasgow we hit some serious traffic that delayed us about an hour and then when we finally got going again, we decided to stop at a service station to have a bathroom break. As it turns out we didn’t even get out of the car, just did a big circle around it, thought bugger it we’ll wait, then hit a massive pothole which popped the front right tire. Big thanks to the man driving the man for waving us down, or else we just man not have noticed until it was too late. Anyway we pulled over and almost straight away there were cops behind us, asking if we needed help. As it turned out we were in a free recovery area so they called the pickup truck for us and pretty soon we were in the back of the truck with two Scottish guys and Joe’s car on the tray up the back. Long story short they dropped us at a tire repair place and they got us back on the road in 30 minute and finally, about 3 hours after we had predicted we would be at Rory’s, we arrived.

At Rory’s we said a big hello, dumped our bags in his apartment, and then helped him load his music gear in the back of Joe’s car so we could take it to the venue. Once there we had a little backstage sneak preview of the show then headed out with him and the band to grab some grub before the gig.

Rory, what a man, what a musical talent, he absolutely killed the event. Before he got up and played his new material there were two acoustic support acts which were both really good and then came the main man himself. He did not disappoint, great tunes, great vibes, and awesome fun. Well done Rory!

After the gig, Rory, Joe and I decided to hit the town for a few drinks. As it was a Wednesday and Wednesday is student sport team night, there were quite a lot of students around. Consequently we didn’t end up getting into the first, or the second place but third time lucky we found ourselves in a student halls bar with a bunch of pissed students, spilling their drinks everywhere and singing their lungs out to 90’s classics, ah students…

The following morning we had a slow start, everyone was pretty wrecked from the previous day’s events, so at about midday we headed out for breakfast at this sick little restaurant, which was playing some banging tunes. Oh and the food was pretty good too. From there we headed through the botanical gardens and down along the River Kelvin to the little tea house Rory had taken me to last time I was in Glasgow. Rory and I split a big pot of the chai tea we had the previous time and Joe had something boring, because chai it too spicy or whatever… The rest of the afternoon we just hung out in Rory’s apartment, catching up and chilling out until Joe and I decided we should probably head back down to Blackpool, there was a fairly long road ahead of us.

Our journey back to Joe’s was not nearly as eventful as the journey up to Glasgow but that’s probably for the best, we were both pretty tired and pretty keen to get back, via a Chinese takeaway shop of course. Finally back after a 4 or so hour journey we sat on the couch with the log burner roaring, munching on Chinese and watching “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” such a good film and a great way to end a quality few days.

Days off like they were meant to be, full of exploring new places, old faces, new friends, late nights and a whole lot of fun. Where better to spend your days off doing all this, than London.

Back in the middle of last year when I was tripping around Europe I managed to meet a whole lot of other Australians. If there is one thing I have learned about Australians while I’ve been away, it’s that no matter where you are, no matter how far from home, you can’t get away, Aussies are everywhere. While I was in Europe I met this other Melbournian called Dani, a young lady from close to where I live back home. Months later and I’m back in England for work and she has been home and is now back in Europe, also working in London as a drama teacher. Another catch-up? I think yes, any excuse right!

On my first night off I met Dani down in the middle of London at the city’s busiest train station, Waterloo Station. From there we wandered down to Southbank with its great view of the Thames River and found this great Mexican restaurant that was mostly constructed out of shipping containers, very cool. We sat there for quite a while, munching on some quality food and chatting away about the rest of our respective time spent in Europe and what’s been happening since. Dani had only been back in the UK for about two weeks and was still setting into her teaching job but everything was going well, exciting times in the life of travellers. All in all it was really good to catch up, as it always is with anyone I have met on the road, no matter who they are or where we met.

Later that night back at the hostel I met up with these three English friends who I had met when I checked in. All three were from Devon and had come up to London to go to an event at a pub which they had heard about on Facebook for “Kiss a Ginger” day. We had got chatting and they had invited me to join them, so heck why not.

The event itself was a bit of a letdown really. Of the alleged 700 or so attendees, there would have only been a quarter actually there, if that. Still, we had a few drinks, met some gingers and had a laugh, before deciding to move on and see if we could get into a club somewhere in Soho. Alas it was to no avail and sometime well after midnight we decided to head back across the Thames to the hostel were there was still a bit of a party going on in the bar so we happily joined in.

The next day, I felt rough… Tired, groggy, headache, the whole package, but that’s never stopped me so it was up and at them, ready for a walking tour (not because I haven’t seen stuff, they are just good fun). With me there was a little group of about 6 from the hostel, 2 of which (a brother and sister travel pair) I had met the night before in my dorm room. The tour was the typical London walking tour that takes you down around Westminster and past attractions such as Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament and more. Everything we saw was not new to me in the slightest but these kinds of tours are always fun. The guides are charismatic, the groups are full of travellers and you get to hear cool stories and learn more about where you are, even if you have been there before, no two tours are the same.

Biggest perk of walking tours is the meeting people and by the time the tour finished we had together a sweet group of about 10 people (mostly Aussies, but a token American, a Swede and if I remember correctly a girl from Taiwan). We all decided to hang out and continue walking, seeing some more sights in the West End, such as Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Road. Around mid-afternoon we stopped for some well-deserved lunch in this quaint English pub, up behind Piccadilly Circus where the steak sandwich was like a slice of heaven after hours of walking around in the cold…

That night back in the hostel me and all my roommates sat chatting for hours, laughing about all kinds of things and just having a good old yarn. As some time way after we had intended to leave the hostel, Taz and Haisley, the Aussie brother and sister, as well as myself all went for a walk up the Thames to a Wetherspoons pub, to give them the proper English pub experience, complete with a pint of ale, which Taz did not enjoy!

Ah England, still dark, still, wet, still cold, but the weather forecast is predicting some snow, how exciting! It’s been a while since I last did a blog entry but in that time there have been a couple of big calendar events, namely Christmas and New Year’s. Really, there isn’t a whole heap to tell so I’ll just make this a quick memo of the holidays and a recent few days away back up in Birmingham catching up with some old friends.

Christmas this year, compared to what is usually is back home, was a rather quiet one. With all the family back home in Australia and everyone here at work off seeing their respective families there wasn’t really much for me to do. On the day itself I skyped my parents which was great, I then decided to pop over to the local pub which kind of surprisingly (but at the same not) was open, so I had a nice couple of pints amidst the holiday chatter. I love English pubs around this time of year, just like a communal living room, warm, comfortable and full of cheerful conversation. In the afternoon a friend called Kim from the local area, a uni student back home for the holidays who I met at the pub, looking to get away from the fam for a few hours, came round and we just mucked around and chatted and that was pretty much Christmas.

All throughout the Christmas period I had quite a few days off of work, but they were all split into two or three day blocks with a day of work in between which meant I couldn’t really go away but I spent quite a few days riding my new bike around the area, exploring and hanging out with the local friend I’d made, a really saving grace from total boredom.

New Years was another odd holiday being away from home and all. I knew some of my workmates would likely just end up at the local pub which was cool but as it turned out I ended up at a house party with the Kim and some of her school friends, partying the night away down in Canterbury of all places, good times.

On my most recent days off I took a train up to Birmingham to catch up with a few old work friends I know from my time at the Navigation Inn in Lapworth. I got up to Birmingham on the Tuesday night after knocking off work earlier that afternoon. That evening I didn’t do a whole lot, just met some people which is always good. I was staying at a Hostel in the Jewellery Quarter called Hatters and as it so happened they had a free meal night that evening, which was great because who doesn’t like free food, but at the same time everyone comes out of the woodwork and starts chatting with one another. Long story short I ended up chatting with some English lads and then playing pool with a Swede, a Dutch girl and two Spanish men who didn’t speak a lick of English until my 6am morning got the better of me and I headed for bed.

The next day I went for a walk around Birmingham and found a place to grab some coffee before meeting up with my friend from the Navigation, Jordanne, for some lunch. We ended up a Five Guys which does burgers that are to die for and sat chatting for a good couple of hours about the past 9-10 month since last seeing each other, her school, my travel, family, friends and everything in between.

After lunch we found a nice place to have some coffee in a café connected to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in the gorgeous Edwardian Tea Room with a high ceiling and traditional decorations tastefully mixed with modern decor, gorgeous. As the sun disappeared, replaced by the dark and bitter cold I said goodbye to Jordanne, till next time!

That night back at Hatters Hostel I ended up hanging out with quite a few of the people I’d met the previous night, playing some more pool some other games, chatting, laughing and having a few drinks until the wee hours.