Edinburgh: Where people perpetually recover from the night before

We got our train with no worries, as per usual.

The best part was that we were able to snag ourselves a seat at which there is table in the middle and two chairs on either end. Because of this (and the fact that no one else took the other seats) we were able to kick off our shoes and put our feet up. It was a 5 hour train ride afterall.

The ride up had to have been filled with some of the best scenery I've seen yet, especially once you enter Scottland. One the way I noticed not one, but two ill placed golf courses. One was right beside and I mean right smack-dab beside the train tracks we were on (I can imagine the golf balls either smashing through train windows or worse yet, ricocheting off the train and possible hurting another golfer?) The second ill-fated golf course was place right next to a drop off cliff into the ocean. Insert any and all jokes about water hazzards that you like in this section.

On the way up I was reading a backpacker magazine and happened to stumble across an article on a festival that was up and coming in London. It happened to start the day after we were due to head back down to the foggy city. I knew that this could spell trouble for trying to find accomodation, but we brushed it off in our usual manor of "we'll figure it out later." And figure it out later is what we'll do, so we wont' worry about it in this entry.

We disembarked off the train and found that the hostel we had booked was quite literally across the street. I was happy... no, I was Over joyed to see that this hostel had a bar built into it. It was everything that I ever wanted in a hostel. I was missing the days of bars in hostels since I had gotten home from australia and was kind of disappointed to see that not many hostels out here do that... until now.

We checked into our room and Jeff had about 30 minutes to find his way to the Shins concert. This would prove difficult as he had no idea where they were playing. I opted out and decided to explore the fringe festival instead. It was certainly a great time. So many street preformers and stalls set up to sell you crap you don't need, but at that moment you think you want it. Even all the pubs along the way were absolutly packed. I came across a sign advertising a tour of a place called 'the black mosoleum' which is home the mckenzie poltergeist. They had a tour leaving around 9pm that night so I figured I'd attend it. At this time I had some time to burn so I went back to the hostel to enjoy a drink or two.

I returned to the entrance of the church to find a group of people all crowded around a gentleman dressed up as, what I can only assume, a goth... or a half assed one. He was our tour guide of the night. He took us down side streets and to some buildings stopping to tell us the chilling tales of the plauge and the witch burnings that used to take place in Edinburgh. Finally we reach the cemetary. It's pitch black and he has only one small flashlight to guide us through. He tells us stories of many of the people burried around the area. The scary mood was broken when one of those bikeriding rickshaw guys came through the graveyard ringing his bell. Jerk.

We eventually got to the black mosoleum where we were given a warning that if we felt really cold, to move away from that spot and closer to the group, as apparently this is how the poltergeist hurts people. He told us that common injuries were scratches and bruises which we might potentially find in a day or so. Many people were skeptical, but I was kind of hoping for a souvineer of Edinburgh in the cheapest form possible. We all crowded into the small room which was the mosoleum and immediatly began to feel something tug at the back of my hoodie (i'm not kidding or exagerating) I thought it was someone behind me, but I realized I was at the very back of the place along with all the other tall people. This kind of creeped me out, but I kept my cool. Thats when the guide started to explain to us the different things you could encounter with the poltergeist, one of them being tugged at. Eeeeek. It sent a chill down my spine, but still I didn't do anything to draw attention to myself. After 10 minutes of being in the small room we had to leave as too many people were getting frightened and we aren't aloud to spend more then 15 in there anyways. The tour was great fun, but I have yet to see any scractches or bruising. I want my money back. I headed for the walk home and turned in early. Jeff returned from his concert about an hour after I turned in.

The next day Jeff and I had to switch up rooms if we wanted to stay any longer. We did so with no problems. The day started out with us checking out the street venues again and cruising up and down the main shopping strip as Jeff needed new shoes. We finally found a shop where the young girl in there was kind of rude to him. He paid for his shoes and left and we went for some food. Jeff wanted to put on his new shoes and ditch the old ones in our room so we headed up and he unpacked his new footwear. Upon trying on his new shoes he realized he was just sold two right foot shoes. I couldn't contain my laughter it was one of the funniest things I had seen, but he wasn't amused. So, we had to go all the way back to the shoe store and make sure he obtained a left shoe to match his right shoe. The clerk seemed embarassed and was a lot more polite this time around.

Our evening found us doing a tour of an area called Mary Kings Close. This is part of an area which was paved over when Edinburgh had new buildings put in. It's kind of tough to explain without visuals (of which i have none) so I guess you readers are just hooped. Just imagine an alleyway from years ago and then one day about 6 storeys up you have a street above you. That's kind of what happened in Edinburgh when they leveled off the town a bit. So now you can explore the old closes underground where plague victims used to live and so on. While it wasn't as scary as the city of the dead tour in the grave yard, this one had a lot of history to it and I learned a lot.

In the evening we returned to the hostel bar where we chatted with an american guy named Matt. I spent my evening continuing to flirt just a little with the very cute bartender. When you're drinking eventually nature calls so I headed to the bathroom (and No, i'm not giving a play by play of bodily functions!) When I got up there they had one of those machines which looked a lot like a condon machine so I disregarded it. On my way out I gave it a closer look (yeah, I don't know why either) but it turns out it sold all sorts of stupid things. one of them being blow-up sheep. I had to get one (No you sickos! just for hilarity of the situation that I'm in scottland and they sell blow up sheep in the bathrooms. Not because i'm that lonely). I made my purchase and blew her up in the bathroom. When i re-entered the bar I had a blow up sheep tucked under my arm and just about everyone wanted a piece of her. I named my sheep sybill and I think I want to take her everywhere around Europe now, but because of the lewdness of the bottom of the sheep I've decided she needs pants. At the time of writing this I still have yet to obtain any.

With the damage in Edinburgh being done we turned in and were going to embark on our last train journey back to London... for a thrid time.

And what a long journey it was going to be...

London II (London the 2nd)

Jeff and I were getting pretty good at this train travel business as we had no problems getting back to the Brussels train station and once again hopping on board another train. The biggest pain the ass was having to go through U.K. customs again.

We did have a small hiccup in trying to find our new hostel though. We had decided to take a chance and stay somewhere different this time, and I was having a bit of troubles trying to figure out the roads (as in some parts of London, the names of roads aren't marked at all).

After finding our hostel we checked in (with the help of a gorgeous italian girl at the reception desk) and went for the search for food, as we always do. We found a pub called the 'Famous 3 Kings'. It was pretty swank for a Pub I thought. Plus, we were able to secure 2 for 1 deals on the food making it one of the cheapest places I've eaten in London up to this point. It was a rather tame day and we went to sleep early. nothing of note.

The next day we went an explored hyde park, even though it was kind of miserable outside.

There are plenty of things around the park to see. The Queens gate, some special tree which actually doesn't exist as it was burned down (don't ask). The Diana memorial and even the fountain of Joy. I took the opportunity to toss 10 pence into the fountain in hopes of bribing it into giving me a little joy on the romantic side of things. Only time will tell.

After a significant amount of walking and whining about how tired we actually were I found it was time to go meet a friend whom I used to work with, Moni. We took the tube out to a place called Kew gardens which looks like a lovely quiet little area. The kind of place where I'd be banned from for being too energetic. We meet and decide it's supper time. We agree on Indian food and Moni knows just the place up in Kings Cross. We dine and tell stories and have an absolute blast. She asks us where we are headed next and Jeff mentions that he wants to head to Edinburgh for a concert, a group called 'The Shins'. While I'm interested in doing Edinburgh my interest in the Shins is not up to par with Jeff's. Moni convinces me that Edinburgh would be a great time as the fringe festival is still going on up there. I'm sold on that piece and we head to the Kings Cross train station to book tickets for a departure in the morning.

We continue to a have a few more drinks at another pub near our hostel with Moni while watching the end of the England vs Germany football game. A good time was had by all, but it's now time for us to pack it in for yet another train trip. This time up to Scottland.

We're off to the land of Sheep and Haggis.

Belgium: Beer, Waffles, Chocolate and 'Quick'?

Waking up in a daze, still in Paris, I quickly check my mobile phone to see what time it is. Now, I had forgot to set my phone time ahead an hour when we reached Paris so what I saw was 9:30am and started thinking "Jebus, we gotta get going. We are already half an hour late for check out and could get charged an extra night." Jeff looked at his watch and informed me that it is in fact 10:30am. Thinking that I had left my bad day behind me, I remembered that the trouble did not actually begin until 4am, so infact my day could be just beginning.

We hurried downstairs still in that place between drunk and hungover which I so aptly named "drunkover" while I was in Australia. We had lucked out and we did not get charged an extra night. Now it was time to escape this city and for me to look forward to what would be next... except we had no idea where to go next.

It never even crossed either of our minds that once we got the train station ticket booth we would not have a destination in mind. As what was going to become a reoccuring theme, we were unprepared.

Having no problems navigating the subway back to the train station, we infact made record time. I was still angry and bitter, but most of all I was feeling like a huge jackass for the way I acted earlier, but I never wanted to admit it at the time.

We waited our turn to get up to the ticket booth and the gentleman asked us where we were trying to go. Jeff and I exchanged blank stares and then started to look around the room nervously. After a few moments of silence and an agitated ticket agent, Jeff spewed out "Brussels". Of course, why didn't I think of that. It's close by and we can mend our wounds with terrific Belgium beer, waffles and chocolate. The ticket manager gave us a worrying look and said he had bad news. Oh no, it starts. The bad day is just going to continue. Ticket agent "I have no more 2nd class seats with the under 26 discount available " (being under 26 we get cheaper train tickets on certain seats) "All I have is regular 2nd class for 80 euros or 1st class tickets for 70 Euros. Which would you like?" Jeff and I exchange another blank stare as if we are both thinking the same thing: "The cheapest one, you clod!" and so it was, 2 scruffy backpackers were gonna live it up in 1st class.

We had about 15 minutes to wait until our train started boarding. I went to secure us some water while Jeff watched the bags. When I returned he mentioned that he thought he saw the two Swedish girls from last night just pass by. I'm thinking "cripes, this just doesn't end." but then he finishes by saying how they both looked like absolute garbage and probably didn't get any sleep. Well, I'll take that as a consolation prize. Most swedish girls that I know take alot of pride in their beauty. If those two looked like garbage (and it is REALLY hard to imagine) then that is the only blow to their self-esteem that I needed to put it all behind me.

Things were looking up. The train ride was a very comfy and uneventful one. Free food, reclining chairs and the quietest coach there is. This was the life and it was ours to bask in for the next 2 and a half hours.

We arrived in Brussels in the mid-afternon and I had done some research in lonely planet book as to where to stay. Thinking I had it all figured out we were off to find the metro trains. Within minutes of pulling out a metro map we had just aquired, a gentleman approached us asking if we needed any help. I was taken aback. We were wandering around Paris for hours with a map stretched out in front of us and no one would even look at us and here we are in brussels with a tiny map of just the public transit area and this guy wants to help us. Unbelievable. We found where we needed to be going and found our hostel really quick (which was a boost to my self confidence after the Paris fiascos). The bad news was the hostel was full. Infact the guy at the counter told us that all the hostels in Brussels would be full. When I enquired if there was a festival or something special happening at this time he replied with saying "no, it's just the way it is right now." So our next mission was to find a hotel instead. Just around the corner we found one. Not too grand, but not a hole either. Infact we only paid 20 eruos a night for our own room as opposed to the 27 Euros a night we paid in Paris for a share room (is anyone getting the impression that I wasn't liking Paris that much, yet?).

With ourselves sorted and in a new city we felt it was time to discover some food outlets. We wandered and after a few blocks started to notice something eerie. It was 5pm and everything (yes, everything) was closed. There were no people on the streets and very few cars passing by at which point it hit me... it was a Sunday and in Europe Sunday is when many places don't even open. Ooooh dear. We kept wandering hoping that if we made our way more into the city centre we could find something...anything that would be open. Come on, I'll even eat at McDonalds if I have to! Half an hour into our quest we had found a bit of activity and a small fast food outlet known simply as 'Quick'. The giant red 'Q' filled me hope of tasty delights so we ventured in. It reminded me of Wendy's back home. It was basically the way you would think fast food should be done... fast. It was pretty tasty to boot. After our feast we turned in and slept off the booze from the night previous.

We awoke the next morning to find it raining...alot of rain. This put a damper on things, but also gave me the first opportunity to wear my brand new rain jacket. I was actually excited about this. We started out walking in the same direction as we had done the previous evening and were comforted in seeing that all the shops had opened up and Brussels is not infact a ghost town. Not really knowing what Brussels had to offer, we got on a hop-on hop-off tour bus. Basically, it takes you around to a bunch of different sights and you have the choice of getting off and exploring and then waiting for the next bus to come by, or staying on the bus until something tickles your fancy. The first thing to tickle my fancy was the giant Atomium.

The Atomium is a giant building that looks like an Iron atom and was erected for the worlds fair (or expo or something). Close by to the Atomium is a small theme park called 'Mini-Europe'. I couldn't resist. It's a small walk through park which has a ton of models which i think are about 1/151 of the size of the original landmarks. It has things like Big Ben and the Eiffel tower and all sorts of buildings from all over Europe. One of the last models is a Space shuttle for the European Space agency which actually lifts up off it's launch pad and spews out smoke. The part that had me confused was that after it took off the speakers would blast Daft Punks 'Better, Faster, Stronger' song. I'm sure NASA would have better morale if they got to rock out to a little dance music after their space shuttles launch.

We continued back on the bus exploring sights and buildings we didn't know even existed in Brussels until we got to the main shopping area. It's a pedestrian mall which is like a much more successful version of Stephen Ave. back in Calgary. Here we were able to obtain our Waffles! I got to chow down on a waffle covered in chocolate, bananas and whipped cream. Best 5 Euros spent yet. It didn't stop there. We went and found a chocolate shop and purchased up some fine chocolate goodness and the beer store was right next door. While we didn't buy any beer, we did look at all the hilarious names. Things like Lucifer beer, and Phantom Beer. There was even a chocolate beer called chocolate phantom.

We headed back to our hotel to drop off our bags and then went back out to enjoy some Belgium beer on the patio (as the rain had stopped at this point) of a local pub where we chatted well into the evening.

Belgium had become a city which I was really liking. With it's modern architecture mixed in with the older buildings, it gives the city a very unique feel. Now the girls of Belgium may not be super hot or anything like that (from what we saw) they seem very normal and not too lavish. It almost seems like Brussels does not feed off of tourists like London and Paris do, but instead just try to show them a genuine time. With all said and done, Jeff and I decided to head back to London to plan our next move and leave Brussels behind. I have full intentions of returning to explore the cities of Antwerp and Brugge.

Next stop London...again.

Paris: The most romantic and Siezable city in the world

The train station in London mimiced that of an airport. You have to do the whole x-ray of luggage, questions upon questions, and possibly if you are very unlucky a bit of "turn and cough".

The train ride was very uneventful and only lasted 3 hours. Although I was very tired I had a very hard time trying to sleep while there was so much beautiful countryside to be seen.

We arrived about 4pm into Paris and exchanged our money into Euros. The bloke at the money exchange even sold me on a map which would prove to be our saviour.

For some reason Jeff and I had a terrible time trying to figure out which train would get us from the main station to end of the city where James was staying. Figuring out the train line alone took us about an hour. Once we got ourselves into the city we found oursevles in a train station in the basement of a mall. The mall from hell that is. It seems this mall was a bit under ground itself and to escape you would need to travel to the top level of the mall. Of course this seemed very strange to a bunch of foreigners and it never crossed our minds as an option. We finally got ourselves sorted and figured out this maze and got to experience Paris... very twisting and winding road like Paris where everyting looks the same. Perfect for getting lost. It took Jeff and I another 2 hours to find the Hostel as there happend to be two streets with the same name. How clever. At one point I was about ready to pull a 'Joey' and 'jump into the map' to help direct myself. It never came to it though.

That night after getting ourselves settled in we were joined by an american guy by the name of Chris. He took us out the east end to enjoy some french cafe wine and the people watching thqt ensues. Later I was able to make contact with James and he brought out a new ozzy friend with him, Trent. We had a couple of drinks and enjoyed getting lost in the streets of Paris.

The next day Jeff and I did the whole sight seeing thing again. The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and even got 3 hours in at the Louvre. I was lucky enough to see the Mona lisa and even the Venus Dimilo. We also got a chance to run across one of the busiest round-a-bouts in Europe. The one at which the Arc D'Triumph (or however it's spelt) is centered at. We had an issue where we saw all these people right underneath the arc and were wondering "how did they get over there?" With a quick look around we decided to cheese it (bless those 'Futurama' fans who get that reference) across the street. Once we survive the ordeal we discover that there are infact stairs that lead to an underground pathway. Whoops. I don't regret any second of our mad dash in front of tons of smart cars and vespas.

That night it was Trents Birthday and we figured we should take him out and celebrate. In tow we were joined by two american guys, Justin and Adam, as well as our new roommate Fred from Quebec. We hit up an Irish pub and I had Fred try to pick up girls for me (when you cant speak the language, get someone who can). We all turned up empty handed, but James found himself a partner for the night. Around 3 we all headed onto our way home sans James. We were then taken down more winding streets by some locals to drink at their watering hole. This was interesting as none of us knew what the other was saying and yet we still had a blast.

At about 4am we discovered a new problem, we had gotten lost. Now wandering the streets of Paris it began to rain. As we looked at a roadside map two girls could be seen across the street who I yelled to. They replied that they don't speak french and I explained that I needed someone to help us in english. The two girls, Lina and Sora, came over and explained they are from sweden and are also lost. Instantly I sprang into charming mike action. I spent some time talking with Lina while she held her purse above us to keep us from getting wet. We had a terrible time find a cab and the weather was not letting up. Eventually I got myself some kissing action off of the beauitful blonde girl and started to think that this could become my Paris romance as i was, after all, supposedly in the most romantic city in the world. All took a turn for the worst when about 20 minutes later she ran off with my buddy Jeff. Trent was forever face locked with Sora and I was feeling a bit unloved.

It turns out that I had become the third wheel of the group. All of them wanted to go off for food, but I was mad at myself for letting Lina slip through the cracks and right into Jeff. Yes I was jealous (a very horrible trait of mine). I told them to go and I would find my way home. I sat on a street corner in the rain thinking how terrible of a situation I was in. Jeff came back for me and gave up the blonde bombshell. I ended up getting mad at him for doing such a thing. My being lost and sans blonde hotty was no need for both of us to be miserable in the city of Paris. I think i was more mad because I don't think I would've done the same and it highlighted what a terrible person I felt I was becoming.

We eventually found a cab and got back to the hostel at 6am realizing that we had to check out at 9am for a train to Belgium (at this time we actually didn't know we were going to Belgium, just to the train station).

The most romantic city in the world was leaving me with a terrible bitter after-taste.

London:Part One

Greetings readers.

The last week has been much like a runaway train. But, before I get into the nitty gritty I will warn you that there shall be many spelling errors that I will miss while typing this as the keboards are quite different out here... here being Belgium.

I know what you are all thinking: Belgium, you say? Werent you going to do the UK first? Well, plans have a way of changing... and boy how they changed.

I met up with Jeff for our long plane ride over to the land of fish and chips in the early afternoon of tuesday. We had no complications getting on the flight so no horror stories about customs this time. sorry.

Jeff and I were seated behind a whole girls soccer team that was headed to London to get so,e top-notch coaching. This team was made up of all 16 year olds and I was about ready to cry bullshit on one of them. I had a hard time believing she was under 19. I tried to drink myself to sleep as I was having troubles catching Zs on my own will. I still never got to sleep.

Upon arriving into London I was faced with the horrible line up at customs and made sure I had my story straight so I could anwer all questions asked without hesitation. I made it through without a scratch and was granted access into the country. There was just one problem, Jeff was no longer right behind me. It seems once he told the customs agent that he was traveling with a friend (yours truly) and they had many questions to ask about me. After 20 mintues of intense interogation Jeff was allowed to pass and we were finally able to grab our bags. We reached the carousel to see both of our bags sitting on the ground with no other folks in sight of the luggage area. I guess our stay in customs was much longer then everyone elses.

We caught a train and then the subway to an area with a hostel I thought we would try. I got lost quite easily and cracked out my guide book for help. Before I could even turn to the chapter on London I was approached by a young aussie guy who asked if we needed help looking for a hostel. He guided us to a different one where he was going to be staying. I took this as a good sign and decided we should stay too. Besides, the guy wanted to come sight seeing with us as he had just arrived too. As a side note, there was an absolute gorgeous blonde girl working the counter which made the decision all the easier.

So we did all the sight seeing stuff: buckingham palace, westminster abbey, tower bridge, eye of London etc... That night we went out in search of all the beautiful women and really came up empty handed. In our search for a pub that was going off we found two gay bars instead. We eventually caught a cab to Liverpool street in search of a bar that another guy recommended to us only to find it does not exist. We ended up staying where we were and having a couple of drinks. James took it upon himself to try and hit up some of the local women who were quite a bit older. After a rockey start with annoying them and me thinking that it would all end badly, we actually got on pretty well and the ended surprisingly well. After arriving back at the hostel, Jeff and I had met a Scottish girl and an English lad who ended up inviting us out for a party the next night. I kept this in mind and bid them both goodnight. Not bad for our first day.

Our 2nd day found James leaving us for Paris. Before he left he had convinced Jeff and I to come along the next day to continue our mad adventures. With a full day ahead of us, Jeff and I went to the British museum. This is quite the interesting attraction (which is also free I might add). So many intresting artifacts from around the world laying right under one buildings roof. We had spent almost 3 hours wandering up and down the rooms and hadn't even noticed a rain storm had passed through while we were enjoying ourselves.

That evening I took up the offer of the Scottish girl to go partying with a bunch of folks she had just met and it happened to be one of their birthdays. Jeff decidedt o stay back and sleep so I had to go it alone with all these new people. The pub happend to be a late night one (2am is late seemings as how many places close at 11pm in london). We made use of all the time given and swapped stories back and forth. At one point one of hte guys yelled "naked bar" and all the girls of the group got topless before a bouncer came over. The bouncer warned us that if we pulled this stunt again then we would be kicked out. This is funny as back home this would be enough to get banned from a place for a week most likely.

The next morning began with a lady telling me I had to check out of muy room right away so they could clean it. While I was a tad hung over, I got on just fine and Jeff and I were able to make it for the train station and on to Paris. I was excited to get a chance to experience my first (of probably many) European rail rides.

On to the Romantic city that is Paris!

The Woman Write-Up: London was full of some very spectacular looking women, but many of htem also seemed to be travellers. So in short, English girls aren't really my cup of tea, but the girls who vacation there certainly are. Althought no romance was thrust upon me (as we all knoz that is the only reason why you read this) I have much faith that the rest of Europe will prove to be much more fruitful.

Welcome one and all

Welcome to the new 'Wootpeanuts' which will serve as my blank tablet for writing my stories of misadventure. Complete with the thrilling highs, chilling lows and creamy middles that returning readers from my Australia Wootpeanuts blog have come to expect. For you newcomers, just sit back, relax and enjoy the stories that unfold from my curiosity, naivety, and ability to fall in and out of love at the drop of hat.

First thing is first for all you newbies. Do not ask about the name. Wootpeanuts does not mean anything. The name started as an inside joke with my younger brother and I have since decided that it's uniqueness is something I'm going to continue to utilize. With that out of the way, I do not want to see any emails about the name this time around.

On to the prologue.

3 years ago I found myself stuck in a rut. Working a job at which I felt neither good nor terrible about (although I had my days). Having very impartial feelings towards the career choice that I just spent the previous two years studying for, and falling deeper and deeper into a very dull routine which I had come to know as my life. My only saving grace in these times was the thought of saving my money so I could head to University and get my life on track. This would have been ideal if it weren't for the fact that I felt I would only be going just because "Society" planted a seed in my head convincing me that it was my only choice.

One day at work, sometime between driving a forklift filled with boxes of paper reams and the unloading of a truck filled with new furniture for floor models, it had dawned on me that there had to be more to life than this. There had to be more then 4-6 years of lecture halls and labs. More than making peanuts at a job where you were forced to wear the most uncomfortable shoes ever to grace your feet and a ridiculous shirt which makes you think how terrible of a colour it was on you (even if it was normally a very spiffy looking colour on you outside of work). There had to be more than the four walls that surrounded you and made you feel like it was impossible to think outside of them (whether these walls were your home or office). I pondered these thoughts more and more at the end of my day, when I was supposed to be doing filing and paperwork. I had made a hasty decision. It was time to shake my life up.

After growing up my whole life in Canada and really only knowing my mother's side of the family, I felt it was time to learn about the other half of my blood and travel to my father's old stomping grounds, Australia. While I remember the whole trip like it happened yesterday, the one event that will stand out in my mind forever is the feeling I had when I stepped out of Tullamarine Airport for the first time and realized that everything I knew up to this point probably wouldn't even fill two pages in the novel of my life. It was time to leave my comfort zone far behind me and discover what this crazy upside down world had in store for me. What it had in store was a year full of 'firsts'.

A first time for true freedom. A first time learning about moderation. A first time for discovering that not all people are out for just themselves. A first time for new cultures and languages. A first time for bankruptcy. A first time for falling in love. And of course, a first time for getting shocked by an electrified cattle fence.

Among all these firsts lay a particular event where I found myself at my lowest possible point and only two months into my trip. I was contemplating returning home with my tail between my legs feeling I had been beaten by the land of Kangaroos and Koalas because I felt "life" was against me. This became the first time I took control of my life, gave "life" the proverbial middle finger and a solemn "Fuck you". I learned a valuable lesson and was able to continue my trip for the rest of the year without ever having problems such as this one again.

3 years later. All the bills are paid up, the debts paid off and taken my leave from yet another job (which I will miss dearly). All of this in the name of adventure, exploration and, as silly as it sounds, my gut feeling. I don't know how long I will be gone for. It may be only a few months or may be a year or so. Nevertheless, Whatever the length of time ends up being I feel that I've been pointed in this direction for a reason and I fully intend on discovering what that reason is.

So set up a new bookmark for this site, and get geared up for good times, bad times and everything in between as I discover what the land across the pond has in store for me.

Next Stop: London!