I'm going home!

This Saturday, after two years, four months and 20 days (or 872 days) I'm leaving Europe to head back to Melbourne - just in time for Christmas!

In my two years away, Ive done a lot. I've lived in England, Scotland and Ireland, and had 9 jobs, which have varied greatly...

From the obligatory pub jobs (four of them) to being a pleb inputting data, working as a study supervisor at a school, working at an investment banking firm, and at a box factory! Oh yeah, and there was that one job where all I did for three days was watch a 27,000 page report get printed. Living the dream!

The best part about my travel though has been the travel, and in the time I've been away, I've been to 25 countries through Europe and one in Africa, and far from curing the travel bug, its only made it worse. Despite the fact I'm returning home flat broke, I'm looking at travelling again - to the Americas - ASAP.

But at the moment, I'm really just looking forward to Christmas eve morning, when I step off that plane and arrive home.

I need a job!

Ok, so its back to reality...sort of.  I'm back in Ireland, this time in Galway and I need to find a job fast!  I'm ever so quickly running out of funds.

I arrived in Galway last monday nite, and found a hostel which accepts long termers.  It's an ok sort of place I guess, but sharing a room with 7 other people for a couple of months is gonna be tough!  

Luckily, thanks to a friend of a friend moving up here a little bit before me I have 'instant friends' which has been a bit of a lifesaver (especially as i got kicked out of the hostel for the weekend coz it was overbooked!) as I've had people showing me around town to all the good spots, as well as having someone to talk to (most of the other people in this hostel are french...).  So thats been great.

I spent all day saturday in the pub, first watching Australia and then the All Blacks lose in the rugby (did anyone have money on that?) and then  drowning my sorrows because of the former!  Ugh.  We were TERRIBLE!  Its not even as if England was that good, they werent, we were just worse!  I coulda done better in the pack!

The job hunting hasnt been great.  I've registered with a couple of agencies but havent had good feedback so far.  Theres plenty of pubs looking for staff at the moment, but they dont like that i only have a couple of months left on my visa, which isnt good!  One agency reckon they will be able to find me jobs fairly regularly, unfortunately though, its doing waitering, which is something I've never done before, but having just looked at my bank balance again, something I will have to do none the less!  I think I can survive for about 2 more weeks.  Three if I'm really tight...then some tough decisions have to be made!

Ah well, its all part of the fun hey?  And it all works out in the end....usually

Beer and...well...more Beer

Since my last post, I made a quick trip to Ireland to catch up with two very good friends from home, which was a lot of fun. It's making me look more and more forward to coming home - which is just under 3 months away now! Crazy stuff.

After that, I headed to Belgium, which after the highs of Spain, I must say I was a little dissapointed. Yes the Beer was good - so to the Waffles and Chocolate - but I loved Spain so much the come down was always going to be there.

I did have one very good day though, heading to the battle fields of Flanders, including Ypres, where the frontline between the Allies and the Germans was basically held for the entire four years of the war. There were some really very humbling moments, and it was well worth the trip.

Following that, I headed to the Beehive to see Bel and Mark again, and as usual it was great catching up with them.

I'm currently sitting in London, about to head to meet a friend where I'll be dossing tonight before flying back to Ireland tomorrow, and I'm very very tired and hungover. Why?

Oktoberfest!

Lots of fun I must say. A few silly moments where drunken stupidity made me and my mates act like kids, but no long term harm done! I now have to head back to Ireland and find a job for a couple of months, and I am dreading it, but it has to be done - I'm broke!

I´m in Love!

Ive just finished a program teaching english at a place called Vaughantown, which is an intensive week of english speaking for Spaniards trying to get better with their conversational spanish. I volunteered my services as an english speaker - tough requirements huh - and in return I got to stay at the four star hotel/resort for free with everyone covered. But it turned out to be even more then that.

Throughout the week us Anglos spoke to the Spanish, and in that time got to meet a bunch of really great people, from both sides of the equation. One of the things you dont get to do enough as a backpacker is meet a lot of locals and get to have long an meaningfull discussions with them, which is something I crave.

Aside from lots of talking, there was copius amounts of drinking and lots of eating (ham sandwiches were ignored for a week!) and you could see one things that Aussies and Spanish have in common - we love to have a good time revolving around food and drink, and also take things very easy with little stress.

Having spent 4 of the last 6 weeks in Spain, one thing has hit me - i wanna spend more time here. I also wanna be able to speak their language. Having had a quick look over the net, working holiday visa´s arent available, so I will have to take another aproach! But I am now determined to spend some more time in Spain, as Ive completely fallen in love with it!

So its been ages since my last post...as has just been pointed out to me...oops!

When I last left you i was in the Moroccon city of Fes, and it was a hell of a place! The 9400 winding alleyways in the old Medina were so much fun to wonder around for hours and hours on end, with the locals trying to sell you anything they could...and us being suckered in on occassion. We noticed our taxi driver permanently driving with one hand on the horn, and he wasnt afraid to use it.

After Fes, our group of five became a group of 3, with 2 of the girls having to head back to Spain, but the rest of us heading further south, to Marakech. While it was more touristy than Fes, Marakech was so unbeleivably different, and a unique place on its own. The main square at nite was unlike anything ive ever seen, with snake charmers, dancers, musicians and a million places to eat, where the staff are a form of entertainment on their own. They have spruikers trying to get you in, and they try to connect with every person who comes back...the normal thing to say when I said I was australian was "ah, Kangaroo!", but I had to give credit to the one guys line of "ah, dingo stole my baby!" So we ate there!

After Marakech we took a quick 2 day tour into the Sahara, where we rode camels, ate some more awesome food, then slept under the stars. Was a very different experience from the hustle and bustle of Marakech.

On our way back up the coast, we spent a day on the beach town of Asilah, where we hung out all day on the beach - with all of our stuff! We then proceeded to miss the last ferry back to Spain, so had to spend another night in Tangier.

Upon arrival back into Spain, I left Lizzy and Scotty, who headed on to Madrid, while I went to Seville, which is one of the prettiest cities Ive seen in a long time. While I didnt really do much of the touristy stuff...I did get to see a historic water park....ok it wasnt at all historic...but it was fun! We did see a great free fleminco show, which was so intense I was really surprised and impressed. The lady dancing wasnt a petite little dancer by any stretch, but she could move - oh and she made it quite clear there was to be no videos taken.

After that I headed to Lagos in the south west of Portugal. This city has no history, no culture. Not much of anything apart from thousands of Aussies and Poms sitting on the beach all day, and getting hammered very cheaply at night. Yeah ok, its not a very 'backpacker' thing to do, but damn was it fun!

Im now in Lisbon, the capital, and about to go check out the castle - havent been to one in a while, and I think in the next couple of days im gonna head for Madrid before starting the english language program on Sunday.

Morocco

After spending 5 days at one of the best hostels ever in Granada, I found 4 other random solo travellers to travel to Morocco with. Thats the sort of awesome hostel it was. Overlooking Alhambra (which I stood in line for 4 hours to see!) it felt more like a shared house than a hostel.

After leaving the Granada, we headed to the port town of Tarifa, where we spent 2 days laying on the beach. After that ze got the ferry across to Africa!

What we saw when we got there was so different from home. Chickens and ducks walking down the main street, raw meat being sold in the midday sun alongside towels... and dont get me started on the toilets!

The food has been amazing though, and its fun hagging with the locals...they seem so insulted if ya dont! We spent one nite in Tangier, and are now in the Imperial city of Fes, and will soon head down to Marakech!

Well, I´m on the road again...

Gotta tell ya, it wasnt the best way to do it...spending a night at the airport again sucked. I just dont think its worth whatever saving you get. It´s virtually impossible to sleep...but...oh well...íts an experience´

So after arriving at Girona airport near Barcelona, I decided to head straight for Valencia, as I´ve already done Barcelona 2 years ago, and so far its been pretty good. Obviously i was quite wrecked by the time i got in, but had a good look around town, and it seems like a place you can have a lot of fun.

Today I hit the markets, then followed that by a few hours at the beach, and this beach is a good one! Walked along it for a good 10 minutes and there was still no end in sight. I found a good spot and parked my but for a few hours - aside from the occasional dip of course. After enduring a cold and wet Irish ´Summer´, its good to see that big yellow thing in the sky again. Do ya know it never got below 22 degrees last nite. I dont think its gotten above that in Ireland all summer.

Was good to get back into the hostel environment again. Has been 6 months now, so you tend to forget the bad bits (large groups from particular countries...) but its been quality.

Was thinking I should do some sight seeing tomorrow, but ya know what, I might just look at the beach!