Europe wrap up

My 17 months in Europe will forever hold great memories for me. I was lucky enough to have seen both the tourist sights as well as many places the common traveller does not go. I had attended the Running of the Bulls in Spain which as I look back was one of the craziest festivals in the world. I had also attended a polish wedding, just by meeting the right person and saying yes. I had flown in a glider plane over the mountains in Slovenia. They are just a few of the many, many memories of the 24 countries I visited. I was also lucky in the work I got working in Grasmere, Guernsey in the middle of London and even delivered pamphlets for a couple of days.
It was time to go home though. In time to be best man at my mate Cam's wedding.
One day I will return to Europe but for now I had seen enough.

Ireland

I had about a week between the time I finished the tour and the time I was due to fly to Australia. I did not just want to spend the week in London and I had a little bit of money (not really mine) left. I decided I needed to see Ireland. I got there the cheapest way I could which meant a few trains then a ferry which arrived into Dublin about six am. I spent the full day in the city and booked myself on a tour of the south leaving the following morning.
The Paddywagon tour was hardly full and the tour guide just seemed to be going through the motions. It was a fairly routine path I chose and the tour guide I could tell had seen it all hundreds of times before. We stopped at the Cliffs of Mohair, Galway, Killarney and then the Blarney Stone.
Many people make comparisons between Scotland and Ireland and it is hard not too. In my books though Scotland easily wins. I enjoyed my few days in Scotland over my few days in Ireland but I was happy to have seen Ireland and it was time to leave Europe.
I flew from London back to Melbourne in mid August 2010 over 17 months after flying in there the year before.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam once again was the end of my tour and once again I loved it. It has such a contrast from one area of the city to the next and we did almost exactly what I had done the year before. We attended the sex show and I was a part of the show (that does not mean I had sex), you will have to go see for yourself to see what it involves. My free day I spent just wandering the streets and enjoying the whole city and what it has to offer. I did not though try everything the city has to offer, if that makes sense.
Our final night together involved a Chinese dinner followed by a lot of alcohol aboard a canal boat. Its a good way to say goodbye as the next day on the bus everybody is exhausted and hungover. When the bus parks up in London everybody gets off goes their separate ways and you are back on your own.
Amsterdam would have to be in the top five best cities I have ever visited.

Austria, Chezch and Germany

Tyrol was great because it was not a city. I like cities but having been to Vienna I was glad on this trip to get the chance to explore a different part of the country. In Tyrol I chose to go canyoning. Although it was not as extreme as I was hoping it would be as there were only a couple of drops in the two hours or so we were in the water. Canyoning was the most afforadable option for me but some of the crew chose to go skydiving.
Entering Prague I was back in familiar territory. I had visited Prague on my Top Deck tour in 2009 and therefore I spent most of my free day checking out the Prague Castle, something I had not really seen on my first visit. I went in search of what is known as the dancing house in Prague although I did not find it.
From the Czech Republic we stopped for a night in the Rhine Valley in Germany and it was pouring rain most of the time. It was again a part of Europe not overun with tourists and the narrow streets make it a good challenge for coach drivers to get around. We stayed the night in an old castle which was quite a lot different to the hostel in the middle of Amsterdam we stayed in the following night.

Venice

Sovenia is a great country and I had the opportunity to visit when I caught up with my mate Igor. In the few days I spent with him he taught me caught a lot about the country and so on the tour when we entered Slovenia I became the tour guide for a few hours. We stopped in Slovenia to visit the Postojna Caves, it was a part of Slovenia I had not visited and spent a couple of hours on an organised English speaking tour in the caves. They are the largest underground caves in Europe. Having seen the cave we drove back into Italy and made our way to the campground in Venice. Pizza and pasta was once again my food of choice on a night which was one of the biggest drinking sessions of the tour. The Toga party. Wild things happen for some reason when you mix wearing a toga and drinking a lot of beer.
A big night out is not reccomended before a full day sightseeing in Venice but I pushed through the hangover and saw Venice in a half a way.
We watched a glass blowing exhibition and a glass blower before boarding a gondala and riding down the Grand Canal. I walked around some more on my own and then deciding I would head for the bus and back to camp to spend the afternoon in the pool.
Our next stop after Venice was Tyrol in Austria and it was a rather dramatic change in landscape and change of mood.

Sailing in Greece then driving to Croatia

I was named captain of one of the sailing boats in Greece. It was a position giving to me because I told our tour leader that I was comfortable in the water and had driven a boat before. I had never though sailed a yacht. The whole trip began quite slow because each of the six boats were given instructions on how their boats work and it took a while to get everyone organised. Then it was up to us. For the three nights we stayed on the yachts the conditions were cramped. This was ok really considering we were sailing one of the nicest parts of the world. I was captain of six people. Three youngish English girls, two South African older guys and myself. As well as sailing the boat I also became a mediator as the others were not getting along to well. We sailed to the island of Corfu and pretty much as soon as we parked up each day I left the boat and looked after myself. I had a couple of huge drinking nights on our stopover nights in Greece and loved the spot and loved being in the water. The water was a perfect blue.
To get from Greece to Croatia we had to drive through Albania. We stopped overnight in the city of Tirol. A country which takes pride in the fact there is not one Mc Donald's restaurant in the whole nation. The country looks like a third world country and probably was the most backward country of any I visited in Europe. If a building looks unfinished the owners do not have to pay tax on it so the whole country looks about three quarters finished. I decided not to go into town that night and instead stayed at the hotel. I shared a three bedroom unit with two other guys and it was the most space I ever had on the tour.
The country is off the beaten track and not visited by many tourists. We didn't spend a lot of time in the city. A local guide climbed aboard our coach and explained the city to us although we did not stop at all.
We stopped for lunch in Montenegro before making it into Croatia.
Dubrovnik was in party mode when we arrived, locals and tourists were partying together in the old town to celebrate what I think was their Victory Day and National Thanksgiving Day. Everyone was a little slow to get up the next morning but once we got going we made our way back into the old town. I walked the top of the wall around the city before enjoying a seafood risotto lunch and a swim.

Italy

Entering Italy for the first time was exciting and I was looking forward to seeing all the historic buildings and trying to understand some of their fascinating past. Florence was a good starting point then but to get there we stopped for a couple of hours in Pisa. Many of us, including me, posed for the holding up the tour photo and walked around it through the crowds. Hundreds of thousands of tourists stop there every day. It still felt unreal to be standing beside a building I had seen so many times in photos.
Our full day in Florence started with a walking tour of the city before being free to roam as we wished. I followed a small crew and we went to the Accademia to see the statue of David. The statue makes him look huge and intimidating although in the story he is said to be small and fighting a huge Goliath. Having seen the statue we didn't hang around the museum too long there was still Florence to see. I walked around with a friend towards to the leather markets, before getting lost and only just making it back to the bus before it went back to camp. In the afternoon we sat by the pool in the late Tuscan afternoon sun.
Our drive between Florence and Rome stopped at Orvieto where I tried boar for lunch. We also stopped outside the cathedral to take a lot of photos and it was just a taste of the magnificent Italian architecture.
Rome was hot, busy and large. It was the longest walking tour of the trip and probably the most interesting. Trying to retain all the information is so difficult, the tour was by our Aussie trip leader and although tours of that sort are not allowed in Rome we managed to get through the day without getting caught. We walked up the Spanish steps, drank from the Trevi fountain and walked around the front of the Colosseum. I returned in my own time the following day and explored the inside of the Colosseum. The Vatican City tour took most of the morning and the tourists again visit in their hordes. The Sistine Chapel is extremely impressive and I am so lucky I have had the chance to see it.
We left Italy on a ferry heading towards Greece. There wasn't a great deal to do on the ship and it was a chance for me to catch up on some sleep and be ready to go for the sailing.

Leaving Guernsey

Four and a half months after arriving on Guernsey I boarded a plane again and left the island. I had said goodbye to all my mates at Hotel Jerbourg. The last couple of nights after work I enjoy a few drinks with all the crew and prepared myself to leave.

I also said goodbye to my girlfriend Jess once again not knowing if I would ever see her again. This was quite a difficult thing to do. Although we had left each other before this time was different because we were possibly never going to see each other again.

A couple of weeks before I left the island one of my University mates Max flew over and stayed a few days. It was great to see a fimiliar face and the opportunity to show a friend around an island I had grown to like and call home for a few months.

I left Guernsey and arrived back in the city London. The initial shock to the body was intense. The business of the roads and pedrestian traffic was something I had to once again get used to.

My arrival in London coincided with my friend Leah's birthday. So I spent my one free day drinking with her and her friends at bars in Notting Hill.

The following morning I waited out the front of the hostel in London to get picked up and once again tour Europe.

Back on tour Paris and Switzerland

Prior to leaving Europe I wanted to see some of Italy, Greece and Croatia. Therefore I went on the net and researched many different ways to get around and found the best way was going to be on a tour bus and I once again booked with Top Deck.
This tour I was the experienced one, I knew what touring in the coach was all about and I was just so excited to be out exploring Europe again. Our first stop after the ferry from Dover to Calais was Paris. We arrived in a couple of days before the Tour De France riders were due to finish, so almost exactly a year to the day I had been there previously.
I had climbed the Eiffel Tour and visited the Louvre so this time around I spent the free day exploring the Catacombs, the Notre Dame and the Père Lachaise Cemetery. I went to the cemetry in search of Jim Morrison's grave. That night in Paris I also went on a river Siene cruise and I felt I learnt so much more about the city this year than when I was there the year before.
The next stop after Paris was into Switzerland where we stayed a couple of nights in Lauterbrunnen. The mountains offer some magnificent views and I was excited to get to the top and have a look around. The easiest and quickest, yet not the cheapest way to get to the top of the Jungfrau is to catch the train. Being on a restricted timeline it is what I opted to do. The train drives through tunnels nearly the whole way up the mountain. To give all passengers a chance to look around the train stops a couple of times on the way up where you can get out and have a look out a glass window. When we looked out the cloud was so low and thick you couldn't see a single thing and it was highly unlikely it was going to change for the day.
When you reach the top you walk out of the station through an ice sculpture museum walkway till you reach the outside. I probably spent a couple of hours outside at the top and walked to a little hut which has been turned into and bar. The cloud did move enough for me to get some grasp on just how big the mountains were. I boarded a train late in the afternoon and headed downard back to our cabins. That night I caught up with more previous bus driver from the tour the year before and enjoyed a massive drinking session with him.

Hotel Jerbourg

Hotel Jerbourg is located on the south-east corner of Guernsey at Jerbourg point. It has a restaurant and 32 guest rooms and it was the place I called home for four and a half months while living on Guernsey. The staff at the hotel were of many different nationalities. I was the only Aussie and worked with Spanish, Latvian, German, Hungarian, Scottish, English, Portuguese, Venezuelan, Polish and Welsh. It is the most international team I think I will ever work with. Although we all came from different backgrounds we were able to get along and work as an effective team. At times language barriers caused confusing although we were usually able to laugh about it. Many of the hotel guests also travelled to Guernsey from Europe therefore making it difficult for me to understand their requests.

My contract stated I was to work roughly 50 hours a week although this often meant over 60 hours a week and for no extra money. I was paid a monthly wage of 600 pound no matter how many hours I worked. The 600 pound a month was on top of food and accommodation. I once worked it out to be about 2.50 pound an hour. The hours were long and we often had to back up a late night working with an early start. Throughout the months I worked at the hotel I worked three weddings, each a 16 hour day starting at 10am and finishing 2am the following morning with only 30 minutes off to eat dinner.

I had at least one day off a week but never more than two. I organised to have Mondays off which my girlfriend Jess and I would spend together visiting the sights of the island and the neighbouring islands.

Guernsey do not have a minimum wage which is the reason they are able to pay so little, which is also the reason many Eastern Europeans work at the hotels on the islands. The little pay you get would still be a lot more than they would be paid in their native countries.

The low wages and long hours were what I most disliked about working at the hotel. The staff were friendly and helpful and the restaurant was very rarely at capacity. From the first day I started in the job I knew what day I would be leaving therefore I counted down the days and tried to make the most of my time on Guernsey.

Jersey

Jersey is Guernseys bigger neighbouring island. Just like Australia/ New Zealand and Canada/ USA there is a strong rivalry between the two islands. I really wanted to visit Jersey to see what all the fuss was about and decide for myself which island I preferred.

Jess and I both managed to get a Bank Holiday Monday off which was the only way we could visit Jersey without staying the night. A ferry left early on the Monday morning and we arrived on Jersey roughly an hour later. We spent the day catching buses from beach to beach and I really enjoyed it. I thought the most obvious difference between the two islands was Jersey had better and more accessible beaches. For an island I think Guernsey doesn't have a lot of sandy beaches and many you have climb down hundreds of stairs to reach them.

Jersey is much more commercialised than Guernsey and for the first time in months I ate McDonald's food for lunch and Pizza Hut for dinner. Jersey does have a different feel to Guernsey. Jersey to me felt more Australian with lifeguards on beaches and lots of billboards and advertising. I feel I would have enjoyed living and working on Jersey although with my time on the Channel Islands coming to an end I caught a ferry back to Guernsey thinking I may never again step foot on Jersey.

FIFA World Cup

In the months and years leading up to this years World Cup the English newspapers were publishing articles stating just how easy England would win. I was caught up in all the hype and began to believe the English may win. The Aussies again had a strong team and were looking to make it to the round of sixteen.

Many of the pubs and bars on Guernsey played the World Cup on television all day long which lead to some pubs advertising 'World Cup Free Zone.' These pubs had no televisions no newspapers and no radio during the month of the World Cup finals. Out of interest I entered these pubs a few times to find they were playing Michael Buble cd's on repeat and there was never a line at the bar.

Hotel Jerbourg, the hotel I worked at, had a cup sweep. Each staff member paid five pound and were given two teams. I drew out Spain and Nigeria. Spain were the bookies favourite for the tournament although Nigeria were unlikely to win a game. The Aussies lost convincingly 4-0 to the Germans in their first match of the group stage and it didn't look good. Australia then managed a formidable draw against Ghana and beat Siberia 2-1 although it was not enough to continue to the round of 16.

The English didn't fare much better, a 1-1 draw with the USA followed by a 0-0 draw with Algeria and a 1-0 win against Slovenia. Luckily for them the rest of the groups results went there way and they progressed into the round of 16. The journalists were tearing the team to shreds.

With the English looking unlikely winners and the Aussies out I started supporting the Spanish as the win meant a lot of money for me. The Spanish kept doing just enough to win and progressed to the final against the Dutch. England got thrashed by the Germans 4-1 as the Germans were looking good till the lost to Spain.

I managed to talk my way into getting the night off to watch the final as it was on about 7pm on a Sunday night Guernsey time. I headed to the sports bar in the town and found a place where I could see the television. The bar was full of orange as that is the Dutch colours, Guernsey is a very popular holiday spot for Dutch families. The game itself I found fairly boring with only the one goal scored. The Spanish again did enough to win and for it was a good win for me as I collected a handy 60 pound.

The few Spanish on the island partied long into the night as they did all over the World.

Sark

'Travel a little further and enter a different world.' This is how they advertise Sark on the local radio station. I was intrigued to explore this island where cars are banned and the 560 locals get around by bike, horse, tractor or just walk.

Jess and I took the forty five minute ferry ride to the island on a day off in mid May. The weather turned out great for us as we hired a couple of bikes and rode around the island. We explored the island for a few hours admiring the wonderful natural landscape. The island is five kilometres long and 2 kilometres wide although for a small island though it lacked any good beach to relax on. We rode throughout the island to Little Sark across the narrow La Coupee before taking a walk through the shops on the avenue, the islands only shopping street. Jess and I headed for the pub to have a few drinks. A pint of Carlsberg we were happy to hear cost only £1.80, almost half what the hotel I work in charge. This is because there is no income tax, no property tax and no export duty. Smoking inside pubs has also not yet been banned.

Since returning from Sark I have been doing some reading about the island and discovered it is the last European territory to abolish feudalism, doing so in 2008.

There is also an island named Breqhou located next to Sark which belongs to the Barclay brothers, a couple of famous very rich English twins who made their wealth through media, retail and property. Their wealth is estimated at $1.8 billion.

Liberation Day

This year on May 8 Guernsey celebrated 65 years of Liberation. The islands population turned up in force to join in the party. An estimated 20,000 people were in town on the day, one third of the population. I organised to have a few hours off work in the late afternoon and went into town to see what it was all about.

I arrived in time to watch the cavalcade of cars, marching bands and floats pass through the main street. Islanders waved Guernsey flags and partied into the night. Disappointingly I had to return to work but I enjoyed the few hours and I was impressed by just how much it means to everyone.

The island celebrated sixty five years to the day that the island was freed from the Germans who had occupied the land for four years, ten months and seven days. Many of the islanders left to go to England when the Germans arrived, those who stayed lived in very poor conditions with food being rationed and many locals having to work as slaves.

Reminders of the German Occupation are still visible throughout the island. At Jerbourg point there is a concrete forte during WWII with the NAZI sign still readable. The Germans built forts across much of the coastline although they were never invaded. There are also a number of Occupation museums on the island. None of which I have visited after experiencing the liberation celebrations I now have a greater understanding and interest so I plan to visit the museums soon.

The Monday prior to Liberation Day was also a Bank Holiday Monday and I spent my day off taking part in a photomarathon. I was given a disposable camera and twelve topics and had six hours to interpret the topics any way I wished. My imagination on the day was lacking so not surprisingly I did not win. I was fun to be a part of it and my photos along with the other 70 participants photos were on show at the Information Centre. The competition was part of a month long photography festival in St Peter Port. Professionals displayed there photos in section of town, some of which were excellent and some I found quite random and boring.

While Guernsey and the Channel Islands were celbrating their Liberation the rest of the UK were trying to decide who would lead them as Prime Minister. Gordon Brown's party did not win enough votes to keep power and David Cameron's Conservatives also didn't win enough votes for a victory. So it was left for Nick Clegg to decide after a few days of meetings to take David Cameron's side making Cameron the new leader.

Icelandic Volcanic Ash

Eyjafjallajokull. These random letters spell out the name of the Icelandic Volcano which caused chaos for many travellers in Guernsey. The volcano eruption itself did not makes news headlines it was only a few weeks later when the ash caused the closure of UK airspace that people started to take notice.

The ash itself was not at all visible in the skies over Guernsey and for most of the week the UK airspace was closed the inter-island flights to the other Channel Islands continued to fly. I have never seen the skies as clear as they were that week with only a few aeroplanes flying. The flight ban occurred in exactly the same week as I arrived into the UK last year. Luckily for me it had not happened last year as it would have caused major disruptions to my trip. Guernsey is only about thirty minutes flight from London although it can take up to twelve hours on the slow ferry to reach Poole then another few hours to get to London. This extended trip is what a number of our guests had to endure in order to get home when the flights were cancelled. It was the busiest week Condor Ferries had had for years.

I did not need to fly anywhere in the week the airspace was closed. Jess and I though were planning to catch a boat to neighbouring island Herm. The ash cloud did not stop the boats and we enjoyed a relaxing day of sun on Herm.

Herm is the closest of the major islands to Guernsey and after just twenty minutes on the boat we reached an island with no cars, no tarmac roads and just a couple of tractors. The whole island is only one and half miles wide and three quarters of a mile long. Jess and I took a couple of hours to walk around the island sitting for a while on the beautiful shell beach. We then started a pub crawl through the two pubs on the island before returning to the hustle and bustle of Guernsey.

It was a fun relaxing day and a good change not to see any cars for the day as Guernsey is said to have more cars per head than anywhere else in the World. Guernsey drivers very good at reserving as many of the streets are too narrow for two cars. There are also a large number of Porsche's and BMW's for an island where you cannot drive more than 50 kilometres an hour.

Easter weekend

Easter weekend was due to be the start of the busy summer period but it came and went without any real increase in number of guests. It also came and went without any change in weather, it was still quite cold with top temperatures under ten degrees.

Throughout the Easter weekend I worked for the hotel at a local hockey tournament selling burgers and sausages. I was given the role by the hotel manager Paul who told me as I was an Aussie I knew how to cook a barbie. I wasn't going to disagree. I stood in the freezing wind and pouring rain, so much rain in fact the tournament had to be postponed a day because the pitch was waterlogged.

Jess also arrived in Guernsey just before the Easter weekend to start work at La Barbarie, a hotel and restaurant about thirty minutes walk from Jerbourg. Jess had been working at a hotel in Devon in south England although she had not particularly enjoyed her role there.

Easter weekend did though mark the opening of most of the tourist attractions which had been closed since I arrived. The first museum I visited was the home of Guernsey's most famous former resident Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo is a famous French author, he lived in Hautaville House in St Peter Port while on exile from France. I have never read any of his novels although I am familiar with the West End production Les Miserables which is based upon his novel of the same name which he wrote while living in the house. The house has not been lived in since he left and is now ironically owned by Paris and the French consulate for the island. He made it very obvious it was his house by engraving his initials all over the house and building almost a shrine to himself. I also visited the house to admire the stunning views I had read about and true they were stunning. Unspoilt views of the harbour as well as neighbouring islands Herm and Sark.

Jess and I spent our days off in April exploring more of the sights of Guernsey. We visited The Little Chapel, it is said to be the worlds smallest church and is completly covered inside and out in porcelain making it quite a sight. We also went to Cobo Beach and Vazon Bay where the beaches are much flatter than near Jerbourg. The island also has a Castle known as Castle Cornet located just off St Peter Port along a long concrete pier.

Getting to know Guernsey

A capital which is known as town, a tax haven and locals who call themselves 'Donkeys.' These are the few things I knew about the island of Guernsey before I arrived to start work on March 1st. I was hoping the taxi driver from the airport would know where they were going because I had no idea.

I started work at Hotel Jerbourg located on the South East corner of the island. The hotel is located on the edge of a cliff just beside Jerbourg point. To walk from the hotel into St Peter Port, town, takes roughly forty five minutes. Luckily there is a bus service which picks up just outside the hotel, although the bus takes an indirect loop route into town and takes thirty minutes.

St Peter Port is the capital of Guernsey although it does feel a lot more like a town than a capital city. There are no major fast food restaurants, the steep cobbled streets are instead lined life expensive clothing stores and restaurants. St Peter Port is the home of the islands government as well as the major bank branches and many museums. The island is self governing separate from the UK but still comes under its rule enough to make it legal for me to work here.

The Donkey reference is a nickname given to the Guernsey people from their neighbour Jersey for the stubbornness. The Guernsey people in return call Jersey locals toads, as their are toads on Jersey and not Guernsey.


The island has a population of 60,000 which increases dramatically in the summer time. It was evident as March progressed that the number of tourists visiting the island was slowly increasing. The official language is English, although all the street names are French, there is also fortifications built by the Germans dotted around much of the coastline. The island has its own currency equivalent to the British pound but not usable in the UK.

The tax haven status is something I am still unsure about, I will explain it at a later stage. I do know that it is very expensive to buy or rent a property on the island, especially if you are a newcomer to the island. One bedroom flats for a newcomer can cost more than £300,000. This is because newcomers have to buy from the open market and not the local market which is reserved for long term islanders. A house on the local market for £230,000 would sell for more than £900,000 on the open market. This is why it is an island for the rich and famous. The newest celebrity to buy a house on the island is formula one world champion Jenson Button who purchased a house here in April. It is luckily also when considering all this that accomodation is included at the hotel as part of my job.

It was evident after a few weeks in Guernsey that I had a lot to learn about this little island.

My birthday and leaving London

On our last weekend in London Jess and I threw a housewarming/house leaving/my birthday party at our house in Leyton. Jess invited a few of her friends and a couple of my mates Joe and Blacky, who I met last year on my Europe trip, came along. Many of our housemates joined the party and had friends come round so it was a fun night and a good way to farewell London.

The day before the party on the 25th of February, I celebrated my birthday with Jess and a friend of mine Leah as we spent the day touring the sights of London. Leah a university friend of mine had just arrived in the UK. Leah left us to catch a bus to start work and Jess and I went to Notting Hill to admire the million dollar mansions until rain forced us to go home.

Jess had secured herself a job at a hotel in Sidmouth, Devon and with me going to Guernsey we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. We did not know when we would next see each other.

I wasn't sad to be leaving London. It had not worked out for me and I was looking forward to starting again in Guernsey, to me a completely unfamiliar island.

London Life

Watching Fulham FC play at Craven Cottage the conditions were much different from the last game I had been to see. Andy and I had worn shorts and t-shirt to the football in late August. This time around in the middle of February Jess, her friend Bushy and I were all rugged up and I was still freezing cold. The 90 minutes felt much longer to me. The cold weather did not deter the crowd who turned out in force to support their team against Ukranian team Shaktar Donetsk. Fulham won the UEFA cup game and 2-1 and have since continued to win to see them make the final against Athletico Madrid which will take place on the 12th of May.

Attending another football game was on my list of things to do now I knew my time in London was coming to an end. In the same week I visited the Imperial War Museum, spent a night out in Camden town and went inside the Old Bailey (one of the world's most famous courthouses) during a trial. Jess and I also took a tour of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis. The venue looked quite a bit different than when I was their for the tournament last year as they regrow the grass every year.

I still wanted to visit Cambridge as I had not yet been there so I took the National Express on a day trip from London. Disappointingly as was the case when I visited Oxford many of the colleges were closed to visitors. I did take a walk around the colleges and watch the punters in action, I didn't take a ride though. Punting is when a person stands in a flat bottomed boat and pushes a large stick against the bottom of the river bed. It is now a very popular tourist attraction in Cambridge. I did enjoy admiring all the grand architecture but I couldn't study there.

Valentines Day movie premiere and Valentines Day

On Thursday night Jess and I went into Leicester Square to see the red carpet arrivals for the movie Valentine’s Day. The movie includes a whole list of stars, the big question was which celebrities would turn out for the premiere. We spent all afternoon waiting out the front of the Odeon cinema with hundreds of other people waiting for the guests to arrive. I had been in the UK for almost a year and still had not really seen any celebreties therefore I felt this was my best chance to see someone famous.

As we waited the carpet fitters came by and laid out the red carpet, the media began setting up their cameras, the road was blocked off, the security guards took guard and the sun went down and it began to get very cold. Rumours began flying around about who would be coming and the autograph hounds in front of sorted through their thousands of photographs to have them ready for the stars.

Ashton Kutcher and wife Demi Moore were the first to arrive and the crowd started getting very excited. Ashton started signing autographs and posing for photographs as Demi did a few quick interviews before heading inside the cinema out of the cold. Jessica Alba, star of the Fantastic Four movie, and Topher Grace, That 70’s show and Spiderman 3, where the other big names to arrive. They all went around the crowd posing for photos, signing autographs and undertaking interviews with all the television crews who were set up on the other side of the red carpet directly opposite us. The director of the film Garry Marshall who also directed Pretty Woman was also there.

Fighting the crowds every time the stars came close wasn’t much fun but luckily as I am tall and most of the fans were small teenage girls I was able to get a few photos. Jess being shorter than me was trying to hold her spot but kept getting pushed around by all the fanatical fans or autograph hounds who you could tell were just planning to sell on eBay whatever they got signed.

On Valentines Day Jess and I went for a cruise down the Thames on the Thames Clipper giving me a view of London I had not yet seen. We began our journey at Embankment then cruised down to the O2 arena at North Greenwhich before returning to Embankment. The O2 is a large white dome shaped tent with yellow spikes poking out of it. I knew it as a great place for live concerts but I realised it had a lot more to offer than just being an arena. It also houses a large number of restaurants, cinemas and museums.

The Thames cruise was fun and a little disorientating because the Thames snakes around almost in a semi circle when you get near Greenwich.

Job hunting

I spent basically two weeks on the internet and walking into shops applying for jobs and was getting very disheartened because I had received nothing even close to a job offer. I did though stop the job hunting for one day of celebration on Australia Day. Jess and I spent the day at the pubs in Fulham, an area of London dominated by Australians. It was a good afternoon but my enjoyment was minimised as I kept thinking about how I was spending money I really didn’t have.

On the 1^st of February I started a two day trial delivering pamphlets to letterboxes throughout London. The job didn’t pay well and it was difficult walking around the city in the early morning thin layer of snow, but it was a job and I was happy to be making money. I had finished work at the Glenthorne in late November, therefore it had been over two months since I had last worked. My first day went ok and I returned for a second day where I spent the day walking around St Johns Wood area delivering pamphlets to the million dollar plus mansions. It was a good way to see a different part of the city.

Over the two days I had delivered over 1500 Domino Pizza vouchers and although the job was not great I was happy to continue. Disappointingly though the company emailed me to say they did not need staff. Not sure why they took me on in the first place but it meant I was again back to no job.

I had also secured myself a place in a group interview to work as a retail assistant at the London Eye. The interview was interesting a fun. It was the first time I had ever been a part of a group interview in that kind of environment and although I felt I had done well I will still not sure I would get the job.

I then had another interview at a travel and outdoor shop which was going really well until I was told the manager was only looking for part time staff which would not be enough to pay rent to live in London.

Last week I had still not heard anything from the London Eye and the bank account was getting desperately low and I had already borrowed money off Mum and Dad so I figured it was time to look for live in work again similar to what I had been doing at the Glenthorne in the Lakes District. I figured if I stayed in London I would spend so much on rent, travel, food etc I would not be saving any money for the travels I wish to do before I fly home.

Life in Leyton

When you live in London your location is as much determined by what line of the underground you live by as the area in general. Jess and I are living about two minute walk away from Leyton station, east on the central line about a twenty minute ride into the centre of London.

Jess and I are sharing a room in a large seven bedroom house, living together we figured was going to be the only somewhat affordable way to live in London. Over time we met our housemates, all male and from all over the world. One Italian, one Irish, one New Zealander, one French and another Aussie.

The house isn’t exactly new and it wasn’t exactly clean when we moved in. Prior to Christmas there had apparently been over 15 people living in the seven rooms. Jess and I spent a while cleaning the house and making it more liveable.

I spent the first few days exploring the local area and soon discovered Leyton is a close neighbour to Stratford. Stratford, I learnt, will be home of many events during the 2012 London Olympic Games. Therefore everywhere you look in Leyton and Stratford there is building and construction. Currently being built in Stratford is the Olympic Stadium, Aquatic Centre and London velopark as well as the Olympic Village. Apparently the cost of London hosting the games and building all the new venues will be over £9 billion. On the couple of visits I have made to Stratford I have found it to be extremely busy therefore it will be interesting to see how they cope with the influx of tourists during the Olympics.

Leyton is a very multicultural area and just a few minutes walk away from our house is a huge ASDA store. ASDA is the English version of Wal-Mart and the equivalent of a Big W and Safeway together. It is the busiest store I have ever seen. Every time I have been there it seems there are thousands of customers. It is handy for us because it is open 24 hours and it is cheap.

Leyton is also the home of Leyton Orient football club who play in league one of the football league. On days were the team play at home the streets become packed with fans and police.

After moving into our new place I went out and caught up with a university mate of mine Campbell Wedell who was in London for the night after studying in Sweden for six months. It was alot of fun to catch up with a good mate I had not seen for almost a year.

Moving to London

Following a few unsuccessful days job hunting in Bath, Jess and I decided the best option to find work was to move to London. So we got on a bus and headed back to London. After checking into a hostel we set about house hunting.

It did not take long for us to find a place suitable. Really we were happy to take anything reasonably cheap and comfortable. We contacted a guy who organises houses in the North East as he seemed to be offering the cheapest in the newspaper. After showing us a couple of real dumps he showed us a room in a house where we could see ourselves living and at a cheap rate. So we signed on the dotted line.

The reason we signed so quickly was because we really didn’t want to spend days searching for accommodation. The room was £55 a week which included all bills, free wireless internet and sky TV. We would also be paying month by month rent and we would only have to give two weeks notice to get out of the contract.

To celebrate Jess and I went to see the Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre. I have wanted to see the musical ever since i arrived in England and I really enjoyed it. Although it has been playing almost every night for almost ten years it still attracts a large audience. The songs are familiar and the costumes are great. Well worth the money and a great way to begin our time in London.

We went back to the hostel and stayed the night in a ten bed dorm. The fire alarm went off just after midnight then continued to go off randomly throughout the night. Not because there was a fire just because somebody had drunkenly smashed the fire alarm. The following morning we were very excited to be checking out of the hostel and into our own room in our new place in Leyton.

I enjoyed unpacking my bag for the first time in a over a month to rediscover clothes I had forgotten I had, for the last month I had been wearing pretty much the same clothes every day. It was good to be able to wear something different.

Snowy Stonehenge and beautiful Bath

The morning we were due to leave Newport the UK was in the middle of the big freeze. Outside the snow was quite deep and still falling. It was the most snow I had ever seen and the most the UK had experienced for some years. The news were reporting all sorts of road closures, school closures and major transport disruptions.

Luckily for Jess and I we were able to leave Newport and reached Bath just over an hour later. The snow cover had made everything look great and the very old streets of Bath were covered in a thick layer of snow. Many of the shops were closed with signs on the doors reading 'Due to adverse weather conditions this store is closed.'

The snow cover had left the city looking very photogenic so I decided it would be interesting to go and visit Stonehenge and see it in a layer of snow which rarely occurs. Jess had not seen Stonehenge and I had visited the site one time last year on a rainy day. We caught a tour bus out to the stones arriving a few hours later after driving very slowly along some snowy roads.

Upon arrival the site was closed off. Visitors couldn't enter which was disappointing but we were able to snap some photos from the outside of the fence and as we left at around 3.30pm the sun was setting leaving a very memorable image.

Visiting Dylan Thomas' boathouse

I was intrigued to learn more about the life of Dylan Thomas, a famous Welsh poet, who I knew little about except that he had the same first name as me. Dylan Thomas grew up in Swansea where there is now a information centre dedicated to his life. He also spent a bit of time living in a boathouse in a quite seaside town called Laugharne. I had read in the book '501 must visit destinations' that this was a must visit destination.

So we headed to Laughharne it takes a couple of hours on the bus and train to reach Laugharne from Swansea and when we reached the town the sun was shining as we made our way past a castle along the edge of the beach to the boathouse.

Upon reaching the house we read a sign which stated it was closed due to ice in the pipes. Not really sure what this meant but what it did mean was that we were not allowed inside. One of Dylan Thomas' most famous pieces 'Under Milk Wood' speaks of a town called Llareggub an imaginary Welsh town. Llareggub read backwards is Buggerall and many people believe it is based upon Llaugharne because it doesn't have a lot to offer, as Jess and I discovered while waiting a couple of hours for the next bus to take us back.

Thomas when writing about Laugharne said he got off the bas and just forget to get back on. Jess and I definetly remembered to get back on the bus. While spending all day getting to and from Laugharne we had missed our chance to visit the Dylan Thomas centre in Swansea. Therefore I left Swansea knowing almost nothing more about the poet than when I had arrived.

It was time to head back to Newport for a couple of days to make up for the nights we were still due before leaving Wales and making our way back across the border to Bath.

New Years Eve in Wales

One of the downfalls of booking hotels online is not really knowing where the hotel is located or what it will be like. We found this out while trying to book a hotel in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, and finding out the hotel we booked was in Newport. A city with nothing much to offer and at least thirty minutes away from Cardiff.

Jess and I decided it was much better idea to stay in a hostel in Cardiff on New Years Eve than try and commute from Newport. So after a little negotiation with some hotel managers who never seemed to be at the hotel we freed ourselves up for New Year and checked into a really flash hostel with a window view from the room overlooking the river and the Millennium Stadium.

While in Cardiff Jess and I visited the castle, took a walk around Cardiff Bay and spent New Years Eve at the Walkabout, the Aussie themed pub chain which put on a good New Years Eve party.

After a few days in Cardiff we decided to move on and instead of heading back to Newport we continued west to Swansea to check into yet another dodgy hotel. The hotel was located just across from the beach, all the hotels in the area seemed to have been untouched since the 1970's and considering there was a layer of ice on the sand I was not ready to go swimming. Swansea was also a friendly city with a bit to offer for a weekend visit although one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Swansea was to discover more about the life of Dylan Thomas.

Christmas in Bristol

A delicious (or maybe not) food van kebab in a Bristol hotel room for Christmas dinner. Not exactly the three course meal I am used to but that's one of the downfalls of being on the opposite side of the world to the rest of your family.

What lead to me eating a kebab in Bristol on Christmas Day was the decision that Jess and I where to spend Christmas together. We had planned to get to Wales for Christmas but instead found ourselves in the more affordable Bristol just on the England side of the border. Bristol is a very nice city and we were able to amuse ourselves for a few days while there but on Christmas Day pretty much every restaurant, shop or any place which sold food was closed. The only places open where very expensive restaurants and of course the food van.

I enjoyed my time in Bristol and a few days is enough time to have a look around the city. The highlight though for the time there was a chance meeting in McDonald's on our second last morning there. I happened to spot a mate Hugh who I worked with at a summer camp in the USA and had not seen for over four years. It was crazy! I knew he lived in Bristol but when trying to contact him had no success. We spent the morning together before again saying goodbye without knowing when we would ever see each other again.

Leaving Bristol we decided it was now time to go to Wales.

To Bruges or not to Bruges

A few months ago I watched the film 'In Bruges.' The film stars Colin Farrell and it is a very weird advertisement for the city Bruges in Belgium. Anyway since watching the film I have wanted to visit Bruges and therefore when BUNAC where offering a trip to visit the Christmas markets in Bruges I decided to join the trip.

I woke up at 5.30pm on a very cold London morning and got to Great Portland Street and on the bus. As we were heading to Dover reports on the radio stated the ferry between Calais in Dover had stopped. Outside as we drove towards Dover the ground was covered in snow but the driver continued in case the ferry started running again. The channel tunnel was also closed and the trains had stopped running. Therefore we could not get to France which then meant we were not going to Bruges.

We instead went to Canterbury. It may be a nice city full of history but at 8.30am on a snowy, cold Saturday morning it wasn't offering a lot. I wandered the streets with a few others from the group. The cathedral in the centre of the city is the focal point of but I felt I had seen enough churches and cathedrals this year to pay to visit another one.

I was really excited to see snow all around as we toured south east England although it causes chaos to public transport as we discovered. We did though continue on to a small town called Rye which had some really old cobbled streets and one of the oldest pubs in England.

Jess returned from Germany a few days before Christmas and we had to decide where we where going to go over the Christmas and New Year. I did not wish to stay in London, especially after visiting Oxford Street on one of the busiest days of the year.

I will have to try and visit Bruges another time.

London and Oxford

Following my week traveling I spent a week in London with my girlfriend Jess. I met Jess in Grasmere and we decided to spend some time together after we each finished in Grasmere. As Jess had not spent a lot of time in London I got to be the tour guide and show her the sights. We visited Brick Lane, Abbey Road as well as Hyde Park among other sights. Hyde Park had been transferred into winter wonderland. A contrast from when I working there in the middle of summer. The pedal boats and deck chairs had been locked away and rides and Christmas stalls had been set up.

Jess then flew to Germany to visit a friend and I decided to get out of London. I spent a few days in Oxford, disappointingly though the students had all left for their Christmas break. I spent the week walking through the colleges I was allowed into and visiting the museums. I walked through the Ashmoleon museum, one of the oldest museums in the UK. Although the most interesting museum piece I thought was in a smaller museum which featured a chalkboard on which Albert Einstein had taught a class while teaching at the University. After spending a few days at the Uni I am pretty sure I couldn't study there. Not that I would ever have the opportunity.

After a few days in Oxford I headed back to London in time for another BUNAC trip this time to Bruges.