Heart of Glass

Corr... it only took a toddlers age to get up there, but my birthday treat lead me to London, the lovely Pizarro's for dinner, drinks followed by an awesome little trip up the Shard.

Lost in the Dream

Chamonix, France

My first ski trip!

After nearly 15years of snowboarding, I decided to join some friends, new to skiing, on a short trip to Chamonix. After making the flights to Geneva, we arrived in the town amid a LOT of fresh falling snow. It was magical, it always is, you just can't beat the crunch underfoot, nor the silence you get while walking out doors in freshly fallen snow.

Marc, Joe, Tim and I cracked things off on Friday at Les Houches, the only area open due the sheer volume of snow, and all began finding our feet, after previously only skiing lessons at Hemel's snowdome. It took me about 70% of the day to really get comfortable, but finally clicked after lunch. I cracked a red run at the end of the day, a gruelling 30min wind back down to the town.

Day 2 we took a walk to Brevant, and enjoyed bluebird conditions until lunchtime, when the clouds rolled in and the falling snow returned. A big night out at some of the towns bars, (Moo - who make a great Old Fashioned) meant a late night, and a dizzy head for the final day. We took a bus to Balme / Le Tour... conditions were less than ideal as we gingerly ventured into the whiteness... luckily after lunch, we discovered a low down red run, that went thru the trees and added a lot of viz... then we spent our last hour or two gliding thru the fresh powder covering the lower slopes, perfecting some lovely winding turns... before jumping back in the car to Geneva airport... I always had my reservations, but skiing is seriously awesome, and I'm probably going to stay torn between it, and my first snowy love of snowboarding for some time!

Another one bites the dust

Barcelona, Spain

What goes on on stag, stays on stag, therefore I'll keep this one nice and quick.

Barcelona, stretched Hummer, beach games inclusive of full contact bombat frisbee, an ocean bed that chews feet off for breakfast (multiple lacerations)  .A night on the tapas and lots of beers. Day 1 done. 

Sunrise; boat cruise/party... amazing, this is what it is to be alive. Sunshine, food, drinks, friends, pretty ladies, yes. An evening in the clurb and a forgetful evening of losing personal property.

Final day and more tapas, and cruisy drinking and eating in town squares. the food here is simply amazing. Roll photos:

Oh La La La La

Nord Pas Du Calais, France

I'd always fancied driving my own car into Europe from England. So this was my chance. Ferry booked, hotels booked, some research into what could be done within a not too long drive of Calais, and Arras was the first destination. Some gorgeous self cooked meats on a cool table BBQ kicked off the fun before driving out to Boulogne Sur Mer. 

Moules for lunch; lovely, wines, beers, walking talking and exploring a slightly odd town, before a walk out to the tide. 

Michelin starred dinner, was exquisite, the atmosphere at XXX a little quiet perhaps, but none the less, a great evening of gastronomy.

Glorious

V2014 - Hylands Park

One of my first posts back in 2005, was the last English V festival I went to. My brother Tim was there too so it's befitting I take a minute to mention a fun day in good old Chelmsford. The festival site has changed over the years, the old main stage area has now become the secondary stage area, and the main stage now sits in front of Hylands House; quite cool.
After flogging a few spare tickets, we got ourselves in, loaded up with beer tokens and went about seeing as many acts as we could. Tom Odell kicked it off, Kaiser Chiefs got the crowd partying, while Bastille had a picture of the middle of a road as their backdrop - bit of a clue as to what would come there.


We wandered off and saw a little bit of Pixie Lot who was covering lots of other people songs, but a good choice that had everyone singing along. Highlight of the day next, from the 80's legends, The Human League; Giorgio Moroders Electric Dreams followed by Don't You Want Me Baby - just pure class.
Example showed how to F-bomb a lot, but he got everyone going never the less. We then came across Foxes, doing an acoustic set in the Carling tent, it was really decent! Always adds something when you can really see the artist you're watching in a smaller environment. After that, a bit of the talented Ed Sheeran, then a bit of the also talented Birdy before Justin Timberlake brought his pop tunes to close the festival... who's up for going next year?!

Rather Be

Meribel, Three Valleys, France

Jubsy in the UK, we decided to book a trip to the Alps. Nick, my old travel and snowboard buddy also keen for it, we booked into a cool all inc chalet for a week of snow.

There's so many possible factors of what makes a snow trip great, and having been to the snow for countless weeks in the last 15years, this one will go down as one of the most memorable. The sun shone all day, every day. I was riding with no gloves some days, my face and arms recieved a tanning, just perfect, even without new snow, the pistes were zippy and fun. With technology comes the "Ski Trax" app that logs your fastest funs of the day, which became a pure form of entertainment... 

The other guests in the chalet were also great value, with drinking games galore, and plenty of good chatter about the days gone by.

Happy happy days. 

La Folie Douche, Eddies poor Cat and that damn town square bear.

Sunflower

Paul Weller at Kew Gardens

A slightly unusual gig this one, like a festival, but for older folks. Picnic blankets, wine and no shoving, puking in corners or stinky, leaky urinals... well mostly. Weller started the set with Sunflower, then went on a journey of new stuff, for most of the crowd, a little disingaged, but finally he dropped in a few of the classics before moving to That's Entertainment, Start, Wishing on a Star, Changing Man, Peacock Suit etc etc...

An amazing backdrop and a gorgeous place to watch a gig, though next year I'd try and get there earlier to get a better patch of grass... Bottom line, Weller was awesome.

Six Shots Two Guns

Grays, Essex

Up n Down

Sydney, Australia

I'm never ungrateful for a trip to Sydney, and as far as most English people go, I've now flown from London to Sydney on about 5 occasions, about as many times as I've been to Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands all together.

This trip was quite different to any other, in that I was recovering from a cultural adventure, and was quite happy to cab to Matty's place, be welcomed, have a coffee and breakfast on the beach, before doing nothing but couch surf, and watch movies for the rest of Sunday afternoon. I also had the pleasure of doing some work from home over my days here, so this was never about seeing the sights.
That said, I swam in 22degree waters, sun bathed a little, and still managed to get into the city for a shop and some drinks with an old friend or two.

On the Wednesday evening, it was business time. A Stag-party, or 'bucks-do' awaited. Of course details of this must remain sketchy, but staying in the Meriton Penthouse was a pretty awesome thing to do, and the morning after provided military jet fly-bys, right over our heads, as we watched down at the Anzac day parade.

Breezeblocks

Thailand - 24hours in Bangkok.

I touched down in Bangkok once more, this time looking forward to a short stay. I'd reserved a slightly better hotel than I might normally, anticipating my cravings for a good shower. With that being the first thing crossed off of my list, I headed for the rooftop for some food and drink. Awesome 360 views around Bangkok and a sweet 30degrees at nightfall felt pretty good, and the Pad Thai and beer just perfected the scenario. I took an evening stroll to burn off dinner and have a think about what I'd do with my next day, while someone massaged my feet, ankles and calves for about a quarter the cost of what it might be in London.

I awoke after my first full 8hours sleep at around 7, had a swim and then a gym session before breakfast. I decided I should try and check a new tourist spot off of my list and so headed for a long walk to Lumphini Park. What I found was a calm and peaceful side of Bangkok I'd not seen before. A lake, runners, cyclists and families picnicking was the name of the game. With the heat getting a little bit too much, I dropped into the cities metro system for the first time and decided to go visit an old favorite sites; Chatuchak weekend market. If you've not been, I'd rate it as one of the better things in BKK, there's everything you'd normally find on the city streets, and so much more. Restaurants, souvenirs, livestock pets, emerging local artists, there's just something cool to see around every corner, and of course, bargains to be had! Trying not to pick up too much stuff this time around, I limited myself to a pair of rip-off Ray-Bans and a hand carved wooden vase. A delicious chicken satay lunch and a Leo beer sealed off this part of the day. I hopped in the first cab I could find and headed towards young tourist town... Koh San road.

Traffic was a bit of a pig, so I didn't get to walk the famous strip, so headed for one of the many offerings in the Rambutri village area to get fully refreshed, Thai massage and a dirt cheap manicure/pedicure to smarten me up for the upcoming wedding I was to attend. Having spent about £40 on everything all day, I happily slid back to my hotel to grab my things and head toward Sydney Kingsford once more.

Inhaler

I arrived in Manila with not too much background knowledge of this huge city of cities. It's made up of several cities, the one I'd be staying in; Quezon City. Much of the street namings here have a distinctly Spanish feel. The streets initially remind me of Bangkok; dense cabling twining the way along most streets, bright American shop fronts and some traditional transport modes. Then once on the EDSA (highway), it all seemed a lot more American, giant billboards and double decker roadways.

I finally got the cab driver to my hotel, yep, I had to find it, and was soon reunited with my old mate Jubsy. A few San Miguel's washed down a Big Mac and then we headed to a friend of his leaving party/birthday party on top of the roof of a high rise apartment complex, compete with pool. Around $120 buys you a lechon - or a complete roasted pig. That'll feed 20-30 people, and those 20-30 absolutely demolished this beast.

The evening rapidly descended into merry chaos, just about everyone there got thrown in the pool at some stage, and just about no one can remember what time things got wrapped up. I do stand by what I've always said though, the best way to get over jet lag rapidly, is simply to get drunk upon arrival, and try to sleep it off during the local night time. Job done.

11am we were on the roof of our swanky boutique hotel, having a dip, before meeting the rest of the expats for a well needed breakfast, coffee, and Gatorade. Onwards to Baguio via a 6hr bus journey we venture, it's been a fun intro to the Philippines so far... Incidentally, this has been the first time I've blogged and posted from a bus seat, wifi on the go, I <3 br="" technology.="">
Hotel: cocoon, Quezon City

Mr Writer

I once said I'd keep this blog going forever... And I meant it. Sure there's a few gaps over the last few years, but I'm gonna make sure that all my overseas travel continues to make it here. On that:

Heathrow airport; 19.08, made it. Time to flight: 2hrs 22mins.
One big bag, one little bag full of my favourite things... and that excitement I always have from a long-haul trip. I'm not a airplane hater. I'm quite happy in this day and age losing myself in some (iPad) movies, books, average cuisine and tablet induced sleep... it could be way worse, right?

I'm strangely excited to be staying a night in Bangkok, where I'll literally be around the corner from the airport and near absolutely nothing in terms of everything BKK has to offer. Life has been chugging along at a rate of knots these last few weeks and months, and the idea of one evening with gym, pool & wifi is extremely appealing; I've never seen a 5 day iPhone forecast painted as 5 consecutive lightning bolts though!

But for now, I'll carry on sitting here, bags in hand, wondering what I might see and do after two 6hr flights to Dubai and then Bangkok, and then another 2hr45 from Bangkok to Manila.


The answer, well, not much in Bangkok, I'm shacked up just round the corner from the airport to make tomorrow as easy as possible as I head back there. Pad Thai and Singa for dinner, watching Newcastle play in Europe on Telly; what could be more Thai!?

Beacon

Amsterdam, Easter Weekend

Going into 2013, I realised I'd visited as many countries as I'd had years on Earth, so have since decided that my life's pleasure goal, is to keep that figure growing with my years.  So for country no.34, I decided to check off something relatively close to home, from Southend Airport to Amsterdam, it's a tiny 40minute flight...

An evening spent eating Portugese steak, drinking a bit of Amstel and Heineken was a good way to start. The next morning, sunlight gave some bearings before smashing the pavements for more coffees treats and sightseeing. Canals, Red Light District (an eye-opener that everyone should see once in life) and then of course, another evening finding the elusive Grolsch to complete the trio of Dutch beers. This may have descended into an organised bar crawl... the last text message sent was at about 3.15am... definitely too old for this sh**.

A final day spent in a coffee shop, only a coca-cola of course, and some thick atmosphere, then beers in the central square people watching and telling tales of the night before.

A Final note on the brilliance of Amsterdam airport, we got there a bit early, but managed to kill time with a decent quality burger, some casino exploits... I lost my final 15Euros in some style, roomy, airy, comfy seating - even a museum, this is THE one to get delayed in.

Lights Out, Words Gone...

Bratislava, Slovakia

Quite possibly the craziest stag do I've ever been on... During the Dry luge-ing, pub crawling, casino winning... I managed to lose chunks of flesh, and gain piles of cash... awesome weekend and a great city for this kinda thing.

Settle

Santorini, Greece (Greek Islands)