Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Europe!!

Its now been 3 months and im flying back to Australia tomorrow.. But this is what I've been up to for the last three months in Europe.
Firstly I stayed in England with my cousins for a week.. Went sight seeing in London.. and jst hung out with the family, nice break from constantly travelling and i had my own bed so weird!
The i got a job on Majorca one of the Spanish Balearic Islands, working behind a bar.. It sounded like a pretty sweet deal over the phone and on the net but when i got there i didnt enjoy it.. i was working 60hours a week and living above the bar.. it was right on the coast and the view was amazing but all i did was work.. not my idea of fun so i quit 3 weeks later and started travelling again..
First stop Barcelona! I hated it!!! The city was so dirty, smelly, and there were sleezy guys everywhere! Every1 I had spoken to had been pick pocketed and id found out it was becuase of all of the Morroccans that are there illegally.. I had met a ton of people that worked there and loved it but i couldn't see what all the fuss was about??
A few days later I went to Pamplona for the 'running with the bulls' festival with a bus load of people and IT WAS THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!!! The bus broke down on the way there (this didnt even happen in Asia haha) so we didnt get there until 11pm.. but when we got off the bus the streets were packed full of people wearing red and white iv never seen so many people in one place in my life! and it was freezing no one expected it! We all got off the bus loaded up on sangria and hit the streets.. fireworks went off at midnight and there were stages and bands everywhere.. We didnt have anywhere 2 sleep which didnt matter cos we didnt plan on sleeping! and for those who did they jst joined every1 else sleeping in the park haha.. we partyed all night then at 7am the track was packed.. and the bulls were set loose.. the spanish are crazy! iv never seen anything so wild in my life.. the runners end up in an arena and one by one the bulls are set free to run amuck i cant even describe it! Pamplona is just a small town and during the week everything is let go there is no food and the streets are full of plastic cups and what not.. BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!
The next day I had to get to the bus before 9.30 or the bus was going to leave with all my stuff and i'd lost every1 i had 2euros 2 my name and had no idea where the bus was i should have taken notice the night before.. but i didnt! I walked around for an hour and had no idea where i was going then finally when i sobered up a bit more i realised id walked past it 3 times haha loser! I was half an hour late but thank god the bus waited for me!
Next stop was Biarritz, France for the surf camp! Biarritz is so beautiful and the south coast of France has some of the best surf in Europe.. so I camped there for a few days and went surfing with a surf program thats organised!
The manager of the program asked me the next day if id drive a van all the way back to barcelona for him and he'd pay me.. how could i turn that offer down.. so me and 2 english girls id met hit the road 'road trip'! It took us about 10 hours but it was kinda fun and we got to c more of Spain..
Got back to Barca and me and the girls decided to go out.. we jst left the hostel and a morroccan ran up to Ali grabbed her bag and legged it.. he came out of no where.. way 2 ruin the night! this is why i never take anything out with em especially in Barcelona.
The next day I met Bridie!!! Actual champion! Shes from the Goldy unfortunately haha but we r similar in so many ways.. and i ended up travelling with her for the next 2months; the end of both of our trips! I ended up fallin in love with Barca strangely? Its such a cool city.. its so beautiful every single building is stunning i cant really explain it but its amazing.. and the night life is crazy! Me and brides got a job working on the bar crawl 4 nights a week until i quit and she got fired because we had a fight with our manager about living arrangments long story.. but even tho Barca is a little dangerous i love it.. when all of the bars close at night there are these little illegal bars with roller doors as doors.. all you do is knock on it and the owners slide an eye peeper thingo over and then let u in.. just like the movies haha.. I met some awesome people in Braca and had such a good time.. stayed for a month and then me and brides decided to head to the next destination.. We'd decided on florence.. good old game of rock paper scissors
We met some Kiwi guys the night before we left and they were doing the van tour thro europe and said theyd give us a life which worked out really well!
There were 5 of us sleeping in the van for nearly a week a little cramped haha but it was good fun.. oh and we had 2 shower in the beach showers so embarrassing lol
We drove thro the french Provonce.. French Riviera (So beautiful) and Monoco (the 2nd smallest country in Europe).. stopping at every beach we could find on the way.. It was all so rich iv never seen so many rich, beautiful boats in my life.. Then we stopped at Pisa, Italy for the night to see the leaning tower and umm all there is in Pisa is literally the leaning tower haha but we did camp for the night and listen to the guitar..
we were in 3 countries in 1 day so strange!
and finally we arrived in Florence! as soon as we got there me and brides looked at each other and said id tn wanna stay here haha we had all these big plans to start our own bar crawl.. but its kind of impossible in a city that doesnt have bars lol we probably should have done our research.. But florence was nice.. alot of history but thats about it and its not near the ocean so we left the next day!
Brides had already been to greece and spent time on a greek island called Ios and said we have to go there.. who was i to say no?? So that was our next destination
3 days later.. a night sleeping at the port.. 2 overnight ferries.. a train ride and a bus ride we finally got there.. we were only planning on staying for a week tops but i loved it as soon as we got there.. on our first day wed found a house to live in and both got jobs we dnt mess around haha..
Ios is the craziest place iv ever been.. but also the most relaxed.. So many things happened there that no1 will ever understand.. seeing people naked.. passed out.. peeing themselves.. not to mention a ton of other things jst became normal hahaha seriously it was so weird
Me and bridie moved into 'the cave' with some aussie boys. we called it cave bar and everynight we had randoms come in and drink with us it was so much fun!!! I quit my job 2 days later by the way.. i chose the mature decision to get drunk every night instead.. This is travelling everyone lol..
Theres too much to write if i were 2 mention everything that happened and it was all kind of a blur anyway everynight sort of mixed in with others.. and dreams.. it was hard make out what happened and what didnt?? During the days we spent it down the beach.. rock jumping and hanging out it was awesome!
Highlights of Ios were stealing an ATV with brides and nabs and riding it down a massive hill.. stealing aka borrowing a dingy with the boys using 2 sticks as oars and going for a morning paddle to c the sunrise dnt worry we put the boat right back where we got it.. 40 of us going to a secluded beach camping.. we had a massive bonfire.. fire twirling and the boys played the guitar all night and then we slept in hammocks which jst happened to be there.. weird.. and living in 'the cave' and the boys we lived with were the most fun in the whole entire world!! Me and brides were on Ios for a month and jst flew back to England where Iv spent a week with my family before heading home..
ITS BEEN AMAZING!!!
Its weird thinking im actually about to go to Australia.. well after 3 days catching planes because i was originally going to go to NY, LA and Auckland on my world ticket i still have to fly to all those places on my way there.. oh well
My reasons for going home early to follow summer (a year of summer im not ready for cold yet) and to see my little brother Josh who was bron after i left.. Im only planning on staying for a few months then heading off again.. South america is next in my agenda I promise il be more up to date next time!
Adios chico's and chica's xxxxxx