Lisbon, Portugal. Amazing.

Arrived in Lisbon, Portugal this morning. the city is amazing, its not too big, and all of the buildings are so gorgeous! They're all very old, some are covered in street art and it seems that everywhere you look there is a statue or a fountain.
Its kind of weird for me as i don't know how to talk to the Portuguese, the majority of people in the city know english, but i want to try and talk to them in their native tongue.
I know a small amount of Spanish, which is very similar to Portuguese, but i don't want to make any mistakes, i think i will spend tomorrow with my dictionary and practice some phrases. Of course, ordering beer came naturally to me, but asking directions and what not will take some practice.
Tomorrow is my final day alone before Ole' arrives from Hamburg. Perhaps i will wander around and work out some stuff for us to do. Word is there is a really nice beach just up the coast on the opposite side of the River Tagus which is only 100 meters from the front door of the hostel.
The People Hostel, in which we are staying is really quite nice. It is very clean and the staff are very friendly. I've only been here for a couple of hours and i already feel comfortable to ask them information about the city.
The Hostel is right in the heart of Belem, which is one of the only areas of the city that wasn't destroyed by the earthquake that levelled the rest of the city in the 1700's. some of the original structures remain.
Only 20m down the road from where i am staying we have Jeronimos Monastery, which is a very impressive structure and will prove a very handy landmark to help me find my way back to the Hostel every night.
Looking forward to a big day of exploring tomorrow!
Missing the folks back home!

Balls-up

Today was a bit of a balls-up, i don't know how i did it, but i managed to get a couple of dates mixed up.
I have spent the whole of the last fortnight thinking i was flying out the day after the Manchester United and Arsenal football match, only to find out, 5:00am that the flight wasn't until the following day!
Just glad i didn't end up going to the airport and working it out. All this means though is i get one more day in sunny Manchester.... and when i say sunny, what i really mean is cold, wet and windy.
The last few days of summer over here have been wet and miserable, with a few patches if sun.
Today will be spent in front of the TV, probably hunting down a replay of this weekends football fixture, hope to find yesterday's match.
Back onto the main topic, I'm usually really well organised, just a little slip up today, but it hasn't cost me anything, Sam's family are putting me up for another night and will take me to the airport tomorrow. It definitely could be worse, the flight could have been yesterday and i would have completely missed it.

Man United 8 - 2 Arsenal

Yesterday was probably the highlight of my entire trip so far.
Went to the Manchester United vs Arsenal match at Old Trafford and seen one of the best games of football for a very long time!. Manchester kicked their first after around about twenty minutes and after that the flood gates opened. I expected to see Manchester to win, but but one or two goal. I certainly was not expecting a blow out.
We arrived at the stadium to find out Manchester City, big rivals of United had won by 4 goals, which put them on top of the table, much to the delight of the Reds' fans, Manchester were able to put Arsenal away by 6 goals with an "Anything you can do, we can do better" kind of attitude.

Arsenal hasn't had 8 scored against them in the EPL since 1896, and i was there at Old Trafford to see it happen again. And to be honest, will probably be a long time til it happens again.

The atmosphere was absolutely incredible, the chanted and cheering carried on for an hour and a half. Every goal that United kicked the entire stadium erupted in elation, singing songs about the player which could be heard over the applause. Every goal the was kicked by Arsenal, the crowd falls to silence after a harmonious sigh.

If there is one thing you need to do when you go to the UK, it would certainly be to go and see a top-flight soccer match, tickets weren't horribly expensive. I was so lucky to have been able to see a match where there were 10 goals scored, that rarely happens, and even muckier that six of those goals were scored down the end in which Sam and I were sitting.

I hope that next time i go to a match, i will be so lucky as to see such a thrilling game.

Football Weekends

One of the greatest things about living in the United Kingdom is being treated to an absolute feast of football every weekend.
Everyone over here seems to be very passionate about football, my plans for Saturdays and Sundays are quickly becoming dictate by what football match is on the television.
Today for example, i will take a seat on the couch with Sam and watch about 5 hour of football, head down to the pub, talk more about the football, got to sleep, wake up, watch a match, read the newspaper about the football, jump into the car and go to the Manchester United and Arsenal match.
That is going to be absolutely amazing, and a great way to end my time in Manchester, as early the following morning i will be boarding my plane to Lisbon, Portugal.
I will be there for six days and meeting my friend Ole' from Hamburg, Germany and spending the following 3-4 weeks travelling across Europe, and winding up at Oktoberfest in Munich.
The last few weeks i have been able to work out a few hostels and the most part of my flights and train tickets across the continent. should be excellent.

Blackburn & Bolton

After a few days of relaxing and wasting some days at home, we decided to plan a day trip up to Bolton Abbey, 50-60 miles up the motor way.
Sam and I left in the morning, picked up our friend Adam from Blackburn and travelled up to Bolton. The Abbey is a large old church, built in 1100's and was partly destroyed in the 1500's by King Henry VIII during the dissolution of the Monasteries.
It is a very impressive structure, made more so by the surrounding graveyard, river and rolling hills. There are many hikes which can be undertaken by the visitors, we chose a rather easy one, which took us up to the top of one of the hills which looks over the Abbey and the river, the view was amazing! I was surprised to see so many people visiting the site.

Once we'd finished our walk, we mucked around skimming stones on the river. It is really good to have been able to spend some time out in the sun, the past couple of days have been absolutely gorgeous.
Sure enough, as soon as we returned to the car, it started raining. Originally we'd planned to go to Clitheroe to see the castle and tower there, but the weather was a deterrent and opted for a couple beers instead.
We went back via Adam's house to pick up a couple of things and headed to Ewood Park, which is the home pitch to the Blackburn Rovers, an English Premier League side. They were playing a Carling Cup match against Sheffield Wednesday, a team from one of the lower divisions.
At the kick off, it was obvious that Blackburn were going to win, but for them to kick three goals to none in the first 7 minutes of the match, i thought we were going to see a rout, instead, in typical Blackburn fashion, they went on to kick none of the rest of the match, and even let Sheffield sneak one in after half time.
It was very cool, i quite enjoyed the night and the atmosphere. I can not wait until Sunday's match Manchester United vs Arsenal. It is going to be one of the highlights of my entire trip.

Missing home

After the excitement of the Old Trafford tour yesterday, last night was spent settled in at Sam's house with his family. We had a great meal together, all sharing the table, which made me think a little bit about dinner time at home. There are just a few things that i miss from home, number one of course being friends and family..... number two would definitely be my mothers spaghetti bolognese and number three by far is probably the A.F.L.
Another thing i am starting to miss, surprisingly is working and having a little bit of a routine. I honestly can't wait to begine working in the U.K., not only will it be great to be able to earn a little bit of money, but it will be awesome to be able to get into the rhythm of life again and regain some normality after what has already been almost 2 months of unemployment and travel.
I am planning on living in Maidstone, Kent, where i spent the most part of my first three weeks in England. Good news is after applying for work at two of the busy bars there, i was able to organise two job interviews for later next month once my travels have come to an end through europe!
This is a little bit of a relief, i certainly will not find any troubles getting work in Maidstone, or anywhere in England for that matter.
The picture attached to this blog is one I took yesterday of the Manchester Eye, which is a large ferris wheel in the city centre, i will quote sam here, on the description of the attraction: "Like the London Eye, but Shit."
Today i went into Manchester, wandered in circles around the city, looked at a few notable landmarks and statues, found some bars and watched cricket and football with my friend Julia from Adelaide, who has been travelling Europe for a few months, and my mate Mike from Hollingbourne, who i'd only met a couple weeks prior.
Once the soccer match concluded, i met up with Sam in town to go to a night club, Tiger Tiger, which is apparently a very popular night spot on a Monday night. We arrived and there were maybe 20-30 people inside, but seemingly within 15 minutes, the place was absolutely packed, the music was absolutely pumping and the drinks were flowing.... that was until the fire alarm went of and forced all of about 500 people outside onto the footpath until the firemen arrived.
We went back in once the place was sorted out, hung around for a short while and then went home.
So thats it from me, definitely time for bed. See You

Tour of Old Trafford

Had an absolute cracker of a day today today, visited Old Trafford, the home ground of Manchester United. The stadium is absolutely amazing. Id say it would be really intimidating for any team to play there as of the total capacity of 70,000 or so, just over 3,000 tickets are sold to away fans.
The tour makes it way into the Director's Chairs in the main stand, around to the away supporters corner, out to the back of the staduim where they have a memorial set up to honour the players who were killed in an air crash in 1958. Half of their team and their coach were killed and remarkably, still found great success in the years that followed.
The museum at the stadium was great too, their trophy room was very impressive, they also had a separate room which was dedicated to their Treble which they attained in 1998/99. All three trophies as a centre piece stood very proudly surrounded by players shirts, commentators notes, photos and other memorabilia.
One of the coolest things was seeing the 2010/11 Premiership trophy.
After taking loads of photos, we went down to one of the sports bars in town grabbed a feed and watched the Manchester City game against Bolton, it was a very exciting game, i was hoping Bolton would somehow grab the draw, but time beat them in the end.
Seeing the stadium empty today was an incredible sight, i can't wait until next Sunday and i can see it at capacity during the Manchester United and Arsenal match, will be one of the highlights of my whole trip!

Manchester is an Eye-Opener

Arrived in Manchester and was greeted by Sam at the train station. Was great to see the guy, I’d grown quite close to him after sharing a house with him for some time in Glenelg, South Australia.
We drove from the station back to his house in Astley, 15-minute drive from the city centre.
Our first excursion was a trip to the supermarket to pick up some supplies; this included plenty of cans of tins of tuna, loads of canned baked beans, packet lasagnes’ and a crate of beer. I was set for my stay in Astely.
Driving through the towns surrounding Astley, I couldn’t help but notice how incredibly different it was from where I’d visited previously. It wouldn’t be until Sam took me on a night out in the towns. They were much different to Hollingbourne and Maidstone. The towns like Leigh, Tyldesley and Worsely seemed very much different class of people.
I may have seen two girls, for the entire night that I would consider attractive. The rest were absolutely awful. I was hoping the highlight of my night would be the Kebab at the end of it, but it turns out that even Leigh’s #1 kebab shop was terrible.
I asked Sam why he had taken me out on a night to these places, he just said the we were working our way up, and that there was no way that after going to the bars in Leigh, that I could possibly be disappointed going out for a night in Manchester. We were simply working our way up.
The next day, we awoke, watched football pretty much the entire day, which was great… even though Arsenal went down 2-0 to Liverpool. It’s awesome getting really into the sport, it’s truly a beautiful game.
In the afternoon we went to a pub called ‘The Cock’ which, of course I though was absolutely hilarious, we had a few beers, watched another football match and were talked into going into Manchester for a night out.
Before we knew it we were in Manchester. We visited in the Northern Quarter, a very trendy, upbeat place. We were drinking great beers, surrounded by great people, which was a massive contrast to the previous night spent in the dives in Tyldseley and Leigh.
Tomorrow, we have planned a trip to Old Trafford to do a tour of Manchester United’s home ground, that should be amazing and word has it that Monday’s match between Manchester United and Tottenham hasn’t sold out, so there is a chance I will be able to buy myself some tickets. That would be amazing !

On the way to Manchester

So here I am, sitting in the train on the way to Manchester. It’s really quite a shame my time in Hollingbourne was so short, I met a load of new friends there and was great to stay in one place for long enough to be able to get my bearings and be able to find my way around with ease.
I am seriously considering heading down there and finding a place to live when I have finished my travels, either in Hollingbourne, Bearsted or in Maidstone. They’re beautiful towns, and for the most part, the people are quite nice. I don’t mind living that far out of town, thanks to the overground railway system, travelling from down there to anywhere in the U.K. is very easy.

I’m also proud of myself, I can say that I have finally mastered the London underground. Took a little bit of time, and after a couple of mistakes, I can work my way around it pretty well.
One of these errors was when I reached my station to change to another line, I jumped off my train, walked to what I thought was the next train I needed to catch. Jumped on it and turned out to be the exact same one that I’d just jumped off.
Lucky enough to go and see the Inbetweeners movie one the day it was released in the U.K., it was fantastic, lived up to every expectation. Shame that I don’t think that it comes out back home until mid October.
As a send off, Shaun, myself and a few others all went to an absolute ripper of a foam party at one of the night clubs in Maidstone, this time, rather than the foam being around my ankles, the cannon pumped pretty much all night and the entire dance floor were literally up to their eyeballs in foam. Safe to say, I no longer have shoes, no longer have the shirt I was wearing, broke my watch and my phone is totally buggered after it spent the night in the foam pit. Worth it.
This morning, woke up, said my goodbyes to Shaun, thanked him for having me stay with him for the past three weeks, thanked the club president for having me stay in the club rooms at the Hollingbourne Cricket Club, and set off once again.

Starting to Organise Europe

Had a night out in London with Tom, Michelle and Ash on Sunday, it was great! Went to a few pubs during the day to watch the soccer and then to a funky bar in Camden for cocktails. The bars have almost been the highlight of my trip so far, they’re all so cool, the décor and fact most of them are 100’s of years old really amazes me.
Another great thing about this past weekend was the opening round of the English Premier League. Was really great, the last couple weeks, and the next few months, the newspapers here will be plastered with football articles, ahh I love it.
I’m getting very excited to head up to Manchester on Friday. I have booked my train ticket up there, and I am lucky enough to have a friend who lives up there that will show me around and give me a place to stay for a while.
What I am looking forward to the most is going to the Manchester United football match again Arsenal on the 29th of September.
I am a bit of an Arsenal fan, and I have been told that the tickets will be in the Manchester United supporter’s block, so I have to be careful what I say. But I am more so there for the atmosphere then to worry too much about who wins the game. I think that it will be mind-blowing.
Other than that, there isn’t too much else planned for Manchester other then a couple pub crawls, that will be fun. The lads who I will be staying with are always good for a laugh on a night out.
Also this week I have booked my flight (30th of September) from Manchester down to Lisbon, Portugal and only this morning I was able to organise my accommodation. Staying in a hostel in the middle of the city. Looking forward to meeting up with Ole’. Going to be great!
Happy that I am starting to put a few plans together.

Catching up!

Sad to say that I only have a couple more days left in Hollingbourne. I have made a few new mates here who are great. Hollingbourne is a very beautiful part of the world, and to those ‘travellers’ who visit the U.K. and only see London, they’re really missing out on how special the country and how amazing the people who live here are.
The coming Friday, I will be catching a train up to Manchester to see Sam, my house mate from earlier this year in Glenelg, South Australia.
I am very much looking forward to seeing him, It is his birthday weekend, so it will be great to catch up with him over a few cheeky beers.
Today I am heading into London to see my good friends Tom, Michelle and Ash from Adelaide. They have been travelling Europe for a couple of months now so catching up with them will be great! I look very much forward to hearing their stories of their travels.
Had my first minor case of homesickness the other day, I’m starting to miss my mates back home, and of course my family. Strangely enough, I am missing working too, I am looking forward to a little bit of normality and a routine when I get back to the U.K after next months travels around Europe.
No ideas yet of what kind of work I will be looking at getting myself into, I love bar work, but the word is over here, the pay is as good as working at McDonalds
In a years time when the Olympics come to town, I would like to find some work there. It will be a very exciting time for the city; I also hope to have the time to attend some of the events.
Anyways, sorry to cut this one so short, but my train is about to pull up in London.

Future Plans

Last few days have been pretty standard, making some solid plans for my travels through Europe. Im visiting Lisbon, Portugal, Madrid & Barcelona, Spain, Nice & France in Paris, Munich & Hamburg in Germany and Krakow in Poland.
Will be a solid two months on the road. Looking very much forward to it, particularly a few day spent at Oktoberfest in Munich, which will be absolutely amazing!
The bloke im doing the whole trip with is a friend of mine named Ole. I met him just over a year ago while i was working at the Jetty Bar, he is from Hamburg, and we was travelling in a van across Australia with a friend. We became really good friends and i am looking very much forward to catching up with him again in a few weeks. I'm leaving him in charge of finding accommodation for Oktoberfest, its pretty late and a lot of the places are booked out, but we will see how we go!
Another highlight of the trip will be visiting Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Oświęcim, a town a few hours drive from Krakow. Being of Polish and German descent and being very interested in modern history, this will be something that will interest me greatly.

Another thing i am looking at doing with this trip is packing as lightly as i can, through asia, i found myself lugging a load of things that i was never going to use. I am hoping to be able to fit everything into my smaller backpack and carry that around with me. This will mean of course, i will be making frequent trips to the laundromat, but i will save big on not having check baggage when i go to the airport. Going to be interesting to see how i function only being able to carry what i can squeeze in my bag. Be a challenge.
I'd better update you guys on the riots, they've settled down around where i am in Hollingbourne, the towns either side of mine both had some trouble, maidstone had mobs roaming the streets, but i didn't hear of any damage. As for Chatham, they had a few arrests and a couple cars set alight.
Its all slowed down now, Which is great, police have threatened to cancel the first round of the English Premier League. No one wants that.

Me & The Riot

After watching three days of news reports about the London Riots, which have spread out across half of the country, I counted myself as well of harms way down in quiet old Hollingbourne, just out of Maidstone.
I ate my words when I went into Maidstone late yesterday afternoon to have lunch and pick up some groceries. Word spread quickly about the pub that there was a large mob congregating about a half a mile down the street, so I scoffed how my food and polished of my pint, and walked to the grocer, 50 yards down the road from the Pub.
The streets were full of youths, all around my age, some much younger just wandering about. Police were trying to disperse everyone and send them all home, but it was to no avail. One lad had been assaulted and was in the hands of a police officer.
I quickly gathered my groceries and spoke to the shop attendant who said the shop was going to be closing early. It seemed most of the businesses were looking at closing early, I am very doubtful that any of the pubs would have been open in Maidstone last night.
Once I’d done my shop, I walked to the train station, keeping my eyes to the floor, as I had valuables on me (laptop, phone & wallet). I had seen on the news that people had not only been attacking shops and homes, but they had been readily attacking people too.
Without a fuss, I got to the train station, boarded the train and felt that within moments, Maidstone was going to erupt, just as I’d seen happen to countless other towns and cities on the news. That it was going to be the next Clapham Junction or Croydon (pictured).
There really is no need for this senseless destruction, its just so pointless. I can totally understand a riot fuelled by emotion, for example a riot over a pay dispute or poor working conditions.
But this is just meaningless. They don’t have a reason to be rioting.
What I have been quick to notice is that the people of the city have tried to blame Police and public servants, saying that because they did not act fast enough. They’re trying to blame the police because they have lost a home or a business, but its just not fair to blame the police.
The only people at fault here are the people who are committing the crimes. These people should be held very much responsible for their actions and I don’t think it should be entirely up to the insurance companies to foot the bill for this.
I think it should be those kids have who have gone out over the last few night and smashed windows, set fire to buildings, assaulted people, looted and robbed shops above all else, attacked police officers.
There is once case where two people have been charged with attempted murder for trying to run a police officer over with a car.
Latest news is that 111 police officers and 7 police dogs have been injured during the riots since Saturday and on Monday night a man in Croydon was shot and died due to the subsequent injuries sustained in the shooting.
I believe that with 16,000 police on the streets of London tonight, and every night until the unrest settles, will make certain that these dishonest, careless criminals will be brought to justice.

RIOT!

I've had a brilliant last couple of days, managed to keep myself occupied since Saturday night without spending a single penny. Its been great relaxing around the house and feeling good about not spending any cash.
Yesterday was very cool, we visited Shaun's work place, Leeds Castle, which is a monstrous castle which was called home for a millennium by royals, particularly notable King Henry VIII, who used to use it as a bit of a shag pad centuries ago, which i found to be quite interesting.
It now runs as a huge tourist spot which would see thousands of people a day visit and take tours of the castle and its grounds. In which there is an Aviary, which is home to some very impressive birds, such as Toucans and Macaws. A funky hedge maze, a grotto and an adventure playground for the children.
In the grounds surrounding the castle is a public golf course, which would be particularly cool to play on, thanks to the fact one of the holes green runs right next to the castle's moat.

If you've seen the news, you will know that London, and a fair bit of the United Kingdom is experiencing riots, It all started in Tottenham, where a guy was shot in his car by the police, a peaceful protest there ended up with the torching of a Post Office and a small riot. Now the youths of several of the Suburbs of London and a few other cities around the UK, Leeds, Bristol and Birmingham, are all experiencing copy cat riots, loads of buildings have been burned down senselessly, cars torched, police attacked.
I will touch back on the fact that this is pure and senseless violence and criminality, it is a waste of public services and in a country which is to host the Olympics in less then a year, is not the image which they want to purvey to the rest of the world.
Its crazy that anyone would tear up their own neighbourhood, for no real reason.
I'm very lucky to be living out of London for the minute, in a quiet little village, no chance of riots coming down here. So I'm safe, however, i have a few friends in London and in Birmingham who im hoping are keeping themselves out of harms way.

Thinking Forward

Last few days have been pretty uneventful, operated the scoreboard during a cricket match on Saturday afternoon, all the while sinking a few Fosters, which isn't as awful as everyone says it is. Had a bit of a nap, then went out in Maidstone again for dinner and a bit of clubbing.
A night out in Maidstone is fairly good, the girls are gorgeous, the drinks are cheap and the kebabs are delicious. Most nights of the week, there is something to do in there, whether your looking to go clubbing, or just have a few quiet beers in a pub somewhere.
What i really am enjoying is all the different beers, i think i have had at least 10 different Ales and Lagers in the last week, its been really good to try something that isn't a VB or a Carlton Draught, but believe me, if i see a Carlton Draught in a pub anywhere in the country, i will settle in and drink them dry of it. (Walk-a-Bout Aussie Pubs have VB stubbies)
Until then, i am happy trying everything else.
One of the best things about arriving in the UK when i did, is the fact the at opening match of the English Premier League season is only a couple days from now, i have already been able to secure Manchester United vs Tottenham tickets on the 22nd of August. That will be absolutely incredible.

What i am looking at now is where i am planning on living, once i get back from my travels around Europe throughout September. I want to find a place, out of London along one of the train lines, so that it is easy to get in and out of the city, but far away enough that it wont cost me an arm and a leg for rent.
I will find something, but for now, its pretty good at the moment just going with the flow of things and not having to worry about the 'plan' for the minute. It's great being able to wake up in a morning and being able to decide what you want to do without having to worry about much else.

Foam Party and a Day in London

Had one of the best nights out I have ever had last night in Maidstone, the town about 10km down the road. Went to a nightclub called Liquid. All we knew about it was that there were one quid vodkas and very cheap Jagerbombs. What we didn’t know was that we were walking into a monster of a foam party.
There was a huge foam cannon over the dance floor, a hot tub set up, showers and a dunk pool. If we’d known, we’d have definitely worn our swimmers. That didn’t stop us from having an absolute ball on the dance floor.
Speaking about having an absolute ball, next Thursday night Liquid Night Club are setting up a giant ball pit on the dance floor and giving away free candyfloss… which will go down very well with a 20 or so vodkas.
Made our way home in the early hours of the morning had a couple of hours of sleep and we jumped onto a train into London. Made a beeline straight towards the nearest Walk About Aussie Bar to watch the Australian Rules Live.
Was good to see a game, I haven’t had the chance to watch one live since I was in Koh Samui, 3 weeks ago, so it was great. It was a good game too Fremantle and St. Kilda are fighting for a spot in the eight, so it was always going to be a tight one.
We walked along the Thames, past the London Eye, Westminster Abbey and The Big Ben. We even visited M and M’s world… literally 3 storeys of M and M’s merchandise and confectionery. Absolutely insane!
We had a couple beers and some food, jumped the train and went home. We were absolutely exhausted; we must have covered about 10kms on foot today looking at parks and attractions. Was great, quiet Friday night in.

Sightseeing in London

Today, we woke up a little sluggish, Shaun cooked up some breakfast and Rach and I decided to head into town, I was meeting a friend in there, Katherine who is an English girl who’d come and stayed with me in Adelaide.
The train into London was a nightmare, on a good day, it should take around about an hour or so to get from Hollingbourne to Victoria Station in London.
Today, it took two hours, there was a signal fault on the line, so the train had to stop for 20 minutes, then it had to reverse back up the track to change lines. Then to top it off, at the next station, the automatic doors refused to open, which caused another delay. When we finally arrived, met with Katherine, had a beer, Rachael departed and Katherine was my tour guide for the day. She took me past Buckingham Palace, the Parliament building, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, through Green Park, Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus and plenty of other places.
We visited Winston Churchill’s underground bomb shelter and quarters which he and a load of Government officials and top military brass would meet and discuss war plans during World War II.
I got a bit of a thrill going onto the tube, it was out of this world. Millions of commuters use it every day and we were on it very close to peak hour. It is an absolute maze, and thank goodness that Katherine was there to guide me through the underground.
After a big day of sightseeing, jumped back on the train to Hollingbourne and met some of the boys that Shaun plays cricket with back at the club.
We kicked the Footy with them, some of them are quite good with the oval ball, the kick to kick broke out into a touch rugby match, was good to have a run around, I haven’t played too much sport for quite a while it was good to have a good run around with the lads.
Looking forward to uploading a couple photos that I took today.

Finding My Feet

On my first full day on my own in United Kingdom, I had a few little errands to run. I needed to organise myself an English phone number and look into opening a bank account. Hollingbourne, the village I am staying in is only very small, according to Wikipedia, has a population of just over 800. There aren’t any mobile phone stores, so I jumped onto the train and travelled to Maidstone, which is a large town two stops just down the railway.
I knew my way around the main streets there thanks to having dinner and a few beens there the previous evening. Finding a sim card was fairly easy, most of the carriers in the UK will offer free SMS for a month for around about £10. All of the phone carriers have very good coverage across the country.
After this, I found myself some lunch at the local Wetherspoon, £4.99 for a good steak and monster beer. I’d organised to meet a friend from work, Rachael in the town in the afternoon, so I didn’t have a chance to visit the bank.
Was awesome to see Rachael, she’d been around the UK and France for just over a month now and was great to talk with her about each of our trips. Went back to the Hollingbourne Cricket Club in which I am calling home for a couple weeks and waited for Shaun to get home from work.
Once night fell, we headed back to Maidstone for a dinner and a night out, the second I jumped off the train, I realised I hadn’t brought any Identification nor did I bring enough money with me, I’d been so used to going out in Thailand and not having to even carry a wallet on me, just a couple hundred baht.
Totally different here, a few places have I.D. scanners and are quite strict on having correct identification, we skipped out on going to the Liquid Night Club, and just went to a couple of the local pubs, they were pretty cool, Shaun, Rach and I had a load of pints and a few shots and we caught a taxi home.

London & Hollingbourne

The flight went off without a hitch, managed to sleep through the first 7 hours, which is handy. Landed in London at around 4:00pm local time. Stansted Airport, which is their low-cost carrier terminal is quite an impressive building and had very efficient means of getting everyone through customs without having to wait for too long.
Caught the bus into the city, drove past some places which i recognise, great example was when the bus passed Lord's, which is the home of cricket. i was very very excited!
When we arrived at Victoria Station, it was close to peak hour, and the place was packed. There is at least 12 lines that depart from there so it was a bit of a task to find out which on i needed to be on, but before long, i'd sniffed out a ticket and was on the line to Ashford International, via Hollingbourne, the village i will call home for the next fortnight.
Shaun, a friend of mine from school was waiting for me at the station when i got off. the scenery along the path we followed was amazing, everything is green, we walked past a big old church and through a cemetery, and the path cut straight through a wheat field. Along the way, funnily enough a cute little critter ran onto the path and danced around Shaun's legs, it was a Ferret. Think it harmless, he let it play around, then it bit him...... Safe to say Shaun kicked the thing over the road.

We arrived at Hollingbourne Cricket Club(pictured), my new home, it is a beautifully manicured patch of turf in the middle of a field. The clubrooms have a dart board, pool table, fully equipped bathrooms and kitchen, Im pretty much set.
Today, i am going to head into the town of Maidstone, which is just two stops down on the train to purchase myself and new phone number and some supplies to keep me going.
So i shall bid farewell, until tomorrow.