TravelStream™ news feed for member james24 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/james24 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:53:59 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/james24/jamestrip/1175082720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/james24/jamestrip/1175082720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/james24/jamestrip/1175082720/tpod.html Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:53:59 -0400 The Wrong Way Round !

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Barcelona, Spain

Weekend fun and frolics in Barca!
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Manchester, United Kingdom

people, found this video. made me smile! check it out.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4&mode=related&search=
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Amsterdam, Netherlands

Weekend in The Dam
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Riga, Latvia

weekend in riga
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Manchester, United Kingdom

I can't beleive it has been 8 months since i got back to normality, and i can still confidently say.. it bites!!
Ofcourse being closer to family and friends is great, but now i am tied up in a job that takes up a hell of a lot of my time and i keep thinking about all the great times i had when i was away. So i still plan another trip, when, where, who knows.

I thought i'd add a quick note, one because i can't sleep (dam insomnia) and two cos i haven't for a while, and for some wierd reason i think people might like to know what i'm upto!(one can hope)....

So, i now work for a large mobile telecoms company, the hours are long, well is say long they are irregular. i work from home (ps in sales) and make my own appointments, so when i have appointments i have a little drive to somewhere in the North West of England and hopefully sign a deal to earn some money, the time comes in when at night and at weekends i am doing proposals and presentations for the week ahead etc. also my boss is workaholic so thinks everyone else should be the same.
But, the rewards are there, it is a pretty well paid job, this is one of the reasons im still kicking about Manchester, if came home to a job with less pay and prospects. i think i would have already been on a flight out again! But i'm going to stick it for the short foreseable future. mabye a year or two, earn some money, invest some, then enjoy some! and most probably start the whole process all over again.

I am currently renting a house with my best mate Rick, which is pretty sweet, its a 4-bed semi and with just two of us, there is plenty of room for guests and partys! (drop me a line if anyones in town!) we had a firework display the other week for november 5th, (bonfire night) it was a good spread. we spent about £120 (i think) on fireworks!!!! but well worth it, ours were the best by far, not only in the streets around but in the whole sky! they were awsome....

My gym routine is thankfully getting back on track, although i'm finding it tougher than i thought it would be to get back into prestine shape before i left last october!!!(yeah right) it came in handy sunday with one almighty hangover, which i spent in the saunas and jacuzzi's recovering from one hell of a session in Blackpool.

Jade has seaked revenge on me! She has decided to go on a trip herself, currently in Vietnam, with plans of ending up in south america. i should of joined her, but back to the job thing, it was to much of a good thing to throw away. so i sit waiting as she did for me!!

My mate Thom and I, (who i met in Coogee) plan a jaunt over to thailand/vietnam for christmas and new year hopefully, although not booked were both keen to get over there, hopefully to meet Jade and also to kick back for a couple of weeks.

Well, now i am tired, so gonna put my head down now, i hopefully will get some pics of whats going on in my life at the moment on soon, so stay posted! lol

Laters....
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Manchester, United Kingdom

Hola.....

Well, i thought i wouldn't put another update on, but i've just read Bens entry and how he is going to have his toe amputated and thought i'd put another entry about me after 2 months of being back from my trip.....

I have a job !!, i start for O2 ( mobile network provider ), selling business contracts to companies, so back on the road, in a better car than last time i hope!

It's been a very busy 2 months, visiting all my friends and family, and partying just as hard as i have when i was away. (which will have to stop with he job.. DAMMIT )
Job hunting is officially the shittiest thing in the world. what a nightmare, i have been on about 10 interviews with various random companies, (Carlsberg being one but didn't get that unfortunately !!, maybe a good thing) calls to and from random employment agencies, not pleasent, i feel the pain of every person out of work looking.I've been lucky i guess.

Onto other more pressing matters, and how England has had a huge outbreak of fever, people with red and white faces everywhere, Yes, the WorldCup has arrived. MINT
Its great, flags everywhere amazing amounts of footy on TV, which if you know me well if my greatest love!FOOTBALL and more FOOTBALL. We'll see if we get to the final, fingers crossed.

I keep getting emails form all you travellers, and i must complain, its not fair i am back here and you b@@@@@@s are still out and about in these most amazing places, without a care in the world. What a life, what a journey, i cannot wait for my next journey, i have no idea when or where, how or why, but i know it will happen again. So i say enjoy it people, it doesn't last forever, real life is unfortunately an inevertability. Cash baby Cash, i spent about 8grand(uk) on my trip. but i didn't do a days work, and did everything i wanted to, i figured, hell do it it might never happen again. and i sure dont regret coming home skint ! 2 grand in debt nearly. but it can be paid off. ... over time !

Well, to end, it is great to be home with my friends and family, but crap to be away from the paradises of the world.

Untill next time

James
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Manchester, United Kingdom

I'm HOME !!!
It's been two weeks now, and i can say that not a lot has changed in the 7 months i was away. It's taken me this long to write the final update because of looking for work (which i still haven't found), but things look good, i have a few companies interested in me, Carlsberg being one of them !!!.
Also, i have been thinking about what to write for my last entry on the trip of a lifetime, and i still have no clue, so i figured i would just start writing and see where it takes me. So i'm sorry if i go on, i have no direction for this entry. Here goes!

October 11th 2005. I leave Manchester, Say goodbye to Jade, My Parents,Brothers and Mates. And head out with just a big daft bag full of clothes which will get wrecked in crap hostel washing machines, put through the paces with the varying weather conditions i encounter, and all the alcohol i spill on them !! hehe. Oh, and a skipping rope, which i used........ NEVER !. came in handy sometimes for a washing line though, needs must..
My travels through Thailand were insane, a world i never imagined existed, people, houses and ways of life which are so far from what i was used to in England. I think this has to be my favorite Country that i visited. I cannot wait for my next adventure there, and thats what it is, and adventure. Trying to learn the language, i actually impressed myself with that, i could manage limited conversations before i left. Trying new things like scuba diving, rock climbing, cliff jumping, climbing into lagoons, meeting the locals and, probably my favorite part, eating their food. imagine a homer dribble when he thinks about and kind of delicious meat! hhuuhhhuh

Malaysia wasn't so pleasant, but very eye opening, seeing all the poverty here was quite upsetting at times. Staying in a hallway of the hostel in Penang where people were freely walking by my bed was a weird experience ! the life of backpacking i presumed and later found to be true all over the world. Eating curry with my right hand with local Indians living on the island, whilst rats and cockroaches tickle my toes running across my feet, now thats a memory !!! Seeing people on the street in Kuala Lumpur with leprassy, sitting begging... Dyeing. My Digital Camera being stolen from me. grrrr

Singapore was a short lived experience, meeting Linus again who i met in Thailand and who i did my PADI with,was great, a real cool guy, and going out for beers in raffles (the famous Singapore sling place), and going for food at the night hawker centre, trying different food from different stalls. great memory.

And my Road trip through Australia. I struggle to find words to use when i am asked what was it like. Awesome seems to be my word of choice, but i think thats the surf hair i currently have taking over my brain ! It was INSANE, 10,000km, thats 6000 miles (ish) around half of OZ, in 2 and a half months. I have some lifelong friends from the trip, i have loads, and loads of personal memories, most of which come to me at the strangest of times, i think this could be another great part of the trip, now i am home, thinking about it all, and remembering the highs and lows, the beautiful places i visited,the countless desert i drove through! and so on . so I'll thank some dudes and chicks i met in OZ, Ben,Flipflop,Scouse,Kiwi,Romeo,Kristy,Seamus,Arnaud,Lukas,Sandra,David,Astrid & Lisa,Heike & Lisa,Steve,Kev,Thom. All great people, some i have since met up with again. you all helped to make my trip great and i have some sweet memories, and some bad hangovers, thanks ! if your ever in Manchester, Drop me a line.

New Zealand, the Kiwi experience ! i visited some interested places, some smelly places and met some cool people again, the world is full of them, i had a blast on the bus, got with a mint bunch of people and stuck with them, so Becky,Janine,Erin and Erin the crazy canucks,Chris(up the boro),Paul,Conor, keep smiling guys. Keep in touch.

Los Angeles, 1 night with Hans, ( never drink with a german ) , and the next day was a write off!, cheers mate ! LA is full of weirdos, every single person, invidually freakish. Its a crazy place. dont know whether i'll go again ! but ive been, so its off the list i guess !

And Canada, what can i say, Mikey, awesome mate, thanks for letting me mess up your apartment,thanks for the memories, sorry i failed at stopping you smoking, you need to work on that ! i'm still the king on the xbox.. Robbie and Des, thank you for the invite to the wedding, it was great to spend time with you guys, Montreal was a blast, i'm really glad you came along. Richy and Sue, the best parents in the world,with the cutest kids in the world, i now have an understanding of how tough parenting is, even if i did only take care of katelyn for 1 day, it was eye opening!!!, it was great to spend time with you, cant wait until next time. Jackie and Fred, thanks for the trip to Windsor and for spending time with me showing me the new farm and seeing the cottage again, and the sports show ! the pics look great, what a moose! All in all i had a memorable time, seeing the whole family for the wedding and ski week was great, and spending such a length of time in Canada with The Canucks, mint. And seeing David again, Frenchy! it was good to see you again, cant wait to meet up again, mikey has your shirt!he'll get it to you!

My trip has given different outlooks on life, and inspiration to learn, and a burning ambition to travel again ! I have met some great friends along the way, some i will stay in touch with, and look forward to meeting again. I will now forever keep my eyes wide open to take life to it's fullest. It has given added confidence, a feeling of self achievement, initiative and greater independence. People i've met, Places i've been, Things i've seen have made this adventure something which will live with me forever, and when i get round to having kids, something i can pass onto them.

And finally, thankyou for reading my travelogues, i know it must have been tough with my crap spelling, thats because mainly i'm crap at spelling and the fact that in internet cafes its dam expensive and the spell checker takes forever !!! (probably because there were so many mistakes!)

so for the last time on this travelouge,

Seeya Later !
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Manchester, United Kingdom

So this is my last entry, for this trip at least.
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Margeret River, Australia

ROAD TRIP NOVEMBER 12-15 2005

as the above says, ive been driving around south west OZ for the last few days.
it started Friday night i guess whilst having a few beers with some guys in the Billabong Hostel in Perth, i knew that Satudray morning i was heading somewhere outside of Perth, but i was planning freemanetle. A couple of Crates later it was decided that six of the guys at the table were going on a road trip.
So we got up early Saturday morning, got a taxi into town and jumped on a coach heading for Margeret River, 4/5 hours south. So weve got Ben,Nick,Adam,Eddie all English,and Dean a Kiwi, or nicknames we ended up with ( Cockney,Cockney,Scouse,Romeo, and Kiwi ! and me i got Norman !! ) My own fault, i was being called Northern, but i didnt hear right and asked why the hell are you calling me Norman ? and then it stook.
So back to the Coach, we had a ball, all the way taking the piss out of each other, and all the rest of the banter u get with 6 blokes. ( and we hadnt touched the beer ).
We arrived in M.R. around 1pm, and walked straight into the first bar we saw. And the night started from then. Several Jugs and a bit of grub later me found a hostel, booked in. Volley ball was first on the adgenda, then some pool diving, some more beers, and then back into town to the same bar where a local band was playing. Pretty good band actually. Romeo kopped hence the name. And the rest of us were invited to an after party with some locals, so we headed there. We got back to the hostel after wandering around, lost for at least an hour at 5 am i think. Sunday was more for the hangover then anything we were all pretty rough. Kiwi and Scouse went back to Perth, the rest of us hired a car Monday morning and headed off to clime some 60+ metre trees. I got some good pictures on my disposable camera. What a rush, climing up a tree with steaks stook in the side acting as a ladder going round the tree, 68metres was the summit of the bicentenial tree. Awsome . Then headed further south to do a tree to walk, pretty boring after the clime if im honest, only got to 40mtres.
For the evening we found a small village with only 2000 residents, and a pub.
the car was parked up in a car park ready for our sleep later as we hadnt booked any accomodation for the night. And the same happened this night, invited to an after party by the locals, so at 3 am this morning were all in this strangers house with his family drinking and playing pool in the garage. The sleep was rough, 4 guys in a little 4 seater 1.2ltr mazda 121, it was smelly in the morning, as u can guess!
Today after waking up in the car we went to find some beaches and found some pretty cool places. all remote locations, not visited much, the swimming was great, the waves were brutal, but fun. and got some more great pics ( i hope have to wait untill developed.)
and here i am now, after driving 665 km around southern Australia. Eddie and Myself sharing the driving, u cud say im a little knackered now.
so a quiet night, back in Margaret River. Going to get some meat in for the BBQ tonight, and maby treat myself to a bottle of Red Wine, mmm. Im getting sick of beer actually !.

Well, i hope everyone is on good health and WORKING hard. ( sorry ) going to jump in the pool now and cool off, all this typing has got me all hot and sweaty ! hehe

g-day, keep cruisin dude
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Montreal, Quebec, Canada

back in hostel life again after a month off staying with family in Toronto has been fun to get back into !
i kind of forgot what its like ! but yeah, its still the same, BUNK BEDS !

its been just two nights, ive met some aussies and weve been doing what they do best. party ! so today is not a good day at all. very bad infact !

So to montreal ..... its a fun place, my french not helping much as i dont know any . other than to ask for a drink or food. and even then they talk in english to me ! i think thats a sign that my french stinks ! ah well. bring on Quebec City. im in trouble

The weekend was great, Rob and Des came to Montreal, we drove up on Friday from Toronto, stayed in a place of a hotel, certainly not a hostel ! and had a great time.
i'm knackered though, starting to run out of energy, the past seven months of travel have taken it out of me .
no time left on the old e-cafe minutes , i'm off !
chat soon
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