TravelStream™ news feed for member jbs on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jbs en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:09:35 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1182541020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1182541020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1182541020/tpod.html Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:09:35 -0400 Tears, Beers & Weddings

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Prague, Czech Republic

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London, United Kingdom

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Ischgl, Austria

Hey Guys & Girls,Been a while since I written so thought I'd update you with a very exciting email.Things are still going well here in Austria. I have just moved into another apartment in the town of Galtur (up the road from Ischgl). The family that run it are super nice and speak some English so it makes things a lot easier. The father is also a mountain guide so hopefully if the weather is good next weekend he is going to take us for a hike to a glacier and some back country snowboarding which will be awesome. As some of you probably know I have finally resigned from the Public Service in Oz. I've decided to stay on in Austria until the start of April then return to London to try and earn some decent money. After living in a snow town for like 4 months I can confirm that I will without a doubt be doing another season somewhere at the end of this year a mortgage can wait another few years :0).Its been an interesting last couple of weeks though, filled with many injuries some a little worse than others. We all went rodelen (tobogganing) the other week and both Simon and I dislocated our shoulders. Simons is quite bad and needed some scans which cost him a small fortune. He has been advised to get an op but no urgency. Mines just the same pops out goes back a few days later all good I'll live. Rodelen was so much fun though, you do it at night under a flood lit 9km run and its insane you go about 70km/h and can barely steer. If you crash your likely to get run over by other party goers. They are the old school wooden sleds which you are meant to sit on and hold a rope. Of course being Aussies we went down lying head first, which could probably account for a few injuries. Think we are going againtonight if the weather clears up its currently snowing again :).The other injury to report is for our poor Swedish mate Eric who busted his back last week and had to be airlifted to a local hospital. All the boys decided it would be a top idea to build a massive jump up the side of a big wind drift. It got a little out of control and the jump was about 6 foot high by the time "we thought" we had finished. We were hitting the jump at full speed probably around 85km/h but it still wasn't enough height or speed to get on top of the wind drift. After 4 unsuccessful jumps by Nick, Simon and myself Eric our skiing mategave it a shot. He unfortunately landed very upright in a hole created by our impacts. He ended up compressing one side of a vertebrae and cracking the other side, not good. He has gone back to Sweden with a cast around his waist :0(. There area few photos up to document the event.Other than that things are going well. Still riding nearly everyday and having a ball I really dont want to leave. We have made quite a few friends and have a really good crew to hang out with (minus Eric of course). We have had some of the best days of the season lately and I finally got to take the plastic off my mountain board. Theres still quite a few storms predicted for the next few weeks so fingers crossed Im waist deep in the stuff for the next month :0).Well better run its washing day! Hope everyones doing well, send me some news and gossip to keep me entertained.JB
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1169485980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1169485980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1169485980/tpod.html Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:10:53 -0500 Tears, Beers & Weddings

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Ischgl, Austria

After many many months of hard work :0) and hermiting in London it was time to board yet another plane to an unknown land of bier, wurst, high socks, high shorts and suspenders.... oooo yeah and towering alps. To live in a snow covered village for a ski season has always been one of my life goals and I was finally staring out my bedroom window to frosty flakes settling on pitched roofs. To really put the icing on the cake though I was doing it with 4 of my best mates from home. So a month into my stay and I can seriously say I don't want to leave. The view from every angle is stunning and I could seriously spend a few years here taking photos. Of course though there is the disappointing fact that I chose to come to Austria in one of the hottest winters seen in Europe. There has still been plenty of snow to ride but it would have been nice to have dug my way out the front door a few times. I can now also officially say I have enjoyed a white Christmas. We didn't get any snow on the big day but I think I preferred the perfect warm blue sky day we did receive. The boys and I exchanged a few little pressies then headed up the mountain for a few hours of boarding in the sun. The warm weather soon initiated many cold beers in the sun at the Ice Bar on the mountain. Somehow we forgot to eat anything substantial during the day and we found ourselves in the early hours of Boxing Day stumbling up the ski run to our apartment still carrying our boards. Having missed xmas dinner there was no better time to get into some drunken ham eating. The perfect ending to a top day. New Years with the boys was a blast definitely one of the best NY's I've had. Usually they are very over hyped and a waste of perfect sleeping hours but this year was different. The night started with a few quiet beers and many noisy bottle rockets being shot from our top floor balcony. The rockets definitely had a homing device for the chalet across the road that's for sure check out the photos. The streets and bars of Ischgl were overflowing with drunken Germans, Italians, Austrians and a few wobbly Aussies. I drank more alcohol than I thought was physically possible and spent the remaining hours of the night speaking broken Deutsch to randoms. So still a little while left and hopefully some more snowfalls to spice things up. Another of my good friends arrives from London in a few days just in time for Australia day this Friday. We will hopefully be playing some snow cricket at 2000 meters but we may not make it past the many alluring bars on the way to the gondola. Stayed tuned for some photos. Well I better go lay down for a few hours as its been a very tough day. Got up at 9, rode the mountain for a few hours, came home for a warm lunch and some MTV and now chilling with some tunes and a cold beverage. It's a hard life that's for sure. JB
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1167337320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1167337320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1167337320/tpod.html Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:38:41 -0500 Tears, Beers & Weddings

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Ischgl, Austria

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London, United Kingdom

Well it was getting to that time of year again and I was soon on my way to Austria so we thought it would be a good idea to have an early Christmas with a few friends. We had a top afternoon with a few drinks and some very Aussie food to kill the homesick blues. Macca and Lucy even cranked up the heaters so we could strut around in boardies and thongs. Top work guys. After filling our bellies we had a quick rest before heading off to a house party in She Bu (Sheppards Bush). The night got a little out of hand and the last thing I remember was getting to my front door completely soaked close to hypothermic and my housemate was up having breakfast. It took me 3 days to recover and it wont be happening again in a long while.More later.JB
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1151620020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1151620020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jbs/search_4_jb/1151620020/tpod.html Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:09:52 -0500 Tears, Beers & Weddings

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Los Angeles, United States

Arriving in LA International airport was definitely a little strange. I had just emerged from the gate when I noticed that it was nearly the exact gate I had left from for SA about 5 months earlier.... Anyway after some reminiscing I found myself looking across a luggage belt at a very familiar face. It was Sam looking as always as if he'd just stepped from the catwalk. We loaded my bags into the SUV and were soon cruising south through the smog (or mountain mist as the LA inhabitants like to call it) to Elizas house in the OC. Sam was still the same old Sam and his driving ability definitely hadn't improved since I last saw him. I assured him he would be guaranteed employment as a South America bus driver if he was ever short of cash and had a warrant out for his arrest.Arriving at Elizas was fantastic and it was definitely a feeling of arriving home. Everyone was much the same just a little older. You also know you are around good friends when you feel as though it was just yesterday when you last saw each other after just a few minutes of conversation. Griff was still a little energizer bunny and extremely amusing. Ethan the newest addition to the family was beautiful and so small. I quickly settled into a domestic life in the burbs and it was great I couldn't have asked for a better change of pace. Cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping and of course sitting in the pool or hot tub wasting away the day.Living in Huntington Beach only minutes from the surf definitely made me a little regretful for selling my board. The surf however was flat most days or so I told myself to get by. The shopping was probably the worst thing about America. Everything is so cheap compared to Oz and the non existent spare room in my backpack was soon taken up by t-shirts and jumpers in preparation for the UK. The supermarkets were also fantastic, the yanks have so much junk to make things simple or more appealing its mind blowing. I mean you can buy a full hot dog bun and all which you just microwave then enjoy. There was choc chip cookie cereal which was literally small cookies which you cover in milk for breakfast. How nutritious. Of course I wanted to try it all but ran short on time. I'll be back!While I was there one of Sams old friends was having a 5 day birthday bash in Hollywood and Bevery Hills. I of course invited myself along and had one hell of a time. The weekend turned out to be one of the biggest if not the biggest rock star events in my life to date. We caught the train to LA and settled into yet another hostel! in Hollywood. I had been to Hollywood before so the whole touristy thing wasn't al the exciting. What I didn't know was I was about to view Hollywood from the other side of the glass. Friday night Sam and I found ourselves being chauffeured around Bevery Hills with the rest of the party in a stretch black hummer. We hit a great club in the Hills with all expenses paid. The stocked VIP bar was far too appealing and before too long we were stumbling back into the limo also packed with grog :0( and onto the next club. The night ended in a blur and I soon found myself up waaay too early and on my way to salsa lessons! I had been in South America for nearly 5 months and didn't manage 1 salsa lesson. Now I was tired, smelly hung over, in LA and strapping on my dancing boots. The idea behind the lesson was that we were heading to a Salsa bar for the evenings entertainment and were expected to dance. Ahhhh. After 10 minutes of stepping on toes and sweating like a donkey in the desert I was ready to rock.Again we were chauffeured around in another stretch hummer through Hollywood to this amazing salsa club with a massive live band. After a few drinks I finally hit the floor in my spandex outfit to strut my stuff with the best of them. Pretty sure I broke a toe or two but I had a great time flinging people left right and center. I arrived back in the Hostel at around 3 very intoxicated and full of great ideas. I headed upstairs to the Hostel bar to drink until sun up with a comedian and some kid from Canada. Feeling very worse for wear the next day Sam and I made our way to the W Hotel in Beverly where a few of the girls were staying. We spent a few hours by the pool recovering and trying to put the pieces of the night together. What a weekend time to head back to the burbs to detox.Over all my time in LA was amazing and I really could have stayed for months if not longer. Sam kept me going most days and we had a great time just kicking it. Eliza and Rob made me feel more than welcome and it was so great to be able to hang out and make up for lost time. It was a hard time for all with the new bub and Rob being very busy with work but I loved every minute of it. So thanks for having my guys hopefully it wont be as long till we can catch up again.Time for a slice of the big apple...
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London, United Kingdom

Stories to come
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London, United Kingdom

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Brighton, United Kingdom

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