TravelStream™ news feed for member mattmcshane on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mattmcshane en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:09:37 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1130833260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1130833260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1130833260/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:09:37 -0400 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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Brisbane, Australia

After making you all read that 2000+ word essay I wrote last time, I thought I'd make this short but sweet, although this is really due to the lack of things to do in Brisbane.Arriving into Brisbane after a relatively short 4 hour bus trip, we booked ourselves into the cleverly titled hostel "Bunk" (see what they did there, these Aussie's are so clever with names!) in the party district "The Valley." Don't ask me why its called the valley as I couldn't see mountains to the side of it, only countless bars, cafe's, strip joints and sex shops! A perfect place for us to stay for 2 days!The Hostel we stayed in is one of the few new hostels that now class themselves "Flashpackers" a term given to people that want to be backpackers but aren't willing to sleep in grotty bedrooms and share a bathroom with 50 other people. We couldn't actually see what the fuss about this hostel really was, it looked the same as most we had stayed at along the way, the only notable addition was the ensuite shower, either way apparently it warranted an extra $5 a night?! Give me grotty any day!Paul had now been in Australia for 2 weeks and was nearing the end of his stay here, but we still hadn't really been out clubbing together, we thought Brisbane would be ideal for that, but to our surprise found out that all, bar one, club was closed (it was Sunday). Warning bells should have rang out when the receptionist asked us if we knew what night it was tonight, eager to get in we all just nodded and walked in. It wasn't until we got inside and noticed blokes with fairy wings walking around, that we realised we had walked into Brisbane's biggest Gay night, and being a public holiday the following day, had attracted even more than usual!That said we actually had quite a good laugh, one thing we now know about gay nights is that they attract a lot of beautiful women, happy in the knowledge they wouldn't get hit onto all night, which in tow made it easier for us to chat them up, of course letting them know we were actually straight as soon as possible! And without blowing our trumpets, we did all get quite a lot of attention from the boys, so much so me and Paul had to become an item for the night just to have an excuse not to get 'chatted up', leaving Dan alone and single! I've never actually seen so many happy people when the dj dropped the new (well old now) Madonna song with the Abba music, it just couldn't get any better for them!Waking up the next morning we were all relieved to discover that we hadn't had our drink spiked and taken home by one of the fairy boys! Probably due to the fact we drunk from bottles all night, with our thumb pressed firmly over the top! That's what they tell the girls to do don't they?!With only a day left in Brisbane before we caught a flight to Sydney, we decided that Paul had to hold a koala bear whilst he was in the country. You just have to do it! So, hangover in tow, we headed out of town to Australia's first, and largest Koala bear sanctuary. With about 250 koala's inside, you can imagine the appeal quickly wore off, but we did of course get to hold one and have our photo, something for the wall at home! The good thing about the sanctuary though was its other animals. As well as the Koala's Paul got to feed the Kangaroo's, see a host of Aussie animals, watch an Aussie sheep dog show ( I thought this was more of an English thing) and get chased by a crazy duck! (see video). Just before leaving for the airport we made a quick boat trip down Brisbane's river on one of their new super fast cats. Being just another city it wasn't too interesting, although we did find it funny to know that only a week before one of these boats had managed to completly run down a passing 8 women rowing boat. Sadly nothing that exciting happened to us!So with our "Hold a Koala bear" box ticked, there was nothing else left to do than catch our flight. Only 2 more days left to go...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1204594800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1204594800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1204594800/tpod.html Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:07:53 -0500 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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Hanoi, Vietnam

Its a sad world when you have to hide from a genuinely nice person in airport baggage claim area, but sadly this was what we had to do. Because of our time-scale, we caught a flight from HCMC upto Hanoi, Vietnam's second biggest city. It was on this flight Jo and I sat next to a really nice man flying home. Like most Vietnamese, he took a shine to Jo, well you don't see many blonde girls here, and in broken English, talked to her most of the way.He spoke about his country, where was good to visit, and what to do in Hanoi, and later on into the flight offered to share our taxi to show us where to stay. It was when he asked this, warning bells started to ring. He was probably very genuine, but we were both so paranoid we would get ripped off, we made some feeble excuse, and after touchdown, legged it to the baggage claim.It was only when we were in the taxi heading towards Hanoi, that we started to feel bad. The look on the guy's face when we brushed him off with our excuses was terrible. To him we were a foreign couple he could practice his English on, but to us, he was a typical Asian guy, out to rip us off. Maybe not everyone was here to make money off us?The airport was a good 30 mins away from our hotel, so we chilled out in the back of the cab. Driving to Hanoi, we noticed how different the scenery was. A lot more industrial, run down and desolate. It looked like the people that worked these lands had it tough.It was when we were passing through the old quarter (where we were staying) we felt the french presence Hanoi was renowned for. Vietnam had been run by the French a few times during the last century, and because of this, parts of the country still held onto some Parisian charm. It was nice, a lot more chilled out than HCMC. It was around 9pm so we went for a walk around to get our bearings. Walking around the corner, we got stopped by a guy, holding, which was common in Vietnam, a box full of fake books and postcards. Normally we just say no thank you, but this guy had so much charisma, it was hard to walk away. We certainly didn't need any books or postcards, but i still ended up walking away with 20 postcards of Hanoi that looked like they were printed in 1970, and because of lack of change on his behalf, cost me a small fortune!We grabbed a bite to eat in a small cafe above a busy intersection. It was here we saw our first motorbike crash! Its funny to see, in a country that has thousands of crashes a day, everybody still stops and gawps, bringing traffic to a standstill! (We would eventually see another crash the following day. Whilst sitting in a cafe, a couple of bikes crashed into each other right in front of some police checking people wearing helmets. Whilst helping one of the drivers up, a fellow policeman walked straight up to the other guy and smashed him over the head with his wooden baton.) Sadly, although keen to stay out for a drink, the fun police were out in force, strictly enforcing Hanoi's 11pm 'shut-up shop' Luckily the lonely planet had listed a couple of Australian owned pubs that held lock ins, so we made our way there!The following we day we thought we'd try out the lonely planet' guided walk. We spent the next 4-5 hours walking the streets, ducking down alleyways and hidden lane ways, en-counting a rich diversity of people working their trade. Each corner we turned, we encounterd shops filled to the brim with yet another commodity. See they planned it well here, instead of having a shoe/key/bag shop on each street, they just had 20 shoe shops on one specific street, and called it shoe street, and then 20 key cutting shops and called that key street. Its a lot easier to compare prices if the shops are next to each other! We were surprised to see 'counterfeit' street had changed from selling fake nike T-shirts and handbags to a street solely dedicated to selling Christmas tat! (See photos).At the end of the walk we stopped near a cathedral and noticed a small sign for full body massages. We never really turn down the option of 1hr massages for $10, so after the shock of 2 white people walking into there shop, we were quickly ushered up some tiny stairs, obviously built for smaller, Asian legs. Now I'm one for tough massages, most visits to Sydney, i have a little Chinese man walk up and down my body, but Jo's the opposite. I sensed early on that the groans coming from her were more of agony, than of delight, and i could tell she couldn't wait for the hour to be up! We finished the day walking around Hoan Kiem Lake, looking on with astonishment at the runners doing there post work run, just as people do in Hyde park in London and Central park in NYC. Nothing out of the ordinary really, but it was such a foggy day, the pollution had left a thick layer of smog at head height, not ideal when your breathing in bucket loads! This small lake between the Old Quarter and the French Quarter is central to Hanoian folklore. A ghostly shrine (the Turtle Pagoda) standing on an islet at its center pays homage to a golden turtle. In the 15th century, this heroic reptile is said to have returned a magic sword to its home in the lake after it had been taken. We had only really touched on a bit of Hanoi, but really loved the place. Sadly it was winter time, and being further north than HCMC, it meant colder, greyer days; fog lingered in the air that made it resemble France in a winter day! Not ideal when the only clothes i had brought were t-shirts and shorts! It would be nice to return in the summer months and see how much the city changes. Stopping in one of the many travel shops, we booked ourselves onto a much raved about tour, the world Heritage site of Ha long Bay. Lets hope the sun breaks out for that!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1197587880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1197587880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1197587880/tpod.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:07:24 -0500 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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Ho Chi Ming City, Vietnam

When i started travelling in 2004 i never once thought that i would be sitting here 3 years later still typing away at these travelpods!  To be honest i've been very slack.  Since the last update, back in June 2006 i've moved house, been to New Zealand for a snowboarding holiday and been promoted to studio manager at my work.  Australian life has just got better and better, and the prospect of me returning back to England for good, smaller and smaller.  I will always consider myself English,  I've just adopted the Aussie lifestyle. For example my vocabulary has increased and changed, "flip flops" changing to "thongs", "barbie" instead of "bbq" and "How ya goin" instead of "you awright" oh, and i drink a lot more beer!For me, i see my time here not just an extended holiday, but as a new a way of life. Because of this i'm going to stop doing entries about Australia.  With the popularity of Facebook at an all time high, its just easier and quicker to upload images onto that and more people will get to see them anyway.  I have decided to try and carry on doing the entries for any overseas travel though, as much for all of you at home, that take time to read these blogs, as well as a keep safe for me. I hope they are still interesting.____________________________________________________________ __________________ It was one night in May last year, after watching a holiday show on tv, that i got the taste of travel again!  Jo didn't need much persuasion to go away, so it was just the decision on where to go and when!  Christmas sounded like the perfect time, with Christmas day and Boxing day falling mid week, we didn't have to use many days of our holiday entitlement to have a nice 20 day break!  Now all that was needed was a destination.At first India sounded promising, but after some thought, 20 days wouldn't be enough to cover a country the size of America! Another idea was Burma, but that was too wet and expensive to get to.  Eventually we decided on Vietnam.  10 years ago, you wouldn't even think of travelling here, but tourism is now a major part of the of their country and with cheap airline Jetstar doing flights for as little as $1000 return (400 GBP), its was hard to find a reason not to go!We landed in Ho Chi Ming City (Saigon) around 9pm and made our way through customs to the taxi line queue.  With not even one foot out of the exit we were pounced upon by 20 eager drivers, all vying for the chance to be the lucky chosen one!  It didn't take long for the crowd to disperse when i said we'd only take a taxi with a meter. Another chance to rip off the un suspecting tourist going to waste!  Its a shame we couldn't be as clever throughout the holiday though as we would end up getting ripped off on a near daily basis!Driving to the hotel was an adventure in itself.  With 4 million bikes alone in HCMC, we were amazed we got there without killing 2-3 people along the way.  Cars definitely have right of way here, using their horn's frequently to make their presence known.  I was impressed by the skills of the motorbike riders weaving in and out of the cars like snakes moving along the ground.  There must be a few bad riders though as we were later to find out 30 people a day die on these roads!One thing i noticed whilst driving to the hotel was a long, thin park by the side of a road.  Not that this was unusual, but it looked like this was the place young couples would ride to to 'enjoy' each others company.  We would have seen about 50 couples parked up, both sitting on the bike' seat playing tonsil tennis!  I take it privacy wasn't a problem!The hotel wasn't anything special, but it was clean, cheap, and had a full mini bar, which doesn't hurt its cause!  Not really wanting to stay in we headed out to explore.  It was here that we really experienced the madness of the motorbikes.  They are every where.  Just crossing the road from our hotel took us 10 minutes, whilst we patiently waited at the zebra crossing for someone to stop.  We quickly realised this wasn't going to happen so stepped out into the road taking our life into our hands.  We later read that this is the way to do it.  Pick a spot the other side of the road, step out, keep walking and the bikes will go round you.  All well and good, but when you have 100 bikes riding straight towards you, its easier said than done.  A bit further down the road i managed to cross but Jo got left behind.  Whilst waiting for her to get the courage up, a women (with an Adam's apple - you work it out) approached on a bike and offered a '1hr massage,'  beckoning me to jump on the back of the bike with her.  I tried to explain Jo was over the other side of the road, but it fell on deaf ears.  A Vietnamese bloke came to my rescue telling her i had a girlfriend on the other side of the road.  She quickly rode off with an embarrassed look on her face!It was whilst walking around we noticed Vietnam's obsession with Christmas.  Coming from Australia, where you wouldn't even know its Christmas, to a country that has decorations up in every shop, was a bit of a shock, the sound of Jingle Bells pumping out loud on their stereos.  We found out this is because Christmas only started being celebrated 20 years ago.  With more and more Vietnamese turning to Christianity, it gets bigger each year.We called it a night at around 1am after eating at a random restaurant. Telling them to bring out what ever they recommended, Jo had a little shock to see the shrimps in the tank next to her she had just been admiring, been fished out for her dinner.  Well it doesn't get fresher than that! Day 2The following morning we ventured out to explore the city in the daylight.  Although we had arrived in their winter, it was still a very humid 30 degrees.  First on the agenda was to get myself a haircut.  Walking along the side of a road, we got asked, which we would be asked a lot over here, "ello, where you from?".  An old man had pulled alongside us on his bike and followed at snail pace whilst we walked down the road.  After getting the formality's over with he started with the big sell, telling us of his amazing bike tour around the city.  We used the excuses - "there was 2 us and only one bike" and "I need a haircut" but he just said he'll get a friend to ride another bike, and then dragged us along to hairdresser!  In no time, without realising, we had agreed to a full day tour of the city!Walking into the hairdresser, it was a relief to discover it was a relatively new shop, and not a street-side cutter.  The look of amazement on their faces when 2 white people walked in was a picture.  The first thing we noticed, as we noticed throughout the country, was that for a relatively small shop, there was so many people working there. It was like for every hairdresser in the shop, there would be 2 assistants, another to sweep the hair as it fell and another to make the drinks!Seeing it was 'a white man' who needed his haircut (who obviously had a lot of money) the head stylist was quickly summoned and i was escorted to my chair.  With 2 juniors at his side watching intently he began. Now although the guy tried his hardest, the extent of his English was "David Beckham" and "very cool", so even though i tried to explain i wanted a little off the sides and to thin it out a bit, i succumbed to a 'very cool David Beckham' look!To be honest it wasn't the worst haircut i'd ever had, but i did walk out with a a massive duck peak, (if you can imagine what that looks like) and had to get the scissors to sort it out myself later.  Having my hair washed after was an experience though. I didn't realise the inside of my ears and also my eyes were so dirty as she rubbed away on them like nobody's business!  I felt a little violated to say the least!Leaving the hairdresser's, we were stupid to think our friend from earlier would have got bored waiting... we were wrong; there he was, with his promised friend, waiting to take us around.  It was hard to say no, so with much trepidation we jumped on a bike each and were on our way.  Now here was our first problem, we didn't agree a price.  Now i tried to tell him we would only pay 100,000 Dong each (about 7AUD/ 2.5GBP) for the day (what the guidebook recommended) but he just nodded and said don't worry, we have him all day - we are the boss. Now apparently this isn't a water tight contract!  Something we would find out, to our peril later on in the day.To be fair i had a great time on the bikes, we rode around the city, dodging other bikes and cars, stopping at various temples and the War Remnants Museum along the way, but Jo on the other hand hated it.  Mentally scarred from a bike accident in Thailand a few years back, i'm surprised she agreed to it in the first place, but after a few near misses that day, she had enough and decided to call it a day. Refusing to go any further we agreed to finish the tour with the drivers, much to their disgust.  It was now they decided to tell us we owed them 700,000 Dong each for their services - all 2 hours of it!.Now if any of you know Ho Chi Ming City well, we were stranded in District 11, miles from our hotel with 2 drivers screaming at us to pay them their money.  A bit difficult when we only had about 350,000 Dong and $5AUD on us.  After much deliberating we told them this was all they were getting, and legged it into another temple to find out where we were.  It was our first day, We had been truly done over by 2 riders, we were penniless and completely lost. What a welcome to Vietnam!After trying in vain with many people, we finally found someone that could string 2 words of English together and show us on our tourist map, where we actually were! Unfortunately we were a long way from home, and with no money, we had no choice but to walk back in the mid day heat!About an hour and a half later we finally made it back to our hotel, swearing to ourselves we would never be ripped off again!Day 3Sitting in the café below our hotel the following morning, we looked out to the street in astonishment. For some reason, every bike rider was now wearing a helmet.  Thinking it must be a weekend thing, we were to find out that this day was the start of a new law making it a legal requirement to wear one.  We couldn't believe that in the space of 12 hours, it can go from one extreme - no one wearing a helmet, to the other - everyone wearing one.  With 4 million bikes on the road, there would be some rich helmet sellers out there!  We spent the rest of the day on foot, taking in all the usual tourist sights. Ho Chi Ming City Museum - which we were to find out was a very popular place to have wedding photographs done (we counted 6 in the hour we were there) and Reunification Palace  - bit like Vietnam's Buckingham Palace, famous for having a tank driven through its gates at the end of the war.  After getting lost a few times we stumbled on a huge market.  Among one of the weird and wonderful sights here was a women cutting the legs of live frogs with a pair of kitchen scissors, before finally cutting its throat - surely the humane way would be top cut its throat first?!We couldn't hang about in HCMC for ever though, we had a lot more of the country to see and only 18 days left to do it, so with internal flights booked, we made our way to the airport to fly up to Hanoi.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1168759620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1168759620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1168759620/tpod.html Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:50:42 -0400 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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Bounty (celebrity love island)/Malolo Island, Fiji

One of the good things about Australia is its closeness to the Pacific Island Group.  With the insurgence of low cost air carriers, in 4 hours you can be touching down in Samoa, Vanu Auto or Fiji for as little as 100 pounds each way!  So when me and Jo got an invite to a wedding in Fiji, it was hard to say no.Now most of you know if there was a sport in losing property, then I would be Olympic champion. Camera's, watches, wallets, glasses, ive lost them all, but I had never succumbed to the holy grail... The passport, well now I can tick this box to!Of course I didn't actually realise this until the day before I was due to fly to Sydney.  So Friday was spent running between the British Consultant in Melbourne, the police station and the Chemist (to get the photos!)  It has got to have been the most stressful day of my life.  I knew that If I didn't get an emergency one printed that day I would miss the whole holiday and probably lose another thing, my relationship with Jo!Luckily by 5pm I had collected to passport - albeit  $300 lighter, and made my way to Sydney to catch the connecting flight.  At the international Customs departure gates I was pulled aside and asked why I didn't have a visa?  To my disbelief I realised I had forgotten that not only did I lose the passport, but also the visa sticker inside.  I was told quite bluntly by the women that I could leave the country with no problem, but I wouldn't be able to get back in.  I would have to go to the British consulate in Fiji and get another printed before I could gain access.Now by this stage I was so stressed out and need of a holiday I did the only male thing to do, worry about it later!  I jumped straight on that plane and decided just to wait and see at the end of the holiday if this was true... Which of course it was... More about this later!Anyway we made it! 4 hours later we had touched down in Nadi airport, still familiar from our previous trip in 2004, we did wonder if the band were the same playing in the terminal as last time though!  Jo thinking of her stomach as usual, made us miss the our connecting bus to the Ferry terminal, so we opted for an extortionate taxi ride, but eventually after that and a 2 hour ferry trip we made it to Bounty Island, home of Celebrity Love Island apparently?To be honest we didn't even know what this show was as it had aired after we had left England, but it didn't look like it had the desired effect on tourism as we were the only people on the island, well us and a few Indian family 's over for the weekend.  We didn't mind, it was much more pleasant just the two of us anyway!Eventually a few more couples turned up and we spent most of the evenings watching the entertainment provided and drinking Kava.  Although classed as a backpacker island, we loved the fact there was hardly anyone there. We had our only private hammock and beach, and could walk around undisturbed.  It would be interesting to see how different the next island, Malolo would be, as it was classed as 5 star and one night would cost more than 4 days at Bounty!So after the 4 days we hoped onto our island transfer and sailed into Malolo.  We were met with about 10 singers and dancers, given a free cocktail and taken to our very luxurious Bure.  Although the biggest on the island, the agent had messed up and put me and Jo in an open plan room with 2 others.  So it looked like all the 'romance' would have to stay at Bounty!  After a lot of moaning by the girls, we actually realised that we had had got the best one (even better than the bride and Groom) so they shut up!So for the next 5 days we lazed around like before, did a few more dives and dined on 5 star cuisine.  Although 30 other people had made it over for the wedding, we got a surprising amount of privacy.  For most of the day the pool would be completely empty.  So if we wanted to get away from everyone we would just head there.And then came the Wedding.  Well, not before we went out deep sea fishing for Tuna.  Now you wont find many brides to be fishing on the morning of their wedding, but that's exactly what Paula did, much to the dismay of her bridal party!  The stress was evident on their faces when we came into port 2 hours later than expected! But at least we came home with a bounty!  About 25 yellow fin tuna to be exact.  It was a brilliant 4 hours, we would cast out and in no time flat, we would have a biter! We kept 6 of the biggest which were cooked up for dinner that evening by the hotels chef's!So then the wedding came, right outside our bure underneath the beautiful red tree.  I've never really considered a beach wedding, but after seeing it for real, I could never see myself getting married in Southend Registry Office any more! They finished the evening underneath the palm trees toasting the happy couple.  What a brilliant way to end a brilliant (but very Expensive) holiday!*   *   *Now you might remember me saying about my visa earlier on - well as you would expect from me, I just hoped that it would work!  Well it didn't and after trying to check in, the guy behind the desk showed me his computer screen.  The words "DO NOT BOARD" flashed up!  It was only now that I started to realise I might be in a bit of a pickle!  Long story short, Jo checked in anyway, leaving me to fend for myself, and I was left waiting until 10mins before the flight was about to leave before given clearance.  The guy had had to ring Canberra (on a Sunday) to get the visa transferred onto my new passport, and then ring Washington to make sure I wasn't a terrorist!  This was one time I hated hearing "Fiji time"!But to his credit he did it and with a minute to spare, I managed to make the flight!  That's the last time I lose my passport.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1159741800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1159741800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1159741800/tpod.html Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:42:16 -0500 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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Whitsundays/Sydney/Gold Coast/Melbourne, Australia

As usual ive left it 5 months to actually get this online, so if the date confuses you, you know why.  Although i blame my I.T. department as they managed to delete my entire photo collection, and its taken me this long to get all of them  back! (I'm still waiting for Gold coast ones though Dave!)Many of you know Dave (Souse dave) from my old days in Cyprus.  He'd always wanted to come over for a holiday and finally got around to booking the flights early last year.  The only problem was back then I was young, free, single and jobless and was more than happy to travel up the east coast for 6 weeks.  Unfortunately, during the time beyween between booking flights and coming over, I found a job, got sponsered, found a girlfriend and signed a year long lease. I really didnt have the option of taking 6 weeks off.Dave, understandably was gutted, but after much persuasion came over anyway, resigned to fact he would see the coast by himself.  After much planning though ( I should have been a travel agent) I managed to sort out his 5 weeks out so that he would be in a place I could fly to every Friday night.  Over the next month I would be flying to Sydney, Whitsundays and the Gold Coast! Damn i'm nice!So at 5am, I picked up a hyper scouser from the airport and drove him back to mine.  The next 5 weeks was a blur or alcohol and late nights.... Here are a few highlights...· Took Dave to the imfamous Neighbours night with Russ, our new flatmate.  In a building with 80% women, Dave manages to pick up 2 gay guys and even swaps phone numbers with them?! · Flew up to Sydney together so that Dave could meet Jo.  Hired a car and drove to the Blue Mountains. · Took him to a great Sydney lookout. · Booked him onto a 5 day surfing tour, from Sydney to Byron Bay.  At the beginning it was leaving a child at school on his first day.  By the end he had made lots of new friends!· After he did Fraser Island, me and Jo flew up to the Whitsundays to meet him.  As we expected, he had made lots of new friends and ignored us all night! (joke Dave)· Did a brilliant 3 day sailing trip on a maxi Yacht, the ones they use in the Round the World competitions. · Headed to the Gold Coast for Daves last weekend, and to his delight, had come on the Indy 3000 weekend, so we had 2 days and night of V8 and formula 3000 cars racing through the streets of the Gold Coast. (unforunately lost all of these photos, if Dave sends them to me i'll stick them online.)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1156042140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1156042140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1156042140/tpod.html Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:03:52 -0500 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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Mt Buller, Australia

Feeling like a complete pro after 1 ½ days exeprience, I, along with T, Hollie and Dan headed to Mt Buller for another day of skiing/boarding. Like I said before, its our closest Mountain from Melbourne, only 3 hours drive, so we woke up at 4am and caught a bus to get there. Its really weird, falling asleep on a bus and waking up 3 hours later in a winter wonderland!Unfortunately the winter wonderland was all man made. As in Thredbo, due to the bad season, nearly all the snow was fake. I still wasn't to bothered about this, although it meant that a lot of slopes were closed, leading to long queues at the bottom of of the open ones! I wont go on for ages like I usually do, the photos speak for themselves! All I will say is that after this trip I spent a near fortune on Snowboarding gear... bring on next winter!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1154827620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1154827620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1154827620/tpod.html Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:24:54 -0500 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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Thredbo, Australia

As much as I enjoyed catching up with friends and family whilst I was home, the 6 weeks spent in the UK was more than long enough to realise that Australia is now home. Although I'm not saying I will never return, I'm more than happy here at the moment and have started a new life. The way of life, people, weather (need I go on) is just much better than England, and as I type this, I have just learned of my new visa being approved granting me another 4 years here! My company seems to believe I am invaluable to their team (their words!!) so have sponsored me!One reason I have made Melbourne home is the fact you can drive to the Mountains in 3 hours! On this occasion though we all headed to another set of Mountains in a place called Thredbo. Although a lot further away (7 hour drive) Anna and Nick, some friends, own an apartment here, so we made a big weekend of it.Unfortunately this year has been a really bad season for snow - New Zealand got it all apparently? So the only snow here was artificial. Being one of the few that had never been to the mountains, it really didn't bother me; it was still cold, white and wet!So whilst everyone was off skiing/boarding I headed down by myself to learn snowboarding. Dan and T had decided to try skiing, but being the 'cool dude' that I am, I picked boarding. I was quite surprised that after 2 hours I had picked up enough knowledge to head down a blue run with the pro's! Although maybe a green run should have been my first choice as I did a massive stack landing right on my tail bone!!After 6 hours of falling over, screaming in agony and swearing I, and the rest, had had enough for one day so retired back to the lodge. It took a while to warm up and get dry, but eventually we headed out to a nice little restaurant to sample the traditional mulled wine and cheese fondue.' Don't ask us how but we even managed to crack one of the dipping pots. It can't have been our fault as the manager came over with a round of free 70% proof shots to apologise! Although they resembled Aftershock, they weren't actually that bad!Rather hungover we awoke to another beautiful day (not good when your hoping for snow!) Dan decided to do another lesson, which made a lot of difference as he was keeping up with the rest of the skiers by lunchtime. In true style, I stayed in bed and managed to get onto the slopes by about 1pm! - Well the lift hire was slightly cheaper!Although no way near a pro, I am happy to say by the end of the day I was keeping up with Jo, (a pro for years!) Although I was still falling over a lot, I was now completely hooked!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1154050080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1154050080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1154050080/tpod.html Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:09:27 -0400 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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Ibiza, Spain

I had always intended to fly to Sweden for a weekend whilst I was home - not to ogle all the beautiful ladies or take in the culture, but to watch the Sweden vs. England World Cup game. I thought it would be interesting to watch the game in enemy territory! If there is one country you're not likely to get beaten up in if England won - it had to be Sweden! That coupled with a return flight from Stansted only costing 23 pounds (I miss Ryanair) it was all booked.It was only when Alex (from Kiwi Bus) suggested flying to Ibiza that weekend instead, I had a change of mind! The idea of 5 nights of hedonistic pleasure with 3 mates from New Zealand rated much higher than walking around the streets of Sweden on my own. Call it fate I suppose, but the flight I caught from Liverpool to London was delayed so I would have missed my connecting flight to Sweden anyway - it must be a sign! Ibiza here I come!After a relatively short flight (well compared to 24 hours anyway) I touched down in Evissa! Feeling like Kevin and Perry walking out the airport, I jumped into a taxi straight to the time-share Alex owned. No sooner was I in we were hitting the vodka and heading out to the heart of Ibiza's club land, San Antonia. It didn't take long for us to realize that the rumours of 50 Euro entry fees were true, fine if your spending pounds, not so great when you're spending Aussie dollars! Instead of paying we headed to Bar M and after 10 minutes of chatting up the ticket girl had landed guestlist's for Gatecrasher @ Eden! Walking there, we got jumped on by more pr's, trying desperately to get us into their club. It was here we realized that if we were on a guestlist for one club, we could get into any others free of charge! So as you can imagine, every night was spent at Bar M chatting up the same ticket girl, just so she would get us on a guestlist!We stumbled in at 6am, with the idea of trying to get some sleep, but after not even an hour, our alcohol-induced coma was rudely interrupted by a sound not to dissimilar to "doof doof doof" ! Intrigued we walked outside to find what we thought was a disused car-park, transformed into an open air club. Well if you can't beat them join them!We spent the next 8 hours dancing away in the sun, to A DJ we later found out was legendary Ibiza DJ Sven Vath. We left at 6pm to get ready for the night out and he was still playing. He didn't leave the decks the whole time we were there! I'm not an expect but I think he may have been on drugs?! (see video). For the week we were here this rated as the best event we went to, it was good to be in a club full of Spanish and not pissed English. We also walked into Erik Morillo, which made Steve's Day!Anyway here are a few other highlights...· Watched the Sunset and fire dancers outside Café Del Mar and Café Mambo. Got freaked out when a man came out of the darkness, dressed in a cloak before letting off flares?! · Ventured over to Pacha to see Erik Morillo play... yes Steve it was worth it after all. Froze when they sprayed liquid ice onto the dance floor - the best way to cool down! · Danced for 24 hours straight at 3 clubs. - then slept on the beach to make sure we got a tan!· Got, very, very drunk - fell over a lot. Drunk some more.· Said "where's Simon" 124 times [Simon the 4th person would annoyingly frequently just walk off or go home without telling anyone].· Caught a cab over to Ibiza Town on the South Coast and Danced away in the sun at Bora Bora.· Watched a couple of England games - fell asleep out of boredom.·Watched Pete Tong live on Radio 1 for the Essential Selection @ Café Mambo.Although only here for 5 days, I can now really see why people come back here year on year out! We partied hard, didn't sleep much, Spent 2 months wages but had a blast! If I can afford to do it again next year I will... although it might cost a bit to fly to from Australia!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1149962400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1149962400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1149962400/tpod.html Wed, 11 Oct 2006 05:43:20 -0400 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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London, United Kingdom

So after reading back my last entry in Hong Kong, I realized that I didn't actually say why I was returning to good ol Blighty... it was The World Cup of course! From day 1 we had said we were going to try and be back for the cup but never thought it would happen. Then in March I had the good fortune of landing a freelance job that not only paid very well, had a football mad manager that was more than happy to let me have 6 weeks off! 2 weeks worth of wages later, and the flight was bookedAfter a manic 2 days in Hong Kong I find myself queuing up at the familiar Heathrow custom desks with what seems to be about 100,000 foreign faces -WELCOME BACK TO THE UK! Thank god I've still got a British passport, it would have taken me hours to queue up with them! Before we have even left the airport we have witnessed a fight between 2 men - why have I returned?! Ma, Pa and sister had kindly agreed to pick me up from the airport, but in true Lucy style, she decided to leave Southend about 15minutes before I landed in the country, leading to a lovely 3 hour wait in Heathrow for her to arrive. With the prospect of another 3 hour drive to Devon, we weren't best pleased!I spent the next 3 days in Devon trying to get over the dreaded jetlag - I've never had it before and it hit me hard, whenever we stopped to sit down, I'd nod off! Being back in Devon made me realize there is some parts of the country that are beautiful and not full of the dreaded 'Chavscum' something I wasn't looking forward to seeing when I got back into the cities.I Could write pages of what I did over the 6 weeks I was home, but as you can imagine it would take ages so here are the highlights (sorry if I forget something - it was 3 months ago now!)· Got back to Southend on the Saturday just in time for the first England game - met up with loads of old friends, starting drinking at 12pm and got carried home by Paul at 11pm! (Those Magners are good)· Headed into London to meet up with an old aussie mate Joelene to watch the first Aussie Game. Was the first in the Walkabout pub and the last to leave! Annoyingly the air conditioning was broken (see photo's)· Had a brilliant reunion with all the old kiwi experience lot, most are living in London now, so we had a great night out in Covent Garden!· Headed up to Manchester to meet up with Kellie, a girl I met on Fraser island. Had a brilliant night out with all of her mates, finally getting to sleep at 5am!· Picked up at 7am by Dave from Liverpool and driven to a field somewhere to go paintballing - Note to self NEVER TO PAINTBALLING WITH A HANGOVER· Headed out to the Liverpool Walkabout to catch the Australia vs Brazil game on my Borthday with my old scouse mates.· Spent loads of time with little Russell in Southend, who, since we had left, had somehow become a superstar dj - (great set in London mate!!). · Met up with Jo (girlfriend for all you that don't already know!) for a week - she had flown over for a week holiday - as you do!· Had a great night out with all the old Bonhams lot - watched as a very drunk/high posh bird get chucked out of Living Room in Regent street!· Met up for a great BBQ with Emma and Alex, the girls we traveled with up the West coast.· oh and flew to Ibiza.... More about that next!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1149530220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1149530220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattmcshane/rtw_2004/1149530220/tpod.html Sun, 13 Aug 2006 19:48:21 -0400 Travelling to unplanned destinations in an unplanned timescale!

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Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Its always hard writing these things when you actually visited the city 2 months ago - yeah I know been a bit slack recently! But I'll give it a go!Hong Kong has never really been on the top of my lists of places to go, but after hearing everyone rave about it here, and the fact that I had to stop here on route anyway, I thought I'd give 1t 48 hours of my life!The flight wasn't actually too bad, it's the first time I've flown a carrier that have personal televisions in each head rest so I spent most of the 12 hours channel hopping - well with 50 channels its hard not too!I flew with Cathay Pacific, which I was reliably informed won best Airline of the year. The air hostesses weren't really up to Virgin standards, but the food was top notch and they did make everyone laugh during their safety video, cutting from Chinese to English to say "Brace Brace" ("When you hear Brace Brace take this position") I take it there isn't a Chinese word for Brace?We didn't land until 10pm so we got a great view of the spectacular skyline Hong Kong has to offer. I've never seen so many skyscrapers! After collecting my baggage I was ushered along to the Taxi queue. Haven't not been to Asia before it was a bit overwhelming, fortunately because of previous British rule, most signs were translated in English, so at least I knew where to go!In typical style, I hadn't even thought about booking any accommodation before arriving. I had read beforehand that Hong Kong isn't cheap to stay in, the only affordable place being a massive tower block that held guesthouses called Chunking Mansions. Not being able to afford the Hilton this time (my choice of accommodation usually) I had to settle for here. Warning bells should have rang when the taxi driver laughed when I said did he know the place?!From the time I got off the plane to the time I was sitting in the Taxi, I had been in air conditioned comfort, so it was a bit of a shock stepping out of the taxi into 35 degree humidity (it was now midnight!) I didn't have time to move before I was pounced upon by people trying to sell me their guesthouse in the infamous Chunking Mansions. After a bit of haggling I managed to get a single room for about $30AUD (12 pound) a night. A bargain I thought.It wasn't until I got there that I started to have my doubts! Although ensuite, I had a bucket to flush the toilet, and although it was sold as a single, it strangely had 2 beds, it took a while to confirm that I wouldn't be getting randoms walking in during the night! If you have ever seen the film 'The Beach,' the first scene where you see Leo walk into his hostel room in Thailand... wells that's how I felt! Both beds were disgustingly dirty, but I chose the single after seeing a huge cockroach walk across the double! But in true British style, I was far too polite to complain, just said it was nice and said goodnight to the manager! I went for a brief walk, but with Jet lag starting to set in I called it a night.Waking up in the morning to bed bugs crawling over your skin is really not a good advert for another night here, so I packed up and moved a few floors up, after seeing the name of this guesthouse, I remembered reading that this was the only decent place in the Mansions to stay at. Although 100 times cleaner, it was hardly the Ritz but it would do for my final night.With only the day and night left here, I was in for a lot of walking so left and headed down to the Star Ferry terminal to take me over to Hong Kong Island. I was here in June, the worse time for weather, so after checking the skies thought it best to buy an umbrella. Now you would think seeing as the British ruled Hong Kong for hundreds of years, the lady in the corner shop would understand English. Apparently not because for the next 10 minutes I proceeded to try and describe an umbrella to the lady charades style, using my hands to act out rain!I spent the day just walking around ticking all the boxes in my Hong Kong guidebook. I actually managed to see nearly everything the book says you need 3 days for! I visited a temple, with its ceiling adjourned with joss sticks burning away, countless markets, an aviary and Zoo in the heart of the city and even managed to get up to the 40th floor of The Bank of China building. Feeling peckish I went into a food court. To say I felt intimidated with 200 sets of eyes watching me try to use my chopsticks was an understatement.Walking around one particular corner, I noticed loads of film camera's and police. I stood there for 20minutes, but being the only white person there, didn't have a clue what was going on. It was only after watching the news later on in the evening that I found out a crazed axe man killed a woman down an alleyway! Hmm!One of Hong Kong's biggest tourist attractions is the peak overlooking Hong Kong and its harbour, I got up there by catching the cable car up there, but unfortunately because of the weather as soon as I got up there, all I could see was clouds! The only good thing about it was the temperature finally dropped, giving a bit of restbite from the heat and humidity! I was going to stay until sunset, but I thought it was hardly worth it!At 10pm I called it a night, looking at the map, I worked out I had walked at least 20 kms, and seen more than most people would in a day. Walking around, I promised myself a beer in the bar underneath the apartments, but after seeing the price (5 quid) I decided to buy take out and drink by myself in my room! It was good being able to do what you want and go where you choose, but I still would prefer to travel with a companion. Sitting alone in a room drinking beer by yourself can be quite depressing.Oh well, England here we come!
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