A homage to France, An adventure in Spain, My new life in London town!

After leaving France, I had a magical holiday in Spain with a great crew of American buddies, now I'm back with my new life in the amazing never boring always surprising London town!

France has been great to me, an eight month experience that I'll cherish and hold onto forever - what a time of my life it was! Like many great experiences, I'm slightly changed (for the better), more mature, knowledgable and cultured: it has made me more of a seasoned campaigner and more in-tune with another part of Europe!

France is truly an incredible country, with so much history and tradition which is still evident in their society. I have much respect for the French people's way of life, they reject much of the Americanized global trends and march to their own beat (unfortunately Mcdonalds are still prevalent even here). However, they know that they are better (in most cases), so therefore why would they change. They are a very proud people, and I may not always agree with them but they are not likely to change for anyone, as if a system works and it aint broke, then why fix it? They take pride in their long lunches; having the best bakeries and desserteries around; fine healthy dining; the strong culture of manifestation (sucking it to the 'man'). Corporations and politicians do not totally have it their own way; liberal free capitalism cannot totally thrive here, there is too much protectionism of state assets and community values for that - and for good reason. They are one of the few modern developed nations that have not sold out so to speak. This means people can work a 35 hour week and have a liveable wage in anything they do, because there are strict rules and decent wage packets, whereas in the United States people have to rely on tips in the service industries for example. We've seen capitalism hasn't totally made us all prosper - but in France (like few nations in the world) they have managed there debt very well and most people live relatively comfortably. This psychology rubs off on the people, I've met many progressive and sympathetic French people, I'm really impressed how everyone from all walks of life are really in touch with important values of life. Respect!

After my time in France, I travelled to Spain and met a group of American friends in Barcelona - filled with 10 days of straight hedonism and partying. We did the typical backpacking, but because of the type of lads that accompanied me - it wasn’t your usual backpacking trip! These four special boys were truly remarkable - and our itinerary matched it! We were attempting to do Barcelona, Valencia, Grenada, Malaga, Cadiz, Tarifa Beach, Sevilla, and Madrid in 10 days. Up until Sevilla it was perfect. It was the most audacious planned trip that in retrospect was never going to work but we tried nonetheless. We took the smallest sedan we could find (due to price restrictions), it was the model up from the smart car - we were attempting to fit 5 men with decently sized bags in this car - it was comical we could have been a circus act! Three were at least an inch over 6 ft, and I'm not the smallest guy either - a squeeze was an understatement: it was like we were attempting some Guinness world record! We nearly made it to the finish line in one piece, and so this is how the story goes . . .

We started in Barcelona: taking in nasty dubsteb at the famous Razmataz Club while pre-gaming at Sangria bars, and by day, taking in incredible cultural sights from Gaudi buildings to the Olympic stadia! In Valencia: there was Paella with chicken not seafood; volleyball on the beach (there was a player who had just one arm and was multiple times better than me = amazing), whereas we were the loud Americans that strutted around with a digital style boom-box - we challenged some graceful looking young Spanish girls they appropriately declined; but the highlight was the most incredible building complex I've ever witnessed - a cultural arts centre by two famous Spanish architects - it totally blew my mind away! Grenada may have been the coolest Spanish city, it was so down-to-earth and organic - we took in some authentic gypsy guitar, went inside an Aquaduct, and most importantly learnt of the historical significance of how Jews, Christians, and Arabs all lived in unity side-by-side here for hundreds of years under Arab rule (before the Spanish inquisition)! Malaga was a temporary stop-over with a dodgy Tapas lunch; Tafina beach (perhaps the most Southern part of Spain) - a beach that was just populated by Spanish people, and it was incredibly secluded with very few signs of tourism except for a set of beautifully designed Spanish apartments. The backdrop was just rolling hills, cattle, and renewable energy windmill technology - it seemed so empty - so beautiful! Cadiz surprisingly had the best night-life of Spain, the best clubs I've seen actually at an ugly port - very underrated indeed! Then came Sevilla and it quickly went down-hill from there. Firstly time was running out, and we needed to cover match ground and see two major cities Sevilla and Madrid! Sevilla was sweltering hot! 7 pm in the evening and it felt like Auckland or London on the hottest day of the year - it was mad! This is where the fun stopped though, we fell like dominoes, I was the first to get sick and then the rest followed one by one! It was inevitable (all that travelling in such a compact space), all that partying, all that lack of sleep! The sickness bug tore through us, and was personified in the worst possible way in Madrid after dropping off the car at the airport! On one of those walking lateral horizontal escalators - our friend just started throwing up everywhere. After giving him a donut - he just exploded, he couldn’t keep anything down! None of us went to console him, what could we do, we were the walking wounded - we just totally froze with emotionless faces like a pack of ghosts - the trip had finally got the better of us!

It could have been even worse. Initially we were going to rent a car (that we had booked in Barcelona) that was a manual because the price was a lot cheaper, but I was the only one who could drive manual, though they all had driven on the right-side of the road all their lives, I had never. It would have been too much driving for one person, and I was not confident enough to drive on the right-hand side of the road anyway. Thankfully we got the deposit back from the car we had initially booked and chose to reject such a crazy plan, whereby my friend was going to learn how to drive 'shift', in the car park that day. This was all after a big night out - we had barely slept, my mate and I went to pick up the car (arriving late with time counting down) - we deliberated for an hour - I said renting the car wasn't even a good idea, he said that was the plan (and his American vigour and confidence meant he never backs down from such a challenge). We ended up renting a more expensive automatic fortunately from another place later on; I was never keen to go by car, but I think my friend and I (after heavy discussion) both made good points. The trip in the car turned out to be very cool and special (getting to places and seeing things we couldn't ordinarily), but it was too difficult and audacious in the end!

Unfortunately my camera died, my friend has his stolen, and my other friend forgot his memory card at a hostel! It was really an incredible trip that can now only be kept in the memories of four great American dudes and a kiwi wild-card! Three of these American guys worked in the corporate world, but they were totally down-to-earth and everyday were questioning whether what they were doing was appropriate. I wouldn't call it an existential crises, but they certainly were thinking outside of the conventional box. I totally respected what they were doing, and they all had this feeling that what I was doing was great - I think they were somewhat envious of me, and vice-versa I was certainly somewhat envious of them. They had financial security, a career going somewhere, future prospects and all that shit! What did I have, not a lot, just the experience, and the easy-going relaxed life where I had worked far less hours and far less work-stress to contend with. While the one of the Americans, was a fellow English teacher whom I met in France, and actually it was his friends that I become acquainted with through him. He and I had much in common! Sure, we were all on the same wave-length, but my fellow English teaching assistant totally understood where I was coming from, because he was coming from the same place, figuratively speaking! He had finished university while many of his friends had proper jobs (like the three that joined us on this trip), but still he was content with what he was doing - he didn't want to be tied down in his home country to a job that can equate to a 'ball-and-chain' in some respects. Nevertheless, what a group of guys and what a great time, in such a perfect location as Spain for me was extraordinary and certainly one of the ultimate travel destinations I've ever been to, if not the best!

Now I'm back in London finally, and back to reality, with a job that pays just enough (to make it in this city), and living out in the East (in a non-flashy suburb that suits me)! The job is at a bar in Soho, where a uniform is not required and socializing with customers is encouraged rather than fervently denied. Working with an array of Europeans, and a legendary English 37 year old boss, who says I would never get an office job: "us hospitality folk are wired in a different way". Am I one of them . . . working unsociable hours, well I am different, but does this suit my lifestyle - we shall see - so far it has been fun and not too tiresome. While, the first day in my suburb of residence, was chowing down with a 40 something year old Jamaican named Alvin talking politics at the local Kebab shop, as a large Range Rover drove past with Ruff Riders blaring out the windows. This is East London, very gritty and in-your-face but very real too, flooded with immigrants from all over. And of course as typified by London, there have been only two days of proper sunshine in June and July, and it has even been chilly recently, that's a London summer for you! It's not the worst thing in the world, because you don't come to London for the weather - the energy exists in this city which has something happening any night of the week in numerous locations. This is London, and I'm back to continue my adventures in the big city where you can find anything, and even some heart and comfort if you look hard enough!