Change of Plans

Long time, no post. Sorry.

Since leaving London my trip has been going a thousand miles per hour. I arrived in Paris and could only get 3 nights accommodation so had to leave. I ended up going to San Sebastian in Spain hoping to stay there a few nights before heading to Bilbao for a bit before the festival. Unfortunately I could only get 1 night accommodation there though and had to move onto Bilbao with over a week to spare before the festival!

But back to Paris, I had an amazing 3 days there. I did a walking tour of the city and got incredibly sunburnt and then went to gay pride parade in Paris. Sophie Ellis Bextor was there and played Murder on the Dance Floor which was fun. The next day I had to wait for 2.5 hours to book a train out of France but luckily I was with two other travelers so it wasn´t so bad then we went to the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais which are both free museums. There was a Helmut Newton show on as well. He is quite a famous German-Australian fashion photographer, so that was really cool to see a collection of his works. That night a met a girl from Hobart in my hostel and we decided to go see the Eiffel Tower and eat dinner on the lawns that surround it. What we didn´t realise was the soccer final for Euro cup 2012 was on that night and there were thousands of soccer fans watching the game on the lawns! It was still good fun though.

San Sebastian was amazingly beautiful and I wish I could of stayed there longer but it all worked out for the best because . . . . when I got to Bilbao I met these two Canadian chicks and an American guy and we spent the day together, had the most amazing 3 course meal with plenty of red wine for only 10 euro each and then they convinced me to go to San Fermin or Running with the Bulls.

THAT´S WHEN ALL THE FUN STARTED

So I went with Max, the American guy, to a tour company thingo for the festival and we were supposed to meet up with the two girls later on. On the bus trip there we met this guy called Jesse who happened to be going to the same tour thingo. It was called Stoke. So we arrived at the camp and drank Sangria with all the group. The next day was the opening ceremony which everyone wears white to and has Sangria fights. Excellent combination!  The next day the running starts and I hang out with this girl, Elizabeth, who Jesse had met a few days earlier.  The next day I decided to run with the bulls with Elizabeth and Jesse! It was freaking insane! If you go on Youtube you can look up footage.


This is Jesse, me and Elizabeth at running with the bulls.

Once that finished I met back up with the two Canadian girls and Max and we all went to Ibiza. Max's sister knew this guy who lives there and produces House music and was able to get us all into clubs for free! After two days I said my goodbyes and jumped on a plane back to Bilbao for Bilbao BBK Live.



Max, Jocelyn and I at a pool party by the beach in Ibiza


I made friends with these two Spanish guys whilst waiting for a bus to the festival site on the first night of the festival and they asked if I was travelling alone and if I wanted to camp with them and some other people they had met on an online forum for people  who were going to the festival alone. I said yes and got to hang out with this really nice group of Spanish people for the festival. 

@ Bilbao BBK Live

All these photos are from other peoples Facebooks because I haven´t found a computer that will take my SD chip from my camera. So later you can expect more photos of London, Paris etc.

Tomorrow I head to Barcelona for a few nights!

England

I have been in London for about a week now!

Second time lucky with the UK immigration. Although I'm only allowed to stay for two weeks.

I stayed with Tomas for two nights and he took me to some classic London pubs in the city centre. We also hired bikes one day and rode past the Big Ben etc. to the Tate Modern Gallery. I have to say I don't really get modern art that much. There was a Damien Hirst exhibition on though which was amazing. Look up his work - some of its pretty interesting. I think the sculpture of the castrated men in MONA is by him as well.

Since then, I've been staying with Nina in Hackney and she's been taking me around all the really indie/cool places in London like Brick Lane. She works most nights at a local bar and because there is only one set of keys to her room I stay up and then go pick her up from work most nights. Its a super nice bar though and while I wait for her to finish I get to chat to all the staff and get free drinks and Baklava :)

Disaster!!!

On my way to London I got held at the UK customs. Apparently I dont have sufficent proof of being able to support myself while in the UK! It takes them hours to decide this and most of this time I had to wait in a locked room being watched over by these gards who spent the whole time watching the soccer.

After being kept in UK customs I get picked up by the French police and then asically got walked to the edge of the fenced off customs area and get told in very bad english that Im now able to go! Of cours its late at night and there are no buses or anything - its a big industrial area. So i book myself into a hotel which is way over my budget but Im not keen on the idea of sleeping on the street!

The hotel is all self service, no staff and it took ne ages to get into the room. Luckily some nice builders helped me in because I was having so much trouble!

Anyway, i have booked qnother bus to london for tomorrow and printed bqnk stqtements etc.

Hostelle

So this is Hostelle, where I am currently staying. Its super clean and girly, as you can see.

I've met some cool people here who I've hung out with a fair bit.

I amsterdam

Canals

Me at the some of the many canals in Amsterdam.

The one that was taken at night is in the red light distraict. We coul'dn't take the photo in the direction of the actual red light area - earlier we got told about a tourist who took a photo of a girl in the district who then came out of the building and punched the tourist in the face and then smashed their camera up!

Amsterdam

After one 8 hour stop over in Melbourne and two stopovers in China I finally arrived in Amatardam! I ended up hanging out with a Girl from the UK who was stopping over in amstardam on her way to Chicago. After probably a few hours wandering around Vondrlpark we finally found my hostel. Yesterday I went on the free walking tour of the city. Which is just like in the pictures. Everyone on bikes riding around the many canals through the city. And yes the people arenas well dressed as in the blogs - people do actually take their pedigree dogs for walks around the city in cuffed jeans and brogues! Last night I went around the red light district where the windows are full of partially nude gitls who tap on the windows and pout alot. Not to mention the many coffee shops. I'm just about to head out for breakfast now as I slept through the free one :( Xx.