13th February '09: Groan. We’re parked on loading bays of a warehouse on Middelmolenlaan, a street utterly devoid of character. It’s drizzly and cold, the sort of weather that makes you tuck jumper into jeans without caring a jot about looking foolish. The warehouse is empty until the containers of equipment for AC/DC arrive tomorrow. This is the type of place, in short, that proper lorry drivers go. Incidentally, is it worth describing places any more? I recently read an article on the future of travel writing that debated this topic. In Eric Newby's day, for example, we cou [View Full Entry]

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11th February '09: Anybody who puts a tea break in the middle of a concert is a star in my book. There’s nothing worse than needing the loo an hour into a show, and having to stand there like a lemon, crossing your legs.. The first half closes with; 'we don’t need another hero..', and “pyro”, dangerous stuff mere mortals don’t understand. The pyrotechnic boys are clothed in mystery, emitting lethal-sounding bangs and producing propane flames on stage. The fire looks so impressive that I sometimes wonder if I forgot to turn off the iron backstage. Blimey, the ba [View Full Entry]

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Except there were no real hills in Antwerp... And I did not see an ant... Mosquitoes yes... The trip to Antwerp nearly wasnt.. After catching the Eurostar to Brussels, we proceeded to find the connecting to Antwerp, after much confusion we were ushered onto a train, only to be put in the first class cabin. We did not have first class tickets so I jumped off the train to have a better look.. Next thing I know the bells are ringing, Chris is screaming at me and the train was about to leave! Luckily, I managed to jump back onto the [View Full Entry]

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From Shell: We were greeted in Amsterdam by Steve and things have got even better from there. Got into Holland at 10am, chatted with Steve and his mate Jan until the jet lag caught up, and then had a nanny nap while they went shopping for us - thanks guys. This meant that we then stayed up way too late but had a great dinner with Zeynep, Kevin and Jan. Next day we slept through our hangovers and met Marja's dad Aulis at the airport and then all drove to Antwerp in Belgium. Steve pre booked an apartment for us and [View Full Entry]

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As some of you may already know I’ve actually just spent the 6-7 weeks camping out at a place in Antwerp (124 bed hostel). Two things lead me to this interesting situation, the first was a phone call whilst I was in Holland and the second was I needed a rest from travelling. Allow me to explain….. You see if you ever get the wonderful opportunity to go travelling for an extended period of time you’ll soon realise moving around all the time, exploring new places and watching your back when you’re travelling solo can be very tiring…. I know this [View Full Entry]

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Dias 25 a 29 - Cheguei a Gent sem muitas informações sobre o endereço de meu anfitrião. Ele apenas havia me dado o nome de sua rua e seu telefone. Poderia ser suficiente, não houvesse a bateria do meu celular terminando sem que fosse possível carregá-lo, já que meu carregador irlandês não mais se adaptava às tomadas locais. Chovia bastante e ninguém conhecia a rua. Comecei uma busca por um cartão telefônico. Quase ninguém mais vende cartões telefônicos. Quando consegui encontrar um cartão, entendi o porquê. Quase não existem mais telefones públicos na Bélgica. E, claro, você só percebe isso qu [View Full Entry]

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Home! We're home, arrived safely etc. So all is good, we've been pretty busy actually. But don't lose track of this blog because I'll try to add more photo's and videos. The internet connections in Thailand and Cambodia didn't allow us to upload long videos. But now that we're home we can upload them. I'm at work now ... oh how I miss Thailand =) [View Full Entry]

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Martin and I were fortunate to be in Antwerp for the 2nd Indian Customers vs RTD cricket match. A couple of training sessions before the day meant we actually got to touch a cricket ball and for me, a couple of swings of a cricket bat in the nets... Despite my duck, I managed not to let any balls pass me when fielding, but alas, didn't get to show them my Sandy's special flipper as I didn't get to bowl. At least I faced a ball though, Martin padded up and his batting partner faced three balls and was then out. [View Full Entry]

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Na 7 jaar huwelijk hebben we al meerdere avonturen met elkaar mogen delen. Sommige mooier dan andere, maar elke dag ben ik gelukkig om deze te delen met Erik, mijn geliefde echtgenoot. Elke dag ben ik dankbaar! Want het leven kan soms een waar gevecht worden, als je niet oppast. Wij hebben onze huwelijksverjaardag op een orginele manier gevierd, over meerdere dagen. We begonnen met onze nieuwe moto! Eindelijk heb ik afscheid genomen van mijn kawasaki ZR7. Hij heeft me overal gebracht, waar ik wou. Zelfs op de ongelukkige dag van mijn ongeval, kwam ik nog waar ik naar toe wou, [View Full Entry]

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23rd January: Incessant, driving rain, and a filthy windscreen, hamper progress to Antwerp. That, and searching diesel stations round Calais for the elusive heavy truck road tax needed for Belgium. I'm now back on the Tina Turner tour European leg - no White Cliffs of Dover again, for me, until early April. Bed at 3am. At 6.35, outside my truck window, a drunken colleague on this twenty-truck tour holds a loud, slurred, incoherent conversation. Then “Namibian Colin”, who shall feature regularly in this blog, accidentally blows his airhorn at 9 o'clock. When doing his daily sit- [View Full Entry]

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