My Final Entry....:(

---

Well then.

I have come to the end of my travels. Thought I would do one last entry just to let you know what I have been up to since Barcelona.

Well I made my way north to San Sebastian which is a lovely little beach side town on the coast of Spain. Lovely that is, if it werent for the hideous weather! Ok so this will be the last time I will mention it...maybe. You see, you really need to understand how bad it was! Middle of European Summer and it rained for 6 days! Agh...not happy Jan!

Anyhoo, I had just spent an hour the day before handwashing all my gear in the bath in Barcelona and had a white jacket I bought in Germany cause it was freezing! I stored some things I had washed in my pillow case cause I had no more room and when I went to run over from the train station to the bus station it had started pouring down. I was already cranky cause I had missed the train earlier that day and had spent 3 hours sitting around the train station which had nothing to do! My shoulders were sore from carrying my backpack and I was just not having a good day! Then I dropped my pillow into a puddle and everything I had painstakingly washed was now rain water dirty. I almost cried I tell you! I had to get Rachel to check the internet for me cause there wasnt even internet access, just so I could work out where the bloody bus stop was cause I'd already been sent on a wild goose chase! A day I would rather forget!

I got there on the bus, which was the scariest bus ride of my life. It was about 7 hours and we stopped along the way in at this truck stop which was like something out of a movie! In the middle of no where, surrounded by rock (see photo) and had all these seedy people smoking at a bar, had a meals area with a juke box and was just surreal! I couldnt understand a word the bus driver said about how long we were stopping for and there were no other English people around so I quickly grabbed a drink and went and sat by the bus! Just as well cause he certainly didnt do a head count when we got back on and left! It was strange cause as we were driving off, I was thinking to myself, I am in the middle of I dont even no where, on a bus where no one speaks english on the other side of the world!

So I was there a couple of days and just walked around the town and had drinks with the people in the hostel I was staying at. It was also the final night of a week long festival the night I arrived so there was an international fireworks competition on! I got there just intime to see Valencia and China square off! Walked around the shops etc and then it was time to head to Biarritz in France for my week of surfing.

The shuttle came and picked 4 of us girls up and we made the journey from Spain to France which was only an hour or so and on the way it started raining so hard, we couldnt see out the window and the 2 boys that had picked us up were laughing so hard because they just couldnt believe the weather and said it had been like that for the past 4 days! So we got to campsite and dropped our stuff off into our tents...(hmm) and then 4 of us headed back into town to find an ATM. We decided on the way to go to McDonalds and wasn't that a mistake!

I have never been in a queue for so long for FAST food. just over 15 minutes in my line and I still wasnt served cause my guy went missing for about 10 minutes. I reckon he was off peeling more potatoes for the fries or something. I had to get the other girl who was with me in the next line to get it for me. Then the 2 boys who had driven us got back and stood in queue too so we were there at Maccas for almost an hour! We thought they were going to send out a search party for us! I wont complain (too much) now about the service here!

Yeah so rain rain and more rain was the deal for our learn to surf trip. We stayed in the cook tent or our own tents most of the time and went up to the bar occassionaly!

One day, the day before I left, it finally stopped raining and we were able to go surfing! We headed out at about 4pm a bit further north to a place called Tarnos where the waves werent exactly beginner waves! After a 20 minute lesson during which I only managed to get up on my board once (on the sand still!) we were sent off to the water. I was with 3 Irish girls who all jumped in but I have a massive fear of whitewash so was kind of standing at the edge waiting for a break in the waves. After a few minutes Josh, my instructor came running down saying what are you doing? I said whitewash, I cant go in. So in between laughing he managed to talk me into going in when there was a break in the waves. He said don't try and stand up out there, just have a paddle around out the back and get used to being on the board etc. So I paddle out through the debris (cause the rain had polluted all the beaches and there was a forest of debris in there-nice)! and get out to the back where things are a little calmer but not much!

Then I see it coming. Massive wave that looks like it is going to break right on top of me. I was struggling just to stay on my board let alone get out of the way so it hit me at full force and I went under. Thought I was never going to see the sky again! Also thought my board was going to take me out cause I lost that from my grip but was still attached to my ankle.

I finally got up to the surface and one of the Itrish girls had also been taken out not far from me, so we were both gasping for air when we both looked up and saw another one coming in too quick for us to move so we were dumped again. But far worse this time, my board whacked me, a tree branch whacked me and I hit the bottom too hard for my liking! So once I got back up from that I was exhausted and paddled as quick as I could back to shore, which was not very quick cause the waves were tossing us about!

I dragged myself onto shore like Tom Hanks in that movie and sat on my board and looked down to see my bikini top had come off almost completely and I was flashing who ever was nearby!

After pulling the sticks out of our hair, myself and Irish were sucking in the air for about 5minutes and Josh comes over, how did you go? I think the look on my face said it all and he said, Ok, well maybe this wasnt the right day for you girls to go out...no shit shirlock. (I'm trying not to swear too much, mum told me there was too much swearing & drinking in the others to print off for my grandma, so I'll try tone it down!!)

So that was pretty much the end of my surfing experience! There was no way I wanted to get back in after that! Apart from the fact the boys were trying to tell us we would get cancer from the water pollution..nice!

I just sunbaked and got sunburnt as all pasty tourists do instead! Howver I am a nice shade of brown now which should last another 3 whole days!!

That was the only day it was good enough to go to the beach! Reckon they have never seen a summer like it! And in the South of Spain, where I was meant to go, it was getting up to 40 degrees AGH!

Shoulda, woulda, coulda and all that! But I still had a good time with the girls from my other tour! Headed back to London after that and stayed at a hotel near heathrow so I didnt have to muck around getting to the airport. Had a long flight to Bangkok where I thought they were going to call security on me after arguing with the guys about what I could and couldnt take back to Australia! "I do not have to talk to you about this anymore" he says and walked off on me!

Any-hoo, got back late last night and slept well, after forcing myself to stay awake so I could sleep normal Melbourne time! Weather is magnificent, we should sent it back to France!

So that's me done. Had a ball but glad to be back. Got the rest of the week off, then it's back to reality!

xxLauren

---

Photos

Wind Farm in the middle of Spain
Took this one on my bus ride, there were heaps of wind farms and it just looked really cool with the sky behind

BLL sign in Barcelona
I knew I'd have to see where I work doing there thing somewhere else in the world! This was in the main square in Barcelona and it was out the front of a bank

Gaudi- Barcelona
Strange Man!!

Truck Stop...not really sure where
Middle of Spain somewhere!!

View from my tent
Campsite- Biarritz France