Paris and Spain

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Hi,

August was to be a big month for me in terms of travel as i had trips planned to Paris, Spain and Switzerland. 2 down and one to go...

We caught the Eurostar from London Waterloo thinking that this would be the most efficient and comfortable journey to Paris, as i had done this relatively short journey a few years back. Unfortunately, the train that departed before us was faulty and held up all the other trains on the line. This resulted in the journey which was meant to take 2 and a half hours turn into a 4 and a half hour marathon and had us stressing about whether we would make it in time to the Moulin Rouge which we had booked prior to leaving. We eventually arrived and checked into our hotel, quickly freshened up and took off. Fortunately enough we were staying relatively close to the Rouge. The show was meant to commence at 11, so we ran up to the entrance and asked the attendant if we had made it. He said 'we misseuir' and pointed us in the direction of the massive queue which stretched at least 200m down the road. Nonetheless, we made it in time and the 87 Euro tickets hadn't gone to waste.

The Moulin Rouge as i'm sure you've all heard of, is situated in the Red Light district of Pigalle and is identifiable by its red windmill on the roof. It has featured stars such as Frank Sinatra however on this particular night, no such famous stars were performing. There was however a mixture of dancing, comedy, singing and theatre and each guest received half a bottle of Champers. Acts included typical cabaret dancers, swimming with monster pythons, gymnasts who would balance another person on their head (no hands), a bloke that played the drums by repeatedly spitting and catching ping pong balls to create the drum sound (amazing) and some crowd interaction (which probably didn't need to be included in the show). All in all it was a very entertaining experience. On the Sunday we set up camp along the Champs Elysee along with 10 thousand or so other cycling enthusiasts to watch the soon to be drug cheat Floyd Landis win the tour and Robbie McEwen with the green jersey.

Had a full week at work before i took off to Spain. Well let me just say that i never thought so many things could possibly go wrong on a 10 day holiday...

Friday i left work at lunch time and caught the bus up to Stansted airport. Walked into the airport and checked the arrival/departure board only to see EZY3035 Barcelona - CANCELLED. I looked at Lee and he said to me 'what does that mean?' I didn't say anything, rather just stormed to the nearest check in desk to ask for an explanation. As a result of industrial action by Iberia personnel at Barcelona Airport today, the airport has been forced to close for the remainder of the day'. Due to these extraordinary circumstances easyJet has had to cancel all flights into and out of this airport. I was fuming! After lining up for close to an hour and a half, behind the 100 other passengers on the same flight, we managed to get to easyJets desk. They offered to fly us out on Sunday afternoon or alternatively we could book through another airline. Obviously British Airways had caught wind of this situation as they had increased the price of a seat to £508 (one way) compared to the £77 (return) we had paid with easyJet. Clearly this wasn't an option as easyJet were not prepared to pay the difference in price for the cost of a seat with any other airline, only prepared to refund our money. They did however offer to fly us to Ibiza later that night which sounded like a reasonable solution as we could catch a ferry across to Barcelona the next morning.

Anyway, we caught the flight to Ibiza and caught a taxi with another English couple who were in the same situation to Ibiza town. We searched all over for hours trying to find accommodation for the night, however were unsuccessful. Ibiza in the summer time is a crazy place to be particularly as it is among Londoners' favourite holiday destinations. The place was packed. We found an internet cafe and booked a couple of seats on the ferry at 9am the next morning which would have us in Barcelona by early afternoon and we could at least salvage some of our saturday, or so we thought. After that we again looked for accommodation for the next few hours to no avail and resigned to the fact that we we going to be sleeping on the streets that night. There were a number of bars still open so had a couple of brewskies and then ventured into a quiet courtyard to adjourn for the night. I managed to secure the Honeymoon suite in the courtyard (the marble park bench) whilst Lee got the concrete floor. Luckily for him he had ear plugs and managed to get a couple of hours sleep. He even slept through the noise of the street sweeper at 5am. I, however, didn't get a wink. I was more concerned about my luggage and passport. Great start to the holiday.

When the sun eventually popped up over the horizon, i kicked Lee in the kidneys (jealous that he was able to sleep) and we headed over to a cafe nearby for breakie and then ventured down to the port where the ferry was departing from. There were hundreds of people trying to get on this ferry, needless to say they were in a similar situation as us. We eventually boarded the ferry and set sail for Barcelona. The ferry itself was quite luxurious with leather seats, TV's and bar facilities. We were cruising along, i was drifting in and out of consciousness due to sleep deprivation, and we had travelled about 2 and a half hours towards our destination when all of a sudden the TV and lights shorted out. I wasn't complaining because it was not that easy watching Finding Nemo in Spanish. But then the sound of silence as the motors slowly shut down... Here we were like a cork in the ocean, No one knowing what was going. To make matters worse the air conditioning was also stuffed. After the first hour no announcements were made and this left the passengers very worried. After about an hour and a half there was an announcement (not that i understood it as it was in Spanish) so i just look at the Spaniard sitting across the isle and gave him the thumbs up with a cheesy grin and raised eyebrows, but he just look at me and shook his head with disappointment. The ferry had become extremely stuffy and uncomfortable and there were a few people who had passed out due to the heat, babies were screaming and the elderly were constantly being attended to. The one announcement that came across that i could understand was 'If there are any doctors on board please identify yourself to cabin crew'. We now knew we were in a bit of Barney (Rubble - Trouble). I had since found a crew member that spoke english so i was constantly asking her for updates, with whatever energy i had left. She advised that the ferry had lost power (no $hit) and that they were trying to resolve the problem. 4 hours had now past without a hint of movement and passengers were all over the place, most of them lying on their backs on the cabin floor as there was only limited space on deck for passengers to get fresh air. These scenes were really something. The only comfort we could find was in a glass of (not so cold) water which they were handing out. The crew member then advised that we were waiting for the next ferry to come through so they could tow us to Palma (which is nowhere near Barcelona). You should've heard the uproar when they announced that. At one stage they called for everyone to take their seats as they were about to hand out a meal, most people got very excited as we had lived off small packets of penuts, and potato chips for the past 9 hours. We were bermused when they came around with a single baguette no bigger than a cigarette packet. I think i would rather have preserved my energy and stayed on the floor. When it eventually arrived, after our 5 hours lost at sea, it circled us about a dozen times and then took off into the sunset. We then heard the familiar sound of motors running (or should i say motor), but no air-conditioning. As it turned out they managed to use the single auxiliary motor to get us to Barcelona but using a single engine to power a vessel that big was gonna take forever... We eventually arrived in Barcelona after midnight. You do the math - yes, correct - 15 hours in total. When we disembarked there were TV cameras and photographers all over the place, and i couldn't help but give the bird to one of them as he shoved the camera in my face. I had no energy left for interviews, beside the fact that i didn't speak spanish. We approached their service desk and advised that we had no accommodation for the night (which we did) so they put us up at a nice 4 star hotel with a superb buffet breakfast - hardly compensation for what we endured but definitely went someway to recovering from dehydration.

$hit this is gonna be a long email, coz i have only touched the tip of the iceberg... Best off printing out a copy and taking it along with you to one of your meetings at work.

We eventually started our 'holiday' on the Sunday afternoon as we checked into our hostel and looked around Les Rambla (main drag in Barcelona). It stretches from the Seaside to the Plaza de Catalunya, considered the centre of Barcelona. Les Rambla is an iconic street of the city where we found numerous trendy cafes and restaurants, and most notably street performers. But you can't help but feel a little eerie standing there watching these performers and i didn't for one minute take my hands out of pockets, in which i had my wallet. I was later told that this stretch is a renowned area for pickpockets and thieves. We checked out Barcelona beach and i couldn't believe my eyes when i walked down there. There were fried eggs everywhere! Went for a walk up and down the beach and couldn't help but stare in some instances, until we reached the eastern side of the beach where there seemed to be a severe lack of females, in fact, there wasn't one in sight... Lee just turned to me and said, 'lets get outta here', i asked why and then almost instinctively realised what we had walked into... It seems that the beach has its own sections for sexuality. It must have looked pretty dubious, us two blokes walking down that section. Oh well, you live and you learn. Barcelona has one of the most vibrant nightlife's, and it didn't fail to disappoint. We visited many clubs and bars and in most places each beer is served with a free shot of tequila, my two favourite drinks. That took care of the rest of the night for me. Ended up spending most of the night in a backpackers bar, where we met plenty of interesting people. The next day was much the same although we took an open bus tour around Barcelona. Probably the most interesting things we visited were the Barcelona FC Stadium, the Olympic village and plenty of Gaudi's magnificently designed buildings including the La Pedrera, Park Guell and most notably the Sagrada Familia which is a Roman Catholic Basilica which commenced construction in the 1880's and is yet to be completed. This thing is massive, however photography is never particularly attractive as there is always construction cranes. The detail of this basilica really can't be appreciated unless you visit it.

We caught the train from Barcelona to Valencia however as Lee was feeling a bit under the weather from the night before, this seemed to take longer than expected. We arrived late afternoon and checked into a hostel. Valencia is a very beautiful city and it was here that we decided that we would get stuck into some of the local cuisine. Paella and Sangrias. Paella is a Spanish rice and seafood dish, sort of reminded me of a risotto while a Sangria is an alcoholic drink made up of red wine, orange juice and i'm not too sure what else. Wasn't really my cup of tea though. We ended up going back to the hostel as we were stuffed from the activities the previous day. We went upstairs into the common room and ended up meeting a girl I went to high school with. As it turned out she and her friend were also heading to Ibiza the next day and Mallorca the same day as us. We caught up again with them in Ibiza and Mallorca. What are the chances?

Anyway, left the next day for Ibiza (again) and even though the plane was delayed by an hour, this didn't seem to bother us given what we had been through already. No problems with the accommodation in Ibiza either. I guess Ibiza is most famous for its partying and nightlife. The place is always buzzing and the clubs practically drag you by the arm to go in. We actually stayed in San Antonio which is considered to be the clubbing capital of the world. House music is not really my scene, in fact i have a very low tolerance for it, and the €45 entry fee was really tipping the scales. I think what topped it off was the round of drinks. Lee asked for two bottles of water (we were scared to ask for a beer) and handed her €20 and got €4 change. My jaw dropped. Meanwhile he stood there for a further couple of minutes waiting for the rest of his change. Unbelievable! We ended up staying til 6:30am and it wasn't all that bad of a night, and had to be done seems i was in Ibiza. The next day was spent on the beach and then after dinner went down to Cafe Del Mar and Cafe Mambo to experience the so called world famous sunset. It didn't fail to disappoint. Absolutely spectacular. Hopefully the photos work get through this time.

Caught a night ferry from Ibiza to Mallorca which was due to depart at 9pm however due to 'rough seas' didn't leave till 11. Being a somewhat sea-goer myself, I was standing there mouthing off about how calm it looked and that it was blowing 10 knots max! The service we were receiving from this ferry company left a lot to be desired. I asked her if she could call our hotel and advise them that we are going to be late because the ferry had been delayed. She said that they weren't able to, so i made a little bit of a scene and advised how i had been stuck on one of their ferries for 15 hours without food or air-conditioning and demanded to speak to her manager. She eventually made the call and they said that it was fine (liars) as they have a 24 hour reception. About half an hour into the trip i could now understand what they meant. The seas were as rough as guts and even though we were travelling on a catamaran, the size of the swell forced the vessel to get airborne. It was one of the roughest rides of my life (about 10 times worse than that day out at Frankston, Hutcho). There were a group of rowdy Poms at the front of the boat cheering on every time we crashed over a wave, they lasted about 10 minutes before each and every one of them were using their complimentary spew bag. It wasn't just them either, once again it was chaos on the Transmeditteranea Ferry Service, people were stumbling around all over the boat trying to make their way to the toilet. The bad news was that once one person got in it was a while before they came out. I felt sorry for the poor cleaning lady who was walking around with a mop bucket cleaning after people because they couldn't make it the bathroom/bin on time. It was an absolute Spewfest, kind of reminded me of a Berwick Blue Light Disco. Trying to sit there while people were were making the most horrendous sounds with the most putrid smells lingering through the air, not to mention the 4 hours of the ferry rocking back and forth, made for another tough trip. There weren't too many that managed to, but i was able to keep my dinner down. Fair effort under the circumstances. To be honest i'm not too sure which was the better ferry ride...

When we eventually reached Palma (Mallorca) and caught a bus down to Arenal which took us about an hour and a half. Why? Because the bus driver had hit a motorcyclist and they exchanged words and then eventually details for about 30 minutes. How well are we going? Well things were just about to get much worse. We rocked up at around 2am at our hostel and showed him that booking confirmation. He checked his computer and as he didn't hardly a word of English, he simply shook his head and shrugged his shoulders and said 'no, full, complete'. I pointed at my booking confirmation and to the deposit that had already been paid, to which i got the same reaction. After half an hour of arguing with a non english speaking person, it seemed pointless, so i just called him every name under the sun (not that he could understand) and left. It was like talking to a brick wall. As it was 2am in the morning we just wanted to get a good night sleep so we checked out the rest of the hotels in the area and there seemed to be one common response. They just laughed at me and said that they were booked out til September. We once again decided our fate was in the great outdoors under the stars on the beach, or should i say under the clouds that were slowly making their way over. We managed to secure a couple of sun beds a placed them under a straw beach umbrella. Once again Lee managed to get some shuteye but i was too worried about my belongings. At about 2.30am the first rain drop fell and a torrential storm came through and didn't stop til around midday the next day. Meanwhile we were wet, cold and homeless and our backpacks had absorbed the majority of the water leaking through the permeable umbrella. All i had was shorts, singlet and a towel keeping me from the rain. The sun beds managed to catch a pool of water, so lying down seemed pointless. We stood under these somewhat permeable umbrellas for close to 4 hours while the heavens unleashed everything they had. It was one of the worst nights of my life, but i have to admit even though we were going through this, and everything that had happened before we still managed to keep our spirits high and laugh about the situation. Maybe were were just delirious? I think that might be it. It was particularly funny when, after Lee's backpack had become soaked, that he found the waterproof cover tucked away in one of the zip up pockets - IDIOT! Early that morning we decided to make a run for it and try to find a cafe or something, but most were closed. We saw a sign which said 24 hour internet cafe and thought 'perfect' only for it to be closed... 24 hours??? We found a cafe at about 7 in the morning and then went back to the internet cafe to waste sometime. We figured that if we waited til midday we might be able to get a room as people might be checking out from hotels. We were lucky enough to do so and slept til 5 in the arvo. Then we had to rush to get back to Palma as we had arranged to meet our 'travelling buddies' from Valencia for dinner.

Anyway caught the bus back (without any incidents) and didn't know where we were going. We were already half an hour late and they probably thought we had stood them up because we couldn't contact them. The bus was at the end of its route and pulled up behind a parked car. I got out of the bus and walked between the bus and parked car. I turned around to see if Lee was following, when all of a sudden i just felt this sharp pain on the side of my knee. The car in front of the bus had reversed straight back into me. I hobbled onto the footpath while she (stupid women drivers) popped her head out of the window and was saying something to me in Spanish, to which i was unable to interpret. I'm not sure if she was yelling at me or seeing if i was alright. I didn't know too many spanish words but i think the word 'Gracius' came out and I waved her off. She couldn't get out of there fast enough. Meanwhile Lee found this concerning for the first 2 seconds and laughed his head off for the next 20 minutes whilst taking photos of me. Good bloke! He'll get his back. I hobbled around for a while but there wasn't any serious damage, just a bit of bruising. We eventually found where we had to go after circling it ten times and ended the night with a great big feast of curry and a few beers before we flew back to London the next day - incident free.

So there you have it - the holiday from hell. Can't wait for Switzerland, i'll probably get stabbed with a Swiss Army Knife?

On a brighter note, whilst being back in London i managed to attend the Middlesex 7's rugby tournament in Twickenham. My brother-in-law had arranged for a few of us guys to attend and managed to sneak us all into the corporate/hospitality box. Need i say more?

Last Saturday we travelled out to Upton Park to see the Hammers in their first game of the 2006/7 season. They were playing Charlton, who we watched the corresponding game last season. The Hammers won comfortably 3-1 after being 1-0 down. Unlike last season in which the result was 0-0, it was good to see some goals. But more importantly, Man U are sitting on top of the premiership ladder after a 5-1 thumping of Fulham, and hopefully will give Chelsea a run for their money (and we all know they have plenty of that!) this season. Have been desperately trying to get tickets to see Man U but we are not having much luck there.

Catch ya

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Photos

Louvre at Night
Thought i saw Tom Hanks ran past me at one stage, he was being chased by an albino monk.

Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower looks 10 times better at night time.

Moulin Rouge
Just a few people waiting to get in to see the show. Well worth the €87 though.

Champs Elysee
Many lined the streets of the Champs Elysee to see the final few laps of the tour. Plenty of support for Robbie as well.

Scorching temperatures
The 15 hours on the ferry took its toll on most passengers - as you can see here, people were just so lithargic they just wanted to collapse.

The luxurious park bench
Our first nights accommodation in Ibiza was slightly uncomfortable. EasyJet will be hearing about this!

La Pedrera (Casa Mila)
Designed by Antoni Gaudí and built in 1905, the building does not have any straight lines. This building seems to break our understanding of conventional architecture.

Cafe Del Mar
One of the most spectacular places i have been to - Memorable sunsets and chill out music.

Cafe Del Mar Sunset
Thousands flock to this side of the island to watch the sun go down, and i can see why.

Cafe Del Mar (2)
I think i was posing in this one... Not a bad sunset either. (Just for the admin girls)

Cafe Del Mar Sunset (3)
I seriously have about 30 shots of the sunset. I think i am obsessed. Just trying to get the perfect screen saver.

Straw Umbrella
Mallorca - 1000 Star accommodation (not that we could see them), comes with and free air-conditioning and panoramic ocean views.

Rain?
The weather man predicted that there would be a chance of a shower that night - looks like it was a little more than a shower!

Sara
Anyone remember Sara from St. Johns? What are the chances?

Hammers
Attending our second game at Upton Park