Blogs from Maidstone, Kent, England, United Kingdom, Europe

All that travelling has been exhausting. i decided to catch up on my zzzzs before my next adventures... read more

what to pack? what to pack?? t-shirts - check shoes - check suncream - check ooo- and a malaria net to sleep in too do i need one pair of pjs or two?? ... read more

This year World Cup tourists were warned that travelling in South Africa was going to be extremely challenging. It was essential to book accommodation and transport in advance and, according to the locals, if you got a local minibus taxi then you'd lose your clothes and probably your life. When you spend many months travelling, however, you develop a trust in people and become a reasonable judge of the risks offered by your surroundings. And so there I was, on 9th June, in a well-driven minibus heading towards Rustenburg without any accommodation or transport booked for my entire stay in South Africa. Just me and my Chinese army-issue rucksack. Despite having planned the next month for years, I had changed my plans at the last minute, persuaded by friends to sell my tickets to games involving ... read more

What started as a glorious idea to buy a landrover and travel overland to the South Africa 2010 World Cup with a bunch of mates undertaking copious amounts of charity work has since become what it is: me (and no mates) travelling by any means (landrovers less likely) to the WC (World Cup, not toilet) with a focus on survival and not on charity work (although you never know). One thing has come to fruition: I'll be meeting my mates, Walshy and Alex, in SA, and we'll be attending three matches together. Holland v Denmark in Johannesburg, Slovakia v Paraguay (go on Roque!) in Bloemfontein and Nigeria v South Korea in Durban. The lads will then return to their homes (England and Japan, respectively) and I'll travel on to Cape Town for the second round match ... read more

I'm trying to 'upload' photos.... read more

Sitting in the departure lounge at Barcelona airport I carefully and patiently unravelled the skin of my clementine. I have become quite the master of the single peel/combined twirl pirouette technique - Fruit in one hand, thumb making it’s away around it anti-clockwise as the turning fruit spins in my hand in a clockwise direction. If clementine peeling was a sport, I would be high up in its rankings! It had just been announced that the flight to London would be delayed for 90 minutes; this gave me an additional hour to sit and twiddle my thumbs (or peel and eat the supply of fruit in my bag). It also has given me a chance to reflect on my time here in Spain. I really did enjoy the challenge of speaking Spanish again for the two ... read more