At Barclays we’ve got a regular Tuesday lunchtime 5 a-side slot, and quite a few of the players, (not myself obviously!), play to a very high standard. Thus whenin the springtime Barcalsy began to advertise their “Global 5 a-side football tournament” with a grand final to be played at the Emirates tadium we pricked up our ears! To get through to the grand final you had to come in the top 2 at one of the six regional finals. Twelve British based teams would make it through to the Emirates from the heats,to be joined by a further twelve team which had qualified from the participating countries around the world which included South Africa, Spain, Italy, Tanzania, Portugal and Ireland. But first we had to qualify, and a stroke of managerial genius from Terry Knappet ... read more

The Baso boys set off on their second foreign adventure of 2007 - this time to Berlin. After the successes of Valencia we felt like veterans of this international long weekend scene, and despite the flight being at an eye-wateringly early 6.30a.m., we all managed to get on the road, parked up at the airport and checked in with the minimum of fuss. The short flight soon passed and Captain Kangaroo bounced us to the gate. Unlike Valencia, we were able to depart the aircraft pretty sharpish and were soon marvelling at the wonderous efficiency of German public transport as we took the underground into town towards the “Heart of Gold” hostel which would be our home for the next 3 days. Our early arrival meant that we couldn’t check in, so we dumped our ... read more

Feeling the January blues after a fun old Christmas and New Year, the Baso boys were chomping at the bit when Shaun twirled his mighty mullet in the direction of a long weekend away in February to warmer, more cultural climes. Team G.E.L, (don’t ask!), was soon formed and cheap flights, and a cheap, but thanks to a first-hand recommendation from the legendary Sarah Lloyd, but brilliant hostel were all booked. All that was left was to find our passports and set the alarms - the 3a.m. start was not going to be pleasant!! Heavy snowfall on the day before we were supposed to leave looked a little ominous, but by the time we had to leave the weather was completely clear, and very much on the nippy side! Nug seemed to have got a little ... read more

Leaving the Ecuadorian mainland bound for the Galapagos Islands, I was hugely excited. With my 8 day live aboard cruise around the islands already booked, all that was left for me was to enjoy what would surely be one of the most incredible experiences of my life, as well as being a great way to bring the curtain down on what had been a fantastic 9 months of travel through Latin America. Rather than go for a blow by blow account of each day, I’ve tried to summarize the essence of the trip and mentioned some of the highlights - hopefully letting the pictures do more of the talking. The cruise was a “live-aboard” trip. Therefore, we generally spent the days exploring the various islands on foot - arriving through a combination of dry-landing (when we ... read more

The colonial city of Arequipa stands in pleasant valley about 1,000 km south-east of Lima. It is undisputedly the commercial centre of southern Peru, and its people are known to have a general resentment towards the capital, attempting at every opportunity to refute the belief that everything in Peru is run from Lima. Thus stories abound about how dirty, dangerous, uncultured e.t.c. the capital is, and the locals seemed delighted when I told them that I was planning only to view Lima’s bus station!! Chris, Matt and I spent our first day exploring Arequipa, and visited the “Museo Santuarios Andinos”, home to the so-called “Juanita” or “the ice maiden”. Juanita was discovered on the top of Mount Ampato near Arequipa in 1995 by Johan Reinhard. She is believed to have been aged between 12 and 14 ... read more