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Published: November 25th 2005
First of all an apology to everyone who knows me who I have annoyed over the past 8 or so months with daily reminders of how many, days, hours and minutes it is till I leave.
If you know me well, you will know that to do this has always been a dream of mine.
Well as I was coming to watch the might Wanderes play in Europe for the first time I thought I might as well test out this er Travelblog thingy. This is how I'm going to annoy you all while I'm away!!
First if you ever get the crazy idea to do an overnight at stansted airport.... then don't! It seemed like a good idea at the time, you know, save a bit of cash etc. When I got to stansted, the bar was shut :-( and we couldn't check in till 4.30am to get past the security where wetherspoons awaited!!! So after having something to eat, it was find somewhere to sleep. Now I know hard surfaces are meant to be good for you...... there not!! (Tony thankyou for the loan of the PSP)
Reminder for when I get home to get a mat I can take with me as I better get used to it!
Anyhow managed to get a couple of hours kip on plane, although I'm not sure the rest of the plane got any with me snoring my head off!
Well this was it my first experience of travelling alone in a foreign place, I have to say that even this short trip has been an eye opener. I thought I might struggle being on my own with no one to talk too but between trying to find where I was staying and shooing away pesky taxi drivers I didn't seem to think about it.
Porto's centre where I stayed has a lot of history to it and you can still see the old city walls, a stark contrast from the area you travel through from the airport. Graffitti everywhere! (sorry no photo's as didn't take my digi cam!) The city was also built on a hill - what where these people thinkin!! I don't do hills I live in St Annes!!! It was great walking down to the river front but imagine having to walk up once you've had a few social ones, all I can say is thank god for taxis!
Well when your on your own at a football match your not really on your own as there are another 4000 people with the same common bond. It wasn't long before I was in a group of 10 lads, One or Two I'd met before having a social one by the river in the sunshine. Tales told of Bolton and Rangers fans clashing the night before. Something to with Rangers losing I think. But no signs of any trouble as yet. We made are way to Guimareas via Portugal's excellent train system (It's like travelling on British Rail but worse). A very traditional old town with a massive square where the Barmy Army have taken resdenice. First sign of trouble when a very (knobbler like) drunk tries to take on a couple of lads only to be restrained and then lead away by his better half to cheers and laughing from the crowd. They have a fountain in the middle of the square which one or two people end up in. Someone puts some washing up liquid in and we move on to near the stadium!
I get split up from the group I'm with, but not to worry I do what all good English men do. I spot an attractive girl working in an opticans and go if for a chat and while I'm there I get a free eye test!! It turns out that my eyes are ok and she was attactive, at least I know the beer goggles haven't taken affect yet!
I make my way to the stadium. My seat is awesome, 2nd tier behind the goal 3 rows from the front! I then proceed to watch 45mins of abolute rubbish. I have a couple more beers until I find out it's low alcohol. Apparently they don't give the strong stuff to English fans in case it starts a riot. Well they shouldn't give us the low alcohol stuff either because if the fans find out there whould be more than a riot!! Well the game contniues and to be honest it wasn't the greatest game ever. They score, is it all over? Then the legend that is Big Sam makes an inspired move, sub Vaz Te scores with his first touch and what a first touch! It makes the whole trip worthwhile. The crowd go wild so the local police decide to take action and lob tear gas into the lower tier and get out the batons for a bit of face smashing. The fans quite sensibly back away! 1-1 final result.
I meet up with a mate who's had a bit of a falling out with his posse and we try to leave the ground. The police have let some people out but then shut the doors. This doesn't go down well with the fans and as they push forward the police get out their weapon of choice for some more face bashing. This time the fans aren't backing down and I think there really is going to be a riot. This time the police backdown and allow us out of the ground. If you reading this, don't think that all the trouble was casued by the fans. The police seemed to take great pleasure in doing a bit of fan bashing!
We walk back up to the train station past the fountain that now looks like and Ibiza foam party! They've laid on a train at 11 for the fans going back to Porto. So we get a couple of cans from the Train shop. Super Bock 5.6%!a(MISSING)t 1 euro can, I've been paying 3 euros for a pint of the stuff didn't realise it was that strength!
Back in Porto we head down to the River another fountain has been turned into a foam party (think we should do the one at Joya) We can't get into the bars as Rangers fans have taken most of them over and the police want to keep us apart I assume to avoid a repeat perfomance of Wednesday night. We walk into a very small (group of 10 us filled the place) bar with a couple of locals in it. The lady wanted to shut it. But we are having none of it and she serves us. I've now had enough as I'm serioulsy lacking some sleep and Super Bock has taken over. I head up to my hotel..... Taxi or Walk? I'll let you guess.
Well thats all from Porto as I've done nowt today but write this. I plan to do somthing similar with each part of my trip so you should get an update every couple of days or so while I'm away. Well it's off to the Airport in a few hours and then onto stansted for another night on the floor. See you all soon!
Ps. it's only fair I do it one more time. 7 days or 190 hours or 11400mins till I fly. :-)
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sean
non-member comment
words
well done bob, really didn't know that you knew that many words!!! travelblog trial a success.