Not Another Tom !

21.7 Barcelona





Jenni n Max

So I wake up in Aino+Raki+Jenni’s appartment after partying till 6 am. Still drunk
and half asleep, I think I am sleeping next to Tom (in my mind I guess I’m still in England), and hug him from behind and start kissing ”Tom’s” back. Then I realize – wait a minute... I’m sleeping next to Aino...  hahahah wtf. When she woke up I told her about my little misunderstanding.. failure :’D

Because I had decided to use at least 5€  or preferably 10€ less of my day budget from now on, so that I wouldn’t have to save so much for x-mas, I only had 10 euros left (excluding the hostel money). I had to be a little creative and resort  my not-so-creative-pretty-standard-breakfast/lunch aka three bananas for 80 cents. Felt like backapcking again (after eating all those fancy dinners at Tom’s uncle’s place)... such a welcomed feeling ! I’ve been spending too much money anyways on shit I don’t need.



So me, Raki and Aino went to the beach (Jenni stayed behind with Max, the girls' Spannish mate) and Raki had a slightly embarrassing moment which will fortunately for her not be discussed in this blog.. ! :D It was my first time in five months  to be at the beach – the last time was in Morocco and trust me, the beaches are nothing near pleasant. The beaches are  heartbreakingly full of small chips of plastic and rubbish everywhere. It was truly overwhelming to surf on those beaches. I wish people would understand to take better care of our planet. The plastic bits reminded me of the picture I saw in the Sydney Aquarium demonstrating how a plastic wrapper is the most dangerous thing in the world - if thrown into the ground instead of a bin - since it will result in killing a lot of marine animals with its domino effect.



Anyways, back to the Barcelonetta Beach: it was nothing special, reminded me kind of the beach in St. Kilda, Melbourne. People who have been there know what I’m talking about.  It’s a shit beach. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it but  there’s heaps of better beaches compared to it. But anyhoo, I was just glad to be back on a beach again <3 I’m pretty chocked cause when I went out for a swim, I managed to loose my anklet aka ”jinklet” form Berlin.. :( My only souvenier from there (except Tom’s shirt hahahhaa).



I continued reading the book Tom had given me: The Marching Powder by Rusty Young. I can’t remember if I’ve written about this book, but it’s about Tom McFadden, a cocaine smuggler, who got arrested and locked up in the infamous San Pedro prison in Bolivia. What is special about this prison is that everything and i mean EVERYTHING costs there. The inmates have to pay for everything from food to a prison cell. The Prison is divided in five or was it six sections and all the wealthy business men and politicians live in the best sections with their wives and kids. These cells include a kitchen, their own bathroom, a tv, and other possessions the inmate would like to have. Where as ,the worst sections are so dangerous that they’re should not be entered at night. Since everything costs money, the inmates need a source of income, and believe it or not, they continue doing inside what they do best: make cocaine. Apparently the best cocaine in the world comes out of San Pedro prison.

Anyways, it is a f*cking good book, went straight to my top reads straight away. I recommend it to everyone. And the best thing is, it is  a TRUE STORY.



After the beach i sussed out on google maps where my hostel was and although Jenni was trying to convince me to take a 4 euro taxi there, I figured that hey, if I am backpacking, I should start behaving like one and hold onto my pennies :D So I walked to my hostel and loved the feeling of having to ask directions in my poor Spannish and not being quite sure how I’d reach my hostel. See, it is my basic strategy: I NEVER can be bothered to really look at the directions that thoroughly. I’ll just write the street name down and see what direction I have to go in  to get the sense of going the right way. Then i’ll just start walking staright and every once in a while ask for directions. So I have literally NO IDEA what so ever, how to get to my hostel/station/any place ever at all. I just like to throw myself to the mercy of the locals! Best thing eva. As I was walking to my hostel I realized it was the first time I had been alone for quite some time now ! Before that I had been hanging with the girls, with Dan and Mia, I also visited Edwina, stayed with Tom for 5 days, and before that 4 days with Melanie in Amsterdam (although I did do a day trip alone to Utrecht) + other people before this. So it felt really nice to be alone  :)

When I got to my room I started talking to this guy in my room and after a while I asked him where he was from ”Australia” ”oh sweet, and what’s your name?” ”Tom” ”NOOOOOO!!!!!”. I remember just thinking ”fucking hell, not again :D”. It was a bit hilarious to see the expression on his face.. he was like ”umm... what’s the matter... :s” ”ohijustseemtohavethistingwithtomsfromaustralia, never mind :D”. Luckily he was leaving the next morning so I didn’t have to worry about falling in love with him HAH ! :D



I also did my first share of grocery shopping in a long time... once again, I welcomed the feeling of backpacking ! I was super stoked when I was at Carrefour since I noticed that God’s gift to humanity aka a bottle of wine was only 1,49€ / bottle... oh yes. The thought of a nice meal (ravioli and almost ready salad...) with a glass of red wine seemed very tempting so I bought a bottle for myself to enjoy. But when returning home, I discovered that I had no knowledge nor skills of how to pull out the cork. So I asked this 40-year-old guy to help me open it and he did , as well as share some pretty relevant things about opening the bottle: ”it might help if you take the wrapper off ;)”. Oh hi, I have blonde hair.

I was pleased that I managed to spend only 10 euros that day (+hostel) but I was tying to figure out whether I should go to the beach and drink some wine with Jenni, Aino and Raki and some Californian guys or just stay home and read my book + update my blog + get a good nights rest and wake up early tomo to go on the walking tour. Called the girls but they were too tired to leave their flat so I went out with Darcy, this Aussie kid from my room. We went to his mate’s hostel which was so much nigger than ours. It was pretty lively and the bar was packed and full of lets-get-the-backpackers-drunk-games. We played flipcup and loved how everyone was chanting my fav games starting theme song :D Left home half past one when the others were going to a bar. I figured I didn’t want to go sit in a cocktail lounge (wtf who goes there?) reeking of beer (thanks for the bartender’s stupid let’s-pour-beer-straight-from-the-jugs-into-girls-mouths = immediate fail). Came home and checked my hostel reservation online and talked to this handsome ICELANDIC (!!! siiiick, how rare!) guy. His name was Ari... Just like Finnish !

Barcelona Tourist Hell - Killing Spree Mood

20.7 First day in Barcelona



After getting ready we walked to the train station of Salou with Mia and her boyfriend, Dan. Things didn't go as smoothly as planned, since Mia's card got stuck into the ticket vending machine. I was pretty proud of myself that I managed to explain the situation to the counter lady with my basic Spannish (only had to look up ATM = cajero automático). She didn't look suprised at all and calmly proceeded into opening the machine for us and getting Mia's Visa Electron out with the tickets she had purchased. I guess we weren't the only ones who's card had got sucked into that evil machine.



When we arrived to Barcelona, the first thing I wanted to do is go to Maccas for their free Wifi so I could book a hostel and transfer some money in my bank account. Mia and Dan left to eat and gve me Dan's mobile so I could call them when I was ready. Never have I EVER seen a McDonald's so packed. They also had these cool self use machines that you could use to speed up the process. All you had to do is tap on the items you wanted to buy on the touch screen and insert your debit/credit card in. Pretty sweet. I figured I didn't have to buy anything since the Maccas was too packed for anyone to notice whether you were an actual customer. And damn did it take long to look for an hostel... Everything was booked, or only partially available or expensive az... Took me an hour but finally I managed to suss that shit out with the exception of having to call Jenni, one of our mates who was staying and renting a flat in Barcelona for a couple of weeks with Aino and Raki. I called them to ask whether it was ok if I would crash at their place for tonight, since all the (cheap/near-by) hostels were booked. I figured I should really start booking hostels in before hand but didn't like the sound of that.. Planning too much ahead just makes the trip loose all its sense of adventure!



When I finally met Mia and Dan after that long hour I was in a bad mood. I was fucking starving since I hadn't eaten any brekkie and my bags were heavy az. Jenni had said that they weren't home atm so I couldn't go chuck my bags at their place. I wanted to go find a place where I could leave my bags but sheepishly just followed Mia and Dan. What made matters worse and got me even more in a killing-spree-kinda-mood was Barcelona's most famous, busiest and expensive street - the fucking La Rambla and all its thousands of tourists. Total tourist hell. From that moment on I came to hate the esplanade and did everything to avoid it. I know I was probably not the most fun person to hang around with the mentality I had that morning and I apologized to Mia and Dan if I was acting like a bitch. I was just really hungry and my bags were killing me. Dan was a babe and volunteered to carry my other bag (the smaller, lighter one yet which is the one that kills your shoulders) which made my morning a lot better :)

We wanted to go for a drink somewhere to celebrate us being in Barcelona and so we wondered away from La Rambla to the smaller streets. Somehow we found ourselves in a sex shop and I completely forgot my hunger and the pain my shoulders were in because we were just having too much of a laugh about the items that store had to offer. When we eventually sat down to a bar Dan bought us a drink each and we just enjoyed ourselves. We decided to make our own tapas picnic at some bar and so we went to buy a bottle of white and a bottle of red along with some olives, chorizo and what not. We found this grass area in the harbor and made a nice picnic. Since I was carrying all my shit around, I had sarong for us to sit on and my speakers ! That moment was truely just enjoying life and I began to forgot how much of in a bad mood I had been in :)



We called Aino and she promised we could come and chuck my shit at their place. Their flat was only a minute walk away from the Barceloneta beach and so it wouldn't take her long to come and let us in. After leaving my bags in the girl's apartment, we left to meet Raki and Jenni at the beach and get something to eat. Some how during that one minute walk we managed to loose Mia and Dan (assumingly they didn't see us turn on the corner) so it was just us four sitting at the beach bar. It was really nice to see the girls :) We got overpriced sandwiches and went to the grocerie store to by some booze. I was happy with my under two euro red wine:D While we were in La Rambla, I saw this guy with a white tank top and a self written ”Who the fuck is Steve Angello” on it. I started talking with the guy and he told me he was going to Steve Angello’s gig. I would’ve loved to go too but I was a bit poor so 10 euros seemed too much for me :D The guys name ws Justin and he was a Canadian dj. He was supposed to play in Ibiza but his gear broke down so his manager told him to go to Barcelona. Somehow we came into talking about skate boarding and we agreed to go surfing together (he had never surfed before!) so we swapped facebooks.



At first we went to this cool small bar that had the best 3 euro pizza I’ve ever tasted. I wish I would've written the address down but I guess I can just get it off of Jenni or one of the girls. Afterward we went to Cityhall which was nothing special, ugly guys and the music was blah. When everyone came back to the girls’ apartment there was this nonsense drama with everyone vs. mia and dan and it was just plain silly... Probably the best idea just to go to sleep at 6 AM.



Pictures property of:
Mia O'Shea 1st & 4th picture
Jenni Tuviala Last Picture

Live Through This

Hey guys. I'm terribly sorry for not posting in a while. I'm far behind in updates, but not to worry. I "took notes" of every day of my trip so it's pretty easy to recall what happened on each day. I just hope i'll be able to capture the same feeling and atmosphere !

I've been pretty busy with work - you know, saving up for my next trip... the uge! - also spent almost a week on working at & enjoying the Flow Festival which also came with the workers' after party ! Not to mention the school's orientation days that made me realize that the actual start of school is lurking just around the corner. So, haven't really had time to write my blog (although I want to!).

Talking about school. I'm super stoked and keen to start my studies though the it only occured to me today (well actually yesterday since it's already 1:33 AM. But I haven't gone to bed yet so... anyhoo) that tomorrow (=today) is the LAST day of my year off.... Whaaat really ?? How did 17 months pass by so quickly ? It's pretty weird and a bit radical perhaps to say that the past year (well my year off actually) has been the BEST yet the WORST time of my life.

It's a cliché to say "I wouldn't change a thing" but that's not the only reason why i'm not saying it. Some things you just can't change no matter how you could go back in time and want to change them. But now that I've lived through it, I guess I've gotten accustomed to the shit I had to go through. For better and for worse, I guess.

But if I could. I would do it all again.
Never ever have I had a more better idea than taking a year off and doing exactly what I've been dreaming of doing. So, do it, go take a year off and go crazy and go travel! Explore ! Meet people ! Be a backpacker ! Live a little!

And finally, miss you Australia, but we'll meet again. Of that i'm sure.

Ps. I promise to post when I get my keyboard fixed on my laptop (note to self: don't eat when you are using the computer!!!)

Sleep Deprivation

4.8 At Barcelona Airport 8:30 AM



I was almost left outside of the terminal at 00:30 because I lacked any papers of my flight what so ever.

Security guard infront of the gates of terminal 2:
"Su tarjeta de embarque por favor."
"...............No tengo."
"No tarjeta, no pasar."
"Pero.. no tengo."
"No puede pasar. Abiertan en las seis."

At this point I thought that I was in deep shit. I was trying to recall whether it had been ever necessary print out any forms (disregarding Ryanair's flights) or was a passport just fine to be able to check in. I began to panic that I would not get home. Or that I would have to wait outside the terminal for 5,5 hours..........

"Estás sola?"
"Sí.."
"Ok, pasa"
"MUCHOS GRACIAS."

I think the security guard realized I wouldn't be well off on my own with all my luggage and no where to go to (except terminal 1), waiting outside in the dark for the clock to struck six.

There was no way I was going to risk missing my flight (again) so sleeping was not an option. So I purchased 24 h wifi with 10 euros and pretty much made a camp in one corner. I sat in that very same place for 7 hours... Holy fuck. Thank god my friends have insomnia and Hector was on facebook to keep me company. Later on I saw Jared online and we skyped for half an hour!!! Man do I miss him so incredibly much. He is one of my all time favourite people I met in Australia and I still keep in contact with him. It was so good to see his face and hear his voice and I wished I could've just jumped through the screen to Darwin and hang out with him and hug him ! Jared's the best. We reminisced about good times... That very first night Melanie introduced me and Laura to Ian and Jared and we met crazy Wolf man. On that same night me and Jared got peed on by Melanie (!!! EPIC!!!)... We also thought about Magnetic Island and Airlie along other stuff. Damn. If only Jared would be going to Indonesia in December instead of September.

After skyping with Jared and reading one message on fb that wasn't reall the most pleasant one, I started feeling a bit anxious about going back. I am pretty sure it's the sleep deprivation that's talking, but I just really started doubting my purpose in my life back home. It felt a bit like in January, when I was returning home from my four month trip - returning to nothing (no school, no job etc). I tried to remind myself that it was just an illusion because I have everything going on for me back home - I'll be working non stop in August, i'll be volunteer working at this festival and getting free tickets to it, i'm gonna start going to the gym again and school is about to start in late August. But somehow just knowing, that I would go back to Finland with the mentality of saving up again so I could  get away go traveling again felt a bit depressing.  It feels crazy to have this strong urge of wanting to get away...
Don't I really have anything in Finland that would make a difference to keep me from wanting to leave home again ?

That's the issue I've been resteling with on this trip. Am I really happy in Finland? Do I really wanna live there? Meeting Finnish people abroad is always such a dull reminder of how things are back home - everyone is just so "jäinen". No one can keep up a conversation (unless they are drunk) and although I would be the one that is trying to spark up the convo, the other participate just lacks the skills to maintain it. And talk about Finnish men.  Oh God. Don't even get me started. When I came home from Morocco I had decided to stay back in Finland to study, because I had a lot of shit going on and I knew I wouldn't have been able to cope on my own in a foreing country without my safety net. But now that I feel like i'm over those dark times, I feel like there's really no reason why I should stay home, in Finland.

The only reason why I would consider living and studying in Finland is that uni is free and I can make a lot more money  -so I can go traveling again- in my country compared to most of the countries. Unless we are talking about Australia with a minimum wage of $18.5 per hour. Jared actually just told me that he gets $20 an hour but with tips $30.. He said he worked yesterday for 5,5 hours and made  _150_ dollars. But yeah. The uni isn't free in Australia... It's pretty much the opposite, at least the ones I looked at some two years ago.

Yeah. I don't really know... I've been planning I should at least do an exchange year after this one. That would give me one year in Finland, second one in exchange and the third one in one of the partner universities abroad (in Madrid I hope!). The final year, the fourth one, has a work practice term of five months, and it is recommended to do abroad - which I would totally do of course. So I would only be in Finalnd for some 1,5 years or so. Unless they wouldn't recognise my studies on my exchange year. I think I wanna go visit CIMO - the place where they took us in high school. Maybe they would be able to sort my life out a bit for myself.

But I must say. When I was surfing in Portugal, I just felt so happy. "This is what I wanna do in my spare time", I thought to myself for the tenth time. And surfing is not something you can do in Finland (unless you are totally passionate, crazy and ridiculous).

We'll see.

Ps. I've just been so happy during these past five weeks that I don't want it to go away.

A Backpacker Will Always Find A Way

19.7 Arriving in Salou, Spain



Arriving in Salou, Spain was just like I had expected - a bit of an adventure but nothing a backpacker couldn't get through. I didn't have a map, a clue where Salou was or how to get there from Reus’ airport nor any idea whether anyone (Mia or her family that is) would be home. But a backpacker will always find a way.

So I got off the plane and hurried to the bus as all the other people were hopping on cabs. I was so proud that I managed to sort out instructions how to get to Mia's address by asking the bus driver with my basic Spanish I hadn't used since my senior year in high school. When I hopped off the bus and found the street Mia was supposedly living on with her family, I started laughing with failure. Just as I had suspected - the apartment buildings were huge and consist of many many flats so there was no way you could go knocking on each door trying to find the right door. I had of course been given only the address and the buildings number, but no info what so ever on which apartment it would be :D

I also realized that there would be no way of getting in the actual yard since all the buildings were surrounded by gates that you needed a key to. I decided to ignore the problem and just call George (cause Mia's phone didn't work) when I would find the right building. Just then I saw a man sitting in a car, and just as I wondered wtf he was doing there alone sitting in the dark in the middle in a car- a girl's head came up from his lap. Oh how awkward, road head, i'm outta here! :D Walk passed the car and tried not to laugh.

I was lucky though, as soon as I arrived infront of the right apartment building, some people that were staying there were about to enter the gates and they let me inside too ! Karma was feeling a bit generous as turned out that the couple knew exactly whom I was looking for since they were neighbours from across the O'Shea family's door ! Just as I had thought, no one was home. So I finally called George who was in Barcelona but he was such a babe that he called Mia's mom, Nina, to let her know I was infront of their door. I sat there, in the hallway, on my backpack flicking the lights on every minute or two just so I could keep on reading the book Tom gave me (The Marching Powder by Rusty Young). I only waited like 5-10 minutes but I was so happy to see Greg and Nina come up the stairs and ran to hug them. They fed me as I waited for Mia and Dan. I was so excited to see Mia but the poor thing was sick so we decided to go to bed straight away and catch up tomorrow.

On the plane to Reus, Spain

19.7 On the plane to Reus, Spain



Destiny. It's a pretty interesting thing. We realized last night with Edwina, that if I hadn't met Tom, I wouldn't have been in Nottingham to meet my dear Aussie girl, because I was just so against the idea of wasting my interrail time in England. It's crazy to realize how many combinations of coincidences can affect a matter. The three Belgians are a big key in the story. Basically, these things had to happen in order for me to get to Nottingham: If Tom hadn't left on monday, I wouldn't have had a day to kill before my flight, so I wouldn't have gone to see Edwina. I wouldn't even had come to England, If I hadn't met Tom. I wouldn't have met Tom, if I hadn't stayed at the same hostel as him. I wouldn't have gone to the hostel we stayed in, If I hadn't met the three Belgian guys, who asked me to come there. And I wouldn't have met the Belgians on the train, If they had taken the right train (they were really supposed to go to Copenhagen but unfortunately - or should I say luckily - they got on the wrong train to Poznan). I wouldn't also be in Poznan if I hadn't been there to see Natalia, whom I met in Australia, and Barbara, whom I met in Mexico. So yeah. Chain of events. Butterfly effect. I don't think we would've gotten along so easily with Tom if I hadn't gone to Oz. Because I went backpacking there, we had something in common, we clicked, liked spending time with each other, and he asked me to come to London.



I'm currently on the plane to Reus, Barcelona. Honestly, I'm pretty happy getting away form England. I just hate it how much they patronise and monitor everything. I mean, they have cameras everywhere, monitoring everything. "To prevent crime." England really has an atmosphere  like in that book 1984.. Also the fact that they have all these fucking signs and announcements guiding you with everything, is doing my head in. "Mind the gap", "Please wait for your bag to move before place another one here", "Watch out for pickpockets", "Look left and right before crossing" and so forth. It really gives this feeling of the English government treating the citizens like a bunch of dumb twats that have to be guided with everything. Like a herd of blind sheep.



I might've had a bit of a wtf am I supposed to do -moment at the airport when I tried calling Mia. Her Finnish phone was turned off. Fuuuuuck. She gave me like no instructions at all how to get to their Villa in Salou. The only thing she said that there is a bus from the airport and get of at plaza Europa... err. So I just had to pay a horrible £5 on my credit card to use the Internet so I could check my facebook for Mike's/George's numbers. See, Mia's family (Mike=her big bro, my ex-classmate) and our mate George are in Salou too. Thankfully George had been a doll and had posted me the address of the place they were staying at :) Got Mike's number from a mutual friend and called him on my Finnish phone... gaaah wonder how much that will cost me :S So. It'll be interesting to see, if I do find this place :D I just know, that because this stupid flight was 20 minutes late, i'm gonna arrive at the airport at 23:20 and checking out and getting my bags will probs take another 30 minutes... So fuck, I really hope Mia and her boyfriend Dan or her parents will be home when I rock up at 1 AM. Somehow I doubt it..  Guess i'll just get some grub and sit on the steps with my backpack waiting for these two drunksters to come home.

PS. Edwina took me to Primark today so I could buy PJ shorts... and I went completely spastic.. £1 for undies ?!? fuck yes. Love that store.
PPS. WTF WE ARE LANDING ??? I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE ANOTHER 2 HOURS. L-O-L, ok, so, seems like i'll be in Spain already at ten ! wheeeee :):):):) STOKED MONSTER.

Good Mornings and Goodbyes

18.7 On the train to Nottingham

Sitting on the train and waiting for it to leave. I have a day to kill before my flight tomorrow to Reus, Barcelona, so I thought I'd go see Edwina. She's the cool aussie chick I met in Poland in my hostel, the one I danced in Deadmau5 half naked with. But it's good to be on the move again. Tom and the boys left today. Farewells... not my favourite thing in the world. A dreadful sound of the alarm waking us up, marking the last half an hour we shared before their departure. Some tears may have been exchanged on my part. But.. we'll meet.

L-Town

14.-17.7 London



I didn’t really keep a track of th things that happened in London, since the whole time I spent there felt like a mini holiday from backpacking, cause it was just the maximum of chill. I didn’t really see any of the touristy stuff which didn’t bother me, since I’ve seen it already - although that was 8 years ago and I have no photos left of that class trip... The five days and nights I spent there were just about relaxing and delicious dinners with good wine and conversation. Tom’s uncle, Michael and his wife, Karen were so welcoming and I was just so grateful for their hospitality... It really felt like they were running a hostel with all the Aussies (+ dutchie Rob and me) they had hanging around at the house. We would always wake up pretty early but end up wasting the whole morning in bed anyways. Tom would make me breakfast, which was cool since I had no clue what Karen & Michael had in their kitchen and where to find it. Every night Tom also would cook dinner for all of us and come up with these random recepies on the spot that would always taste fantastic.



How ever, we did go to Camden market with Tom on Thursday and I just fell in love with the place. It was not an average market. They actually sold quality stuff for low price. I was actually a bit dissapointed that I couldn’t find fake black converse anywhere, which is a must thing in every market. I had noticed that my fake Connies had creased from the solum on the night of the rave.. Man, four euro shoes from Poland, should’ve guessed... But on the other hand, the previous fake Cons I purchased in Estonia for 10 euros lasted me FOUR years. Shoes well served. That night we also had dinner with Karen and Michael plus Tom’s mate back from home whom he was traveling with, Kabil, who had joined us to stay at the house. We had quite a bit of wine and left to go out with Tom. We had a glass of wine/beer at Blues Bar before admitting we were pretty nackered and left back home to East Finchley. We stopped at one pub for a beer before heading to the house. That night we had a pretty intense convo with Tom about ”us”. You know how you’re backpacking everything just happens very sped up? Such as relationships. Everything just happens on fast forward and this was no exception.. :) Although we were pretty ridiculous and rushing into things way too fast way too soon, at the time it felt right and I don’t regret what we talked about, although we both admitted later on skype that we were acting a bit retarded :) I blame the wine haha. JK ;)
­


On Friday we left to town with Tom and Kabil. Can’t really remember our purpose but at least we went to Liverpool Street to the business section and walked around. I took a photo of that ridiculous ”egg” that is supposedly a business building !!! What the fuck. Design to the max. When we left back to the house, Kabil took the tube straight home but me and Tom took the path throught the park and got a bit lost but eventually found our way back pretty easily. Harry, Tom’s other mate, he was traveling with, had finally decided to come and stay with Tom’s uncle too and I was happy ro see him cause I had been talking with him about photography and video cameras at the party on Wednesday. Also Rob, the dutch guy who had been the dj at the party came over. All the guys knew Rob from back home – his big brother worked at Botanical - the bar with Tom and Rob had also visited them in Adelaide and stayed for a month. So they were talking about Adelaide to the extent that I was getting bored. But then Tom cooked everyone dinner and all of us backpackers ate with Tom’s family again and had a lot of wine so it was very pleasant. After dinner we went to look for Tony, another mate of the guys from back home who had been traveling e.g in South America (jealous!). We went to this hostel bar to wait for him and man was that bar horrible. There was this one super lame black guy that was using this same lame tie technique to all the blond chicks. Me and Harry were observing him work his magic and finally when Harry went to the bathroom and the others were out for a smoke, the guy approached me looking very innocent and wanting me to tie his tie. ”Hell no, I know what you’re trying to do.” :D He was just so incredibly lame but thank god left. Tony finally arrived and we bounced. We were pretty poor so we decided to just buy beer from the shop. IT was past midnight but the Indians running th seven eleven didn’t care we just bought it form under the counter..!



Saturday was very chill. All the guys had stayed over so we just spent the whole day in. The boys left to buy beer but I didn’t mind just drinking water. Later on I did though have some drinks as Michael told we could use his bar since he never drunk that stuff anyways. There was a nice collection of everything and almost anything and Tom was loving it. He was really on fire doing all kinds of random drinks and frying banana on a pan in absinthe and such. He was in his element – he is a bartender after all. It was pretty cool watching him experimenting with all these fluids like a chemist. He did miss a couple of times though, and one druink stunk so bad I decided it was better not to drink that stuff :D



So Sunday came. Last day for the boys. Sucked to know it was all coming to an end tomorrow. I would’ve wanted to just spend the day with Tom, just the two of us, but instead we went to Camden with the boys. I did how ever eventually get my will :) And I finally bought AUTHENTIC Converse cause I just couldn’t give a fuck anymore. Cost me a fortune compared to my four euro cheapies but at least I didn’t get any more water in my shoes from all those paddles through those hge cracks in my shoes. We also went to this coooool shop with Tom, Rebel Clothing I think it’s called. I was in a I-don’t-give-a-fuck –mood (and also because they had AMAZINGLY RAD prints)I bought two sick tops that cost me 1,5 days budget ! SIIIIICK. That is NOT the way to backpack ! But i figured, I don’t shop home anyways ever, since i’m constantly saving for my next trip (as I will once again when I get back), so why not buy this fucking sweet top or two that I know i’ll LOVE until the end of time ?



After we got some food from th market and ate it at the park, Harry and Kabil left home and Rob went to visit some oher friends. Me, Tom and Tony left to this cool café/lounge place that seemed more like someone’s living room by the atmosphere of it. We met Darren, Tom’s/Tony’s mate and some four more Aussies from Adelaide/Melbourne and some English people. Someone ordered everyone a jäggermaister shot cause it was someone’s birthday, but other than that it was very relaxed. I was just sipping my beer and wondering why we never had chill Sunday session like this back home, where you would meet our friends all fresh at some cool hang out spot and have a couple drinks without the idea of planning to get fucked up? Just then one of the guys leaned over and asked me, Tom and Tony whether we wanted to chip in for a gram of coke. Okaaaay, so that’s how they roll in England... Sunday and doing coke, aight. (We didn’t though, don’t worry mom !) Tony left to chuck his luggage at Darren’s house and we parted ways. Tom wanted to show me Sunday roast cause I’ve never had that so we went to this pub and split a meal since neither of us was feeling that hungry. It was a nice relaxing evening and like I said, finally got to spend some alone time with Tom :)



But over all, I had a good time. It’s all about the people.

 

London and UG Rave

First day in london UG RAVE 13.7

The past five days in London... I've totally been violating my blogging, but I guess it's just a sign that i've had too much of a good time to be sitting on the computer. But, I'll try to write as vividly as I recall.



Wednesday - The day I left Amsterdam, I woke up to the sound of my alarm, feeling as if I had been on stand by the whole time, not sleeping. I was still feeling a bit under the weather and sleeping only four hours didn't help the matter at all. I had decided two days prior that I would definetly go to London to see Tom and cause the under water train would’ve cost me _90 euros_ on top of my Interrail ticket, I decided to fly as it was the same price and sooo much more efficient. I made it to the airport and swore to myself that this was the last time i'd rock up the airport with only 45 minutes before they closed the check-in. I had under estimated the que, but thank god I made it, with only 2 minutes left for the check-in to be open. The whole time though, that I was on the plane, I just kept saying to myself ”wtf am I really going to London.. what the hell I must be fucking crazy, wtf sandra”. But i’m glad I did. :)



I arrived to London Stansted airport at 9:30 and proceeded to get my bags and headed out to the arriving hall. By that time it was only thirty minutes that Tom's flight would land, but I knew it would still take him another thirty minutes to get through the customs or what ever. Time passed quickly and when it was 10:40 I started to get a sensation of fluttering butterflies in my tummy. It was nerve wrecking to see the automatic doors open just a couple of seconds before you would actually see who came out carrying his bags. Finally I saw Tom :) He said he didn't think I would actually come to London, and he was happily suprised I did though. I told him, that if anyone of my mates would've seen me now, they would not be suprised cause i'm just crazy like that and I love a bit of an adventure 8)



I was laughing at Tom and calling him a flashpacker the whole way to his uncle's house, cause he was dressed in a fucking _suit_. Such a little confussed backpacker hey.. He told me he only did this that he would get through the customs faster. He hadn't actually brought the suit from his home from Australia but tailor made one in Poland.



When we arrived to Tom's uncle's house his uncle's wife, Karen, was there to greet us. She seemed like a lovely English lady and she was very welcoming. They lived in East Finchley, on the Nothern tube line, and had this amazing, big and modern house with a big yard. I was in total awe.  After a quick nap and some grub, around four o'clock we left to Tom's mates TJ's b-day party. Tj was this Canadian guy Tom had met with his mates in Vang Vieng, Laos a couple of months ago. They were predrinking in a park and it full of people from England and around the world who TJ had met in Vang Vieng and on other trips. It was pretty amazing how many people were there to meet him. I counted some 25 people..... Only from his travels. Pretty sick. There were a few Canadians, some English people, one weird Sweed, a dutchie and so on. I thought of having to arrange something like this too.



I quickly made friend's after shot gunning (a skill everyone should learn) and especially cause I bet Tom time-wise in it ;) haha. People were getting pretty drunk and such and so at 8 everyone packed in cabs and proceeded in the underground venue they had managed to sort out for this rave. First there was a band playing but soon the dutchie, Robbie, started DJ'ing. Everyone was having a good time dancing and doing shots and shit. It would've been a good night unless Tom was so fucking out of it. I was pretty fucking mad at him and there was a lot of drama and so forth and only at 11:30 pm we grabbed a black cab (yeah probs not the best idea especially when you are drunk) back home (although going home was the best idea). It was pretty awkward to wake up Micheal, Tom's uncle, but because he is so laid back he was just laughing when he opened the door to let us in. Thankfully:D

Day trip to Utrecht & Heineken Museum

Day trip to Utrecht, 12.7



I was a bit over Amsterdam, since there was nothing really there for me since I don't smoke weed. I probably had the most tamest time (bu certainly not the lamest!) of all people in Amsterdam - I didn't do drugs, didn't sleep with prostitutes nor even got drunk ! Still doesn't mean I didn't enjoy myself :) It was so nice to just relax. Love it how Melanie and Marty are on the same page with me, since they too have traveled, all of us are just SO over drinking. Couldn't really give a fuck to get drunk. "Impulse fest", quoting my almost-relative Liina-Lotta, is alright, but I just hate hate hate it when people plan on getting drunk... In order to achieve the right mentality and feeling for the night, people predrink to get tipsy  so they can get drunk.. Doesn't make sense to me anymore (after excessive drinking in Australia).  Impulse festing on the other hand - you go out with your mates to have a beer and if you like, you can buy another one, and if it just happens so, that you are in the right mentality and feel like it, you can go ahead and get drunk. Impulse fests are way better anyways. Sorry this rant, but I've just been trying to get this to my Finnish mates' head who have no idea what i'm talking about (cause they didn't spend almost a quarter of last year INTOXICATED). Marty said something that i've been feelign but just haven't really figured how to put into words: "After I came back from Mexico in 2008, after that I haven't been able to drink the same way anymore. Something inside of me just broke on that trip." That's exactly how I feel.



Anyhooo, enough ranting for this entry.
SO yeah, I was ovr Amsterdam and wanted to do a day trip somewhere. I figured I should go to Utrecht since my mate Jasmin, who lives in Holland, has been talking about that place. It's a student town and some o he friends study there. I was actually gonna meet Jasmin there, but then she told me she wouldn't make it until late at night.



I took the train to Utrecht and started exploring the city. I liked it immediately more than Amsterdam. It was just more intimate and cute. Reminded me of Jasmin's village, Terneuzen in Neu Zeiland, near Belgium's border. I was there in 2009 for two weeks and it was just so adorable. It's freaking tiny (although according to Jasmin it has the Netherlands' largest coffee shop, Check Point ?) and I was the ONLY tourist there. I swear :D



So I was just strolling on Utrecth's streets and looking for a café to eat at but I ended up finding this cool Second Hand store !!! It's called Episode, and they have one in Amsterdam, London and some other places. It was two storeys and they had EVERYHTING. Everything was categorized - hats, old converse shoes, "bell shirts", fishnet tank tops ans so forth. I found exactly what I had been looking for - some high waisted jean hot pants !!! I just had to buy them only they costed 20e :S:S:S They were perfect except i'm not sure if they'll fit me when I go back home and when IF i gain some weight (I've lost a lot I think...). I also bought this bellyshirt (shouldn't have had, still after 2 weeks haven't used it) and this lovely, colorful, cool, crazy shirt-y thing, that just screamed my name. It's so me. I was so bad, I wasted freaking 50 euros on that shit... CAN YOU IMAGINE? My whole day budget...



I figured to be a good backpacker and buy some postcards to write back home for friends and family. I asked the shop keeper of Episode, whether he knew of a cheap café that had soups, and he asked whether I knew where place X was "no.." "Well do you havea map?" "Nope, I like getting lost :D". Anyhoo, found this café, wrote ten postcards and left back to Amsterdam.

I met Mel and her family and went to Heineken Museum with them. Her dad was so nice and paid the entry fee for me :D Learned a bit of the company and got two beers for free. I thought it was totally fucked that the museum had HORSES in it !!!! I just ran up the strairs holding my breath... Not gonna go into detail about this thing again, I think I had my horse rant already in a Magnetic Island post :D