Summer Plans

It is time that I can officially let the cat out of the bag on my plans for summer. I have just officially resigned from my job in London and have 2 months off before taking up another job in Oxford in September. Exciting times!

My current plan has me travelling to Denmark for festival #1 - Roskilde; from there I will travel over land from Berlin to Athens for the rest of July. (Germany -> Czech Republic -> Austria -> Croatia -> Serbia -> Bosnia -> Bulgaria -> Greece - getting the Balkans done!)

The plan is in its formation stage at the moment so it is liable to change, but that is what travelling is about!

August sees me venturing up to my frequent haunt of Sweden to see my sister, brother-in-law, new niece/nephew (!) & mum. (and festival #2 - Way Out West)

In mid-August I'll be coming back to the UK to sort myself out for my new job (new flat, new car!) - and go to festical #3 - Reading Festival.

So that is it really, travel plans and new beginings. Life is good.

Middlesbrough

ITV's Location, Location, Location declared Middlesbrough the worst town in the entire United Kingdom in 2007, that makes it a prime destination for a weekend trip then right?!

Toby has been living in Thornaby (a satellite town of Middlesbrough) for a while & I decided it was time for a weekend visit. When I arrived on Saturday morning Toby met me at the rail station and we carried onwards to Whitby for the afternoon.

After a MASSIVE plate of fish & chips we had a look around the town.

There is a big abbey on the hill overlooking the city.

And Pirate Ships in the Ocean!

Did you know this is the port Captain Cook set sail from when he departed to the southern hemisphere to claim NZ on behalf of the English? I didn't.

Also, it has some vague connection to Dracula, something about him being ship wrecked there. Apparently the place is seething with Goths at Halloween.

Ritchie & Mel (who were also visiting Toby for the weekend picked us up from Whitby and we all went to Saltburn-by-Sea where they went and ate copious amounts of cupcakes at Mel's great aunty's house & Me and Toby had a beer on the waterfront.

When we eventually got back to Thornaby, I found that Toby lodges in a wicked big house with his adoptive mum Maureen.

After a few beers and chilli in the sun we headed out for the evening in Yarm, the trendy place to go out in the area - all up a good night out.

Today (Sunday) we had a look around Middlesbrough and surrounding areas. Great Ayton is a town where Captain Cook went to school for a year or so, they've been riding that high ever since.

We did see some gangs of ducks and cricket here though:

We also stopped at the Lees barrage which stops the river up stair being a smelly tidal mess, and it has a cool area for kayakers.

The transporter bridge was both impressive and amusing (what's the point?!)

There was a football match in Middlesbrough this afternoon (they won 8-1 BTW), the first leg of the train trip was filled with a mix of Man City supporters & Middlesbrough fans, there was a surprisingly jovial atmosphere!

In summary, Com'n guys! give Middlesbrough a break. Sure, it may have high crime & obesity rates and low life expectancy but it's alright I thought! (plus if I slag off number 2 on the list I have a hard time defending my borough of London which came in at number 12 on the list!)

p.s for those of you that know about my Oxford opportunity – it is all go, as of Friday. Exciting times. (for those of you who don't know - I'm being cryptic aren't I!)

Budapest

Budapest - what a weekend! (I'm exhausted)

Tony & I headed across the continent to hang out with some American exchange students we met here in London a while back.

My oversized travel companion

Stephanie & Ingrid played excellent hosts, we kicked off our sight-seeing tour of Hungary at about 3am on Saturday morning (after more than a few beers) with a walk to the impressive parliament buildings and the Chain bridge.

Photo outside Parliament

We had a rather late start on Saturday but eventually got a bit of sight-seeing under our belts with a walk up Castle Hill to have a look over the city.

The girls had a giant mobile phone in their apartment

and an amusingly titled book...

Saturday evening led to some more heavy drinking with a trip to a Gothic bar called Darkness where we had some drinks on the house (it's great to know people who know people!), later on we moved to a Mexican bar to celebrate Cinco de Mayo a Mexican festival day. there were many beers and Margaritas to be had and needless to say I was feeling a little rough the next day!

Parliament by day, a bit more impressive than the Beehive!

Sunday, another slow start... we eventually started sight-seeing about 4pm with a walk to Buda Castle and then to Heroes Square & City Park.
After our first Hungarian meal on Sunday night (after 2 days!) we played beer pong around at Zach's place. After a fairly dodgy start (I discovered that underarm was a good way to knock cups over and Tony discovered yes he is in fact a klutz) we started winning some games and dominated the table for 3 games on the trot. The we lost again. It was about this point when the low point o f the weekend happened, Ingrid (who had gone home) called to say that their apartment had been broken into and could we come home. One laptop was taken but that was thankfully it.

A memorial to the Jews who were gunned down on the banks of the Danube

The outside of a museum we didn't go into.

Another museum we didn't enter...

Heroes Square

Anonymvs - or Death?!

Beer Pong

We rounded out the trip on Monday watching the forensics guys doing their thing followed by a wander around Margret's Island and a trip to Szimpla, a very chic bar/cafe in a converted warehouse. After a quick dash to the train station for a 50p train to the airport (I love eastern Europe) and we were back on the plane to London, back to working life. Yay...

Chillaxing in the park

We did a lot less sightseeing than would be expected on a 3 day weekend, but we got a good feel for the city, met some cool people and got a good insight into the life and times of the American college student.

To quote my rather tall traveling companion, it was another good weekend of "living the dream".