In search of the perfect Guinness

Well today we made the trip across the Irish Sea to Dublin. The journey from London was a bit hectic with us getting lost along the way before finally finding the right train only to get fined 20 quid for not having the right tickets...we were pissed! But somehow we made it to the flight, and I'm now sitting in our backpackers writing to you all.

Since getting to Dublin we haven't done much just strolled through the town to get a feeling for the place. I will give you a post tomorrow after we find a Guinness and a soccer game.

...Alright well since I last spoke to you we have had a Dublin Adventure. The first day we arrived in Dublin we just strolled around the town and took in the culture of the place. Dublin is pretty crazy because 70% of the population is under the age of 30, so there is no problem finding young people. It has also turned out to be one of the most expensive places we've visited so far. But anyways first night we went to Temple Bar (the Dublin Tourist clubbing Area) and obviously had a pint of Guinness at its most famous pub the Temple Bar. Dublin has the most amazing live music ever, Tim and I can't help but stop in the middle of the street listening to buskers or sitting in a pub listening to a guy who puts Tuffy to shame! Yes buskers put Tuffy to shame...its amazing.

The following day we went strolling around the city again taking in the culture and the sites. We decided to go to on the Guinness Experience, but instead of being the normal tourist we took the pov version and decided to walk (I mean how hard is it to find the tallest building in Dublin right....pretty hard!) it took us like an hour to do a 10 minute walk but experienced some of the suburbs of Dublin in our travels. The Guinness tour was very cool and at the end you sit in the gravity bar where you can have a free pint of the freshest Guinness you will ever drink (its so much better then Aussie Guinness, completely different taste). While taking in the serenity of the gravity bar we ended up getting picked up by four welsh girls who were absolutely nuts. We left with them and sore an old man outside with a horse pulling a cart and he had been standing there all day....20 euro later and we are riding in the back of a horse pulled cart through the main streets of Dublin. I have photos of the stunned locals as we held up about 20 cars and i gather its not that usual to see a cart with 6 people..plus a Irish scallywag or two being pulled through town. Later that night the group of us managed to find the Trinity College uni bar (it had been hidden to us beforehand), and for the first time we found cheap alcohol and crazy Irish uni students. To all of those reading who question whether we did Australia proud...don't worry, we controlled the drinking games at the Pav and there we met an especially crazy Irish man named Connors. We left the welsh and went out from there with Connor and the boys to a secret Melbourne style bar in a back alley and danced the night away.

The next day after a morning of pain, we went through our regular stroll through the town and listened to the buskers, and for some reason went on a bit of a shopping spree. (Don't worry mum it was budget...kinda) and then to save money we used leftovers for dinner, which is where we met a German and Hungarian who we went out for a drink with to a local pub last night, and then tonight they nicely cooked us some Hungarian food (onions, sausage, peppers, and rice)...glad im not going to Hungary.

Today we went on a tour to the Wicklow mountains to see where some of the movies such as Braveheart, PS. I love you, and Excalibur were filmed. It was a pretty leisurely tour with a couple of older people. Tim loved it....I was not that excited. And then tonight we went out again to temple bar to a really cool place called the Purty Kitchen (All of the clubs are like 5 levels, its pretty insane) and that brings me to the current time....4am as we're going to go to the airport now so we don't miss our flight.

Talk to you soon. Jez

12 Days on a Contiki Bus...and i'm still alive!

It has been ages since i've posted anything and that is because Tim and I have been on our Contiki trip which was really full on but unvelievable at the same time. For starters we went to:
Amsterdam
St Goar
Munich
Innsbruck
Venice
Rome
Florence
Lucerne
Paris
and then home...London.

I will fill you guys in on each of these when i get a chance.

Miss you all.

It got cold

Hey all I'm trying to figure out how to put my photos on here, these are some from Tims brothers camera.

(On the Underground)

(In front of Abbey Road Studios)

(Walking through Shepperds Bush)

Hey all, it's nice to see that some people have actually been reading the rubbish that i have put on here. For those two people i appologise for wasting part of your busy lives. lol

Well since my last post, Tim and i have visited a couple more of Londons tourist spots. Firstly we caught the train to St Pauls Cathedral which is amazing, the coolest thing about London is the architecture, and to see buildings which have made it through the centuries and are aboslutely inspiring when you enter them...St Pauls is one of these places. A notable cool factor other then the painted ceilings is in the dome, you can whisper against one wall and the sound travels over 30 meters and can be heard on the other side (very cool) From there we walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Museum. The Tate is extremely cool as it is filled with so much cool art including a couple of monets (including water lillies) and picassos, and again the building is really cool. From there we strolled along the south bank of the river past Shakespears playhouse and then under the London Bridge for a warm cup of pumkin soup for lunch. We then walked across the Tower Bridge to the Tower of London. On that note I am officially bored of this blog and its chronological boredom. SO COOl THINGs. High st Kinsington is snobville but nice, Went to Camden markets and to a comedy show there which was awesome.. It's like west end but huge. ANd also went to notting Hill (Portobello rd) and went througth the markets there which were amazing. FUll of antiques (stuff in england is actually over 100 years old) and clothes of all sorts (op shops have the coolest vintage clothes) and on that note (my mother said i wouldnt need to buy anything because its the same as in AUS........she is a dirty rotten liar!! I want to buy so many clothes, everything is so cool, today at camden markets i wanted to buy a vintage british army riding jacket. It was red with militiary buttons...so cool but 65 quid.

Tonight we're going to head out for Robs girlriends birthday which will be fun. ANyway i hope everyone is well back home, and stay safe in the storms.

Les Beautfals

I think Simon is the only one reading this so hey man how are you? Yesterday Tim and I caught the tube to Leicester square to meet up with Kat and Anne. The train line we catch is all stops to cockfosters (yes we find it hilarious). But yeh, we met up with the girls and went for a stroll to find some breakfast. We ended up in a cute little cafe and had an English Breakfast for 5 pounds (expensive). From there we headed to Picadilly circus and went through lillywhites (a massive sports store) and had a couple of photos. From there we strolled through Soho, which is every 20 year olds dream. Streets and streets of designer and boutique clothing stores, bars on every corner, and a couple of traditional pubs with a pint. After a late lunch we went and saw a matinee of Les Miserables from the nose bleed section but it was still pretty cool. Still with the girls we decided it was time for a beer or two, so we went back to soho for 2 for 1 happy-hour cocktails, and then to Leicester square to a pub (much like the Vic...dirty but with beer) and then caught the tube home later.

London Town

Today was our first day in London, and in an attempt to ignore the affects of jet-lag we spent a whole day checking out the sites. The highlights of the day included a visit to the Queen in Buckingham Palace, a visit to the Aussie war memorial, and then a stroll along Hyde park. We then walked up to Westminster to see the Abbey which was amazing. To see the shrines of kings, queens and poets, and to see a chair used in congregations which is older then Australia really put me in my place. From there we had a quick look at Big Ben, and walked across the Thames to have a look at the London Eye (something like the one in Brisbane, just in Brisbane we don't have a consistent layer of drizzle and fog...damn!) We then went up to have a walk through the national gallery next to Trafalgar square, and spent the afternoon in covent garden listening to a quartet playing Mozart. (I think I could live in Covent Garden) Since then we have hit the wall and am now struggling to stay awake at Robs apartment.

I hope all is well in Brisbane, I will talk to you all soon.

Flying like an eagle

Hey all, as you've probably realised I have left for my extended holiday. Everything happened without a hitch, except for my retarted best friend who didn't realize he needed to pick up his travel documents before leaving, and we didn't realize this until we were on our way to the airport. (So quick thanks to mum for the detour, and a one handed clap for STA for being shite!) As a result of the late check-in we ended up getting two seats in the middle of a row of four for the 8 hour flight to Singapore. To make matters worse, I ended up sitting next to a little old lady who was about 90, and her only English was a grunt. For the next eight hours, i found I couldn't go to the bathroom her way as she couldn't hop up (wasn't really working for me after a scotch or two), I also found my self as designated carer to remove her alfoil from her meals, and watch the little devil drop food down next to me and just grunt with a smile because she knew that she wouldn't bother trying to pick it up. Somehow I managed to control my bladder, and even made a new 90 year old friend at the same time....what an adventure lol

Made it to Singapore, where we got to chill in Changi airport for about 3 hours. It gave us just enough time to have a quick look through the shops and had a drink of chivas, courtesy of the duty free store. We also tried out Burger King, and found that a triple bacon burger is a great punch to the heart, and made a new aussie friend who we had the most expensive beers ever with in the airport bar ($15 for a schooner of tiger...what a rip!) Our next flight was BA to London and went really well, with both of us having a row of three seats to sleep on for the leg, which dropped us safe and sound in London at 5:30am.

The planning stage

It is right now that i should be pollishing up on the last minute details of my holiday, however I need to study, and probably shouldn't even be procrastinating in creating this blog.

Just a warning to the minute amount of people who will actually read this blog as they do wonder where in the world is Jeremy. The spelling and grammar throughout the whole site will be HORRIBLE, and all i have to say to you all is deal with it. lol