Israel

Less than 72 hours earlier was I on the exact same Easyjet plane flying back from Austria. The human condition is strange, what sets us apart from most other animals is our ability to adapt and adjust to conditions and surroundings. Despite this phenomena, Easyjet flights remain an outlier that I simply can't get used to. I secretly like to consider myself a EU Discount carrier frequent flyer. Flying in excess of 15 times this year I still have found the right formula to flying comfortably. I'm sad to report that this 5 hour and 40 minute flight would be no different.

Our trip coincided with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the 8 day festival of lights. From our experience in Israel, this religious holiday lacks the commercial punch of Christmas but is still held dearly with the Jewish community. It's a stark contrast, the humble Menorah, Dreidels and the delectable sufganiyot, or Jewish doughnut. Then again, you can't really compare the two religious events.

I've had high expectations of Israel so much so that I feared disappointment, the Holy Land, a rich cosmopolitan of history, culture and nightlife. Our 4 day adventure would take us around the major tourist areas. Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bethlehem as well as Masada and the Dead Sea.

Tel Aviv

Eden House, our accommodation base (well Eden Blue House on the final night). I screwed up the accommodation book a little by blindly booking double rooms as opposed to twins. Fortunately, this would not be a major issue as we would be disgustingly intoxicated and sleep would be a luxury of this trip. So, back to Tel Aviv. First impressions of the neighbour hood, quite dilapidated, I say this not with my nose turned high but as an observation. This run-down façade would later give off a romantic charm to the area. Another observation, why are there so many cats?

Food wise, very good. The produce we had was extremely fresh and tasty and the same can be said about most food throughout Israel. I've a new found appreciation of eggplant (or for you English, Aubergine) and the mixed Mezze. Spinaches, beets, cheeses, corianders, soft flat breads, hummus and the succulent meats, delicious, I could eat those as mains! We dined at two restaurants, one a local Cat Themed restaurant and the slightly finer dining Alma Beach based Manta Ray.

Due to our limited time in Israel, we only had Sunday as a free day to roam around Tel Aviv at our on leisure. With this, we decided that the Carmel Markets and Jaffa would make up our daytime agenda. Really, liking this city, such an electric vibe around the city. Most definitely consider coming back in the new year.

Party wise we managed to get to the main areas within Tel Aviv. Rothschild St, with plenty of nondescript bars, the slightly more relaxed Florentine with it's bohemian vibe and the traditional Port Tel Aviv, home of the super clubs. One of the few places in the world where a late night kebab and falafel isn't the sign of a bad night out.

As with most Middle Eastern countries, the weekend starts a day earlier with Saturday marking the start of the week. It was a nice surprise to find plenty of people out on the Saturday evening. We later found out that most people worked half days during Hanukkah. With that in mind, we headed down to Port Tel Aviv, Nemal the home of the super clubs. Feeling somewhat under-dressed and more importantly, old, we headed south to the bar-centric neighbour hood of Florentine. Excellent place to bar hop, each bar has different décor, unique atmosphere and the friendliest people you could meet. Our night ended in a convenience store with the store keeper desperately trying to persuade us to save our money and walk home. 10 minutes later we left the shop with precise instructions how to walk home, turned the corner and jumped into the first cab we could find.

The problem with Tel Aviv, is that there's so many small streets that most cab drivers aren't familiar with. Of course, our lodging's was no exception. Sure enough we found ourselves standing in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Tel Aviv. One of us, in dire need of a restroom ducked into a local pub to use the amenities. Overcome by guilt she thought the least we could do is buy a drink. A round was ordered and the bar tender decided that it would free drinks for all in the bar. We stayed late into the evening, drinking and singing. Excellent night-life!

Jerusalem + Bethlehem (Day 1 of tour)
6:45 am. Well rested with 2 hours of sleep, we checked out of Eden House and trudged over to the Mecure, to be picked up for the start of our mouth watering 2 day tour. There was no shortage of tour companies around Israel but we opted for Egged Tours which we had booked online back in London. Not 10 minutes into our journey did we have to travel to realise how rich in history and how much culture was on offer. We passed the field were David allegedly fought Goliath, learnt about the Bedwins and the significance of Olive Oil and Trees to the Israelis. Our first major stop was Jerusalem which in all honesty was a fair bit to take in. Sites included, Dome of the Rock, The Wailing Wall and the Crucifixion site, The Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Amazing tour, yet so strange walking through the three different quarters, Christian, Muslim and Jewish quarters. Unbelievable.

For lunch we were herded to a falafel bar, we weren't the only tour group eating here and the food was unsurprisingly crap. Immediately after lunch we were again, pushed into a gift store where we were encouraged to 'shop around' while the tour organised the tour guide within the Palestine grounds of Bethlehem. Sure enough, the store was filled with tourist and paraphernalia only a devotee could imagine. The wait took nearly 1 hour which was apalling! Finally we were allowed to cross over into Bethlehem.

The Israeli security was strict with passports required to be shown upon entry and exit. Crossing over, you could tell you were in a different place, kids harassed you to buy gum and postcards and there was a heightened sense of activity and alertness. The main drawcard of this part of the tour was the Church of Nativity, better known as the birth place of Jesus. The first day ended spending a night back in Jerusalem checking into Park Plaza, indulging in the hotel's buffet and passing out due to sheer exhaustion.

Masada + Dead Sea (Day 2 of tour)
Last evening's attempt to explore Jerusalem by after sunset was a failure. The trade off to this was the indulgent 8 hours of sleep we were treated to and the not so good movie, From Paris With Love. At 8:45 the following day we embarked on our tour towards Masada and the Dead Sea. We had exchanged our mini van for a fully fledged tour bus and a new tour guide. Within 30 minutes we were driving along the coast of the world's lowest point, 418 metres below sea level. Not surprisingly, we were pushed into the Dead Sea gift store and were soon caught up in the novelty and fever of dead sea products.

The UNESCO site of Masada was something else, the ruins of what was once fortress and hide out of Herrod sounded impressive back in its hay day and 2000 years later did not disappoint. Ambitiously we tried to climb up the 90 metre accent in thongs but were denied and forced to take the cable car, good call. The tour was well conducted and treated to historic recount of the great siege of Massada. Immediately proceeding lunch we started for The Dead Sea.

Armed with the knowledge of the Dead Sea and my budgie smugglers we headed down to the shore of the world's saltiest body of water. The water, if you can call it water itself was so viscous it resembled oil more than water. We had been cautioned into entering the Dead Sea gracefully and gently. There was a science to it. Slowly step in, avoiding all the sharp objects by the shore, in fact wear thongs if you can. Then, ease yourself down into the squat position and sit down on you backside. The high salinity would take care of the rest. Sure enough, feet, body were floating on the water, this provided entertainment for the best part of 20 seconds. The nutrient, rich mud proved to be more of a novelty than floating and soon we were covered head to toe in the mud. The salt was ridiculously painful in the eye not even the accidental rub of chilli in the eye comes close to the excruciating pain of having 38% salinity in your eyes.

So there it is. Israel, an amazing trip! I decided that 4 days was nearly not enough time and I've already decided this is one of the few countries I would return to.

The high level of security was also something else. On the way in we were cautious of the risks of having an Israeli stamp in the passport. On the way out we were shipped off to terminal 3, and interrogated at the airport, countless scans, particle samples and passport quizzes. The stamps of Malaysia, Dubai, Morocco and Indonesia raised some eyebrows but after convincing them that I was nothing but an Australian traveller I was granted my seat on the flight. We boarded the flight with minutes to spare and were soon flying back into London. Flight back was deadly long and uncomfortable and we arrived back in London well after midnight. Still, it was a lot earlier than the previous weekend.

Krakow

It's time to dust off the keyboard and re-invigorate the fingers. My hiatus has been warranted, at least I believe so. November, simply put has been consumed by work. It gnaws at my patience, infiltrates my social life and leaves me in a stupor incapacable of discerning reality from office life. In other words, work has been busy. The exodus of expats has slowly come to a halt and despite the reduced numbers each weekend unfolds like the many before: hazy, distant, reckless and spontaneous. Of course, we can't forget one of the mains reason for being in the UK.

To travel. Next destination, Krakow. We had heard good things about Poland, relatively cheap, decent grub laced with plenty of culture. Unintentionally this had somehow ended up as a lad's trip and the had been billed by some as Bucharest, part 2. It turned out to be an intense 30 hours in Krakow and one of my favourite weekend trips to date.

Relatively cheap. We managed to get flights for around £68, one night at the Holiday Inn for £33 including tour prices and spending money the trip cost approximately £250.

Food. Not too many surprises here, follows the traditional Eastern Europe cuisine. Plenty of meat, potatoes, sauerkraut. There were a couple of gems that we stumbled across.

Mushroom Soup - Served in a loaf

Zapiekanka - The perfect after hours snack

Plenty of culture. I'll spare you the details but since coming back I've found myself immersed WWII history.

Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Salt Mines

Hookah - 30 minutes before the leaving for the airport

Home. Early flight back, time to meet my new house mates!

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana

Oktoberfest 2009

I've officially experienced one of the busiest working weeks in my short working-career. Feature creep, misinterpreted requirements, various hacks and a tight deadline have culminated to what would either be a spectacular fail or conversely a product that would make Steve McQueen proud. To say work was busy would be an epic understatement. Let's back this up to Friday evening: 10 pm. I had just reached the 15th hour of work. To make matters worse, the air-conditioning had shutdown for the weekend and the cleaners had gone home. My eyes - dry and tired. My hands - cramping, RSI kicking in. My brain - mush. The Bulldogs - lost. My 6:20 pm flight to Munich - missed. This week - shit.

Despite this, I clung onto the only positive about missing my flight. That I would get to see my sister. At least, so I thought. Long story short, her roster had changed and she would no longer be flying to London but to Manila. This was rock bottom. I needed to drown my sorrows, I needed a beer.


What my sorrows got was not a drowning, it was asphyxiation by 6.9 million litres of smooth amber liquid. Resuscitated, then re-drowned until it was nothing but a soggy memory. On average, 6 million other people will head to Munich during this 16 day period. All with the same intention: to drink, eat and sing. It is the opposite of misery and self-wallow, it is Oktoberfest.


I arrived in Munich late Saturday evening. People of all ages were out walking the streets in traditional lederhosen and dirnl. The two days spent in Munich felt like one huge alcoholic roller coaster. It was as if the entire town was intoxicated (both fesitivity-wise and literally).

I'll try to outline a typical Oktoberfest day. Wake up early, you'll need to start lining up to get into the Beer Tents. By 9:30 most of them will close their doors until later in the evening. Activities that take place include:

Drinking: A Stein (1 litre of preservative free beer, higher-than-normal) will set you back approximately €8-10. The price of water was about €4. Prost!


Eating: Pretzels, breads, Schnitzel, Hendl, sausages and pork knuckles.


Talking: Great place to talk to people from all around the world.

Singing: Traditional Bavarian folk songs plus a healthy share of western classics make for a huge sing-a-long (Hey! Baby, Better Man, Country Road, Seven Nation Army).

Passing out: The higher than usual alcoholic content of beer claimed many casualties. Ranging from vomitting, passing out and alcohol poisoning.


Should you survive till 10 pm, there are countless after parties to take you deep into the evening. The legal drinking age is 16 and Oktoberfest caters to people of all ages. The grounds are not only home to beer tents but a Royal Easter Show-esque carnival. Amazing festival, definitely recommended and I'd consider returning in 2010.


Munich wasn't all about drinking (although it felt like it). On our final day we made the choice to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. It was a grueling 2.5 train + bus ride but the view was amazing. The tour was somewhat lackluster as was the hideous scaffolding but it added the final splash of culture this trip was missing.

Viva La Vida

The familiar yet still unsavory chime of my alarm rouses me from my sleep. Scrunching my eyes tightly together I breathe a heavy sigh and roll over to my side. I blindly fumble for my alarm clock. Prying my eyes open proves to be a less than simple task. "Just another 5 minutes". Despite having almost 12 hours of sleep I still feel completely rundown and soon find myself negotiating with my sleep deprived alter-ego for more sleep. "How about going to into work late? Actually, you should call in sick".

Snapping out of my stupor I casually slip my earphones on and listen to Coldplays' Viva La Vida. The introduction brings back a wave of memories, Spain, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Pamplona and Ibiza. In short, this trip is best described as an agglomerate, a sensory orgy of all things Spanish; food, culture and friendships old and new. Indelible and memorable, this trip will be forever held as the climax of my European travels. If my EU travels were to be analogous to sex, this would be the orgasm. Similarly, I find myself lying on my back in a state of contemplation.

I trudge into the shower and soon find myself humming the tune that will forever be associated with what was an amazing holiday. Viva La Vida, Spanish for "Long Live Life". Amen to that.

Sensation Yellow

Who in their right mind would fly 2 hours and 10 minutes to a completely foreign country with absolutely no intention to sightsee or experience the local offerings? In total 16 expatriates plus 1 local would make the arduous journey to Budapest. Including transit time we spent close to 8 hours on buses, taxis, trains only to party for 5 hours. The draw card? 28 degree heat, thermal baths and Sensation. I write this blog completely exhausted, drained and sick of weekend trips. Not looking forward to doing it all over again next weekend.


After countless weekend trips I have developed a pretty standard routine. Head home after work. Grab something to eat, pack my luggage, gym, laundry and then be in bed by 12. Wake up 3-4 hours later, have breakfast, catch a bus from Dean Street bus stop towards Victoria Station then find my way to the airport (Gatwick, Luton or Stansted).


Arrived in Budapest Ferihegy International Airport just after 10 pm local time. Caught the metro out to our apartment, dropped our luggage off and immediately headed to our lunch reservation at Cafe Kor. The cab ended up costing 200 Forint per person (£1) and we were convinced that the taxi would be our primary mode of transport.


Some were feeling the consequences of the early flight and headed back to their lodgings for some shuteye. The others (I included) pushed on for some light sightseeing.

Széchenyi Chain Bridge


Buda Castle


5 minutes later we were in a cab heading for the shopping District in Nyugati. Strolled around West End City Centre for an hour and decided we were all too tired to function. Tried to negotiate prices for a cab ride home (essentially 1 km down the road). The shady looking cab drivers offered 5000 Forints (approx. £15). Deciding this was daylight robbery we walked home and crashed.

Waking a couple of hours later we decked ourselves our in our White Gear and headed to Budapest Arena. 17 of us (majority of us Oriental looking) managed to turn heads as the group wandered around the streets of Budapest.


After 5 hours of partying we ended up with kebabs, strawberries and bananas and succumbed to sleep.

The following day, we checked our of the apartment and headed back towards West End City Centre to meet up with the rest of our travel compatriots. Unfortunately we headed in the wrong direction and ended up having KFC for lunch. Next stop would be Gellért Bath. The 9 of us jumped into two cabs paid 5000 Forint only to realise that we had been dropped off in the middle of nowhere in the opposite direction!


Another Cab ride and we eventually arrived at the destination and spent the afternoon lazying in the baths. Top way to unwind after a intense weekend. This trip marks two significant events: an entire year of being in the UK and the last time I'll be traveling around the EU with some close friends. Sigh. Good times...

Prague

When you suffer the consequences of doing something ridiculous it makes you stop and ask yourself "Why do we do stupid things?". The frequency of this question over the last couple of days has prompted me to wonder if it's lack of common sense or in fact just a way to add value to out otherwise mundane routines. The first instance of this question came about Thursday night. I was at the gym "experimenting" with a new back exercise. During the last set I fell into an awkward position and felt the entire right hand side of my back lock up. Oh uh, I thought, stupidly enough I continued my work out fighting through the pain. Only after I got home did I realise I had sprained my trap muscle and my back was disfigured and hideously disproportional.

The extent of this injury became apparent the following morning after a 15 minute endeavor to get out of bed. Range of movement in my neck, back and shoulders were severely limited, It felt like I had broken my body with the only way to avoid the sharp thronging pain was to live life in slow motion.

There is in fact a correlation between European travel and the seasons. Winter makes for unpleasant holidaying with the most influencing reasons being the cold, the limited hours of daylight and the possibility of delayed flights. So as the European winter draws to an end the weekend of the 7th-8th February was to be spent in Prague. In total, 8 of us would travel to the capital of The Czech Republic.


We arrived at Ruzyne International Airport shortly after 10 am local time. After a 20 minute bus ride from the airport to Dejvicka station we found ourselves on the metro being shuttled to Staronestska, the centre of town. First thing on our agenda was to find our apartment where we could freshen up and then explore the city. To say that we were enthused about being in Prague would have been a lie. We had taken a couple of wrong turns and our feet were heavy from the lack of sleep and the agonising pain of hunger. Passing a KFC we resisted the urge to succumb to the Colonel's secret recipe. We eventually found a local bar and had the waitress call the owner of apartment to come fetch us.

The apartment was enormous and one of the best accommodations I've stayed in Europe and at around €20 per person/per night was a bargain. Going by recommendations we ended up eating at U Sadlu a medieval themed restaurant specialising in Czech cuisine. The amount of food that we consumed was obscene. We sat in the dimly lit music saloon each staring out into space, we had all eaten too much. Despite being completely satiated we ordered desert and drifted into consumption comatose. Why do we do stupid things?


The next two hours was spent walking the streets of Prague.

Charles Bridge:


Astronomical Clock:


Old Town:


We had covered most of the key tourists attractions on this side of the river and with our Saturday night already planned we headed back to the apartment for some much needed rest.

The evening kicked off with a dinner reservation at Gordan Ramsey's Maze. Admittedly we were still full from lunch but found the food and service top notch.


The next Czech experience involved us being seated around the apartment coffee table as we each took turns burning sugar cubes into Absinthe. Feeling quite warm we headed back out into the cold to Karlovy Lazne. Left club just before 3 am and spent a substantial portion of the evening trying to retrace our steps to the KFC. We were preparing to go to sleep and with one last ditch effort tried to finish off the remaining Absinthe. Why do we do stupid things?


Sunday morning was a complete write off. In the afternoon we headed across St Charles Bridge and explored Prague Castle. It was a nice walk but the groups' energy level had been sapped. Unanimously we decided to once again return to the apartment for an afternoon nap. We checked out at 6 pm and made for the local KFC. We bought a bucket of chicken and another bucket of wicked wings and proceeded to gorge ourselves silly. Why do we do stupid things?


Prague rates as one of my laziest European trips. I can safely say that we spent more time in the apartment than on the streets of Prague. So here I am, typing up a recount of my last few days. I'm extremely tired, my back still hurts, I've put on the extra calories, I'm down £200 and admittedly, this doesn't phase me one bit.

Long weekend: Madrid

There are particular words or phrases that transcend countries and cultures. Take for example, "Hot summer". For many Londoners this is regarded as any temperature that takes the mercury past 24 degrees Celsius. It should be noted that any sunshine is enough for a local to rip off their t-shirt and head to the park for some much needed vitamin D. Another example would be the phrase "Summer Bank Holiday Long Weekend". This on the other hand only means one thing in London: "Get out of London for 3 days!". So naturally we did that. The destination? Madrid, Spain.


I raced home after work, that's right folks, I'm employed and at this moment in time not enjoying it (but that's for another post). Did my laundry and turned in for an early night a couple of hours later I was up and out of the flat by 3:30 am. At 4:00 am I caught the Easybus 757 from Gloucester Place and was shuttled off to Luton airport.

The flight was bearable and allowed me to catch up on some much needed sleep for the weekend ahead. I awoke 30 minutes before landing to find my neighbour eagerly looking my way. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you, do you mind if I go to the toilet?". Such manners, makes me wonder what would have happened if I had said "no" and gone back to sleep.


Disembarking from the plane we were greeted by our host at Madrid Barajas International Airport. It should be noted that the person we're staying with I have only met once in my life. Immediately we were whisked away back to her place in Getafe. Upon entering the house we were exposed to a beautiful house with modern decor and an adorable 1 year old baby with a knack of calling everybody "baba". Congee was served for lunch followed by a quick car wash and our afternoon spent absorbing European Art at Museo del Prado.



The 2 hour stroll through the museum with our lack of sleep had finally caught up to us. Taking it upon ourselves we indulged in a little afternoon Spanish ritual known as a siesta. At 10 pm we headed out for dinner (normal time apparently). On the menu tonight was Japanese/Chinese cuisine at the delightfully and delicious Jade Colonial. After many months living in London, the freshness of the food was welcomed by all. With all members sporting sizable bags underneath the eyes we sucked it up and hit the town for a spot of partying. We were driven to Buddha del mar which oddly reminded me a little of Tao in Vegas. The night ended in a blur: €200 for a bottle of vodka. Drinking games. Intoxication. Sleep.

Despite having little to no sleep the previous night we awoke scattered about the house wanting more sleep. In Spain "Hot summer" represents 35 degrees of unadulterated warmth framed by cloudless skies and 9:00 pm sunsets. Given the nature of our previous day we lazed about the pool for the majority of the day. Water tests had revealed that the pools PH levels were fine but the chlorine levels left much to be desired. Which meant a lot of water watching but that was fine by us. The next couple of hours we sat in the shaded area of the local Mc Donalds followed by more water watching and chatting until sunset. Traditional Spanish cuisine for dinner: Tapas and cerveza.

Without a doubt the underlying theme of the holiday has been relaxation and laziness. Monday was no different, I was awoken to the sound of Usher blasting through the hallways. I suspect this was no coincidence but more of a polite way of waking the guests. Given our previous days efforts (or lack there of) it was decided we take a train into Madrid downtown and walk about the shopping district. Urgency was required as we raced home, packed and headed back to the airport only to be advised that our flight be delayed. Work is going to be a struggle this week ...