travelblog

UPDATE

giveaphuk — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:07:42 +0000

I am still around, this blogged died 7 days before I left, I think because my mind was a bit of a mess at the time.. I did however write my experience on my netbook and will upload the rest of the story, and my life in australia upon my return.

only 7 days left

giveaphuk — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:03:55 +0000

I now only have 7 days left in europe and have budgeted roughly 10euros / day maximum to spend so that I have a little cash for my return to australia, where I have to find a job quickly or face the sometimes complex process of applying for unemployment benefits, which could be a problem as I also have to find a new house to live in, something I am going to choose carefully as I want to come home to a new kind of lifestyle, one which also involves no cigarettes, something which I know will be a challenge to quit, but I really do want to do this.

I have started to look back on my journey and realise that a lot has happened in the past 6 months.. A number of years ago I had a dream that If I could find a lifestyle where I could work my bum off for 6 months and then spend the other 6 travelling, then I would indeed be a more content indivudual. I have realised that dreams are not always dreams, and this is possible to do. So with the right fortune I shall soon see myself heading towards forign lands soon, be that india or south america, I am not sure, I guess I just have to see how the cookie crumbles in the meantime!

Mariana, My Madrid Host

giveaphuk — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:41:46 +0000

It is about 2pm on a sunday afternoon and I take a deep breath as I press the buzzer to her apartment, I am greeted by a nice voice welcoming me and telling me to come up to the 4th floor. I make my way up there and discover that she is a really nice spanish woman, 40 years old, speaking great english as it turns out she spent many years in london and travelling abroad.

I am not sure if it is because I am her first host, or that she is very generous but the next 4 days I spend there are most comfortable. I sleep well and get over my stomach bug, inbetween eating nice food and visiting many small amazing bars, where I drink my fill of vermouth and eat countless complimentary olives and other tapas snacks. Some bars are very old, others in former butchershops, all have many old bottles displayed on shelves and are full of young and old, all having a drink after work.

I am amazed at how relaxed the spanish are and I think I begin to understand why. They talk a lot and are very social creatures, every night the streets are crowded with groups of people all chatting about life, and I begin to wish I could understand spanish so that I could evesdrop on what is going on. The spanish also place great emphasis on food and drink, and this explains why the bars are always full, even on a monday night. My host tells me that spanish enjoy drinking, but they do it more to relax than to get drunk, a stark contrast to the binge drinking culture of australia, and they always must eat snacks when they drink.

I hope to take this lifestyle back with me on my return, as I am certain there are many australian summer days ahead consisting of ice cold vermouth, snacks and lazing around in the heat.

And I also spend my next four days exploring the streets of madrid and taking many photos. It is nice to be alone again so that I can concentrate on my artwork and start thinking about plans for my return to australia.

The Blue skys of madid

giveaphuk — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:40:40 +0000

So my host in madrid is a lovely woman who is new to couchsurfing, although she has already hosted many people without the use of the website and later after I meet her she tells me of the unusually blue skys of madrid. But now I haven’t met her, I am just exploring the city with an english guy I met from th hostel but later see in the street while I am checking out this massive religious ceremony being held in a big square in madrid, consisting of a choir and a massive religious icon that weaves its way amongst thousands of pilgrims, many of them dressed in traditional costumes.

So the english guy suggests we checkout this fleamarket, so I agree, having nothing to do, and am then soon greeted to a sight of thousands of shoppers all weaving their way amongst stalls in the narrow streets, and some of the sidestreets become specialty areas, for say pets, plumbing and artworks. Then we find all the 2nd hand section, right next to where the fathers and sons trade football cards, and I am amazed with some of the cool shit people are selling. But alas I have neither the money or the space to purchase such items.

Then I go back to the hostel, pickup the bags I stored there and start navigating my way towards my madrid hosts house, and in the back of my mind I am thinking about the fact that she has no friends or feedback on her couchsurfing profile and I hope that everything turns out cool.

Madrid Hostel

giveaphuk — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:39:45 +0000

I found the hostel and was soon showered and arranging my gear while speaking to a french canadian girl in our 8 bedroom dorm, which thankfully had 4 empty beds. I ate some food then retired early to watch some tv on my laptop while I heard the rumblings of a typical saturday night hostel party in the other room.

And then the strangest thing happened. As I was logging onto couchsurfing to submit an urgent couch request for madrid, I had an email from a lady in madrid, who was new to couchsurfing and asked should I need a couch, hers would be available to me.

I slept very well that night, knowing I had some accomodation sorted in madrid for the next few nights and was not stuck under some freeway underpass in the freezing cold.

2,729kms hitching with James comes to an end

giveaphuk — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:38:52 +0000

so there we were on the side of the a-1trying to head north. I was exhausted only after a short walk and lay on the side of the road, in small patch of sunlight, clutching my somach while james went off down the road to see if there were any gasolinas nearby. He was gone about an hour and I was thinking about the cold nights ahead and how run down I was feeling. I began to make plans for myself and thourght about sleeping in a nice warm bed, having a good shower, and washing all the tramp dust from my grotty clothes, which were by now all of them..

So james and I had a big talk, reminised on our adventure and bid eachother goodbye with a big hug on the side of the road, and I left to find this hostel which was advertised as having excellent showers, something which excited me at the time.

It was sad to finish the adventure, but as I travelled I realised how liberating it is to travel alone, and although I love the guy to bits I was glad to be on my own. And the funny thing is I know james felt the same way.

Why the Spanish postal system is fast!

giveaphuk — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:52:07 +0000

At the next gasolina it was much warmer and there was a 24hour restaurant there, so I treated myself to a hot coffee, mainly so we could steal the spoon to help prepare dinner (consisting of bread, cheese, and a big jar of beans, preserved spanish style (very tasty and cheap). We ate this next to the gas pumps and held our sign to strangers filling their cars. There was a lot more traffic here, so it looked like we would get a lift eventually and soon we did.

He was a spanish postal driver who had driven from madrid and was waiting in zaragoza for his workmate who was driving from barcalona to meet there and switch vans. He spoke very little english, but we eventually communicated a ride, and soon were hurtling our way towards madrid, in the rainy dead of night, in a van that had a top speed of 190km’s, and that was the speed we travelled at most of the way. It was scary at times, but you could tell the driver knew this stretch of road very well, and had his favorite sections, which he drove thru with the enthusuasm of a race car driver.

His destination was the airport so we decided to get out there also, if you are going to sleep out you are much safer to do it on the outskirts of a big city, because all the theives and thugs tend to prey on people inside town, not near the cargo section of an airport.

It was still raining and after some exploration we found a nice little nook underneath a freeway overpass, which although it was noisy, it was dry, secluded and out of the wind. We slept, though not well, I was freezing, and my stomach was still bad, and I remember waking to the smell of airline fuel and the roar of a jet taking off overhead. After a quick stop at the workers toilets in the airport, we caught a train into the city in search of an internet cafe to find our more info on where to go next.

It was a nice day and I liked the look of madrid, but we were feeling shitty and lugging your gear around is no way to explore a city. So once we found the internet cafe we had some discussions and decided perhaps it was best to skip portugal and make our way back to germany. By now I only have 16 days left before my flight back to australia and james had hardly any money on him and I think we were both feeling pretty destitute.

There was no information on hitchwiki about leaving madrid, so we had to figure out a place that would take us north. We found it eventually but it was less than ideal, and by this point I was exhausted even only after trekking a few kms with our backpacks. I think the consistant shitting due to the water and sleeping out in the cold had weakened me, and after a few unsucessful hours hitching I decided it best that I go find a hostel in the city and rest up.

Zaragoza

giveaphuk — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:44:14 +0000

so our host turned out the be the couchsurfing ambassator of zaragoza and had visited australia as well as lived in the uk for a while, which explained his strange english accent, a mix of english and spanish. He was a nice guy and took us out to a student bar for drinks, but by then James and I were both exhausted, and my stomach was still making noises, so we drank little, wanting to sleep early, because our host was getting up early, and for some odd reason, didn’t want to give us keys to his apartment so we could sleep in.

We woke 9am next day, to shitty cold rainy weather and I went to the toilet, returning whitened from the experience. The water certainly was dodgy because now pretty much anything I ate or drank instantly liquified in my bowels and then wanted out.

So we wandered the streets of zaragoza for 12 hours, because our host was returning later than usual due to a chinese language class. Drank a little wine, but it made me sick, james went skating while I lay in small patches of sunlight, between the showers, slept inbetween working on my rubix cube (I bourght one for 70 cents, it helps kill time).

By the time our host got home, I felt frozen and like shit, and pretty much went straight to bed after eating a cheap meal of cheese, chips and egg. Something I later regret. Knowing we had to hitch again the next day, with no host organised to stay with in madrid made me feel a little depressed and shitty about the whole experience. But being the tough aussies we are we soldliered on, walking about 5kms to the a-2 highway to barcelona. Once we got there we realised after a few hours that getting a lift would be hopeless here, and had to trudge along another 2km strip of muddy roadworks to find a much better gasolina.

Leaving Barcelona

giveaphuk — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:42:48 +0000

James and I both felt it a little hard to leave barcelona, we were comfortable and starting to feel as if we were living there, it is a city that reminds me very much of my hometown, melbourne. But on a wednesday we hit the road to attempt to hitch 700kms+ directly to madrid. Filled with high hopes we consulted hitchwiki, found a suitable spot, and caught public transport there. Once we got there we followed the directions and soon found ourselves at a gasolina, which had little traffic, so a few hours later, a vehicle eventually stopped to give us a ride.

It is hard not speaking spanish, and the driver of the car spoke no english at all, but we managed to communicate that he wasn’t going far down the road, but could give us a lift to another gasolina where, we assumed, we would have a much better chance of a ride to madrid.

At the next gasolina I was thirsty so filled up my water bottle and drank lots while we tried to get another ride. Not having much luck, it started to get dark, but there was a fantastic sunset so it wasn’t so bad. Then it got colder, and the prospects of hitting madrid by this night, were almost impossible, but I did organise a couch in zaragoza, which was only 350kms away, and that was still possible, even though it was about 7pm.

So james and I spot a beautiful spanish woman, about 23 filling up her new hatchback car. At first we both weren’t going to ask, because beautiful women tend not to pickup two strange guys at nighttime. But james approached, and before we knew it we were hurtling on our way to zaragoza at 150kms/hr and I was in the backseat, getting in touch with our zaragoza host to tell him we would be arriving.

It was a great relief to be on the road, and a great ride, with plenty of conversation and laughter and listening to spanish hiphop, all in all was awesome. Soon we were sitting in the cold outside our zaragoza hosts apartment, awaiting his return home. It was here, however, that my stomach started makiing horrible noises, and I realised that the water I was drinking was bad.

recipe – Tramp Stew

giveaphuk — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:41:09 +0000

Ingredients:

go to your local market just after it has closed and find the dumpsters out the back. In them search thru the refuse and find everything which is neither mouldy or tainted in any suspicious way. You should find plenty of stuff that is only cosmetically damaged, thus unsellable in this perfect world.

garlic and herbs (vegetable stock, paprika, salt, pepper, chilli, sugar, basil, oregano, rosemary). These things you will most likely have to buy, except rosemary, which commonly seems to grow everywhere.

Preperation

thoroughly clean all vegetables, being sure to remove any bruised sections and anything that you suspect may not be very good. (you should have plenty of stuff, so it is better to discard what appears bad, then have it taint your meal).

Heat oil in large pot, add garlic and some of your herbs and stir. When it smells good, add your onions and let fry, stirring occasionally. Also a good idea to add a splash of what you are drinking as the sugars and flavours will help add flavour.

Allow your onions to reduce a bit and cook well so they are looking golden brown (ideally), you can also add a pinch of sugar to help this process.

If you have plenty of tomatos add them now and allow this to cook until they are mushy. Now add all your vegeatables and cook, stirring occasionally, until you feel the vegetables are half done.

dissolve your stock into the appropriate amount of boiling water. Add this water, and more herbs (remember sometimes less is more) and garlic. Put a lid on it and go have a drink, returning to stir occasionally.

If you feel the stew needs thickening (which I personally always do), then add some finely chopped potatoes and a tablespoon of flour. Let the stew reduce, it may take an hour or two, but by then you will no doubt be hungry.