Rushing to Belgium

Having left the van behind us in Europe's most depressing town, Charleroi, Belgium, we now find ourselves in Ireland on the bus to Derry after a very enjoyable 36 hours or so in Dublin where we not only managed to have a good look around the Guinness storehouse but found the time to sample some of the best local beers so far on the trip.
Leaving Bratislava we made our way to Vienna where we successfully hooked back up with some friends from the canoe tour who managed to get us a place with their couchsurfing host for the two nights that we spent there. Our days were spent wandering the beautiful city, bumping in to family members who were unexpectedly in town and even checking our the local trash punk scene..
We left Vienna and made our way to Prague where we were expected in time for dinner with someone who I have know for a long time but who sadly, I had not seen for years. The drive was not particularly eventful with the only real challenge being that we had not paid for a vignette and so could not use the motorway system in either Austria or the Czech Republic. Nevertheless we arrived jut as the torrential rain came to an end and were greeted with cold beer, a bath and some great food.
Although Prague is without doubt the most touristy place that we have been, we very much enjoyed our time there exploring the castle area, sampling some of the better local Pils and getting some great photos overlooking the beautiful city. One of the best things that we did was to make the most of the free tours that are on offer, we were shown around by an American woman who was teaching in the city who could not only tell us some of the great stories that the city holds but do it in a way that only an American can – it was super-awesomely-cool..
Leaving Prague we were aware that we had a long few days ahead of us in order to get to Charleroi in time to meet our couchsurfing host so that we had a few says at her house before we caught the plane. Its all part of the way that couchsurfing is not just free accommodation, you have to spend enough time for your host to get to know you and vice versa, people really don’t like hosting for only one night. We hit the road after a good night’s sleep and made it a good distance into Germany before falling asleep in a truck stop for the night.
We awoke late to our first challenge of the day when the van wouldn’t start. Luckily the service area that we had slept in was long enough to get good push start and even had a slope so we could get some speed up; sadly, we were parked at the bottom of the slope. Pushing the van up the hill wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for the truck drivers sitting in their cabs and watching as we struggled with the van, nevertheless I was very grateful that we had invested in such a small van! We eventually made it to the top, took a few photos and half a minute later we were sitting in the van at the bottom of the hill celebrating our first successful hill start whilst revving the engine, much to the confusion of all those around us!
The day that followed was relatively hassle free, the van even started when we had to stop for petrol which was a relief, as we were still shattered from the morning’s efforts! The only stop we had planned to make whilst in Germany was in the city of Cologne where we wanted to have a look at the cathedral before continuing into Belgium to head to bed. Cologne was an all round success, the cathedral was one of the best we have seen and the nearby starbucks was able to fulfil our wifi needs. However when it came to leaving the city, the van, as we should have expected, wouldn’t start. Sadly this time, we were not in a spacious lay-by but on a small, one way street just opposite the cathedral. Undeterred we pushed the van out into the street much to the annoyance of the locals and pushed for all we were worth. Once again, the van started without so much as a cough and we were back on the road to Belgium.
After one more failed attempt to start the van in Belgium we eventually resorted to digging out the battery from underneath all of our clothes and looking for a jump start. However just as our new friend in his shiny VW was ready to help us out, I discovered the cause of the problem and had it fixed before we even had the jump leads connected to the car which, although a little embarrassing, was a huge relief.
Finally on our way we made it to Charleroi without a hitch and had a relaxed afternoon recovering in our hosts beautiful house. She insisted that we not leave the country without visiting to the capital and so, given that we had a total of 3 days in Belgium we decided that we had the time to spend a day and a night in Brussels and so headed to couchsurfing for somewhere to stay. We not only succeeded in finding ourselves a place to stay but also found an American guy who was willing to show us around the city which was fantastic. Brussels proved to be a beautiful city and restored our faith in Belgium and the flat that we stayed in that night had some of the best views of the city available. The only down side was that we had to get us early to get back to the car before the timer ran out on the parking metre!
Our bus to Derry should arrive in a few hours and we plan to stay and chill out there for a few days before heading to Galway on the west coast on Thursday.

Stats of the moment:
Days on the road: 73
Miles covered: 4900
States visited: 13
Nights not spent in Van: 29
Run ins with the Police: 1
Money spent on accommodation: £30.00

Couchsurfing and canoeing..

After 61 days on the road we have continued to add to the total number of states we have visited and also to the number of hands we now have on the side of the van. We are currently driving through southern Slovakia on our way to the capital, Bratislava which we plan to explore for a few hours today before heading to Vienna, Austria.
Leaving split we travelled due north into Hungary and back into the EU and upon our arrival, headed straight to Europe’s largest freshwater lake, Lake Balaton. Sadly the reality of the lake was not quiet as we had imagined, the deserted shores of our imagination were replaced by what can only be described as Hungary’s answer to the party coast of Spain. We ended up spending so much time trying to sort out some Couchsuring for the remainder of the trip that we never even made it into the water! We did however, stumble upon a CS canoeing tour leaving from Budapest in a few days time which, after some frantic emailing, we managed to get a place on.
We left the lake with renewed purpose having paid to sleep for the first time on the road and made our way to Budapest where we managed to fit in some sightseeing before we attended the pre-meeting for the canoe trip which was held in a bar called Szimpla just outside the centre of the city. Having met some of our friends for the coming week we headed to sleep in a residential street overlooking the beautiful city just underneath the citadel. We awoke late and again spend the day checking out as much of the city as possible before we headed to our host for the night, Zsolt, who also happened to be the leader of the week’s tour.
Two trains and a bus brought us to the start of our week’s canoeing, on a branch of the Danube which would, after a few solid days of paddling, lead us to the town of Gyor in western Hungary. The tour was a success all round, with around 50 couchsurfers from 15 nations taking to the water in good spirits even when the weather was not on our side. The 5 days on the water were spend covering distances of around 30 km which, even with one rest day, proved to be far more exercise than either of us has taken on during our time on the road. We arrived in Gyor pleased to be in civilisation once more but with very fond memories of days spent in canoes, afternoons playing silly games, evenings around campfires and nights in tents that were by no means waterproof.
Our return to Budapest brought a welcome shower and a chance to wash (or have washed!) our very soggy clothes and the much anticipated van signing by the team. We once more spent the evening at Szimpla enjoying a drink or two before we headed to bed right outside the Bar on what we thought was a park restriction free zone. We awoke late and headed to a café to get online and returned to find not only that we had received a parking ticket but that we had lost a set of car keys – not the ideal start to the day. We did however, manage to make it to Budapest’s hot baths for a day of chilling out with everyone before we headed for a fantastic home cooked lunch with some of our friends.

Stats of the moment:
Days on the road: 61
Miles covered: 4100
States visited: 8
Nights not spent in Van: 21
Run ins with the Police: 1
Money spent on accommodation: £10.00

music, girls and run ins with the Police

I am sitting in only the third building that we have slept in in 43 days on the road, wishing once more that Wizz air and Luton airport would get into gear and get their flights out on time. Since Pozega, we have only added one country to our list although sadly, as Serbia is not in the EU, the van was unable to join us for our 6 days of festival heaven.

            Leaving Pozega after only a few hours of wandering around we continued east towards Osijek where we had managed to get in contact with some fellow Couchsurfers who had agreed to look after the van whilst we were away. After a very comfortable night near a supermarket in town we headed to the old side of town to meet our new found friends over a coffee. Mili and Valent proved to be wonderful hosts and looked after us for the 2 nights more that we spent in Osijek and ensured that we were both well fed and well rested before we headed, by bus, to the relative unknown that was EXIT festival in the lovely town of Novi Sad in northern Serbia.

            We arrived at the festival shattered, sweaty and in desperate need of a beer after a 4 hour bus journey and a good 5k walk after we got somewhat lost leaving the bus station. Within an hour of pitching our tent, we had found our way to one of the numerous temporary bars that pop up during festival time, had a pint or two and returned to our tent where we met our neighbours, a large group of Irish girls, 2 guys from England and a Texan.

            The week was spent watching a selection of the greatest live bands and DJs by night with the daytime being spent trying to regain enough energy to do it all again the following evening. I think it is fair to say that we became something close to nocturnal with Chris managing to sleep straight through from our arrival back at the Village at 7am, until 5pm after a particularly long night of music. For those of you interested the highlights of the festival were; Chromeo, Klaxons, Royksopp, David Guetta, Dirty South, Pendulum, Chrystal Castles, SebastiAn and A Trak. It is fair to say that it was one of the best weeks of my life and that we shall definitely try to make it back next year! Our last day saw us stumble back in to camp at around 8.15 hastily pack up and grab a few hours sleep before heading out to a restaurant for lunch before we jumped on the bus back to Croatia. Having come worryingly close to missing the only bus back we ended up getting to know two Osijek locals who not only let us use their phones, but also insisted on giving us a lift back to the garage where the Van was waiting.

            As we left Osijek we had our first major problem with the Van, the lights were not behaving as they should and given that it was already dark, we were forced to sleep in a petrol station before taking on the long road to Zadar early the next day. 10 hours and 300 miles of driving finally brought us to the costal town where we grabbed a good night’s sleep before getting up early once more to meet our friends as they got off the train. We had an awesome last day with our firneds, chilling out by the sea and getting some good pictured of us jumping of high diving boards into the sea - the ultimate festival hangover cure. Saying goodbye to our friends once more, although not before the van got its fair share of new hand prints, we headed to bed by the sea, only to be rudely awaked by the local plod at 5.30am. They seemed remarkably relaxed that we had been sleeping there and we were simply told not to do it again in Zadar. We knew that we would get caught at some point and, looking back, we were sleeping in a very risky place and probably deserved to get caught. It was frustrating however, to see people peacefully asleep in sleeping bags only meters from the van whilst we were hastily moved on.

            A few pretty uneventful days were spent edging our way closer and closer to Split where we eventually met up with a few school friends before the family arrived on the Sunday. We have had some very restful days on the beautiful island of Brac with the exception of one very long and very memorable night of partying on the mainland with more Exit friends.

Stats of the moment:

Days on the road: 43

Miles covered: 3100

States visited: 6

Nights not spent in Van: 8

Run ins with the Police: 1

Money spent on accommodation: 0.00

On into Croatia

Chris and I now find ourselves in the town of Pozega in north Croatia. After a solid three weeks on the road we have crossed 4 states and are finally out of the relative safety of Western Europe.

            After a few days at the lake in Italy we continued east and were in Slovenia before we headed to bed in what we knew was a mountainous area. We awoke to find ourselves in a beautifully green and very friendly country where petrol was not only cheap but the roads were well maintained and people spoke very good English. The capital, Ljubljana was amazing with narrow winding streets with a small town feel to it. After an hour or so on the internet and a few hours wandering around we continued east and found ourselves worryingly close to the border with Croatia. We decided that we could not possibly leave the country without at least having one beer so we stopped in a town for a few drinks. The town we chose appeared to be pretty big on the map but when we got there all we found was a huge car park and one bar (not much, but if there were to things for a town to have..). We ended up chatting to 2 locals, one of whom had just crashed his car, and stayed there for an hour or so enjoying our one and only Slovenian beer.

            After around half an hour on the road we found ourselves at the Croatian border which we managed to get through with all our dairy products at only the cost of a 1 for 1 exchange rate at the first, unavoidable, toll booth we met around 300m into the country. The capital city of Zagreb was our first stop into Croatia and although much, much bigger than Ljubljana we found it an friendly enough first stop I the country we have been dreaming of reaching since the beginning of this trip. We managed to find our way around without a problem and wandered around both the beautiful cathedral and the markets which fill the area just north of the main square.

            We left Zagreb with a replenished food supply and, after having failed spectacularly to find a local lake, found ourselves in the small, off-the-map town of Nova Roca. We found a great spot to park and headed to the local for a drink. A few hours, a few friends, a few beers and a lock in later we headed back to the car having spent the grand total of 4 quid for a litre and a half a beer each! The next morning we headed back to the bar for a coffee and a map update and managed to get the bar lady (who refused to let us pay for anything) to not only tell us where we were but also to join the elite group of our official friends by signing the van!

            After such a good start to the day we spend the next few hours driving on rocky, dusty and generally pretty incredible roads before heading to sleep in a large lay-by. We woke up this morning feeling the need for a shower and successfully proved that a litre of water and shampoo is all that is required!

            From here we plan to continue to Vincovci where we hope to meet Durdica from couchsurfing who has helped us out so much before heading north to Osijeck where we will leave the van and catch the bus to EXIT festival in Serbia.

Stats of the moment:

Days on the road: 21

Miles covered: 2200

States visited: 5

Showers taken: 13

Run ins with the Police: 0 (touch wood!)

Money spent on accommodation: 0.00 (excluding Le Mans)

First days on the road..

After 14 days on the road Chris and I find ourselves just north of Venice in northern Italy. Our journey so far has taken us the length of France, the width of Italy and through mountain range and valley.

            The journey began with a few days at the world famous 24 hours of Le Mans which provided us with a good stepping stone through northern France and a reliable campsite for our first nights in the van. Although the race was one of the most exciting in recent years we found ourselves itching to continue our journey and were back on the road only 5 minutes after the race finished!

After a restful 48 hours or so with family in the Dordogne we continued south towards the Millau bridge, which we reached after 2 relaxed (and somewhat shorter than before) days on the road. The views of the bridge certainly lived up to expectations and the chief photographer got some good snaps on our way over. The day continued with our discovery of an incredible mountain road which we spent a few hours on, stopping every so often to take photos.

            Continuing on south through France, eventually brought us to the coast and some warmer weather. Our first city sleep was in Marseille which we loved. We happened to arrive just in time for the fete de panniers which is a massive street party in the back streets of the city where the locals all come out and sell food from their houses while live bands and DJs play music from anywhere and everywhere. Moving on from Marseille we stuck to the coast and after some obligatory hours on the beach and a relaxing few days on the road, we found our way to St Tropez. Our bed for the night was up a first gear hill, near the citadel, just a hundred meters or so from a Buggatti Veyron and right on the edge of the old town. After a beer in the van we headed in to town to see for ourselves the infamous town. A few hours and at least one 10 euro beer later we were back in the van and ready for a good night’s sleep.

            Over the next few days we continued east along the coast, taking in the major towns and some incredible views of the blue blue sea. Notable highlights included taking breakfast on the sea front in the morning and sampling the local beer by night. As we neared the Italian border we were greeted with the Principality of Monaco which we had both heard much about but didn’t really know what to expect. We arrived at about 10 in the evening and had a brief wander around before deciding we could not come all this way without going in the casino. 20 mins later we were changed into the best clothes we had (some dodgy old boots for me and some trainers for chris – classy enough, I think so!) and we were in. Without over elaborating, the building is one of the most intimidating I have ever been in but I am pleased to say that we, well, broke even.

            We left Monaco that night and made it across the Italian border without even seeing a border guard before heading to bed just inside Italy in a campervan car park at about 2. From there we have headed north east, towards the Slovenian border which we are less than a day away from as I type. We have enjoyed Italy save for the Italian drivers, the poor quality of the roads and the lack of WIFI. Our best day yet was spent by a river in the back country of the central north of the country which we found by accident. It was completely deserted and we spent our 24 hours there skimming stones, swimming and jumping off rocks into pools of freezing cold water; exactly what this trip is about for me. After a brief time in Verona yesterday we are now by a lake in the Dolomites and Chris is about to give kite boarding a go. Talking of which I best go get some photographic evidence..

Until soon,

Marcus

Stats of the moment:

Days on the road: 14

Miles covered: 1900

Showers taken: 9

Run ins with the Police: 0 (touch wood!)

Money spent on accommodation: 0.00 (excluding Le Mans)

From Hue to Hanoi and beyond

Dorus and I arrived in Hanoi early from the night bus and found our way, through a tout, to a seemingly nice hotel in the heart of the Old Quarter. We began here by visiting all the major cites including the mausoleum of 'Uncle Ho' which was a little bizarre but really helped us to understand how important he was and still is to the people here. We went to bed feeling that we had done the city justice and even after having sampled some dog meat with a friend we had met a week or so earlier in Hoi An. The next morning started badly with a knock at the door to let us know that the hotel had made an error had double booked our room and could we move to the owner's 'sister's' hotel. Sure, no problem, however we do expect you to ensure that the price of this new hotel  is significantly lower to make it worth the move we said. No problem she replied. 2 hours and a few shouting matches later we were still in the hotel with the owners having failed to find us somewhere else to stay and the incredible dissapearance of her 'sister' along with her hotel went relativly undiscussed. We made it clear and thought we were right to do so, that, since the were simply  throwing us out wothout finding us an alternative, that their mistake had to come at a cost and that was that we were not willing to pay the full pirce for the night that we had spent there. I think its safe to say that the concept of owing something to your guests as the owner of a hotel has yet to reach Vietnam and allowing us out the door without $9 changing hands was simply not an option. Tto cut a long story short, we were eventually thrown out onto the street $7 poorer but escaped experiencing the vietnamese police - we were both thankful that we had not had to go through the experiance alone and were suitable shaken by the whole event.
After a few comparitvely unstressful days in the city Dorus and I eventually moved on to stay on Cat Ba island in Ha Long bay which, save for the one town on the island, is a beautiful place. We spent a few days chilling out there kayaking, walking, motorbiking and eventually headed back to the mainland on a boat to take in the best bits of the bay. Other highlights of our stay included spontaniously helping out a lload of boatmen move a few hundred barrels of diesel from a truck to a boat - random but a lot of fun!
I then moved on alone to Sapa in the north of the country and very close to China for a few days of exploring the mountains before heading home. It is fair to say that the scenery there is fantastic with rice terraces as far as the eye can see on very steep hillsides. I spent my time there on a motorbike choosing to get as far away from the town as possible to try and see some villages untouched by tourism. I was able to find some amazing little places tucked away at the end of vast valleys which really helped to make my journey there worthwhile.
Tomorrow i move on to Singapore for 3 days or so, not too sure what to expect but am sure it will be a little different from here..

Further in to Vietnam..

The three weeks that i have spent here seem now to be flying by and it is only now that i realise that the two weeks i have left is not enough to do all that i would like..
In the time that i have been here i feel that i have done the country justice, i have visited all of the major cities of the south and have seen some incredible scenery on the way between them..
Da Lat, my first stop from HCMC, is located inland in the southern mountain range. It is the city that i was in for the shortest amount of time but we managed to visit all the major sites there including the aptly names Crazy House which was amazing! From there i traveled with two other people to Nha Trang which is known to be the most western city in the country with a night life and beach to match! We spent some time exploring the city and had an awesome, if not very cultural, day in a water park and even went on the longest over sea cablecar in the world! We ended up saying there for about 4 days before I headed on alone to the beautiful town of Hoi An famous for its narrow streets and its incredible number of tailor shops. After the obligatory clothes had been ordered, a few days of chilling out with a good book in some of the town's best cafes were in order. From Hoi An i moved to Hue, the old capital, and one of the best towns i have visited. Although i have been stuck here for longer than expected due to a badly placed and incredibly long national holiday, I feel that i have really made the most of the city. Dorus and i have been renting motorbikes to explore the local area which had a surprising number of things to see that most tourists simply do not see. Our first day saw is us trying to find the tombs of some previous emperors which was amazing, they all put so much time, effort and money into their final resting places that they are incredibly beautiful, often situated next to hand dug lakes in the mountains!
Today we move together to Hanoi on the night bus, where we plan to stay for a few days before heading east to see the infamous Ha Long Bay..

First week in Vietnam

I am sitting in a bar on Long Beach in Phu Quoc, the hidden island paridise about 50km off the mainland of Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand, the sun is shining and the sea is warm but it is not all plain sailing! I have been trravelling on my own for a week now and it is fair to say that it is not as easy as I thought it would be. My arrival in Ho Chi Minh City was fine and during my first few days there I made a number of particularly good friends with whom I travelled into the mekong delta. I think it is fair to say that we did the delta justice as we took in the famous floating markets and spent many an hour travelling up and down the beatuiful, if not dirty, river. From the town of Can Tao I travelled alone to the particularly grim town of Rach Gia from where I would take a boat the next morning to the island. Although not particularly stressful or problematic I suddenly found myself feeling very alone which was much harder than I thought it would be. However, one snorkelling trip around the islands off the south coast fo Phu Quoc later and I have company again, my new friend and i will be travelling back to HCMC together on tueday morning from where I plan to head north to discover what the rest of vietnam has to offer.
Until then I have 2 days of hardcore chilling out to do on what can only be descirbed as one of the most beautiful beaches that I have ever seen..

A Stereo at Last!

Woke up earty this morning in hexton with the aim of trying to sort out an aerial for the van, the one i bought from Halfords fitted perfectly and within minutes we had a working radio in the van for the first time in a few years. following this the decision was quickly made to venture back to halfords to 'check out' what options we had on the car audio front and before we knew it, we were heading home with new speakers and headunit in the back and instructions from our new best friend in halfords as to how to put it all together!

3 hours later... radio fitted and tracey chapman (chris' choice) was blaring out throughout the back yard! The experiance of taking the front end of the van to bits was a good one and one that had given us belief that we are capable of maintaining this van over our trip in the summer...

what a day.

A Rainy Day...

My chances of getting a good days skiing before i go home are looking very slim now as it has been raining for the past few hours... its a real shame as we had such a good day yesterday perfecting the art of doing roley poleys on skis and just generally messing around on the off piste around chatel - was such a nice way to end what have been 3 awesome months of skiing...

What a day..

Good day today, finally got around to doing some awesome off piste with Jimmy that we have been looking at for a while, although the snow was not great as it could have been due to the heat earlier on in the week. We found a sunny spot in the trees where we sat for a while before taking on the somewhat technical descent which involved me hanging out of a tree to get down a steep drop! Was a really good run and would be fun to do again with some better snow conditions.

Since i am now heading home this weekend, i have been in trying to sort out getting the van on the road. given that she has only done 5000 miles in her time, 'Bev' as she seems now to be called, needs some miles under her belt over the next few months before she takes on 3000 miles of european countryside with chris and i at the wheel this summer. We plan to travel to Croatia via the best bits of eastern europe before heading home through italy and france towards the end of august.

Anyway, for now, bed - it has been a long day and one thing i can be sure of is that tomorrow will be the same...

Drunken Belgians..

Up late this morning after a group of our guests were up drinking and dancing (on their own) until relativly late last night. Had more snow in the night and the weather today is not bad so think i'll get out there for a few hours before my shift starts at 3. We should have made it through the busy period now, will be nice to have another quiet week...


Still coming up with more places to visit in Europe this summer, beginning to turn in to a pretty epic trip... Wolf trecking in Romania is the most recent addition!


Am begining to think about training for my first triathlon at Blenheim Palace on the 6th June, could be a bit tight though, its only 6 weeks after i get back from here..

First update

After two months away in Switzerland i have finally got around to setting myself up a blog, i thought i would use it to keep a record of eveything that i have done on my year away..

It seems amazing how quickly the past two months have gone, we quickly settled into the routine of work as our first guests came and went.. thankfully the snow came with the new year as December '09 was one of the worst on record!

As a team in the hotel we all get along well although we do not often get the chance to ski together as someone is working pretty much all of the time.. Although Jamie and i have managed to ski together a fair amount and it was great to have Chris Alice and Charlotte over to ski with us for a few days over the weekend...

Planning for the next stage of my year away is getting underway with Chris and i beginning to think about where we want to go in our little bedford van.. all that we need now are some decent designs for its new paint job (thanks Alice!).


Have had a very relaxing day off today but am on breakfast duty tomorrow which is never much fun..