travel blogger – Jason likes to travel

Dublin – September 2021

Hello dear readers! Last time out on the blog I spoke about something that I suppose is the antithesis of any travel blogger – the untaken trip! It’s easy writing about trips you’ve taken, enjoyed and want to talk about but last time out I spoke of a planned trip to Dublin which just didn’t happen.

“Hey, remember that time I didn’t go to Dublin..?”

2019 was a busy year and I’d reached somewhat of a breaking point in terms of energy levels and therefore in the interests of my mental health as much as anything I decided that I needed a weekend off to slow down, recuperate and just not do anything. Consequently I made a last-minute, difficult decision to not travel to Ireland in May 2019 – which incidentally would have been my first trip to Ireland.

I stand by the decision. It was the right thing to do and there was no real regret but of course that didn’t stop an inner voice niggling away at me throughout 2020 – “you actually passed up on an opportunity to travel last year? – you idiot!”

There couldn’t have been a bigger contrast between 2019 and then 2020. If 2019 had felt too busy at times, 2020 definitely went to the other extreme in having that itch to be able to do anything. Borders closed, restrictions were imposed all over the globe, the travel industry came to a standstill.

I was fortunate to have squeezed in two overseas trips in to 2020. Admittedly one of those was BC (before Covid) and the other was to a British territory (Gibraltar) so not truly free travel but I was certainly luckier than most to have escaped reality for a little while. I hoped for a better 2021 and of course the big ol’ wedding in Washington come the September.

Alas, 2021 was arguably worse for travel with numerous obstacles to jump through and often ever-changing obstacles so just as you had some inkling that you were okay to go somewhere, a day later someone would make a decision that snatched that opportunity from you. 2021 was arguably the year of last-minute travel – tough luck on those unable to travel-plan at the last second.

Planning a trip at the last minute has its own challenges but is at least manageable. However for an occasion such as a wedding, we couldn’t rely on everything being last minute. I’d booked myself four weeks off of work but as September inched closer and closer, the US border showed no signs of opening.

Americans everywhere were seemingly welcome to travel in and out of their country but us pesky foreigners seemingly posed a greater threat and America stayed closed for business. We eventually reached a point where a decision had to be made – it’s a decision we probably should have made sooner but we eventually made the decision to postpone our wedding until April 2022.

We’d known all along that the US border’s closure may pose a problem for our plans to get married in Washington but I’d still been hopeful we could spend some time somewhere. I pondered if I could maybe go across the border to somewhere like Vancouver or that maybe we could take a little break somewhere together, just to have some time together after months spent apart. Sadly life got in the way and things didn’t pan out for Haleigh to be able to join me. It left me with four weeks off work with nothing to do.

With no big wedding to worry about I decided I probably didn’t need the entirety of that four weeks off work. I decided to cancel one of those weeks with the hopes that if I moved it to November that the US might be open for Thanksgiving (it was – hurrah!).

That change still left me with three weeks off work in September though. If I couldn’t travel to see Haleigh, I still wanted to travel somewhere. I wasn’t sure if I’d go away for the full three weeks but I knew that I didn’t want to be at home moping for the entirety of it.

So where to?

As I said, 2021 was a rubbish year for travel. You couldn’t plan anything and even if you did, there were no guarantees. Infact the only other trip I’d planned so far this year was a long weekend spent in Eastbourne and then the hotel I was staying at cancelled my reservation days before I was due to go – bloody annoying!

There were so many things to consider when planning a trip. Possible hotel cancellations, possible flight cancellations, the risk of Covid, the Covid requirements in a destination, the risk of having to quarantine and on and on and on. The ‘safest’ way to travel was to plan it all last minute and hope for the best.

Looking back it appears that I only booked flights and accommodation for this particular trip a week before going which is a sign of how fairly last minute things were. I’d umm’d and ahh’d for as long as I could before committing to spending six days in Ireland.

Ireland just made a lot of sense. It was close to home, the Covid entry requirements were fairly straight-forward whilst at the same time appreciating that Ireland were still taking Covid seriously. The Covid cases were much lower than England but unlike England, Ireland still had restrictions in place. The biggest reason though was just the desire to visit Ireland – I’d yet to do so and that failed trip in 2019 gave me a little more motivation to finally visit.

Of course I would much rather have been flying to Washington, getting married and thinking about finally getting on with my future with Haleigh but I made the best of the hand I’d been dealt. One of the perks to having three weeks off was that I could go to Ireland for longer than I’d planned to in 2019. That 2019 trip was only set to be a 3-day weekend in Dublin. For this trip I had six days split between Dublin and Cork. I was excited to finally be making my first visit to Ireland!

One of the best things about visiting Ireland from England is that it’s so quick! I had a lunchtime flight out of Stansted on the Tuesday but being such a short flight it meant I arrived in to Dublin mid-afternoon.

The journey to Dublin was smooth, the hassle getting away from the airport much less so. Now admittedly I hadn’t really done any prior research beforehand but how hard can it be getting from the airport to central Dublin?

The whole process took far longer than it should have done. It took me a while to figure out where I needed to catch a bus, only to find that I couldn’t then pay by card – nor could I pay with anything other than exact change with a bus fare of let’s say 3.27 euros. I popped over to a nearby shop to buy an extortionate bottle of water to break a note down only to return and find a grumpy driver insistent that it had to be exact. None of this four euros malarkey or 3.30 or even the hint of overpaying the fare just so I could catch a sodding bus in to the city.

Perhaps I misremember things but I was particularly frustrated and it wasn’t the best of starts to life in Ireland. I was really reluctant to spend money on a taxi so in the end I went and found an alternative bus company which was a little more expensive but much less hassle and quickly got me on a bus heading to the city centre.

I obviously hadn’t been to the city so I wasn’t 100% sure where I needed to get off but the ticket-sellers gave me a vague idea and by chance we happened to pass my hotel upon entering the city- I was staying at a Hilton just on the North side of the river Liffey which ended up being a really nice base for the next few days.

I checked in to my hotel, relaxed for a little bit and then started considering my options for the evening. Any time I visit somewhere I’m always tempted to go and find some live sport to watch so a big part of me wanted to go and watch the Republic of Ireland v Serbia football match. However I think this Covid travel era just brought the absolute pessimist out of me.

I’m generally a positive and optimistic person but there were too many hoops to jump through, no guarantees that something wouldn’t go wrong and then the ticket prices seemed too high which was the final tipping point. I decided not to bother.

The football was a nice idea but I hadn’t really come to Ireland with any plans. I needed to travel this month because I knew the alternative would be that I’d just spend the entirety of September moping at home but being brutally honest, I think there was still a part of me content to mope and Ireland kind of ticked the right boxes for that. I hadn’t come here for anything in particular – there was no grand plan but I could mope in Dublin’s finest and that’s where this trip begins I suppose.

I went and found myself a pub near the hotel. Let me add that I was on the hunt for dinner and this particular pub had a decent food menu but the selection of craft beers was an added bonus.

At the time there were still some Covid restrictions which meant Ireland had implemented a country-wide policy of “table service only” at any venues and also proof of vaccination anywhere you went. No mask – no entry. No vaccination – no service.

It made for an interesting trip but also made me feel a little better about having traveled in Covid-times, there were more restrictions here than there were in England at the time.

A handful of Irish fans popped in to this pub donning their famous green shirts and I did feel a little envy that I wasn’t going to the game but I enjoyed a beer from some Galway brewery and settled in for an evening of drinking and people-watching.

I’ve always loved the Irish accent, moreso on women, but this was the first time I’d really struggled with it. I hadn’t anticipated it being as difficult as it was but this was one of those occasions where I pondered if those around me were even speaking English. I was watching the barman chat with what was clearly a regular and struggled to comprehend a single word either of them were saying.

“Please tell me the reason I can’t understand you is because you’re speaking Gaelic..”

Every so often I’d catch a word in English but for the most-part it was incomprehensible English. I finished off my meal, had another pint or two but it wasn’t a very late evening. I pondered whether I should wander somewhere else for some night-time entertainment but in the end I just headed back to my hotel – there was still plenty of time to enjoy Dublin and Ireland.

The next morning I woke up and walked over to Connolly train station, looking for a train heading out to Malahide. I’d asked for some recommendations before heading over and this was one recommendation that fellow travel blogger, John, had suggested and tempted me. It was a pretty easy journey and reasonably priced and soon enough I’d arrived in the heart of a small village-like place called Malahide which is about 20-30 minutes north of central Dublin.

I’d come here specifically to see Malahide castle. Due to Covid restrictions I again had to prove my vaccination status, wear a mask and I also believe book tickets in advance. Included within the ticket was a guided tour of the castle and then a self-guided tour of the gardens.

The castle grounds were huge. A large portion of it is accessible to the public but from train station to castle doors is a good ol’ walk and plenty of people were walking their dogs and enjoying the greenery. The castle itself is a nice size. I found the tour itself interesting and our tour guide seemed very knowledgeable. I snapped a few photos along the way whilst our guide told us more about each room and the history of the castle.

Following on from the tour I took a wander through the private gardens which was really equally enjoyable. Home to a magical fairy trail, it’s very family friendly and there’s plenty of sculptures and other things that catch your eye as you walk through. Access is restricted to those with tickets so you also get to see views of the castle that you otherwise wouldn’t see – it was a nice addition to the castle visit.

Content I’d seen all I wanted to of the grounds I wandered back towards Malahide’s centre, had a brief look around and then caught the train back in to Dublin with plans to go and find lunch somewhere. I got off at a relatively quiet station which was unfortunate as my ticket didn’t allow me through the ticket barriers for some reason and there were no staff on hand to help me pass through – I was stuck!

Fortunately I managed to flag the attention of someone hidden away in an office and they let me through and I continued on my quest for lunch. I took inspiration from another recommendation and settled upon a nice pub / restaurant in a quiet neighbourhood. Being midweek it wasn’t very busy but it was a great find and the pie and mash was delicious so made for a worthwhile detour.

After lunch I was meeting up with the previously mentioned John, coming to Dublin I had to reach out and see if he was free and fortunately he was. I took a bit of a detour on route back to the river and managed to pass Dublin’s Aviva Stadium – an impressive looking stadium at that. I grabbed some photos before continuing onwards past the dock / canal area which had a scattering of street art – adding some colour to the area at the very least.

Unfortunately my phone was on its last legs and its battery life wasn’t well suited to travel / busy days anymore. I’d taken a fair few photos in the morning and knew my phone wasn’t going to last long enough to actually meet up with John – I had to take a detour via my hotel to have a brief phone-charge which meant I was running a little later than intended. John ended up meeting me at my hotel and we then ventured over to a nearby drinking hole for a drink and a chance to meet for the first time – certainly a highlight of my time in Dublin.

John left me with a few further recommendations, some of which I’d already planned for, but they were welcome nonetheless. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I popped back to the hotel for an hour or so and made plans for the evening – I was really keen to get my first glimpse of the “famous” Temple Bar district of Dublin.

For dinner I decided I’d tick off another “landmark” and visit Dublin’s Hard Rock Cafe – long time readers will know I’ve been to my fair share and as Dublin’s is in the heart of Temple Bar it seemed rude not to pop in at least once on my trip.

Covid pass – mask – table – repeat.

So far there had been no exception to this practice. Perhaps as a result of this the Hard Rock Cafe was pretty quiet when I visited. I enjoyed some food and then went in search of entertainment for the evening.

It’s worth saying here that this was Dublin and Ireland slowly opening up again – the Covid restrictions were necessary and I’m glad that Ireland were taking it seriously but this wasn’t Irish nightlife in all its glory – it was a compromised Dublin testing the waters to see if it were safe to open up again. Consequently things were a little more civilised than things perhaps would be in “normal times” in Dublin.

Nevertheless a more cautious Dublin probably still has a better nightlife than most. I tried my hand at a couple of pubs but due to its “table-only” policy and being full capacity I was turned away from the first couple I tried visiting. In the end I found somewhere a little quieter down one of the side streets.

Covid pass – mask – table – repeat.

I found a table and ordered myself a Guinness – the first of this trip. Ordinarily I don’t drink the black stuff but “when in Rome.. “.

Dublin myth will tell you that Guinness tastes better here and in all honesty it’s hard to argue. It did taste good and turned the tide a little in terms of enjoying Guinness. I’d finally been converted in becoming a fan of Guinness!

I only stuck around for one before moving on. I’d come to Temple Bar for the entertainment and this particular pub was lacking the live music that I was craving so I moved on and tried my luck at returning to one of the pubs from earlier – success this time!

I was shoved towards what barely could even be considered a table but I had a stool and a windowsill to place my drink – tucked away in the corner of the pub – good enough! I ordered another Guinness and was content listening to this Irish duo sing away for a while.

In normal times I’m sure there’d have been a few having a little jig on the pub floor somewhere but sadly in Covid times a seat jig was the best any of us were going to muster up. It was still enjoyable and I could have sat there for hours in all honesty but I’m sure for the locals it wasn’t quite what they were used to.

I think there was a changeover in singers / entertainment and I took that as my cue to move on and try somewhere else. Nearby down one of the side streets was another great venue for live music albeit with a longer queue to get a table. I decided to just ride this one out and wait as long as needs be to get a table to enjoy the rest of my evening. The voice was again very good but I was essentially seated at the equivalent of a “restricted view” seat. I couldn’t actually see the singer on stage from where I was sat but I wasn’t particularly bothered as I could still hear the artist. This was unfortunately just a sign of the times. At least I had a seat and another Guinness.

Having had my fill of entertainment I walked back along the river towards my hotel. Merry enough that I’d had a nice night but sober enough there was no risk of a hangover in the morning. Infact I dare say Guinness is one of those drinks I can perhaps drink endlessly without any suffering. There’ve definitely been trips where I’ve misjudged my limit and passed the point of “one too many” but I’ve yet to find that limit with Guinness. I don’t know that it exists – which is worrying and satisfying in equal measure. It was certainly something I found easy to drink whilst in Dublin and has since become a nice option for longer drinking sessions back home.

The next morning I’d made plans to visit Kilmainham Gaol – again requiring Covid passes, masks and booking in advance. An unexpected bonus was that at the time entry fees had been scrapped so I was able to visit for free – leaving me very confused at the time of booking. I went as far as emailing them to confirm whether I was expected to pay something on the day because all over the website suggested a fee for admission and yet I’d not paid anything at the time of booking. They were quite quick to respond actually and confirmed that all of their heritage sites were free to visit until the end of the year – probably trying to entice people to return in 2021 off the back of a difficult couple of years.

I considered my options on how to reach Kilmainham from my hotel and in the end walked the three or so miles. Distance aside, it was a pretty straight-forward walk actually. I arrived in good time and was the first to arrive in our allotted time-slot for another guided tour.

The tour begins in its courtroom before taking you through the rest of the gaol (jail) whilst a tour guide tells you about it and Ireland’s history. There were a few attractions I didn’t get around to visiting whilst in Dublin but this was one I made sure to visit and it hadn’t disappointed. It was one of the highlights of my time in Dublin and I’m glad I’d made time for it. After the tour you’re free to take a look around its museum area which was also interesting before you then exit.

Like much of the trip, from there I had no real plan. I had tickets for the famous Guinness Storehouse / Museum that is considered another must visit on any trip to Dublin but because of Covid I couldn’t just turn up. I’d booked an advance ticket and my allotted time slot wasn’t until later in the afternoon so I had a good few hours in-between the two attractions.

I wandered from the jail back in to town, stopping off at this interesting coffee spot for a cup of tea and a snack before exploring more of central Dublin. I’d timed my walk to coincide with winding up near the Brazen Head – supposedly the oldest pub in Dublin and they make claim to being one of the oldest in the world even although that has been disputed by another pub in Ireland which claims to date back 300-ish years earlier.

The Brazen Head however still boasts 800+ years in business so I popped in for lunch as many before me likely have over the years. It’s a nice pub, I really liked it. I sat at a table outside with a little covering above me. The sausage and mash was really good, nicely accompanied with a Guinness. I imagine it attracts a few more tourists because of its age but overall I’d still recommend a visit and it has a lot of character that makes it a fine pub.

After lunch I wandered back up to the river not really sure of what I wanted to do next. I still had a bit of time to kill before the Guinness Storehouse but I had nothing else that I particularly wanted to do – this of course wasn’t helped by spontaneity being an impossibility during Covid. If you wanted to visit attractions, you generally needed to have booked in advance.

Contemplating what to do, I vividly remember spending a few minutes just overlooking the Liffey and casting judgment on Dublin as a whole.

I don’t think Dublin is a particular pretty city but this particular view was lovely, I was having a nice enough time in Dublin but Dublin was just lacking something. I couldn’t place my finger on it at the time but as nice as it was to be away for a few days, I could easily see myself never returning to Dublin.

Some places you immediately click with, others take a bit of warming to but I just wasn’t feeling it. Nothing tickled my fancy so I wandered back to my hotel and took a nap rather than wander for the sake of wandering – I’d spent most of the day on foot anyway so I’d seen a fair bit of Dublin this morning.

Following a short sleep I was up and back on foot, returning in the direction I’d come from and made my way over to the Guinness Storehouse for my self-guided tour. I was a little early which meant I had to wait for a brief time as they were quite strict on entry time – probably partially due to Covid numbers limiting capacity although as it’s a self-guided tour there’s no time limit on how long you can spend there.

Anyway, shortly after our time slot we were granted entry and I was on my way. Over the course of the tour you learn about how Guinness is made, the history of Guinness and its impact on Dublin and the world. They delve in to the marketing and advertising campaigns over the years and there’s even a section where you learn to pour your own pint – although I didn’t personally do this so it may have been excluded from the tour given Covid was still a big concern at the time.

I have to say it was really enjoyable. I was by no means a huge fan of Guinness but I think even non-Guinness lovers or non-beer lovers will still enjoy a visit here. It was one of the highlights of my time in Dublin. Rounding off the tour and included within the admission price is a free Guinness / drink at the rooftop bar which was a nice way to finish things off.

I ordered a drink and “enjoyed” the views of Dublin. I say enjoyed a tad loosely as although the “Gravity Bar” offers 360 degree views overlooking the city, it’s not the prettiest of cities and I don’t think the views here offer really much of anything worth looking at. Nevertheless there’s a nice atmosphere up there and it was the perfect spot to finish off the afternoon – aided by an unexpected perk upon my visit.

By pure coincidence my afternoon pint was accompanied with a text from my boss back home informing me that I was to receive a payrise!

Now, I don’t want to get in to trouble by suggesting that every visitor to the Guinness Storehouse receives a payrise but it certainly boosted my mood and made my time here all the more memorable. I finished off my Guinness, made my way to ground level and turned my attention to dinner with my new-found riches – it’s worth adding at this point that Ireland is not cheap so it was a welcome boost to the funding of what was a fairly costly trip for somewhere so close to home.

Speaking of close.. I didn’t venture very far from the Guinness Storehouse for food. Just around the corner is a small pub called Harkins which seemed convenient enough. As a reminder to not judge a book by its cover, looking at its exterior I wasn’t particularly encouraged and the Thursday evening crowd also didn’t seem particularly friendly / inviting. I contemplated moving on and trying my luck somewhere else but fortunately I took a chance on it and the Irish stew made up for any reservations I’d had. It was delicious and completely justified me visiting here – an unexpected surprise!

After dinner I headed over to the Temple Bar area. Having discovered I was seemingly immune to any alcoholic effects of Guinness I was looking forward to another night of the black stuff and a little live music to enjoy the evening. I checked out a couple of pubs, including one of the ones I’d visited the night before which hosts live music every evening, before calling it a night and preparing to say goodbye to Dublin. It was almost time to leave!

The next morning I was in a bit of a funk. Truth be told my heart wasn’t in this trip but I didn’t really want to go home either. I was supposed to be leaving for Cork today but looked in to the possibility of staying in Dublin instead, I hadn’t loved Dublin by any means but I also didn’t really fancy moving onwards. I had to fly home from Dublin so I’d be back here anyway and there was a part of me looking for a convenient reason to just stay.

In what can only be described as travel-procrastination I left it as late as possible to check out of my hotel that morning. I was supposed to be in Washington getting married. I didn’t particularly want to go to Cork, didn’t really want to be in Dublin but also didn’t really want to go home. I was stuck and committed to being in Ireland for three more nights. First world problems, eh?

Eventually checking out, I figured I might as well hang around in Dublin long enough to grab some lunch and popped to this nearby place called Urban Brewing which was just around the corner from my hotel.

I’ll start by saying that a quick look at Google shows a scattering of reviews which are very hit and miss – perhaps it’s gone downhill a little since my visit but the negative reviews were not my experience at all. It’s different to your traditional Irish pub perhaps but I liked it and my only regret is I hadn’t come here sooner.

The selection of beer was very good as you’d expect, the staff were friendly and there was just a buzz to the place that made for a really nice atmosphere. Infact it was here that I had somewhat of an epiphany and suddenly I realised what Dublin was lacking. That *thing* that I couldn’t place my finger on the day before whilst overlooking the Liffey.

There are a lot of things to like about Dublin. It’s a nice city, it’s easy to get around, it has some fun and interesting attractions, it’s a good place for eating out and its nightlife is as good a reason as any to visit. My one criticism of Dublin / Ireland would be how expensive it was but that isn’t something that stops me loving London, Paris, New York etc.

For some reason Dublin just wasn’t doing it for me and I didn’t know why. It took until this Friday afternoon to realise that what it had really lacked was people. This is probably true of many destinations but Dublin’s charm and romance if you want to call it that is with its people.

The streets of Dublin had by no means been deserted up to this point. There were people around and seemingly having a nice time but there was Covid repeatedly peeking its head around the corner to remind you of its presence.

It was Friday afternoon though and “weekend mode” was starting to kick in – this brewery had a real buzz. People were chatting and laughing and making their weekend plans whilst enjoying a beer over a long lunch and although I wasn’t necessarily in those groups of people, just being around it gave some actual life to Dublin. I was completely content and it finally gave me some real appreciation for the city.

Suddenly I wanted to stay here in Dublin. The sun was shining, the beer was flowing, laughter surrounded me and the weekend was coming. A weekend in Dublin – maybe this was what I needed for the city to finally win me over.

Alas, just as I’d started considering sacking off going to Cork and staying in Dublin for the weekend it quickly became apparent that it’d be stupidly expensive to do so. A weekend in Dublin is not for the last minute-planner. Even with an unexpected payrise, I couldn’t justify staying in Dublin. I’d finally got excited about being here and that short-lived dream was snatched away from me – “If you have a spare 4 million euros you could probably find a hotel for the night..”

Resigned to my fate I figured I’d at least make the most of my current surroundings and order another beer. What’s the rush to leave this? It’s lovely here, everyone’s having a great time and the sun is shining! Let’s have one more beer!

Eventually I left and made my way over to Dublin’s Heuston station and bought myself a ticket heading to Cork – ready for part two of this Irish adventure!

Reflecting on Dublin a couple of years later it’s hard to say whether I feel much differently. I think I’d be okay with never returning to Dublin. With so many places in the world I’d like to see and so many others that I’d genuinely like to return to, it’s hard to imagine when I’ll get back to Dublin. The one thing in its favour is its proximity to England making it an easy weekend trip but it didn’t blow me away.

Part of that was undoubtedly down to Covid and another factor being my own circumstances. I think there was a part of me that wanted to just go to Ireland to drink and mope so perhaps its unsurprising that I never truly warmed to Dublin.

That’s not to say Dublin doesn’t have its merits too. There were things I enjoyed during the trip, fond memories I have of Dublin and some things I’m glad I got to see and do. Additionally a little like Nashville, the nightlife in some places on an off night is still better than the nightlife in other places on its best night. Experiencing Dublin’s nightlife over a weekend in non-Covid times is probably one of the few reasons I’d make a case for returning.

Will I ever return to Dublin? I really don’t know but at the very least I’d be back here for one more night before flying home. Next up though: Cork!

Stay tuned!

Jason

Helsinki: part two (May 2019)

Hello dear readers!

I’m throwing a quick one-two your way! I finished off part one of the Helsinki story but given that took a while for me to publish and I had complaints of ending the prior post on a cliffhanger I thought I’d best not do so again! So here’s an immediate follow up to part one!

This one is a story as old as time. We’ve all heard that fable of Jason having a fair few drinks on his travels and suffering the consequences, right? I guess that’s the general synopsis of part two but let’s expand on that shall we?

By all accounts I’d had quite a relaxed time in Helsinki so far. My Finland-tinted glasses meant that although I’d not really done anything of note, Helsinki was so far faultless in my eyes. How could you not love charming Helsinki?

Nevertheless I’d only really explored it by day so far and I’m rarely content leaving a destination without experiencing its nightlife. I’m not opposed to taking a day-trip somewhere but you certainly see a different side to places after dark and it’s the one criticism I’d have of anyone suggesting a daytrip is sufficient anywhere.

Some places come to life after dark and although I was already smitten with Finland, I was hoping Helsinki could do the same. I hadn’t really done anything Saturday night so I was keen to go out on Sunday and find somewhere to get a beer, have a nice evening and maybe even make friends (have someone take pity on me!).

I was optimistic for the night ahead, less so about the latter. I’m quite an introverted person and going to a country where the population has a stereotype of being quite reserved is not the greatest combination. Go to somewhere like the USA solo and it’s impossible to not make friends, particularly as a Brit – they love us over there. Finland though? The jury was out.

I searched for a few options on Google before settling on a bar with a scattering of food options and encouraging reviews. I made the short walk from my hotel over to this bar but unfortunately it didn’t live up to any expectation and was a bit of a disappointment.

I wasn’t sure if this was a “go to the bar” or “take a seat” kind of joint and with little guidance on arrival I figured I’d just head on up to the bar and get a drink and yet I found nobody actually at the bar. I scanned the room but with the exception of a few young lads playing pool, there was nobody to be seen. A couple of minutes later one of the lads started heading in my direction.

Well, beyond me I suppose. If you were worried about something untowards about to happen, fear not dear readers. Nothing quite that sinister! My inconvenient arrival however had sadly caused the pool game to take a break (ha! No pun intended!) in order for one of the lads to pour me a pint before returning back to his friends immediately after.

Perhaps it was just a bad night but “employee hangout” wasn’t really the vibe I was looking for. Nor anyone in Helsinki for that matter as the bar was otherwise dead. Admittedly it was a Sunday night, reviews do suggest it’s a good place to spend an evening and perhaps there was a Michelin-star chef twiddling their thumbs in the back somewhere but I’d already made up my mind that this would be nothing more than a “one and move on” kind of stop.

“Give us a few minutes to finish our game and the loser will go whip you up something in the kitchen..”

I finished my drink and hoped to have more luck at bar number two – the “Brewster Bar” in the Kallio neighbourhood. I was staying on the outskirts of Kallio, Google suggesting this was actually “Helsinki’s coolest neighbourhood” or “hipster district” so I had hoped it’d be a good base for my stay.

The Brewster Bar was much more in the style of what I was looking for, albeit sadly lacking a food menu. From memory I think there might have been some bar snacks but I figured this might have to be a “one and move on” kind of stop for completely contrasting reasons because I was also pretty keen to get some proper food somewhere.

The vibe and atmosphere was really nice though. Enough of a buzz about the place without being crowded. They had music playing through the speakers but not loudly enough to disturb the rest of the room which appeared to be full of mostly young locals enjoying themselves. There was a good selection of beers too so I ordered some sort of Finnish beer and found myself a prime seat to do some people-watching.

Without suggesting I’m one of the “cool kids” (Mum, I’m cool, right?), it’s probably bars such as this that do give Kallio that hipster vibe to it and yet I felt much more comfortable here. It’s somewhere I knew would probably be a frequent hangout spot for me if I was a local too. I finished my drink and pondered whether I should get another beer or move on. As it was, the decision was taken out of my hands.

I’d picked a seat with a fairly central seat, ideal for people-watching but seemingly also being watched. I stuck out like a sort thumb and had gained the attention of a local, Jussi, who was curious of the unfamiliar face in one of his regular haunts. He introduced himself in Finnish before engaging in conversation in English – I had made a friend! See, I am cool!

I had no intention of abandoning my new friend so I grabbed us a beer each from the bar. We had a nice chat, I was particularly interested in learning more about Helsinki and Finland and we got to know each other a little better until our glasses were empty again.

“One more or shall we move on..?”

I’d found myself a Finnish tour guide! Better yet, the best kind of tour guide! I had myself a beer buddy!

Google isn’t the worst tool to use on your travels but its no substitute for an actual local to show you around and take you to the best local pubs / bars. We headed onwards and Jussi took us to this small little bar, I couldn’t tell you where it is nor what the name of it was but we settled in for a nice cold beer which was delivered in an icy kind of glass to keep it cold. Jussi seemed to know the barman (owner?) pretty well and so we hung around chatting to him for a little while.

From there we moved onwards to another bar – this one called the Pub Heinähattu which I only know because Google are efficient stalkers and tracked the exact location using my photo from the bar. This was another cosy bar that I really liked and was also dog-friendly so every so often this little dog would run over and join us for a quick cuddle before doing the rounds again.

Things from there are a little blurry. I don’t feel like we had that many beers and yet I think we were both quite drunk, not eating obviously hadn’t helped on my part.

We exchanged contact details, said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I don’t actually know what the time was when we left. It felt fairly late but it was also really quite light out in relation to how late it actually felt – the daylight at that time of year is quite distorting and yet I was near-ready for bed.

I don’t know what the Finnish equivalent is to grabbing a kebab after a night out but I still hadn’t eaten and I didn’t really know what or where would be open at this time of the night. However I’d passed a nearby 24 hours McDonalds and I figured that’d do the trick for tonight – some chicken nuggets to soak up the beer!

I took the slow walk back to my hotel, munching on my nuggets, and although they were good I still felt a bit peckish. I came to the drunken conclusion that I needed more food and ordered myself a pizza, from England naturally.

A few minutes later my blushes had been somewhat spared and I’d received a phonecall stating they weren’t able to complete my order – “no problem mate, I’m not in England anyway..” before I promptly crashed for the next however many hours.

BAM!

Alright, it probably wasn’t anything that abrupt but something must have woken me from my slumber. My plan was to wake up at a good hour and catch the ferry over to Suomenlinna Fortress. The reality was I had awoken at a time that mimicked something around midday, I was leaving in a few hours and in no way ready to even depart my bed at this point. I wasn’t hungover or even feeling rough really, I’d slept it all off but I needed a little time to wake up. Certainly more than the 10 or 15 minutes I had to get myself checked out and out of the hotel.

With a little shame I phoned down to reception and asked if a late checkout would be possible and to Hilton’s credit they obliged – pushing back checkout to 1pm which gave me time to wash up, throw my things together and not have to rush myself out of the hotel.

Suomenlinna though, damn! Did I still have enough time to make a ferry trip there and back? Maybe..
However would it be worthwhile? Probably not. I was really keen to visit. It was one of the attractions / landmarks I was particularly excited to explore but I also didn’t want to go for the sake of it. From what I’d read it’s somewhere you could easily make a day-long trip out of and I didn’t want to rush there and back for such little time. Next time Finland, next time..

I accepted that my morning was a write off. Truth be told I accepted that my afternoon was a write off too and so what? In my heart I knew that Helsinki and Finland was never going to be a one-time visit. Without any real logic, I adored this city. I knew I’d be back someday and that was enough for me to know I didn’t need to rush around Helsinki with my final few hours.

I left my hotel, crossed the water, and wandered back towards Helsinki’s cathedral square. I don’t think I could ever tire of looking up at that cathedral and needed at least one last glimpse before saying goodbye to the city.

Having missed any hope of breakfast I figured my first stop of the day should probably be some lunch and stumbled upon a nearby restaurant that did the trick. In hindsight this was a mistake and an oversight on my part. There was nothing wrong with the restaurant I stumbled in to, nor the food that I enjoyed but I was then a bit too full for my next stop.

After a nice lunch I decided I’d walk on down to market square which is situated just down by the harbour where the ferries whisk you off to islands such as Suomenlinna or even the likes of Tallinn in Estonia which is a must for a future visit to Finland.

Anyway market square is full of, you guessed it, little market stalls selling bits and pieces including a few food stalls selling delicacies such as meatballs. More specifically reindeer meatballs! I was tempted to give them a try but I had only just eaten and was far too full for anything else. It was foolish in hindsight and I should have just grabbed my lunch here rather than go to whatever restaurant.

Skipping the reindeer meatballs on this occasion, I had a look through some of the other stalls before picking up some postcards to take home with me. Further along the road was Uspenski’s cathedral, a sauna by the water and Helsinki’s ferris wheel which I’d inexplicably missed when in the area yesterday.

I considered going up the ferris wheel but thought better of it. “Maybe next time” seemingly the motto of this entire trip. I was a little conscious of time and figured there wasn’t long enough left in Helsinki for me to do anything particularly exciting.

On the way down to Market Square I’d passed a brewery which ironically I’d considered for food the previous evening. The only reason I didn’t come this way was because I’d considered it too far away to walk (it seemingly wasn’t) and and figured I’d make that my last stop of my trip. Time for one beer before making my slow return to Helsinki’s airport.

It was a nice little place, very quiet but you’d expect that on a Monday afternoon. I was glad that I’d popped in for one. Like many a trip I sat there wondering how I could possibly delay the inevitable. Ridiculously I was returning to England for less than 24 hours as on Tuesday evening I’d be boarding a bus heading for Amsterdam. So it didn’t even really feel like I was going home but nevertheless there was a big part of me not ready to leave Finland just yet.

Just one more night, one more hour, one more beer..

I reluctantly left and started the slow walk back to the train station. Glorious blue skies still hovering above me and “rush-hour” commuters beginning to fill the roads and streets of the city on their way home from work.

I arrived at the main square outside the station from a new direction and stumbled upon a sign reading “My Helsinki” which is undoubtedly one of those “for the gram” type signs but perfectly summed up how I felt about this place – my Helsinki.

I’d loved Finland for as long as I could remember but now I really loved Finland. From an outsider’s perspective there wasn’t really anything special about this trip. Removing the Finland-tinted specs (“NEVER! “) I don’t know where Helsinki would truly rank as a destination but I connected with it instantly and it was apparent that this trip was more overdue than I’d ever really appreciated.

I bought my train ticket back to the airport and waved goodbye to the sunshine of Helsinki. There were no nursery rhymes for the return journey and instead a train full of people heading home but somehow that was equally satisfying and magic in its own way – surrounded by citizens of my second home. A home I’d only visited the once but a place I easily felt at home nonetheless.

Back at the airport I made sure to make good on a promise to bring home Finnish goodies. I’d been encouraged to bring home ‘Fazer’ chocolate and salty liquorice which brought back nostalgia of trips past for my dad and those my grandmother had made whilst still here with us. I couldn’t recall having tried either but easily found some within the airport to take home with me.

I also stumbled upon a little Moomin store and was keen to take something home as a personal memento. I’m typically not a souvenir kind of collector but this trip more than most I wanted something to mark my first trip to Finland – a Moomin mug did the trick!

From there I was keen to grab some dinner before getting the late night flight back to England. The airport felt deserted, I’m sure it wasn’t but again feelings of “this is such a lovely airport” ran through me. A farcry from the hellish airports of England such as Stansted which I frequent but loathe in equal measure.

Despite being an international airport, Helsinki’s had a calmness to it and unsurprisingly I had a number of tables to choose from at the restaurant I’d decided upon – “sit anywhere you like..”

Feeling a bit more peckish by this point I looked at the reindeer burger on the menu and was tempted to order it but also considered that if ‘Reindeer’ didn’t quite agree with me it could be an uncomfortable flight home. I settled for an ordinary, expensive burger and chalked the reindeer down as a “maybe next time..” experience. Rudolph would at the very least make it to this coming Christmas.

and that was that. The long overdue visit to Finland was done and dusted. I’d longed to visit the home country of my grandma and now I could finally (or Finn-ally, ha ha!) say that I had!

In the days leading up to this trip it really hit me that I was visiting this mythical land and I was SO nervous ahead of this adventure. Nobody really talks about what happens when your dream destination doesn’t live up to expectation. Maybe it’s actually best you don’t visit and leave the dream intact? Fortunately that wasn’t a problem here.

I’d loved Finland my whole life and left the country loving it even more than I thought imaginable. Going back one day is inevitable. “Next time” to see more than just Helsinki too. I’ve barely scratched the surface with the country and I’m itching for more. I haven’t entirely ruled out returning in 2023.

Take me to Turku and Tampere, Oulu and Kuopio, Lappenranta and Lapland. Take me across the water to Tallinn or across the border to St Petersburg (maybe not too soon on that one..).

I’m guilty of romanticising many places that I’ve visited but I make no apologies for doing so with Finland. It was a special trip, immediately followed by another special trip to Amsterdam and so a week that will take some topping in my lifetime.

Finland was the start of a magical few days, Amsterdam was an unbelievable experience and two weeks later I’d be on my way to Dublin!

Or would I?

Helsinki: part one (May 2019)

Hello dear readers! Last time out on the blog I gave you a little introduction for my very first trip to Finland! I’ll pick up where that post finished so if you missed it, go give it a read!

Anyway, a rather nervous Jason had left Heathrow and was Helsinki-bound! My grandmother was Finnish, I’ve always had a love for all things Finland-related and I was worried that this mythical country that I’d built up in my head might not actually be as perfect as I’d believed it to be. I was desperate for Finland to deliver and be a place I adored.

It was nice flying with a new airline – flying with Finnair for the first time. I’d bagged a window seat too which meant I could enjoy the view as we began our descent in to Helsinki. The thing that really struck me from above was just how green Finland is. I don’t know what I’d really expected but Finland looked so pretty from the sky.

With the benefit of hindsight I don’t know what all the pre-departure fuss was about. We arrived in Helsinki and I’d seemingly remembered to pack my Finland-tinted glasses that made everything seem lovelier than is probably actually the case.

I arrived and straight away was raving about rather minuscule and insignificant details – “Helsinki’s airport is so nice..”

I hadn’t even left the airport and I was already swooning over Finland, insistent that this was one of the nicest airports I’d ever been to. So clean and spacious and modern before arriving at the security gates and making my exit.

A quick scan of the passport and I was officially into the country! From there I wandered on over to the airport’s train station. The staff at the station were very helpful and seemingly happy to help with any queries – although the ticket machines were pretty straight forward (English available) and it wasn’t long before I was boarding a train to central Helsinki. First impressions were promising.

I found a seat on the train and just to my left was this little girl sat up by the window and singing what sounded like a nursery rhyme with her dad. A precious, magical, beautiful moment. Use whatever adjective you like but I was smitten already – it sounded angelic despite understanding none of the lyrics.

Our lovely train ride ended at Helsinki’s main train station. We all departed and, to my shock, white stuff was suddenly falling from the sky.

Snow!? There had been no mention of snow in the forecast before the trip, I wasn’t anticipating snow whatsoever. Certainly not in May but this is Finland, this was Disneyland to me! Of course it’s snowing! What a perfect arrival!

I was now convinced that Finland was a land of magic and fairytales! A land of nursery rhymes and snow, home to the likes of Santa and ~~unicorns~~ reindeers.

I don’t think the Finland-tinted-specs ever came off over the remainder of the weekend. If you’re hoping for some objective opinions on Finland I’m probably not the best person to ask – I couldn’t find fault with it.

“Look at that ominous black hole in the middle of the street. I’ve never seen anything like that on my travels! Isn’t Finland wonderful!?”

I’d arrived to nursery rhymes and snow. After genuine fear I’d not like Finland at all, I’d been won over instantly. I’d arrived in a land that I’d known all my life and yet oddly felt like I’d come home. I can’t explain it. I’d never been here before but somehow I felt at ease in Helsinki, almost like part of me belonged here.

Looking back I don’t know if Finland is actually that amazing. If you’re reading this and thinking “damn, I need to book a trip to Finland ASAP” then prepare to be underwhelmed because I can’t say what it’s like for people without the emotional attachment I had. Perhaps I didn’t ever even see the real Finland but I refuse to believe it was anything other than perfect. The magic and emotions had swept over me and consumed me for the remainder of the weekend.

I left the train station in disbelief that I’d actually arrived to snow. If I could have asked for any weather scenario to have arrived into the country this would have been it and I immediately grabbed a photo as some sort of photographic memory to mark the moment – magical!

I think it’s fascinating how much my mental state has an impact on a destination. The first impression goes a long way towards that.

I liken it to Nashville, I stepped off the bus in downtown Nashville and immediately heard music from somewhere and knew that “Music City” was somewhere I was going to love. In contrast it took me a long time to warm up to New Orleans because my first impressions of the city weren’t great. Skyscrapers, casinos and huge shopping malls in the heart of New Orleans was not at all what I was expecting before the trip.

In contrast I think my mood as soon as I’d arrived in Helsinki was so pro-Finland that I was never not going to enjoy this trip. I walked away from Helsinki’s train station aimlessly – nowhere to go, nowhere to be but without a care in the world.

Rather than remain wrapped up nice and warm I whipped my hat off, keen to feel the snow falling and I was bliss. You might be pondering if snow in Finland is somehow different to snow anywhere else in the world and no, I suppose it isn’t but common sense went out of the window and feeling it fall rather than retreating to somewhere warm seemed the only logical option. I spent the next half an hour or so just wandering aimlessly in the cold – “let’s go explore in this direction!”

My first real glimpse of Helsinki saw me pass the national museum of Finland before walking through a couple of parks, perfectly content getting lost in the city before trying to find my bearings.

Nevertheless, it was pretty cold so after a bit of time walking with no real purpose I decided I should probably figure out where I now was in relation to where my hotel was. After a quick look at Google Maps I realised I’d wandered off in the opposite direction of where I actually wanted to be so I did a U-Turn and headed back in a vague direction of the Kallio neighbourhood that I was staying in.

It was still a bit too early to check in to my hotel so I figured I’d try and find a spot for lunch on the way. I hadn’t intended for my first meal in Finland to be something foreign, infact I wasn’t really intending to visit this restaurant at all this weekend but by coincidence I happened to stumble upon Helsinki’s Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) and took it as a sign to pop in.

Long time followers will know that I’ve visited a few HRC’s on my travels and it was nice to tick another of their restaurants off of my list. There was still plenty of time for more local delicacies before leaving Finland, right?

I surprisingly found that Finland wasn’t as expensive as I was expecting. Perhaps all the talk of it being expensive had me well prepared for the cost of things but I didn’t find it overly extortionate. More distressing was that I ordered a meal and a drink and my beer arrived with a chunk of it missing! The head of the beer had seemingly disappeared and rather than top it up I was short-changed in to 90% of the glass containing beer. Can I not have a full pint please?

I figured it was just how things are here but that was the only real disappointment of the visit. I had a seat by the window and a nice view, a nice atmosphere and enjoyed my lunch before heading back out in to the cold.

I still didn’t quite have my bearings with Helsinki. I’m sure there was a more direct route to the hotel from the restaurant so I unintentionally ended up taking the more long-winded route which took me via Helsinki’s gorgeous cathedral – towering over the square.

I don’t know if this is again just Finnish bias flowing through me but I love it. It is a stunning bit of architecture and easily one of my favourite buildings that I’ve seen anywhere on my travels. A cathedral to rival the likes of St Paul’s in London, Florence’s Duomo & the Sacre Couer in Paris which are some of my other favourites that I’ve seen in the flesh. Plus Peterborough’s too of course!

Admittedly there’d been snow and it was cold but being a Saturday I was quite surprised at how quiet the cathedral square was. It’s a pretty large square but I had it near enough to myself and could only admire the cathedral in all its glory. Make a mental note I thought – “I’ll definitely be coming back here!”

I continued onwards to my hotel – I was staying in a Hilton just by the water in the neighbourhood of Kallio. The location was excellent and it was a nice hotel to base myself for the next couple of nights.

I didn’t do an awful lot with the rest of my evening. I mostly used it as an opportunity to find my bearings in the city, get some dinner and have a fairly early night. I was quite keen to get a good sleep and then an early rise the next morning.

I kicked off my Sunday morning with a little wander by the water. Yesterday’s snow was a distant memory and I’d woken up to glorious blue skies, it was still a little cold but much better weather for exploring the city.

I was keen to go and find somewhere to get some breakfast so strayed from the water and back up towards the Kallio area. The first thing that really caught my eye was the the Kallion Kirkko (church of Kallio). It was an interesting looking building so I was intrigued and headed in that direction.

It’s a beautiful building and the front of it, I thought, was so unique. I decided I’d grab some food before paying a visit and found a small Russian restaurant just across the street which seemed ideal. The woman, who I presumed to be the owner, spoke pretty much no English which was a nice novelty. Although my Finnish was little better (I knew a few words at the time) and even less Russian so I had to hope I’d communicated well enough to order what I’d like!

It was a nice place and I grabbed a seat by the window to admire the view. The service was nice enough. Unfortunately the restaurant in question doesn’t look to be there any more, I was hoping to name-drop it here but Google suggests it’s now a sushi restaurant so I guess it either closed down or moved elsewhere. Shame as I’m sure it was a popular breakfast spot before church.

After finishing breakfast my plans were to do just that – have a look around the church. Unfortunately it appeared to be closed. Reflecting back I’m not sure that actually was the case, it was a Sunday after all and Google suggests that they would have been open. Perhaps my limited Finnish misled me (I vaguely recall reading a sign that turned me away) or perhaps they were already in service and had closed their doors temporarily but something convinced me they were closed and so I wandered off back down towards the water.

To be honest I didn’t really have any sort of plan for my entire time in Helsinki. This was very much a “wing it” kind of trip in the end. One of my fellow bloggers, Marion, is also a Finland enthusiast so I’d read a good 30-odd posts on Finland before my trip that really whet the appetite and gave me so many ideas and so much inspiration that then remarkably saw me have nothing planned in the end.

I think I was so content just to have finally visited Finland that I wasn’t really too concerned about how I spent my time. I wanted to see a few things but mostly I just wanted to be here in Finland, getting a little glimpse of life in Helsinki and retracing the same steps my grandmother had likely stepped growing up.

I left Kallio with no direction or plan, pondering where to go next. I started wandering back towards the heart of Helsinki, over the bridge and across the water before changing my mind and pondering whether a trip to Linnanmäki theme park might actually be a better way of spending my morning.

It’s a little unique for a theme park to be so close to the city and I recall Marion mentioning that there is no admission fee. If you wish to ride anything there is a charge but you can wander around the grounds for free and I pondered how many places you could do such a thing. I wanted to see the sights and such in Helsinki but I was also really interested in seeing Finns in their natural element – how many locals spend their weekend at an amusement park on a nice sunny day? Linnanmäki opened in 1950 and I thought about how many times my grandma or her family had possibly stepped foot in the park.

Finally a plan of action! Following in the footsteps of many a Finn of the last 70 years! There are easier and quicker ways to get to Linnanmäki I’m sure but given it was a nice sunny day I decided to walk. I enjoy walking when I travel – a great way to familiarise yourself with your surroundings and also see more of a city.

I kicked things off with a walk through Kaisaniemen Puisto (or Kaisaniemi park) where I stumbled upon Kaisaniemi’s Botanical Gardens. I don’t think it’s somewhere you’d feel a need to go out of your way for but it was nice to have a little wander through before continuing my journey.

The rest of the walk took me parallel with the train tracks and through other park and forested areas. Despite not being very far from the city at all it felt very remote and peaceful. Along the way I encountered a few pretty villas and other buildings that I’m sure make a nice retreat from the city – not that Helsinki felt particularly hectic in comparison to other big cities or capital cities.

Again, I’m not sure that my explorations took me via the most direct route to the amusement park because after a bit of walking I came across Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium – an unexpected encounter.

I might have been tempted by a stadium tour but unfortunately the stadium was closed for renovations at the time. It has since re-opened but I had to settle for admiring it from the outside. Perhaps I just approached it from an unnatural direction but it did take me by surprise in comparison to other Olympic stadiums that I’ve come across. The last thing you’re expecting to find after a walk through the woods is a stadium pop out of nowhere.

After an odd detour I followed the last stretch of forested area towards Linnanmäki which took me through an underpass of sorts with interesting artwork before an uphill climb to the amusement park.

As I drew closer one thing that really struck me was just how quiet it was. It made me unsure that I was heading in the right direction. I don’t think it’s a particularly walk-friendly park to get to and I don’t think I’d taken the most direct of routes but there was so few people around that it still took me by surprise. Perhaps people take public transport or drive to the park but it was unnerving.

A little climb and a few minutes later I realised why – the park was closed! It wasn’t really apparent why but the sign read that they were closed until the afternoon which meant I’d struck out twice already this morning. Two sights or attractions visited and thwarted by both – the “wing it” plan was coming back to bite me.

Had I had a shorter wait I might have hung around but I had a good bit of time and there’s not really anything nearby so I abandoned my morning plans and ventured back in to town.

Fortunately it was a nice day at least. My morning had been a bit of a bust so far but exploring in the Helsinki sunshine made up for it a little bit. I walked back towards the heart of the city with the cathedral in my sights.

Despite the bright blue skies Helsinki still felt pretty quiet, the cathedral square was a little busier than the day before but not much moreso. Where are the tourists at!? Helsinki was peaceful.

I had a look around the cathedral before heading on over to the waterfront where another cathedral stood – the Uspenski Cathedral. Incidentally, Wikipedia claims this is the largest orthodox church in Western Europe which I find a fascinating claim.

“Western Europe..” – as far as Europe is concerned you can’t go too much further East than Helsinki, it’s not much more West than Istanbul! Where does Eastern Europe begin if we’re throwing Helsinki in to the Western side? Given how far to the North Finland is I don’t think of Finland in the same sense as many Eastern Europe countries but Western Europe, really?

Anyway, Uspenski Cathedral sits in a picturesque spot right by the water. It’s free to visit so I popped my head in and looked around.

Ironic given its claim but I found its interior to actually be pretty small, I don’t think all of the church is accessible to the public which is why but truthfully I doubt that there’s a religious site that I’ve spent less time in than this one. Its interior is pretty but quite a limited space and I don’t think I’d have missed anything had I just skipped a visit and admired its exterior. It is free so I won’t discourage you from visiting but with nowhere to really go or wander I was in and out of there pretty quickly, retreating back out in to the Helsinki sunshine.

I grabbed some lunch somewhere close by and pondered what to do next. I swung back by the main cathedral’s square and decided to jump on a bus for a tour of the city.

Technically it was a hop-on, hop-off bus but I decided to just do a full loop of the bus journey. It’s actually quite rare that I do these kind of tours, I usually just walk everywhere when I travel so it was a nice change of pace and allowed me to just sit back and take in the scenery. I had a vague plan for my final day in the city but hoped the tour might offer a little more inspiration on what to do tomorrow.

Included within the tour was a recorded audio guide which actually ended up being really good – the right dose of information and humour that made me chuckle a few times along the way. I dare say one of the best audio guides I’ve listened to on such a tour but you know, those Finland goggles right? Or I suppose headphones in this case?

From start to finish the tour takes around 90 minutes so you do get to see quite a sizeable amount of Helsinki. Some of the landmarks and architecture were pretty cool to look at and I pinpointed a few sights to try and return to before saying goodbye to Helsinki.

Feeling a little more content that I’d seen some of Helsinki my attention turned towards evening plans. I hadn’t really done much on my first night so I was keen to go and enjoy a night out in Helsinki. Good food, a few beers, what could go wrong?

Finland: An introduction

Hey there dear readers! Last time out on the blog I hinted that my next post would be about my trip to Finland but before I delve in to that, I thought it’d be good to give you a little bit of background so I’m giving you a bonus post this week to whet the appetite a bit.

Some of you will already know this but I grew up living with a Finnish grandmother and consequently Finland was always a country which held interest for me. Truthfully, I wish that I’d shown more interest whilst she was still here. I’m sure that she had many great stories of life in Finland and it would have been nice to have been better connected to that heritage but I was a kid when she died and perhaps didn’t fully appreciate that luxury at the time.

Nevertheless Finland was always somewhere close to my heart and any vague connection to Finland pleased me. Be it vague Finland mentions in a movie, Lordi winning the Eurovision Song Contest or Tottenham’s first Finn (Teemu Tainio) representing the football club – I’ve always felt that little bit closer to the country when I see the country venturing in to popular culture.

Teemu’s arrival at Spurs was particularly pleasing. I’d grown up watching legendary Finns such as Jari Litmanen and Sami Hyypia play for clubs such as Liverpool but to see a Finn playing for Spurs, not long after my Grandma’s death, made me instantly connect and root for Teemu.

That Finnish heritage has meant that Finland has always been a country that I’ve wanted to visit. It was a dream destination for me to one day visit Finland. My sister shares that same dream and we’ve lived off of the scraps and stories we’ve heard from family that have visited (Dad, Aunt and one of Grandma’s brothers).

Speaking of the latter, every year as kids myself and Natasha would receive a phonecall directly from Lapland. “Santa was on the phone ready to wish us Merry Christmas”.

How cool is that? Santa had our home phone number and phoned every year! Apparently he had a really good relationship with Grandma!

Anyway, I’ve always wanted to visit. I’ve come close a couple of times in the past but both of those ideas fell through. In August 2014 Tottenham arranged to play a friendly against Scottish team ‘Celtic’ in Helsinki – a weird location for such a fixture but a tempting excuse for a visit to Finland.

In the end I thought better of it. Did I really want my first trip to Finland to be football related? Perhaps had it been Finnish opposition but a battle of Britain game?? Being a friendly in a foreign country I couldn’t envisage much trouble between the two sets of supporters, nor much interest in either set of fans actually traveling to Finland but nevertheless a trip with a bunch of drunken British football fans didn’t quite appeal enough to make my first Finland visit.

A few years later I booked myself flights to Helsinki. I was running low on annual leave in 2018 but the dates fell really nicely for a New Years trip to Finland at the end of the year.

Alas Haleigh decided to make her first visit to England at the end of that year so that plan quickly fell apart. I contemplated whether myself and Haleigh go but then remembered that I’d also actually RSVP’d to a 31st December wedding so abandoned any hopes of celebrating the New Year in Finland.

There was definitely a twinge of disappointment at missing out on my first trip to Finland. Come the first payday of 2019 I was adamant that I’d be going to Finland this year. I worked out my budget for the first six months of the year, mapped out my travel plans (here) and booked myself that flight to Helsinki – a three day bank holiday getaway! Hurrah!

I was so excited to finally be going to Finland but I had such a busy start to 2019 that it was kind of easy to forget about until nearer the time. I’d had a pretty quiet end to 2018 where nothing seemed to be going on and then 2019 went completely the other way.

My social life went in to overdrive, Tottenham’s new stadium opened their doors which brought back an enthusiasm to going to the football. I visited Germany, Belgium and the USA in the first four months of the year. It was a crazy, crazy few months that seemed to absolutely fly by.

I returned from Washington at the end of April and sure enough, the first May bank holiday was just a few days later. I was sad to leave Haleigh behind in Washington yet again but so excited for a trip to Finland in just SIX days! I’d barely stepped foot in England and was off on my travels again for the first of three, maybe four trips in May!

and then for the first time in my life it really dawned on me that I was going to Finland. It’s hard to explain but as much as I felt connected to Finland, it had always been a bit of an illusion. A place of magic and fantasy.

Finland was my dream destination and although I’d ticked off other dream destinations such as Sydney or New York City, I don’t think I really realised how much visiting Finland meant to me until the week leading up to the trip.

Finland was no longer a mythical country that I’d only ever dreamed about – my European Disneyland. It was flawless. I loved Finland without having ever stepped foot in the country.

Now I was actually going – “Fuck..”

I liken it to Disneyland and I don’t even know that I’m exaggerating there because in 30+ years on Earth it had never crossed my mind that Finland was anything other than perfect. It’d be easy to assume that’s childish delusion but then as you grow older you learn more about the world and Finland ranks high on a number of issues – education, environment, blah, blah, blah. Finland is perfect!

Then a couple of days beforehand the thought crossed my mind – “what if it’s not?”

It was a question that I’d never asked myself until now – days before going to Finland. You don’t want to take your kids to Disneyland only to find out that Mickey’s a bit of a dick. You’d be better never taking them to Disney and believing what you want to believe rather than learn a reality and have their dreams and beliefs shattered.

“Mum, does Mickey hate me? Does Mickey hate children..?” – Ooof, heart-breaking.

FYI I absolutely believe Disney is a magical place and does a fabulous job of selling that. Mickey is also lovely, obviously, but you get the point.

What if instead of being the 12/10 destination that I’d always known, Finland was only actually an eight? Or dare I say a two or a three? What’s Helsinki going to be like? Am I going to like the food? Are the people going to be friendly? Everyone says Finns are standoffish and reserved. Am I going to HATE Finland?

Any traveler will tell you that you don’t love everywhere that you visit. There are some places on my travels that didn’t wow me or I just didn’t seem to connect with. What if Finland was to become one of those countries for me? All of my beliefs about Finland were now unraveling right in front of me.

I came to the realisation that if Finland wasn’t as perfect as I’d always believed it to be that I was going to be crushed, heartbroken even. I wasn’t prepared for that. Nobody ever tells you that your dream destination might not pan out as you’d hoped.

Where there should have been excitement for this trip, I was now petrified. The nerves had taken over. In my head there was SO much pressure on Finland to deliver and just keep my Disneyland vibes intact.

I couldn’t shake the feeling leading up to departure. I’d stayed in a hotel at Heathrow on Friday night which made traveling very easy the following morning. On Saturday I went to the airport where usually any jitters evaporate but in my head the over-thinking was still eating away at me.

“What if I don’t go..?”
“You’re at the bloody airport Jason..”

The gate number pops up on the screen at Heathrow. Still plenty of time to change my mind but I wander over to my gate nonetheless. There’s a little wait before we can board and I’m just sat in a nearby seat – legs visibly shaking, head all over the place.

“Nervous flyer..?”
“No, nervous Finlander..”

It’s easily the most nervous I’ve ever been before taking off. This trip had the potential to shatter every illusion I had ever held about Finland. My nerves settled enough for me to at least board – window seat!

It was quite nice flying in Europe on anything other than Ryanair or Easyjet – my go-to for European adventures but on this occasion I was “treated” to a first flight with Finnair.

Would I love Finland, would I loathe Finland? Who knows but either way this was it. I was going! A few hours later I’d be landing in Helsinki and I’d be getting my first taste of a country I’ve dreamed of visiting for a lifetime.

More on that in the next post. Stay tuned!

Jason

Washington – April 2019

Hey there, dear readers! I’m back in the groove, blogging weekly so here’s another 2019 adventure for you to enjoy!

I kicked off 2019 by mapping out my travel plans and of course at the top of the agenda was booking a trip to see Haleigh in good ol’ Washington State! April’s always a good travel month for that – public holidays to take advantage of and it’s usually not too busy at work. I figured an Easter break would work quite nicely.

Using just five days annual leave I managed to wrangle 11 days in Washington, kicking off the trip on the Wednesday before the Easter weekend.

I’ve done this journey a fair few times now but as we inched closer to the Canada / Washington border I was just in awe of the views below me. I say below me but barely, we felt that close to the mountains that I’m not sure I needed a parachute to hop out and have some fun in the snow – “Excuse me pilot, anywhere here will do..”

It was a breathtaking entrance in to Seattle. After landing I was keen to breeze through and get to my hotel ASAP – football had occupied much of my thoughts on the flight over and I knew Spurs would be playing shortly after my landing. I was hopeful I’d be able to catch the game.

That plan didn’t materialise. There wasn’t really anywhere near my hotel to watch the game and unfortunately I couldn’t find it on TV anywhere in the hotel – I had to settle for repeated “refresh, refresh, refresh” on my phone and hope that a combination of the BBC, Twitter, friends and family would keep me updated on the decisive Champions League clash with City. I’d watched Tottenham beat Manchester City in London a week earlier so we were just one “good” result away from progressing to our first Champions League semi final for 57 years.

I say “good result”. We actually lost 4-3 but that was enough to see us progress to the next stage. It was a dramatic and unforgettable finish to the game but the important thing was that we had progressed – what a way to kick off the trip!

I’d told myself that I wasn’t going to the semi final in Amsterdam in any hypothetical scenario that saw us qualify but I was ecstatic nonetheless!

Haleigh had her last day of teaching before their spring break so had to work on the Wednesday. She was driving over to Seattle later that day and we planned to spend the night in Seattle before returning East the following day.

Between Spurs victory and Haleigh’s arrival I didn’t really do much. I stayed quite close to the airport out of convenience and couldn’t be bothered making the journey in to downtown Seattle for the sake of a couple of hours. I think that ordinarily I might have squeezed in a nap but I was on too big of a high.

“So Amsterdam..?”
“No, no, no, no, no. I’m not going..”

Haleigh arrived a few hours later and we had a pretty relaxed evening. I don’t think we did much, I don’t even think we went back out for food and possibly had a pizza delivered to our room. I really can’t remember.

At the time Haleigh was living in Moses Lake still but we were planning to spend some of the break with Haleigh’s family in Walla Walla, so the next day we were heading back to Walla Walla with a little detour on the way.

It’s a little out of the way but we decided we’d go and visit a famous picturesque little town called Leavenworth. I say famous loosely as I’m sure there’ll be some of you who’ve never heard of it but Leavenworth is well known for having transformed itself in to a Bavarian town. Here in the heart of Washington was a little slice of Germany.

Leavenworth is lovely. As soon as you arrive you’re treated to picturesque mountain views surrounding the town and driving through you instantly appreciate the Bavarian style architecture.

We found ourselves a place to park so that we could have a look around and one of the first things that I spotted was that the street signs were in both English and German – a nice touch I thought.

Leavenworth isn’t particularly big. Like many American towns, it’s apparently a city but in my eyes barely more than a tourist town with a couple of streets to have a wander along. We popped our heads in to a few shops selling bits and pieces.

Whilst a very pretty place, there isn’t a huge amount to discover in Leavenworth. I think they go all out around Oktoberfest and Christmas and give you the “authentic” German experience of both but in April there’s not much going on and it was pretty quiet.

After mooching about for a bit we went and found a restaurant to grab some lunch at – the “BärenHaus” which was a nice pub restaurant selling typical German-style food. Haleigh grabbed one of her favourites (a Reuben which comes with Sauerkraut) and I probably ordered myself a Wiener Schnitzel because “when in Germany” it’d be rude not to!

Following on from lunch we had one last glimpse of Leavenworth before deciding to hit the road, it’d had been a worthwhile detour and I’m sure I’ll return one day. Hopefully coinciding with either Oktoberfest or Christmas-time to see how Leavenworth really sells Germany for those unable or unwilling to leave the USA to experience the real thing.

From Leavenworth we headed straight to Walla Walla – another drive showing off Washington’s scenic mountain views. I never tire of the drive – perhaps helped by the fact I don’t have to worry about doing the driving but it’s so pretty over there. A few hours later we’d arrived in the familiar setting of Walla Walla and settled in at the grandparent’s house who were kindly accommodating us for the weekend.

We mingled for a bit before calling it a night and relaxing in our room for the weekend. Amsterdam was still weighing on my mind as I went to sleep – ever more tempting as time passed. “Do I go..?”

Having slept on it I decided that I had to. A Champions League semi final featuring Spurs? Come on.. when is that ever going to happen again?

My indecision affected my plans. I should have been straight on it and getting those flights or trains booked up but by the time I’d come to my senses prices had sky-rocketed for both. I couldn’t justify the high prices so in the end found an alternative compromise and settled for an overnight coach trip to and from Amsterdam – bonkers but I had to be there!

All booked. I had to ridiculously start my day by emailing work requesting more time off. “I know I’m in Washington but..”

Amsterdam was sorted, I could finally and fully focus on Washington and the company I had with me. Later in the day myself, Haleigh and her brother (Ben) made the short trip over to the Tri Cities. We usually visit at least once whenever I visit as with the three combined cities (Tri-Cities, duh!) it’s a bit bigger than Walla Walla and a good place to hang out for a few hours.

We kicked off our afternoon with a little time at one of the parks in Richland which sits along the Colombia River. We popped our heads in to a small store with a bunch of art and bits and pieces before strolling along the river. I think Ben and Haleigh did a little Pokemon-hunting whilst I settled for grabbing some photos of the pretty views.

Richland Pokemon — Haleigh and Ben Pokemon-hunting off in the distance

From the park we headed in to the Tri Cities to check out the mall. There’s a decent sized mall in the Tri Cities and it’s much better for shopping and picking up a few bits. We visited a few of our usual favourites including the likes of Barnes and Noble, likely grabbed some food at Olive Garden and then made our way back to Walla Walla for the evening.

The rest of the Easter weekend was spent enjoying time with the family and eating good food.

For such a religious country I find it baffling that there’s little love for the Easter holiday. Unlike the UK, it’s business as usual on Easter Monday so we headed home to Moses Lake on the Sunday afternoon.

I entertained myself on Monday whilst Haleigh worked. I wandered in to town and paid a visit to some of my Moses Lake favourites that I have a lot of love for. I grabbed myself some tea at my favourite coffee shop, enjoyed some lunch downtown and then had a wander along the lake before calling it a day.

Monday evening and Tuesday was pretty relaxed. It’s nice to have a home base to enjoy a trip and not have to think about work, just sit back and relax a little. I had such a busy start to 2019 and there was no sign of that letting up in the weeks ahead so it was good to have some proper downtime on this trip.

On the Wednesday I ventured back in to town. Much like Monday I just mooched about a little, grabbed some lunch and then popped in to Moses Lake’s museum for a little while. It’s free to visit and the perk of visiting every so often is that the exhibit had usually changed in-between trips. On this occasion there was an exhibit based on the history of the local school which was pretty cool to learn about.

In the evening our friends, Maddie and Cassie, popped in to town so we went for dinner together at a favourite local restaurant called Rock Top. I hadn’t personally seen Maddie and Cassie since their wedding so it was nice for the four of us to catch up whilst I was in Washington. We had a nice evening before they made the drive back to Ellensburg and we headed home.

On Thursday evening we had another outing. There was some career fayre kind of thing going on at some school in the Tri-Cities which Haleigh wanted to attend so we decided we’d go and spend the evening in the Tri-Cities. One of Haleigh’s teaching friends ended up joining us for the trip so in the end they attended together and I was left to amuse myself.

I didn’t want to be a million miles away from the school and there wasn’t an awful lot in the vicinity but one thing that caught my eye was a nearby brewery which I thought would be perfect spot to wait.

It wasn’t the easiest to find actually, it’s in quite a bizarre location on the suitably named ‘Railroad Ave’. There was actually some cool street art on route that made it an interesting walk but the brewery felt like it was otherwise in the middle of nowhere just on the other side of the tracks. It was a little too quiet for my liking – very little traffic and I’m not sure it’d feel the safest walking there after dark but fortunately it was light out.

Location aside, the brewery was lovely. It felt very off-the-beaten-path but still busy as I walked up with a few cars parked up and a lively atmosphere with a few people enjoying a beer outside. I walked in and first impressions were good. I took seat at the bar and ordered myself a flight. Along one of the corridors was various bits of train-inspired artwork and memorabilia which I guess correlated with the brewery’s location. All in all, it was a good place to hang out for an hour or so.

I think originally myself and Haleigh had talked about doing something together in the Tri-Cities but as Haleigh’s friend had tagged along we ended up just grabbing some food on the road and driving back to Moses Lake.

Unfortunately it didn’t seem like Haleigh had really had the chance to enjoy any time in the Tri-Cities and the school-career-thingy was a bit of a bust too so a wasted trip for Haleigh – although I very much appreciated the brewery visit haha.

Friday was a pretty chilled day. We enjoyed our final evening together and just hung out before calling it a night. The next day Haleigh drove me back to Seattle in time to catch my flight. The mountain views were as pretty as ever on the drive back – lots of snow on the mountains which was cool!

I left Seattle with mixed feelings. Being in a long-distance relationship is always difficult and of course I was going to miss Haleigh, not 100% sure when we’d next see eachother. It was bittersweet to be leaving so soon.

That said, I also knew that I had two imminent trips coming. I had two further trips to look forward to in the next ten days! Just one week of work and I’d be off on my travels again!

I was SO excited to be going to Amsterdam but before that? A first trip to Finland!!!
That story will be next up on the blog. Stay tuned!

Jason

Brugge – March 2019

Hello dear readers! I suggested in my last post that I was hoping to get back in to the habit of blogging regularly, ideally weekly, so I’m going to at the very least try and start the year well and I guess we’ll see how it pans out in the long run.

For a multitude of reasons things have gotten a little out of sync in terms of chronological travel blog posts but we’re going to rewind back to the, quite frankly ludicrous, year of 2019.

Some of you may recall that 2019 was a year of footballing adventures that defied any expectations I’ve ever had of Spurs. A strange, strange time that resulted in trips to Dortmund (Köln), Amsterdam and a Champions League final in Madrid (what!!?).

This story begins in Köln (Cologne). Now, I need not tell some of you about my love/hate relationship with Köln. It’s all love now and the end to this story will epitomise that but I’ve visited the city so many times that there has certainly been some anti-climatic feelings about visiting Köln.

This particular trip to the city was my fourth overall but more importantly my third visit in just three years – a tad too much time in one city. I had four nights booked off of work and I knew I couldn’t do the entirety of that in Köln, I decided upon a healthy balance of two nights in Köln and two nights somewhere else that was convenient enough to travel to.

I’ve been to this region a lot. I weighed up options in Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and looked for any and every bit of inspiration imaginable and perhaps unsurprisingly football served up that bit of inspiration. I scoured through the football schedule knowing that their had to be some European games on somewhere – that’s why I was here to begin with after all – to watch Tottenham in Dortmund on Tuesday night.

What games were on Wednesday night? What games were on Thursday night? Eintracht Frankfurt v Inter Milan? YES! Frankfurt’ll do! Sign me up for that! Four nights, two in Köln, two in Frankfurt – sorted!

Alas it turns out that Eintracht had planned ahead and sold tickets months in advance to its most loyal supporters. They’d sold tickets earlier in the season on the possibility that Eintracht’s European exploits continued so tickets for a game only confirmed in February had been sold in the prior December. The game was guaranteed to be a home sell out crowd – Inter Milan a fitting occasion for those loyal supporters who’d signed up blindly but an absolute nuisance for a daytripper such as myself.

I was out of luck in terms of obtaining a ticket with the home supporters but how difficult would it be to get tickets as an Inter Milan away fan? I can be Italian for 90 minutes, right?

Sadly I was out of luck there too. This was probably the ‘glamour’ tie of the competition that week and a great match-up but I wouldn’t be attending. I figured I’d just have to settle for soaking up the atmosphere in Frankfurt and then finding a pub to watch the game in later that evening.

I flew out to Köln with the intention of being in Frankfurt two days later but there was this nagging voice eating away at me. “Why are we going to Frankfurt again?”

Perhaps I was judging it too harshly but I had no real desire to go to Frankfurt. Fellow travel blogger Marion actually sells it very well here but as it got closer and closer I couldn’t shake this feeling that I wasn’t actually that bothered about visiting Frankfurt. For football it made absolute sense but without a ticket I lost the only interest I had in visiting the city.

I hadn’t yet booked trains from Köln to Frankfurt and given I was flying home from Köln too I didn’t really have a need to go to Frankfurt. I had free cancellation for the hotel that I’d booked so I had no financial investment weighing me down either.

I repeatedly mulled it over on Monday evening in Köln. If not Frankfurt, where? I’ve been to this region so many times. Other German cities, the Netherlands, Belgium, France.. I explored several different options, calculated the time and costs involved and whether they were worthwhile.

Amsterdam was one place particularly calling for me to return. Ironically I ended up back there a few weeks later anyway so I’m glad I didn’t waste this trip on Amsterdam. I’d resigned myself to the reality that Frankfurt was where I’d be heading on Wednesday morning.

I woke up on Tuesday and gave myself one last glimpse, one last opportunity to find an alternative and another at the top of my wishlist jumped out at me – Brugge or Bruges as you may know it.

I’d been to Brugge before but I feel like it’s somewhere that I had unfinished business with. Firstly I only visited on a daytrip, that’s actually a good amount of time in Brugge but the prospect of staying overnight really did appeal to me. Secondly I’d previously visited with friends, I really enjoyed the company and we had a great time in Brugge together but there’s something about discovering a place solo that also really appealed to me – a new way to experience the destination. Then lastly, I had no photos from my time in Brugge. Technology failed me and I arrived in the city without any way of capturing the occasion. Fortunately I was with friends and so there are photos from our time there but when I blogged about it the first time I had to pinch photos from my friends Kelly and Walker to help “tell the story”.

I felt inspired to go back to Brugge and managed to find a hotel that was cheaper than the one I was staying at in Frankfurt. The train tickets were also cheaper so it was a bit of a no-brainer. Take a cheaper trip to somewhere I actually wanted to go to or stick with “the plan” and spend more to visit somewhere I wasn’t that fussed about?

Spontaneity won the day! I’d come to Germany with the intention of spending four days in Germany but a last minute change of plans meant that I was actually whisking off to another country for a couple of days – Belgium, here I come!

On Wednesday morning I woke up excited and checked out of my “usual” hotel in Köln. See you soon Germany, I’m off to Belgium!

There isn’t a direct train from Cologne to Bruges so I would have to change in Brussels. I made sure to catch quite an early train which meant I arrived in to Brussels before lunch. Had I not also been to Brussels so many times I might have been inclined to have taken a little detour over to Grand Place and had a wander but I decided I’d just head onwards to Brugge.

A little while later I’d arrived and tried to recall which way I needed to go. I’d previously visited in December when the city is much busier, it’s a pretty place to visit at Christmas time but crowds are much less sparse in March and although I had a vague idea of where I needed to go, the option of “follow everyone else” wasn’t really much of an option on this occasion.

I have quite the habit of romanticising a lot of the places I visit and before returning I pondered if Brugge would be as pretty as I remembered it. It didn’t take long for me to be reminded of its beauty. Walking along its cobbled roads in to the heart of the city is just breathtakingly beautiful. It’s such a magical place. I kept stopping to take photo after photo.

By the time I reached the centre it was too soon to check in to my hotel so I went and found myself some lunch – opting for something typically flemish – pizza?

Alright, maybe not but it was beginning to rain and so I just ducked in to this Italian restaurant a few yards in front of me that seemed as good a spot as any to grab some lunch at.

After lunch I just went for a wander. One of the things I particularly love about Brugge is its a good place to get lost in. Head in any direction and you’re likely to find something pretty or discover something you’ve not seen previously. I’d been here before, I had nothing that I particularly wanted to do but I could just walk aimlessly for hours here.

Eventually I popped over to my hotel to check in and drop my things off. I relaxed for a little but before my attention turned to plans for the evening. I had a quick look online for any potential evening entertainment but struck out so decided I’d just go have some dinner, enjoy a few Belgian beers and perhaps watch the evening’s football somewhere. Being quite a touristy place means it isn’t difficult and in the end I returned to an Irish pub we’d gone to on the previous trip.

Following on from a few beers I wandered back in the direction of my hotel. Although Brugge is quite a touristy place, it’s largely a popular day-trip for a lot of people and certainly at this time of year was pretty quiet after dark. I had much of Brugge to myself and it was peaceful and pretty in equal measure which was a great opportunity to try and capture some night-time photos without hordes of people around before heading off to sleep.

The next morning I woke up and had a relaxed start before mapping out my plans for the day. Having not done so on my first visit I was really keen to climb Brugge’s famous Belfry on this occasion and made that my first stop of the day.

When we’d come previously there looked to be long queues but fortunately I arrived soon after they opened their doors and also being March it wasn’t so busy anyway. The Belfry operate a one-in, one-out policy so you might have a little wait for other visitors to make their way down again but I didn’t have to wait particularly long.

It’s a 366 step climb to the top of the Belfry, I don’t recall it being particularly strenuous if I’m honest but that might just be because it was a few years ago now. The views at the top are wonderful and I lucked out with the weather as it was a sunny day so had no problems enjoying those views and made sure to get a few photos from high above the city.

I lucked out with the timing because it wasn’t long before clouds were overcast and rain was on the way. I wanted to go and find myself a spot to grab some lunch but the weather forced me to lazily duck in to one of the first restaurants I came across in the main market square of the city.

I asked for a table for one, knowing it’d likely be expensive but took one look at the prices and my stomach sank. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have stepped in there in the first place, it was only rubbish weather that had sealed my fate.

“Well this is it.. I’ve already sat down, I’m obliged to eat here now.”
“Wait, no Jason. You don’t! You’ve not even ordered anything yet, just get up and walk out!”
“but I’ve sat down. I can’t change my mind now..”
“GO!”

It’s weird how our minds work isn’t it? I was borderline contemplating staying there for the most illogical of reasons.

“I have to commend you on your parenting. Your son Jason is so polite and well-mannered. Even when we handed him the sandwich menu charging 500 euros each he refused to walk away. We were even taking bets in the back as to how far we could push our luck. What a great guy!”

Fortunately I came to my senses. I know that those hot-spots are perfect for lazy tourists such as myself on this occasion and that you can probably get away with charging a bit more for below-par food but these prices were taking the piss a little too much. I could find somewhere else, surely?

I braved the weather and scurried out of there as quickly as I could. Alright, where next?

I took a little wander and perhaps I’d exaggerated just how bad the weather was. A little drizzle wouldn’t hurt right? I’m English for crying out loud! I should be used to the rain!

As it was the Belgian weather is as temperamental as the English so it wasn’t too long before it had brightened up again. I didn’t have much fortune finding a place for lunch but I was content just wandering along Brugge’s canals and discovering new walking routes within the city. After about an hour of not really doing anything I stumbled upon a small shop selling Belgian waffles and figured that’d keep me going until dinner later.

You might be sensing a pattern here but my afternoon featured more wandering, I stumbled upon a small area called Begijnhof which was home to a church, some pretty houses and a gardened area with numerous daffodils adding some colour to place. It’s a pretty World Heritage Site and the reason for that status is its history as a place inhabited by nuns and women who’ve led a celibate life – today it’s still inhabited by nuns and local women who’ve chosen to remain unmarried.

A little beyond the Begijnhof area was the Minnewaterpark which is home to more beautiful buildings, gardens and landmarks such as the ‘Poertoren’ (gunpowder tower).

Admittedly we’d only visited for the day previously but given its proximity to the train station we’d somehow bypassed this entire area of Brugge on my previous visit. It’s a pretty part of the city and was a nice accidental discovery. In better weather I’m sure the park and gardens are a very popular picnic spot to enjoy on a warm afternoon.

The afternoon quickly disappeared and my focus shifted towards evening plans again. I popped back to the hotel for a brief wind-down and this time decided I’d do a little research after the lunch debacle.

“How about we find a restaurant online Jason and then there’ll be no surprises when you sit down!?”
“Hmm, that sounds a little too logical but okay, we’ll give it a try.”

I found somewhere suitable and ventured over to this cosy restaurant not too far from where I was staying. I arrived soon after they’d opened so luckily it wasn’t too busy, not that I imagine too many places are on a Thursday in March. It was a nice way to begin the evening.

From there I checked out a couple of pubs in the city before winding back to the Irish pub in the hope of seeing a little more football. They didn’t appear to be showing the Eintracht v Inter game so I had to settle for watching Arsenal lose instead – a small consolation you could say! Haha.

The next day was my last in Brugge and indeed in Europe. My flight home from Köln wasn’t until 11:30pm so I had plenty of time ahead of me to still enjoy the day. I had quite a lazy start to my day before checking out of my hotel and hitting the streets.

I decided before leaving I should pay at least one Belgian brewery a visit so swung by the De Halve Maan brewery for a beer. I think they offer tours too but I was content to give that a miss on this occasion.

After a beer my attention switched towards lunch and I decided I’d need to force myself in to trying a local delicacy that I’ve often steered clear of in Belgium – the Moules Frites!

Long-time readers will recall stories of Weetabix Boy and know that growing up at times I was often quite fussy when it came to food. I’ve definitely got better over the years, I’m much more adventurous now and on many trips prior to this one but the thought of eating mussels has never appealed to me.

I’d been to Brugge before of course but also Gent, Liege, Brussels a few times and even the French city of Lille which has many Flemish influences but never had I plucked up the courage to give mussels a shot.

However it was weighing on my mind and I told myself I would not be leaving the city without trying them. I’d say I went on a hunt for the famous ‘Moules Frites’ but let’s be clear, they’re on just about every restaurant menu in Belgium. It wasn’t a difficult hunt. I found a restaurant that took my fancy and ordered this much-avoided dish up to this point.

The verdict? Underwhelming.

Maybe I am just that picky but I think part of the problem is that it’s work to get to the edible parts. I don’t want to have to fight with my food to enjoy it and even getting to the “good stuff” I was largely underwhelmed. That’s nothing against this particular restaurant, I am sure it was a good “Moules Frites” but it just didn’t take my fancy at all.

The good news is that I tried it. I can safely bet I’ll never have it again but at least I know where I stand with Mussels. Belgium nailed it with its waffles, chocolate and beers but its national dish is a bit of a disappointment.

In hindsight it feels like the trip ended on a downer but I didn’t leave Brugge feeling that way. at all. I’d had a good time and was pleased to be leaving with more memories of this beautiful fairytale town. I walked back to the train station and headed onwards to Brussels and then back to Köln.

The perk of so many visits to Köln was that I knew my way around pretty well. I still had time to kill before my flight and I didn’t have to worry about finding my bearings after getting off of the train. I wandered down to one of the restaurants down by the river and grabbed myself some dinner and a beer as my finale to this trip.

I don’t often do a Monday-Friday trip. My motto is to maximise as much travel time as I can with my time off and working Monday to Friday means I’ll almost always arrive home again at some point on the Sunday.

I’d reached the end of my time in Brugge and I pondered whether I extend my stay a little. I thought about ditching my flight home and perhaps getting a train (Eurostar) home from Brussels later in the week. Obviously I didn’t do that because here I was in Köln but that same voice was speaking to me “why am I going home on a Friday?”.

I’ve grown to love Köln and I sat there drinking a beer feeling warm and fuzzy about where I was (what do they put in the beer!?). I didn’t want to go home yet. Three months earlier I was whingeing about coming here but we can forget that part, can’t we?

My love/hate relationship with Köln was in its love mode and I started considering my options. How much would an extended trip cost me? Train or flight home? Hotel for two nights, or even one night – whatever works.

I added it all up and came to the conclusion it’d only be something like £6,209 to stay in Köln for an extra five minutes – “it’d totally be worth it Jason, honest!”

Common sense got the better of me again, cruelly this time. I couldn’t justify how much it’d cost me to stay in Germany for two more nights, nor one more night. It was bloody tempting but the sensible side won this battle. Probably for the best given I had no clue that I’d be visiting Amsterdam and Madrid in the near future.

If it couldn’t be one more night, it at the very least had to be one more beer. I was prolonging the inevitable. I knew that it was time to go home. Two nights in Köln, two nights in Brugge. It had been a lovely trip, topped off with a Spurs win, but I slowly made my way back to the airport and said Auf Wiedersehen to Deutschland.

Having visited Germany in 2013, 2014, 2015 (x2), 2016 (x3), 2017 (x2) & 2019 it’s sad to say that I haven’t been back since but I’m sure the next German adventure won’t be too far away.

Until then, stay tuned!

Jason

2022 travel roundup

Hello there dear followers! I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas! Happy New Year too! I’m determined to get back on track with regular blogging in 2023 and what better way to start than with the annual “travel roundup” post?

I’ve managed to bash one out every year over the past few years, so if you’re interested in giving those a read I’ll link the posts below:
2017: Travel roundup
2018: A travel round-up
2019 travel roundup
2020 travel roundup
2021 travel roundup

Anyway, onwards to 2022! I actually offered a rare half-year post this year so some of you will already know what I got up to in the first six months of 2022 but for the rest of you, fear not because I’ll do a little recap right now to catch you up!

A wedding in Washington State – March & April
The first trip of the year was the big one! After postponing our September 2021 wedding we moved it to April of 2022 and so come March I was ready to head over and finally get married!

Covid restrictions added a new level of problems for travel planning over the last two years but having Covid restrictions wreak havoc with a wedding trip? Yeah, that’s stressful! I’d avoided Covid entirely for two years so I was waiting for the inevitable, something to go wrong just before I flew out to Washington.

Fortunately my immune system held out for two months and I didn’t catch Covid for another couple of months. I was good to go!

I will write about the trip in more detail at a later date but the wedding went swimmingly. It was a great day and absolutely a highlight of 2022. All the waiting and stress beforehand was worth it and as much as I’ve always loved a wedding, enjoying your own is another level of joy that I can’t really explain.

10/10 – would do again (same bride.. don’t worry, jeez.)

Honeymooning in Oregon – April
The uncertainty of Covid traveling, plus the cost of a wedding meant we only really planned a small break after the wedding. We decided we’d head from Walla Walla out to Portland for a few days and hopefully squeeze in a little time at the coast too.

Alas we made our Westbound drive and the weather took a turn. The rain was hammering down with rain on our drive to Portland and sure enough the next morning we woke up to snow – not quite what we’d planned for!

We made the best of the weather and enjoyed our first few days of married life! We extended our trip hoping to end the week with better weather and luckily it paid off – ensuring we got to enjoy a sunny day on the Oregon coast.

Again, I’ll delve in to this part of the trip in much more detail in a future blog post but it was a lovely break despite the weather and nice to experience some new things in Oregon.

Oregon Coast — Honeymooning in Lincoln City, Oregon

Idaho or no? – April
On the 9th of April myself and Haleigh finally got married in Walla Walla, Washington! On the 30th of April Haleigh’s cousin Michelle got married down in Salt Lake City (ish), Utah!

One month – two weddings – three weeks apart!

The problem for me was my intentions for our wedding was to arrive in Washington two weeks before the wedding and leave two weeks after. A second wedding so soon but not soon enough in some respects made for some tricky travel planning – keeping in mind that I was employed full-time.

Haleigh and family were planning to drive down from Washington but the timing of the Utah wedding gave me a tricky dilemma. Do I try my luck at getting five weeks off work? Do I even want five weeks off work for one trip? What about the rest of the year?

Joining Haleigh’s family for a roadtrip had its pros and cons, flying back to England only to return again so soon also had its pros and cons. Decisions, decisions..

The only certainty was that I was going to this Utah wedding. The logistics of how to do that was the only complication but one way or another I was going to Utah. In the end I decided that I’d fly home on the 23rd of April and then fly back to Utah (via Denver) on the 28th of April in time for the wedding.

Alas, come the 22nd of April I discovered that British Airways had kindly delayed my flight by 18 hours! The consequence of which meant a massive headache and the likelihood that I wouldn’t be getting back to England until the 25th. I considered my options and had a long and frustrating conversation with British Airways which went roughly along the lines of “this is your problem mate. Why are you (the customer) only letting us (the airline) know about our delayed flight at the last minute? Where’s your crystal ball?”

There aren’t enough words to describe my anger for British Airways in that moment. I can accept cancellations, delays, blah blah blah but BA’s willingness to throw the blame back upon me in addition to the lack of desire to find a solution did not sit right with me and left quite a sour taste for a while (I’m over it, honest..).

After much deliberation and back-and-forth I decided to extend my trip and stay in the USA for two further weeks (having to work Stateside) so long story short – roadtrip!

So a change of plans and an opportunity to see a new state! We broke up the drive and spent a night in Twin Falls, Idaho – a nice little town with, you guessed it, waterfalls! We obviously didn’t spend much time looking around but it seemed a nice enough town and we made sure to see Shoshone Falls before leaving too. It’s very pretty!

A wedding in Utah – April
Myself and Haleigh talked about visiting Utah a couple of times in the past. Firstly on my big 3-0 trip as we contemplated driving to San Fran via Salt Lake City. In the end we decided it was too much to do in too little time.

Two years later I met Michelle and David for the first time and we had a lovely Valentine’s Day double-date in Washington. They’re the loveliest couple and we agreed that we’d come down and see them over the 2020 Easter break. Yeah, 2020.. Needless to say, that didn’t happen either!

So third time lucky! I was excited to finally visit Utah and specifically Salt Lake City. It felt long overdue and I was particularly excited to see Michelle and David get married – our April anniversary buddies!

We weren’t in town for long and much of that was spent catching up with Haleigh’s family and then of course the wedding itself. The wedding was lovely. I’m such a fan of weddings so an outdoor wedding in a state as pretty as Utah certainly ticked the right boxes – it was a lovely day!

I have to say Salt Lake City was a nice surprise too. We were so busy with family stuff that we didn’t see much of the city or the downtown area but there was just something about it that was endearing. This was the USA in all its glory but with 360 degree mountain views. It left an impression on me and I couldn’t shake the feeling that this had the potential to be one of my favourite American cities – despite seeing so little of it. I can’t explain it! We returned to Washington at the end of the weekend but Salt Lake City and Utah had not disappointed.

Back to Washington – May
So from Utah it was back to Washington for a little longer. It was nice having that little bit more time with Haleigh, although extending my stay did mean I had to work remotely at the end of my trip – not ideal working UK time on a PST timezone!

However we made the best of the extra time. We even squeezed in an overnight trip to see our friends in Pullman which meant I swapped working in Haleigh’s kitchen for this pretty AirBnB view in Pullman – it was nice watching the sun rise in the peaceful early hours!

We headed back to Walla Walla for the final couple of days. After six weeks myself and Haleigh were finally parting! The immigration process had begun but I probably wouldn’t be returning to Washington until Thanksgiving..

Washington State, again – June
Oh.. Maybe a little sooner than Thanksgiving then. This wasn’t the plan, I hadn’t intended to come back and certainly not so soon but you can only hear “How’s married life?” so many times before wanting to rip your ears off.

That was undoubtedly the question of 2022 and it probably wasn’t helped by having as long as six weeks together but I think by the end of May I was already sick of being apart.

A lack of annual leave meant it was going to be a short and sweet visit but I decided that I’d go and surprise Haleigh and visit Walla Walla for her mid-June birthday. A wonderful idea in theory, in reality Haleigh was talking about heading out of town for the weekend and spending time with friends.

So I came clean. I didn’t really fancy a surprise trip to see my wife if my wife wasn’t actually going to be in town! The trip flew by far too quickly but it was nice getting to spend a bit more time together. I also squeezed in a few hours in Seattle which was lovely!

Hopefully the next time we’d be seeing eachother would be when that pesky visa comes through (HA!) and we’d finally be together!

Newcastle – May
Alright, let’s go back a step! In-between Washington trips I went up North for a weekend. My friend Sarah was celebrating her 30th birthday and that was a great excuse for a weekend away!

The 30th birthday celebrations were in a small town called Northallerton which I contemplated for all of five seconds before deciding it’d be better to base myself elsewhere. Excluding watching Spurs hungover at St James’ Park I’ve never really spent any time in Newcastle so decided I was going to visit the land of the Geordies for a weekend.

The birthday celebrations were wonderful. Sarah had hired an Abba tribute band to play and keep us entertained with Abba tunes all evening which was a fun way to celebrate.

Getting to explore Newcastle was an added bonus to the trip. On my first morning I met up with a fellow travel blogger – Sam – who along with her husband Adam were great hosts and it was so nice to finally meet up.

Newcastle itself is a cracking city too. I quickly fell in love with it. It’s easy romanticising anywhere on such a short visit but it instantly felt like one of those “I could live here” kind of cities. It was 100% my kind of city and that was without even really enjoying the Newcastle nightlife that its renowned for. I highly recommend a visit and it’s somewhere I’m certain to return to.

Sheffield – July
As many of you will know, football happens to be one of my biggest passions and it just so happens that this summer England were hosting the women’s European Championship.

Women’s football is rapidly growing in England and as soon as tickets went on sale I applied, blindly, to go to a couple of the games. There were two considerations for any games I wanted to apply for. Either they had to be weekend fixtures or they had to be accessible midweek games (London).

I looked at the various weekend games being played throughout the course of the tournament and contemplated which location tickled my fancy most. In the end I decided I’d go and spend a weekend up in Sheffield, visit Bramall Lane for the first time and watch teams C1 & C2.

I’d blindly booked tickets without knowing which teams were competing at the time so it was pot luck. More than anything I was keen to support the tournament and visit a new stadium in the process. As it was the game ended up being the Netherlands vs Sweden so two of the better teams in the tournament and two of the most colourful fanbases too with their orange and yellow shirts on display across the stadium.

The weekend was pretty much all focused on football and friends. Two of my friends (Hayden and Jenny) moved up from Peterborough to Sheffield a while ago and it was the perfect excuse to meet up with them. Ironically Hayden was actually down in Peterborough for the weekend but Jenny was kind enough to give me the grand tour of Sheffield on my first morning in the city. It was nice catching up and seeing a little of Sheffield in the process.

Later in the day I met up with my friend Natalie who was pretty much touring the country throughout the tournament and pretty much attending all of the games, or as many as physically possible (there were some games played at the same time). We had a few drinks and had a good catch before heading off to the ground where I reunited with Sarah and her dad.

All in all it was a fun weekend seeing a mixture of friends and enjoying a few beers along the way.

The land of dinosaurs – July-September
Well, I don’t know that this really counts as part of a travel roundup but some of you will recall I had a busy summer volunteering over at Peterborough Cathedral.

Peterborough Cathedral were hosting a T-Rex exhibit featuring many life-sized dinosaurs in their beautiful cathedral. An unusual setting to say the least and certainly raised questions about the relationship between god and dinosaurs but it was a bloody cool experience to be a part of.

I didn’t even leave my home town but mentally I was transported to another world that resembled something out of Jurassic Park with roars echoing off the cathedral walls. So many visitors came and enjoyed the exhibit and it’s one of the best things I did this year so couldn’t forego mentioning it. I blogged about it a little halfway through the experience (link above) but I loved it and I believe they have something just as exciting lined up in 2023. Watch this space!

De-Sa-lou? – October
Oh forgive the terrible pun WordPress but I could not help myself! For the most-part I’m pretty good at remembering where in the world I’ve visited but I’ve never been fully convinced on where in Spain we went to on a school trip back in 2002.

Don’t get me wrong, I remember enough about the trip that I’m 90% certain it was Salou. We visited the “famous” Portaventura theme park, we took a trip to Barcelona and saw the Camp Nou and La Sagrada Familia and a few other things. I remember wandering down to the beach from our accommodation and it being a quick and easy walk.

It was a fun week away in Spain but nevertheless I don’t exactly remember where we stayed and I’ve always been of the belief that it was Salou. All of the evidence stacks up that way anyway.

Fast forward twenty years and I was invited on a friend’s stag do away in Europe – a weekend in Salou! Instantly I had a feeling of de-ja-vu – I’ve been there before, right?

Anyway, as far as the plans were concerned.. the timing that they wanted to book the trip wasn’t the greatest – right before I was due to get married so I bowed out of a group booking and said I’d sort myself out later in the year. True to me word I did that and the result was I ended up going for a day longer than most of the group.

I’ll eventually do a trip about the post but I’m sure you have a general idea of how things went. Simplistically put it was a few days of sunshine and many beers.

I’m still none-the-wiser if Salou was where I went in 2002. I’m convinced that it was but it was unrecognisable on this trip so who knows?

Salou itself was nice. Very touristy and by touristy I mainly mean catered towards Brits who want a cheap and boozy weekend away in “Spain”. There are an endless number of English-speaking pubs and restaurants to take your pick from and I dare say we visited our fair share.

For a relaxing break / stag do it was perfect but if you’re wanting an authentic Spanish experience it’s perhaps not the top Spanish destination to visit.

Another wedding in Virginia – October
I know! A third international wedding! A third on US soil and another new state to visit! It’s a good job I love a wedding, eh?

My friend Shay invited me (and Haleigh) out to her wedding in Virginia and, again, as if I’d possibly refuse such an opportunity! I was 100% committed to going, the only uncertainty was whether we could find a way for Haleigh to join us.

Unfortunately we couldn’t make it work and Haleigh wasn’t able to attend so in the end I went anyway and rocked up solo for my third US wedding of the year!

This time the venue was a cosy house in Fincastle which coincidentally happened to be run by a fellow Brit! It was a lovely venue, wonderful to see Tony and Shay get married and also great to finally meet in person. Definitely another highlight of the year!

Roanoke – October
The wedding was in a tiny town called Fincastle. The nearest city was a place called Roanoke which I’ll admit I knew little about prior to meeting Shay. I wasn’t entirely sure where I wanted to base myself for the trip and pondered spending a bit more time in DC or elsewhere but in the end I committed to spending a few days in Roanoke and a couple of days in DC.

Roanoke was a pleasant surprise. It’s situated in a beautiful part of the state so I had mountain views from my lovely AirBnb downtown. The whole downtown area was entirely independent too. Independent shops, independent restaurants, coffee shops, bars, breweries..

No Starbucks, no McDonald’s, none of the big-name brands you know are situated anywhere within the downtown area. It was wonderful!

Again I had to work remotely a couple of days whilst I was in Roanoke which wasn’t ideal and meant that I didn’t do too much in the city but it was a great place to relax, check out a few breweries and just find joy in this adorable little city.

Washington DC – October
For this entire trip I weighed up where to base myself. I wasn’t sure if Roanoke would be interesting enough to spend my entire time, plus I couldn’t fly there directly anyway so I had to fly in to somewhere else.

DC was the city that seemed most obvious, however I’d been to DC before so had to consider whether visiting somewhere new might be more tempting. Alas DC was much cheaper to fly to and made a lot more sense logistically so I committed to a couple of nights in DC.

Fortunately I think DC is one of the most underrated cities in the US and I was keen to see a little more this time around. On my first trip I’d been sick through most of my stay and the warm weather meant I was quite keen to just do outdoorsy things on that occasion. I missed out the many museums that DC is famous for.

I already had a real fondness for DC and I think a return only really cemented those feelings further. It is a fantastic city, easily one of my favourites within the US. I visited some new neighbourhoods, ,visited some of those museums I’d missed first time around, checked out some new restaurants, met up with some friends on one of my evenings there and just loved my time in the city.

DC’s one of those places that I always thought that I probably would visit but never had any real desire to and I’m so pleased to say that I was 100% wrong to underestimate it. I fully recommend a trip and I’ve no doubt it’s somewhere I’ll go back to with Haleigh one day.

Another Thanksgiving, another Washington visit – November
and from one Washington (DC) to the other (Washington State), it was back to Washington again in November.

I love having an extra holiday to celebrate each year and escaping England in a cold, dark and dreary November is an added bonus. I don’t think I’d care for Thanksgiving so much if it was in I don’t know, let’s say July. Thanksgiving is a good mood-builder in the run up to Christmas and the festivities.

Due to visa issues, which are finally sorted!!, I hadn’t actually seen Haleigh since June. I was so short on annual leave that I couldn’t make a trip to Washington work and she wasn’t able to travel overseas due to the ongoing visa stuff so it had been a long time apart before reuniting for the holidays.

We didn’t do anything particularly special, Haleigh was sick for the first half of the week I was there and the second half of the week was occupied with family stuff for Thanksgiving but it was nice to spend some time together, eat food, catch up with family and just spend a little time in Washington.

I even managed to meet up with a friend from nearby Union Gap which was long overdue. News of my visit even made it in to local news – I’m now a Yakima / Union Gap celebrity! Maybe..

Overall it was a lovely week away. My only real gripe about the trip was that Alaska Airlines have cut their route from two services a day to one which wreaked havoc with my plans.

Firstly, I couldn’t actually get to Walla Walla on the day I arrived in Seattle which meant flying to a different airport a little further away.

I had no such trouble going the other way but they scrapped the early morning flight from Walla Walla to Seattle. Ordinarily I get half a day’s exploration in Seattle, such as I’d done in June earlier in this year but on this occasion I only had a four hour layover which wasn’t worth leaving the airport for.

I think they do intend to bring the second service back but it was bitterly disappointing to miss out on any time in Seattle on this trip. It’s part of my “heading home” routine usually and I did feel a little glum that I’d missed out on this particular trip.

2023 plans?
I hate to end any blog post on a downer so lets look ahead at what I have planned for 2023.

Honestly, not much..

I’m flying out to Washington at the end of January, Haleigh will finally be moving to England so I’m flying over there to help her move some of her things over. No more long-distance – hurrah!

I think one of Haleigh’s cousins is getting married in the summer so we’ll likely make another trip back to Washington in the summer. I also think we’ll probably make a third trip later in the year around the holidays so Washington will again likely dominate the travel plans for a lot of the year.

However beyond Washington I would honestly just want to go somewhere that isn’t the USA at this point. I love the place but it has dominated my travel a bit too much in recent years. I stretched my luck a bit this year and somehow managed to pack in nearly 10 weeks in the USA from just six weeks of annual leave (am I a magician?) but it left little time to go anywhere else. I was pleased to at least visit three new states this year (Idaho, Utah & Virginia) but I’d really like to spend some time in other parts of the world.

I don’t know that it’ll happen this year but I’m also really keen to step foot on some new continents. Africa, Asia and South America are calling my name. I’ve seen a lot of the US, a lot of Europe but the other continents continue to allude me. I’m very, very tempted to book a short trip to Morocco this year.

My final hope is to get back to Finland. I need to look in to it a little more but I’m quite keen on the idea of going there for my birthday in August. I grew up living with a Finnish grandmother who I also shared a birthday with and so it’s a day that I’ll forever think of Finland – I think to be in Finland on that day would be special but that’s just an idea at this moment in time.

Anyway, thanks for indulging me and my ramblings WordPress! I’ll write about each of these trips in more detail at some point and hopefully I’ll be a little more active in 2023.

Happy New Year!

Jason

One year in the USA?

Hello dear readers! How are things? I hope you’re all doing well? This post is going to be more of a thinker I suppose than a story of any sort but stick with me anyway!

As you’ll know I got married this year and for that wedding trip I spent six weeks in the USA – spending time in four different states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah).

Idaho and Utah were first-time visits for me so I was state-counting and worked out that I’ve now been to a total of 14 US states (plus DC) which I thought was pretty cool. I’ve technically passed through Arkansas, Wisconsin, Virginia and Maryland too but I don’t count those.

Anyway, it also got me thinking about the length of time that I’ve actually spent in the USA in my lifetime. Six weeks is a pretty significant amount of time for that recent trip but this was my third fairly long trip to the USA so accumulating all of those trips is starting to add up a bit. I decided to work out exactly how much time I’ve spent in the country and this was the result:

8 weeks in Florida – four separate 2 week trips with family in May 1997, December 2002, February 2004 & December 2008
2 weeks in Georgia – February 2016
1 week in New York City – June 2016
1 and a half weeks in DC, Nashville & Dallas – April 2017
1 and a half weeks in Washington State – September 2017
2 weeks in Washington State – February 2018
4 weeks for “the big 3-0” – July & August 2018
1 and a half weeks in Washington State – April 2019
1 week in Washington State – November 2019
9 weeks in Washington State – February, March & April 2020
1 and a half weeks in Washington State – November & December 2021
6 weeks in Washington, Oregon, Idaho & Utah – March, April & May 2022
A total of 39 weeks

Update!
Okay.. so I must have drafted this post at some point between trips because I know that I was pleasantly pleased with how nicely rounded that number was. With 52 weeks in a year, 39 rounded out to an even 75% of a year or alternatively roughly nine months!

Nine months of my life has been spent in the USA – isn’t that bonkers? I don’t know how you travelers compare, I’m sure some of you have had gap years or worked abroad and everything else but as someone who’s only ever really lived in England (nine weeks living in the USA with Haleigh in 2020..), it’s a significant amount of time in a single country that’s not my own.

Alas, back to the present! The visa process looked like it’d drag on for a while and I was missing my wife having had six weeks rarely apart! So I decided to “surprise” Haleigh for her birthday and spent another 1.5 weeks in Washington back in June – having a lovely time of course but ultimately ruining the nicely rounded number that I’d initially started blogging about.

Joking aside, another one and a half weeks now takes me up to 40.5 weeks in total and brings me even closer to a full year!

The plan is eventually for Haleigh to move here, should the UK government ever sort its shit out and process her visa application, but even when she’s permanently in England we’re obviously going to return to the US many times in the future.

It’s impossible to say what the future holds, maybe we’ll even find ourselves living in the USA one day but I’m “only” short of an entire year by 11.5 weeks with the likelihood of many future trips to the US to come.

I don’t know when I’ll pass that threshold but it will happen. At some point I will have spent an entire year of my life on American soil. 52 weeks in the USA, a full 12 months, 365 days give or take a few. It’s a pretty significant amount of time in one country, right?

and I suppose the only real point to this post was maybe for you to consider your own travels. It’s rare that we quantify our trips in such a way but I did pose the question to Twitter a while ago to see how my own 39 weeks (at the time) measured up against other travelers.

Some people take the same holiday every year and I find the concept slightly puzzling and yet here I am, 40 weeks of travel in the USA. Admittedly the US is at the very least a huge country and so diverse, it’s not comparable to returning to the same resort year in, year out but still.. I don’t think I thought that I’d ever be approaching a year in the same country.

Looking ahead, I’ve got two further trips to the US planned coming up this year so I’ll be ticking off another two weeks in the country and also adding a new state to my tally!

One week in Virginia / DC in October 2022 – I’m going to a wedding in Roanoke so unlike my last visit to DC I’ll actually properly get to see some of Virginia this time. State number 15!
One week in Washington – Thanksgiving 2022!

I’m slowly closing in on the year. I do hope in the years ahead that there’s much more non-US related travel than there has been in recent times. I usually try and visit at least one new country every year. That said, it’ll be cool hitting that impending one year landmark when the day comes.

Moving on from the USA, I did ponder where else my travels have taken me. My runner up would be Spain at around 4-5 weeks, with Germany not too far behind that. Nowhere comes close to the scale that I’ve visited the US.

So WordPress, play along. Where’s your most frequented destination? It doesn’t necessarily have to be a different country, it could be a neighbouring state or a coastal retreat or whatever but anywhere that might surprise you with how much time you’ve spent there?

Shock aside, I love visiting the US and I’m excited for the two trips in the next couple of months. Getting a chance to see more of Virginia and explore DC a bit more (I was sick on most of my last visit) will be great. I’m also looking forward to reuniting with the American family and eating good Thanksgiving food!

Anyway, until next time!

Jason

Madrid – May / June 2019

Hello dear readers! I hope all is well with you? I thought that I’d get back to writing about some travel.

I have written about football-related travels many times on the blog but this? This is a post I never in my lifetime thought that I’d be writing about.

I was listening to an episode of The Travel Architect’s podcast recently and the “travel quiz” on this particular episode revolved around the concept that people travel locally, nationally and internationally to watch sports or any event really at “bucketlist” venues – I am one of those people.

My love of football is no secret, I’ve been obsessed with the sport for as long as I can remember. Football is the biggest sport in England – by some distance. Football is the biggest sport in the world even and I’ve heard it nicknamed the “global language” – regardless of your native language, everyone understands football.

I think that’s particularly true for myself. I’m an introverted person, I’m quiet but that was multiplied tenfold as a child. I was so shy and so reserved but football was my comfort zone, I understood football and if we had a mutual love for the game it made it infinitely easier to connect with you. It was an easy bonding subject I suppose.

As a kid I just immersed myself in to all things football. To this day it’s probably the only passion I have that exceeds travel. I love and loathe it in equal measure, it infuriates me like nothing else can but the highs of the game are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

It didn’t matter what it was growing up. I could be playing football in the streets from dawn ’til dusk, collecting football stickers for the latest Premier League sticker album, reading Match magazine every single week or watching football on the telly. Playing computer games such as Championship Manager (“move aside Gerry Francis.. I’m taking Spurs to the lofty heights of the UEFA Cup!”), reading football-books.. whatever it was, I was obsessed!

I heard so many football stories from my dad’s youth – a very different time in football where tickets were more accessible and affordable. My dad would travel up and down the country with his mates and even experience the occasional foray in to Europe for the ultimate “away day” experience – hearing stories of Spurs in Belgium and UEFA Cup glory in 1984 was something I was so envious of for such a long, long time.

My dad’s “heyday” came and went. Marriage and kids and responsibilities followed and my dad had to stop going. Football became too expensive and required too much sacrifice to follow with the same frequency – sadly resigned to a life of “armchair football” but he still had enough love for it to pass on the reigns to his son. We’ll not give too much mention to the rebel Arsenal-supporting daughter! – “Why haven’t you disowned her dad?”

I loved football so much but my dad couldn’t afford to take us regularly if at all, it’s an expensive day out but my love for it was unrivalled. Growing up I’d firstly dream of playing on the biggest stage, playing for Spurs, winning the FA Cup and once the realisation kicked in that I’d never be good enough to achieve that, my hopes turned to my “idols” achieving that success on my behalf.

I wanted to see Spurs win an FA Cup (I still haven’t!), I wanted to see Spurs in Europe. Even as a deluded, hopeful child you’d never dream of Premier League or Champions League glory for little ol’ Spurs – that was beyond our limitations but just give me something to remember. Give me something to match up to those stories my dad has from the late 70’s and 80’s.

Year after year I’d witness disappointment after disappointment. I still haven’t forgiven Shearer for breaking my heart in the FA Cup semi final in `1999. Likewise I have held a bitter resentment against Germans, Kaiserlautern, for ending my sole European memory of Spurs far earlier than I was prepared for. Just the one European excursion in my pitiful Spurs-supporting memory – my dad’s fairytale stories are all a lie!

Jokes aside, I dreamt of football on the biggest stage – imagine going to watch Spurs in Europe or England at a World Cup. My dad went to France in 1998 and I watched on again, envious albeit ultimately with similar feelings of disappointment and heartbreak following another painful England World Cup defeat.

My school years were particularly painful, arguably Spurs worst era and similarly coinciding with the years (92-04) I was most susceptible to teasing from my peers.

I left school and typically Spurs fortunes changed. More importantly though, I left school. I was now of working age – the financial limitations my father had had, I did not. I had no responsibility and despite taking a weekend job in a supermarket I was finally free to spend my ~~hard~~-earned cash as I pleased – going to the football regularly.

I remember little of the first time my dad took me to White Hart Lane but I remember running up those steps and seeing that pitch for the first time – “wow!” – you dream about it but I don’t think that first time can ever disappoint. It’s Disneyland levels of magical – now that I was working I could finally come as often as I wanted.

Better yet, Spurs were improving on the pitch! In 2006, at 18 years old, I finally got to watch my beloved Spurs participate in a European competition – in the flesh! Tottenham vs Slavia Prague in London. A “glory, glory” European night under the famous lights of White Hart Lane!

The allure of European football, playing on the continent in places you have and haven’t heard of, has always mesmerised me. You read blog posts about the hidden gems of Europe – “secret off-the-beaten-path cities no-one has heard of” and it’s like mate, you underestimate the obscure places across the world that football fans know about because of some random football team that play there.

Going back to that previously mentioned podcast.. My love for European football in particular always came with an “I’d love to play there..” wish before materialising in to the “I’d love to watch a game there” dream instead.

There were and still are so many football experiences I’d love to witness one day – famous football stadiums, famous football matches and rivalries, famous football tournaments that would be incredible to see live.

Primarily I want those football experiences with Spurs of course but some aren’t possible and others aren’t realistic. I can’t watch Spurs in a World Cup but I’d still love to attend a World Cup one year – there’ll always be some regret that I didn’t go to Brazil in 2014.

It’s my dream to go and watch either domestic or international football in South America – Brazil and Argentina in particular as the footballing giants of the continent. It’s my dream to go and watch some of the big European rivalries, I have a list of football stadiums I’d like to visit before I die (or before they knock the stadium down!). I have so many football-bucketlist experiences to tick off!

European football again obviously holds a lot of those experiences and I never thought I’d see them with Spurs if I’m being honest. That Champions League anthem is mesmerising but I never really believed growing up that I’d watch Spurs participate in the competition, let alone multiple times as I’ve been fortunate to do. I never thought visiting the likes of the Camp Nou, San Siro, Bernabeu, WestfalenStadion or others would ever be possible.

After finally being able to go to home games regularly I attended my first Tottenham away game in 2008 – Spurs at Villa Park in Birmingham – what a historic, traditional stadium that is too. It’ll be a sad day should Aston Villa ever replace their stadium.

I went to multiple domestic away games over the years and then finally went to my first European away game in 2014 – Benfica of Lisbon, Portugal – one of Portugal’s biggest teams and a huge name in European football.

“Pinch me!”

It was “only” in Europe’s second-tier competition, the Europa League (UEFA Cup) but still – watching Spurs in Europe? “This is the dream!”

Since that first European outing I’ve watched football in a number of countries and even in that elusive Champions League competition I thought beyond little ol’ Spurs and then ‘here’ we are – June 2019.

I kind of knew, much like my father 30 years ago, that my footballing days were coming to an end. I’ve had this nagging feeling about a different lifestyle, different priorities and different responsibilities that suggested I’d have to “hang up my boots” so to speak.

It wasn’t necessarily imminent but I knew it wasn’t far away and so I went in to 2019 with the mentality that the next European outing, this, could be my last ever European away game with Spurs. I wrote that blog post knowing I was bowing out soon – I just wanted one final away European away game and “anywhere but Dortmund”.

Ironically Dortmund was one of those stadiums I never thought I’d see Tottenham play at – one of Europe’s most famous football venues and undoubtedly fitting of any worthwhile football bucketlist – home to the famous “yellow wall” of Borussia Dortmund.

Tottenham were drawn to play Dortmund in March 2016 and I’d literally only just come home from Georgia at the end of Feb and I was booking flights – I did not give a shit about work, I was not missing a “once in a lifetime” trip to Dortmund.

Seven months later we were back in West Germany in nearby Leverkusen and then in November 2017 we returned to Dortmund again! On that occasion I saw Spurs win but twice was plenty – there’s no other reason to visit Dortmund!

So faced with the possibility of a third “once in a lifetime” trip to Dortmund – I was praying to the football gods for some mercy and to send me anywhere else. My prayers fell on deaf ears: Tottenham Hotspur vs Borussia Dortmund – March 2019.

There were no guarantees of progress, no guarantees of more European games. This could be my last and only opportunity so reluctantly, back to West Germany for the fourth football excursion in three years. Spurs typically won comfortably which resulted in a Champions League quarter final against fellow English side, Manchester City.

Unbelievably Spurs succeeded and set up a first Champions League (European Cup) semi final appearance in 57 years – Tottenham vs Ajax – giants of Dutch and European football – “pinch me!”

Next up Amsterdam – with a touch of irony perhaps. Spurs have offered so many disappointments over the years. Typically I’m on the verge of packing it in altogether and Spurs decide this is the year for a cup run in Europe? “Thanks Tottenham..”

Amsterdam was not in the budget for the year but of course I had to go, hoping that Tottenham may well just go one step better than they did in 1962 and incredibly they did – a first Champions League (European Cup) final appearance in their 137 year history!

and so this is where this story begins!

“Begins? Jason, you’ve already written a novel!”

I know, I know but what’s a story without a little context?

I was ready to pack it in, just one final European outing. I’d budgeted the first six months of the year perfectly so that I could think about next steps with Haleigh. This was the supposed to be me winding down as far as the football was concerned but Spurs said “sod that, we were your first love!”

A Champions League final was an “at all costs” trip and boy was it. There was no scenario in which I wasn’t going to Madrid, with or without a ticket for the game, but I genuinely had no idea how I was going to make the logistics of this work.

As if the trip wasn’t expensive enough anyway, Tottenham’s European fate had been sealed on that memorable Wednesday night in Amsterdam. 24 hours earlier our opponents Liverpool had sealed their own fate – we’d face English opposition in Madrid but more importantly that meant fellow English supporters and travelers that had been afforded a 24 hour head start.

Reports suggest 100,000 or so traveled from England to Madrid for this game. I don’t know how accurate that is. I don’t know if it was more – quite possibly but for my fellow experienced travelers, try and book that trip with three weeks notice on very specific dates and when a vast majority have had a head start on your travel planning -it’s bonkers!

The simplest solution (“hey, we’re selling flights to Madrid sat on Ryanair’s wing for only £450,000 one way”) was a no-go.

I was 100% going to Madrid but it was time to get creative. Where do I fly from? What are my options? What’s the alternative to flying to Madrid? Barcelona? Bilbao? Where? Would it be cheaper to not fly from England? Maybe I’ll go out to Dublin or Paris or Marrakech or anywhere else first!

It was a headache! I was still in Amsterdam at the time and pondered if I just should start walking to Madrid now! I shared my frustrations with my parents and knew it’d probably have to wait until I got home.

“Your dad’s thinking of driving..”

Wait, what!!? Dad’s contemplating popping out of “retirement” for this one? Wow! I mean it probably shouldn’t have shocked me, this is big after all but still, my dad didn’t even own a passport at the time.

That said, anyone who was anyone was going to this. I think it was about Liverpool’s 408th Champions League final in 20 years and they’ve been to one more since then too but for Spurs? This doesn’t happen to the likes of us – a genuine “once in a lifetime!” experience.

I know it’s a case of being privileged and having the luxury of football as a priority in your life that you can do a trip such as this but it still surprises me that any Spurs fan missed this.

If you have to sell an organ or that Arsenal supporting sibling, do it! A family friend of ours flew over from his home in Australia to be in Madrid because this was the big one! Admittedly his journey may well still have been cheaper than any flight from England going to Madrid but he knew how important it was, I knew that I had to go and my dad likewise – a first Father-Son European away game!

My dad drove! A European road trip from Peterborough, England to Madrid, Spain. Another friend of my dad’s footballing days joined us for the roadtrip, quite surreal how much of the old gang had come out of obscurity for this one – I’d never met Lloyd before and I don’t think my dad had seen him in decades either but a trip worthy of a reunion!

The match was on Saturday, we left England after work on Thursday and intended to drive back on Sunday so this was as quick and as budget-friendly as such a trip would allow – sharing fuel and accommodation costs between us.

We left work on Thursday and headed for Dover where we’d be picking up Lloyd and more importantly, catching the late-night / early-morning ferry over to France. I can’t recall what time it was but let’s just say it was dark in the crossing.

I was a little apprehensive about taking the ferry. It makes me a little cautious about ever booking a cruise too, I get a little seasick I guess and I felt so rough coming back from Amsterdam three weeks earlier which was weighing on my mind a little bit.

Nevertheless we had a beer on board and kicked off the trip of a lifetime in style. The rest of the ferry was packed with football fans, predominantly Liverpool fans but two sets of supporters all in good spirit – all ready for the big game on Saturday!

We arrived in France early Friday morning and was able to catch the sun coming up over the country – being the end of May it was particularly nice and came up quite early.

The trip made me feel quite nostalgic. We’d take the occasional family daytrip to France when we lived in London and I also visited Spain on a coach-trip with school that no doubt took a much similar route that we did for this trip.

I remember nothing of France from those trips other than stopping at service stations and such in random places. For a long time I didn’t really feel like I’d really been to France. It was only after visiting Paris and Lille that I felt like I’d actually been to France and started falling in love with it. Lille was particularly nice visiting France in the summer and getting to see what the fuss was about. Up until then I’d never really got the fuss about France.

We were on the road for a good few hours on France, stopping occasionally for a food break and chance to visit the grand service stations of the country – feeling very nostalgic for the France I remember from my youth!

Mid-afternoon we arrived in our stop for the night. We didn’t want to do the full drive on Friday so agreed to stop somewhere on route – I’d had a little read on options and suggested Bayonne / Biarritz might be a good choice. So we booked a little budget backpackers hotel in Bayonne for one night – it was very basic. Tucked away in the middle of nowhere really and more dorm-like accommodation but perfect for one night – we had no problems with it.

We dropped off our things and decided we’d go and spend the rest of the afternoon at the coast. We got back in the car and headed for nearby Biarritz.

This was meant to be a whistle-stop one-nighter so none of us were that bothered about where we stayed, we hadn’t done any real research about what to do or what to expect from the area. More than anything it was a good base for us to then hit the road again in the morning.

So Biarritz took all of us by surprise – it is stunning! We stepped out of the car and I was blown away by its beauty. This is why people rave about the South of France!

The sun was shining, the water was gorgeous and it felt so relaxed. Biarritz were actually hosting the ‘World Longboard Surfing Championship’ this week but it seemed like we’d missed any of the major activity of the day. There were still a few people out in the water but it was so peaceful.

We found a little outside bar to pick up some beers and just sat by the water mesmerised. It’s so easy to glamourise travel places but this felt like paradise. The only disappointment was the reality that we were only here for one night. Part of me sat there, looking out to the water and thinking can’t we just sack off Madrid?

I’d been to Madrid before (and LOVED it), let’s find a bar for the game tomorrow and stay here ~~forever.~~ Why are we leaving this place so soon?

We enjoyed the views a little longer but didn’t hang around for particularly long. We got back in the car and returned to Bayonne, which also looked nice from the little we saw of it, before finding a place to grab some dinner near our hotel. We were pretty close to Spain by this point but still had a few hours drive ahead of us so were keen to get an early night and an early start in the morning.

On Saturday morning we woke up in eager anticipation of the day ahead. Champions League final day featuring Tottenham ~~fucking~~ Hotspur. This is actually happening!

Of course I was sad to be leaving the South of France, I am itching to return to Biarritz one day and also to explore more of the South of France because it had instantly won us over but nevertheless we had to go.

The drive over the border is gorgeous. As I said above, I’d done the school coachtrip to Spain before so this wasn’t of huge surprise to me but it was even prettier than I remember it being.

Even more Spurs and Liverpool fans were on the road by this point – all Madrid bound. We stopped off at more service stations along the way and picked up food for the morning to keep us going. Eventually we’d arrived in sunny, glorious Madrid.

I think Madrid is undoubtedly one of the best cities in Europe, I think I might go as far as saying it’s my favourite European city outside of London but on this occasion we weren’t here for the culture or anything else that Madrid has to offer. We found somewhere to park and headed straight for the dedicated fan-park hosting Spurs.

We picked up some beers and soaked up the building atmosphere. One of hope, one of optimism, one of disbelief. This fairytale-like story was one night away from reaching Hollywood. We’d been down and out so many times over the course of the season that there was this feeling of “it’s meant to be” and we just needed that movie-script ending to round it off.

Soon enough our family friend, Dave, had joined us. Coming all the way from ~~Australia~~ Barcelona, it was great to see him after a few years. I’ve seen him a few times over the years in England and we even met up a couple of times when I went to Sydney, now we were in our third country together and for a Champions League final! Had I mentioned that?

A little while later two more of the old gang, Dave number 2 and Mo, had come to join us for a little while too. A great opportunity for a reunion photo and a “we were there” moment.

Soon enough the fan-park closed. Dave 2 and Mo went their separate ways whilst the four of us went off in search for elsewhere to drink and hopefully a bar to watch the big game tonight.

We picked up a drunk stray from Aberdeen who’d seemingly lost his friends and tagged along with us for the night. We tried a couple of bars without much fortune – finding that they were either completely rammed with supporters or that they were completely empty because they had no TV to show the game. Eventually we had some fortune in a restaurant-ish kind of bar showing the game and selling beers which was all we really needed.

The day had been lovely. Everyone was in good spirits. I think there was a fear that with tens of thousands of Brits descending on Madrid that there’d be trouble. The Brits, and English in particular, don’t have the greatest reputation on the continent. Some of it is fully justified to be fair but on this occasion there was no need for such concern – everyone got along swimmingly. Now for the football..

All that build-up, all that anticipation and excitement? Minute one: Liverpool penalty – game over.

It still feels unfair, unjust even. I don’t think the decision will ever sit right with me and it just killed the game. Spurs huffed and puffed but without any real quality, it was probably one of the worst Champions League finals in truth but to have this grand occasion go like this so early in the game was and still is hard to accept.

I don’t know how much I ever really believed. I was always hopeful and had optimism, there was definitely fleeting moments of “we’re going to do this..” but Liverpool were of course the favourites for the game, favourites to win the trophy for the Nth time and so it proved.

As ever for Tottenham, no happy ending. No fairytale, no Hollywood movie to come. I can’t and won’t question the effort because we tried but even accepting we weren’t ever expected to be at this stage, it was no less painful. We huffed away and Liverpool hit us on the counter late on – an undeserved 2-0 in a game lacking any quality. We never deserved to win and perhaps it’s the bitterness talking but Liverpool were barely worthy winners themselves.

I walked out at 2-0 completely deflated. I needed to just walk somewhere for a bit. I had no interest in seeing the final whistle, no interest in seeing the trophy presentation. Who fucking cares?

We didn’t have accommodation for Saturday night. I think we’d made the decision to just find some kip in the car later on and then head out Sunday morning.

Nevertheless we hung out in Madrid for a bit after the game, mingling with a few people from the bar that we’d met. I dare say I wasn’t really present at all. Maybe its the years of experience supporting Spurs, maybe its the fact the other three have all tasted real Tottenham success but I think the other three took the defeat much better than myself.

I don’t know how any of them could find the energy to be sociable enough for chit-chat. In truth I just wanted to be as far from Madrid as possible. After maybe an hour we went and found a late-night joint for some cheap and greasy food. I’m not sure you’d necessarily associate Madrid as a good place for a kebab but it ticked the right boxes after a day of beer and football.

From there it was back to the car. Lloyd seemed to find the time to talk to every passing celebratory Scouser. To be fair to the Liverpool bunch, they were very gracious about it and complimentary of Spurs but I didn’t really find any consolation in it.

More to the point was that Lloyd was constantly stopping on our walk back to the car. I lost count of how many Liverpool fans we stopped for in the end – admittedly Lloyd was fairly drunk but I’m sure he was seeking them out – “just keep walking Lloyd, come on!”

My dad seemingly had much more patience than I did. Perhaps I needed to be a bit drunker myself but I wasn’t particularly interested in baby-sitting someone 20-30 years my senior, nor stopping for chirpy Scousers.

We said our goodbyes to Dave, wishing him well for the trip back down-under, and eventually got Lloyd back to the car having stopped for conversations with seemingly every single person in Madrid.

We slept on the outskirts of Madrid for a few hours kip before hitting the road again – determined to try and do it in a day and be back on a late-Sunday / early-Monday ferry back to England.

Sidenote and a word of warning for anyone that fancies doing this road-trip – the tolls aren’t particularly suited to back-seat passengers and dare I say drivers too! Lloyd seemed near-dead in the front seat and was completely passed out which left me on toll-duty as my dad drove and seemingly few seemed to fall on the actual drivers sides for some reason.

Maybe my memory is rusty but thinking back to it, I don’t know what you’re supposed to do if you’re a solo driver. A few tolls on I was an expert on the pay-process but it seems bizarre that that was the case. Perhaps manned toll booths on the right side of the road were closed because it was a Sunday and this was our only option? Who knows?

Anyway, we looked for somewhere to break up the drive once again and as tempting as it may have been to return to Biarritz we wanted to see somewhere different. Bordeaux seemed like an obvious choice but we opted to go to ‘La Rochelle’ instead, I figured I was more likely to visit Bordeaux one day and why not go somewhere else.

We struck out unfortunately. Perhaps we didn’t give it enough of a chance but for a flying visit, we certainly didn’t see the best of La Rochelle and wouldn’t necessarily be inspired to return. I’ve heard good things so I’d be inclined to go back and see if it could change my mind but it was barely a lunch spot for us and left no real impression.

We hit the road again pretty quickly and from there it was the odd service station on an otherwise uneventful drive. Lloyd eventually woke from his slumber, still feeling the effects of a heavy day of drinking. Having perked up a bit we grabbed some food and then made the gradual return to Calais, Dover and Peterborough respectively.

Reflecting on the trip as a three-parter makes it more special: Köln, Amsterdam, Madrid – wow!

It’s hard to detach from the finale, hard to detach from the pain of how it ended but when you take the whole experience in to account then I can only look back on it with fondness. Amsterdam was incredible, to follow that up with a Father-Son road-trip was particularly special and it’s a footballing-adventure I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

I’m gutted that this three-parter doesn’t get the Hollywood ending it deserves but hopefully you’ve enjoyed following along anyway. If this is to be my last football-inspired blog post and how I bow out of European football, what a way to do it!

Maybe there’ll be more European adventures to come, who knows? I’ve certainly cut back on the football this side of Covid and I’d be reluctant to go back to Dortmund for the 592nd time but watch this space I guess. There’ll almost certainly be a World Cup adventure in 2026 given that the USA are one of the host countries!

Anyway, time to wrap this up! Next time on the blog? No idea! Haha.

Stay tuned!

Jason

2022 so far..

Hello dear readers! How is 2022 treating you all?

It’s quite common for me to do a yearly wrap-up post after the year ends but given my lack of blog inactivity I figured why not do one for the half year too? I haven’t been posting much so why not share a bit of what I’ve been up to in the first six months of the year, eh?

A wedding in Washington
Needless to say the highlight of 2022 so far was getting married over in Walla Walla, Washington back in April. It’s weird to think that I’ve been married for almost three months, not least because we’re still waiting on Haleigh’s visa to come through so we’re still apart as things stand but nevertheless the wedding was a wonderful time and we’ve managed to spend some time together since tying the knot at least.

I think I’ll do a more detailed post around my time in Washington at some point but it was a wonderful day and one I would happily relive. I joked on social media shortly after that I could now understand why couples get married multiple times – I’ve always loved a wedding but ours was obviously particularly special.

A honeymoon in Oregon
Arriving to Portland’s latest ever snow on record wasn’t quite what I had in mind for our honeymoon but it was nice to get away for a few days. Well, the plan was a few days anyway. I think there was a part of us that considered this a mini-moon and we’d take a proper honeymoon at a later date to somewhere more exciting than the neighbouring state.

As it turned out, the snow changed our plans a little and we extended our time in Oregon by a few more days which gave us the best part of a week in snowy Portland. One of the reasons for that decision was we really wanted a day at the coast and it looked like things might brighten up come the end of the week.

Again, I’ll likely write about the trip in more detail at a later date but I’m pleased to say things did brighten up and we had a glorious sunny day over on the Oregon coast to end our time in the state.

Whether we still take a proper honeymoon or not I don’t know, maybe we’ll just have a special anniversary or something or just general travel but it was a nice way to kick off married life and enjoy some time to ourselves.

Idaho?
I think I briefly mentioned this on the blog but I had a small little planning dilemma around two US weddings in April. We got married ourselves on the 9th of April and then Haleigh’s cousin got married on the 30th of April down in Salt Lake City.

Haleigh and her family were planning to drive down from Washington but timing and logistics of getting time off from work meant I decided it was best to fly home for a few days and then fly back to Utah, via Denver (no direct flights to SLC, wtf?).

However British Airways had other ideas. The day before my flight back to London I discovered that it was delayed by 18 hours! An 18 hour flight delay! Long enough to ensure I’d miss work on Monday morning and then what’s even the point? I’d be flying back to the US on Thursday!

The less said about British Airways the better to be honest, I’ve had problems with three of the four flights I’ve taken with them this year and their customer service on this particular occasion was horrendous – I spent a good hour on the phone with them trying to find a satisfactory resolution to the problem they’d created. Suffice to say they won’t be receiving a Christmas card from me this year!

My eventual solution was to stay in the US for another two weeks and drive down for wedding number two – resulting in a first visit to Idaho!

Idaho wasn’t much more than a layover, we stayed in Twin Falls for one night on the way down to Utah and did the drive back in one day so didn’t see much of it. That being said, Idaho offered a place to rest our head, some good food and a couple of pretty views!

A wedding in Utah!
Wedding number two! It was never in doubt that I’d attend, my only ever issue was the logistics of essentially two separate US trips three weeks apart.

The sudden change of plan worked out for the best and more importantly it was a great couple of days catching up with Haleigh’s family and celebrating the wedding of two incredible people. This is another summarised story of a future post but definitely another highlight of 2022 thus far.

Also, Salt Lake City took me by surprise. It is everything you expect of the USA but with 360 degree mountain views. We were so busy with family stuff that we didn’t see much of the city or downtown area but it really left an impression on me. In some ways I dare say it’s one of my favourite American cities.

A return to Washington
We drove back to Washington after the wedding and after a little more time together it was time for me to return to England solo! I flew home in early May and had no plans to return until Thanksgiving in November.

Alas, when you’ve had six weeks together you quickly grow to miss them when you part. Particularly when you have no idea how long the visa process might take – not helped by a certain Russian president adding to the list of immigrants applying for visas and those Ukrainians understandably largely taking priority.

Anyway, with no set reunion with Haleigh prior to Thanksgiving I pondered if I could go and visit Haleigh sooner. There were a few mitigating factors which swayed my decision but I ended up visiting Haleigh for her birthday in the middle of June. I’d received a chunky voucher from BA which offset the cost of flights entirely and then the US dropping their testing requirement was a welcome sight!

It was a lovely trip, far too short as ever but lovely nonetheless!

A quick sidenote but it seems that the US arrival process has changed entirely in the space of a few months. Firstly Seattle has a swanky new arrivals hall! Secondly you apparently collect your bags before passport checks, you no longer have to complete those pesky paper immigration forms and lastly you no longer get a passport stamp – very sad!

SEATAC airport — SEATAC’s swanky new arrival hall for international arrivals

A birthday in Newcastle
Yet more celebration, this time in England! A friend of mine was celebrating her 30th birthday in a small Northern town called Northallerton and I figured why not make a weekend of it?

I pondered staying in Northallerton for all of five seconds and then looked at alternative options. Other than a horrid hungover-filled daytrip to St James’ Park I’ve never spent any time in Newcastle and I figured this was a good excuse to stay in Newcastle for a couple of nights.

The birthday celebrations were wonderful. My friend had an Abba tribute band come and entertain with a night of Abba tunes all evening which was a fun way to celebrate.

Getting to explore Newcastle a bit more was an added bonus. I actually got to meet up with a fellow travel blogger – Sam – whilst visiting her Geordie homeland and her and her husband were great hosts and offered some good recommendations whilst in town.

Newcastle itself is a gem. I really, really liked it. It’s easy to romanticise anywhere on such a short visit but it definitely felt to me like one of those “I could live here” cities. It was 100% my kind of city and I didn’t really even delve in to its nightlife which Newcastle is well renowned for. Highly recommend a visit!

Peterborough!
Lastly my home! Peterborough has served up some wonderful memories this year too. I’ve really began embracing life in Peterborough in recent years – so much so that I started a little Instagram page trying to promote the best of it.

Peterborough is winning me over. I’ll always be a Londoner at heart but I’m probably as content as I’ve ever been in Peterborough. It doesn’t get the fairest reputation but there’s fun things happening here if you make an effort to look for it.

People often dismiss it as a place where “nothing happens” but I think living in small town America for a while in 2020 has definitely helped shift my own mindset.

Just to name a few highlights this year I’ve watched live sport in a couple of different venues, live music in multiple venues, live theatre in multiple venues, tried new restaurants, enjoyed a few beers and generally just enjoyed the best this “small” city has to offer. I’ve accepted that it can never offer what London can but I think it still has plenty to offer.

Cathedral theatre — Theatre at Peterborough Cathedral

I’ve actually missed out on a few fun opportunities for a variety of reasons, including an incredibly exciting debut festival that I missed having caught Covid a few days beforehand.

All in all, the first six months of 2022 have been pretty good to me. There’ve been some minor inconveniences along the way but I’ve generally made the best of each situation that I’ve had to face.

Hopefully 2022 is treating you all pretty well too? My blogging inactivity is in no means a lack of care on my part haha. I hope our paths cross more frequently, perhaps even in person now the world is opening up a bit!

I’ll continue lurking but won’t promise an imminent next post because I doubt I’ll commit to it. We shall see..

Until next time!

Jason