Where Is Joey Today?

Flight Makes Right

My 2008 year o' backpacking is officially underway. Stay tuned to the blog for all the usual stories and commentary. (Related note: Apparently my RSS feed is broken (in Mozilla it keeps telling me it is (Empty) not sure why...) so I am working on a fix, or at least a work around.

Long post warning

My flight over I thought would be pretty decent. I had a bulkhead aisle that was being shared by a young English couple and their adorable-when-not-crying 7-month old daughter. Unfortunately, she waited until after meal service to start. Otherwise, flying non-stop to Europe has it's advantages. On the route map, they took off to the south and hung a hard left just south of Fort Myers before heading north. On a trip of that length, the difference in miles is hardly worth mentioning.

So that's what London is like the majority of the year...

Having only seen London during the beautiful month of May, I have avoided the harsh reality that it is seldom like how I remember it. In addition, London was always among the cleaner cities I had been to because my experience was limited to a hotel on top of the Piccadilly, Jubilee, and Victoria lines at Green Park (thank you Dad and your Holiday Inn points!) that runs just shy of 400 USD a night this time of year. I was headed for more modest accommodations ;)

The Generator is one of those hostels that everyone has either been to, or knows someone who has been there. People also either love it or hate it. It is a complete party hostel with an 800 bunk capacity. The rooms smelled like a gym locker room but were reasonably clean. Lockers off in the corner for your stuff etc. My first day in any country is primarily a work off the jetlag day.

So when I arrive at the hostel my plan was to see the Tate Modern and chill with my fellow backpackers. My pack was loaded down with an extra 6 lbs of clothes for my host family in Spain which did two things.

1.) Added 6 lbs
2.) Made it tougher to cinch down the pack and keep the mass closer to my back

I decided to wait the hour and change until my room was ready so I wouldn't have to find a place for my bags. I collapse on a couch and start talking to a few Irish girls and an American guy about the usual sort of thing when a guy with a walker approaches the back of the American guy who is sitting on a stool. One girl mutters "look out" and he turns around, looking slightly annoyed. The guy then comes over and sits next to me and starts telling me about his life in Hungary. I learned about how much it costs to build a shed, how he broke his foot and several other things I didn't care about but he still felt like I needed his 2 Forints on.

During this distraction the 6 girls and the American made a break for it leaving me with Mr Magyar's stories that faded in and out of English and Hungarian. After 15 minutes of zoning out during the rambling it occurred to me that maybe I would be able to use my key, sure check-in was at 2 but maybe they already activated it and my room was done? So I told him I would see him around and got a green LED on my door handle! Awesome :)

After stuffing my bag in a locker I headed off for the Tate about 60 pounds lighter. Southwark station was apparently main station for doing a lot of museums along the Thames. I stumbled around for a while trying to find it, and it quickly became 4 and 4:30 so I realized today was just going to be a stroll around day. Even on a Sunday there are people out for walks, a docked boat pumping out some Count Basie, street vendors selling hot dogs and yes, even tourists during this less than desirable time of year. Ironically, I heard a lot of Spanish being spoken. At a time when visions of the Costa del Sol dance through Briton's heads, the Spaniards were soaking in the bleakness. Irony huh?

By 7p it was pitch black and I was sleepwalking. I tried to make it an early night and do the hanging out at the bar downstairs bit the next day. Dinner consisted of a stop at Valencia's for some fish and chips prepared by a guy who collected money and still picked up food from his plate to plop it on yours. It was that questionable sanitary condition that made me only eat there twice...the food was damn good ;). Straight off to bed. Between people running/screaming in the hallway, my roommates coming and going, and an early morning jackhammer I was wishing I had the infant's crying to block out the noise. No more than two hours sleep for the second straight night. Unfortunately that sleepwalking first day feeling left room for a sequel.

From Mondrian to Jackson Pollack and everything in between

The best way to get around the tube is with an Oyster card. Instead of 4GBP one way or 5-7GBP for a day's Zone 1-2 pass, it is only 1,5 each way, and the card knows change your ticket to the cheapest available. So you use it 8 times in a day, no problem it is still a day's pass cost. Plus it makes for a great souvenir.

Not being a huge fan of Modern Art, I figured I could blitz through the Tate in about an hour or two leaving time for the British Museum, or the Imperial War Museum. I had the typical cereal and toast hostel breakfast and hit Southwark again. I followed the "lights" as a sign instructed me to the Tate (turns out they meant the orange light posts which didn't show up in the twilight hours the day before). I question whether that is the closest stop though. St Paul's appeared just as close and more direct.

The main entrance to the museum is pretty empty with a small crack in a concrete floor that extended all the way to the otherside. I believe this was done to draw attention to the abnormal floor. Just in case you wouldn't otherwise notice, the Brits have some signs warning you of a trip hazard on both entrances. Just as the artist who designed it wanted, I'm sure ;)

As you might expect there was a lot of real crap there that didn't resemble art, but there was some really cool stuff there as well. My highlights were getting to see a famous Mondrian up close (he did paint the white squares Em), some of the surrealist paiintings, and some hanging woven tapestries that when flight shines through, cast a Moorish shadow pattern. On closer look they are actually words. Then there was a video of a man tripping but the cause is always blocked by something. As you walk through the floor you get different angles on it.

Through the museum visitors have a great view of St. Pauls, the connecting Millenium Bridge, the river Thames, Downtown, and at times Tower Bridge.

After two hours I had my fill, and left for the tube station near St Pauls. I saw a sign that directed me against my intuitive sense of direction (which in the past has proved a bit faulty ;) ) so I followed it and ended up making a half hour loop. When I got back to the Tate, the misty air turned to rain so I took some cover next to a group of Americans. We decided to make a run for the St Paul's stop. Along the way they asked where I was from. "Tampa? Really?! No way!?!" Hehe, what newbies. I told them about running into people from my university in Salamanca, fellow hostelmates in Munich, and an elementary school classmate in Vienna and again by chance in Dublin. They were from Eckerd college and after a month in Paris and London were very happy to be heading back to warmer, sunnier weather.

I stopped back at Valencia's for a 5 GBP special kebab and chips before heading home. My room was ready so I got my backpack out of the luggage room and my laptop bag out of a locker and settled in. The room was a mess from the regulars that have been staying/working there for a few months. Five Aussies, two Czechs and yours truly. Apparently the nation of Australia has no one between 18-30 left because every hostel in the world has 20 of these characters.

The bar area was pretty empty so I went back to my room and thought it would be another chance to get some sleep. Apparently not. More running, yelling, which culminated in about 10 people getting kicked out of the hostel by police. I woke up around 11a to a maid telling me that I leave today. Fine, sounds like a good idea actually. I headed to where I should have gone after night one, the Globetrotter Inn in Hammersmith, just off Ravenscourt Gardens (sounded like a place I could make myself at home ;) )

Tuesday was just going to be Indian curry night and I strolled King Street looking for a place open at 6a and that wasn't 40 USD for a meal. The combination proved difficult so I stopped off for a Burger, Fries and Cider at a local pub. I finally got sleep in London thanks to sane roommates who also had morning flights (one to Sweden, one to Shanghai, and I to Spain) with one or two interruptions.

My pack was loaded and I was out at 10. My flight was at 14:55, so using my famous 3 hour rule for large cities, I had to be leaving wherever I was in London by 11:55. So by the time I transfered at Green Park for Victoria station it was almost 10:30. Leaving me roughly one hour to tour the British Museum. I felt that wouldn't do it justice, so I opted for leaving on the next train to Gatwick and using the time to complete some homework for a class I am taking online. The picture to the left is of a bar in Gatwick with these water cyclones that are pretty cool.

The flight to Gibraltar was delayed which meant my chances of flying by the rock in the daylight diminished significantly. When the all clear was given, we made our way across Guersey, Bilbao, Madrid, Cordoba and eventually to a bumpy landing on the one mile landing strip (a seated ovation from the main cabin). During our descent I kept seeing boats passing us getting closer and closer and then I could see the waves. The whole time I was thinking wow, I better see some runway really soon and no sooner did I swear we were in for a water landing did I feel the touchdown, I saw the edge come into view. In typical British humour, the pilot comes on to say "Well folks, glad to have made it here, the landings are always a bit interesting here". Had I thought about it, seeing almost any of the runway without having touched down would have been far worse.

At immigration they stamped my passport with the distinctive Gibraltar logo. I headed off to a youth hostel that I wasn't sure was open as they don't have a hostelworld reservation ability. It was easy to find Emilie Youth Hostel. From the main square go past the Burger King on your left and straight up the hill on the otherside of the street. A bunk is 15 GBP which is pricey but not bad considering the options and that they have a monopoly on hostel accommodation (For comparison the Generator was 20/10 GBP for 4/8 bed dorms, and the Globetrotter was 6,50 GBP for a 6 share--Zone 2 pricing for people who book online, otherwise it is 19,5 for people that show at the door). The hostel was pretty bare but comfortable. It appears that it was a house that got converted. Three rooms with 4 bunks each means you may show up without a place to stay (particularly if you are in a group) so Gibraltar is still best visited as a daytrip from the Spanish coast. That night I finally got some mild Curry before leaving the UK :)

The next morning I crossed into Spain with a hand wave that didn't even check my passport. I had missed the Marbella bus by about 20 minutes so I would have to wait until 12:15 which was only 30 minutes. Awesome! Good time to pick up an El Pais and an Aquarius. I looked at my ticket and saw that my 30 minute wait got extended by two hours. It wasn't "Doce y quince, it was Dos y quince". Meh, all part of travel, and more time to start my Spanish practice.

Deja view

Around 3:30 I was back in that familiar bus station at the top of the hill leading down Avenida Trapiche, through Mercado Municipal right down to the main drag, Av Ricardo Soriano. Nice! I had the strangest deja vu entering Betty and Rolo's apartment. It was like two years of my life hadn't happened. With the exception of some new furniture and a new room, everything was as I remembered it. The weather, the Paseo Maritimo and the like were exactly the same.

On a budgetary note for anyone heading to London from North America, expect to spend at least 50 GBP a day. I spent 100GBP in three days staying in a hostel, eating very modest food, and visiting attractions that were free since I had done all the "must do" things last time. Everything is pretty much double US prices.

--Joey