The Next Chapter – Travel

Three weeks ago I was on the beaches of Ibiza having a blast. On my travels, I met a new international friend, I had a romantic/drunken evening with a beautiful American and most importantly of all… I made memories. The tales of the Ibiza weekender will have to wait however, as I am about to share some greater news…

Without going too far into it, Ibiza told me one thing…
I need to travel. Now.
I don’t need to save for any future right now. I’ve been saving for ten years, and I have fuck all to show for it. I’ve always been sensible with money, saving a percentage of my wages, and perhaps where I’ve gone wrong, is the lack of investments I made with that money. Unfortunately, that was possibly just the way I was brought up, as explained here by Robert Kiyosaki.

So, following my gut instinct, I terminated my contract the following week.

I don’t always agree with phrases such as “life is too short, go live it”, as it’s near on impossible to do so without money. Fortunately, I have been saving as I mentioned for a while. Originally it was a mortgage deposit, though discovering how much theft is involved with mortgages I rejected that idea.

So with my lump sum of money and urge to travel, I discarded the idea of investment money and started my journey early. I’m en route to… Australia… the scenic route.

I’m currently in Madrid. I thought my Spanish was good enough to make my travels in Spain easier – it turns out my Spanish is terrible and it took me to double the time and effort it should have to get from the airport to the centre of Madrid.

I took an Uber to the airport with my English colleagues whom I’d been working with at the IFEMA trade show, but it turns out terminal-4 doesn’t have a train station, so the Uber offered to take me to Chamartín station for cash. I don’t even know if that was necessary, but whatever, that’s my own lack of preparation and something I need to attain experience in.

After saying “disculpe”, “lo siento” a multitude of times, I finally got off the underground at Antón Martín I made my way to my hostel, Far Home Hostel.

After the struggle, I entered the world of contemplation. Could I really do this?

It’s day three, I’ve accidentally walked over a lookie-lookie man’s sunglasses display, been shat on twice by birds and it has rained all day on my walking tour.

Ah, the comedy of misfortune. I’ve actually met some awesome people. Yesterday I met a fellow backpacker, selling leaflets for charity. We exchanged Instagrams and blogs and it turns out Nati is working for a hostel in Madrid at the moment and invited me out to party.

thewaterclosetblog ↔ mochileandovoy

This was perfect! I met so many people that evening, even a fellow North Londoner! I actually didn’t stay too long in the nightclub as nightclubs aren’t really my scene. I left with a Canadian girl and two other girls from Sydney, Australia. We dropped the Canadian off at the hostel as she was tired and found this amazing local Spanish bar tucked away down a sidestreet. We finished the night with a drunken burrito!

The next day I met up with Louise, whom I met on the night out. Louise is from England and is also solo-traveling. We met up in the El Retiro Park, after Louise had been scooting around on a scooter-to-hire. Absolute solo champion. Pretty cool. I’m yet to do it.

So we grab a beer in a frozen glass. We’re enjoying the sun next to the lake and bird no.1 shits on my shoulder.

We talk a little, order a pizza, swap chairs because the pigeons are getting too close for Louise’s liking.

Bird No.2 shits on my head.

Un-fucking-real. Don’t give me,
“it’s good luck”,
because it’s not. It’s just to make you feel better… blasted birds.

Anyway, we get another beer elsewhere and after, partially dazed by the beer and sun, we part ways to go to our separate hostels.

Today I decided to do a walking tour. Just as the tour starts, so does the rain. I just accept it and follow the tour in shorts and t-shirt. There’s a bear climbing a “strawberry tree” near Sol station, which is actually where the free walking tour started. There are golden patches on the bear which you rub for good luck. I rubbed that bear’s arse with deliberate passion for any potential luck.

Wait… Strawberry tree?

Yeah, I dunno my self really haha. It’s just a tree that grows red fruit, which looks somewhat similar to a strawberry. I don’t know what the fruit name is, nor can I find it, but the botanical name for the tree is Arbutus unedo. Apparently, it’s also found in Australia too, which is nice to have something common with the other side of the world that doesn’t try to kill us.

Another highlight is meeting with a fellow city-unscripted host, who showed me some of the less touristy places and an old cinema that has been converted into a bar, which was real quirky and awesome.

That’s all of my travel stories I have so far. I’m hoping the weather is better tomorrow so that I can get some good pictures with my go-pro. I’ve booked into a hostel with a rooftop bar, so here’s hoping.
I’m going to leave you with a quote I heard today.