A Young Person's Guide To Hitting The Road In Style

Here's the lowdown. I have just returned, remarkably still alive, from an incredible trip through Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Greece. A lone ranger of a best friend, complete with an entirely unprecedented mohican, decided to plan, fund and stick by this daring trip by my side.

James Rothney. The man who made the bold move to hit the road with me. 

In the weeks before our departure, we heard often that seventeen was too young to be undertaking such a trip. Perhaps we would be mugged, murdered, or, worst of all, unable to book accommodation.

Yet here we are, safely home.

A strong element preventing people from realizing their potential to see the world outside their front door is fear. Fear of the unknown, of leaving their steady financial bubble, of the types of people they will encounter in certain destinations.

Here is a guide for young people wanting to visit new places for themselves. A guide which could help you to become fearless.

This section is home to some vital tips I wish someone had talked us through prior to the big journey. Often crafted through unfortunate personal experience, these pointers will ensure you have a safe and satisfying adventure, without making the same mistakes as us!

• Don't trust train timetables and routes planned in advance online. The information you get about European rail transport on the internet is often misleading, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, where funding for railway maintenance is seemingly almost non-existent, and much less of a damn is given about your convenience.

Seriously, only trust the information you get at the train station itself. Or you'll end up like us:

•In need of a night out and lacking funding? Simply strapped for cash? Save yourself a considerable amount on feeding yourself by grabbing something a little lighter on your savings. James and I found that some winning budget options include:

Instant rice, noodles, and pasta   are easy to make, quick to cook and seemingly cheap everywhere.

Croatian bakeries are renowned for their delicious budget food. The man depicted was fined for giving away free bread..

Bakeries not only offer an interesting variety of delicious local foods, but also cost a considerable amount less than eating out at a restaurant. Individual pizza slices, huge and at around 50p a pop, were the way forward when trying to keep a close eye on funds in Croatia.

Hostel Kitchens actually contained enough communally available ingredients to rustle up a decent meal without having to spend a penny. Just scour the cupboards and hope it's yours to take!

•Staying safe is essential as a young tourist. Your risk taking reputation is seen by some as an easy target for taking advantage of. So, when hooking up with people you don't know already, make sure you have a public meeting place to avoid running into getting trouble. Ultimately, taking this precaution means that you won't feel under threat whilst mixing with others abroad.

A couple of these guys wanted to chill out with us in Serbia, so we arranged a public meeting place at Belgrade Arena. Check out the evening we had over there!

•Before entering any country for any length of time, know the conversion rate. This will help you budget, and ensure you avoid being ripped off, as we were by a Macedonian taxi driver who managed to make us withdraw £210 of Macedonian Denar for a journey he offered at £50.

Never trust these tricky individuals when you're travelling. Not that I'd let a personal vendetta influence the advice..

Here are some memorable moments from our underaged venture through Eastern Europe.

Night Train Supernova
My first ever night train was a mesmerizing and unusual experience. It was just two days after landing at Zagreb airport and beginning the fearsome feat of going out alone into Eastern Europe. Already hungry for more adventure, we found ourselves leaving the rugged charm of Zagreb behind for the allegedly more relaxed and easygoing beach setting of Split.

The journey time shouldn't have been anywhere near nine hours. However, with an average train speed speculated by a local shopkeeper to be around 35 km/h, we would have to work with what we had.

Opting to keep ourselves safe from bag snatchers, James and I chose to sleep in four hour shifts. I was quite content with drawing the sunrise slot. It meant I could stay awake and marvel at the dawn with my headphones firmly on a perfect playlist for the moment.

The sleepless nature of a nine hour night train journey allowed for glimpses of rare beauty through the Croatian mountains caught between Zagreb and Split.

Just as the sun crept it way over the mountains, "Champagne Supernova", an Oasis classic, chose just the right time to narrate a perfect little moment, established as the warm hue of the sun spilled its way over the mountaintops and out into the dull blue canvas of an early morning sky.

Balcony Bliss
See above for the sublime rustic surroundings to our hostel balcony in Split, Croatia.

An unexpected rule of thumb was established by James and I on our travels - if a hostel has a balcony, you're going to have a smashing time there. Our balcony in Sarajevo was jam-packed with beers, cockroaches, and a vast array of great characters such as this creative rapper , However, the balcony revellers in Hostel Ana, Split, are the most memorable.

I'd give an arm to once again spend time chatting and drinking beers in the cooling shade of the canopy with the seemingly endless network of family that own the hostel. Not to mention some of the open minded and unanimously party-loving crowd of various visitors. People we spent hours just kicking back and enjoying the scenery with include:

Marco: Finnish maverick with definite weak spot for women, and who owned the world's first mobile phone to come with a camera while working for Ericsson. Ended up coming with us to Bosnia and Serbia!

Pedro: Self-professed Brazilian Badboy living in London. Constantly cracking jokes, a really hilarious and genuine guy who won't hesitate to make fun out of anything possible.

Matilde, Marie and Marue: Trio of bubbly French girls who always seemed to have bought every ingredient the supermarket had to offer for their  mealtime picnics.

Costa Rican Freddie: Hilarious guy who we spent several hours hanging out and having a deeply interesting political conversation with very late at night, before he proudly announced around 4am that there was a local girl texting him claming that she was waiting for a quickie. I've never seen a man leave more promptly in my life!

Last Man Standing

After spending an evening drinking our hostel's own supply of Rakija (a concentrated spirit), it felt right to settle down for a rare snooze. Yet the night had other plans for me, and after some crafty convincing from a Parisian girl called Marie, it was time to head out for yet another night. Sneaking our way onto one of the floating clubs based on the Belgrade danube, we were treated to a night of heavy (if obnoxiously loud) house music and a continuous flow of drinks.

Belgrade is home to some cracking nights out clubbing.

Although some of our group ventured back to the hostel, a fantastic four emerged victorious over the club closing time. We kept on dancing on the danube deck outside to the distant echo of more hardcore venues which allegedly kept going until 9am.

During our continuous partying on the Danube's banks, we noticed that this guy looked lost and confused. He kept offering to drive the girls home, before asking us if we had a car he could use! We agreed to some snaps with the poor bloke.

As the sun rose over the bridge that had guided us on our way to the clubs, we met other revellers still desperate to dance who continued to join our seemingly endless circle of movement well into the morning after the night before. Belgrade's skyline was the perfect backdrop to our own personal rebellion against closing times.

Appreciating the view. Nothing new there.

Making our way back to the hostel well into the following morning. A beautiful, crisp day for it too!

Here we have a list of everything obtained free of charge during our trip. If you are an adventurous type, you too can take advantage of the fact that the best things in life are free!

Sam Three hefty chunks of complimentary restaurant bread. Fed lovingly to an alarmingly large flock of hungry pigeons.

This particular feat made me feel like Robin Hood, so I made sure to continue the tradition of 'bread borrowing' every time restaurant staff had their back turned throughout the holiday.

James Sketchy use of someone else's shampoo left unattended in the showers of our Zagreb hostel.

Sam Impressively shaped large beer mug, actually a gift from a flustered bar worker who wanted to convince us to leave so that she could close the premises for a night.

James Asked to keep a Mythos beer branded ashtray to a Greek kebab shop owner, who was clearly amused by the request and gave James a brand new one free of charge.

Both Night in a hotel room! No, we didn't do a runner, but owners of a hotel in Thessaloniki were convinced we had already paid our room fee for the night. This never occurred.

Sam Meal in a Greek sandwich restaurant. Again, the manager insisted that James had already paid for my food and that I should start eating before it went cold. No money had exchanged hands.

Many thanks for reading! Make sure to stay tuned, I'll be making more posts for young people who want to craft their own adventures. 

5 Things To Avoid Like The Plague On Holiday

Ever been the victim of a disasterous mishap on your travels? Things tend to go awry when abroad? Your trips should be a domain of excitement, adventure and new experiences, but here's a list of five experiences you really don't want to be having whilst venturing overseas.

5. Hotel Hell

 The unfortunate Colombian lodgings of impromptu world circumnavigator Michael Hodson

Putting plenty of research and thought into your accommodation is always a must, even on the tightest of budgets. Whether it's noisy neighbors, shabby showers or a bed full of bugs, having low quality lodgings can always put a real downer on your holiday buzz.

Don't forget that atrocious accommodation is a worldwide phenomenon; from Paris to Peru, you could end up staying somewhere horrible almost anywhere.


Checking the joint out firsthand is always advisable,  but whatever you do, make sure the feedback online is good few notches nicer from this catastrophic review:



4. Conspicuous Cuisine


By all means, head out and try all of the delicious foreign grub your delicate stomach can possibly bear; an open mind to new types of food is always welcome. Just don't go for anything 'roadside' without taking into consideration the warm, rancid oil your meal may just well have been prepared in.

I have learned this the hard way, after having almost fallen off the summit of a mountain whilst violently reproducing the contents of a suspicious dessert purchased earlier on. Another family member was quarantined at home by the NHS after the same meal caused a rare form of dysentery. Nice.

Moral of the story? It is indeed advisable to be careful about food. Water washed salads and ice in drinks should be avoided in areas where tap water is not safe to drink.
3. Train Sleeping

Heading to Birmingham and ending up in Beirut? You've probably snoozed on the train. Sleeping without setting an alarm on a train can be a deadly mistake, and with long distance trains common throughout mainland Europe and Asia, missing your stop to catch some shuteye can leave you in entirely the wrong country.

If you do plan on sleeping on a night train, make sure you set an alarm or have someone trustworthy to wake you up, and ensure your possessions are attached to you in order to keep the penny pinchers at bay.
2. Poorly Made Package Deals

Aiming to spend your holiday surrounded by the very types of people, activities and even food that you were specifically trying to avoid? A run of the mill package holiday would be perfect for you.

Yes, they are easier to book around a busy lifestyle, and a select few may allow you to customise them to suit your needs. However , when put together poorly, these packages can suck some of the adventure, thrill and sense of possibility out of a holiday.  So don't fall for any package deal which has a complete set list of  things to do/ places to go, and no say in where you stay!

1. Passport Peril


As trivial as this may sound, don't leave yours at home! In doing so, you would not only be denied entry to even the most lenient of destinations, but would also be opening up an endless chasm of social tension between yourself and any companions who mustered up the effort to come all the way to the airport with you and endure a good couple of hours of queuing. You will never live it down, and if they decide to go ahead with the holiday regardless of your disastrous mishap, you may find yourself ostracized for the remainder of the trip.




Tweets about "#tourism"

As a tragic personal footnote, never forget to buy a visa for a country that requires one.

Double check if your next travel destination requires a visa here

My family inflicted this atrocity upon me in a colossal blunder which left us threatened with a fifteen hour flight back to London from Ho Chi Minh. I was only eleven. After considerable bribing and a night in a police-controlled hotel, we were kindly handed a visa and allowed to continue our trip, but I am convinced that other nations would not be so forgiving.

Madness is Misunderstood - A Fresh Outlook on Mental Health

It's no secret that people with a mental illness are consistently ostracized, misunderstood and labelled as society's lepers by everyone from the misinformed public, to the media and entertainment industry.

Personally, this doesn't surprise me in the slightest. It is an unfortunate side-effect of a society desperate to appear organised and well-informed that anything it doesn't properly understand is seen as threatening and socially unacceptable.

Need evidence? Here are a list of things that have been demonised, outcast, or made taboo at some point in history because the world hasn't understood them properly:

•Homosexuality
•Racial equality
•Gender equality
•Atheism
•Tattoos
•Countless Religeous Beliefs
•Disability
•Unemployment
•The Poor
•Homelessness
•Street Art
•Jazz

Mental Illness is just another of those things that is just too complex and controversial for the world to comprehend yet, although 20% of us will supposedly suffer from one during our lifetime. Whereas, after many thousands of years of intensive research, we can understand that bacteria, viruses and fungi are the verified cause of physical illness, mental illness is an almost entirely new concept that divides the science community not only on how it works and the causes behind its occurrence, but also on how it should be treated. Here are some of the ways that we have historically attempted to deal with the awkward and sensitive existence of mental health issues:





Panorama exposes the disgusting physical abuse of mentally and physically handicapped patients of UK "care home" Winterborne View

Mental health treatment today is a far cry from the dingy and dark corridors of  institutions like the Danvers State Mental Asylum (pictured above), which darkly thrived on electric shock therapy throughout the 1950s, but met it's ultimate demise in 1992 when the doors closed for the final time. However, changes in psychiatry saw the number of people given medication for a mental health issue increasing by five times in the same period. Is therapy and understanding for mental health issues really improving, or are pharmaceutical companies influencing diagnoses and taking money treating the issues of your everyday person with drugs no more effective than placebos in treating the 'chemical imbalance' in the brains of those facing mental challenges?

Altering the chemical balance of the brain, and with it the state of mind of the patient,  is rife throughout the USA, the UK, and, in particular, New Zealand, as a  method of helping mental health patients cope with their issues. Seretonin and Dopamine (happy chemicals) levels are changed in the hope that they permanently adjust. The problem for me is that this does not always happen, leaving ordinary people who may not have had a problem in the first place dependant on an expensive pill, often lovingly crammed with side effects, in order to get through the day.

Some food for thought: Perhaps the term 'mental illness' is inherantly flawed, leading the public towards a certain opinion on the people in society who have thought processes deviating from the norm. Tweets about "#mentalhealth"



Just as a footnote, I've started working with local mental health charity SAFE (Suicide Awareness For Everyone) as a committee member creating materials for, organising and carrying out events promoting awareness for mental health issues, and how they are both common and manageable. Advice and support is also offered. Here's a poster I have made as part of the whole shenanigan; of course if anyone can actually make the event, feel free!

Racism: Astonishing Attack in Woolwich Sparks Discrimination Frenzy

Just a little background information; some that is sure to shock you if you haven't seen it already.

Today at 2:20pm.

The London borough of Woolwich is brought to its knees. Suddenly and without warning, the entity known as the British public is forced brutally to attention.

Two allegedly Islamic aggressors have carried out a horrific, machete-wielding execution of a man believed to be a soldier in Woolwich, London.

Although senior police and government forces remain tight-lipped on the finer details of this alarming event, it has become apparent that the attack was unprovoked, and that the extremists carrying it out made no immediate attempt to leave the scene of the crime. However, both were later shot and wounded by the Metropolitan police force.


Here is the shocking interview that accompanied the event. This is one of the attackers; fresh from committing the attack, still wielding his weapon of choice and sporting the blood of his victim.



"I apologise that women had to witness this today," he blurts.
 "But in our land, the women have to see the same."



"Remove your government, they don't care about you!" he continues. A chilling aggressive energy is evident in his voice.

Shocking stuff.

Almost as shocking were some of the comments that started to appear in my social media feeds.
                                                     

Just one of thousands of decidedly backwards comments posted on Twitter  in reaction to today's events

Events such as today's often push a web-empowered society to partake in an intense debate on the motives behind what has happened.  It is seen as customary, I would argue, to give an opinion or a take on what has happened. However, the blanket discrimination that has been jumped to so quickly by a fraction of the British public is astonishing. 

The London Riots highlighted how the public and their use of social media now play a vital role in determining
press coverage of the most pressing events and issues our world has to offer.

Even before confirmation that the attacks were the work of two Jihadists, astonishingly narrow minded, ignorant and perspectiveless comments were being made in every corner of the internet about the attacks being the work of Islam, and that all ethnic minorities should be "sent home".

"Bring back the death penalty" heralded another Twitter user.

Scenes from Kosovo in the 1990s - Where mindless discrimination can take a nation. Bear that in mind.

The English Defence League have begun to riot in Brighton, themselves covered by masks, yet in a vein of hypocrisy claiming that religious groups who have the custom of covering their faces should be ethnically cleansed and removed from Britain.

I think that this image sums up their warped and poorly reasoned viewpoints perfectly:

Today I learned a valuable lesson; shocking events can bring the worst out of people, as well as the best, as a landscape of consumers scrap to make a meaningful response to an astonishing event. I am reminded of the  negative response towards Islam, a fundamentally peaceful and loving set of religious beliefs horribly misunderstood by some, after the 9/11 attacks.

 I sincerely hope that the new generation can embrace the multi cultural nature of Britain, and not reject the diverse, decidedly modern society that it creates.

Woolwich Attacks Live Twitter Feed.

Staying Positive: Looking Ahead to a Stellar Summer After Exams!

It's that testing time of year again, in the most literal sense possible. Exam period.

Pressure's on as far I'm concerned. Usually, I am quite a confident chap when it comes to my education, yet as the need to ace my results and begin achieving my journalistic ambitions looms large, unease is mounting within me. Admittedly, it's tempting to just procrastinate and figure that everything will turn out dandy, but deep down I know that's hardly a winning attitude.  I'm certain I'm not the only one starting to lose a little sleep and quiver in my boots.

Sums up the exam feeling perfectly!

In between extensive, occasionally successful attempts at understanding everything I've been taught during this entire year, I have been attempting a little self motivation; things to revive the original, exciting and ultimately bearable brand of lifestyle I had been proudly sporting before teachers around the country started panicking about their competence and exam results.

Much like many teachers' desperate attempts to shove every student up a grade boundary and avoid an unceremonious axing, I ended up doing some pretty strange things to lift my confidence and mood. These include:

- Ordering a baseball jacket personalised with 'SK' on the front, among a startling variety of other unnecessary Amazon purchases

- Playing a role in several night time bonfires
- Starting an extensive collection of secondhand books
- Developing a man-crush on Paolo Nutini, and regularly turning to him for pathetic amounts of reassurance
- Burning exotic incense in every corner of my room, a sure sign of pining for a foreign atmosphere
- Drinking to exam completion before exams had even begun (not alone!)

Such a dream of an album; could get a man through the roughest of patches

Although these quirky little courses of action made a pleasant change from what I like to call 'textboox trauma' (where a person starts to become so accustomed to being alone with solely a textbook for company that they forget entirely how to interact with the people and world around them), I found that I had so much reward to look forward to in the future, I didn't need to focus so much on the struggle of the present, since it would all be worth it!

Things I have on the horizon that just make all the exam effort so much more worthwhile.

Cheeky excursion to Turkey!

It's crazy to think that in fifteen days and after four exams, I'm actually off on holiday! I've never visited the sunny shores of Turkey, and am thoroughly looking forward to seeing a brand new side to Asia. Unfortunately, a little Psychology revision on the beach will have to occur, but this is an art previously mastered in Thailand, and I couldn't ask for a better place to soak in twelve core studies alongside my fair share of sun rays and Turkish culture.

Lycian tombs - Emgrained in the Dalyan cliffside circa 400BC

Unable to resist a little research into this mysterious, Ancient region of Turkey, I have discovered that Dalyan is renowned for its picturesque beaches, mud baths, and curious sea turtle hospitals amongst the ancient ruins that provide an apparently astonishing reminder of the region's remarkably rich history.

I'll be sure to capture a couple of pictures of the beach sports and river tours apparently on offer, and won't be missing out on the Lycian tombs carved into the cliffs!

Interrailing Adventure

Anyone fortunate enough to know me in person or to have already checked out this nifty little blog of mine will be extremely well informed on just how much I am looking forward to scouring the European landscape alongside one of the most hilariously dopey and relaxed people to ever grace this earth, James Rothney https://www.facebook.com/james.rothney?fref=ts.

Tickets are booked to fly to Zagreb in Croatia, and fly back from Mykonos in Greece two and a half weeks later, with an Interrail train pass allowing us free train and ferry transport throughout Europe, affording us to visit an incredible variety of cultural hotspots, backpacker havens, party paradises, and just beautiful places in general in the short time we will be there.  A ridiculous amount of sun, sea, and adventure has been planned to occupy the time.

Images to illustrate the adventure that is planned to take place during our much anticipated eighteen day excursion:

Watersports on the beaches of Split, Croatia

Sampling the famously vibrant nightlife and cultural backbone than runs through the Serbian capital of Belgrade

Residents of the X Hostel in Bucharest, Romania, out and about in town! Staying in a sixteen man dormitary here costs just £4.44 a night, and apparently nice and clean too, although I won't get my hopes up!

Revellers at the Far Out Beach Club on the Greek Island of Ios. £13 a night will treat us to  this

 "Far Out Camping is definitely the most idyllic spot to enjoy your holiday in sunny Greece.
Wake up with in the morning with the peaceful Mylopotas Beach right in front of you and go for a swim, no need to sleep next to a noisy night club.
With pool competitions, table tennis, tennis, volley & basketball, 5x5 football, cinema and cybercafé there are plenty of things to do in the hours between beach and going out at night."

"The Far Out Beach Club is a party zone for backpackers "

Beautiful, expansive landscapes to treat the eyes to on day and night trains throughout Europe.

Reading Festival
Just to top it all off, I'm off to my first festival this summer! Some fantastic artists are hitting the stage this year, and I can't wait to share this experience with a large group of good mates. Here's the line up as of present!



In essence, such an incredible summer gameplan is making all of the hard work seem entirely worth it.  I'm starting to learn that you get out of life what you put in, and this kind of reward package is spurring me on to put a lot in, not only now but for the future as a whole.

Hope you've enjoyed reading. Be sure to keep updated!

Worldwide Wanderlust: How Global Exploration Became The Planet's Most Precious Pastime

Whilst taking full advantage of finally being able to book my interrail tickets, I began to ask myself a particularly deep and meaningful question.

It went something like this:

What drives people to travel?

It seems that the human race has developed an innate need to push our physical and, indeed, financial boundaries to the limit by exploring the huge variety in lifestyles out there. Perhaps this kind of terribly odd behaviour would have been reserved for solely the most determined of explorers in the past, but since the Twentieth Century, the game has changed. Ever expanding trade routes, affordable air travel, and eventually the dawn of content sharing Web 2.0 have allowed even curious, money-tight youngsters such as myself a viable opportunity to scour out the furthest corners of the world. Incredible, if you ask me.

Marshall McLuhan wrote "Understanding Media" in 1964, noting how new technologies were making content globally available within as little as a day. Also predicted a system like the internet thirty years in advance. Genius.

European route map of both EasyJet and Ryanair, showing that even travellers on the tightest of budgets have access to a ridiculous variety of destinations!

Conveniently enough, I believe that the motives for travelling can be placed into three simple yet deeply curious little categories. Here goes:

Escape
Unfortunately, a conventional Western life is not as boundless and freed by capitalism and democracy as we'd like to believe. We feel in touching distance with the perfect, equal and limitless life, yet are bound by societal expectations. Things like as getting married, settling down, having children, behaving in an acceptable fashion, abiding by set rules, passing exams, and obtaining the most prestigious or high paying job role.

The pace and pressure of everyday, conventional existence can leave us feeling in chains; like we are not reaching our full potential as people.

The thrill and limitless adventure of travelling the world seem almost destined to be the antidote to this problem. I rest assured as not the only person who feels an incredible sense of freedom and endless possibility when out in the world experiencing new places, people, food, culture, and, perhaps most importantly for us Brits, weather!
Such change in routine is always something welcome to the endless hardworking folk out there in the world in need of an escape.

If you're anything like me, the sensation of getting away from old routines and exploring the world will set you free as a person. Which is always a bonus.

Instinct

Affordable air travel and the unstoppable growth of tourism as an industry worldwide has seen the travel bug take hold of the world on a phenomenal scale, with more than 900 million international travel journeys being undertaken each year (Source: World Health Organisation)

Yet even in centuries gone by, where only the wealthiest of nobles could take sail and see the world, people were genuinely prepared put their lives on the line to see even the darkest corners of the world.

Robert Falcon Scott - The highly esteemed British explorer who died as part of a team attempting to be the first men to reach the South Pole. He scoured the untouched landscape of the Antarctic simply because he could, and gave his life in the process.

The inquisitive nature of the human race has meant that we fight to find somewhere tranquil, isolated, and untouched by other people and the Western influence that they bring, an influence which many of us are trying to escape. Finding such an 'untouched' place is an art, since the more people escape to somewhere, the more 'ruined' it can become. Take Bali for example:

Scenes at this once idyllic Indonesian paradise. Curiosity of Australian  holidaymakers  has transformed the area into a seedy tourist sprawl.
This picture accompanied the harrowing headline "3 Killed In Bali Nightclub Bombs"

Our natural desire to use our great ability and potential as human beings to see the world has its benefits and its drawbacks. I believe that any travellers should take great care to absorb the culture and traditions of anywhere they are visiting; take it in their stride, as per se. Either that, or face the unstoppable spread of a corporation and greed driven landscape worldwide, which, deep down, nobody wants.

Possibility

Let's face it, when booking a nice little excursion abroad, we all think of everything we could get up to whilst we are out there, be that swimming, relaxing, scuba diving, drinking, clubbing, building campfires, safaris, sightseeing, suntanning. Hard not to get excited about, isn't it?

Knowing that we will have so many varied, fun activities at our disposal to creates part of the incredible atmosphere of anticipation surrounding holidays. Travel companies take full advantage of this. Take Thompson, for example:

The dream-like, iconic 'endless swimming pool' effect pioneered by Thompson Holidays advertisements give us this sense of adventure and possibility that makes us itch to go travelling.

The idea that we can create our ideal routine through piecing together a travel plan gives us a powerful sense of control, something which many of us are guilty of enjoying a little too much. 

I hope you enjoyed the read. Any feedback would be much appreciated, thanks!

Sam Kersey, Student Culture Junkie

http://www.facebook.com/Skurzey
http://www.twitter.com/samkersee

The Return of the King: Coming Back Down to Planet Earth from Montpellier Bliss

I am sorry it's been so long since you've been treated to a post. I have been occupied with fulfilling travel duties to write about, and cramming in revision along the way. Nevertheless, I am back, and can assure you that it is with a venegence.

It's certified madness how you can come away from doing something you expected to be interesting at most, and have your outlook on life permanently tweaked, changed even.

Yet here I am, just 888 km away from the scene of the crime (yes, I actually checked the distance between Maidstone and Montpellier), and I feel not only like a better person, but also a more versatile adventurer.

The Surprising Snazz of Montpellier!

A cheeky snapshot of La Comédie I was rather chuffed with. I had one lined up worthy of entering the photograophic history books, but a sly lorry idled it's way into the scene, and ultimately spoiled the glory.

Perhaps if the endless winter that engulfed the United Kingdom had followed us out to Southern France, this place would be another Scarborough or Stevenage. But warmed generously by the much welcome glow of summery sunshine, the effortless charm of Montpellier grew on me almost instantly. Filled to the brim with fashion boutiques, crèpe stands, and stylish, modern bars to cater to the thriving, lively student population, this seemed just the kind of place that anyone would be lucky to live in. The entire place seemed devoid of any concrete; in it's place was a smart marble and limestone cosmopolitan sprawl.

Chowing down on some authentic Pho with the Nguyen family!

Above is a one take snapshot of the family I stayed with. It seems that I got some of the nicest and most interesting people on the rota, and I was even offered to come and stay with them with a friend in the summer when I'm Interrailing!
Left is Marc, a streetwise DJ who took me on a solid night out with his seemingly endless acquaintances. Right is Génevive, a fantastic cook, and Fréderic, a European marathon winner with an incredibly healthy lifestyle and a spiritualist attitude.

Pho is heaven. They literally cooked heaven.

View from my bedroom window on the last day, spent chilling out, reading The Beach, listening to the Arctic Monkeys and basking in the warm sunshine. Real soul food.

Here's a little run-through of the routine that was in place

•Wake up in a spotlessly clean and tidy room in a ridiculously comfortable bed to my alarm, feeling like I actually really wanted to get out of bed. This may be the first time in history that any seventeen year old male has felt this way on a regular basis when forcably arisen at 7:45.

•Have a lovely chat in French if anyone was up, and eat several bowls of cereal.

•Catch the Tram with Ellie, participate in illicit cigar purchasing (for a friend, not me) and entirely legal daily supermarket pottering.

•Recieve AS French guidance from a hilarious character named Floric who wore the same jumper every day, and seemed to have a deep emotional connection with this song.
 

•Sneak out at break and use our time to rush here

To merrily munch our way through these

An exemplary crèpe

With this glorious bunch in our own perfect spot

•Finish of our 'learning activities' (vaguely educational, surprisingly helpful) and grab lunch.

•Spend the afternoon doing a variety of things, including ice-skating, shopping, bowling, laser questing, hitting the beach (during which, of course, I found myself scouring through the hippie beach market to buy incense and postcards like a good little tourist) and catching the train down to explore Avignon.



All fairly harmless and nice. The evenings were, on occasion, a slightly different story.

A little over-enthusiastic with the shots. A previous excursion with Marc and his DJ elite had taken its toll!

All in all, my faith in European travel was strongly bolstered, and I had a great time out with some lovely people. French lessons no longer seem to drag on either, and actually seem much more engaging, so I must have learned something out there.

Bring on the next batch of travel! The travel bug seems to be growing on me more and more. Adventuring is my addiction, and I'm forever itching to get off my English schoolgoer backside and dose up!

PS: I may well start posting a quirky, fun take on world affairs on here. You could well be in for some exclusive world news, and a fresh take on things. That's if you're lucky.

I would say au revoir, but that's far too cliché and annoying.
Ciao!