The Running Man

What I should have done...

Just got an email from a good friend of mine whom after Uni (he graduated like about 1 yr ago), updating us on his travels in Europe. Just from reading it, I do have some regrets...that I didn't have the guts to do what he did, he didn't worry about finding a job...he just packed up and went backpacking around Europe, and not for like 2-3 weeks, but for 7+ mths! He sounds like he is having so much fun and experiencing such a fascinating adventure, this is like not a normal European holiday...you know going to London, seeing Big Ben, etc but he is actually going around and doing those un-touristy sort of things (what I like) and meeting random people (apparantly from his email..ahha). Hmmm...what he has not included was the number of cute Eastern European gals he may have met up with along the way ;) oh well...maybe that is in a separate email soon..ahaha

I have decided to share with you what he has done so far...

Hey team,
I know that it has been a while since I have sent news of my travels (7 months), so I guess it is about time that I shattered your dreams and inform you all that I am still alive and kicking.
Since it has been such a long time between drinks, I am not going to bore you with tedious paragraphs that explain every detail of my trip even though I do have the time to do it, a privilege I am sure you working fellows do not have :). Instead, I shall bore you with some highlights and lowlights of my past 7 months in Europe that still dwindle in my diminishing memory.

HIGHLIGHTS

- 10 days snowboarding in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. This involved great boarding, awesome outdoor thermal baths overlooking the mountains and the tastiest food ever: Deep fried cheese. Jana, thanks again for showing me around Slovakia.

- Shooting an AK-47 Kalashnikov, a Cougar SPA 45 and an Uzi in Latvia. My first few shots were very much off target and this display of dexterity with dangerous weaponry caused all around me to disperse quickly before my next shot, however, for my following attempt, with the aid of the Cougar which had bullets the size of my fist, I was able to waste my target in the gut, 10 points! This really impressed the hot Russian chick in tight pants whom had just before made a meal of her target with a revolver. There is nothing hotter than a Russian chick with a gun. If you think I am weird and a little psychotic for enjoying this shooting experience I guess you have never shot a high powered automatic weapon before.

- Valborgs day in Sweden. This was like Australia Day except everyone had blonde hair and threw wooden blocks instead of playing cricket. How can you go wrong?

- Winning a game of Scrabble in Belgrade, Serbia. If you have ever seen me play Scrabble you would understand why it is a highlight.

- Eating BBQ chorizo sausages on an apartment roof in Barcelona whilst watching Argentina kick Serbia back to stone age in the World Cup, followed by one of the best music festivals ever, SONAR. Cheers Shawn!

- Smoking the hookah with some chilled out Lithuanians in Vilnius. Thanks Milda and Sarune.

- Trekking the Carpathian Mountains in the Ukraine, to return to Kiev for their national day and drink (really good and really cheap) cognac with 18-year-old Ukrainian kids in the back of an apartment block. Ukrainians are all alcoholics. I am serious.

- Sunsets over the Black Sea during a cruise from Odesa in the Ukraine to Istanbul.

- In Istanbul, meeting for the first time another Frindian*, who is not my sister. (You will find all kinds of people in a city of 16 million.) Thanks Silan for the tour and the nargile
*For you uneducated people, a Frindian is person who is half French and half Indian. (AKA the real Aryan race)

- Not getting blown up in Istanbul.

- Dancing salsa and kicking the (Australian) football with some Spanish, whom we were meant to be teaching English. Gracias team España!

LOW LIGHTS

- Getting Budva Belly in Montenegro, much like its cousin Bali Belly it can pack quite a punch and no one who eats a gyros can escape its wrath, even if you are Norman and can eat a bag of whole fried sardines everyday.

- Catching trains in the Ukraine. They don't like foreigners, they don't like dark people, they don't speak English and they don't use the Roman alphabet. What chance did I have of even buying a ticket without catastrophe?

- Being asked by a fat, small and goblin-looking Sardinian man staying in my hostel room in the Ukraine if he could give me fellatio. I said no, obviously, and asked the hostel owner for another room, immediately.

- France losing the World Cup.

- Italy winning the World Cup.

- Losing numerous games of Scrabble.

- English geysers on stag nights.

*************
I am now in Asia, and have been for a while, I shall give you another belated update on my travels here soon.

I hope all is well for you guys.

Take care of yourselves … and each other.

Steve

Take care of yourself Steve! :) Hopefully we can meet up somewhere (whether in Asia or Sydney) and have a drink ;) you are living the life that most of us (if not all) wish we could live/experience while we are sitting in an office in front of the computer while the blue skies and sunny days are outside :P haha...*daydreams*

posted by Darren at 4:11 AM