The American Dream

The past few weeks have been some of the most surreal and enjoyable times of my life and unfortunately the blog suffered as we stumbled through our travels trying to take it all in. So, without writing an essay I'll try and sum up the events after San Francisco and tell some of the highlights of the trip.

The first stop was Santa Barbara, which is essentially what you see on 90210 you can tell it's such an affluent area by the people swanning about, but you also experience an extremely relaxed city with an incredible shoreline. We spent the days on the beach and wandering about, but the night was really where it all happened. By coincidence we had visited during the start of a festival to celebrate the founding of Santa Barbara or something like that, we thought we were in for a great few nights there to meet the locals and have some fun. But apparently out of towners aren't particularly welcome due to previous loutish behaviour, so we struggled to get into a few places for obscure reasons. Not to worry though, scousers always find a way to have fun and we eventually found a few places and a few reasons to party.

Sunny pier at Santa Barbara

Trying out for the Chinese Gymnastics Team

Los Angeles was the start of something special, it was the first real spot that we were excited about. We stayed off Hollywood Boulevard just a few blocks away from the famous Chinese Theatre so we quickly found ourselves looking at the floor observing each star as we walked along. There's so much to do in L.A. and we managed to fit in quite a lot:

• A day out in Universal Studios (definitely get a front of the line pass)
• Watched Everton lose to Real Madrid along with Juve and L.A. Galaxy
• Ventured to Santa Monica & Venice Beach, home to the infamous beach gym
• Toured Hollywood's Chinese Theatre

Hollywood's finest hot dogs

Our very own Man Vs Food Challenge... Man obviously won

But the really special moment of the trip was on the way back from watching the footy at the Dodgers Stadium, we sat on the bus behind three extremely mad fellas just bevvying and shouting abuse. We were slightly reluctant to talk to them as they were very very wonky, but after a bit of conversing it turned out two of them were Mike Lewis and Jamie Oliver of the band Lostprophets, the third guy was Mike's brother-in-law and was most definitely the maddest person I've come across. For obvious reasons I can't divulge the full details of the night, but as you'd expect it was the definition of a Hollywood night out, partying with rockstars. They were all sound as but also game for anything, it's a night that will forever be referred to THAT night and it'll be a story I will never get bored of telling. Hats off to them three for providing one of the best nights of my life.

The Beige Brigade reppin

After such a surreal night we traveled to San Diego which was a bit quieter than we expected, there wasn't really much to see during the day and exploring the city itself only found the Petco Park home to the San Diego padres and the pier. The hostel itself was full of middle aged hippies who proclaimed it was the best hostel in the world and sat round playing the ukulele all night, the hostel pub crawl was filled with just guys so we gave it a quick swerve and headed towards the Gaslamp quarter for the local fun. We had chosen San Diego to watch a baseball game, which is extremely boring when you watch a shit game like we did, all good having the experience watching it, but make sure you watch someone good like the San Fran Giants.

Enjoying the bevvies since the Padres are shite

San Diego is also extremely close to Mexico, so we decided on a day out to Tijuana, it is the most bizarre thing just waltzing through to Mexico and it is an experience I'll never forget. I have definitely never felt more unnerved in a place before and it didn't help that we got caught up in some sort of Union protest marching down towards us. There was nothing to do there apart from eat and drink which didn't bother us and after some interesting haggling for souvenirs we decided to head back to the safety of the states, the only thing in our way was a 2 hour queue to get back across the border. Tijuana is a strange place and Mexico certainly has a lot more to offer, it's on the list of places to explore but it was a great little taster into the people and culture, anything goes in Mexico whether it be white tigers in cages driven along in a car or transvestite prostitutes passing the glad eye to Mr England.

No welcome signs to Mexico....

But it's much nicer after the prison entrance

Las Vegas was the last stop of the trip and we were staying in pure luxury at the MGM Grand, but to get there we had two coaches to catch leaving at 8pm and arriving at 5am. It was grim to say the least, but once we were welcomed to our room, it was all worth it. Premier views of the strip in one of the best hotels there, it is without doubt the highest form of luxury I've enjoyed. As we had expected Yoh was straight down to the Casino and as you also expected he was down very quickly and despite being up a few times, he returned home down in more ways than one.

Ballin in the MGM Grand

The strip is so big and walking it proved difficult especially given the heat and humidity that you'd expect from a desert. Nonetheless, we ventured through all the hotels from Circus Circus to the Cosmopolitan and considering we had to be up at 5:30am for a Grand Canyon tour we were looking for a relatively quiet night. The complete opposite happened, we soon found ourselves paying for a two night club crawl and before you know it we were in the Chateau Club in the Eiffel Tower fueled on petrol drinks and so when the phone rang to wake us for our tour, we just didn't answer... another reason to return I guess. Being the finished guys that we were, we spent what little time of the day remained riding the rollercoasters of the Stratosphere and New York New York and it quickly became apparent that Jack wasn't particularly keen on heights. Our last night of the trip was spent on the club crawl again and then 6 hours later we were up for Steve Aoki's pool party, which just consisted of 1000 beach balls violently pinging heads and drinks spilling in the pool. Not my particular taste of music but definitely a good time when you're seeing Steve Aoki webbing kids with cakes and just enjoying partying whilst being in a pool, always fun.

The Premier View 

This trip has been such a blur, not just in the griminal hangover sense but because it's just gone by so fast after doing so much. I'm extremely proud of managing to survive with my best pal Alex Yoh for three weeks but I won't be spending so much time with him for a while at least...

Keep watching.

The San Fran man

The trip has finally started and the first port of call was San Francisco, yet to get there we faced nearly 30 hours of travelling door to door. Yet I've always loved long haul flights, abusing the free drinks and watching the latest films. However, I was in for a shock since American Airlines don't even provide you with your own televison (first world problems) fortunately my ability to sleep in most conditions made the journey fly by and soon enough I found myself in downtown San Fran.

The first thing to notice was the gradient of the city, I thought Sheffield was hell but I had been introduced to a new form of torture like nothing before. Luckily the hostel was only a few blocks away and we quickly collapsed to adjust our body clocks.

After struggling to sleep due to having a snorlax for a room mate we headed out to begin our journey as tourists, Golden Gate Bridge was first on our list and after a trek through the park we were met by San Fran's most iconic monument. A brief walk round found us exploring Fort Point which was everything that Fort Boyad was, minus the prizes and tigers. Although we had purchased travel passes we found ourselves walking everywhere and it was soon clear that we were getting a bigger workout than we had ever anticipated, the hills were so steep that to stand up right would send you tumbling down the hill.

Like all the other adventures, we look for pub crawls both to get hammered and also to indulge ourselves in the local culture. Yet on our first night out we found ourselves in the beer Olympics representing our glorious nation. After suffering a humiliating defeat in all four rounds, we somehow found ourselves in the semi finals due to special circumstances and adding Tom from York to our team, we powered towards victory to bring home England's greatest piece of silverware for decades.

San Fran has a lot to offer and the second day was no different, pier 39 at fishermans wharf was full of life, offering old amusement arcardes and a great view of Alcatraz since we hadn't booked tickets in advance ( word of warning, look to book at least a month in advance!). Instead we wandered up to Lombard street which is the most crooked street in the world and a few blocks down we stumbled across the set of the next planet of the apes film!!! Franco wasn't knocking about but it was pretty cool to see a post ape apocalyptic street.

The next stop for me was Chinatown since the other two were still recovering from the nights entertainment of duke dumont. I'd never really known the true meaning of Chinatown until I came to San Fran, it literally is a town within the city, nothing like berry street at home. Dim sum was the hangover cure and we wandered over to Coit Tower to see the awesome views right across the city, although it was on top of a 'hill' which resembled something close to Everest.

Our last attraction to visit was a tour of the AT&T park, home to the San Francisco giants and trying to learn a bit about baseball before we go watch a game in San Diego. We've managed to cram everything into our short stay and after pounding the streets were all looking forward to a big old chill in Santa Barbara.

Keep watching.x

Ho Boy

So here it is, the return to Sevilla the city that gave birth to all the adventures that I've been on. Where the holy trinity of Victor Truong, Gary Chan and myself began our quest to conquer Europe. It was really wierd to walk round the city and eat at the same Maccies I did three years ago and think of all the places I'd visited since then.

But, there was no time for reminiscing as we were in Sevilla for a purpose and that was to see our great friend Phil Crawley whom you may recall from the first two Eurotrips. He's smashed a year out here as part of his degree and it was finally time to bring him home. But before that, he had to show us what he'd learnt by playing tour guide and translator, even though we all speak a little bit of spanish which at best is sufficient to survive. 

Plaza de España

The 6 hour coach journey from Portimao was hardly glamorous and the sleeping quarters were even less so as 7 of us cramped into the living room to enjoy the wonderful air conditioning and so we didn't die of dehydration during our sleep. But this did not discourage us one bit, we ventured out to taste the wonderful tapas of the region and soon found ourselves on Spanish time as we didn't eat til midnight, how my stomach survived this I'll never know.

As in Alvor, we partied every night in Sevilla to see Phil out with a bang. No party is complete without the presence of Chris Loftus who joined us for a few days and helped reconstruct part of the old Eurotrip gang, minus Victor and Gary. Due to the Spanish times we didn't start out until 1 and so every night we stumbled in at 6 or 7 for the duration of our stay. Hangovers were felt slightly more considering there was no pool to cure it but the holiday vibes still played our part and we managed to visit some of the sights.

Unfortunately, Catedral de Sevilla was closed since we didn't venture out until siesta time but we wandered round to the Royal Alcazar of Sevilla and into the city. We experienced our first botellon, which is essentially drinking on the streets by the historic Torre del Oro, the nightlife in Sevilla has definitely got it right with outdoor clubs and standard measures which must certainly be close to triples. Plaza de Espana is a landmark of the 1929 World Expo that took place in the park it is situated and after a night out a little row around the river was perfect to cure a few headaches, see the vlog here:

Our last full day was spent in the Real Betis shop since the typical spanish work ethic led us to believe there was a tour of the stadium, which to our dismay wasn't the case. Not to worry, we all came out kitted like the true football professionals that we look like. Phil's last night was celebrated with a pub crawl which is extremely fitting since we had all become so accustomed to that ritual. However, despite a great night and building many new friendships, disaster loomed.... Having to make our 5pm flight we had to catch a 10am train to Malaga... we woke at midday having all switched our alarms off and after a manic 30 minutes of packing, spewing and just shitting ourselves, we rang taxis and bailed straight in for a 2.5 ride to the airport. But this wasn't the end, pit stops were made for more spewing and my taxi nearly died with every red light on the dashboard flashed incessantly. 

Thankfully, we made it to the airport and made it on time just about and squeezed in a cheeky Pizza Hut. It was a crazy few hours to make the flight and it made it so much more ridiculous since Phil was using an emergency passport which had to be used that day. Despite our foolishness, we made it home and that's what counts. It's been a great week away with my best pals and I'd probably do it all over again, just about. Time to rest and recover my liver until the USA comes calling in a fortnight.

Keep watching.x

The POWER of Portugal

So here we are in the midst of the second leg of the World Trip, three days and three nights spent in a heavenly resort located in Alvor. It's been a different type of adventure compared to the past three years, there was nothing much to explore apart from the local high street and supermarket. Yet the days were not wasted one bit, spent burning by the pool, getting the BBQ going and then going out in the evenings to meet anyone and everyone.

Album coming soon

This was all courtesy of Jack England's family who we shall always be heavily indebted to and forever hoping for an invite back... It was like being in an episode of MTV cribs and I could definitely get used to that life. We explored the customary Irish bar with a bit of karaoke and ventured out to Praia da Rocha just South in Portimão. As always, scousers make friends and we soon found company for the nights out, much to the delight of the group and after a hard and long night of drinking there is nothing better than jumping into the pool after getting back.

Heartbreakers of Alvor

There's nothing much to report apart from the major chilling we've done and the excessive cooking on the BBQ all thanks to the skills of Mike Wilson. We've also realised through experience that hangovers are significantly reduced when you have the pool and sun to just base off. As much as we want to just stay here and never leave, there is one thing or more accurately one person worth leaving for.

That is Phil Boy Crawley who has been lucky enough to live in Sevilla for the past year and is paroviding the hospitality for the four days. It may not be the 5 star standards that we've been used to, but the company of one of the original travellers is more than sufficient compensation.

It's going to be slightly surreal returning to the place where the first adventure started, if only the holy trinity could have been here, I'll be thinking of you Victor & Gary.

Keep watching.x

Shanghai living & Dim Sum chilling

What a whirlwind fortnight it has been, firstly apologies for the lack of updates but a combination of non-stop travelling and sightseeing, combined with the inconvenience of China's internet service left me offline during the trip. Enjoy reading and welcome back for this summer's adventures!

In two weeks myself and my dearest mother, Pat managed to race through Shanghai, Xian, Beijing and of course Hong Kong. We had booked onto a Wendy Wu tour, so everything was inclusive and arranged, all we had to do was sit back relax and take photos. We had a national tour guide and local tour guides at each city and I would highly recommend Wendy Wu tours for anyone who wants to visit China but is unsure on how they'd cope alone. This group tour was immense, a great mix of people young and old from all over the world and for our group we were like a family within days.

Shanghai Living

Shanghai was the first stop as we waited for the full group to arrive. It consisted of couples and families from Australia to America and also closer to home from Kent to Cambridge, the Aussies were quick to throw in the shouts and the coach was soon a source of some quality laughter for everyone. Each day consisted of an early rise and lateish finish, we were on the road at 8am on the first day off to the water canal town of Wuzhen to explore the ancient ways of life there and of course to experience the local dishes. Shanghai itself offered a glimpse into the past life of the great city, trekking through the old French and British quarters showed how different cultures stamped there presence all over Shanghai. A boat tour/dinner gave us a special sight of the iconic skyline at night and showed just how vast the city is.

Yu Gardens of Shanghai

Xian's 600 year old city wall

Xian was our next stop in the heart of China, there was no pollution here and temperatures soared to well over 30c. It was great to finally see some sunshine and fresh air, Xian is certainly a great city home to the Terracotta Warriors and start of the Silk Road. It was quite nostalgic for Pat visiting somewhere I was nearly 19 years ago and seeing the transformation of the city. There is a clash of old and new everywhere, on one side you have a 600 year old city wall and next to it a state of the art shopping centre with a 40ft television screen for a ceiling that displays waterfalls and meadows. The downside is only spending two days here and I think this city has a lot more to offer, we managed to cram in a few markets in the Muslim quarter and the Little Wild Goose Pagoda next to one of the National museums that provided an insight into my motherland's history.

The clash of old and new in Xian

I fit just right in...

Great Wall CONQUERED

A quick flight over to Beijing provided the final destination of this fleeting tour and it did not disappoint. We climbed the Great Wall, visited Tiananmen Square plus the Forbidden City and strolled through the Summer Palace. I had visited all of these sights as a small toddler and now revisiting them as a small adult, I learnt to appreciate it and marvel in the magnificence of my countrymen's achievement of the past. But of course, the stop over would not be complete without a trip to the Bird's Nest and Water Cube home to the 2008 Olympics and although it is basically derelict like most Olympic venues, it still stands tall and testament to a fantastic games. The last two nights proved unbelievable, a Kung Fu and Acrobatics show left me stunned at some of the shit they can do, the final piece of the Acrobatics show was ridiculous and simply unreal, have a watch here

Pat, smashing the Great Wall

Forbidden City

Although the tour ended in Beijing, it was not the end of our holiday... HONG KONG was our final destination and despite going every year, it's a place I consider my second home where I can speak cantonese and feel at least average height. There wasn't much to do in terms of attractions, it was more about seeing family, paying respects and eating our body weight in food. Sweating is always an issue in HK and this year proved no different, but the safety of any commercial building soon cooled us down.

This holiday has been a different type of adventure, although there has been no serious boozing and shaping throwing, spending time with Pat on holiday has actually been great. Now that I've finished university and off into the working world, there won't be many opportunities to spend such time with her and I've appreciated it a lot for this holiday and exploring China with her. This adventure was all about family and even though the next adventures are going to be without a doubt immense, this is one adventure that I'll always remember since, after all it's family that really matters :)

Some of the wonderful HK fambo

Keep watching.x

The Last Hurrah

"Patience is a virtue"

This phrase has stuck particularly hard with me over the past few months, I had my doubts over the Summer and whether the trinity of Eurotrip and Asiatrip would be completed with the missing piece of the USA. I nearly gave up hope of it happening and settled for a more `typical' holiday, but just when I thought the fat lady had sang, she sat her booty back down and listened to the boys discuss one of the greatest adventures to date.

Not only has America been penned into the itinerary, but within an hour of frantic facebook messaging another equally emphatic holiday was secured. A little getaway to Portugal to a villa followed by a quick hop over the border to Seville to finally visit one of our greatest pals and regular star of this blog, Phil. Things have fallen into place nicely and all there is to do now is to enjoy every second of this glorious summer before I'm shackled down by the working world.

Let me give you some insight into a summer that most probably will top 2012 even to my own disbelief:

• China & Hong Kong with Mamma Kwong
• Portugal & Spain
• USA
• Sweden

Not only is it the number of adventures that I've managed to secure, but it's the quality line up that will be alongside me, for the second leg of this awesome quartet of journeys I will finally enjoy a week away with a man, most would consider a giant amongst men. Someone, the world doesn't fully recognise but deep down appreciates with awe. To some he is a myth, to others he is simply known as Colin... to us he is a legend.

The strip is getting torn up by this hunk of a man

That's correct ladies and gentleman, we have managed to acquire the company of the elusive Mike Wilson for a whole seven days, and what a week that will be. Let us not forget Alex Yoh though before he starts bitching, a dear old pal of ours who has always wanted to come travelling but just somehow never managed to do it. But now he's stepping up, not just Portugal & Spain but also the big U-S-of-A but who knows if he can hack it with the veterans of travelling, myself and Mr Jack England who together form an unlikely but deadly trio that will have Obama sending his daughters straight to Air Force One for the duration of our visit.

A few other events that will mark this summer as one of the finest includes Tough Mudder with my fellow yellow Chen and old Cornelius, along with a welcome surprise addition of the big fish himself, John Wilson. It's going to be a harsh couple of hours in the cold depths of Leeds but it will get bossed like all other things in life. Granted, there won't be much time to train for it but when you're part of the Picton Muscle Club, who needs it?

One tough mudder fucker!!!!

Last but certainly not least, is the return of Pebbles to the UK and a family BBQ to celebrate an immense year abroad, but sadly a year lost without her, not to worry though a family weekend away will soon have us all caught up and looking ahead to more good times.

Nothing matters more than family

So that's the summer schedule, it's going to be busy and it's probably going to fly by but I will savour every moment of it before the dreaded employment comes, so stay updated and.....

Keep Watching!x

Dave Devine is a National Hero

There can be no better way to round off the summer than the celebrations that have happened over the past week. After finishing Asia Trip it was a quick shot over on the Eurostar to Brussels ready for the Belgian Grand Prix. Unbelievably loud, we spent the whole day sat on a hill packed with beer and the beaming sunshine watching all the action go by. I'm not the greatest F1 fan, but it was still much better than I anticipated and a great way to get bevvied with random people all around you. A little sneak under the fence and we gave ourselves a little tour of the track. Before heading back for the Paralympic Games we managed to fit in a visit to the La Chouffe brewery for a spot of beer tasting and lunch. A hectic 3 day visit but definitely worth it for the beer.

Bailing on the track

What followed next was undoubtedly some of the best few days of my life. Watching David Devine storm two bronze medals in the 1500m and then dramatically in the 800m was some heart stopping stuff. Waiting in the stadium for confirmation that he had claimed the bronze was possibly the longest 10 seconds or so in my life, what happened next was all of us running down to the track past security to cheer him on has he did his lap of honour. A certain Bains & Carney managed to swipe a stewards vest to swan into the Media Zone for the medal ceremony, naughty boys. The night of celebrations with the big man definitely stopped a few hearts as well as Zoo Bar was ransacked by 20 odd scouser for the night and the next few days were completely griminal as voices attempted to return and hangovers slowly lingered on. We're all proud of him and determined to move on to 2016 to watch him claim his first gold, until then we'll paint his post box bronze.


This summer has definitely been the best so far out of all the adventures, the combination of Asia, Belgian Grand Prix and most importantly David Devine has added so many memories to the locker and it's hard to imagine how we can now go on and surpass this. We'll give it a try next summer with USA shaping up to be the likely destination. Hope you enjoyed reading this summer's adventures, 2013 can't come soon enough.



Dave Devine's Barmy Army

Keep watching.x