Posted on July 21.

Things have been pretty quiet in Portsmouth, hence the lack of updates. I got a job bartending at a nightclub downtown called Route 66. It's pretty fun, the hours take some getting used to though. I don't get home until 4:30 or 5AM so it makes sleeping difficult.

I've decided to hopefully start traveling again sometime around mid August so I've given up on getting another job. I'm doing about 20 hours a week at Route so I can still make a bit of money and travel a bit around the UK perhaps before I hit Europe again.

I still really want to see Sweden, Italy and visit a friend in Germany so we'll see how things go.

Right now I'm planning a trip to Cornwall for next week. I hear it's pretty nice. Time to try hitchhiking the UK!

Posted June 23.

So my plans changed a bit. It turns out the ferry was going to cost £78 and flying back to England was going to be 50 Euros. Hmm...

I headed up to Mainz on June 18th and got to see Frank and Charlotte (they both stayed with me in Canda with some of their other friends). I stayed at Frank's parents house and was a little spoiled by his mother (she did my laundry).

I explored around Mainz, drank lots of German beer, and relaxed. It was nice.

Saturday we went out during the day, played some squash in the afternoon and then went back to have a traditional German asparagus dinner. It was excellent. I was leaving Sunday so we went out Saturday night as well. My bus was leaving at 3:00AM so I stumbled to the bus stop from the club and groggily got on the plane. You develop a strange sense of humour when you're exhausted (and slightly drunk) which you'll see when I get some of my photos uploaded.

I made it back to Portsmouth at about noon on Sunday (still with no sleep). Viv was having a little party at her place so I socialised for a few hours before going upstairs to put on some sunscreen. I sat on the bed and promptly fell asleep until 7:30. This turned out to be good though because a new episode of Topgear was airing at 8 so I was just in time.

I get to relax this week and get prepared and then next week it's off to Belgium!

Whoo!

Posted April 25.

Yesterday was a nice lazy morning. I went to the library, ran some errands, did my laundry and then headed downtown to meet one of the girls I'd met last week for the afternoon.

We ended up having a great time and went for a long walk along the waterfront. She was a really good impromptu tour guide and I got to take some pictures (I'm getting better!).

We ended up back at a pub for dinner and were joined by the rest of the O'Neil (the store I originally met her at) employees when they got off shift. We had some drinks and some fun and then I headed home to pack for London.

I arrived an hour or so ago at my cousin's (I think) house in London (which I found myself I'm proud to note) and decided it would be a good time to upload some pictures.

New pictures can be found on Facebook and

HERE.

Tomorrow I'm off to explore London! I'll try to take more pictures.

Posted on Thursday, April 17.

Wednesday I had plans to go to the Isle of Wight and do some touristy stuff. I forgot though that Wednesday was also going to be my laundry day so I didn't actually have any clothes to wear. Ah well.

Wednesday was instead spent taking it easy doing some small errands and watching TV while my clothes washed and dried.

Wednesday night I had been invited to go out with Mark (my cousin Steph's husband) and his friends for a pub crawl and then curry. I didn't eat before we went out because assumed we'd have a couple pints, get some dinner and then get a few more drinks. I was wrong.

7 pints later on an empty stomach and I can't see straight. I left for some fresh air and decided it was a good idea to catch a cab home. I txted Mark to cancel my order and made it home alright.

Ugh.

Tonight I'm going for dinner with Julie (another cousin) and then tomorrow I'm off to Bristol. I got a hold of a couchsurfer in Bristol who is heading to Baths for the weekend so she invited me along. I'll be in Baths Friday and Saturday night then back to Bristol to stay with her for a night or two and see Bristol. Tuesday I'm off to Cardiff (hopefully) for a day or so and then back to Portsmouth.

We'll see how things go and wish me luck on my first *real* traveling.

Also check out the flash map of my trip Ben is making at http://www.petedoeseurope.ca

Monday morning I was feeling significantly better than Sunday morning so I decided to be productive (It didn't work but I had good intentions). I went down for my daily fix of internet at the library then headed down to get some insoles for my shoes. My shoes have been great but I was pretty sure I would need some more support to trek Europe. I also picked up some groceries and made it home in time to catch some Topgear before going out again.

I had plans to see my First Cousins Once Removed (I think) Mary and Charles. I had a nice afternoon with them and they dropped me off downtown at about 5:30. I had plans to see a movie with Colin (the couchsurfer I met the other day) at 8 so I had some time to kill.

I made some calls home then decided to find somewhere to eat. It was about 6:30 by this point and most of the shops downtown closed about 7. I devised a plan to see if I could make some friends to get dinner with so I wouldn't have to eat alone.

I wandered around until I saw some suitable looking girls in one of the shops (It's a lot easier to play the Canadian card wit girls than it is with guys) and asked them where I should go to eat. We started chatting, they closed the shop up around me and took me out to a nice student pub for dinner.

I had to sprint back to the theatre to make it in time for the movie but it turns out I needn't have bothered. There are about 10 minutes worth of commercials before the movie starts and then plenty of trailers. We watched the movie "21" though and it was actually pretty good. I would recommend it.

The night ended uneventfully (Colin and his friends needed to work Tuesday) so I went home and went to bed.

Tuesday, I awoke to the first clear skies I'd seen since arriving. Really! Clear skies in England! I made my way to the library as is becoming the norm, went downtown, got a new card for my camera (the one that I brought with me kept corrupting pictures), got a business card holder to hold my business cards, looked around a bit and then headed back to Paula and Del's for dinner.

I've heard from some couchsurfers in Bristol (available this weekend or so), Brighton (available sometime in the next while) and in London (available next weekend, 25/26) so we'll see if I can make some plans work.

Oh and I put some pictures up. You can see them both on Facebook or here http://picasaweb.google.ca/phawker/Portsmouth .

Oh boy.

So Saturday night I got a text message from a couchsurfer I had contacted before I came to Portsmouth. He told me that he (along with some friends) were planning on heading out to a club that night and wanted to know if I wanted to go out.

I, of course, agreed and so Paula and Del dropped me off at his house later Saturday night. The couchsurfer's name was Colin and he was from France but had recently completed school in Berlin and moved to Portsmouth to work. We hung out for a bit at his place while he had a late dinner and got to know each other over a couple beers.

We headed out to meet another friend of his (Thierry, a pharmacist from Belgium who had just worked a 13 hour day) and then headed down to the club. The club "Jongleurs" was a comedy club in the early evening (which we missed) and a night club later (when we arrived). The place was HUGE (at least compared to anything I'd seen in Nanaimo and Vancouver). Which really isn't much but whatever.

We met some more friends at the club but they left early and we decided to stay and have some more fun. We headed back to a house party when the clubbed closed (they close at 2AM like in BC which apparently is really early compared to the rest of Europe) and hung out with a bunch more people there.

But 5AM when we left the club I was smashed. We went back to Thierry's place for another beer and to listen to some music. By about 6 I was ready to call it a night so Colin and I headed back to his place where I had left my stuff. He made "an english breakfast" (means it had breakfast stuff and then beans), which we ate then I caught a cab back to Viv's house.

I tried to sleep but woke up 3 hours later because all the redbull and vodka's I had had were making me vibrate. I decided to get some fresh air so I went for a walk around the shops and received a call from Paula and Del asking if I wanted to go see a car show.

They picked me up and we went to see a vintage car rally which was pretty cool. I was feeling less sick by this point but more and more tired. We went for a walk by the water but I was absolutely exhausted and had them take me home by about 5PM. I made some calls and then collapsed in bed and was asleep in no time.

There's a market in town today which I'm going to check out, I'd like to get some insoles for my shoes (the ones I have are *ok* but I could use some better ones), I'm going to see Mary and Charles Hawker (more cousins but older) and then I'm going to see the movie "21" with Colin. Wish me luck.

Yesterday I hopped on the bus which ended up taking me downtown Portsmouth. I chatted with an elderly lady at the bus stop (trying to figure out how much the fare was going to be) but she ended up being quite talkative and directed me down to Gunwharf.

Turns out Gunwharf is down at the Portsmouth Harbour and has lots of touristy stuff. I had the option of looking at some old ships but they didn't look that interesting and I decided to avoid them.

I did however go up Spinnaker Tower which is a 110m tower shaped like a sail on the harbour. It had a great view and I got some neat pictures standing on the glass floor, I'll see if I can get them online in the next couple days.

I looked around Gunwharf but it was mainly expensive shops and expensive restaurants so I left quickly. I hopped on another bus which ended up taking me along the seawall. I met a nice Polish girl on the bus who suggested I check out the D-Day Museum which was along that way. I had a look around there for a while and learned some neat stuff. It's kinda cool getting a different perspective on the war than the Canadian one.

I was running out of time so I headed back uptown to Viv's house where I got picked up by Mark (my 2nd cousin once removed (I think) Stephanie's husband). He took me out for a couple pints and then we picked up some chinese food to take home for dinner. I had a great time visiting with their family and got to meet their 7 year old daughter, Connie (my 3rd cousin once removed? I don't know).

Today I've been out with Paula and Del (cousins again but I'm not sure how exactly) and we've been for a walk in Bosham, lunch in Emsworth and then back to their house so I could get my internet fix for the day.

Honestly it's hard being so disconnected. I'm actually contemplating getting one of those cheap and small eePC laptops like my Aunt and Uncle took travelling with them. We'll see.

So I finally collapsed last night after being awake for 30 hours or so. I slept until about 4 in the morning and then woke and made some calls home. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get back to sleep but ended up falling back asleep until 10 AM. Go figure.

It's threatening to rain today but I suppose it IS England so I better get used to it. I got a SIM card yesterday, my number is 0753 025 2996 (but you dial 011 44 753 025 2996 to call me from Canada). It's free for me if anyone wants to call but it'll cost you whatever it costs to call the UK. Just remember that I'm 8 hours ahead of you.

The plan today is to get a few things I forgot yesterday at the shops (I keep calling them stores but everyone else calls them shops, I guess I should catch on), get some lunch and then take a bus to what I *think* is downtown. We'll see.

Oh and update on my plan to wink at strangers. Apparently I forgot in my sleep-fogged state that winking doesn't have much effect when you're wearing sunglasses. I've taken to smiling politely and nodding at anyone that makes eye contact when they walk by and doesn't just stare at the ground. There aren't many of them but the ones that do just give me surprised looks. We'll see how it develops.

I made it!

Exhausted (19 hours of traveling and 23 hours awake will do that to you) but I needed groceries for tomorrow so I thought I'd make a quick post. My first post abroad!

The ferry, plane and train rides were all fairly uneventful. I made friends with a girl named Laura (who, it turns our happened to be on the same flight as me, and looked lonely sitting by herself in the restaurant at the airport) before the flight. She was from Sheffield and was in Vancouver for a Stargate Atlantis convention. I thought she'd get along well with you Ben. On the flight I made friends with a guy name Naude (pronouced "No idea") who was from South Africa. He was in Victoria visiting his Canadian girlfriend but was on his way back to England (where he worked and lived) to apply for his Canadian work visa. He was a really nice guy and helped me get through the airport terminal and make it to my train on time.

England is really cool so far. I knew people would drive on the wrong side of the road but it's a lot stranger seeing it in real life. They also drive really fast. Jerks.

People don't seem as friendly here as Canadians, as I'm walking down the street no one makes eye contact and no one smiles. I've started winking at random strangers to see if I can elicit a response. I'll update if anyone notices my advances.

Anyways I'm off to shop and see if I can find a SIM card for my cellphone as well as a calling card in case I need to call home. Wish me luck in both cases and hope my money holds out. Everything over here is EXPENSIVE.

I'll update more when more happens.

Peter