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Vama Vece, what more can I say?

Looking for love in Vama Vece? Try this

I got back from the dentist in Bucharist and then...Techno!!!

Photo is from one of many many wonderful strolls in Bucharest

Should I stay or should I go? Stay of course!!!!

One of the many places I found today on my random bike ride

Today, I really wanted to go swimming, i had an idea of getting a bike as a back up plan, to get some damn exercise, I have been slacking off a bit recently and enjoying a few beers recently, and dammit!! I put a lot of work building up some good habbits recently.

You dont want a house of cards to start falling down around you, not after doing everything really well for five weeks!! And I did and its been great, my first beer in Czech republic was my last and then i got my ass in gear and got serious about getting fit, fifty meter pools help too and thats what I do when i come to town, in this order I...

1. Find a 50 meter pool
2. Find a hostel under ten euro
3. Check in and go swimming
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for the next place 

I said this to a German guy having wine for breakfast in Budapest

I remember someone telling me how when you get sick of a town, feel the need to moved on, just move to another side of town and do it all again, this is what I have done today, I have gone from a serious joint run by a couple in their 60's to a place that's got some good tunes going, it helps, believe me

The bike ride was really cool, funnily enough, they didn't want me to pay with my flexible friend, just plain cash, after all cash in Romania solves every problem, in Russia too.

I would have thought that Romania was poor, everywhere I look, i can see cultured people, and they have trams and metro, its a town I think I could live,

I've met so many cool people too, of course if you don't meet many people, you tend to rely in stereo types, I was talking to a Russian that was telling me how tired he is about the Russian drinking brand they have, hes seen the same in other countries, true enough. 

When people don't know much about countries, they will tend to believe the worst, maybe there is a lesson there?

Unicorn alert 

You decide

What ever get you through the night

Bucharest, living like a local...

All roads lead to Bucharest...

I was in Romania, so I had to do the Dracula thing...

My Hat is back on my head, a Romanian Cinderella story you say?

If it aint on, its not on

This morning the cute chick from Leon, that had the hots for me, probably more to do with the fact that she spent ten months in Cork and finally began to understand that brand of English after eight months.

Well anyways, I was music to her ears, maybe she got a sense of achievement, if she got to know me a little better, and maybe I could have proved her wrong?

This lady, don’t even know her name, spent longer in Cork than I have in 17 years. Doing anything more than 28 days can be habit forming, so why take the risk?

Do you need a lesson?

Anyways, I declined the 9:30am train with her, in favor of charging my phone, chilling out and taking my time.

After I missed the train at 12:30pm, I reflected taking the earlier train, might not have been such a bad idea?

Other people need hats too

Somehow platform 3 was displayed as one. I had a drunk homeless dude and a gypsy teenager smoking to keep me on my toes, so it wasn’t all bad, my book was proving a flop too, and I have killed that too.

Ok, things weren't great, not bad.

In the end I had to get a stamp to go on the train tomorrow, I had enough of travelling for one day, I quit travelling today, and tomorrow I will give it another go.

So, I came out of the train station, wondering how something so simple could get so fucked up.

Do you like change?

And then I started thinking about my hat I left on the bus when I arrived. I walked over to the buses, I was looking for a Mercedes bus, I the third was a Mercedes, and there I saw my hat, where I left it on the dashboard, and i was wondering it would be great if the hat was there.

Then the day started to look up...like it does every day

Some dude was looking at me thinking if I was stealing a hat, but it fit like Cinderella’s shoe and if the shoe fits...

Come to Cork?

Sibiu to Brasov in Ro, Ro Ro-mania!!!

I went to the movies...

Romania, whats not to like?

Reading, the last true art, what a joy...

Read this, stupid!

When i am on the go, from town to town, people call it travelling (I call it breathing) like a thief in the night, except i like to get going in the morning after a good nights sleep, I like to have a good book to read.

It the journey, not the destination, if you want to practice breathing exercises or meditation a queue is a good place to do that, and having a good book isnt a bad either.

Never bored?  Me neither.

Maybe I'm getting older, maybe about time? The process of reading is greatly enhanced because I dont use social media...anymore, I am planning to check facebook on my birthday, hey I can have that much, cant I? It will be my 40th!!

The book i just finished is "The blind assassin", by Margaret Atwood. I've never heard of her, she's only written about forty books, quite a few poetry books and its shows, some of the shorted passages are quite beautiful, and thats really saying something, coming from me. And I'm me, your you and who every you are?

Sounds like Dr Suess?

I think this novelist is for you, all you need to do is take a trip to your library and your life will take a turn for the better




I remember a time of doing a lot of reading, now people do a lot of stuff, most of it seems very important, I think our minds trick ourselves into thinking that checking what Justin Beber had for breakfast is life or death and time ticks on and before you know it, the best years of your life have came and gone, but you were...

Yeah, what were you doin' again?

Create time, its that easy

Get in the moment, before its too late

Romania, a delightful suprise...

Budapest to the border...

A Scoucer love story

Budapest Scam - WarningMar 06, 2013, 11:44 AM
I have just returned from a business trip to Budapest and much to my annoyance I fell for a scam. I am widely travelled and normally veer well away from situations like this but this one time my guard was down and so I feel obliged to let others know - forearmed is forewarned. 

I was simply wandering about near the river on the Pest side and these 2 friendly girls asked for directions, (i was looking at a map and looking for a bar). They were in their late twenties. They wanted to go to a bar, and asked me to join them. I said no way but in the end they persuaded me to come along for one. It was only about 7pm and I thought what was the harm in one beer after a days work ? 

I suppose the fact they seemed to know exactly which bar we should go to should have raised an alarm bell - but it didn't. 

Anyway we had a few shots and their company was pleasant. At about 8.30 ish i thought i better head off. The bill came and I was expecting about £30 equivalent maybe more but I knew how much drinks should be so wasn't expecting anything much higher. It was £600 !! 

I only had £80 on me. Conveniently there was an ATM outside which i was walked to. I stayed calm throughout but was thinking what the hell could I do ? At the ATM I pretended to start drawing the money but then withdrew my card and ran and ran. The owner and one of the girls were so surprised I got away 

Yes looking back there were many signs indicating this whole situation was wrong but I am always trying to believe in people's good nature. It is getting harder to..
So take warning from my story please.

This made me laugh... 

1. Re: Budapest Scam - WarningMar 06, 2013, 12:22 PM
lucky you had your trainers on fella
£600 is on the low side for what men have been stung by this the oldest of tourist traps
think of it this way
how often do attractive ladies approach you in London and ask you to go for a drink?
all the best
tony

Learned Helplessness... and school

This morning while sitting on a hammock overlooking the Danube, in Budapest, I watched a video submitted by Youtuber Vertassium entitled "Learned Helplessness"

 He touched on this topic and school, which pretty much explains pretty much how it was for me and when I finally got out of Shawshank, I felt free, no rules, I could do what ever I wanted (maybe a bit like being single)

Anyway the Anarchist in me saw the light of day, and I did

In the video he explains, when something is uncomfortable, you are more likely to just put up with it instead of stopping the uncomfortable thing or taling your initative.
Knowing you are in control, makes you preform better.

For me, knowing that no one cared if I went to college, that is why I liked going

Take a look...

Eastern Europe and everything is going swimmingly...

 My new favourite pool in Budapest

I stopped the beer consumption about 5 weeks ago, to see how fit I could get. I met a guy in Poland that swam as much as me, the only difference was about twenty kilos.

So, I stopped and started swimming an hour, sometimes a bit longer six or so days a week.



And the results? Fantastic, my swimming has came on brilliantly, I am pretty swimming at the pace I was swimming at when I lived in Sydney a couple of years ago, oh life of unemployment, those were good times.

And now they are back. I remember the guy in Poland telling me...

"Beer really fucks your fitness"

I can safely say, yes it does. So the first two months of this trip were about drinking beer, swimming 3 days a week.
The advantage of travelling now, is i can find towns with good swimming pools with google maps and go to those places.

I remember hearing about a couple that me through swimming and planned their honey moon around swimming pools, and now I havee been doing pretty much the same.



My first pool was in Poland, in Lublin, they built a world class pool, thats too expencive for the locals and it was expencive, which meant I had it pretty much to myself.

Apparently in Poland its common for the government to spend a lot of money on stuff people dont need and not much on stuff they do need, hence the phrase

Nice hat, no shoes

So after a few weeks, i get better, i watch a few technique videos and boom, I am on a swimming holiday!!!!!