Monthly Archives: July 2009

The Streets of San Francisco.

I’ve managed to make quite a bit of progress in a couple of areas over the past few days. The hilly streets of San Francisco are an ideal place to do a bit of hill walking training, as I now have less than a month until my Colorado “7 peaks” challenge. The other morning I […]

Birthday weekend in San Francisco.

On the last day in Cancun, I went again to a favourite food stall that I had discovered earlier, where for less than $3 you could have a couple of fantastic tacos and a huge gless of orchata, a delicious type of milk drink made with long grain rice, and sprinkled with cinnamon. By the […]

Goal 52 – 7th Wonder – Chichen Itza.

I flew from Tampa down to Cancun on Tuesday, and made my way to the hostel that I had booked, managing to check in just before lunch time. I got settled in and read about two pages of my book before I fell asleep. I woke at 7pm, having slept deeply for about 6 hours. […]

40 years later!

On the Sunday afternoon after my return from the underwater hotel, Cari took me to meet her brother Richard and his wife Ivette. Richard and I got on pretty well, and have similar interests and outlooks on many things. One of his passions is helping out with a private collection of big cats and other […]

Goal 51 – 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

Well, it wasn’t quite 20,000 leagues, more like 20 feet under the sea, but it was still a boyhood dream come true. Nancy gave me a quick tour around Fort Lauderdale yesterday morning, and then dropped me off to collect my car. It took me a couple of hours to drive down to Key Largo, […]

Returning to America.

I had a long journey from Gibraltar, flying in the evening to Gatwick airport in London, where my brother Martin, and Rachel, came to meet me and drop off my larger rucksac, which I hadn’t needed for my trip to Spain. They suggested we head to a nearby pub for a few beers, which sounded […]

Gibraltar and Tarifa.

My Euro-finances were resolved reasonably easily, when I found a branch of UK bank Barclays in Algeciras, and the cashpoint there gave me 100 Euros without the slightest hesitation. I now had just enough, I thought, to see me through my last couple of days here. I will have to sort out the UK overdraft […]

Goal 50 – Greenpeace – persistence pays off.

This morning the alarm on my mobile phone woke me again just after 6am. I have been hearing a little too much of that alarm recently! But this morning was going to be the only opportunity for the foreseeable future to achieve goal #50. I have been quietly trying to organise this for many weeks […]

The best laid plans….

5pm Sat 11th July I had had some trouble in Pamplona while trying to book a bus ticket from Madrid to the Spanish southern port town of Algeceras. I had found a great website, that offered tickets at very competitive prices, and tried to make my booking to depart at 9pm from Madrid, travelling overnight, […]

Never say never again!

We had two new arrivals at the apartment yesterday, when Mike’s friends Muna and Carmen arrived in the morning, taking the occupancy total up to an impressive nine, although Kurtiss was scheduled to leave later in the day, bound for Barcelona and then home to San Diego. He had tried to leave a couple of […]

Goal 49 – run for your life!

I had a bit of a siesta yesterday afternoon, and in the evening headed back out with my American housemates, who were hitting the town again. I had one quick beer with them, and then made my way through the packed main square to Michael’s apartment, where I was due to be interviewed by John […]

Death in the afternoon.

I think I am horrified, thrilled and disturbed in equal measures after this evening’s “entertainment”! I went to see the bull fighting this evening, and tried to go with no pre-conception of what might be involved, but found that I could not shake off my expection of being horrified by what I was about to […]

San Fermin opening ceremony.

1.35pm. 6th July 2009. I’ve just got back to the apartment in downtown Pamplona that I am now sharing with six Americans. Last night Mike went to collect his friends from the airport, and after quick showers all round we hit the town for a few hours, then back to the apartment for a bit […]

Nervous!

I set off from London late on Friday evening, when Martin and Rachel dropped me off at Euston Station. The train trip up to Birmingham didn’t take long, but the night on a couch in the darkened Burger King at Birmingham International Airport seemed a lot longer! It wasn’t too uncomfortable, but it was difficult […]

Past, present and future.

It is often suggested that I am living an almost idyllic lifestyle, the envy of many who would love to do the same sort of thing. I would certainly not try to convince you otherwise, as I am really enjoying what I am doing, but I do often try to point out to people that […]