I’m feeling renewed today. I just spent a great weekend in the nations capital. I think it’s the perfect time to be their. All the politicians are elsewhere, and the place feels like it’s just that little bit quieter. Now to a somewhat jaded Sydney-sider, Canberra on first inspection seems well, umm how do I put this politely, shit arsed boring.

I’ve been coming here for 15 years now, and have to admit it’s not at all. It has a quirkiness of it’s own. People are relaxed (think tracksuit pants) and friendly. I sit down for a coffee, and a few minutes later some one is wanting to have a chat. I’m shocked for the first 30 seconds, and I know it’s written all over my face, but then I remember I’m not in Sydney anymore, and people do honestly want to talk to you.

I caught up with some friends I’ve known for a long time, it was relaxing, it was fun, it was rejuvenating. With my current fitness kick in full swing, I also realised how nice Canberra is to exercise in as well. Plenty of great walks by the lake, and plenty of places to explore. Artwork, sculptures, and memorials abound to attract your attention, wanting you to find out why they are there.

Yesterday I finished off with a lovely massage. My friend is a local massage therapist and she is good. So if you live in Canberra please check her out.

Canberra Holistic Massage

It was with a little bit of a heavy heart that I caught the bus back to Sydney last night, and I’m looking forward to getting back down their again soon.

Here are the photo’s from the drive.

About 5 years ago, my car was stolen. At the time I wasn’t even that upset about it. It ended up about 1km from my place, in a duck pond in a large reserve. I thought it was quite amusing at the time. I didn’t end up replacing the car as I need the insurance money for something else, and I also live in the inner city which I could get by without one.

The only times I get to drive is someone else lets me drive their car, or I hire one.

One thing I notice is when I’m a passenger, I’m a pain the arse. I road rage. I don’t even know why. It’s not like it has anything do with me. I end up wanting to scream at people doing stupid shit. I even find I want to do it when I’m in a taxi.

Put me at the wheel of a car, and I’m happy. I have no idea why. I don’t get angry, I’m patient and considerate of other road users, and quite honestly, I have a ball when I’m behind the wheel. Fast forward to yesterday. Decided on Saturday that I wanted to get out of the city for a bit of a break. Queue David, and his car. David arrives, I have my camera in tow, and I just grab the keys.

Ended up blasting up the bells line of road, stopped at Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens, wow what a great place (photo’s and another entry soon). Then on the way to Lithgow, then back down the Great Western Highway via my favorite bakery at Wentworth Falls.

I just loved being behind the wheel, although sometimes I allegedly went faster than I should of been, but I had a great time. It was very hard wiping the smile off my face. It’s the part I miss the most. I don’t miss traffic jams, city driving or any crap like that. It’s the blasting off into some mountain pass, tipping into a twisty winding road, changing gears, and feeling the cars power, there is something very primal in the way it makes me feel.

It’s one of those pure pleasure’s in life that I have, and I really have to do more of it.

Every few months on the travel sites I read, there is always an article about things people hate the most about traveling. You can almost guarantee that close to the top of the list is, Travel ling in the seat next to an overweight person’. Then if you look down at the comments underneath, you can also guarantee you will find a list of the most insulting comments about overweight people. Bugger checking out the rest of the list, but fat people are an easy target.

I’m very aware when I travel of the size I am. I avoid airlines that have extremely narrow seats, I try to make sure I’m in a window seat which gives you that little bit extra room on the side, and i try to squash myself close to the wall. As a consequence I really don’t protrude into the seat next to me. I also try to talk to the person I’m flying next to, and once you have normally struck up a conversation with them, they are normally very accommodating. I think it’s all about making an effort. You are going to be next to these people for hours at a time, so you both need to be comfortable.

To those who just instantly think, why don’t you lose some weight. I am, and I recongnise the health benefits. To those who think it’s terribly easy to do so. It really isn’t, and it is a battle on all fronts. Those who think it’s just a thing of eating less, and exercising more are in for a rude shock. Ask anyone who has to lose more than a few pounds how hard it is. It’s one of those things that if you don’t work out the psychological and physical reasons why you are overweight, you end up wasting your time. Recently it was explained to me, losing weight is like holding a basketball underwater. As soon as you let go, it pops right back up to the surface again. If you don’t find a way of deflating that ball at the same time, it will be a battle you will never win.

I’ve never let my size, stop me from traveling. It does however prevent me from doing some of the more physical activities and/or size limiting ones. A curious thing happens when I’m traveling, I actually lose weight, where most people I know put it on. I really enjoy traveling, and I find myself walking a whole lot more, and getting involved in things. I don’t like to miss out on seeing something, being told no you can’t.

So the next time you are travel ling with a fat man on holidays, say hello, it might actually be me.

Well late last week, decided to have a quick break away. I was going completely stir crazy, and needed a chance to relax and just forget about the world. Yvonne was in a similar state of mind and came with me. Went to Gold Coast early Saturday morning with Virgin Blue.  Plane was a little late, but not overly so. Getting to the hotel was shit easy.

Stayed in a twin room at the Holiday Inn, was clean, and modern, and checked in quickly. We headed out to breakfast stuffed ourselves stupid, and basically relaxed for the next 2 days.

• Spent time at the beach
• Got a awesome massage
• Drank, ate and was very merry.
• Perved on very hot people
• Lazed around the pool having cocktails.
• Talked shit, and where our lives are going.

It was nice to get away.

Stop 5 : Paris

The overnight train from Rome ended up being good fun. I was playing cards with an italian family who didn’t speak any english, but was a lot of fun. Got into Paris well rested, and had a nice easy trip to the hotel. Well what can I say about Paris that most people haven’t already said. I did like the place, but not as much as other places I had already been. The city itself is beautiful, but beyond the hype I couldn’t say I found it any more romantic than say Sydney.

I had been to other parts of France before, and always found the French people to be inviting and very welcoming. Paris it’s the opposite story. I find them much the same as New Yorkers, and the reputation for rudeness is well earned. It’s like having to chip through a tough outer shell, to get to the person inside. Don’t get me wrong I did enjoy myself a lot. And once you get through that outer shell, you find some amazing people. It can get a bit tiring though after a while. Especially with how inviting the italians were the week before.

Stop 6 : London

I love london. It feels alive, and I just love exploring the place. It was however ruined on me this time. I won’t go into details, but I didn’t get anywhere near the amount of things done that I wanted to, which pissed me off  a lot. But who said life was fair.

Stop 3 : Sweeden

Next stop on my trip was Sweden. I’ve known Marko online for several years, and thought it was about time to go and visit him. I said my good byes to Ireland, and headed off to Copenhagen, as it was the easiest way to go to Southern Sweden. He met me at the airport, and we got a train to Helsinor for the ferry across to Helsingborg. It’s a very pretty part of the world, and it was doing my head in that I was in the third country on the same day. I have to say the customs booth at Copenhagen was funny. I handed over my passport. He smiles goes oh your a bloody long way from home, stamped it and handed it back. No other questions at all.

We hung around for a few days, he took me up to Sweeden’s second largest city Gotenburg, and I really had a lovely relaxing time. Met some of his friends, and man I just needed to chill. There was a music festival all around the town, and it was full of life.

A couple of things about the sweedes:

• Cold to start with, but once they open up they are incredibly friendly and welcoming. I found the Australian accent helped a lot, as many of us don’t travel this far north so every wanted to have a chat.
• I don’t think I hardly saw a fat person, so I noticed people staring a lot.

Stop 4 : Rome

Next stop was Rome. Landed at the airport early evening, and man it was hot. The Italian’s have no customs to speak off, it was walk straight out to the airport. Had a crazy transfer already organised, and it was an adventure in itself. 140 km/h weaving in and out of traffic, while the two japanese girls that were also on the bus holding on for dear life, and muttering things that would be impolite to repeat here.

I was already in love with Rome, and i’d only been here 10 minutes. I felt at home. The Italian’s were warm and welcoming, and went out of their way to help you. Even if you didn’t speak a word of Italian. Made for some very amusing pointing, and waving at things.

The next 5 days here were incredible, and were the highlight of my trip. Hightlights

• Vatican
• All the old ruins, churches, temples, coliseum, the forum the list goes on and on and on
• The people I met. So friendly and open. Have kept in touch with all of them
• The Vibe, the Grim, the piazza’s.
• Could live here for a couple of years just exploring everything!
• Oh and the food! It was fantastic.

I, like many subscribers of jetstars offers, would of got this gem this morning.

‘Introducing The Jetstar Customer Guarantee’

Most of it is pretty much your standard garbage that ‘ALL’ customer service organisations wax lyrical about. But No.6 sums it up better than I ever could.

“6. You will get what you paid for”

I don’t really expect much from airlines. Discount airlines doubly so. I find the complaining that I hear from friends, relatives, and numerous blogs and websites I visit to be full of discount airline drama. From reading most of it, it seems to come down to two things:

• That the plane was late, crap food, won’t let me take, make me pay more than i thought etc etc. ie. People who haven’t traveled till airline travel got so cheap that it made it affordable. So they whine about every little inconvenience they experience.
• You paid all of the cost of your weekly train ticket to get to another place in the country, and all you do is bitch and moan.

All I can say is Jetstar have now told you. You will get what you paid for. You didn’t pay much, so don’t expect to get much.

If you don’t like it, pay more, and fly with someone else. Oh you can’t afford to pay more? Well once again, you got what you paid for. Jetstar should rename itself bogan air, and be done with it. Would save all the confusion of it being better than what it is.

In the middle of last year my brother just younger than me got married. It’s not like I need much of an excuse to travel, but this was a little bit special. I hadn’t been on an oversea big trip in a few years which made me both nervous and excited at the same time. I thought I would share part of that holiday with you.

Stop 1: UK and Global Gathering

I had wanted to do ‘Global Gathering’ for years. I downloaded the essential mixes of dj’s live at GG, and heard the punters going off partying like there was no tomorrow at an air field smack bang in the middle of Shakespears countryside. It’s held each year outside of Staftford Upon Avon, and this year it was my turn to go! I can’t explain how excited I was. It was mad fun, and saw everything that I wanted to see. I didn’t take many photo’s because I was too busy dancing, and talking to randoms.

Stop 2: The Wedding, and the Irish Countryside.

Everything you have heard about Ireland is true. They are as friendly as people say, they are as drunk all the time as people say, and they are as hard to understand when they are excited as say a drunk Irishman can. My Brother only set one rule. If ‘ANYONE’ buys you a beer, you must return the favour, as it’s considered rude not to. Fair enough I thought to myself, that’s a rule i can live with. What I didn’t realise was, how hard it was going to be actually enforce it.

Had an amazing time. The hightlights included:

• Galway Races
• Banquet at Banratty Castle
• Beautiful Irish Countryside
• Little Irish men that talk to you so fast you can’t understand a word.
• Irish Bands
• Lots of Guinness (i mean LOTS)
• The Reception – one of the best weddings i’ve ever been to