Positive Aspects of Travelling Alone

Each summer break during University I worked for Siemens as part of my scholarship scheme. However, the summer after graduating, I was given off to commence work full time in the September. So between graduating in July 2011 and starting work September I decided to go travelling. I had exactly 6 weeks to do whatever I wanted and because I had worked for the past 3 summers I had a bit of money saved to enable me to have a good trip. I have always been a fan of the USA and had been 3 separate times as a child to Orlando Florida. The last time being age 10, the only time I actually remember. I always wanted to do the west coast of America with it being the land of dreams. I also knew I wanted to do LA specifically. So I went about organising my trip for the whole 6 weeks. I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I would spend 5 weeks on the west coast and spend he final week in the Detroit Area of Michigan seeing my good University friend Danniella, as she was doing her masters there. It was also great as I didn't know when I'd otherwise see the city of my Idol Eminem. So that decided, I booked my flights to LA, then to Detroit then back to Manchester. I also under the guidance of the guy in STA Travel agent booked 3 days in a hostel in West Hollywood, LA to get settled. Now this was something that I wanted to do and also nobody had stated they would also want to do this as well, but to be honest I never really asked. Just told a few friends I was doing it. In my opinion travelling alone was the best thing I could of ever done.

Travelling alone allowed me to be in complete control of what I did, where I went and how I did everything I did. It also made it so I didn't have the concern of someone else should flights be delayed etc. Just me and my iPod - no stress. But little did I know, travelling on my own would have a much more positive aspect on my life than just benefits on the trip. Now I've never not been confident, I always get involved with things and try new things. The biggest issue I did have though was that I was sometimes a little shy, mainly making a move to speak to people. If they would speak to me I would be fine. But I would always be scared to make the first move of speaking to new people as I had this preconception of if I did they would think 'who is this weirdo just talking to me'. Now once arriving in LA, especially around the hostel, I was alone. If I wanted to know stuff how would I find out? Looking back this lack of confidence was evident on my arrival in LA. I went outside and saw a bunch of shuttle buses waiting but I was unsure if they had to be booked or if you could just take one. I was also unsure if it went to where I was heading. I had this huge urge inside me to go over and interrupt the groups of people both working for the companies and the people waiting to take one. I had a feeling that this would be a lot cheaper than taking a taxi and even with the urge to ask burning inside me, I didn't have the balls to ask, so instead took a taxi costing me $50. At the end of my trip I took a shuttle bus back, costing me only $10, so it was a significant difference in price.

So continuing my trip - Day one I went around and got to know the area and I asked the girl on reception for information in regards to what to do and where to go etc. However I would see some people or small groups of people and I wanted to talk to them, but I just nodded to them as to acknowledge them, then go on my way thinking that they wouldn't want to waste their time on me. But not after long I thought I cannot go the whole 6 weeks and not interact with people, make new friends and have a good time. So I grew some balls and approached people in the hostel and just spoke to them, not realising how easy it actually was and the fact I didn't come across as a weirdo. The further the trip went on the better I felt and the more people I spoke to. Not afte rlong I had completely come out of my shell and became this super confidence person I always potentially had inside me. This continued so much upon my return to the UK and completely changed me as a person. So the first positive aspect to travelling alone was that it made me make the effort to speak to other people and in turn it brought a whole lot of confidence out in me. I know if I had travelled with a friend, it would of been just me and them talking and not interacting with anyone else.

After a week in LA, I had exhausted most of the stuff you can do and see there, so decided to spend a week down at Santa Monica to see the beach, go to Malibu and do a little bit of surfing (by do I mean try, with very little success), after that I decided on San Francisco and after that Las Vegas before onto Detroit. All these places were places that I decided to go to, I travelled in the ways most appeasing to me and did all the things that I WANTED to do. Travelling with someone else, there is always compromise and having to do a bit of the things that maybe just one of you wants to do, whereas travelling on your own, you are your own boss. Also I could imagine that discussing what to do next would of caused a few arguments and extra stress. Something that you don't need on a travelling trip as travelling is supposed to be fun and relaxing. So another positive of travelling alone - FREEDOM!

So next time you are thinking of travelling, be it a year or just a few weeks. I strongly recommend considering travelling alone. If you feel it will be scary and you don't have much confidence in yourself - Granted, but a solo journey could be the one thing that changes you and eradicates these traits you feel you possess. You will meet loads of great people in the same position as you so therefore you are not alone!

Beer Festivals in Germany

When the word 'Beer Festival' crops up for the likes of Germany one thing comes to mind... Oktoberfest. This is the world wide known German beer festival based in Bavaria's capital and largest city Munich, or München as it is called in Germany. Oktoberfest although being the beer festival of Munich is in fact imitated in lots of different countries around the world from Monaco to Brazil. The question is though, is Oktoberfest the best German beer festival in Germany? Now with its world wide recognition you would think so, but having lived in Germany for over a year I have had the opportunity to attend a handful of beer festivals including Oktoberfest and these are my thoughts...

A weekly thing

The crazy thing is, virtually every other week there is a different beer festival in the different towns of Germany, well at least so in Bavaria. They are sort of town celebrations. They generally start around May time and go right through summer until Oktoberfest. Last year I had the opportunity to go to 4 beer festivals.

Bergkirchweih (The Berg) - Erlangen

The first one of which was in my current town of Erlangen, Bergkirchweih. This is a beer festival that lasts a total of 12 days. As this was my first ever beer festival and I had been assured it was amazing by German work colleagues, I got myself a lederhosen at 200€ for the complete outfit. It is the Frankonian costume of Munich so shouldn't really be worn, but in recent years it has become popular at the Berg in Erlangen. So under advice of how good it is, I decided to book the entire time off to be able to go to the Berg every day. . In the end I managed 10 out of the 12 days in a row, consuming a total of 92 Litres of beer along with a number of schnapps (shots to normal people). It got the best of me and completely destroyed me. But it was the best time I've ever had. For the Berg, there are a number of different beer kellers ran by different breweries from around the area. They all make up one long strip and each sell 1 Litre Maß of either full strength festival beer (around 8% alcohol content), a watered down with lemonade shandy version called Radler or Alcohol free beer.

Obviously I never parted from the full strength stuff and the Berg was a challenge which I was more than happy to accept. Every day consisted in waking up around 9am, throwing on my must have Lederhosen and heading straight to the Berg. A bite to eat on the way or up at the festival was a must if you were going to survive the whole day. Then straight to one of the kellers to get the first Maß, where you were served almost immediately all day every day - very dangerous. The whole day involved drinking, dancing and trying not to lose your friends in the mass of people there. Plenty of bands playing throughout the strip with the normally reserved Germans singing along to every word of the, as it seemed, usual festival songs - both in German and English. So there we were, beer in hand making our way through the crowds trying to find a free table to dance on.

Despite hearing the previous week from a German friend that she broke her ribs the previous year falling off one of the super thin tables we proceeded to get on a table, jump up and down with beer in hand and sing along to the bands playing. It took only 3 days until the risk of injury came apparent. The third day of the festival i lost my footing on the table and banged the ceramic Maß on my tooth, chipping it, leaving my once perfectly natural straight teeth looking like those of a hill billy. Absolutely gutted I felt sober again. However not long after realising there was nothing that could be done and the fact my best mate was a dentist and he could fix the mess I had made in two weeks time I continued to party like I didn't have a care in the world. Also to my surprised the ugly teeth didn't seem to put off the ladies, but maybe they were too drunk to notice. The Berg was completely mental. I was drinking beer at 8€ a litre - a bargain for the strength, I was with good friends, dancing and having an absolute blast to some amazing live music, chatting happily about absolute bollocks to the normally reserved German people, people trying to buy beer from me because I apparently looked so German. Prosting every 2 minutes. Seeing hot girls in Dirndls... Boobs everywhere! Kissing 14 different girls in the first 7 days of the festival. This was to me, better than Vegas!!!

Annafest - Forchheim

So a month or so after the Berg started, Annafest was on the cards. Annafest is the beer festival for the next town north of Erlangen, Forchheim. Now this beer festival was a bit more spread out and the beer kellers were right at the top of a hill which involved a long walk up. Also with this festival being in mid June when the weather was reaching temperatures of around 40degC it was horrible. I wanted to wear my Lederhosen, but wearing leather in this heat and having to walk up a steep hill in it was a definite no go. Now again, it was very easy to get a beer without having to clamber over people, queue or have any other stress of waiting for a beer. The beer here though wasn't as good as at the Berg. So with the layout, the beer not being the best and the fact that the heat was so extreme that it made it feel like a lot of effort to be there, I didn't really like it and so only went for a day. I won't be attending this beer festival again in the future - Not unless for some reason the temperatures plummet when the festival is on.

Sandkerwa - Bamberg

The last beer festival I went to in the summer was the Sandkerwa which was the next main town north, so after Forchheim. Now this beer festival occurred in the actual town of Bamberg rather than in surrounding woodland. This made it easily accessible. The beer was a lot better and luckily the day I went it was reasonably cool for the end of July. Again with friends that I had recently met it made it incredible. The beer was reasonable and I drank a lot again. Luckily there was no tables for me to dance on as with how drunk I got I probably would of. So an early Saturday morning of the beer festival, a few of us took the train from Erlangen with a crate of beer to warm up (very common on the way to beer festivals). We then had a drinking session within the train station to wait for the rest of the crew who had missed our train and were getting the next one. Once united, we headed for the main town of Bamberg. Being a large group of boys and girls there was lots of noise and we attracted the attention of other by goers in which we made general chit chat with. Beer festival days are very relaxed between the mix of people - Not like England where everyone would probably fight as they can't not after a lot of alcohol. Finally at the main town we went between different bars with outside tents and drank, danced and had lots of fun.

With such a big mixed group I decided not to pursue girls outside of the group, but turned my attention to the hot Brazilian girl in the group. I don't know if it was the alcohol or me, but I striked lucky and got my prize and somehow she is now my girlfriend. So as the night went on, we stumbled around the town as if it was any other night out to then finally take the last train home. A complete mess I fell asleep to be woken up in Erlangen, which was brilliant as I didn't have to experience the horrible 40 minute journey. The Sandkerwa isn't your typical style beer festival. But it is one that is enjoyable being on level ground and not having to clamber up a hill to get yourself a beer.

Oktoberfest - Munich

The last beer festival in the year, the world famous Oktoberfest - which actually starts at the end of September. Now Oktoberfest is huge with a great beer tent layout and plenty to see and do. But its popularity lets it down by not making it feel as authentic as the other smaller beer festivals mentioned above. In other beer festivals you will find probably 90% of the people there are German and this is what makes them. Oktoberfest is full of people from all over the world. Its popularity therefore causes accommodation prices at that time to go sky high, which was a pain for us as on the standard train it is at least a 2 and a half hour journey from Erlangen. For my first Oktoberfest experience I only had the opportunity to go for one day. So with an early start of 6am we all got ready and took a train down to Munich. Due to the fact we had to catch more than one train this caused issues. The first train was delayed meaning we missed the second train from Nuremberg to Munich. So to the shop it was to buy some more beer for the journey down. Luckily being a big group this killed the time and the boredom as we made good chit chat and drank lots of beer.

With a group pass costing around 9€ each all day, that made Oktoberfest more attractive as we could travel there and back and not have to fork out 50€ each for a Hotel or even a Hostel room, which would still more than likely be booked up. 

After a long pain in the arse journey we finally arrived at Oktoberfest around 11am, much later than we wanted to. It was therefore impossible to go in one of the beer tents, even though I think generally you have to book a table in there. However we found a couple of benches outside a tent where we could still order beer. The place was chock a block and it took around 2 hours to finally get a beer. By this time I had sobered up from the beer on the train. Beer was costing about 9€ for a Maß so that was good surprising it was Oktoberfest, however you couldn't order beer quick enough to get drunk quickly - maybe this is a good thing though.

Throughout the day we wandered about a bit and got bits and pieces to eat and went to the outside areas of the other tents to drink. But here I didn't like the fact that you couldn't take your beer outside the tent area. All in all, Oktoberfest was too busy and it was too stressful and took too long to order a beer. However after only one day I feel I need to give Oktoberfest a second chance to redeem itself. Especially as we went on the opening day of it. Maybe next time I shall go mid week.

So my conclusion on German beer festivals is that the Bavarian towns outside of Munich that host beer festivals unknown to the rest of the world are the best. There is still a huge range of beer variety but you can get served quick and easy. The people at these beer festivals seem to get along with everyone. The music is amazing. It is just on a whole, less stressful and more fun. The Berg is the best I have been to in the area around where I live, just north of Nuremberg. It is a small walk up a hill to get to the main area. But once there, it is flat and you can't really miss a beer keller like you can at Annafest. The music and the atmosphere is amazing and I will probably go every year for the rest of my life now, no matter where in the world I am living.

The Weeknd - An amazing artist

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across an artist called 'The Weeknd'. I was watching many of Amy Gaertner's amazing dance videos and one in specific was choreography to a song called Next. So I looked up this song to get a cleaner version to listen to properly. I thought this artist was super talented and wondered why I'd never heard of him before. It turned out he is featured on some of Drake's tracks. Still I don't know why non of his own music has been entered into any of the charts. My musical taste is quite broad, but the music which I'd say I'm 'into' is generally Hip Hop and RnB. From the age of 11 when I first properly got into music, it was all about Hip Hop for me, specifically Eminem. Now even though I'd still state Hip Hop as being my favourite genre of music, as I grew older and also became fond of and quite good at street dancing my music taste shifted towards the likes of RnB, a genre of music which I would class as a type based on Hip Hop but with more flow that you can dance to. So through my University years, I was listening to a lot more RnB than Hip Hop. Now I'm at a stage in my life where this sort of music is still my favoured, but I am now very keen on artists with pure talent and possessing a good strong, deep soulful voice. The Weeknd fits this description perfectly. Darren Hayes of the pop/rock band Savage Garden I can safely say has a lot of talent, from his song writing to the perfect sound his voice makes, being both beautiful and soulful. The Weeknd is the perfect combination of RnB and a voice like Darren Hayes. 

The Weeknd has a number of amazing tracks with clever meaningful lyrics. The music is slow paced but with so much power, mainly from the punchy bass which gives it the RnB vibe. I could listen to the Weeknd all day and not get bored. His albums Kiss Land and the Trilogy (3 CD album) have an endless amount of listening. I don't know why it has taken me this long to find him, but I'm glad I finally have. His top 5 tracks are as follows:

1. The Morning
2. Next
3. Wicked Games
4. Montreal
5. Pretty

So listen to them to be intoduced. Then if you like it, I urge you to go out and buy or download his album and have hours of listening pleasure. Whether it be driving music or just music to chill to. I guarantee it to be both pleasurable and relaxing.

Nightlife in Newcastle

Nightlife in the north of England is by far the best in the country. I think its because us northerners are much more wild and weird. Now Manchester and Liverpool both offer amazing nights out. But I tell you now. Nothing gets better than a weekend out in Newcastle. Since leaving Uni one of my best friends has moved to Newcastle with his girlfriend as he landed himself a top job there. Since then the rest of us Uni group have made several visits for some mental reunion nights out. These nights out don't get any better than when its boys only. This way we don't get held back by our female companions who can't drink half of what we can. Also, we can get a little bit silly and have a cheeky flirt with the older generation.

Now one thing I've noticed the most in Newcastle, is that every nightout we've had, we always end up bumping into a hen do, and they generally consist of the whole family. The most wild of these groups is usually good old Gran. She may be pushing on 60 but she definitely still knows how to party and she likes taking advantage of us young boys. What's even better is each hen do do a fancy dress theme and even Gran goes all out in a Naughty Navy outfit or of the such.

These Geordie Lasses are so much fun. They really know how to party. They sure as hell give us young men a run for our money, even Gran who states she could do the splits on our face! Incredible! The crazy grannies aside, (who also offer us the irresistible go of motor boating), the booze is so cheap in Newcastle. I think you can in some places buy a quadruple vodka mixer for around £3 or £4. Cannot go much wrong there. Also typical northerners, everyone is just so friendly. There is noone who you can't have a laugh with be it by the bar or just walking down the street.

Apart from University nights out, I would definitely say Newcastle has been my best night outs within the UK and I'm always eager to know when our next gathering is. Even though me and the boys are dotted all over the UK and me now abroad, we all still agree to make Newcastle our party city of choice. All I can say is bring on April 18th. I'll be seeing you Newcastle Nans.

The Average Man's Hairdresser/Barber

In recent times I have found myself getting in with fashion, so to speak... Well in particularly with how I have my haircut. Keeping it long on top and going for the posh/suave sort of look. Now I'd say I was really going for the Justin Timberlake current style, however the hairdressers or barbers I have tried in the past 8 months in the UK, Germany and now Holland still can't seem to master it. Even after showing them a picture. This exact picture here to be precise.

Now ok, I'm not paying top dollar, but how hard can it be? I mean to me it looks a 2 back and sides (6mm) with it long but neat on top. I've also noticed that on pretty much all occasions that the person doing my hair basically ignores what I ask for and generally does what they want, I mean who is the customer here seriously? It reminds me of a time in first year of University when me and my friends went to a certain barber and requested for it to be cut a certain way, and he straight out said 'I'm not doing that, hair isn't meant to be cut that way, it would look stupid'. This with my friend asking for his fringe to be cut shorter. Complete joke. And I mean a hair cut isn't cheap, at an average of £9 - it maybe me just being stingy being a value for money sort of person.

Another thing that worries me, and it is generally with female hairdressers. But they will cut my hair, and I can see in the mirror it doesn't look right, sometimes they cut my hair sort of square. And I can see the panic in their eyes thinking 'why won't this cut right?' or 'I don't know what I'm doing'. Then rather than stand back for a second or two and assess what they can do to get it right, they just continue to chop more away and hope it improves. Luckily for me the most recent time I had it cut it did. So I generally have a rule of thumb when it comes to getting my hair cut and that is to not have a woman do it! I'm not sexist, I just feel that women are better at cutting women's hair whereas a male barber always seems to know what he's doing with a man's hair. But sometime I sit down in the chair for then a woman to come and ask me how I want it and I am just too polite to say I want a male hairdresser.

Another thing with the average kind of hairdresser and barber is once they have finished and they ask if you want it styling. Well I don't know where they learnt to style, as I doubt they would ever do their own hair as terrible as they seem to do mine. It starts by using the cheapest wet look hair gel ever! they have this huge like litre tub that cost about £1 and it is so crap. It stinks, feels horrible and makes your hair look terrible. I mean with my style of cut you would never use wet look gel, so I don't know why they are so stingy in buying the crap. Then they just seem to brush it in some terrible direction and make you look like its a first ever attempt at styling your own hair.

I don't know why I tell them yes, I sit there watch them put so much in and slick it back and I look absolutely ridiculous. I then have to endure an embarrassing walk home where I inevitably wash it all out and style it properly with some more expensive VO5 putty which adds good hold and a sleek more natural look.

Anyway, like I said before maybe I'm being stingy and I'm now earning good money, so I think next time I shall spend a bit more money and go to more of a professional. In the UK I'd spend about £8, in Germany it was 12€, my latest haircut in Rotterdam was 15€ and I would always complain about my haircut, ok its not bad, but its not good either! So enough is enough and I have now found a very suave hairdresser who does the classic cuts and it is 30€. So to me this is like women's territory of haircut prices and yes I'm paying double what I normally pay, but hopefully I won't have anything to moan about. Only time will tell. But if I've learnt anything, its that being stylish is expensive. I should just go back to being a skinhead and buy myself some clippers, much cheaper. But I'm always told (and I agree) I have very good hair. So may as well make the most of it, especially if I end up with hair like my father in the future.

Kids and Marriage

So when I was a 16 year old lad, I thought I knew it all. I was very happy young man with my first proper girlfriend, in love with me thinking my future was set in stone. Back then I had very traditional thoughts and thought I'd go through education, get a good job get married, buy a house then have children - In that order. Little did I know that my vision was blurred by immaturity and inexperience of such a young man. Now thankfully I stuck to the first two stepping stones on my list, I kept my head down with my studies and worked hard throughout University to land myself a very good job. My first girlfriend however, the love of my life, decided that she'd rather be with my best friend at the time which now I'm so glad of and she's the one that's missing out - I'd of stuck with her forever, so thank god she left me... Anyway, that's another story. 

So through my progression into growing into a man, I have a complete new view on what marriage and having children means to me and how it should be. This view has also been amplified by the associated costs of things and the non stop world we live in these days. Now as a young man, I would have definitely said no to kids before marriage, I kind of had it in my head as that it is completely wrong and not the best introduction to the world for a child. However, despite my thoughts on marriage being important to show that you are in a life long commitment - I now feel in my mind that marriage isn't necessary and it sure as hell isn't a requirement for having children. I do though think that when having a child, that you and the person you are having that child with should be stable and happily in love and that you are in it for life. Marriage is at the end of the day materialistic and I think that children should be brought into a world by parents who both love the child and each other more than anything else in the world. Marriage does not prove how much you love someone, it is just a way of declaring your commitment to the world. I mean I hope one day I do get married with that one person that you can 100% say is the one. However if I don't, its no biggie. I also hope to have children and I would love them to come after a marriage, but with the cost of weddings these days and the fact that it is a struggle to afford a mortgage - I would rather be happy in love with a mortgage, a stable home with a child. Rather than getting married to have a child and then be £20,000 down from the wedding that could be thrown into a family home. 

My priorities have changed with age. I have seen many of my school friends have children not married, some of which have got married after having children. I see no difference in the happiness they have with their partners and children, married or not married. So to me it is not a priority, it is something I'd want and something that would be nice. But love and happiness should always come before a statement of marriage - especially when a child is involved.

Sound Hound, an incredible app

Being a huge fan of music and having a good sense of rhythm. I'm always looking for new tunes that have a good beat that makes me wanna dance or something that has deep and meaningful lyrics or if possible both these attributes. Since my mid teens I've always had my ears open to new tunes and old tunes that I haven't heard before, or even found myself in situations where I know of a song but know not of the artist nor the name of the song. As a teen this was quite annoying as sometimes I would hope that if heard on the radio they would state the artist and song name at the end of the track - this rarely happened. Or I would recite the memorable lyrics and jot them down as a text message and save to drafts. If I had no paper or phone to hand, it was a matter of trying to keep the tune in my head and reciting lyrics over in my head - this was easily forgotten. So back in the day as you can probably gather, this was quite stressful or I could no longer have the enjoyment of hearing the track again through not knowing what it was or who it was by. If I was lucky to recite lyrics, it was straight onto google when I got home and finding the song through typing the lyrics into the search bar. Then over to YouTube to then have unlimited access to the song.

Now since the introduction of smartphones there has been for a while now an app called Sound Hound. This app is probably one of the best apps out there for music lovers. when you hear a song being played in a bar, in the hairdressers or wherever you are, you simply pull out your phone, start Sound House and press 'click to listen'. The app will then listen to the song and then search a huge database for that song and if it finds a match, relays the artist and track name for you. It even offers you the option to go straight to iTunes to purchase the track. Incredible right? Better still, if you find yourself in an area with no network signal, or you're not well off enough to have mobile internet included in your pay monthly tariff, you can even record the track and find out what it is when you get home and connect to the WiFi. So no more lyric jotting for me. I simply 'click to listen' and I am notified of the name of an epic song withing seconds.

A further advantage of Sound Hound, I believe, is something some artists should thank the app for. The other day I heard a really nice RnB/Soul tune on the radio, so I initiated Sound Hound and it found the song to be 'Mr. Probz - Waves'. Now I urge anyone who is into RnB, HipHop or Soul to get on YouTube and have a listen to that tune, it is really good, the smooth slow sound and his deep soulful voice!... But going back to that discovery, the name, Mr. Probz - he has the stage name you'd associate with some crappy one hit wonder pop artist that chavvy teenagers would most likely listen to. But in fact he is an artist with an incredible voice with songs produced with some very good music. It is just the name that lets him down. So if someone said to me, 'you should really listen to Mr. Probz, he's awesome' I probably wouldn't of, due to how I perceive his stage name. But because first I heard the song, for then Sound Hound to identify him, I actually have more respect for the artist. So Sound Hound, hats off to your mobile app!