SOFIA, definetly one of the more romantic names for a city.
I had no set expectations for it though, I wasn't expecting Paris but I also wasn't not expecting Paris.
I exited the station to find a dark underworld, I turned left and found a walker, a ghoul, a fucking problem.
I turned right and found a ghostly void.
AHHHHHHHH FUCKING CUNTCUNTCUNT.
On my third take, I found an opening up onto the streets.
As I broke out into the open summer night air of Sofia my eyes focused on the word 'HOTEL' painted in big white block letters on the side of a building across the empty streets. I didn't know if it was my hotel or not, but fuck it, I gave it a try.
HOTEL was my hotel.
I was strangely attracted to the guy at the small reception desk.
Tall and skinny, with a baby face and ruffled boyish hair and what appeared to be a sweet, fragile, feminine soul.
I had none of these thoughts in the moment or even in the days after, it's only now as I sit here at my desk at 4:30 in the morning, in southern England, that I have suddenly realised all of this. I could have actually bent this feminine wisp boi of a thing over and fucked him.
Hmm, cool, nice to know.
SOFIA, definetly one of the more romantic names for a city.
I had no set expectations for it though, I wasn't expecting Paris but I also wasn't not expecting Paris.
I exited the station to find a dark underworld, I turned left and found a walker, a ghoul, a fucking problem.
I turned right and found a ghostly void.
AHHHHHHHH FUCKING CUNTCUNTCUNT.
On my third take, I found an opening up onto the streets.
As I broke out into the open summer night air of Sofia my eyes focused on the word 'HOTEL' painted in big white block letters on the side of a building across the empty streets. I didn't know if it was my hotel or not, but fuck it, I gave it a try.
HOTEL was my hotel.
I was strangely attracted to the guy at the small reception desk.
Tall and skinny, with a baby face and ruffled boyish hair and what appeared to be a sweet, fragile, feminine soul.
I had none of these thoughts in the moment or even in the days after, it's only now as I sit here at my desk at 4:30 in the morning, in southern England, that I have suddenly realised all of this. I could have actually bent this feminine wisp boi of a thing over and fucked him.
Hmm, cool, nice to know.
CYPRUS
Cyprus, the 4th new country of the year.
Package Holidays
This was my first package holiday since I was very young and a holiday with my mum too.
One of the things about these package holidays - they are both extremely long and incredibly short. The time dripped on slowly and yet when it came time to leave I felt as if I had just arrived.
Arriving in Paphos
It was night when we arrived in Paphos. At the 'tourist village' an old worker with a thick Northern accent drove us by golf buggy to our apartment.
"You've got a nice room!" he said, in that hard to pinpoint, general Northern accent, the excitement sounded genuine though as we sped around the narrow streets towards our apartment block, one of 48.
It turned out to be the nicest one in the entire village.
The next morning
The next morning we went out onto the balcony and found the deep blue mediterranean and an impressive panoramic view, on the hillside to the left stood the lighthouse built by the British in the 1880s, well-spaced palms lined the beach.
Some words
Breakfast, Beach, 7 Up Free, Balcony
CYPRUS
Cyprus, the 4th new country of the year.
Package Holidays
This was my first package holiday since I was very young and a holiday with my mum too.
One of the things about these package holidays - they are both extremely long and incredibly short. The time dripped on slowly and yet when it came time to leave I felt as if I had just arrived.
Arriving in Paphos
It was night when we arrived in Paphos. At the 'tourist village' an old worker with a thick Northern accent drove us by golf buggy to our apartment.
"You've got a nice room!" he said, in that hard to pinpoint, general Northern accent, the excitement sounded genuine though as we sped around the narrow streets towards our apartment block, one of 48.
It turned out to be the nicest one in the entire village.
The next morning
The next morning we went out onto the balcony and found the deep blue mediterranean and an impressive panoramic view, on the hillside to the left stood the lighthouse built by the British in the 1880s, well-spaced palms lined the beach.
Some words
Breakfast, Beach, 7 Up Free, Balcony
Lithuania was already marked for disapoinment, so I actually wasn't too disapointed about this trip. Estonia was magical, a month later Latvia was Latvia and now here we were, Lithuania, a country I had already proclaimed on BRAD NICHOLLS Podcast would be Number 3, my least favourite Baltic country, because 1. Estonia 2. Latvia 3. Lithuania was the way it should be.
It was.
However.
(And this is where the nation of Lithuania will now forever become an enemy I suppose)
I wasn't expecting such a dramatic drop off.
Estonia GREAT Latvia LATVIA Lithuania OH MY FUCKING FUCK, WHAT A BORE!
Outside my hotel's window - which had a panoramic view of the Vilnius skyline - a small group of workers turned a section of the car park below into what looked like a decently sized mass grave, I watched the progress each day. This would be the most interesting thing Vilnius and Lithuania offered up.
Lithuania was already marked for disapoinment, so I actually wasn't too disapointed about this trip. Estonia was magical, a month later Latvia was Latvia and now here we were, Lithuania, a country I had already proclaimed on BRAD NICHOLLS Podcast would be Number 3, my least favourite Baltic country, because 1. Estonia 2. Latvia 3. Lithuania was the way it should be.
It was.
However.
(And this is where the nation of Lithuania will now forever become an enemy I suppose)
I wasn't expecting such a dramatic drop off.
Estonia GREAT Latvia LATVIA Lithuania OH MY FUCKING FUCK, WHAT A BORE!
Outside my hotel's window - which had a panoramic view of the Vilnius skyline - a small group of workers turned a section of the car park below into what looked like a decently sized mass grave, I watched the progress each day. This would be the most interesting thing Vilnius and Lithuania offered up.
I was disapointed as I caught my first sight of the ground, 'Ah, no snow then.' I thought as the plane approached the runway.
I wasn't expecting the same SNOW MAGIC I experienced a month earlier in Tallinn, but some would have been nice.
Immigration was an annoyance, as was relaxing in the terminal with militant female security guards patrolling for rule-breakers. This Latvia place was aparently a stickler for rules. I enjoy breaking rules. A fun dynamic was already being set.
I ate some lunch in the terminal and then headed for the bus. As I boarded the thing, the happiest damn bus driver in the world greeted me.
I can't remember exactly what he said, but I do remember he said it all with the zeal of a dof dof is a new word that now exists, I was going to write dog and then something about a dog being happy with some kinda bone or something, but I'm keeping it as dof this motherfuckin' bus driver was a mo'fu'n DOF.
The guy truly loved driving that bus.
When I arrived in my room I was happy to find an extremely Latvian view out the window. I don't know why it was extremely Latvian, it just was. I felt like I was in Latvia and I liked that.
I turned on the television and as usual went straight for the news. . .
CNN Ukraine Russia Invasion Madness
I was disapointed as I caught my first sight of the ground, 'Ah, no snow then.' I thought as the plane approached the runway.
I wasn't expecting the same SNOW MAGIC I experienced a month earlier in Tallinn, but some would have been nice.
Immigration was an annoyance, as was relaxing in the terminal with militant female security guards patrolling for rule-breakers. This Latvia place was aparently a stickler for rules. I enjoy breaking rules. A fun dynamic was already being set.
I ate some lunch in the terminal and then headed for the bus. As I boarded the thing, the happiest damn bus driver in the world greeted me.
I can't remember exactly what he said, but I do remember he said it all with the zeal of a dof dof is a new word that now exists, I was going to write dog and then something about a dog being happy with some kinda bone or something, but I'm keeping it as dof this motherfuckin' bus driver was a mo'fu'n DOF.
The guy truly loved driving that bus.
When I arrived in my room I was happy to find an extremely Latvian view out the window. I don't know why it was extremely Latvian, it just was. I felt like I was in Latvia and I liked that.
I turned on the television and as usual went straight for the news. . .
CNN Ukraine Russia Invasion Madness
The plane dropped below the clouds and into a new world. This world was one beyond the wardrobe, the other side of some wormhole somewhere, a sealed off enchantment of those in the know. Basically, it had a FUCK load of snow.
It had been a long time since I had seen this much snow.
On the ground all the arrivals seemed exhalted by the wonderland outside.
Several english speakers testified to the airport terminal that they had, "Never seen this much snow before in Estonia."
I jumped on the tram and made it to downtown. I kind of wanted to get lost in the snow on the way to my hotel, but once I stepped off the tram the hotel was a very easy find. So I checked in instead, all the while thinking of the snow fun I would be having that night and the next day and the day after that.
I went up to my room and headed straight for the wall of windows at the end of it. I tore the curtains open to a perfect view of Tallinn, snow-consumed Tallinn. I already loved it. I loved Tallinn, I loved Estonia.
By the time I went back outside the sky had blackened and the aesthetic floor of snow had been added to by the lights of buildings and street lights.
I realised that snow actually made me happy. Thinking about it now, certain weather does have that ability. All kinds of extreme weather brings out the child inside. When I'm in the tropics I always have another element of me there, when I'm in the real cold, same thing. Perhaps I just don't like boring weather; in fewer words - I can't wait for some real climate change.
The plane dropped below the clouds and into a new world. This world was one beyond the wardrobe, the other side of some wormhole somewhere, a sealed off enchantment of those in the know. Basically, it had a FUCK load of snow.
It had been a long time since I had seen this much snow.
On the ground all the arrivals seemed exhalted by the wonderland outside.
Several english speakers testified to the airport terminal that they had, "Never seen this much snow before in Estonia."
I jumped on the tram and made it to downtown. I kind of wanted to get lost in the snow on the way to my hotel, but once I stepped off the tram the hotel was a very easy find. So I checked in instead, all the while thinking of the snow fun I would be having that night and the next day and the day after that.
I went up to my room and headed straight for the wall of windows at the end of it. I tore the curtains open to a perfect view of Tallinn, snow-consumed Tallinn. I already loved it. I loved Tallinn, I loved Estonia.
By the time I went back outside the sky had blackened and the aesthetic floor of snow had been added to by the lights of buildings and street lights.
I realised that snow actually made me happy. Thinking about it now, certain weather does have that ability. All kinds of extreme weather brings out the child inside. When I'm in the tropics I always have another element of me there, when I'm in the real cold, same thing. Perhaps I just don't like boring weather; in fewer words - I can't wait for some real climate change.
For some reason the flight to Dublin had a heightened importance.
I don’t know why but I felt it, I spent the entire flight neck twisted to the right, taking in every cloud and all the differences in terrain the plane was shooting past. It was a beautiful and varied flight. Meaningful Entertainment.
I spent my entire time in Dublin Sqwenking around. That’s a new word I’ve just created. Sqwenking.
I knew I had nothing to do in Dublin and that’s exactly what I did.
In all honesty it just looked like a UK city and not one of the more interesting ones. It took only one long walk around to come to that conclusion.
SO I SQWENKED.
For some reason the flight to Dublin had a heightened importance.
I don’t know why but I felt it, I spent the entire flight neck twisted to the right, taking in every cloud and all the differences in terrain the plane was shooting past. It was a beautiful and varied flight. Meaningful Entertainment.
I spent my entire time in Dublin Sqwenking around. That’s a new word I’ve just created. Sqwenking.
I knew I had nothing to do in Dublin and that’s exactly what I did.
In all honesty it just looked like a UK city and not one of the more interesting ones. It took only one long walk around to come to that conclusion.
SO I SQWENKED.
I have PND.
Place Nostalgia Disorder.
It is serious.
It hits me often and without warning.
In the bath. Frying some eggs. Staring off into another dimension.
PND!
F u c k , h e r e w e g o
I begin longing for my bench in Ohori Park in Fukuoka, the one with the turtles swimming up against the concrete lake shore to say hellooo…
I daydream of my old window, open, the heat of Taipei spills into the room. I gaze at the police station and the student accommodation across the street and further off the long row of shops, convenience stores and restaurants… I’m smoking a strong cigarette. My girlfriends still in class. I’m 22 years old.
I have PND.
Place Nostalgia Disorder.
It is serious.
It hits me often and without warning.
In the bath. Frying some eggs. Staring off into another dimension.
PND!
F u c k , h e r e w e g o
I begin longing for my bench in Ohori Park in Fukuoka, the one with the turtles swimming up against the concrete lake shore to say hellooo…
I daydream of my old window, open, the heat of Taipei spills into the room. I gaze at the police station and the student accommodation across the street and further off the long row of shops, convenience stores and restaurants… I’m smoking a strong cigarette. My girlfriends still in class. I’m 22 years old.
I ate a lot of Burger King in Madrid. And, some very sweet Spanish pastries.
I had some Tinder dates as usual, they went as Tinder dates usually go.
I went around the city and saw some sights.
I liked Madrid but didn’t especially love it, so after a few days I jumped on a high-speed train to Barcelona which I found to be more my kinda city.
It often felt like I was in a separate nation in Catalonia. I can’t see Spain holding onto this part of the world for much longer. I only saw a single Spanish flag.
Since I arrived in Spain I had been searching for the next country on the trip. Covid has made travel such a fucking annoyance in so many ways.
Portugal? Eastern Europe? Ireland? Turkey? Cyprus? Malta? The Baltic states?
Eventually I decided on Andorra and it was one the reasons I had come to Barcelona. To have that option there.
I ate a lot of Burger King in Madrid. And, some very sweet Spanish pastries.
I had some Tinder dates as usual, they went as Tinder dates usually go.
I went around the city and saw some sights.
I liked Madrid but didn’t especially love it, so after a few days I jumped on a high-speed train to Barcelona which I found to be more my kinda city.
It often felt like I was in a separate nation in Catalonia. I can’t see Spain holding onto this part of the world for much longer. I only saw a single Spanish flag.
Since I arrived in Spain I had been searching for the next country on the trip. Covid has made travel such a fucking annoyance in so many ways.
Portugal? Eastern Europe? Ireland? Turkey? Cyprus? Malta? The Baltic states?
Eventually I decided on Andorra and it was one the reasons I had come to Barcelona. To have that option there.
