I don't think we're in Kansas anymore
Someone once told me that if the first line of a book is bad that the book is guaranteed to fail. So, no pressure! As I face the blank page and blinking cursor, positively pregnant with possibility, I would love to be able to start with something profound like a buddhist proverb but am not really sure if that's so tosspot that it will guarantee immediate tanking. So, I guess the easiest way to start is at the beginning.
A little over nine weeks ago I crammed a nylon backpack with various clothes, MP3 players, travel guides, a phrase book, and the vague plan of leaving behind my well paid, but not particularly challenging, job and beloved but insanely neurotic lilac point siamese cat, Shylock (she was the runt of a litter, only weighed a pound... yep, literary humour) in Sydney, Australia to start a new life in London.
Why London? No particular reason, other than any country that is foolish enough to idolise the Spice Girls is probably foolish enough to employ me.
So far I have spent the last nine weeks travelling through Greece, Italy, Spain and am currently in Portugal, before heading to France and then chunnelling my way to the land of egg and chips in late September.
Greece itself was hilarious if not slow. Three friends flew into meet me for our island hopping sojourn before they went onto Turkey. Consequently my memories of Greece are largely smoky and hazy due to what was an undeniable bender, including the visit of one friend to a chemist to be injected with Vomex to ease her outstanding hang over.
Fortunately chemists in Athens can administer sub cutaneous injections without a medical script, meaning day two for said friend involved presenting her bare backside in downtown Athens to a (hopefully) bemused Athenian chemist. And so, armed with another two doses of Vomex, tickets for our ferry to Syros that had required substantial charming on my behalf to have re-issued without penalty due to the...medical emergency that had presented itself to us some hours earlier we bid a fond farewell to Despina, our local bar attendant and began the adventure that's generally not described in the Lonely Planet, although is undoubtedly the adventure most Australians have in Greece!
A little over nine weeks ago I crammed a nylon backpack with various clothes, MP3 players, travel guides, a phrase book, and the vague plan of leaving behind my well paid, but not particularly challenging, job and beloved but insanely neurotic lilac point siamese cat, Shylock (she was the runt of a litter, only weighed a pound... yep, literary humour) in Sydney, Australia to start a new life in London.
Shylock, looking smug, and defying gravity
Why London? No particular reason, other than any country that is foolish enough to idolise the Spice Girls is probably foolish enough to employ me.
So far I have spent the last nine weeks travelling through Greece, Italy, Spain and am currently in Portugal, before heading to France and then chunnelling my way to the land of egg and chips in late September.
Greece itself was hilarious if not slow. Three friends flew into meet me for our island hopping sojourn before they went onto Turkey. Consequently my memories of Greece are largely smoky and hazy due to what was an undeniable bender, including the visit of one friend to a chemist to be injected with Vomex to ease her outstanding hang over.
View from Athens hostel, chemist next to bus
Fortunately chemists in Athens can administer sub cutaneous injections without a medical script, meaning day two for said friend involved presenting her bare backside in downtown Athens to a (hopefully) bemused Athenian chemist. And so, armed with another two doses of Vomex, tickets for our ferry to Syros that had required substantial charming on my behalf to have re-issued without penalty due to the...medical emergency that had presented itself to us some hours earlier we bid a fond farewell to Despina, our local bar attendant and began the adventure that's generally not described in the Lonely Planet, although is undoubtedly the adventure most Australians have in Greece!
