Mallorca

 We booked this time off work last month to do a proper camping trip in Cornwall as we've been told its got the best scenery in Britain and we'd like to get some camping in over here. As the shit June that London's been having wore on it became pretty clear we were going to get rained out so we figured if the sun won't come to us we'll go to the sun.

We booked it all on a whim just a couple days before so there was little time to prepare or anticipate which made it really exciting. Being able to take off like that to anywhere in Europe is just amazing and something I'm sure I'll pine for the rest of my life.

Our only criteria was that it be warm and cheap so out options were wide open. We got a package deal to Port D'Alcudia on Mallorca that was flights, transfers and 4 nights all inclusive for £340 each so we figured why not. All I knew about Mallorca was that it was a Spanish island that's got spots I've seen in a few skate videos and the weather said 32 and sunny. Done.

Neither of us had done all inclusive before but for what we paid our expectations were low and if we ate and drank off site it wasn't the end of the world. The resort was nicer than expected and exceeded the scary reviews we'd read. Though that wasn't a stretch. For a budget and brief holiday it was perfect. Shitty buffet food, free drinks, 7 pools and a bed were all we needed.

The town itself was alright, small and very touristy, but the beach was stunning and stretched for 30km or so around a bay. We spent our first day there lounging in the sun and proving Sainsburys spf15 sunblock was not good enough for our pale skin.

It's difficult for me to go somewhere new and not explore. As much as I love relaxing by a pool or beach I just always have this urge to see more and more. Lucky for me our sunburns meant we wouldn't be lying in the sun all day the second day. We rented a car and set out to find some snorkeling. It was nice to get behind the wheel on the correct side of the road, but I do feel like going back and forth all the time is setting myself up for disaster. We drove through some amazing country side as well as villages with streets barely wide enough for our little VW Polo. I never imagined I'd drive anywhere as busy and chaotic as Central London or tiny Spanish village like Son Servera with streets so narrow both mirrors are nearly touching building. It's pretty surreal.

I fell in love with snorkeling in Hawaii and couldn't wait to get back into some water where I can see further than my hand in front of my face. We ended up in a small town on the south coast called Cala Morlanda which had another great white sand beach, but more importantly a rocky area free of people and full of fish. It wasn't as colorful as Oahu but there was still a great variety of fish and it was so nice to explore the clear warm water. I'd love to have some photos but my bulky $400 everything proof camera crapped out at the first splash.

We headed east from there to a place called Cala Rajada for some more snorkeling. This was a really cool looking town with a more authentic feel and quieter resorts. We found a beautiful little cove at the end of a road with not too many people and some more great snorkeling.

From here we drove north back through Alcudia to the Serra de Tramuntana which is a very unique looking limestone mountain range that stretches the north of the island. The road was an absolute blast to rip through with countless hairpin turns and no traffic. The views were incredible too.

We ended up in Palma, which is the main city on Mallorca. Decided to check out a couple skate spots I'd seen to make use of bringing my board here. It was nice to get back on my board on Spanish ground. Palma had some similarities to Barcelona, open plazas with smooth ground, but it wasn't quite the playground Barcelona was.

We spent our last day pool side taking advantage of the weather, the resorts pools and views and free drinks. Afterwards we wandered to the beach to take in the sunset and have a nice Mallorcan dinner of tapas and paella.

Mallorca wasn't somewhere we'd planned on going but it was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect every second we were there. I'm sure Cornwall is lovely and I hope we can still go soon, but this was a hell of a second choice.

-Justin

The cost

A co-worker from Citytv sent me a message asking about the average cost of things here, so I thought I'd do up a quick blog with some examples of basic costs in case others were curious too. One thing to keep in mind is that 20% tax is included in all of these prices, so what you see is what you get. Also, tipping is optional and not expected in most cases, and if you do tip 10% is fair.


Food And Drink:

The average cheapest pint of lager costs around £3.50 at a pub.
A cheap bottle of wine from a supermarket is £5 and out for dinner you can get a cheap one for £9.
There are cheap dine out deals here, things like curry and a pint for £5 or two can dine for £10, but while the food is edible if you're on a budget, it's pretty obvious it's reheated crap.
The average good priced meal out costs around £10 for the main course. Portions are small compared to North American standards.
The average good Sunday roast dinner costs £15.

Just one of many 'Curry and a Pint' deals

You can buy bread, crackers, and similar food basics for under £1.00. I just bought a huge bag of fresh basil for .80 pence. Groceries in general are quite cheap.
You can buy amazing cheese in any supermarket and its about 1/4th of the price you would pay in Canada.
Many pubs and restaurants have happy hour where drinks are dirt cheap.
Beer is very inexpensive at grocery stores - We just bought 3 cases for £25.


Transportation:

Monthly transit ranges from £60-£180 if you're using it as your main source of transportation, depending on zones and how much you need it etc.
A bus trip is £2.30 or if you have an Oyster card (a reloadable card you can have money or monthly passes on) it is £1.30. There are no transfers.
Used cars about 10-15 years old range from £500 - £2000 to buy.
Gas currently is about £1.40/litre
You can find great deals on flights to pretty much anywhere, but the cheapest fly when the tube is closed and from a difficult to get to airport, which adds significantly to your cost.

Bills and Basics:

Mobile phone contracts are great here. Ours includes daily roaming international data and pretty much unlimited everything else for £50 per month.
Bills are expensive and many. Electricity is the biggest cost, council tax (which is like property tax and everyone pays according to their borough and house) is due monthly, TV license fee is a yearly fee, parking fee, water, etc.
TV, Internet, and landline costs us about £50 a month inclusive.
Rent is out of wack here, with most people living in shared accommodation and roughly paying £400 per person per month.
Minimum wage is about £6.10


Entertainment and Shopping:

Clothing is generally the same number you would pay in Dollars, but in Pounds. I only buy the cheapest things if any so that's all I can really speak to -Recently I bought a tank top for £4 and a summer dress for £8 from H&M.
There are markets everywhere with clothes, food, and trinkets at various prices.
Movie tickets are about £12 but you get a selected seat. Some movie theaters allow you to drink alcohol.
Most museums are free, asking for a donation if you can spare it.
Concerts vary but seem to generally be cheaper than tickets would be in Canada. We saw Foster the People and tickets were £12.50. We are going to a 3 days festival in August and it was about £230 each including camping and parking.

Gay Paree

Paris was pretty much on the top of our list of cities to visit while we were here so when Genevieve's friend Candice and her boyfriend Nathan told us they were getting a flat for a couple weeks and invited us to join them we jumped on it. We spent 4 nights cramping their studio apartment and exploring the French capital.

We took the Eurostar through the chunnel which cost 80 pounds each return I think, but even better than the cost was the ease of the journey. It took less than 4 hours from our door in Wimbledon to the streets of central Paris. A trip from Vancouver to Qualicum takes longer than that. Amsterdam from Luton airport was nearly double. The central location of the stations and the ease of security and customs was such a treat compared to air travel and Paris is quite easily doable in a weekend here which is awesome.

I'd been told that Paris was a disappointment to some people, and I guess the way the city is romanticized and so iconic I can see it being built up to an inevitable let down. Personally I didn't expect it to wow me or change my life, I just thought it looked like an interesting place with some stuff to see that was easy to get to. It met those expectations quite easily.

We started our first day by dropping off our bags and promptly hitting the metro for a wander. We aimed for the area surrounding Notre Dame for a start. I really liked seeing a different style of building from London, while they appear to be similar aged buildings and really not so far from London it was quite a distinct difference that made me realize just how diverse Europe is for such a relatively small area. You can drive 12 hours in BC and refill your Big Gulp at the same 7-11, here you go through a couple countries and feel worlds apart.

I had no intention of going to Notre Dame before we got here, but it looked interesting and the line was reasonable so we climbed the 400 something spiraled stone steps to the top for a view of Paris. This turned out to be my favorite part of the trip actually. The steps all have deep grooves worn in the stone from 800 years of traffic, and the view from the top is incredible. Sharing a view of Paris with Gargoyles that have been there hundreds of years was surreal, picturing the differences they've seen over the centuries just staring off with their goofy faces. I loved those gargoyles.

Paris has a number of famous skate spots I'd wanted to check out, so I brought my board, but having just skated once since rolling my ankle 4 months ago I didn't really expect to skate. I played the role of skate tourist one afternoon and went by myself to look at a few famous spots with no intention of skating. The next day for some reason Genevieve was keen to join me to a couple spots in case there was a chance of 'filming' a trick on one of our digital cameras. It was pretty ridiculous, but there's not many chances in life to skate and get a trick in a city on the other side of the world, regardless of the camera or the mediocre maneuver, so we did it and it was pretty fun. Might be usable, might not, but it was nice to get on the board a bit in Paris on a vacation pretty far removed from a skate trip with the boys.

Genevieve's coworker Hannah happened to be in Paris the same time as us with the boyfriend and sister so we got to meet them at the park across the Seine from the Eiffel tower for some wine and baguettes. Before coming to Paris my only must see was the Eiffel tower, so sitting there drinking wine and watching it sparkle was a moment I won't forget. It always feels a little weird at those iconic sights because you don't really choose to want to see them, someone else does. I guess it's just symbolic of where you are and regardless of what it is, that's how you know you're somewhere new and different. Either way it was pretty moving.

The Louvre was kind of the same, a must see as chosen by everyone else. I did want to go, but having spent so much time in museums in London our limit was pretty short. The sun was shining too bright to spend much time in there so we parted ways with Candice and checked out the Mona Lisa and a handful of things on the way out. I think my favorite part of the Louvre was the mayhem around the famous pieces, all crowding around and taking pictures of the highlights from their travel books without really knowing what else is in there. Just to be clear I'm no better, I just find all of it a little off.

Food and drink in Paris was quite expensive in comparison to London. It was tough to justify 8 Euros on a glass (not a pint) of beer that wasn't even filled to the top. This would explain why there weren't really any pubs in the way we're used to, and most people seemed to just be drinking wine in the parks or on the Seine at night. Another wonderful example of public drinking gone right. We did go for one nice dinner in a fancy little french restaurant, Gen earned it tagging along to skate spots.

We'd heard the stereotype that Paris was dirty and the French were assholes, and while there's always some truth to stereotypes I didn't find it too bad. Most people, while not friendly, weren't particularly rude either. Where ever we tried to use a little grade 9 French they would always speak English. The city itself was pretty dirty though, and the funny thing is I think Paris has been told how beautiful it is for so long that it's gotten a sense of arrogance and that it's too good to clean the puke and dog shit off it's sidewalks. There were also a lot more sketchy characters than we've seen in London, meaning I had my wallet in my front pocket quite a bit. There's a lot of gypsy scams I remembered from Barcelona as well as aggressive African men selling trinkets at all the tourist sites.

I really enjoyed 5 days in Paris, it was great to see all the iconic sights as well as a lot of Paris I hadn't planned on exploring, but I wouldn't want to spend much more time there. Great place to visit but not somewhere I'd want to spend a lot of time, I just didn't really mesh with things there. Coming back to our home base in London is so nice and makes me so happy to travel the way we are. Being able to bank and use our phones for free in Europe is a sweet bonus too.

-Justin

The Queens After Party

Invite To The Party

Today was the big day. We went to the Queens Garden Party at Buckingham palace - Justin dressed in his best borrowed suit and me in my TK Maxx dress and M&S hat. Two other ladies were wearing the same dress as me. I wasn't surprised.

The Classy Couple?

We were told cameras weren't allowed and phones had to be turned off once entering the palace, but when we got there we realized it was ok to take a few pictures if you were subtle, and the rule mainly applied to taking photos of the royal family. As such we have some pictures of us enjoying the sights, but none of the Royal family, whom we got VERY close to.

The Queue Outside

We queued outside the palace for about 20 minutes and then were let in through the front gates and lead through two rooms in the palace to the back garden. Tents were set up for tea service and chairs and tables were in various areas of the massive green space.

After wandering around the garden and grounds when we first arrived for about an hour, and drinking some lemon and barley, we gathered around the garden terrace for the family to arrive. We knew the Queen was going to be there but the other members of the family alternate between the three days, and so we didn't know who else to expect. At about 4:00 the family was presented on the terrace and that's when we could hear people murmuring that Prince Charles, Camilla, and Kate Middleton were there, which everyone was very excited about.

View From The Terrace

Ushers in top hats made us form rows for members of the family to walk through the crowds, each one going down a different lane. We had no idea who would be coming down our lane, but we were standing in between two with a good view of both, so we figured we had a chance of seeing someone important up close.

Important pre selected people were strategically placed in the first rows of each lane, and we were in between two important groups of people. I figured it would be a great place to stand because we would be just as close, but not have to have a nerve wracking awkward conversation. And it was.

Royal Tea Tent Guards

Rumors were circulating about which lane Kate would be going down, and everyone seemed to have a different expert opinion. We heard the Queen was going down a lane quite far away from us, but we stood our ground hoping for the (second?) best. We saw Prince Phillip first in a lane beside us. He looked very old, which I think he is, but he chatted quite a lot with the guests he was introduced to. And then we saw Prince Charles, Camilla, and Kate heading our way. Prince Charles chatted with two ladies directly on my left: he was handsome, with a dark tan and bright blue eyes. He was charming and charismatic and seemed lovely indeed. I don't know what I expected but he really surprised me. Camilla was next down the lane talking to someone a few people away from us. She was surprisingly attractive, I didn't hear much she had to say though. Kate was last and talked to two people standing to my right and slightly in front of me. Basically my big head was right in between them directly facing her. I saw her famous engagement ring when she moved her hair from her face and it was stunning and huge. She was every bit as pretty in person as you would expect, with a brilliant smile and a few wrinkles around her eyes showing she has lead a happy life. She held a pleasant conversation about charity work until she was ushered on by her staff. I didn't expect to find them all so lovely and was quite pleasantly surprised by the whole thing.

After the meetings we went and stood in the queue for tea and little sandwiches. We walked towards the Royal Tea tent where all the important people were socializing. There was a pretty big crowd around the roped off area just hoping for a glimpse of someone special. It's was quite zoo like. We finished our tea and baby sandwiches then rushed to get a glimpse of the queen leaving. She was wearing a lovely purple skirt suit and hat and looked quite sweet and very old.

It was a once in a lifetime experience and I think both of us really appreciated the whole thing. We were a bit uncomfortable in our outfits and with all the formality but it was fun, interesting, and pretty special indeed.

Now off to Paris tomorrow...
Gen

Differences Part 3 - Personal Differences

We've wrote a couple posts about differences between London and Vancouver but haven't included many personal differences. Here are some:


We use transit for everything and they use a re-loadable card system here that you tap in with at every bus or tube station.

Justin does at least half the cooking.

We don't ever turn the boiler on so we live without hot water. (The shower has a separate heater).

It takes about an hour for both of us to get to work. 

We drink in public legally. And it's awesome.

Justin drives a super tiny car. 

We eat Indian food often.

We sleep at least 7 hours a night.

People make fun of how we talk. 

We can pay for things with exact change because tax is included in every price.

Justin usually leaves the house first in the morning. 

We look forward to seeing live music from up and coming bands.

We live without a microwave - It's actually ok, except for re-heating leftovers.

We don't drive through the city because it would take longer than transit.

We go out to watch football (soccer) games.

We drink lots of cider. 

We live with very minimal belongings in our home.

We have maybe 5 friends. 

If we want to go meet up with people we generally travel at least 45 minutes. But it's worth it to see one of your 5 friends.

Genevieve drinks instant coffee at home, not just when camping.

We wear the same clothes over and over again because we don't have many.

We hang our clothes to dry.

We don't eat typical North American fast food.

We're starting to pick up some British slang, and we're not taking the piss.

Genevieve walks twice as fast as she did in Canada but still slower than everyone in London.

We very rarely have people over at our house.

Cooking is more difficult because we have few knives, pots and pans.

We have to remember that CCTV is everywhere.

Just a few things... basically everything is different here but it's hard to describe exactly. We'll keep trying!

Gen & Justin

More Work Than Holiday

The term 'Working Holiday' has been leaning a lot more to the work end of the spectrum the last 6 months. This was to be expected, when you travel without the funds to dick around as you please working is an unfortunate inevitability. I've been hesitant to write about my experiences with work here because it's tough to find the humor in a situation while you're still drudging it out every day. Having just started my third job here, and I'm cautiously optimistic this one will see me through til the end of our time here, I figured I could share how the first 2 went without going off on an expletive laden tangent.

When I decided to become an electrician I didn't really want to do any kind of work at all, and I still don't, but as I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth, I have to work. This is an alright job that keeps the mind and body occupied during reasonable hours/days of the week for a reasonable pay, good enough. So I came to London not too worried about finding work, everybody needs a sparky eventually. Sure there's a recession and times are tough here, but I thought if I just tried harder to find work than anyone else I'd be alright, and I did, and I was... sort of.

After doing as much online applying as I could I started cold calling every company in the phone book. Eventually I got an interview, which happened to be in some guys garage office, and he had gold teeth and corn rows. Good start. He wanted me to show I knew what I was doing, which I only kind of did as things are a fair bit different here. So he insisted I do a half day with him for free (Something I would laugh at back home). I obliged and went with him to install a couple kitchen appliances in the most disgusting council flat kitchen I've ever seen, no problems. The next day he said he wanted me to do 3 more free days to show I can work with the crew and do other stuff. I explained to him that in any economy people exchange their goods and services for money, and anyone who fell for his game was an idiot.

Second interview came from gumtree. This one was in an actual office with a normal looking person. The salary was low, but there was talk of bonuses and I figured it would be alright, so I took it. This was the job I had the last 5 months. Turns out the salary was for an expected 6 days a week, which was a point of contention between us the whole time, I maybe worked half of them, more than I should have. The work was fine, rewiring 2 Victorian houses, something new to me, a challenge. I was in a little over my head seeing as I had never done any work here and it is a fair bit different. Luckily enough they hired another electrician to do the permits and he worked a couple days a week on and off so I was able to ask questions.

Without going on too much, the owner continued to show his flaws as the job went on. I wasn't sure if he was malicious or just an idiot and I'm still not. People were frequently owed money, the owners were often lied to, the job is still going. It just wasn't a good situation in more ways than I care to mention. Over the last couple months the other electrician had been mentioning he had a job starting and would hire me when it did.

So 2 weeks ago that job started and I was able to quit the first one, finally. It was a long way away, 45 miles south, 3 hours of driving a day, and about £15 petrol a day. But I liked the guy, the pay was much better, and it got me out of a bad situation, so we bought a car (and then another car) and I started working for him. The work was fine for the first couple weeks as I sorted out my tax forms from the previous company and registered as self employed. Once that was settled and we again discussed my rate, this guy tells me he has shopped around and can get somebody cheaper. So basically I had put off my job search 2 months, bought a car, quit my job (shitty, but still a job) and worked 2 weeks before he decided to lower our agreed rate. This would be a dick move for anyone, but I actually trusted this guy and considered him a friend, so it stung, and still does. What he was offering was no longer enough to drive that far and pay that much gas every day, so that was the end of that.

My job search lasted all of 1 day, which was awesome, and the first sign of good luck of the job front so far. I started today, it's with a company of 80 guys and multiple jobs, similar to what I'm used to back home and so much more reliable. Everyone at the site I was at today was Aussie or Kiwi, and apparently the whole company is, so that should be funny. The pay is much better than the first two jobs (Finally surpassed the halfway point on what I made in Vancouver!) and the work is in Central London which is not such a bad commute and interesting to be right in the thick of London's work force. It's still early and there's plenty of time and ways for me to get screwed over again, but like I said, I'm cautiously optimistic.

I've tried to be concise, but work really has consumed the bulk of my time and thoughts here, and it's been an incredibly trying and educational experience. I've been the driving force for our staying in London the last couple months so I've really had to stay positive about my work situation. I guess I've been fortunate to be able to have any work, it could certainly be worse, but when it's so much easier back home it can be hard to make a convincing argument to stay here. It's been a very turbulent week, and a very interesting first 6 months of work in London, hopefully it's about to get easier.

-Justin

Driving in London

The best way to describe driving here is organized chaos. At first glance the roads here look like absolute mayhem. There seems to be no system in place and cars, bikes and pedestrians are just ripping around the streets at random. While there is still a lot of truth to that, after a couple weeks on the road I definitely feel like I understand it a bit more. A perfect example is the roundabouts. They look completely insane at first, with people flying in and out of them with blinders on, but after a while you do kind of get into a groove and now I really prefer them to intersections because more often than not you can zip through without having to slow down too much. It's that kind of difference that is pretty nerve racking at first but actually
ends up being a benefit.

As confusing as the roads are here, seeing as none of them seem planned and are almost exclusively old sheep walking trails or horse paths to the brothel, they are relatively well marked once you get the system. It's similar to the tube map, when you first arrive it's daunting, but soon you get the system and it all makes really good sense. Give them credit for trying to put some modern rational into the medieval mess they're working with.

Here are some of the interesting differences I've noticed, and since the laziest way to put your thoughts to words is a bullet list, here goes:

• While the roads here are chaotic, drivers in general seem to be much more alert and aware of their surroundings than in Vancouver. I'll leave that open to interpretation.

• There is no jaywalking here, it's just crossing the street, and it's common to see a parent standing in the middle of a busy street with their small children. Nobody waits for lights to change to cross at crosswalks either, we learned that early as pedestrians. You have to really pay attention to your peripherals here.

• Lights go yellow again between red and green so you get a head start. Seems a risky given people often run the yellow before a red, but there is just so much traffic here there are lots of little things like that to keep it moving.

• Motorcycles and scooters are allowed to pass you on the inside and there are tons of them always ripping by weaving between you and oncoming traffic.

• In the rare event that a street actually has a sign, it won't be on a post where you can see it, it'll be halfway up the side of a building or at knee height on the sidewalk behind a bush.

• GPS's are called SatNav's and everybody has one because there are no straight lines here. For me to get to work I stay straight on the A24 almost the whole way, but it takes around 100 turns to do so.

• Speed limit signs are few and far between, and are often just a tiny plate sized circle on a stick with nothing more than a number on it.

• Lanes end with little or no warning and everyone just kind of ends up back in one lane with no signals or proper merging.

• Street lights are never up high, always about 6 feet off the ground, and sometimes not even in front of you. I've been stuck a couple times where I don't get into the intersection before it changes, but I'm past where I can see the light so I just have to wait there until someone behind me lets me know it's gone green.

• Pedestrian controlled lights will go red for a bit, then flash yellow for a bit before going green so if the person has made it across you can start going. I love this.
• Gas is called Petrol and it's around £1.50 a litre.

• Cars are often parked on the side of a road clearly not wide enough for it, which shifts traffic over and makes any lines on the road completely useless. Just kinda have to go with the flow because it's not often clear where exactly on the road you're meant to be.

• On country roads there will be arrows indicating when a passing vehicle needs to re-enter their own lane. When you are new to driving on the right side of the road and you see an arrow in your lane pointing in the other direction it can really throw you off.

Hopefully the car allows us to see more of England outside of London. There is such a contrast as soon as you leave the city and I've really enjoyed every chance we've had to explore elsewhere.

-Justin