The plan takes shape

Failte

This one is asummary of the last e-mails between me and over 50 respondents.

Thanks to everyone and the offers of support and help coming in are brilliant.

Anyway to date:

The list is as follows.

Town/City Country
Sydney /Australia
Melbourne /Australia
Perth /Australia
Baku /Azerbaijan
Dhaka /Bangladesh
Brussels /Belgium
Fortaleza /Brazil
Phnom Penh /Cambodia
Ottawa /Canada
London Ontario /Canada
Toronto /Canada
Bogota /Columbia
Dover /England
Paris /France
Charente Maritime /France
Frankfurt /Germany
Flensburg /Germany
Syros /Greece
Budapest /Hungary
Kuala Lumpur /Malaysia
Mexico City /Mexico
general /New Zealand
Tauranga /New Zealand (N)
Singapore /Singapore
Okpo /South Korea
Madrid /Spain
South Murcia/Benidorm/
Torrevieja /Spain
Khartoum /Sudan
Gulf of Thailand /Thailand
Hua Hin /Thailand
Pattaya City /Thailand
Dubai United /Arab Emirates
Las Vegas /United States
San Francisco /United States
Pompano Beach ,
South Florida /USA
The Bronx - New York /USA

I’m still awaiting replies from the various CSAs around the biosphere and also some input from celticbars.com so there is some filling in of the gaps to be done yet.

Distilling all of the above my current plan is :

No final dates as yet but I will be starting on or about February 1st.

I will basically be taking the trip in about 5 phases.

- Europe
- New states and down to SE Asia
- Australia New Zealand
- US, Central and South America
- Possibly Africa .

I am for the moment concentrating on Europe and intend to go in the following sequence:

a) Last Stop on UK Mainland – Dover
b) Paris
c) Charente/Bordeaux
d) Madrid
e) Valencia
f) South Murcia
g) Flensburg
h) Brussels
i) Hamburg
j) Frankfurt
k) Gdansk
l) Warsaw
m) Wroclaw
n) Budapest
o) Greece and the Greek Islands

It is likely that my next stop will be Baku and then Dubai , and then down to Indo-China and the antipodes, but just for the moment I need to concentrate on a) to o).

So just before I finalise dates and travel arrangements, I would appreciate some advice, guidance and help.

Assuming that I hang around in each location for about 3/4/5 days each, I will be looking for pointers on cheap digs. I am in contact with the hostellers association etc, but local knowledge of cheap accommodation with the basics (like a roof) would be appreciated.

Also if there is any chance of casual bar work, sweeping streets, rubbing sun-tan-oil on the backs of sun-bathing beauties, beer tasting etc to fund a few extra beers and solid food would be brilliant.

I am travelling light, but will be carrying a laptop/notebook, so any gen you can provide on free WiFi access, BT Open-Zone coverage (or similar), internet café access, facilities to recharge battery and mobile Sim card availability, would go down a treat.

I am now looking at rail cards and bus passes to cover the European leg of the trip and I am starting to taste all those different national varieties of beers, boiled eggs and ‘stuff that don’t ask what it is till after you’ve eaten it’ which have been my staples in previous jaunts around the globe.

So let me know if you can help me with any of the above, and I will be forever in your debt.

I’ll even mention you for posterity and ridicule in my dispatches.

Anyway, for the moment

Hail Hail

Matt

Soon to be 'Of No Fixed Abode'

Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and a happy unsocial hours to anyone who happens to be reading while sitting in the smallest room in the house wishing they had gone for the Korma and lager instead of the Vindaloo and Guinness!

I’ve been quiet on progress over the last few weeks, mainly because I wanted to ensure that I had a lot of bricks in place. In particular, the missives had not been agreed and while there should have been no problem, I ddn’t want to go too far down the line only for it all to hit a barrier.

The formal signing takes place on Monday 15th Dec, so with that agreed and new Passports, Driving licences, and birth Certificates in hand I can start motoring on the substance of the plans.

So following dropping my beloved LCD TV off at my No 1 Daughter’s house in Ammanford (South Wales), stopping at Daughter No2 in Chepstow South Wales and kipping at a mates house in Southgate North London, I expect to formally start the odyssey on 1st February-ish, with hopefully a stopover in Dover at the home of the Ramsgate Emerald CSC.

Its then into Europe, including France, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Luxemburg.

In the next week or so I’ll be trying to coordinate travel plans with those who have already been in contact with me, and organise a European Rail travel pass.

After Europe, I’m still in two minds about which way to go, but it is likely that I will head East through the Ex soviet satellites, down through Baku and then ???? how the hell do I get to Dubai. Big decisions on Africa and South East Asia have to be made before the Australia, New Zealand and Chinese legs are finalised, but much of this will be settled as I travel.

Finally it will be the Americas, but that is probably at least 18 months down the line, so I won’t worry about that just yet.

I intend to stick as far as possible to land travel and avoid unless absolutely impossible, the airlines!

Over the next month or so I also have to look at Visa requirements, and follow up with potential sponsors and income opportunities.

If anyone can help with a wee bar job or a couch for the night (one only – the Slabbery Wummin is not doin’ the European leg) then I would be ecstatic to hear from you.

I’ll be repeating the request in the e-mails over the nest few days.

We’ve been selling off most of the contents of the house, which really hit home yesterday when I bought a DVD for us to watch in our now Spartan living room. Unfortunately I’ve sold the DVD player so we satisfied ourselves by reading the ‘rushes’ and summary on the back of the box.

We then acted out our interpretation of the film.

Fortunately it was an over-18 classification but unfortunately I can’t describe exactly what happened!

The wee guy from EPS was a welcome visitor today as he brought the package with the tickets for the Govan Gutter on 27th December.

Sadly (three of us go regularly to all the away games), we only got two in the ballot or however they decided the allocation.

Now, I’ve got the tickets and since Tony and Paul are friends, I should put all three in a hat and we should have an equal chance of getting a ticket.

OR

Since I’ve got the tickets, only one should go in the hat and Tony and Paul should dunk for the prize.

Problems Problems!

Anyway, back to planning the car-boot sale and I’ll be in touch.



Hail Hail

Matt (Estadio)

P.S. As usual you can e-mail me on msincent@yahoo.co.uk