En Route to London

Never have I felt such a relief to be coming home from a holiday.

I was excited to come back to my life in England after my adventure in Australia, but Malaysia really has made me want to come home even more. When the check-in gate for London opened, I was the first in and the first to get to the gate.

An hour and a half until I'll be stuck on an aeroplane for the next 14 hours with bad food, reconditioned air and a random person plonked next to me while I cross the world to get home to everything I have. A small price to pay in my opinion.

In 15 hours time I'll be in London and in 18 hours I'll be in my favourite City in the world.

See you all soon!

Malaysia

In my last blog I said that in the countries I go to I like some things and dislike others.

Well Malaysia has proven me wrong.

I like nothing about this place.

The weather is horrid, the people are miserable and unhelpful and the City of Kuala Lumpur looks like a Thai suburb in the middle of nowhere with a few illuminated billboards and a couple of tall buildings.

I checked in to a 'Hotel' which was next door to another that could be rented by the hour, dropped my belongings off and ventured out into the heart of KL.

The streets were lined with teenage kids, sitting on the ground, all wearing the latest fake gear and making a nuisance of themselves. The main streets connecting KL's main tourist attractions are lined with 'Massage' shops with old men and young girls stood outside promising 'good massage'. A great way to encourage tourism I'm sure...

The Perona's Towers are great and really are a miracle of engineering. However the KL Tower looks like a doughnut dropped on a spike and everything else is of equal disappointment. Beer is expensive, the streets are polluted and lined with poor street vendors and everyone looks as dirty and worn out as the other. This is definitely one place I will not come to again.

I regret not staying in the hotel opposite the airport and saving myself the £70 it cost me for a day and night here.

Bradley's top tip when travelling: Don't go to KL. It really is a waste of time.

Australia

So apparently eight months of life have passed since I landed in Australia and I'm on my way home. Never has time passed so quickly!

From the day I landed here to my last night, I have to say, Australia is one of the best places I have been to. Every country I go to I seem to enjoy parts of of it but couldn't see myself living there indefinitely. However, I love everything Australia has. The reason for leaving is different for Australia though.

Other places I have been to have their good and bad points, but for me, I can't think of anything I dislike about the place. It is however the things that Australia doesn't have that make me want to come home.

While in Oz I worked continuously from a few weeks of landing to the week before I left. Dan just so happened to be in Brisbane, as that's where his flight from New Zealand landed. I headed there in hope of finding a job, earning some money and then traveling around. What I
actually did was quite different.

After a short holiday in Byron Bay we headed back to Brisbane to get jobs and get some cash. Well that's exactly what I did, however I skipped the traveling around part of the plan.

I secured a position at Rio Tinto within a week and spent 5 months working for Australia's 3rd largest company. Whilst there the friends I made and experience I gained will be with me forever and this shaped my Oz adventure.

There were many occasions when I had thousands of dollars in the bank and could have relocated to Melbourne or Sydney or anywhere else, but I didn't. This may be considered a waste of my visa, but in my opinion it was the best choice I made. People dream of moving to Australia, getting a decent job, live life in the sun with amazing beaches down the road and everything else it offers. Well I wanted that indefinitely during my first 5-6 months of living there. I figure, if I want a holiday to 'see' Australia, then I'll go on holiday there and
go see. For me, I loved Brisbane. I didn't want to leave for another City and I'm glad I didn't. I lived the life of an Australian. However after 5 months of flirting with Australian life the realisation began to set in that it wasn't home. It didn't have all of the best things I enjoy from England and I knew I wouldn't stay permanently.

I found that as time passed I missed home more and more. The things I thought I disliked about England became things I missed and wanted. The people, the density of the popullation and the English lifestyle.

Living the Australian life was great, but the constant heat, the slower pace of life and having to stay up until 4am to see the football are things I won't miss.

To give some perspective on Oz; there are more people in London than the whole of Australia. Because of this, things are pretty different. Things are a lot cleaner, shops close early and people seem to become complacent with life. The majority of Australians that I met had not
left their own country and some had no intention of doing so. Living in England I found that wanting to see what it's like to be in Asia or in hot weather and all of the things most people desire gave me the motivation to get up and see the rest of the world, but in the end
there really is no place like home.

I intend to come back to Australia next year and see all of the places I didn't this time. Maybe even Tasmania and NZ, but would I change anything about the way I spent my time in Oz? Not a chance.

I had considered a permanent move here and with the job I had at the Government, there was a very real chance of me doing so. I imagine if I had have been travelling around, spending just weeks in cities and going to all of the landmarks I'd have thought it was the best idea in
the world to move there. However, living life in 'real' Oz, where people work and have weekends and holidays to get away, enlightened me on the reality of permanently living here and it's not for me.

Don't get me wrong, Brisbane aka. Brisvegas is awesome. It has a great nightlife, a super casino, real bars and pubs and Queenslander's are some of the best people I've met. Australians love to drink (even if they can't handle it) and the approach that people take to life made
my time spent in this city better than I could have asked for. The Gold Coast has some of the best beaches in the world. I love it there. If only it had the missing pieces from home...

I used to doubt if I would always live in England, and after being to the second best country i've ever been to, England really is the best place to live.

The last year of travelling has made me want to continue to see new places and try new things. There are a million places I want to go to and some places I want to go back to, but I also want to do more in our own, great country. I have the motivation to get around England
and see our cities and famous places that seem like things from a fairy-tale to people who live so far away from them.

No doubt I'll moan when I get back, but it's that moaning that provided the motivation for me to go places and see that we live in the greatest place in the World.

As for the remainder of my trip, well at present I'm on a flight to Kuala Lumpur, where I'm spending a night to see what it has to offer before flying from KL to Stansted Airport, followed by a coach home.

To resolve any doubts I had about the Air Asia airline: It's great! It's cheap, really really cheap and the plane is almost as good as any other I've been on. Of course the BA 747 was the best, but this isn't too shabby at all.

I'll post details of Malaysia once I'm done, but for now, I'm all Ozzed out and need a Sunday Roast, a pint of Carling and to yell abuse at Premiership football players seeing as Blues got promoted!

See you all soon!

Brad

Excelling at Work

So I was pretty dissapointed with my drop in 'Solved on First Contact' metric at work.

I felt as though at Rio Tinto I had developed some great skills. To then have my SOFC metric drop from 97% to 70% was pretty disappointing.

Well disappointed I shall no longer be.

Todays Metrics for last week came out today:

Calls Taken - 178

Solved on First Contact - 172

97% Solved on First Contact

That means only 6 of my Service Calls had to be escalated to a Resolver Group where I could not resolve the problem.

Check out the big brain on Brad!

Brisbane, Australia to Birmingham, England

So things are booked and I actually have my schedule for returning home. As promised...

Itinerary:

8th May:

20:00 (GMT+10)

Train from Brisbane to Cooloongata Airport, Gold Coast

9th May:

8:40 (GMT+10) - 15:10 (GMT+6)

Flight from Cooloongata Airport, Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

15:10 (GMT+6) - 10th May

Stay in Kuala Lumpur for the evening

To Do:

• Petronas Twin Towers
  
• Kuala Lumpur Tower
  
• Petaling Street
• Temples and Mosques if I get time
• Times Square

10th May:

17:00 (GMT+6) - 23:59 (GMT)

Flight from Kuala Lumpur to Stansted Airport, London

11th May:

01:00 (GMT) - 04:00 (GMT)

Coach from Stansted Airport, London to , Birmingham

In the meantime I'm attempting to find a job for when I arrive back home. Things seem to be pretty desperate in Birmingham at the moment so any advice is appreciated.

See you all soon!

Hangover (Vol. 84939201)

So Danny, Jon, Nikko, Pascal, Henryk and I went out last night.

Eleven hours worth of drinking later, I'm dying in my room with the worst hangover ever.

Quotes of the night:

Random Girl: So are you all from England?

Me: Nope! We're English, he's Irish, he's Swiss, he's German and I have no idea where he's from...

Coming Home!

So yeah. Incase you don't have Facebook, don't read Danny's blog and haven't spoken to me recently... I'm coming home!

Australia has been great and working and living in Brisbane is a great experience and I've gained some invaluable experience, both work and social, but it's time to head home for various reasons.

By the time I get home, I'll have been away from home for around 13 months, bar the return visit to England during the summer of 2008. Australia is great and Brisbane really is a fantastic place to live and work but I am unfortunately working to live at the moment. I haven't got the financial cushion I've had in every other country where I can just jump on a bus/boat/plane/back of a pickup truck/long-boat and head for a new adventure.

My week days consist of getting up early, catching the train to work, working all day, arriving home at 6pm and then spending the evening relaxing, awaiting the next day. Now, I can imagine you're thinking 'welcome back to the 'real world'', but this isn't the real world to me. I've made friends here whilst working etc. and after the Rio team disbanded most of them have gone their own way, to other countries and cities and I'm still here. The return of Danny was a relief and our shared interest in alcohol, football and snooker made the 9-5 grind easier. However, due to Danny's exit from Glen Street (see his blog for details www.dannyhontour.blogspot.com) life is back to working 5 days a week, with only weekends left to relax.

So yes, I'm living the life everyone else does. So why leave? Well in Australia I don't have my family, I don't have my friends from back home, I can't watch Birmingham City whenever I want to, to watch the football I have to stay up until 2am, Australian's don't do Sunday Roasts, beer is over priced and the heat is finally getting to me. I miss my gran's Sunday dinners, my mom's mothering, my watered down beer in the pub and Birmingham City Centre (yes, really!).

I feel as though I have a life waiting for me in England which is being suspended by living the same life, without all of the home comforts, here in Australia. Australia has beaches, good weather and a laid back lifestyle. But it doesn't have the things I have at home that make me happy.

Also, if you do read Danny's blog, you will have noticed I've met someone I want to be with. Fortunately she is in England, where the rest of my life is. At this point I have no reason to continue traveling around, living the same life I would in England without the best bits of home.

So I'm coming back to you all!

Dates to follow once confirmed; but it looks as though it's going to be via. Malaysia which will be another tick on the 'To Do List'.

I was investigating the cost of flights and come across what I thought was a fantastic deal:

$1300 (£650) 1 way flight from Brisbane to Hong Kong to Zurich to Birmingham

Then I called Danny and mid conversation he popped in the brand 'Air Asia'...

Gold Coast to Malaysia $249 (£122)

Malaysia to London $459 (£225)

Total = $708 (£347)

That's right. You can fly from London to Australia, via Malaysia, for £347!

As for my current situation...

I'm still working in Brisbane at Shared Information Solutions for The Queensland Government. My role is primarily providing technical support to Hewlett Packard technicians who are deploying around 8,000 new computers across the state. I have to make sure these guys install the PC's, get them up and running, assist with any problems encountered and then resolve any customer logged issues after the replacement. Pretty cool stuff. Additionally I still take regular Service Desk requests, resolving technical issues over the phone. Last week saw me take around 200 phone calls over 4 days (30 hours) with a 'Fix on First Contact' of 140. That means that 70% of the calls I take, I fix. This is a significant drop from Rio where as a team we were at 97% but considering the strict policies and restrictions in place at the government, it's still a very good metric.

Week day nights don't really offer to much at the moment, I chill out at home most of the time with the X-Box and Mac and watch movies etc. Normal life.

Weekends are still eventful, especially when alcohol fueled.

Last weekend saw Danny leave our home. Tonight... who knows?!

So we're all festivaled out as well. V and Future have been and gone and there are no more major events in the next month. I guess I'll just have to go to them all again when I'm back home in England!

I'll update once I have my route and timetable for returning home planned. My planned land date is the 8th May. I'll let you know!

So for now,

B-Rad Out!

V Festival 2009 - Gold Coast

So we told you we bought V Festival Tickets; here's the story:

So it was the day before V and Dan and I had a great idea (or so we thought): Lets get as drunk as possible the night before V so that we just have to top up our alcohol the next day and will be drunk in no time.

So we hit the Valley. We started off in the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, a fairly decent English pub, which had a live band and cheap beer. Several pints later, Jon (Danny's Irish mate from Thailand) turned up and we were on it! We ended up getting split up at some point whilst heading from the pub to a random club, as usual...

Well this is where the night became legendary. We had at some point agreed to go into a club call Mystique, so I queued up and headed in. After getting in I bought myself a 'Mother and Vodka' (which is basically a turbo charged Red-Bull and Vodka) and headed for the nearest balcony. Five seconds into leaning over the balcony, I spotted Danny, Danny spotted me and it was back on!

Many drinks later, a nap on a bench and no recollection of getting home, I woke up at 10am in my bed. V Fest. Day!

Urgh, a horrible hangover had developed and we ended up leaving home around 1 o'clock.

We headed for the station and caught the Gold Coast train to Robina at the Gold Coast. We had no idea where we were going and hadn't planned much at all. Bonus really, considering there was a shuttle bus taking people to V for free!

We landed at V and bought a great hangover cure: The Bloke's Burger.

I had in fact only wanted a burger with some cheese and onions, however this was called a 'Sheila's Burger'. I'd have swallowed my pride and taken it, had the guy not written SHEILA on the side of the box. A Bloke's Burger later my hangover was cured and we were back on the beer!

V Festival was so much more chilled out than Future. The stages were all close to each other and the line up for the day was incredible. We arrived around 3pm and left at 10:30pm. During that time we got to see, in order:

Duffy (well, we walked past)

Razorlight

The Madness

Kaiser Chiefs

Snow Patrol

The Killers

The Kaisers were by far the best performance at the festival. During their set Ricky Wilson (the vocalist) climbed up the side of the scaffolding holding the stage up, came into the crowd, right in front of me and Danny, decided he couldn't go any further so asked us to all lift him up and crowd surf him back to the stage. It was hilarious watching this guy pointing at the stage but heading sideways across the crowd! To end their set they finished with 'Oh My God'. 10,000 'Oh my god, I can't believe it, I've never been this far away from home' the set was over. Seriously it was the best performance ever. Un-polished, real music. The Killers were a come down after The Kaisers for me, they were just far too polished. It could have been a CD playing.

At some point during The Killers' set, the heavens opened and everyone was absolutely soaking. Honestly, I've had dryer showers. My brand new white Converse were ruined and we had a freezing 2 hour trek back to Moorooka, where we live.

Epic day out.

It's a tough one, but perhaps V Fest. > Future

Maybe. Just maybe. I'm not certain.

So there you go. V Festival done; in Australia!

You stay classy readers.

Future Music Festival 2009 - Brisbane

Ladies and Gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I have just been handed an urgent and horrifying blog post. I need all of you, to stop what you're doing as listen. FESTIVAL!

So Dan and I heard a Festival was in town; so of course acquired tickets, by no regular means, and attended. Dan went about the acquisition of the tickets via. eBay. The transaction took place outside The Treasury Casino, where a suited man approached us from the side entrance and ushered us away from any security cameras, as he could not be seen to take any tips, for his and our own safety. $270 later a brown envelope is exchange and a peculiar man gifts us with 2 tickets to the greatest electronic music festival Brisbane has to offer. The figure then disappeared into the mass of people in Brisbane City, never to be seen again.

Ok so all of that was a slight exaggeration on the intensity of the situation but the events did occur as written.

So, Saturday 7th March arrives and Dan and I proceed to consume as much alcohol and RedBull, prior to our departure, as possible. Half a bottle of vodka and rum later we're on the train to Brisbane Central!

Once in the City, I naturally didn't feel complete without donning some form of festival attire. A purchase of an Australian flag (which became my cape), a pair of big white rimmed sunglasses and half a bottle of vodka and coke poured down my white T-Shirt I was set to go!

We arrived at Future and couldn't have asked for more from the event. Chilled out atmosphere, incredible sound quality, an EPIC line up and alcohol. WIN!

Our first stop on entry was the bar. Two cans of Smirnoff (yes, I know it's not a boys drink, but hey it was cheap! lay off!) we were on our way to the Main Stage. En route a girl tried to hang me using the flag that was wrapped around my neck and offered to get naked in exchange for it. I smiled politely and held on to my flag as though my life depended on it. Nobody was prizing this thing from me today!

From about 13:30 until I left, I was at the front of the pit; in front of the stage, dancing, drinking and making an idiot of myself, along side several hundred like minded people, doing exactly the same. The DJ line up was incredible: Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso, Paul Oakenfold and Grandmaster Flash! Electro at its best followed by a mash up from one of Hip Hops mixing/scratching/cutting pioneers. Everybody went crazy.

(please note: true to form Danny and I lost each other around the time Paul Oakenfold arrived on stage and then didn't find each other until the next morning when I was dying on the sofa and Dan was rummaging for some none alcoholic drink in the fridge. I ended up spending the day with a guy dressed up as a Nerd for N*E*R*D, an Ozzy guy named Hamish and a girl called Chantelle)

Once Flash's set was finished the crowds gathered, the crushing against the metal barrier began and several unconscious/injured people crowd surfed their way to the front to get medical attention, as N*E*R*D and more importantly Pharrell Williams came on stage! Literally meters away from me was Pharrell! Everyone went ballistic. Several bruised ribs later and a foot that still hasn't healed, N*E*R*D called about 50 girls out of the crowd up on stage to rock away and Brisbane went mad. What a show!

Just when everyone thought the main event was over and it was time to chill out, more equipment was rolled out on stage. A new DJ booth. More lights. And then...

'But baby wake up! You're so totally deluded!'

BASEMENT JAXX!

What a show! Seriously, I had heard good things but wasn't expecting too much, but this was an incredible show. If you can see them, do!

At some point during Basement Jaxx i gave in and climbed over the barrier to be ushered to the back of the crowd. I was totally convinced only one water station existed and so queued up for some water for about 20 minutes, all the time looking at about 5 other water stations without queues...

A free bus journey to the Valley, several more alcoholic drinks and a lift home from a random, I found myself in bed, covered in dirt, legs aching, arms falling off, ears ringing, having had one of the best festival days ever!

I'm still suffering, four days later with bruised ribs from the 10 million people crushing me against the metal rail and something rather random happened to my right foot which means it's difficult to walk on at the moment, but it was more than worth it!

Another great Brisbane day.

V-Festival tickets have now been purchased. The Killers, Razorlight, Snow Patrol and The Kaiser Chiefs await us! Sunday March 29th! Come On!

Footnote: It is important to note; that from the purchase of the 2 cans of Smirnoff, I was already drunk. This may be a true re-collection of events from the day or just a random dream I had whilst suffering from alcohol poisoning. Either way, Future Music Festival 2009 was awesome!

Brisbane continued...

Apparently Australia only has 1 city according to my guide book... time to fix that!

After a brief stint of normality back home in England and an extended period of chaos in Thailand, Danny is back here in Brissy (yeah, we call it Brissy now, how local are we). And with Danny comes a vast array of plans and ideas; some practical, the majority not. However one thing's for sure, we're going to venture out of the City of Brisbane and discover what Australia has to offer before we move on!

For a long time we've been contemplating the idea of a cross country drive. So, it looks like were both going to work towards funding just that. The plan is to drive from Brisbane to Adelaide visiting Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, experiencing what each place has to offer for a short period. More info as it materializes...

As for work to fund the trip, as you are all aware my time at Rio Tinto was drawing to a sad close with the outsourcing project nearing completion. I therefore went about securing another job and security is exactly what i got. I'm now employed by The Government of Queensland supporting approximately 30,000 government employees across Queensland with their IT problems. As an additional bonus to my role, I'm also the single point of contact for Hewlett Packard's technical installation team who are working for the next 2 months to replace 5,000 desktop computers. Not a bad position to secure and it is a very, very good way to earn funds for some Australian adventures.

Moving on to football, Fantasy Football first. Danny has taken a slide from his former glory, I'm well and truly on my way to a great come back and it would seem the big guns are on schedule for taking the grand prize of bragging rights for a year.

As for real football... Aston Villa... Who do they think they are?! That's all.

So I guess no blog is complete without a few tails of adventures past:

On my last day at Rio i was presented with a Corona bucket with 5 bottles of beer in. At no point during the 5 and a half hour drinking session were there less than 4 bottles stacked on ice, until i begged everyone to stop buying beer so i could steal the bucket. And steal it i did! I am now the owner of a Corona beer bucket, amongst other trinkets including a 'Fire Hose Reel' sign, a Lottery Ticket Stand and a 'Kitchen Closed' sign... before you ask; no, i don't know how I managed it!

Another interesting development is my post-Australia plans. I don't want to give too much away, but lets just say 'see you soon'.

That's all for now. I'm Bradley Williamson, you stay classy readers...

Quotes of the Week:

***Brad's Drum and Bass music playing on full blast, at a then unknown time***

Danny (hungover): 'You MUST be joking, it's eight o'clock in the morning!!!'

*door slams closed*

Pretext: Now I hate Chelsea and more specifically Ashley Cole, but this takes it to a whole new level...

Drunken football fan: 'Ashley Cole... I'd set that little *MANY OBSCENITIES* on fire'

Wow!

BW over 'n' out.

New Year, New Adventures!

Happy New Year!

It's 2009 and the blog is still on track.

I'm still here in Brisbane, Australia and I'm still working at Rio as I guessed. Life is pretty fantastic at the moment. Weekdays involve work, rest and meeting up with friends. Weekends are as unpredictable as ever and as I slowly become more and more of a local, Brisbane is working it's way up my list of favorite places in the world, to a solid 2nd place. Bangkok still holds the top spot on the podium, but that could all change!

Rumor has it, Danny will be back in town in the next 2 weeks! After a brief stint back in the UK, it seems he doesn't want to exchange great weather, perfect beaches and an Ozzy lifestyle, for recession, bitter cold and the un-comfort of watching The Villa from the terraces rather than in an air conditioned bar with an ice cold beer... Strange eh?

On the topic of football, things have taken an interesting twist. Just see here:

It would seem Danny is taking a slide down the table and I'm definitely on the come back! 3rd highest point scorer in December and 2nd in January, watch out Andy Woods, I'm coming for you!

On an un-related note; check out this Podcast: http://shaunbangerscott.podOmatic.com/player/web/2009-01-12T13_58_37-08_00

even if you're not a massive Bassline music fan, just skip to 39:27 and hear me become famous! Seriously, it's brilliant!

So last year I achieved some pretty fantastic things including:

- Leaving England to travel the world!

- Completing a Mount. Everest Base Camp trek to 5800m above sea level

- Visited the following countries in one year: Qatar, Nepal, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Australia

- Secured a job at the worlds 3rd largest mining company

- Lost that great job to an Indian Outsourcing company (grr Infosys)

- Attended the World's 1st ever Formula 1 Night Race in Singapore!

- Survived Dengue Fever

- Rode a Moped

- Crashed a Moped

- Won a shed load of cash from various Casinos across the world

- Set up home in Brisbane, Australia

- Visited England and caught up with friends and family (oh yeah, nearly forgot... took voluntary redundancy)

- Achieved a good foundation of the Thai language; a tonal (5 tones to be exact), Asian language

- Made some great friends

- Didn't lose my iPod touch

I'm sure i could go on much longer, but yeah... what a year!

So, what does 2009 hold?

Who knows!

I have until October in Australia, extendable to October 2010 if I attend 3 months 'Specified Regional Work' (fruit picking out in the sticks).

I have really found a home here in Australia and to leave this place behind is going to be tough. Who knows... maybe I'll get a sponsored job here and stay... not that I'm applying or anything! Honest!

Well this blog is exceedingly longer than I expected, so for now goodbye and Happy New Year!

P.S. For your viewing pleasure...

Me. Killing myself on the Vomatron. Good Times!