Andy's Travel Updates "The real thing is not reaching, the real thing is the journey, the very travelling. If you are too bothered about the goal you will miss the journey, and the journey is life - the goal can only be death."

Can you believe I have been over here for 6 months!? It's going great. A few weeks ago I moved house. My old house continues to be a source of excitement; I go back there to hear the news: Someone had a falling out with the landlord, moved out and is trying to take legal action. One couple split up after a morning of fighting (there was blood), an afternoon crying, packing and moving out - then got back together the next day (naturally). Late one night 8 police were in the house for almost an hour. Noone knew why except that it had something to do with the Polish guy next to my old room who (since I moved out) developed a severe drinking problem and a stutter, broke some furniture, possibly tried to kill himself and has also moved out. See what happens when I leave! When looking for a new house I found 2. One was a big share house like the old one. The other, for the same price, was a normal house with only 3 other people. An easy choice - so I now live in an eleven bedroom house, with (I think) fourteen people. It is disapointingly quiet. The day I moved in I locked myself out, spent the night on the floor at my old house then went to work in what I was wearing (basically gym clothes plus jeans). And last night I had to kick my neighbour's boyfriend out of the house because they were having a fight and he wouldn't leave. Otherwise it has been uneventful. With so many people it's unsurprising that I have met someone who used to live there. He lived there 10 years ago and Mr Malik (the 70 year old Indian landlord) and he still remember each other. He now lives nearby and I have already run into him in the street twice - it's nice to chat with the neighbours! My sister and brother in law came to visit on their way through Europe. It was great to see them and be reminded of home. We went to Cambridge and went punting. This was a real highlight - almost as good as watching the other people try to punt and crash into each other. (Tom and I were awesome!) Susan and Tom also came to Wimbledon and saw where I live. Work has been good; I'm enjoying it. I have managed to cut my hours down to a normal level. This weekend just gone I went to Paris with Brendan - partly to see Susan and Tom. Brendan is a family friend who I see quite often. However all 3 times we have traveled together something has gone wrong. One time I forgot to tell him what time we were meeting and just turned up expecting him to be there. Another I got my days mixed up and missed the trip altogether. This time I booked the return journey for the wrong day... I didn't realise until the day we left so I went to the Eurostar desk and told them, they said they could not change the ticket I would have to buy a new one for £154! I said okay, they printed off a ticket and handed it to me, I got out my wallet and they said don't worry it's free! So this time it turned out okay. Plus on the way back I got a voucher for a free trip next time because the airconditioner was broken (must have been at least 27 degrees!!). And I should mention I other than with Brendan I have no problem organising holidays. Paris itself was great and it was great to see Susan and Tom again - the last time until next year. Pictures are on facebook. I'm very excited about a couple of trips I have coming up. Next week I am going for nine days in Budapest and Austria. A bit rushed but I think it will be great. I will be travelling by myself so it will be interesting to see how that goes for such a long trip. Next month I am hopefully going to see the Tour de France for 4 days (mountain stages on the 13th and 14th). Then in August I doing 6-8 weeks around Europe. I haven't planned it yet, except that I have someone to stay with in Slovakia. I will hopefully travel with other people for some of this - so let me know if you are thinking of travelling in Europe around that time! Hope you are well! Let me know what has been happening. Andy.