It meant a lot to me, that little hotel room halfway between Bristol and the airport. Nothing particularly interesting happened: we just dropped our shit, showered in turn, and lay in our beds vaping and watching Peep Show until we fell asleep past midnight. But it was important to me because it felt like an adventure – and not like the adventures I’d known recently. Over the years, I’d come to associate adventure with being alone, and by extension with the fear that comes when you’re on your lonesome, far from loved ones, and you find yourself huffing up a dirty great mountain or darting through some alien humid cityscape and you realise that if you fuck up, there’s not a soul within ten thousand miles who gives a rat’s knob about you. I got such a kick from that crappy little four-hour bungalow nap because, for the first time in years, that adventurous feeling was there without all the bad stuff. I’d begun to believe they were welded together.
Continue readingportugal
Portugal | Lost in the Woods
On the final day of our lovely Ericeira mini-break, Tanya, Felix and I had one last coffee together in a cafe, then the pair of them got a cab back to Lisbon while I hopped on a bus to Sintra.
Continue readingPortugal | Beach Town
Okay soo I’ve managed to get myself around two weeks behind with my diaries. I shall now endeavour to recap highlights and zoom up to the present day.
On the 14th of May I had my 29th birthday in Lisbon, and it was a corker.
Continue readingPortugal | Penguin
Dave and I went out to explore Lisbon, still wrapped up in the strange glow of our incredible coincidence.
Continue readingPortugal | “Do You Believe in Fate?”
My first couple of nights in Lisbon were calm. I realised I’d been boozing for too many days on the trot, so I took a few nights off and spent several evenings lounging around and sipping mugs of tea like a wise old owl.
Continue readingPortugal | Straw Mouse
After camping, I headed with Seth and Blanche to Seth’s mum’s house. She lives in a tiny village inland – still technically the Algarve, but far far away from any tourists.
Continue readingPortugal | EELS?????
Okay so I intended to write every day of my trip, and then I just………… didn’t.
But hey, I have some time now, and I need to catch you up on everything that’s happened because – fuck me – it’s been very strange.
Continue readingPortugal | All The Usual Embarrassment
I woke up feeling fragile. In hot countries you dehydrate during the night, and I always wake up feeling like a dried mushroom, half-mad with anxiety.
Continue readingPortugal | Beach
After accidentally spunking a fat €50 on a beach towel, I went about my first full day in Portugal.
Continue reading