Eiffel tower, the Louvre, parks, sun and lots of hip people best describes my last few days in Paris. I didn’t think I would care too much for Paris… but I must say I really like this city. I hope someday soon I can come back and spend more time.
I met up with my friends Allison and Eric, which I met in Tibet 4 years ago. They took me out to dinner and I had some of the best Italian food I have ever had… yeah I know… Italian in France… but it was awesome.
It truly is amazing the connections you can form with people. Over the last 2 weeks I have met up with a few friends of mine that I have met over the years traveling, I met some of these friends 4 years ago and others only 6 months ago. I feel if two people have that connection… whatever it may be… romantic or just friends… that connection will always be there, even if you haven’t seen each other in 20 years. You don’t have to try to make things work, or adjust who you are or what you want to get along… things just flow with ease… there can be long moments of silence without worrying what the person is thinking or what should I say next… the connection goes beyond words… and that is the true beauty of the human bond.
High speed trains, tree passing by, everything’s a blur, kids bouncing toy cars of my head, hunger, tired, sticky… yet clean, ears popping, under the English channel… ahead Paris!
In a way that is how my brain has been working lately. I have been on the run like some crap boy band on a 50 city 20-night tour. I just left London but not sure if I was even there. Things are flying by like I’m in some sort of a trance… maybe I should cut back on the alcohol and get some more rest. At this rate I wont last another month… already looking at the map for the closest beach where I can go and let my soul be swallowed up by the hot white sand under a tall coconut tree.
But from what I can remember… I ended up having a great time in London. Met up with most of my friends, also ended up at a bachelorette party… which was a boat party sailing around the London Bridge and big Ben with tons of good looking women. Also took care of some unfinished business I needed to wrap up. I plan on spending the next 3 days in Paris doing everything a tourist would do in Paris… which is sleeping on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower for the day.,,, eating loads of crepes… and of course doing what the French do best… NOTHING. The French are my kind of people.. sitting in a park for hours on end sipping coffee is totally fine.
Trying to figure out how to sum up Ireland in a few paragraphs… just seems unjust. The last week in Ireland has been hands down one of the best times I’ve had in a long time and by far the best kick off for my trip.
It seems the luck of the Irish has been on my side since I have been here. So far Dublin has been full of sunny crisp blue skies, green lush hillsides, endless beers and dancing until the sun comes up… which clearly means the Summer of Love has officially kicked off.
The Irish are known for their remarkable drinking abilities, and I would have to agree with that. They get started here about 5pm and don’t finish until around 4 or 5am. As a lightweight American I have been having a hard time keeping up. But it hasn’t all just been about drinking; there has been loads of good food and beautiful friendly people. It’s amazing how sometimes you go into a place or country with a preconceived notion about how it will be or how the people will be… and then it turns out soo completely different. I pictured having a few beers with friends in a bar while outside it was cold, drizzling and gray skies. But if anything there has been more sun here then I can handle. I guess since we ‘re so far north, the sun doesn’t go down till around 11:30pm and then comes back up around 5am. It can really mess with you when you’re trying to sleep.
I am learning more and more about how it’s all about the local people showing you around then the place itself. I’m leaving now for London, and I must say I really don’t want to leave. Dublin has now become one of my favorite cities in the world (when it’s sunny) so I know I will be back here again sometime soon.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 6 years and 100 plus countries since my first and only visit to Ireland. Back in 2003 I was a much different Jimmy Swift, one without a passport and had never traveled oversees.
My girlfriend at the time came to me one day and said “Hey, there’s cheap flights to Ireland if you want to take a trip?” I didn’t know much about Ireland at the time but thought… hey what the heck it sounds like fun. It didn’t take long for us to figure out why the tickets were soo cheap….. January in Ireland is a freaking god awful time to visit! It pretty much rained the whole time and was freezing arse cold… but we made the most of it and actually had a pretty good time.
This time around it’s going to be much different. Over the years of traveling I have been fortunate enough to meet some pretty cool people from all over the planet. So I will be staying with a band of drunken leprechauns I met in India. This is going to be the prefect kick off to my yearlong trip… it might be a good idea to pack an extra liver.
I have spent the last week in Florida visiting the family and realizing why I left home so long ago and have never looked back. So far the only thing I am missing is my roommates cat meatballer. Here is a picture I took of him on my last day!
It’s only been 7 months since I have been home in LA but feels more like 7 years. With that I seem to have forgotten the joys of life on the road… the delayed flights, crap airport food, over pumped airport security and of course… the unknown.
Waiting to the last minute to pack and drinking a lot of alcohol the night before at my going away party was definitely not the way to start a year long trip. Flying in the US is challenging enough when sober. It seems the American airline industry is hell bent on making flying one of the most annoying/challenging things one can do.
After what seemed all day I finally made it to Tampa Florida.. dehydrated… and with one major headache. I forgot how humid it can get here, it grips you like a long lost aunt. After spending the last 3 months getting in shape, the fatty food here can plump you up fast! Hopefully I will escape this place with only a few extra pounds!
But all that said, it’s great to be back on the road… a place where you have no past and no future. For the next week I’m living in Florida… it’s as simple as that!
Eiffel tower, the Louvre, parks, sun and lots of hip people best describes my last few days in Paris. I didn’t think I would care too much for Paris… but I must say I really like this city. I hope someday soon I can come back and spend more time.
