Driving on the Flipside: Cathedrals and College Kids

After a while, the big city lights can lose their charm. Being in London, this can happen rather quickly. A mere two hour train ride southwest into the country will brush the dust off your shoulders and land you smack in the middle of Devon what was once known as the wild west of Britain.

I took myself away for a weekend to the heart of the west-country and settled myself in the town of Exeter - place known for its university and its cathedral. Exeter began its life in the hands of the Romans in 50 AD and continued on as an important port town until the 19th century. Evidence still exists of the Roman influence in bits and bobs throughout the city but unfortunately most of what remains is the rubble left after World War II. You can still see sections of the old wall (stand on it if you dare!) which is almost 2000 years old. This is amazing for me—someone whose country thinks 300 year-old buildings are ancient.

Even though most of the historic buildings have crumbled, Exeter does boast one of the most beautiful cathedrals in England complete with two 11th century Norman towers - remarkably they remained untouched during the bombing. Middle ages at its finest. From this landmark, you can take a number of free daily tours to discovery the history of this town.

Since I was staying with friends (though the hostel is supposed to be quite nice), we decided to skip the tours and explore the countryside ourselves. Finally! The green lush rolling hills of England, the thing only seen in films. The very place where foot and mouth disease actually started! Oh! The rapture!

Ambling down the lane, listening for bike bells and steering clear of muddy tracks, I felt as if I should have been wearing tweed while walking my terrier. After 45 minutes over hill and dale, past creeks and backyard gardens, we decided to head back. This is when the storm hit us. If you think Edmonton weather changed on a dime, come over to Exeter. Trust me, we did not expect a freezing hail storm to hit us the moment we turned and then have it continue to blow until we got back to the main part of the city. There went our sunny day.

The night life seemed to be a major part of the town. As I said before, Exeter is known for its university. Most of the major clubs are just outside of Exeter, but there are some pretty good places in town as well. After the walk of hail, we stayed close to home and ventured out to the Hot Spot. Lucky us, it was School Disco night.

Over in England, it is all the rage to dress up as “School” Girls (and guys) a la Britney Spears and hit the clubs. It’s so popular in fact that there are special nights dedicated to just that. So for a bit off the door, you dress up and drink it up.

Since I forgot my school uniform in the goodwill bag back home, I slinked down to the basement where a DJ was spinning and the crowd was entranced. Surprisingly, the music was great. I guess I expected a little less of a smaller town. After the club, the streets still feel completely safe even with the multitude of drunken college kids. Police are a fixture throughout the town even though they end up being a bit more like stern parents then the arm of the law.

One thing to be said though; it is a small town. The shops close at six and so do a lot of the restaurants. I can’t see exploring it for more then a couple of days especially if you love the big city. To me it was more of a safe haven away from the grind of the regular scene. A place to completely relax. A place to breathe. You need that once and a while.

For more info on Exeter check out the town of Exeter or Exeter tourism

Driving on the Flipside: Village of the Dammed

As the clock turned 7 and I finished my 10-hour, 3-country journey by bus, I stepped out and gazed upon the Sodom and Gomorrah of the Western World. I’m in Amsterdam, the world of drugs and legalized prostitution. To those who aren’t into all that, it’s a world of cheese and pancakes, windmills and Van Gogh, Delft and Diamonds.

Amsterdam is a beautiful place and surprisingly almost everyone (except for one older security guard I met) can speak English. That means I only had to talk in grunts and pseudo sign language once. It’s a good idea to book accommodation ahead, especially in the summer months, and the going rates aren’t too cheap. It’s expensive there! As for food, a lot of pastries and pancakes are on the menu. Fortunately, if you want something different (or have vegetarian tendencies such as I have), you can find falafel huts and Indo-Chinese restaurants if you really look.

Now, no trip to another city is complete without doing the tourist thing and visiting a museum or two. Since he was the most famous artist round these parts, the Van Gogh museum is one that shouldn’t be missed. I was fortunate enough to be able to view the Van Gogh/ Gauguin exhibit. It was really well put together—there was an audio guide so you could listen to info on the paintings and the painter’s relationship / lives by entering a code at the appropriate areas (like the Experience Music Project in Seattle).

They worked together for a very short time in the south of France which ended in the argument in which Van Gogh famously cut off a piece of his ear. He then ended his life a mere two years later at 35 with a gunshot to his chest. Gauguin died on a remote island all alone some time later (though I think he partly deserved it; he was a bit of an ass). This exhibit was the first time three out of the reputed 15 versions of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers have been shown in one place (One from London, one from Amsterdam and one from Tokyo). “I apply myself to canvas with all my mind. I am trying to do as well as certain painters whom I have greatly loved and admired.” (Van Gogh).

The best two museums I went to, though, were phenomenal for completely different reasons. The Heineken Experience is first on this list. Though Heineken moved its official headquarters, the place where it all began has been converted into a museum or more accurately put, is a large brainwashing machine. Although the need to drink Heineken is drilled into your head, the three beers and the free souvenir glass is well worth the five Euro entry. The glass alone costs four Euros in the shops!
The more humbling visit was to the Anne Frankhuis. This is where the Frank family lived in secret during the German occupation before they were captured and forced into concentration camps. I actually went through the door behind the bookcase and up the narrow stairs that were so steep I swore I was going straight up which led to their little apartment. Touched the walls that they touched. Saw Anne’s room with all her decorations pasted to the wall - movie stars and pictures cut from magazines. Someone left a rose for her in the corner… Near the end of the exhibit sits the original diaries under glass and they look like most young girls’ diaries. It’s hard to imagine all that she went through was what thousands went through…

"One single Anne Frank moves us more than the countless others who suffered just as she did but whose faces have remained in the shadows. Perhaps it is better that way; if we were capable of taking in all the suffering of all those people, we would not be able to live"
-PRIMO LEVY-writer and survivor of Auschwitz, 1986

For most, Amsterdam is really about the nightlife. There’s a long list of clubs to go to (if you have cash to burn and you wanna dance!). I took a chance on Paradiso, a two-level club in an old converted church, complete with stained glass. Be warned - the place doesn’t start happening until about 12 or 1 am. Before that time, the half-empty rooms are reminiscent of a bad high school dance reinforced, of course, by the couple of giant happy face balloons that are hanging from the ceiling.

If you want to chill, there’s always one of the well-placed ‘coffee’ shops. These places are where you can get ANYTHING of the pot variety including space cakes and the like. The most famous shops go by the name of Bulldog. The one we went to was in the old police headquarters. With a fresh juice or black coffee in hand, you can sit in a graffitied jail cell as wafts of sweet smoke fill the air and you join right in.
The dream of many a BC resident only the stuff is way better in those parts. This not being your kind of trip of course, there are shops such as the Magic Mushroom, which sells just that. Not only can you get those mystical fungi but it also comes with a complete how-to guide on consumption and a mail order form.

On either side of one of the many canals and through small side streets, is the Red Light District. Completely Surreal. Women stand in windows and sell their wares under the glow of red light. Their eyes are blank and hard as diamonds. I felt like I shouldn’t have been there—as if my presence was an insult since I was being a tourist and wasn’t a true customer. ‘What a strange feeling.’ After wandering a bit, we went to a live sex show. If you have the dough or not, you should still go. 25 Euros gets you in to see 30 minutes of live sex and other acts - a bit like a Vaudeville Show. Now before you go crazy—it’s not what you would think. It’s VERY rehearsed and a lot of them looked bored. Some of the things they did were really amazing but yet, as I said before, unbelievably surreal. You need to see it to understand.

All in all, the best thing about Amsterdam is that you can walk everywhere. Do it. See the flower markets overflowing with tulips, tour the canals and marvel over the hundreds of bridges you have to cross. Wander. Take in the Damplatz - the centre of Amsterdam complete with street artists and the Koninklijk Paleis, where the Royal family sometimes stays. Or bicycle like everyone else does. The soft whirl of hundreds of pedals is beautiful unless you happen to wander onto the bicycle path. I almost got run over about a hundred times - not too smart. Finally if you’re lucky and you take a bus out of the city like I did, you might even see a windmill as you head off into the night.

Thinking about Amsterdam? Check out a Lonely Planet from your local library or log on to www.amsterdam.nl. The link to Amsterdam Hotspots is great.

Queen Mum's Funeral

Standing crowded at the end of Whitehall, I try to see - stand tiptoe till my arches hurt. There’s always someone taller in my view. The crowd jostles; not with any animosity mind you but gentle playful bobbing.

There are lorries in plain view. People climb up the back and front trying to get the same sight as the people climbed and perched on buildings. Men scream for them to get off. Others chuckle. Giggling children are held up, put on parent’s shoulders. One wiggles to get down…if only they could hold up the Grandparents, the people who knew who she was.

I can feel the intake of breath, the push to see as the coffin pulls around the corner. ‘I see William, I see William,’ a pre-teen voice cries out. ‘There it is - the coffin is rolling into view. Can you see it?’ The older man with the binoculars murmurs that over me to his wife (The man who let me stand in front even though I was still too short to see.) His wife stands in front of me - us pressed into each other. She speaks past my ear. ‘You can see for the both of us, dear.’

As the coffin fades from view, the crowd against the makeshift concert gates tries to push out as the rest surge forward, trying to catch a glimpse of anything. An uplifted hand of a royal perhaps? But mostly the hats of soldiers, the back of the procession, the ones no one really has any interest in. One woman grumbles, ‘All I can see is a police hat - I could see those any day.’

Walking away, away from kids petting the horses of riding Bobbies, the crowds that shimmer like water to Westminster, I become another person going back to work. Now I’m a part of the laughter at - ‘don’t worry about the cars here. I’d worry more about the pigeons’ - traffic cop humour at the edge of Trafalgar Square. A part again of the faceless who cram into the tube, breathe in the filth, and wear our sleepless nights on our faces.

Driving on the Flipside: The Beginnings

How it all began.

At the beginning of last year (about a year ago in fact), I was checking on cheap flights to go back home to Edmonton from Vancouver. Skimming through my friendly neighbourhood Travel Cuts site Travelcuts.com, I noticed a little trivia contest. Enter and win it said. You could be on your way to an adventure of a lifetime it basically screamed. Win this and you get a SWAP registration to the UK for absolutely free!!!!!

Well…that sounded pretty darn good to me so I entered the thing. It consisted of finding the answer to some pretty obscure questions - it took HOURS to find them. Needless to say I did my little bit of Internet searching, answered the question and let the whole experience leave my brain.

Flash forward to April, three months later. I am sitting in a coffee shop with a couple of friends. A trendy little place called Starry Dynamo on Main Street in Vancouver which gave a little bit of free Internet to those who buy coffee. Sipping on my cuppa Jo, I plug myself in to the web to check my mail. SWAP? Who? Why are they writing me? And that’s when I discovered it folks. Discovered a chance of a lifetime whilst with my coffee shop friends. The opportunity to take a plunge and see the world. I had won second place in the Travel Cuts SWAP to Britain sweepstakes.

This of course was my lucky day as only three people in the country won this fabulous prize. A 2-year working holiday visa (only available to us in the commonwealth - yeah Queenie!), accommodation at a youth hostel for the first two nights, and a place called BUNAC (the British Universities North America Club) that will help you with the job and accommodation search during your stay in the UK. Not bad at all!

Of course anyone can take advantage of this opportunity as long as they have a bit of cash. And fit the age requirements (some places go up to almost 30 but the UK SWAP program is only applicable if you are under 26) To be a part of the UK SWAP you need to have about $450 as a registration fee.

You also have to fill out a form, provide two letters of reference, a resume, a cover letter stating why you want to take advantage of the SWAP program, your passport and an additional passport-size photo. You also need a letter from your bank stating the amount of funds you have available. In order to get the actual visa you need proof that you have $1500 as support funds. $1500? That’s what I thought until I found out that the other poor schmuks that try to take advantage of the working holiday visa without going through SWAP need to have proof of $2500. After hearing that, the $1500 didn’t seem so bad.

What to Bring?
So. Then the fun begins. The shopping and the packing. It’s the joy of trying to figure out what you’ll absolutely need and want that’ll all fit into one backpack to sustain you for two years. Of course things can be bought but then those things will have to be lugged about.

And what about the backpack? It better be a good one. That’s what I thought so I bought a $250 backpack on sale for $200. A necessity. It is absolutely important to have a good pack so that you can actually enjoy your travels, not curse them. SWAP does give you a list but these things are quite crucial:
-A letter of intro for your bank at home (you CANNOT get a bank account in Britain without one so be prepared!!!)
-A clothesline and plug stopper (you can buy them in a pack together)
-Clothes that don’t wrinkle
-Clothes that you can wear in an office if you’re going to do temp work.
-Lots of socks and underwear (self-explanatory)
-A sarong (comes in good use as a pillow, dirty clothes carrier, wall-hanging, you name it)
-A good waterproof jacket (also make sure it’s something you want to wear on interviews as well!)
-Lots of layers (just remember - you’ll be carrying them in the summer when it’s hot!)
-Runners and good shoes
-Lots of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, condoms, fem products, etc. (it’s bloody expensive here for those things and until you’re making some British coin, you can forget about it)
-Walkman and tapes (I had my friends make me tapes so I could think about them when I was gone. It’s a nice, easy going away present)
-A money belt to hide your passport under your clothes for those traveling moments.

How was SWAP?
So far so good. They were a bit disorganized to begin with. I did give them a bit of problems by making them send my final package to Edmonton instead of Vancouver where I had started the whole process.

I didn’t have to take advantage of the hostel when I got here cause I already had a place to stay so I don’t know how that went. But let me say this: It’s crazy at the BUNAC office. It’s great that they have listings up but there are so many people coming in January that things go fast so it’s something to look out for.

The slight advantage to the job hunt is that most of those coming here right now are Americans and they only have a 6-month visa whereas we can work for a full year (the other year is supposed to be devoted to traveling though you can break it up however you want). Also the hours are 9:30 to 5:30 weekdays and I work 10-6. SO if I need to go down there to pick up my mail or anything that’s not going to happen. They do try to give options for that (they’ll forward mail) but I’m finding it a bit inconvenient for me because I live so far away from the centre. They do host pub nights and excursions so you can make some more friends who aren’t from England but hey it’s better than nothin’, right? So do it if you can and if you can afford it. Save up.

You can only take advantage of the SWAP UK program if you’re under 30. SWAPs do take place to other countries but the guidelines are a bit stricter. Go down to your local Travel Cuts and pick up a brochure. Not that they’re paying me to say this or anything. Actually, they aren’t paying me so why am I saying this? Maybe they’ll endorse my next trip - wait, what am I thinking. Student travel = not a lot of cash. Anyhow, check it out before time passes you by.