Brandon O'Brien

Tuesday, August 20, 2013 @ 9:30 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 55

I got up around 8:30 this morning, ate, changed and then went for a run. I changed up my route this time and ran the opposite direction I had been. I got back and did a little work, ate lunch and then waited around for everyone to get ready to go to the beach. No one was really motivated so I ended up reading at the hostel until around 6 when we finally got together to head to the beach.

It's Mark's last night here so he surfed a little bit while the rest of us chilled under the little gazebo overlooking a really nice sunset.

Being in the same location for a long time means you kinda run out of new things to do on a daily basis which is why my journal entries are getting shorter and shorter the longer I stay in one place.

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Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Monday, August 19, 2013 @ 7:54 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 54

Not too much to report today. I went down to the beach and read for a couple hours, walked around the coast a bit and then read some more. It was a beautiful day so I wanted to spend as much time outside as I could.

My bread ended up being moldy so I couldn't make toast for breakfast or a sandwich for lunch so I just ended up having grapes and an apple for breakfast. For lunch I had a doner kebab and for dinner I got some fresh cod and cooked that with butter, garlic, lemon and onion and had it with some peas. As soon as I finished dinner, Kyle came back with a ton of food from his work so I had half a sausage panini.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do later tonight. It sounds like people are planning on going out, which I might join in if they don't wait too late to start.

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Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Sunday, August 18, 2013 @ 9:18 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 53

I got up this morning to some beautiful weather. Last night I told myself I'd get up and run if it was nice so I ate, changed into my running gear and set off toward the coast to run. I went down to Watergate Bay again for another 8 mile run.

When I got back, Ryan and Luke were talking about going down to the beach for the afternoon. I ate and then when they were ready we went down to Great Western beach with a big gazebo, a raft and a frisbee.

The weather looked a little gloomy and we got rained on after setting up the gazebo, but the rain only lasted a little while and then it ended up being beautiful. We got there at low tide and as the day went on the beach shrunk and shrunk as high tide came in. The waves were really big today and when I got in, it felt like I was on the Atlantic side of Florida with the big waves.

We relaxed on the beach and threw the frisbee around for a while before heading back to the hostel. I showered and changed and then went in search of food. ASDA and Sainsbury's were both closed on Sunday so I ended up getting some cheap Chinese food.

We've just been chilling at the hostel watching movies and having a few drinks. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I need to get in touch with the hostels in Brighton and make sure I can get the weekly rates.

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Tags: daily journal, newquay, england

Posted from: England

Saturday, August 17, 2013 @ 9:06 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 52

I knew today was supposed to be a rainy nasty day so I didn't set an alarm this morning. Because of it being a little darker outside and no alarm being set, I actually slept in until 11am... the latest I've slept in at least a couple years.

After eating lunch I worked on figuring out where I'm heading to next. I booked buses to Brighton. I've heard it's a pretty cool town and it will give me another area of England to visit that I've never been before. I'm still waiting to hear back from one of the hostels about their weekly rate, but the plan is to stay there for about 9 days.

Other than that I've just been relaxing here reading and doing a little work. I'm getting a little antsy now so I'll probably head out to the grocery and get something for breakfast so I don't have to worry about that in the morning.

Depending on how the weather behaves, I'm planning on doing a run in the morning to make up for being absolutely lazy today.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Friday, August 16, 2013 @ 7:20 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 51

It started off a little gloomy but I ate breakfast, made a sandwich and then headed to the southwest along the coast. It started to clear up and turned into a really nice day. I brought my book and stopped several times along the walk to read for a while.

After about 1:00 it started to warm up pretty good so I headed back to the hostel and got some Cornish Ice Cream along the way. It's supposed to taste different due to the cream being used but I thought it tasted like normal ice cream. Still good, but nothing too different.

When I got back to the hostel I read for a while longer and answered a few emails then Mark asked if I wanted to do a BBQ for the hostel tonight. It sounded good to me so we headed off to Aldi and bought a bunch of food.

We made some chicken, burgers, sausage, meat skewers, peas and home fries. There was a ton of food and everyone enjoyed it.

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be crappy so I'll probably just chill here at the hostel and do some work. I booked another few nights here so I'll be staying through next Friday. Newquay is cool and I figure I'd rather just stay here and chill than jump back on a train or bus. After that I'll head down to Brighton and see what it's like there before heading into mainland Europe.

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Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Thursday, August 15, 2013 @ 11:00 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 50

When I went to bed last night I told myself that I was going to get up early this morning and go for a run along the coast. That's exactly what I ended up doing. I got up, ate and then changed into my running gear and took off for Watergate Bay. The run to Watergate Bay is about 4 miles one way along some really nice coastline.

After the run, I got back and quickly rinsed off and then a group of us headed to Cafe Irie where we got some Canadian Breakfasts. Their version is a bunch of thick crispy bacon wrapped in a big crepe all covered with maple syrup. It was an extremely delicious lunch.

Once I got back to the hostel I answered a few emails and then people started talking about heading down to the beach for the afternoon. I changed into my running/swimsuit and 5 of us went down to the beach. We relaxed for a bit then got in the frigid water for a while. After drying off we kicked around a soccer ball for a bit then laid out in the sun some more.

I wanted a proper shower so I came back to the hostel and took care of that. We all hung out watching TV for a while before everyone started making dinner. I still had some curry sauce left and I had bought some basmati rice last night so I cut up a red pepper, an onion and some garlic and then combined it all together for a delicious dinner.

We were originally going to head out tonight since it's Curt's last night here but everyone was in recovery mode from last night so we just ended up hanging out in the dining room/lounge area watching TV and having a few drinks.

You can buy cider at the store in 2 liter bottles for pretty cheap (£3.49 for the bottle). I bought one earlier in the day and had a couple glasses. I got a little hungry later and made another one of my crunchy peanut butter, nutella and jelly sandwiches to keep me from being hungry all night.

Tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be nice so I'll probably go exploring some of the southern coastline. I also need to start figuring out where I'm heading after this. I have my hostel room booked until Monday, so I'm debating whether staying here a little longer or trying to go somewhere else in England. Due to visa limitations I'm not going to enter mainland Europe until mid September so I've still got a little time to kill here.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Wednesday, August 14, 2013 @ 9:55 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 49

I woke up this morning with every intention to go exploring more of the Cornish coast. Unfortunately, I woke up to dark skies and rain. I ended up just bumming around at the hostel watching tv and movies with some of the other guests here until after lunch.

A guy named Kurt and I walked around town and went down to one of the beaches just to get out of the hostel when there was a little break in the weather. We still got sprinkled on but it wasn't too bad. I had an official cornish pasty as a snack. They're pretty good but definitely not something I could eat every day. It's basically meat and veggies inside a baked dough. Think a calzone with steak, potatoes and carrots inside.

We came back to the hostel and I read for a little while and then showered. All of us were getting a bit antsy to get out of the hostel again so a group of us went down to a pub and played some pool and foosball and had a few beers. On the way back we stopped at Aldi and picked up some stuff for dinner.

They're setting up for beer pong in the lounge now so I'll probably go down and play a game or two. I'm actually quite tired for not really having done much today. I'm hoping the weather is better tomorrow so I can enjoy some more of the coastline.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Tuesday, August 13, 2013 @ 3:04 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 48

This morning I made some potatoes and eggs for breakfast and then set off to walk along the coast. There is a nice path that goes along the coast so I headed for that. I picked up a sandwich to eat later while I was walking to the path.

The coast is beautiful. It reminded me a lot of the coasts of Southern California. Unfortunately it was high tide when I was walking along the cliffs which are supposed to be a lot more stunning at low tide. Tomorrow I'll have to check them out when the sea is a little lower.

After eating lunch along the coast I made my way back to the hostel to get my book and get my flip flops. I went down to the beach and read for a while but then it started to cool off when it got cloudy.

I came back to the hostel, showered and will do a little work before making dinner tonight. I need to plan out where I'm going to hike tomorrow too.

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Tags: daily journal, england, newquay,

Posted from: England

Monday, August 12, 2013 @ 8:18 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 47

I spent all day getting here to Newquay. I took a bus from Cardiff to Bristol and then another bus from Bristol to Newquay. I had some pretty good tomato basil soup next to the bus station in Bristol with my nutella/peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Newquay seems like a really cool town. Everyone comes here to surf and there are some amazing coastlines. They actually remind me a lot of some of the Pacific coast in California. Tomorrow I'll set out to explore the area a little more.

I got to the hostel, checked in, bought some groceries and then ate dinner. The hostel (Driftwood Lodge) is a tiny place but everyone here seems extremely cool. It sounds like they're going to have a big BBQ tonight so I bought some rum and cokes to drink while they're all drinking and eating.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Friday, August 2, 2013 @ 4:22 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 37

After the long walk yesterday I knew I wanted to take today a little easy. I got up, ate and then did some very much needed laundry. Washing things in sinks without proper soap only goes so far.

Once that was finished and I ate lunch, I loaded a map on my phone of all the nearby spots that Banksy had done some work. It was a little frustrating at first because the map doesn't really give you precisely where the works are, but rather a general area. I spent quite a bit of time hunting around but finally found a few. Unfortunately some of the works were covered over or were behind construction equipment. I did get to see a few good ones though.

I read in the College Green park for a bit but decided to head back to the hostel for the rest of the afternoon. It was a little noisy in the park and it kept looking like it was going to rain.

Tomorrow I head to Cardiff for a few nights. I'm hoping that once I'm there I can investigate a place to stay for a couple weeks so I don't have to constantly be on the move. It would be nice to spend some quality time in a city without having to think about where I'm heading to next.

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Tags: daily journal, bristol, england, banksy

Posted from: England