Saying a final goodbye to all in the Czech Republic.

Back on the Isle of Man for a two-day break, back at Allan's place, back on the kareoke.

At Alex's in Niederselters, feeling like 17 again.

Back to Brno... or not. I couldn't be bothered to return to the Czech Republic, so started hitchhiking with Alex to Italy. It took 24 hours on the road to get there, with a sleep break in Switzerland (in our driver's daughter's flatmate's bed). We spent a few hours in Pistoia and hitchhiked back to Frankfurt the following afternoon, a round trip of well over 2300km. With a combination of perseverance and lots and lots of luck, we were much faster than anyone could have expected.

Exploring the various sights of the village of Klöden - torture instruments, castles, pizza ovens, creepy attics and more.

Wtih a stopover in Dresden to find myself an ukulele (later to be named Natalia), I hitchhiked my way to the revived Klöden camp! Unlike 2007's disaster where I went to Klöden and lost almost all my photos, I've managed to keep 2009's ones safe. 2009 Klöden - three loud nights of razvrat and a great way to say goodbye to the summer.

A trip out to some woods, caves and swimming in a small lake (with carp and jellyfish...) with three other newly-qualified teachers from my CELTA course.

Various bits and pieces from August in Brno - my last month here. Picnics in parks, a few guests, and walks in the woods around the city.

In Brno I studied an intensive four-week course to become qualified as an English teacher. I passed it... and so did everyone else who took the course with me :).

Two low-key days exploring Prague with Monika, staying at Zlatka's place in Všetaty. My sixth time in Prague, but the first time in summer...

A collection of pictures taken during July. For most of this month I was busy studying and so I had almost no free time, but still it wasn't totally uneventful.

Pictures of my flat in the beautiful former artists' district of Kaminka in southwest Brno, and of the various people who've stayed here.

A journey to the centre of the universe (a small town somewhere in Brabant), staying at Tim's for a short time.

This is the first public appearance of Anthea - purchased in Maastricht for maybe too much money while staying at Marlene's place on the way to Utrecht. I studied in Utrecht for a few months four years ago, and it felt great to return to the city. The event was a large CS gathering to celebrate Midsummer, with many various goings-on. After travelling for over a month and a half, this holiday to the Netherlands made a cool epilogue for my holiday :).

As a group of four, we hitchhiked to Vienna. However there were problems getting through Germany, problems finding a place to sleep in Salzburg, and I felt ill when arriving in Vienna, which persuaded me to take the next train to Brno. My journey ends here...

Several days spent at Alex's place, eating, drinking, playing games, dancing, enjoying the summer, and discussing future plans...

We left Mount Royal a day early, heading to Niederselters. I hitchhiked with Marlene, and it was an eventful hitchhike, one I won't forget in a long time... we were lucky to be alive...

The rain came down and so did many of the tents. But we stayed to have a six-hour-long jamming session across Mount Royal in Tim's van, as well as many meat-related good times.

Playing music, touring Traben and Trarbach, and nearly breaking my neck by falling off a tractor.

The Mount Royal Summer Camp begins. I went to Traben-Trarbach in 2007, but have never made it to this camp before. I loved this event because even though it was raining and the turnout was low, I knew most of the people there, meaning we owned the place :). It was also the scene of maybe my most satisfying hitchhike ever - getting taken 2km in a brand-new BMW directly into the centre of the campsite, driven by a flamboyant American woman. Only Massimo noticed my moment of glory...

Hitchhiking with Marlene from to Traben-Trarbach. Hitchhiking was the second-fastest method of travel between these two destinations - someone beat us travelling by train. However we were faster than Massimo's van, and much faster than Adam who went by plane, but ended up at the wrong Frankfurt airport, not realising his mistake until he'd already landed and went looking for us...

After a night of mayhem at Trevor's place, my camera had AHOJ stuck inside it and wouldn't focus correctly. So the first few images here are blurred (before the camera recovered). We stayed in Berlin for a couple of days - I slept uncomfortably on a large mattress with many other bodies, ate lots of D-Snack, and purchased Sonia.

Another fantastic year ends, and I was awake to see all but one sunset. (Shame, usually I'm up to see all of them.) This day was spent lazing around at the campsite, deciding in our large group what to do and where to go next.

One reason for me going to the Berlin Beach Camp every year is to meet people who I've travelled with, but haven't seen for many months. Other reasons for me going are so I can roll around in sand, play other people's musical instruments, and sing things. This all happened here.

This day was wet in the afternoon - very wet. Everything, possessions and people, got soaked. Maybe the rain was the explanation for the low turnout this year. But it wasn't a problem.

The first day of the 2009 Berlin Beach Camp was a fantastic blur in my memory, so the story begins here on the second day. To be honest, this whole five-day party was a blur, but at least I've got some photos from the other days. In these pictures, Trevor wakes up and does AHOJ. Then there are some biscuit letters, and Massimo sniffing Bimbo's nether regions. Lots of other cool things happened, trust me. This is the best weekend of the year, and with good reason...

It's always worth visiting Łódź every now and again. This was my third visit - I've been to Łódź more than any other Polish city...

A sunny day aboard a luxury boat for a small trip along Kraków's river.

Having a fun afternoon with many familiar faces not seen since New Year or even further back.

My second visit to Kraków this year, and I think I stayed around too long (five nights). Apart from meeting Asia and Paweł again, having Monika round to visit from Łódź, and taking part in a CS weekend, I spent a lot of time hanging around doing very little.

Hitchhiking to Brno and staying until I found a flat to live in... after one day I found a place, so I stayed for a lot shorter time than expected. I'll be back.

I've tried to go to Vienna many times (and sometimes I've been travelling to Vienna before having to turn around), but this time I finally made it. It was a quiet two nights.

I left Padua with the idea of hitchhiking to Vienna. I left way too late in the afternoon and ended up in Udine with not enough time and no accommodation cheaper than 60 euros. Onto Vienna by train...

A day out in rainy, dirty, unfriendly, expensive, confusing Venice. But I'm glad to say I've been there - it's unforgettable and unique. After wandering around aimlessly for a couple of hours, we bought postcards and attempted to recreate them by taking exactly the same photos as were on the cards. I needed to be on the water for some of the shots, and couldn't really afford a boat ride (or anything else in the city), but we did our best.

Hitchhiking as a group of three (and meeting some much more cooperative Carabinieri) Sanne, Casper and I made it to the wonderful party town of Padua. I was there for three days but didn't see so much of the city - one day was spent in Venice, one day was spent working and one day was spent trying to hitchhike onwards. But the nights were fantastic - long warm nights in the park, playing sports, eating tasty food and having spontaneous jam sessions with many local musicians.

Onto Lake Garda to meet up with Casper. The journey was eventful - after getting stopped by the Carabinieri when trying to hitchhike (even though we were doing it legally...) we took trains, which in Italy are cheap but are always cancellati. After finding a very luxurious campsite and enjoying a delicious meal, the great meetup took place in Sirmione, a village on a long peninsula cutting into the lake.

Experimental Travel #40 - Voyage to the End of the Line.
Sanne and I couldn't decide where to travel from Arenzano... so we hitchhiked and let our drivers choose. The rules: when a car stops, we ask the driver where they're going. When they tell us, we say "Cool, we're going there too!", we jump in, we travel with them to their end destination. We continued hitchhiking in this way until the late evening. We could have only been taken to the next village, or just as easily taken to the next country! As it happened, we took something like six or seven rides, and ended up in Bobbio, a beautiful village in the mountains 150km from our start point.

We celebrated our lap of Monaco with a trip to Italy! We start with two days of visiting Ligurian seaside towns, staying at Stuart's fantastic flat in Arenzano, and deciding on how to continue the journey...

Go to the start/finish line of the Circuit de Monaco and stick out your thumb. Hitchhike around the race circuit (or as close as possible using public roads) and cross the start/finish line to end the challenge. Sanne and I made it in 9 or 10 minutes - we forgot to time ourselves. Also, taking a video of the whole thing would've been cool, but hey, you have to save something for next time...

After sleeping in an apartment on the France-Monaco border, we spent the next day in Monaco. After exploring the harbour area we walked up the hill to the palace, then hitchhiked around the Formula 1 circuit before heading on by train to Italy.

Visiting a city for the first time, and going on a 26-part mission. All these pictures are in chronological order, over about four hours. (The letter 'U' is missing - for some reason deleted from my camera - we were struggling for a letter 'U' picture and had to accept 'upsidedown child'.)

Our aim was to hitchhike in one afternoon from Palud-sur-Verdon to Nice. We made it, but took a couple of unusual detours around a lake and various mountain villages. City-hitchhiking through the built-up and super-rich Côte d'Azur was also a lot of fun, and Nice is an interesting city, feels like a much larger version of Douglas, but with better weather and a beach perfect for midnight moonlit relaxation.

Found ourselves a small farmhouse hostel at Palud-sur-Verdon, and hitchhiked out to the Sentier Martel - a 17km hiking route up and down the side of the most beautiful and dramatic gorge in Europe. It took us seven hours to hike, and involved scrambling over rocks, climbing down long vertical ladders, and walking through pitch-black tunnels (without a torch...)

Aiming to get to Palud-sur-Verdon, our hitchhike takes us from Avignon to Digne-les-Bains in an afternoon. We're treated to a barbecue and fresh bed linen before hitchhiking on to Palud-sur-Verdon the next day. Perfect weather and amazing scenery.

My first time in the very south of France! And certainly won't be the last. Flew to Carcassonne, then hitchhiked to Avignon, met with travel partner Sanne and prepared for a trip through the mountains.

Enjoying one-and-a-half days as Gabor's guests in Galway with Monika, before she flies back to Poland and I fly on to France.

After getting to Dublin in five rides (including an hour's free taxi ride!) we were shattered, but continued to a live-music club before crashing at Martha's Temple Bar apartment. The next day was spent racing around Dublin and exhausting ourselves, then attending a CS event and staying at Jules' place. Next stop Galway.

Taking five days introducing Monika to Ireland, to Couchsurfing, and to hitchhiking. We rushed through the cities as fast as possible - stayed with Kata and Robi and saw Limerick in just one morning before hitchhiking to Dublin...

Leaving the Isle of Man, leaving my old job, leaving the gang behind. See you again in the distant future...

Large housewarming party in Edinburgh, with guests flying in specially from all over the continent. Good food, good drink, some bad drink, all a lot of fun.

Making and eating momos, and assembling hats with bits and pieces found from charity shops in preparation for the following night.

Hitchhiked from Newcastle to Edinburgh (in one lift!) and made it to Calum and Mairi's new flat, where I stayed five nights. Many people made it over for the weekend from many places across Europe to break in this new flat. Apart from a large hat party, we spent the time touring the city, climbing Arthur's Seat and some other hills, watching films, visiting pubs, watching films in pubs, going on a graveyard ghost tour, and seeing an amazing Celtic band in concert. Edinburgh is one of my favourite UK cities and I'm sure to be here again soon before long.

An hour in Leeds and a day in Newcastle; just stopping by to visit family, and show Guinea the sights.

Visiting the gang in Sheffield for a couple of days with Guinea, as Ian, Sam and Dave start their hitchhike to Croatia.

AHOJ on the Isle of Man!

Guinea decided to leave Warsaw join me at home for a few weeks, so she jumped into my bag and was smuggled onto the Isle of Man. She stayed until mid-April, then left with me to Edinburgh, where she found a job as the resident DJ in Calum and Mairi's flat and decided to stay.

Visiting Aga, Mon and Guinea in Warsaw with Trevor. Sadly I was flying home very early on the morning after we arrived, but we still had time to chat with Floh in Serbia, go out in Praga district and continue the night out at Warsaw airport. Thanks everyone for a fun week, see you soon.

Visiting Iza in Toruń, which is a better city than I imagined. Trevor came from Berlin to join the fun, and we worked our way through one day of beer, gingerbread, vodka ahoj, zapiekanka, pierogi and the occasional fist fight.

Visiting Monika for two days in Łódź. I was meant to do a restaurant review but it never happened - instead, we ate pizza and the Best Pierogi In The World, went shopping, met up with Ewa, and gatecrashed some polytechnic lectures.

Visiting Paweł in Kraków, and hosted by Asia. A lot of wandering around the city feeling cold, followed by a cool night with zapiekanka, various CSers, more zapiekanka, games with ID cards, yet more zapiekanka, and a fair amount of low-quality beer.

<<<LOCATION: Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof>>>
An Experimental travel game. Travel around a chosen location using a 11-stage set of common directions. Make notes, take photos, compare results.

On the way back to Frankfurt I stopped by Metz for a night to visit Flore and attend a party, as well as do some experimental cooking. The next day I tried to hitchhike to Frankfurt but only got as far as Saarland, so took a train and relaxed at Claudia-n-Markus' place for a bit. Back home, and although the last three days were a bit rushed, overall it was a fantastic holiday. It could be some months before the next one...

<<<LOCATION: French road D925 near Aiton>>>
An Experimental travel game. Travel around a chosen location using a 11-stage set of common directions. Make notes, take photos, compare results.

A night and a day travelling high in the French Alps with Anaëlle, a guest on the Isle of Man last year. Eating lots of delicious local food, hitchhiking over mountains in minus temperatures, experiencing a police van from the inside...

<<<LOCATION: Lyon 6th Arrondissement north>>>
An Experimental travel game. Travel around a chosen location using a 11-stage set of common directions. Make notes, take photos, compare results.

I love this city! I have to visit again sometime. Great food, friendly people, classy atmosphere. It's a shame I had to leave, but I had to keep moving - I left Lyon on the 23rd to travel north to Frankfurt, where my plane home leaves on the 25th...

<<<LOCATION: Geneva Georgian Embassy>>>
An Experimental travel game. Travel around a chosen location using a 11-stage set of common directions. Make notes, take photos, compare results.

Leaving Vevey to hitchhike to Lyon. The route is not so simple - getting past Geneva is the problem. As time went on I accepted a ride to Geneva (it was a Georgian diplomatic service, I couldn't turn them down), explored Geneva for a bit, then walked to France and caught a train to Lyon.

Hitchhiked from Winterthur to Lausanne in four hours (!) and spent 24 more hours as Noé's guest in Vevey. A tour around a vineyard, a tasty fondue and lots of homemade wine.

<<<LOCATION: Zürich Südbahnhof>>>
An Experimental travel game. Travel around a chosen location using a 11-stage set of common directions. Make notes, take photos, compare results.

Spent two nights as Thomas' guest north of Winterthur. We visited Winterthur, Zürich, Uetliberg and saw various things. The area is worth visiting, but it's time to move on west...

I had keine Lust to stay in Frankfurt for eleven days, so travelled to Reutlingen to party the night long with Krissi and friends. The day after, sore head and sore neck, I tried hitchhiking to Switzerland. And it worked well - I went over the Swabian Alps, from village to village, so progress was very slow, but it was a lot of fun. Then a night ferry across the Bodensee and on to Winterthur...

<<<LOCATION: Birmingham International Airport Terminal 2 Arrivals>>>
An Experimental travel game. Travel around a chosen location using a 11-stage set of common directions. Make notes, take photos, compare results.

<<<LOCATION: Isle of Man Airport Departure Lounge>>>
An Experimental travel game. Travel around a chosen location using a 11-stage set of common directions. Make notes, take photos, compare results.

Decided to go to the Alps on the 13th, flying to Frankfurt on the 15th. I like these kinds of decisions. Also, watch out for explosive dogs on the Isle of Man (see first picture).

Photos from the final night of Berlin fun, ending with the usual Flohfish party until I had to leave for the Isle of Man when the party was about to get going (6.30am). Love you all, til next time.

12 months of Berlin Beach Camp fun. When viewing a photo, click it for the full-size version, and print at will. Thank you to the 24 stunning, highly photogenic volunteers who feature in the calendar. Comes with all the Berlin state public holidays marked in red.

Camera's back! (Sort of.) The New Year night at the Berlin Winter Camp - escaping to a rooftop party with enough AHOJ to go round, and a clear view of the fireworks (most being thrown around at our feet).

Lots happened on the third night. Really it did. But I don't have much record of it as my camera started to break.

Second night at HomeBase, split up by the Ringbahn party. Better music, more people arrived, plus visiting Floh's place and realising I'd couchsurfed there six months earlier, by coincidence.

A Berlin rail network, 150-200 people, a large stereo and lots of alcohol. Spilling the party on the public transport system for two hours and making ourselves heard.

The first night of the Berlin Winter Camp, at HomeBase Lounge, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin. Note: no camping involved - we were snug, cosy and warm on the first night with glühwein, vodka AHOJ and dodgy music.

One-and-a-half nights in Edinburgh just after Christmas. Didn't take many photos but had a fun, relaxing time as Nicky's guest, on my way to Berlin.

Mijn zelfgemaakte gevulde speculaas, gemaakt op 5 december en snel opgegeten.

Experimental Travel #3 - Alternating Travel.
This is what happened when I started by turning right from my house. Doing this experiment makes you realise how towns create a one-dimensional world in a two-dimensional space (by making you follow lines instead of walk wherever you like along terrain). Also, you find yourself guessing where you will finish, and you always seem to get it wrong until the last minute.

Experimental Travel #3 - Alternating Travel.
Leave your home on foot. Take the first path on the left, then the next on the right, then the next on the left, then the next on the right, and so on. Carry on until something - a no-man's-land, a building or a stretch of water - blocks your path and you can go no further. This is what happened when I started by turning left from my house.

Four days, four nights, a lot of Big Decisions to make.

The last of our seven nights, and it's best not to compete with the fantastic night before in Málaga. So we went for something different - a metal club, as guests of Mr G McCrory. And despite wrecking my neck for the next four days and sleeping on a bathroom floor, it felt like a calm and relaxing end to the perfect holiday. 'Til next time!

7 Spanish/English/Manx partygoers + 3 metres of tinto verano = chaos :). One of the best nights I can remember...

With traveller Victoria, we explore Málaga again and tie up a few loose ends on our last day. The sun is blazing down as ever.

Now we are nine. We jump into two cars and head off, larking about on the mountains and then getting a tapa or two back at Cártama.

There was not much planned for this morning, which is just as well, as I almost collapsed with heatstroke. But just walking up and down Málaga's La Malagueta beach is always good fun.

After giving the performance of our lives on the kareoke stage in a hotel in Torremolinos, we head out to the bright lights of Benalmádena, where the tequila seems to flow from the tap, and everyone around us is suddenly Irish.

Tuesday was spent with Allan on a daytrip to Córdoba by train, exploring the old city and taking an obscenely large amount of photos.

A campero is a Málaga sandwich containing chicken, serrano ham, fried egg, cheese, tomato, onion, lettuce, mayonnaise, olive oil and who knows what else, served in a large bap and toasted to perfection. I may move permanently to Málaga simply to eat more of these.

A lazy day spent first at Málaga station negotiating a journey away to Córdoba, before realising it was too late to travel anywhere. So we spent the day exploring Málaga and doing nothing except eat, walk and take photos.

Guaro was having a week-long memorial festival with candles lit across the whole village. We browsed the exhibits for a while, stood in line for food for a while longer, and then hit a club in nearby Caballo Blanco.

Our host for the six days was Isa, a friend I met in Galway last year. Luckily she has a Scénic and loves driving it, so we travelled across to Cártama to pick up Adri, on the way to the white village of Guaro...

Allan and I got to Málaga late on Saturday night, and after a quick few drinks and a poor attempt at sleep, we hit the beach at Los Alamos. Finally, some guaranteed sun this year...

These photos are the best that Liverpool has to offer. Don't visit.

Walking from Ballajora to Maughold via the Raad ny Foillan (Way of the Gull), and hitchhiking back to Laxey.

A wet day in Douglas, nothing to do. So travel to an agricultural fair in the north of the island, where the weather is hot and sunny, and the mud is deep and plentiful.

Back from Singapore, and enjoying a day out on the east coast of the Isle of Man.

A few minutes inside a temple in the centre of Chinatown.

Exploring Chinatown, Kampong Glam and Little India. Most of the rest of the city is taken up by shopping malls.

Trying durian in a fruit market. The taste is unforgettable, but did I like it? I still don't know.

Journey to the 'island beyond the grave' - the theme park of Sentosa.

Half a day around a suburb north-west of the city centre, known for its extravagent houses and expat community.

Four days in Singapore, exploring the city and doing a lot of walking, and eating.

Leaving Pulau Tioman. If I come back, it will be to buy a hut next to the beach, and spend the rest of my days sleeping in hammocks and drinking coconut milk.

Photos from my fifth snorkelling visit to the seas around Tioman, this time circling Pulau Renggis (Renggis Island).

A long time ago, a Chinese dragon princess was travelling south to visit her prince in Singapore. While passing over the South China sea and looking at the beautiful coral reef, she forgot about her prince and decided to live permanently in the crystal-clear water. She turned herself into an island, which is now known as Pulau Tioman.

Normally at Tioman you'd get to different villages by sea - the jungle makes it impossible to travel by land. But a small road and footpath links some of the villages on the west coast.

A journey into the jungle, a journey into the unknown. Hot and very wet.

Made it to Malaysia, and Pulau Tioman! Spent seven nights here, on this tiny, rainforest-coated volcanic paradise in the South China sea.

Two days in the air, not much to see or do. Just eat, drink and use the Emirates in-flight entertainment system.

Walking, hitchhiking and hopping busses with guest Sandy across Castletown, Port Erin, the Calf, Port St. Mary, Peel and Ramsey, all in eight hours.

To the Promised Land!

Visiting a city for the first time, and going on a 26-part mission. All these pictures are in chronological order, over about four hours.

Photos from one street in western central Berlin, travelling from high-numbered to low-numbered houses.

Made it from Poznań to Berlin and spent a few relaxing days there, doing nothing really. This doesn't happen a lot.

Journeying around the city as Matt's entourage. I'm due to spend another five days in Scotland and would love to stay, but somehow find myself catching a plane this evening... destination Poznań.

Meeting in the city centre for a Big Freeze in the station - staying motionless en masse for five minutes while the public catch their trains. Then building pyramids, stripping willows and capturing flags in the parks.

Getting ready for a night out, making good use of coconuts, and packing a whole nightclub.

Meeting various Couchsurfers for a barbecue near Arthur's Seat, next to an old railway tunnel, with Twister, coconuts, cannabalism and a fair amount of drinking.

This week-long holiday in Edinburgh didn't turn out as planned, but to be honest I wasn't following a plan. I ended up spending just over 24 hours in the Scottish capital, but they were 24 hours to remember. These pics are from a scavenger/candid camera hunt across the city centre.

A few days watching motorbikes race each other at speeds of up to 330km/h along a 61km-long circuit of small mountain roads across the Isle of Man, racing just a couple of metres away from your face. Saw the racing from several places along the circuit, and did a fair bit of hitchhiking.

Poorly-planned party after the Berlin Beach Camp. We were all shattered and only had the energy for listening to music while lying on Trevor's mattresses. See you all next year...

After sleeping on the grass, we spent the Monday at the Berlin Beach Camp packing each other's tents up, eating the rest of the food, walking around wearing our tents, playing beach cricket, playing some music, and wishing we didn't have to wait another year until next time...

I woke up just after midnight on Sunday at the Berlin Beach Camp and stayed awake through the next two sunrises. During this time the police came, ordered us to clean the place up early, and open the camp to the public. The day was spent by lounging around more in the perfect sun, pushing each other on shopping trolleys, making Grand Plans to visit New York/climb K2/hitchhike anywhere (none of these happened), keeping people awake with music, and climbing trees. A small Chinese monkey called Carlos was attached to my arm for most of the day.

Saturday at the Berlin Beach Camp and it's starting to get busy. The beach is turning into a shanty town (called The Ghetto), there is little space to play volleyball anymore, the sun is beating down as ever, I'm feeling sleep-deprived, and it's time to escape for a bit. So we're off to the Olympiastadion to see a Bundesliga game. I fell to sleep in the early evening.

Waking up to Friday at the Berlin Beach Camp, and spending the whole time lounging about in the sun, playing volleyball, eating, drinking, swimming in the dirty water, taking freezing cold showers, eating, drinking, playing the harmonica and melodica, eating, drinking... this time I slept on a couch next to the fireside just as the sun was about to come up. I opened my eyes to see the sunrise, then fell back to sleep and found a warm, sun-drenched bench to sleep on for a couple of hours.

Made it to Strandbad Grünau! I haven't been here for two years now, and it's one of the highlights of the year. These photos are split into days, according to when I went to sleep. Although on most days I was sleeping just after sunrise...

Seven sunny days in Berlin! Meeting many old friends and partying until sunrise at the Berlin Beach Camp. The night before the camp we did a Wednesday Warmup Workshop - we tried to do an Experimental Travel game of Barman's Knock (see http://tommoon.fotopic.net/knockingthemback) and ground to a halt at the third place. But the week was underway...

Day 2 of Anaëlle's visit, and taking a ride up to Snaefell mountain at the top of the island, before deciding to jump off the train and hitchhike instead. We got to Ramsey, then Laxey for the blues festival, and much dancing, singing and entertaining.

Having CS guest Anaëlle to stay for a weekend, and using the opportunity to travel around my home country and be a local tourist.

Some assorted cameraphone pictures from a long spring at home, without much travelling.

The last two days of my trip were spent in Galilee and the Golan Heights. Hitchhiking was amazing, thanks to two soldiers who picked me up and drove me to the snow-covered mountains in the north-east, next to Syria, Jordan and the UN demilitarised zone in between. Bullet-holed signs saying "SHELTER", live minefields as far as the eye can see (that remain just in case they're needed in future) and abandoned tanks were the chilling locations for fun and games such as snowball fights against little kids, igloo-building and sledging. It felt like half of all Israelis were in the region, up for the weekend to enjoy the snow. I'm glad we arrived early - the traffic jam when we left was several km long.

A day out hitchhiking and walking south from Haifa to the Druze villages at the mountain top.

I wanted to make a trip into the West Bank at some point, and now felt like a good opportunity. It was windy, wet and even snowy at times, but it was an eerie, and unforgettable, experience.

A day out relaxing at the ancient city of Acre, which is built upon a rock jutting out into the Mediterranean sea.

Early the next morning (Saturday, no buses) I tried to hitchhike south on the winding crater road towards Eilat, but was stopped because of desert floods, and because of a threat of violence from militant Gazans who had recently broken through the Gaza-Egypt border. So I turned round and headed north back to Haifa, into a thunderstorm and a lot of heavy rain. But the hitchhiking was fantastic.

The scenery leading up to the town of Mitzpe Ramon was stunning, but Mitzpe Ramon is on the edge of the Makhtesh Ramon crater, and seeing that was the highlight of my trip. I spent ages walking around in the sun, taking photos and enjoying the silence. Also walked around the small town maybe a bit too much. Maybe I'll come back someday to walk across the crater.

The Negev desert is a chunk of land seperating Sinai (Egypt) from Jordan. Hitchhiking in was easy - there are only two or three roads running from north to south, and one of the drivers even invited me back to his kibbutz for coffee and to show off his RC dune buggy. I wasn't sure whether I'd travel all the way down to Egypt or Jordan, but there was a place that I wanted to spend the night at, in the middle of the Negev - Mitzpe Ramon.

Off to spend the weekend travelling south. Maybe I make it as far as Egypt or Jordan? Whatever, it was a good idea to stay in Tel Aviv for a day, chill out on the beach, at the market and around the streets, and meet up with Limor and Shlomit. Walking round Tel Aviv was a good way to learn more about daily life in Israel, and understand what I need to do to travel further, into the desert.

After the two days of travelling, the next day was spent exploring Haifa and the surrounding area. By this time I'm starting to understand how to get around Israel, order food and communicate with people on the street. I still can't read signs well and I'm getting lost often. But this is a good thing.

I'd not thought much about visiting Jerusalem before the trip. It wasn't one of the places I was looking forward to seeing the most. But once you pass across the hills and arrive in the city, it dawns on you what an important place this is for many, many people, from multiple religions. And when you arrive, you begin to realise how much hatred and resentment there is between groups of people who are committed to being neighbours. Even beginning to understand this will take a lot longer than the two weeks I had. For the first time, I really felt culture shock.

Back in August 2006 I travelled around central Europe for three weeks with an Israeli, Talli, who invited me to visit her, her fiancé Daniel, and her dog Kroovi at their apartment in Haifa. So after a year and a half I accepted the invitation, and spent two weeks staying with them and travelling around the rest of Israel, making short overnight breaks or long weekend trips to the other regions. But coming back to Haifa was always fun too, their apartment is a mini-paradise :). Thank you so much for your great hospitality!

New Year's party at Willaston, hitchhiking around the TT course, and preparing for the trip to Israel...

Pub crawl and gig with the town band in the days before Christmas, and pictures from the holiday period itself. Fun fun fun.

My first holiday from the new job, and Sheffield is the perfect destination for a long weekend break. Thank you everyone who was around and gave me a warm welcome in the bitter cold...

Chilling on the rock, trying not to become part of the scenery.

They're apples! It's madness! It's Apple Madness!

A bit of the October skeet - the Manx goings-on.

Starting a new job at Lloyds TSB, having HC guest Teppo round for a bit, and aggravating a football injury just a bit further.

I was bored.

Last day of the holiday! Killing a few hours in Liverpool with Juste and friends. Thanks to everyone I met during the last three weeks, it was great :).

Final day in Germany, relaxing in Cologne and enjoying HC company.

A short daytrip to Wiesbaden, to look around the place and look at rooms to rent. Dunno if I was impressed, but it was a fun day.

Visiting friends and having fun in the schöne Stadt am Main. I can't remember the last time I went on holiday and didn't visit Frankfurt. Somehow it always works out this way.

By now I had a flight booked from Cologne, so going to Munich was a large detour for me. Was it worth the trip? Still not sure. But at least now I've visited Bavaria.

I mainly wanted to go to Thüringen, or if not, then to Prague, maybe Frankfurt-Main or even Freiburg-Breisgau... but ended up visiting Asia in Dresden. In contrast to the rest of the holiday, I had lots of time alone here. It wasn't so bad though, because Dresden is special.

After Klöden I didn't know where I was heading off to. But after taking an opportunity that I couldn't miss, I found myself in Leipzig surrounded by HC members for a couple of days. But where next?

Klöden... an unforgettable 4-day festival of eating, drinking, dancing, camping, football, frisbee, skinny-dipping, cooking, playing music, seeing many old faces again and meeting many new ones. I'm glad it's unforgettable, because almost all photos were deleted from my phone! This is a great shame, they were fantastic photos and I was looking forward to sharing them...

Got a cheap flight to Germany, and hitchhiked to Floh's place in Traben-Trarbach. Beautiful scenery, amazing wine and a great guided tour around all the secret spots.

Three nights with Paluch and the crew at the Merchant Freaks' shack in Galway. We also did some hitchhiking along the south coast, and enjoyed the crack in Galway, Ennis, Limerick, even Lisdoonvarna. Many pints of Guinness were hurt during the making of these galleries.

A Grand Day Out at the Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire, being entertained with music of all styles and people of all shapes.

After getting a job in mid-August with the start date in mid-September, I bought a one-way ticket to Ireland and started off on another adventure, destination uncertain. Last taste of freedom this year?

There's a party down Onchan way.

BA (Hons) German with Dutch. :).

A round-up of the last six weeks of uni. Visiting Lena in Birmingham, celebrating end of exams with D-Deck, sorting out the Sheffield entry for a hitchhiking website, and saying farewell to uni life...

Us winning the Sauerkraut Cup football competition for Sheffield, HC guest Lukas coming to stay, and getting rid of Mark's door handles.

The last part of the Easter travels, and it was in Leiden! This is the second time I've visited. Apologies to Mojca, Kelly and Sam for not letting you know sooner. And thanks to HC host Paulina for a weekend I won't forget in a long time :).

Sixth time in Frankfurt since moving away... after two nights staying with HC host Maike and a night at Claudia and Markus' place, I tried to leave. But couldn't. So Suse picked me up and I spent the rest of the day having a barbecue and fluking poker wins. Life's good. Thanks once again everyone!

A great break in Hungary with HC host Edina. Got a good rest and enough time to check out the whole city (and there's a lot of it). And got another reason to go to Viljandi this year :).

Photos taken in Belgrade with Maja, Dragana and Ognjen for a few days, whilst deciding what to do with myself over the following two weeks.

BELGRADE! At last we made it, and collapsed on our beds in the Hotel Srbija for several hours. After waking up, eating and partying the night away, everyone said their goodbyes and went their seperate ways. For me, the adventure was nowhere near over...

Got quickly to Slovakia! And got dropped off on the wrong motorway, facing in the wrong direction, in the wrong part of Bratislava. With one day to go, and with few options left, we opted for last-minute Eurolines tickets and stocked up on drinks for the overnight trip to Belgrade...

Made it to Prague! Two nights of debauchery and two days of hangovers. Then more travelling, but it didn't go so well and we made it as far as a sleepy village somewhere south of Brno, on a Sunday night. Somehow we got ourselves into Brno centre, and rented one of the dirtiest hostel rooms I've ever slept in. At least it was a roof for the night, and we set off early the next morning for Slovakia...

Over the next two days our progress in the Bummit race was not so great - after finding Jennie on Hospitality Club and staying at night at her place in Cologne, we got stuck. Smelly, stressed, and sleep-deprived, eventually we made it as far as Frankfurt, where we spent the next night wandering around pathetically. After that our luck picked up - we made it swiftly to Nuremberg, and across the Czech border...

Day 2 of Bummit, and after grinding slowly to a halt near Maastricht we get cautioned by the Dutch police. Only one way out of the dilemma - to try and hitchhike trains...

Made it through France into Belgium and as far as Antwerp on the first night of the Bummit race, and found Gwen through Hospitality Club to put us up for the night, and get us acquainted with delicious Belgian beer. Next morning we woke up on her sofa, packed our bags and headed east...

On 'Bummit' - http://www.bummit.co.uk - a race with nearly 300 Sheffield Uni students to Belgrade, in any way possible with a tiny budget. Full of hope and optimism, our team of Tom, Hayley and I set off for Dover, to France and beyond...

Various pictures of the main part of our very own ball. Includes two very special guests of honour.

A gangsters and gun molls party. No idea how it got so late...

The 2nd meeting of the Sheffield Laboratory of Experimental Travel takes place on the streets of Sheffield, where eight student tourists use street maps of Paris to take a guided tour of famous "Parisian" landmarks. Starting with the Eiffel Tower (Arts Tower) we are plunged into one of Sheffield's dilapidated industrial districts, home to such French national treasures as the Notre Dame cathedral, the Louvre, and the Arc de Triomphe.

More Bummit frolics, this time a Cowboys (trip 1) vs. Indians (trip 2) merry gadabout at the Walkabout.

An Experimental Travel game. Go to your favourite pub and order your favourite drink. Ask the barperson where their favourite pub is and what they drink there. Go there and order their recommended drink, and then repeat the exercise with whoever serves you, and so on. Note: participants would be well advised not to attempt this experiment on an empty stomach, nor to repeat it ad nauseam.

I've been promising Suse that I'd visit her in Southampton for ages. Finally I made the trip down - yeah, it was in time for her farewell party but at least I made it and spent three days being treated like royalty, funfunfun. Cheers!

A small selection of pranks. We've got to pass the time somehow.

A tasty Christmas dinner at home is my favourite meal of the year and it's the thing I look forward to most during the winter. This year the turkey was the best ever. I hope that this bird has some close relatives and that I can eat one of them next year...

Gatecrashing Yeti's last two 1st-year Dutch classes is a great way to pass the time.

Dos chicas mexicanas hit the UK for nine days of gig-going, partying, sightseeing and shopping, using my flat as a base for a couple of nights. Good excuse to see GoodBooks at Leadmill...

There's a hitchhiking competition from Sheffield to Belgrade next Easter. There were a couple of hundred students dominating South Sea and Juice to kick off Bummit 2007. Spent ages on the costume...

Finally made it to Utrecht on the bus and then straight to Hilversum. After a meal with Linda and family it was back to Utrecht to meet Jorgen for a couple of drinks, then to a big house party to meet Marte and co., and take advantage of the alcohol on offer. One night there, one night back in Hilversum, one more random trip to Holland complete.

A couple of nights in Plzen, getting lost in the industrial wilderness and partying with students. Cheers to Kostya for hosting me and to the others for making Plzen a place to remember. Found it (literally) hard to leave...

Four nights in Prague! Where has this place been all my life? Beautiful city, even in misty November when you've almost walked your feet into bleeding, you stink, you have no money, you don't know how you're going to get to Amsterdam and you can't speak the language. The food and beer are tasty and go great with each other. Thanks Zuzana, Daniela and Michal for being great company, giving me rooves to sleep under and showing me the pubs, shops, districts where the locals go and the tourists miss. I'll be back for sure...

Hosted some homeless Dutch AEGEE students in my room for three nights. What started as two students soon became a very cosy five. They descended on Sheffield in a group of 24, I think they could've only all stayed at my place if they can sleep standing up! Although with the amount of alcohol many of them drunk after attacking Sheffield's pubs and clubs, sleeping like that would have been possible...

At a Hallowe'en party. How much time did it take to decorate this place? Should've stayed longer.

Deal.

Group of pictures from my last day in London, in Camden. Thanks to everyone for a weekend that I won't forget in a long time :) Talli, thanks for a great few weeks, have the time of your life and paint India red! And come visit us in Europe again sometime!

Photos from the HC meetup organised by Florian and me in the Angel Pub. Yes, two guests to the city managed to get a meetup of 29 people organised with 8 hours' notice :).

Friday night was spent finding accommodation by chasing an HC meetup round north London, catching them in the queue for Fabric, then going somewhere else and recovering the next morning :). These photos are from Saturday afternoon with Florian, meeting with Talli and Dana and organising a big HC meetup that night...

In London for four days. The reasons? To give Talli flight tickets to India, to give moral support while she journeys the beaurocratic odyssey of getting a new Israeli passport and Indian visa, and to meet loads of Hospitality Club members. I arrived in London at 10pm without any accommodation - luckily an HC meetup at the Angel Pub the same night solved that problem.

Back in Sheffield, back in Halifax Hall, back to being a student...

This is the last night of my holiday - the next day I go back to the Isle of Man, pack my bags and head off to Sheffield. 4657km hitchhiked, 61 days, 16 countries, the most amazing experiences along the way and my last night is spent slaving in Mojca's kitchen cooking hundreds of Swedish meatballs. It was a good party though :). Thanks so much to everyone who made my travels possible! You're welcome to visit me wherever I'm living...

I'm in the Netherlands to catch a flight home but I may as well spend three days looking around Leiden. And it was cool to see Mojca again after over two years!

After the seven-hour nightmare near Rosenheim we decided to go simply wherever the next driver would take us. So here we are back in Frankfurt. This was a good place to relax with friends, and to go and see Verlen play their last gig for a while in Hofheim. I stayed for a few days, then said bye to Talli in Frankfurt and hitchhiked over the Dutch border...

More photos exploring the Swiss countryside with Andri, Ursin and the rest of the Hutter family. We were sad to leave them at the end, but had to move on sometime. The morning after these photos Ursin dropped us off at the Swiss-Austrian border and we tried to hitchhike to Vienna. It was a disaster - the lowpoint was after seven hours at the same service station just outside Rosenheim, the worst hitchhiking experience either of us have had so far...

After travelling from city to city to city, Talli and I decided that we needed a break and wanted to explore some Alpine countryside. A coin flip decided that we'd stay in Switzerland; we then chose the St. Gallen canton as it looked rural and mountainous, and went onto Hospitality Club to find someone living in a village there. We found Andri and his family - they had a large lovely house in idyllic countryside, and they were perfect hosts!

Talli performs her fire character to Anniko, me and whoever happens to be passing by on the shores of the lake at Lausanne.

The first performance of Talli's sock character on a street in Lausanne, Switzerland. The public loved it and she earned many more Swiss francs than needed...

Finally in Switzerland! Our driver was going through Lausanne, so we got off there and found Anniko and Djunga through Hospitality Club. We stayed with her for three nights and explored the beautiful city, whilst Talli earned some money juggling on the street.

On the way to Switzerland! We chose this destination by sitting at the Piazza Navona in Rome, opening the map, saying "Let's go to Switzerland" and it was decided. We really didn't mind where in Switzerland we were going - as long as we crossed the border, we were happy. Crossing the border took over a day's hitchhiking, but we made it eventually...

Left Calabria early and set off travelling with Talli for a couple of weeks. The first journey was with Massimo and Pierre to Rome - we stayed two nights and used the time to relax, enjoy the dolce vita and decide which country to visit next.

Left Praia a Mare on Sunday, here are the pics. Thanks to Martina and everyone for a memorable weekend at the HC beach camp!

Pictures from a lazy Saturday at the HC beach camp at Praia a Mare - playing Werewolf (why wasn't it Mafia?), messing about and going into town.

Pictures from the the amazing HC beach camp in Praia a Mare, Calabria. At a sunny beach on the south-west coast of Italy, people gather from all over the world to jump off a 25-metre cliff and take photos of each other. Do HC, you know it makes sense.

A daytrip to Hampton Court. After these pictures my break comes to an end - we go to Newcastle for a few days, then I fly to Rome and carry on with Part 2 of my trip...

A family reunion at Janet and Jim's, Lowesbury Farm.

Going on a daytrip with Daniel to London. We didn't really know what to do when we got there, so we spent most of our time hopping random buses and taking strange pictures.

A few photos of a trip to the Roman baths at Bath.

A trip up to Wiltshire to visit my uncle's family and stay with them for a couple of nights. It wasn't until the second day that my cousin let slip that there was a quadbike in one of the sheds. We'd been wasting our lives up to this point.

With my suitcase I took the Eurostar to London and stayed for nearly two weeks with my family in England. This gives me a break from travelling for a bit, and it gives my family and I a chance to see each other. These pictures are from the Chertsey show - my aunt and uncle own a nearby farm.

This is my Ten-Minute Travel project made on 11th Aug 06 in Basel. Every ten minutes I stopped in my tracks to take a photo of whatever I saw. Your job is to pretend these photos are your own, and tell me about your afternoon in Switzerland! Please tell me about 'your trip' by leaving comments under each photo, by sending me an email (tomcmoon@gmail.com) or by telling me on the "Experimental Travel" group board on Couchsurfing, facebook, or anywhere else you found this link from.

Thanks! Looking forward to hearing your holiday stories!

Somehow a European trip wouldn't be complete if I didn't go to France. These are pictures from a day trip to Colmar, a town in the east.

Yoanna lives and studies in Freiburg, she was my guest in Frankfurt not long ago and so she returned the favour by inviting me to Freiburg. This place is beautiful, maybe the most beautiful town I've visited in ages.

Back in Frankfurt - the first 'leg' of my trip is complete! After spending a night at Ömer's place I'm onto Christoph's to be reunited with my suitcase, before hitchhiking to Freiburg for a couple of days.

The hitchhike from Copenhagen to Frankfurt/Main was probably the luckiest hitchhike I've ever done. After getting three lifts quickly out of Denmark I got left near Hamburg at a service station with hundreds of rock fans coming back from the Wacken festival, mostly travelling southwards, mostly with space in their cars and mostly open-minded enough to take hitchhikers. I hit hitchhiking gold!

Diego had gathered 20-25 HC and Couch Surfing members together for a party in Copenhagen. I met several people I knew previously and we ended up quite drunk in Dan's house. The next morning I gave up hitchhiking as I'd started too late, so spent an extra night on Diego's bed and left early the next morning.

Copenhagen was amazing. I'm not a fan of how much the city bows down to tourists, or how expensive everything is, but seeing Diego and many other HC members again was great fun and I ended up staying an extra night. The pictures in part 1 are of a day spent exploring the city, meeting friends who I hadn't seen since June and waiting for the party later that night...

Hitchhiking from Uppsala to Jönköping was a failure - out of the 300km distance, I made just 30km to Arlanda airport and then took the train. Hitchhiking from Jönköping to Copenhagen was even worse - after waiting three hours for a lift I spilt orange juice over all my posessions, decided I couldn't continue and took a bus. But hitchhiking was to get a lot better afterwards...

I spent four days in Sweden, two days in Uppsala and two days in Jönköping. The Swedish leg was probably the quietest, most peaceful part of my journey - I spent a lot of it alone or with a couple of Hospitality Club members. In some ways I was missing the exciting times I had in Vilnius or Tallinn, but in other ways I was glad I had enough time to gather my breath back, relax and reflect on various not-so-deep thoughts.

I didn't do nearly as much as I had planned in Ĺland. I stayed around Mariehamn for most of the visit - I had planned to take a bike ride round some of the islands but it never happened. I didn't go camping either, and I didn't hitchhike anywhere. But I did have a lot of time relaxing and exploring the surroundings whilst speaking as much Swedish as I could muster. I left by ferry from Eckerö to Grisslehamn in Sweden, next destination Uppsala.

Mariehamn is the perfect place for me to get some rest from staying in big cities, and Outi treated me very well as her guest for four nights. I spent the first two days meeting people and the last two lazing about and exploring Ĺland.

The plan was to take a day trip to Helsinki on the way to Mariehamn, but the day after last night I woke up too late to catch a ferry to Helsinki. So I stayed in Tallinn for the day, did my washing and a bit of shopping, then caught an overnight ferry directly to Mariehamn. The adventure continues...

Made it safely to Tallinn, and after a strange experience with my first Hospitality club hosts I found Maret, her boyfriend and her cat (sorry I've forgotten their names!) and stayed with them in their luxury flat near the sea. (It's up for sale by the way ;)...) These pictures are from the day visiting Merike in Rakvere and the night meeting up with James and some new friends at a pub Tallinn, including one guy who goes to Sheffield Uni. Small world.

To hitchhike from Vilnius to Tallinn, the best way is to go through Riga. The man who picked me up in Vilnius was a Russian who lived in Riga, and was very enthusiastic about giving me food and accommodation with him for a night. I turned down the accommodation, but still visited his house, ate some food and got to meet his family. He then dropped me on the northern motorway and I was in Tallinn later that evening. Thanks very, very much!

Partying in Vilnius with three Lithuanians, four Latvians and a Norwegian. One of the best nights ever, Vilnius knows how to show you a good time!

Visiting Pavilnių regioninis parkas with Gaudilė and Tuchkus, and then Trakai with Tuchkus on day 2 of my Lithuania trip. I'm feeling very 'at home' here in Lithuania for some reason - the place reminds me of all the other holidays I've had in the Baltic states and I feel completely relaxed here. The Baltics are definitely my favourite places to be.

Made it as far as Vilnius! The journey here was tough - I gave up hitchhiking and went by bus which still took 17 hours. However I met many people on the second bus from Warsaw which helped the journey go a bit quicker. I was Aureja's first guest - these pics are from the day just before she received her 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th guests... these pics are the calm before the storm :)

I'm off on a two-month hitchhiking tour of Europe! The first destination is Wrocław to stay with Ania, Marcin and Behemot for two nights. Weirdly, most of the people I know from Wrocław are not even in Poland anymore - the only person I met here was Lena and I was lucky to catch her before she left for Ireland!

Small get-together of five HC members (including guests from Freiburg) and a bottle of wine.

Hosting Anto and Geri for two nights as they end their tour of World Cup cities. My first HC guests :) and they were great fun. Went to see two Last 16 matches and then to a keller.

The last night in Poland and the last part of this collection. The next day I had a great trip back home, even travelling via Potsdam just for the hell of it. But tonight was spent with Marta's classmates, celebrating the end of their exams by having a bonfire. The mosquitos had a field day and I ended up with over sixty bites - now have to understand Polish instructions on a tube of anti-mosquito pills...

Part 2 of my holiday in Wrocław. Taking a few pictures of the city and going on a sightseeing (and signpost-stealing) tour with Marta, Lena and Pierre.

My most ambitious hitchhike so far - to visit friends in Wrocław, Poland for a long weekend. The journey there was about 800km (I made a detour to visit Halle), and this collection has pics taken in both Halle and Wrocław. Thanks to Lyndsay, Marta and Dorota for being great hosts!

Hitchhiked to Utrecht and spent three nights there revisiting people and places that I hadn't seen for ages. Very relaxing short break, and thanks to Lewis for being the best host possible!

The scenes from the banks of the Main river in Frankfurt, as the England football team come to visit. Thousands and thousands of fans watched the game in the baking sun - either at the stadium itself, or on giant TV screens in the middle of the river. The streets were littered with broken bottles, strewn England flags and the odd collapsed body. Saw the England game with England and Germany fans, saw the Sweden game with Sweden and England fans, and saw the Argentina game with all nationalities...

Packing up and leaving on the fifth and last day of the Berlin beach camp, organised by the Hospitality Club (http://www.hospitalityclub.org). Wow. The last five days have been ABSOLUTELY ****ING AMAZING! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for all 598 people who showed up, and to everyone that I met a special thank you for being so great. Expect to see me around with the club sometime again, in the very near future...

A small Sunday-night tribute by Ian and me to thank all the girls at the Berlin beach camp for being gorgeous :). Here are 12 lovely faces who agreed to form the "Berlin Calendar Babes of HC". Which one's your favourite?

The fourth and penultimate day at Berlin, partying with the Hospitality Club at the beach camp. A bit more volleyball, then a trip into Berlin to join the crowd at the Carnival of Cultures. Then a long, long night... I'm splitting these days up according to when I went to sleep. So there are a few pictures from Monday morning in this collection...!

Round the fire for the final part of day 3 at the Hospitality Club's 5-day beach camp in Berlin. Not many times that I like drinking tea, but this was definitely one of them.

PART 2 of the Saturday at the Hospitality Club's 5-day beach camp. Tonight I could have spent time at the beach, the tents, the benches, the café, the sauna, the lake, the fires or even the toilets. But the hall was the place to be, with some great live music and most types of bad dancing you can imagine...

Halfway through the Hospitality Club's 5-day beach camp in Berlin. The 3rd day was so big I have to put it into three parts... so here's PART 1, the Berlin city tour. The weather had been great all through the camp, apart from on this city tour. If I'd known, I wouldn't have been wearing a t-shirt and shorts. I swear I was wearing more borrowed clothes than own ones through most of these pictures.

Day 2 of 5 at Berlin Hospitality Club beach camp involved a bit of football, hours of volleyball, resting on the beach, eating, drinking, playing music, drinking, lazing about, chatting, drinking, wearing orange hats, drinking, eating, drinking, playing volleyball, dancing, drinking and enjoying the fires...

Photos from the first day of a massive 5-day beach camp in Berlin, with almost 600 people, organised by the Hospitality Club (http://www.hospitalityclub.org). Today was spent trying to hitchhike to Berlin, then meeting all the people who'd also been able to show up on the first day... the party has begun...

Off to Brussels on another EU For You trip. Got delayed loads and didn't spend much time in Brussels itself, but it was still good fun. (Forgot to replace the umbrella, by the way.)

A Grand Day Out in Luxembourg and Trier on a tour with the EU For You program. The complete Moselle expericence in 5 hours, and all for the price of €28 + 1 umbrella.

I spent most of this night struggling to decide whether to stay out, or to get some sleep for Luxembourg the next day. I stayed out. Not sure if it was a great idea.

A few pictures of the Rund um den Henninger-Turm bicycle race in Frankfurt, which caused everyone in the city to stop for a couple of hours, cheer the cyclists on, and wait for the roads to reopen...

Most people in these pictures were dressed up and deliberately looking unusual...

Various pictures of my new home.

Very small gallery this one, but I took two pictures from my bedroom window during a snowy day in Douglas (very rare) and thought they looked alright. So here they are.

A few pictures of things I saw on a random trip to Sweden for three days. Well, I was bored and felt like travelling...

Mingling in amongst the paparazzi to get shots of Colombian foreign minister Carolina Barco on a state visit to Latvia. I was unable to get any closer shots due to the number of bodyguards in the area...

A few photos from the Big Freeze in Estonia during three weeks in winter.

A few small pictures taken on the Isle of Man over Christmas and New Year. I was there for nearly 3 weeks. I really don't go there much nowadays, apart from seeing family and a few friends there isn't much point in me (or any other 21-year-old) being there...

London, Sheffield, Newcastle and Kendal just before Christmas.

Advantages of you having the camera - no embarrassing photos of you. Just a few shots from the party that gave us several threatening letters and a massive cleaning bill afterwards (whoops)!

Photos of Groningen during the 'afternoon after' with Paul and Peter.

Utrecht welcomes the Sint on tour.

Pictures taken with Sarah, Paul and Peter at the top of the Dom in Utrecht.

Visiting Silvia with Merike in Amsterdam.

Pics of Esti's (belated) bday party at our apartment. With many guests, a lot but not enough sangria and a very tasty cake...

Pics of cocktails in the kitchen, and the STORM Tuesday night ESN international party. Peter's dancing isn't illustrated here (much), you'll have to leave that to your imagination...

Photos of the exclusive 4P - Private Pink Pajama Party. WARNING: excessive pinkness can seriously damage mental health and reduce the power of the senses. (By the way, the red-eye here is intentional...)

A day trip to Amsterdam. After getting 0 hours of sleep the night before it wasn't the best idea for my health, but Amsterdam's not a place that's good for your health anyway...

Pics of Georgi's birthday party, the first big event at our apartment. Fitting 40-50 students into the kitchen is tough. Please add comments if you have captions, stories, if you like/dislike the photo, or simply if I've forgotten your name!

Trying to find bikes to buy in Utrecht, three of my housemates and me found some good ones on the canalside. With bikes, it feels so much more Dutch now...

A few pics of a trip with Merike to Tallinn on the last Saturday of my holiday in Estonia...

One day I woke up and felt like going to Finland for the day. So I did. I spent 8 hours in Helsinki and here are some photos.

Pics from Viljandi folk music festival.

Various pics from around Pärnu on another bike ride.

A day in Tallinn taking pictures and getting bored. I really shouldn't have come here today, I wasn't in the right mood. Never mind. ...Nice pics though!

Photos of a weekend visiting Gerli at the Estonian border town Valga, and also some of the Latvian side of the town (Valka).

Some pictures of places I went when hiring a mountain bike for six hours in Pärnu. I travelled about 40km in total, and spent most of the time riding through forests on the eastern outskirts of the city.

Three pictures of Pőltsamaa and a couple of the church in Rapla.

Messing about with a camera...

Pictures of Pärnu - first some of the city and then some two days later at a fair and theatre.

A weekend visiting Granny in Newcastle. Sorry, there are no real pics of Newcastle itself, just some of me and my family...

Pics of Douglas on a beautiful summer's day. Douglas is the town where my parents, brother and sister live. I live there as well, although I don't spend much time there as I'm mostly off at Uni or busy travelling to some far-off place. But these pics are taken during a three-week break between coming back from Sheffield and going to Estonia. And the weather has been (almost constantly) amazing throughout. Shame I've been working 7 days a week...

BBQ party to celebrate Norwegian 17 maj at Martin's place.

House party at Ben's place. Includes a gig by Umlaut, with support from Ben's band Killing Pigeons on their debut... ...all photo descriptions by guest captioner, Ben himself...

The end of Valborg, at the top floor of Marble Court Chinese restaurant. Thanks everyone for a great day. And I've no idea how I've taken so many photos...

BBQ at Martin's place for the next part of Valborg. Many people joined us at this point and the place was quickly packed with hungry and mostly hammered students. A nice filler, before the karaoke...

Continuing Valborg, back at the park for sports, games, chatting, drinking and enjoying the weather which had finally cleared up by this time...

More of the Valborg celebrations - large lunch at Maja's, Karin's and Tuulia's place. As usual, their food was divine with several different types of herring, bread, salmon, vegetables and even caviar on offer... also includes the announcement of next year's committee, large amounts of alcohol and terrible yet passionate singing of Swedish songs.

Photos of champagne and strawberries at the park on the morning of the 18-hour Valborg party with the Scandinavian Society. (By the way, PART 1 of this event was breakfast at Thomas' house, but I didn't make it...)

Photos from a get-together of students on ERASMUS exchange programmes, with a few more local students into the mix. The first few pics are at the Interval bar, the last few are at the Harley.

House party at Endcliffe Vale Road. Shame I didn't get any pics of Laurence's haircut. Maybe next time.

Photos of many different people at Isabelle's place during one Friday night in April. As usual for this house, it was a big event and you tend to see faces there who you happen to already know for many varying reasons. Enjoying my new digital camera... although I'm still not sure how it fully works yet. I think I understand it, but the only way to use it better is through practice...

Fifteen days exploring the beautiful Estonian scenery and spending time with the country's fantastic people.

These photos are from the Sheffield Uni's Scandinavian Society Christmas party, hosted by Karin, Maja and Tuulia at their flat in the heart of Sheffield. Most of the pics were taken there, and the later ones in this collection were taken at the nearby Forum bar. Happy Christmas to everyone...

Here are photos from the Christmas party of Sheffield Uni's German Society. About 80 people or so showed up... most of them were British students of German, plus one or two German people in the mix and also a few lecturers. The DV committee - the people in the seventh pic on this gallery, plus Ryan and Adham - were the organisers, and events included party games, a visit by (a familiar) Father Christmas and live music. Thanks go to Bar Max for providing the venue.

On November 27th 2004, a team of about 20 (mostly students, and mostly from Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland) set out on a mission to make Scandinavian food for the Sheffield community as part of Global Flavas (their choice of name, not ours) - a large international food party at the university. Armed with a car, four kitchens, many Tyrkisk peber sweets and way more alcohol than necessary they prepared such delicacies as reindeer meat, lamb, meatballs, salmon mousse, pickled herring, mulled wine, Turkish pepper vodka, cinamon buns and a hell of a lot of gingerbread.


Extras such as the ongoing Sweden vs. Finland grudge match, reindeer horns, Abba karaoke, bhangra-dancing Santas and "Rudolf med röda mulen" were all optional but added to the effect.

Hoi, deze foto's zijn uit de laaste week van onze zomercursus. Helaas heb ik de foto's gescand met een oude scanner (en ik ben ook geen geweldige fotograaf), dus de kwaliteit is zozo.


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These photos are from the last week of a three-week Dutch course I did in Ghent, Belgium. There were 60 people on the course, from across the whole of Europe and from further afield. We had an amazing time, the best time of my life so far, and made some really good friends. If you get the opportunity to do something like this, DO IT!!!

These photos are from when I went to visit family around London in 2003. I don't go to London much, maybe about once a year or so. I really like some of the shots I got whilst in the London Eye (and if you go to London, the Eye is the most important thing to do!) but I'm not sure if the other photos are that great. Never mind...

These photos are from a trip to Kendal in August 2002, when I went with my family and swapped houses with a Kendal family for a week, they went to the Isle of Man. I was 17. Since moving to the Isle of Man when I was 16 I've visited Kendal a few times - these pictures were from the only time I went with the rest of my family, and the only time I didn't stay at Slater's place (thanks go to him and his parents for putting up with me). I haven't been now for well over a year, I should go again...


I like these pictures. They show off my beautiful hometown and some of them even look semi-decent for once, but the best thing about them is that I'm not in a single shot!