Figjam's Epic Adventure 'The Second Coming'

Sunday, August 14, 2011

This is a long time coming... The end of one journey... but the beginning of another!

23/7/11

0750(local time)-Dahab

Its been a while. I know I know… but I have excuses! First one is, I broke my computer! Yep, the little white computer that had been in my life for like 3 years finally decided it had had enough and just decided not to charge up anymore! Great News! Second reason is, is that I have change moved countries… I’m now back in the sunny shores of Dahab living life to the fullest! Lots of windsurfing, lots of swimming and lots of relaxing! That’s the way it should be!

Ok, so I think its best to pick up where I left off… But before I start, I should mention this, I have been getting grief about the length of my blog so ill try my very hardest to keep it short.

Right, so the bus journey from Porto, Portugal to Madrid, Spain was an absolute nightmare! I nearly got arrested at a border crossing, we then were involved in a (very minor) bus/car crash and then, when the bus driver pulled over for a quick toilet stop, he left myself and a Dutch guy behind at the toilet station… So I had to start sprinting down the highway after the bus! It was mental… But when I eventually made it to Madrid, I had to track down my couch surfer I was staying with. Fortunately his place was pretty easy to find, when I did find it, he was very welcoming. CJ and his mother welcomed me to their house and very quickly we had lovely Spanish beers and some amazing meat platter, with pigs foot and other tasty meats. It was fantastic.

My time in Madrid and CJ was only for 3-4 days but it was fantastic. Lovely foods, mixed with lots of late nights out in very hot weather! It was a great time, and a time that I wont forget.

From Madrid I had a flight to catch back to London Luton, and from there I would make my way back to Lizzie’s house. Lizzie met me with open arms. It was great to see her and Anna again, they always make London another home for me, its almost like they are another family.

After a few nights in London, I was then making my way back to the golden city that is Dahab.

The problem was getting all my windsurfing equipment from Lizzie’s place in Balham to London Luton Airport! It was a mission! I had to get a taxi from Lizzie’s to Victoria Coach Station, from there I had to plead until the bus driver let my massive 2.5 metre bag on the bus, which JUST fit on!

Luckily the lovely bus driver let me on, (with all my kit) and I was on the way to the airport! I was flying EasyJet from London to Sharm El Sheik, and we all know how intense their baggage restrictions are… Anyway, so I managed to get all my windsurfing and luggage onboard with no extra fee! I was very lucky!

Eventually I made it to Dahab, with Luke and Lizzie waiting for me with smiles and hugs!

The wind was great, and I spent the first 2 weeks non-stop windsurfing and remembering why I loved the sport so much!

To earn money I was taking photos of Neilson guests and giving them the opportunity to buy them off me at the end of the week! It’s a good gig because you can do plenty of sailing, and also allows you to meet as many new guests as possible.

After the second week of me being out in Dahab, Sally Lambert and John Yeomans came out to Dahab so we hung out for most days. I worked with Yeomans and Sally last year under the John Palmer reign.

Days ticked on by, until it was the 12^th of July where I was catching an overnight bus from Dahab to Cairo to meet my parents who were travelling around Europe!

I hadn’t seen them for over 14 months so when I arrived at the Swiss Inn hotel in Cairo it was so fantastic! After lots of hugs and kisses we bought ourselves some bottles of water (soon to be turned into steam) and caught a taxi to the Giza Pyramids!

What I didn’t realise was how used I was to the Egyptian way of living… meaning that its not exactly the cleanest place in the world, but because I have been around it for so long, I’m so used to it. Where the parentals wernt so much. It was a massive eye opener for them.

Once we made our way to the Pyramids and walked past all the guys haggling to sell their plastic pyramids or wanting to sell us a camel ride we saw the world wonder that is the Giza Pyramids!

What an amazing site to share with your parents. What made it even more special is that it was a Flack famous photograph that was taken of Grandfather Stephen Flack, in a suit sitting on a wall with the Pyramids and the Sphinx in the back ground!

In whole, we spent about 2 hours walking around and admiring the many beautiful pyramids, we left around 1pm right in the middle of the day, where we were just holding on to our bottle of steam hoping that it may magically turn back to cold water!

When we got back to the lovely hotel room in the Swiss, beers and lunch were on the go. A cold beer didn’t last long in my hands!

After a very needed sleep, we got up relatively early and got a taxi back into Downtown Cairo. Today the Flack family were going to check out the Saladin Castel or the Cairo Citadel.

This is a beautiful building with the Muhammad Ali Mosque that we checked out, we also spent some time walking around the Military Museum.

It was getting around lunch time, so we had a quick bite to eat, and then headed near Tahir Square (where all the protests are going on) because we were going to see the Egyptian Museum. I went to the museum on my last visit to Cairo in 2009. And from then till now, the place wasn’t looking so amazing anymore. Which was disappointing, but I suppose this is what happens when a country undergoes a revolution. We spent a while in the museum checking out the mummies and Tutankhamen mask. After a while in the museum we headed back to the hotel where we just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Yeah we did a lot of relaxing… but I wasn’t complaining!

At night, we ventured out of our hotel, and went down town again, this time we were going to check out the Khan el-Khalili markets, It was very hustle and bustle, but it was bizarre… because it was kind of organised chaos. We spent a while in the markets just getting lost and enjoying ourselves until we got a bit hungry and decided to head back. We needed an early night as the next day we were flying out of Cairo in the early morning, and flying into Sharm El Sheik.

My time in Cairo was fantastic once again, but one thing I did notice, was how quiet everything was. Normally the Pyramids are packed with tourists, but when I went this time, there was hardly anyone there! And this was the same for all of Cairo! There were just a huge lack of tourists!

The flight from Cairo to Sharm El Sheik went very smoothly, I was pretty stoked as I was in business class! Because that’s how I roll these days!

I was very happy to be back in Dahab, and from the look on my parents faces, they were happy to be here!

The parents spent about 10 days in Dahab, where they did a lot of shopping and haggling for a good price, they even gave windsurfing a full of crack! Where by the end of the week, the both of them managed to sail out, and then back again which I was very impressed with! Not bad for the old guys! Teaching Mum was bloody hilarious! Even the guests on the beach found it very amusing! It was great!

Like most good things, their time eventually came to an end on at Saturday night, it was a sad good bye, but we chat most days so it’s not that bad!

It was a fantastic experience to have them here, and one that I won’t forget!

One of the best moments with them being here, was celebrating my 23^rd Birthday with them. It was a fantastic day, with a lovely meal!

Since they have left things have been good, I’ve been windsurfing most days and learning new stuff all the time!

So until next time!

Stay classy!

Lots of love!

A slightly older Steve Flack J

Mum and Dad at the Giza Pyramids

Mum posing!

The good old hassle!

I was trying to sell mum for a couple of camels

Giza Pyramids

B.Flack

Standard point shot!

C.Flack

Team (slightly better than the other) Flacks

They are that massive!

Put that on ya mantle piece!

Mum

Still Mum

The old fellas!

Rocking Camels!

Sell that on Globalshots.co.uk

Mum and the Sphinx

Wearing the sunnies!

Old boy flacks

Old boy flack

Going big!

Dad and His dad in the photo

Flack Boys

Flack Family

Fully overloaded ute!

Busy down town cairo!

The markets

Central Cairo

Up in the Citadel

Bit of fun with long exposure!

Outside the Egyptian Museam

Out to dinner with the parents

Dinner!

Dinner on the spit with the Egyptian Boys

Check that out for a view

Moon was massive!

Cone looking like Cartman

Long exposure fun

Fun

Fun

PHOTOS OF SPAIN TO COME! STAY TUNED!

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Seville... Windsurfing, Walking and other things beginning with 'W'

4/6/11

1700 (local time)

Another update, another scene of events! So here I am, on a bus that’s taking me to Largos, Portugal from Seville, Spain. Not to sure how long the bus journey actually is, because apparently we are going through a time warp! Amazing stuff.

Anyway, so I might as well pick up where I left off! So I had just left Barcelona to get an bus to Vallencia. I was fortunate enough to have someone that was going to have me crash on their couch via couch surfing. Funnily enough, I was staying with a girl called Anna who is doing a exchange program through her university course. Anna lives in Frankston, Melbourne so straight away we had a lot in common, and I was often found ripping into her because she came from Frankston! Until this day, I am still not so sure why I went to Vallencia, apart from some pretty buildings and nice beaches of the Med, there wasn’t all that much there!

But none the less, I still had a ball, on my first night there, drinks were drunk and we made our way at 2.30am into the city to a night club called Pasha. This is a fancy nightclub that is known throughout the world. (there is a Pasha in Sharm El Sheik). It was a super nice club, but people weren’t arriving until 4pm and by this time I was absolutely knackered! I was so tired, that I fell asleep on the dance floor! Poor form, the next day was a bit of a write off, because we all got up at 4pm, but it was awesome because one of Anna’s mates was having a BBQ on top of his apartments roof. This was awesome, because there were a bunch of people from all over the world who were studying abroad.

Fantastic stuff, the next day was another late wake up, but myself an one of Anna’s housemates ‘Frenchy’ took the train into the old city, and got lost exploring the city! Quite a chilled day, but when we got home we were so tired from walking that we relaxed the rest of the day, because that night we were going for 1 euro for 3 beer night! And 1.50euro tapas! So bonus, beers and Tapas! We sunk a lot of beers, and ate a lot of tapas. We then found out there was a pub close by that was doing free paella I had to go check it out, so we wandered off to this other bar, had a couple of plates of paella and by this time I was knackered again (all these late nights were killing me), and tomorrow I was heading on an overnight bus to Seville.

The bus from Vallencia to Seville left at 9.30pm and got in at Seville by 7.30am, so it was an overnight bus. When I buy these tickets, I think they are a great idea, until I actually get on the bus and get no sleep, and end up getting off at my destination so tired I can barely function.

I was once again couch surfing in Seville. I met Alejandro at his house, before he had to rush off to work. I left me to sleep in his lovely apartment while he went to work. He came home at about 2pm, for his afternoon siesta, made me a lovely pasta salad we had a quick chat, and he told me to meet him at Cathedral in town by 9.15pm.

So I caught a bus from the apartment into town at about 7pm, and wandered around the city. It was fantastic because it wasn’t all that hot, and the crowds were dying down. I eventually met Alejandro and he introduced me to his friends and we all went off for Tapas and drinks!

It was awesome being taken around town by the locals, they knew the places to go and what to order, and I was just happy following them and listening to them speak Spanish. I tried some amazing Tapas and even ate some more snails! Which impressed everyone, which still brings me to the question of, if I find garden snails in Australia... would people judge me if I boiled them up and ate them?

It was almost 1am in the morning before we got home, I was tired and knew that I had a very busy day exploring the city tomorrow, so I went to bed straight away.

I woke up at 8.30am (probably the earliest I’ve woken up on purpose) had some quick breakfast and then got driven to a Spanish Guitar Lesson. Before you ask, no I wasn’t participating, but I was watching all these kids (18 – 26 Y.O) learning to become professional Spanish guitar players. I stayed for an hour, these guys were awesome! Probably some of the fastest fingers I have ever seen. After the lesson, I walked for about 30 minutes until I arrived at this beautiful park with hundreds of doves. I wandered through the park, that took me to a stunning place called Plaza Europa. This was potentially one of the most amazing pieces of architecture I have ever seen. Ill put up some photos and you may recognise it from (I think) the first Star Wars. Awesome Stuff.

From there I then went back to the cathedral and payed my entrance fee and headed up to the top for some stunning views! Took my photos and then headed back down to check out the Alazares (castle) paid my entrance fee again, got lost... and then headed out! When I went in, I didn’t realise how MASSIVE it actually was. From here, then headed down to the river and checked out the Plaza De Torus, which is the main bull fighting ring in Seville!

I was fortunate enough to tag along to a tour group where they explained to me all the different things about bull fighting. It was amazing listening to how it all works. I was shocked to find out, for good seats people will pay up to 700 euros for a good ticket. Crazy! By the time the tour was finished I was absolutely wrecked! I’d been walking for 5-6 hours, so I caught a bus back to the apartment, and just passed out.

The next day... I was so excited about! I was heading to TARIFA!! Which is an awesome place for windsurfing! I caught the bus at 9.30am (another early start) and took the 2.5 hours bus ride from Sevilla to Tarifa! When I got off, I asked the closest surf shop where the windsurfing was. He told me I had to hitch hike about 15 minutes down the road! No Drama’s!

I wasn’t hitching for long, maybe 5 minutes till a dude offered me a lift. He got on the phone to some one, and realised that he wasn’t speaking Spanish instead Arabic. So I asked where he was from, to which he replied Morocco! I eventually found out that he was actually from Essaouira. I knew a famous Moroccan windsurfer called Boujmaa Guilloul who is known for trying triple forward loops! Anyway, so as soon as I mentioned his name, the guy that was giving me the lift was like... “dude thats my cousin” I flipped out, and I couldn’t believe it. He even went to his phone and tried to call him, but the signal wasn’t great and dropped out! It was fantastic! I could have talked for hours, but we were already down at the beach.

I wandered to a windsurfing place, that was hiring out Gaastra and Tabou (which is the kit I ride) paid my 28euros! And just went mental for 1.5 hours! At first I was a bit nervous because it was about 27 – 32 knots and I was maxed out on a 4.2, but when I gained some confidence I started going for big forward loops! I was loving life!!!

The time went really quickly, so I snapped some photos of the beach, and then hitch hiked back into town, to do some shopping. Unfortunately most of the shops were closed, because they were on their siesta, but I bought an awesome Tarifa T-shirt from one of the local surf shops and before I knew it, I was on the bus back to Seville.

When I eventually got back to Seville, I was starving. So I wandered around for some food for a while, until I found a little tapas place down an ally. The people that worked their spoke no English, and I spoke no Spanish, so I told them how much I wanted to spend which was 6 Euros. They went out back, and eventually came out with bread and chic peas... I was like “great I’ve jut spent 6 euros on this” but before I knew it, a massive plate full of Ribs, Salad and potatoes! It was an amazing meal, and I just sat back and watched the world go by! Thinking to myself this is what travelling is all about!

It was late by the time I got home, where I again passed out as tomorrow I was heading to Largos, Portugal!

Before I finish, I must say a VERY VERY big thank you to Alejandro for looking after me in Seville! He was a superstar, and my friend if you are even in Melbourne, please give me a call!

So that s pretty much it!

Enjoy the photos!

And we can all speak again soon!

Much love! Steve