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Back in the States after what feels like whatever. This isn’t the last thing you’ll see me post though. Read through to the bottom to see what’s next.

Recap

Friday, December 10th

I forgot to mention in the last article, but the first hostel we stayed at in Liverpool was awful. There was basically nothing available for Thursday - Monday except for Embassie Backpackers Hostel, so that’s what we booked.

I arrived at 2 AM Thursday night, and walked into this “house” with an “Embassie Backpackers” sign above the door. The place was unlocked, and I was greeted by the owner (manager? idk) inside. The building felt… homely? I guess. The kitchen/hangout area was all in one on the main floor, and it was pretty dirty.

The owner then showed me to my room.

A lot of hostels have organized, semi-walled off bunk beds neatly aligned. Not here. I walked into a room that had four or five bunkbeds scattered around, clothes laying everywhere, and a really weird scent. Not what you want.

He gave me a towel and told me the showers and toilet where downstairs. Downstairs was basically a cement floored cellar with a couple of bathrooms. This place sucked. It felt like someone turned my old college party house into a hostel.

Anyways, I got a decent night’s sleep (sorta), and went to grab breakfast around 10:30 the next day.

My favorite soccer player (Jake Mezei) was arriving in Liverpool around 11. Jake’s transportation route was all over the place. America to Amsterdam to Dublin to Manchester, then a train from Manchester to Liverpool. We met back at the hostel at 11:30, and I showed him our dump accommodations. No bueno. We then chatted with some of our roommates, who were also no bueno.

After that, we set out to go explore the city for a bit. Liverpool is right on the water, and its shoreline is really cool. It’s also a pretty small city, so you can navigate the entire downtown area on foot. Jake pulled the classic move where we walked through five different clothing stores without buying anything.

We ended up in an older part of town full of Beatles-themed bars. We walked in some pub with live music, and the mood was electric. The band was playing all of the American classics, from Tom Petty to Journey. We met three lads from Leeds (I think) who had just taken a taxi to Liverpool for the night. One of them was wearing a Boise State shirt. All three of them knew way more about American sports than we did.

We grabbed some kebabs before returning to the hostel. Then we showered, ghosted our weird roommates, and went back out. We walked to an underground bar called “Cavern”, where the Beatles used to play, and grabbed a couple of drinks there. After that we headed to a bar on the shore before going to one of the other city squares, where the crowd was more our age. By 1:30ish Jake was dead from traveling all day, so we headed back and called it a night.

Except something really weird happened when we got back. Jake went to sleep, while I went to the bathroom. Some lady (the owner’s wife? daughter? Idk, but she was family) walked up to me and said “what are y’all doing in there?” To which I responded, “Sleeping?”

She followed me in the room, and proceeded to literally jump on some random dude’s bed and start tickling him or trying to wake him up or something. I mean this was really weird. He obviously freaked out, we all freaked out (except Jake, dude never woke up), and the owner shuffled in and got her out.

I cautiously fell asleep after that.

Saturday, December 11th

I looked on hostelworld and saw that the Selina Hostel (same chain I stayed at in Lisbon) had a cancellation and two beds were open. Jake and I bit the bullet and booked it. Honestly best decision of the trip. That crackhouse-wannabe hostel was horrible.

We dropped our stuff at the new place, then headed to Liverpool’s football (soccer) stadium: Anfield.

Jake is a die-hard Liverpool fan, has been since he was a kid. He had bought us hospitality tickets for the game. The tickets were sick: we had unlimited food, coffee, and tea in a lounge three hours before the game, and some free beers during halftime. (It’s actually illegal for them to serve alcohol while the match is in play, probably because people would throw stuff on the field).

We took a ton of pictures around the stadium, and I bought a beanie from the store. Officially a Liverpool fan now.

This was a big game because Liverpool was playing Aston Villa. Aston Villa had just named Steven Gerrard, a former Liverpool legend, as its manager. This would be like Dwyane Wade being named coach of an NBA team, and then they go play against the Miami Heat.

The clubhouse was packed, and we sat at a table with a British family who had driven in from out of town. We had a blast comparing random American/British words and sayings.

The game itself was freaking awesome. The stadium was full, and the score was 0-0 until Salah (Liverpool’s best player) scored a PK to give them the lead pretty late. I had been to national team games, but never Premier League. 100% going back in the spring if possible.

After the match, we headed back to the hostel to change and stuff before going out again. We spent basically the whole night hopping around the square that we ended up at the night before, as it was POPPIN.

Sunday, December 12th

I woke up at 10 and stood up to check out the bunk above me. Mr. Mezei was looking rough after our weekend in Liverpool. We didn’t do much this fine Sunday other than walk around town. Once the sun set, we found an Irish pub with all of the NFL action.

We’re in the same fantasy football league, and five people were competing for the last two playoff spots.

I got wrecked, and I’m now fighting for my life not to be Waffle Boy for 2021. Jake is in the playoffs trying to win the $1000 prize. We shall see what happens.

Monday, December 13th

Off to London, mates!

We had initially planned to go to Dublin after a weekend in Liverpool, but Ireland bumped the COVID restrictions back up. Sad! So we pivoted and went back to my favorite ridiculously expensive city. We caught the 9:30 AM train and made it to London by lunch. I booked us a 4 bed dorm at the Wombat (same hostel that I first stayed at with the Halloween crew).

We dropped off our bags, grabbed some food, and explored the city for a bit. I took him down by the London Eye, Big Ben, and all of the other touristy stuff. When we came back to check in that afternoon, we met one of our new roommates: Jack.

Jack 2.0 was a late 20s former military guy from South Carolina currently working in Berlin, and his best friend Dan was meeting him out here on Tuesday. This dude was a hoot. We made plans to link up later.

After dinner, Jake and I went to Soho. Because Soho has a casino. And we love playing poker. I doubled my money in 30 minutes, and went to sit at Jake’s table and play. We both got wrecked by a shark.

So we headed to an Irish pub (O’Neil’s) that Devin and I had previously visited. O’Neil’s is awesome. Live music from 5 PM til 2 AM, and it’s good. Basically any song that white people would ever sing at karaoke was part of the playlist, and the band killed it.

Jack 2.0 met us there, and we stayed til closing time. Jake and I headed home, and Jack stayed out talking to some people.

And Jack 2.0 accidentally woke us up when he brought a “friend” back to the hostel. No explanation necessary, but I’m glad he was Jake’s bunkmate instead of mine. Dude had no shame. I hate it, but I guess I respect it.

Tuesday, December 14th

Jake and I got to meet Jack 2.0’s new friend, which was chill (read: weird). Jake left relatively early for a tour of Chelsea’s stadium (another Premier League team. There are so many football clubs in London alone it’s crazy), while I went to a place down the road for breakfast. Leman’s cafe was awesome. $6 Full English breakfast, and the owner, Palmer, was a diehard Liverpool fan. After breakfast, I headed to a coffeeshop to write for a bit.

When we met back up that afternoon, we met Dan. Dan was also a fun dude. He and Jack had served together in the Marines, and man did they have stories. Jack 2.0 and Dan went out to explore the town for a bit, while Jake and I went to the Shoreditch District.

We were just walking around when we saw a bar that was filled with a massive plastic ball pit. Which has to be a COVID breeding ground. So we jumped right in. It’s like being a little kid, but with a beer.

After that we headed back to… the same Irish place. And the music once again slapped. After the bar closed, we were about to head back. But the casino was a block away, so we went again. And I ended up going up $200 in poker (again). And I walked away from the table up $200. And I lost it all on a roulette spin.

Casinos must love me because I collect everyone’s money at the poker table, and donate it back at the gambling altar known as “roulette”. Sickening stuff. We got back at 4, and thankfully there were no surprise roommates.

Wednesday, December 15th

Morning came way too early. Jake and I were up at 10:45 to go get a COVID test for our return flight to the States. We walked about 20 minutes to the London Bridgex and entered the train station nearby. Several places in town were charging $30 or more for tests, but this station was free.

Don’t pay for these tests. There is always somewhere free to get one done.

After getting tested, we walked to Leman’s Cafe, my breakfast place from yesterday. Palmer (the owner) was happy to see I brought a friend, and we crushed some full English breakfasts.

We also get our tests back. All negatives and no quarantines required.

Then it was back to the room. Dan and Jack were still passed out, and Jake and I decided to take a nap. I woke up around 2:30 and the other two were gone, but Jake was still out cold. So I headed down to the bar/hangout area to work on some stuff for a while. Jake, being the soccer fan that he is, bought tickets to another Premier League game. This time it was Arsenal and West Ham. Our other two roommates were going as well, but I wasn’t really interested. He went with them, while I grabbed dinner with two earlier travel amigos: Jordan and Will. If you recall, Jordan is the Canadian guy teaching in London that I met in Edinburgh. Will is the New Orleans guy working in London that I met in Barcelona. The three of us met up at that same Irish pub (lol) before heading to a FIRE barbecue place near by. 10/10.

Jake and I met back up at the hostel after the game, and he told me about a Canadian dude that he met there doing the same thing I’ve been doing: going all over the place in Europe. We called it a night around 12. Early morning tomorrow.

Thursday, December 16th

And we out. Flight route for the day: London to Dublin to NYC to Atlanta. A lot of planes.

Jake and I woke up at 4:50, caught the 5:40 train to the airport, and flew from London to Dublin. It was a chill one hour flight. Not bad. However, we just about missed the Dublin flight to NYC. Why?

1. We had to get physical boarding passes at the Delta desk (COVID rules?)

2. We had to go through security again, even though this was a layover

3. We had to go through ANOTHER security just for flights to the US

4. We had to go through customs before even leaving Dublin

Which meant that we arrived at 9:30 for an 11:25 flight, and we boarded the plane at 11:22.

Now What?

So this is the last travel update I’m going to have for you guys. I’m writing from the JFK airport in New York right now, and I will be back in Atlanta in three hours. The rest of the day is going to go something like this:

Fly to Atlanta.

Get picked up by Mitch Payne at the Atlanta airport.

Go play poker for the 3rd time this week with all of my friends.

Likely go out with said friends.

Sleep in my own bed (but not my original room! One of my roommates, Tyler, switched our furniture while I was gone. Don’t blame him. My upstairs room was sick).

And after that, idk. Decent chance I go to South America in a month or so. Or maybe Asia if the border opens. Or Africa. And I’m most definitely going to hit Europe round 2 in the summer. I don’t know for sure where I’ll be, but I will end up somewhere. The travel bug is real, and I’m hooked.

The craziest part of this whole damn thing? I’ve somehow turned writing into a blossoming career path. Potentially a well-paying career path. Which is pretty neat, because I was able to do it while backpacking around the world. But before I go anywhere else, I need to get some potential writing gigs locked down.

This isn’t the last thing I’m going to publish here. I’m going to post a recaps of my favorite specific stories and favorite places. I’m going to write a detailed guide for anyone else that is interested in taking a long backpacking trip at some point. And I’m going to write about some reflections I’ve had from my time over here.

But this is the last pure travel updates. For now, anyway.

Four months ago, this was supposed to be a blog for a few dozen friends and family. Now close to a thousand of you are following along with what some kid from Georgia has been doing on another continent. And that is still so, so wild to me. And it’s awesome.

So thank you, to every single person who has read one of these. It means the world to me that you guys open these emails and take the time to read about what the heck I’m doing.

Thank you to Jake, Hudson, Tyler, and Devin, my four friends who were willing to take time off of work to come kick it in Europe. It’s a big commitment, and you guys rock. And thank you to every single person I met on this ridiculous trip. You other vagabonding travelers who wanted to get away and see the world. It’s people like you that make this stuff fun.

Tanner, Rylan, Mike, Jason, Mark, Matt, and Collin, the seven guys I met in Europe that I traveled across multiple cities with, you guys made the trip. The hardest part of traveling is constantly reintroducing yourself and making new friends in each new city. Y’all created a continuity that kept the good vibes going for months on end.

And thanks to my grandma, Mama Ruth, for taking me clothes shopping when I get back. I lost 15 pounds and none of my stuff fits anymore smh.

Let’s run it back next year.

-Jack