I don't know what it was that gave us the idea. I don't even remember how it came about, it was never a plan in our minds, it just kind of happened one day. It must have been a gift from god.
On 26th June 2012, we left the UK with one backpack full of clothes, Jamie's guitar [Washburn electro-acoustic] and battery amplifier [A red Roland Cube Street] and our laptop. That was pretty much all.
After missing our pre-booked free bus to London, we had to take an expensive train that connected us to our $4 coach to Amsterdam! I don't even remember feeling all that excited about our journey ahead, more curious and slightly nervous. We were arriving in Amsterdam at about 8pm, and we hadn't even booked somewhere to stay for the night, we were going for the philosophy of "go with the flow".
We hadn't been on a big trip like this before, and we left our families and friends on the note "maybe we'll be gone for a couple of months, maybe a year, maybe even longer!". It was true though, not even the deepest parts of our hearts knew how long it would be. Perhaps Jamie knew it would be a big trip but I certainly had no idea. We'd spent a month travelling around Europe on trains just two years before, and spent 2 months on the Balearic Island "Ibiza" a year prior, and I remember really missing my family. I think that's why I couldn't quite expect we'd be away for that long, I was 19 years old so still just a baby!
That first night in Amsterdam was magical. It was a mild summers evening and we entertained ourselves with expensive beer and a variety of weed from our favourite coffeeshops [this was our fourth time!] The more we drank and smoke, the later it got and we still didn't have anywhere to stay. We were just "trusting in the Universe" - I guess at the back of my mind, I wasn't truly trusting, I thought I was but I wasn't. We were in one of the last coffeeshops still open and it was 3.30am and we'd been up since the early hours. I remember struggling to keep my eyes open. Well, the Universe still hasn't provided us with a place to stay, we're going to have to do it the human-way.
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Troubadour - Part 1
No FicciónOn the 26th June 2012, our adventure around the world began... We left England with our life savings of £200, a backpack full of clothes, an electro-acoustic guitar, a busking amp and two working holiday visas for Australia. Of course, we had no id...
