While you're in the UK:
- Glasgow has loads of rad street spots, although it's got a reputation as one of the sketchier cities.
- Edinburgh has a killer concrete park that opened last year, www.focuspocus.com is the main local skate shop.
- Try get to Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds & Newcastle in northern England. Manchester in particular has a huge music/cultural history which you can't not appreciate. The local skate shops worth checking out are Lost Art (Liverpool), Note and Black Sheep (both in Manchester), Simple (Sheffield) and Native in Newcastle.
- If the hype is to be believed, Liverpool has the strongest local economy in the UK outside of London, which may, or may not, mean it's easier for you to get casual work, if that's what floats your boat.
- In the event that you move to London, do your best to stay out of the Aussie ex-pat bubble.
- Get to west Wales and NW Scotland if you can. Best off buying a cheap car (if possible) as long distance public transport here is expensive, though if you go by train, booking a couple of months in advance and buying split tickets works out way cheaper - www.splityourticket.co.uk
- www.sidewalkmag.com is the main national skate mag, published by the same folks who put out Kingpin.
- Cardiff is dope for skating, Bristol is definitely one of the UK's well kept secrets and Cornwall is always worth a visit.
- Try make your way over to Ireland. It's expensive but worth the jaunt if you're in this neck of the woods. The economy is largely fucked so I'd say work opportunities are slim to none. If you surf, the western Irish coast has all you need. Dublin is fun to skate around, if you get good weather that is.
- All the concrete parks in Ireland were built after 2006, most are pretty good.
- Catch a Gaelic football (similar to Aussie Rules) or hurling match at Croke Park.
- Catch an Ireland v England 6 Nations rugby match in Dublin.
- Catch a Wales v England 6 Nations rugby match in Cardiff.
- Catch a Scotland v England 6 Nations rugby match in Edinburgh.
Around Europe -
- Brush up on all your languages and do your best to use them - granted, this is a lot easier if you're on your own or working in Spain/Germany/etc. Nobody likes those English-only fuckwits who think shouting louder in English is a viable way to communicate; needless to say, sweet-talking your way into some foxy foreign girl's knickers while speaking a foreign language is always something to boast about, ha.
- Read up a little on WW2, the Iron Curtain/Warsaw Pact/Berlin Wall and the Balkan conflicts. Mainland Europe is a similar size to Australia with 400 million or so people and more than enough pointless bloody conflicts which still affects international relations and politics. More of a personal thing for me I guess but I like to know about the history of a place to help me get to know it a bit more, mainly as I'm a massive nerd.
- In general, the former Communist countries tend to be a lot cheaper. You can live like a king on ?5 per day in Bulgaria but that won't get a warm lunch in Helsinki.
- As said before, Stalin Square.
- As Smurph said, definitely get an Interrail pass at some point. One month of non-stop craziness.
- Visit Barcelona, but try to avoid the party bubble. I've been there shitloads, as a lot of others here have too, but seeing that many skaters around all the time reminds me of how superficial skating can be. To be honest, you can avoid it and not miss much.
- Go north in summer to experience nightless nights. You'll get this in Scotland to a certain extent, Edinburgh is 56N, like Copenhagen, but it never fails to spin me out seeing the sun set at 12 midnight in Finland in June. Scandinavia is awesome in summer, particularly Helsinki & Malmo.
- Croatia & Serbia are major destinations for music festivals in summer, epic coastlines & beaches too I think. Split is supposed to be dope for skating.
- Buy a left hand drive van and live in it for the summer, driving around the continent.
- Poland seems to be a new hotspot from what I can gather. Krakow in particular is supposed to have a lot of things going for it, like good skate spots, cheap cost of living and lots of festivals/events/random things going on.
Enjoy the trip, it will be savage.
You sir, are a god amongst men
I'm too lazy to go into it at the moment but as far as brushing up goes take this guys advice - you'll enjoy things a lot more if you know the history. If you're familiar with the prior grips of Communism, the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall, Warsaw Pact, Polish and Hungarian Uprising, Genocide, etc... It'll not only make things more interesting but more heartfelt. People will appreciate it so much if you're familiar with their history, culture, and can even say one word of their language rather than being a belligerent tourist.
Go to Eastern Europe - I realize this is a vague term nowadays but go east of Poland. Capital cities like Prague and Budapest have gotten far beyond what would be considered Eastern European conditions and Poland too but in their case it's a lot more recent. The reason Poland is the new hot spot is it's the most "Eastern" country geographically and I guess you could say politically to have been fully inducted into the Schengen Zone and European Union. This makes it still cheap to visit and Krakow is insanely modern yet historically rich in architecture and culture. You can feel the boom of tourism there - especially in the main square- which is both good and bad to me. The women in Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic states are some of the most beautiful, yet genuine women in my opinion. The people in general are genuine I should say.
Definitely venture East is what I'm saying. You won't regret it. What I say now is that if I'm in Western Europe I'm on my way to Eastern Europe. I lived in Poland for a bit and then Serbia - Krakow and Belgrade - but spent over a year between there and Turkey so if you have any questions just let me know.
thanks for that dude, will definitely try and head as far east as I can
A little update. Got into Berlin and immediately loved it! Fucking amazing city with an insane history, cheap ciggies/beer, great food, friendly locals and unique skate spots. If anyone is planning on visiting there, I highly recommend staying at 36 rooms hostel in Kruezberg. Really central location and right next to a U-Bahn stop. Skated Warshaur Strasse ledges which are perfect! The locals there were really, really good. Checked out alexander platz and the skate shop with the bowl inside it. The Berlin Wall was crazy. Checked out Humboldt University as well, really cool knowing that Einstein taught there, and I think they have had like 9 nobel prize winners or something?
Sachsenhausen concentration camp was also a valuable experience. We were lucky enough to get a great tour guide who was American and knew so much about what went down there. Definitely check it out if you're in the area. We all left that place with a different perspective.
Arrived in Prague yesterday,
Topic: Europe Trip (Read 4422 times)