Well, what a difference a small rant on the internet, 2 overseas trips, an international beer festival and 2 months can make... :P

So, the last time we were talking, I went on a rather large diatribe about how hard it was to find work. I'm happy to report that since then, the situation has changed somewhat. Specifically, I'm now employed by a rather large retail bank in the UK on a fixed term contract that will last for the lifetime of my visa (i.e. all the way through until August 2014)! I'll be working in a Release Management team, which sounds exciting (although since I haven't started yet, and haven't really had that much experience in the area before, saying that may be a little premature...). The icing on the cake for this particular job was that it comes with 30 days of annual leave.. Six. Entire. Weeks. So now I get the stability of full time work, plus loads of time to go travelling - best of both worlds!

Just to top it off, I got confirmation that I'd been offered the job on my very first day in Germany. It's a pretty amazing experience to have that kind of a phone call at any time, let alone in Germany surrounded by friends from all around the world (some who I hadn't seen in quite a long time). It really did set the tone for the Germany trip - absolutely amazing times, with great friends all the way.

Germany probably deserves an entire blog post all on its own, but for now I'll stick with the highlights:

  • The Döm in Cologne is a very impressive piece of architecture, and absolutely enormous!
  • Although we didn't get to drive cars on the Nurburgring, driving the hire car at 200km/h down the Autobahn more than made up for it.
  • Getting lost on the highway, and accidentally stumbling across the Marienberg Fortress in Würzburg is definitely the right way to do road trips.
  • The Romantic Road through southern Germany definitely does not lose any of its appeal on a second drive through.
  • Half a day is definitely not enough time to see both castles at Hohenschwangau, especially when it is cloudy.

And then, we arrived at Oktoberfest...

What can I say about it? I can only say that it was pure fun, and I don't mean in a get completely drunk out of your skull kind of way (although it could be that too, if you wanted). But just in terms the people we had, combined with the mood in the beer tents (thanks to enthusiastic oompah bands, and dancing on tables) all added up to an incredible atmosphere where you felt like the party really could go on for ever. A big part of it for me was sharing the tables with locals, who were always friendly, and quite happy to teach us words to songs, or give us some friendly advice on what to do next. Plus, there was the whole lederhosen thing, which was pretty fun too. (I wouldn't say that I would drink in lederhosen all the time, but I did start getting used to it after 3 days...)

After Oktoberfest, our group parted ways - Locky, Tony and Hannah headed on to Croatia on a sailing trip, Nath headed back to London to plug away on the job search, and Kieran and I headed south in a hire car to check out some more of southern Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein and Switzerland. (We managed to accidentally drive into Lichtenstein while looking for a car park...). Taking some of the minor roads allowed us to see some amazingly picturesque valleys in the Alps, and the low cloud cover added to the mystery of the scene. In Lichtenstein and Switzerland, we had some amazing weather and some great views of the Alps and surrounding countryside.

About the only snag on the whole trip was the second hire car that Kieran and I took on this leg of the trip. Finding a car with navigation proved to be a bit of an issue at the car hire office in Munich, although after 3 attempts, they finally found one. We took the car, and it all seemed to be going swimmingly. On our drive up from Switzerland back to Frankfurt, we decided it was probably a good idea to fill up at Stuttgart. Upon arrival at the petrol station, neither of us could figure out how to open the fuel cap. After trying at the bowser for a while, and then getting honked at, we retired to the car park to try our hand at reading the car manual (printed in German, naturally). About an hour later, having exhausted our extremely limited supply of German, plus the resources of Google Translate, we concluded that there was no button to press, or key to unlock, and that the car must be broken. We called the car hire company, who were quick to tell us that it must be our fault, and that obviously we were doing something wrong. We had the option to call a local service technician (and if nothing was wrong, pay for him of course), or take it to the nearest car hire centre and they could show us what we were doing wrong. We opted for the 2nd option, and set about negotiating Stuttgart at rush hour. When we made it, the car hire guy gave it his best effort at opening the fuel cap (using the keys as a lever!), and finally conceded that maybe we weren't completely stupid. Turns out that the car had a known defect with the fuel cap, and it was never going to open! Luckily, the gave us a replacement car (so close to getting the Porsche!), and agreed that we didn't have to pay for the fuel, which was a nice bonus. As a result of all of the faffing around, it meant that we didn't get in to Frankfurt until close to midnight - but since it was the last day, and really only the major hiccup on the entire trip, it was a pretty small price to pay.

After the awesomeness of Germany, it was back to the hostel in London. With employment sorted, the last piece of the puzzle was finding somewhere more permanent to stay. Luckily, that proved to be fairly easy - after a couple of days of answering ads on the various housemate finder websites, I was lucky enough to score an awesome room in an apartment almost right across the road from Clapham Junction station (the busiest station in Britain, as the signs proudly proclaim :P) Housemates are awesome, and I am really settling into the area. The only downside is that the lease runs out at the end of December, so I'll have to start looking again fairly soon. But still, at least now I will have an idea of the area before I have to start again.

With accommodation sorted, and an epic, cross-town tube move-in voyage with all of my earthly belongings behind me, I realised that I still had at least 2 weeks to go before starting work. What to do? Why not join Tony and Hannah in Portugal, fresh off their Croatian sailing trip? And so, that's what I did - a weekend away in Porto, birthplace of port. Now, anybody who has known me for a while will know that I am particularly fond of port, so this was a pretty exciting trip for me, and it definitely didn't disappoint. After arriving on Thursday afternoon and chilling at the hostel for the evening, we spent the Friday visiting the port cellars, and trying just a few ports. Luckily, Tony and Hannah had been given some recommendations about which cellars to visit, and they proved to be spot on. Both recommendations were smaller, family cellars who seemed genuinely interested to tell you about the process, as well as the different characteristics of their ports. We also tried one down closer to the main tourist area, and the difference was pretty obvious - much more corporate branding, higher prices, and a bit more subtle pressure to buy something (they still made nice port, though...) On the way home, we decided to buy a bottle of port, some cheese and dark chocolate, and proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening polishing that off. Time definitely well spent!

The next day, we took a trip to Guimaraes, about an hour and a half away from Porto by train. It is the European Cultural Capital City for 2012, which art exhibitions and performances happening regularly. It also happens to be built around a fantastically preserved city centre, palace and a castle / fort dating back to the 1180s. Topping it all off (literally) is a cable car up a hill to a nearby church, offering some fantastic views back over the city and valley beyond.

And so now, here I am: after 3 and a half months, I'm finally all set up in London - I have a job, house and good friends nearby. If there's anything that I have learnt from my time here so far, it's that things generally seem to work out pretty fantastically, as long as you're willing to put the time in and have confidence that your plan will work. In any case, it's getting late here, and I don't want to be late for my first day of work tomorrow, so I may have to sign off for now. Until next time!

Yours etc,

Patto