Take me back to the start

Guttentag and welcome to what I hope is my last blog from Berlin.

Although there is a total absence of any air traffic over the city I remain confident that my 5.35pm flight will take off as planned and carry me to Liverpool. I could be home by 10pm.

Given the options available I have made the most of my enforced stay in Berlin. I have walked for miles and jogged through the nearby Tiergarten. I wouldn't call Berlin a beautiful city, not in the way that Paris is. There is still too much cold war austerity about it. But it is a very interesting place. I even saw the hotel window where Michael Jackson dangled one of his kids over the balcony.

I have found the last 5 days to be very relaxing and my walks have given me time to reflect upon my gap year experience and what I want to do with what remains of it.

I see from the BBC News website that Ryanair are already complaining about the law that forces them to provide accomodation and three meals a day for stranded passengers like me. Strangely enough I agree with them. I don't think that law was intended for situations like this.

My ticket home cost about 60 pounds. To expect 5 days bed and board in a good hotel in return for that does seem unreasonable. That was one reason why I left the hotel near the airport after only one night. Bed, breakfast and evening meal there cost about 110 pounds a day. Here at the hostel I have upgraded from last week and I still get everything for about 30 pounds a day. Maybe the food isn't as good but all that Cadbury's Smash and Instant Whip have brought back fond childhood memories.

For my extra cash I obtained a smaller dormitory to get me away from embarrassing moments with French girls. What I actually got was a double room all to myself. The YHA never fails to impress me. That 15 pound membership has paid for itself many times over.

When I get back there are three main things I must attend to. Firstly I need to complete the final 10,000 word submission for my degree in Creative Writing. Then I need to get my house in tip top shape so I can put it on the market in May. Finally, I need to catch up on the work I have missed on the playwrights course with Hull Truck.

I don't envisage getting back to writing about my antipodean travels for about 2 weeks. Rather than leave this blog empty I am going to publish the opening of what is intended to be my book about my gap year. This is the same material that I will be submitting to the university so if you have any comments please feel free to make them as it will help me to secure the score I need.

The opening starts about 2 years before I become a gapper and should take me up to my first big trip, which was to Tuscany. Former colleagues in particular may find some of my observations about the workplace interesting!

The question I have been asked a few times recently is 'What next?', meaning what trips do I have planned. Well, as of now, none.

I did have a plan to tour Europe by train for about a month in the summer. My prolonged stay in Berlin has made me more confident about travel in Europe by rail and hostel. But it also highlights a deficiency - I am not a Bill Bryson or Paul Theroux. They are travellers who happily disappear on their own for months on end. I enjoy my own company up to a point but it can get a bit tedious and when staying in a hostel where most people are far younger there is a tendency to feel isolated.

Equally, touring New Zealand with Pete for 3 weeks led to some tensions. So, as ever it is the middle path that suits me best. That is travelling with a reasonably sized group of people that contains warm and entertaining individuals. By far the best example of that over the last year was the activity week my youngest son and I had in Turkey last August. I made friends on that holiday who I love dearly and keep in regular contact with.

Most likely then I will embark on another of the group tours. A cycling tour of the coast of Croatia is catching my eye at the moment. There is also the possibilty that I will be joining a friend on the Coast to Coast walk across England, from St Bees in the west to Robin Hood's Bay in the east. I hope to agree on that this weekend.

Please join me on Monday 26th April for a series of blogs that take me back to the start and allow me to explain a bit more about my former life and how I came to be having this gap year.

Live long and prosper.