July 1999. Me and the Reid started our first ever traveling adventure by getting absolutely hammered in Paris airport waiting for our delayed flight to Singapore. A couple of early vomits saw me settle in comfortably for the rest of the flight. Singapore, cool spot but we were soon off again, this time landing in Kuta, Bali. Now Bali is a weird place. The worst and the best of south east Asia meets Ibiza. It was very hard to trust any of the locals when almost all of them were trying to rip you off or rob you. Its very easy to be become very cynical under such circumstances but I think me and the Reid were able to still be friendly whilst wary. After exploring Kuta we headed out of the city, a bus journey in which the Reid exhausted very ounce of energy in keeping his arsehole shut and his pants dry. Bali can do that to a man.

Rural Bali is beautiful and the people much preferable. We had some cool days exploring the rainforest and beach. Back to Kuta for a couple of days before heading to Cairns, Australia.

In Cairns we joined a group in a 4x4 safari of the Atherton Tablelands. I would later become well acquainted with this area as Mission Beach sits at the foot of the Tablelands. The Tablelands is a cool area. Quiet bush hills, waterfalls, rainforest, its as diverse as its is beautiful. Back in Cairns we did my thus far one and only bungee and then set about learning to Scuba dive (see Sea sports). The East Coast Backpack trail followed. Great times for sure but lets be honest its nothing new. Fraser Island, the worlds largest sand island, surrounded by Tiger infested waters and only navigable by 4x4. Great camping and exploring. The Whit Sundays are a beautiful archipelago of tropical islands that we sailed and dove around for a week. Really cool drift dive and stunning beaches.

From the coast we made our way into the city and Reid had to bugger off home to do a resit. I remained and managed to get tickets (be it the worst in the house) for the Bledisloe Cup game between Aus & NZ. Not a classic but a good introduction to a stadium I would see (but now I think about it not actually remember being in) some 4 years later for RWC 03, Scot vs. France. Was I there? Body but not mind.

Canberra, (where I saw Graham Thorpe break some swim world records and got involved in an illegal swim gambling syndicate) and Melbourne followed. In Melbourne I toured the MCG and watched a semi final of the AFL (Aussie Rules). Good training for my games with the mighty Natimuk Rams some 4 years later when staying at the Arapiles. On the way home from Oz I stopped in Auckland and LA but due to a lack of funds (I had absolutely no exaggeration nothing) I didn’t even leave the airport

The following spring (2000) I was thinking about subject titles for my undergrad dissertation. The Crusades had always been my thing and as I was looking for something exciting to do that summer I figured I would combine the two. The result was a journey of sorts following some of the route of the First Crusade and considering the logistical difficulties faced by a massive medieval army in hostile terrain and surrounded by enemies. The weeks leading up to the trip I had spent landscaping and in the library researching so it was mixed emotions I left Scotland. Trepidation at what was to follow but excited to get out and see a very different part of the world. I managed quite easily to persuade Mario to accompany me and so we set out in July 2000, first port of call Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv is a large western style city on the beach. Having come from a conventional lifestyle the first hostel we stayed in was a shock to the system. Situated in downtown up-market Tel Aviv it was a ramshackle building tucked amongst the posh hotels, restaurants and apartments and looked well out of place. The residents were a bizarre mixture of hippies, drop outs and kibbutzers. No normal people and everyone looked one step off homelessness. The roof top bar was super cool and it was here that me and Betts left behind our city roots and got in the dirt bag vibe. From Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem. What a city! History, culture, action, tension. You could spend a lifetime exploring, reading and learning. We took a day trip to Masada, site of one the most infamous mass suicides in history when the population of the hilltop fortress chose death rather than capture from the oncoming Roman legions. In Jerusalem we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, the Weeping Wall and walked around the city walls that the crusaders stormed some 1000 years earlier.

Weird on this: one night we were hanging out in the main square of the
Jewish Quarter of Old Jerusalem having a carry out and watching the city retire for the evening. As it got later the crowd thinned to us a group of soldiers, some other Jewish lads and us. The soldiers were off duty and having a few sneaky drinks with their M16’s lying at the end of the bench. As we started chatting to them the other lads started playing ultimate Frisbee. So, midnight in Old Jerusalem, city utterly silent apart from some off duty soldiers, a bunch of American Jews, Doug & Mario bombing around screaming at the top of our lungs, chasing a Frisbee. Surreal, awesome.

Bus stations in Tel Aviv, 16 year old girls in hot pants, summer bags, on their way to the beach, phone in one hand, M16 strapped to their backs. Hmm?

The problem with traveling in the Middle East is that pretty much everybody is in a continual state of war with everyone else. Therefore crossing borders (if their open at all) is like a lottery. Because of this we didn’t really make too many specific travel plans but we did want to get into Syria. We suddenly realized if we were to do this we would have to fly into Jordan to avoid an Israeli border crossing stamp. We had persuaded the Israelis not to stamp our passports when we landed, which led to everything short of the full lubricated cavity search. We also realized if we were to fit into the rest of our itinary we would have to move quick.Scrambling around in Jerusalem we managed to get a flight that left from Tel Aviv in 3 hours. TBC.