Saint Peters-Ice-Berg

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GUESS WHOS BACK...

GUESS WHOS BACK...

GUESS WHOS BACK...

GUESS WHOS BACK...

O – M – Motherfucking G!! Blog FAAAANNNSSS!!

Its Christmas.... Its New Years... I ain’t got work... I’ve just come back from Russia... New blog?? Why bloody not? Im born to blog right? I should get it on a t-shirt right? Its my legacy right? Well.... HERE IT IS!!

I’m assuming everyone who is reading this right now, read all my previous blogs when I was backpacking? If not... Sort your life out maaattteee!.... They were the NUTS! They were the kittens tits geezer!!... Me and Cat are no longer travelling... Alas.... I know, I know.... We’ve sold out, our souls are decaying, and we’re just two average, busy, broke, Londoners who have no time to tippy tappy on the lappy toppy’s...

SO... I’ve started my own blog page, for the occasional sort trips I do... As a gift... From me, to human kind J But you haven’t missed out on much blog fans! We came back to England in September 2015 for our siblings weddings, got jobs, and went back to “normal life” which isn’t really very normal at all.... I’ve been away a few times, and I was CLOSE to writing blogs in the past. I almost wrote a “coming home” blog, then I went away a few times I could of wrote about.... Since arriving home I’ve visited Budapest, Vienna, Amsterdam (3 times), Barcelona, Lisbon, Iceland, Berlin, Copenhagen, Switzerland, and France... So you haven’t missed out on much :p But now I have just come back from RUSSIA! St Petersburg more specifically... Was only there for 3 nights... Hard to see all of Russia in that amount of time... But this is where THIS chapter of the blog begins!!

Goodbye RobCatTravel

Hello Gurney’s Journeys

Lets do this shiiiiiiiiitttttttt!!

I’ll take you WAY back to the beginning... Back in late October, I went on a weekly catch up with two of my home mates Jay and Ollie, for a smoke and chat at a local shisha bar. We were reminiscing about our previous Amsterdam trips etc, and Jay said “We need to go away for Christmas maann!!” I was originally a bit uninterested in the idea to be honest... Cat and I are trying our best to get on the property ladder soon, I had just come back from a couple of trips, I had Christmas to think about, I have other friends inviting me other places, and I just had a massive headache with life at that point.. But my friends kept trying to persuade me... “Lets go New York for Christmas! It’ll be sick!” “Where haven’t you been yet?” “Let’s go Dubai!” “Common man, it’ll be sick!” After a good few minutes of denying any interested, conversation changed... Then all of a sudden... I just turned to the other two, and said “Do you know where would be amazing to go around Christmas time?.... Somewhere liiikkee.... St Petersberg....” The other two went quiet for a second, then said “St Petersburg!?... You see Rob... This is why.... YOU’RE A LEGEND!” (Since my travels, and our Amsterdam trips, we are now all legends apparently, and thats what they call me all the time) lol. So, Ollie got his phone out, looked up St Petersberg hotel and flight costs, looked all good, and within about 20 minutes of my suggestion... We were all booked, and on our way to Russsiiaaa.... Once it sank in, we had to just look at each other and laugh really... Google said it was likely to be -7 at that time of year, It said St Petersburg has skin head gangs, one of my friends is black, one of them is brown, im English, Russia were getting heavily involved in middle eastern conflicts.... “What the f*#< are we doing guys??” lol

Literally a couple of days later I met up with some other friends in Oxford for a birthday... I mentioned to them all about the trip, then one of them turned to me and said “So you sorted the visa and all that?” FFS blog fans... How did that not even cross my mind!? So this decent deal we found with the flights and hotel was about to get quite a bit more expensive, and it seemed our efforts to organise this trip had only just started..... So we filled out the long-arse visas online, got an official invite to the country emailed from the hotel, visited the embassy in London, passport photo given, paid, bish-bash-bosh... done....

When Jay and Ollie offered to pick my passport back up for me they told me it had been rejected as I used the same photo I did for my Indian visa, and the photo I needed to use couldn’t be more than 6 months old... This STRESSED me blog fans!! I took a whole morning off work when handing in my visa, which I had to make up for in over-time hours, couldn’t take more time off, had loads on my plate with mortgage talks, Christmas planning, and all this shit.... So I was literally ready to shoot myself in the f#*<ing head! Later that day I went to meet my mates to pick my rejected passport up, and have a proper chat about what these embassy people had to say. They told me blah blah blah, gave me the passport, and said “only joking...you got it!”. Bloody WANKERS blog fans haha. Huge relief though... I was starting to regret the whole thing... But we were all set... and all we had to do now, was wait...

So Christmas came! I ate loads, gave and received presents, got drunk... Great... Read the news, and a Russian plane went missing... Double great... My brother broke the news that him and his wife are expecting their first child... Super amazing... Family was all together and saying they were a bit worried about my trip.... And it all started to feel a bit of like there was a circle of life vibe in the air..... You know... I was so happy with life... New family member announced... Everything to look forward to....... Basically, It felt like I was destined to die on this trip blog fans lol.

Got up at 4am on Boxing Day to meet my mates. All dressed up like we were heading to the arctic tundra or something. I had all the bulky thick warm clothes on that you would expect. But I left my woolly hat, gloves and long-johns packed in the suitcase... Ollie didn’t do this... He wore his long-johns to the airport, and almost strangled his testicle straight off lol! He got it twisted in the tight long-johns in the car, and was in a lot of pain and couldn’t really walk properly... Which took some of the tension off of the mission we had ahead of us. But we boarded the plane, flew to Munich, caught a connecting flight, and finally landed in St Petersberg fine (naturally).... It was not the most scenic of places from the sky though blog fans... The airport is a 45min drive south of the city, and it just looked grim from up there when we were landing. Not really anything of interest in sight lol... Then we got to passport control... Me, Ollie and Jay all walked up to separate passport booths at the same time... It took me about 20 seconds to get through... Took Ollie about 3 minutes... Took Jason over 10 haha.... And that was with me and Ollie helping him blog fans! They were asking both Ollie and Jason “where you born?” “London, England” That confused the fuck out of them lol.... BUT HE’S BLLACCKK they were probably thinking... They then asked where were their parents born, got out magnified glasses, and it all got a bit weird... but even though it was totally racist, they didn’t make us feel too intimidated by it all... (easy for me to say I guess ha). After all that, and just with general assumptions on Russian people, Jay and Ollie were not willing to get public transport into the city on the first night. So we tried to get a cab... The first guy told us it will be on a meter, and will cost roughly 5000rubles. But the hotel emailed Ollie saying they can arrange transport for 1700!! So we were like f*#< that, went to try to use a phone, then another guy came up to us like “OK, I can do for 1500” Ha... that was a drastic drop... Not even in South-East Asia do they drop their prices that dramatically and quick. So we got in, and headed towards the city centre....

First impressions of Russia were not amazing to be honest lol. It was bleak, grey, massive ugly buildings, and the cars were FILTHY with dusty pollution... Couldn’t even see through the windows or read the number plate on half of them... To me it felt like we time travelled into WW2. The police looked like soviet soldiers, big trucks that looked like military vehicles.... The 3 of us were just looking at each other like “Fucking hell, we’re in RUSSIA guys!!” haha.... We were loving it :p

As we got to the hotel at night, the taxi driver dropped us off, and he said to us “goodluck”. I weren’t sure if that was just a normal Russian thing to say, or if he actually meant “Goodluck, because you might get fucking murdered!” lol. We checked in, and had to get an official document to prove we were in the country legally, just in case the police questioned us... Just another little thing that screams to us “you are not welcome, don’t get too comfortable”. But we braved a wander out late at night to find a shisha cafe that was near by. We found the door down a dark alley, and it just said “The Office” and had a buzzer to press... So we pressed it and walked in.... Just to find ourselves in a dark corridor with steps going up several levels. I had the feeling this might turn out to be a terrible start to our trip blog fans lol. The building looked like it was about to be bulldozed, all the walls we grey and stained, carpets torn, broken lights and floorboards... I said nothing to the others as I marched ahead confidently, but I think we were all probably thinking “we gonna get kidnapped tonight”... Walked past two dodgy looking people up the stairs, they said nothing, and then, at the very top, we entered the shisha bar... And to be honest blog fans... it was really nice... We sat down on some beanbags, no one was staring at us, no hostility, had a cool vibe, the guy came up so us and tried speaking English and was really friendly... Shisha was decent... Was well chuffed...

On the way home we went to get a late night feast. Got a “Blini” which is more or less just a Russian crepe. The guys in there were friendly too... Tried to speak English, had a laugh, didn’t mind me taking photos of him flipping the pancakes... All started to seem like we were in Germany, or the Netherlands or something... Just normal... These Russians were not living up to their grumpy, cold, angry stereotypes! lol

We woke up early and started our first full day with breakfast at the hotel. I got a map, marked everything we wanted see, and headed out... We walked down the Nevskiy Prospekt road until we came to the first river. Thats when we realized it was FROZEN SOLID! A BIG THICK LONG RIVER! FROZEN! SOLID! Was crazy!! Then, ten minutes after walking past that, the best thing happened blog fans.... It started SNOWING!! We got exciitteedd!! Started humming the Home Alone tune and shit! Thats how it felt though. Big city, snowy parks, Christmas lights still up... We got that perfect Christmas moment that made us decide on St Petersburg in the first place. Was amazing...  We carried on walking towards sights in the freezing weather. I bought these masks off ebay that covered our faces, and made us look like Sub-Zero, Ermac, and Smoke from Mortal Kombat. Jason noticed he got less looks with that face mask on than he did with his beard out lol. But the looks weren’t that bad at all... A lot less than what I would of got in China or India... We continued around the sights. Saw “The Church Of Saviours Blood” or “The Church of the Saviour on Blood” So many different ways to name it.... Thats the church that has the mad shape with the round bits, and all the colours? Was wicked. Probably the only landmark I knew of the city before researching our trip. We noticed all the little market stalls there were actually cheaper than the shops and markets that were scattered about. Which is a bit backwards init? The more touristy the spot, the cheaper it got lol. Ollie got one of those fur hats (fake fur of course blog fans) and I got a couple souvenirs. We also headed to the Hermitage Museum... Was epic... All the buildings over there were HUGE! They don’t just have shops, or houses, or pubs over there... Every building is one big massive block, and the Hermitage Museum was no exception. Was a beautiful massive block though. Inside and out... Literally must of walked over 5 miles in that building looking at things. Its rare for me to find a museum interesting for that long, but when you got bored of the paintings, or antiques, or whatever you were looking at, you could just look at the building itself! Was super sexy blog fans...

After the museum we saw Christmas lights light up the winter palace and went to a restaurant recommended online... Was decent.... Had good, organic, Russian dishes... And rabbits... to pet... Hmm....

The next day we did all the other bits we didn’t have time to do. Jay found a “rooftop walking tour” online that we tried to find... Spent about half an hour asking people in the area where it is, and no one would speak... But I’m Map Man, so I know im in the right place, just couldn’t find it... So we went into a hotel, and this women told us this tour “Wasn’t exactly legal” and they have to move locations so they don’t get shut down. Ollie wasn’t really up for it as soon as he heard the words “not legal / icy / unsafe” which is fair enough lol. But Jay rang the woman up and got the new address in case we decided to do it another time. We did go up to St Isaacs Cathedral though! Was apparently the highest point for city views, so that had to be good! After power walking and jogging up those steps, with my cold legs feeling like dead joints of meat about to drop off, we got immense views at the top. All the snowy parks, rooftops, frozen rivers... tight....

We crossed the Neva River after that. Fucking FREEZING! Once you lose the protection of the city buildings from the wind... Fenton blog fans... It was cold... Thought I might lose my fingers to frost bite. We wore our Mortal Kombat masks, but not just to protect from the cold, but to pretect from the pollution! Was filthy! Got dust all up my nose, grit in my teeth from the salty roads, dusty face from the gasoline... filth!.... Jay and I got brave enough to stand on the river as the ice was so thick. Even threw rocks at it, but didn’t even dent it lol. Later that day we went for another shisha and then to an Asian restaurant. St Petersburg was actually a lot cheaper than I expected. I was so hungry from all the walking and stuff I had 3 main courses and 2 of the most expensive beers... Cost me like 12 pounds lol. The food was SO GOOD there too... It was called Jack & Chans if anyone is interested in going there lol.

On our last day me and Jay tried to arrange this suicide mission of a rooftop tour before getting a taxi to the airport. They told us it was too slippery and we had to come back later in the day. But we couldn’t as we had a flight to catch. Nice to know that the illegal company thought of our safety first though haha. I had a plan B to go to this restaurant near us that had rooftop views anyway. So we did that and ate chocolate cake instead J

When the cab came for us, it was an older looking guy, with a bit of a poker face. I noticed all the older folk seemed a bit more cold and miserable than the younger ones who were all really nice. Ollie sat next to him on the way up there, and he turned out to be a really really nice guy lol. He spoke OK English, talked us through what we were passing, we asked him questions, he gave us Orbit gum (which we found out was Russian) and he was just genuinely really nice lol.... Which pretty much summed up our trip I think. I said to the others, this Russian trip put a massive tick in the “pleasantly surprised” box. The three of us love going to places that aint typical, places that are culturally different and unique. We not only got that, but we were able to come back and say “You know what... We went to St Petersburg, the city was incredible, the people were friendly, no trouble, no complaints, no racism” (apart from the airport) hahaha! But I can, and I would now recommend it to anyone now. And its yet another place that all negative stereotypes were non-existent, and you realise 99% of all human beings are just good decent people like you J Yeah...

I think ill leave it there on that emotional note blog fans....

Nothing much else to say... We stopped off at Stockholm for connecting flight on the way back. Didn’t get fed on the flight this time round. Got to the Swedish airport looking to buy something to eat.... Jeeez blog fans!! Have you seen Swedish prices!!? 7quid for a ham and cheese sandwich from WHSmith!? 3 quid for mini bottle of water!? Piiiiiiisss orrrffffff!! So we went like 13hrs without food on the way back lol. My gaawwshhh

So thanks for reading again blog fans!

I know I shouldn’t thank you because you just f*#<ing luurrvvee it! You dirty rascals ;) But thanks anyway... Let me know what you think of it.... Is it worth me doing consistently? Cat wasn’t with me this time, so she couldn’t be the butt off all my jokes hahaha.... But im going Dublin with her, and our mate Shona in a couple weeks!.... So if you wanna know how that goes, tell me to keep writing! Lol

Peace out rabbits!! Until next time!!

(Haven’t done this in a while....)

ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPAAA!!!!! :D lol!! x