I love it when a plan comes together.

Well friends, it's been a month since I arrived back in the UK.

The day after I got back, I had a job interview with Wesleyan assurance society. They called yesterday to offer me a job as Marketing Content Manager. It's only for two and a bit months, and they don't want me to start for another month, but it's my foot in the door of the level that I want to work at. It's not perfect - I was hoping for at least six months somewhere so I'd have saved a bit and be able to go somewhere for a month - but even if they don't want me any longer than they've said, it's unlikely that whatever I do after that will be a step backward. Hey, it's not much shorter than the three months I was on expedition that got me to that level of employment.

So that's kind of it. What I planned to get out of Raleigh happened. I won. Can strategic planning of my life be used as an example of strategic planning when I'm applying for jobs?

So what have I been doing in the past month? Well, I've been getting frustrated with recruitment consultants. Seriously, do these people read anything? I've been continuing with the freelance writing. I don't enjoy that so much. It's just writing, but the topics aren't very interesting so I spend a lot of time procrastinating - seriously, this very blog I'm typing is part of that procrastination - the pay is appalling, and there's no real context of what I'm doing in terms of marketing strategy or anything, so it's a bit flat.

The main thing that's been taking up my time and attention has been a new obsession with space and its use. The day I got back, I was looking in my wardrobe for something, and I was overwhelmed by how much stuff I had. Having lived off three shelves for three months on expedition, I found myself horrified by how much of the wonderful space in my house was going to waste.

So I...

Emptied half of my wardrobe. I brought some for recycling, and the rest went on eBay...

Took the drawers from the bottom of the wardrobe and put them into my bed...

Turned the corner of my living room from this...

Into this...

Yes, the TV unit is made out of a bass drum. I made it myself!

I've done lots of other little bits, but I won't bore you with my interior design/DIY shenanigans. Except this, because it's a GIF. I decided that the musical instruments in my room pretty much lived there, so needed a proper home.

Part of the above has included a lot of de-cluttering. A lot of stuff has gone for recycling. A lot of stuff is on eBay.

I've really enjoyed being back with Nerve Centre. It's great to be able to interact with creative people again! They wrote some cracking tunes while I was away, so we're working though them and the ones I wrote those nights on radio duty. The week after I got back we were recording. We recorded a song with Jay-Z!



Our first gig back is 20 June at The Actress and Bishop in Birmingham. You can get your tickets here.

So that's it. I'm a bit concerned about finances until I start working. I've just enough savings to get by I think, but I really could do with people buying my crap from eBay. I've applied for a couple of temp jobs, but they tend to be a lower level, and I have a Masters degree, and for some reason people recruiting for those jobs seem to think people with Masters degrees don't have bills to pay. Them applying for the job is apparently not a good indication that they're willing to do the work, and therefore not a reason to consider them. We'll see what happens. I could make more effort with the writing, but I don't enjoy it and I'd love to get out of the house and talk to people during the day.

So that's it. That's where I've been and where I'm at, and where I'm going.

And I do believe there's not very much more to say for this blog. So this will be my last post here.

*sniff sniff*

Thank you for reading. I hope you've enjoyed it. I'll see you somewhere down the line.

Now, bring me that horizon.

Ar aghaidh.

Pura vida!

x

It's in the photograph...

... so said Weezer.

As promised here are my photographs from my adventure, if you like looking at tons of photos of people's travels. I don't, but hey.

Click on the pictures or captions to see the album.

There's quite a few, but if you make it all the way to the bottom, you win the chance to see a super-amazing video that will change your world!

From Birmingham to San José, via Schiphol and JFK.

San José.

Fieldbase and Turrialba.

Advance Team´s road trip to Guayabo National Monument and a waterfall.

Random bits 1.

Jungle camp.

Project Planning Visit to La Cangreja National Park.

Random bits 2.

Venturers arrive.

Trekking with Alpha 1.

Road trip 1 - Corcovado trek food drops.

San Lucas and Puntarenas.

Road trip 2 - Alpha 2 food drop and return to La Cangreja.

San José to meet the Explorers.

Random bits 3.

To Nicaragua and back.

Costa Rican St. Paddy's Day.

Birthday barbecue.

Turri beach.

Random bits 4.

A walk to the post office.

Day off at Turri beach.

Adios Fieldbase.

Quepos.

Random bits 5.

My favourite gear from my adventure.

Last day in Costa Rica - a wander around San José.

Adios Costa Rica!

Back in Brum.

So there you have my photos. Except the ones from when we drank our first drinks in three months.

And finally...

We were told we all "have to" make a video for our last night, where we record messages for other VMs, and because organised fun/pack mentality is so important, we were advised that we'd feel "really bad" if we didn't do it.

As far as I'm aware, I'm the only one who did it.

I'm not sure if this is quite what they had in mind though.

Pura Vida!

Home sweet home.

Well friends, I've been back home in Brum for a couple of days now. Would you believe, it's raining? Obviously, it rained in Turrialba all the time, but this is a harsh, cold rain.

The journey back was pretty uneventful. Left San José just after 1pm...

...blitzed through Atlanta...

...blitzed through Paris...

...and landed in BHX just after 2pm.

It hasn't been as emotionally overwhelming as I thought.

I'm really enjoying the quiet and the privacy. A few people on expedition were all "Oh, you'll miss everybody when you go back and you're in a quiet house by yourself". I can now say with complete and utter certainty: do I fuck.

I've just been pottering about really since: catching up with my stories (caught up with Agents of SHIELD and now working my way through Arrow); sorting out kit; had a couple of bottles of Hobgoblin which were delicious; and drinking tea. I appear to have missed that most of all. I can't seem to stop drinking nice, strong mugs of tea.

I went for a run around Brookvale Lake today. The whole "running in fresh air" thing seems like a good idea to continue with. I don't want to start paying for gym membership without a job, I don't want to get fat, and I have a beautiful lake at the end of my road, so I might as well use it. It's a long way from the coffee fields of CATIE, but it's still awesome and on my doorstep.

There's lots of other stuff I want to get done in the next few days. I don't really have much else to say for this blog. It's supposed to be about my Raleigh adventure, which is now kind of over. I might occasionally post something with the odd update from post-expedition life - the awesome job I'm going to get, the reunions I have with people, and the things mentioned here that I said I'll do.

The next post will be my photo albums from my adventure. I look forward to sharing them.

Pura Vida!

There we were, now here we are.

Today has been my last day in Costa Rica.

What a few months it's been?

After Quepos, I came back to San Jose for a few days, just for some much needed alone time. It's been great. I haven't actually done an awful lot: I did my souvenir shopping, watched stuff on Netflix, had a swim, and today I had a final little wander about the city.

It's been emotional, and I don't think that's quite over yet.

I don't really actually have a lot to say. I guess I've been thinking about Costa Ricans and why they're so happy. Did you know they're the happiest nation in the world?

I think there's several reasons for this.

• Steak: They have steak on their breakfast menus. I'm sure this is the main reason for their happiness.
• Apple: Or lack of. Apple is not the market leader for mobile technology here. It's all about Samsung. You wouldn't catch Costa Ricans queuing for two days outside a shop for a phone.
• Rum: They do have very nice rum here. Like pirates. Arrr!
• Nice: They're just so damn nice! You know at home, when you do a good deed for somebody, and it just feels good? They just do it all the time because that's just the way they are, therefore they get to feel that good all the time! It's odd at first, but then, as one of Raleigh's trekkers was quoted as saying, "They're just being Costa Rican". A guy staying at the hostel a couple of nights ago said that a man just spotted him on the street having issues with his bike, spoke to him about it, and showed up at the hostel with the parts needed to fix it!

In saying all that, there's things - mostly personal - I definitely miss about the UK, and that I'm looking forward to getting back to:

• Ale: Real ale. Imperial will get you drunk and all, but it lacks the full flavour of a nice ale.
• My consoles: I miss my N64 and my Dreamcast. They're just great.
• My PC: Windows 7 might technically be old now, but my computer is still faster than a speeding bullet, doesn't have a Spanish keyboard, and any notification saying that something is wrong is in a language I understand.
• Nerve Centre: My band. The lads sent me demos of stuff they'd written. I could hear the banter from the practice room. I really miss that. And playing my lovely guitars. Plans are already underway for some recording when I get back.

I don't like promoting brands that aren't paying me, or at least giving me free or discount stuff. Seriously, I've even taped over the logos on my guitars and took the logo off my amp with a screwdriver! But, I do need to make a special mention to the corporate giant that is Google. I've utilised so many of their products in the ast three months.

• Android: My phone and tablet are both powered by their Android operating system. I really can't fault it. It's easy to use and does everything I need it to do. One of the best things about this is that when I took a photo or video on my phone or tablet, it automatically backed it up to my Google+ account as soon as I hit some WiFi, so if my phone or tablet gets eaten by a dinosaur, I won't lose my photos and videos. Sweet!
• Google+: OK, I know it's not very popular as social media goes. It never did pee all over Facebook and Twitter like it was supposed to. But apparently it's the best for SEO. Shock, and indeed horror. As mentioned in the previous point, Android automatically put my photos and videos there. So alls I have to do to share them is put them into albums from there, and copy and paste the link to Facebook, where most of my friends actually are. It's much easier than plugging in a camera and waiting for ages to upload them to Facebook. I like the way it works.
• Blogger: Yes, this very blogging site through which I've been keeping you updated of my adventures is part of Google.
• Google Translate: Between translating my blog and helping me ask when the next bus to Turrialba is, I've used Translate quite a bit.
• Chrome: My browser of choice. I just like it, OK? Even if the Raleigh blog crashes when I try to use it through Chrome.
• Drive: Google cloud storage service. 15GB of storage. Great for files that I can't leave on the Raleigh computer, or for moving files from my tablet or phone to the computer, or... well, you get the picture and I used Drive a lot.
• Play: Where I bought apps, games, books and music to keep me entertained during my adventure. I'm sure this will where I'll come for all my entertainment needs from now on.

Seriously, when they provide products this useful, just take my private information. Just take it.

Outside of Google, I've used quite a bit of other gear. I've put it in a photo album with an explanation of why they've been awesome. It's a bit random.

Click the Gaffa tape to see what else I've been using!

So those are the things that have helped me. If you're doing anything like this, they're worth a look.

The shuttle is booked for tomorrow morning at 9.30. My flight is just after 1pm. I should make a start on packing.

See you on the other side.

Pura vida!

It matters where you go.

It's my second night in Quepos. It's OK...

The Fellowship of 14A has already started to fragment, as a few people haven't come along.

I took a look back at some of my earlier posts in this blog, and saw some references to my personal journey that I was hoping for from a Raleigh expedition, and I've tried to show that I have been on a personal journey by writing about the things I've been thinking about along the way. I'm not sure I've really done that in the past few posts.

The six and a half hour bus journey, and generally having some time to reflect about what I've gotten out of Raleigh was useful. Having done the corporate report of how my job went here, I thought maybe it would be good to write a kind of a personal report.

What I learned about myself...

• Employability: I'm good enough to be considered for jobs I would have dismissed as paying too much four months ago. That sounds greedy, but it will make such a difference to me in what else I want to achieve.
• The world: I love adventure and I forgot that. The world has beautiful sights and people. I want to experience more of it and them. That's where the more money comes in.
• Rocks: Even at the age of 30, I love jumping across rocks in rivers. If there is a river with rocks sticking out of it, I will jump across them.
• Oasis: Even after 19 or so years, Oasis are still my favourite band.
• Nirvana: Nirvana are still comforting when I feel alone and like an outsider in a group.
• Organised fun: Seriously, trying to make people do stuff on the basis that "everybody else is doing it" is just peer pressure and bullying. I don't respond well to bullying. Mostly because I won't be bullied. I've already extensively discussed the matter.

What beliefs have been reinforced...

• Dickheads: There's an awful lot of dickheads about. Don't mind them.
• Privacy: I knew I was precious about privacy. I knew I'd struggle with that aspect of the experience. But people coming over and reading the personal email you're in the middle of typing to your mother? And me being in the wrong for being upset by this intrusive behaviour? Not an organisation I want to be involved with. See my previous point re: dickheads.
• Technology: I'm so grateful for the technology I have and use.
• Friends: I'm grateful for a small group of close friends above lots of people for the sake of lots of people. I also don't need to have people around me all the time, and I find alone time incredibly important.
• Booze: I don't need booze to have a good time. But it helps.

What I'll do after Raleigh...

• Cooperative music promotions: I've had an idea for a cooperative/credit union for Birmingham's unsigned musicians for ages now. My brief visit to the cooperative in Achuapa has inspired me to get moving on that.
• Couchsurf: surely kindness to random travellers exists with people who are just kind and not necessarily Costa Rican.
• Tico kindness: Extend the Tico sense of warmth and generosity as much as possible.
• Scouts: Well, I've been saying that since the assessment weekend for Raleigh. Apart from that wonderful weekend of regression back to my Scouting days I actually feel like I have something to share with young people.
• Brookvale Park: That's the park at the end of my road. I helped with some community volunteering there, but that's fallen over. It would be nice to see if there's more I can get involved with.
• Travel: Not even outside the UK, just go see things. Specifically outdoors. Remind myself of the stars every now and then.

Despite struggles with people and me, I don't think this has been a bad personal journey. I'm feeling so positive ahead of my return, like, I don't remember ever feeling this genuinely positive before. Good.

But, Raleigh has just been me reaching the horizon that I was facing back in January.

Now I've got a whole bunch of other horizons all around me.

Bring them to me.

All of them.

Pura Vida!

Wet.

Phase ended and the pups went home yesterday!

They spent so long faffing about, they left loads later than they should have, and I even had time to write a little song.

I went on one of the buses to the airport to make sure they left. At the airport, some of the pups had beer that they wouldn't be able to bring through security, and wouldn't have time to drink. They gave me 15 cans of beer. One of them personalised a can for me. They weren't bad kids really.

Aw...

Got back to Fieldbase, had a nap, helped take down a marquee, and then it was time for our first drink in three months!

My first drink was a swig of Jameson, because that was the last thing I drank three months ago. Then I had beer. Then I had a Turrialblian (beer with a shot of Jameson). Then I was quite drunk, but carried on drinking anyway. Until 4am. I was with the last people standing. I've still got it. There was water and nudity, so apologies, no photos here.

Slept in today and rocked up to plenty of comments about the night before. Not that anybody at Raleigh is judgmental. I tied up a few loose ends with my work, including posting the final blog. I'm very proud of it. It's one of the best things I've ever written.

I started packing my rucksack and tidying my desk. It's very weird. The past three months, just being packed away like that.

I don't really have anything more to write at the moment. Tomorrow we head to Quepos, which should be grand.

Pura Vida!

I can see the horizon.

As suggested in my last blog, I haven't got much to blog about these days. I could blog more often, but I've encountered too many people who talk without saying anything, so it's something I'm keen to not incorporate into my written or verbal communication skills.

The main thing of interest in the past week was my day off. I had a day off! My first day off in three phases of being told to take some time for myself because it's very important! It was very lovely and very needed.

I went to the lovely Turri beach and used it as my personal writing and recording studio for new tunes. I slept in, had breakfast, packed a lunch, and set off with the guitar. I wrote and demoed a new song, recorded a video of me playing an old song, had a swim, had lunch, wrote and demoed another new song, recorded another video of me playing another old song, and headed back to Fieldbase. It was fantastic! I felt so good after it. I really needed that little creative explosion.

The first song I wrote is about getting a well-paid job when I'm done here. I'm so much more confident about the salary I could earn than I've ever been. Of course I'm aware that it might not work out, but it's nice to be approached in the first place. I've been obsessing over Nirvana's cover of the Fang song, The Money Will Roll Right In, from their Live at Reading album, which may be an indirect influence.



The second song is about being over Raleigh. It's clear that I've got what I needed out of it, and more besides that I never could have imagined, but now I just want to get home and put it to use. It's not homesickness, because that's about missing home, but at the moment I'm very much about getting things done.



The following day and night I was on radio duty. I was conscious of the fact that this would be the last chance I'd have to write anything in Costa Rica. Colleagues gone to bed, guitar out, and I started putting lyrics over a melody that happened during the day. But then halfway through, I started playing other random chords, and a different song came out.



Then I went back and finished the one I'd initially started writing.



And that has been pretty much the height of my excitement. There's photos here.

I'm still thinking lots about getting home. Everything from getting rid of DEET spray to save room in my rucksack, to getting back to wearing band t-shirts instead of Raleigh ones. I saw a photo the other day on Facebook where I was wearing my hoodie from my uni in Dublin, and I just thought "I miss that hoodie". I'm surprised at myself missing clothes. Obviously when I'm writing and recording new tunes I'm thinking about playing them on my lovely guitars, and which guitar I'll be playing through what amp, on what pickup selection, for what part when I go to record them properly.

I applied to do some writing for an online content agency. They were happy to have me on board. The pay is really, REALLY bad, and the articles are pretty awful, but it's money. I've to submit a minimum of three articles a week, so I've already started that because I can fit it in around my Raleigh commitments.

I can't believe how little time I have left here. I'm probably going on about it. a bit! This night two weeks, I'll be in the Actress and Bishop watching Imogen's Kiss and This Elegant Chaos. The Actress and Bishop does a decent pint of Guinness, so I'll be all over that. The following Wednesday is band practice, which I'm impossibly excited about! Slinging on an electric guitar for the first time in three months and making some noise! I don't think I can explain how happy this makes me! I have ended three consecutive sentences on the matter with exclamation marks, so that might give some indication. The following weekend is a bank holiday weekend, and, all going to plan, we'll be recording a couple of tracks with an interlude of beer, barbecue and burning stuff. That's not as dangerous as it sounds - last year I was getting rid of a load of cheap chipboard furniture via bonfire accompanied by beer and barbecue. It was fun.

Back to the present, phase three ends in two days! All the Project Managers and Venturers arrive back, we do a bunch of reflective stuff, shove the pups on the bus, have a beer, finish up the paperwork, and then go to Quepos for two days. And that will be the end of my time with Raleigh International in Costa Rica. I'll be leaving my colleagues and heading to San José for a few days, to sit quietly by the pool, nursing beers and trying to calm my brain down at least a little bit before I fly home on Wednesday 22nd, arriving back in Brum at lunchtime on the 23rd.

Wow. It's crazy just thinking about it.

Not sure when I'll have anything of note to write. You'll hear from me when you hear from me.

Pura Vida!

A walk to the post office.

Not much to update since my last post.

I asked to stay at Fieldbase as much as possible for this final phase. My work got a bit disorientated last phase, so I really want to spend this phase being the best Communications Officer I can be, and that means being here to edit and upload blogs and photos, manage messages coming in on the blogs, and to get cracking on the end-of-expedition e-magazine.

I also need to be applying for jobs, and that requires internet, which you don't get on project. I also really don't want to have to tell anybody coming to me with potential work that I won't have internet access for two weeks. No way José.

The downside of this is that Fieldbase just isn't very exciting. I've already talked about it here. That's kind of the extent of it. There's nothing really more of interest to say or photograph. Since my last post, I really have just been doing work, doing my bit of Fieldbase chores like cooking and cleaning, and applying for jobs.

Oh, and watching films. We watched Kung Fu Panda the other night. Even when she's just voicing an animated snake, Lucy Liu is still hot.

Animated snake voiced by Lucy Liu.

Lucy Liu. Still hot.

We also watched Bring It On, which was fantastic! Teen movie clichés, social stereotyping, Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku as cheerleaders, and loads more cheerleaders! What's not to love!? Spirit fingers yo!

Kirsten Dunst as cheerleader.

Eliza Dushku as cheerleader.

Loads more cheerleaders! I know, some of them are dudes. It's not perfect.

I did get myself a Costa Rican football shirt. It's a little thing I have, that wherever I travel to, I get their national football shirt. I'd really struggled with Costa Rica. They didn't have them in any of the sports stores in San José when I was there. They have plenty of fake ones, but I haven't come all this way to do things half-assed. With them in the World Cup this summer, I strongly suspected they'd be available at some stage, and I was really hoping it wouldn't be after I left. The marketer in me said "It would be pretty stupid to leave it much later for cashing in on this", but the marketer in me is also aware of some pretty god-awful marketing. I spotted it in the supermarket, waiting in the queue at the check out. It looked official in terms of branding and that, but I couldn't quite believe it was just there in the supermarket. I went back to Fieldbase, double checked it on the interwebs, and went back later to get it. It cost the equivalent of about £20. You wouldn't get an official football shirt in the UK or Ireland for £20. I think it looks good.

I look forward to wearing this in a Brummie pub on 24 June.

I was on radio duty a couple of nights ago. Yup, demo o'clock. I've been getting frustrated with the concept of organised fun, so I worked out my frustration the way I know how. If you go to this song on SoundCloud you can read my full blown rant regarding the matter. Here's the tune.



I wandered up to the post office today to see if there was any post for anybody. Our post office is the one in CATIE's buildings. I don't normally take photos of walks to post offices, but this walk to the post office is something special.

Inside the building at CATIE where the post office lives. Click for a small album.

Tomorrow I'm going on a very short road trip to drop one of the pups off at a trek group.

That's kind of it really. Three weeks today I'll be on my way back to Birmingham. Three weeks tomorrow I'll be in Birmingham, hiding in my man-cave, wandering around and sporadically sitting down, looking at stuff, trying to arrange the return of my guitars, probably writing about my feelings and stuff on this little old blog.

You remember the ending of Lost, and Jack asking his dad something about if the time on the island was real? I imagine I'll be asking myself that of my time in Costa Rica. Even now, it's hard to believe it's been over 11 weeks since I came here and that I've only got three weeks left. It's a bit surreal.

I can't stop thinking about getting back home. I think it's from a combination of applying for jobs and wanting to turn the dodgy phone demos I've been recording while I've been on radio duty into full proper songs with the lads. The job applications have been pretty fruitless, unfortunately. I've started putting together an online portfolio of my corporate communications work. Hopefully that'll help. All I can do is keep applying.

That's about it for now. I'm actually going to try and get to bed early tonight.

Pura Vida!