48 Hour Adventure | Interview With Justin

This week our featured travel interview is with Justin from 48 Hour Adventure. He is an Australian living in London, with only weekends available to travel, so he explores European cities on a regular basis between working as an IT consultant during the week. His blog demonstrates that fulfilling short term travel experiences are possible. He writes articles and guides to motivate and inspire career focused people to explore what’s right on their doorstep in a manageable time-frame.

Justin Morris From 48 Hour Adventure

Thanks for wanting to be part of our Positive World Travel community! What’s the way you make your travels positive?

By always keeping an open mind. It’s very easy for a few small negative events during the first few hours of a trip to shape your entire mood and perception of somewhere. You need to take getting shafted by the taxi drivers that one time on the chin and move on. Keep your head up and move forward always.

It is my dream to see the Northern Lights! Tell us about your experience of driving to see them in your VW along an ice-covered road?

Oh man, this was insane. So me and two friends decided to go visit a Norwegian friend of ours that lives near Trondheim in the middle part of the Norway for a few days. As part of this trip, we decided to hire a car, pile it full of booze, food and friends and drive the 7 hours north into the Arctic Circle.

We picked up this beat up old 1993 VW Caravelle from a town called Steinkjer and began the huge journey up the E6 highway the covers the full length of Norway. I’ll tell you what, this “highway” soon become nothing like it. It turned into a one lane, snow covered ice rink about 2 hours into the drive and resulted in us crawling along at 50 kph in fear of ploughing off into the snow banks and the pine forests.

We eventually reached the Arctic Circle at about 2:30am after many skidding on ice, traction-less near death moments, exhausted but relieved. We saw the Northern Lights twice during the drive up, and I can tell you it’s like someone taking a massive knife and slicing through the night sky to reveal ribbons of white light. Absolutely amazing.

You are currently working in the UK in IT which only leaves the weekends for your exploring. What are some of you tips to share with our audience on spending 48hrs in a European city?

Prepare yourself adequately so you can make the most of the short period of time you have in the city. This means no waltzing into the information centre on arrival to find out what’s worth seeing. I mean geeking out on your destination a few nights before you go. You need to find out what’s worth checking out in the day, and line up some cool bars and cafes to spend the night in. Researching a good hostel is also key, as this is where you’ll meet some really cool people that will make the trip memorable.

You have travelled extensively through Europe. What are your must-see place and ones that you think we could miss out?

Berlin and Paris. You can’t miss these two cities. They’re so full of history, culture, food and atmosphere. Paris because you can’t go anywhere in this city without seeing one of its famed landmarks or eating a croissant; and Berlin  because it’s one of the quirkiest, hippest cities I’ve ever visited, yet is so soaked in years of turmoil, drama and history that has shaped the last century. I think you could probably miss out on Stockholm. It doesn’t really jump out at you as a special city, and is kind of like “Anytown Europe” as I like to call it.

What is the craziest thing you have done on a plane or seen on a plane?

I was going to a big rave party in Weeze, Germany with a friend in September last year. The gig was in an abandoned Air Force base on the other side of the airport, very cool event that only happens once a year. On the way there, the Ryanair flight was full of rowdy chavs (English slang for uncouth young people). They wouldn’t stop singing and yelling the whole way there and were standing up during take off, forcing the flight attendant to issue some pretty stern warnings. They then proceeded to break out the bottles of rum they’d smuggled aboard, pinching Coke from the refreshments trolley to mix it with. Once the FA’s saw this, it was all over. The seatbelts sign was turned on, not going off for the rest of the flight and everyone had to stay seated. Upon arrival in Weeze, no one could get off until the Police came and escorted the troublemakers off the plane!

Justin On The Road

An English man, an Irish man and an Aussie walk into a bar…The Irish man says?

Haha I am complete rubbish when it comes to jokes like this! The Irish guy would probably say “g’day chaps, what’s the craic?”

You generally stay in Hostels when you travel. Why do you think they are the best way to travel?

They’re the best way to travel because of a few reasons. They’re cheap, usually well located in the city centre and make a fantastic opportunity to meet fellow travellers. I wrote about why hostels are awesome a few months back, and have some amazing stories, usually involving copious amounts of alcohol.

You’re an Aussie, so typically you like to have a few drinks…right? Tell us about a crazy night out on the turps in London. Where, why and who?

Whoa, where do I start? There was one night I was out with my friend that helped me get on my feet in London, you know, let me crash at her place for a few nights. We were at Ministry of Sound, and we all scored AAA passes because we knew the DJs. We stayed all night backstage drinking TONS of vodka and anything else we could get our hands on. When that all ended, we got a taxi back to her place in Hackney and talked bollocks all morning. Then at about 11am, an Irish mate of hers asks who wants to come to a pub in Islington to watch Manchester United and Arsenal play. I agree wholeheartedly, and we jump on a bus to make the trek. We got lost, as two drunk, sleep deprived lads would, but finally found the pub. I lasted about 30 minutes into the match before the Irish guy vanished and I fell asleep on a couch somewhere.

What’s your travel mantra?

Never let things get to you, no matter how much you want to pack it all in and go straight back home. You’ll look back on it in three months time and think “haha wow, that was a ridiculous situation”.

Road Trip!

Quick Questions

Where to next?

I’m heading back home to Melbourne via Dubai for a few weeks to visit family and friends. It’s my first time back in over a year so I’m super pumped. Then after that I’ve got some trips to Sweden and Austria lined up before hitting Munich for Oktoberfest in September.

What are you reading right now?

The last book I read was Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk. It really opened up my eyes more to social media and what can be achieved by becoming authoritative in your niche.

What are you listening to?

I listen to lots of Aussie hip hop (Bliss n Eso, Illy, Drapht) as well as lots of Dutch and Italian hardstyle. I’ve been to a fair few hardstyle raves in Holland, so much fun.

Your favourite travel item is?

JM – Without a doubt my iPhone. It’s always packed with my itinerary (hostel and flight bookings), some basic phrases of the language of the country I’m travelling to and lots of music. Not to mention it allows me to keep in touch with friends back home via email and Skype.

Famous person you’d love to travel with?

Probably Will Ferrell. I know he’d make travelling an absolute riot. That guy is the funniest man in films.

To follow Justin along on more of his 48 Hour Adventures visit his Website or join him on Facebook or Twitter.

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