Hey guys, Nate here. I'm proud to announce that I'm now the Program Director of Scrawny To Brawny. From now on all of my blogs and articles will be posted on the brand-new Scrawny To Brawny Blog. So if you enjoyed what you read here, please go check it out. (It's awesome, if I say so myself.) I'm keeping the NGE website alive for resource reasons, but will no longer be actively updating it. The best way to get in touch with me is through leaving a comment on the Scrawny To Brawny blog or by posting on the S2B Facebook page. See you guys over at the new blog!
From the Red Light District to Monks Who Brew Beer
Giant's Causeway
Highlights From My Overseas Trip and Things to Do When You Visit
I spent the month of October traveling through Europe and the UK with Jason, my friend and web designer. We met up with no less than 20 of my blog readers, and hit all the cool spots tourists never hear about.I trained in world-class gyms, went on private scotch whisky tours, and ate my fair share of amazing food, all while making a living from my computer.
Not a bad vacation, really.
What follows are the highlights from each city.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
- I was told that you "donate your bike to the city" when you move to Amsterdam, which sounds like a nice way of saying that eventually you're going to get your shit stolen. If you want a bike, Arjan told me over beers, it's as simple as sitting on a park bench and waiting for a homeless person to approach you. You give them ten bucks and—supposedly—they come back with a bike. I didn't try this.
- Nick was from Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. He's living in Amsterdam and trying to learn Dutch, but no one will give him an opportunity to practice. "Why would you want to learn that?" they ask. "Why don't you just speak English?"
- Heineken sucks. Sorry.
- The red light district sneaks up on you. I'm not kidding. If you asked me for directions on how to find it, I'd say "turn down a cobblestone street, then keep walking." One minute you're walking past bars, coffee shops, and hostels, and suddenly you happen upon a hooker. According to Jason, ugly ones cost $30 Euro while less ugly ones cost $50 Euro. I took his word for it.
- If you want to try a traditional Dutch drink, find a small bar with no TV and an old bartender. Ask him for Jenever then ask him to tell you about it. Be prepared for an hour of history and three more Jenever's on the house.
Brussels and Bruges, Belgium
- Try these things in this order when you get to Belgium: waffles, coffee, beer, mussels, chocolate.
- Speaking of drinks, every single cup of coffee is perfectly ground fresh just for you and delivered on a plate with a cookie on the side. Every single cup. And every beer will be served in the brewery's glass. Order a Leffe Blonde and it'll come in a Leffe Blonde glass.
- Our hotel gym in Brussels had an Olympic weightlifting platform. Best. Hotel. Ever.
- Bruges is the ultimate date town. The narrow, cobblestone streets and old architecture make you want to hold a girl's hand. Unfortunately I was with Jason, my friend and web designer, who is about as romantic as he sounds. Which is to say, not very. There was no hand holding.
- The hostel in Bruges was nice, but I'll never stay in another one again without some serious cajoling. Maybe I'm just prissy.
- Wesvletern is a brewery within the Trappist Abbey of St Sixtus in the Middle of Nowhere, Belgium. We rented a car and a GPS and after driving for an hour in the country, finally found a one-way paved road that led to the abbey and visitors center. The Westveltern 12 is ranked as the best beer in the world. I had three. They were delicious.
Dublin, Ireland
- Here are the rules of the Abs Gym in Dublin, owned by Bryan Kavanaugh and Ian Graham:
1. Be on time.
2. No excuses.
3. No negativity.
3. It's called a "workout" not a "hangout."
4. No mobile phones!
5. Man the fuck up, lift some heavy shit and get strong, lean, and athletic.
6. Feel free to use the words "ripped" and "shredded."
7. Feel free to swear at your trainer.
I like those rules.
- In Temple Bar we saw no less than three children dancing to street musicians. It was beyond cute.
- Guinness owns Dublin, and they take very good care of it. By the way, a nice pint of Guinness isn’t as hard to find as some Irish make it seem. Then again, perhaps my taste buds haven't yet developed to the point of being able to tell the difference between a Guinness from two separate bars on the same freakin' block. It does taste better there than in the States, however. Much better.
- Cillian bought us Red Breast Irish Whiskey which we sipped while talking about traveling. It seemed fitting.
- The Irish accent is easy to understand as long as the person speaking is speaking slowly. When they get going on a rant, God help you. I understood maybe every fourth word when I eavesdropped on other conversations.
Belfast, Northern Ireland
- We stayed next the Europa, "the most bombed hotel in Europe." A good start.
- The Giant's Causeway, on the Northeast Coast of Northern Ireland was slippery, beautiful, and looked like something out of a Jim Henson movie. I almost fell off a rock.
On the way back we stopped by Bushmills, the oldest licensed distillery in the world and sipped a 21-year single malt.
Glasgow, Scotland
- A traditional carvery reminds me of Thanksgiving at my Grandma's. Thick slices of beef, chicken, and gammon with fresh vegetables, stuffing, and mashed potatoes.
- Pudding in the UK is completely different than pudding the States. I expected a sweet pudding-like substance. Maybe a little whip cream on top, you know? Instead I got bread with gravy dumped in the middle of it. Color me disappointed. (I still ate three of them, however.)
- I went through a complete fitness and postural assessment at the Varsity Gym with Andy Tsang. He helped me locate muscle imbalances and painful trigger points. Then he poked them. Hard.
- Allan drove me through the countryside and paid my entrance to the Glengoyne Distillery where we learned the history of Scotch whisky and viewed the distillation process. We ate tablets (a traditional Scottish treat) and drank damn good scotch.
Edinburgh, Scotland
- Classy, modern, ancient, and cool. Hands down my favorite city on the entire trip.
- Alwyn Cosgrove became my tour guide from far away as he texted me what bars to go to, what food to try, and where to hang out. Because of him I ate fish and chips with salt and sauce washed down with an Irn Bru, which was probably one of the best meals I had on the entire trip. (Thought certainly not the "healthiest.")
- Factory Gym owner and ultimate badass Tom Robertson hooked us up with day passes to his awesome gym, tickets to tour the Edinburgh castle, and took us to a Hearts football game. Highlights: Rudi scoring a hat trick and me drinking Bovril.
- I had the best cappuccino in my life at Artisan, a coffee roaster turned café.
- Jonny met us for dinner at the Dogs where we ate deviled ox heart and talked business. The next day I made John and Will do a hard workout with me. They cursed a lot. Mostly to my face.
London, England
- Bjorn flew from Germany to London to meet up. We had a fantastic steak dinner and he ended up crashing on my hotel room floor because he's a young kid who didn't plan and was determined to walk through downtown London and sleep on park benches before his flight the next day. Kids these days. Sheesh.
- James and Chris took us to the Roadhouse bar where we watched bartenders flip and juggle bottles. I had a steak dinner for an appetizer and a burger and chips as a main course. Freddie bought me a Guinness and we talked about the book Switch and how we need to wrangle in our elephants.
- That night, I had to convince Tom that American Football is actually pretty hardcore. Even with the pads.
- On our last night in London we met Daniel and his friends and had Vietnamese food, Cuban rum, and talked about websites and fitness.
Later that night his friends would go on to do the following: grab a girls ass at the bar and get verbally reprimanded, steal a drink off a tray as a dude walked by on his way to his table, throw oranges at random people, and piss on the streets in full view of everyone. I was reminded of why I don't drink to get drunk.
Leeds, England
Saw The Black Keys live. 'Nuff said.
Thanks to all the guys who showed me around their cities.
My trip wouldn't have been nearly as fun if I didn't hang out with Arjan, Nick, Rudolph, Jayton, Bryan, Cillian, Ian, Scott, Andy, Allan, Tom, Jonny, Will, John, Bjorn, James, Chris, Freddie, Tom, and Daniel.
To everyone else we met at restaurants, bars, and especially the old Belgian guy who sat next to me on my return flight home: thanks for the memories. Cheers!
What About You?
Planning a trip to the UK or Europe? What about anywhere overseas? Post below and tell me about it. What are you going to do?
Comments for This Entry
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Hey Nate, great post as always. Sounds like your trip was a blast. While you certainly highlighted the awesomeness of the various brews you found overseas, I'm actually pretty interested in that total body assessment you had in Scotland. I watched the video of it from your previous post, but I was wondering if you could share anymore information on it?
Thanks, and grats again on an amazing trip! -
Cool trip man, glad you liked Europe. Since we met, I've found a Dutch Speaking meetup.com group for people who want to learn Dutch to simply get together and speak Dutch. Really cool and exactly what I needed.
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Hey Nate,
Thanks for sharing stories and pics from your trip. Social media (i.e. this blog, twitter) is a great way to meet people from all over the world. It's always a plus to have locals show you around when traveling abroad or to a new city.
You set a an excellent example of how to live a life of balance: staying fit and healthy while still having fun and indulging in life's pleasures.
Most guys (people) don't actively strive to be successful in all aspects of life. I think you do a good job of inspiring people to do so. If you ever need someone to show you some good microbreweries in Pittsburgh, let me know.
Continued Success to you,
Tyler -
Hey Nate,
Looks like you had an outstanding time in europe. You've inspired me to explore my roots.
Just wanted to say that gym in Ireland has the best set of rules yet.
A good friend of mine was approached recently at a gym in downtown Toronto, by a staff member asking him to keep it down. He was 'manning the fuck up and offing some heavy shit' apparently that was disruptive to the fengshuei ( forgive my spelling) of the gym atmosphere.
I do understand that it scares away some clientell if there are scary powerlifters grunting and making a lot of noise, but I wish I could find a gym with an atmosphere like the one you found in Ireland.
Anyways -
Anyways lol.. Glad you had a good trip
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Loved the post!
I am heading off to Europe at the end of December (woop woop) and need to know the best gyms you reccommend to train in whilst over there. I am visiting the following...
-London
-Paris
-Munich
-Amsteram
-Barcelona.
Any help would be greatly appreciated by all!
, Nayte -
Super jealous Nate, your trip sounds awesome and you've definately inspired me to do something similiar REAL soon.
It was great to meet up with you guys and don't worry my mate behaviour pretty much reminded me of why I don't drink much and tend to head home before midnight too lol. -
Oh and thanks for treating us to dinner too!
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Great write up Nate, and great to meet you. All the best.
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Yay Edinburgh being hands down winner! and yay for me being an "Ultimate Badass" haha!
You did forget to mention the steak pie & the scotch pie that accompanied your bovril and Rudi's hat-trick!
Thanks for coming to visit, welcome back anytime :-)
(same goes to anyone else planning a tour round Europe, if your passing through Scotland give me a shout)
Tom -
Glad you had a good time over here buddy!
Cillian got ya whiskey? good stuff.. said you gave him a t-shirt... i was jealous to say the least!
Heard ya sampled the mongolian... PROTEIN FEST haha
talk soon
B -
I had to laugh a lot at the Europa being the "most bombed hotel in Europe". Its pretty nice these days from what I've seen of it (i.e. peeking through the windows).
Edinburgh is superb for sure.
Cheers -
This sounds like the most FUN trip ever. I gotta get over there.
Nate, are you spending more dough than you thought or less. Sounds like
your getting hooked up really well.
I envy you, man. -
That sounds like a great trip. I like your agenda:
1. Hit up whatever BA gym I can find
2. Hit up whatever distillery I can find
Or have I got those in reversed order?
Welcome back home,
Tim -
Nate, What a great trip you had. I do not plan on traveling out of the country but it sounds like a lot of cool places. I enjoyed reading the blog
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@ Devin
Getting an assessment was a great way to hold myself accountable for the things I know I need to be working on. Essentially, I have a few tight/weak muscles I need to bring up to par while focusing on a bit more core strength and flexibility training. I recommend everyone get an assessment, if for no other reason than to have someone berate you for your muscle imbalances. :)
@ Nathan
I didn't hit any gyms in Amsterdam, but I'm sure there are a few good ones. In London I trained at the Chelsea Football Club gym which was awesome but expensive. I'm sure there are better low-cost options.
@ Dean
I'll be doing a post on this pretty soon, but the thing to realize is money is just a way to get experiences. (As long as your basic needs are taken care of, obviously.) So if there's a way to get those experiences without spending money (i.e. building a small following of like-minded, generous people), then it's almost always a better - or at least more fun - option.
-Nate -
Nate - the trip sounded awesome.
I have family in Italy, so I'd head there for sure. But I've always wanted to check out England and Ireland as well. And Spain and Portugal, France and Germany. I guess I have a bit more planning to do. Maybe make it into a couple trips.
Haven't been overseas yet though, it's been a goal for a while, just have to make it happen asap!
Great article as usual.
- Chad -
Glad you had fun, Nate. You've definitely earned it!
And I wonder about that hand holding...
;)
-Tony -
Hi Nate i'm glad that our favorate city was Edinburgh. You did however forget to mention your deep fried mars bar that you had with that fish supper which is another classic Scottish food hahaha.
It was great to get a session with you learnt alot and was a great workout!
- John -
Thanks for sharing Nate. Inspiring people to get out an take trips like this for themselves.
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Hey Nate,
glad you enjoyed the UK... you should have gone to Wales!! Dave's gym in Cardiff is hardcore. The guy built a whole seperate building alongside the gym just for leg training, you gotta love that?!
Next trip im planning alone is a 3 week break from life in Thailand. Maybe sign up to a kickboxing camp and train in jungle-style. It's all about the travel! -
Hey Nate,
You mentioned the book Switch. I have seen many books by that name - what is the author?
Also, reading about your trip was great and reminded me of my travels in Europe a while back. I think everyone should experience Europe or any other country by that matter to gain experience of other cultures and to open their minds.
Live it - don't just read about it!
- Brad -
Hi Nate,
Great comment - 'money is just a way to get experiences as long as your basic needs are taken care of'.
Too many people forget this and get stuck in the trap of materialism ...houses,cars,clothes, gadgets.
But when you are on your deathbed will you wish that you had a bought a better car or house or will you wish that you had more amazing experiences and lived your dreams...what do you think? -
Ha! This is awesome. Thanks for giving us the scoop on your adventures while you were away. What a great trip!
-
Hey Nate,
Sounds like you had an awesome trip. I wish the gym I train at would incorporate the 7 rules of the Abs Gym in Dublin. I hate when people talk on the phone in the gym. Leave it in the car! -
Hey Nate,
I just came back from 4 weeks in Europe. London, Munich (oktoberfest), Vienna, Ljubljana, Croatia and Hungary. Croatia was amazing! Great coffee, but the food choices were limited to mostly pizza and kebabs. I suggest anyone who hasn't been to Croatia to go there! I didn't look for a gym, my body needed a break and I am back into my training.
Love the blog
- Matt -
Great stuff Nate---
Jealous but at the same time envious and inspired.
Great work and thanks for all the updates along the way bro!
Mike A -
Hey Nate,
Sounds you had a blast in Europe. I could relate to most of your travel stories as I've been to all the cities that you visited.
Your comment about children playing in the Temple Bar area in Dublin reminded me of this movie, Once and Again. Take a look at it to relive your times in Ireland.
Oh, you're talking about yorkshire puddings. Did you try blood pudding when you were in Scotland?
I see that you tried both Irn-Bru and fried mars bar. Did you tried prawn sandwiches? They're also ubiquitous in Scotland.
If you ever decide to take a trip to Canada, then I'd be happy to show you around in Toronto and Ottawa...and perhaps Montreal. I live right in the middle of these three Canadian cities. -
Nate-That sounds like one heck of a great trip. I've never been to Europe but your trip makes me want to see the continent. Enjoyed your writing style.
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Nate!! Glad you had a good trip and all but just wanted to point out that I took you guys to Roadhouse, not even James and Chris knew about that place and they live in London.
Nice redesign by the way =O) -
That trip sounds truly epic. I am quite jealous. I'm hoping to take a similar trip in the not too distant future. I've added you to the list in my head of awesome people with Mr. Tim Ferriss.
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Wonderful journey and experience!
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Reduce the speed to stop after material dispersing and start the increase button. Stop rising after the dispersing base leaves the liquid. Clean the dispersing base after using.
COMMENT RULES: Critical posts are fine, but if you're rude I'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your personal name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. But most of all, have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Tim Ferriss for the inspiration.)
Devin 2:23pm Nov 7, 2010