Desperately Seeking Adventure ... The Terrible Two's!

Happy 2nd Birthday! I'm overjoyed my blog has made it to it's second birthday! In the very beginning I never anticipated keeping this blog as a permanent fixture, my transition back into life in England after placement relied on the future of this blog. Through the good times and bad Desperately Seeking Adventure has carried on documenting my life movements and happenings. I have no worry that the next milestone for this blog will be the 5th birthday that will be in 2017! 

As this blog has grown and prospered into its second year I was sure the terrible tantrums would soon follow, but things have been pretty calm for I keep my blog disciplined by a strict routine. Money has been tight but during the summer of 2013 I finished that previous semester with a thirst to travel. I had already reunited with my boys from placement in Huddersfield, Northampton and London but I wanted to use my passport for the next trip that I would be embarking on. Choosing to be the independent traveler once more I booked my trips to Barcelona, Istanbul and also Amsterdam. I believe that my summer escapades and autumn getaway made very good reading as I had been quite use to writing about the American cities that I had been to in 2012. With Spanish publications such as 'Barcelona - Cuitat De Gaudi', 'Tarragona's Little Secret' and 'Sitges - Queen Of The Seaside' live to read I had captured all the mayhem of my trips in Spain! It's official that July 2013 was a great month!

I've been a busy tweeter this last year, once back from Newark I discovered how those little blue tweeting birds could take my blog to a new height. I had already secured a favourable following for my first year of blogging but I wanted to make a permanent commitment to Desperately Seeking Adventure. This blog keeps me grounded but very much on the move at the same time so I wanted make the best of what the world's favorite social media tool had to offer me. Monarch Airlines followed me in July of 2013, I had flown with them twice throughout 2013 in May and then July so I was really happy to be recognised with a follow-back! Receiving financial reward for blogging has never been the aim, it wasn't the reason why I began this blog in March of 2012 but money talks so I won't rule that possibility out just yet. It's definitely a case of never say never!

Going back to Basics is what has to been done sometimes, being honest and truthful is all what Desperately Seeking Adventure aims to achieve and translate. During mid 2013 I had some down time after finishing the Spring term at university so I decided to have a day out in Wolverhampton. Being my home city I wanted to get under the skin of the economically troubled city for one afternoon, taking things for face value I found a city that needed to change in-order to prosper forwards. Northampton showed me another honest urban representation but I loved its quirkiness a lot, the cobbles of 78 Derngate Street impressed me much so I was sold! I have found that my approach during 2013 and onwards is that adventure is wherever we find it, maybe just down the street or a short train journey away! I'm looking to be 'Sent To Coventry' soon so I'm looking forward to being critical of the environment that I choose to explore. That age old statement is debatable, is home really where the heart its?

One thing that is cemented into the future is that I won't be returning to the winding fields of South-west France for that's not a viable plan. I loved blogging about Bordeaux, Cognac, Chatenet and Jonzac but that week will never be repeated! I have to say that I had never wrote a blog about Christmas, so when last year's shenanigans came to town I got very merry indeed! Valuing family time is what life's all about for me, because if our nearest and dearest can't feature in a blog post then I really don't know what else to think?! I feel that I could be going off on a tangent but I'm pleased 2013 led me to blog and capture so many memories that I can now treasure well into the future. I long for this blog to be taken back to Newark, New Jersey for that's where the magic began back in March 2012! I have high hopes for my blog, I really hope I spend it's 3rd birthday Stateside!

Birmingham has been my base for the last year so, I have experienced a new wave of exciting blogs and experiences that have pushed Desperately Seeking Adventure to a new place. I will never compromise the humble beginnings that this blog set its foundations on for we have to remember where we started! Birmingham has been very good to me in all aspects, my blogging has transformed my view of my student city! Anyway, times moves onwards for us and that has meant a whole new frontier of blogging for me. My waiting around won't be forever but I have had a wonderful time! I was lucky enough to spend one night at the Rotunda to enjoy the Staying Cool Apartments, it was a great opportunity and experience to document for Desperately Seeking Adventure. Captured to the right is the modern and contemporary apartment that I reviewed, the view was unforgettable from the 19th floor for I could see the growing Birmingham skyline! Don't worry I won't forget my run-of-the-mill blogs!

Keeping my feet on the ground it was lovely to get back to Liverpool, it was a pleasure for I was able to recapture the true essence of what that Scouse city meant to me the first time around. I'm usually a solitary soul when I make a trip but I always make a stop in Southport to see my Disney friend Kat, I met Kat on the morning that I flew out to Orlando for my Disney Program in 2011. Since our Disney days I visited Liverpool in October of 2011 and more recently back in November of 2013 for I spent my birthday weekend beside the Mersey River! Out of my second trip to Liverpool and Southport I trusted the Merseyrail system to discover Chester for the afternoon, I captured those two trips in 'It's Liverpool . . .' and 'Chester: Rivers, Cathedrals and Clock Towers' not missing a single part from that North-west experience! Who knew that Desperately Seeking Adventure would change the way I look at travelling, even if it been to the next town or to a foreign land?!

Tea for two? Travel has and will always be my passion, but I'm open to change from time to time! The title 'Desperately Seeking Adventure' implies many things, should I break from the ordinary and be adventourous by seeking blog ventures with food, theater and fashion? Yes! This pre-determined outcome saw me publish a Gin infused blog and a 'Dressed To Kill' fashion post! Little did I know that my Gin experience and fashion fix allowed me to experience a complimentary meal at Coast To Coast, Birmingham where I wrote a professional review of my experience. With my reduced student loan I have made a fine decision to keep my latest blogs within Birmingham, creating new and exciting experiences that have felt just as extraordinary as my New York City blogs that I published back in 2012!  Captured to the left is my 'Blueberry Thrill' that I enjoyed at Birmingham's Jekyll and Hyde Victorian Gin Parlour! I believe that good things come to those who blog!

I look towards the future of Desperately Seeking Adventure, I hope that positive developments keep blessing my blog with exciting opportunities and that I get to travel again soon! I wish for my university studies to be taken care of now for I want to desperately seek a new adventure! I say take me back to the days where I would not have the option to sleep my days away but to be in a new foreign land, I'm ready for pastures new. I look back with a smile to think that my blog has retained its integrity to be honest and real about what I publish, but I'm prone to speaking well of places because if I don't have anything constructive to say I tend to hold back a little. I'm finding that my writing style and attention to detail has been overhauled the last year, I find myself tweaking blogs from 2012 and 2013 to mirror the publications presently from 2014. I shall leave 2013 behind me for we celebrated New Year's over two months ago, but I'll remember the blogs I wrote for this blog has time to truly soar! 

No Temper Tantrums Allowed !!! There's Always The Naughty Step !!! You're Two !!!
Joseph Harrison