The next bucket list item on my 3 month adventure was Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but first a stopover in Spain! I worked out last minute that I would be near to some ex-HK friends in Gibraltar so that was my first night, lots of tapas, red wine and laughs and 2 extra stamps in my passport (thanks Brexit). They then drove me up the coast to Sottogrande where I met good old friends from New Zealand, sadly a vomiting bug was working it’s way around their family so they weren’t in great form. But I spent the day chilling on the deck of their AirBnB boat with a beer in hand, swam in the gorgeous ocean and fitted in some catch ups when they felt up to it. The next day I flew to Edinburgh, arriving late at night to my very cute apartment in the city, to be my home for the next 5 days.

I’ve always wanted to go to Edinburgh Fringe, a month-long extravaganza of comedy, theatre, street performances etc. which totally takes over Edinburgh and where lots of great comedians got their start. I was lucky enough to have ex-HK friends come up from London to join me at the festival for the first few days so we met for breakfast and made our plan of attack. We had pre-bought a few tickets and made plans to queue for last-minute tickets to a couple of acts, and also decided we’d go see some randoms along the way. The next few days unfolded in a blur of laughter, drama and oddness, with good meals and ciders between it all. By the time I left Edinburgh later that week I’d seen 21 shows in 4 days! The standouts were:

• Rose Matafeo - fellow kiwi, standup comedian, despite being a WIP show, there were lots of laughs, we met interesting folks in the queue and got some good recommendations for other shows.

• Hello Kitty Must Die - musical comedy about chinese-american women breaking out from their parents strict culture, but also featuring a serial killer, mad genius.

• David O’Doherty - what that man can do with a tiny piano, brilliant comedy, big belly laughs, great crowd, love the Irish

• Ivo Graham - a taskmaster favourite, his theme of “organized fun” spoke to me… almost too directly, tons of laughs

• Baby Wants Candy - an improvised musical, so freakin’ impressive both the singers and the band all improvising together on the topic of “Beauty in the Yeast Infection”

• Laser Kiwi - no idea how to explain this surreal trio of talented and whacky humans, so check them out here

• Hannah Cameleri - sketch comedy of the highest quality, crowdwork was excellent, clever writing, great characters, i hope she makes her break post-Edinburgh

I also went to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo which probably sounds weird if you don’t know what it is but it was the most incredible spectacle of music, marching bands and scottish vibes, hosted in the castle and ending with fireworks, see this 1min of video to get an idea.

After a hike up Arthur’s seat (gorgeous) on my last morning, I jumped on a train to London for a long weekend with good old ex-HK mates.

We started with 2 nights of the All Points East Festival to see The Strokes and Jungle. The Strokes were a bit meh but Jungle were amazing to see live, such a good vibe, a great show, amped crowd. We also did the obligatory pub lunch (catching up with more ex-HK peeps), went for a lovely cycle to some wetlands, ate maybe the best gelato of my life, laughed at stand-up comedy, and enjoyed a tasting menu (amongst other excellent food)… all in all a perfect few Londony days.