Desperately Seeking Adventure: The Second Year!

Happy 2nd Birthday! My blog has made it to the age of two! 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. Desperately Seeking Adventure has carried on tracking my life. I have no worry that the next milestone for this blog will be it's 3rd birthday in 2015! I'll carry on for sure! 

As my blog has grown and prospered into its second year I was sure the terrible tantrums would soon follow, but things have been pretty calm because 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 reunited with my boys from placement in Huddersfield, Northampton and London but I wanted to use my passport for the next trip. Being the independent traveler once more I booked my trips to Barcelona, Istanbul and Amsterdam. I believe that my summer escapades and autumn getaway made very good reading, I had became quite used to when writing about the American cities that I had been to in 2012. Four colourful Spanish publications such that captured the mayhem and realness that I saw and got up to during my trip to Barcelona, Tarragona and Sitges in July 2013! Having the chance to bring my trips to life post-placement has given me the fire to blog further. Europe has been the perfect backdrop! Yes, EU! 

I've been a busy tweeter this year, I discovered how those blue tweeting birds could take my blog to a whole 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 favourite social media tool had to offer me. Monarch Airlines followed me in July of 2013, I flew 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. It's definitely a case of never say never! Looking back at the first year of my blogging I had began my Birmingham days again to capture that next chapter. Birmingham has shown me that many blogging treasures are to be had before I graduate! Sure, it's divine timing. 

Going back to basics has been the current theme, being honest and truthful is all what Desperately Seeking Adventure aims to achieve. 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. I wanted to get under the skin of that economically troubled West Midlands city for one afternoon, taking things for face value I found a city that needed to change in-order to prosper. Northampton showed me another honest urban representation I loved its quirkiness a lot, the cobbles of 78 Derngate Street impressed me much! I have found that my approach during 2013 and onwards is that adventure is wherever we find it, down the street or a short train journey away! 'Sent To Coventry' is next! For now, the continent of Europe will be my playground, I know that expat life will return eventually. England has so far given me certain surprises with places seen that I hadn't thought about seeing before. The year in the U.S had me feeling ready. 

For the time being I know deep that I won't be returning to the fields of South-west France. 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'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, that's where the magic began back in March 2012! I might not be going to Dubai but I have another way to help my blog flourish! I had a great time in Amsterdam last September! Amsterdam was everything, me and my Brother enjoyed the weekend very much! Birmingham will lead the way for now, university comes first. The adjustment post-placement was real but I'm feeling better! 

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! Time moves forwards for all of 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, a great opportunity and experience to document for Desperately Seeking Adventure. Captured to the left is the modern and contemporary apartment I reviewed, the view was unforgettable from the 19th floor, I could see Birmingham's skyline! Birmingham is now a cosmopolitan city and to be part of such projects has felt really good considering I blog for myself not for business purposes! One step at a time. 

Keeping my feet on the ground, it was lovely to get back to Liverpool! I recaptured 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! Harrison's brought it back! For my previous birthday I returned to the North-west of England to see Liverpool and Chester. My overnight trip took in two city's that had very different flavours, I wasn't on the party hype so finding a comedy show through my friend Kat was the perfect fit. Chester had a lovely feeling, on the borderline I was so close to Wales. Going back to Liverpool allowed me to see RopeWalks and to find out about the historic Chinese community. China has had me thinking about my future...

Tea for two? Yes! The title 'Desperately Seeking Adventure' implies many things, should I break from the ordinary and be adventurous by seeking blog ventures with food, theatre and fashion? I wanted my title to mean things could be about absolutely anything and everything! Little did I know that my Gin experience and fashion fix allowed me to experience a complimentary meal at Coast To Coast, Birmingham! At Coast To Coast, I wrote a professional review of my experience during my Saturday evening meal with Kelly. 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 I published back in 2012! I'll return! To the right is my 'Blueberry Thrill' I enjoyed at the Jekyll and Hyde Victorian Gin Parlour! Girl I live for Gin! Switching things up worked for me and my friend, Kelly during our final year at uni! For now it's about the books, life is Birmingham still shows me more! From 2012 to now! Really?

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! I wish for my university studies to be taken care of now for I want to desperately seek a new adventure! 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, I'm prone to speaking well of places because if I don't have anything constructive to say I tend to hold back. I'm finding that my writing style and attention to detail has been overhauled since 2012, I find myself tweaking blogs from 2012 and 2013 to mirror the publications presently from 2014. I shall leave 2013 behind for we celebrated New Year's over two months ago, I'll remember the beginning! Here's to another year of blogging and 'Desperately Seeking Adventure' wherever that'll be! Get this! 

Hold Tight Two! 

Joseph Harrison