Serendipity, Sunsets & San Sebastian

After many years of travelling you develop a sixth 'spidey' sense for sniffing out the city bus station. I arrive in plenty of time to catch the connecting bus from Bilbao to San Sebastian, however the TV display is very helpfully not showing my bus number nor gate. 30 minutes later (after nearly boarding the wrong bus) I'm on the way through the leafy mountains, along the coast to San Sebastian.

The woman sat next to me spends most of the 2 hour journey screeching Spanish into her mobile phone - I entertain the idea of snatching it from her, smashing the emergency glass, and tossing it out wildly along the highway - however, I enjoy the blissful state of zen I get from wifi free bus journeys and don't fancy spending the night in a cell, as opposed to a comfy hostel bed.

I'm sat outside this cute little cafe around the corner from the hostel with my cappuccino (attempting to read my book for the billionth time). Out of the corner of my beady eye, I spot a girl with a backpack trying to gain entry to the hostel courtyard. My inner knight in shining armour scoots over to scan my keycard to help her gain access.

'Hey I know you' comes a cheerful voice behind me...

WTAF? Ayenna and I had met about a month previously in Malaga, Andalusia at the hostel we were both staying at.. yes the fateful night of Molijtros ( a litre of mojito for 5 EUE aieeeeeeee).. well that's another story altogether!

Ayenna joins me for a tasty brunch at the cafe and brings me up to date with her travels through Spain and Portugal, whilst we discuss the severity of the molijrto hangovers and regail ourselves with the photographic evidence.

The evening is spent drinking copious amounts of wine and crafting a delicious mushroom pesto risotto to share at the hostel kitchen (using microwave rice, mushrooms, spinach and pesto).

In my many years of travel it never fails to amaze me how a hearty meal and alcohol are the basis for building lifelong friendships. And like the Pied Piper, I round up all the stray travellers for an impromptu trip to the supermarket and some drinks for the beach.

We are a lively bunch of Americans, Aussies, Germans, a Dutch girl and some fellow Brits.

The evening descends into the usual drinking games, to the background of a mini speaker: the sharing of travel stories and even some breakdancing (not me don't worry). As the laughter echoes out underneath the promenade, the sun sets beautifully behind 'Jesus Mountain' as it has become affectionately known.

After all the booze has dried up we head into town and to my new favourite watering spot - 'The Hole' - there's pool tables, table football and all manner of disgusting shot combinations and 2 EUR pints aeieeeeee.

After much merriment the group heads home.. Well.. if you factor in holding back the hair of our new American friend who may or may not have taken too much ketamine.. there's always one isn't there!

The following day our new friend Ben treats Ayenna and I to a coffee on the breach (he's from a traveler family and does astrology readings) - you can check out my reading below - I'll leave you to gage how accurate you think it might be.

I really feel the pictures don't do the San Sebastian sunset's enough justice 📸

Reunited with Ayenna 📸 - I love how small the world is

#MARKX #MARKXMUSIC #sansebastian #spain #travels #travelblog #adventures #solotraveller #blog #britabroad

Basque-ing In Bilbao

Arriving at the airport with plenty of time before the flight, I pray profusely to the ‘low-cost airline gods in the sky’ for a childfree flight. To my utter delight, I find a row of three empty seats opposite and no screaming children. I lip-sync along to the safety video, slip on my blackout eye mask, shove in my earplugs and snooze the 1:45 min flight to Bilbao.

The airport shuttle bus is merely a few metres away from departures and within 15 minutes I’m in Bilbao. It’s a 30-minute walk to the hostel (via The Guggenheim museum for some tourist shots). Despite checking the weather forecast a few days pre, and seemingly not twigging the ‘leafy’ nature of Bilbao (sorry for the pun), I’m somewhat dismayed by the ominous looking clouds over head.

A random couple (with whom I shared a dorm with, at a hostel in Dubrovnok, Croatia, back in the summer of 2015) had inspired me to book my trip to Basque country. They’d explained to a wide-eyed me at the time, that the Spanish region has its own language and unique culture – I’d made a mental note to check it out at some point.. so here I am!

As I had a nice 5-day gap between gigs, I had booked an early Monday morning flight – finishing the wedding on Sunday evening and back home by midnight, I pull an all-nighter, leaving for the airport at 4am (what can I say, I am a true rockstar).

I’m too early to check-in, so I abandon my bag at the hostel and go in search of some coffee. After a leisurely stroll into the town centre, I find a cute little café and free table to pull out the laptop and get up to date with my emails.

The barista is seemingly unimpressed at my feeble attempt to order an oat cappuccino in Spanish, however, I manage to come away with a cappuccino and croissant for 1.75 EUR. I’m bemused as a rather entitled pigeon saunters in through the main doors and sets about hoovering up all the pastry crumbs - takes a sly glance at me and waddles back out to the main street.

Back at the hostel I manage to schmooze the hostel staff to allow me check in early and take a cheeky power nap in my bunk, trying to politely bat away the requests for small talk from the Italian guy on the bunk above. I’m pretty sure I can hear him clipping his toenails (perhaps out of spite) – must make a mental note to write that guide about hostel etiquette when I get a spare moment!

The hostel are running a fun social event this evening – seemingly a great opportunity to make some new friends. It is an online quiz, run by one of the hostel volunteers, one where you can play using your phone to answer the questions. We are a mixed, eclectic, weirdo bag of solo travellers: a fellow Brit, two Spanish girls, a Canadian and a guy from the US.

My trigger-happy fat thumbs and lack of reading the game instructions and questions carefully mean I somehow lose the music round (I was robbed). I fare infinitely better with the flags and countries round (coming a cool second – what can I say, I get around!).

We guzzle our way, respectively through the free beer and snacks I brought along to share – one of the Spanish girls is a professional oversharer like myself – the German lady (Dana) has a dry sense of humour (I like her already).

Having bonded over our competitive nature, the group heads out for late dinner and beers – having pulled an all nighter, following the gig the night before – I politely decline their attempts to drag me out on the town and head upstairs for an earliesh night (I have to navigate an early bus to San Sebastian tomorrow and don't fancy that with a raging hangover).

A rare ray of sunshine on Day 1 (Not me)

A stroll around the centre of Bilbao

Some nice shots of the centre

#MARKX #MARKXMUSIC #bilbao #spain #travels #travelblog #adventures #solotraveller

'Too Warm For Snow' Hits 1M Streams!

'Too Warm For Snow' is Amber Leigh Irish's debut original single, co-written in November 2019 with MARKX.

Within the first 4 days of release the track has amassed 20k streams, after being added to several high profile playlists.

The track has now amassed 1 million streams as of March 2023!

Amber is best known for her vocals being featured on the Irish Dreams advert along with several of her cover songs featuring on ITV's Love Island, having amassed over 5 million Spotify streams worldwide.

Here is how you can listen:

About the track MARKX adds:

'I couldn't be more proud of this song and Amber. I Made a decision last year to stop chasing after things and just make art. one year later this beauty is out and I've signed my first publishing deal. Completely made up!'

'Too Warm For Snow has already received 5k streams in its first day of release and has been added to several high profile Spotify Christmas playlists.

About the track Amber adds:

"I can't stop crying and probably won't all day. I am so content and so happy and this is just the beginning!"

'Too Warm For Snow' is out now and available through all major digital stores now here.

#MARKX #AmberLeighIrish #ChristmasSong #TooWarmForSnow #MARKXMUSIC #britishartist #independentartist #singersongwriter #lockdown #music #vlogger #mentalhealth #britishsingersongwriter #popmusic #musicheals #breakupsongs #newmusic