Back to reality...

...because FANWALK was just a dream!

I cannot even begin to explain my gratitude and disbelief towards SONY ERICSSON for organising such a perfectly unique event. And now I sit here on my bed trying to garner the energy to put it all down in words without shedding a tear.

Our journey started early on the morning of Tuesday, 28th October 2009. As usual, I was late...as in 30 minutes-check-in-before-flight late! I met the others and I could tell everyone was nervous. As soon as we entered the aeroplane I dropped my passport with excitement.

We were all tired but couldn't sleep on the plane (except for Sarah...she could sleep through a hurricane). As soon as we arrived at Gatwick airport we were greeted by a petite old lady with the Sony Ericsson Fanwalk sign and that's when we knew we were in the right place!

The first friends we made on the drive to our first hostel in London (The Holland Park Hostel http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommodation/london/hostels/london-holland-park/index.aspx) were two of the Ukrainian fanwalkers - Liliia and Aleks. As soon as we got to the hostel and started meeting other fanwalkers we knew this was going ot be a special adventure. That first day was so long with so many things happening. Fanwalkers kept arriving till the evening and we must have gone shopping on the Kensington High Street about three times! That same night we were given our Sony Ericsson W-series mobile phones and some instructions on the Fanwalk. The Maltese crew got this model:-

Pretty schnazzy, right? ;) The person who blogged most with their phone even stood the chance of winning another mobile phone!

We also got lots of goodies like walking gear (sponsored by Reebok and EDC by Esprit) as well as Sony Ericsson candy, pens and badges. I also got to meet my cousin for the first time because he works in one of the local post-offices. That was pretty cool and meaningful to me.

Then, later that evening, we had our first taste of the night life. Nothing special really. We all crashed at this neat pub called Kensington Arms and made friends with so many people. It was cool because we had music as a topic to get things going and so many different tastes and lifestyles were revealed. We talked about our countries too and how we all got into this competition. It was pretty cool. The walk back was crazy though since it was snowing! However, as soon as we got to the hostel we hung out in one of the bigger dorms and got to know some other people. It was so relaxed and soothing...Andi (from Germany) playing tunes on his guitar and everyone on the floor singing and chatting. Another taster of nights to come...

DAY 1

The next day saw us all together as a group and marked the beginning of some very serious friendships and lessons in packing and unpacking. We had to check out really early and dress up in our star outfit, i.e. , dress up as our favourite artist. Some people went all out and it was cool. The most over-copied star was Justin Timberlake. I tried my best at being Alicia Keys...not bad, don't you think?

We got to see some cool sites like the Big Ben, the London Eye and Westminster Abbey. We also had a photoshoot with various members of the press and some of us got interviewed. This was our first real reminder that it was going to take much more to get Malta noticed.

After the shoot, we went to this cool club in Camden, London, known as Jazz Cafe (http://www.jazzcafelive.com/). This is where we changed into our walking gear and met for the first time the band that would be travelling, partying and living with us for the next 9 days. They came by the name of CLUBFEET (www.myspace.com/clubfeetband) and boy were they good!! They performed some of their songs for us that day including the Official Fanwalk song 'KEEP IT TOGETHER', which was to be drilled into our brains in the following days. I also bought my first wellies from the Camden market. Aren't they fab? ^^

And then, we WALKED. Our first walk. 15km. I shall never forget it. Everyone was mingling with each other and it was the only day we were at maximum energy levels. HAHA. We were divided into groups of about 20 each so as not to startle the locals. My first group leader was the almighty JEN from the Outward Bound Non-Profit Making Organisation (http://www.outwardbound.org/). She was so awesome and I regret not having my picture taken with her or any of the group leaders actually. They really helped us get along the British wilderness except for Mr. Brown (he was a little misguided but a nice chap really! hehe). We first walked up to Mill Hill and through Hampstead Heath and paused a hundred times for interviews and photoshoots, but it was fun. By the time we got to the tourbus, we all looked at each other and thought that wasn't so bad. Never a more fallous statement there was.

The tour bus took us to the Days Inn Hotel...a welcome sight! This is where we learned how to get washed and changed in 30 minutes in time for our first briefing. Troy the motivator introduced us to the wristband challenges which basically meant that in order to be in the running to present an award at the EMAs we had to partake in different challenges along the way, earning us wristbands. The top 15 people with wristbands would then pass through to the finals. All we could say was...BRING IT ON!!

(to be continued)