Why hello there!

And welcome to my travel blog, friend, family member or confused foodie who Googled "Kebabs in Orange County" trying to find a local eatery and stumbled upon this page.  I'm fairly new to the blog game so this will be a learning experience and essentially a magical, wonderful journey we shall all embark on together.  I did have this one blog where I posted daily fun facts about my mom for 366 days in 2012 but you're probably not interested in that whatsoever.  So  just sit back and relax, read, laugh, cry, drink, whatever your heart desir-  Oh, I'm terribly sorry, where are my manners?  Allow me to properly introduce myself...


Hola, G'day and Guten Tag!

My name is Michael Prichard and I'm a twenty-five year old identical twin and Communications Studies graduate of California State University, Long Beach.  And no, my middle name isn't his first name and his middle name my first.  I'm a self proclaimed Glamour Kills Clothing number one fan with the collection to back that shit up with passionate about independent film, art and music.  Usually behind the camera I'm also a bodysurfer, beer drinker and amateur game show contestant frequently appearing on reruns.  But I'll let you figure out what hangman based program I didn't win a lot of money on.

I grew up in Newport Beach, California and work as an ocean lifeguard during the summers and a couple surrounding spring and fall months here and there.  When I'm actually in the state (or country for that matter) and not at the beach you can usually find me somewhere nearby helping out at our hometown's independent film festival, in a sea of screaming pop punk kids at a Wonder Years show or on a bar stool at our local watering hole Malarky's sipping on my fifth Wild Goose pale ale.  Judge me not, dear reader.

And if you've checked all those places, check the beach again and you'll spot me in the water with a pair of fins on or half buried in the sand half buried in The Rum Diary down at 12th street because I still haven't finished it yet.  Or Chipotle,  Disregard all those other places, I'm probably at Chipotle stuffing my face with a chicken burrito at the Mexican grill so near and dear to my heart that I once had the intimate experiences of shooting my graduation announcements and consuming my first beer.  Dos Equis Lager, thanks for asking.  Again, don't judge me, I have learned the error of my ways and discovered the wonderful world of craft brews.  Come find me and we'll hang, just tell me if I have guac in my beard and/or mustache.


Traveling, Writing and Everything In Between

I decided to start this blog because I've been traveling quite a bit since my sophomore year of college.  I've been to many states around the country but on an international level in the past 6 years I have been on several short and long term trips to 18 different countries spanning several continents where I didn't come home for months on end.  Pretty much, I can't sit still.  Along the way I had a little black journal in my hand and a manual film camera around my neck while I documented my thoughts, observations and experiences as I bummed around unfamiliar cities worldwide.

Backpacking around places like South America, New Zealand and Australia and Europe has taught me to be more laid back, flexible and I've learned to be low maintenance while being comfortable with being uncomfortable.  I've done some incredibly insane things and met some amazing people along the way that I filled those pages with until my pen ran out.  From standing under a horrifying lightning storm on an island in Bolivia to bungee jumping without hesitation off the highest ledge in New Zealand to getting stopped at gunpoint entering the Roman Colosseum metro station by the Italian army for rocking a scruffy two month beard it's been one hell of a ride and let me tell you this: it's nowhere near over yet.


WK & EP

So now I'm transitioning to a paperless outlet.  I appreciate the art of the handwritten word but let's face it, this is way faster, more culturally and technologically relevant and easier to share.  Plus my hand won't cramp up as easily.  Just over a week ago I came home to California from my latest adventure which was three months wandering around Europe eating and drinking anything and everything I could possibly get my hands on.  The name of this blog stems from a book I'm making documenting my time in all nine countries on that trip and using the photos I took using twenty-three rolls I shot:

Writing Kebabs & Eating Postcards: Photographs in Various European Cities.  

I spent most of my time in Europe looking for the best fast food or hole in the wall doner kebab place around and putting that delicious Middle Eastern treat in, on and all around my mouth.  Side note: it's incredibly hard to eat a kebab with a beard but those countless napkins served their purpose and didn't die in vain.  Plus kebabs are hard to come by in the states so I had to make my time dining in Europe worth it by expanding my palate abroad.  My top three kebabs were found in Paris in the San Michel area, Dublin off the Spire on O'Connell St. and a Lebanese place near the Paddington Tube Station in London.  In case you were wondering.

The postcards part is because I like writing postcards.  Whenever I travel I send a handful to friends and family back home in the states and other countries (okay so far it's just been Canada).  Anyone who asks, I write, it's what I love doing.  I keep tabs on what city I send each postcard from and what exactly I wrote to that individual with its contents being anything but "You Gotta See This" statements and "Wish You Were Here" conclusions, essentially they're poems.  The Europe book will have 31 entries starting from Rome and ending in Paris.


Eating, Drinking, Reading and Writing

If it wasn't obvious enough I am currently unemployed outside of the consistency of my summer job at the beach lifeguarding.  But I'm looking, applying and hoping to find a good first job post college that will allow me to live abroad or travel before settling down somewhere permanently.  I've researched jobs working at lodges serving military families, looked into becoming a travel expert at STA and even stumbled upon an amazing three month opportunity as an intern for a company traveling and writing about different craft brews.  Man, it's like that position was freaking made for me.

So after traveling for the past few years I realized I want to spend as much time as I can while I'm young moving around more and finding a job that will let me do just that. I've had some amazing local dishes abroad and consumed some incredible beer, cider, wine and liquor on my journeys and have really enjoyed putting pen to paper and writing about my experiences.  I plan on digging up samples of my writing by dusting off some old journals and thumbing through different thumbnails of black and white film for your viewing pleasure.

While abroad I go to local bookstores to discover different travel writers.  Reading Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent I realized if I get more organized I could potentially turn all those wandering thoughts from my travel journals into a book or even work towards that goal for my next trip.  It's actually on my bucket list to write a books and get it published. This novel inspired me to write more and embrace travel writing as a hobby if not pursue it as an actual career, but maybe I suck at writing, but I'll let you decide.