Don't Stop Living - Jonny Blair - a lifestyle of travel
As I just begin to plan a major pub crawl on a big reunion day with the lads in London during the World Cup, it’s a good moment to recollect the top 10 pub crawls from my travels, some I’ve told before on Don’t Stop Living, some I haven’t yet shared. These have been absolutely crazy nights and I encourage you all to get social, get partying and enjoy your nights out on your travels. This is a luxury worth indulging in! Shout out to my best mate Neil too, as he features in four different countries on this list of crawls!
Thirsty Thursdays: Top 10 Pub Crawls from my travels
1. Monopoly Pub Crawl, London, April 2005
This is undoubtedly the craziest pub crawl I have ever done, Even crazier is that TWO of us, myself and James Condron actually completed it. In April 2005, 4 of us attempted this over a period of 36 hours. Starting at 4am in Old Kent Road, London we made it to a bar on every street of the Monopoly Board by 6pm the next day. To make things even crazier we included all 41 squares (In Prison, Just Visiting, Go, Liverpool Street Station etc.). We thought about doing “only the streets” (which is 26 pubs) and that is doable in one day but to do all 41 you need 36 hours…
The Monopoly Pub Crawl was the craziest one to date
I have photos from an old disposable camera – we took one photo in every bar as that was the rule and I look forward to one day scanning them all in and writing about it. We were younger then. I’m not sure I could handle this crawl nowadays. It was completely insane and intense.
2. Buenos Aires Pub Crawl, Argentina, October 2010
I’ll admit I haven’t been kind to Argentina, I felt a bit too much arrogance from locals on my couple of visits to this country and as a result haven’t written too much about it.
A crazy night out in Buenos Aires, Argentina
However, Buenos Aires is an awesome city to party in and we had a crazy night out there with the Florida Suites Hostel. We did about 5 bars, drinking right up until the early hours in Kiki Club.
Pub Crawl in Buenos Aires
3. Happy J Pub Crawl, Christchurch, New Zealand, October 2010
Happy J are one of the happiest bunch of people I have ever pub crawled with!! This was my first ever night on the South Island of New Zealand, having previously toured the North Island in 2007.
Thirsty Thursdays in New Zealand – Happy J Pub Crawl, Christchurch
We hit a load of bars, played some games and had a great sing song and a lot of drinking. Kiwis love a drink!
Happy J Pub Crawl Christchurch
4. Parramatta Pub Crawl, Australia, June 2011
My final day living in the land down under in June 2011 was a crazy one. I went straight from the pub crawl to the airport, with hand luggage and flew to Hong Kong. I haven’t been back to Australia since.
My last night in the land down under, Parramatta Pub Crawl, Australia
The best part was I had lived in Parramatta for about 18 months on and off and my work mates, flat mates and best mates from my entire time there turned up to give me a good send off. Brad even gave me a lift to the airport, I arrived in Australia with a suitcase in 2009, I left it with a tiny backpack and hand luggage only!
5. Melbourne Pub Crawl, Australia, February 2010
I will never forget the inspiring Melbourne Pub Crawl. After a day touring the Neighbours Set and meeting Gerry the Belfast guide, me and the boys put ourselves down for the pub crawl. Backpacking in Australia is always like this – every night is a party, but this one was nuts. After pizzas in Bertha Browns, we headed to an Irish Bar from Karaoke.
Shots time on the Melbourne Pub Crawl
I take the microphone and do a Pulp song, Common People, scooping first prize and getting a free tour to the Great Ocean Road!
Singing Pulp in Melbourne and winning the karaoke
The Night I won the Karaoke in Melbourne
6. New York Pub Crawl, USA, July 2007
You might have read my tips on doing New York on the cheap way back then and realised that I organised a crazy pub crawl which involved us all getting pissed in a bar for $10 USD.
All you can drink for $10 in NYC!!
The All You Can Drink Night in Aces and Eights Saloon still ranks as one of my best ever nights out. Just amazing. My best mate Neil Macey was on the pub crawl too.
Crazy Night out in New York
7. Three Country Pub Crawl and Reunion in Seoul, South Korea, 2011
I hadn’t seen my best mate Neil since we said goodbye in the Pickled Frog hostel in Tasmania, February 2010. In the intervening years, I had made it to all 7 continents and relocated to Hong Kong, while he was now living in South Korea. This was December 2011.
Reunion and 3 country pub crawl with Millwall Neil in 2011
I had a few beers in TST Hong Kong, stopped over and had a beer in Beijing Airport then flew to Seoul where we partied until 4am on a crazy reunion, just like old times.
Millwall Neil Reunion in Seoul
8. Cluedo Pub Crawl, Manchester and Bury, England, April 2012
I stand by the fact that England is the best country in the world for pub crawls. There are just way too many options, and in truth, I’ve left about 4/5 epic England pub crawls off this list as it’s a whole top 10 on its own.
Dan and Lee on the Cluedo Pub Crawl
The Cluedo Pub crawl was brilliant. 6 lads, 6 Cluedo characters, 6 pubs, 6 games of Cluedo in “Cluedo related locations”. It was a fantastic day and night out and was also a big reunion. I hadn’t seen the lads for 3 years!!
Cluedo Pub Crawl in Manchester
9. CHARLIE Pub Crawl, Hong Kong, July 2012
No – it wasn’t me and a load of mates doing “Charlie” on the streets of the Kong. What I did instead was organised a mega night out. We had to visit a pub beginning with every letter of CHARLIE for my mate Charlie’s birthday. 7 pubs, we did 2 of them in Prince Edward, 4 in Lan Kwai Fong and 1 in Wan Chai.
On the CHARLIE pub crawl in Hong Kong in 2012
10. Abraham Hostel Pub Crawl, Jerusalem, Israel, October 2013
I’m including the Abraham Hostel pub crawl because I didn’t expect Jerusalem in any way to be a city to party in, but it totally was! While this is a holy place and houses Muslims, Jews and Christians, at night the bars are great places to drink and meet people in.
Out pub crawling in Jerusalem, Israel
Stay in the Abraham Hostel and get on their pub crawl.
Abraham Hostel Pub Crawl
So that’s my top 10, but with every top 10, there are another 10 that didn’t make it, and unbelieveably I haven’t included any pub crawls from Northern Ireland, where my hometown offers a load of pubs like my local the Windsor Bar Bangor.
Those that missed out:
London Football Grounds Pub Crawl
London Countries of the World Pub Crawl
Canberra Night Out
Bali Lovina Pub Crawl
Bars of Dili, East Timor
Bars of Pyongyang, North Korea
Lymington Pub Crawl, England
Bars of Iraqi Kurdistan
Safe travels and stay safe while drinking – don’t drink too much
Original article: Thirsty Thursdays: Top 10 Pub Crawls From My Travels So Far
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