The Plan Has Always Been To Flood Zimbabwe...

…with books (and goodwill).

My Hotel in Barcelona for the Half Marathon there. 

I will run many Half Marathons in 2016 and two of these will be in the first quarter – the first one in Barcelona and the second one in London. It is now possible for me to travel again as I have now managed to free the necessary time after 5 years of hard studying. I have also decided to make, from hereon, all my 21 Kilometre Road Races about sending books to Zimbabwe. The details of how I will accomplish this are unimportant at this stage. I will say more about that as the day draws closer. 

I like a comfortable place to, if truth be told, keep my bags in as I rarely sleep in my hotel room since there is always so much to see when I am abroad.

At this point I just want to justify why I have chosen to say in a 4 Star Hotel in Barcelona when, had I stayed at a Hostel, that would have freed about £200.00 which could go towards my sending books to Zimbabwe project. 

My reason is this; when I ran in the Ealing Half Marathon in September, I stayed at a Hostel and, I promise you this, you do NOT want to spend a single night in a Hostel. For someone like me, who is security conscious, staying in a Hostel is all the things I fear rolled into one nightmare. I stayed in a room with 14 bunk beds with total strangers, lying on my bed I could touch the ceiling, a woman was on the bed below mine, there were no windows, everyone comes and goes as they please… need I say more?

To the question why do I not stay in a Hostel and save money instead for my books to Zimbabwe project? I must answer; I know the people of Zimbabwe and they would be very upset to learn that I stayed in a hovel to be able to give them books.