Mastering Mental Game and Mental Health
11-01-2018
, 06:47 PM
11-12-2018
, 07:54 PM
closing thread
grind
milly???
Quote:
What's so bad about ppl disagreeing? It made really interesting discussions itt and I personally enjoy reading different opinions.
I've been following this thread from the beginning and for the most part the arguments and disagreements were handled pretty nicely by op and most posters.
On another note, really nice pics Ben keep em coming.
I've been following this thread from the beginning and for the most part the arguments and disagreements were handled pretty nicely by op and most posters.
On another note, really nice pics Ben keep em coming.
And yeah, it would be totally boring if people didn't post differing opinions and spark debate.
Thanks a lot mate, big trip update incoming
you like the title??
bang, thanks bro!
lmao, I'm not sure what i was thinking tbf
Quote:
The structural problem w teh uk gay crew is that all members are humble backpackers at heart but put equipped w teh networth of mid/high level bankers. This causes some conflicts. Also part of teh reason i never made it into the crew no matter how hard i tried - apart from my pokerability of course
lmfao
Please don't encourage him
Cheers bro!
[QUOTE=bigstealer;54432153.
UK reg trying to keep airlines in business
[/QUOTE]
lol ffs
Quote:
please, no
11-12-2018
, 09:39 PM
Guatemala
Where do I even begin with this update. The past ten days has been absolutely ****ing amazing. There are gunna be a LOT of pictures and quite a lot of text, so this is your TL;DR warning in case you can't be dealing with it!
Antigua
I started my journey from Puerto Escondido early on the 1st November with my connecting flight leaving from Mexico City into Guatemala City.
Unfortunately, my first plane was delayed leaving me with just enough time to get my second flight, or so i thought. I ran with 30kg of stuff from one terminal to another, panting and barely able to speak to the guy at the desk, who told me that the gate had closed 30 mins before... great. I explained that my plane was delayed to which he responded, "oh, why didn't you say so, we can get you on the flight!". Two minutes later, as he examined my ticket a thousand times he says "oh, you weren't flying with our airline for the first flight, sorry we won't be letting you on".
I was obviously really annoyed but chalked it up as a bad beat and assumed i'd at least get a refund from my airline. In classic fashion, this refund was declined and i had to buy a brand new ticket for £200 (twice the amount of my original TWO flight ticket, yeye).
On the plus side, i slept in a capsule hotel, or should i say coffin because nothing else was open. Also, there was no running water due to a water shortage in Mexico City. Excellent. This was my bedroom:
Anyway, that was the start of the trip, and things got a whole lot better; my journey was smooth and i got to the apartment to meet smb in the afternoon.
The following day was my 29th (I know, I'm ****ing ancient, especially in the poker world) birthday. And as a 29 year old, I didn't go out and get smashed and take drugs, I attended a coffee tour and chocolate making course haha. And you know what, I wouldn't have had it any other way!
I learnt a whole load of stuff that I won't bore you all with but here are a couple pics
Master Chocolatiers
Our boy Raul
Antigua isn't too dissimilar to most European cities. It's pretty cool. Loads of bars, cafe's and restaurants. I noticed that I didn't feel as safe as I did in Mexico. Probably due to the stories I had been told before entering the country.
Couple pics from the city
Lake Atitlan
As we wound down towards the lake, the view was insane. This isn't like any lake i've seen before, it's massive. There are numerous towns that are accessible by boat. We hopped around a bit; stayed in a yurt the first night and a hotel the second. I think it's fair to say that it was hands down the most beautiful setting I had ever been in (until a couple days later, but i'll get to that in a minute).
Sunrise from our hotel
Volcano Acatenango
From day one, Steve and I were toying with the idea of doing the two day hike. Throughout our time in Guatemala, every person we spoke to who had done the hike said it was an absolute must. We only had two days left before flying out of the country and decided to bail on the Lake early, take the three hour bus back to Antigua to do the hike the following morning.
The hike was pretty challenging with really steep, slippery slopes, but with frequent breaks for food, water and rest, we made it to base camp after about four and a half hours. As we rounded the corner to our tents we saw the neighbouring volcano, Fuego billowing out copious amounts of ash.
Base Camp
The temperature at 3700 metres isn't anything I've experienced before so it was a real shock to the system haha. A couple of the members in our group got pretty bad altitude sickness, too, which was a shame. The sunset was the best I'd ever seen. We were above the clouds and as the sun was setting Fuego continued to erupt every four or five minutes. I managed to take a couple long exposure images that I'm super pleased with too!
Casual no filter sunset, total joke
This one was wicked because the fire offered a glow on the right hand side.
And another long exposure of the volcano erupting. Not gunna lie, i'm very proud of this one
After close to zero sleep due to -5 degree temperature, we were up at 3:45am to hike the final ascent to the summit of ~one hour. I'm not sure if it was the altitude, lack of sleep or perhaps both, but a few of us felt absolutely terrible. Nauseous and extremely short of breath. One of the group stayed at base camp cus the walk was too treacherous. That said, we made it just before sunrise and the views were sick
The view from 4000m!
Me and steve
The squad
The guide's dog, Tarzan, who was leading the way the entire hike
Pretty cool shadow from Acatenango as we were making our way down from the summit. Just shows its enormity
So that pretty much sums up my Guatemalan experience. The volcano hike was just one of those life moments that i'll never forget and I'm SO happy that we made the decision to do it. Probably a good lesson in just taking opportunities when they're presented to you instead of being overly conservative/worrying about the potential consequences - something i've certainly been guilty of in the past.
I'm taking it easy with Steve in Tulum for two days before heading to Playa Del Carmen to meet Ishter, foursixfour, makeboifin, mczhang, rippa and poc10. My plan is to grind for 4-5 days before spending my last week and a bit of the trip in Chiapas, Mexico, travelling on my own some more.
The next updates will likely be poker related ahhh.
Peace out guys
TL;DR, Guatemala was a blast and climb Acatenango if you get the chance.
Where do I even begin with this update. The past ten days has been absolutely ****ing amazing. There are gunna be a LOT of pictures and quite a lot of text, so this is your TL;DR warning in case you can't be dealing with it!
Antigua
I started my journey from Puerto Escondido early on the 1st November with my connecting flight leaving from Mexico City into Guatemala City.
Unfortunately, my first plane was delayed leaving me with just enough time to get my second flight, or so i thought. I ran with 30kg of stuff from one terminal to another, panting and barely able to speak to the guy at the desk, who told me that the gate had closed 30 mins before... great. I explained that my plane was delayed to which he responded, "oh, why didn't you say so, we can get you on the flight!". Two minutes later, as he examined my ticket a thousand times he says "oh, you weren't flying with our airline for the first flight, sorry we won't be letting you on".
I was obviously really annoyed but chalked it up as a bad beat and assumed i'd at least get a refund from my airline. In classic fashion, this refund was declined and i had to buy a brand new ticket for £200 (twice the amount of my original TWO flight ticket, yeye).
On the plus side, i slept in a capsule hotel, or should i say coffin because nothing else was open. Also, there was no running water due to a water shortage in Mexico City. Excellent. This was my bedroom:
Anyway, that was the start of the trip, and things got a whole lot better; my journey was smooth and i got to the apartment to meet smb in the afternoon.
The following day was my 29th (I know, I'm ****ing ancient, especially in the poker world) birthday. And as a 29 year old, I didn't go out and get smashed and take drugs, I attended a coffee tour and chocolate making course haha. And you know what, I wouldn't have had it any other way!
I learnt a whole load of stuff that I won't bore you all with but here are a couple pics
Master Chocolatiers
Our boy Raul
Antigua isn't too dissimilar to most European cities. It's pretty cool. Loads of bars, cafe's and restaurants. I noticed that I didn't feel as safe as I did in Mexico. Probably due to the stories I had been told before entering the country.
Couple pics from the city
Lake Atitlan
As we wound down towards the lake, the view was insane. This isn't like any lake i've seen before, it's massive. There are numerous towns that are accessible by boat. We hopped around a bit; stayed in a yurt the first night and a hotel the second. I think it's fair to say that it was hands down the most beautiful setting I had ever been in (until a couple days later, but i'll get to that in a minute).
Sunrise from our hotel
Volcano Acatenango
From day one, Steve and I were toying with the idea of doing the two day hike. Throughout our time in Guatemala, every person we spoke to who had done the hike said it was an absolute must. We only had two days left before flying out of the country and decided to bail on the Lake early, take the three hour bus back to Antigua to do the hike the following morning.
The hike was pretty challenging with really steep, slippery slopes, but with frequent breaks for food, water and rest, we made it to base camp after about four and a half hours. As we rounded the corner to our tents we saw the neighbouring volcano, Fuego billowing out copious amounts of ash.
Base Camp
The temperature at 3700 metres isn't anything I've experienced before so it was a real shock to the system haha. A couple of the members in our group got pretty bad altitude sickness, too, which was a shame. The sunset was the best I'd ever seen. We were above the clouds and as the sun was setting Fuego continued to erupt every four or five minutes. I managed to take a couple long exposure images that I'm super pleased with too!
Casual no filter sunset, total joke
This one was wicked because the fire offered a glow on the right hand side.
And another long exposure of the volcano erupting. Not gunna lie, i'm very proud of this one
After close to zero sleep due to -5 degree temperature, we were up at 3:45am to hike the final ascent to the summit of ~one hour. I'm not sure if it was the altitude, lack of sleep or perhaps both, but a few of us felt absolutely terrible. Nauseous and extremely short of breath. One of the group stayed at base camp cus the walk was too treacherous. That said, we made it just before sunrise and the views were sick
The view from 4000m!
Me and steve
The squad
The guide's dog, Tarzan, who was leading the way the entire hike
Pretty cool shadow from Acatenango as we were making our way down from the summit. Just shows its enormity
So that pretty much sums up my Guatemalan experience. The volcano hike was just one of those life moments that i'll never forget and I'm SO happy that we made the decision to do it. Probably a good lesson in just taking opportunities when they're presented to you instead of being overly conservative/worrying about the potential consequences - something i've certainly been guilty of in the past.
I'm taking it easy with Steve in Tulum for two days before heading to Playa Del Carmen to meet Ishter, foursixfour, makeboifin, mczhang, rippa and poc10. My plan is to grind for 4-5 days before spending my last week and a bit of the trip in Chiapas, Mexico, travelling on my own some more.
The next updates will likely be poker related ahhh.
Peace out guys
TL;DR, Guatemala was a blast and climb Acatenango if you get the chance.
Last edited by BenaBadBeat; 11-12-2018 at 09:44 PM.
11-13-2018
, 01:55 AM
11-13-2018
, 03:11 AM
11-13-2018
, 08:37 AM
11-13-2018
, 09:13 AM
Absolutely incredible pics mate. Are you into photography, or is the subject matter just that good that it doesn't matter? haha - the eruption and starscapes in particular are beautiful 
Weirdly enough, I've actually been up that mountain and to Lake Atitlan when I was like 19-20. Beautiful part of the world. I don't know how much wiggle room there is in your schedule; but while you're in that part of the world, Belize is a really great country. The people there are awesome and it's well worthy of a visit!
Weirdly enough, I've actually been up that mountain and to Lake Atitlan when I was like 19-20. Beautiful part of the world. I don't know how much wiggle room there is in your schedule; but while you're in that part of the world, Belize is a really great country. The people there are awesome and it's well worthy of a visit!