11 Sep Barker Brothers: London + Budapest Travel Photos
Duncan Lloyd with a footplant-180 at “The Nip” with the aid of a cigarette. (TB)
We’ve profiled work from Trent and Scott Barker since we first launched the site, and their submissions keep getting better. Back in the spring Trent visited Scott in London, England, and they both took a trip to Budapest somewhere in the middle. Trent sent us a selection of photos that they both took on the trip for everyone to enjoy. Click below to check them out and read what he had to say.
Mile End is the closest skatepark to Scott’s place and these ledges are the best. James ‘Coach Jimmy’ Singam putting in work to make them even better. (TB)
This past spring I took my bike and a couple cameras and left Ottawa to visit my brother Scott for a little over a week in London, England. Besides a three-day trip to Budapest stuck in the middle, we essentially had no plan other than to ride bikes, hang out and shoot a few photos.
I got extremely lucky during my time there weather-wise. An unusual warm-spell had moved through the city making it way warmer than it should have been, and surprisingly dry, unlike the London that I had been expecting. Wearing shorts in April was a luxury and we took advantage: we would ride all day and into the evenings when we’d take a break and drink some cans from the closest off-license.
Scott and Teddy in an intense miniature ping-pong match. (TB)
One memorable evening, a bunch of us ended up at an incredible spot known as the Jazzy-L ledge playing a game in which you had to drink if the trick got pulled and you guessed that it wouldn’t, and vice-versa. After about 30 minutes everyone was too far gone to land anything and we had turned into a bunch of regular drunks who just all happened to ride small bikes. It was this same night that UK street legend Marv showed up drunker than us calling everyone “gayboys” while an equally as drunk Chris Brazel (wearing an inside-out jacket) somehow destroyed the ledge with countless lines involving x-rides; although I doubt he even remembers.
Unknown rider with a tuck-no hander over the biggest set at the new track. Nobody else could even clear it. (TB)
The rest of the days in London were much the same. Mile End park, 1 pound pizzas, Volt, Ginger Beer, Southbank, cheap cans, and more cheap cans.
Bread Tacos and Buda Castle. (SB)
Budapest was a bit of a departure from London, and everywhere else I’d ever been really. Everyone and everything was far more relaxed than anything I’d experienced. Nobody was ever mad, nobody honked their horns, and I don’t even think I heard anyone yell besides a group of idiots from England.
Scott and I decided to leave the bikes in London for this trip. We booked a hostel in the central part of Pest (the city is actually a combination of two areas, Buda and Pest) and proceeded to spend as little money as possible. Each morning for breakfast we bought a loaf of bread from the bakery, some butter, cream cheese, or brie, and juice from the shop, and ate Bread Tacos by the Danube (the river that separates the two areas). It was to the point that instead of buying a butter knife, we just used an Oyster card (London transit pass) to help make breakfast.
Renovations. (TB)
We’d wander around the city all day shooting photos of bullet-riddled buildings from WWII, countless construction projects, castles, tiny empty bars, the ridiculous amount of signs that had people giving the thumbs up, and hilarious graffiti tags.
Good graffiti. (SB)
Street conversation. (SB)
That relaxed feeling that the entire city seemed to share also extended into the nights. After going into a few empty bars Scott and I eventually stumbled onto a park in the middle of the city where there were literally hundreds of drunken young people just hanging out. Everyone would go to the closest 24-hour corner shop to grab cans of beer and as it got later into the night, these shops had security guards to limit the number of people in the store. To get around this, we’d take turns buying as many cans as we could hold to avoid the inevitable lineup. Despite the fact that there were hundreds of people drunk as hell in a public setting there were no arguments or fights, just people talking and laughing and having a blast. It really makes you question Canada’s public liquor laws.
Public transit in Budapest were buses that were also attached to cables like streetcars. (SB)
A dumb stupid idiot tourist. (TB)
The whole trip was a blast and I’m hoping that I can get everything lined up to do it again next spring but for even longer this time. Big thanks to Singam, Teddy, Loeber, Dunc, Brazel, Rhys, Benson, and everyone else who treated me like we’d been friends for ages.
– Trent Barker