David “Duey” Spargo was 2018’s Chosen One, a lucky deserving Stokie who won the Most Ordinary Extraordinary Job In The World competition and found himself enjoying an entire summer of Stoke Travel. Here he introduces himself and the San Vino Wine Fight festival. If you like what you hear and want to have his babies, follow him @the_social_traveller
First things first A’hoy Stokies, my name is David also known as Duey and I am from Townsville Australia. I won the crazy competition of being “The Chosen One” for the Summer with Stoke Travel Co. You may or may not remember me from the following Wikipedia edit a few years back. If you happen to see me out and about over the next few months, come say hello and invite me for a beer/sangria bong, because you never know what might be in it for you as well.
After a quick flight from the English waistcoat of Stanstead, I was embraced by beers and sangria by the wicked Stokie crew on Barcelona’s main beach for the San Juan festival. The Feast of Sant Joan celebrates the official start of the summer. It is the longest day of the year and what is known as the summer solstice in England. San Juan and the Stokies packed a helluva party and whether you like to shoot fireworks, get high with the locals or kick back to beachside tunes you’ll find more than enough going on. After an evening of beach side debauchery with the Stokies I then relaxed for a few days before making my way with the rest of the crew to Haro for the San Vino wine fight.
The San Vino Stoke campgrounds were alive upon arrival with solo travellers, wine connoisseurs, and all round animals sharing one thing in common — a thirst for a wine fight. It was quite a sight, seeing travellers from all over the world going from strangers to friends within minutes. While I occupied a game of beer pong with a man named Jesus, the punters assembled and begun rummaging the many other party games that Stoke offered. The stage was set and the pre-party tunes were grooving by Mesmeriser, Hiaground and a free style guest appearance from Kiwi Pips to keep the crowd on their toes. Once the Stoke party concluded and the ground was stained with beer and sangria, I joined the masses and made my way up to Haro’s cobblestoned city centre square where the fiesta really kicked off. I experienced first-hand Spanish late-night culture of dancing, singing and indulging in a sneaky pintxos or two. I boogied alongside the Stokie wildlings until the early hours of the morning with most of us allowing a solid two hours sleep before the Batalla del Vino preparation.
I among many of the exhausted party goers crawled on to the complimentary shuttle bus through the vineyards to the mountains base where we began the war path. Walking ever so slowly up the mountain you can hear screams and cries of enjoyment and pain, as patrons of the event are getting hammered with wine in the distance. I have never witnessed so many happy men, women and children in one place. It felt as though they had been saving up all their communion wine throwing rage for this day and by hell did they let loose on us. By the time we cringed through the gauntlet of wine buckets, guns and hoses we met the battle. It was like a scene from 300, a red bloody mess. Stokies united and fought well, and I am happy to say that no Stokie made it to Valhalla that day. However, some of us did walk away with salty, yet sweet red eyes from the delicious vino that had blessed us. When the fight had concluded, I wandered around Gotham city below where locals had fires going, cooking meat on the spit and knocking back cold ones. After warming up with the locals I caught the complimentary plastic Dexter looking bus back to Haro. On the drive back I sat down reflecting “how did I get so lucky to win this competition through Stoke Travel Co and what wild adventure have I gotten myself into.”
Want to live your own Chosen One experience? Well you can prepare for next years competition, or get yourself a Stoke Travel Passport.
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