Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!

23.12.2011 – Friday day 4

Caught the Tube yet again, and headed out to Camden Markets this morning in Camden Town.. about a 15min train ride from where we are staying. Got lost amongst all the stalls, there are too many to count or even recognise! It’s quite a beautiful setting along the river actually and the delicious smells from the food stalls is just amazing. We bought some Thai food (bang bang chicken!! YUMMO) for about 6 pound and sat down  on our scooters over

looking the river to have lunch.

The rain blew in not long after midday so we headed back into town to Oxford Street which was crammed pack full of people doing last minute Christmas shopping. Although being tempted, I only ventured into ONE store “Topshop” which is about 3 different levels full of the latest English winter fashion. Thankfully I found my way out alive, after getting lost several times, and poor Ads waiting for me at the entrance for about 45 mins! Ha ha.

 I’ve come down with a bit of a cold, so crowds and me aren’t mixing well right now so Ads too me to a “Walkabout” (Aussie pub) for a sit down and a few beers, just what the doctor ordered!

I think we’ve ticked all the boxes here in London, hopefully! We are heading out to Alysham tomorrow to spend Xmas with the family which is another train ride about 2 hours South.

Looking forward to celebrating Xmas with great company and good wine, starting to miss home though… long way to go yet!

London’s Original Bus Tour!

22.12.2011 – Thursday day 3

One word… Brilliant. Started the day at Marble Arch & Hyde Park then took a seat on top of the big red tour bus. Despite being the warmest day here since we arrived (12 degrees), the wind was chilling sitting up there but a clear blue sky and rooftop views made it worthwhile. We got off at St Pauls Cathedral to have a squiz but being the tight asses we are refused to pay an entry fee of 15 pound each to look at some statues of Jesus and the like!

After opting out of St Pauls, we ducked into a coffee shop to warm up and thaw out (free WiFi again, loving!). After a bucket of coffee (literally the largest cup I have ever seen!) we jumped back on the bus and headed to the Tower of London. We took advantage of the free guided tour, saw some amazing crown jewels that would put any womans diamonds to shame, and loads of armour suits, guns etc etc. The history in the old Castle is amazing and our tour guide made sure to give us all the tales of torture, beheadings and hangings which kinda gave me the creeps.

Next stop was Buckingham Palace where the guards put on a bit of a show for us, but really there’s not much to see… it’s just a big building with old fancy gates. By this stage of the afternoon (3:30pm) the sun was starting to set and I was absolutely freezing! Headed home for a hot shower and off to the Prince of Wales Pub for tea tonight. 

 

Typical Tourist…

21.12.2011 – Wednesday, day 2

Woke up bright and early this morning and headed out to tick off some typical tourist stuff… London Eye CHECK, London Dungeon CHECK, Oxford Street HALF CHECK!  Actually I gave up on Oxford Street after about ¼ of the way down as it was after 4pm and the streets were crazy busy with people walking head on into each other.

Had a bit of a chuckle whilst at the London Dungeon and as corny as it was it’s something that as a tourist in this city you just gotta do.  It’s like a bigger version of the ghost train from the royal show but only seen through the eyes of infamous London horror stories like the plague & Jack the Ripper. Got some cheesy pictures taken in there that were a good laugh!

My feet are in much need of some decent rest after being on them for 8 hours, and I am almost getting the hang of the Tube system.

Off to the pub at our hotel tonight for tea and watch a game of football (aka Soccer!). 

It’s London baby!

20/12.2011 – Tuesday, day 1

After almost a 30 hour journey from Adelaide we have finally arrived at our destination, London! The flight itself from Adelaide to KL wasn’t  too bad, the four hour stop over though killed us. Thank goodness for free WiFi! We did a bit of a lap around the airport  and headed straight to Starbucks for some caffeine to keep us awake which worked but it was probably the most painful experience out of our whole journey. TRANSIT! I hate transit.. you’re neither here nor there… stuck in-between places.

Anyways, boarding our flight to Heathrow I was well prepared, no sooner that we took off and I had downed a sleeping tablet and was out like a light. I vaguely remember waking up to the air hostess serving dinner which I turned my nose up and passed out again! Brilliant! 10 hours out of a long 13 hour flight I was asleep for, woke up just in time for breakfast and then it was touch down.

So first things first, land in London, catch the tube to our hotel, get off at the wrong stop so head straight to Starbucks for free WiFi and more caffeine! We were about 2kms from our hotel and it was beautiful weather outside, if you call 6 degrees and clear blue skies beautiful, so we decided to walk.. got 1/3^rd of the way and gave up so jumped on a red double decker bus which dropped us off at our hotel door!

We checked in and decided not to sleep so we freshened up and headed straight out.  Caught more underground tubes than I could imagine possible in such a short period of time,  and walked pretty much the whole of London city. We walked around Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circuis, went passed the London Eye which had a line up of about 500 people so decided to bypass and went straight  into the Aquarium. Saw House of Parliament and Big Ben, had lunch at a classic English Pub and had my first English beer, then headed home for a bit of a nap. We thought it would be a good idea to see a show tonight to keep us awake, so we got tickets for STOMP the musical which was showing at 8:00pm… great show from what I can remember, my eyelids were that heavy I drifted off to sleep during the performance and woke up many times doing the old classic sleepy head nod! Needless to say as soon as that finished we headed straight home for some much needed R&R.

We are staying at the Ibis at Earls Court, a small room and pretty pricey WiFi but I’m all about the free breakfast and heading out to explore.

All in all it was a great first day in London, but I did lean some pretty valuable lessons about how this city works. 1:  Business hours are 8am -3:30pm which appears to be the only hours of daylight this city sees. 2: Whatever you do and at all costs, ALWAYS stand on the right of the escalator when heading up or down stairs at the tube station.. unless you want to get bowled over! 3. Don’t ever trust a ‘Pakky’ phone salesman coz he has one intention in mind and that’s to rip you off! Doesn’t matter what country you are in, they are always the same.

Goodnight beautiful world, until tomorrow….

Getting on board..

On board with the commoners! I tried to sweet talk the air hostess into upgrading us but no luck! Gotta give it a go at least if u ask you shall receive! Lol. Still no luck. Cattle class it is all the way to KL.
Bring me some wine! 

Let the ride begin!

Bon-voyage Adelaide! We are departing a beautiful clear blue sky that is summer and headed for cloudy snowflakes that is winter! I've never been to the snow before and I'm not one to love winter so this trip should be interesting! Adam assures me that I still don't know what I'm in for ha ha.

Next stop is KL where we are hoping to have a bit of a nap in our 4hr stop over. Then it's the big trek straight to Heathrow! Ive heard a lot of talk about women getting the "Heathrow injection" (aka weight gain) when they arrive in London so it's lucky we are on a tight budget! Less money for food! Lol.

Looking forward to it, and to forgetting all our worries back home. Will miss our friends and family but this is an adventure of a lifetime!

Bon-voyage. X

Well it's about time we posted something new and exciting and on top of that list is our trip around Europe! Tomorrow, yes tomorrow we fly out to London! A white Christmas in Dover with the inlaws followed by New Years in Paris!! I'm looking forward to it although Ads said its getting down to 4 degrees during the day and into the minuses at night! Friggen cold brrrr. So we are leaving sunny Australia for the trip of a lifetime! OMG. Tomorrow! Watch this space!