Good Ol' Cold London!

7-12-09

1826 (local time)

Woo Hoo! Home time for me ladies and gentlemen! I'm currently sitting on the plane from Athens to Singapore about 5 hours in and to be honest... pretty bored! Firstly ill tell you about my time in London!

Very, Very firstly! I must say thanks to Lozza and her house mates for letting me crashing in their house for 4 nights! You’re all legends!!!

Right, so I spent the first 2 days just doing some more touristy stuff that I have wanted to do on my arrival to London. Which were the 2 museums, ‘The National History Museum’ and ‘The British Museum’ and ‘WOW’ they were amazing. The first day was just entirely spent in the National History Museum I spent a majority of time hanging out with the dinosaurs then I moved on to ‘the human body’ and how babies are born etc. Parents, if you want your son or daughters to learn about the human body, buy them a direct flight to London and force them into the National History Museum. I learnt so much... it was actually amazing...

After this I went to the Animal part of the Museum, and saw the actual size of a blue whale and numerous other huge animals, it was awesome.

From here I went to another part that explained what the earth is made of etc! It was a bit boring, but by this time it was about 5pm, pitch black outside and I was ready to go home. So I got on the underground and eventually made it back to the flat.

Unfortunately nobody was home, so I had to waste 2 hours in the cold until someone came home with the key to open up the house. But eventually they did and I got warm!

The Next Day! I had a few more things to do, I knew I had to visit the British Museum but it is actually so big that it would take you over 2 days to visit apparently! So I jumped on their website where they had a plan on how the visit the most important things in 1 hour! So I stuck to that plan, and it actually took me 2 and a bit hours to visit it all, some of it was pretty average whilst other stuff was awesome like the Samurai Warrior armour! So after visiting the British Museum I knew I wanted to be back at the National History Museum because there was a lecture with a space astronaut happening and I thought it would be pretty cool to go see that.

So I caught the tube towards the History Museum and waited for the lecture to start... Well wasn’t I in for a shock... because this lecture was way above my educational level, no joke there were people in the lecture asking questions to the astronaut regarding to things about quantum physics! I obviously tried tuning in, but eventually was lost!

Not to worry though, once the lecture finished, I knew I also had to visit what I thought was the ANZ branch in London, so I caught a train to the middle of nowhere to visit a building that wasn’t even a branch, just a building so really it was a waste of time!

Not to worry though. I headed back home and took it easy! I was kind of preparing myself for tomorrow (Saturday) as I needed to get all my bags prepared for my flight to Greece!

I wasn’t planning on going out that night, because I had to be up at 5.30am in he morning because I had a taxi picking me up at 6.30am to take me to the airport.

But, there was a house party going on that a couple of the housemates were going to with free booze! So to be honest, I was never going to decline that offer! Because number 1, house party’s are the best sort of party’s and. Number 2, Free Booze! Happy Days!

The theme for the party was 60’s, I had no clothes that resembled this but it didn’t stop me, I was on a mission. I wanted to catch the last bus home that leaves at the bus station outside the house at midnight, but as the night went on, I totally lost track of the time, so instead of catching the bus I just did a all nighter, which to be honest I think it was the smartest idea!

Don't really remember the rest of the night, but it was great!

This brings me to eventually catching my flight to Athens. I knew my bag was around 23 kilos but every other Easy Jet Flight that I took I never got charged with excess baggage, but this time she wanted to charge me 30pounds because I was 3 kilos over weight... this wasn’t on in my book, so I packed my day pack full to the brim of clothes to ensure that I didn’t get stung to high... on my second attempt to weigh in, I was still over 2 kilos overweight but I used a bit of sweet talking with the lady at the desk, and instead of stinging me 20 pounds I got it down to 10 so it wasn’t too bad at the end of the day!

My arrival to Athens was quite good, it brought back some good memories I checked into my old hostel and spoke for hours with the old receptionist at the hostel, they gave me a bit of discount on my fees so I was a happy chappy!

I woke in the morning and my plan was to get a souvlaki at the first place I went to when I arrived to Athens on the 3^rd of April, kind of symbolic!

I definitely wasn’t in the mood for a souvlaki but I forced it down, now I stink of garlic!

It was sad to leave Athens, but I am excited to getting back home... my only probably now is, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO FOR 14 HOURS IN SINGAPORE?

I arrive at Singapore around about 5.55am and fly out at 9ishpm! I'm going to have to leave the airport to avoid going crazy! See how that goes again! Last time I remember Singapore it was so bloody hot and sweaty, I don't want to get like that again!

Anyway, until then guys!

THE JAM IS NEARLY HOME!

The foyer of the National History Museum

Cool Dino Bones!

The Big T-Bomb! T-REX

T-Rex Rep!

Actually Scary!

How Babies Are Born!

The Size of the Blue Whale!

Whats meant to be a Brush Tail Possum!

The Good ol 3 Toed Sloth1

Cute Little Animal!

Outside the British Museum!

The stone they used to Decipher the Egyptian Hieroglyphics

The Game of UN!

Actual Samurai Armor!

NEXT ONE SOON!

Edinbrugh in 2 Days!

4/12/09

2000 (local time)

The travel to Edinburgh went successful... finally!

I arrived into the freezing cold Edinburgh by 3pm and I've realised that in the U.K the sun goes down at around 4.30pm so it was already get dark and of course cold! Awesome!

Isabelle picked my up and took me back to her place. She is my Edinburgh couch surfing host. She lives with 4 or 5 other people who are... different, to say the least.

Most of the people she lives with are, I’m not going to say hippies, but lets say, ‘they care about the environment and world politics more than the average person’ Meaning, they don't put the heater on because it creates Co2 gasses that are ruining our environment, most of the housemates (apart from Isabelle) are Vegan. Meaning, not only do they not eat meat, but they also don't eat eggs, drink milk, eat cheese, basically they don't eat any product that comes from an animal.

No matter who you are, thats an amazing feat! Imagine travelling and being not able to eat any type of meat product! Truly an effort!

So, after Isabelle cooked up a meat free curry which I quickly devoured she dragged me into the freezing town of Edinburgh so she could show me around. It just so happened, that on the day I arrived it was St. Andrew’s day who is the patron saint of Scotland. So there were huge celebrations going on in town and also an epic firework show that was starting at 7pm!

So we wandered around town and found the best view point for the celebrations, and watched the fireworks! They were quite pretty actually! Got some good photos!

After this, Isabelle dragged me to the German celebrations that were also going on in town and inspired me to try some ‘mulled wine’. In my travels I have made sure I tried most foods and drinks that were offered to me, and this is no exception.

So I ordered my mulled wine, and took my first sip! Not Good! All of a sudden memories started flooding back from when I was younger and had my first proper alcoholic experience on red wine from a goon bag!

After 5-10 minutes of un-enjoyment I finally polished off the wine using the technique of not even letting it hit my tongue, straight to the back of the throat for that liquid!

Eventually I started to freeze so we headed back home, where after a few hours of chat with her housemates we all retired back to our rooms, where I got in my sleeping bag and tried falling asleep!

On my not-so-trusty alarm clock it tells me the temperature and too be honest I have never seen it go below 12degrees, even when I was freezing in Gallipoli, anyway the read out on the alarm clock said it was 12degrees in Isabelle’s room which I believe it was AT LEAST -12! SO COLD!

I was freezing in my sleeping bag, I think I would have needed a -10 to keep warm!

It took me ages to wake, but when I did I had a warmish shower and had some brekkie! And contemplated my move about what I was going to do today.

At the bus station I had picked up some pamphlets about a free tour that goes on, on the hours between 11 and 1! So I had obviously missed the 11 o clock one! So I packed some lunch and made my way to the meeting point for the 1 o clock tour.

On arrival the tour already had 6 people and I made it 7, but the free tour guides said ‘unless the tour has 8 people, it wasn’t cost effective for them to run it’. So, what this means is, if there wasn’t 8 people the free tour wasn’t cost effective to run!

The obvious answer for me was ‘well mate we will just throw an extra pound in to keep you happy’ I didn’t say that, but instead I walked off and did my own walking tour.

I walked up to the castle, I then walked past the school where J.K Rowling got her idea for Hogwarts and then I went to a museum and walked home again. All in all, I was away for about 6 hours until my I-Pod packed it in and decided to turn off because it was out of battery! My I-Pod doesn’t last long in the cold!

When I got home, no one was there so I did a bit of an internet session until people got home!

I had decided that I couldn’t hack the cold any more and bought a bus ticket from Edinburgh back to London for 14 pound ($30 AUD) unfortunately it was a killer 10hour journey but we shall see how I go!

That was my Edinburgh experience... COLD!

See you in LONDON!

Some of the fireworks for St. Andrews Day!

Beautiful Buildings In Edinburgh!

The Edinburgh Castle!

The Edinburgh Castle... Again!

The building in the background is the School where J.K Rowling got her idea for Hogwarts in Harry Potter!

END!

Pretty Keen for Aberdeen!

30/11/09

2024 (local time)

Aberdeen... Crikey, a big weekend!

Didn’t see much of Aberdeen in the day, but saw the insides to a few pubs at night time though. It was a messy night from Day 1.

I was picked up at the train station by my couch surfer in Aberdeen called Matt!...

Right, firstly ill tell you about my epic train journey! So I thought I booked a train for the 27^th for 1427... well I didn’t realise that the train station was a bit further away than I thought, so unfortunately I missed that train by not much more than 10 seconds, but not too worry the next one was in about 40 minutes, but my problem is that I will probably have to try and convince the conductor to let me on this train even though I didn’t really have the correct ticket... But I was quietly confident!

So! The next train pulled up, I explained to the conductor what happened and with a smile on her face she let me on board! So I took a seat and got out my laptop so I could watch some windsurfing movies, she asked to see my ticket, so I happily handed it over, she was then alarmed by the fact that I had bought the ticket for the completely incorrect day. I thought I bought a ticket for the 27^th, but infact so how I bought a ticket for the 28^th!

And it wasn’t until I was on the train and heading to Aberdeen until we noticed it! The main worry for the conductor was that it was going to be difficult for me to get out of the train station as you need to flash your ticket to get out!

I wasn’t too fussed though, I knew I was going to make up some rubbish story and blag my way out of there.

So I arrived at the train station, made up a rubbish story and made it out of the airport, called up Matt (my couch surfer in Aberdeen) who picked me up in his Blue Van and took me to his apartment in the ‘rougher’ part of Aberdeen!

Now from here on in, I was handed beer after beer until we went out on the town.

Now, I was in a slightly reckless mood so I walked off on the boys and ended up doing my own thing... Now I'm not exactly sure what went down but this is my recollection of what happened on Friday night...

So I abandon the boys to look for a bit of fun for the night. I ended up walking the streets for a bit until I saw a queue of people waiting to get into the club. So I started to line up, but then realised that I will probably have to pay to get in, I asked the guy next to me how much it would cost, according to him it would cost around about 6-8 Pounds ($12-$14AUD).. Now I have a bit of a problem with this, as I don't enjoy spending money to enter a club if I'm going to spend money on drinks... So I said to the guy next to me, “mate do ya reckon you could sneak me in?” So we both gave it a red hot shot, but I failed miserably, and I was caught by the bouncer... after trying to explain my case to him, he had no sympathy for me and said that I was going to have to pay...

So I thought to myself ‘This joke isn’t over yet!’ So I lined up in another queue and started to get chatty with a girl, when it was her turn to pay, she paid for herself and then took me by the arm and we walked in super casual! I WAS IN! But its not over yet!

After walking around the place for about 10 minutes I realised that this club is terrible... underage people and terrible music... You have got to be joking! People actually pay to enter this rubbish! Not to worry, I went up to he bar to get a drink and again there were rows of people waiting so I leant over the bar and poured myself a drink... I got away with it the first time, but when I went back for seconds, the bar tender spotted me... so I legged it and hid hanging out with some other guys who bought some shots... eventually the bouncer spotted me and said “Right mate, its time for you to leave” I replied “that’s fair enough pal, I've been stealing drinks all night” He laughed, so I took a photo of him, quite amusing actually.

For the next few days it involved us doing nothing, apart from chatting, keeping warm and knocking back some beers...

On the Saturday night, I crashed on Matt’s (my couch surfers) sister comfy floor, the funny thing was that I had the spare key that Matt’s housemate (Chris) normally has... so when Chris arrived back to his home in Aberdeen, he couldn’t get home, so he tried to brake in without causing to much damage... Instead he ended up ripping half the frame off his window and then breaking the window... so he didn’t really succeed in breaking in successfully!

But, all in all the weekend was a success I had fun, the boys had fun, I didn’t really see much of Aberdeen but what I did see was O.K... it wasn’t great but in reality it was just a nice city with nice buildings that was close to the pretty beach!

Next Stop! Edinburgh!

Be Prepared!

The Bouncer That Kicked Me Out!

The beautiful river that runs into the Ocean!

Artistic Shot!

The wonders of 'Self-Timer' on my camera!

Pre-Session!

THE END!

The Loch Ness Monster Is A Jerk...

26/11/09

1751 (local time)

Well my trip to visit the Loch Ness monster failed today...

I thought I had everything planned, I had sent the Loch Ness numerous emails letting him know what time and where I was going, so I booked my bus and headed out... As soon as I hopped off the bus, it started raining! Pretty standard for me and this country...

So I took some photos and waited around for the monster but still no avail.

I would have happily have gone home then but the next bus wasn’t until 6 and I arrived there at about 3.30pm so I had about 2.5 hours to wait for the next bus... So I set up a plan for myself... I was going to drink at every pub I walked past until my bus arrived in the closest town Drumnadrochit.

So the first one I started at was a nice little pub, where it was run by a family business. I was speaking to the girl there who wants to work in the pub for the rest of her life... weird, so I slammed down my drink and started walking to find my new pub of choice.

So I went down a little side street and waited in the pub for a while to be served... no one was around so I thought I may as well serve myself. So I walked behind the bar and poured myself a nice beer of Carlsberg... actually it wasn’t the best beer I've poured to much head...

Eventually the lady came out and I paid the woman, pretty much as soon as I got onto the main road I spotted a bus, flagged it down and was heading back home to Inverness!

It was a... strange day! But interesting!

The Loch... but no Monster!

A nice house in the country side!

The first pub...

The Second Pub, where i poured my own beer!

That's the second pub... terrible photo!

The End!