I am writing this post from a rather eerie
location- that being London Heathrow Airport at midnight. My flight is not
until 7am tomorrow, but there were no trains early enough to get me here on
time (unless I left Laura’s house at 3am and caught 4 buses- which I was NOT
keen on doing!) I guess I am really experiencing what it is like to travel with
VERY limited money- and I’m not going to lie, I would have paid the 60 pounds
for a taxi in the morning to avoid this annoyance if I could afford it! But I
am trying to see it as just another experience- it’s not everyday (or every
night) that you are sitting in a deserted airport waiting to board a plane to
Milan that leaves in 7 hours! So right now I am sitting in the airport, not
even checked in because there is no one around to actually assist me in doing
so! The last time I was here I saw the place in peak-hour, and right now it
seems like a completely different airport! It really is a strange and eerie
feeling being here at this time…
ANYWAY! Enough with the airport banter!
A week ago I left Sunderland (*sniff,
sniff*) and arrived in London to stay with Laura for a week (*yay!*). I have to
give the biggest shout out to Laura right now, because she was honestly like a
saint to Beth and I while we stayed at her house. When we first got there, we
were both wrecks. We had left our little home in Sunderland, along with all our
friends and our boyfriends- we were devastated. And, being girls, we spent the
first two days in London on Laura’s couch while she was at work. We were just moping, eating
and watching TV. I cannot thank Laura enough for being her lovely self during
these days- not only did she care for us, feed us, wash our clothes etc,
etc…she also helped us to deal with our sadness. On Australia day, we did not
feel like going out and so Laura made us cocktails and dinner and then joined
us while we ate chocolate and listened to Whitney Houston (Don’t judge us!). I
am eternally grateful for everything she did for me while I was staying with
her, and this made it even harder to say goodbye to her a couple of hours ago!
I am not sure when I will see that pretty face in person again, but I am hoping
it wont be too long! I will miss being able to pop over to London for the
weekend to spend time with her, and I will miss her dearly.
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| Alcohol and vegemite= Aussie, plus some peas for a UK touch! |
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| Cupcakes and Chocolate were necessary! |
After the first couple of days were spent
being sad, Beth and I decided enough was enough! We refused to spend our time
in London being sad, and instead planned ways of enjoying it! We wanted to get
up everyday and go for a run or a long walk and also do some touristy stuff!
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| A run in Clapham Common- my UK adventure ended the way that it started! |
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| Soooo many dogs in the Common! It cheered me up! |
On the first day of our newfound
adventurousness, I wanted to go to the National Gallery, because my favourite
paintings by Van Gogh were on display. We went at around 2:00pm and the line
was huge! Plus it was raining, so we decided to go back early in the morning of
another day and instead we looked around at the rest of the gallery. I loved
it- I recognized so many famous paintings from my assignments in art during
high school. There was also a lot of information about the paintings and
artists, so Beth and I got our history fix!
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| On the bus! |
Laura had one of the days off work and so
it was nice to spend a full day with her, too! We went to Kengsington with an
aim of visiting a rooftop garden that I had heard about, but we never made it
there, Instead we walked through the extremely posh neighborhood and ate at a
vegan restaurant at WholeFoods. My Vegan Burger was DELICIOUS!
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| Me and Lozzy :) |
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| Vegan Burger with Cashew 'cheese' SO amazing |
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| WholeFoods- Lozzy's favourite store! |
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| Beautiful ladies! |
On another day, Beth and I got up early and
went and saw the Van Gogh paintings that we hadn’t been able to see the last time.
The paintings were the ‘Sunflower’ paintings, my favourite pieces by Van Gogh.
I could not believe that I was actually looking at them- they were also much
bigger than I imagined they would be!
Afterwards we went to Harrods because I had
never been there before and Beth felt like spending money! It was an
interesting experience…I couldn’t fathom the prices of things that I saw in
there, especially because I am so poor right now… and Beth didn’t find anything
that really struck her fancy. So we got the biggest kicks out of the food halls
and also the man dressed in green who held the door open for us as we left!
Then, today, the time came for Beth to
leave London- she is going to be travelling around the UK more until February.
It was weird to say goodbye, because the next time we see each other will be
back in Adelaide when all this has become a very beautiful memory! I am glad
that we did this exchange together because we have become so very close. It is
also a blessing that we will have each other in Adelaide- it will be comforting
to have someone else who will understand what I am missing when I feel down
about it once I am back home…
After saying goodbye to Beth, I couldn’t
stand the idea of going back to Laura’s apartment alone, so I went for a wander
around the Borough markets, one of my favourite places in London. I met Laura
there for lunch and then we went to see a movie.
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| Chai tea to warm my hands- it was soooo cold today! |
Later, back at her apartment, we were
relaxing on the couch laughing about how it is crazy that I have made it this
far without missing a flight or losing anything. A few minutes later I randomly
decided to check the tube times again, and realized that I had either read the
schedule wrong, or it had changed- because I had missed my train and the last
one was coming in 20 minutes! So it was a mad rush for us to get to the station
in time and it was a very quick goodbye! This made me a bit sad, but at least a
quick goodbye was not as hard as a prolonged one…
And now here I am, sitting in Heathrow with
essentially 2 days of travel ahead of me before I get to Bali… besides being
eerie, the empty airport is also a bit depressing and I cant help reflecting on
things and getting a bit teary! I have loved living in the UK and I will really
miss it- rain, wind and all! But I am thankful for the things that happened
here, and I know I will be back…
