happy traveller

brand new year

Wow. So it's been another while since I last posted. May? Bad me. Well not really. Been busy what with finishing up in Vancouver and trekking around the USA and meeting heaps of brilliant people and checking out Mexico and finally, finally coming home to Australia. 

In conclusion:

USA = Loves it. Awesome friendly people. Cool accents. Good choice to visit Florida in the winter. Harry Potter land rocks. See Mary Poppins in NY if you can. Salem isn't a witchy as I thought it would be. Take your time doing the Freedom Trail in Boston as there is so much to see. Avoid the crappy hostel in Charleston. Stay at a hotel. Not all Amish are real Amish. Many drive cars. Disappointing! The sun does shine in Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell is much like the Mona Lisa. Not as big as you would think. 

Mexico = Pretty cool. Be careful what you eat. Bad gastro problems. Beautiful beaches at Playa del Carmen. Cancun is lame. Avoid. Go to Playa del Carmen instead. Amazing Ruins. Too many salespeople. Mexico City is fine. A lot safer than you would think. Amazing cheap but crowded subway. Short people make me feel tall. Beautiful churches. Scary howler monkeys.

christmas in summer

The way it's supposed to be.

Why oh why did I make my trip only 3 weeks? I should have made it 3 months! Go back to Canada when the worst of the cold and rain is over. Very sensible.

bagels

You know what happens when you live on peanut butter and jam bagels for two weeks? Weird stomach noises. My stomach has been making the weirdest noises all the time lately. Rumbling and squeaking and little 'wawawa' noises. I can't remember if this happened when I arrived in London and ate nothing but cornflakes and white bread with jam for 3 weeks. I think it did. But it's saving so much money so for the moment I will put up with it. Until Monday at least as that is when I move out of the hostel and into a house in Burnaby. I wanted something closer to Downtown but at the moment it's not happening. That's ok though. Just need to get out of the hostel. I like hostels but after spending more than two weeks in the same one it's getting real old, real fast. I need some privacy! I want to watch tv on a comfy couch not sitting on a uncomfy bum numbing chair surrounded by people who want to watch some other lousy show.

Still no job though. Damn economic meltdown.  Causing people to stop hiring temps. But I'm hopeful that something will come next week. There's only so much walking around Stanley Park and surfing the internet at the library you can do before you go nutty. I think they must recognise me at the library now as I'm there so much. Somehow always manage to end up at the computer terminal next to the stinky homeless guy or the guy who smells of sweaty feet.  What is up with that?

Today I'm just looking out the window at a big ship in the harbour and watching the occasional seaplane take off.  There's also a lift going up and down outside the harbour center. Up and down. Up and down. Too cold to walk around the park. Maybe on Sunday when it's supposed to be sunny.  Missing Oxford and my nice room in the lovely flat and the funny hamster and my great job.  Had a brief moment the other week when I wondered what the hell I was doing. Should have gone back home to Aus and then spent the summer being happy and working to save money to come to Canada in the northern hemisphere summer. That would have been a good idea. Too late now. Stuck here for winter in the rain.  But at least I now have a place to live even if it is just a temporary fix. Once I get a job everything will be sweet. Just work until next summer and then more travelling!

Moving on

I can't believe I only have one more week here in Oxford. In England! This time next week I'm going to be packing for my European travelling. Ireland for two weeks and then Contiki for 6 1/2 weeks before heading back to Canada. It feels like I just arrived yesterday. Got off the plane in Heathrow after a loooong flight from Toronto with a too heavy backpack and £35 in my pocket. It constantly amazes people that I survived a week in London with only £35! Well to be honest I put my hostel accomodation on my credit card. But other than that I lived on free hostel breakfast and jam sandwiches and walked absolutely everywhere. Visited only free things and didn't do any partying at all (not that I would have done any even if I did have money). Hated that hostel though. It was a grumpy week surrounded by American frat boys and people who used my towel! Ewww!

Bath started off slow. Took ages to find a job and I was spending only £5 a week on groceries until I finally got my first pay. But Bath was good. It was a summer full of strange foreign roomates, evenings in the park, drinking too many cocktails on Friday nights at St Christophers pub and, I'm ashamed to admit it ... watching Big Brother.  Yes we HATE you Charlie!

September was a travelling month spent dawdling around Cornwall, Devon and various other places. The Globe Hostel in Exeter is nice. The Globe hostel in Plymouth is not! Well it's ok if you don't mind taking a shower in a room full of mould. I did mind. St Ives backpackers had a funny smell but the town was gorgeous. Though I couldn't put more than a toe in the ocean. Crap it was cold. The seagulls are calculating and evil. They divebomb you from behind and steal your pastie.

The two months I spent in Brighton was somewhat friendless but gave the oppotunity to live with a real English family in the lovely house. Biggest room ever! Working at the hospital in my own office with the music blasting was pretty cool. Workmates that could have stepped out of some British sitcom. The happy, funny nerd, the grumblebum with never a nice word to say about anyone, the shiny happy boss. I even got to wear my jeans every day.

London and Scotland in November/December was the best! Something I've been sad about this year is that I haven't had time to go back up to Scotland. It was amazing. Freezing cold but full of beautiful scenery and wonderful people. Haggis isn't actually bad. It's quite tasty actually. Oysters are slimy and rubbery. Aphrodesiac my arse. Shame about the puking virus I got but that passed pretty quick.

And Oxford. I'm so glad I came here. I love my job, the people I work with, the flat I live in, my friends, Harriet the hamster. And now to leave it all behind. But it's the way it always is. You go to a place. You live, you work and make a life for yourself... and then you move on to the next thing.

So heres to the next thing. May the future be as great as the past.

the drugs don't work

Aside from a nasty, icky bout of travel sickness on Sunday (which I don't think anyone other than the bus driver saw) I had a lovely long weekend up north in the Lake District. Went on a little lake cruise at Bowness-on-Windermere which was nice. Did a trek up a little mountain in Ambleside (Wansfell Pike) and nearly got blown off the top it was so windy. On Sunday we visited Hawkshead, Grasmere and Keswick and got to chuck a few snowballs as it snowed overnight. Everywhere looked like Canada! Only with cute stone walls and cottages and lots of sheep.  Got some tasty gingerbread in Grasmere though I didn't eat it as I had just baptised the carpark with my breakfast. Damn windy roads and tablets that don't work. Finally found a teapot for my friends wedding present at Keswick. I've been looking for months! Now I can finally get on with my life and stop thinking about teapots all the time!

On the way up to the Lake District we stopped in Liverpool which was ok. Just saw around the Albert Dock area, Maritime Museum etc. On the way back we stopped in Blackpool. Not sure really what to say about Blackpool. One of members of our tour group described it as Chavtastic.  It was supremely tacky and a rather depressing place to have a holiday I would think. We wandered around looking for a pub to eat in but they were all just serving beer and no food. There were lots of people drinking. I suppose if I lived in Blackpool I'd want to drink myself in oblivion as well.  It was an interesting experience is what I will say.  The rollercoaster looked kind of cool though.

how i lost my ears

Walking to work this morning my ears froze off. Well not really but they felt like they did. How can a day this beautiful and sunny be so damn cold? I think I'm going to take my hour lunch break though and go out and walk around in the sun.  Then I'm going to spend more money by going to the movies and seeing Sweeney Todd tonight.  Already spent more than I planned on the weekend after going to lunch at a Tapas bar. I've never had tapas but though they are tasty they are way too small. If I'm going to pay £3.oo for something I want it to be satisfying! Two mouthfuls of cous cous with sultanas just doesn't cut it. Was yum though.

the art of taking your own picture

Only 2 more days! Then I'm saying goodbye to Brighton and hello to London. Then on Monday I go to the airport and meet my sis!!!! YAY! Finally someone to hang out with!! I'm ridiculously excited! Travelling around alone does eventually get old. Sometimes you just want tell someone that thing you just did or saw was really cool and there's no one there. But for the next month there will be! Brilliant! And someone to take my picture in front of random stuff! I'm getting pretty good at taking my own picture now in front of various castles and other things but you can always kind of tell. The trick to making it look less like you are taking your own picture I think is to bend your elbow a little when you are stretching your arm out.  Also keeping the camera at face level rather than letting it drop lower. Then just keep taking pictures until you get a good one.  2 more days!! So psyched!

too cold for sea bathing in Brighton

It’s been a while since I’ve written!

I’ve been very busy since leaving Bath at the beginning of September for a little more traveling and a change of scenery. My first stop was Torquay which was nice and after that I traveled to Plymouth where I saw the aquarium and wandered around the Hoe. After Plymouth I traveled to Newquay where I ate squid! Yum yum! Then to St Ives which is a cute little seaside town. It’s lovely at night with strings of lights everywhere and twisty cobbled streets. I did a ghost tour which was good fun and saw the Tate St Ives. The only bad part was when I was dive bombed by a seagull who nicked half my pastie!! It came out of nowhere! One minute I was sitting on the beach the next minute this giant white flapping thing came blasting past about an inch from my head and chomped on my lunch! Apparently the trick is to sit with your back against a wall and then they can’t do anything. They can't fly at you from the front because they'll hit the wall and they can't get you from behind because the wall is in the way. I’ll remember that for next time.

After St Ives I went to Penzance (where I didn’t see any Pirates) and did a day trip down to Land’s End which was cool. I walked along the coast path to a place called Sennen Cove which was very pretty and then back to Land’s End again. It was amazingly beautiful though pretty windy and cold. On the way back to Penzance I stopped off and saw the Minack Theatre which is this really cool outdoor theatre built into the side of a cliff. They weren’t doing any more plays because it is the end of summer but I think it would have been awesome to see something performed there. Maybe next year. 

After Penzance I headed up to Exeter and spent about 4 days there. It’s a pretty place with a giant cathedral, old mediaeval wall and they have heaps of free tours you can do including a fun ghost one at night.

Now I’m in Brighton living with a nice family. Had good luck and got a job straight away. It’s in a hospital. I think I’ve been watching too much Scrubs lately as I keep expecting to see the cast coming down the corridor in one of their musical numbers! It’s a ghost town hospital though as I can walk around the corridors and see no one half the time. They don’t have an A & E dept. either so nothing much exciting happens like in ER : ). 

It was so nice when I arrived here with sunny days and even the odd occurance of me wearing shorts!  Now though it's hurtling into winter and the days are short and the cold is getting colder! Am off soon to London where I will meet up with my sis and we will be silly tourists!

alas poor bath, i knew it well....

 

Well my time in Bath is almost at a close. I'm sad to go but excited about going somewhere new.  No more will I wander home from work along Milsom St or spend sunny afternoons (of which there were sadly few) relaxing in the Parade Gardens. I won't spend endless hours surfing the internet while I'm supposed to be working or have to fix up something bizarre my boss has done to his calendar. Goodbye tiny, noisy flat. Goodbye oven, tap and shower that do not work. Goodbye ravening hordes of tourists choking the streets especially on the weekend. Goodbye Big Issue sellers and ankle breakingly cobbly footpaths. Goodbye cute little arcades, countless pubs and that funny little vegetable stall that sets up every now and again in Kingsmeade Sq.  Goodbye Bath... Hello Brighton!

they make Dr Who in Cardiff

Went to Cardiff on Saturday as I wanted to see a castle, visit Wales and see where they make Dr Who  too. Did not see David Tennant unfortunately which was a let down but the day was saved by  Cardiff Castle which had  extravagantly decorated rooms, the museum which was free  and I went to the Dr Who exhibit which was awesome but too dark so my photo of me in front of the Tardis didn't really come out.  Escaped being exterminated by Daleks and headed out to see the bay which was nice on such a lovely sunny day. 

I don't know what it is about the UK though that the streets and footpaths are always so dirty. What's up with that? It looks like people have spewed on them and then it's not been cleaned up so has left a big ugly stain. It's everywhere! London, Bath, Cardiff....