When one door closes another opens. You hope.

Today was a melbourne day, four seasons in one day. I'll quickly ramble off what was achieved Woke up, got dressed, went out to trafalgar square to get touristy pics with the count down clock, had yummy brunch with mum at the cute heathy food cafe. Ended up breaking my sandals, resulting in me walking around London city barefoot for an hour or so on the look out for a shoe store.

Our mission to find shoes took us past a protest/demonstration of an African nation. Then thank goodness came across 'clarks', where the overly helpful store lady stuck to my back 'helping' me find shoes. with shoes back on my feet, and not looking quite so homeless Mum and I hit up Regents street and did some retai therapy.

 After making our feet sore again we went home to chill out before we headed to the airport to say our goodbyes. Yes there were tears, who doesn't cry when say bye to their amazing Mum? But right this moment I'm in bed after finishing packing my humongous suitcase. It has somehow magically multiplied itself in the last three weeks!

 No idea how I am going to manage to lug it around tomorrow on trains to get to my next impromptu home! However ignoring all this blubber, I need to mention a few achievements so far on this journey.

My Mum who is petrified of heights is no longer prettified, probably slightly scared would be an apt description now. The escalators here, going down to the tube are almost vertical. Mums initial reaction was one of a statue, a frozen stance, shaking and panicy breathing, she was practically a new woman today, looking up down, back and around, and not holding on to the rail. The Opening Ceremony so far has be incredible, absolutely amazing! The creativity, celebrities, music and acting. Wow.

Crazy

What a hectic day! Achieved so much. Ventured with mum out to my uni in Hatfield. It's quaint. Should be nice and cozy!... More on that later! Then we headed to the galleria which is next to my uni! It's like harbour town in Perth... Bt not to sure yet if it's better! Then went back into town, did some shopping up Oxford circle, coincidently saw the torch relay! Then hit up Hyde park for the torch relay celebration ceremony! Was a very long day! Mum leaves tomorrow, crazy how fast times flown!

Home sweet home

What a pleasantful long day! Up early(9am) to grab some breakfast-which was pathetic, did not miss out open much! Then headed into Copenhagen to complete some final shopping! Then quite simply continues to the airport, flew to London, caught the train to Knightsbridge and dabbed it to our apartment! Heads out for some dinner! And that about it! The weather is amazing today! Was able to pull out a dress!

Ring a ring a rosies, Danish love

What a fantastic day. I can happily state that I started off today in a grumpy mood. We slept in until 10.15am, meaning that we missed breakfast at our hotel that we had paid for. For me personally, I hate wasting money so this really erked me! However as the saying goes, things can only get better, and better the day got! After getting up, skyping with my Dad who by the way is missing my Mum and I obscene amounts, we hit the road jack for the hop on hop off tours. These tours have been a fabulous source of information and entertainment in all the places we have visited! We fell in love with first the weather! The sunshine, the warmth, the fact that currently my shoulders are a pretty shade between tomato red and watermelon red evidence at Europe does indeed get sun! Secondly the shops, the cute pubs, the history, the hippy zone, and the patisseries. Copenhagen has been a delightful surprise, I spent probably a bit too much today on clothes but every now and then it's just fun to let go! When I have my laptop I'll upload some photos of my purchases! Off to London tomorrow! x

Stuff that happens.

So currently lying opposite the Copenhagen navy barracks in my comfy bed with a not so comfy pillow. Isn't that always the problem when travelling, the beds in hotels are generally fab, but they always always skimp on the pillows. Such a let down! But so far today I've been relaxed, sleepy, full to bursting, angry, frustrated(at cab drivers- when a person says that's fragile, please be careful with it. That does not mean, yes please shove it into your boot like there's no tomorrow, and duh of course I want my huge 20kg suitcase shoved on top of it. IDIOT), happy, excited and lost. One crazy moment today. Well so the Swedish language is slightly similar but also very different to the English. For instance my Mum and I thought we understood that dorr, eupp, urr meant door, close, door open, and down. But to our surprise when pushing these buttons we went down to the floor we wanted, then the button we thought opened the door, took us back up to the top floor, then the door to close opened it. Well simply I hung my head in shame as we played jack in the box in the stockholm central elevator, until we figured out how to get out! Here's some restaurant observations! A the chinese restaurant in Amsterdam, with the hair in my food did not go down well. Most definitely did not pay for that. B'elta, Adam's sister cooked the most delicious chicken bacon feast I've tasted in a while! The Copenhagen Italian restaurant, with the cute and sweet waiter who messed up our entrees with mains and then gave us free drinks, you're a babe! To the drop dead American babe serving us beer at a cute little Danish pub.... Dreamy! We caught the fast train from Stockholm to Copenhgen today, not to eventful, was lovely to the the scenery as it is so different to Australia's environment! A day of shopping tomorrow and site seeing! X

My vast knowledge

Yes I have been lazy. So here's an update covering, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and now Sweden.

Edinburgh you were amazing! It was a relaxing visits if not a bit overshadowed as the apartment we were staying in was up four flights of stairs, in 'uni' accom,with a live in chain smoker, broken toilet, bathroom door that scraped against the tiles, making a horrible screeching sound like dying cats getting wet.  Oh then Mum got sick, fell down a flight of stairs, and it rained. However as perhaps negative that may sound Edinburgh was fabulous.

A) because it was the warmest place we had stayed, even with the rain, b) they had the best and most reasonably priced shops, and c) it was all just so pretty!

As an overall opinion I actually can't wait to get back there in August for the Edinburgh Tattoo.

Some people observations.

• There is actually very few red heads in Scotland. Ireland won on the red head count.
• Edinburgh's tourists all can be found on the Royal Mile. Every single one of them. It is like a can of sardines. 

The Netherlands

Oh Amsterdam, what an experience you were, my appetite will miss you, but my bank account will not.

I see Amsterdam as the Bali place of Europe. However a couple differences being everything is expensive but that's just life. Secondly the traffics going the wrong way, and when i refer to traffic i refer to crazy pushy pedestrians, let alone the advanced serial killer cyclists, and the daring idiot tourists who attempt to join their ranks. What fools, then add the cars, trams, buses, ferries, trains, and really opinionated taxi drivers, you have a lovely fruit salad mix of potentially lethal killing machines greeting you when you venture outside your hotel room.

Even with my mother and I fighting off the continuous downpour for the first two days it was a marvellous adventure. I ordered of pancake for lunch at the pub, and it was literally twice the size of my plate, it was DELICIOUS. Even as I hang my head in shame whilst I admit this, I sit comfortably in my Swedish friend Adam's home knowing none of you can get me. Here goes: I pulled out my camera and took photos of my food.

:O

So stay posted for when I get my laptop back and I'll blast you all with photos!

And of course we visited the red light district, we did not however sample any of there products. But it is just liked what you'd think. 

Sweden
Home to IKEA, and one of the worlds highest suicide rate, lack of sun and cold. But home to one of my fabulous friends Adam,  It has been lovely, went out and partied with the swedes last night, that was amazing! They can definitely do shots, and quite happy to say that i kept up! They have such pretty little houses here.

I don't even know where to begin describing them, but it's the most reasonable priced country, with an amazing history, gorgeous country side, and lovely people!

 I cannot wait to come back here and visit!

Well Mum wants her computer, so I will continue to update you from Copenhagen tomorrow!

Footish fetish Scottish

Got my luggage back!!Two hours before I left the country :) close one! But thank goodness!my HAIRSTRAIGHTNER!! Currently I'm in Scotland, it is beautiful! So I love it! It's freezing of course, where is it not cold in the northern hemisphere?,but it's amazing, honestly. Mum and I had dinner at the cute little pub/bar/cafe with live music! I also forgot to mention that I bought the most marvellous ring in Ireand but as I am doing these updates on my iPad, I'm unable to attach photos. So you will have to bear with me until August, when I get my laptop back with me! However tomorrow we are off on a tour up to loch ness and the highlands! Exciting! People observations: Scottish people sound like Indian people on crack.... For example after walking past a group a men talking really loudly ad fast, my Mum comments to me, "so what do you think about their accents?" Me: "haven't heard them yet mum" Mum: "that was them" Me: "they were speaking English?" One of the many wise reasons by I am not studying uni in Edinburgh, they'd all sound like ESL (English second language). The Irish and the Scottish are besties, with a common enemy being the English! Talk about rivalry! Next up being that My mum is truly the kindest person in the world, with continuous understanding and compassion for all people. There are many homeless people in Edinburgh. It is really quite horrible. Not quite am observation but an little quirky fact, just down the road from our room in Edinburgh it the royal mile, along that road is the foundations of a brass gate that was buIlt there in the 1500's. It marked to the Scottish people there the end of the world, those foundations are still there. Absolutely amazing! Ps check out my Mum's blog also for better grammar and stories of our adventures! www.nzandbeyond.blogspot.com

MIA

So two days on and my luggage is still MIA. Not fun. But Ireland has been wonderful! Visited castles, beach fairs, saw river dance a traditional Irish dance show at the theatre, retail therapy for some new clothes,and successfully a navigated throughout Ireland! Off to Edinburgh tomorrow! Observations on Ireland experiences. First off, they smoke, they encompassing at lead 70% of the population walking around, young and old it's crazy! Next up its the working class, hoodies and tackle dacks are the norm! Thirdly Penney's department store might just be the best store in the entire world. Irish dancing is absolutely amazing! British airways is crap, which goes hand in hand with the appalling service I have received from the Irish airport people- I will be making a complaint, that is how disgusted I am with their lack of communication and follow up ability to recover my lost luggage!!!! Finally it simply such a beautiful green and historic country!will definitely be c,ing back to see more of the country!

Effingham

Just a short recollection of today as I sit in heathrow airport about to depart for Ireland! Wokeup fed my face with a tonne of delicous food at the gorgeous little pub/b&b' hit the road and visited the home of the famous queen- Anne Boleyn. It was a very imposing castle. Then had a less than average lunch at a little cafe in leather head. Dead set the British rival the weirdness of town names. We in Australia may have indigenous names. New Zealand has maori towns namesakes. But Britain tops it. The names we have seen are simply illogical and just asking to be taken out of context. For instance in Australia there is a town called Rockingham, we simply call it the swinging pig, so when we drove through a town called Effingham... Well I think you can do the maths. Time to go! X

Racing car driver

Well yesterday was a long long long day. But fabulous! We did some little touring throughout St Ives and then headed off to Mt St Michael, a castle on an island, there is a path from the mainland to the island! However due to bad weather we were unable to visit the island, but perved upon it for awhile! We the hit the road to drive across the country to be where we are now, Wych Cross in Sussex. On the journey (9 hours), we hit multiple road closures and diversions, courtesy of the Olympic torch relay. Oh the joy, who cares that we had a dinner date with our cousin Steve, who looks after a manor here. But to my great surprise these road closures allowed me to experience a new side of my mother. The Racing car driver. It went like this, one way area and police car trying to push in front of us "fat chance buddy, push over", my mother cutting of the police :) Next we were in a little country lane and we are over taken by some young hooligans, "What pussys, I haven't been passed all day, not starting now"' we then proceed to tail gate the young boys for at least 15km, sticking rights there bum. Was quite an enjoyable experience :) Off to Ireland today!

St. Ives what?

Marvellous Tuesday is what today should be called. My day consisted of waking up at 5am (still haven't kicked this jet lag)then continuing to wake up the rest of the household with my shower and blow drying. What a pity, who needs sleep when they're on holidays, right? Then we packed, trekked down the road to drop our apartment key off, caught a cab from a friendly Brit. Figured out that if we caught the piccadilly line to Heathrow it would cost £5 = $12AUD roughly as opposed to the Heathrow express that cost £19 each. Ripped off tourist right here. Then picked up our rental car and were on the road jack. The driver being my Mum, she is a fantastic driver. A great person to travel with but (there's always a BUT right?), she doesn't exactly enjoy driving in the city. Therefore after a few wrong turns and some terse looks we were on our way to Stonehenge. However one day if you ever travel to England you will noticed the fact that when driving all of the road signs are symbols of sort, there is very few signs that actually have words or numbers on them. Therefore for tourists who are insure of the speed limit , this is slightly problematic, add in the fact that at very overpass bridge there is stationary speed cameras. It is a right picnic to drive. However upon arriving at stonehenge after a delightful lunch in Andover, where I handily picked up a sim card for my iPad, it was breath taking. We were able to skip the line as we had purchased online an English heritage overseas visitors pass- would highly recommend them to anyone! Stonehenge and how it came to be is a miracle, the maintenance and potential reasons of why it was created are fascinating and frustrating all at the same time! I cant wait to come back at winter time and get photos of it with snow! It is a magical place. We then Headed back in the car, made some wrong turns, learnt that the Brits truly don't have enough lines on round abouts or speed signs. Or space on the side of the roads, or ANY good radio stations! Honest to goodness after spending 6 hours in the car today I can quite confidently say that every radio station I heard was absolutely useless in relation to the music and presenters. St Ives which is where I currently am, is my favourite place in the entire world, hands down. It is his little British holiday spot, on the coast, with cobbled streets, quaint pubs, b&b left right and centre, step streets, narrow enough the only an anorexic reason could fit through the, but absolutely beautiful! Well I'm off to grab some zzz's, talk later! X

24 hours on and still strong!

Hectic! Crashed last night and woke up bright an early at five pm, realised that the adaptor I had did not was missing the piece it needed to function therefore my hair was insanely frizzy, imagine einstein but worse.

But otherwise I had a spectacularly jam packed day. Mum and I squished in the bus tours, buckingham, palace, kensington palace, Hyde park & biking, Harrods, new sim cards, Finding Aspley house to pic up our heritage passes and then finding out they are shop. Oh and of course making the London underground our bff :)

 The weather was more pleasant thank goodness.

Some observations people here don't talk, people that work at Harrods are ten times worse than people that work at Myers, their pubs are quite reasonably priced, always order the 'London Tower' burger at Garfunckle- it was amazinggg! Lastly don't forget to lock your room when you share an apartment. Close one.

Tomorrow we are off to Windsor Castle, Stone Henge, Bath, and end up in St Ives. I'll update you then! xx

London Baby!

So right this moment it is 10.32pm and I am sitting on the floor in our London apartment while restoring my computer and recovering from the trip here!

Here's how the last 48 hours have spent.

 Saturday morning up and adam, say bye to the family and best friend, drive to perth with the Mum, Dad and littlest brother at this stage , Mum is not feeling to crash hot so we have to practically drug her up so she is able to board the flight. A promising start to our adventure.

Next after actually receiving great service and comfort in our flight from Perth to Singapore with Qantas airline, we do a quick little dash to our next gate. however a small problem i encounter one downloading the ebook of 50 shades of gray. Which i now consider to simply be a porno book, about a deranged man that is a complete wack job and needs to betaken down a peg or two. Secondly when we (My Mum and I) arrived in SIngapore my phone was still not working so i restored my entire settings, and am currently now fixing my phone and getting it in a functioning condition!


Next off we arrived in New Delhi. Yay we slept in these pods:

But they really felt like:

 However in saying that it was exactly what we needed some privacy and  a bed to get a bit of zzz's. Secondly at the moment India's Ghandi International Airport rates as the worst airport I have ever been to. It lacked the simple essential, yes it was glitzy and glamourous but not having a single atm in the departure/duty free hall, and then on top of that having no currency exchange centre. COme on. India step up.  But we did get foot massages and they were heavenly if slightly painful at times!

then a long journey from Delhi to London, and can i just say it has been a long time since i have seen an air hostess be so stroppy and impatient, but i give her congrats on keeping up that attitude for the entire trip. Plus another fun fact from that flight is that my chair was broken, and on sets in planes as most of you would know there is a button that you press that allows you to lean your chair back. My button did not work. My chair just slide back on it's on accord, quite a horrible predicament for the lovely lady sitting behind me.

Then to finish off this update i can quite proudly say Mum and I caught the heathrow express to Paddington station, then the circular train to Victoria station, then walked to the business to get our apartment keys, then to our apartment without once getting lost or robbed :)

 Always a positive now to sleep and get ready for a massive day tomorrow!

x

Family

Crazy does not even begin to explain how busy I have been in this past week, and quick the time has flown bye. That in only three sleeps my European adventure begins.

I can quite happily say that  should have by tomorrow evening caught up with most of my favourite people, everything is on desk that I think I will take, and my room looks like a tornado has hit it... Just saying!

But i still cannot get my head around that fact that on Sunday night I'll be sleeping on the other side of the world. Ridiculous.

Otherwise not much of an update, just last minute things being lazy and procrastinating.

My family.