Where we are now: July 2008

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Getting around London

30/07/2008
We were having breakfast in Golden Square at 9.30am. We had caught the tube to Picadilly and could only find Macca's and Starbucks. Golden Square is not very far away where I worked for a fashion house for a while. There are little cafes and lunch spots frequented by the local business people and sure enough this one is still there! So we sat down to a full breakfast for 4 pounds 50 each (can't find the pounds sign on this computer). We didn't need to eat again until dinner.

We bought a ticket for a London bus tour - which had a great commentory and we could hop on and off when we liked. It included a cruise up the Thames and we got off at Tower Bridge. We went into All Hallows church and down to the underground crypt where there is part of an old Roman road and some artifacts that have been discovered. By the way John Penn the founder of Pennsylvania was baptised there.

The only drawback with jumping off the bus is there can be a very long wait for the next one. You can change routes too but then one bus we got only went so far and didn't finish the route which was a bit of a waste of time.

It was a very hot day and with all the walking and out in the sun we drank 4 bottles of water each.

We walked through Soho up to Oxford Street which was just so busy and crowded to the tube station. We got back to the flat and slept until Anna and Jeff got home.

We walked to Little Venice and had a very nice dinner at the Waterways which was absolutely packed. It is in a lovely setting right on the canal.

End of day 3!

Arriving London

29/07/2008
A young English girl sat at the window seat next to me on the flight to London. She was amazing in the way she could roll herself up into a ball and go to sleep. When she wanted to get out she stood straight up on the seat and stepped across us and jump down into the aisle. She slept most of the flight, while I watched 4 movies. She said she didn't like flying and sleeping was how she coped.

We sailed through customs and are much better organised with our documents and backpacks... learning as we go! Got ourselves to Paddington.... sat down to have a coffee, nearly got caught out when we asked for flat white and nearly got straight black apparantly it is our accent... so we settled for capaccino... at least that was understood.

Anna came tripping along and it was just like yesterday! It was so good to see her and could not wipe the grins off our faces! She looks wonderful! Backpacks back on and we bumbled along behind her as she tripped off to Maida Vale. Jeff arrived home and it was all happy families!

Jeff took us on a walking tour of the neighbourhood and we walked past where I used to live when I worked in London. The area is very nice now, much more upmarket than I can remember it. Lots of little restaurants and boutique bars and pubs all humming on a Tuesday night.

We were still getting over our second day of force feeding and didn't need dinner so crashed early.

The end of day 2.

28/07/2008

The flight to Seoul was uneventful except for a near case of husband bashing, the people you meet, a rescue mission and a wee beastie hitching a ride.

"Yes, your honour I did bash my husband while in the check-in queue when he told me he didn't have the tickets." "No your honour I did not think he was joking." "Yes your honour it was just as well he found them or I might be up for manslaughter."

That little hear attack aside we were given permission to carry our backpacks onboard as hand luggage. Good!

After fond farewells to Brendan our plane was delayed for half an hour.

We were seated behind a happy bunch of "Popekins" returning to "Milano" after World Youth Day. They win the prize for acquiring the most Aussie souvenirs ever known to man. They had along their own priest who offered words of encouragement during turbulence and said a prayer before landing. We landed safely... so it must have worked!

We felt like force fed geese with all the food we were given on the plane. It was all very nice.... and just couldn't say no to those lovely hosties.... I'm sure they would have been disappointed if we had turned it down.

What an alien world it is flying into Incheon (Seoul). Lots of pockets of stark grey concrete high rise buildings and blue sheds. Plenty of new construction underway with road networks and bridges and land reclaimed from the sea.

On arrival at the airport we had to make our way to a specific desk to be allocated our accommodation. We met a cockney couple who were completely lost so we invited them to tag along with us... like we knew where we were going! We had to walk from one end of the terminal to the other... found out we were at the Hyatt Regency, so that was a nice surprise (not the downtown Holiday Inn we were expecting!) and then all the way back to the other end of the terminal to catch the shuttle bus to the hotel. So on our trekking we found out all about our new cockney friends and that they had left all their money behind in England on the kitchen table. There was another good cause of husband bashing that could have resulted in manslaughter. They got all the way to Australia and found (my nightmare..!) their cards didn't work!! Luckily, they were able to borrow from their son.

The Hyatt was great..... I guess we're not in Kansas anymore as even the toilet was named Toto and did everything except scratch your bum. It is definitely down hill from here. Hostelworld has a lot to live up to.

Bob was adventurous at dinner and tried the Korean national dish, Kimchi which is fermented cabbage and very fiery. Let's say it is an acquired taste.

Fell into bed and just drifting off when Bob discovered he had imported a tick.... must have hitched a ride when we were out walking on Saturday. So we had to do some improvising to dislodge it. Nasty little sucker!

That was the end of our first day.