This is it

It’s officially the last day of the most incredible trip of my life. 3 months worth of adventuring, meeting fantastic people who I hope to keep in touch with, delicious new food, and more fun than I ever thought imaginable.

My flight leaves in 10 hours, and I still have a full day in London ahead, but a few parting messages, I guess.

To all you lovely lovely people I’ve met along the way: you know who you are, and you’re all amazing people who have helped make this trip unforgettable. So much love to you all.

To my mother: it was mostly because of you that I had the motivation to go on this trip, so thank you. Your encouragement to pursue the things I want to do is absolutely inspiring, and is always appreciated, even if I don’t always show it. Can’t wait to see you, and see my fattie ❤

To T, even though she's sitting right next to me (lol): you're like the best travel buddy I could ask for, because you put up with all my crazy and stay chilled when I'm stressing, which has been unbelievably helpful. These past couple months have been an absolute blast, dude. Hard to believe it all started about a year ago with a "hey, would you be interested in this?". All the ups and downs, but no regrets. Except not getting tickets to the Cripple of Innishman.

And finally, to all you who have been following my shenanigans from home: I had no idea that this many people would be interested in things I do (even if I do know most of you) so thank you for your awesome comments and all the support. Chances are I'll keep writing, so watch this space! I'll be back!

*cue dramatic triumphant music*

Peace out, guys. It has been a hell of a summer.

Xx

N

Back to the Beginning

It seems surreal that it’s been an entire 3 months since I left Sydney. Now we’re in the final countdown, and I must say, it’ll be good to be home. But I still have about a week of London to recap, so a quick daily summary:

Day 1: We started off with breakfast at Speedys, which has been thrown into the spotlight as the filming place of BBC’s Sherlock. I must say, the British know their breakfast. Then off to the British Museum for a few hours to escape the rain. Then off to the West End, baby! Since T and I are both massive theatre geeks, we’ve booked 3 shows months in advance. Tonight was Wicked, which easily makes it into my top 5 favourite musicals, along with Cats and Rent. After a fantastic show, we wandered up to Piccadilly Circus and people watched until about midnight, then slowly made our way home.

Day 2: The rain was dictating that we wouldn’t do much today, so we headed down to Leicester Square to catch a movie (the City of Bones, if you’re wondering. And it was kinda cool), and go and scamper around M&M world like toddlers. We also hit Hamleys, a 5 storey toy shop, which was absolute chaotic heaven. We each now have a stuffed animal wearing a Union Jack tshirt. T got a rainbow bear, I got a snow leopard.

Day 3: It was raining (again – what a shocker) so we went down to Westminster to have a look at the abbey and Big Ben, then found a little patisserie for a late breakfast. Patisserie Valerie, it was called, and it has fantastic milkshakes, and great chocolate mousse. There are a bunch of them all over the city, so go one of those if you have the chance. We had another musical to go to, this time it was the Lion King. I remember going to see it with family when I was about 10, and I remember being absolutely blown away. And it still has that effect; by the end of the first song, I was full out crying. What can I say, I love me some Disney.

Day 4: Looking back, we haven’t done a lot of touristy things. Today we went to Kings Cross station in the morning, to see Platform 9 3/4 (yes, it’s a thing). We walked from there back to the West End for lunch, went and watched the City of Bones again, then headed home to shoot some pool and watch a movie. I think we just don’t have the energy to have more than one exciting day in a row.

Day 5: The Harry Potter tour! We caught the train out to Levesdon studios, and got the full tour on the making of the most successful movie franchise in history. Behind the scenes work has always fascinated me, so I found this particularly interesting. They have full sets, props, costumes, the works. You can try butterbeer, ride in Hagrids motorbike and in the Knight Bus, it’s just a HP fans idea of heaven. There was a moment when I rounded a corner and saw a huge scale model of the castle, lit up from the inside with candles. The music was playing, and I just started tearing up again. You can fully appreciate the amount of work that has gone into each and every scene. Don’t get me started on Harry Potter, I will likely never stop.

Now we’re heading to Camden town tomorrow, the seeing Les Miserable tomorrow night. Then a day to get all my things packed, then on the plane home!

So, London

I’m currently sitting right outside Victoria Embankment gardens, watching the London Eye across the river, working my way through a container of summer berries. The sun is on my face, a rarity in the UK, I’ve been told. Life is good. I’m almost sad to leave in a couple of hours, but hey, I’ll be back in August.

Last night was fairly eventful, I went and saw Phantom of the Opera down at Her Majesty’s theatre. Written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, it’s the longest-running musical of all time (the second is Cats, also written by Lloyd Webber and one of my personal faves). I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect, being only slightly familiar with the story, when the opening stage set was looking a little like an old antique store with an enormous broken chandelier right in the middle of the stage. When the opening overture started though, my goodness gracious me, I got goosebumps. The chandelier seemingly magically put itself back together, illuminated, and rose to the centre of the theatre over the audience. Only to fall and shatter in a great ending to the first act, flying about a meter over my head. It was intentional (I think).

Since the show finished at 10 and was right outside Picadilly Circus, it warranted a little wandering around. It’s hard to describe the feeling without seeming pathetically sentimental, but with the intersection all lit up like Times Square, buskers on every corner, people bustling, I’ve seen very few places that seemed so alive.

Now this morning started with a white chocolate and raspberry muffin and a mocha, check out, and more wandering around. I found a fantastic sweet shop called Harvey’s, and I may or may not have bought a couple of things. Good things I’ve been doing a lot of walking. I’m heading back to the hostel now, then to Gatwick. Amsterdam, here I come!