Friday, December 31, 2004

Whirl-Wind Tour Complete!

Yesterday was awesome - this city is just FANTASTIC! It's just so buzzing and yet so old and so full of really cool stuff!


We started off yesterday at the London Eye before wandering to the Salvador Dali museum, over the bridge to the Houses ofParliament and Big Ben, and then on to Buckingham Palace, St James' Park, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, Oxford Street, and then back home. A LOT of walking with a LOT of shopping, but so much fun!


I bought a decent coat which is really lovely, some awesome stockings - they have the coolest tights over here! All different colours and patterns, so many more varieties than what we get back home! And some postcards and cool stationery and stuff. We went into Selfridges where you had to queue to get into Gucci and Louis Vutton. That place is so cool! They have ALL the designer labels in this one department store. We also went into Debenhams and into the oldest department store building in London - it's the old tudor style.


Here's a photo from Piccadilly yesterday. I'll put more up as I can.

Thursday, December 30, 2004

This place is SO CUTE!

I MADE IT!

After 24 hours of travelling, approximately 36 hours awake, I am here. The fact that I can't sleep in cars, trains and planes was made painfully clear, but after 15 hours sleep last night it's all good.


I really should change my watch as well.


Anywho, England, or what I've seen of it so far, is ADORABLE! Picture-postcard perfect. Little winding streets, tiny brick houses, window planter boxes, double-decker busses. ah! SO CUTE.


Today Alice is taking me on the Whirl-Wind Tour of London (TM), including the Tower Bridge, Westminster, etc, followed up by a spot of shopping on Oxford street. I also have to get a new cover for my phone. I have an 8510 case on a 6510 body...problem is, with the 8510's the on/off button is on the OTHER side. Meaning to turn the phone off for the plane trip I had to take the battery out, also resulting in being unable, despite all efforts with bobby pins, to turn the phone back on.


Slight problem, but I'm sure it can be rectified. When I woke up this morning there was ICE on the roads! Awesome stuff. Also awesome was flying over Russia and Siberia - mountain ranges covered in snow for as far as the eye could see, it was just amazing.



Okay, time to dry hair, clean teeth and head off for a day of adveture!

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

THE DAY HAS ARRIVED

0 Days....


Tonight's the night, this is the moment, I did it my way, etc etc etc.

I guess I'm as ready as I can be. I was up at 7.30 this morning washing and re-packing my suitcase and gathering all my crap together, and cleaning up from yesterday's bbq and associated frivolities.

I'm hoping the constant action and early morning will increase my chances of being able to sleep on the plane tonight.

So, apart from what's already in my suitcase, and my awesome pink carry bag I bought, there's really nothing left except for toothpaste and toothbrush and the like to be packed. EGAD! it's all so weird and surreal. It doesn't really feel like it's happening...which is kind of odd in a way.

However, tally ho and forage forth and so on and so forth...

Goodbye Australia! Goodbye Brisbane! Goodbye cursed Wynnum! Goodbye heat!

Friday, December 24, 2004

Official Moved

4 Days to Go....

I'm back at my mother's house, and have taken over her garage with my stuff. She's totally going to freak when she sees it...but I won't be here, so it's not my problem!:)

The cat is loving it - lots of places to hide and sleep in now...and lots of things to cover in fur.

Anyway, back to the trip, all is going well as far as planning goes...I'm pretty much ready. I'll finalise the contents of my suitcase on Monday afternoon and be ruthless with what's already in it. It weighed 22 kilos the other night, which should be fine. Apparently Alice's weighed about the same and they weren't fussed and didn't charge her extra, so hopefully they won't for me either. Still, I can't really afford the extra 60 dollars a kilo they charge on excess baggage...

And now, to beat the heat with a spot of swimming...

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Ah, fickle ugly humanity...

6 days to go...
Wynnum - the place on earth where everyone comes to die, much like seagulls fly out to sea to die. It's like God played a joke and grabbed a giant vacuum cleaner and sucked all life out of this Ipswich By The Sea.
And Cleveland, of course.
Seriously, it's the home of tack, and the nursing home capital of Australia. Wynnum Plaza, the highlight of modern architecture in this wretched suburb, is incredibly scary. Full of white trash and old people. Children running around half-naked or without shoes on, parents practically the same, except they're only fifteen, and the choice of shops they filled the place with only helps to encourage it - Choice (a version of crazy clarks), K-Mart, Woolworths, Coles (yes, two large supermarkets in the one tiny complex - figure that one out), two hairdresses (there's a lot of regrowth to be patched up) a chemist, a RUG STORE (with major discounts, of course), a terribly cheap bookstore that only sells bad romance novels, a flight centre (for those of use who are smart enough to try to escape), a 'gift' store, and a Subway and a Baskin & Robbins. Outside in the carpark area - Red Rooster, Macca's and, the piece de resistance, the pub, complete with drive-through.
Oh, and across the road? A paddock, complete with two unused horses, and Wynnum State School.
It's enough to make you cry.
Ironic that this is the place I'm spending my last week in before London. If anything, this and the heat will really make me appreciate London that little bit more...
Oh if only Monday were NOW!

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Oh to be there!

7 days to go...
The Countdown has become quite scary. But I'm so excited too!
I just read Jaimee's e-mail and I can't WAIT to get there now! Oh, to see Paris and Milan and all those beautiful European places... I'm sure it will happen:).
Alice is off to Scotland in the next couple of days - she'll be having a white Christmas, something that I'm sure will be completely surreal. Surreal will also be living and working in a city that is so extremely old with so much history! I'm going to go nuts in the museums and all the heritage places, I can see it now.
It's my parent's fault - they force-fed me documentaries and now I'm addicted to history:).
At least, after Jaimee's e-mail, I'm more excited than nervous now.
Especially seeing as I'm currently at my mum's, with a storm going on outside, and my brother has his friends over. Teenage boys, particularly hairy teenage boys who have just received their OPs and have decided to celebrate, not only are loud and annoying, but also incredibly smelly.
London, here I come!

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Packity McPackPack

1 Week and 3 Days to go....
Packing with earnest happened this week, but the major part of it will happen tomorrow. Afterall, that's what weekends are for, right?
So I've packed up all my books, which was about four large cartons, and have sorted the clothes that I'm going to leave behind from the ones I'm taking with me and the stuff I'm giving away. I've cleaned out my drawers and wardrobes, and packed up all my photos and little trinkets and things. This weekend will be the kitchen stuff, and I'm selling my table and chairs and a few other things due to me stressing about money and the like.
WHY AM I DOING THIS?
At any rate, everything WILL be organised.
I saw my mum for the last time this morning - she leaves for Perth tomorrow with my little sister, and my older sister and her husband are in Hamburg, so I saw them for the last time last week. It's all a little scary. Michelle rang me last night for my birthday, and apparently when they were in Copenhagen at the beginning of the week she almost had her digital camera stolen. They were walking back from a castle they had visited when she felt someone tug at her camera case, which was under her arm. She turned around and checked her bag and felt it was gone, and grabbed the guy behind her and started yelling english expletives at him, and demanding her camera back - which he then produced and tried to spit at her before walking away. How disgusting! I've already gotten safety tips from my mum's neighbours, who are from London. I'm sure I'll be fine - I've always been pretty vigilant in my travels, and I haven't had anything stolen before, even in Hong Kong, where the markets are notorious for pickpockets.
I'm moving back to mum's house next week. There are good and bad points to this - the major negative being my brother will be there, but the major positive is there's lots of food there:) and my cat. Now I've just got to work out how to get to the airport next Monday...

Thursday, December 16, 2004

I'M SCARED.

1 Week and 5 Days to go...

So it's all starting to get a little scary, which is reflecting in my lack of sleep. Which has also been contributed to by playing with my new toY - iPod la grande. It's so pretty! I'm getting a hot pink skin for it too:D.

But still much to do - I will do a whole lot more packing tonight, as tomorrow night I'll be at my mum's, leaving only Friday night. Hopefully Mitch will be able to help me move on Saturday or sometime next week.

Also organising my going away party, and the joys of Christmas Shopping, which is almost complete.

And a list of things to go in my carry-on luggage:

  • iPod
  • Digital camera
  • sunglasses
  • wallet
  • tickets
  • passport
  • clean undewear!
  • socks
  • toothbrush
  • toothpaste
  • comb
  • moisturiser
  • face washer
  • a couple of books
  • coat

I was thinking about taking my photo album in my carry-on luggage, but it'll probably just make me cry, so it's probably best not too.

THIS IS SO SCARY.

Friday, December 10, 2004

Getting nervous!

Two weeks and 3 days to go...
I've been a very busy bee but it appears I'm going to have to buzz around a lot more in the next couple of weeks - so much to do! Like pack, move, bank stuff, money stuff, job stuff...buying a suitcase would probably be a good thing to do...
I bought myself a new hairdryer - my christmas present to me! - which is coming with me. Mum got me an electrical adapter so I can use it in England. So many things I want to buy before I go - like a new laptop and a decent hair straightener and a mini ipod...so many things that I can't afford. Where is the love? More importantly, where is the money?!
And so on and so forth.
Speaking of stuff, tomorrow night is my birthday dinner, and I can't wait! I get to wear my new dress and new shoes, which are both coming with me to London - they'll be perfect for Paris and Milan!
And now, I away.