Farewell to Europe - my final week in Britain

I finished off in mainland Europe on a high – experiencing the (cheap!) magic of the Baltics and Eastern Europe. With a flight booked from London onto the second leg of my journey – North America – I spent my final week of Europe in Britain.

The flight from Tallinn across to London must’ve been uneventful because almost two weeks later I don’t remember much about it! I flew into Stansted, got the Stansted Express and then transferred to the tube to head to my hostel right near Kings Cross-St. Pancras station.

Kings Cross Station

I was literally in London overnight, with plans to head the next day down south. It seemed symbolic somehow that the final friend I was meeting up with in Europe was the lovely Amy, my blog tech guru (without her, you’d be looking at a blank page with white text, maybe) and general supporter of my travels.

Typically, things don’t always go according to plan and the poor thing was frightfully sick. Originally we had planned that she’d meet me in Brighton for the afternoon/evening where I was staying overnight, then I was getting the train to meet her closer to her home where I’d be taken on a picturesque tour of the English countryside and cute English towns. I instructed her to stay in bed on the first day, eat soup or whatever works best for her, in the hope that a day of rest would do wonders.

So I was left to my own devices in Brighton – on one of the most horrid weather days I’ve experienced during my travels. It was literally storming one minute, blue skies the next for the entire afternoon, the whole time cyclonic winds pushing me around the seaside. During the bursts of sunshine though, I did really enjoy Brighton. I can imagine the pier being a whole lot of fun with a companion and some cash to burn, the crazy Indian temple looking Pavillion was an out of place but highly interesting piece of architecture, the main shopping strip leading down from the train station felt very English and picturesque . Essentially I put up with the crazy weather as long as I could stand, seeing as much as I realistically could, before conceding defeat and heading back to the hostel to settle down for the evening.

Brighton Pier

Amy and I modified our plans for the next day, given that the day of rest hadn’t made much difference to her health. I got a later train to her area – the train ride itself was so pictureeque, my statement I kept sying ws that I was in an episode of Escape to the Countryside (this English TV show which airs in Austtralia which I randomly adore). Amy picked me up and we spent a few hours with her playing tour guide in what is her “favourite place in the world” – Chichester, and also in Arundel where I had booked a train to get back to London later in the afternoon. We got lunch – well I got lunch, while she stared pityingly at my food. Despite Amy’s ill health it was a lovely afternoon seeing very lovely English things – that’s honestly the best way to describe it! I’m so grateful that we were able to spend time together and that she was able to drag herself out of bed for me because honestly, it would not have felt right leaving Europe without seeing her again. We’d met up in London when I was there at the very beginning of my travels but it was just for a day and it just didn’t quite feel like enough.

I headed back to London that afternoon, where I’d booked in to stay at the hostel that I’d stayed at with Shelle and Holly a couple of months earlier. I scored a bottom bunk which made me deliciously happy given I was to be there for five nights.

Those five nights are almost a blur. I was trying to see ‘just one more time’ of everything in London that I really love. The main thing that I did differently was using the bus. In London, if you’ve got time and aren’t in a hurry, the bus is a really nice way to travel. There’s something enjoyable about sitting up the top of a double decker and looking down on the sites as they go by. As a tourist, I find if you rely on the tube you find yourself not really understanding London or where everything is in conjunction to each other.

Saturday’s highlight was getting the ferry from Embankment to Canary Wharf. There are various river cruises available but I just got on a commuter ferry but claimed a seat right up the rear of the ferry, in the open area, so I was able to twist around and go photo crazy. I think that one of the best ways to see some of the sites of London is from the Thames.

An iconic view

Later in the day, I headed to explore along my favourite strip of London – the West End district. Everything between Piccadilly Circus and Holborn and everything in the streets on either side – from Leicster Square, Chinatown, Covent Garden, and Tottenham Court Road. The whole lot of it, I love. Yes, it’s crazy with pedestrian traffic and tourists but there’s some quality that I adore. I sussed out a few options for shows that I might want to see. That evening, I headed back out to the theatre district, with the intent of going to see Cosmopolis (Rob Pattinson’s latest film) but got distracted by all the London magic, looking in the kitschy souvenir stores. I also went to one of the discount ticket booths at Leicster Square and organised a ticket for Rock of Ages Sunday afternoon matinee.

Chinatown, in the middle of the West End district

Sunday morning before heading to the theatre, I went for a wander in an attempt to find some market but couldn’t find it, and continued on to go to the Museum of London. I’m not really into museums but I think this is one of the better ones I’ve been to. There’s this particularly cool interactive part where you can sit down and it’s this weird light sensor thing where you tap at where a projector is projecting down these moving bubbles and it brings up a social issue – transportation, the Olympics, police, environment, and other issues. It gives you info about the history of that issue, the current issue and then gives you a multiple choice to give your opinion on how London should move forward. Pretty cool!  Rock of Ages was absolutely outstanding, immensely enjoyable, and incredibly funny.



Rock of Ages - playing at the same theatre my favourite musical Hairspray was at 4 years ago

On Monday, I went to the opening day of Wimbledon  I really genuinely love the vibe at Wimbledon. I’m not a tennis freak, I used to be quite into it but these days I perk my ears up around grand slam time. But for twenty pounds and a few hours of your time getting there early and queueing up in the morning, you get access to Courts 3 onwards (which during the first week means you’ll have the chance to see some bigger players because they can’t all fit onto Centre Court and Courts 1 and 2) and just to be among the atmosphere. Everyone is always in a good mood, the volunteers and workers who look after the queue and organise the seating at the courts joke and actually talk to you. It started out with blue blue blue skies and it did get very dark grey at one point but it held out, with no rain interrupting play. In the queue in the morning I was chatting to the British lady in front of me as well as an American girl behind me, and the American girl and I actually hung out for a bit, with her coming with me to watch Sam Stosur (presently Australia’s best tennis player) on Court 3 to start out the day. Sam won her match which was a great start to the tennis. I grabbed a snack after Sam’s match and then wandered over to check out American James Blake who has been kicking around for a lot of years but unfortunately lost. After James I went to grab lunch – fish and chips, it seemed right – and sat on the hill watching Fed on the big screen demolish his opponent. I then headed to where some Australian I’d never heard of was playing – Marinko someone. It was one of the smaller outside courts so from the seat I was in, when he was up my end of the court I could hear his frustrated mutterings. I admit the guy wasn’t playing well but he seemed like a bit of an arrogant ass, barking snippily at the ball kid “Towel!!” when they didn’t move fast enough. Despite my opinion of his personality, it is never nice to see an Australian lose so it was kind of a disappointing last match to watch. During his match our corner got distracted because just behind us on a balcony, Novak Djokovic was doing an interview, so we were all swivelled around watching. To finish the day, I perked myself up with some strawberries and cream before trudging back to the tube to get back to London.

Wimbledon, in action

For my final full day in London, I kind of embraced my inner tourist. I went to look at Buckingham Palace and to see the Horse Guards Parade (I’ll never be there early enough to actually get up front to see the changing of the guard properly) – amusingly because The Mall is currently closed (the main street leading to Buckinghm Palace) it is currently London’s most difficult to locate attraction!

The guards and behind them, the mad crowd of people up at the gates of Buckingham Palace

I then went to Harrods – which is London’s most overrated tourist attraction, in my opinion – and did some shopping in Primark on Oxford Street. Primark was insanely busy, I mean it’s always busy but I couldn’t believe how busy it was that day. I emeged alive (miraculously) and went on to Leicester Square where I’d decided to see if I could get a ticket to my second favourite musical – Wicked.  My ticket purchase was successful, so I headed back to the hostel so I could get rid of my shopping and get changed into something more appropriate for the theatre. Wicked was wonderful, of course, despite the fact that my seat really should have been sold as a restricted view seat. I’m thinking about e-mailing to complain. The seat next to be was empty so I was able to contort and lean to the side and see most of the show. It was still a lovely way to finish my time in London.

Is Wickedness something thrust upon us?

I felt a major pang of sadness as I left for Heathrow Airport. It was like I wanted to curl up and ignore my flights, ignore the reality that my time in Europe is up. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to Europe and travel in the same fashion, budget traveller moving from place to place style. But it would have to take a rather massive life event for me to not make it back at any point. There are little pieces of my heart scattered across the European continent and one day, hopefully sooner rather than later, I intend to return to collect.