Blogs from Elephant & Castle, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Spent my first night in a Hostel. I decided upon St Christopher’s Inn primarily because it was located so close to Milo, it is just a 5-minute walk from his Bankside house…which is VERY nice compared to my conditions. One of the perks of this place is the Bar, so I can’t really complain. Yesterday was hard after our splurge for the Wireless Festival, but totally worth it. Milo and I picked up some nice beverages from the store, and then proceeded to finish them all prior to our afternoon. We showed up at 3 ready for fun, and it is what we got. What I didn’t know was that in England you could bring open containers and food into venues. America’s really blowing it on this one. They open your drink and smell it for ... read more

Hello blogging world! To be honest, I never thought I would succumb to a blog, but I think recording all my thoughts/adventures will be helpful when I get amnesia. My journey starts off in London, England. I landed yesterday morning looking homeless and sleep deprived only to find my aunt AND grandma waiting for me at the "Arrivals" gate. Normally I am rushed off to sightseeing and museums, but I was actually given permission to sleep! However, I didn't give in to the peer pressure of jet-lag and marched on. My aunt lives in Central London, right near the Elephant and Castle (a major intersection in London + its surrounding area). It's very close to the tube and a lot of bus stops that take out to the heart of the city. There's even a "shopping ... read more

Today is March 1st. (Only 16 days to go.. and counting). As well as being very, very excited, I am also a little concerned that my departure day is charging towards me like Usain Bolt.. and it will be on me before I have completed all that needs to be done. Hmmm. If I were going away for a few months I could just leave stuff and deal with the chaos on my return. My 'voiced' intention is to go for a minimum of 5 years.. however in truth I'm going to explore every possibility of finding another country to live in and never return.. So I'm in the process of giving away everything I own that won't fit into my rucksack. Furniture, telly, all my cloths, CD's, books.. the lot. It's a very interesting experience..(and ... read more

Hi.. In March 2010 I will set off on a slow walkabout around the world. This is a dream I have had since 6 years old and finally my body is able to follow my mind. My start point is London UK. From here I cross the pond to the US.. and then work my way through Latin America aiming at the Amazon and beyond. My intention is for this walkabout will take at least 5 years. Wow.. I am so excited that some nights I can't sleep. (3 more weeks) Happi days... read more

Our last day in London and while one group had one idea of a good time involving spending money on frivolities, the more intellectual of the two decided to cultivate their minds by taking advantage of the city's free cultural institutions. After another somewhat uncomfortable continental breakfast in the capacious and somewhat stuffy breakfast room at the Mandarin, we decided to make a return visit to the MINI dealership right around the corner. We somehow went there by way of Harrods department store which just so happened to be in the opposite direction. I got suckered into that one. Cassie then spent the next hour trying on 100 different pairs of shoes with Gail lending support. Tyler was hoping to find some Formula One racing merchandise, ie clothing, but the stuff I saw on a previous ... read more

Still haven't left yet :( I now can't go to Madagascar as my insurance wont cover me to be in a place where the foreign office says i really shouldn't be. But, on the plus side, I am now going to ...... Namibia!! I'm leaving next Wednesday, on the 11th, so have just over a week to entertain myself in London without wasting all my money. It's a similar project but MUCH less remote. I'm staying in huts and there will even be some remote phone signal occasionally. Will definately be an easier life than living in a forest under a peice of tarpaulin and eating rice and beans. But the work is very similar, but obviously with different plants and animals... So now I'm going to spend the rest of this week learning all about ... read more

It was a drizzly, windy day when we set out on our first 'It's a London Thing' expedition. We decided to do something relatively easy and fabulously free for our first outing and chose the Imperial War Museum which, strangely enough, was originally housed in the magnificent Crystal Palace. Before it burned down, obviously. Anyway, back to the Imperial War Museum. At first glance, the outside looked very impressive. Until we realised that it was actually a picture of the museum printed on canvas and stuck up over what was obviously hidden scaffolding. Very clever, but we felt somewhat cheated. Looming over us as if guarding the entrance were two enormous guns which are normally mounted on battle ships. They're apparently 15-inch guns - I didn't have my measuring tape to check but even my inexpert ... read more

I just had this amazing blog all typed up, and it was so detailed and clever, I think it was my best one yet... But I accidentally clicked on a link, lost the page, and for some stupid reason, the auto save feature on this thing doesn't work, so I'm really irritated... It has not been a good day for me... Anyway, I don't want to rant about my day, but mostly it's because my flat-mates (besides Maggi) are slobs and I've kind of hit the breaking point with putting up with them, but I have no outlet for my anger because I don't want to yell at them, and I don't think it would help even if I did. I'll put up the pictures and you'll understand what I mean. Well, I as I said, ... read more

Hello All! It's been about two weeks since I last wrote. You haven't missed out on much. Last time I wrote I had just gotten back from Edinburgh, and that was the last big thing I did until this past weekend when I went on a tour to Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, and Bath. But first things first... The weekend of Oct 25th: On Friday I went to the British Museum for the first time. It was amazing, there was so much stuff to see. I didn't know where to start so I wandered around the first floor starting with ancient sculpture. There was a large section with Egyptian sculpture, there were some tombs, some carvings, some giant heads, and most importantly the Rosetta Stone! I was really excited to see it, although, for some reason I ... read more