Blogs from Maida Vale, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

One of the best sites on the web is Billie Doux. Set up originally when Billie (a pen name) was reviewing various television shows, it has morphed into a place where people also discuss movies and, my personal favourite, books. It is one of the few sites I tend to visit every day. One of the two owners and a writer on the site is Josie Kafka. A fantastic writer, it was she who actually got me interested in the site as I read her reviews of Fringe, a current favourite of mine. About a week ago, Josie wrote a review of an episode of Alias called Phase One. In one short essay, Josie completely changed how I saw my favourite episode of one of my favourite shows. I was so intrigued by this article that ... read more

In and around London. No time to blog right now. I need to clean my sisters house and pack. I am going to Munich for Octoberfest. Enjoy!!... read more

The first day is almost over! I have successfully stayed up with only a short hour...maybe two hour nap. Our flats are a lot more spacious then I thought they would be, though I came in last, so got stuck in one of the smaller rooms with one other girl, but it's not too big of a deal. We won't be spending much time in there anyway! We had a short orientation to the flats and a small tour of the surrounding area. You could tell that some people were thinking, "oh crap...more Americans in the neighborhood!" Hopefully we will be able to adapt and blend soon! So, we've found the local pub (though haven't gone in yet), the Tesco Express, and the Tube. The main struggle today was staying awake, and it was definitely a ... read more

London Part Deux OK, so last Thursday I moved to Jenna and John’s place to stay for a few days. Had a great time. Thursday I went to the British Museum and cruised down Oxford Street to do some window shopping. On Friday, I went to the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge and Design Museum. All three very cool. On Saturday, Jenna and I went to the Tate Modern art gallery and spend some time eating our way through yummy samples at the Borough Market. On Saturday night, Jenna, John and myself went out for dim sum at a restaurant in Notting Hill with the best name, Ping Pong (love, love, love it), which had great food and yummy cocktails, then we proceeded to a pub and met up with Ed. After that we went ... read more

Trying to figure out, how to link all this together......travel blog , twitter , facebook and myspace and a charity page. It's a brave new world!... read more

This was another lazy day today, as Hillar had to go pick up his wife from the airport, and since she is still recovering from surgery, we didn’t do any group activities. Danielle and I watched several movies today - Fool’s Gold, She’s the Man, Sex in the City, and The Devil Wears Prada. What? I’m allowed to be a girl sometimes! Also, we got the other girls booked for Barcelona as well, so it’s solid, we’re all going for 3 days. I can’t believe it! Sorry this one is so short, but this really has been the extent of my day...... read more

Bloody Mary. Shaken. Not stirred. At least that’s what I bemused to myself while my completely-filled, clear plastic cup rattled around atop the tray. To say we experienced some turbulence would be putting it lightly, mainly because there were about 5 different times the pilot of our Virgin Atlantic flight came across the intercom to give warning. I think by the third time we didn’t need to be reminded of what the little shaky-shake meant. Overall, though, the in-flight service was fantastic, and I was quite pleased that unlike United Airlines or KLM, Virgin Atlantic did not try to impose a 30-minute long sales pitch while descending to London Heathrow airspace. Upon our arrival, only one person succumbed to the evils of lost baggage; however, he did find out that someone had pilled his bags off ... read more