Blogs from Willesden, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

We still have not managed to get internet working in our apartment this morning. If we only wanted it for entertainment, this would not be a problem but seeing as we need it to book flights and research our travels, it is a major inconvenience. By the light of day, the area that we are staying in looks ok. There is a bakery across the street and it seems like a busy enough area - a bit different from the way it looked last night. As we gained an hour in time difference moving to England, we feel fairly well rested. Using our international phone, I gave our family friend, Barbara, a call. Despite a poor connection, we were able to tell her our plans to be there sometime early next week. She suggested that renting ... read more

For anyone who's still wondering what on earth I'm doing, here are some answers to the questions I've been asked a lot over the past few months. What will I be doing? I'm spending the first leg of my trip in South Africa, staying with my friend Sandy. We met through work when she was over here a few years ago - we were both teaching in a school in north London. She runs a language school now in Johannesburg. Sandy's promised to keep me busy with both work and play, so I'm hoping to spend some time meeting her staff and students, learning a bit about South Africa and also having a little rest and relaxation before heading for Uganda. In Uganda I'll be working for a British charity called Soft Power Education, based near ... read more

VERY quick update to say a proper hello, and tell you where I'm going to be for the next month! Following 3 leaving parties in as many days, and an amazing London send-off, its hard to believe that I'm actually flying out. Tomorrow afternoon, I'm flying to Bordeaux - then getting the train to Bayonne and then on to St John Pied de Port (which literally means St John at the foot of the mountain pass). I start my 30ish day walk on the Camino de Santiago (Camino Frances) by heading up that mountain pass (1200m climb on the first day) and then over into Spain and Roncesvalles. Not sure when I'm going to be able to get access to a computer, but I'll update when I can! For more info on the Camino - check ... read more

The last Marley Walk BBQ before we go!!!! (01 March 2008) It was great seeing everyone, and we missed all the people who couldn't make it... hopefully we will get a last chance to have a few more farewell drinks before we go. There is so much to do still... and the 30th of March seems to be coming far too quickly. Packing, cancelling payments, changing addresses, fixing things in the flat (not from the party... fortunately not many damages), re-mortgage, visas, vaccinations, finding storage... and other endless things to do. And we still haven't managed to change the boiler!!! You can see from the pictures that the drinks were flowing freely... but all the vodkas at the end really did the job, and I can hardly remember the last hours... had a great time though. ... read more

I have officially not slept for 24 hours. The advice I was given by another traveller was to just stay up for the rest of my day...making my sleep tonight an UNREAL experience. The flight across was fairly enjoyable, having a seat near the middle bulkhead...leaving tonnes of leg room, though sleep still evaded me. My neighbor was a fellow teacher from Georgia who was on her way to spend a month travelling through England and France. We parted ways soon after we touched down. Heathrow wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, given what happened only 24 hours ago. I even got a shocking look from the georgia teacher when I told her I was venturing on the 'tube' to get to my hostel in Central London. I boarded the ... read more