ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND... SORRY WALES, next time.

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Most intense travel day so far! Started the day at 7 am, bus trip at 2 then a 7 hour bus ride from Paris to London.

I started chatting to an Australian next to me, she had been living in England for 5 years and had done alot of travel! The 7 hours flew by with an added bonus of tips for my time in London and also for Asia.

The euro train was a new experience going through the channel and then an announcement came over the speaker... 'Remember to drive on the left hand side of the road!' And the driver just moved to the left hand side of the road and continued driving as if he hadn't spent the last 5 hours driving on the right hand side 😊

The customs was interesting as well we all ambled off the busses and lined up with our packs to the french customs where some of us didn't even need to show our passports, then we hopped back on the bus drove another 5 metres up the road and repeated the procedure, however there was a huge difference in the English and French customs. They thorougly questioned me about my legnth of stay in the uk, how I was paying for my trip, how much money I had in my bank account etc etc.

The australian girl helped me to sort out the underground and thanks to her I made my train in time.. I have never ran so fast in my life and with my 20kg pack on my back I am sure I could hear people laughing! Another hour of travel out of London to Ely and met Alice! So good to see her again! We headed to their house where she and 2 other gappies lived. After arriving all I wanted to do was sleep but the other gappies had friends over and decided we should all go out for the night. It was lots of fun, the town is really small so the 'nightclub' wasn't exactly that, more like a bar with dancing and it closed at 1 30am.

Alice had to work in the morning so I lazed around skyping then we headed to the 'famous' tea roooms for one of their raved about toasted sandwhiches!

I had a cheddar and red caramilized onions one with chutney and it was absolutely amazing! Best toasted sandwhich I have tasted.. luckily it wasn't open the rest of my time there!

My first trip to Tescos.. more like the start of an era! Everything was so cheap I couldn't believe it! Also there were isles and isles of mircowave dinners .. and believe it or not they all actually looked really good! Cheaper and easier than cooking for yourself, but sad too!

We bought the much raved about mini rolls! We made carrot cake and watched a movie! Could I have had a better day after one and a half months of constant travel and hostel jumping?

Sunday morning and as we are in England we were off to church. This is day club in london on sundays starts at 11am to 5pm and is for all the gap tutors in London, and they can go home and tell their parents they went to church on Sunday! Had quite a few funny times trying to explain where we went.. 'ok so on sunday we went to this thing called church ... people thinking we were joking ok yeah i have heard of this place people go on a sunday called chuch' haha. the theme was the good and the bad and the four of us (Lena had arrived and jined with Alice's other gappie friend) we went as robbers. We were sitting on the train at 11am in the morning playing drinking games in these costumes... I don't know why but we did get a few strange looks! We had fun through the metro station and made our way there. Was in an old converted thetre and had such a good time! Was soo good to see other gappies from school whom I hadn't seen all year!

Stumbling into the daylight at 5pm we headed to the metro where there were a few dilemas withe the metro police. They sat there complaining 'every sunday' as drunken teens in costumes poored into the station.

We met Lena's friend Chris and decided to head back to his apartment in London and then we could explore London the next day.I had my own room! Maybe not a big thing for you home dwellers but I have been sharing rooms with a minimum of 10 people per night so my own room was an amazing luxury!

The next day we toured around london on the red double decker buses, I loved the vibe of London istantly. Also everywhere I looked were streets and sqaures from Monopoly!

Camden markets were next, these are in a really alternative part of London and the shops and stalls here were amazing! So many cool and different things, we just wandered around for hours looking at all the cool things. The best shop was 3 stories and was underground, it was semi dark and everything was glowing and they had a dj. Yes I used to be a Mary kate and Ashley Olsen fan and this store reminded me exactky of the movie... for any other closet fans out there?

We headed back to Ely and Lena decided as she didn't have nay plans for the next 2 weeks she was going to join me in Scotland and Ireland. We devised a ingenious money saving plan and bought a tent (all you have to do is throw it up and its ready) for 20 pounds.. but figured that the money we would save sleeping in this would be huge and we would hitchike our way around. hmmmm more to come on this later....

Cambridge was only half an hour away from where we were staying so we had a day trip in Cambridge, however all the universities were closed! Although you could tell from the outside that they would be amazing! Everybode rode on their bikes down the street with baskets attached and there were young people everywhere! I introduced Lena to Primark (shop with everything and insanely cheap) we spent a few hours in here relishing the fact we could buy things if we wanted!

Lunch of hot baguette with camembert and cucumber mmmmm!!

Back into London, we decided to stay in here for the weekend and explore. The hostel had 3 storey beds! I was on the top bed and you got vertigo climbing to the top. I just hoped there wasn't an earthquake or anything!

Dinner on Brick Lane is a must when you visit London. It's almost like being back in Turkey again where every shop you walk by offers you 'special deals' etc. We ended up with a 2 course indian meal and a glass of wine for 6 euro! Not bad at all and the food was super yummy! We sat at a window seat and just watched all the people walking past hassled into eating there!

We finished off a perfect evening with half bake Ben and Jerry's ice cream! Mix of chocolate brownie and cookie dough! Best ice cream I have tasted!

We met a few of our roomates also gappies but from Ecuador! They were super lovely and now we have contacts there!

The next day we wandered around trafalgar sqaure and went to the national portrait gallery and the Tate modern musuem. Both of these were really really interesting!

We met with Alice at Camden again on Saturday and both got our upper ears pierced something we had both wanted to do for so long but hadn't had the guts!

With our new pierced ears we headed into the the markets once again for dinner... every stall calls out to you demanding that you try there food .. don't mind if i do... in the end falafel kebabs yum yum!! We met up with Georgia in the evening and convinced her to come out with us for the night! We met the other friends at the station where we saw the sign, platform 9 3/4 - we asked a lady to get a phto of us all with it (they had a trolly going halfway into the wall) and she missed the sign of the platform 9 3/4.

We tried to get into one of the biggest clubs in london comparable to ministry of sound but the waiting line was 2 hours and so we headed to another club and had a really awesome night! So good to see Georgia again! The clubs closed at 5am and we didn't have accomodation for the night so we slept in an internet cafe until the train opened, then headed back to the hostel from the night before and slept a couple of hours on the couch.

Lena's uncle lives in London so he picked us up for the day and took us around the sited of London, we went to a really great contemporary art museum and open air food markets where we had a polish meal was sooo yum! and went to spittlefield markets, another really cool clothes and accesories market. An amazing meal of mexican and we said our goodbyes. Off to catch our overnight bus to Scotland!

Arrived early morning into Edinburgh to a free breakfast and good hostel! The rooms werent ready so we explored the old town of Edinburgh, automatically we noticed the drop in temperature... maybe Scotland was not the best option for camping.

The free walking tour dragged us in and for 3 hours we wandered the streets of Edunburgh, the city is so beautiful and midevil and the atmosphere was wonderful, having a guide showing us everything and explaining everything made it soo much better. I would like to come back in winter and see the snow all over the castles etc.

At a famous gravesite our guide explained to us why there were cages over the graves, as Edinburgh used to have problems with body snatchers, these bodies would be sold for studies, so there were generally 2 options to save your body from this. Many wealthier people built cages over the graves, or if you couldn't afford this you had to hope that somebody would sit on your grave for 3 weeks- until your body had decomposed enough that is was useless for the studies.

We saw the cafe where Harry Potter was written and as we looked around you could see evidence of this, such as a cemetery close by with names like Tom Riddle etc and maybe the inspiration for Hogwarts castle comes from Edinburgh castle, these are things we would never have noticed wandering around by ourselves. And the story of Betty Malone, a woman condemned to death by hanging for adultery, she is pronounced dead and when on her way to the morgue the driver hears noises from the coffin, he drives back and she is almost hung again for a second time until people announce that she has already been punished for her actions (she has been announced dead from hanging) so they couldn't punish her again. There is now a famous pub and its said when somebody was being hung in the town square she would call out from her pub "don't worry it happened to me and i'm still alive"....

We passed up Haggis for a search of some pumpkin soup, something about the cold! We didn't find pumpkin bbut found an amazing vegan friendly restaurant/ cafe / bakery/ shop with amazing foods at reasonable prices and a lentil and apricot soup and organic homemade rolls! Such a great shop I am hoping I can find an equivilant in Wellington! I would live there! After our insides were warmed we headed up to climb the spire, 270 steps later we were so dizzy and claustrophobic and we stepped out into the view of enchanting Edinburgh. Castles and forts lined the skyline and beautiful grass and mountains in the distance, one of the most beautiful cities I have been, also the general lack of tourists was a big bonus!

Set out for first morning hitchiking, trouble finding a bus to take us out of town to a place we could get a ride from, but lovely old scottish man helped us out! The scottish seem so friendly and we chatted to old ladies on the bus, one of which had a son working in Te Kuiti, what a small world, although i think she knew New Zealand better than we did!

After hiking a while with our packs we found the perfect spot and within 20 minutes were nice and warm and in the company of an italian old man with challenging english, we tried to stop talking as when we did he would swerve all over the road trying to listen to us. He drove us only 20 minutes and then dropped us off in the middle of the highway after 20 minutes wandering we finally found a worthwhile spot and were pivked up by a lovely lady exclaiming we were her first hitchikers and she didnt want anything to happen to us so she picked us up. She gave us tips for our whole trip, but she could only take us another 20 minutes up the road. All in all not much luck today. We then waited at least 1 hour for our next ride the next one could only take us 20 minutes or so as well and dropped us off in the middle of the highway again. So as we were wandering down the highway trying to find a good place to stop a police car pulls up beside us, and says "do you know its an offense to walk on a highway" we were so worried we would get a fine but after feigning ignorant tourists they offered us a ride and took us to the exact place we were trying to get too! Was trying to control my laughter and smile! Best ride of the day! Arrived in the town at a Mc Donalds, hung here for hours and then found a paddock nearby to pitch the tent. We hoped the rest of our trip we were going to have better luck! It took us all day to travel 2 hours up the road!

We chucked the tent up and realised we couldn't find the pegs and also that when we put our packs in the tent, it went from a semi comfortable 2 person tent to half a metre of space for 2 people to sleep . I awoke to water dripping all over my face and the tent roof touching me and i was soaking wet! Never been so thankful to be in a McDonalds, i sat there for hours defrosting and reading my book.

Second day hitchiking, and off to a good start. We found a spot and within 10 seconds of putting our thumbs out a trucky pulls over, hes going 30 miles away from our final destination. We drove in style for 3 hours, me sitting on the bed and lena on the comfy seats, we were in heaven! The trucky was so nice, then he started to talk about that he was in the army and could kill a man with his hands and that the other day he spotted a deer on the road that had just been hit so he pulled over and took the meat off and took it home! We had our pepper spray ready 😉

He also told us about a friend who had picked up a girl by herself and when he stopped at her place she demanded his money and said she would scream rape if he didnt give it to her and proceeded to start attacking herself . It was so intersting as the whole thing about hitchiking is such a big trust thing, for the hitchiker and the person picking you up as well!

He dropped us off in the perfect spot and we stuck our thumbs out once again. A car pulled over so we grabbed our bags and headed over unable to se through the tinted windows after a few awkward moments they wound down the window and said "sorry girls we are just pulling over to make a call!" So awkward! Thankfully a couple saved us and took us to Inverness. They chatted away and were super lovely introducing us to their sons bands music- really good and that they would be touring in New Zealand soon! I told them we would definately be at the concert. They dropped us right in the middle of the town.

We found a hostel for the night and went for a walk around. Such a beautiful town and soo green! It's almost like home, so much grass and sheep! Scotland hostels introduced us to the concept of free hot chocolates, maybe they wish they didnt...

Next day bus to Lochness, we passed Chris (he was hitchiking as well and had just stopped with the people giving him a ride to mow some lawns haha) We got another ride from to castle to Fort Augutsus with a lovely australian couple. Everyone who has picked us up has been amazing and overwhelmed me with their hospitality.

Of course we went nessie spotting and had a picnic lunch with our eyes out to the water waiting for the loch ness monster to show its face.. no such luck! Fort Augustus was another really beautiful town, with a big system of loches and we watched as a huge shipped passed through, trying to decided how they worked, we then went to try and find some highland cows... quite possibly the cutest animals ever! I fell in love with them and really wanted to get a photo! If they could have fitted in my backpack there would have been problems...

It started to rain as we headed out to hitchike again, a car of guys drove past once then twice and then in total 5 times, each time doing something different but not looking at us, just winding down windows / loud music etc so funny... I dont think they had seen hitchikers before.

Finally a canadian picked us up and dropped us off in Fort William. It was a horrible day and we couldnt see much, but luckily we found a good hostel and made ourselves comfortable. Automatically we wished we had more time here, as the trails for hiking and biking looked like so much fun and after all the cities it would have been nice to get back to nature for a few days.

Another epic outing to tescoes, another canadian who went with us couldnt believe how much time we spent choosing and generally browsing all the lanes, derived so much pleasure from tescoes, we could afford good food! Soups and garlic bread!!!MMMM could live on this!

Next morning bus to Glencoe (the most beautiful glen in Scotland) but we didn't make it there our bus dropped us off in the town which was beautiful anyways and it wasn't until we caught a ride that we realised we hadn't been to actual Glencoe it was 15 minutes up the road. The guy who picked us up offered to drive us back as he felt so bad we didn't get to see it, but was a bad day and we have decided we are definately coming back to Scotland! He drove us all the way to Oban (20 minutes out of his way.) We then checked into a hostel and met a girl from England and wandered around the town and to an old castle. Free hot chocolate again and of course the day would not be complete without a trip to tecoes!

Early ferry in the morning to one of the scottish isles, called Mull. Absolutely beautiful day the scenery blew us away! After arriving we decided to walk to the famous town of Tobbermorey(known after a childs tv show was based on here, the houses are all different colours) it was further than expected but a couple picked us up along the way When they found out we were from New Zealand they wouldn't stop raving about their trip there! Makes me so proud to be from New Zealand and when people rave about it, its so nice! They drove us the 40 minute drive to the town and pointed out their house along the way and that if we had any problems just come and knock on their door. The scottish are the lovliest people, I have loved hitchiking as it gave us a chance to meet locals and as corny as it sounds it restores your faith in humanity and the legnths people go out of their way to help you.

The town was so cute, lining the harbour all old and colourful houses, we went for a small hike to a lighthouse, so nice to get into nature for a bit and scoped out a tenting spot. Although as the afternoon progressed the storm clouds were closing in. Our 20 pound unwaterproof tent probably was not going to be the best idea, we went to the hostel and asked price for the room, 19 euro! For the worst hostel and the reception was super bitchy so we said thankyou, we decided to tent but weather was closing in fast, we returned once again asking if they had any other options, we could share a bed, sleep on floor etc (alot of hostels offer this) and she just looked at us like we were the scum of the earth, we thanked her and walked out once again. An hour later the rain started to poor down so with our heads down we returned to the hostel and said we would pay, when she looked up and saw us we recieved the dirtiest look, I wish out of general principle I could have stayed somewhere else but there was no other options. We made oursleves comfortable, although it said youth hostel we would have been the only people under 60 years old!

Early morning we were kicked out of the hostel and our food was thrown away as they shut the hostel from 10am. So we headed out into the rain and decided to head back to Oban as we didn't want to stay another night in that place!

We hoped there was accomodation at the hostel in Oban again and there was, we had many hot chocolates and planned our trip to Ireland. Next day we started to head to glasgow for our flight the next day. It was so cold and rainy, my fingers felt like they were going to fall off. We finally caught a ride with a lovely scottish woman, within 5 minutes in her car she offered us her house next time we are in scotland and proceeded to write down all her contact details. The hospitality in Scotland has blown me away! We then caught another ride with an awkward german guy, was super lovely though and he had no planned destination so decided to go to Glasgow with us, when we realised our flight was not from that airport but an airport 45 minutes out of town we asked for him to drop in the city and we would catch a train but he said he would take a detour and drop us at the airport! Couldn't have asked for a better drive! The day was made even better when we arrived at the airport first to find that they didn't close for the night, learnt to ask after morocco 😊 and they had comfortable benches without arm rests to sleep on plus we had lots of food! Felt like christmas! I'm beginning to appreciate the little things but especially a roof over my head.

Dublin! Arrived to a free breakfast. The hostel was one of the best so far, it had a hammock room, cinema, music room, computer room but our room was huge with 20 people!

The walking tour was super long about 3 and a half hours and not a lot to see in Dublin. Felt sorry for the guide though, half the group had disappeared by the time it ended. Then quickly to the museum to see the bog people, we studied about them in english and they had 3 bodies perfectly preserved. These bodies were sacrifices to the god of fertility and it was thought that by sacrificing somebody, the next season would be good. These bodies are so well preserved you can make out all facial features, expressions, and some still had the noose that had killed them. Super interesting seeing something studied about.

Lots of great people in our room then pub crawl! Had our first Guinness's, actually really good! The first pub filled all my expectations of Ireland, traditional live irish music and irish people everywhere! I was in my element, and didn't want to leave but when they said we were heading to the pub where P.s I love you was filmed (Galway girl scene for any fans out there) so I quickly moved on! Had great night, even had an offer for a free van, somehow i knew that one wasn't going to work out! 😊

Early morning to start a day of hitchhiking, worst day we have had! I should learn not to listen to people at information centers, we caught the recommended bus an hour out, then arrived to find we should have taken another bus so returned to dublin then out to this place.. morning gone and not feeling 100 % we found an amazing spot and waited... and waited.. and waited. There were so many people going past and a perfect place to pull over but no one stopped! An hour in it started to pour with rain and then sleet and was so cold! We gave up 2 hours in and headed to the tram then caught a bus to Cork.
So we wasted all day plus lots of money.

Finally arrived to Cork and met our host, he was so nice and we chatted until we all started to fade, woke up to the sound of rain, something we would get used to in our week in Ireland, explored none the less and went to the Blarney Castle. The legion goes, if you kiss the blarney stone you receive the gift of the gab. The area around was beautiful and lots of walks and gardens, easily enough to keep you busy for the day. Again a problem with time so we climbed the castle and kissed the stone... as if I didn't talk enough already I now have the gift of the gab for 7 years.

We then hitchiked to Kilarney with an awkward guy who didn't talk but then was akward when it was silent so kinda glad to get out. Next one was another guy with a little dog, who proceeded to vomit on my seat haha not soo impressed, Lena was laughing as was typical that happened to me as I don't like dogs. He again took us further than he was going and drove us up to the gap of dunloe, which without him we would never have been able to go there.

Arrived at hostel, and did as the Irish do, went to a pub had a guiness and listened to live irish music, such a nice change from clubs. Next morning 6 hour bus tour around the ring of kerry, another horrible wet day. On our bus was a choir from the netherlands and they sang along the way, best part of the trip! Lunch stop was at a restaurant advertising the best view in the whole of Ireland (fog permitting) the fog was definitely not permitting and the view in front of me was vast whiteness.

Irish coffee was consumed, not by me, but it consists of coffee, shot of whisky, brown sugar and cream.

Luckily it started to clear up and I can understand why on a beautiful day this would be the best place to visit in Ireland. Fingers were all crossed that we would be able to see the Cliffs of Moher. We arrived just in time, it was still very foggy but we could make out the impressiveness of the cliffs, just in time too, 5 minutes later it had clouded in and you couldn't even make out the perimeters of the cliffs.

Although we headed to mini cliffs, these were amazing and had no barriers so we really felt like it was something dangerous. The landscape was covered in limestone hence all the fences mad out of stones, this was somebody's job to clear the limestone from the fields, although every year there is less and less as the acid rain and pollution are erroding it. The guide said that in the next 100 years there will be no limestone left. We finally decided to give into our fish and chips urge.... the thought is always so much better than the reality!

Back to the house and a german and american couple were there as well and super lovely so we chatted and drank cheap red wine then headed out to a pub with live music (although they wouldn't play galway girl for me!) Next morning bus back to dublin and airport for the night.

Next stop, GERMANY!

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