Meeting up

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Arrive in London at 1:30pm, and get a cab to the Royal National Hotel, where I had a room booked for the night. Get everything sorted out at 'The Basement' which handles all the Contiki bookings, and met Bridget in there. She had only landed at Heathrow that morning and looked very tired.

After getting everything sorted in my room and having a quick refresh, I went down to the hotel reception where I was to meet Kylie. I didn't know what she looked like so just waited around to see if there was anyone that looked like they were waiting for me. I noticed someone sitting down reading that kept looking up, so I asked if she was Kylie. Thankfully this was Kylie.

We left the hotel and made off in the direction I thought was Covent Garden. However, as the hotel as two entrances we actually left from the opposite one to what I had thought so we started walking in the wrong direction. Only I could do that! Anyway, we were having a really good chat about things, like what she'd done for the previous few days in London, and also how Siena was, which was where she had been for a work conference.

After realising we had gone the wrong way, we turned back and headed the right way to Covent Garden! On arrival, we looked around for a nice little café and found one undercover in the main market area. The food was nice, and so was the conversation.

An hour or so on, and we decided it was time to move on. We stopped and watched a classical music performance by one of the up-and-coming groups, and then watched some street performances at the far end of the square. Finally, we went and had a few drinks at Punch and Judy's which was really nice too. The weather had been perfect, and it was a great start to my holiday.

We made our way back as we were to attend a pre-departure meeting back at the hotel, where we could find out more info on the tour, and also find out what the arrangements would be for the 6:15am departure in the morning. However on arriving at my room, there had been two more people arrive, and their bags were there, but that was it. Shortly after I had got back, the two guys came in. They were Dylan and Karl and they were from Adelaide, and were doing the same tour as me. They were two pretty cool guys.

Everyone that was going on a Contiki tour (four separate tours were leaving the next morning) met up in the coffee bar there, where we were introduced to our tour guide, Paul, and driver, Craig.

I got my suitcase weighed and all the documentation handed over and logged. Then we all went off to the 'London Pub', located within the hotel. I introduced myself to quite a few people on the tour, and they did the same.

It was decided after an hour or so, that some of us wanted to have a night out, to start the tour off in style, so we made our way to the nearest ‘Walkabout’ bar. I forget which one it was, but it could have been the one at Covent Garden.

A group of around seven of us went. If I remember rightly it was Dylan and Karl, who I was sharing the hotel room with that night, Kylie, Bridget, Michelle, Jo and Charl. The tunes were good, and the drink was flowing. Dylan and Karl had even bought a big round of 40 shots for us all to share, which was generous of them.

We stayed until about 1am, before getting a taxi back to the hotel, so that we would have at least some sleep before the early start tomorrow.

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