London!!

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After arriving customs was no issue and they let me straight through, I followed the directions to the tube(4 - $12) and after 2 transfers lugging all my luggage with me I was in Piccadilly circus where the hostel was supposed to be, but I didn’t have any address!! But I was lucky enough to find a guy who knew exactly where it was and led me straight to it😊 after I had booked in I was really tired had been stopping myself from sleeping on the tube ride, but I went for a walk around the area, and was propositioned by 2 prosies, walked past about 4 strip clubs and was offered drugs buy at least one guy!! Welcome to Soho!

8th Sept
Woke up early 7ish as I was still getting used to the local time(11hr behind NZ so your day is my night) and went down to get my “complimentary” breakfast which turns out to be two pieces of toast lol and while standing in line to try and get it I was wondering how in the world I was going to find Erica(friend from the states who I haven’t seen in 10ish years) in a hostel with 7 floors and no TV, common, internet or kitchen to speak of. Luckily she was having breakfast at the same time😊 took us about 5min to actually recognize each other! But it all turned out well we(she had 2 friends with her as well) got ticket for the original bus tour of London(20 - $60) which is a hop on hope of topless tour bus that goes all around London with commentary. We stopped at Buckingham palace first and watched the changing to the guards, then got a tour of the state rooms of Buckingham palace(20 - $60) which was really amazing and actually worth the $, took us about 2hrs and included an audio accompaniment that explained everything we were seeing. They hardly ever open the palace so we were really lucky to be there when they had it open to the public. Unfortunately we managed to look both of her friends in the palace and ended up waiting for an hour and talking to the guards and palace cops to try find them! Failing to do so we decided to take the complementary boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich (included in the bus ticket) which was also amazing going under all the bridges and stopping in Greenwich home of GMT(Greenwich Mean Time. ) and the meridian line. Afterwards we took the tube back to the hostel to find her friends. It was about 6 so I left her too it and decided to take a short nap, so I would be fresh to see London’s night life.


9th Sept
When I woke up it was morning (7am)lol so much for London’s night life, the grandpa had struck again hahah
I was rather starving as I had missed both lunch and dinner the previous day so I took double helpings of toast=) didn’t see Erica or her friends there so I decided to go for a walk to oxford rd and pick up my bank card at the HSBC, so I left a not for them and headed off, when I finally got there 3km later the bank was shut till 10.30 as it was a Saturday lol so I walked back to the hostel and tried to look for Erica again room was empty and no one in the breakfast room. So I left another note that I’d catch up wit them that night caught the original bus around London a bit then went back to oxford street and picked up my card, and applied for a free credit card(no fees!) and spent a couple hours looking for a cell phone after about 6 shops and heaps of different options I finally found the nokia 3220 for only 9.99p - $30ish but I had to put 30p credit on it, well worth it I thought as the nearest other one was 50p and it would only have 10p credit. But of course the only had one left in stock and it had already been sold but they did say they would have more on Monday. So I headed back to the bus and jumped off at st pauls cathedral, I had picked up 6 pieces of fruit for a pound($3) which I had for lunch in the garden there and I explored some of the building and visited the crypt beneath it where they have a cafeteria lol and the entrance hall as well as the whole outside, but decided it wasn’t worth the 20p entrance fee to see the whole thing.
I caught the bus back to Piccadilly and looked for the girls again but no luck, so I had a shower and then headed out on the town had a cider(yes a cider over the bar and out the keg) bit odd drinking alone in a bar full of people but was alright, I then went exploring for a place to dance or similar and managed to find 3 gay bars many many strip clubs, prosies and drug dealers before I found anything lol so after such an odd evening I decided to turn in and get some rest as I had to move hostels.

10th Sept
Up early again and still failed to find Erica?? So I went down the road to an internet café and searched for hostels, thinking I had found on in Swiss cottage I tried to call them but was too early so I had another look for Erica but having no luck I packed my bags and caught the tube to the area, after about 20 min of walking with all my luggage I found the place I was looking for but they weren’t sticking to the prices I had found online as they said it was cheaper to book online, so I got out my laptop and found a wireless connection the was unsecured and latched onto it;-p I did have to got to the top of a pair of stairs and hold the laptop just right to get it to work but I managed to find another place just down the road, so I left my luggage with them and took just my valuables and searched the other place out. I found it but they could only offer a week rate of 150p - $450 a week!!! But they did know of another place just down the road. So I took a walk and found Palmers Lodge it’s a converted listed building(so classic old Victorian building) and it is almost totally redone brand new, free wireless internet and only 10p - $30 a night with is cheap as in London. So I booked 3 nights and lugged my entire luggage over😊 it even has lock box’s under the bed. After getting everything unpacked and sorted I went up the road or expensive classic buildings to the town center, I have never seen so many expensive cars in one place, porch, Mazerati, Bentley, Ferrari I felt like I was on a Top Gear show lol really expensive area, in the town center I found a Crepe place with a really long queue so I joined in and bought the best Crepe I have ever had!!! Mushroom cheese and garlic(3p - $9) while it may seem expensive it’s pretty cheap by London standards. Then went back to the hostel and went to there hostel bar and got a 2p-$6 beer(cheap by London standards) and joined in a drinking game, after which we went to the local hang out and drank some more after which we went to the local Australian bar;-p and had a bit more to drink!


11th Sept
Woke up and got my free breakfast, coffee orange juice, cereal, a croissant and a piece of fruit!! Then headed back to oxford street to get my cell, sadly none in stock but I got the address of another shop on Bakers st which did have on in stock, still recovering from the night before I hadn’t brought my address or anything else so the guy couldn’t register the phone for me!! So pulling out the reserves of thought power I have just for emergencies;-p I jumped online at a local net café and got the post code by searching it online. So with new cell in hand I bought a map book and lunch and eat it in a local park😊 after which I tried to catch a bus back to the hostel. Having bought an oyster card(like a bus train card) that gives good discounts and you only have to swipe it, instead of having to pay each time, and you just top it up like a cell phone. Anyway back to the point, I managed to go totally wrong but did end up at the London government buildings which are said to be 4 stories up and 6 down lol, has ird navy etc, so I had a look at those and then went for a walk around the area, then caught the right bus back to the hostel. Once back I went to the local grocery store and bought some provisions tomatoes cheese and bread lol.
Diner was 2min noodles and caned fake meet from Singapore haha lol

12th Sept
Spent the whole day on my laptop and the net applying for jobs(got 3 calls looking for more info but haven’t had an interview yet?) and looking for vans on eBay, my current plan is a Suzuki carry van;-p on of those mini bread box’s lol cheap on gas but rather small…. They even get a 1200cc diesel version called a dihatu hijet!!
Had dinner in the hostel pub nachos lol

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Photos

Hostel
the room

London
Picadily

London
interesting places;-p

London
interesting places;-p

London
interesting places;-p

London
interesting places;-p

London
the queen

London
St pauls

London
monument to the great fire

London
not london bridge;p actually tower bridge

London
not london bridge;p actually tower bridge

London
cool park i found

London
hyde park

London
hyde park

London
Govt building, square

London -new hostel
flash hostel

London -new hostel
flash hostel

London -new hostel
flash hostel