European Getaway - Day 20 - Amsterdam to London

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Day 20 - Amsterdam to London

Another early start today, as we enter the final day of the tour, our trip back to England’s green and pleasant land. I pack my bag for the final time and head down for some bread for breakfast. The reception area is packed as I believe there are four topdeck groups in the hostel. We make the brief trek to the main road to wait for Phil to pick us up. We jump on the coach and make our way through the Netherlands. Today we have a day stop in Bruges, Belgium. We begin the day with the birthday music as its Kristeen’s birthday. Looking around the coach there are a fair few ill people, I dunno if there’s something going around but I’m feeling fairly good.

We arrive in Bruges at lunchtime and have approx an hour to grab lunch and look around. I feel this isn’t enough time as it takes me almost half an hour to get a Subway and eat it. Afterwards I do a bit of shopping and get some sweets for work and chocolates for my mum. I also get a fridge magnet to add to my collection. I have accumulated 16 fridge magnets from my journey, unfortunately I don’t have one from everywhere we’ve been, as I only started doing it in Switzerland. I do however plan my spending to utilise usage of euro coins, leaving notes, which I can change back home (Typical bloody accountant).

As we return to the coach we say goodbye to 4 of our coach mates, Yvette, Lance, Carolina and Maria. I think this is where it hits me that we are saying goodbye to people I have thought of as family for the past few weeks. Yvette and Lance have been great friends to me and are on their way to live in Maastricht in the Netherlands for a year.

We then continue towards Calais, I manage to steal Yvette and Lance’s seat, giving me double seat to myself. We are passed an end of trip review form about Jess and Phil, which is clearly good feedback. Apart from Jess’s stories in Dresden, I found both to be great at their jobs and felt like they were part of all the social activities of the group, even when Jess was ill. I also got on well with Phil, as the only other European on the coach I felt we had some form of connection and he always took time out to chat with everyone on the bus.

We arrive at Calais in good time to catch the ferry two before the one we were meant to catch. We have to pass through customs and Jess has already lectured everyone, as the non-British people on the trip have to provide evidence of their onward travels to let them into the UK. We have to get off the coach and all speak to customs officials. I speak to a guy who is genuinely surprised I am actually British and not Australian with a British passport (which a few of our trip are doing as their parents were British). Luckily the officials let us all through.

We jump on board the ferry, and I purchase a copy of The Sun, it’s nice to catch up on British news, despite it being in The Sun, the main news is regarding the Tory party conference (I hate the Tories).

I spend most of the ferry in a lounge with Momma Jac, Nicole, Kat, Tahlia, Jaala, Simon and Lauren. I pop up to the food bar and grab a Cornish Pasty and chips, which turns out to be vegetarian pasty (I am well unimpressed). We watch some Tom and Jerry on the TV and then land in Dover.

It is nice to be back on British soil, as we wait for our feeder coach to pick us up. It arrives and we all jump on, to make the brief journey back to London. On the way we have Capital Gold or a similar station on and they play some classic tunes, which some of us sing along to. We then arrive back at the Clink hostel and we all jump off. We then say our goodbye’s on the pavement next to the coach. I must admit I do feel a bit teary saying goodbye to some of best friends I have ever met. It feels so sad that given they all live several thousand miles away, I will probably never see any of them again.

I head back to the Travelodge next door and find my room. It’s much better than the room I had before my trip. I have a double bed, a warm shower and a room to myself, although would trade it to hang around with my topdeck friends again. I feel that although I said goodbye on the pavement earlier, I feel I haven’t got closure on the trip, there were a few people I didn’t say goodbye to and generally I just feel incredibly sad.

I realise I need some dinner, but other than the local Maccers, I dunno where to go. I drop a text to the one person from the trip who I have a number for but no reply. I decide to pop across the road to get a can of pop and then sit outside the hotel and hope I see any of my topdeck friends going past.
Luckily I spot Gerard, the guys from Sydney, Lucy, Annaliese, Mel, Mel, Brendan, Jess and Tammy. They are going out for dinner and I tag along, I suspect they think I am a bit of a sad loner, but it’s slightly my own fault for not staying at the clink. We head to a pub but it seems full, so head across the road for a curry. I don’t really eat curry but enjoy a Tandoori mixed grill. I then head back to the hostel after saying a further goodbye to my aussie and kiwi friends, I feel much better now.


CONCLUSION

I hope anyone reading this travel blog will realise how much I enjoyed my topdeck tour, which I would recommend to anyone. In fact I would go as far to say ‘I fookin loved it’.

Not only were the places I visited amazing, and the people I met, who were also amazing, it was a life changing experience for me. Before the trip I have struggled a bit personally, I admit that I don’t have huge numbers of friends back home, I don’t really go out that much and I struggle in social situations. On this trip I have opened up a bit, made lots of new friends and made an effort to go out more, have a dance, try new food and enjoy myself.

If you have read the whole blog you probably realise that I am a bit of a loser, when it comes to girls. Anyway if you have read my entire blog, you'll know that over the tour I grew to fancy another member of the tour, who I refer to as ‘She who must not be named’, who despite fancying her for over half the trip, I didn’t tell her I fancied her, as I am a complete chicken. I dunno if she ever found out that I liked her, from the numerous people I told whilst drunk in Berlin, but I wish I could turn back time, grow some balls and tell her. She is the most amazing person I have ever met and I didn’t want her to not like me as a friend for any point of the trip, just by her knowing my real feelings. I have decided not to mention the girls name simply as not to cause her any embarrasment if she reads this blog, and would appreciate it if anyone reading this blog who was part of my trip, who I told about who I fancied doesn't post it on this blog, however if you are reading this and think I may be referring to you, please drop me a message. I promise to own up if 'She who must not be named' confronts me about it, but please note, I have been genuine about my feelings towards this mystery lady throughout my blog and am not trying to use this blog to pull or indeed declare my love towards her. It's just I'd like to convey my thoughts from the trip and clearly a part of my trip was my emotions and lack of courage towards a certain lady.....ok enough about my uselessness (is that even a word).

I must point out that writing this whole journal is a bit personal, the story of this trip is my own personal account of my journey, with my own personal views and opinions. I must say that I genuinely liked all 46 of my fellow travellers and Jess and Phil, and I hope everyone liked me.


Anyway, I think that is all that needs to be said, the conclusion to my European Getaway.

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