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Staying positive and enjoying every second of your trip can become extremely difficult when you’re driving around the English countryside minus a GPS, with smudgy, black and white photocopied map, some vague Google directions and no frikkin street signs.
We arrived in London early on Thursday. The flight from Bangkok was great – we both slept at least 8 hours and were bursting with energy when we landed. Given we arrived so early at the hotel I’d expected us to be wandering around in old plane clothes waiting for a room to be free, but we were able to check in straight away and shower – it was the best thing on the planet. Things were going perfectly.
Once we freshened up we decided to head out. The weather was surprisingly warm and not a cloud in the sky. We were staying in Knightsbridge, so a quick walk through a park filled with tulips and daffodils took us directly to Buckingham Palace. And because the stars seemed to be aligning perfectly for us, we passed by the Palace right on time to see the changing of the guards – pretty impressive stuff.
The rest of the day was
Lost
Me desperately writing down the information I had on my screen grabbed maps before the laptop battery ran outspent walking around, getting our bearings and trying to ignore the heavy blanket of fatigue that started weighing on us. But eventually the jetlag took over and we were back in our hotel for a quick afternoon nap by 5pm. We didn’t wake up until the next morning.
On Friday we were Oxford bound for Jasmin and Alec’s wedding. I’d spent some time researching the best ways to get around Oxfordshire, as we’re staying near Abingdon, a small town south of Oxford; the wedding is going to be in Little Wittenham, another town yet again. There are buses and trains and various taxi services, but I figured by the time we’d paid for all those things we’d be better off hiring a car.
Note to self: when booking a hire car in a foreign country, ALWAYS reserve a GPS when prompted.
It turns out that it’s a long weekend here and by the time we picked up the car and I realised that we actually would need a GPS after all, they’d all gone. And I don’t think I’ve ever needed one so badly – this is the most difficult to navigate place I’ve been to in
The Dog House
Finally arrived! my life. THERE ARE NO STREET SIGNS! Well there are, sometimes, halfway down the road you’re already driving on, on the ground and often covered by bushes. Taking a wrong turn out here is very easy to do, and unfortunately for us, a 20-30 minute drive from Oxford to our B&B just outside Abingdon turned into a two hour nightmare of wrong turns, getting taken on stretches of motorway to other towns, circling back on ourselves, going up and down the same roads trying to find signs, pulling over to ask locals for directions, and me on the verge of tears trying not to lose it in the nightmare of it all.
But we’re here now. And it’s lovely. An old English inn with a cute room and a pub and a nice little outdoor area. Although it’s a bit cold to spend too much time outside.
Last night we caught up with Jasmin and were treated to some Indian pre-wedding rituals with her and her family (Alec was banned so was at the pub). It was very cool; lots of saris and henna and powdered paint and putting bangles in milk and dancing with sticks. Not to
Lovely
It was just such a nice treat to be able to see all these traditional ceremonies with Jasmin's family. Really opened our eyes to something different. mention literally bucket loads of amazing food.
And today is the big day. Very exciting, can’t wait to see how it turns out!
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