Sunday 23-11 - The End.

This post marks the end of my travels. The time has come to restart everything put on hold. My life continues.

I spent more than six months planning for this year. Its hard to believe that its all over. Now the potential of the future is the memory of the past. For the most part, good memories. This year has had good times and bad times. Times of anger at myself and the world. Times of joy and gladness and comfort. Feeling close and feeling alone. Ups and downs.

I have traveled by

-Plane
-Train
-Bus
-Tram
-Funicular
-Subway/metro
-Taxi
-Sherut
-Car
-Minivan
-Boat
-Ferry
-Felucha
-Donkey
-Camel
-Horse and cart
-Segway
-Piggyback ride
-Foot

I´ve been pelted with tomatoes.


I´ve slept outside a Spanish train station.


I climbed and volcano and swam in a volcanic spring.


I did things I could have otherwise only dreamed of doing.



When I left, I had an idea in my head of the person I was going to be when all this was done. I didn´t know how I was going to become that person, I didn´t even know what that person was supposed to be like. I guess I had on of these movie ideas, getting of the plane transformed.

Now I have stepped off the plane. I don´t think I am that perfect person I imagined. But now I know what type of person I want to become. I know what it is I need to achieve. I think that might be better. I have something to strive for now, a path to follow.

Thanks everyone for reading this blog and following my journey. It has meant a lot that you could all share it with me. It made me feel a little less homesick, when I was feeling blue.

So here I go. Back into the world. Into my life. Into the next great adventure.

Wish me luck.

Friday 21-11 and Saturday 22-11 - Flight home

The day started with sad farewells from the flatmates. Then Dani and I left hers. I made sure I had every with me.

Getting to Karens flat I realised I had left both my laptop cable and my phone. But we were hungry and hadn´t eaten yet. So we went to the over priced and touristy but interesting My Old Dutch pancake house. They specialise in bizarre combinations on thin enormous crepes.

I had a small starter of cheese baked in bread crumbs. Then chicken curry and chutney pancake. Very strange. Dani and I were both quiet. It hadn´t quite hit me before, but I was so close to leaving London for what could be a very long time. There were so many things I had gotten used to. So many things I had gotten comfortable with. I was going to miss this crazy city.





I tubed back to Danis to get my forgotten bits and then returned. I finished packing and got ready to leave. In the end I had taken my winter boots out of my bag and posted 2 kilos of books by sea mail. Hopefully these things would keep me under the weight limit. Then Dani and I sat watching bad American TV until the time came. I tried not to make a big deal out of it, after all we would see each other three weeks later. But it was emotional.

I was 3 kilos over weight, but the lady let me through without mentioning it for some reason. I did put on the young, lost and hopeless girl routine. Maybe that helped. You just have to tie your hoodie around your waste and look terrified. I looked for free wifi, but couldn´t find any. So I found a quiet spot to draw the time away.



We were 45 minutes to an hour late in taking off. I didn´t really mind. I watched The Incredible Hulk and The Incredibles, then the Big Bang Theory. There was Chinese chicken with rice for dinner which wasn´t too bad. The sleep was ok. There was a full plane. But the guy next to me disappeared 20 minutes into the flight, so I had 2 seats to sleep on. I enjoyed the breakfast they served. It had the yummy lemon and orange yogurt I tried at Karens. The eggs weren´t bad.

On landing there were a bunch of names called over the loud speaker that had to report to the ground staff. Mine was one of them.. I´ve never had my name called over an airport or plane speaker. It was interesting. Except that we had no idea what it was for. I thought thats just what I need, a lost bag to deal with. It turns out they just had to re-enter some passport numbers for some reason.

The idea of Australia started to excite me. I was liking more and more the idea of being beck there. Everywhere I went waiting to board, there were Australian accents. The flight over was short and easy. My mum and dad were waiting for me at the airport.

It was raining, pouring as I stepped out into the Perth air. It was a gorgeous night. I as tired, but buzzing. I was home.

Thursday 20-11 - Trek for tiles

I woke up early enough to good bye to Karen and Aiden before she left for work. It was sad. But I knew it probably be too long before I saw her again. The nanny came to look after Aiden and I said a good bye to him. The next time I saw him, he would be much much older.

I set off to Danis. We went out to our favourite local for a huge and unfinishable breakfast. The plan was to stay around the house and watch movies together. I realised I had things of Karens I needed to get back to her,I so I tubed back to the flat first. When I returned Dani and Maria had already left the house to go on a house errand. So I joined them.

The massive party on Saturday had left the roof ties in a wreck, so Myles had ordered some new tiles and asked the girls to pick them up. He said a few of us should, as they might be heavy. We took the bus to Bow church. Then walked in the bitter cold for what seemed like a strangely long time. We should have looked at a map book sooner. We had gone the wrong way and walked half way home. We were too tired to walk back so we took another bus back up the road.

Back to where we started. We finally found the address, only to see posters all around that read:

We have moved.

We decided we weren´t going to give up on this, so we walked in the direction of the new shop. 15 minutes and a few wrong turns later we found the tiles shop. We looked very out of place, three small girls in nice clothes lost among the bricks, fork trucks and large men in reflective vests. We stumbled into the office and up to the counter.

We told the nice guy there which order was ours. He looked at us and said ¨Did you bring a car?¨
He subtlely laughed at us when we said no. Apparently Myles had ordered many large, heavy tiles and not fully explained this us. Somehow the three of us would have to get these home.

The man was a champ though, he called a minicab for us and even took some money off the price because he felt sorry for us. Over the awkward next half hour we got the tiles into the car and back to the curb of Dani´s house. It took two people a time and three trips to get them all upstairs. It gave us a sense of satisfaction though.

Then came our reward. we sat on Dani´s bed. We drank hot chocolate with mint baileys, ate biscuits and watched the Tick. It was a good afternoon. In the evening I said goodbye to the room mates in the kitchen. The boys went up for a bit of late night roof tiling and we settled or a quiet and relaxing evening. This was my last night in London. In Europe.

For a while at least.

Wednesday 19-11 - Welcome

Dani and I met up. We went to the Wellcome collection. It was a collection started by the explorer Henry Wellcome. It is an exploration of medicine, health and the human body. We had wanted to check it out for ages, but had never gotten around to it. But time was running out. The exhibit was an interesting mix of art and interactive activities. There were sounds chairs that talked to you when you sat on them.



An assortment of human body themed pieces.





There were see through bodies with flashing lights and exhibits about obesity.





We decided to move into the design museum next. So we tubed to tower bridge. The sky was so amazingly bright. Maybe it was my leaving that made the twilight all the more vivid. I was really going to miss this place.







We got lost on the way to the museum. By the time we got there the place was almost closed. There was enough time to drool over everything in the gallery shop before heading back. We took the longer route, strolling down the water front.

It was the last evening I was going to spend with Karen and Aiden for a while. So we wanted to make it special. Well, special enough for Thai take out and wine. We drank and watched TV. Topped off by Dani going out to get crunchie icecream.

Tuesday 18-11 - Hummus and haircuts

I finally got around to getting a fringe trim. It was getting to point of vision obstruction. But I had a nice chat with my London hairdresser. I told her about my tattoo and then she told me about hers. We shared stories about pain and itching.

I walked down to the British Museum to pick up the last bits on my list. It was good to get things done. I was supposed to meet Dani for lunch but it was going to be a late lunch. So I walked down to Long Acre to H&M to pick up the bits I saw the day I forgot my purse. I found a spotted shirt, black skirt and blue vest.

I met Dani for a late lunch. We went to Hummus Bros, a place that specialised in hummus and pita based dishes. Mine was a ring of hummus and a tomato sauce chicken centre.



The rest of the night was a chilled evening of rosé wine.

Monday 17-11 - Too much

Monday I spent trying to organise my life and my leaving. I suddenly realised that there was not long to go before I got on that plane back to the rest of my life. I had built up a lot of memories over this year. I had also built up a lot of things. It hit me that I only had 20 kilos of check in baggage. The bits and pieces I had built up far exceeded that by the look of things.

Just the books weighed a ton. Or five kilos to be exact. Gifts weighed up to 7, the bag itself came in at 5. Already I was up to 17 kilos of 20. I would probably have to post some things back home to make the limit.

Aiden was back from his day out. I played with him for a while. I was really going to miss his little smile.

I had to go out and fetch more E45 cream, seeing I had left the tub at Dani. I needed the moisturizer for the tattoo, once a day or the first 2 weeks. It kind of helped to sooth. There was still a bit of flaking. But the itching was also starting. I kept wanted to scratch, but wasn´t allowed to. It got worse at night, so I took my mind off it with TV.

Sunday 16-11 - Aftermath

We woke up at 9am. The sleep wasn´t great, but it was better than nothing. The music was still pumping in the other room. Dani and I got up to have a look. There were still people dancing on Maria´s dance floor. A few were huddled on the couches. The stair cases were clogged with people half dazed.

In the light I could finally get a good look at the state of the place. It wasn´t pretty. The floors were covered in club scum. Everything secured had been torn apart. The bed was covered in mysterious stains. There was dirt on parts of the wall no one could even reach. Out of the bedroom followed the trails of empty cans and bottles. There were unmentionable things in the toilets and showers.

My head was hurting despite the small amount of alcohol I had drunk. I was annoyed at all people,especially those who showed so little respect for other peoples things. Michael was manning the laptop music. None of the other house mates were anywhere to be seen.

After surveying the damage Michael and I picked up some garbage bags, bottles of cleaner and paper towels. We shut down the music and started picking up the sea of trash in Maria´s. I opened up curtains in hope of persuading the hangers on to leave. They just wouldn´t go. It was 11 or so before the dancing stopped.

We were feeling awful and had to get our of the house. So Michael, Dani, myself and 2 other guys walked down the road to an old mans pub. We had a pint and lunch. I had pad Thai. It was spicier than I expected and ended up making me feel even worse, but at least it was food in my stomach. We sat there for as long as we could, putting off the inevitable clean up.

But enough was enough. We walked back and continued the clean. The stragglers were gone. Dani went up to the roof to check the damage and I followed. There were broken tiles, caved in areas and for some reason a fire extinguisher.

I started mopping floors while other tackled the surfaces and the kitchen. After a while I decided I had done enough. I went to Karen´s to finish my recovery. When I got there I found out that Aiden had also not been feeling well. Neither had the babysitter. It seems that this virus had been all over the city.

I showered and rested for the rest of the night.

15-11 - The tattoo party

I as feeling better the next morning. Not 100 percent though. My appetite wasn´t really back yet. Perth/Bristol friend Michael had arrived the night before and slept on Dani´s floor. While Dani as at work we started decorating the room. Josh and Michael and I set off to find the pieces we needed.

I knew that the cheap junk shops we needed were somewhere near the place. But ended up walking the complete wrong way. We walked all around the place and got even more lost. Luckily Josh´s phone had GPS and found our location. We took the long circle route to Brick Lane.

A good part of the afternoon was spent finding the shops we needed. But we found them. We got a dart board and playing cards for Danis room, plus a couple boxes of fairy lights for both rooms. Back at the house the boys strung up the cards while I drew pin up girls.







Both rooms were looking amazing.



It was about then that all the girls came home. We cleaned up the rooms to make then Party safe. Mostly it meant covering things up or dumping them in the lockable room upstairs. Then the girls, Josh and Michael went to Tescos to stocks up on drinks. A little bit of food also.



We covered Danis desk with the 280 or so temporary tattoos we had bought and cut up. I hoped people would get into them.



I certainly did.





The specified start time for the party had passed and people had begun to trickle in. Dani kept telling Josh and I to wait in one room or another. She would busily run about the rest of the house organising her present to us. Finally she was ready to give it to us. We were brought to Felicity´s room, followed by the other party goers. Maria and Felicity were sitting on the back of the bed, while Dani and her band mate Jason sat at the front. He had a glockenspiel and she had a pink ukulele.

With the girls doing vocal back up and accompanied by Jason, she sung the Triptych song. It was really beautiful. I was speechless by the end. Every word every line made me smile and made me almost shed a tear.



It was a really nice start to the night. Soon the lap top in Maria´s room was replaced by a mixing desk accompanied by huge speakers. The night was heating up. Roommate Myles was first to play D.



We started getting into the atmosphere as more and more people showed up.



The tattoo room as working well. On arriving at the party,everyone would stop off there. There were tattoos on arms and backs and foreheads (my favourite). It helped to connect everyone to the theme and to each other. Most people didn´t know most of the other partiers. The invites had gone out from 7 or so people each inviting their own friends. So the crowd was diverse.





I was having a pretty good time,even though I only knew a handful of people. But I was not yet over the virus I had the day before. Every time I drank some of my cider I felt sick. So I sipped only and drank far less than I had expected to. I wasn´t getting into the celebrations as much as I had hoped either. The rooms were getting pretty crowded, so I followed a bunch of people up onto the roof.





We talked about there for a while. The roof was also getting crowded. I had never seen so many people up there before. They were everywhere, on the tiles and the brick walls. I went back down to the party, which was now in full throng. Three of the rooms were open, packed with crowds.





The crowds became so intense it was almost impossible to leave the crowded room you were in. Getting through the corridors and stairs wells was even worse. Maria room became a packed club room. There were so many people you couldn´t even move to dance.



At about 4 I was feeling tired, slightly sick and awfully sober. I retreated to Danis room with my brother,sister and a couple of other people. We chilled on the bed for a while with the door shut to stop people coming in. It didn´t stop everyone but at least there were less people. I few hours later I settled to sleep.

Friday 14-11 - sick day

Early that morning I was not feeling goos at all. I was awoken with pain. I weathered it out until it was late enough to get up. By then I was feeling quiet sick. I lay on the couch for a while. I rung Dani. It turns out she had also been sick. We both seemed to have caught the viral bug that had been making the rounds in the city. This is jusy what we needed. Today we were supposed to get everything organised for the party on Saturday. Instead all I could do was lie on the couch feeling sorry or myself.

I took off the bandage covering my new tattoo. This was the first time I could get a proper look at it. I liked what I saw. I was really happy with the font of the letters. None of the lines were crooked. A well done job.



I slept during the day and as feeling a bit better by the afternoon. So I packed up and went to Danis to see if I could help her with anything. Dani was napping on and off, so I hung around. Later in the evening we helped Maria decorate her room. The theme was nautical tats. So we drew marine pictures on long strips of white paper. I drew a sea monster and a mermaid and a sailor and a ship. It was a quiet Friday.

Thursday 13-11 - birthday

The day started waking up on the couch. I had heard shuffling earlier on. Karen had very sweetly spread out some presents for each of us with balloons, each persons wrapped in a different paper. What a lovely way to wake up. We played with party blowers, but they frightened Aiden. He wasn´t used to all the commotion and was a little put off.



We took out the cakes with some candles. We blew out the candles on an amazing chocolate bomb cake. Then opened the cards and gifts. There was an adorable Einstein doll and a poster and Hello Kitty candy and some chocolate.



We skyped the family back home in Perth. It seems they were having a celebration on our behalf. There was even a cake. We got to say hi to all the wonderful family and friends back home. Dani had a uni tutorial to go to at 10, so we waited while chatted more on skype. I was getting more and more nervous. Somehow I had got myself worked up into a state through out the morning. I was shaking at one point. Luckily Karen was there to talk me down into a calmer state.

We had breakfast around the corner. I had a cheese and mushroom omelet with salad and chips, although I left the chips. I was still partly full of adrenalin, so a large meal was out of the question. But the egg was good. I had fresh orange juice as well to boost my sugars. When done, we took a photo of our backs with nothing on them.



Down we walked to Frith Street Tattoo Parlour. We were all nervous, but at the same time excited. We filled out forms. Then Dani went first, into the tattoo area. Our artist´s name was Valerie. She was sweet and tried to make us feel as comfortable as possible. She copied design onto the back, then sat Dani against a chair and the drilling sound started. Dan reassured us that it wasn´t so bad. She looked alright during the process.

My turn.

Not as ad as I expected, although over the bone made my teeth clench. But before I knew it, I was inked. We were all so excited looking at each others and trying to peek at our own.





All the adrenalin of our earlier nerves became a wild buzz. I was smiling and in a happy daze. We wondered down to Baskin Robbins to get Pineapple Sponge Upside Down Cake flavoured ice cream.



In the evening we went to Oh No Oh My with Dani, Josh and Maria. They were much much better than I expected them to be. A lot more raw and less poppy. I enjoyed them. They played lots of songs that I knew.



During the show it came out that one of the band mates had his birthday on the same day. What luck.



After the gig was over we went up to the merch stand,where the birthday boy was selling his wares. I bought a vinyl. He gave us each a set of buttons when we told him it was our day. It was a great way to end a great day.

Wednesday 12-11 - Prepare

Today I wanted to prepare for the birthday the next day. The rule was no presents, so I planned to the the cards extra special. I went to Hamleys to find its and pieces for Dani and Josh. I had some specific things in mind, but not too specific. A little fluffy bunny, a small toy robot or astronaut. I thought Hamleys would be the best place to look,with its reputation as the biggest and best. They didn´t have any of the toys I needed. Up at the boys section. If there isn´t a movie or a Japanese toys franchise of it, there won´t be a toy. It got me really angry. What ever happened to good old generic toys. Sigh. I walked around until I was inspired. I improvised and got some very satisfactory toys. Then picked up some chocolate near the museum.

In the evening everyone was pretty subdued. We ate sushi and watched Dodgeball. Occasionally,as is ritual, one of us would pop out of the room for a time and then reappear without explanation. Its how we do things when three people have to organise presents or each other for the same day. I was getting both excited and nervous for the day to come.

Tuesday 11-11 - Dodos by the River

I woke up earlier than usual. Karen, Aiden and I hopped the train to the outer zones to visit my great aunt. It can be a bot of a trek to get out there, especially with the pram. But I hadn´t seen her in a while and my London clock was rapidly ticking. The tube stop nearest to her is above ground. It 2 sets of stairs and two down, with no lift and no one around to help life a pram. Which is kind of annoying. But off we went.

It was nice seeing her again. In true Jewish style, she was anxious to feed her guests. I was so full by the end of the visit. She was delighted to see Aiden. We all chatted and caught up on the comings and goings of the family.

We stood on platform 3, waiting for the next train to London. The speaker told us that the next train would leave from platform 1 instead. So up the stairs we carry the pram and down the other set. A few minutes later we are told that the next train will in fact be leaving from platform 3 after all. Gah. Up the stairs, down the stairs. And all without waking the baby up.

Back in London we stopped off at Corams fields to show him the ducks and the rooster. I liked the autumn leaves now covering the ground.



The flat was filled with people all there for different reasons. We got some take out salads to tide us over. Josh arrived just in time for the gig. The three of us set out for Shepherds Bush to see Okkervil River and The Dodos. The new station there was finally open and very impressive. We waited for Maria and Eva to meet us outside the club. While we waited we chatted to the Dodos´ street team. It was getting cold, so we moved inside to wait.



We found a place near the front of the stage with short people. Eva and Maria turned up and we all waited for the Dodos. I got excited when I saw their trash can drums set up.



They were just like I remembered them from Belgium - full of energy and inspiringly good. I smiled along as they played my favourites Red and Purple and Jodie. Wow,his voice is just fantastic.



Okkervil River. Wow they were amazing. So much more energy than last time. His voice was great and everyone was in full swing. He played four or five songs off the new album. They played almost everything off The Stage Names, including Girl In Port as encore.



They played Stone off Black Sheep Boy to a tearful crowd. I lost all my breath when the lights beamed down onto Will Sheff as he started a perfect rendition of my favourite track, The War Criminal Rises and Speaks.



At the end of the night my ears were ringing and I was happy.

Monday 10-11 - Forgotten things

I woke up late. I listened to the new Okkervil River album. It was really growing on me. I went out to H & M to see if I could find things to wear to hospital next year. I found a black skirt and a spotty top. I got to the counter, realising only then that I had left my wallet back at the flat. So out I went and back to the flat. The rain came thick and fast.

I walked through the rain, getting completely drenched. My socks were wet through and through. I was glad when I got back to the flat to change my jeans and socks.

Once dry and warm and more sensibly dressed, it was over to Danis but no one was home. So I walked down to the place where she was working. It was pouring once again, But now I had gum boots on my feet and Okkervil in my ears. I skipped happily under my umbrella.

I visited my sister at the book shop and picked up her keys. The rain was harsher now. On the way I picked up instant Asian cup noodles. They were a nice way to chill in the cold weather.

For dinner we had a veggie sausage salad, with Maria who was making her own salad with fish cakes. Felicity joined us soon after. The four girls spent the night watching American Dad on Danis bed drinking wine and cider.

Sunday 09-11 - Recovery Day

A recovery day. I woke up at Dani´s,regretting the fast we had the night before. I decided that drawing anatomy was no good and I needed some practice. So I sketched in one of my newer books. Since being in London I seem to have accumulated sketch books. I just keep seeing books that I like the look of. So now I have quite a few, even though none of them are very full at all.

Dani had to work on her class projects and I didn´t want to distracther so I went to the west end. I got back to find Josh hard at study. Its a pity he had to spend so much of the day working, but he has busy course. I recovered with some of my favourite cereal.

A little while later Josh headed off back to Cranfield, leaving me in the flat to organise myself. I listened to more of Okkervil River to get excited about the coming Tuesday. The evening was not a busy one. I stayed to look after the babe.

Saturday 08-11 - Raindance

Saturday morning was easy going. I didn´t go out so much because Josh and I had to baby sit Aiden through most of the day. The lord Mayer show was one and we thought of taking him down to see the military marches. But the weather proved otherwise. It as just too cold and too wet to take him out. So we entertained him at the flat. We fed and put him to sleep until Karen returned.

Perth band Snowman were playing that night. Dani and Felicity came to meet me and we set off. We met Josh near the bar. The door man was a bit of a jerk when checking our IDs. I don´t think he believed that all three of us were 22. I thought about the week to follow, when he would have to believe we were 23. It was both exciting and scary.

We arrived just after they started playing. I stood nearish to the front to watch,although the others disappeared. The set was good, I´m starting to get to know their new songs. We had some cider while we waited for the head liner to start. His name was Ned Collette, and apparently he was from Melbourne. I really liked his work and also his voice.

After Snowman we decided to go to Trash Palace. It was a good idea except for the rain. Only half of us had umbrellas and it was bucketing down. We paired up and ran as fast as we could, feet getting drenched by the pools growing at our feet. Finally we got to our destination. My hair felt like I had just gotten out of a shower.



We dried off while dancing and drank more cider. Dani met up with her friends at her old workplace. We danced to the cheesy dance tunes. Everyone had things to do the next day so we made our way home, after a KFC pitstop of course. Dangerous. But somehow delicious.