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Some pics from London

I've scanned some of the pics I took – not a lot of tourist sights, as we did them in 98 and didn't bother taking the same pics yet again…. Sibylle has also taken some, which are not yet developped, but I thought I'd go ahead and post some of mine anyway.



Me in the British Museum – I love all things Egyptian, so this was heaven!


After the England-Denmark match the whole city was celebrating and singing “Football's coming home…” – here on Trafalgar Square. Well, thanks to Brazil it didn't exactly turn out that way.


Feeding animals was very big on our todo list – we came to St.James's park not mainly to see the Changing of the Guard, Buckingham palace or the Queen at a parade, but to handfeed squirrels and birds. Sibylle did take pics at that parade – I'll post them as soon as I have them, promised! *g*


On the Portobello Road Market we found some really nice tops – and it's a very pretty part of London as well.


Well, this last pic (for now) was not taken in London but right after our return to Basel, when we realized that we don't have a single pic of the two of us together. We came from maximum 25°C in London to almost 40°C – and promptly went to our favorite place in summer: our local open air pool.

That's it for the moment – the next planned trip is a weekend in Austria, a big family meeting, to which I'm not exactly looking forward…

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London report

Well, I'm back home again after five great days in London. Not everything went the way we planned or imagined it, but all in all we had a good time!

One thing first – London is incredibly expensive! Suddenly Switzerland doesn't seem all that bad… *g*

We spent a lot of time walking around, seeing sights (though most of them not from the inside because they want horrendous entrance fees) and strolling over various markets like the Covent I didn't buy a lot – just two tops (which are both very special!) and some really cute panties. Enjoyed seeing all the 70ies stuff and some of the tourist merchandise is really funny.

All that walking around was terribly exhausting – I had completely forgotten how hard the tourist thing is on your feet… So we ended up only going out twice and just once to a club (again – the money…). But we did watch the England – Netherlands game in a pub, which was a blast!
Before that we even got to see the Queen and Prince Andrew and William at a parade – really impressive, all those wonderfully archaic uniforms and beautiful horses!

A couple of times we went to St. James's Park (right at Buckingham Palace) to fed the birds and squirrels – they are so tame, they eat right out of one's hand! It was such a great experience – specially the squirrels!

Our sleeping arrangements turned out good, too – we stayed at Juliette's (Sibylle's boyfriend's cousin) place a bit outside of the city only the first and the last night, the other three nights we had the appartment of a friend of Juliette's for ourselves. That was perfect – in the West of the city with the tube and a super market nearby. Sibylle and I were almost overwhelmed by Juliette's and her friend's (whom we didn't even meet!) generosity – we were incredibly lucky!

We didn't meet Rolly at all – we text messaged back and forth and I called him once, but it simply didn't work out. Oh well, maybe next time… Same thing was with Jan, but we didn't get bored anyway.

On Sunday (after a very short night!), our last real day in London, Sibylle was a bit sick so we didn't do a lot. We went to the London Dungeons (yuck, torture and murder – gruesome stuff!) and then to Juliette instead of doing some more sightseeing. But since we'd been to London already four years ago it wasn't so bad and we enjoyed watching TV shows in English – I even caught the end of an “Enterprise” episode!

Well, that was probably about it – I'll scan some pictures as soon as I have them developped…

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I'm as good as gone!

We have to get up at 4.30 tomorrow morning – argh!
Anyway, we'll be staying neither at Rolly's nor Jan's place but with Sibylle's boyfriend's cousin… A woman who doesn't know us but who's ready to take us in with only 24 hours notice! I already like her! *g*

We'll put our luggage into storage for the day tomorrow and go do some exploring. In the evening we'll probably go to the movies with Julia (our hostess) – and after that we'll just see…

But 4.30 – that's just inhuman! lol

Take care – I'll tell you what happened when I'm back!

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Complicated

Why can my London trip not simply go the way I want it to? Finally managed to reach Rolly (via email) and found out that he's now expecting people on Thursday. Which of course makes things a lot more complicated for us – now we have to try get a hold of Jan, a German guy living in London.
It's less than 36 hours until we're in London and we still don't know where we'll sleep… And we had to confirm our tickets today – they're booked and paid for. So we *have* to go – and we will, and it will be great! I command it! lol
Seriously, I'm optimistic (one of my flaws I guess *g*) that everything will turn out okay in the end. I'll keep you posted!

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London update

Sibylle's and my planned trip to London might finally work out! Unfortunately Rolly (guy I met in Namibia) is expecting visitors on Monday, June 17, so that we have to leave already next Wednesday instead of Friday. That makes finding a reasonably priced flight difficult – it's too late for EasyJet, so we have to hope to get a youth discount. But if we don't go now it won't be possible until fall, after my America trip – and we've both been wanting to go for months now!

Therefore, if Rolly is okay with us coming directly before his other visitors next weekend will find us in London – partying and shopping and just generally having a good time! I'd love to meet Martin (from Namibia) again, Sibylle has a friend there, too, and Antoinette (friend of a friend) lives in London as well – so we certainly won't get bored! *g*

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Slight change in plans

Seems as if I won't be on my own for the whole six weeks, instead for only half the time. I thought that was a back up plan if Sibylle doesn't find anyone else, but yesterday it sounded like a plan to me.
Okay, actually looking forward to it – although it means that I have to go everywhere she has already been in only three weeks. I think I'll have to cut back on my visiting plans.
But shit, we're going to have fun! Specially in New York and then in Florida – we'll go clubbing like crazy! *g*
I'd absolutely *love* to visit Deb in Florida – that'd be awesome! I don't know exactly where she lives, but hopefully somewhere close to a beach… Now I only have to ask her if she's okay with that – she's going to have a baby and if it's too much for her we'll just stop by one day.

Gosh, can't wait for September! Specially since Rolly still hasn't answered my mail because of my planned trip to London, so that might not work out…

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Update to my itinerary

Okay, this is not really majorly important – but I feel like babbling and no one is online so that I have to babble here… *g*

Anyway, added Cape Cod to my inner itinerary – gotta have some nature between all those cities! And it's supposed to be really beautiful – only problem is that a lot of places seem to close in September. There's this city, Princetown (or something like that) – I don't *really* want to stay there, but I will if necessary. Might have a good time there – although most bars are supposed to be gay, so no men for me… lol
Perhaps I'll do a day trip to Martha's Vineyard, supposedly one of the most beautiful spots of New England – and I'll certainly hike along the coast at least a couple of hours, the way I did in Banff, just following my nose and seeing where it gets me.

Okay, now I'm off daydreaming about sitting in the dunes, reading a book and listening to the ocean… Have I told you already how much I love the sea? *dreamy smile*

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Because I feel like it!

Nothing new has happened but I already began to write this last night when my laptop once more crashed on me – and I refuse to let this spoil my fun!
Because it *is* fun to imagine where I'll go, who I'll meet – so here's my itinerary, not necessarily set in stone and in almost random order:

– Boston: You already know that one from my earlier entry. Besides, I'd like to see something of the seaside North of the city – I'm all about the sea! (Switzerland doesn't have any – one of the few things I really miss here.)

– Montreal: Didn't go to Quebec last time in Canada and I've heard good things about that city. Also my mom will probably be ecstatic that I'll have opportunity to practice my French. Do you think they speak English as well up there? *g*

– Toronto: Maybe. Because I didn't see a lot of the city last time and because Jules lives there and could show me around.
If I have too much time on my hands (as if!) I might go deeper into Ontario and visit Martha and Andy because staying with them was wonderful!

– New York: Duh, as if I could visit the East Coast without going to the Big Apple! Christine lives somewhere around there – perhaps she could show me something of the nightlife. (Note: Biggest drawback of travelling alone as a woman is not being able to go out at night – except of course if one is feeling suicidal… *g*)

– Washington DC: Another tourist must-see. In my case specially the Smithsonian! Plus, it'd be cool to see Nik, who works there – *if* he has the time…

– Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: To see Rhonda and Missy – isn't that reason enough? 😉

– Wherever Mike will live then: If he hasn't gone back to Africa by then I'd love to make good on the promise I made in Namibia and go see him!

– Las Vegas: Yes, I'm aware that it's not exactly on the East Coast – but it's just two days by bus and I had a lot of fun there last time! I could go see Jack and perhaps explore a bit more of the desert. And this time I'd even be old enough to go everywhere! *g*

– Gainesville, FL: Check out the university there and give them my application for an exchange semester. Doing that in person might help my chances.

– a beach somewhere in Florida: It'd be really cool to just chill for some days, enjoy the sea and the sun…

– Everglades: I've always wanted to see them – and seeing that this trip will be heavy on the cities it'll be good to get out for a while.

– Miami: Well, my plane leaves from there, so I'll probably stay a couple of days. Perhaps I'll meet up with Sibylle and whoever she'll be travelling with – we leave almost at the same time for Switzerland, so that'd be really cool! (Nightlife, nightlife… *g*)

That's what's in my head so far – and I haven't even begun to search my guide book for other cool places yet! Oh my, six weeks are just not long enough…
But it's so wonderful to imagine everything – draws out the pleasure of travelling for months!

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A step closer

Went online and made reservations at the Bosten youth hostel. Only four nights, because the thing is insanely expensive (sorry, but 30$ for a HOSTEL?!) – but after what happened in Vancouver last time I really don't feel like experimenting with the first accomodation of the trip! It takes some time to get used to being on the road on my own – and I don't want to spend that time in a hole in the wall, thank you very much.

Also checked out what my guide (Let's Go USA/Canada 99) said about Gainesville (where it's entirely possible that I'll spend a semester in fall 03) – and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be such a hick town like most towns my uni has exchange agreements with – but it sounds like a really nice college town, just what I'm looking for. So perhaps it won't be so bad if after Cambridge (the one in the UK, incredibly expensive!) Boston also wouldn't work out…

Also I'll probably meet a couple of online friends in Pittsburgh – yay! Rhonda and Missy – watch out, girls! *g*

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Welcome to my travel log!

Here you'll find accounts of my travels – I thought it'd be an easy and comfortable way to let my family and friends know what's happening when I'm away from home. It'll be in English so everyone can read it, for example the friends I've made on my travels so far…

There probably won't be a lot of updates here for the next months, since I'll be mostly at home until September 4. Then I'll leave for a six weeks trip along the East Coast of the US. I didn't visit that part of the country at all in 99 and there are a lot of places there that I want to see.

At the moment it stands like this: I booked my flight to Boston and the return flight from Miami (on October 13) and ordered a Greyhound bus pass. It's one for the whole of the US, since it would have been more expensive to buy one for the North and one for the South of the East. That of course means that I'm completely free as to where I go between arrival and departure – I love the thought that I could see the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas or California again, if I was only ready to spend a couple of days on a bus…

At the moment all I know is that I'll start in Boston, spend a couple of days there, check out some colleges if they'd take me as an exchange student (a dream of mine!), then head up to Montreal, perhaps see a bit of the country in between. But that's all I know – of course New York and DC are on my list, too, but I'm really free as a bird… Just the way I love it!