After landing and locating the baggage, we head to the train station to catch the metro to my friends place. Thank goodness I am with locals otherwise I would be lost forever in the maze of underground trains. The trip goes quickly and as we hail a cab for the final leg of the journey I am delighted to be picked up by an old school london cab. Its funny to see them in real life, not just on tv! Before I know it we have arrived and after catching the elevator up to the appartment I am plonking myself down, the couch enveloping me in a warm embrace of cuchions and sunlight, a glass of red wine is swiftly placed in my open hand - perfect! I enjoy the time to relax and unwind a little as we discuss the nights plans. After about an hour it is shower and make up time, then we head downstairs to wait for our little old london cab to take us to Chelsea.
On the way we pass neat and tidy, compacted little homes. Clean, white doors with golden handles line the apparement blocks. There is a cute little English pub on the corner of two proper little streets and we go in for a drink. The guys are dressed like preppy college boys, their hair slicked to the side, their skinny jeans and checked shirts are adorned with their cardigans draped around their shoulders. The girls the matching equivalent.
I try a traditional girly English drink and once that is done we carry on to our next destination. One pub along the way catches my eye with its bright pink colours. We decide to go in and give it a go. The moment I cross the threshold it is apparent that this is some form of lesbian / feminist pub. All the clientele are females with the exception of one 'fabulous' acting guy. They all seem to sit in tables of two or three and I get the impression men aren't overly welcome here. The decor inside is hot pink and the walls are covered in photos, trinkets and memorabilia fro various events. We get a drink anyway and enjoy a small bowl of popcorn. One finished we carry on our way.
The next place is much classier lounge bar. The bar man greets us warmly and we are welcomes us into the dimly lit area with great music. We are seated at a nice little table down the back and order their signature watermelon cocktail. It is delicious! After a couple of deceptively alcoholic coctails we decide to call it a night and head home. The next morning is a much needed sleep in and a lot of relaxing couch time to recover.
The following day I am up early and ready to take on the day. My friend decides to show me around London and we throw on our running gear and head out for a running site seeing adventure. Along the way I am shown great sites of London. We stop at a small supermarket and get fruit and musli then run to the nearby park to sit in the sun and have breakfast. After this we continue on the journey. We are lucky enough to hit town when the horse guard change over takes place - a great little experience to have. After heading to the park to make our way to lunch, we can hear the royal band playing in the backgorund, signalling the changing of the guards! We turn around and sprint back to buckingham palace where the ceremony is beginning. As we burst out from the park the site of the palace is beautiful. After stopping for a quick picture I continue to sprint to the gates to see the event about to unfurl. Hundreds of people swarm around the gates. Police on horses guide and keep the crowd under control. I jump on my friends 6ft2 shoulders and get a perfect birds eye view of the event.
The next day we head to the park, have a quick lunch on the park benches in the sun and then hire Mountain bikes for a day of exploring the park. My casual bike riding outfit is quite ill planned, Little red floaty dress + mountain bikes, hills and rough terrain = a bit of a fail. But the passing cars seemed to enjoy it so at least I made someone happy. After a bit of a wobbly start and finally learning how to change gears after an incredibly difficult struggle up a hill, I am off - the wind whipping through my hair. There are groups of deer casually lying in the sun and we pull over to take photos and enjoy the view.
The path winds up hills, down hills, through quiet, relatively deserted paddocks and eventually to a clearing with an amazing view of London in the distance. The sun is beaming down and the breeze is warm. It is the perfect afternoon. After the photo opp the next clearing contains a group of fellow deer. I jump across the ditch and quietly make my way up to them to pose for a couple of pics. Then its back on the bike for the final leg back to drop the bikes off. So after another fun filled day of fresh air and exercise it is off to the pub for a decent over cooked steak, a couple of wines then home to bed.
In the morning I wake up, get ready and head to the train station to navigate my way along the train lines to Oxford Circus to get some much needed shopping done.I explore the shops along Oxford street and end up with a few arm fulls of shopping bags. I meet some friends for lunch and enjoy some amazing Vietnamese dishes and a glass of wine. After lunch I finish up shopping and head to the station to meet my friend from High School for an afternoon of catching up. We go to a local pub for a couple of glasses of wine - which turns into a couple of bottles! We are just finishing up the last drops in our glass and preparing to leave when we are approached by a group of gentlemen and asked to join them. Turns out to be a good idea as they end up being wonderful contacts for potential job opportunities for both of us! So after a successful afternoon at the pub we stagger down the road to the train station and make our separate ways back home.
The next morning the alarm wakes me at the ungodly hour of 4:30am. I stagger around the house, manage a quick shower and a splash of make-up. I throw the last necessary items into my carefully repacked bag and stumble downstairs to the car. The GPS is set and the journey to Gatwick airport begins. At this time of the morning the road is extremely quiet and we make great progress. A couple of fox sightings and we arrive at Gatwick. I run up the ramp to departures and am faced with the insanely long line of Easy Jet. I decide to go through speedy boarding to avoid the headache in front of me. There is no one in this line, I head to the front, throw my bag on the scales, the tag is placed on it and my boarding pass is issued - that was easy, I am enjoying my line cutting skills lately. I head through security and am out the other side in minutes. A croissant and a hot choc later and I find my boarding gate. Still 45 minutes to go so I lie down across a lonely bench, use my handbag as a pillow and grab half an hour of much needed sleep.
Im woken by the announcement of my flight boarding. I scrape myself off the bench and join the back of the line. After the scrambling of people to get their desired seats I drop down into one, click my seatbelt and am back off to sleep. When I wake I will be in for an exciting girls weekend in Ibiza!!! Time to get as much sleep as possible!
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