The Adventures of Lizzie, Lionel and Steve

11/4/10

1800 (local time)

Phew! I’ve had a fantastic 3 days hanging out with Lizzie and Lionel! So I arrived on the 9^th which was a Friday at about 12 Noon London time, I was feeling gross as I had been travelling for about 30+hours without changing, brushing my teeth or putting on deodorant!

I was only waiting in the Arrival room for only about 10minutes until Lizzie spotted me sitting on my gear!

We stacked all my gear on top of Lionel’s Ford Escort Station Wagon/Estate and we boosted off down to Lizzie’s flat! FACT: London is situated in the County of Greater London!

We dumped my gear down, and I pretty much headed straight out so I could organise bank accounts. Finally got all that sorted, I was kinda jet lagged so Lizzie, Lionel and myself had a quiet night playing Monopoly! I got pumped, only passing GO about 6 times, and from those 6 times, got the $200 TAX! It was brutal. Lizzie was dominating the whole time, but made the ROOKIE mistake of buying OLD KENT ROAD and WHITE CHAPEL, then putting Hotels on them and losing out big time. She was definitely the most ‘lucky’ player more like ‘arsey’ as she landed on GO about every time, meaning she scored the big $400. Not impressed as I was battling to pass go, because I would always end up in jail. Obviously I’d get the rubbish banter from Lionel saying that because I’m an Aussie and Aussies are criminals I belong in the jail... Great Joke mate!

Not to worry, the next day we were planning a trip to London, but before we jumped on the tube, we put a couple of bets on for the Grand National, which is a very famous horse race in Britain. Anyway we jumped on the tube and headed to the Thames. We then bought some tickets for 5 Pounds and jumped on a boat that took us down the Thames with a quite comical tour guide. It was quite interesting and informative. We finished the tour, grab some food and then headed into Greenwich where you are able to stand on either side of the meridian line aka East and West Hemisphere. After we did the standard touristy photo shoot of standing either side of the line, but more importantly Lionel and I got chatty to some very cute Brazilian girls ‘Happy Days’.

We finished up there and made our way into a pub to watch the Grand National, I placed 3 bets each of 2 pounds , and I’m pretty sure that on the first hedge they jump over all my horses face planted and stacked it! BOOM there goes 6pounds ($12AUD) Shattered! Not to worry, it was a brutal race but loads of fun!

We finished up in the pub and took the tube back down to Balham. I had a weird party to go to up in Hackney, it was a late night but I crashed when I got back, I was buggered!

That brings us to today, where I packed up my windsurfing gear and just had a quiet one, as tomorrow was the big day!

I was heading to Dahab!!

GET EXCITED!

 Lizzie and Lionel

Lionel and I with the River Thames in the background

The London Eye!

Me and Mr.Big Ben!

Tower Bridge!

The Greenwich Line!

The park on a lovely summer day in London

Lizzie after a huge day walking

The Calling!

8/4/10

2158 (local time)

Well, this is all too familiar! This time last year, I think I was trying to figure out what travelling is all about and it seems as if I still havn’t figured it out. At least this time I am a ‘little’ bit more prepared than I was last year.

I know, I know that I didn’t finished off my ‘blog’ for the last trip, but I don’t really feel as if it were finished, instead I’m continuing where I left off… anyway!

So the plan of attack this time round…

Work out in Egypt, Dahab for around about 8months this all depending on my funds, after I have had enough windsurfing, ill be shooting back to the UK for either a few months or a few days and then ill be travelling around Eastern Europe! Very loose plan! But no one likes a strict travel plan.

To be honest the start of this trip has been a bit of a nightmare, we can start if off at the arrival to the airport, when I go to check in my bags, oh yeah that’s right, I’m now carrying around a MASSIVE 32KG bag that is about 260cm long and 80cm wide, full of Windsurfing Gear! So this will make all my travels far more interesting if they weren’t enough already! Anyway, so the issues start when I go to check in my bags! The lady at the desk informs me that I need a Visa so I can stay in Transit when I go to America for a stop over. What makes matters worse, is that I need to collect all my bags in Los Angeles Airport and re-check them in onto another flight! Hey, do you guys want an interesting fact, Los Angeles Airport (LAX) is one of the biggest airports in the world with (I think) 9 terminals! That should be fun navigating my way through LAX airport with 2 massive bags! HAPPY DAYS!

Anyway, so after Dad and I rushed through a stupid visa whilst Mum minded all my bags! I went to say my good bye’s at the double doors of death! I realized that I lost my boarding pass and my Australian Departure form! What an issue! So I ran off to fill out another form, and get another boarding pass! Then I had to do another episode of the double doors!

So far, this flight has been rubbish! Turbulence for about 2 hours straight, and its not even fun turbulence where it feels like a roller coaster, its just painful, its so annoying that you can’t even sit a beer on your tray without if spilling everywhere! It makes even writing this message painful!

If you haven’t caught my drift yet, im fairly pissed off with how this is all going! I might have a bit of a nap, and maybe wake in more of a happier mood!

Righteo, so I continue this on the finishing bit of my Los Angeles to Heathrow flight, Los Angeles was fairly easy to figure out, and I only had to walk my windsurfing bag for about 15minutes, which isn’t so bad, but was all sorted.

This flight has been going well, ive had a decent 4-5 hour sleep which I was pretty impressed with but I’m pretty sure when I touch down in London ill be feeling jet lagged and de-hydrated which should be great fun!

Anyway before I finish, I would just like to thank everyone again for their support in the last 4 months, its been a bit weird trying to get organized again for going O/S when I’ve only been back a short time. I found it quite hard to relate with everyone when I got back from my last trip so when I got offered the job to teach windsurfing out in Dahab, I had to take it! When else am I going to get this opportunity again, as I don’t have any commitments back at home, no girlfriends, no Uni, no job! It is almost expected that I should go! The hardest bit by far is the goodbyes! Currently ill be thinking that this trip will be going for at least 2 years and saying good bye to people that realize that makes it a bit sad!

Enough of this gooey stuff! London here we come! A quick shout out to Lizzy and Lionel for picking me and all my gear up from the airport, you guys are absolute superstars!

Next time you hear from me guys, ill be comfy in a warm apartment in London! Happy Days!

Till then! Slip, Slop and Slap!

Steve