canals, red lights, coffee shops, and flying pigs

alrighty, sorry about the lack of posts for a few days.
got to amsterdam on monday night around 10 after a hellish day of travel. didn't end up going to belfast on the sunday night due to it was all booked out except for some dodgy place where everyone said it had bed bugs.. so i got up early, caught a bus to belfast at 11, which was meant to get there at 1:30, got there at 3:00, then caught a bus to the airport.. got there an hour early before check in began and then waited 3 hours to board. i felt like shooting myself in the head. anyway.. got to amsterdam... got on the wrong train.. waited for 40 minutes in the freezing cold for another train.. got to the hostel and i'd booked for sunday night, so i had lost my reservation and luckily there was a bed available.. the next day however, no bed.. but the lady was so nice, and was like if i don't find you one, i'll put a mattress on the floor. but they found me one, and one until sunday. woo hoo.

so not great first experiences. oh well, it improved.

went to the van gogh musuem on tuesday, which was great, it's so big, so much to see. and it was raining, which makes motivation to do anything come down to about nill. worked on my socialisation skills on tuesday night, met some australian guys, and then met more people from australia, some cool kids, had some drinks at the hostel and then went out to see the town for a little while then head home relatively early.

breakfast here is awesome! it's such a good hostel.. chocolate serial.. come on now that's quality.

on wednesday got together with the australian's and english again and headed out across amsterdam and just walked around, took many many photos, had ollie bollie, chips with mayonaise and tomato sauce, checked some shops, of all kinds.. then had an interesting night chilling out.

i'll have to post the photos there are some really good ones.

today went to the sex musuem which was relatively interesting, if not, it was only 3 euros so i'm not cutting a loss... spent a lot of money.. bought a few things... an amsterdam amsterdam amsterdam bag to rival lizzie's paris paris pairs bag.

tonight i'm buggered so i'll just chill here.

tomorrow's halloween however.

most people left today, and tonight, which is always a downer, meeting people and then having to parting.. but i guess it is all part of travelling...

until next time,

the question on everybody's lips

I KNOW YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

ARE ALL THE DOORS IN DUBLIN DIFFERENT COLOURS? YAY OR NAY?

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YAY!

back 5 days

oppsadaises..
i missed out on 5 IMPORTANT days... hm.
went to bath.. hannah's dad picked us up (thank god, excuse the pun.. but my bus ticket back because i foolishly didn't buy iit online, cost £18), and they have no furniture left in their house so i spent the night on a leather lounge in front of the radiator, with my coat as a jacket... it was ok.
just walked around the next day and then held a garage sale sign for the russel's in the afternoon. bath is beautiful. but a day is enough.

caught bus back into london.. stayed one more night and the trundled over to Rob and Lou's. Headed to camden markets which were great.. wwithheld myself.. but i did buy a dress (shock horror) and a jumper which i needed.. Rob and Lou then treated me to large amounts of wine. Following that the next day Lou and i went to the tate britain.. a bit to far along in the period scheme for my taste but some stuff was quality..
had lunch, good lunch, a good burger

did you ever notice when you were travelling that all you want is candy and ham burgers? at least i get some vegetables on one.. don't ask me how many i've had since coming here

that night watched some movies.. next day wondered around the parks, and then caught a plane to dublin. successful flight. here for when a plane is on time they play that bum bum baba bum baba you know.. that song when the queen comes.. something like that..

alrighty
up to date!

clover leaves and expensive beer

so first night in ireland..

and it was awesome.
at first i thought it was goig to be terrible. i navigated myself from the airport OK and got to the hsotel, and i'm in a 16 bed room, with 3 people in it.. 2 girls speakign another language involved in themsevles and some canadian that just got herself knocked up (however back home and has to go home to be with the father.. oh yes details) so that was a bit off putting..
and after having dinner by myself.. it's really offputting when everyone is in these big groups and you have to break into them..
but yeah, went outside, and merged myself in.

it was good, had some drinks with 10 or so people at the hostel, including staff which are awesome, and went out to an irsh bar and had a drink.. literally, it is so expensive here. i'll save my pennies for the weekend.

well that's my news. not so scary now.

i'm off to find out if the doors are different colours.

back in acton

after 6 days in Edinburgh i've returned to the mother country to have a day of relaxation.. which feels really good just to sit down and watch tv.. eat.. oh i miss eating.

so Edinburgh was great. i didn't do very much touristy stuff.. i did the walking tour, which was good and had a look at the castle from the outside, but it is so expensive to go in, and i figure there will be cheaper ones, that look more amazing.

it rained when i arrived, and clouds came over as i left, but other than that the sun was shining everyday... but i tell you, i made a mistake leaving my jacket in London, because it is FREEZING there.

met some cool girls in the hostel.. hung out for a while. it seems everyone i meet is from Australia?

so my first hostel experience was OK, the hostel was really quite institutionalised and HUGE which made it hard to meet people and i wasn't always around, but i'll see how it pans out when i head to Ireland :)
saw a gig, CSS.. i haven't heard of them but apparently they're quite big.. it was good anywhoo.. experienced some more night life --- and now i'm back to the ever so quiet hannah's house..

i think i'll head to bath tomorrow, because Rob and Lou's on sunday. i want to hit the markets.

sorry about the terribly boring blog, but i haven't been doing anything too interesting!

stay posted.

escapism

well now i'm in edinburgh and i have to say it is much better then london!

my friend sam came and met me at the bus depot and i must say he's pretty much taken the place by storm, he knows everyone..

so i spent the night with some of his friends as he had to work, experiencing edinburgh's night life. awesome.

long steps,high hills and animals

i walked for a really long time yesterday as well. i walked over to primrose hill which i amso impressed tha i did not get lost! for a while it was touch and go but i got there. it took a bit over an hour but the view was wll worth it. they were shooting a film up there too.

and then, as i was so close to it, i though i must.. soaftrbeing extorted by ridiculous prices i entered the zoo and spent a couple of hours walking around chilling out with the animals. nice, it's a nice little zoo.

i then though, well my feet are about to all off but what the hell i'll trample up the the national gallery and walk around there. albeit is was not as long as i wanted t stay there because my feet were about to fall off, but brilliant all the same.

edinburgh tomorrow!

Rain clouds and art

Well yesterday was a typically english weather day with the sun sneaking through the clouds for but a moment before being followed with a deary drizzle of rain. i mean come on! that's not even real rain!

I braved london on my own, catching a tube over to the tate modern, which was fantastic, really amazing to see all those artworks in real life. it's something else.

i then wondered the wharf.. bought some overpaid all youcan eat lunch but i didn't eat all i could eat... then i went to the movieum which was THAT great bit of a downer for the £7 entry but it was interesting maybe just because i was sleepy sleepy sleepy... it had lots of props from star wars, jurassic park ... good for if you're studying film.

went to sleep early again last night... but this morning i'm feeling great. and guess what

THE SUN IS SHINING

photos

the queen i dare say

aeroplanes, tubes and feet

DISCLAIMER: this key board is terrible.. bear with me

planes hey.
i really don't understand why people loath them so. it was pretty much 20 hours of darkness which left me free to sleep and watch films... (sorry dave no games) i can only remember 2 of the 3 films i saw... crazy i think and all they do is feed you... 'hey it's 3am feeding time'

Well i almost got rejected from the country i think that is the most exciting part about my plane trip ohh and drown my ipod and passport in those damn automatic taps in bangkok (it's okay ipod dried out and is working AOK and well i'm slightly discoloured now)
So i didn't have hannah's address to put on the boading pass and here's me thinking that's ok.. however it is NOT ok.. she detained me for abot 15 minutes while she asked every possible question she could and look at all my cards and claim it's all for my safety

but it's okay, i'm here now.

and Hannah has AMAZING view of all of london.. she's a 10 minute walk from kings cross station..

i'll post a photo blog

She took me on a massive 6-7 hour walk today ALL over london and i mean everywhere, you name it I saw it.. however if you'd like to give me a foot transplant that' be swell.

saw the british mueseum very briefly... i'll go back and have more of a look and check some places tomorrow all by my lomesome.. see how that goes. it ws great having someone take me everywhere..

OH i saw the queen, yep whipping by in the car surrounded...

so i think i am doing fantasticly with the jetlag... up since 4am england time.. no sleep for the wicked!