First Overseas Flight
On the 8th November 2012 I went on my first ever overseas flight, I was a little bit nervous, but also extremely excited and so very thankful to not be travelling alone and having my amazing travel buddy Jen with me. Our flight left from Melbourne just after midnight, we were flying with Qatar Airways and had a stop over in Doha, before continuing on to England, landing at Heathrow Airport.
For my first evert overseas flight, it was actually pretty good, Jen and I got a row to ourselves which gave us a chance to spread out a little more. We also had fun playing Tetris on the little screens against each other, watched some movies, slept and made friends with the staff. First thing we did upon landing and getting our bangs was buy SIM cards and then head outside to get a taxi from the Airport to the Hotel, we were staying at the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel.
Hotel and Friends
When we got to the hotel we were met with a bunch of friends, who were also there for the event we were there AT6, so there were a lot of fellow fans and good friends. There were many friends I got to meet for the first time after years of online friendship, but also a lot of fellow Australians there as well. It was so great seeing and meeting so many amazing people. You can read about my experiences at this event in a separate post: AT6 Overseas Event.
London Adventure
On the Tuesday after the event a big group of us decided to head into London and explore the city. We stopped at King’s Cross Station for the Harry Potter fans, got to get photos with the Platform 9¾ there. We then went to Piccadilly Station and Waterloo, it was so funny being in places I had only known off of a Monopoly board.
Even though some of us were scared of heights we all went up on the London Eye together, it was very nerve racking but awesome. The weather was pretty miserable so the view wasn’t the best, but it was still fun and made that much better by enjoying the experience with such amazing friends. We spent the whole day together enjoying time with each other before heading back to the hotel, having one more meal at the local pub before parting ways.
Road Trip to Plymouth
After leaving our second hotel in London, we picked up a hire car and then started our drive out to Plymouth were our next hotel was. On our drive we got to see some of the amazing countryside of the United Kingdom and we stopped in at Stonehenge on the way and it was incredible to see in person. It was so surreal being in such a well known and famous place, somewhere I had only ever seen on TV, it is also amazing to think of the history of the place. The United Kingdom has so much history, as an Australian we only have a blip of the history in comparison so that’s pretty awesome.
We had plans to meet with some friends in Plymouth for dinner, the friend we were meeting is someone I have known for over a decade, as we had met in a Stargate chat room and had been friends ever since. Jen had never met Kay before but because we were running a little bit late and I was driving, Jen was using my phone to keep in contact with Kay and update on how our travel was going. I’ll always remember our arrival in Plymouth because it was confusing but something to laugh about later. We wanted to get to the hotel and drop our bags off before dinner. Unfortunately, our hotel was just off a roundabout and we could not find a way to get to the entrance from the roundabout, and I was busting for the toilet.
We ended up rushing to Kay’s place and when we arrived, Jen had already let her know I was busting for the toilet so upon arrival Kay had the door open and was ready to direct me to the bathroom. Leaving her and Jen to introduce themselves to each other. This memory will never not make me laugh, but I am so thankful for having such amazing friends. And our dinner afterwards at the local pub was amazing.
Time with Friends
Next off on our trip was visiting with my best friend Kelly in Cornwall, we spent the day with her and her daughter and it was such an amazing time. Again Kelly and I have been friends for over a decade and her daughter has called me Auntie since she was three. Kelly was amazing and as Jen and I had worked our way through a lot of our clothing and hadn’t visited a laundromat she allowed us to do our washing there, which was very helpful. Jen also decided to wash her lip balm and we watched as it went round and round and round.
Whilst our washing was going we got to pick Kelly’s daughter up from school and then we headed to the local ASDA for a bit of a wander and a shop, it was pretty cool. I got one of my favourite ever photographs of me from this trip at ASDA, we were sitting in the dining area, I was wearing my daggiest clothes, I had a headband on with bear ears and my nieces school uniform tie around my forehead. I love this photo because it is such a great reminder of my friendship with Kelly, I love her and the craziness we have when together.
It was so amazing to meet them in person and spend time with them. We didn’t do much touristy things this day as we just hung out and had a good time. It was one of the best days of my life and so I’m thankful of my amazing friends, Jen included because without her I would not have had the opportunity to have these great experiences.
Derby Tourist Traps
Our next stop on the adventure was Derby, so we started our road trip and headed in that direction, we detoured and drove through Bath, which is an amazing place but we did not stop as the weather was crappy and we had plans to meet another friends. We stayed one night at a friends place and then booked a hotel for the rest of our time there, worth it because it came with full breakfast each morning.
One day we drove out to Nottingham, we visited our first castle which was Nottingham Castle, although it was not as exciting as I thought it would be as it’s been modernised and turned into a museum but it was still a castle. We also got to see the Robin Hood statue and got to sit down in a Pizza Hut restaurant for dinner on the way back to Derby.
Another day we travelled up to visit a couple of Jen’s friends in Manchester, we went to a big shopping centre and had a lot of fun wandering around and just having a good time with friends. We also travelled to Sherwood Forest and went mountain bike riding, it was amazing to do something different and we had a great time. Even though Jen did a good job at crashing her bike whilst trying to take photos.
Donington Race Track
One day we went out for a drive and left Jen in charge of navigation and we ended up in a small town called Melbourne, so we had a bit of a drive around before continuing on. Not far from Melbourne is Donington Park Circuit and since Jen is huge into car racing we decided to drive there next. We didn’t get to go in and see the actual race track but we dud get to visit The Donington Collection, which is the world’s largest collection of grand prix racing cars.
The museum was amazing to see and Jen was 100% in her element here. The grand prix car collection included cars from 1934 up until a Red Bull car from 2008. The museum included a collection of military vehicles as well, including motorbikes, tanks and even cannons.
We than left our hotel in Derby and headed back towards London, stopping via Castle Ashby on the way for some quick photos. I was obsessed with wanting to see castles and really experience the history of England. This castle was closed for tours but we could still see a lot from outside.
London Tourists
Our return to London meant time to get out there and do more of the touristy things, we went sighting and got to see Trafalgar Square, Parliament House, The Thames, London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Shard, Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and more. Jen and I even got to ice skate under the London Eye, which was Jen’s first time ice skating so what an awesome experience.
We went to Buckingham Palace, visited the M&M store and even got to attend a football game between Chelsea and Man City at Stamford Bridge Stadium, I had to buy myself a Chelsea jersey and cap for the experience. These were all great tourist experiences and so much fun to do with such an awesome friend in Jen, but also another Aussie mate Cindy.
Tower of London
Jen and I went and explored the Tower of London, which was amazing. It was great to walk around and explore such an incredibly historical place. We didn’t go on an actual tour with the Beefeaters aka Yeoman Warders, and instead decided to walk around ourselves but we did pass several groups on tour. It was pretty incredible being able to view the crown jewels and see the crowns through history. I also loved seeing the Royal Armouries inside the White Tower.
London Tower Bridge
Our next stop was London Tower Bridge, which I never realised was different to London Bridge until I was here in person. London Tower Bridge includes two large towers, whereas London Bridge sits about a kilometre away and is the oldest river crossing in London. Jen and I did a tour of London Tower bridge which was an amazing experience. Being able to view London along the Thames from the glass walkway above the bridge was awesome and I absolutely loved being able to view the Victorian Engine Rooms.
HMS Belfast
Next up was a visit to HMS Belfast, a museum ship located on the Thames. We got to the ship just before closing, so we didn’t go on a guided tour, just walked ourselves around the ship,. But it was a great experience and very cool to go through the ship, viewing the different levels, different rooms and even sitting in the captain’s chair.
Greenwich
Nearing the end of our trip, we visited some of Jen’s family in Greenwich, we had a great day and got to explore the area with her aunt. We wandered around and then we caught the cable car across the Thames, we checked out around The O2 and then wandered around the area. We ended up going into Greenwich Park where we got to see the Meridian Line before continuing on to check out the Cutty Sark ship.
Then we wandered around the University of Greenwich grounds, which was interesting since they were in the process of filming the Marvel movie Thor: The Dark World, there were lots of areas fenced off and then lots of areas set up for filming. We were too late in the day to see any of the cast, but being able to see the film location was pretty awesome, there were fake ruins and car wrecks all over the place and now I can’t watch that movie and not think of this holiday.
Madame Tussaud’s Fun
On our last full day in the UK we decided to hang out and have a great time and we decided to finish this trip with a bang, and it was amazing… mostly. We went to Madame Tussaud’s and we had a blast, apparently we were so entertaining that one of the official photographs followed us around to get photos of us with the wax figures… she asked us if we had squeezed Bratt Pitt’s arse when we came in and we said no, so she walked us back to the start through the staff areas. We had so much fun at this place and it was honestly an amazing experience that I will never ever ever forget.
During our time at Madame Tussaud’s we had some injuries though, and mine was of course the first of the day. As we were in the room with Shrek, I decided to climb under him so I could get a photo between his legs where the ginger bread man was. As I was standing up I smashed my head into the pole holding him to the wall and gave myself a concussion. Then a little further along, Jen smashed her leg on a screw under the Beatles couch, which meant she was limping the rest of the day.
Big Finish
After Madame Tussaud’s we headed over to the M&M store where we continued to have fun and do stupid things and just enjoy ourselves. We then went to TGIFriday for a lovely dinner and then we split up for a little bit so we could get ready to fly home the next day and planned on meeting up at Canary Wharf for some more ice skating to finish off an amazing trip. Unfortunately, Cindy had an accident and almost broke her leg so could not meet up with us so it was just Jen and I. We managed to still have an amazing time and it was an awesome way to finish off such an epic first ever overseas holiday.
The concussion really kicked in on the flight home and I felt like my head was going to explode and I could not keep my eyes open due to the pain, so I pretty much slept the majority of it… and then we arrived home in Melbourne to over 30 degree weather and were loving the air conditioning.
Comments