Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Back by popular demand! We haven't had time to catch a breath in recent weeks never mind write a blog, but I have finally found an opportunity to continue to share my experiences. After a 'posh' week in Prague, we returned to overpriced London Town. This was it! We had booked 2 nights accommodation in St Christopher's Hostel in Shepard's Bush. This way, Zoë had no chance to chicken out. It was an interesting stay to say the least! Moving from a private room to a room with 8 bunks and a sink is a huge step and Zoë made me know it!
We arrived at Shepard's Bush Tube Station just before our 2 p.m check-in time. After walking in the complete opposite direction for about 2km, we found our hostel. The Belushi's Bar branding was familiar to us from our Prague stay! What was not familiar however, was the level of comfort. The hostel was set on 3 floors above a bar on the ground floor. There was an underground common room which featured a flat screen T.V, DVD Player, Arcade Games and a Table Tennis table. The room was acceptable with clean, red linen and a comfortable mattress and pillow. Zoë's eyes started rolling when she had to wade through her neighbor's clothing to get to her bunk. I think her words were "This is disgusting" I could immediately tell that her neighbour was a girl. The bra hanging from the window gave it away! More of this girl to follow. We were getting settled, when we heard a key to the door turn. It was our first roommate. He was a Belgian guy who was starting his new life in London. He was also homeless but was one up on Zoë and I in that he had a job to go to.
Our next two roomies arrived shortly thereafter. Carlos was a South African who had been traveling Europe for the last 4 years as a tour guide on the Bus About Tours. His girlfriend Monica, was an Aussie from Cairns who he had met on the job. Zoë and I explained that we were a hybrid of the two and they threw a spare Toblerone to me and said "We've got to look after our own." I munched down the whole thing to myself, because Zoë was on a strict diet to fit into her bridesmaids dress for Kathryn Jacovides' wedding which was sprung on us at the last minute.
Rebecca Chenoweth, a friend from the Gold Coast (Now a London local) had a spare ticket to go watch the Temper Trap give a live private gig at the O2 arena. I saw Zoë and Bec off at the Westfield nearby and I went along on my merry way to entertain myself and that is exactly what I did! I went back to Belushi's for a few beers. It is a myth that the beer is warm, however it is a fact that Foster's is the cheapest beer on tap! Quite weird that most Australians only taste this 'Australian Beer' once they touch down in London. I sat with the Bus About Tour Group who were having their end of season party. I am not kidding when I say that they drank for a solid 12 hours. I was very pleased that some of the guys in that group were not staying in our room as they looked green!
I then got talking to yet another of our 6 roommates. He was from Boston and was beginning his tour of Europe. I checked my watch and I had killed 2 hours. It was 8 p.m and Zoë had told me that she would get home at 11 p.m. I decided to venture out to find some dinner. After witnessing my first ever mugging, I decided not to venture out too far into the unknown unaccompanied and settled for a McDonald's meal. I then returned to the bar and watched a soccer game. In London, soccer (football as they call it!) is religion and the pub is their church! I watched intrigued as supporters of each team hurled abuse at each other. Soccer or what I like to call the dramatic arts is not my scene, so I thought I would be better off waiting for Zoë by the station. Little did I know that the Tube strike that began that evening would have such a disastorous effect! The closure of underground lines resulted in long bus delays and Zoe only ended up getting back at 1 a.m. I was frozen at that stage! The bar had closed and we had to buzz to get back into our room. We were careful not to wake any of our fellow roomies as we entered the room. We got to use our 2 euro torch that we had bought in a restaurant in Italy for the first time! We quietly said goodnight to each other and then went to bed. There was still no sign of one of our roommates!
I lay in bed thinking "So this is what prison is like!" when Zoë tapped me on the shoulder an shouted in a whisper "Stop snoring, You'll wake everyone up!" It turns out that I had been awake the entire time and it was in fact the overweight Belgian above Zoë who was doing all the snoring! At one stage, the snoring was like an Orchestra with different sounds bouncing around the room. We didn't get much sleep that night, but everyone else did! It was 9.30 a.m and everyone was still sound asleep! The room was dark as night with the only small window blocked by the drawn curtain. Zoë was not impressed to find that her messy neighbour that we had not yet met had brought home a visitor! She lay topless in the bed, with her new found friend cuddling her. I thought that this was the only logical reason for the bra hanging from the window!
Zoë was not impressed that everyone was still sleeping as she needed to access her bag to get ready for the day! I told her that it is acceptable etiquette to turn on the lights at 9.30 a.m if need be. She refused and made her way to the showers. She came out in disgust as there were flies circling her as she showered and the toilet seats of the unisex toilet block were all covered in pee. I explained that there were 2 times when using a toilet at a backpackers is not in our best interests! These are at 11.01 p.m when the bar closes and at 9.30 a.m during rush hour!
We haven't fought much this trip and we are a great team, but that day I called her a spoilt brat! She didn't deny it! She said "I refuse to stay here again!" After a cooling off period and a cheap continental breakfast, we began our day! What a day it would turn out to be!
My mom had kindly couriered my S.A passport to Wendy McNamara's office in London. The only problem was that the parcel arrived on Saturday when the office was closed. It also turned out that customs duty was payable on Zoë's Internet Banking Security Device that was included in the package. 39 pounds for customs duty is an unwelcome expense to any backpacker in my opinion.
We needed to make our way to Wendy's office on the other side of London! The only problem was that the London Underground was closed for their final day of striking against cuts to public sector employment numbers. After studying a series of maps, I suggested that we walk! That way we would see the likes of Hyde Park and Oxford St, Nottinghill and other well renowned sights. My idea was uncalculated and over ambitious! We made our way past the squirrels that were frolicking in Hyde Park and up to Oxford St before our legs started to cave in! We were only half way! Good thing that Zo had done her research and we were able to catch a bus to an underground line that was working that would take us directly to Wendy's office! After all that, we had our passports, Medi-Care Card and Internet Banking Device on hand and we felt like we had conquered Everest! No sooner had we arrived in the city centre, we had to make our way back to the hostel. The hostel offered free Wi-Fi which would enable us to book our flights to S.A to attend 2 weddings and to see our families. By the time we got back, we were sweating and we had removed all our winter woolies! We managed to book to Iberia Airlines tickets to Johannesburg in about 20 mins and then it was time for our next challenge! We needed to go to the other side of London to fetch our bags from Keagan's and then trek across to the complete opposite side to leave our bags with Richard in Wimbledon. We hated the London Underground Strike by the end of the day as this mission entailed doing what we had done earlier in the day but this time with 2 massive bags!
We had a quick drink at Richard's house when we arrived at 10 p.m. He kindly met us at the train station to lead us in the right direction! His house was very elegant and definitely what we aspire to! By the time we got back to the hostel, it was past midnight and this time we did not hear a single snore! By the time our heads had hit our pillows, we were out for the count! After a better sleep, Zoë had less to complain about except for the 4 large rats that we saw lurking outside the kitchen area. We checked out and left our bags in the Common Room as we had 4 hours to kill before we needed to make our way to the airport. We were heading to our homeland Sunny South Africa!
- comments