My Mini OE - London and Airport Issues

Hi, sorry for the delay in posting! I've been too tired at night to get on the computer and have finally decided I better get something down to let you know whats happening.

I started off my journey to London with a late night and an early morning so it wasn't off to the best start, then I experienced delays at Newark airport so by the time I arrived in London it was about 8:30pm. I got off the plane with blistered feet because like an idiot I was wearing some new shoes, so I ended up using the sticker on my boarding pass and placing it over the blister. Good ol' Kiwi Ingenuity! Then I went to queue and man it was long!! Once I got halfway I realized I didn't have my customs clearance card to fill in so I had to leave the massive queue and go grab the card. Then I filled it in with all the information it required, with the exception of the address where I was staying which was with Mums Partners Sisters Penpal. I had been emailing Audrey but I forgot to ask for the address so all I knew was that it was in Croydon, which it was I put on the card. Once I got to the end of the queue I was tired, had sore feet and a sore back and I was wondering how I would get around not having an address!

Well the first thing that happened was the Customs man said "We'll need more than Croydon, UK for the address" and in my fragile state that was all it took for me to burst into tears! So here I was crying like an idiot while the customs officer tried to get information from me about who I was staying with and the reasons for my trip. Luckily I had the flight information for my trip and the EasyJet Boarding passes for London to Paris and Paris to Rome, so I could at least hand that over. He then said that he would need an address and I unfortunately couldn't give it to him as I couldn't even remember Audrey's surname! And even telling him how I knew her sounded ridiculous, I mean when you state the connection it sounds a bit dodgy!
So once my cry turned into the "Ugly Cry" and he had given me a warning about being detained and making sure I remember the address for next time he let me through to get my bags.

By this time it was 9:30pm and I hadn't been able to contact Duncan or get internet access, so I ran to get my bags but when I managed to figure out which baggage carousel was the one to go to I saw that it had stopped! So I went to the questions desk and saw my bag was the last one from the flight to be picked up, then zoomed over to the exit to hopefully see Duncan and Audrey waiting. Well Duncan sticks out from a crowd so I immediately felt relieved when I saw him and then standing next to him was Audrey and her Mum.
I then had another little cry and got a cuddle from Duncan which made me feel better, and I made my way with them to the car for a good nights sleep!!!!

Day 1 of London

So I had a lovely sleep in and was looking forward to checking out London and meeting up with my dear friend Kiera! Duncan joined us for the day also which started at midday as Kiera had a Job interview and we planned to meet at 1pm. Lucky for Duncan and I Audrey was able to give us a lift to the train station in Easy Croydon and then help us by letting us know what ticket to buy so we could get around London affordably. 

Once we had figured out what train to catch (I asked one of the station attendants, Duncan was too chicken to ask! :) We made our way to London Waterloo which was where we were meeting Kiera.

It was so nice to see Kiera, we had a great day checking out Trafalgar Square, and walking past the London Eye, then we went to the Camden Markets and I got into an argument with a lady at one of the stalls because I bought a ring and it broke after wearing it for about an hour. I think I embarrassed Duncan and Kiera, and later on when I had cooled down myself. Its cause I asked for my money back and she had this little sign in the top corner saying no refunds, only exchanges.

Once we had something to eat around 7pm Duncan and I left to go back to Audreys and Kiera went back to the hostel she was staying in.

Day 2 of London

I started off the day with a sleep in and was late to meeting Kiera which I am so sorry about!! Sorry Keira!!!

Duncan also came as he was going to be staying with a mate that night and had to go to the dudes work to get keys so he could drop off his backpack. 

I meet up with Kiera whilst Duncan went to see his friend and she and I decided we would meet at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I had such a nice time there, the best part was the Jewellery Collection. It really brings out the Magpie in you!

If I get rich enough I want to try an replicate this Necklace

Kiera and I lusting over the rings

Kiera and I went for lunch and coffee and then caught the tube to the station where I meet up with Duncan and we both farewell-ed Kiera. Thank you Kiera for coming to meet me, I am so glad we could meet up!!

Duncan and I then went to the Tate Modern and queued for about 20 minutes to check out the Damien Hirst  Diamond Encrusted Skull on show for free. It was made with 8,601 Diamonds and is worth about 50 million pounds.

The mighty Tate Modern

It was quite cool in real life but I was tired and kind of past it by that point.

Once we had seen it I was getting really weary and wanted to get to bed so I left Duncan at the Tate and headed back to Audreys. I got off at the stop near Oxford Street and ended up in Primark on Bond Street which did renew my strengths somewhat so I left Primark with a lovely Skirt and some stockings! Its funny how rejuvenating I find shopping. I'm sorry Mum, I wish Art got me excited but alas I am not that way inclined! 

Day 3 of London

Well I enjoyed myself very much on day 3 (Saturday) I indulged in shopping and got some nice buys from a couple of Notting Hill Thrift Shops, I also went to Selfridges and felt very odd amongst all the expensive clothes and I caught the end of the Portobello Road Markets! It wasn't a cultured day and It wasn't a event fulled day but it was my kind of Holiday! 

Day 4 of London

Well yesterday was definitely an event filled day! I went into London and had a look around the East End at some shops, I bought lots of lovely clothes at this place called the East End Thrift Shop down a passage way called Assembly Passage and I got an amazing coat/cape you can see it in the photos below because after the shopping I met up with Duncan and some other people who were new to London and work colleagues with the girl whose place he was staying at. We meet at Buckingham Palace but because its so cold over here we just had a quick look then wandered down to Trafalgar Square. 

Once we got to Trafalgar Square we then noticed a concert going on and asked a security guard who explained it was an Indian Festival celebrating the New Year. We watched for a little while but got cold pretty quickly so ended up heading to a pub for some food and drinks to warm us up!

Pimms Cup!

We had a few nice drinks and I tasted a really delicious Strawberry and Pear Cider which I could see myself getting addicted to! We were really wanting Mulled Wine but what we got had alcohol in it so we warmed up pretty quickly! 

Once we finished there Duncan asked if we wanted to meet up with Laura who he was staying with at a bar called Walkabout Inn which is apparently an Australian Bar and they have them in Australia also, Kat who was with us and is Australian had never been in one and it sounded from her description to be pretty low class. 

Once we made our way there, after asking for directions from a drunken man with a Cockney accent, We saw what Kat was talking about. Wow. I have never experienced anything like it, for anyone who knows what I mean, it was like the Big Kumara in Wellington on Crack. 

Because it was a Sunday night and Monday is a public holiday so many people were out but I do think that even if people had work the next day they would probably still get quite drunk. There was a queue outside and then once we got to the front of the queue I realized I didn't have my ID so I left it up to the bouncer but he believed me when I told him I was 23. 

Heres some grainy photos of the place

Guy who looked like he wasn't feeling too good

Girl who was crying

The lights came on at 10:30pm and they started clearing people out a little later because they had  reached capacity

It was Carnage

Now I kind of wish I never went because then Duncan and I lost Laura and she went to another Pub that was in Putney (we were in Hammersmith) and because it was late and freezing we couldn't figure out how to get there and we got angry, well I got angry at Duncan, so it felt like a bit of a disaster. It took us ages to finally make our way there and It cost me £25 for the Taxi which didn't even get us to the right place, then we did get there but they were 20 minutes away from closing so we couldn't even get in. Duncan and I finally decided to go back to Laura's where we would both crash on the massive couch, but that took a long time also! We missed the 2:12am bus then waited till 2:42am for the next one, Lucky Bastard Duncan had a nap while we waited, Made our way to another stop where we caught an after midnight bus which was 20 minutes away so we sat at the bus stop with other night time dwellers and then when we got to Laura's we could finally settle down and get warm! Laura was really lovely also she came in about 20 minutes after us and put a sleeping bag over me cause I was using my new coat/cape as a blanket and gave me a pillow. 

I had a really good sleep and followed in Duncans footsteps by having water before we slept and water when we woke up. :)

Day 5 of London

This morning we all woke up and decided to go for a feed at a local pub, I had a really nice Vegetarian sunday roast with a Mushroom and Cashew Wellington (Mushrooms and Cashews and a yummy gravy covered in pastry) and a coffee and apple juice. While the others had a proper sunday roast.

Yum!

Duncan and I then had to go back to the Victoria and Albert Museum because he had been there with Kat and Ezra (The work colleagues of Laura) and had forgotten his Backpack with all his things in it! 

We then made our way to Audreys for a relaxing evening and a delicious Sunday Roast for tea! (I had vegetable stir fry that was leftover from Wagamama instead of Chicken)

Tomorrow is my last full day in London so I'm really going to make the most of it!!! 

My mini OE - Final three days of New York

I've decided to play catch up by entering three days worth of activites into one blog entry as i'm going to be flying to London tomorrow and I don't want to worry about New York posts while i'm in London. On Sunday morning I had a lie in then got dressed for a walk in central park.

I could have spent my whole trip in central park, its that beautiful. It was a lovely sunny day and I enjoyed people watching, you learn things that way, like if you want your name on one of the park benches it'll set you back $5000 bucks.

I saw fathers fishing with their children, artists painting the many different sights surrounding them, friends throwing a frisbee and others cycling. It was so nice and peaceful, one lovely extra was you also got to see a lot of squirels and birds living amongst an unnatural environment. Here are some snapshots of what I saw.

Once I felt my stomach rumbling I decided to go to the Garden of Eden, a store that sells food made on the premise. They have salads and hot food as well as fruit and vegetables and all kinds of supermarket items.

I didn't know we were that cheap!

I then caught the subway to the city and spent the rest of the day walking around and taking it all in
On Monday I started off a visit to the Muesuem of New York to read about the history of this great city. I learnt so much about the way the city has had so many challenges but mainly due to the people it keeps recovering.

I then continued as I had on Sunday and walked around the shops and stalls and people Downtown, finishing the evening with a Broadway show!

Finally today I wanted to tick off some things on my list before I left, they were go up the empire state building, find a decent cup of coffee and buy some second hand/thrift shop things. I succeeded in all those things to my amazement because I was so tired and a little bit lonely. I cant wait to see my friends in London and especially my brother Duncan!

Heres a few more photos to finish off, thank you New York and ill see ya next time!

Finally a decent cup of coffee!

Delicious!

Goodbye New York!

My mini OE - day of Jerrys Grand Tour of New York

Today was the day I was most looking forward to, Monique had stayed in New York and gone on this tour and said it was a highlight of her trip to America. 

I didn't get off to the best start though, it must be in my genes that I'm late to most things (thanks to Mum I  reckon) and I also love to sleep in. I set my alarm for 9am because Jerrys tour started at 10am and that would give me time to get ready, but no, I stayed in bed till 9:30 and instead of husseling I took my time which resulted in me not washing my face or brushing my teeth or having breakfast but grabbing a muesli bar and running downstairs at a few minutes past ten to meet the group which thankfully was waiting for a few more people to turn up. I then needed to go toilet so asked if they could wait for me which they did and I went off to go toilet. When I got back they weren't in the foyer so I went outside to find them and thankfully they were waiting outside and paying Jerry. It only cost $10 and the fare for the subway which was definitly worth it as I found out at the end of the day.

Jerry is a character, He is about 73 and does these tours twice a week on saturdays and tuesdays. He has a laugh that is more of a cackle and is a born and raised new yorker. The group of us were going to have a great day ahead, and I meet some really nice, funny people. There were the cousins from Chicago, their roommate and surrogate brother from Germany, A charming chilean, two ladies from Brazil one who spoke no english but had a beautiful smile and the other who was her translator for the day (they had only meet that morning), a beautiful Columbian from Atlanta, a shy but friendly Australian, a lovely girl from the Netherlands, a quiet Chinese girl from vancouver, and last but not least Alex, a man from LA originally from slovenia who was friends with Taylor Swift and Ella from Gossip Girl and went to school with Lauren Conrad and Kristen Cavalleri.

An example of the beautiful homes in Brooklyn

You can see Alex behind me

Me on the subway, you can see how tired I am!

Part of the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero 

Jerry took us everywhere, Brooklyn, Ground Zero, Wall Street, Battery Park, past the statue of liberty on the staten island ferry, Soho, Noho and Nolita, little Italy, China town, times square. Most of it was walking and boy did we have sore feet! I can definitly say it was an amazing experience and if you can make it then go to the hostel just for the tour.

Our sore feet!

My Mini OE, day 6 & 7- SFO/NY

Day 6 Started off with Jessica and I driving into the city to go shopping, We parked the car and had a coffee and slice at Star Bucks then caught the cable car to Union Square. I was quite excited about catching the cable car and seeing the city from its point of view, I was not disappointed in the least! 

Me enjoying coffee and a slice in San Francisco

After buying some shoes Jessica took me to Macys and we saw the Cheesecake Factory had a restaurant on the top floor so decided to stop for lunch there. It was delicious, we ordered a Margherita Pizza and a side salad each and enjoyed it very much!

Jessica and I went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, yum!

After lunch we caught the cable car to be able to catch the bus to Haight Ashbury for some vintage shopping, I noticed the amount of Homeless people in the city and when we were on the bus I saw a drug transaction between some guys and a homeless man at the bus stop. I don't know why but I found it exciting as well as a little sad. :(

Haight Ashbury has some cool vintage shops and I really wish we could have spent the whole day there but as it was we were a bit pushed for time. That was fine though because in the evening we were going to a wine and food tasting which I was looking forward to, I'll have to go back to San Francisco another time!

So in the evening I was flying onto New York and we had this food and wine tasting event, what we decided to do was drop me off at the airport after the event. My flight left at 11:30pm so we got to the airport at 10:00pm and tried to find the terminal for Continental Airlines, The only problem was it wasn't there. My ticket also had confusing wording because it said the flight was International but It definitely wasn't.

We then drove to the International Terminal to try and find it, Ken and I ended up getting out of the car while Jessica waited for us to check it wasn't at the International Terminal and we asked a man who confirmed that Continental Airlines Flights went from the United Airlines Terminal. Then we drove back to the Domestic Terminal which isn't an easy feat as all the roads loop around each other and the airport is massive! (Thank god Jessica and Ken are awesome!)

Once we arrived at the terminal I got out with Ken and hugged Jessica goodbye, then Ken came in with me to make sure I was okay and checked in. Once I checked in (It was self service which confused me a bit) I hugged Ken goodbye and headed to the queue for all departing passengers to be security checked. I wasn't sure what to expect but I saw the sign that said take off your shoes and jackets and put everything in to be scanned so I assumed they would be thorough, I held my breath in case they asked me to step aside but they didn't (They did ask the girl in front though) and then I put my shoes back on and grabbed my things and started walking for the terminal. I noticed that everyone waiting at the Terminal had what looked like their checked luggage with them and I panicked a little, then over the intercom they said that all people boarding the flight with large bags would need to get them put in the holding bay. I did not expect it so I realized that it must be something they have for people who have really large things that won't fit in the overhead compartments. I still saw that people had fairly large carry on bags and thought that if we were flying with Ryan air then half those people would be screwed.

The flight wasn't very nice because I was in a middle seat and I found my inflatable pillow from Kathmandu is useless because my neck isn't big enough, So I had pains in my neck and also a strange sensation in my leg like cramp mixed with your leg falling asleep. I also felt like throwing up and had strange fluttering in my chest. Not the best :( I really don't recommend flying a five hour flight at night because you really don't get much sleep. Never again!

Once I arrived at the airport I had slept about 1 and a half hours and napped a little so I wasn't feeling great, on top of that I was dehydrated and had a headache! Man I wasn't in a good mood!
Anyways, I got off the plane and went to get my bags which I found really confusing because the airport was so big. I waited at the baggage claim for what seemed like ages but was only like ten minutes, once I had it I tried to find my way out but that was another trial and I ended up asking a lady for help. She took me to the platform for catching the New Jersey Transit Monorail which wasn't what I was aiming to do but I was too crabby to care and I bought a ticket to New York Penn Station. It was $12.50 USD and you had to catch the Monorail to Newark Penn Station then get off and onto a train to New York Penn Station. Once I arrived at New York Penn Station I was faced with rush hour human traffic in the subway! Wow I have never seen so many people!! This was really New York!
I hadn't eaten much and needed to have a drink and breakfast so I went to Jamba Juice and had a Regular Orange and Mango Freshly squeezed juice, While I drank It I stood against a pillar out of everyone's way and people watched. I saw so many different kinds of people, Gay and Straight, Old and Young, Black and White and Hispanic and Asian. It was really cool. 

Once I figured out how to get on the subway and how to get a subway pass I thought I was getting on the right subway cart but as it turns out I was wrong. I got on at Penn Station and I thought I was going uptown but It turns out I was actually going downtown! So I got off at the last stop but as soon as I did I realized that I could just stay on the cart and it would take me back the way I came. Once I realized my mistake I accepted it and just enjoyed the ride.

Now I got off at 103rd Street and Broadway but I wasn't sure which way was Amsterdam Street and I didn't have a map so I started walking up the street and then realized I had gone the wrong way so I headed back and when I saw that Hostelling International sign I was so relieved!!!

I then left my bags in their storage closet and went for a walk around the neighbourhood, stopping for a coffee at a local store. I then thought I was heading for Central park but actually was heading for the Hudson River Park. When I was there I sat down and wrapped up warm because there was such a cold wind blowing, I was so glad I had the coffee to keep my hands warm!

I then started to wander and saw some very cute squirrels!

By this point my feet were sore and I needed to relax, I still had time to kill so I decided to do what I always wanted to do which was get a Pedicure and a Manicure!

I found this place that would do it for $45 (not including the tip) and by that point I couldn't be bothered looking for a better deal so I accepted and sat down. Something I didn't think about was that I was wearing tights and they would need to be removed before I started the manicure otherwise it would ruin my nails. Well my mistake because it ended up that the Nail Technician had to take me to a back room and pull down my tights for me! So she really deserved her tip! ($10) 

I then went back to the hostel, got my bags, my room swipe card and headed up to settle in. I was unpacking my bag when one of my room mates arrived, a lovely lady from Rochester New York who was visiting her niece for the weekend and had just been to New Zealand with her partner! She even bought a t-shirt for her niece that said Sweet-As Bro on it and asked me to explain what it meant.

A tired me

Once I had tided up I went to find somewhere to eat and saw a nice looking place called the Metro Diner where I got a Vege burger. I didn't take a photo cause I had already bitten it but the Pattie was huge! like the size of my fist.

Now I was cold and tired so I headed back to the hostel for my first nights sleep, Overall It was a very interesting, overwhelming, tiring and fun day and I settled in for the rest of my trip and Jerrys Grand Tour on Saturday!