Camden

Met up with Mikey around 2pm at King's Cross today.  I def underestimated my jet lag, or whatever you want to call it.  After getting off chat with him at 12, I ended up taking almost a 2 hour nap.  We saved tube money and walked about 30 minutes to Camden, an area that used to be punk-rock induced, but since maybe 10 years ago has cleaned up a bit.  We still spotted the mohawks, and straight-jacket-esque hardcore apparel however.  It reminded me a lot of Haight & Ashbury, with it's ornate shop decorations- oversized objects comin out the buildings.

King's Cross Station

sweet paint job

walking into Camden

After taking a quick, self-controlled walk through the markets, grabbed a couple beers (£1.40/each), and a bag of chips (£1.29) for lunch down by the canal.  Shortly followed, by some live music that was actually very fitting and pleasing to the ears on this warm afternoon.  Mikey couldn't help but sing along too ;)

Because real men roll their own 

It was a very easy-going relaxing day, and after that we made our way back to Islington, grabbing some groceries on the way for me (loaf of fresh bread £.45, cheese £1.84, fruit £1.40)to get through at least the next 2 days breaky & lunch. And agua too of course, cause otherwise I'll dry up and die(£.49/1 litre).  Then, snagged a couple postcards, postage & shotglass for my lil collection back home £6.10.

a really hideous distressed looking pigeon

excerpts from a book on display

Mikey looking at the excerpts on display

leggy

dinner

Came home to Tina doing some ironing for some draping project, stressing a bit nonetheless haha. Therefore, coping by attempting to dye her hair purple.

Tina's beeyootiful hands

me driving Tina crazy

purps :]

Well, the purple didn't quite come out.  But Tina made some delicious pasta and gave me the leftovers! Mmmmmm. And, now here we are.  Full, but craving a drink (Buy one get one free down the street whaaa TINA) Tina's sketchin and I'm scoping out exhibitions for later this week.  Cheers!

Total spent today: £12.97, but lets round that to £14, cause life is unfair. = $20 USD

KL

Home # 1

Just realized that thanks to Tina, I can post a couple more pics from my camera vs just my phone.  So, here's a lil more from yesterday.  Slept pretty well last night, except for waking up in the middle of the night cause the landlord's phone went off and I thought it was mine. hah, silly kim, you have no service here.  Anyhow, here's a low-down on the apt I'm staying in.  I'm sharing a room with my friend Tina who is studying fashion at Central St. Martins for the summer.  We had met in an Intro to Fibers class taught by Carrie Burckle-Sullivan at CSU Long Beach.  Super talented girl, who I'm pretty stoked to have as a friend to make me chuckle... or better yet scold me when I am unladylike.  Here's Tina, refusing to be taken a picture of:

The apt is on the second floor, and small, but cozy.  2 Bedrooms, 1 bathroom, with the landlord just down the hall.  Really nice man who has hosted a lot of people, and gave me a good deal since I'm not staying that long (£7/night x 8 nights = roughly $83 USD).  The doors lock automatically, so better not forget the keys when it slams.  

bed pretty much takes up 3/4 of the room, with a small closet and night table to my left

view of the kitchen from the front door, and to my right is the bathroom

Anyhow, just thought that might be a nice little update- I meant to include it all last night, but oh well you get the picture! Now, I wonder where the hell Mikey is... it's 1130am, and we're going to try and figure out my tele situation. 

view of London just before landing

Chris, Mem, Nick, Tom

Mikey, Chris, Lucy

standing under some goat statue

Total amount spent so far: £96 = $143 USD

KL

The Drink at the End of the Tunnel

Made it!  Took off at 5pm, and somehow snoozed my way through 8 hours of flying (except when the food came of course- at 630pm, and then 9am).  All together it was a 10 hour flight. Met some Kiwis on their way to a wedding in Germany, although their flight was rerouted a couple times because of the plane crash in San Fran. It was all interesting until the sleeping pill kicked in, and I passed out against the window.  

Got through customs fairly quickly before the rush, and as they saw I had a big trip planned they suggested/made sure that I did have a copy of my itinerary on me for the other countries if they wanted to check.  So, if you ever want to do the same- I'd have some sort of schedule ready! It's not the 60s anymore, and they demand an address of the sort on the customs sheet.  

Anyhow, after customs, I snagged my baggage and connected to the wifi (which only lasted 45 min free).  Mikey had gotten called into work (he works at a club called Village Underground) and wouldn't be off for another 3 hours.  So, I decided to meet him at his work and following his instructions was fairly easy- I jumped on the Heathrow Express just under the airport for £20 ($30 USD). 

My crap Hand writing (sorry dad)

Platform 2 catching the Heathrow Express

London Paddington Station

Getting onto the Hammersmith towards Liverpool (right)

Cool wall

On Great Eastern St

That took about 20ish minutes to get to London Paddington Station.  Then, I found my way just across to the UNDERGROUND, bought a single ticket for Hammersmith & City Line to get to Liverpool St Station for £4.50.  Then, sadly the wifi wouldn't connect, and I had no idea how Mikey would find me. At this point it was about 2pm. First, called my mum collect (I'm such a good daughter), then asked some girls how to get to the Village Underground.  They pointed me down Bishop St, and to turn left at the Drunken Monkey at Great Eastern.  That took about 15 minutes (with my ridiculous backpack).  Ran into another nice citizen who pointed me down Honeywell, and there it was, and there was Mikey! woooo! 10 points for me! and a free drink!  We hit up Boxcar, then Cottons for some drinks.  It was delicious. Like holy water.  Then walked back down along the street and ran into some more of his friends who were working at this sweet clothing shop called Hype- which reminds me a little bit of Grandeur... But, grabbed a couple beers from the nearest corner shop and headed towards Brick Ln.

somewhere down Bishop St

Nick messing with Mem's tables inside Hype

Art is Trash - Brick Lane

After frolicing down Brick Lane for a bit, (it's mostly coffee shops, some vinyl & clothing stores, and down the other direction is delicious-smelling Indian food)we took refuge upstairs in a cafe from the heat for a bit. Prime weather for me, but just not with a 40lb backpack.  Snuck some more beers in, and just relaxed and chatted.  Some of Mikey's other friends came and met us, and we then moved onto Vibe Bar.  Thomas, another friend who had lived in Cali came up after work which was awesome! And I left for not even 5 minutes to grab a chicken wrap from a Caribbean food stand (£5)- the guy's getting hypnotized.  It was bizarre.

Lucy & Chris

Tom getting hypnotized

Mikey making fun of Tom getting hypnotized

Thomas Ni

Chicken wrap w/ lettuce, corn & peas, tomato and red onion

Once we finished there, they accompanied me towards the station again to help find my friend Tina's flat, where I was staying.  In class all day, she was finally back and  waiting for me, at this point it was about 9pm.  So, staying in Islington, we took the Metropolitan Line and headed to King's Cross, got off there and walked about mmm 6 blocks? Grabbed her a birthday beer along the way, and ran into this random little eats/bar place called Drink, Eat & Dance.  It was small, and had these huge paper cranes and other things of that matter hanging from the ceiling... pretty neat-o, but still had to find Tina's place.  Then, ideally, as somewhat drunk as we were, we just started to yell her name into the windows we walked by.  And, lo and behold we were answered by the Birthday Girl herself! :D And sang like angels Happy Birthday to her.  Good first day, the weather is beautiful, and getting around is pretty easy.  Glad to get my feet wet here in London for the beginning of this trip.  1am now, and I'm feeling the crash about to kick in. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!

KL

Don't Be Sorry

It's 11:50PM, and I feel like I'm going to either pass out, throw up, inflate like a balloon and fly away, or all 3.  I'm thinking a million miles a minute, but I'm just sitting in the middle of my room a confused hypochondriac, and mostly delusional.  Got travel insurance through AAA today, that was 250 bones.  But the coverage is a good deal.  Out of the Trip Assist Family Care from Allianz, it includes: 

Trip cancellation (up to 100%)
Trip interruption (up to 150%)
Missed connection ($800)
Travel delay (up to $200/person to cover additional accomodation/travel expenses)
Medical Emergency ($25000)
Emergency transportation ($500000)
Baggage loss/damage ($1000)
Baggage delay ($300 to cover reasonable amount purchase of essential items)

Other than dealing with that, I've been enjoying the last week with good friends, and family. I really couldn't ask for a better group of people to meet me halfway with how busy and distracted I've been.  My girls made a rad Euro-box with a journal signed by everyone, and other little things that just might make your heart melt (mine def did hah).  Followed by a quote written inside by one of my favorite writers Jack Kerouac

Live, travel, adventure, bless, & don't be sorry.

Geeeez, way to hit the nail on that one Leish, Lyss, and Karimate.  But, I do, admit I say sorry too much.  why?  I couldn't really say.  natural reflex? automatic response?  As I look back on the past 6 months, I see that I (and as I'm sure, many others), have done so much for some people, and not enough for others, even ourselves; whether or not it was deserved, it doesn't matter.  To feel sorry so much sounds and feels ridiculous, but finding that line between too much and not enough is what frustrates me with a lot of things in life. I think I've finally accepted that I may never find it.  Anyhow, seeing how relieved my mum was after we finally bought travel insurance (yes, I was the stubborn one, not wanting to give up the bones and depend solely on Advil) I definitely felt a little bad.  In the end, we gotta look out for ourselves in all seriousness.  Some say fighting is healthy, and shows that we care, but at the same time we can only fight so much until we finally get going to where we want to be.  Everything between that is simply time.  And, that's where we let go of any anchors left on our feet right? Jesus, it's 12:30AM now, how could I have gone on this long? I must be feeling sentimental.

Thanks to the friends & family who met me halfway.  Love you dearly, and I'll see you soon.

KL

Bills, Bills, Bills

Ah, finally, got off my bum to face the truth and exchange some cold hard cash.  Went to the nearest Travelex, and attempted to divi-up my expenses as such roughly for the first 1/3 of the places I'm seeing:

London (11 days):housing - 77GBP
                           food - 132 GBP
                           transp/out - 220 GBP = 429 ≈500 GBP

The Outcome: 355 GBP costing $606.31 USD (no fee when over $600)

Stockholm & Gothenburg: (11 days):1400 kr costing $238.43 USD
- I go back to Gothenburg after some time after Stockholm for the festival, so I just combined them since expenses will be different (roughly).

Brussels/Paris/Toulon/Nice (14 days):food - 340 USD
                                     going out/museums - 400 USD
                                     transportation (other than air) - 300

The Outcome: but just to be safe, I bought $1400 USD worth of Euros = € 960

I'm cutting a lot of it close, and feel a tad like how Marshal felt when he tried being Sports Guy 

Help. :|

KL

oh, how could I even think about posting this without some Destiny's Child? ha, you triflin

The Pause Within The Storm

It's Friday, and I'm at a bit of a loss.  Maybe it's because too much has happened this week... or not enough.  Who knows, but I suppose I can use this time of sitting around trying not to let my mind run wild to list out what I have left to do.  So far, I've packed all the clothes I plan to have get me through the next 3 months.  The hardest part isn't how MUCH I want to pack, but what will be most accommodating to the weather whichever way I go. It's in the high 70s in London at the moment (but still chilly says Tina), low 70s in Sweden and Brussels, back to the high 70s in France, and in the 90s in Spain. Weather's tricky, so def be checking that.

So, there's my sleep threads in the upper right corner, followed by the main deal of my closet- shorts, then (regretfully) pants for chiller nights (and possible days), couple skirts (for the rare time I may find myself wanting to look less gross than usual), light sweater (to layer), my most worn tanks and of course my jean vests and flannel.  Shoewise, my ever trusty cheapo boots, my converse, and crap-pair of sandals slipped into the pack somewhere.  Bathwise will probably vary for everyone, so I'm not going to really list that out.. Although, yes I am carrying a super light sleeping bag and towel for wherever I sleep/shower (I've learned it's just easier to have those things so you don't have to borrow them).  but hopefully all this (plus my camera, which worries me the most) will fit under 50lbs into this bag.  My flight over is with Air New Zealand- I had to call to get my booking reference, since I purchased my ticket with them through a different company (statravel).  Wasn't a problem to get, but sadly she did tell me that I can only carry-on 15lb, and that I do luckily have 1 free checkin bag of 50lb.  With the other airlines it was different, but I'm alright with this since it's a direct flight, and (hopefully, cross your fingers) I won't lose my luggage. My whole life is in here man... Yah, that's exactly what I'm going to say.

What's left to do? Mmm...

1. Scan my passport/Copy it
2. Figure out turning off my Data etc on my phone, and enabling wifi only
3. Exchange my USD to Euros/GBP while the exchange rate is cheaper than it is in the airports etc

KL