ThePassportPrincess

Day 44 – London

September 25, 2015November 30, 2016SarahLeave a comment

My last full day in London was spent doing little errands I needed to do.
Who would think I had errands to run on holiday!
I slept in again 😴 it must be adjusting to the new time zone or me staying up late to write my blogs that make me super tired 😧

When I was ready for my day, I took the underground to the nearest 3 Mobile store. My friend recommended getting a SIM card from there as it can be used in most places around Europe as well.
I had to wait in line for awhile but eventually got a new SIM with a UK number.

I passed a MAC store earlier as well so decided to get some more foundation from there. With the exchange rate it wasn’t that much cheaper than home but with me doing my make up like twice a day sometimes I’m running out really quick.
I also bought a darker shade of lipstick 💄 because I’d only bought like 2 colours to wear on my trip and I’m kind of getting over them haha.

It was after lunch time by this stage so I went down the road to this Falafel Place and got a pita with falafel and salad in it. The lady at the counter who served me was a bit of a grouch because she was bossing one of the other employee’s around but the falafel was nice to eat 🙂
I sat eating my lunch while searching the Internet for jobs in the UK.
It seems like every place I go to I want to move there! Haha.
The more I think of America the more difficult I find it is to work there.
If I could work in New York easily I would but it seems easier to work in the UK.
Hmm….choices!
Plus my grandmother was born in the UK so I’m assuming from what I’ve read I can stay for up to 5 years and then extend my visa?

Anyways, I have ages to plan that type of stuff!!
I could end up loving Singapore and wanting to move there hahaha 😀

When I was finished my lunch, I did a little bit of shopping at H&M (bought a jumpsuit and a top for like £10 on sale) and tried to find some shoes.
I only have my Nikes and these sandals I bought in Vegas that are falling apart.
I need go buy canvas shoes or boots to wear with my jeans 😦 as sandals aren’t cutting it anymore.

I left Central London around 5pm and when I walked outside I realized all the taxis had stopped on the road and there was this big commotion going on. Turns out they were having a taxi strike, protesting against Uber (I think) it was kinda exciting to be in the middle of it. There were camera crews and everything there haha.
I understand where taxi drivers are coming from basically saying that Uber has ‘stolen’ their jobs.

If you don’t know what Uber is, it’s basically an App on your phone where you sign up with your credit card.
You submit a trip request when you need a ride which is then routed to Uber drivers who use their own cars and come and pick you up.
They have to be a registered Uber driver and they have to have a background check and a newer 4 door car so not any random can rock up in his 95′ Toyota Corolla.

I like using Uber as you can see on your smartphone where the car is and when its approaching. You also don’t need to have your credit card or cash with you, as the money is automatically deducted from your account and you get a receipt automatically sent to your email. You can also do a ‘fare estimate’ to see how much it will cost you to get somewhere which nearly always ends up being so much cheaper than hailing a cab!
I used Uber lots in America and it saved me so much money!
So that was all interesting to see!

When I walked back to my hostel room, I saw I had a new room mate and she was doing the same Top deck tour as me the next day!
We talked for a bit and then decided to go and get some dinner (which ended up with us just buying a sandwich) and went back to the hostel to watch the All Black’s win against Nambia on the Projector they had set up in the Bar area.

That night however I got absolutely no sleep. I had the sorest throat and I was so cold 😯 guess who woke up feeling like shit before her Top deck tour! :'(:'(

Xx
(Paris blog to come next)

Day 43 – London

September 24, 2015November 30, 2016SarahLeave a comment

I don’t think I’ve been disappointed in any city I’ve been to so far.
Even if some places are a little bit mediocre I can still see the beauty or difference in it which is always a good thing. 😍

London is beautiful!
It may be alot colder than America and the sky is more cloudy but it has so many beautiful old buildings and things to check out.
The taxis are all black and everyone is in a rush. I find the tube more confusing than New York but I’m getting there 🙂 Ecspecially now that I have a SIM card so I can use that cheeky Google maps.

My first day was spent sleeping until 1pm. I didn’t get to sleep properly until about 5am so I had to have some shut eye!
I messaged a guy who was staying at the same hostel, Sean and asked if he wanted to do a bit of sightseeing. I met him the night before and he was one of the few people who hadn’t seen much of London. Even though he was born here!
So after getting ready, I met Sean down stairs and we headed off over the Tower Bridge.
I didn’t even know it was Blue!

We were both pretty hungry/hungover so went in search of some food.
You’d think there’d be food places everywhere but we were struggling to find something we both felt like.
We eventually decided on getting some smoothies and then went to find some Mexican Food.

Walking with our yummy Smoothies, we found a place called Benito’s Hat and decided to have some lunch there. We both ordered Burritos with some Chipotle grilled Chicken and recieved a small side of Corn Chips, which we ate by the womdpw people watching 🙂
Finally with some food in our tummies, we headed off and caught the underground tube to Westminster Abbey. We basically just looked on a map and picked somewhere touristy to go to. Big Ben was also nearby so it was good to tick two things off our list.

When we exited the tube and walked up the stairs to the sidewalk, Big Ben was literally right there in front of my eyes. They’re not joking when they call him Big either!
I only got a quick snap on my phone because we planned to come back later and take some better pictures. (which didn’t end up happening of course)
However Big old Ben will still be there when I come back from my Top Deck tour so I’m not too worried about missing out.

By this stage of our adventure around London, I was freezing!
I stupidly thought I’d get too hot from walking so decided not to bring a jacket or jumper or anything!
We had to Google map some shops so i could go and buy myself one.

On the way to the shopping streets we walked past Buckingham Palace so had to stop and take pictures!
The Queen was most likely out getting some groceries from Sainsbury so we decided not to go in for scones and tea.

I did consider buying some tea towels for my mum from the Buckingham Palace gift shop nearby until I saw how expensive they were!
I generally don’t think the UK is a very expensive place,but with our New Zealand exchange rate I’m dying even more than I was while in America. I think a tea towel ended up being about NZD$15 😧😧
So, sorry to my Mum back home, I didn’t get it for you.

I did however buy myself a Harvard University hoodie from a British gift store for £20 (which is probably over $40 back home just for a generic Hoodie) now I feel like I can’t ever throw it out.
Continuing our walk through London, we came across a park and I took some snaps of the squirrels and the cute ducks! (we don’t have Squirrels back home so I always find them adorable)
We also saw the London Eye but didn’t make it up there as we didn’t quite have enough time. Just another thing to add to my ‘list of things to do in London’ when I get back.

We came across a Boots store (which I now realise are everywhere around London) and I bought some Shampoo and Conditioner as I was running low. I also had a look at all the make-up and skin care they had while Sean hung around – probably bored out of his mind.
When we got back to the Hostel, it was 9pm! I didn’t even realize it was that late as we’d been walking around for ages. I must still be on New York City time.
Sean and I agreed to go and grab some dinner after we’d freshened up a bit so met down in the Hostel Lobby half an hour later.
We decided to sit down and have some Indian food at a restaurant really close to the hostel before heading back to the hostel bar afterwards for another couple of bevvys.

(That’s my picture of the dinner I had but finished and forgot to take a snap of 😑)

I’m rushing the end of this blog because it’s 11pm here and I still have today to write about! Plus I have to get up super early to sign in for my Top deck tour tomorrow morning.

My next blog will be about what I got up to today 🙂

Day 42 – New York to London

September 24, 2015November 30, 2016Sarah1 Comment

I was so wrong!
I take back my negativity about Iceland Air.
I judged before I experienced and for that I am sorry.

Yes that picture above is correct.
I was near the back of the plane but I got the whole row to myself!
I started talking to another girl across the aisle from me who had the same deal. She had the whole row to herself as well! When we realised that the flight attendants had ‘armed their doors’ and no one had sat next to us we were stoked.
Not to mention the whole flight was smooth and I happily watched a movie ‘The longest ride’ (one of my faves) and then had a nap.
I had 3 blankets as well and a bag of candy. Life was plane perfect!

Apart from not understand half of what the pilot and stewardesses were saying as they spoke Icelandic, it was a thoroughly enjoyable 6 hour flight to Iceland which went so fast.

I am so glad I could look out the window on take – off too. New York City at night was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen. It made me so happy inside to be able to see such a massive city all lit up!

And as usual, my camera didn’t do the night time shots any justice… :evil::evil:

When I arrived in Iceland around 7am, I just hung around the very basic airport they had going on. I think I just read a magazine and looked in their gift shop.
Thank god I wasn’t staying in Iceland because everything was so expensive! I didn’t even get a magnet because the cheapest one was $10 NZD
Even the tea towels were about $16 each!!

When it was time to board, I had to sit between 2 others which was fine. We all pretty much slept the 3 hours into London.

When I landed, I got my bag and dragged it to the ticket kiosk to get my Heathrow Express train ticket into London. I should have asked the attendants where the actual Heathrow express left from because I then spent the next 20 minutes going up and down the lifts at the airport trying to figure it out!
Eventually a guy could see I needed help and pointed me in the right direction.
Not gonna lie, the train was pretty nice for an airport train.

I got off at paddington and then bought an Oyster card to take the Underground train to my hostel.
It honestly sucks having no internet on your phone and having noo idea where you going.
When I got off at my station I walked off in the wrong direction of my hostel until I eventually figured it out and walked 15 minutes to Wombats Hostel on Dock street. 😧 by this stage my bag was killing me.

Once I’d checked in, I headed upstairs to my room (a really nice 6 bedroom dorm ) and pretty much flopped down onto my bed and chatted to my room mate Sheree for a little bit.
She was heading out so I had a shower, took out my contact lenses which were drying up on my eyeballs from the flight and then went for a 3 hour nap.

I woke around 6.30pm and dragged myself out of bed to head downstairs at the hostel to their bar area.
I’m glad I did because I met an American girl called Nicole who was really fun. We ate pizza and challenged everyone to games of beer pong. I also played some pool and drunk lots of cider (yay they have Cider in London!)
Overall it was a really fun night. I didn’t even get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning because of all the drinking and meeting new people.

I slept in until about 1pm in the afternoon the next day, I know – my first day in London ever and I’m having a big sleep.
But don’t worry, I did get to experience some London which I’ll write about in my next blog 🙂
Xx