When Was the Last Time You Did Something For the First Time?

Once upon a time, I visited Belize and Guatemala. It was here that I heard the question: When was the last time you did something for the first time? So here are my firsts from that trip and let me just say, they changed my life.

Tuesday 6 March 2012

۞       I went on a multi week trip without my family.

۞       I went to a foreign country. I remember the feeling as I stepped out of the plane and I breathed in the humid Belizean air. The sky was overcast and it had just begun to drizzle but none of it mattered. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I walked off of the Tarmac and onto the paved landing strip. My first steps onto a foreign country.

۞       I got my passport stamped for the first time. After walking into the airport we all waited in crowded lines. I went to a desk that didn’t match up with the line I was in. Unfortunately the woman who stamped my passport was not as enthusiastic as I was.

۞       I sat next to the girl I wanted to. She had taken a seat in the van which would later be known as “The Mystery Machine” I politely took the seat next to her. This would turn out to be a pleasant seating arrangement for the duration of our stay at Crystal Paradise.

۞       I went into a Central American Store…   You know you’re a tourist when you start taking pictures of the inside of a grocery store. The cloudy weather made the interior of the store a tad dreary. However, none of us seemed to care it was Belize! There were unfamiliar Central American brands to see and exotic fresh produce and meats. It was also here that I saw her smile. It was even more wonderful that it had been in my dream from weeks before.

۞       I got my first Belizean currency. This is where I first experienced how wonderful it is that everything in Belize is “half off.” It was also the first time I received a foreign currency by actually going to the country.

۞       I went to the Belize Zoo. It was here that I saw an assortment of tropical animals in habitats almost identical to their natural ones. I also saw the Tapir which I did a report on in the 4^th grade, and The Jaguar. I am going to take this moment to say how it was very wise of me to choose the Jaguar as a component of the Kendaro. Its agility and liquid-steel muscles were incredible. I do regret not actually petting the Jaguar.

۞       I rode in a van on the muddy mountainous Belizean back roads. The sky was overcast there were steep muddy walls punctuated by thick tropical vegetation. On occasion, we would drive though a small town or village. It impressed me how many people I saw outside even when it was drizzling. It was a nice first glimpse of Belizean culture.

۞       We arrived at Crystal Paradise Resort. The food was excellent, the beds were surprisingly comfortable, and the running water…   well it had the potential to be warm. Either way the desserts were unBelizeable, and socializing by the bar was fun in a casual way.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

۞       I had my first taste of actual fresh squeezed orange juice. Regular orange juice back in the states will never be the same.

۞       I rode a ferry across the Macal River. It was interesting and slightly unnerving to be on this rickety wooden craft that was driven by a motor and some cables. The Murky tan water below made me wonder what could be lurking underneath.

۞       I saw wild monkeys, a small troop of Howlers outside of Xunchunich. Amongst this troop was a baby monkey. It was adorable.

۞       Seeing the Howler monkeys was the first time I heard Ed say that in all the years he had been doing this trip it had never happened before. It felt special at the time, but as the trip went on and it almost became his catch phrase it lost a lot of its “Impressive” feel.

۞       All spice was the first wild jungle plant that was pointed out to us by our tour guide Eric. It smelled incredible. One of my few regrets on this trip is that I didn’t sneak some back into the states.

۞       I saw the Pyramids of Xunchunich, tremendous colossal structures that imbued us with breath-taking awe. It was here that I experienced, climbed, and explored ancient Ruins for the first time. The unforgiving jungle had clearly taken its tole on this once thriving city. It was also here that I saw my first “Halaw” the stadium of the ancient Mayan game of Pitz. Although Eric called the game “Pok A Tok” which is actually the Later Toltec adaptation of Pitz (the actual game that would have been played in this arena) with a completely different set-up.  All and all there was something amazing about standing on the summit of “el Castillo” (the biggest Pyramid on the site) and overlooking the city. The Rain lightly drizzled leaving the air misty in a way that only added to the experience. Xunchunich the stone maiden was a place where real people ate and prayed. People lived and died here in this city that was now in ruins after a millennium of abandon. I doubt our cities will remain as intact after our people have moved on.

۞       I bartered for the first time, and quite successfully if I might add. I got a slate Mayan calendar for about half of the original price, and a Colourful backpack which I would end up using the entirety of the trip, if only I had bartered for that dagger. Unfortunately, I spent all the money I had brought with me for that day, which later proved slightly problematic when we were wandering around San Ignacio.

۞       I explored a Belizean city for the first time. San Ignacio was really amazing. The sun had finally come out, and There were stray friendly dogs everywhere. The people were at these amazing fruit stands that sold an amazing assortment of produce much of which I had never seen before. Here we also saw wild iguanas and leaf cutter ants.

۞       I swam in a Belizean river. The Macal River with its deceptively powerful current nearly was the death of me. I tried to swim across but I was unaware of how much more difficult my shoes would make swimming. I remain confident that I could have made it across if I weren’t wearing those shoes. Either way, it was a fun experience and there was something real about it. This river was the murky tan colour that you see on National Geographic when they visit the Amazon.

۞       I explored the medicine trail with Ellie, Jessica, and Cindy. It was a cool trek through the jungle we all got so much mud on our shoes that they became heavy, but it was still really cool to be that close to these jungle plants.

۞       I had plantains for the first time. Honestly, I prefer their cousin the Banana. Plantain chips, however, are delicious. Banana chips not as much.

Thursday 8 March 2012

۞       I walked across the border into another country for the first time. Even though this was the second country I had visited. It was still cool to walk across the Border into Guatemala.

۞       I jammed out to music with my group in “The Guatemalan Mystery Machine” It’s not that I’d never jammed out to music before, but it was the fact that I was part of a group of strangers fitting in. It was fun doing stupid dance moves with “the Cool Kids”

۞       I spoke Spanish to a local Guatemalan. I had been speaking Spanish for years, but I had never needed to before, so when I met this small boy selling key chains I couldn’t miss the opportunity. He was so adorable too. I felt bad that I didn’t have any money on me. Either way it was a wonderful experience to have a practical application to something I learned in the classroom. This was one of the best moments on the trip for me.

۞       I met Luis Gonzales. That alone should explain it all. He was a stout well spoken man who seemed to hover above the jungle trails. The human encyclopaedia was wise beyond his years in a charismatic and amusing way. He showed a love not only for Mayan history, but a love and respect for the Forest from which the ancient Maya harvested their herbs. He had a unique way of combining all the philosophical similarities of the various religions around the world in a unique and impressive way. Even for a non believer like myself, he was more than capable of convincing me that there is something beyond our current state of reality.

۞       I saw the Pyramids of Tikal. This amazing complex put Xunchunich to shame. The Warm sunny air illuminated the structures. It was a wonderful feeling to climb the uneven stone steps and to explore some of the lower buildings. Of course all of this was made so much better due to the fact that it was explained to us by an expert like Luis.

۞       I went zip lining in the canopy of the Guatemalan forest around Tikal. It took a lot for me to conquer my fear. However, you would be amazed by how helpful encouragement from a crush can be when it comes to conquering a fear. By the end, I was doing tricks. All and all it was a pretty good time.

۞       I played my first drinking game. It was called “Fuck the Dealer” when they asked if I wanted to play I immediately responded, “Well that depends who the dealer is.” However the game actually has nothing to do with sex. The game is played by trying to guess the card that the dealer has. If you get it right they drink. If you don’t you drink. Eventually we got bored of this game, and became entertained by Melvin, the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle. A thousand and one “Chuck Noris” style jokes were inspired by this bug. This would be a reoccurring comedic theme for the whole trip.

۞       I had rum for the first time. I learned that I like rum a lot. 

Friday 9 March 2012

۞       I visited my first Central American school. I spoke at length with the principal who told me many things about the curriculum. As far as I’m concerned the only thing that set the school in Cristo Rey apart from the average elementary school in the US was the lack of funding.

۞       I went into my first cave. This one was known as Rio Frio…   for good reason. Luckily this one we really didn’t have to go into the water, although I got my feet in to remove some pebbles. This was the first time on the trip that I got to do a little rock climbing.

۞       I stood on a rock outcrop in the pine ridge region climbing on the cliff face and taking pictures of the natural waterfall. The Air was bright and sunny, and the water had an opaque green colour to it due to all the weathered rock that was in it.

۞       I swam in the brackish water of big rock falls. It was a lot easier than the Macal River because I wasn’t wearing my shoes. The water did have a salty flavour to it due to the eroded rock, and it shared the same green color as the other waterfall I had taken pictures of. The current wasn’t too strong, but the pools were really deep. I dove off the lowest of all the rocks, and I went down at least ten feet.

۞       I played Futbol against the local and All-Star Futbol team in Cristo Rey.

۞       I actually played well in a team sport. People cheered for me. We all sucked compared to the well trained local team, but we all had a lot of heart. I almost scored a goal once, and I ran as fast and as hard as I could. We were Team Melvin! And we gave it our all, scoring one goal…   to their 12…   Honestly, I have to say that’s pretty good for some people who never really played Futbol before.

Saturday 10 March 2012

۞       I went to Actun Cave. This is an experience that is almost beyond words. To start you have to go on a long trek through the jungle, mud, and mountain streams. The air was warm and sunny, and well…    I slipped and fell in the mud. Then we got to the cave. Although this wasn’t my first cave, it was completely different from Rio Frio. This cave was a cavern carved out by an underground river. We were given helmets with lights and we swam and hiked through the underground river.

۞       In Actun Cave I saw pottery and actual sacrifice victims as they were left. It was like actually going into a documentary rather than just watching it. This was something that I can’t wait to go back and see. Although I lost a good pair of socks in the deal.

Sunday 11 March 2012

۞       I saw the Belizean Capitol city of Belmopan. Ed was right, It was a two bit hole in the wall. The American embassy made me sick. Talk about ugly Americans, it was this huge over fortified building that seemed more like it was there to show off rather than any of the actual duties of the embassy. Other than the embassy the only other things to look at was all the wonderful Graffiti of dicks…   Belize should be so proud.

۞       I saw the cultural capitol of Belize, Dangriga! This was a treat. Our accommodations were nowhere near five star, but it wasn’t the first time I had stayed in a cheap motel. The town was poor, but the people pleasant.

۞       I saw a political rally in Dangriga. The Peoples United Party (PUP) had won there, and they were celebrating with speeches. Unfortunately, none of them were really charismatic speakers. Either way it was a wonderful cultural experience.

۞       I had home-made bread from a woman in Dangriga. I love fresh bread, but this was off the charts, and for $1BZ a loaf…    you couldn’t go wrong.

Monday 12 March 2012

۞       I snorkelled off of Tobacco Caye. The fish were awesome. The food was great. The sun was hot. I ended up extra crispy…  

۞       I found Conch Shells in the ocean. I actually got a lot of them for other people, but I kept the best one for myself.

۞       I’d like to say this was the first time I had broken my mom’s camera on a trip, but that would be a lie. However, it was the first time I had broken my mom’s camera on a trip while on a boat. Anyway it ended up temporarily waterlogged, and it won’t stay closed. According to Ellie, a little tape should be able to fix it.

۞       I saw and participated in some traditional Garafuna dancing. They had a live band, and they would teach us some dance moves, but most of us just did our own thing. I know I broke out my patented move “the Refrigerator” Everyone had a good time, and the music was really catchy. Easy to find the beat and move to it, and great for anyone who likes rhythms.

Tuesday 13 March 2012

۞       I flew on a little 8 seated airplane. I had never been on a plane that small before. It was a fun experience especially since I really like flying. On a side note, I was actually able to finish the rest of my edits on the second round of edits for The Legend of Sentra Night of the Lunar Eclipse during the duration of this flight.

۞       I made it to San Pedro, the city on Ambergris Caye. What a fun place. The ocean was beautiful, the shops were cool and we all really began to get a taste for “Island Time Mon…  ”

۞       I saw the sunset from a boat. Almost everyone went in the water, but my sunburn hurt to the degree where it wasn’t worth taking my shirt off. However, the sunset was magnificent and the rum punch was pretty good too. It just needed some strawberry flavouring. I remembered for the next time.

۞       I went out drinking for the first time. I had a few shots and a Smirnoff. Audra had us try something called a chocolate cake shot. There was vanilla something or other in the shot and lime with sugar on it, and it actually tasted like chocolate cake. My mind still hasn’t completely wrapped around how, but still it was a pretty fun affair. I can now say I finally understand why people drink. The buzz definitely added to the experience. We were also at a Karaoke bar, so I sang 3 songs. Of course I sang Piano Man, but I also did Hotel California, and Your Song. Everyone loved me, but then again, it doesn’t take much to please drunk people. At one point we all got up there and sang “Don’t stop Belizing!” It was a lot of fun, but I don’t think Journey would be all that proud…

Wednesday 14 March 2012

۞       I saw manatees for the first time. Many of the girls made comments as to how adorable they were, but I can’t say I was all that interested. I had more fun hanging off the side of the boat. Although we did get a few good opportunities to look at them when they surfaced for air. I don’t know but I have heard stories of how manatees had died by being too friendly to boats and getting chopped up by the motors. As we were looking at these animals, all I could think was that they really didn’t seem to want anything to do with our boats.

۞       I snorkelled off Goff Caye. We saw some pretty awesome eagle rays and stuff, but my flippers were so uncomfortable that this was probably my least favourite snorkel of the whole trip. Goff Caye however, was a nice little treat. It was a small little Caribbean island that seems like the perfect place to get shipwrecked. I mean if I had to be stranded on an island like that…   I think I’d be okay.

۞       I touched Stingrays. Yeah I actually touched stingrays…   I could of and should of touched the nurse sharks that were around when we were snorkelling. The only reason I didn’t was because I had never gone underwater with snorkel gear intentionally before, and by the time I had convinced myself it was a good idea I the nurse sharks had already left.

۞       I went to Caye Cauker! We didn’t spend much time here but I was able to buy a hammock for my mom. Caye Cauker is my favourite Caye we visited. 

Thursday 15 March 2012

۞       I explored San Pedro with Ellie and Jessica. It was a fun day in the sun. We saw most of the down-town part of San Pedro exploring many stores and seeing all kinds of interesting places. I’d like to say this is the first time I helped girls pick out dresses…   but that would be a lie.

۞       I told her how I felt, all without a drop of rum. Not surprisingly it didn’t work out, but from what I remember of my original dream. It didn’t work out then either. The rum came after. The good news is that things never got awkward. We still hung out afterwards like it had never happened.

Friday 16 March 2012

۞       I saw dolphins. A pod of dolphins swam near our boat. We actually were right behind them for a while, and I was in the front most part of the boat. I put my hand in the water not even a foot away from one swimming.

۞       I saw a sea turtle up close and in person. We were snorkelling off the northern coast of Ambergris Caye when our guide found a relatively large sea turtle resting underneath some coral. He got it out with his flipper, and It swam inches underneath me.

Saturday 17 March 2012

۞       I went to an Island without the direct supervision of any group. Ellie, Cindy, Jessica, and I went to Caye Cauker again some days later (the Saturday). We took the water taxi, and met some really friendly people. We also got to eat a fresh coconut.

۞       I had mango ice cream. Not the world’s most ground breaking first, but hey it was pretty good all the same.

Sunday 18 March 2012

۞       I watched the sunrise on the ocean. I had seen the after-effects of the sun on the ocean before, but I had never gotten up before it rose and watched the whole thing. Out of everything I saw on the trip, nothing was more breath-taking than the golden gleam on the water from that first ray of sunlight. I truly regret not watching it every day.

Summer Begins

Ello mates, after going to Beltane I realized it’s a story that isn’t quite long enough to make a proper blog post. However, since I mentioned that I was going to write about it at least twice, I decided to give a short summery of what I did that day.

Tuesday April 30 2013

It was an unusual day because I had an extraordinary amount on my plate. My essay for Professor Mooney (Gerry) was done, but I still had a short essay for Professor Simpson, some last minute prep work for my trip back to Orkney, and loads of research to do for my history independent study. I suppose the most unusual part of the day was the fact that I actually got just about everything done that I had planned. However, when I got up that morning, the Beltane Fire Festival felt like a perk that I simply didn’t have time for.

Since it was a Tuesday, I didn’t have class so I decided to skip lunch and spend the early afternoon in Edinburgh. I wanted to check out a few more books on Neolithic Orkney. However, the Scottish section of the library was closed for renovation. It wouldn’t be open again until after I was back in the States. That wouldn’t help me, so I went across the road to the Scottish National Library. Now this is a proper research library. I had to fill out a mountain of paperwork, and get a photo ID before I got in. You have to request your books, and they bring them to a collection desk. Once you request a book, it takes about two hours to get it. So that left me with a hefty amount of time to wander about Edinburgh. I didn’t mind this though, because I had a few errands to run, I was hungry for lunch, and generally speaking it was a beautiful day.

I returned to the National Library and picked up the books that had been dropped off at the reception in my absence. I took these into the reading room. They were brilliant books that fit exactly what I needed. The only problem was I could only read them in the reading room. I couldn’t take them with me to Orkney and read them on my travels. I simply didn’t have time to sit and read them that day. I’d have to wait until next week.

I returned home and prepared for my trip up to Orkney. It was quite the wait until Beltane. I poked around the house doing somewhat productive things until about half seven, when I headed into town. Originally I was with a large group of us from the house, but when a few of them stopped to go pee, I decided to keep going because the #3 was right there.

The festival didn’t start until the sun had completely set. Everyone was standing in a semi circle around the large stone steps. It was a good thing I had gotten there as early as I did. The crowds were growing thicker. I was lucky to be second to the front.

The general premise of Beltane is as follows: Beltane is a 1/₈ point in the year. From a solar perspective the best way to cut the year in half is at the solstices. The equinoxes are half way between the solstices, and Beltane marks half way between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. According to Celtic paganism, this marks the start of summer. The Beltane Fire Festival is an adaptation on their fertility ritual. So in this ritual there are a few characters. There are the “Red Men” although there are several red women. There are the “White Women” although there are several white men. And there is the Green Man, who is a fertility god and represents nature and all that. The general plot of the ritual starts with the characters presenting themselves. The Red Men are supposed to have this strong Sex drive, but the White Women don’t really want anything to do with it. They go back and forth for quite a while and then they all get together at the end.

Now the difficult thing with watching a pagan ritual is that pagan rituals are very big on procession. This means that the parts of this story played out over quite a few different places, and there was no one place where anyone could get a view of all of these. This meant that you had to predict the group and try to beat them to their future destination. Otherwise, you wouldn’t get a good spot. Now I’m a short guy so about half of the segments I had to watch from a distance.

That being said the parts I did see were really cool, there was all kinds of wild dancing. And so much fire. Being a bit of a Pyromaniac… well you can see how that would trip my fancy. With the exception of the bit with the bonfire, it was rather cold that day so I felt bad for the dancers who were next to naked.

I left at the end of the festival. There was an opportunity for the public to join in on the dancing, but I still had a paper to write. It was 12:15 by the time I hopped on the N3 to Dalkieth. It was 2:57 by the time I went to bed. Needless to say I was rather tired by the time I started my next peedie adventure to the Orcades. 

Allons-y!

Ello Mates, Here is the third instalment of my London Adventures, but it doesn’t take place in London. Actually it doesn’t even take place in England. Yep you guessed it: Cardiff, the capitol of Wales. Now you’re probably thinking to yourself who would leave London for a place like Cardiff. The answer is an incredibly huge Doctor Who fan.

Saturday 27 April 2013

9:30 AM

Somewhere west of Reading, England

When I had originally booked this trip several weeks ago, the plan was to leave as early as possible in the morning, and to return pretty late at night. This way I’d have a full day in Cardiff. In hind sight, I would have been better off allowing some time to wander about London that day as well. However, there was nothing I could do about it by this point, so I just sat back and enjoyed the beautiful English countryside, until it turned into beautiful Welsh countryside. There is no real distinction between the two, but it was shaping up to be a brilliantly sunny day. Now that I’d had a proper nap on the train, I felt well rested and ready for the day.

As I stepped onto the platform in Cardiff Central Station, a gentle breeze made the bottom of my trench coat flutter behind me. I strode through the station and into the city centre. One thing I have to say about Cardiff is they have incredibly helpful sign posts. I soon found myself standing in front of one of those signs that have several arrows pointing in all directions. Each arrow points to a different object and gives an approximate distance or walking time to that object.

Using these signs, I was able to find the tourist information centre in no time flat. I have to say I was struck by how beautiful the city was, although this was certainly amplified by the brilliant mid morning sun. Once I got to the information centre, I bought a map of the city for £1 and then never used it. I followed the signs to Cardiff Bay. It was quite the walk out there, but I had loads of time on my hands so I didn’t mind.

I think I almost leaped for joy when I saw the Millennium Centre. For those of you who aren’t Doctor Who fans I’m going to fill you in on some general background stuff. In the Doctor Who universe there is a secret agency known as Torchwood. The Torchwood hub as they call it (but it’s more like a secret base) is right under the giant stainless steel tower across from the Millennium centre. So when they shot the spin off series Torchwood and the hand full of episodes where Torchwood comes into play in Doctor Who they used this site. I was actually on set! Haha! It was so cool.

I continued on until I found a sign that pointed to the Doctor Who Experience. I forced myself to walk casually and slowly towards the giant blue/silver building. Once inside I could hear Doctor Who theme music playing in the background. That got me a bit more excited, but I bet it would be annoying to listen to all day. Anyway, I bought a ticket, and then it was time to wait. The next showing didn’t start until 11:15 and it was half ten now. Time for breakfast.

I made a sandwich with some peanut butter and jelly that I had brought and received a few strange looks. Maybe I was eating in a spot where people don’t normally eat. Either way if I was crossing a social taboo, no one said anything, so when I was done with my meal I walked back to the Doctor Who Experience where I got in queue behind a very overweight man in his 40’s. He was dressed like the 11^th doctor, and this made me stand back and wonder if I was taking my life in the wrong direction.

I looked around at the other people waiting in the queue. The majority of people here were parents with small children. There were a few people who resembled the chap in front of me, and then the rest of us were about my age. They seemed about as normal as I am, and so that made me feel a bit better about this whole ordeal. I felt even better when I noticed a rather pretty girl with the 10^th doctor’s sonic screwdriver sticking out of her pocket.

Now the next bit of this blog post might sound like gibberish to all non Doctor Who fans. The Doctor Who Experience comprises of two parts. The first part is “an adventure through time and space” They take the lot of us on an adventure and have us face some of the many of the Doctor’s worst enemies. The second part of the experience is a museum of sorts, which has all kinds of things from the set. The first bit is more for kids, and I really just came for the second part, but I knew I was certainly going to enjoy both.

So we walked through a door and into a room with a television screen. They were showing a compilation of Doctor Who clips set to exciting music. They were drawn from a series of episodes, to make a new plot for the purpose of this adventure. The video ended with a crack in reality. The television screen split apart along the line of the crack, and we stepped through (which in the Doctor Who universe is a really bad idea, but I suppose that’s not the point).

We found ourselves in the museum deck of the Starship UK. Some of the various artefacts on display were all used on set, and they were explained to us by an information node like the ones used in THE Library. This was all good and fun until the Doctor showed up on the screen (In case there was a question on this, it was the 11^th doctor).  Anyway he was looking for Amy, he would have settled for Rory, but he got us, shoppers. Ohh well we’d have to do. You see, he got himself trapped in the Pandorica #2. Yeah apparently they built a spare, and then he spent a bit of time griping about how it was even the same colour.

Then there was the familiar wheezing sound, and the TARDIS materialized in the corner of the room. The doors opened, and we all shuffled inside. The children were instructed to go close to the control counsel, and the adults were told to go around the outside. This random group of shoppers was going to fly the TARDIS and save the Doctor.

However, like usual in Doctor Who, something went wrong. Something pulled the TARDIS out of the time vortex and had taken us on board. A chrono loop had the TARDIS trapped. So the Doctor instructed us to go outside and be careful. This was also a bad idea, but under these circumstances we didn’t have much choice.

Of course it was the Daleks. I nudged Morgan, the pretty girl with the sonic screwdriver, and said, “Anytime you want to start using that screwdriver would be fine by me.” She laughed, and we watched as the Daleks began squabbling with themselves. The Doctor instructed us to go through the adjacent door and it took us some place, well not nice.

We were in a rather creepy basement place. It was filled with weeping angels. To be honest, this didn’t really fit with the plot of the story we were going with. It was more just an excuse to have the weeping angels in. The room was dimly lit with only a few bright lights on the angels themselves. These lights flashed to give the impression that they were moving in a manner similar to how they move in the show. I’m not going to lie; if I were a little kid this would have been extremely scary. Being a grown up, I just thought this was really cool. All that said, I made a point no to blink.

Anyway, we all made it through, and by the next room the Doctor had somehow managed to get free. To be honest I’m not really sure what we really did that was helpful, other than fly the TARDIS directly into a trap, but he congratulated us all the same. And from here we went on to the exhibition room.

This was cool. This was really cool. This was bowtie cool. They had the actual costumes used by every Doctor, as well as several recent companions. They had an assortment of random gadgets, and coolest of all the actual set TARDIS interiors. The best of these was the interior used for the 9^th and 10^th Doctor. Morgan and I took pictures for each other in front of the control counsel, as a clip of David Tennant regenerating into Matt Smith played on a loop in the background. I think I spent about two hours here looking at all the various artefacts, before heading to the shop.

As I knew they would, they had a Sonic Screwdriver torch. I’d lost my last one, and I certainly couldn’t think of a better place to get my a replacement. The timing worked out well too, because the torch Danny had given me for Christmas had just broken the night before.

It was about half past noon by the time I was out of there which left me with just one tiny little problem. My train back to London didn’t depart until half eight. So I walked to the Cardiff bay visitor centre, and said, “Alright, I have eight hours to kill and nine pounds to my name. What’s there to do in Cardiff?” I expected a laugh for a response, but instead the man working the counter gave me a walking map and pointed out several coastal walks and free museums.

So first I went to the Pierhead building and watched a few informational videos about the city. Then I wandered about. It was a beautiful building, not that it meant much to me. From there I considered going to the Welsh government building. I was going to ask them how they felt about Scottish independence, but I didn’t feel like going through security so I continued on, going around the bay and along the barrage.

I still had an immense amount of time to kill and it was a sunny enough day so I decided to sun bathe. It was probably a wee bit windy for this, but I didn’t mind. It was a good way to kill an hour, and when the sun wasn’t behind one of the scattered puffy clouds it was really quite warm.

I walked the rest of the way around the barrage and then made my way slowly into the city centre. I picked up some black currant jam and Jammie Dodgers on the way and had a nice dinner of peanut butter and jelly. In a way I thought this was a very British sandwich, since I had bought the peanut butter in Scotland, the bread in England, and the jam in Wales. The wind had really picked up by this point, and that made the art of sandwich making rather difficult.

By the time I had made two sandwiches, I was freezing and so I went into the adjacent mall and in search of a food court and some hot tea. Politically speaking I’m more or less socialist, but I learned here that there is a very large part of me that is capitalist. I went to every shop in the food court looked at their tea prices and then went to the cheapest. Capitalism 101, competitive pricing. I ended up talking to a really nice woman in the process so I’m going to call this a win win.

Now that I was warm, fed, and had some tea – I checked the clock to see how long I had to wait. Ohh only another three hours. Brilliant… Alright so here was my logic and the obvious flaw. When I booked the train about a month back I thought that it would be best if I got one of the first trains out of London and one of the last trains back. That way, I would have a whole day in Cardiff to do and see whatever I like. Since I had really seen everything I wanted to see by 12:30, that gave me about 8 hours to kill. I had given myself a strict budget of £20 per day, and so that also served to restrict what I could do. So I really spent most of my time kicking myself, largely because I was wasting my time in doing nothing Cardiff, when I could have been seeing more sites in London. On top of that, I was on my own. So, I spent the majority of the day talking to myself, and I’m sorry, I’m so sorry to anyone who’s ever had to spend the whole day talking to me. Long story short, I think I annoyed myself.

All that said, Cardiff is a beautiful city, modern, clean, and with generally kind people. It was a beautiful day with mostly wonderful weather, and right at the very end I found a park with a stone circle in it. The sun was setting on one side, and there were cherry blossoms on the other side with Cardiff Castle in the background. It was an extraordinary view. I don’t know if it makes my top ten most amazing sites, but it might be in the top twenty.

I got to the rail station a bit early, and was pretty happy when the train pulled in. I was sitting across from a rather pretty girl. I feel like this happens to me a lot. Again why can’t I have this kind of luck in the US? However, my luck didn’t seem to be holding out after all. She didn’t seem all that interested in chatting. I tried a few times to start a conversation when it was relevant, but she would give a one word response and drop it. So I slept, or tried to sleep for about half the train ride.

When I gave up on sleep, I noticed that she was scribbling something on her rail ticket. She ran out of room and then began searching her purse for another scrap of paper. I watched her scribble on a receipt for a minute, before I reached into my bag and pulled out a few index cards. I offered them, she smiled, and then we began talking.

We ended up chatting the whole rest of the way to London. Ally was on her way to Brighton, but she had to change rail stations in London. To do that, she had to take the tube from Paddington to Victoria. Apparently she was rubbish on the tube network, and so I helped her get to her stop before heading back to Russell Square.

Abbey Road

Ello Mates, here is day two of my London adventure. Plans, as they should be, were out the window. Enjoy.

Friday 26 April 2013

8:30AM

Generator Hostel Room #329

Yep I slept in… Myranda and Linnea had left without me to go do the river walk. “Well there goes my plans for the day,” I thought to myself as I rolled out of bed and made my way to the showers. I suppose as far as hostels go the showers weren’t bad, and somehow over the course of last night I had managed to get an extra breakfast ticket. When I was dressed for the day, I made my way downstairs and snagged a bag breakfast from the bar. I sat with a handful of students from my group, and asked what they were doing today. My plan was to find someone who was doing something I would find interesting, and to tag along. Those someones ended up being Amber, Jess, and Brittany. Now there is one big problem with going anywhere with Brittany. Tardy is her middle name. We were all ready and waiting for about half an hour before she finally showed up.

Amber, who had been in a generally irritable mood already, was positively livid. This did not make the journey out to the V & A museum enjoyable. Once we got there and started to look at some of the more interesting sites, she did calm down quite a bit. We first went into a Medieval England exhibit which, although being a little recent for my taste, was really rather cool. There were loads of interesting artefacts to see, but my favourite by far was a book on medieval music. Now I can’t read music, but that’s a skill that would have held little value for me here. This was music that was scored in an archaic method that probably only a handful of experts could still read. It was a vestige of a bygone era that would otherwise be lost. This museum also had a wonderful selection of sculptures and iron works.

When we were done here, I really needed Caffeine, and so Amber and I went to a nearby Starbucks. Brittany and Jess went on to visit the museum of natural history. I was glad that Amber was in a substantially better mood, and so we had pleasant time as we made our way to the shop. When we had our coffee, it had begun to rain, and I lamented on forgetting my umbrella back at the hostel. Luckily the rain was short lived. We were dry by the time we made it to our next museum.

Now knowing the dynamics of our friends, we decided that in a museum of natural history Jess would be by the fossils and Brittany would tag along. So our objective was to find the biology stuff and we’d find them. However, upon walking in we were distracted by the escalator leading up to the giant metal orb designed to look like a planetesimal. Amber decided, that if she were Jess, that’s where she would be. Although I was fairly confident that this was not Jess’ choice, I thought this was genuinely cool.

I was right on both counts. This was a pretty great exhibit on the origin and formation of the earth. Amber and I had a lot of fun with the hands on exhibits that are probably better suited for small children. I suppose what’s the point in being a grownup if you can't act childish every once in a while.

We eventually found Jess and Brittany. We decided that we were hungry, and so the four of us went in search for lunch. Amber and Jess had to return back to the hostel soon, and so they got some take away and hopped back on the tube. Brittany and I found some take away soup and sandwiches. We ate slowly and chat for about an hour, enjoying the warm sunshine.

Our next destination was Abbey Road. We were going to head there with a few other people but they ended up being busy, so it was just us. On our way to the next tube stop, we passed Herods Department store. I made a special point to take a few photos of the shop so that I could tell mum that I’d been there too. Brittany didn’t want to stop. She had a very specific agenda in mind, and so we got on the tube and made our way north to Abbey Road.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to talk about British road rules. In the United States, pedestrians have the right of way when it comes to the road. This is not the case in the UK. Here pedestrians should not cross the street or spend any time in the street unless there are no cars. There is one exception where pedestrians have the right of way. They are called Zebra crossings. Luckily the famous spot where the Beatles posed for their album cover is just that.

Even though Brittany and I had the right of way, we felt bad about standing in the middle of the road and holding up traffic. There was a guy there who had a Polaroid camera, and was willing to take our photo for £4. It seemed like a good deal, but we decided to just use our own cameras. This made the process take easily an extra half an hour dodging traffic and waiting for the perfect moment.

When we had finally gotten our pictures, I realized I walk with a horrible slouch. Of course it was too late to go back. By this point, we were on our way further north to the Freud Museum. Personally I couldn’t have cared less, but since Brittany’s crush was a psych major she was insistent about going. As it would turn out, the Freud museum is further north than either of our maps showed. With it being one of the smaller tourist attractions, it wasn’t easy to find. In fact, we never did. We found a statue of Freud, and so we were probably close. Even still we walked down the quaint little streets for a while before giving up and heading to Baker Street.

Upon arrival, we made our way to the surface and Brittany inquired which way we were going. I responded, “Elementary, my dear Watson… our destination is just right around this corner.” Brittany, not being a Sherlock Homes fan sadly didn’t get it. Anyway we walked around the corner and up Baker Street to the Sherlock Homes museum. We weren’t actually going to go in. I just wanted a picture of the outside. Brittany wanted to stop in the adjacent Beatles Store.

Everything in the shop was incredibly marked up, but it was fun to look all the same. I suppose I kinda wished I were a bigger Beatles fan. I mean I love the song’s of theirs I know, but I just don’t know that many. I know some of their history, but I could know a lot more. I think that if I ever plan to visit Liverpool, I will do some hard core Beatles research.

When we were done here, we made our way back on the tube towards Russell Square. This time when I got to the sign that said do not use these stairs unless in an emergency, I began to run. Brittany was supposed to wait for me at the top, but that didn’t happen. Either way, I was able to dash up the equivalent of 15 flights of stairs. I was tired, but felt pretty accomplished.

I bought some stuff for dinner at the Tesco Metro across the street, and then went back to the hostel to eat. When I was done,  chatted with my roommates for about two hours while I waited for Amber to text me that they were back. At the end of the two hours, it was more or less clear that they weren’t coming, and so I went with Nate, Kevin, and Pat to Russell Square where we met up with Casey, Elle, and Katie. My roomies were going to a comedy club. The other three were going to walk along the river and take some pictures of the London Eye. I could see a comedy show anywhere, so I decided to tag along with Casey, Elle and Katie.

We walked across the white suspension bridge that is torn apart by Death Eaters in the 6^th Harry Potter, all the while listening to live music and having a great view of the London Eye and Big Ben. We ended up making a big loop  across the bridge, past the eye, across the other bridge, past Big Ben, to Buckingham Palace, and back to the Wellington Arch, where we caught the tube home.

Mind the Gap

Ello Mates, it’s been a while. Well I have several stories to tell so I think I’m going to try to do a separate blog post for each of the first three days of my London trip. Day four wasn’t eventful enough to deserve a blog post. For all three of these blog posts you can find pictures of each of the days on my Facebook Page. The photo albums should match the blog post titles, but in the meantime we will shortly be arriving in Kings Cross Station. Please Mind the Gap between the train and the platform.

Thursday 25 April 2013

11:53AM

The Outskirts of London

I was running through a mental check list to make sure if I had all my stuff. I have to be honest I was rather excited to be arriving in London through Kings Cross station. Being the Harry Potter nerd that I think you all know I am, it was really cool to actually be in the same place as Platform 9 ¾. Like a handful of other people, I wanted to catch the 1:00 new London Tour, so we were in a bit of a rush. The whole group took quite a while to organize, and then we made our way down to the tube station.

It was about half twelve when we finally got down there. I’d never rode in a subway before, so I was rather excited as we hopped on the Piccadilly line towards Russell Square. When we arrived on the platform, we had to wait for a group of students who had missed the first train, and then when we were all together we had to wait again by the lift. Adjacent to the lift there were a set of stairs with a sign that expressly advised against using them. We all got a kick out of this. “Welcome to London, Don’t exercise.” By the time we made it to the surface, it was clear that there was no way we were going to make our tour if we had to check into our hostel first. So Nikki told the five of us who wanted to go to leave our bags with rest of the group so we could head over there now. We hopped back on the tube towards Hyde Park corner.

As we were pulling into the station the electronic voice with a vague British accent said, “We are now approaching Hyde Park Corner. Do not attempt to stop the train with your hands. The train will always win. Please mind the gap between the train and the platform.” We all got a kick out of that as well.

After several long subterranean tunnels and a series of short flights of stairs and escalators, we made it to the surface and stepped into the bright mid afternoon sun. The new London tour starts by the Wellington Arch, which is at the north west corner of Green Park and the south east corner of Hyde Park. If you get a map of London it’ll make sense. As with all new Europe tours, their start point is designated by people with red T-Shirts and usually a sign on a large stick. If you’ve never heard of New Europe Tours before, I’m going to take a moment to advertise. So tours are expensive, and usually not all they’re cracked up to be. This is a problem with traditional tours. New Europe tours are free. The tour guides are paid in tips. Period. So they have to be good. They’re offered in several large cities throughout Europe. I know London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Paris, and Munich are all on the list, but there are a few more. Although it didn’t receive a blog post, when I spent my day in Dublin, I had a tour through them and I was equally satisfied. This being said, I strongly recommend taking some form of walking tour if you are ever travelling alone and are in a new city. It’s a great way to familiarize yourself with the place, as well as meet new people.

Rachel, our tour guide, was amazing. She not only knew the facts well, but told some pretty great stories along with it. We saw several of the main landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, and Big Ben. I spent the majority of my time talking with an Austrian woman named Sarah who was here doing social work in Reading. She was on her way to Amsterdam for the weekend, but had some time to kill in London. She was nice to chat with, but since she was leaving soon after the tour we didn’t exchange contact information.

I have to say I feel bad that I’m the only one from my group of five who tipped Rachel at the end. I get that we’re all poor, but honestly it’s a little bit embarrassing. I didn’t let this dampen the mood though, because we were in London, and I was enjoying every minute of it.

Now I’ve been to my share of cities by this point, and if I have to pick one city that London reminded me of it would probably be Washington D.C. However, and I apologize to patriots in the room, London is more the city Washington D.C. wishes it was. Ask anyone, I’m not really much of a city person, but I loved London.

After our walking tour was done, the five of us found something to eat and then hopped back on the tube to Russell’s Square. By a stroke of luck, we got off the tube at the same time as a number of other students from our group, and so we simply walked with them to our hostel.

I was rather pleased when I got to my room. Somehow, I’d gotten a bottom bunk. Being the last one of the four of us, I thought for sure I’d be stuck on the top bunk. It was about at this point when I promptly plopped down on the uncomfortable bed and the rock for a pillow and took a quick cat nap. I’d been up since six that morning, and it had proven to be a very long day.

When I woke up, it was time to find dinner. The group was supposed to meet at seven at a Theatre to see the Lion King. This let me with about an hour and a half to find food and then to make my way to the theatre. Being low on money, I went to the nearest Tesco Express. These are great little stores that are found throughout the UK and Ireland. A regular Tesco resembles a Super Walmart with a slightly higher emphasis on groceries. Tesco Express, which is commonly seen throughout large cities, kind of resembles a petrol station without the petrol. Anyway, it’s a good place to go to buy a quick meal. For £3, I was able to get a sandwich, bag of crisps, and a bottle of pop. It was sunny enough, so I sat in Russell Square Park and enjoyed my meal before heading off towards the theatre.

As per usual, I managed to get lost, only to find that my desired destination was right under my nose. However, because I got lost, I ended up walking past the building which inspired Gringots in Harry Potter. So I’m going to count that as a perk, because I was still the first one from our group to make it to the theatre. When the group arrived, there was still quite a while before a giant sun began to rise on the stage and the music began.

I’ve always liked The Lion King. Musicals aren’t really my thing in general, but it was a nice experience all the same. It’s good to do something different every once in a while. If this wasn’t part of the trip, I’m confident that I wouldn’t have gone. However, I’m glad I did. The production was good, the actors did a good job. I enjoyed it, and now I can say I’ve seen a show in London.

When the show was finished, a large group of us decided to walk to Piccadilly Circus. Now one of the things I never worked out about London, was there are a few areas in the city labelled “circus” yet they’re just particularly lively areas of the city. There are no exotic animals, tricks, or tents. I wasn’t disappointed by this of course, because that kind of circus doesn’t really appeal to me. Piccadilly was kinda cool to see though because it’s supposed to be “London’s Times Square.” I can see the resemblance, but I feel like the real Times Square in New York would be somewhat more impressive.

It was about this time when our little band of explorers got lost. It took about an hour, two different maps, and the combined navigational skills of Jana and myself to find our way back to the hostel. We were all exhausted. It had been a long day and a long walk, and most of us were in for an early morning, but you’ll hear about that next time.