World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas
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Tuesday 30 June 2009
Highlights: Greenwich Old Royal Naval College, Jack the Ripper London Walk
Today I had an enjoyable trip up the Thames in a cruise boat, starting at Tower Hill we went right under the London Tower Bridge, past the HMS Belfast and past a pub made out of the Mayflower (the famous ship that went to the USA). If that wasn’t enough Greenwich was fantastic. The Old Royal Naval College buildings are first rate, design by Christopher Wren I suppose it had to be.
Monday 29 June 2009
Highlights: London Walking Tours – “London’s Secret Village” and “Gaslight Tour”
Today was my London Walks day. First I started with “London’s Secret Village” which is a visit around an area called Clerkenwell the highlight being visiting the place that William Wallace was killed. However the Bartholomew Church (the oldest one) in London and St John’s Gate was worth the visit as well. The greatest walk of my entire trip was in the evening on the Old Westminster by Gaslight walk.
Sunday 28 June 2009
Highlights: Trafalgar Square, National Gallery
The plan was to go to an outlining suburb or village so I decided to head out to Hampstead for the Old Hampstead Walk which was scheduled at 10 am however I failed to get there in time 😦 This was not a great start so after a quick walk again Hampstead I came up with plan B. This meant a trip to both Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square but more importantly the National Gallery.
Saturday 27 June 2009
Highlights: Tate Modern, Millennium Bridge, The Thames, Singstar on the PS3
Today I visited Tate Modern, an art gallery displaying modern art, which at times can get very weird. The surrealists in particular seem to know nothing but naked women bodies, or at least pieces of them very distorted. Tate Modern is an old power station and they make the most of the building, it doesn’t look good on the outside but has heaps of interesting displays. The views from the building of the Thames are very nice.
Friday 26 June 2009
Highlights: Charles Dickens London Tour
Today I set off to the Borough Market, recommended by Jeanne I took the bus (no. 133) instead of the Tube and did manage to find it (went one stop too far however). The Borough Market is an organic and fresh food market which I’m sure my friends Adrian and Natalie would love.
Thursday 25 June 2009
Highlights: The Wimbledon Tennis Championship
Today was the big day. I have wanted to go to Wimbledon since I was 12. Today was a chance to correct that but without a ticket it was always going to be interesting. So I got up at 7 am and headed out via the Tube. I got to the car park around 8 am and the Steward gave me a queue pass saying I was number 7,725, and telling me I should get in today.
Wednesday 24 June 2009
Highlights: Walking Tour “Legal Inns of Courts”, St Pauls Cathedral, 20/20 Cricket Match at The Oval (Surrey Vs Kent)
My first full day in London and I have to say I was feeling great. The air mattress provided a good night’s sleep. After all the workers left for the morning I got busy washing my clothes, the first real clean since I started (obviously underwear had been cleaned!).
Tuesday 23 June 2009
Highlights: British Airways Flight, Dinner at Brixton
Waking up before my alarm I decided to rest my eyes for a few minutes, luckily i didn’t turn off the alarm because 40 minutes later it went off and I was fast asleep! A quick and very convenient train trip back to the Brussels Airport (Melbourne should model Brussels’ in this respect) and I was off to London for the fourth leg of the trip.
I had checked in online on the British Airways flight the night before and due to my status I could select an emergency exit row (more leg room) and given the plane was 100% full I was happy with the seat selection. As this was a short flight I decided to take a power nap. BA actually had breakfast on this flight which turned out to be a ham and cheese roll, while I don’t think it technically qualifies as breakfast it was perfect for me 🙂
After having a friendly chat to the Immigration officer about working for the Australian Government vs the British Government (they weren’t very busy) I was quickly through customs and in the UK. After the transit problem in London 2 weeks ago I was very surprised. I think it helped greatly that I had come from a European port.
Jon have texted and rang me and had provided very clear instructions for getting to his London place. He even arranged for one of his housemates (Lora) to be there when I arrived (they already had the day off but still I was very happy and surprised). Jon managed to get off work early so we went down to Brixton for lunch in a small and very popular pizza place which served a lot of organic food and was very good. Later I met the whole household; James, Lora, Jeanne and together with Jon they will be my housemates for the next 2 weeks. Everyone was welcoming and we have some living discussions about profiling (my experience in Madrid), whether taxation / value add tax should be included in the advertised price, and politics. I was very impressed by everyone, Jeanne and Jon even cooked me dinner, I’m a very luckily man.
Monday 22 June 2009
Highlights: Visiting the Atomium
The transit stop at Madrid turned out to be interesting, first I didn’t correctly fill out the arrivals card and the border control just let me in anyway without me having to fill one in. However at the same time an African was getting the third degree, profiling in action I expect.
The second thing is i got into the airport at 3.30 am local time and it turns out that aside from McDonald’s everything was shut including the Lounge, until 6 am. The few people airside like my slept on the provided chairs.
At 9.30 am I boarded the Iberia flight to Brussels. On arrival at Brussels I was extremely happy to find my bags again waiting for me, thank you Iberia. On Inge’s advice I took off to the city via the airport train and somehow found my hotel, Hotel Bloom which is a very upmarket place. While walking around Brussels I came across the window sex workers, on the train trip I also saw them, but on my walk they were knocking on their windows to get the attention of men while at the same time walking right in front of their window were Muslim women in burqa clothes, a surreal scene.
At around 6.30 pm my good friend Inge arrived from her job and took my on a car ride to the Atomium, created in the 1950s it still looks very futuristic. We had an enjoyable dinner nearby with Inge ordering for me; soon I had some Belgium beers (including a ‘white’ beer), some muscles and waffles with cream, very nice indeed. We started setting plans for Inge’s visit to Australia in October which I’m already looking forward to. After the GPS kept sending us around in circles Inge returned me safely to my hotel, with me promising next time I’ll stay in Belgium for longer so Inge can show me more of this beautiful country. Inge you are a very special person.
Facebook Photos 1, Photos 2
Now that the Egypt part of my journey is over I’ve been thinking about how good it was and what I learnt. This is the biggest culture shock place I’ve visited, which even though I knew this in advance it still opened my eyes a little to the wider world (which is great). Egypt is definitely worth the visit.
My personal highlights included:
– Giza Pyramids
– Sleeping under the stars on the Nile
– Swimming in the Nile (yes lucky I didn’t get sick)
– Going wild on an all-terrain vehicle in the middle of the desert
– Visiting the Luxor Temple at night (magnificent with the lights on)
– Camel and donkey riding (yes there are pictures – I might share them)
– The Citadel Mosque (Mohamed Ali Mosque)
– Swimming – snorkelling in the Red Sea
– Hiking Mt Sinai (in Moses steps) at 1 am in the morning to see a sunrise – difficult but well worth it.
While I enjoyed the experience, there were definitely parts that are hard to take, for example the consistent pushy attention from touts – vendors who saw me as the ’Aussie Teller Machine (ATM). I got caught out at the start but I eventually found that by doing things that would get you in a fight in Australia (ie. being rude) would get me safely away from vendors most of the time.
Luckily I had a fantastic group and we looked after each other most of the time. It was hard however to get used to the consistent police-military checks in what is effectively a dictatorship. Also surprising is how these officials openly request money so you could break the rules i.e. touch displays in museums, photograph in banned places etc. When armed officials ask you for money it’s difficult to say no. On my second last day in Egypt I was looking out at Cairo from the Citadel and because of the smog I could barely see the city, it was so bad my eyes were starting to burn. At that point I knew my great adventure had come to an end and it was time to leave.
In summary I really loved Egypt despite the downsides. I’d recommend it to anyone who hasn’t been to go, it ´s a real eye opener and there is heaps of fun to be had, but you really need a guide to get around the military restrictions. Plus I didn’t get sick so very happy!!!
Nathan's Insights 