My Birthday!!!
When you turn 25, many say that it is a huge milestone in your life...I'm not really sure why, but apparently being a quarter of a century old makes it an important day to celebrate. Now if you know me at all, you will know that birthdays are hugely important anyway, especially my own, so when I turned 25 I had to do something really different. So I went to London. My Birthday Adventure started on the 20th of January, actually my Dad's Birthday. I left work early to catch the bus down to Shannon Airport to fly over to London....Its really the only way to go. €17 round trip tickets from Ryanair are my new favourite things!!!My plan was to take the 4pm flight and hopefully be at Susan's around 6:30pm...but of course that doesn't happen! I did catch my flight...no worries there...and didn't check any luggage so walked right off the flight and onto the train into London (I flew into Stansted, the location of my airport slumber party back in October, and since I was only there for the weekend didn't want to waste time sitting on a bus in traffic...it wasn't as cheap, but my time is worth money so it was deffinetly worth it). Anyway, the train took 45 minutes, and then the tube from the train station to Susan's took another 30 minutes. I was supposed to meet Claire in Leister Square at 8:30pm, but when she called me to see where I was, I was just getting back on the tube on my way. Needless to say we didn't meet until 9pm. But it is me, and I am NEVER on time. We had dinner in a really nice Italian restaurant, drank lots of wine, ate big bowls of pasta, and scarfed down on garlic bread....minus cheese which is a weird thing they don't like to do in Europe. Claire was heading back to Australia on Saturday to go to Uni, so it was our 'Goodbye' dinner.
I don't know if I ever wrote it on here, but Claire and Fay came to visit me 2 weeks ago in Galway. It was so fun. We went out for dinner at the Front Door, had LOTS of wine, and LOTS of laughs. They both slept over with me that night, and we all shared my double bed. It was really interesting, especially when Claire got fed up of sleeping in the middle and decided to sleep at the end of the bed, causing me and Fay to sleep all scrunched up all night. One of the best nights in Galway yet though....never stopped laughing.
Back to my London weekend, the tubes in London stop running just after 12am and I didn't know which night bus to take back to Susan's and Claire was going to meet some friends, so we gave each other big hugs on the tube and each went our way. It was a little sad, but I know that I am so going to see her again. The next big trip is already starting to take shape in the form of an around the world ticket so I can visit all my Aussie friends at home, and see some of Affrica and Asia...but I need to focus on London or this posting is going to be HUGE!
Susan was out with some work friends on Friday night, so when I got back to the house Jax let me in and we chatted for a while about her new crush. I finally crawled into bed and then soon after Susan came home drunk...sooooo funny....I love drunk Susan...so dramatic! Oh, I forgot to share some parts about my adventures to the tube and back to Susan's. Susan lives in a little bit of a Ghetto and apparently there are a LOT of people that like to smoke pot on the streets because I have never made the trip to the tube without smelling it along the way. On friday night as I was heading to catch the train to meet Claire I passed a guy smoking it on the corner. I also passed this totally outrageous couple that Susan and I had seen over Christmas who had been smoking pot then too. Then on my way back after dinner I happened to look down a side street and I saw a fox....I am NOT lying...I first thought it was a cat, then realized that it had a huge tail with a white tip...it was totally a fox....I think he was out scoring some pot for all his park friends....but who knows...maybe he's the dealer!
Ok, so back to Saturday. Susan and I slept in, which she only apparently does when I'm around, and then went into Soho in search of somewhere to get a nice big breakfast. The place we wanted to go to was closed, but we found a really great place on another street called 'The Breakfast Club Soho'...very hostel, laid-back feel to it, and the food was AMAZING....we each had an egg sandwhich and I had Greece yogurt and honey while Suz had a breakfast shake. Sooo yummy. Then we wandered around Soho for a couple hours until Susan had to leave to go to the airport to pick up her cousin Billy who was flying in from Australia. He's going to be doing a year of school in France...sooo jealous.
I headed home for some chill-out time, and chatted with Jax for a while. When Susan and Billy got back we all got prettied up and headed out for dinner and fun. We had dinner at a place called Wagamama's which has all Asian food....so yummy. We told them it was my birthday, and I was clearly wearing a tiara, but I didn't get any free cake or even a candle in my slice that we ordered. Susan and Billy sang 'Happy Birthday' though and it was so great!
After dinner we wandered around Covent Garden for a while and stoped at a pub for some drinks, but it was late and we were tuckered out...Billy was really feeling the jet leg, so we hopped on a night bus and headed home. The bus ride was almost as 
fun as the rest of the night. We were all really silly and loud and I pretended to be a tour guide, but really had NO idea what I was talking about. On Sunday morning I slept in and then packed up my stuff and the three of us headed to a pub called the Bull for a Sunday Roast and Bloody Mary's. I can't believe how much I miss a real Ceasar though! I need to find somewhere that sell's Clamato because Tomatoe Juice just doesn't cut it! Anyway, the food was SOOO good and it was really nice just to chill out for a while. Jax came about half an hour before I had to leave and told us about her night in with her crush, and then I had to head out to catch my plane. It was an AMAZING weekend and I thank Susan for making it so great!
On the 24th I had to work, which sucked, but then that night I went out to dinner with Orla who I live with. We again went for Italian, but I had a pizza and Ceasar Salade and Cheese cake for dessert and it was so yummy. Orla and I chatted and got to know each other better and it was a really great night.
I wanted to also thank everyone that has been sending me pictures and cards for my birthday. It was so nice!!! It made it that much easier to deal with being away from home. I have to say that it was harder dealing with my birthday away than it was dealing with Christmas....who knew!
Keep the pictures coming...doesn't matter if I'm in them or not! I just want to see all my friends and family and show you off over here!
Two fun pictures to share. The first is a picture of my new shoes....very hott...love them....the second is a picture of a London double decker bus and red telephone booth...very english.
PS the tiara I am wearing was a gift from Jax. She wore it on her birthday and then gave it to me after writing her name on the inside. I am going to send it to a friend for her birthday and hopefully she will pass it on. The goal is for the tiara to get filled with names and be a part of lots of celebrations! So if you ever receive it in the mail, you don't have to wear it out, but at least take a picture in it and then pass it along!
posted by Traveling Amanda @ 7:09 AM
1 comments
his personality definetly makes him male, and to go along with the Y&R theme of names for my vehicles, I decided to name him Victor. If you are wondering, yes, that is a basket on the front, and yes, those are pink and silver streamers. I almost got the Disney bell, but a little girl bought the last one...jerk. Victor and I are already getting along really well, and will be heading out again this afternoon so I can join the gym.
There always seem to be people sitting and having their pictures taken. Before Christmas, there was even a Choir that gathered around them and sang Christmas Carols. It was quite amusing to see!
