So it begins

Endings and Beginnings

Published Date : May 24, 1999

Today was a long day on the bus. We departed early, driving straight through Belgium en route to Calais. There, we boarded our ferry for the return trip to Dover.

Time on the bus was spent exchanging email addresses and other contact info. Arriving back at the Royal National Hotel in London, we found our beds for the night. We were on our own for dinner tonight. The tour is officially over.

I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and having some time alone when I get home. I’m also excited to see my how my 14 rolls of film turn out. I’m sad for the tour to be over though. It has been a month of fun, adventure and enlightenment and a part of me wants it to keep going forever. There’s something addictive about travel – the more I see, the more I want to see!

For most of us this is the end of our trip. A couple of people headed straight to the airport tonight. A few are staying on for a couple of extra days to see London before heading home. For a lucky few, this tour was just the beginning of their travels. I can’t wait to hear about their adventures. I can’t wait to start planning my own!

Back to the UK

Published Date : July 17, 2000

This journey began 6 months ago when Natalia, a girl in my college calculus class, introduced me to the SWAP (Student Work Abroad) program.  SWAP partners with similar programs in countries around the world and arranges for students to take gap years abroad.  They help with technicalities like work visas, job hunting, etc.

Only 7 months since I had come home from my Contiki trip and questioning whether geology was the path for me, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life.  The road was calling to me.  Natalia and SWAP turned up at just the right time.

As a kind of compromise with my parents I applied for a couple of programs at BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology) before committing to SWAP.  I was waitlisted for both and promptly began saving my pennies and picking up extra shifts at work whenever I could.

The school year is over, my tickets are booked, and my year of living abroad is about to begin!!  I bought a one-year return ticket to London, booked a hostel and packed my bags.  Natalia has already left for her year in Germany, but I’m planning on visiting her once I’m in Europe.

Tonight, I leave for a year abroad.  I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited or nervous about something before in my life!

The beginning

Published Date : July 18, 2000

The trip has begun.  I left Vancouver at 8:00pm last night to awkward goodbyes from my family.  They thought I was hesitant to leave, but I thought they were hesitant to say goodbye, so it all dragged out longer than necessary.  I’m here now though.  I can hardly contain my excitement – I’m actually going to be living in the United Kingdom for the next year.  Wow!

The flight was long and painful.  I normally don’t mind flying at all, but because I was so excited to get going the eight hours seemed interminable.  It was made much more pleasant by the Aussie couple I was sitting beside. They were returning home to Australia the long way around, stopping in several places for layovers along the way.  It was nice to have someone to pass the time with.  I’m sure I would have gone stir crazy with anticipation otherwise!

After touching down at Heathrow, I hopped on an Airbus into town, getting dropped off about a block away from my hostel – the International Student House.  At this stage I’m starting to feel the jet lag, but I’m really excited to be here.

There was only one snag.  It turns out that Travel Cuts never booked my room for me.  Doh!  Luckily they still had plenty of rooms available.  I’m paying £10 a night for a 6-bed dorm.  The rooms are tiny, but they have all the essentials – bunk beds, lockers and a toilet.  I only have two roomies as well, so there’s lots of room to spread out.  Tomorrow I start the important task of finding a job!!

Job hunting

Published Date : July 20, 2000

Sunset behind Parliament

I went to the BUNAC (SWAP’s British partner) office yesterday for my orientation and the future is bright.  I made pals with Nathalie from Montreal, Norman from Australia and Joe from Illinois.  After orientation the 4 of us went out for dinner and a night tour of the city.  London in the summer is a gorgeous city.  I discovered that the best way to view Parliament is from the other side of the river silhouetted against the setting sun.  Amazing!

Today Nathalie and I started job hunting and we both came away successful.  I had a job within 5 minutes of looking (I was hired on the phone by the first place I called) and Nathalie found work a couple of hours later.  I’m off to Grasmere in the Lake District and Nathalie is heading to Settle in North Yorkshire. We’re both doing General Assistant work in guesthouses, doing cleaning, waitressing, kitchen prep, etc.  It should be good fun. Norman already has a job lined up in an office in London and Joe just started looking for work today.  I didn’t hear how his searches went though.

Tomorrow will be a busy day.

Getting organized

Published Date : July 21, 2000

Breakfast at the hostel was a muffin and some tea.  It wasn’t exactly filling, but it was free and that was the important thing.  I headed for the underground and made my way to Victoria Station.  I’m becoming a regular on the Circle Line it seems.  I’m finding the transit in London surprisingly easy to navigate – it’s nowhere near as complicated as it seems looking at the tube maps!

I bought my bus ticket to Grasmere on Sunday for only £24 – not bad for an eight-hour trip!  That leaves me a couple more days in London before I head north.  Next on my agenda was a visit to the BUNAC office to sort out getting a medical card.  They couldn’t help me much though.  Apparently I have to go to an NHS office to get signed up for one.  I’m not sure I really even need one, but everyone keeps telling me to get it.  I’ll look into some more once I’m settled in Grasmere.

I spent the rest of the morning hunting for a white blouse for work.  I’m not much of a shopper at the best of times, but even I found it exciting to be shopping on Oxford St in London.  It seems that plain white blouses are not in fashion this year – it took me two hours to find one!  Admittedly, I did make the search more difficult by looking for one that wouldn’t wrinkle.  Although it’s not wrinkle-proof, I eventually found a nice one at United Colours of Benetton.

The rest of the day I just wandered the streets of London.  Why?  Because I could!  I’m in London!!  I also ended up going to see the movie “The Patriot” at a theatre in Leceister Square.  That was the first time I’d ever seen assigned seating in a movie theatre before.  It was also a bit novel to see trailers for movies that have already come and gone in Canada.  I never realized they released them at different times around the world.  You learn something new every day…

Back at the hostel, I planned out my adventures for the next couple of days.  I may visit the Tower of London tomorrow, but I’ve been doing a load of walking over the last couple of days and may just give my legs a rest.  We’ll see how it goes.