London- Week 2

Hello everyone

Well, since I last wrote to you I was hoping to say that Ive found a great paying job, moved into a swank apartment and the Queen has invited me over for tea and scones.
That hasnt exactly happened...

Im still in short-term accommodation in Bayswater. Im starting to get to know them better, but there is one thing that really annoys me and that is their snoring!! Im planning on getting some earplugs! Trust me, I have tried many tactics to try and stop their snoring, including intentionally slamming the door! You dont want to get in the way of me and sleep, its second to food!

The accommodation is growing on me, and its in a nice area of London close to heaps of parks and facilities. I think I said in my last email that I was only going to stay for 2 weeks max. well that hasnt exactly happened as I think I will stay for 3 weeks and see what happens.

Job hunting?? Well, I dont want to bore you with this too much. Just to let you know that I think I know every recruiter in London on a first name basis and Ive applied for more positions than Ive applied for in my life. Thanks to a few contacts, Ive had a couple of interviews so far so Im hopeful that something will come from that. Due to the fact that its holiday season over here, many managers etc. are away on leave so approval and gaining a time for an interview can take weeks! And time isnt exactly on my side at the moment.
There has been some really good recent developments, so I hope next blog entry I have good news to tell everyone. (I cant even busk over here cause all the buskers who work in the tube have to go before a panel of musicians to be approved!!)

So, that is the boring stuff out of the way!!
Well, since I last wrote I have seen a bit more of London on my very tight budget. Recently, I have checked out Hyde Park and the Princess Di memorial which wasnt as bad as what people say it is. We went there on a hot day, so its really nice to put your feet in running water.. as swimming pools are hard to find in this city, its like air-conditioning it doesnt exist!

A few of us also went to Greenich (sorry not sure how to spell it!) , we had a picnic in the park and had a look around this beautiful little suburb.

Kate and I also went to Shakesphere's Globe where we saw the production of Antony and Cleopatra. As Kate is in a similar situation to me we bought the cheapest tickets available, which meant we were standing up for the entire production - 3 hours worth! I thought the acting and set was phenomenal, but I think I only picked up 20% of what they were actually saying! I really dont know how non-English speakers could understand what was going on. Ive got a basic understanding of the story line but I was still thinking to myself what was Shakesphere smoking when he wrote this!

The following afternoon, Kate and I checked out the Imperial War Museum in London. It was brilliant! I would go as far as saying it was the most informative museum that I have ever been to. I walked away very educated and somewhat sadden by having a better knowledge of the wars that have gripped our planet. I really recommend anyone checking it out... and its free!! (Though it was so good I even gave a donation!)

Then last weekend, Casey on I went on a mystery weekend with TopDeck tours. Basically, we left on Saturday morning in London and we had no idea of where we were going for the whole weekend. There were 28 of us that took the plunge to do this tour, it was the first time it has ever been offered. Our first point of call was Windsor, which was a picturesque town of course famous for Windsor Castle where Lizzy calls home every weekend...(unfortunately, still no invite for tea and scones- but it will come!)
We stayed there for an hour before we went to a country race meet in Newbury( I think thats the name). That was fun until it decided to rain and rain and rain, it was the heaviest rain I have felt in about 10 months and the coldest I have been for a while!
Considering the weather it was an experience, there were some interesting people that come to the country races in England.. lets just say I dont think Georgio Armani will find the next top model at the Newbury country races! We left there and headed to another mystery weekend, this time it was Bristol! This was where we were spending the night. The accommodation was decent, and all of us went to a local pub for a meal before hitting the local nightlife of Bristol, which is buzzing! Its a beautiful clean friendly town, that comes across as very liveable!
It was a great night out, funny enough a few of us were dancing at this bar thinking to ourselves how good the music is and there are heaps of guys dancing with other guys.. - it was a gay club! Very funny..

The next morning we had an early rise and checked out Bristol, before heading to Farnborough for the International Airshow. It supposed to be the biggest airshow in the world and we couldnt had a better day for it. The weather was amazing and the show was even better!

We got back into London around 7pm on Sunday night and both Case and I were totally exhausted after the huge weekend.

So that has been my week 2... nothing too exciting to report..Im hoping that Week 3 has plenty of good news..

Post a comment and stay in touch!
Cheers
Troy

London- A big city that brings you back to reality!

Good morning everyone from a very very very hot London

Well, I have been here for about 10 days now and I must admit it feels like I was never in Africa or been on holidays...it feels like I've run into a wall of reality and fast!
Since, I last left I arrived at Heathrow Airport after a 12 hour marathon from Turkey. Funny story, I caught KLM from Istanbul-Amsterdam-London and the air hostesses all thought I was Dutch so they kept on greeting and asking me questions in Dutch. I just smiled and nodded my head as I couldnt be bothered to explain I wasnt and it might embarass them as well.
Anyway, after a longer than expected delay at the airport due to a communications mixup I caught my first tube service to a friends house where I stayed for a week while I got myself settled. After folking out £26 for a weekly ticket, I had my first instance of 'converting pounds to Aussie dollars syndrome!'. That can really do your head in, but when you are not earning pounds its very easy to do.
For the first couple of days, I decided to be a real tourist as I had a few friends that were over here (Hey Rob and Coachy) and we went to Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, London Bridge, London Tower, St Pauls Cathedral etc. etc. I was a little awestruck as I couldnt quite believe that I was finally in London after wanting to come here for so many years. It was fun being a tourist here, especially during summer as everyone seems happy and there is a great vibe to this city. (I heard this changes during Winter!) Oh yeah, the weather has been phenomenal, so hot. Yesterday was 37C, one of the hottest days on record here and Im thinking to myself thats a mild day for us in February.. apparently, most school children were allowed to go home.. they dont breed them as tough as they do in Aus!
Like everything Im enjoying the hot weather while its here, as winter is cold-bitterly cold as everyone keeps reminding me.
After the initial few days of sightseeing, I have basically been behind a computer or on the phone doing the job hunting game.. Without wanting to bore you too much, it has been tough due to the fact its summer and everyone has gone on holidays and with my working holiday visa its really hard to get a look in for anything permanent in nature..in that it is nearly impossible.. or maybe they just dont want me..:( Anyway, I have a couple of leads so hopefully something comes up in the next week or so as my funds are slowing draining away..
On the accommodation side of things, after spending a week at a friends house Im staying at some short-term accommodation in Bayswater, its cheap (for London standards, back home I could have been staying at the Mariott for the week for the same price) but a little seedy and dodgy. Im in a quad room with 3 Frenchman, I think they were loving the fact they had a little extra space until I came in. Hopefully I wont be there much longer than 2 weeks.
Besides all the setbacks and job rejections Ive been getting (I havent had this many rejections since I turned 18 and started going to the local pub) things are pretty good. Its been great to catch up with people from my African tour and the friends that I have over here at the moment and Im enjoying the city but not the tube..I know its been said before but why cant they put a/c on the tube system!!
Its been great to spend sometime with Casey, and she has signed up to do a 3 month live-in caring role.. I even mentioned to her yesterday that I might have to do that.. actually I can barely look after myself how I could I look after someone else :) ha
I hope everyone is well and I will post some pics from our sightseeing in London.. (especially from the London eye, Rob and I took some great pics as we needed to after waiting 2 hours for it!)

Post a comment and stay in touch.

Cheers
Troy

Turkey Pics

Turkey Pics

Turkey Pics

Turkey- great place but just dont always believe what they tell you

Hello from Turkey

Well, since İ last left İ boarded a plane from Cairo to İstanbul. As much as İ enjoyed myself in Egypt, İ was very happy to be boarding my plane. After an early flight from Cairo, İ arrived in İstanbul in the afternoon. İ was very happy to see my airport transfer, which İ arrived after the problems İ had in Cairo. Walking through the airport, it suddenly hit me İ was no longer in Africa..İ was in Europe..strange.
İ booked into my backpackers in Sultanhet, which is the tourist mecca in İstanbul with hostels, backpackers and tourist offices lining the streets. My first impression of İstanbul was how clean and beautiful the city was and how İ was excited about spending a few days here exploring the city. (Which is definitely not enough time)
After nearly being convinced that İ should book a tour of Galliopi through the hostel, İ found a place that was half the price. My Egyptian experience has taught me to not always trust the tourist info that hostels try and tell you. For the remainder of the afternoon İ decided to go exploring on foot around İstanbul. İ firstly decided to check out Topkapi Palace, which is a group of courtyards overlooking the city. What made the experience even more memorable, was İ just happen to be there for some official Government business and somehow I walked away with a plate of Turkish food and drinks. I even chanced my arm and went back for seconds.. always put my stomach ahead of my brain.. it worked and I had a wonderful free meal. (Very useful 2 months into my trip)
From heading away with a full stomach, I continued on my expedition around İstanbul which ended up me catching a local ferry to the asian side of Turkey. İ was keen to take some pıcs of this beautiful city from the sea near sunset. İt is such a gorgeous city that has really surprised me and it is also very tourist friendly.
The next day I had an early start as I was heading to Galliopi for the day. I was unsure of whether to go there as I didnt really know what to expect. Well, the day didnt disappoint and I must admit I have never been as proud to be an Aussie as I was standing on the shore where our ships came in. It was very inspiring stuff being down there and even today there is a real eerie feeling where our ships docked. The whole area has been well looked after and very tourist friendly, which made the experience even more memorable. Our tour guide a local guy from Turkey was amazing, he must have gone through this 10000 times before but he spoke with such conviction and emotion that you were caught up in the whole sad story of Galliopi.
Not surprisingly the tour was full of Kiwis and Aussies and not one of walked away from the day disappointed. The following day I had the day to look around more of Istanbul, including the Blue Mosque, Sophia's and the Grand Bizaar. Just a word on the Grand Bizaar, 4500 shops selling discounted everything and anything...absolute paradise for me!
I then took the plane down to Bodrum for 10 days of relaxation before I travel to London.
I found some accommodation at Bodrum backpackers and the next day I did a cruise around the Aegean Sea on a gulet. It was a very pleasant experience, though a little strange as it was me and 4 European couples. That night I went out with some people from the backpackers to Gumbet. This is a little town nearby that exists soley on bars and food. Its a real party town and after barely going out for 2.5 months it was nice to go out and let my hair down.
The next day I met up with an Aussie and a Kiwi who both work in their respective embassies in Iran. The beauty of travelling is meeting so many interesting people that have fascinating tales to tell.
On Monday, I checked out the tourist places around Bodrum with Kelly (friend from Canada) We checked out the Bodrum Castle and the Massoluem. (which is the 2nd wonder of the Ancient World). Ive now seen two on my trip!
Tuesday I decided to take a village tour from Bodrum, it was my first experience of being screwed in Turkey. Like many areas in this region that survive on tourists, they will promise you the world and deliver you nothing. This was basically like the village tour and a number of other tours I took part in to see parts of the coast. The highlight of the village tour besides the nice food was meeting a couple couple from SA.
I moved places that night to Gumbet, as my mate PK was in town and booked into a nice hotel that included a swimming pool. This is a luxury that I havent had the pleasure of enjoying for nearly 3 months..
The next day I had a traditional Turkish bath, that includes going into a dirty sauna for 20 mins then a hairy large Turkish man comes in and gives you a scrub then a foam massage. I then had an oil massage afterwards. This lead to another argument, I bargained for a massage of 45 mins for 20 lira. He gave me a 20 min massage and then progessed to tell me that he only promised 30 mins..basically blantantly lying to my face..I told him to stop lying to my face and he gave me a Turkish gift pack to say sorry.. as I said dont always believe what they tell you. After people trying to screw me for nearly 3 months I had become a little harder and not going to accept this...especially as I was really enjoying it!
Afterwards, I went jetskiing with PK. This was heaps of fun, but it showed that I havent been on it for 10 years as I fell off once trying to change corners. Absolute blast though and another toy I want to buy when I find that money tree!
On Thursday, we went to Daylan for a trip to the Mediterranean to see 'Turtle beach' and a mud bath. It was an early start to get there with our first major stop being at the mud bath. This was very different to anything Ive done before on the trip and the mud reeked! You basically put it all on your body and sit in the sun to dry and it supposed to be good for your skin. Not sure if it had much in the way of benefits but it was great fun..(though I was happy to wash all the mud off my body!)
We then continued on our way to Mediterranean for a 2 hour swim, the water here was very warm and this was where we had a chance to see some turtles. My opinion was if you saw turtles on this beach you should go and buy a Tatts ticket cause it ain't going to happen. We were running late to get back home but like anything here there is always time to go to a jewellery market so they can try and convince you to buy something useless! arrgghh Turkey!
It was a long day and I was very keen to have an early night.
We also had an early start the following day as we were going to Kos, which is part of the Greek Islands and the closest island to Turkey. We were only going for a day, so we were keen to get over there ASAP to see as much as possible. Unfortunately, like most things the ferry was on Turkish time and it left nearly 1.5 hours late. (Excuse being they had problems with the passenger list- truth being it wasnt full enough so they wanted to wait as long as possible to get as many on there as possible) We couldnt believe the ferry was allowed to be operational, as it made the Pirate ship at the local show seem like the ferris wheel...anyone that faintly suffered from seasickness would have been in a bad way.
We eventually made it to Kos, which is a stunning island. It was very hard to believe that we were in Greece, and you can tell by the architecture that we were definitely not in Turkey anymore. It was beautiful place, so we looked around the main town then took a local bus up to a small village on a peak which gave us amazing views of the Greek Islands.
We made it back to shore, and I was secs away from missing the ferry back to Turkey. (Of course they leave on time to go back) After the issues in the morning, it was a really enjoyable day that has inspired me to see more of Greece on my next travels.
On Saturday I did another gulet cruise around other areas of the coast, including the caves and Camel Beach..(there are actually camels on this beach!!) Another relaxing day before i left on Monday. Sunday was a cruisy day, getting my gear together before i left the following morning to go to London. We watched the big game then a few of us went to the local bar for some goodbye drinks.
The next morning I boarded the bus and said goodbye to Bodrum.. I will miss this place and the fantastic weather but I was glad to be getting to London.
Well, now Im in London and things are going well. Ive caught up with a few friends that are over here and have started applying for jobs.. I can already tell the market here is super competitive but Im sure something will come up soon.. I hope!! :)
Hope everyone is well and post a comment and stay in touch.

Troy