Kaili's solo footsteps around the world in over 100 countries..
Once back from Russia I had two of my Aunties come over to stay with me. It was great having family over and I showed them around London as much as I could after work hours and took them to Paris for a weekend. This was great fun as the sun was out to play while we wandered around the streets, going up the Eiffel Tower and we got to enjoy a beer at the Sacre Coeur overlooking the beautiful city of Paris.
Continue reading “Exploring England on my final days living in Europe..”
Shortly after arriving back in London, my Dad arrived for a visit..
We spent the first weekend exploring London and I took him for a typical English pub meal. We also went to a soccer game which is pretty foreign to the both of us. It was Fulham v Aston Villa and ended up as a draw.
During the week my Dad caught the Eurostar to Lille where he hired a car and took himself around France and Belgium for a week by himself to explore the WW1 Australian battlefields on the WesternFront..
Continue reading “The last part of an extremely eventful 2012…”
As it was the year of the Olympics in London, it was manic with crowds of people from all over the world – more than normal! Such a great time to be in the city though and there was even more on than usual!
A group of us watched the Opening Ceremony at a mate’s pub before I caught the train to Manchester the next day read to go to my first Olympic event – New Zealand v Egypt soccer (also Brazil v Belarus). As the people I went with were mainly Kiwis I thought it was best to support the cousins from across the sea and join in donning the black and white. It was good fun watching the game at Old Trafford stadium and a great atmosphere. I spent the night and did some exploring of Manchester with some mates making the most of our time there.
Continue reading “The European weekends for 2012 continue..”
After returning from my latest trip I managed to pick up a couple of different temp assignments for a week or two before Richemont called me to say they wanted me back!! This was great news as I enjoyed working for Richemont, they were a great company and I learnt a lot working there. I ended up working there until my time was up in London.
The start of my weekend trips away was local, in Birmingham, to stay a night with my friend who was studying there. Charlotte showed me around and we hung out in the small city where the sun was shining for us. We did visit the Cadbury Chocolate factory which of course we felt ill from so much chocolate afterwards but well worth it.
The following weekend was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee which meant an extra-long weekend, perfect to book a European trip away, Prague in the Czech Republic it was. I went solo and managed to meet some great people on the walking tour and at the hostel where I stayed.
After working my ass off every single day (over 70 hours per week) for the last couple of months, my Mum and Sister arrived. It was good to see them. My sister had her 18th birthday in London which we celebrated by having dinner at Jamie’s Italian restaurant and a quiet night as we were up early the next day to go to Copenhagen.
We got to Copenhagen where my Mum’s cousin (my second-cousin but still call him my ‘cousin’) picked us up and took us to his family home. They treated us with a yummy Danish lunch and then took us on a bike ride around the city of Copenhagen – it was beautiful!
Continue reading “My first family visit and another weekend trip to Europe..”
I arrived in London with no plans. However, I was lucky enough that my cousin, Tarlia, had also just arrived and had kindly booked me into a hostel with her for a couple of nights.
For about a week I hostel-hopped whilst checking out some housing options and setting up my bank account. I was having no luck with the house search (via houseshare.co.uk and gumtree.co.uk) until one of the girls (Aussie) I met on the tour (through Portugal and Spain) got in contact with me and said I could crash at her place until I found somewhere. This proved perfect as Chloe was actually leaving London and moving back to Australia, so after a week dossing on her couch she told me I could take over her room and it was only £380 a month including bills!!! I had somewhere to live!
Continue reading “My first few months in the United Kingdom..”
