My Life Under Ground

We have been in London for nine hours, and it is freezing, and raining, and I am absolutely loving it. Not the cold and the rain, but London itself. After dropping our bags off at the hotel in Camden, we went across the street for a pint. Then Anne and I decided to get on the tube to go shopping at Marble Arch.

I cannot tell you how much I love the tube. I have heard about it for many years and could not wait to go on it, and it did not disappoint. I looooove the tube. Anne and I just kept grinning at each other and saying "We're on the tube! In London!" It was awesome. 

After shopping, we went to a queer bar in Marble Arch for a pint. We didn't know it was a queer bar, but we figured it out before we left. Then back on the tube to rejoin the others for dinner in Camden. I can't tell you how much I love the tube. And being in London is fantastic.

We are all excited to be here. 

Wish you were here.

Oooooooooh, We're Halfway There.

We are in Doha, Qatar, and international travel is weirder than I thought.

We left Adelaide at 10pm, had dinner at 11pm, and then at midnight, they turned all the lights off so that we could sleep.

At 9am the lights came back on and they gave us coffee and croissants. Then at 10.30am, someone figured out that it was the middle of the night in Qatar, and the lights went off again. So they woke us up for breakfast, then sent us back to sleep.

We landed in Qatar at 4.30 am and went straight to an airport café for more coffee and croissants.

Next stop: London.

Wish you were here.

And So It Begins

Having been born in Clydebank, Scotland, and having lived in Australia since I was two years old, I am about to embark on my first trip out of Australia.  I am returning to my homeland and I am a weird combination of excited, nervous, scared, happy, and bewildered.

This was not my idea. I am tagging along, by invitation, on my brother's 50th birthday trip. It was initially just going to be my brother and his missus, but then they convinced my mum to go with them, and invited the rest of the family to join in. Like me, Mum has also not returned to visit the UK since we first arrived in Australia in 1971. By the time I heard about all of this, my sister and another of my brothers had already opted in. Now I have also opted in and we are a travelling party of six.

We leave for London tonight, and, after a few days in England and Wales, should arrive in Clydebank in just over a week's time. 

Watch this space...