As I sit in some dingy cafe in Portobello Rd in London trying to figure out how to use these internet cafes I am trying to decide if I am completely bonkers!
I have always said to my four sons that adventure is the champagne of life, so 18 months ago when everyone was talking about travelling to Europe to see the Rugby World Cup, a seed was sown that we should take the trip of our lifetime and rather than see the World Cup we would just see the world.
So here I am on the other side of the world fighting jet lag and contemplating the rather ambitious task ahead; scary really when you consider that we have only been away a week and have 14 to go.
Don’t get me wrong – I always knew it would be a challenge, especially the first two months on my own before John, my husband, is able to join me.
As I expected, the great has been brilliant and the bad has been absolutely horrible.
The first part of the journey went relatively smoothly arriving in Hong Kong to 30 degrees amd monsoon rain. I had to be extrmemely brave on the flight as we flew through or around a supposed typhoon. Now I remember why I hate flying so much.
My biggest fear, of losing a child, seemed fairly realistic amongst the millions in Hong Kong, especially in the markets that enthralled my children with every fake thing imaginable for sale.
Eating was an issue and I have never been so glad to see the Golden Arches of Macdonalds, which we frequentd so often that I swear the boys will never eat Macdonalds again. But hey, it beat chicken’s feet and all the other indescriable itmes on every menu we looked at.
Hong Kong Disneyland was a little disappointing, probably because our kids are of an age wehn they just want the big thrills of rollercoasters and big dippers – that is, anything that scares the you-know-what out of you, but instead it was really the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck show – cute but pretty lame for teens.
After a couple of days in the smallest hotel room you’ve ever seen, we travelled on to Heathrow. This was a mission in itself – thirteen hours in cattle class in the last row, and then three hours to tube, bus and then taxi to our accommodation. I have to admit the kids were brilliant after being awake for nearly twenty four hours with not too much grizzling.
The first day in London we took a tour on the big double decker bus to get our bearings around London. What a magnificent city! I had lived here for twelve years many moons ago and I loved being reminded of all the history and the pomp and ceremony. While I oohed and aahed at St Pauls and Buckingham Palace and the squirrels in Hyde Park, most of the others appeared bored and of course tired and scratchy, which led to tears and fights and a total meltdown.
So what did they like? They loved the London Dungeon – it was cute to see them so genuinely scared that they might succumb to the guillotine.They adored Harrods especially the toy department and Lillywhites with the cheapest sports gear in town where we made our first purchases of the trendiest rugby boots in store.Watch out Tauranga sports next year!
The next day we went to Madame Tussaud’s – that was fantastic and we spent hours getting our photograph taken with every sporting hero the world has produced.
But man – everything is so expensive! As the guy I bought the tickets from for the major attractions said, “don’t keep converting it back to NZ dollars or you will never enjoy yourself” and he is probably right. But suffice to say I now know why London has been named the most expensive city in the world.
Everywhere we go there seems to be a million different languages spoken and the sheer volume of people around every corner is overwhelmimg. In fact, we are so overwhelmed and tired that we have hit upon the idea to head out of London to see some of my old haunts and to find some space where the boys can kick a ball and suck in some fresh air.
It is a wonderful opportunity and I pinch myself to see if it is real, even if the boys don’t have quite the same comprehension of our trip…
This morning I woke up next to Jamie, my 9 year old, who has to share a bed with me (and boy, what a bed hog he is!). As we lay there I asked him “what famous London landmark do you think we will see today?” and he promptly replied “the Acropolis”! I said, no but perhaps next week 🙂
