UK Stories & Pictures

This is my last UK post... For now at least. Here are all the pictures I have from my trip (all the way at the bottom). Also some random items from the trip.


I was been burned a few times in the UK. Here are a few UK stories.

- A guy asked me if I spoke English and said yes. He asked me a question and I said what. He walked off with an attitude. My friend was like you should have said no you speak American (burned).

- I was asked if I would like my food for here. Me: Can I have it to go. The guy at the counter: 'what'. Me: to go. He looked at me confused and asked me if I would like it 'Take way'... umm yeah.

- I asked a bartender at a club where the restroom was. Bartender: What. Me: Bathroom Bartender: What. Me: Toilet. Bartender: oh, upstairs on the left.

- Mark: I wonder what they do in there. Me: I am sure they have offices in there. Mark: I wonder what they do. Me: IDK How em i suppose to know. whatever it is they do in a fucking palace....? Both: lmao

-toilet/bathroom are separate rooms

- don't use preservatives. Bread taste great

- No added crap to foods. Crisps (chips) ingredient list: potatoes, sunflower oil, salt.

Reading words and thinking they are spelled wrong or weird: use the toilet, mind the gap ( instead of watch your step) Colour, TK Max, Chips (fries), Crisps (chips), Baguette (Sub), fussy, cheers, yeah, naughty, centre

I am sure I missed a lot of things but I am sure you all get the point. I had a blast and the UK was fun.

Random UK Videos
Squirrel

Oxford Singers

3D Glass Image

Occupy Liverpool

Liverpool Apartment 

UK Pictures. Mark has most of the good ones but here is what I have.

London I


Birmingham


Liverpool


Manchester


Oxford


London II

Birmingham UK

Post Club & Bar

Birmingham was very nice and very modern. After missing our bus we had to wait around for 2 hours for the next one. Mark was already at the station when we finally arrived. Once we go into town we headed to the hotel. We had to catch a train to get to it. After settling in so late we decided to just hang out at the hotel bar. Being the smart guy I am I forgot that UK has a different power plugs. I used the business center computer to charge my ipod and 2 iphones while we enjoyed a bottle of wine. We mostly caught up on what has been going on and Fantasy football. Manas hung out with us to and just listened. We ended up staying up all night and walking over to the airport (across the street) to get some food. We went to bed at about 6a.


We got up at 10a to head into town. I lost my voice somehow and had a hard time talking all day.  We started by going to a popular shopping area (look up BullRing). This place was crazy. We ran into some festival that was going on called Frankfurt Christmas Market & Craft Fair. Of course we had to join in. We got a beer and a Frank

After partaking in the festival we whipped out our handy map (how I miss google maps)  to find the local museum (Birmingham Museum and art gallery). After browsing around that for a while we headed to Nando for dinner before heading to the hotel. The chicken was great.

Once we got to the hotel we crashed out but had been planning to go out. Determined to experience the night life we decided to take the leap (we did not know what time the pubs closed). We walked over to the train and found out we had missed the last one into town. Still being determined to make sure we went out we manage to track down a bus that was still running. We ended up wondering around the club area but mostly found nothing. Next thing we know we hear a nice tune and decide that was our choice. It was a Caribbean/African club called Post. After crabbing a beer we just chilled to the music. The place was LIVE!!! We had women walking up to us.  A guest performer showed up. We ended leaving at like 4 am.

All the buses and trains don't start running until 6-7a. We wondered around for a while before deciding just to take a cab but we didn't want to pay the £30 the cab was trying to charge us. I decided to just walk up to one of them and say all I have is £20 to get me here (handed him the adress to the hotel). He said it was £30 to go and I said that was all I had. So we started to walk off. We got about 50 feet and another cab driver said I'll do it.So we got home and save  a couple of £ ($$). We got up early to catch the bus to our next destination. Manas went back to London and Mark and I went to Liverpool. I will make a video post for that trip. Until then enjoy some pictures.

I will have to post more pictures up later. Pictures from one of my iPhones won't upload. I will likely do just a photo album post. Time to go get some sleep (which has been one thing lacking in this trip). Enjoy!

Mind The Gap

Central London

Waiting on our bus to Birmingham

Bus to Birmingham

Mark & I in Birmingham

Sunglasses and Advil. Last night was mad real. Sun comin up, 5 a.m. I wonder if they got cabs still

I wish I had more time to write a long post but I got to check out and catch a bus to Liverpool. I will post a longer update of what happned here in Birmingham along with some pictures. It was a lot of fun with no sleep. The first night we got to the hotel late so we just chilled at the hotel bar drinking wine and catching up.

 The next day we shopped (look up BullRing). This place was crazy. They had some kind of Festival going on and it was packed. The whole area was nothing but shopping. We went back to the hotel rested and went out. We cuaght the bus to the city. We found some random Caribbean spot. It was live. We had women walking up to us. Left at like 4 am and caught a cab back to the hotel (this is a stoy in itself).

Just booked a crazy spot in Liverpool. Ok, I have to go check out but I will update this later and add some pictures.

Day one and some

I landed in London yesterday. The flight was ok but my sinuses are horrible. The plane food was worth forgetting. It was a good thing I decided to buy some before takeoff.

After landing and waiting for my friend to meet me I got my first ride on the"tube". (I thought of you Nicole when the voice said "Mind the Gap"). We went to his house dropped off my stuff and hit the streets.

First up was business. Went to the bank to get some £. Followed by a trip to get a sim card ( on the UK grid officially).

We didn't do any sight seeing just walking around Central London. It is crazy how so many of the things in London remind me of NYC. A great public transit system and a large amount of people to start with. The shops (although different brands) and atmosphere are very similar. People singing in the underground (subway). It is clearly different when it comes to other things like they drive on the other side of the road and a lot of the public busses are double deckers not too mention the people talk funny (lol). People here also seem to be nicer.

While wondering the streets of London I got a couple souvenir shot glasses. I also went to look for Elmer and Wilbur the elephants for a friend. The first store we walked into had the books but not the stuffed animal :( I was looking for. We also stopped by the chemist to get some sinus medicine.

We headed back home after that. After 48 hours with only about 4 hrs of sleep I was ready to catch some Zzz. To bad my sinuses kept me up.

Today is just rested and spent sometime with my friend's mom. We are heading to Birmingham to meet up with another friend to start some real fun. To bad we missed our original bus and have to wait 2 hours for the next one.

Hopefully my entries will be a little more exciting going further. As of right now the plans are go out tonight, shop tomorrow, go out tomorrow night, travel to Liverpool, sight see, go out again, head back to Oxford or London and do more sight seeing. Check out some pictures so far.

Oh and Baby Cam is here. Congrats T!! I can't wait to meet her.

Trip To London.

So, I am going to London for A week. I am sitting in the DC airport with a 6 hours layover waiting for my  departure flight Heathrow. I feel like I should be more excited about it. Maybe it is because I am not looking forward to the 7 hours flight. Maybe it is because I don't allow myself to get to excited about somethings. Maybe it is just because I now feel that is isn't about the places you go but rather the people you meet the people you spend time with that matters. This coming from a person that wants to travel the world. I know I will have fun especially because I will be seeing good people who I haven't seen in a while. Once I start to experience my journey I will be excited I just need to get through this layover and looonnggg flight.

I decided I am going to use my blog to keep a journal of my trip. I am going to try and post as often as I can while I am on vacation. Check back and see how my exciting journey progresses. Hopefully I have lots of fun stories and great pictures.

Rambling

It is had been to long since I made a post of any kind. It seems like a lot has been going on but in reality it is just life. I tend to get bored of things and move on. This blog seems to be one of those things. I am going to try and get re-motivated. It seems one of my most popular post was my video about my big brother. It was recently his birthday and I re-posted it.

I was speaking to someone about the video. Something I noticed is that I seem to be the rock for those around me. The reason when emotions tend to want to take over. Honest to provide a moment of clarity or put things in perspective. People around tend to come to me for help when they are stuck or just need to talk. I think I am just a problem solver and an optimist (within reason of course).

People ask me how I am so “strong” or “calm” when things happen. I developed these strengths through the emotional and physical scare tissue (muscle) I have built over time. It all goes back to what I said in the video: If you are alive things aren’t that bad.

The next question is who does a rock for everyone else lean on. This was a simple question. It is a matter of two people. The person who raised me to be the way I am and myself. It more of just knowing that person is there that makes me feel at ease and makes things better. I do also lean on those closest to me. I lean on them to remind me of how lucky I am to have the people I have in my life, to remind me the simple things in life are what count the most and to remind me. That is enough rambling for now.