Melissa In Londontown

update on life

So it’s been more than a month since I’ve last blogged anything…oops. my apologies, I’ve been really busy at work, there was Easter, and I was sick, and then I was also away for a couple of days visiting my family in The Netherlands.

So here is what’s been happening in my life: so as you’ve just learned, work has been really busy. Regent’s University…yes university (we just got ‘Uni’ status!!!) has acquired another school, the American Intercontinental University London. Which basically means that we’re growing and have a very new Regent’s school; the Regent’s School of Fashion and Design! cool right?! Now I’m really considering doing Interior Design in my future…who knows…

Another exciting thing happening very very soon, is that my parents are coming over to visit!! This coming Monday actually! They’ll be spending a couple of days in London and then we’re flying to Copenhagen and doing a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords! I cannot wait!! 

Last weekend I went on a lovely weekend away to Otford, Kent with my church. The weather was gorgeous and we had a lovely time together. The weather here has been quite warm…a bit too hot for me on the tube though…bleh!  but it’s so nice seeing the flowers and the trees come into bloom.

So that is pretty much it actually…I’ll try not to go longer than a month this time not blogging something.  

Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands

We arrived in Edinburgh around 6 and went straight to the B&B. Just walking along the streets we knew this city was going to be a favourite. We got to the B&B and Erin and I decided to get some pizza and junk food for us as we watch Comic Relief (Red Nose Day), a big UK Charity special they do with loads of celebrities. So that was our big exciting friday night for us twenty two year olds (I call us ‘old souls’)
The Saturday was Erin’s birthday and beforehand we decided to take her out for Afternoon tea at the Scotsman Hotel but we didn’t go, you’ll see why later…keep reading! After breakfast we walked towards The Elephant House, a cafe where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter! So I was freaking out! On the way there Jo had the ‘Brilliant Idea’ of renting a car and driving up to the highlands. so in the cafe over scones and hot chocolate we rented a car and planned our journey for the next day. This meant we had to switch some things around. I planned that we go to the Caslte and High tea on te saturday and then Holyrood Palace and Arthur’s Seat the sunday. But since we we’re driving on the sunday we couldn’t do everything. So we cancelled High tea and headed for the Ediburgh Castle and hopefully get to the palace and Arthur’s Seat in the afternoon. But alas we only made it to the caslte, as it was freezing cold with snowy rain so we spend most of our time inside the castle or eating/drinking in the cafe. 
Edinburgh Castle was cool, saw the 1 o’clock gun go off, which they’ve done since 1861, it was really loud and was not expecting it…yikes! We saw the room where James VI/I was born and the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Military museum, it was pretty cool, plus they have amazing views of the city and surrounding mountains. After that we walked along the High street and into the beautiful St. Giles Church (Where they played ‘Be Thou My Vision’ on the organ…it was amazing…again ‘old soul’). After that walked over Waverley Bridge and just enjoyed the views of the city and eating/warming up in a pub. 

 
The next morning, on the Sunday, we woke up at, get this, 6am…i know right, ridikulus! Anywho, we woke up at six and quickly made our way down to the rental car place, and by 8am we we’re in the car on our way to the Scottish Highlands. We drove towards Stirling and up through the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, where we would go through Glen Coe (a recommendation by someone at the Edinburgh Castle and thank goodness he did!) and past Fort William back down to Edinburgh. As we were getting closer to the national park, we could slowy see the mountains coming, and then all of a sudden you’re surrounded by forests and mountains and the next open spaces with lochs in the distance, absolutely stunning. We drove through Glen Coe, where Skyfall was filmed, and up towards Fort William where we made a mini pit stop at Inverlochy Castle, which was interesting to see. Other then that, we made our way back to Edinburgh through the west side of the Cairn Gorm Nationa Park and through Perth. Like our style, we had to dash it for the train station and had 10/15 minutes to spare! 

But, the adventure did not stop there. When we were just past York, the train stopped, and didn’t think of it much. After 15 minutes or so the driver came on a said that we would get more info in 10 minutes, turns out there was a freight train that broke down two train ahead of us. Basically after an hour and forty minutes we were on the move to London. Originally we were suppose to arrive at 10pm, but with the delay we didn’t make it to King’s Cross until ten to midnight! I was knackered, good thing i slept for a bit on the train, because I didn’t make it into my bed until 1am and then having to wake up at 7 to get ready for work.
 
Overall, we had a brilliant time and would definitely return to Scotland!

Day trip to Dover & the Cliffs

Yesterday, Kath, Kaylin and I went out on a little adventure to the seaside town of Dover. It was a beautiful, sunny (but chilly) day, and so it was the perfect day to go. We got the train from Charing Cross and about two hours later we were in Dover! Oh yes, by the way, on the train someone came by with a trolley of drinks/snacks and I said to Kaylin, do you think they have Chocolate Frogs?! (Harry Potter anyone? No? ok…..moving on.)

So we arrived in Dover and made our through the little high street and to the water. We were so excited! Eventually, after just enjoying being by the sea, we made our way on the trail to go up the cliffs. We were amazed how beautiful it was. And the fact that there were no railings or any safety precautions at all, or signs! we just kinda followed a random trail here and there, but I was deffo missing my map! Anywho, we had some lunch and hot chocolate from the info center/cafe on the cliffs, and enjoyed our surroundings. I loved seeing Dover Castle in the distance and France as a matter of fact! I even got a text from O2 saying ‘Welcome to France’! What! come on O2, there’s a whole channel dividing us, there’s no need for roaming charges! I also lost my camera for a second. It’s quite funny actually…I was stepping around the mud and all of a sudden I realised that my camera was not in my pocket, I asked the girls, who were still behind take photos if they had it. They didn’t, but as they were walking towards me they found it hanging, a mere foot away from the mud, on a branch! It turned out that when I was avoiding the really muddy area, that the strap of my camera caught the branch and slipped out of my pocket….thank goodness we found it, and not in pure mud!

Anywho, we decided to head back after a while, because the sun was setting and I did not want to be on those cliffs in the dark! We had train tickets for 5:25 but during the day we decided to take our time and eat a pub. But we were in town and realised we could still make it. So we quickly got some Mcds, but to our horror it was actually 5:13 not 5:00 as the previous clock said. so we dashed for it. oh my goodness it just added to the adventure! I was assisting Kaylin, and both out of breathe already, and Kath was up ahead to get her return ticket, as she had dropped it somewhere in London. We got to the station all right, but we lost Kath for a second as she didn’t go up the stairs but onto platform one as there was a train there already, good thing I saw her, otherwise we wouldn’t have gone separate ways! But in the end we managed to get there on time and be rewarded with delicious burgers and fries! 

Overall, had an amazing time! I can now cross something else off, off of my bucket list! Now, onto another adventure!