Yesterday was my last day in London.

I decided to take in some of the sites. Luckily, the bus station was right next to most of them.

I started off with Buckingham Palace. unfortunately, the Queen was not available for tea. As I wandered around the palace grounds, this gentleman came to me for directions. I told him I was not sure where Big Ben was. In astonishment, he looked at me and exclaimed “You’re not an Englishman!”

I never did learn his name. And he sure did talk fast. But he insisted that I walk with him. He’s an Aussie. He was an antique coin dealer. He was impressed with how young I looked. Said I was the most interesting man he had met in London. He was by far the most interesting person I met. I tried to get a picture of him. but he wouldn’t allow it. Was afraid his wife my catch him doing something wrong. And with that he gave me a quick shove and said “Now off with you lad. And remember me. Remember me as the man who won 8000 pounds in the casino. And with that, he disappeared into a taxi. And I was left laughing in the jubilee grounds.

That was two days ago now. I blew out my power transformer. So I am sitting in an internet cafe trying to use this bizarre keyboard. I will finish with saying that all is not bad. Met some new mates. Stayed at a hostel last night. They are full tonight so I am looking for a new one. Journey not ruined. I have had help.

Thank you Kristin and Nick.

Still in London. Stil haven’t seen much. Jet lag is killing me.

I slept most of the day away. I think that’s alright though. I’m starting to hate London anyways.

Well, not London. But everything that is happening sucks. I charged the camera, took some pictures, but I forgot to pack the cable/adapter to transfer them to my computer.

The hostel was booked, so I had to find a hotel. It’s not bad. It’s a comfort inn. And it’s cheaper than any of the other hotels I was looking at before i left. But it’s twice as much as the hostel.

I’m a little awake now. but it’s 9:30 PM so there isn’t a lot to do.

I hurt my leg today. I don’t know how. If it is still hurting tomorrow, then I am going to have to call the whole thing off.

I have my ticket to get me to paris.

It’s by bus. And it’s tomorrow night. And I have no where to stay tonight. I am going to see if there is a room available tonight at the hostel.

I am so screwed.

i don’t know why I even thought I could do this.

I overslept. Missed breakfast. had to throw all my things in my bag. I have no idea what time it is. I’m sweating. i almost threw up I am so nervous. I have no idea how to get to paris. Everywhere I look says it cost like $9 million or something. The hostel is going to kick me out soon cause I don’t have a reservation for tonight. I seriously don’t know what I am going to do.

I can’t get any website to work that might tell me how to get to paris. This was a stupid idea.

I want to go home.

Thursday, 10:30 PM October 11th, 2007

I fell asleep before ice cream.
me
The flight over was mostly uneventful. There was meal service. And it was tasty. However… I fell asleep before dessert. Oh well. When I landed I was in London. I had made it. The was the first step in what is sure to be a grand adventure. The excitement is exhausting me. Maybe that’s jet lag.
London is… well… here’s my opinion. London is filthy. Heathrow airpoirt is probably the worst laid out, dirtiest, most poorly maintained airport ever. You could scrape the dirt off the walls with a paper cup. But just outside the terminal was a little shopping area where I grabbed a coffee and smoked what is to be my final cigarette.
The mall had more the feeling of a hotel check-in / casino. But the coffee was ok.

I spent 30 minutes looking for a way to get to the train that would take me to Central London. It should have been easy right? I mean… I’m in a airport / train station. You would think that everything would be marked. And it is… well… except for the trains of course. But when it got there… well hot shit! Welcome to the future.

The train was totally silent and enormous. It looked brand new and the seats were so comfortable. I am glad I took the local as opposed to the express. More time to enjoy the comfort of the seats. But upon arrival at Paddington station… well… filthy again. So much dirt. I got lost trying to get to the youth hostel. Took two wrong trains. And yet… here I am still. The redundant system of the London Underground is magnificent. No matter how fucking filthy it is.

Check in – I’m asked by a German for my papers. I giggled. I wanted to punch him and say “No Ticket” but he was a nice guy and I don’t punch people. His name was Yann. He kept apologizing as he thought he was delaying me. But I didn’t mind. I talked about my plans and he seemed to get really excited at times. He loves Paris. I will try and get a picture of him tomorrow when I leave. There’s a really cool girl I met in line to check in. It was a long line. There’s a couple of classrooms, a soccer team and many more groups staying here and they were all in front of us. We started talking about our trips but then moved into politics. She looked a little shocked at times. Apparently the rest of the world has no idea what is going on in America.

I went to go get my camera to head back out into the dirty London air. But it was dead and I had no UK adapter. but the store across the way did. I purchased 2 pounds (approx $4) of post cards, the adapter and trail mix. Plugged in the adapter and camera. It started charging. Thank god. I was afraid I was going to blow it up.

it was at this time that jet lag caught up to my sorry ass. I was out. Several hours later I was awoken when one of the hostel staff asked me to take my shoes off the bed. I came down to write this. and now back to sleep. No pictures today. Plenty tomorrow.

wait… whoa… 6 extremely good looking german girls just took the table behind me. Well.. ok. Better to bed before I do something stupid like drool on myself.

I should be asleep.

I’m just too excited. I’m going down my final list. Unpacking and re-packing my bag to make sure I have everything.
See… I leave in 3 hours.

I got my ticket reservation. a few hours ago.

So this is it. I’m really sorry if I didn’t get a chance to see you. I was very busy.
I first am flying down to San Francisco. Layover for lunch. Then I am flying to Heathrow Airport in London. Spend the night there. Next day I take the train to Paris, San Sebastian, and then Roncivalles. If you want to follow my progress,

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So here I go.

I am now leaving October 4th.

That is as long as I am postponing the trip. In two days I am going to drive to San Fran.

And then the 4th I leave for Paris.

ok… just to let everyone know….

As there have been a couple of inquiries… and I am sure I might have upset a couple of people thinking that I am ignoring them…. here is the scoop:

I have not left for Spain yet. REVISED: I have not left for Paris yet.

I am currently in the process of developing / re-designing two websites for one person. As partial payment, this person is paying for my flight to Spain. As such, I want to make damn sure that the sites are finished, working, and not going to fail anytime soon. I’m also making sure that the employees of said person’s company know how to update and edit the site accordingly. I’m doing this because once I hit Paris, I am more or less completely disconnected from my life in the States.

My progress on the sites? Site #1 is done. You can check it out (and even buy something if you want) at Dragonfire Imports. I am pleased with it. It came out pretty good. If you’re wondering what I did to it… almost everything. The only parts of it that remains from the original site is the background picture, the store logo, and a few (maybe a dozen) of the pictures of the items. Everything else is entirely me.

I am sorry if I was ignoring anyone / didn’t maintain contact with anyone. I was devoting nearly 100% of the time I was awake to the site. From taking pictures of merchandise to uploading to writing/rewriting/modifying code. even my parent (whom I moved back in with until I leave) haven’t seen me. Well, except when I was home coding (as opposed to at the store coding). Then they saw me when they went to sleep, and when they woke up.

I know begin site two. Site two will be MUCH easier as it is NOT an ecommerce site. I’m thinking (hoping) it will take a week. Two at the most. The nice thing about living at home now is that I don’t have any bills. So I’ve been able to take what little money I have and stretch it great distances. Thank you to all of you that helped with that. And don’t forget that there are still items available at Bit Rationale.

Because site two is not going to be as straining, I welcome your calls and text messages. I may not have answered or responded previously, but I will now. I am getting ready to leave soon, so I’m wanting to have a little party / go out / get-together with as many people as possible. So give me a buzz.

If I hadn’t mentioned it before, my trip has changed slightly. The airline I will be flying does not fly to spain. The closest I can get is Paris. So I will be flying to Paris, France on the first leg of my journey. From there, I will either take a train… or possibly even walk… to the border of Spain where the bulk of my trip is to occur.

This is where I am. Thanks for understanding. And yes I am still going. Give me a ring.

Erik

Leaving for Spain

This is when I have to be out of my apartment.