Plan B!

Plan A:
- Move to London
- Rent a flat
- Teach children
- Travel!

A straightforward plan to say the least but now that we're here...we're not sure it's right for us. We have looked at flats and found lots of lovely and cute ones that are a reasonable size (nothing like you'd find at home though!) but the cost of renting here is insane! We knew it was going to be expensive but what we didn't realize was all the extra costs associated with renting here. So that turned us off of Plan A a bit. Then, we realized that we weren't all that motivated to start work. Do we really even WANT to work here? The answer turned out to be no. What we discovered is that we love to travel, we don't even mind working but for us, the two just don't mix. So we made the decision to come home.

But hey, we're here...in Europe. Why not have a bit of fun first?! So here's Plan B:

Plan B:
- Ireland on Friday to see my pen pal
- Paris on Tues or Wed to see the sights and go to Disneyland!
- Back to London for some more sight seeing (maybe a show?)
- Feb. 6th fly home.

So that's the new plan! We're looking forward to getting a bit of travel in before coming home and getting back into a routine and settling in. So stay tuned for some (hopefully) exciting and fun stories of our next adventures!

Cheers!
Holly
xoxo

Talk about a roller coaster!

Day 3

I'm not going to lie..it was a rough week for us this week. Once we were settled in our hostel it was time to start accomplishing things! So we got off to a great start! We had arranged a viewing for a flat and we were going to go and get new phones sorted out. Pretty simple day. Except that we're in London and nothing is simple here.

It started out easy enough, we weren't totally sure where to go to do the whole phone thing so we went out to the one place we knew how to get to and that we knew had the phone shop we wanted. So away we went to Watford Junction which is North London. When we got there we went to the mall where the phone store was only to find out that we need UK bank accounts to get phones or SIM cards, and we can't get bank accounts without a UK address..which of course we don't have! So there went that plan!

Well fine, there was nothing we could do so we headed back towards the train station to head over to our viewing. On the way there however we were sidetracked by a lady talking about crackers (sorry, 'biscuits') and sweets and before we knew it we were being led to St. Mary's Church for what turned out to be a taste test of new crackers for Walkers. So there we were tasting 3 different crackers (I liked the cheese ones best) and then walked out with two HUGE chocolate bars. At this point it was about 12:30 and our viewing was for 2pm. So we walked back to the train station and got there around 12:45, lots of time right? WRONG! We got on a train fairly quickly and it was an express which was great! The only problem however was that we got off the train to get onto the tube only to realize that the tube line we had planned to take is completely out of commission. Until November. SO back onto the next train to take us completely out of our way so that we could transfer to get onto the Metropolitan tube line that would get us to the station we wanted. And there we were with my phone running out of minutes, on the underground with no service and it's 1:30...and then it's 2. Don't worry, we DID manage to call the agent and say we'd be late by about 20 minutes. Boy were we wrong! We finally arrive at the station that we need and then go out the wrong exit and get COMPLETELY turned around. In the middle of hysterical, frustrated tears (on my part) the agency calls and takes pity on us and gives us directions to where we need to go. We finally arrive, totally defeated and apologetic for what turned out to be about a 5 minute viewing. The place was small but the rooms and living area were a good size. It wouldn't be ready for another couple weeks though so we're interested in it but we'll see if we can find something ready to move into first!

We went straight home after that and basically straight to bed. London kicked our butts that day and we'd had enough. We got some sleep and got ready for a new adventure the next day!

 Day 4

After the day we had we decided that we needed to do something fun to make ourselves feel better and what's more fun than some retail therapy! We decided that we would head out to Oxford Street to do some shopping. I had planned to call some properties that morning but my phone was being stupid so I emailed them all and hoped for the best! Then off we went to Oxford Street! We were told it was one of the best shopping districts! Not that we planned to spend a ton of money or anything we just needed to get out and see something!

Of course it completely slipped our minds that it was Saturday and therefore it was absolutely packed on the streets and in all the shops! So we meandered around a little bit, marveling at all the great stuff to buy and of course we went into a tacky souvenir shop to have a look around, some of it was just awful! Don't worry, we didn't spend a bunch of money! We picked up a couple things but they were all on sale and very reasonably priced! And that is literally all that we did that day haha, and later that evening we made plans to go and visit Lisa and Sam for a fun trip! Keep reading to find out where we went!!

Day 5

Well day 5 was the day we went to go and meet Lisa and Sam and have an adventure. The adventure started early when we got on the tube and went to the train station only to discover that the train was not stopping at that stop for the entire day, great! So we went BACK the way we came (we're getting used to that drill) and were told we had to hop on the bus to get to Clapham Junction to meet the girls. This was actually not as bad as it sounds because it was our very first red double decker bus ride!

First bus ride!

It's a leprechaun building!

The Start of the Adventure!!

Well here we are! The first official blog post of my latest adventure! What a whirlwind it's already been and we've only been here for two days! 

Day 1

Oh my gosh, day one was absolutely crazy! We started our day in Chilliwack and my grandma took us to the airport. We decided to take the new road to see how it was and if it was maybe a little faster. As it turns out, it wasn't. Firstly we really didn't know exactly where we were supposed to go, secondly there was about 3 signs on the entire hour long drive and thirdly the few signs there were turned out to not be at all helpful. So we ended up in Surrey before realizing that we had to turn around and backtrack until we found the turn we were supposed to take which was the turn for New Westminster...not YVR. Confusing right?

Next we got to the airport and from there it was just a waiting game..waiting in the HUGE check in line, followed by waiting in security, followed by waiting for take off which was delayed by half an hour. But we got through it just fine and the flight itself wasn't bad. Aside from the serious lack of leg room, the horribly narrow seats and the not so great food. Unfortunately for us neither one of us managed to sleep much so that really sucked. But other than that it was fine. At least the in flight entertainment was good! 

Once we landed it was time to figure out how the heck to get from the airport (Gatwick) to our hostel in central London. Really though it wasn't that hard, which was really good because at that point we'd been up for longer than usual and definitely weren't operating at full brain capacity. So the train ride was a relaxing half hour and then we got to the tube station....aaaaand everything went horrendously downhill from there! It was so packed and busy and people were jostling us and our luggage and walking all over the stairs not leaving enough room. Oh yea BY THE WAY hauling heaving stupid suitcases up and down stairs when your sleep deprived, sweaty and being jostled by hustling Britans..you get really fricken cranky...just sayin! So that was oodles of fun. Then after getting completely turned around in the station trying to find the right platform to catch the tube from we finally got to our stop, hauled our suitcases around some more and emerged victorious on the sidewalk! Well...almost. We took the wrong end of the street we were supposed to be walking up, after walking out of our way just to find a crosswalk and so it took us twice as long to get to our hostel as it should have. Which really was only 10 minutes but it was ten minutes of two sisters being miserable and cranky, hot and sweaty on a stupid narrow sidewalk (who makes them that small and then sticks a lampost in the middle?!)  but we made it one piece without killing each other and then the nightmare was over. 

HAHA! Just kidding. Upon arriving at our hostel, me feeling like I'm about to pass out I'm so hot from hauling my big suitcase around, we get our key and our luggage tags and we're told where to go to get to our building. So away we go satisfied that we finally made it and dying to sit and relax for a bit when we get to our building and realize...there's no lift. And we're on the 4th floor. Great. So we took turns hauling up our luggage one by one, wishing we could just keel over and die and finally we made it. 

After that we took it easy. We went for a short walk around the area, had dinner at the pub nearby (which wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped, oh well) and then tried our best to stay up until 8pm. Keep in mind we'd been up for more than 24 hours so needless to say we collapsed in our beds at 7pm.

Day 2 (Don't worry this one's shorter!)

Guess what! Today we woke up at 3am because we went to bed too early and got our 8 hours of sleep. Hooray! Great start to the day. *SIGH* We had a roommate with us in our room so we didn't want to disturb him so we grabbed Teresa's laptop and went to the common room to look at properties to let and keep ourselves occupied whilst leaving our slumbering roomie in peace. So we looked at a bunch and wrote down some phone numbers for later and then it was 3:45. We managed to have a quick skype with mum and dad to tell them about our adventuring thus far, they got a good laugh out of it so I guess that's good? Afterwards another guy who had woken up early like us came over and started talking to us (he never did tell us his name..) so that passed some time. Finally at 5am we decided we'd go back to our rooms and get our journals and come back to the common room but when we were getting things organized our roommate woke up to go catch a flight to New York and we got the room to ourselves so we stayed upstairs and did our writing there. We tried really hard to kill time until breakfast. We decided to give ourselves a break and just pay the 3 pounds to have the continental brekie at the hostel because we weren't feeling all that motivated to go to the store. Plus we could eat our fill so it seemed like a good deal and it was! 

Later we had to meet my consultant at the Engage Education office in North West London so away we went! He had told us how to get there. So we went to the tube and caught the proper train with no issues and then we had to take the overground train the rest of the way. Here's where we got stuck, we started at West Brompton station and we were told to go to Watford Junction, easy enough right? What he didn't tell us was that we had to transfer trains at Willesden Junction. 

So here we are waiting for a train that's going to Watford Junction and missing two trains that could've taken us to Willesden Junction had we known what we were doing. So we finally figured it out and got on and made it to our meeting half an hour late. They didn't seem to care though so that was good. It was really great getting to talk to our consultants face to face and to get some questions answered and all that good stuff. Following that we went to another building to get our finances sorted out for claiming expenses and such. We had hoped to open bank accounts today but were told that we need a letter that we won't be able to get until we have an official UK address which complicates things a bit but we're working on it!

Afterwards we walked around the area a little, had some lunch and found a really nice shopping mall that I swear had at least 7 floors! So many fun looking shops and so little spending money haha, I had better start working soon! We also saw St. Mary's Church which was quite pretty.

Oh and one last thing. I got a free cell phone (so did Teresa) from JSA, who are the people who pay us and handle our tax stuff. It is so hilariously old school I just had to share it with you all! So here you go!

Sorry this was so long! I had a lot to say today! I'll post again soon!
Cheers!

Holly

xoxo