About everything that could have gone wrong, did—missed flight, stolen purse, delayed train nearly making me miss my flight back home—but I would do it all over again. Mitch sent me a text just before I boarded the plane. “live with no regrets” I honestly repeated that to myself out loud everyday. So I’ve written my own multi-page detailed version, so this will just be highlights & links to galleries. I purchased a pro Flickr account just for these heh…it took 20% of my 2gb allowance. I did filter out a few photos, I promise. More details are in the caption photos.

Day 1 - London

• My brit (I struggled to call him by his real name) greeted me at the airport. Sat in the very front on the top of a double-decker bus to Crouch End.
• Met the parents
• London’s South Bank - Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye
• Tate Modern - I found heaven in the room full of Rothko’s. Had loose leaf Earl Grey tea in the top floor cafe, overlooking the Thames. Watched Matt stalk a pigeon out on the balcony
• Discovered Platform 9 3/4
• Dinner at Pradera, a little spanish place down the hill from their house

Day 2 - London

• Met my brit’s aunt & uncle, Ben’s parents.
• Sampled my first current crumpet
• Irish festival at Covent Garden
• Purse stolen from starbucks
• Hyde Park, Harrod’s, local precinct
• Dinner at Bella Pizza in Crouch End where they played “Jagged Little Pill” in its entirety :)
• Visit from some of Matt’s housemates who were in town
• Watched The Last Unicorn :)

Day 3 - Edinburgh

• 5 hour train to Edinburgh
• Aimlessly roamed the town, exploring random Closes and alleys
• Lunch at The Filling Station
• Visited Edinburgh 3rd year students photo gallery
• Trespassed in an awesome church
• Looked over the city from Edinburgh Castle
• It was freezing but amazing
• Finished the night at the pub, The Brass Monkey, and then took train down to Newcastle
• Met the Newcastle collective of Matt’s 7 housemates and received the grand tour of the fun house

Day 4 - Newcastle

• Walked down a massive hill to the metro. Got chicken bake pasties from Milligan’s which were scruptious
• Took the metro to the coast, visited the marine lab and got some smelly flatfish to take back to university
• Walked around Newcastle campus and hung out in the marine biology building while my brit took care of his lab crabs.
• Walked along the Tyne
• Visited the art museum with the display of the loads of nudes that were filmed/photographed walking around Newcastle.
• Walked through the Sage and back up the massive hill to the house
• Stopped at the grocery for some penguin biscuits, tea biscuits, and other treats. Then picked up some authentic fish & chips to take back.
• My brit mixed some tunes on his decks and then let me try to learn
• Went along with some of the housemates to the local fave pub, Tilley’s
• Got home & watched SLC Punk with my brit & housemate Dan, while the others played poker
• At about sleep time…2am-ish, Ride of the Valkeries blasted thru the walls haha

Day 5 - London

• Took the train back to London where we suspected the rain would follow us, but London greeted us with the first real blue skies of the trip.
• Visited Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery
• Walked through Green Park to Buckingham Palace
• Enjoyed a snack of penguin biscuits on the edge of a fountain with Queen Elizabeth perched above. She wasn’t much of a looker.
• Walked through another random park, named Princess Di Memorial Walk i think. It was full of birds and loveliness. It was my favorite place in London.
• Walked back around the south bank to get photos in the sunshine
• Stopped in a manga exhibit for kicks
• Watched sunset behind Big Ben
• My brit’s dad cooked us a lovely dinner
• Met up with 2 of his local friends at Downstairs, a comedy club on the main circuit for comedians on the verge of fame. My brit had to translate half the sketches for me to get the humor :)

Day 6 - London

• Museum of Natural History - 1300 yr old Sequoia, so many birds, and thousands of minerals. My brit enjoyed the jarred squids :)
• Science Museum
• Tower Bridge, Tower of London
• Abbey Road - seems i stood on the wrong side of the intersection for taking the photo of the crosswalk, but it was still cool to visit, despite my brit being completely embarrassed to be there heh
• Made spaghetti for dinner and watched british comedies until we passed out. Didn’t want to fall asleep because I knew I’d have to leave in the morning

Day 7 - Leaving London

I woke up feeling so sad. I felt as if I’d been there for months, not out of boredom but from feeling so at home, a level of comfort I shouldn’t have been able to attain in such a short time. I remembered how nervous I was about traveling there and now I was just as nervous about leaving it all. I said my goodbyes to his parents and took one last look out over Crouch End from his top floor window. I held off the inevitable tears until the moment my train ticket popped out of the machine. Then I lost it and fumbled out more money between the tears to buy him a ticket so I could buy a little more time with him. The train ended up getting stalled on the tracks for around 40 minutes due to some “fatality on the line” so we had to rush in to the airport, leaving barely enough time for a rushed goodbye. I think we all tend to plan our goodbyes to be something grand but something always seems to come along to rush them and they’re just never quite enough.

I felt a strange peace on the flight home though. I think it was happiness mixed with a sense of security. Whatever it is, this trip changed me and it’s confirmed my brit & his friends’ awesomeness. I can’t wait to set out again or maybe get a foreign visitor now that I’m an honorary member of the collective and have opened my doors to any of them who travel this way :)