London is a city that I love and hate. I love everything there is to see and I hate that I never have enough time to see it all. I was pretty busy while in the UK but still managed to make time to make two trips into London. On both trips I was fortunate enough to have good friends show me around otherwise I’d probably have ended up on the news after being mugged and left for dead.

While in London I got to see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (a bit tacky), the London Eye, Parliament House and my two favourite attractions; a haunted house at County Hall and the British Museum. I had my camera out most of the time and even the grey sky and constant drizzle couldn’t keep me down. What did get me down was getting lost. People in London, lovely though they are, do not like being stopped in the street. Perhaps it is the prevalence of begging and magazine subscription sellers, I ended up buying a book off a Buddhist Monk-in-training, which makes them walk on and pretend that they haven’t heard you talking to them. Honestly though once you make them realise that you aren’t trying to sell them anything they are quite happy to point you in the right direction, which is often the opposite to where I’ve been heading.

I think one of my favourite features of London is the statues and plaques on what seems like every corner. Some of them aren’t exactly exciting but others, like the statue of Winston Churchill, are amazing pieces of history. The old buildings also serve to make the skyline something attractive although sometimes only from a distance. It was pretty cool visiting 221b Baker Street where a certain famous detective was purportedly from, although it was full of slightly creepy statues that were just life-like enough to freak me out.

Sadly I couldn’t afford the zoo so that still remains on my list of things to do but the British Museum was amazing, sort of the treasure rooms of a now defunct empire and filled with all the associated spoils. The museum, like most of London, probably requires more time than I could give it but I still felt like I’d seen enough to satisfy me till the next trip. If you’re in London then visit the museum, you will not be disappointed.

But all too soon it became time to hop on a train home and I remembered why I hate London. One day I think I will have to make the time to truly appreciate it which may take months or even years but I think it would definitely be worth it.

So the plane had touched down safely in London and I wobbled to baggage reclaim to pick up my suitcase. Customs and passport control was easy enough as I just had to show them that I carry a British Passport and all the barriers seem to magically lift, this makes a nice change from Australian and South African customs where I always feel like I’m about one shifty look away from a full pat-down and cavity search.

I strolled out of the terminal feeling rather proud of myself for managing to stay awake for the entire flight, something I would later come to regret. Anyway despite having lived in the UK for as long as I had I still felt like I was in unfamiliar territory and so the smartest course of action seemed to be asking the information desk for the easiest way to get to Burgess Hill. There are few times when I’ve really felt like I’ve made a mistake I will regret for a long time, the first was when I thought it would be totally cool to cut my own hair, the second was when I thought I would be a smart-ass and argue with a particularly un-hinged teacher and the third would have to be when I took the advice of the person behind the information desk.

The route they suggested involved taking the train to London Paddington station before transferring to the tube and making my way, via a very strange and change-filled journey, to London Victoria. Bear in mind that it was 6 in the morning and I had a large suitcase with me so this hardly seemed like an ideal situation but my sleep deprived brain couldn’t really come up with a better alternative so I shelled out the twenty pounds and shambled onto the train.

By now I hadn’t slept for more than twenty four hours and the strain was beginning to make itself felt but I still felt a bit of excitement as I was off on an adventure that would see me brave the dark world of the underground and make my way to Burgess Hill. On the train to London Paddington I did nearly pass out a few times but a very kind lady promised to wake me up if she thought I looked in danger of succumbing to a catatonic state. I also sought assurances from a ticket inspector to make sure I was heading the right way he assured me that I was on the right path and that getting through the London train stations would be easy even with luggage as they provide trolleys. It sounded almost too good to be true and I would learn upon arrival in Paddington why that was.

There were no trolleys and it really wasn’t easy getting around with a big suitcase. I learned from a rather upset gentleman that I was interrupting the flow of traffic during rush hour and that I would make a lot of people late for work. If that’s true and any of them are reading this I really would just like to take the chance to say that it was the information desk at Heathrow Airport’s fault.

My fear of the underground and my reasons why shall be discussed in a future post but I can only imagine how I appeared to the London Commuters on that cold Tuesday morning, an exhausted and shivering travel-worn guy looking around in a wild panic every time the train stopped for no real explainable reason. Obviously, from this post, I eventually made it to my grand-parents. I won’t say I wasn’t changed by my experience or that I didn’t learn anything. In fact upon arriving at my grand-parents house and regaling them with the stories of my morning adventures my grandpa turned to me and said “Why didn’t you just take the shuttle from Heathrow to Gatwick and catch a direct train to Burgess Hill? It’s only 2 stops”. I paused and silently cursed the information desk at Heathrow.

More to come including my adventures in London!

Happy New Year everyone!

The suitcases were packed, the tickets booked and my visa was all in order. All that really stood between me and my vacation was an 18 hour flight to the UK and I didn’t really have to do much on that trip, just sit and watch a few movies. My first flight was from Perth to Malaysia and I eagerly awaited my boarding call in the departure lounge of Perth International. Now, most people hate air travel but I am certainly not one of those people. I love just about everything about flying, the meals are usually exciting, you can drink as much as you like, there are usually good films showing and you get to meet some genuinely interesting people.

In my case I was flying Malaysia Airways for the first time and I was unsure what to expect, remember I’ve flown Air Zimbabwe so I’ve put up with some pretty bad airline service. I was pleasantly surprised to find professional and polite service, the seats were comfortable and the entertainment was up-to-date. I did miss the complimentary toiletries pack that most airlines choose to provide, if only because I like to be able to brush my teeth whenever I arrive in a new country.

As for travelling companions I sat next to a guy my own age called Zack, a native Malaysian, and we spent the five hour trip to Malaysia geeking out over everything from Lord of the Rings to Watchmen. It’s always gratifying to meet someone you immediately get along with, especially when travelling, and it helped put me in a much more optimistic frame of mind about the rest of the trip. It was almost a bit sad when we pulled into Kuala Lumpur as we knew that our time was coming to an end but the splendour of KL airport soon put a stop to that.

Describing KL and the feelings it invoked is difficult because I was so giddy with everything I saw. Bear in mind that it was nearly midnight and everything was still open, there were cafe’s serving travel-worn customers, electronic stores selling a vast array of shiny items and bookstores doing business with an almost hushed reverence. I’ve been to a few airports in my life but I cannot remember if this was how they did business and certainly KL was the most memorable because of the friendly atmosphere.

This is why, in my defence, I believe I acted in the way I did. I took out my camera and started photographing everything in sight, eager to try and capture the atmosphere in photographic form so I could point to people and say “This is how an airport should be!” Unfortunately as friendly as KL is there are certain rules to be followed that were explained to me by the smartly dressed security guards who calmly asked me to put my camera away. After it was stowed they seemed to believe that was the end of the matter and let me go with a friendly nod. Had this been Heathrow I would have been knocked to the floor under a tidal wave of security forces before being whisked off to a detention centre where I would quite likely be executed.

Sadly almost as soon as I had arrived in KL it was time to board my next flight and begin the next leg of my journey. It was going to be my first journey on an Airbus and that elicited fresh excitement from me as I contemplated what mad luxuries I would witness. Truth be told I needn’t have gotten my hopes as far up as I did as it turned out that the Airbus merely has more seats than the Boeings. A lot more seats. I had to walk the length of the plane to get to my seat by which time a kindly old lady had settled into where I was supposed to be sitting but once the stewardess shooed her out I was able to collapse into what would be my home for the next 13 hours.

Airplane seats are oddly not built for comfort. At least they are not built to provide anything resembling comfort for any period over 5 hours. I always find that any period longer than that tends to reveal all the iron bars used in the chairs constructions. After 6 hours you are convinced that the chair in front of you goes further back than should be legal and when you attempt to mimic it you discover your chair only goes a quarter of what you think it should. 7 hours in and your legs begin to ache in an unusual way but of course the issue is that there isn’t anywhere you can really stretch them out without prompting an air hostess to follow you around with a can of mace in case you try anything dangerous. By hour 9 you are convinced that this is really the most subtle form of torture that any government could employ and you must have slighted the government in some unknown way to have earned it.

Finally the plane lands and you stand up only to discover that your legs no longer respond to the brains commands so you sort of flop out of your chair and stumble down the aisle to baggage reclaim. Eventually you recover enough to walk like a reasonable human being but there is still an unseen predator lurking outside of your awareness. Jet Lag.

But that’s probably enough for one update. I’ll put the rest of what I’ve written up in the next couple of days. Thanks for the continued support!

Travel Essentials
Originally uploaded by JonoGurney

When I came to Murdoch there were a few essential items that I brought with me that I am now gathering together in preparation for my holiday.

Notebooks

I usually travel by myself so in a bid to keep myself sane I tend to write an awful lot. This free-form writing can take many forms and I don’t show people the result out of shame for how bad it is. This year I’ve bought two notebooks and they will serve two unique purposes. The black notebook will be used to record my vacation in the event I contract amnesia, the red notebook will be used for my free-form writing and I don’t plan on showing it to anyone.

Passport

Everyone always says “Jono don’t forget your passport” but honestly how much do I really need a passport? I’m sure if I asked nicely customs and immigration would have no problem letting me into another country. I think I will take it anyway but that’s just because I think it’s a nice travel accessory.

Earphones & Headphones

I actually do need 3 pairs, extravagant though that sounds. The earphones are obviously for travel as they are convenient and I take two pairs in case the first pair has an accident. The headphones are a little sentimental to me as they’ve accompanied me on my major journeys and I find it really relaxing to listen to music on them while I write. They are Stagg headphones according to what’s written on the side of them.

iPod Touch

I came to Australia with a 30 GB iPod which I’d bought in the UK the year before. It was a faithful companion on most of my trips and it kept me entertained in a variety of situations, which is why I was sad when it eventually gave up the ghost a few months ago. The iPod that has replaced it has quickly found a place in my heart because of its least touted but most important feature, the ability to read books on it. If I didn’t have that ability the photo above would have a veritable library of books I would be taking with me to read on the trip.

iPod Cable

This is essential so that I can charge the iPod. Duh.

Batteries

The stack of batteries is for my camera (not pictured for obvious reasons) so that I won’t run out of juice at a vital moment. I’m hardly a photographer but I know the frustration of missing an important moment because my batteries died.

Spare SD Card

This is a small, 32mb, card for my camera. I generally use a 2GB in the camera which can hold about 400 photos or 20 minutes of film at highest resolution. I like to keep a spare around in case I run out of room when photographing something important but to tell the truth 32mb is not nearly enough and I will probably be buying a card with more space sometime this week

Mobile Phone

I think the most crucial piece of equipment is the one that allows me to stay in communication with people who can come and rescue me if needs be. Sim cards are pretty cheap the world over so I don’t foresee many problems with picking getting one for the duration of my trip.

Pens

These are as important to me as the iPod. The parker pen I have had since I arrived in Australia as I bought two to take notes and stupidly left one in the Lecture room. Since then I have kept its brother safe. The second pen was actually a gift to me on my twenty first Birthday a few weeks ago from my Uncle and Aunt who live in Australia. I usually remain pretty loyal to the parker pen but this new pen has earned its place in the photo.

So that is pretty much what I will be taking with me to the UK and Zimbabwe. I’ll probably take some clothes and stuff as well but really these are the only important items.