settling in london

After our little break at Lucy's is was time to hunt for jobs and flats in London. We stayed at a hostel for almost a week while we went to flat viewings, handed in CVs and worked trial shifts. Mai already had a job secured with the ”geisha bar” in the city centre so I decided to aim for the Soho area. The first day I handed out CVs, I got  a call from a free house pub to offer me a trial the next day, after which I was put on the roster full-time. Sweet!

Finding a flat was a different story. Rent is unbelievably expensive but Mai and I were keen to share a room to keep costs down. We were looking at places between £400-600 a month (cheap, I know right?) for the room but there wasn't much out there. We found a place in Fulham that appealed with Aussie and kiwi flat mates and spoke to guy on the phone. He pretty much gave us the room based on the fact that we were Australian. That's one of the first times my nationality has worked in my favour while traveling! You beauty! Mind you, it was a rip off but it was only for 2 months which worked out perfect for us. Plus, it was true London living, sharing a small flat between 9 others.  Unfortunately we forgot to take a photo but think of a ladder leading up to double bed above with the living space below and a set of drawers. It was probably the size of a typical Australian laundry. We had a great time in our 'antopidian' flat though, everyone was lovely and despite the lack of living space, the different work schedules meant that you got a lot of time to yourself anyway.

The hardest thing about finding a job in London was picking which one to keep! I was offered about 4 different jobs, but  in the end, I semi-full time shifts at the Adam and Eve pub in Soho. While living in Fulham, we used to walk past this newly opened little café called Manuka Kitchen and when we went in there for coffee one afternoon, the owner offer me a job!  So on weekends, I would help out at Manuka. It took about 5 minutes to get door-to-door, or bed-to-door. :)

So in the first week, we had fairly secure jobs and a place to live. That wasn't so hard now was it?

local music scene > band on the wall

It was a really pleasant experience playing at an acoustic session at a non-for-profit music venue in Manchester called Band on the Wall. Although this venue usually hosts international acts, the Sunday Acoustic Sessions are a nice way to wind down from the week and get a taste of the local talent. Do check it out if you're ever in Manchester (and I suggest you do visit this city coz it's bloody brilliant!)

fitness > a run in the park

Manchester, U.K.

My first slice of urban running in the U.K. was running around my friend, Chloe’s house. I went for a good 35min, ran around the streets, through Chorlton Park and back to the house. I managed to stop along the way at a park bench to do some slow controlled step-ups. They really burn your glutes!

man u rock!

National express buses around the UK are pretty damn good considering how overpriced the trains are. On the way from Manchester to Skipton we paid about £35 on trains for 3 hours but on the way back it was about £10 by bus in the same amount of time. Get on the bandwagon! 

 We stayed a night in Leeds hoping to do some bar hopping but we were buggered and it was pretty miserable outside! so we explored a few places in the evening but didn't make a big night of it. Mai and I couchsurfed with a young Canadian chick in a big student share house. It was a great experience and the girls were lovely and accommodating. We talked about our trvels over cups of tea, as you do in England. However, it was absolutely freezing in the house (students choose beer money over avoiding hypothermia) and we also slept on a couch that I'm sure had several dodgey stains and smelt like wet towels. We thought we would get the chance to visit Leeds again for the famous music festivals but never got the time. Another day! 

We continued onto Manchester where we met up with a friend of mine, Chloe who volunteered on the whale project I worked on in Noosa. Chloe is THE most friendliest, hospitable person ever! We loved our time there. We stayed in her and her brother’s house, she was ever so kind and gave up her bed for us, we went out for beers, cooked some homely food and on one night we went to an intimate little music bar called band on the wall, where one of her housemates worked. It was an open mic night so I was lucky enough to play some originals (elise-marie) and received a very warm welcome :) 

 Mai and I walked around Manchester city that day and were really surprised at how quaint it was, for me I guess it's a similar size to Perth but with way more atmosphere and nice old buildings, clean streets and great pubs. Didn't make it for a football match unfortunately but at 100 quid a pop I don't think we'll be going any time soon!

english trees in my garden

Stepping off the plane at Manchester after a month in Scandinavia felt like we had entered the tropics! It was only about 10 degrees but it was a warm welcoming change from the minuses we had been experiencing for the past month. Mind you in Australia, I would usually consider anything below 20 to be winter and reach for my jacket.

We took the train to Skipton in North Yorkshire where my old housemate, Lucy lived. Lucy and I met back in 2007 (I think?) and lived together for several months in Perth. She herself had been backpacking around Australia and we shared a lot in common! Before she left we went on a road trip in a wicked van down south to Margaret River and Yallingup. Many great memories!

Skipton was as I imagined the true English countryside to be like; rolling green hills and lots of sheep. Lucy’s house was lovely and quaint with its own little bridge and ducks out front. With quite literally nothing to do in the area, it was perfect for us to wind down and relax, as well as come up with a plan of attack for London.  I went for a few long runs through the countryside and I also went into the Skipton College, where Lucy teaches and talked to her students about careers in Marine Science (and my pretty cool career so far of course). 

Mai and I had home-cooked hearty meals ready so by the time Lucy finished work we were ready to down a bottle of wine, watch a movie and fill each other in on the last five years of our lives. Down time in the country was well needed!

not quite sleeping in airports

I had not yet received an itinerary for our flight to the UK. In hind sight I probably should have double checked before our departure date but I was way too busy dog sledding and chasing fairy lights. After working out we had no way to contact RyanAir, we fiddled around on our two free hours of wi-fi (thanks Oslo) and Googled our case. We made a collective decision to just go to Rygge airport, talk to them in person and (*insert gasp here*), sleep in the airport. With a hostel bed costing over $40 each we were happy to pick coin over comfort.

The only problem with our booking was that I put the wrong email address. Yes, I blamed RyanAir all day. I’m pretty sure its still their fault in some way but I am willing to forgive and forget. So by the time that settled (a whole 20 minutes later) we had another 24 hours to waste. Since we had already mentally prepared ourselves for spending the night, including mandatory research on the ‘sleeping in airports’ website (quite a useful resource), we sought out the best seat in the house and watched a movie.

I’d argue that a facebook status is only a success if there is an outcome. After 2 minutes of posting that we were about to pop our sleeping in airports cherry, our host from Oslo told us he wouldn’t have it. Another 15 minutes went by, after which I received a message stating that he had a friend who lived nearby; his name was Michel and he would pick us up out the front straightaway.

Mai and I went through all of the scenarios while waiting and were trying to pick who it would be from the crowd. The old seedy guy pacing back and forth gave us a look, the group of younger guys walked passed and gave us a look, the white transporter parked out front didn’t quite give us  look but you get the gist. The plan was that Mai would light a smoke as he arrived,  we would just chat to him for a bit to suss out his character and If we didn’t like him we could refuse the offer. It was genius.  After the white transporter, a black transporter pulled up and a young, blonde, typical Norwegian looking dude bounced out,  brightly introduced himself and packed our bags I the boot. Without question we jumped in.

Driving through the dark woods in a dark van with a  complete stranger could have went horribly wrong (I hope my mother doesn’t read this). We arrived at Michel’s house, which was the Norwegian cottage we could only have dreamt of. It was absolutely stunning. Michel insisted we all cook something from our ‘country’ and he invited his next door neighbours around, who he referred to as ‘his twins’ but they were just twin brothers the same age as him. We didn’t let that statement go unnoticed and had a laugh. We all spent the evening eating, drinking and sharing our favourite music on youtube.

Feeling refreshed after a perfect sleep, Mai and I woke to the sound of Michel preparing a full traditional Norwegian breakfast; boiled eggs, cheese, bread, yogurt, cereal, juice, tea, coffee…the whole spread. It was unbelievable. The twins came back over and we had a nice long, relaxing breakfast, chatting about all the good things in life. Mai and I packed, Michel drove us to the airport, and that was that!. It couldn’t have turned out any better and if it had turned out worse I probably wouldn’t be writing this. Michel was an amazing host, we are forever grateful for his random act of kindness and are glad we inspired him to travel J 

polar nights in tromsø

The light seemed a little dim as we flew into Tromsø, a small (but still the ninth largest) town in northern Norway. In the middle of December the town sees a only a few hours of daylight, and even then, its ore of a twilight than anything. As we landed, I took photos of the beautiful bluish, snow covered landscape. We had one major mission during our visit, and that was to see the northern lights. 


We visited the tourist office and hesitantly booked a ridiculously overpriced tour that seemed to be the norm up here. We soon accepted that with only two days here and the given weather forecast, we didn’t really have a choice. That night we set off for the chase, bringing the average age down on a bus full of hopefuls. We drove to a northern lookout point on a private property where the tour company had little Norwegian huts set up to wait out in during the night. Mai wasn’t feeling the best and when we went outside to stretch our legs, she had a bit of a spew. I initially thought was a fairly random spew but was informed that she had some hard core painkillers without eating. Nice.

 The tour was a bit of a rip off and was really just a bus ride to some huts which we sat in for hours. They stated that they would provide dinner, so we didn’t eat or bring anything. Their form of dinner was hot chocolate and coffee that tasted like dregs of bong water. Most people were super keen to stand out in the cold and look at the sky, but given Mai’s state, and our inability to handle the cod on empty stomachs, we sat inside and chatted to a super-excited American Mum, her husband and thier18 year old daughter, They had some amazing photos of their world travels together and it was their fourth or so time on a northern lights tour. They gave me some great tips about how to capture the northern lights that I was very grateful for. Another highlight of the night was talking to the crazy property owner, who reminded us of the ‘Take My Strong Hand’ guy off Scary Movie. Although the forecast was good, we had only 20minutes of the slightest green tinge appear in the nights sky. I was thankful to see something at least but maybe another time.

 

 Now we thought Norway was pretty expensive in general, but you haven’t seen shit til you come up here. We couldn’t get a place to stay for under $100 as there weren’t really any hostels and it’s a tourist magnet. Tromso sure isn’t afraid of ripping people off. We were very lucky to find a generous offer to couch surf with Robert and Olya. In fact, Tromso was so expensive that we wouldn’t have come up here if we couldn’t couchsurf!


The next day, we went on another overpriced tour (as if we didn’t learn our lesson the first time), but this was slightly more satisfying and up my alley; dog sledding! I was very happy at the end of the day, I think I may have been a sled driver in a past life. Although, poor Mai sitting in the sled was helpless when I hit the side of the tracks and rolled the sled. She took a few tumbles but I think I managed to recover the sled swiftly enough to redeem myself. Good fun!

 The dog kennel was really well run; the dogs were happy and seem to love it. They are given positions based on their personality and run those positions for life. The head dog is always female because they are smart leaders and listen to direction well. Also, the males like to follow the females, so if you put the females at the back you just go in circles. The next two dogs are usually young ones and the back dog is a strong male. The owner competes in the longest sledding race in the world. The tour was fantastic fun, but would have been even better to go by yourself so you didn't have to keep your foot in the break. When you stop the dogs just get super excited and can't sit still but when you’re sledding is silent and peaceful. In the evening gathered in a authentic wood fired hut and were served a traditional Sami meal with reindeer stew and the best homemade chocolate cake.

We went back to Rob and Olya’s place and spent the night getting to know this friendly energetic couple over a few drinks. I think Mai finally met her drinking soul mate, Olya also gets drunk on one shot of vodka :) Rob invited a few friends around, who all played music so we had a bit if a jam but opted for bed early to make our morning flight. If you’re planning n coming all the way up here, I would recommend spending a lot more time (and money) to increase your chances of seeing the northern lights!

nye bergen

After arriving in Bergen on the train from Oslo,  our couchsurfing host was waiting at the station for us with a huge friendly smile. It was so nice to be picked up and greeted by someone who recognises you instead of wandering around  aimlessly searching for someone you’ve never met, like some sort of awkward blind date meet up. 

We walked 20 minutes through the town of Bergen to a cute loft apartment across the road from an old church. Our hosts were a couple; a Norwegian girl who was a landscape architect and a Polish guy who was a kindergarten teacher. They were so warm and welcoming and had couch surfed themselves so they really knew how to make it a nice experience for all. We totally didn't expect a comfy mattresses, fresh coffee every morning, our own key to come and go as we pleased and home cooked meals . It was like we were welcome guests at an old friends house! 

Mai and I had hoped to do a Fjord tour from Bergen, but Norway was just so expensive plus everything was closed over New Year. We seem to be experts at planning! Albeit, we managed to see quite a bit without spending much money. Bergen  (like the rest of Norway) is absolutely stunning, surrounded by several mountains with cute cottages on steep streets and little boats in the harbour. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway and is the centre for shipping and fishing industries. The area is warmed by the Gulf Stream so the temperature was actually quite mild and it wasn’t snowing (finally!). Everyone is super friendly and even though it rains a lot (precipitation average is  2,250 mm/year!), many people are fitness mad and you’ll almost certainly pass someone with the latest tights and fluro runners.

NYE worked out well because we had a little party with about ten people in this tiny flat. We spent the afternoon chatting about traveling while cooking duck and preparing fresh dips and breads!  The party officially started when the Polish vodka came out and others started to show.  We met some really interesting people; one girl was living up in Svalbard (home of the polar bears) doing her masters in music culture, another had just returned from worldly travels with her professional poker playing ex-boyfriend and one of the guys was in the Norwegian army. 

We were all involved in such interesting conversations that we only just made it to the local park in time for the NYE countdown. We took a heap of photos and enjoyed the fireworks display, they are legal in Bergen so people were lighting them in the street! Crazy!?  At the end of the night we went back to the apartment to drink more, and some of us Snus (tobacco in a teabag like thing you put under our lip on your gum). Since that was my first try and I don’t smoke I had a pretty big head spin and suddenly felt nauseous and found myself dozing on the couch afterwards! Haha 

We slept until about midday the next day (a good six hours sleep again). In a town that rains pretty much all year round the visibility was surprisingly clear outside. I dragged Mai up the famous fitness freak 800-step stair climb called Stoltzekleiven! Unfortunately for her, I don’t really know what it’s like to be scared of heights, ‘You’ll be ‘right’, I kept reassuring her. Haha.

Bergen was such a nice break; a great little city, NYE party and couchsurfing experience! :)

fitness > stoltzekleiven stair climb - bergen, norway

What better way to start a new year than dragging your hung-over arse up an 800-step stair climb. Right? Right? Mai didn’t quite agree.  But this was THE thing to do in Bergen and it was the only chance to do it before we left. After the new years eve party we slept for a good part of the day, but as all Bergenites are limited but the slither of sunlit hours in a day, we too had to compete with the clock. 

I didn’t quite realize how scared Mai was of heights and this was a steep, paved trail heading directly up the side of a small mountain. She was shitting herself. I must admit, it was pretty tough; the stairs were big so each step was a challenge and we hiked so high that what was rain at the bottom was snow at the top. The view was absolutely breathtaking from the top (unfortunately Mai couldn’t hack the height). I took a few selfies at the edge and took a short moment to ponder while I looked down at the quaint little fishing town surrounded by mountains. It seemed like a tiny model city from up there. This is a prime example of how you can combine fitness with travel and I’d highly recommend going up if you visit Bergen!