Northern

Hello, I'm writing from a hostel lounge in York. While in Edinburgh I basically completed my wish list of things to do in the UK but still have a month left and so have been planning my whereabouts based on which train tickets are less expensive and where I can find hostels that seem nice, so that's how I wound up in York. It's pretty cute here and I have enjoyed the staff and people in the hostel. The sleeping situation was rough the first couple nights, it's a little too tricky to write but I'll tell you in person. I managed to finally sleep last night and it's rainy today so I'm enjoying mostly staying in and enjoying the huge bay window in this old victorian house(?) turned hostel. There are train strikes happening on Saturdays. Not really sure what that is or what it means but I think because of it I couldn't really get a train out of here on Saturday like I was planning and eventually worked out that I'll go backwards back north for an hour to Newcastle because it looked cool when I passed it on the train. So I'm off to there tomorrow for a few days and then a more expensive train back to London. I'm started to let myself book activities in London when I see them come up on Instagram so the plan is to go back and forth from there and Adam's house based on the date of the activities. I'm looking forward to getting back to Adam's house and being still for a little while and playing with his babies some more. I wonder if they're much bigger since I saw them 2 weeks ago. In the Airbnb in Aberdour I watched a lot of nice british TV in bed and have developed a taste for Antique Road Trip which I hadn't seen before. I hope Dani wants to binge it with me while we watch the children. I wanted this hostel to put it on the projector in the lounge like they did with the footie but they weren't into that idea and instead we watched hours of Entourage. Here are some pictures and a video of York, also a picture from the train when we were passing Newcastle and I was trying to figure out what I was seeing.

Reporting from the Nancy Meyers film location that is my life right now

Greetings from Aberdour Scotland! Not sure how to pronounce it, haven't heard anyone say it and I'm too shy to ask anyone. I'm across the sea from Edinburgh and no one I talked to in Edinburgh had ever heard of it. Adam drove me up here from his house in England to take a look and also I wanted to go to the Fringe Festival that happens every year in August. His brother just moved into his own apartment in the center of the city so we were able to stay with him for a few nights which was ideal. Most accomodations were booked up which is how I've found myself in Aberdour after Adam headed back down to England to resume work and parenting and whatnot. I was looking for AirBnbs and a cheap-ish one popped up over here, sure it was an entire body of water away from the area I was trying to be in but it was in a cool old building and literally RIGHT on the water. The host told me it was a 30 min train ride and 15 min walk from Edinburgh which was reason enough for me to book it. Grateful to Kat who I spoke to on the phone and reminded me to not think about things for a second while I'm here. I don't have plans after this so instead of being consumed with stragegizing I'm trying to take a few breaths to myself which really goes well with the sunshine and breeze and sound of lapping waves on the rocks that I can hear from my room once I remembered I could open the window. I liked Edinburgh, like London it felt like if my life was a movie and the location was set designed that they did a very thourough job and took years perfecting. Maybe it has something to do with these cities being legitimatley very very very old and textured. Ew I called a place textured. Give me an A on my architectural studies paper. Anyways who can tell me a breif history of Edinburgh? I don't want to research it but I want to know. Adam's brother Charlie had a pretty friend girl renting his spare room. She was coincidentally moving out at the same time as we were staying there, so while I tried to sight-see Adam busied himself helping her move and installing her television wall bracket. We went to Screwfix twice in the 3 days we were there, which is like a specialty hardware store that gives you free coffee and tea if you have a professional account. I managed to get two Fringe shows in which was grand. I saw Megan Stalter and Mike Birbiglia on the second night. I got Adam and new friend Katja to come with me to Mike Birbiglia which was great because his show was so good as expected. Both shows were in such beautiful old halls. Here are some photos of us at the show, walking around Edinburgh and also my current location in Aberdour.

Good day! It's 11:00am and I'm in Chepstow, Wales. Baby's first time in Wales! It's just over the bridge from England, this part of Wales. Adam has to come here for work for the next few days so I tagged along today since Dani is busy with some baby activities. It's cute here I really like it so far. I was really tired this morning so as soon as I jumped out of Adam's van I rolled into the first coffee shop I saw and I've been sat here ever since. He kept trying to suggest some nature walks in the area but I know what I like. I wanna sit here and computer and people watch and then wander around the town. Doesn't look like many restaurants are open today, it's a Tuesday, but there's a Tesco. I'll probably end up eating there again. It's pretty good I like it for grocery store food. I feel like chatting to a friend but it's 3am in Portland at the moment so I'm talking at the internet instead. I really really enjoyed my time in London, I may head back after I've run out of plans. This weekend Adam and I are driving up to Edinburgh (finially figured out how to spell it). The Fridge Festival is on, lots of comedy and art performances. I'm excited, we're going to stay with his brother for a few nights and then I need to find my own lodging which I am currently procrastinating. London felt sort of like a larger San Francisco. I finally found an especially good pastry place on my last day there, from the shop called Buns from Home. They only make cinnamon like buns but with a croissant type dough. So good. Towards the end of my stay the people in my hostel room and I finally started feeling energetic enough to start going out in the evenings. Thursday night we went and got Tesco food and beer and ate in Hyde Park just before dark. That was cute, there was some event going on in the distance with one of those giant screens they were showing a Whitney Huston documentary. I got ate by mosquitos, or I'm assuming they were mosquitos. The next night a few girls and I did our own bar crawl around the pubs in the viscinity of the hostel. On our way to our last one we ran into two of the hostel workers who were heading to Soho to go "out out", as my British friend Caz calls it. So we followed them and struggeled our way through the crowds and queues until we made it into this bar called O'neills that had a few floors of dancing and then didn't get back til like 4. Back at the hostel we ate the bits of cheese we had left from our groceries and the guy who worked at the hostel scavanged through the community refridgerators for food bags from hostel guests who had already left. So fun finding myself in situations with people I could not have predicted meeting. I was remembering the time I went to Hawaii on my way home from New Zealand, made immediate chums with the 3 other people in my hostel room and then a few days later we all rented a convertable and drove to another part of the island. Here's some pictures of a really good hair day I was having. Caz and me in front of the London Eye. This cool mall I went to built inside of an old power station. I liked the building a lot but the shops were all the same we have back home so I didn't bother browsing.

Cheese Train to London

I'm nausous in a cafe in London now, they've been playing Spice Girls on and off. Sunday I took the train into London. Adam has an extreme aversion to cheese and butter and I han't had much of either while staying with him for the last week and a half, so while shopping for snacks for my train journey I treated myself to this sample pack of british cheeses. I also happily snacked on this peanut butter Twix I got at Tesco before the Barbie movie the night before. The cheeses are alright, a bit too sharp for a mouthful of only cheese. The little Jarlsberg is being my favorite. I got myself to this hostel in a ritzy area of London that Kima suggested because she used to live/ work there when she was 21. It's pretty great but my body wouldn't let me fall asleep for the first two nights which was a bummer. Last night I slept a little more normally. It feels like it's been a long time since I've felt touristy in a new city and London is so freakin cute and pretty. I'm into it. Feels like a bigger San Francisco. I feel a little repelled from the big busy area by Big Ben and what not but I do want to causiously explore it a little more. I went over to that area for the first time last night to get some postcards from the Royal Ballet to sent to my old ballet studio job and then I was meeting up with my new hostel mate to go see Barbie for the second time. Excited to see it with a girl this time although she said she didn't play with them as a child. She's from Montreal and has a slight french accent. While watching the film I pulled my sweatshirt out of my backpack to put on and then thought to feel around to make sure my wallet was still in it's place. Lo and behold I could not feel it. I quietly tried a few more times and then tried taking everything out and feeling again, still nothing. It was too dark to look properly with a flashlight so I figured I'd just have to wait it out while also trying to not panic and keeping enjoying the movie. I did this for a little while, imagining myself finding it on the floor and how euphoric I would feel. When things like this happen it's interesting how it reveals how low key not great you've been feeling in contrast with how happy you would feel when your problem gets resolved favorably. I told myself if I found my wallet I would be so grateful to just even be here at all and would not worry so much about not being able to sleep at night or what the rest of my trip might be like. After another wee while I started sweeping the floor with my hand, still nothing but then I moved my foot and felt something under it, I reached down and found a string that when pulled it was the handle of the pouch I keep my wallet in, all in tact! I stuffed it back in my bag and zipped it tight. I did feel very glad and greatful especially to have a means of paying for the bus back to the hostel. Stepping out of the theater into the thick of London at dust was a special kind of feeling. Crossing over the bridge back to the side where we catch our bus and seeing the buildings with the lights starting to go on and also feeling like I'm still back in Barbie Land. Take a moment to kiss and thank your credit card, like I do every day now.

Hiya! Looks like it's been 6 years since I last blogged... suppose I feel like it again because I have been living back home for the last few years and something about this travel feels like when I first started and I wanted to still be in touch with everyone without having the ability to call everyone though. I'm in England for 2 months and don't yet have plans but it's getting there. I've been staying with my sweet friend Adam and his lovely girlfriend Dani and their 2 wee bebes. Same Adam from below that helped me get that car. It's been pretty tame just hanging out in his house and playing with baby and watching back to back episodes of Escape to the Country with Dani. I've been trying to help with the washing and such but I can't sing my Mrs. Featherbottom song this time because they haven't seen Arrested Development, I asked. The water here tastes pretty weird, it's hard to stay hydrated because of it. I caught a cold my first few days which is what also happened when I was here almost 2 years ago. The kids are a little snotty and I for sure have drool on the outfit I've been wearing everyday. I bonded pretty hard with Sarah when I was here 2 years ago and she was 1 and a half. Now she's 3 and I was a little concerned about that and indeed 3 is a hard age for me. She's very cute and often says the darndest things but also... is just very much 3. When she gets frustrated (or sometimes when she's just playing hard?) she bunches her hands into fists, apparently she usued to also say "claw!!" which I like... of course she has a thick english accent, so do it in your head with that in mind. Luke is 6 months old which is more my speed. We hang out a lot and I've kinda got the hang of helping out with him except he uses reusable diapers so I can just sorta leave that for the other adults in the house. The most exciting adventure so far was just trying to get to Adam's house from the airport. My Whatsapp app stopped telling me when any texts had come through, which usually isn't that much of a problem I just have to think to open the app to check. Adam lives in the "country" about a 2 hour drive from the airport. He's usually pretty keen to do a pick up but he was working that day and couldn't, he mentioned his best friend Swain had offered to get me. It seemed like such a big ask that I assumed I would just figure out how to catch a train to an area about a 30 min drive to Adam's. I had aready been awake-ish for... roughly 30 hours? Maybe 24? Having had a very fun layover in New York for 10 hours where I got to see my friends Syvlie and Kat at a coffee shop near my old neighborhood. I was zombie-like getting off the plane in England but maybe more bold then normal because of it, so I followed to crowd to a tram that took me to another wing of the airport and then to a train station where I used an automatic machine to get the cheapest ticket to Salsibury I saw, which was still 30 pound. With the ticket in hand I asked someone working there how to figure out what platform to go to, she looked up my ticket on a phone and said this one has 3 transfers, and to come with her so she could cancel it. So on a computer she did that and looked up a better ticket which was 60 pounds, which is what I saw originally. I thanked her and said I just needed to call my friend and think about that. When I opened Whatsapp to call Adam for advice I had a missed text from him, "Swain is at the airport to get you, he saw your flight touch down". Thank the heavens!! I turned around and got back on the tram back to my original terminal chuckling the whole way about how I must've just walked right past him in my fugue state and feeling so grateful to not have to figure out the train system just yet. Here are some pictures from the car ride back to Adam's. And then also some pictures of the cute wee babies I've been hanging out with. Also pictured, the night we went to a pub trivia and they asked what a traditional American dessert for Thanksgiving was, when I told my table that we also eat turkey and mashed potatoes they were absolutely gobsmacked that we eat mashed potatoes as a celebratory meal and not like, as an emergency. Cherio! -Aurelia

Settling in

Settling in. Settling is a funny word. Getting my attitude right has been difficult. Maybe made more so by all the studying I've been doing about personal growth, laws of attraction, consciousness, and alignment. Making having a positive outlook imperative. But it's not always possible. I keep feeling like it's my freshman year of college and it's pretty shitty because everything is new and just not falling into place (yet) and that can be okay but also because it has to be until It improves. I've started to feel better remembering that I'm just traveling, I'm just here exploring and trying something new. Takes so much pressure off of it. So I can just bugger off whenever I feel like it maybe sooner maybe later except for that one small thing of funding my travels. Everything worked out perfectly in that I got my first paycheck right as I was pretty much at the bottom of the tank. Now that I know what I'm bringing in I can do a budget of my bills and what I spend every month annndddddd look at that they're exactly equal. So I won't be saving I just also won't be hemorrhaging money anymore. Hemorrhaging? How can that be the way that word is spelled? Who was responsible for that? But on the bright side I just got a car! A pretty little red Audi A4 and it was cheap as! My sweet friend Adam helped me find it and buy it and he drove it up here for me. Thank heavens for him. Really so good to be able to get around besides walking. And I worked a night at this cool event center in town and hopefully I'll be able to continue doing that. Until then gotta start bringing sandwiches to work instead of spending $13 on quiche and salad everyday. Can't be living like one of those fancy New Yorkers who buys lunch all the time.

Yoohoo

No one is reading this anymore and I'm trying to figure out if I care. I think I like keeping the blog. It's nice to have a more succinct summary of what I was thinking about when I was traveling before. And traveling I am still. It's just now with the instagrams and the whatsapps, people probably don't miss me as much as they used to. So things are happening now, which is why I feel qualified to report about my life again. Waiting and hoping and thinking was interesting too but I couldn't publish anything about it cause it felt like it could jinx it. It's also just not very impressive. Today was my 2nd official day at the small architecture firm I am working at here. It's pretty exciting that that worked out considering how hard it feels to find work in architecture. It's sort of fun work and the people in my office are really nice and silly. New Zealanders are silly in general, I really like that. But I'm starting a new job in a new country, learning a new drafting program with new units of measurements, it's a bit of a strain on my brain. Today for the first time ever I left the house with my mouthguard in. 10 years of wearing it %97 percent of the time and I've never accidentally left the house with it in. Today I made it all the way to work and said good morning to my boss before realizing what I had done. My poor poor confused brain. Maybe it's the capitalist in me that thinks I'm not "doing things" unless I'm having an income…but it's very good that I have an income now because honestly next month would've been the end of the road, finance wise.