Josh & Tracey's Adventures

The day after the concert, and another one lined up... The Beck concert in Southampton that night. That morning we tried to get our bearings a bit by walking from Islington into the city on another stunning day. We met Andrew for lunch in the Church Yard of St Paul's, and were introduced to Paul's pastries. Afterwards we walked the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern, dwarfed by the giant graffiti art on the walls - a recent installation piece. As we had such limited time in London, we were getting used to the 'in-and-out' tours of these places, and had to limit our time in the Tate before heading to Waterloo station. I will definitely be going back to see more of what it has to offer, but did manage to squeeze in seeing the Pollocks, Klines, Rothkos... We walked the Thames to Waterloo station, and were thankful that the staff were very helpful with the information we needed, as we're still adjusting to reading giant sign boards with incomprehensible information.

We caught the train to Southampton and went straight from the station to the concert venue where we met Dan, a friend who works on the crew with Beck, and generously helped us out with tickets for the event. We strolled on into soundcheck with the band, and sat in the back rocking away to the wordless beats of the songs. After the gig, we waited around for pack up and ended up sitting in the tour bus (the crew's one, Beck quickly scampered away to his and departed) having some drinks with Dan, and one or two of the band until they left us to drive to Manchester for the next gig...

We caught the morning train back into the heart of the city, and spent the day walking the streets to see some more sites. Soho in search of the famous 'flat white', but found the fabulous Monmouth Coffee House instead, Neal's Dairy for some amazing blue cheese (not pricey at all if you were earning the pounds, like most things really! Pity about the NZ dollar...), Covent Gardens, Trafalgar Square and a glimpse at Buckingham Palace, and ended up at the British Museum - incredible architecture. With our newly acquired blue cheese, we picked up some red wine to have with Andrew, and went to the lock at the canal by his place where the houseboats lie.

From there it was into the city for dinner with Josh's brother Daniel, his wife Katherine and Josh's sister Sophie at the East Room, where we enjoyed fantastic cocktails and food, including one specially made cocktail for Josh by the 'NZ' bartender, who actually turned out to be Australian...

Fish in a sea of weird and wonderful accents, we arrived at Heathrow after what felt like an extended long-haul flight, although it was only 13 hours. Although 13 hours without any entertainment system working is a long 13 hours... Not impressed to say the least! We had finally made it, and were immediately introduced to London's underground to make our way back to Andrew's flat - thankfully with the lead of Andrew - in Angel, Islington. Rolling my suitcase down cobblestone streets, following Josh with many kilos on his back, this was the start of lugging our lives around behind us in bags. We discovered that London doesn't get dark until at least 10.30pm in summer which was a great excuse to go to the pub for our first drink in London. We met Josh's brother Daniel, his wife Katherine, and Josh's sister Sophie at the Organic bar down the road for one drink before we faded miserably into the pits of tiredness...

The next day was a strikingly sunny day, spent in Islington with my cousin Patrick and his partner Randy (who coincidentally live a short walk from where we were staying), and my sister Sarah and her boyfriend Mike who had travelled from Bristol for the day. A bit of a reunion over a beautiful Greek lunch, followed by a crash course in London tips...

That evening we were heading to the Erykah Badu concert, and caught the tube into the city, which gave me my first glimpse of the London riverscape, and all of the tourist sites scattered around it. We walked along past Millenium Bridge shadowed by the Tate Modern to Embankment to enjoy a drink in the sun, outside the caves of the bar below us. Another tube ride to Brixton where the concert was being held, and we arrived at the venue. An amazing voice, and an incredible show, but sadly jetlag may have hit us by this point and we weren't quite on form... But what a fantastic night.

This is an entry written after we departed Singapore. The flight there had been fantastic (we were to experience worse later), and flying was easy...

Stepping off the plane we felt the heat instantly, since we had left the winter of Wellington behind us, and hit a wall of 34 degrees or so at the airport. After finally making it to the hotel, we decided to venture out into the nightlife of Singapore in search of the famous Singapore Sling, although we were only walking, so didn't make it as far as the hotel it was created at. Down to Clarke and Boat Quays, we were immersed in the heat and vibrancy of the city. So strange to wear a singlet and not have to take the old cardi with you just in case.

The next morning we hunted down a traditional breakfast, steering away from the Westernised places, and took the concierges advice to hop across the road to a cafe. Avoiding the frog porridge, and various other spine meats and bodily organs, we had a meal of noodles, duck and dumplings before venturing out to the city. Josh also got advice on how to barter with shopkeepers, and that took us to Sim Lim Square, a tower full of cloned electronics stores with people begging you to enter. We saw all of the tricks in the book, and whether we got had or not, Josh walked away with a digital camera he was happy with (but still slightly skeptical about). It was an experience nonetheless.

Off to Little India, where I couldn't find a mango lassi sadly, as the heat was intense by this stage, then jumped down to Chinatown. We wished we had come at night to try a meal at the markets and see the streets lit up, but trying to fit Singapore into one day was proving a bit difficult. And we still had the Night Safari to go...

The taxi ride to the zoo was an introduction to the driving in Singapore, and also an experience. A guy on the motorway had skidded off his bike and was nearly rammed down by impatient and speeding drivers, but luckily got up in time, and we did make it to the safari in one piece. By the end of the tram rides and walking tracks it was definitely time to call it a night, and we ended it with coconut jelly (which was sadly no match for our yum cha favourite!) The next morning it was off to the airport to board the plane to London...

The countdown is on. About six weeks out from departure date and there is so much to organise, but also a light at the end of the tunnel as the runway is nearly in sight. We have started to map out a sketchy plan for what to do (but not quite yet when to do it!) It will be interesting to see if we actually end up at all these places we've said we will... we start in the UK, then to France, then heading more towards central Europe, and hoping to do a lot of couch surfing along the way. The aim is to end up in Amsterdam to live and work if we can, and embrace the city that balances both IT and Design (so we've heard). Let's hope it's a sunny summer, and good times are definitely to be had.