It didn’t hit me that I had MOVED to the UK until a couple of weeks ago. That may sound silly but in weeks leading up to my departure I would say “I’m heading overseas” when in reality, I was in fact moving. It wasn’t until I was staying in London with my best friend and someone asked where we were from. “I’ve come over from New Zealand but Kelsey lives here” Oh yeah, I still considered it a holiday but I guess seeing as I had a job and no plans to go home anytime soon, I did live here and I was going to be here for as long as my heart desired, well as long as my work visa allowed me too.
So how was my new life in Chelmsford turning out? I was lucky enough to get a job at a clothes shop called Superdry a couple of weeks after being here. First interview I had and I nailed it. I quickly learnt the public transport in the area and felt myself becoming independent, and not having to rely on anyone, which I loved. I discovered all the nice food places in the area to get my lunch from, and was finally making some friends. Things couldn’t of gone more perfectly. I started to spend the occasional Friday evening at local bars with my workmates, it was a nice change from Astro, the local at home.
I live 30 minutes away from London, and have been there multiple times since moving here. The most recent time was when my friend flew over from NZ, I met her at Heathrow and we stayed 3 nights at a hostel in London. I had never stayed at a hostel before, but we booked quite last minute and this one was cheap and had a great location. On the first night of her arrival, we went to Leicester Square for dinner, walked to the Embankment then back to the hostel for an early night. Day two involved A LOT of walking. We walked to Trafalgar Square, which so far is my favourite place in London. It’s always so busy, with interesting buskers to watch and great views. From there we went to Buckingham Palace and watched the changing of the guards. We walked past Big Ben, and made our way to the London Eye, stopping for lunch at a restaurant/bar that was on a boat overlooking London Eye. After lunch, we went to Oxford Street. I’ve been here once before, and both times I felt extremely overwhelmed. If you are a slow shopper and like to take your time walking around looking at things, Oxford Street is not for you. On Day 3 we decided to book a bus tour. Finally I would be that typical tourist who sits on a double decker bus with her selfie stick. We purchased our ticket which allowed us to hop on, and hop off any of the tour buses so we could choose which routes we wanted to go. We got a bus to Hyde Park, which is now another one of my favourite places in London. With a massive lake in the centre, multiple cafes surrounding it, paddle boats for hire and horse riding on the green, it was a stunning place. At the end of it, is Kensington Palace where Princess Diana once lived. We planned on going there, after stopping mid way for me to have a job interview. I had found a potential Au Pair job, and was going to meet them while I was here. After the interview (which went extremely well, and I start the job in September) we went to catch a bus to Kensington Palace. Until Jasmin realised she didn’t have her ticket. (Sidenote; You cannot get on any bus without a ticket, so I said to Jasmin before we left “Do you want me to look after your ticket so you don’t lose it? – just in case but she said no.”) We tried to prove to the driver that she had lost her ticket but he didn’t want to listen. The walk back to our hostel would’ve taken over two hours (bear in mind we had walked about 25km the day before) and just when we were both on the verge of tears, a man selling bus tickets said he would talk to the driver of the next bus. So luckily, we were able to get a bus back to Central London, unfortunately missing out on Kensington Palace but luckily not having to walk! That night we went and saw the London Eye and Big Ben at night – which was so worth it! The pictures just didn’t do it justice.
I caught the train home the next day, and was back at work the day after, whilst Jasmin was off to explore Europe. I had seen so much more of London in this trip than any others. Now it’s just 3 more days until I meet up with Jasmin again – this time in Paris! Watch this space.
redheadtraveller 