just want to travel on.

Chelsea vs. Sunderland, November 1st, 2008.

2008-11-05T11:28:00.003-05:00

Saturday was my first Chelsea match ever. I didn't quite realise how many milestones I was seeing! I knew the 1000th PL goal when it happened, I didn't realise it was Frank's 100th goal (I thought he was at 98!), I didn't realise it was Cech's 100th clean sheet (knew he was close, though) and didn't realise it was JT's 350th appearance!

My day started off very well; spent money in the megastore. Because I didn't have the JT kit I wanted to wear (it was in the suitcase I didn't have!), I ended up buying a black Lampard kit. Then I met up with Chris and Bob and had an absolutely lovely time with them. Chris brought along Ron "Chopper" Harris for me to meet! It was quite exciting.

I left the pub early to go find my seat in the stadium and, of course, watch the warm-up. I saw our bright neon carrot aka Petr Cech first, as he, Carlo and Hilario trotted out to do their warm-ups. I was thrilled to discover that Joe Cole was okay to start, and there was a big cheer as well when it was announced that Drogba would be on the bench!

I was sitting in the Shed Upper, next to Bob and on the other side of me were some fairly tempermental Chelsea fans. They would sing sometimes, other times they would mutter for the others singing to shut up. Oh well. I certainly got to learn some new chants, haha. Can't say I like the rude ones about other teams (much as I dislike Man Utd and Liverpool), but I was quite happy to be able to sing "Super Frank" and the Joe Cole song! It was amazing, once Joe Cole had been subbed off, the entire stadium erupting into rousing choruses of "He's here, he's there, he's every-f*cking-where, he's Joey Cole!" (and the Guardian said he just went off to "loud applause", pshaw!)

My seats were great, I have absolutely no complaints! Apart from how long it took me to get to the toilets at the half, haha! The match was great - I just kept thinking about how amazing our goal differential must look! I must admit, I probably had an absolutely ridiculously cheesy grin on my face during much of the match. I just couldn't believe I was finally at the Bridge watching our boys play.... didn't even care about the rain or cold while the match was on! I thought Joe Cole was fantastic, JT was fantastic, Alex was fantastic, pretty much everyone did very well. I wanted a Lampard goal, and I got it! (Though sadly, it was at the other end of the Bridge ) I also liked Frank and JT staying behind to applaud the crowd after the others had gone down the tunnel.

The only bad part was after the match ended, got to the tube station to find out the line was suspended due to someone falling on the tracks. Then the station was evacuated, so I had to walk 20-30 minutes in the freezing rain to Earl's Court to catch the tube! I was soaking wet.

But then, my day got even better when I got home to find out Liverpool lost! Chelsea - top of the league! (Sorry, Leerpool fans!)

Topped the night off by going to the pub to see many of my old friends from the summer of 2005. It was fantastic; they are all still funny as ever and great fun to be around. They also pointed me in the direction of a shop and a play that sound fantastic.

Sidenote: Must buy powdered Lemsip!

2008-11-02T14:12:00.002-05:00

Two things to say, but I'm going to expound on #2 in a different post as I do want to try to keep this chronological:

1. I've just booked a ticket to go see Michael Palin on the 13th! He'll be talking about "Around the World in 90 Days" apparently. I guess I should get that.

2. FOOTBALL MATCH WAS AMAZING.

So, back to what I discussed before - travelling was alright. The best was getting to Toronto and meeting Nick and Alicia who entertained me for a while until I had to go prepare to board my flight to London.

Flight to London was kind of awful, but really it was just because I was extremely tired but couldn't get comfortable and couldn't sleep.

I arrived at 6:30am as expected at Heathrow, took absolute eons to get through customs, then discovered my bag was missing - not quite a good morning. I made my way to Jess's flat and have quickly caught on to which buses get here, which is nice cos it's a bit of a walk from the tube station.

I think I napped for about five minutes and kind of tried to get my bearings - then we were off! It was a fantastic day of just walking about central London; we met up with a friend of Jess's and walked around Soho, Bloomsbury, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, took the bus past the South Bank, went to Tottenham Court Rd to meet up with some other friends, off to Brick Lane for some pretty bad curry, then passed the Tower of London on the way back. I loved how it all seemed so familiar still. My Fopp is still on the corner near Covent Garden; I thought they had all closed down.

My photos are crap at the moment; I'm using my little camera as opposed to my Rebel.

Ended the night passing out in Jess's bed - I could barely keep my eyes open during dinner. Ahh, jetlag.

finally here.

2008-10-31T08:35:00.003-04:00

Greetings from London! I am at my lovely friend's flat in South London, aching back and sans suitcase. Yes, my paranoia about not wanting to check my back was apparently COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED. I am sat here waiting and hoping for Air Canada to call Jess's mobile to say they found my bag and will be delivering it by the end of the day. Otherwise I may seriously cry because I will not have any clothes (my JT and Ballack jerseys were in the bag!!!!) or other essentials.

Otherwise, I feel like I haven't even been away! Once I got out of the customs nightmare at Heathrow, I hopped right on the Piccadilly line into central London.

Finally: I have my ticket for the England vs. Germany match. It is sitting next to me on Jess's bed. I am so excited. And tomorrow I get to see Chelsea!

slacking.

2008-10-23T17:54:00.004-04:00

One week until I leave for London. And instead of packing or preparing, I'm sitting here watching a rerun of the weekend's Bayern Munich - Karlsruhe match (Klose goal! Brilliant!). There are still a few things that I need to finish doing, like buying my train tickets from London - Liverpool, Liverpool - Blackburn, Blackburn - London and trying to find a place to stay for one night in Liverpool!

But I've got most of the important stuff ready - that is, football tickets! I'll be spending a lot of time here:

I'm also trying to keep up a list of things I am meaning to do. I lived in London for nearly a year total and never went to Kew Gardens - things like that. I need to start worrying about packing now, though. I have new luggage but I'm going to try to figure out how to pack three weeks worth of essentials into a carry-on suitcase. Wish me luck, haha.

destination: europe, november 2008.

2008-10-19T13:44:00.003-04:00

i keep switching around what this blog is going to be about. i want to try to keep a travel blog while i'm in england/berlin next month for friends and family to keep up with me. watch this space?

i'll be back to my second home - london! also a long jaunt to berlin and possibly a short trip to liverpool and blackburn, so i can be a touristy beatles fan and a football fan as well.

i'm off to book my liverpool train!