Despite the fact that there is a train that goes to Paris to London in about 2.5 hours (and you know how much I love trains), I also love my money more and parting with 120 euros did not sound fun, so instead I hopped on the bus. It was easy to get to from Kamel's place but I still like to have lots of time up my sleeve. The bus was at 11am but I was at the station before 10am.
I'd had a late night watching more Entourage so I slept a little when I got on the bus. There was an Australian couple in front of me who put their seats back. There wasn't much room to begin with so the Latvian girl sitting next to me and I were sitting pretty snuggly. The guy in front to me pushed his seat back even more later so I couldn't even put my feet on the ground. I retaliated by giving it a good push rather frequently while I pretended to be asleep everytime he complained to his wife and she looked around. They both eventually got the hint and Liva and I could move again.
At the UK border we had to get off twice. Once to show our passport to the French officials, and 100m up the road to do it all again for the UK officials. I have to admit, it was refreshing when I got to the UK check to be able to have a chat to the official. Conversations like that were rare in France and Spain because of the language barrier. We then had a long wait at the entrance to the chunnel, which gave Liva and I plenty of time to chat. She grew up in Latvia but her family moved to Spain three years ago. Liva has been living in London for the past year and is about to start studying. Her boyfriend lives in Paris so she goes there quite frequently. It was great to have someone to give me some tips about London. She was also quite amused at the things that excited me - such as the chunnel. Having not given it much thought before, I had assumed it was a tunnel we would drive through and was amazed when Liva said it would take about 40 minutes. Hmmm, not quite Megan. For those who don't know either, it's a huge line of train carriages and the cars (and buses and everything else) go inside them.
Meeting people ís one of the things I love about travelling, and Liva was no exception. Part of it is learning about different places and cultures, and the other part is learning that a lot of things aren't so different...especially people. Liva and I grew up in completely different countries (compare East Europe to Australia and see how many similarities you find) but at the end of the day, we're both young women and there are a lot of similarities there, from TV shows we enjoy to our opinions on travel, education and relationships. Again I was blown away by language skills. Liva's English was basically perfect. Her eight-year-old sister speaks Latvian and English, has picked up Spanish while the family has been living in Spain and will soon start learning French in school. Foreign languages are taught in Australian schools, but it seems to be for interests sake than any practical purpose. It really puts us at a bit of a disadvantage in a global sense. Not because we need to speak another language, but because I think it would help us connect with other countries a bit better. Help us understand them more. I have seen a lot of people who simply expect everyone to speak English. A French tourist in Australia would never expect a waitress to speak French, so why do we expect English everywhere when we travel?
Our bus arrived about 7pm and it wasn't hard to find a tube station and get on the line to my hostel. The line I first looked for was out for a month, but I found another way of getting there. Liva had suggested getting a day pass for the tube, as it's £4 for a single trip or £7 for unlimited rides in a day. It's very handy to have a bit of inside information like that.
My new hostel, Equity Point, is above Hyde Park but close to the tube. I'm in an 8-bed dorm but six of the beds are in one area and the other two are on a landing overlooking the rest of the room. Guess which area I scored? That's right, I'm up the top. There isn't anyone else in the other bed so I have quite a big area to myself, and my own bathroom. Very nice for £20 a night. I've heard some shocking stories about London hostels: 20 beds in one room, one shower to service an entire floor etc, but I've definitely lucked out here.
I cook some tea (my packet of pasta and pot of pesto is going a long way) and catch up on some washing before bed. Oh, and I also mapped out my journey for the following day...
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