To bum or not to bum

The whole trip thus far had been tops maybe 60 degrees but the day we arrived in London the weather knew we would have 50lb bags on our backs so it decided to crank it up to 90. So sweat was is the theme of this post. Sweaty weather to add to sweaty circumstances. We arrived in London on a weekday not worrying about a place to stay knowing there are countless hostels in London. Well, there were countless hostels that were packed. Wimbeldon, turns out, makes for a great magnet for everybody in the world to flock to London to suck up every last bed. Luckily, Starbucks has "great" coffee....oh and free Internet. Because we sat in a steamy Starbucks in London until they closed using that wifi. We searched every site we could find for a bed that didn't cost €150. Everything was packed solid. We were seriously discussing sleeping on park benches and fighting off bums with sticks and our trusty umbrella. I was ready to barter money and beer for safe passage through the night. Whatever it took not to die that night. Well, thank whatever deity you pray to or don't pray to for Facebook. Without Facebook the bum chases were coming up quickly. I posted that I needed a place to stay in London and people amaze me how willing to help they are. I couldn't believe friends were so ready to jump to this cause. I couldnt believe it but one of my long lost friends gave us a number of a friend of his that we could stay with. This person was a complete stranger to us but she without question took us in. She was amazingly hospitable. This provide us with a bed and a chance to find another place to stay the next two nights. The feeling you get when people go out of their way to help people in need is ridiculous. It made me feel so great that some people do that and I just want to thank them. 

Hmmm

Ok, I don't like my last post. I don't was the blog to be just a plain list of things we did. Blah to that. If you want that let me know and I'll keep adding that. What I really feel is needed is more emotion. What this trip to the countryside really meant to me was a break from this trip. It was much needed. We had only been going for less than a week but traveling everyday wears on you and this was only the beginning. It was easy now but the weight of it all was still so heavy. these people who let us stay in their house might have no idea how much of a boost something like this gives. If I had to go 7 weeks without amazing people like this I don't think this trip would be worth it. Yeah I'd get to see all these places but with no time to recover can drain. This was just the beginning to the fantastic people we were to meet but a great start. The next person we met meant not sleeping on the streets, but don't worry that will come in a later city. Bum bum bum...

To the countryside!

Well where I left off last I was talking about living the dream or some kind of dream. From harlaxton we were picked up by Leah's meet-a-family that she had while she was attending and they took us back to their house about 40 minutes away. This place is exactly what you would imagine any english country cottage would be like. It was tucked away in farm land and has this fantastic garden. That night we were treated to a great meal of all sorts of English goodies which entirely sparked our appetites again. Before we arrived to this very hospitable family we had been lacking in our feeding habits and the Wards, which were their names, seemed intent on plumping us up and extending my taste in cheese. I was all for this. So after that meal we promptly went to our rooms. I went face first into a feather pillow and passed out not to wake until a buzzing fly woke me at 11am the next morning. We arose to a full traditional English breakfast full of......wait wait wait don't I have a food blog? Well, maybe, hopefully soon. If I do all this food stuff will be there. Ok, back to the action. So our day included a trip to a cathedral and beer for me and the father in this outfit. Shoppin for Leah and the mother where we eventually met up for afternoon tea. To further our English country, storybook day me and Leah took bikes out on these country roads that last forever. We rode through fields that you could see for miles but once again our stomaches decided to make decisions for us. That night we had this dinner that lasted until 11 and ended in a search in the woods for peacocks. No luck fiding peacocks but a few of us found bee stingers including one in leahs side that swelled like a beachball. So the next day we awoke with the thought of leaving this peaceful place for the murderous pace of London. A juxtaposition of cities, but stories equally memorable and slightly more panic inducing.

Hogwarts?

Liverpool was just the tip of our English iceberg. From the land that birthed the Beatles we headed for the tiny town of Grantham. A town with very little besides a huge manor, Harlaxton, that Leah attended a semester at. I can't believe I missed out on a place like this. It's a mix of Harry potter and......uh some other magical place. It was spectacular. We were dropped off at the end of this huge driveway and walked the entire length to the building. All the while being stared at by the high school group that was currently residing there. I don't really blame them though. By this time we were filthy backpackers and deserved the looks and we just smiled back with our grubby mugs trying to look as harmless and anti-homeless as possible. Well, we wondered this insane building which was meticulously detailed. Leah lead the tour while I was awestruck by the fact that places like this actually exist. The inside was just the beginning though because the grounds alone were enough to come see. I walked around bitter that Leah attended such a magical place and I didn't. The rest of the afternoon I plotted how I would return to this place to live. I am open to suggestions but so far I have cook, janitor, teach?, be a squatter, rent out a room like a hotel if possible, camp in the surrounding woods, gamekeeper, bouncer, guinea pig for the suspect food,  actually anything that involves me being in close vicinity to this dream. We ended up meeting the dean which was pretty cool because her and Leah seemed like long lost friends. They chatted while I interrupted and prodded her for possible ways to weasel my way into a room. I suggested she take one of my weeks for travel for a week of stay there. She was down if I paid for all her expenses. I really thought hard about it and I might have to ask my very very very loving parents for a loan! Well I can dream for now, and that night I was dreaming from an actual bed in an actual house with no roommates and an amazing family to look over me....

I blinked and there went a week

So much has happened so I'll just get right to it. We left off and I was challenging the rest if Europe to step it up. Well they did. After Ireland we headed for the other island of Britain. We landed in holy head and took a crowded train where standing occupied most of the hours. Once off the train we stood in Beatles territory. Liverpool was before us but a bitter cold and rainy Liverpool. What made this destination even better was that this was the first place we were going to try and couchsurf. For those who don't know what that is it is basically a site where you make a profile and ask to stay on peoples couches. It's a great way to meet people to show you around and emerse yourself in the culture. Well we figured why not try it. the problem was that with our lack of Internet an lack of communication we only got this guys street and not his full address. Knowing this we still chugged through the wind and the rain to the street we thought he lived. Once there and without options Leah started ringing doorbells while I took a less blatant approach and went on a search for mailboxes where I could find names. I creeped around apartment buildings while Leah rang strangers doorbells.  We both had no luck. Defeated we thought best to head back closer to town and try and find a place since darkness was creeping in but when we made it to the end of the road a man started yelling at us. We turned around to see our guy waving his arms. What luck. He said he looked out his window the moment we started walking away and well to be honest I was so happy he saw us because we were soaked and freezing. Also, this guy was awesome. he had food and drink waiting for us to eat and conversation to keep us occupied. Well when planning on sleeping on a strangers couch you have to prepare for the worst but we lucked out. He was a normal guy who just liked to travel and meet people. He took us out that night and led us to bar after bar including the cavern bar where the beatles got there start. It was really amazing and Liverpool as a whole was really surprising how nice it was. It was tough to leave but other English memories were in need of making and we made plenty....

As for the eating.

The eating section is gonna have to be worked on. I'm definitely doing the eating. I just need to work on writing it down