September 13, 2002

cashed down

i spent just over 24 hours in the uk. i withdrew 100 pounds and managed to spend all but 6.

i was very scared.

Posted by pipstar at 05:08 PM | Comments: *

 

September 12, 2002

on i go

thanks to katie i now have clean clothes. clean dry, nice smelling clothes.

sweet.

i'm just about to post off my packages back home, and to buy some hair dye for the day when i get sick of being half blonde regrowth and a dull orange colour.

i'm feeling good about turkey. the only thing that i'm slightly nervous about is arriving in istanbul at 11pm. but that nervousness is also making me take the sensible option of catching a taxi to the hostel. independence is good, but being bullheaded and walking around istanbul at midnight is not a good idea.

Posted by pipstar at 12:21 PM | Comments:

 

September 11, 2002

london

i arrived at gatwick at about 12 today.

the views of england as we landed fulfilled every expectation i've had about the english countryside / patchworked hills with hedges around the paddocks and streams meandering.

i made my way to meet up with katie (who i met in madrid) without any hassles. but then i can actually speak english. navigating istanbul at 11pm will be a completely different experience.

i've been able to catch up with katie and nadia, buy toiletries, eat yummy asian food, watch neighbours (the episode where joe scully has his leg waxed), drink a cup of tea, and eavesdrop on public transport... and understand it.

tomorrow i send packages of stuff back home and head off to turkey. hopefully i'll be able to write a big post.

i've also managed to throw things away out of my pack. the two black skirts that i brought... gone to oxfam, two white tshirts (la tomatina and the avalanches top) and my cool green hemp shirt... back to australia tomorrow by surface mail. (i may arrive home before my packages!)

:::...

apart from some postcards and a red 100% toro tshirt bought at the last minute in alicante, i've managed to survive a month away without buying idiotic souvenirs.

but the one thing that i'd really like to buy while i'm away is a small, but cool rug whilst in turkey. possibly a prayer rug.

we'll see how i go.

and maybe an amber necklace bought near the baltic sea.

send me good luck for my turkey experiences!

Posted by pipstar at 10:42 PM | Comments:

 

August 09, 2002

from my journal

ok, well i´m actually at heathrow. i managed to get this far without incident. though i did lose my boarding pass in singapore.

but i got a replacement and i was allowed back on the plane.

i took way to much stuff with me on the plane. my travel partner (iain from glasgow - flying back from australia as his father´d had a heart attack a few days earlier - good luck with that) said that if there hadn´t been continuous movies in the back of the seat in front, then i´d have been more productive with my time.

on the plane i took
• spanish phrasebook
• spanish guidebook
• foucault´s pendulum by umberto eco
• a bottle of water*
• a copy of wallpaper magazine
• my journal
• cd player and 40+ cds
• x-ray protecting film bag
• camera
• toiletry bag
• neck pillow*
• food
• tissues*
• spare clothes*
* i actually used these things on the plane and would have been uncomfortable without them

so i´m intending on travelling way lighter... and throwing away my clothes as i get bored of them. and i thought i´d packed really well!

:::...

as i was getting on the plane in adelaide, i felt like the ground was going to fall from under me. i was so sad. i still am (though in a subdued way).

and it´s going to be a different missing feeling thatn the missing feeling i had when aidan left. he was the person leaving. i had everyone else left around me.

this time i´m the person who´s leaving; and the missing is mixed up with excitement and nerves.

and i´m here... i´m in a different country and the ground feels stable.

it´s real.

listen:: the paradise motel - flight paths and left over life to kill

Posted by pipstar at 01:26 AM | Comments: