Last evening in London

So, here we are again, still at the good ol' Hootananny.  Today we spent some good time hanging out near the South Bank of London with some friends we met here at the hostel, and we enjoyed some lovely English tea at a fine restaurant.  We also visited the Tate modern museum, where there were some very interesting exhibits.  While it's been quite the fun stay in London, this is probably our last evening here. Next we'll be making our way over to the town of Bath, so we can hopefully use it as sort of a staging ground to check out some old ruins in Avebury.  I hate to talk about weather in a blog, but I just have to mention that the weather over here in London has been absolutely amazing for the duration of our stay thus far.  We saw the first clouds of the trip this morning, but hardly a drop came out and they were gone by afternoon.  Josh has quite the trophy sunburn to show for it too.  If I were to recommend a restaurant near the London sights with really good food, it would probably be The Minoria pub, because the lasagna dish was excellent and the waitresses were very friendly. I'd give the place 4 stars, only because although the service was good, we had to sort of get the attention of the waitresses instead of them checking in on us periodically. 

So to wrap up, London has been a very welcome stay, and I hope the great hospitality continues throughout the UK. 

Day 3 in London (Westminster)

Josh:  Blah, Blah Blah, Blah, Blah.   Translation in English:  I had a great day yesterday.  We walked approximately 12 miles if not more with our packs.  We had a successful rescue mission and got Dan's cell phone from the Best Place in Paddington.  I love this trip so far.  I don't think I'd be here in this location if it hadn't been to my working efforts and Danny's initiative.  Today, we saw Big Ben, with the cathedral of course.  We also saw the Queen's horse guards and later on we're going on the London Eye (ferris wheel) and the National Gallery.  Today, we do not have our packs and it takes a burden off my back and shoulders.  I like the double-decker busses.  There is just something about them that make me smile every time I see one.  Ok, time is running short.  My mind is numb.  And no its not the Foster's.  Instead it is Jet lag, and the fact that no one goes to bed at our new Hostel, the Hootananny.  I just have one more thing to say.  Before you kick the bucket, some how, some way, get yourself to London.  Cheers!

Dan: Ok, so yes, I did forget my phone yesterday, totally left the hostel and did not grab it.  That one was for you  mom and dad - I still haven't changed :).  But, I did manage to remember what I had forgotten.  The hostel we're staying at now - the Hootananny, as they lovingly call it, is probably the social center of Brixton.  No joke.  There is a live band every night, and after about 10 o' clock, everybody starts pouring in, and the beer starts pouring too.  It makes it a little hard to sleep though, because someone (I'd really like to know who) decided to put fluorescent lights shining into our window.  Therefore, the sun basically doesn't set at the Hootananny.  Nor does it ever get quiet with a band that plays well after midnight. But it's a nice hostel. Very friendly roommates and a helpful staff when they don't leave you standing and waiting to check in.  A nice, cold, foster solves that problem though.  A few more things: I highly recommend taking a bus over trying to navigate by foot 5 miles of English roads, but buying a ticket is a little tricky.  The guards were pretty cool, except when they stomp their feet beside you whilst you take a picture with them.  Reminds me of the deer back home when they get threatened.  I"m sure I"ll figure out what that is all about soon.  But for now, we are off to check the really cool and really free National Gallery. Cheerio!

Second Day in London

 Dan - Hello all!  We are loving London, loving the food, loving the people.  To begin we got off to an amazing start, and all that hubub about London being a confusing city and hard to get around... well it's true.  In our quest to find a hostel, we had to turnabout a few times before we finally began to get the lay of the land and found our hostel, the "Bestplace" in paddington.  It's really sort of fun to walk around the streets of London and be welcomed by "Allo!" and "Cheers" along with a chuckle or two when we don't know how to respond.  The atmosphere has been for the most part welcoming, especially when the topic of the conversation turns to either beer or rugby.  And speaking of rugby, it's an interesting sport to try to figure out - as much as I can tell, the ball is kicked, and when someone gets ahold of it, they tackle and wrestle for it until it pops out of the pile and someone runs it down the field to the next pileup.  Looks like fun.  The hostel stay was nice, and the only worry I really had was if the bunk bed was to break - I had the pleasure of being on the bottom of three.  But until next time, I'll have a round for all you great fans! Cheers!

Josh- Hey everyone.  Danny here is sitting with me at this cafe where we have free wifi for an hour.  Which may end quite shortly because we have no way of knowing how long we've been on this thing.  Anyways, great times here in London.  The people are great and helpful, but they are reserved.  I like the food.  I thoroughly enjoyed walking through Hyde Park.  (No its not a baseball park, but a beautiful recreational park that includes Kensington Palace).  Tomorrow we plan to go to see Big Ben, the famous Tower Bridge, and of course Beckingham palace and watch the changing of the guard.  The beer on tap here is stronger and much better than Americas.  Hey I guess we're not great at everything:)  We're staying in London for a few more days and then we will head to Stonehenge.  All is well, and as the British say well, Cheers!

Hey this is Josh. I hope everyone is doing good on this fine January day. Danny and I are still in the beginning stages of our trip and still have not purchased our tickets. The original plan of 8-weeks might be cut back to 6-weeks due to travel time being not as long as we anticipated. I'm thinking about purchasing some rosetta stone help to get me freshened up on my spanish. In the meantime I'm working at Tim Ho's to get more funds for the trip. This is all for now. I'll keep you posted. This is Josh signing out.

The planning is still hap-

pening!  We just met Saturday night to go over plans, and things went really well...

But really, we've covered alot of ground, including the first leg of our journey from England to Holland to France. 

Hey Everyone!  Ok, just an update on how the plans are going. The dates have been set: Departure - May 20th, Return, July 15th.  8 Weeks.  Yeah, that's a long time.  But it's ok, we have plans to fill it. On another good note, I just received my MMD, and am actively searching for a job with various shipping companies.  I'm also creating a backup plan, and that's applying for other jobs at Tim Hortons and the Postal Office.  Things are going well, and you'll hear again from us soon.

Hey this is Our first Post!  I know I'm not writing to anyone at this moment, but as we are just learning how to use a blog, it doesn't have to be to anyone in particular. 

So about the Europe trip...

So far so good!

I've just received news from the USCG (United States Coast Guard) that my application has been accepted and that they have sent it in the mail.  This is good, because after my short, seasonal work at L.L. Bean, I'll need another job to get the rest of the money to get to Europe with.  The next step is to contact a few companies and set up a timeframe to work with them over the next few months before I make the trip. As for the picture above, it's our first stop in the journey, and if you can guess where it is then you'll know where we're headed. 

*Photo courtesy of www.southafrica.to