Right, a bit of catchup here and there while I'm on the train.
Tour of the Red Light District in Amsterdam the night before leaving for the UK:
Met a woman from Florida during the tour and we hit it off enough to go for a drink after and exchange instagram accounts. Always lovely to make friends while travelling.
Then it was off to London early on the Saturday morning via the Eurostar. It took most of the morning to reach London, then I dropped off my pack at the place I was staying (I'd left the luggage in Rotterdam with Stepbro) and hopped on a train to go to Bath to visit Cousin M.
Cousin M moved to the UK back in 2018, met and fell in love with a Brit during the pandemic, was engaged a year later. Got married earlier this year. He and his wife came to Sydney for a wedding banquet, we all got to meet her and she seemed lovely. But, you know, a bit overwhelmed.
There are a dozen of us. We have a fondness for each other left over from childhood. It's daunting for any newcomer, but particularly one who's coming at it from another country and hasn't really had the chance to meet any of us long-term.
Anyway, I got to chat with Cousin M, saw the Bath Christmas Markets, take photos of all the architecture, and dine in a 400-year old pub that was reno'd by a local village (a little way out from Bath proper). Then I hopped back on the train to head for London and the airbnb place I was staying.
...and discovered that the owner smoked. Not in the house, mind you, but out on a balcony with others from his apartment building. And, as smoke does, it clung to him. And to the house. Incidentally, the bed that I was sleeping in? Was his. Without him in it, but still: his bed. He slept in the lounge room, and this was the way that he rented out his apartment.
It was also a really cluttered apartment. As in really cluttered. "Lived in" would be the definition - look, I have friends with whom I've stayed whose places are just as cluttered. The difference being that they're friends and it's...different.
Incidentally, the pictures of his apartment were taken in the summer when it was a lot lighter and probably had more stuff cleared away, and his profile picture is about 40 years old. He's in his 60s now. Not a dirty old man, just not what I was looking for in an airbnb host.
Anyway, it was too late to switch places that night, so I endured the scent of smoke and looked for an alternative for the next two nights I was in London. And the entire stay was non-refundable.
*sigh*
He had the most lovely, friendly cat, though! I was most sorry to leave the cat!
Next post: the rest of London, including a day with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rmc28!
Tour of the Red Light District in Amsterdam the night before leaving for the UK:
Met a woman from Florida during the tour and we hit it off enough to go for a drink after and exchange instagram accounts. Always lovely to make friends while travelling.
Then it was off to London early on the Saturday morning via the Eurostar. It took most of the morning to reach London, then I dropped off my pack at the place I was staying (I'd left the luggage in Rotterdam with Stepbro) and hopped on a train to go to Bath to visit Cousin M.
Cousin M moved to the UK back in 2018, met and fell in love with a Brit during the pandemic, was engaged a year later. Got married earlier this year. He and his wife came to Sydney for a wedding banquet, we all got to meet her and she seemed lovely. But, you know, a bit overwhelmed.
There are a dozen of us. We have a fondness for each other left over from childhood. It's daunting for any newcomer, but particularly one who's coming at it from another country and hasn't really had the chance to meet any of us long-term.
Anyway, I got to chat with Cousin M, saw the Bath Christmas Markets, take photos of all the architecture, and dine in a 400-year old pub that was reno'd by a local village (a little way out from Bath proper). Then I hopped back on the train to head for London and the airbnb place I was staying.
...and discovered that the owner smoked. Not in the house, mind you, but out on a balcony with others from his apartment building. And, as smoke does, it clung to him. And to the house. Incidentally, the bed that I was sleeping in? Was his. Without him in it, but still: his bed. He slept in the lounge room, and this was the way that he rented out his apartment.
It was also a really cluttered apartment. As in really cluttered. "Lived in" would be the definition - look, I have friends with whom I've stayed whose places are just as cluttered. The difference being that they're friends and it's...different.
Incidentally, the pictures of his apartment were taken in the summer when it was a lot lighter and probably had more stuff cleared away, and his profile picture is about 40 years old. He's in his 60s now. Not a dirty old man, just not what I was looking for in an airbnb host.
Anyway, it was too late to switch places that night, so I endured the scent of smoke and looked for an alternative for the next two nights I was in London. And the entire stay was non-refundable.
*sigh*
He had the most lovely, friendly cat, though! I was most sorry to leave the cat!
Next post: the rest of London, including a day with
rmc28!Tags:
no subject
Too bad about the smoke.