day 35: also oslo

I must be going gaga over the Kings card game because I cannot stop rhyming, which explains the title.

We left Bodo extremely early this morning at 6.50am after having breakfast. I had my last 'Chocolate Therapy' cookie and said goodbye to Oyvind, his lovely home, our new Norwegian friends, and all the food and snacks I tried and loved.

Jerrain and I were supposed to drop our luggage when we arrive in Oslo at 9am to explore the city. We were so exhausted that the hour long train ride into town seemed like too big a task for the day. We decided to take it easy and hang out at the airport for 12 hours! There was a row of comfortable couchettes, but sleeping on it for five hours straight left me with a very numb butt.

Since we were going to be in London for just 23 hours, we decided to stay at one of the airport hotels, Yotel. It is a cool mini hotel with cabins that could fit two people, but really just comfortable for one. Jerrain and I needed to stay on the bed just so we had sufficient
standing and moving space.

• Location: Oslo Norway and London Britain
• Cost: 68nok pasta at airport, 12nok crisps, 20nok hot chocolate, 35nok orange juice, €4.60 chicken salad sandwich and water, €30 chocolates from Thorntons, €20 tea, €8 M&S
• Highlight: It was not easy waiting at an airport for 12 hours, but having Jerrain with me made it a lot more bearable. I particularly enjoyed our HTH (heart-to-heart) chat - one of many throughout this trip - about what we learnt and experienced in the last 30 over days.

day 7: instant comfort food

Too many glasses of vodka cranberry. That was the first thing on my mind - together with the headache - when I got up this morning, still in my dress and make up from last night.

Jerrain and I dragged ourselves to Leicester Square to hunt down noodle soup, which we have been craving the moment we landed in London. The first shop we passed was Cafe de Hong Kong at Newport Court. Both of us agreed that we could not wait to walk to the next stop. I had luncheon pork and egg instant noodle soup at £4.70. Bubble tea would have been a heavenly finish, but it was £3.60!

The highlight of the afternoon was seeing Dirty Dancing at Aldwych Theatre. There was less dancing than I expected.

To make up for that, Jerrain and I joined the New London Pub Crawl for £12. It gave us four drinks (though I only remembered drinking three shots) and priority entry to a bar and four clubs in Covent Garden. But most of all, it is the company of 91 other partyheads that made it a crazy night.

1. Belushi: Rather no-frills bar which Jerrain and I were there the night before. First shot of rum.
2. Roadhouse: Single storey club with harleys scattered around. This was where we had wanted to go last night with the London lawyer trainees.
3. Verge: Bar with a tiny basement club. Good DJ playing the latest hits by Lady Gaga and Shakira. Shot of sambuca. Salsed shortly with a guy but I could hardly handle the turns in that space.
4. Oxygen: Bar with a basement club. It had poles at several corners but I couldn't convince Jerrain to do a demo. Shot of tequila. Met Matthias from Germany and Vitor from Brazil who were part of the pub crawl bunch.
5. Zoo: Biggest club of the five and had the highest energy both in the bar area and the basement club. Met James from Boston who just completed his first year of the Masters programme at the London School of Economics, Rebecca and her guyfriend from Zurich who are doing an English course in London, and (wait for it)... two Singaporeans!! I cannot remember their names now but it sure feels great bumping into them. We wanted to have frog legs congee (popular post-club supper in Singapore) after being chased out of Zoo at 2ish in the morning, but Jerrain and I settled for cup noodes and strawberry milk respectively. They sent us back to our hostels before heading back, how sweet.

• Location: London, Britain
• Cost: £7 chinese food for lunch, £39 Dirty Dancing, £3 ham and cheese croissant, £3 Starbucks mocha frap, £12 pub crawl, £12 drinks
• Highlight: Bumping into two Singaporeans and dancing six hours straight in my heels!

day 6.5: aunties from singapore

I know I said this is a-post-a-day blog but there are a million and one things happening and it pains me to leave them out. So I cannot promise this will be the last of my 'day x.5' blog post.

We have been overly pampered in Warwickshire - accommodation, food, drinks, transport and activities were all taken care of by Gavin and Serene. Once we got on that Megabus to London, we were back on our own.

The original plan was to leave for Paris today, but a Eurostar ticket would cost each of us £179! We decided to lengthen our stay in London for two nights so a ticket will be £57.

We were exhausted by the time we weaved through peak hour crowd with our 15 kilograms backpacks and secured the Eurostar tickets. But before we could heave a sigh of relief, we had to find a place to sleep for the next two nights!

Jerrain - while blonde most of the time - came up with a brilliant idea to hijack the train station trolley for our backpacks while we roam the Kings Cross area for a hostel. Thankfully, the YHA hostel (part of the Hostelling International group) had space. We got the £28 bed in a six-bed ensuite dorm for tonight, and a £60 private room for tomorrow.

After all that drama, Jerrain and I needed a drink or two (or three, or four... Ok, you get the idea). It was a little too late to join the hostel pub crawl, so we went to Belushi ourselves. Situated at Covent Garden, it has a proper mash of locals and tourists. There were flags (the only Asian one I spotted was Korea) on its ceiling and random posters on the walls, including one of the London underground in case you did not know your way back. When Retro Velvet, the Scottish two-man band, was not playing, Belushi reminds me very much of Singapore's Ice Cold Beer on Emerald Hill.

People were friendly, though who could be otherwise to two sweet and petite Asian girls? We chatted with George and Antonio (who are school teachers in the day) from Retro Velvet, Josh and David who knew each other since they were five, and a bunch of lawyer trainees whom we spent more with at another mini club after we were chased out of Belushi about 1am.

• Location: London, Britain
• Cost: £57 Eurostar to Paris, £88 hostel for the next two nights, £4 per vodka cranberry
• Highlight: Feeling like I am on Amazing Race, not knowing where, when and how we are making the next step; clubbing in London with Jerrain and meeting new friends.
• Lost and found: Only lost really - my camera landyard and Melody whom Caleb my iPhone has grown to love (he is now in mourning)

In case you have not figured out the blog post title, middle-age housewives in Singapore often push the supermarket trolleys back home, until the shops started making them return the trolleys to get their dollar back. I felt so much like one of them pushing the train station trolley on the London street.

day 5: the return of the princess

My dream of becoming a princess was ruthlessly dashed this morning at Warwick Castle. I was refused entry to the Princess Tower. It is only for kids. Looks like I am a few years too late. I settled for a photograph with the princess who was welcoming kids into the tower.

The rejection was still too much to bear. So Serene and Gavin thought it best to bring me to quiet Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was born. I rowed a boat down the river and fed the swans some leftover tea cakes from lunch.

We are back at Union Court, where Gavin lives. The lamb hot pot is in the oven. The clothes are in the laundry and some in the dryer. After dinner, Jerrain and I will have some heavy packing to do. We leave Coventry tomorrow, but not before we see Cotswold.

• Location: Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-avon, Britain
• Cost: £19.95 Warwick Castle, £4 half hour boat rental, £3 fish and chips for lunch
• Highlight: Rowing down the river and feeding the swans at Stratford, and sipping mulled wine as we cuddled in the room to watch BBC's Over the Rainbow

day 4: what do the english know about breakfast?

A lot it seems. After having a home made traditional English breakfast, I was satisfied (and stuffed) for the next nine hours.

Serene and Gavin insisted on making everything - bacon, scrambled eggs, beans, tomatos, mushrooms, and tea. They only allowed me to help toast the bread. Perhaps they knew how bad a cook I am.

That was a perfect start to the day! A visit to Oxford and dinner at Zizzi's after left me feeling very accomplished.

We dropped by to pick up some groceries for breakfast and dinner tomorrow. I'm looking forward to what is cooking!!

• Location: Oxford & Lemington Spa, Britain
• Cost: £0 (Gavin and Serene refused to let us pay for anything! Now I know, never trust the British when they say you can get the next one)
• People: met up with Nicholas from Cyprus and Dominik from Slovakia for dinner

day 3: five minutes too late

Jerrain's heart stopped twice today. It was our first (and second) misadventure. It is a little early if you ask me, considering it is just day three.

We were five minutes too late for our bus to Coventry. Jerrain thought the guy behind the counter was pulling our legs. But no, he was as serious as the rest of Europe is about keeping time.

I, rather reluctantly, went to get us new tickets. Fortunately, there was another bus leaving in two hours, giving us time for some needed lunch to calm our nerves and replenish all that we have burnt from sprinting 400 metres with our 1.5 kilograms backpack.

Just as our heartbeat returned to a regular rhythm, we realised - fifteen minutes before departure - that the ticket was for one adult! Sounds 'drama-mama', but picture me running across the coach interchange to the ticket counter to snatch up the last seat left on the bus.

Serene, whom we were supposed to meet, was delayed in Toronto due to the volcanic ashes. Fortunately, her university friend, Nicholas, came to pick us up from the coach station. So, Jerrain and I are now safe in Coventry. Finally.

• Location: London & Coventry, Britain
• Cost: £6 bus, £4 mutton curry lunch, £18 last-minute coach ticket to Coventry
• Highlight: Missing a coach ride for the first time in my life
• Other activities for the day: Portobello Market, sent a few postcards, drinks at White Horse Lemington Spa

day 2: meeting mr big

I cannot believe Jerrain and I are finally here. Our excitement expresses itself through involuntary and uncontrollable smiles every few minutes or so (which explains the many stares by passer-bys).

We walked for most of the day, and checked out the usual key attractions: Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Westminister Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and others. As we only had a full day in London, we mercilessly struck off several other tourist hot spots.

Despite all that rush, we carved out time to have American hot dogs and hot choco at St James Park, and dinner and wine at Covent Garden.

• Location: London, Britain
• Cost: £11 transportation, £13 hostel, £1 postcards, £4 lunch, £18
  dinner
• Highlight: Relaxing at St James Park, feeling all relax, then
  realizing I have 36 more days of holiday!
  People: Met 7 new friends who are our room mates, from Brazil, USA, Hong Kong and others.
  

minus 50 days: i'm coming!

Eight countries in 37 days is a lot to manage. New places to check out, new friends to make, new food to savour. Sometimes, it helps to have some familiar faces along the way to ease all the excitement.

So, with less than two months to go, I sent a shout out to my friends, saying "I'm coming!". These are the poor souls who are going to give up their bed, bathroom, and couch for the few days Jerrain and I are over.

Friend #1: Serene
Country: Britain

Where did we meet: Singapore Management University
How did we meet: Christian Fellowship
Friends since: Sept 2001

She went to Coventry to do her Masters last October, and I have been dying to go visit her. Now that she has started dating someone there, my girlies have entrusted me with the mission to check out who this lucky guy is. I heard he is a good cook, but I promise I will not be bought over with just some fancy home-cooked food.

Friend #2: Norie
Country: France

Where did we meet: Singapore Airlines
How did we meet: Worked together in the HR dept
Friends since: August 2005

A French man swept her off her feet and stole her from us in 2006. Having visited her in Paris three years ago, I can see why she left her friends behind. Joel, her hubby, is the most charming and caring guy. He showed us around and even whipped up an authentic four course French meal! I promised Norie I will go back to visit her, so it is about time.

Friend #3 (and #4): Chris and Øyvind
Country: Norway

Where did we meet: New York
How did we meet: Along the corridor of Jazz Hostel
Friends since: July 2009

My first taste of Norway and I am hooked. These crazy dudes made me fall in love with New York over and over again. Met them the first night I arrived, and we hung out every night till they had to leave. If Norwegians are all like these two, I am sure it is going to be a blast. They are the reason why I am spending almost a third of my time up North!