Monday, August 13 2007, 13:00

In it for the long haul

Undoubtedly the least appealing part about continent-hopping for a holiday is the twenty-four hour flight, but as long hauls go, this wasn't half bad. Pete, Chris, and I had some great seats with loads of leg room for the first sector, a quick refresh in the Qantas Club lounge showers at Bangkok, and then I slept almost the entire second sector while Pete and Chris were living it up in business class, lucky upgrade bitches that they are.

I think when people ask me what I did on this holiday, I won't have much else to say other than I caught up with people, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Sunday was a lovely day of sitting at Pete's and Chris' new Limehouse home, enjoying the company of everyone who came to drop by, tucking into a roast dinner on the balcony overlooking the still marina, and sipping Pimm's as the sun slipped lazily down the sky. This is the life. And we SO need to get a table for our balcony in Sydney...

This morning I joined the morning commuters on the Tube, perusing the sensational tripe in Metro while hanging onto my bags, loving the reassuring sequence of Jubilee Line stations between Canary Wharf and Baker Street, delighting in the fact that this cross-London trip is so deeply ingrained that I don't even need to think about the station changes, I know this dirty metropolis like the back of my hand. Probably better since I don't spend that much time in hand study... Emerging at Paddington and loving the absolutely smokeless air of the station, cocooned in a warm familiarity I strolled over to Sainsbury's to buy my lunch, nearly swooned at the sight of Diet Cherry Coke and the variety of crisps on sale, and then, purchase complete, experienced a guilty thrill when I remembered the departure boards were too close to Millie's Cookies to avoid temptation.

And now, slipping through the gentle warmth of an English summer day, through green-gold fields and verges of nettles and brambles, cloud-dappled under a wispy blue sky, on a train that will pull up at a handful of archetypal countryside towns from here: Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link, Great Malvern, Colwall, Ledbury... and Hereford.

Saturday, September 8 2007, 11:58

Strange to be holidaying in the UK

The last time I wrote, I was on my way to Hereford, and here I am back in Sydney, almost recovered from some of the most persistent jetlag ever. But anyway, back to Hereford. I spent most of the week there, spending some quality time with Sarah, Clive, Mum, Dad, dropping in on the grandparents, ransacking lofts in search of my stuff, and packing my bags with another 5kg of books, etc. to bring back to Sydney. Those days were probably the most relaxed of the whole holiday, with no rushing about at all!

From the moment I got back to London, that metropolitan buzz was back, and it didn't stop until I was on the plane again. If you've lived in London, you know what I mean - the city has such a quickened rhythm, and while sometimes it feels like you're rushing at breakneck speed against your will, stressed out, jostled and harangued, at others it's the vibrant pulse of a city that's constantly alive and invigorating, bursting with energy and excitement - whether you like it or not, in London you feel like you're in the centre of things.

This segment of my holiday was very London: half of me was loving the pace of catching up with so many friends one-on-one where possible - coffee, lunch, lunch, shopping, more coffee, more shopping, dinner, drinks! On! On! On! And the other half was a bit overwhelmed by the dashing about and disappointed when I couldn't squeeze people into a stupidly packed schedule; it would have been great to be able to lazily sweep through the week without once checking the time, but I suppose that was never going to happen.

Quite apart from seeing so many smiling faces, it was great to SEE London. The flight in took me over practically every London landmark I could recognise from the sky, from Canary Wharf to Kew Gardens and everything in between; the taxi from the airport took us on the scenic route through the centre, past Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London; and on those days of wandering, I feel like I mopped up so many of my favourite places - Soho, Piccadilly, Fitzrovia, the South Bank, Vauxhall, West Hampstead, Westminster, Covent Garden, Brick Lane...

There's not much more to say. I think that, for all of my friends, it's true to say that it doesn't matter how long it was since we last saw each other in the flesh, it will always feel like yesterday; and with texts, and photos, and email, and flickr, and facebook, I'm in touch with everyone's news almost as quickly as if I lived in the same town anyway. Obviously it's not the same, and there's nothing like sharing a laugh, a smile, a hug, or being a shoulder to cry on (or having one), or having a conversation about nothing in particular. And once I'd got off my nicely sleep-filled flight back here, and had John whisk me home with flowers, and I'd unpacked my stuff, I remembered that; and I've had a wistful week of it, missing all of you up there, but I'll see you again, soonish. Thanks for making my holiday so much fun.

Photos from Hereford - including (exclusive) never before seen photos of my family (and animals)

Photos from London