It was September 2018, and I’d now been away from home for five months!
From landing back in England after our trip to Aalborg… Aine, Molly and I ventured to Franco Manca, King’s Cross, for some pizza before our last goodbyes. Spontaneous trips like that were always so much fun and I was amazed as to how easy it was to do things like that whilst being in England. It’s definitely not possible to do in Australia. I was so lucky and glad I got to do something like that, even more so with Aine and Molly.
During my travels, I had been messaging my best friend Lara from Australia, as she was also travelling around England. It was a must to catch up. From London, I went back to my Aunty and Uncle’s house in Great Yarmouth for a few more days and then got a train down to Brighton to meet up with Lara for one night. I was so happy to see and spend time with her, especially in England together. It was so comforting and like no time had passed. We stayed in this cute Airbnb right near town and the beach and spent our afternoon walking around town, talking and laughing away as we checked out op shops, explored Brighton pier and grabbed pizza by the beach for sunset. Brighton was such a charming place and some parts reminded me a lot of Australia and home, it felt very familiar and there was such a lively and groovy atmosphere.
The following morning we walked up and down in Brighton Beach, I loved seeing all the colourful beach huts as it’s such an iconic part of Brighton! Lara and I both love photography too so it was great to take some photos together and the photos she took are still some of my favourites to this day. After an awesome twenty four hours, around midday, we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways for a few days, our journey together wasn’t over yet! I hopped on a train up to Bedford to see Molly.
There is something incredibly special about seeing a friend’s hometown. I loved meeting Molly’s family and seeing all the parts where she grew up. We went to a place called Caffe Crema with Molly’s two best friends Inari and Naz for lunch which was lovely, they were so nice and I got on with both of them instantly, we all had the same banter and it was so good to have a laugh. It felt like I’d known them for ages. One afternoon, we went with Molly’s dad Ian to watch the Bedford Blues play rugby which I absolutely loved, finishing it off with, to this day, one of the best Indian restaurants I’ve ever been to! We also went to Molly’s grandmas house for a barbecue. Her family and friends were without a doubt, so welcoming and made me feel right at home. I loved how much they joked around and poked fun at each other.
Another quick but wonderful adventure, I said goodbye to Molly and her family and got the train up to Oxford for my last night in England. Meeting up again with Lara which was so exciting! She was staying with her friends Beth and Harry. I met them at a bar called Raoul’s which was such a cool spot! We had a drink there and then explored around the city together. I enjoyed walking around Oxford again, I saw different things I didn’t see last time but it also had that familiarity and it’s just such a beautiful city. Lara used to work in Oxford too, so she showed me the place she used to work at which I found so cool! We went home early, made some dinner and got an early night as I had to wake up at four in the morning for the National Express bus to Heathrow Airport to get my flight to Canada.
I’m beyond lucky to have some truly wonderful friends that I’ve been able to travel and meet up with. I was overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude at the kind hospitality everyone had showed me. It’s these truly spectacular moments with people that I was even more thankful to experience on my adventures. Aine, Molly, her family and Lara, all gave me the sense of peace and comfort, I felt so at home with them and it’s a feeling I cherish so much. My time in England had come to an end, it was bittersweet to leave but I was so pumped for the next chapter in life. I was going to live in Canada of all places! I never would have thought in my life that’d I’d be going to spend the next two years there but I was ready for new experiences and way of life…
I hope you enjoyed this month’s blog! If you ever have any questions feel free to DM me or come and say hi on my instagram the_runawayredhead. Stay tuned for the next post.
Talk soon
The Runaway Redhead
