Cheers, London

My last day and night in London. Didn't do much today in the town as I spent most opf the day prepping for the next continent. I was up early to get to the Cambodian embassy to get my passport with the new visa so I'm now legal to enter all the countries I'm planning to visit. After that, I just spent the day in the park going through my guide books, the YHA book and the new pocket traveler's atlas I just bought trying to better plan out the next three months. The way it is right now, I'm gonna wind up in Greece way too early but I think I might not try to nail it down too tightly just yet. I want to leave some wiggle room in case I like Paris more than I thought I would or maybe I decide that I do want to visit a town or two in Eastern Europe. Right now, there are no visits to that region on the schedule. According to the guide books that area probably the best bargain these days. Not a lot of the countries are using the Euro but that's what ATMs are for. One of my current roommates is from Slovenia and I here Bulgaria is really impressive. Of course the deciding factors in a lot of this comes down to A) Does the train go to that place? and B) Is there a YHA there? The exchange rate is a little better Euro to $ than the £ to the $, so I've decide if where I want to go doesn't have a YHA hostel, then I'm going to upgrade to either a B&B or a real hotel room. No more cut rate hostels! . . .maybe.

Before I leave the UK, let me say that I really tried to do the food locally. Here's the thing-I'm not eating much differently here than I do at home which is to say I'm not dining out. Now some of the hostels have kitchens available and the kitchens are stocked with all the necessary pots, pans, dishes and cutlery and the like but no staples are available. So even cooking in is very close to how I eat at home-boxed, canned or frozen nuked to perfection for that well balanced meal. On those occassions when I purchased a meal that does not involve cellophane, I gotta say, I wasn't too impressed. Most of the things I've tried are not really flavorful. It's all kind of bland. Again, I'm not eating in 4 star places so they might be different. I don't eat at 4 star places at home either so I wouldn't be able to make a fair comparision anyway. Oh, I have had fish and chips a couple of times. They're OK.

I pretty much like all breakfast foods. A full English breakfast consists of eggs, bacon and sausage, grilled tomatoes, grill mushrooms and baked beans. The scrambled eggs are usually the institutional kind, the sausages (I really like sausage) don't seem to have any spices in them and are kind of mealy, the bacon is OK. It's usually more like tiny ham steaks. I skipped the tomatoes and mushrooms because I don't eat 'em at home. The baked beans? I like 'em. I eat 'em. I just never thought of having them for breakfast before.

I tried for a while to avoid the fast food places that I recognized but the cafes and sidewalk vendors were starting to add up and I just didn't like them try as I might. I'm sure the more savvy travelers will find the right places to eat to sample real & good English food but last night I went to a pretty good sushi place that I think is actually a chain (YO! Sushi) and tonight I'm going to either an Indian restaurant that has an all you can eat buffet or to the Pizza Factory.

I'm going to start over on my pledge eat locally when I get to the continent. The first country I'm visiting-Belgium, home of Godiva chocolate! :-) I think I'll do well there!

I think that's it from Jolly ol' England. I'm sure I missed visiting your favorite spot. Let's hope there's a next time.