My trip got off to a shaky start, nothing I couldn’t handle.. mum and I missed the bus to town! But it was fine, we still went and got breakfast with plenty of time before my coach.
The coach was fine and I was only on it for just over an hour and a half! I had a 50 minute changeover at eastmidlands railway where I got on the wrong train! Oops! In fairness though, I wasn’t the only one on the mega bus journey that got on the wrong train sooooo, anyway when I got on the right train ten minutes later I settled in to a seat with a table and did some reading 🤗
When I arrived I managed to find my way to the underground, redeem the in debt Oyster card my mum had dug out on Friday morning and ask someone how on earth I get to Elephant and Castle.
Despite having booked my place to stay last week I didn’t realise that the place I’m staying was actually In Elephant and Castle until I saw it on the tube map, I just thought that was what the hostel was called. I know, I worry about myself too sometimes!
Anyhow I made it to elephant a bit early so sat on some pretty benches with this cool artsy piece next to it!
I sat and read for a little while because I was early for check-in, and it was pretty peaceful.
When I checked in, my keycard didn’t work for the room that was written on my little welcome leaflet thing, but that was because the lady wrote room 12 instead of 21. To be fair to her, she had just dealt with quite an exasperating couple of men, who were lovely but, just had a booking that was a nightmare to sort, bless her!
After dumping my stuff I headed out! Jack had told me about a super cool CrossFit shop with a gym underneath it, and he was right, it was super cool! I looked at buying myself a weightlifting belt because i’m starting to lift heavy at CrossFit but none of the ones they had fit me! (*cry*)
After perusing for a while, I headed to Oxford street, had a shop around there and bought some Hollister spray, because I am fully embracing my 16 year old high school self, and from there, regent street, hard rock cafe, and then I walked back to elephant which took me about an hour Safe to say my feet were killing me!
I had just enough time for a quick refresh before I finally met up with Lav and we headed into central London to get food! We went to a place called pizza pilgrim and had the nicest pizza and the cutest mate date ever! Though I didn’t get any cute pictures of it haha. After we’d eaten and paid our bill we walked around talking about everything and nothing and laughing a whole lot, and it was just really nice! We FaceTimed Abby from My Lifelines for a hot sec to say hey, but it was too loud in the street and we couldn’t get a good connection! It was so cool to say Hey though! And i’m super looking forward to hopefully meeting her in the summer! (If anyone wants to buy themselves and Lav a plane ticket to come too, that’d be great..)
Lav took some super cute pictures while we walked around so be sure to keep an eye on her insta! Soon enough it was 9:30pm and since Lav had been at work all day and i’d been up early we decided to call it a night and head home. Lav was so kind and instead of just walking me to the station and making sure I got on the right tube she got the tube with me and walked me all the way to my hostel!! Such a sweetheart!
The Jamboree (Scout) kids were arriving around 11am so me and Lav met up again just after 9am and got the tube to Wembley central, stopped off for a coffee, some not-up-to-standard marshmallows and managed to miss the kids! We got the tube to kings cross where we got caught by one of the teams. (One of their monopoly challenges was to find me and Lav using social media) we tried running away, sadly to no avail. And after a quick selfie and a chat, the kids got on the tube and Lav and I headed to covent gardens.
When we got there we stopped to watch a magician doing a street show and he was so amazing! He was super funny and so good at keeping the crowd engaged. His big trick was brilliant. He got someone in the crowd to give him a £20 note, two separate people wrote their names on it with sharpies and then he made the note disappear and reappear inside a lemon that had been inside a bag the whole time. It doesn’t sound so cool the way i’ve described it but Lav can vouch for how awesome it was. Honestly though, I reckon he could give stand up comedy a good go, Lav and I were in stitches at his gags and jokes!
After that we headed through china town and ate our lunch, which Lav had kindly bought for us both on the way to meet me this morning! (She even got me a bottle of water which was such a life saver! She’s so thoughtful!!) We hung around at Trafalgar square for a while because I wanted to be cocky and be in the same place as all 36 kids without being caught! There was a planned meet up at the fourth plinth for 2pm, little did we know the yellow-vest march/rally was at the same place, at the same time! And since Lav graduated with a First (WOOP) in politics, we stayed for a while to see what was going on. (I know what you’re wondering and yes, Lav and I can still be friends because we voted for the same party in the last General election)
Once the kids we’re let back in to the wild Katie tipped me off that some of them had turned back around to try and find us having seen my post on facebook (which was a picture of the big group of them all, proving we were close to them) We managed to avoid being caught despite two teams walking straight by us. Mission success!
We caught the bus, which I’ve never done in London before, and walked Across the bridge featured in Harry Potter, got a cute polaroid picture, and a cute selfie and headed to the Tate for a wee! Needs must and all that! From there we headed back to Elephant to get the rest of my things before heading to Canary Wharf, where I was staying the night.
After a stop-off/detour at The Breakfast Club café for free coffee (It’s not what you know it’s who you know!) that tasted AMAZING and came in a super cute cup, we walked for the longest 12 minutes ever to the gates of the Dockland Scout Project where we met up with the rest of the scout leaders and following a much needed sit down, Lav and I said goodbye (Cry) and off she went.
I don’t know about Lav, but I had such a great time. She’s so, so lovely and her accent is amazing! She’s funny and kind and cool. So, So COOL! I haven’t laughed and felt so carefree in a long time and even though Lav thought i was so calm and collected, under the surface i’m so not most of the time, and it was nice to be able to chill out! She introduced me to great pizza, a better understanding of the tube and more of an insight in to her life, loves and personality, and she made my weekend super fab. So, Thank you so much Lav and I can’t WAIT to see you again!
I spent my Saturday night with The Falcons (Unit 37) aboard The Lord Amory, a boat in the waters at Canary Wharf and it was such a cool experience. I slept on a real life boat that isn’t a cruise or ferry!! #ShipLife’sAHipLife
On Sunday we were woken up at 7am with a medley of songs I can only describe as the best “Life At sea” Playlist ever. Everyone slept well and was in high spirits, breakfast was a full english, and after a group picture on the top deck, we headed off to walk through the tunnel under the thames. Our final stop before heading home was up a massive hill to get a beautiful view of the city, which ultimately was worth the effort. Credit to Katie for the lovely artsy photo below! One of the kids played a song on the ukulele and we wowed the crowds with a group rendition of ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen, iconic if you ask me.
On the coach home, I sat with the kids at the back of the bus because i’m super cool and I was helping them plan their next camp. They’re such a good set of kids who all have so much to offer and it’s an absolute pleasure to be able to support them through their jamboree experience. We had such a laugh on the way home, most of it at my expense as they decided reading my blog posts about my relationship experience in japan out loud would be a fun thing to do! Honestly wanted to sink in to my chair! Haha
All in all, I had the most amazing weekend, from meeting one of my favourite bloggers/friend, saying hey to another, creating even more memories with the jamboree kids and leaders and everything in between. It’s given me quite the insight into what my trip to America might look like next year and i’m even more excited now!
What have you guys been up since the start of 2019??? I wanna hear all about it in the comments!!
Happy exploring,
Beth x
The B Word 
OMG Bethikinz, thank you for writing this post!! I almost feel like I was there with you. ALMOST. This sounds like such an adventure. I love that game you all were playing. It sounds so spontaneous and fun!! I can’t wait to visit you all over there in England. You will have to come into London again and we can do this all over! Such a fun trip. Love you and Lavigail so so much!! ❤
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Aw I wish you were there with us!! The game was pretty good, the kids really enjoyed it! Omg I can’t wait until you come over too!!! I’m 100% down for heading to London to hang with you and lav!!! Love you too girl ❤️
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