Made it to England okay and back without too much trouble. Used some techniques and some stress relievers helped the travel part a lot. The airports of course were crowded – especially London, of course. The first day we arrived we just rested. We all def slept good that night since losing 5 hours of sleep. The first couple days after we arrived were good too. It wasn’t too cold and the sun showed itself numerous times. We got good pictures those days and just spent time around Will’s hometown and neighborhood.

After that we all went down to Birmingham for one day to see the Sea Life Aquarium. That was an ‘ok’ trip. Some of the aquarium was being worked on so a few exhibits weren’t up, but I got to see baby seahorses!! I love seahorses, so that in itself was worth the trip down there as well as the underwater tunnel with the hammerhead sharks. The aquarium didn’t take all that long to go through as it was much smaller than what I’m used to so we wandered around the city for bit. It was cold and wet – blah! But we saw some pretty interesting things as well as a weird shaped mall and we had lunch at a burger place – which you don’t see often in England. There was also a bubble tea shop and of course I had to have one! If it wasn’t so cold and rainy I think I would have had a better time rather than trying to bundle myself up constantly. There were few days where I didn’t put on 2-3 layers of clothes!

The next day was horrible. I’m guessing I might have gotten a case of food poisoning x__x. I had the runs and was throwing up pretty much all day. It sucked tremendously and I have no clue what it could have been. Maybe the bubble tea? Or something I ate at the restaurant? I dunno, but I don’t think I’ll be eating in Birmingham again…My sis also headed down to London on that day to stay for a couple days. The day after I was feeling much better so Will and I just hung around town and did some shopping in Hanley…I got manga books for £3!! Now that was a deal =D. Also picked up some new beanie boos that I haven’t seen in the US yet. Will’s lil cousin Frankie came over as well on one day. She’s def grown. I remember her back in 2005 when I first saw her as just a baby that couldn’t even walk yet! ~

When my sis got back from London we went to Bridgemere Garden World. Which is basically like a little mall of shops but with lots and lots of flowers and garden type things everywhere. They had a bit of everything. I love going to the garden centers around town just because of the variety and it smells good too! They have lots of fish as well and huge koi that sell for £200 or more! Crazy! Not to mention the tiny baby turtles =3


Next was the Monkey Park and FINALLY a day with sun again. It was really windy but at least it wasn’t raining! It would have been a mess if we had to walk in the forest in the rain trying to take pictures of the monkeys. The proper name for them are macaques. They are free roaming and can come right up to you if they want. One got a little too close though o_o Will was taking a pic of one macaque and a youngster came up on the bench beside him. I figured it would keep its distance but nope – kept coming at him! So I tugged on Will to get him to step back a bit and then he realized how close it really was. xP So he tried to get a picture but the second he turned the camera towards the youngster went off. Guess it was camera shy – haha. Monkeys are mischievous and I wasn’t sure if it saw something interesting on Will that it wanted so I was a bit cautious. I’m sure they can be like raccoons – see something they want (shiny) then try to take it from you and if you don’t let them have it they’ll throw a huge fit! All in all it was a good trip to the forest and it was my sis’s first time going to something like that ^^.


We had Manchester in our plans but since much $$ was spent already we decided not to go. The only thing I do up there anyway is go to China Town and spend even more!

This time the trip wasn’t too bad for me. I got sick but recovered well and tried by best to keep my behavior in check, but I won’t say it was easy, cuz by the 4th or 5th day I was kinda ready to go back home. I missed my kitties and being able to actually eat. The only thing I can say that I argued over or got upset over was the food. I can only eat so much Chinese food at once and the British like to put EVERYTHING in a freakin’ bun or pastry. Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely love bread and starch BUT I don’t like my whole dinner stuffed into a pastry. Maybe a roll on the side or something? Not all mashed together in a dry bun. I tried the sausage pastries….yuck and yuck. I tried eating a pre-made salad for a change and ya know what I got for dressing?....Mayonnaise!!! Who the hell puts mayo in a salad for dressing?! I tried it but it about made me sick so I didn’t finish it.

I am not a big fan of the food over here and find myself only wanting to eat sweets, which in turn make me sick because, duh, it’s not good for you! But that’s the only thing I know is ‘safe’ to eat for me and I’ll like it. Everything else is either a love it or hate it. I very much dislike buying food to try and then not eating it cuz I don’t like the taste…so I don’t buy food. I dunno how many meals I’ve skipped or just picked at. And if you ever order Dominos in England…do not expect what you usually would get in the US. It is totally different, right down to the dough it’s made on.

Now I will say the McDonalds has gotten better since the last time I was there! I had a chicken wrap in the US and hated it, but I love McDonald’s wraps in the UK. I had a breakfast wrap and I tried a chicken wrap on a different day and I loved both. They were small portions and tasted NOTHING like the McD’s in the US. They also use eggs from the local farms in the area so the breakfast wrap tasted awesome…not that frozen egg crap you get in the US. These were actual fresh eggs.

–Blahh—maybe I’m just picky but at least I tried many things and I gotta say…can’t help it what my taste buds like – I wasn’t raised in the UK so my body rejects a lot of things and I just like what I like. But not eating well puts me in a bad mood >=( I try every time but always end up getting sick and it’s mainly from not eating right or eating the wrong thing. I never ever throw up, if I do then you know I’m not feeling well.

I think on this trip I did…..90% better than all my other trips. I know therapy has helped along with other things, but maybe I’ve grown up a bit too. Or maybe having Danielle here helped a crap load cuz before I always felt like I was by myself. Will would have his family and I’d just kinda be just…there. But I’m always ready to go home the second I get to the UK…so now I just get in the mindset that I gotta do what I gotta do to make time go by faster so I can be back home…to gorge on a nice American meal that I miss OH SO MUCH. And to cuddle all of my kitties =) I can’t wait for the day his parents and come over here to the US so I don’t have to go over there! But that won’t be until we get a house x_x but still…looking forward to it.