Farewell, London

I knew this would happen.

Okay, here I am. My last day in London. The sky is blue, the birds are singing, and I don't really want to leave. I'm very excited about flying to New York tomorrow, sure. But my last week here has been as close to a normal week as I've had in a while, and I quite enjoyed it.

My week in Paris was officially my last week off work - from now on I have to earn money if I want any chance of enjoying the rest of my trip. So I've spent this week 'back at the office' (read: 'working remotely'), which involved a few meetings here in London and some work on my laptop.

Basically my holiday is now over, and now I'm just working my way around the world. I'll admit to it being quite a shock getting back behind a computer screen for hours at a time, but it didn't take me too long to get back into it and now I'm being a productive member of society, only in another country.

The other thing is that I've started making friends here (this in my last week). I've been hanging out a bit with my friend (Morgan, who's house I'm staying at), and his flatmate Chris.

Through them I'm now starting to meet a few new people - and also see more of the things that make London so much fun to be in. I still haven't done the London Eye, or St Paul's Cathedral (though I have stood outside them both); but I have explored a fair chunk of the greater London area now, and I think I'm starting to get a feel for what it would be like to live here.

But now I've packed my bag (still only the one bag, I'm doing pretty well!), and I'm ready to set sail for the land of the long white crowd. I had to cull some items from my backpack today; mainly to fit my new suit and shoes into (look at me being fancy with a second pair of shoes!), but also mainly because I had to remove two shirts just to fit my nice bottle of scotch into my bag, while making sure that there remained ample clothing to buffer the bottle from breaking in transit. I suspect that arriving at JFK airport smelling like Christian Slater might hold me up in customs somewhat!

I'm being met at the airport my my good buddy Rohan - one of my mates from uni who is now doing his PhD at NYU. From there he'll take me back to my other friend's house where I'll stay for a couple of days while I get the hang of the city and look for a part time/temporary job in the Big Apple. I've found a couple of possibles that have interested me so far, but a lot of the ones I'm interested in require at least a Master's degree AND five year's post Master's experience. I don't have either of those.

I'll have to see what happens; I'm sure something will come up. In the end I don't mind what it is I do while I'm there, but if at all possible I would like it to be something interesting, or worthwhile, or career-developing.

So here ends my London adventure; or at least for this part of my trip. I leave having enjoyed my time here quite a bit, and would like to return some time in the future.

So long, London. We part, but we part as friends.

I give you 8.5/10