The Runaway Canadian

I have lots of things on my list to check off while living in London. I’m also sure there’s plenty I’ve forgotten (or just don’t even know about) so let me know if I missed something awesome that I totally need to check out. There’s likely going to be some things not on here (ie London Eye, Stonehenge) because I did them 3 years ago when I visited and don’t really need to do again. So, without further ado, my list of things to do while living in London. Harry Potter Warner Bros studio tour Tower of London Walk across the top of Tower Bridge Christmas markets Any or all of the museums Ice skating on one of the cute outdoor rinks Walk across the Millenium Bridge Go back and visit Sherlock and the TARDIS Forbidden Planet Fortnum & Mason Nando’s (cheeky or otherwise) Visit the rest of the UK Go on a Harry Potter walking tour (or just find all the filming sites) Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park Football match Filming of them Graham Norton Show Watch a show on the West ...

On Saturday after I moved to my new home I walked, I keep wanting to say into town but I feel like that’s not right, to the high street? I guess, and did a bit of recon on the area. Went into the, I think, 5 different supermarkets and just checked them out. I had no intention of actually shopping because it was Saturday and it was busy and I had no idea what I was doing. That’s actually a lie, I bought a maltesers advent calendar, because clearly I have my priorities in the right place... I went back on Monday, where it was a little less busy but I still had no idea what I was doing. Not knowing brand names or items makes things much more difficult. And I’m even using the same language! I’d be screwed if I went somewhere that spoke a foreign language. Since I was apparently entertaining my sister with my messages while shopping, I thought I’d regale other people with this story. It started off in the orange juice aisle, where the labels call what I refer to as pulp “juicy bits” to ...

Looking for a place to live is hard enough at the best of times. Throw in being in a new country with no job or references and no idea what a reasonable budget or location is, and things get about 10 times harder. I’ve been staying at a hostel since I arrived in London and even though it’s not a bad hostel (more about it in another post, hopefully) I didn’t really want to stay here much longer. They also have a limit of 14 nights. Naturally my first 2...3 days were write offs and I could barely think straight to look for a place. Or I was sleeping. Eventually I got my act together and started looking. Luckily there are some lovely apps to help with this, namely SpareRoom and Rightmove. I had been hoping to find a place by myself (no, you don’t need to tell me, I know it’s expensive) because I’m sort of over just having a room. However, being in a time crunch and not really knowing where I wanted to live, I went with the flat share option. Which, let me tell you, is still pretty diffi...

I suppose it’s technically first two days, but both days were pretty much write offs so they amount to about a day. I have officially moved to a new country. Everyone keeps asking me what I’m gonna do or where I’m going to be living, and as of right now I don’t have a clue. And that’s fine. I mean, I’m freaking out a little bit, because what idiot moves to an entirely new country with no job or house lined up? This idiot, apparently. But it’ll be fine. I hope. My flight wasn’t terrible. Flew with West Jet, got a couple meals/snacks (and a farewell treat of maple candy!) and a blanket, pillow and bottle of water were at the seats on boarding so that was fun. Pretty solid movie selection, even though I didn’t actually want any because I wanted to try and sleep since it was an overnight flight and I’d be arriving at 9am London time. That didn’t really work out so well. Got into Gatwick Airport about an hour earlier than scheduled. Which would have been great if it wasn’t 8am and I coul...

I have jumped on the bandwagon of creating a list of 30 things to do before I turn 30. I started on my 29th birthday, and I have 6 months left to go. I’m doing...ok. I had some plans fall through so I’m pretty sure I won’t get to complete all of them, but I’m at least going to try. Some of them are bigger and more exciting than others, and some are things I’ve been meaning to do for a while and this is a way to force me to do it. So, in no particular order, here is my list of 30 things to do before I turn 30. Move to another country (plan is in progress at the moment) Visit (at least) one new state (this is the one I’m pretty sure won’t be happening) Visit (at least) one new country Get a tattoo (my mother’s going to kill me if she reads this) Dye my hair a crazy colour (only dyed it normal colours before) Donate blood (have done before but haven’t done in a while) Get a manicure (have gotten one before but it’s kind of nice so want to go again) Finish t shirt quilt (massive...