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• One year after

  27Jul
  Categories: Travel & Leisure Comments: 0

  

  At Victoria Memorial in London

  Today marks the day I left the country for the first time. I could still recall how sad, fearful and exciting it was. My flight to London was scheduled at midnight of July 27, 2007. Before leaving for the airport at 7pm of July 26, I was at home relishing every moment spent with my family and cats and watched Wentworth Miller kick ass in Prison Break 2. Every hour that passed seemed to bring me nearer to the guillotine.

  Last year’s trip was a life-changing experience I can never ever forget. It was the day I said goodbye to my independent self and embraced a totally different lifestyle I have never really imagined. Somehow, I did regret the decision of leaving my career, my life and my old self behind in exchange for the promise of a good life. For a time, my stay in London did seem to me a nightmare of sorts. And coming back to Manila after six months simply confirmed that the nightmare was far from over. I was out of job, out of funds and out of my mind.

  But none of those frightful things still holds true today. I chose to look beyond my ugly circumstances and trust God to open a window for me despite many closed doors. It was faith that enabled me to sail through the tempest and see the purpose through thick clouds and torrential rains.

  Tags: London, Manila, Philippines

• When Waterloo isn’t really a waterloo

  10Jul
  Categories: Travel & Leisure Comments: 0

  

  Central London’s Waterloo Station

  London’s Waterloo Station is what MRT North Avenue or Taft Station is to Manila. But hundred times bigger, busier and more sophisticated. Waterloo serves as central station for London Underground, different trains that would take you to the suburbs and bullet trains that could whisk you out of England to Paris and Madrid in a couple of hours.

  For someone who hasn’t been accustomed to first world’s sophistications, I was lost in awe and yes, partly in translation. It was a magnificent well-maintained maze structure albeit old. Hopping on and off from one station to the next was a pretty daunting task that burned my calories to zilch. I haven’t really trained my ears to the undiluted English accent and how much more speak it the way Harry Potter does. I could still hear the voice of my niece play in my head screaming “Mom-may!” or practice reading “Can I have a cup o’ tea-ay, please?” By the way, this hyper-charged kid watches Game KNB, Pangarap na Bituin and Going Bulilit over ABS-CBN Now.

  

  This escalator leads to Jubillee Line, one of the many underground train stations.

  I am really a brave girl just like what my boss told me, and pretty nervous one, too. This trip to Central London was something I really looked forward to since Day One and no one, not even my cousin’s husband, could sway me out of my decision to embark on a trip on my own. I could read, I could write and I could speak American English. As long as I have money and a credit card, I will survive in this alien city. But blood relations require bodyguards for protection. So I got it.

  

  Underground train station at Kensington High Street

  If you’re new to London, Waterloo is your life-saver and towering beacon of light. This is where all places and different faces meet, hear the languages from many worlds, and taste a variety of take-away food from M&S to McDonald’s. It is a prime location surrounded by shops, hotels and inns with similar essence to that of a Corpus Christi real estate. The entire of the English world meets there at Waterloo.

  Tags: London, Philippines

• Getting on the red bus

  08Jul
  Categories: Travel & Leisure Comments: 0

  

  A bus stop along Exhibition Road fronting Clarence House

  The first time I rode on the double decker red bus was during my very first visit to Central London last year. I was with my cousin. We were supposed to go St. James Park but eventually got lost along the way. So we took the bus near the Parliament building but ended up in York Street. We went straight to Waterloo Station, brought a box of Krispy Kreme, took the train back to Chessington South and headed home. It was beginning to get dark at 4:00pm. It was the already the end of summer and the start of autumn.

  The red buses were all over London. Some were single-decker, others double. A double-decker red bus could load up to 60 persons and bring you safe to your destination without missing any of your vital parts. You pay a minimum of 1GBP or flash your Oyster Card to the bus driver upon entering. Disabled people can also easily get on the bus through an automated step. The driver would lower it down to sidewalk level to accomodate a person on a wheelchair.

  I failed to take a photo of a red bus so here’s an example. It’s a bus for sale. Got this from W.H.SMith for 4GBP.

  

  There were certain stations where the bus would load or unload passengers. Time schedules, destinations and bus numbers were indicated at the bus station’s monitor. You can’t just go and hail a bus from anywhere down the street. They’ve got CCTV cameras all over. That’s why everyone would rather have their own cars to drive.

  Tags: London

• Life in a brick house

  04Jul
  Categories: Travel & Leisure Comments: 2

  

  I lived in Siena Close. A “close” is what a “compound” is in Manila.

  One of the few regrets I had was not being able to take as many pictures as I can when I lived abroad. Homesickness got the best of me like some unexplainable disease. Now I understand how those overseas workers feel every time they leave home and stay in a land where you don’t actually matter.

  I lived and stayed in one of those brick houses with real chimneys. In my drawings as a kid, I always had chimneys on the rooftop just enough for Santa. These days, it is rare you’d find brick houses with fireplaces. Modern housing technology has replaced it with what they call heaters or boilers. These boilers do not just act as your heater but are also responsible for your water temperature. You would know that a house is using their heater when you’d see smoke coming off their roofs. When the boiler in my cousin’s house broke down, it was a winter wonderland experience. No one really took a bath.

  

  The backyard

  Those reddish brown bricks are basically a protection from cold. They are an exterior covering on top of plaster and wood. English houses do have attics where they store stuff they rarely use. Some modern houses in the neighborhod have their own mini-storage houses in their backyards.

  

  My room. That’s the heater below the window.

  I spent my evenings reading volumes of books in my room, It’s a well lit room, although one would have wished for a Hinkley lighting. Reading whatever books I could find in the house became some kind of an addictive hobby. You can’t help it when you’re bored. My cousin bought me two fantasy books of Robert Jordan. I also kept a diary where I wrote down my plans, dreams and the things I missed back in Manila. When you’re outside the country, Manila seemed like a very distant galaxy.

  Tags: London, Philippines

• When Elyen went to London

  02Jul
  Categories: Travel & Leisure Comments: 0

  

  What kept me company 40,000 ft above the ground

  It has been almost a year now since the time I left for the United Kingdom. How else would one forget that nerve-wracking moment of embarking on a 20-hour trip alone and on board a really huge international aircraft for the first time? I was caught up in a web of emotions. I mean, what if the plane crashes and I die?

  I really didn’t know what to expect on that particular journey. At the departure area of the ugliest airport in the world called NAIA Centennial Airport, I met this engineer bound for Algeria while eating midnight snacks, and then Rachel who was my companion all the way to Heathrow. In the plane, I remember being seated between the window and this guy who helped me place my luggage in the hat and configured that in-flight TV for me. I don’t typically remember names of married men I meet along the way.

  

  Good morning, Dubai!

  The plane took off for Dubai at exactly 12 midnight and we were up on air for the next 8 hours. My seatmate drifted to a good night’s sleep while I kept myself busy watching movies and checking the plane’s route until my eyeballs hurt. I asked the flight attendant for a paracetamol tablet to cure my headache. I was too tired and stressed out.

  Emirates serves tasty catered airline food in small plates that look like mini-boats. We had AM and PM snacks, breakfast and lunch. Time zone adjustments started to disorient me. We arrived in Dubai International Airport at around 3:00 AM, UAE time, or around 8:00 AM, Manila time.

  

  Busy shops at Dubai International Airport

  Dubai International Airport was incredibly gorgeous with all those amazing structures you won’t expect in a desert city. It was like a mall having a midnight shopping with Pinoys manning several stores and travellers scurrying around. Gold there is really cheap, maybe crude oil, too.

  

  View outside the airport while waiting for my next flight

  On our next eight-hour flight to Heathrow, I was seated at the middle row beside a blonde Australian girl and a black guy. As usual, the black man helped me with my luggage and the Australian girl set up my TV as I didn’t know where to locate it because we were seated on the front row. I wish we had our photo taken together and I would definitely have labeled it “Benetton”.

  

  At the arrival area of BAA London Heathrow

  We arrived in London Heathrow at around 1:00PM (5:00AM, Manila time). I was held up at the British immigration for half an hour interrogation and that made the experience surreal. Being single from a third world on a visitor visa made me a potential TNT in the future so the immigration officer phoned up my cousin where she got quite a mouthful, “We own a brand new 3-bedroom house. We’re nurses. And we are British passport holders.” The officer came back to me apologizing for the delay.

  

  An overcast English skies along M25 on our way to Chessington

  Cloudy English skies and cold rains greeted me outside. That was but day one of my almost 200-day stay in a land that I fell in love with but could never really own. I love the Philippines even the ugliest bit parts of it. I no longer mind if I see people pee on the sidewalks. That’s what sets this country apart from the rest.

  Tags: London, Philippines