Haarlem to London + London Day 1-2

4 - 6 June 2013

Day 1: Packing
I dunno if this should be Day 1 because I'm back and the counter for Netherlands resets or if it should continue from last time I was here but whatever, it's 1 now. Today is the day we pack everything in the Haarlem house into a truck and head off to the ferry. The street is only one lane wide but no-one cared that we parked the truck in the street to load up, such a friendly country :D We were also really lucky to have awesome weather; 20-something and clear skies.

Raw Everything
We went out for lunch and on the way through the marketplace, my cousin suggests that we should try the local specialty: raw herring with onion and pickles. It wasn't particularly elegant but I did it. Two pieces in fact. It actually tasted ok but it was the texture that got me or to quote my sister "I'm having texture issues". For lunch my cousin decided to have a raw beef, mozzarella and lettuce roll, which I tried and it was genuinely really good.

The Ferry
It's called a ferry but if you're thinking a few cars on a cable driven platform, like I always do when I hear ferry, then think much bigger. This thing is a friggen ship! We got a bit stuck on the way there because of a closed road but once we arrived at the port, the whole process was super simple; we just drove on and that was it.

We had dinner on-board, a fantastic curry, then a few beers. It was interesting walking back to the room when you're a little tipsy but the boat was more so (it had a bit of a sway going on). I wasn't sure how I'd go sleeping on a moving boat but it turned out I was fine (maybe the beers helped) and as an added bonus, the bed was better and longer than the ones in the hostel.

Day 2: Don't worry, be happy
We set an alarm for 5:30 so we'd be up and ready in time to drive off the boat but it turns out we didn't have to because they blasted the start of "don't worry, be happy" over the intercom just after our alarm went off. We had a super expensive breakfast (it was ok) and then we were on our way.

Too Wide

The drive from the ferry to the house was slow going/stationary because we got stuck in peak hour but the killer thing was that we were too wide to fit through one street. Unfortunately GPSs don't have a "show path for big-ass vehicles" mode so we just had to spin around and keep driving another way until we had a new route calculated for us. We made it in the end but the next problem was that the choices on parking were a police zone or the footpath; we went with the safer one. We were fine until about 5 minutes before we were ready to leave when the nice man gave us a parking fine.

Exploring
I borrowed my cousin's bike and went for a ride (in totally the wrong direction) but I arrived in the next town over and found a sim card, an absolutely essential thing because there wasn't any interest at the house yet.

The Local
Dinner was at the local pub where I get a mixed grill burger, it was as awesome as it sounds, and a pint.

Day 3: Recovery
Time for a slack day because I am on holidays after all. I had a bit of a sleep in, wrote some more blog stuff (clearly not enough to get another one published in a timely manner) and went for a wander through Beckenham, the town we're living in.

Thoughts of England so far
-I see what English Summer means but I've still been able to wear shorts everyday
-Mobile reception where we're living is totally rubbish (and therefore mobile internet too)

Almost all packed and with room to spare

The "ferry" aka SHIP!

Just after take off at the front of the ferry