First Stop: UK

Off to Dublin tomorrow! Thought I better update on my European adventure to date...

Here I am in Stonehouse at the moment, living with my second cousin Emily, and her fiancé Will. It's a lovely little town, about 30 minutes from Bristol. Their house is tiny and wonderful, with the backyard opening up onto a huge lush green field, with cows strolling by frequently. It's been sunny and warm for the last few days :) I'm in England for Em's wedding, here until June 24th where I am meeting my friend Maja in Porto, Portugal, where we will be travelling Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and France together until the beginning of August. I'm then heading up to Sweden to meet Matt's brother Jason, his girlfriend Anna, and their two children Aires and Zora, where they live. After that, I'll have about two and a half weeks to explore until August 30th. Haven't decided where yet, but that's the exciting part!

I started off my trip with 5 days in Cornwall, in Southern England. Em's "hen-do" brought about 20 of us down there for days on the beach, bbq's, surfing, a night out in Newquay, and of course loads of embarrassing moments for Emily. A bank holiday weekend, this place was unreal. Bachelor party after bachelorette party took over the town. We arrived in a private shuttle dressed as sailors, lead by the proud hen in her Ghostbuster's Marshmallow Man suit!

After Cornwall, I ventured out to Newbury with Em's friend Becks (she's been great at feeding the tourist in me). About an hour away from London (in good traffic mind!), one of our missions was to try on Becks' dream wedding dress - her wedding is next Summer, as you can imagine, there is a lot of wedding talk with this group! The next day, I took the train back up to London alone, and spent the day on a tourist mission - didn't stop moving for about 9 hours (except for a rest in the park along the Mall on my way to Buckingham Palace). It was perfect weather for sightseeing - perfect blue sky, and a nice 25 degrees. I managed the underground, and trains no problem in London - only managed to get lost once I arrived at the station back in Stonehouse ("Just follow the path, you can't miss it!" were my instructions from Emily... With two sides to the platform, and an exit on either side, I sure did miss it!!!) With a phone out of batteries, and coins that would work in the phone booth, and darkness approaching, I luckily managed to get home safe and sound only half an hour later.

We've been back and forth from Wotton-under-Edge loads, meeting up with Em's parents for wedding plans, hair appointments etc. Lot's going on in the wedding world! Last night we had a night out in Stroud for my birthday... Indian and the glory of English pubs!

Off to Dublin bright and early tomorrow morning (on my 6 pound return flight!) I'll be sleeping over at my cousin Sam's place in Bristol, as it's just that much closer to the Bristol Airport.

Talk to you soon! Here are a few pics below...

Pippa xx

Em and Will's backyard.

A church from the Norman Era on the route back to Em's.

Beach in St. Agnes, Cornwall just down the road from Emily's family's cottage.

Chyvalier, the cottage.

The walk down to the beach.

Emily is the one at the very bottom!

After a ride in the lifeguard's truck... running away with their rescue ring.

Surf lessons in Newquay!

The hen!

Another beach in Cornwall (Becks and Kate, my other cousin)

Wedding dress shopping in London!

Thatcham Station in Newbury, on my way to London.

Arrival at Paddington Station.

Walking to the Mall and Buckingham Palace.

Em and Will - photo for their table settings!