London, Oxford, London and United at Last!

So I guess I should start by saying this is Kim because I know this can get a little confusing, but the confusion is over at last because the two halves of this blog are now united as a whole traveling team! Yeah!

Since my last blog entry I stayed for about a week with a french woman named Vero in Dalston Junction, an area of northeast London, where I was treated to the most fabulous couch surfing experience complete with a few wonderful nights out, some equally as fun nights in and some not so great day and a half on the couch with a cold. Me and Vero made great friends; we chatted long hours, she helped me buy a few new items to spice up my boring travel wardrobe, even giving me some sunglasses from her work, and she took the best of care of me while I was sick doing mom proud. I really hope to see her again sometime on my travels!

Then I was of just an hour and a half west to Oxford, the famous ivy league university town, where I explored a few of the over 30 colleges within the University and drooled over the royal palaces of academia at the oldest recorded college in English history dating back to the 1200's. Just to give you an idea of what some of these buildings look like, Harry Potter was filmed in the cafeteria of one of them and it was actually filled with paintings of past headmasters. With candlelight. It was luxuriously amazing. There I stayed with 4 young adults whom I met through couch surfing on a bed in their spare room. 3 of them were graduates from the local university outside of Oxford and one was a world traveller from Australia, just saving up money for her next big adventure. They were all so fun to be around, incredibly interesting and sweet as could be. Wish I could have stayed longer to get to know them better, but in the meantime I had a great time hanging out with them, we cooked for each other, they showed me some great pubs and they became riends I'm so glad to now have.

Then Saturday the 28th I took a bus back to London and met Waid's mom Kaidi who lives in the most beautiful town home in London's Camberwell neighborhood. In a few hours, Camille and Waid showed up and we've been hanging out since, eating great food, ironing out plans and enjoying London. This morning we took a trip to the outskirts of London to visit Waid's grandparents who are both professional painters and charming people. We had a proper English tea and they showed us all around their beautiful artistically studio meets proper art nouveau-like lounge of a house. They were such interesting people and we just adored them.

Now we are making preparations to head off to France in the next couple hours. Eek! So excited! There we will be staying at the house of an old friend of my boss from the Poulsbohemian's named Phillipe for a few days then wandering. Kind of winging it these days, but we're just happy to be here. Will attempt to update soon but the next few days/weeks will be chaotic. Working out wwoofing plans as well. Found a place we really want to go in Normandy but are still waiting to here. Keep your fingers crossed. Hopefully next time we write we will have epic plans as well as stories for this month. Stay tuned!