Reset search
Joshua Ford-KingJoshua Ford-King
SatelliteEdit route
traveled in 11 countries Read more Hobart, Australia
  • Europe Trip!
    1
    Day 29

    Last day doing stuff in London

    February 11 in England ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Today was basically our last day for the entire trip! :(( but that’s okay because we started off the day with something fantastic: Lord’s Cricket Ground! We were running a little late so we took an Uber there. When we got there we entered the gate and went straight into a museum. It was so so cool to see all of these legendary players’ gear and stories, and to learn a whole bunch! Now I know why the ashes are actually called the ashes. After a few more people from our tour group rocked up, our tour guide introduced himself. When I tell you that he was the most perfect cricket fanatic, kindhearted, British gentleman ever, please believe me because he really was all of those things. He knew absolutely EVERYTHING. He showed us all around the stadium, whilst telling us all about the rich history of the grounds. And to make it even better London weather decided to switch things up a bit and show some sun! Best. Tour. Ever. We’d also booked in a ‘cream tea’ (basically scones and drinks) at Lord’s tavern which was AMAZING and made me feel the most British ever. Then we strolled down to Abbey Road Studios and the crosswalk. Honestly, the crosswalk is very hard to distinguish. Like the only reason we knew it was THE crosswalk is because it was pretty crowded. Also poor traffic, constantly stopping for people to take photos haha. Then we decided to go to 221 B Baker Street - where apparently Sherlock Holmes lives. I don’t know anything about Sherlock so I was kinda just following Sarah but hey! There was a cool house with a cool little souvenir shop with a bunch of Sherlock stuff so I guess we were in the right place. Then it was time for me to be introduced to Harrods. I also had no idea what this magical place was at first but wowee that is a place and a half. With everything being costing an arm and a leg. Then to kill time we checked out both Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square, both of which were insanely busy. There were a whole bunch of Chinese New Year celebrations happening which were pretty cool. Then it was time for our final show on West End - Frozen! Now I’m not much of a big Frozen fan but oh. My. Goodness this show blows Wicked and Lion King out of the park. It was genuinely perfect. Like it was the most specky, the most entertaining, most energetic show ever. And the BAND ahh it was the perfect level and genuinely made me listen to the frozen soundtrack. So so good. It’s gonna be hard to let it go. Pun absolutely intended. Then for our last dinner in London we decided to be fancy by going to…another pub. Totally worth it. Some munching and crunching later, we took a bus back to the air bnb and zzzzzRead more

  • Europe Trip!
    11
    Day 28

    More London!

    February 10 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Another exciting day today! Today was music shop day wooooo! We woke up and headed straight towards heaven. Otherwise known as Phil Parker LTD. We stopped on the way for some brekkie and turns out this one cafe sells Vegemite! Time for a taste of home. We walked a little bit more and there we were! I quite literally spent hours in that shop. I don’t know exactly how many trumpets and mouthpieces I tried out but it was more than I care to admit. (Warning: I’m about to go full trumpet nerd) I came in looking to try a whole bunch of mouthpieces made by a specific brand which isn’t sold in Australia, and turns out they had one of that brand’s trumpets as well! The brand - Lotus - is super famous and I tried every single mouthpiece they had before settling down on one. Genuinely one of the hardest choices ever. I probably would’ve died if I walked out of that shop if I didn’t end up buying something. Anyway something like 4 hours and £200 later and we were off! Off to go see the Tower of London. We only stayed for a bit before going back to the air bnb to chill before seeing Wicked! A little snooze and then it was time to go to the Apollo Victoria Theatre. We got dinner nearby at this yummy Pakistani restaurant before going inside the theatre and WOW this was a very very shnazzy theatre and the show was well…wicked! Vocals: on point. Acting: on point. Music: on point but a smidge too soft. Still a VERY good show. One bus back to air bnb and zzzzRead more

  • Europe Trip!
    111
    Day 27

    Full day in London!

    February 9 in England ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Full London day woooo! Cloudy with a chance of even more clouds. But that didn’t stop us! We went to the Camden markets and strolled around there which felt like we could go on and on forever. I bought some socks! But those markets had absolutely everything you could dream of, including a burger the size of your head. No seriously we saw these people get a burger and it was. Ginormous. Anyway fun little highlight. Then we trained to Kings Cross Station where the plan WAS to go see the 9 & 3/4 shop but it was being renovated :(( so the next closest thing to witches hats were fluffy hat guards at at Buckingham Palace! Not really too much to say. It was a cool building with a cool statue and fluffy hat guards. But then we made our way over to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben - both of which definitely lived up to their name! On the way there we passed through St James’s park which meant seeing pelicans and feeding squirrels! Big highlight for sure. We contemplated going on the London Eve but London weather was being London weather so we decided not to. We went to Covent Gardens for a big shop in the huge mall, we also saw some super cool opera and a string quintet gigging! Man that was cool. Then it was tiiiiime! Time for Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club!…almost. We stopped off at a few bookshops on our way there just because we had some spare time. After a good read we went to go see Philip Lassiter and his funk band and wowzers that was something I’m never gonna forget. Best jazz club I’ve ever seen and out of this world playing. I even got a photo with the guy! We went to his 1st of 2 sets so we had time to go to a local pub afterwards. These English pubs sure know what they’re doing. We headed home after and we both crashed zzzzRead more

  • Europe Trip!
    Day 26

    Bye Belgium :( Hello London!

    February 8 in England ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Time to go! We got up super early to get to Antwerp international airport which is by FAR the smallest airport I’ve ever been to. Like even Hobart airport is significantly bigger! We waited around for a while before hopping on our 1 hour flight to London! It was a bit of a bumpy ride with some not-so-good weather but all good we made it safely into London city airport! There is no better feeling than seeing your bag come off the carousel first. We tried our best to figure out the whole London train thing with zones and lines and districts blah blah blah, but we somehow managed to get to Paddington Station! We had to store our luggage somewhere before we could check in to our air bnb so we found a place nearby and headed for a walk through Norfolk square gardens to Hyde Park. Side note: London weather stereotypes could not be more true. Super gloomy and rainy but ah wellll. We headed back to the storage place and back to Paddington station to catch a train to our air bnb! When we got there we crashed before heading to West End for our first show, the Lion King!! Man we were so excited. We caught a train to the Lyceum Theatre and wowee that was awesome. The stage was absolutely beautiful and I have no idea how they managed to make it feel so so real. I was so tired I was dozing off in the second act, not because the show was bad! Just because big big day hehe. After the show we headed back home on a bus and straight away zzzzRead more

  • Europe Trip!
    Day 25

    Just a liiittle bit more Antwerp

    February 7 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Today was basically our last day in Belgium nooo :(( we spent the morning going shopping for ingredients to make Sarah and I’s soup! (Well, more of a chowder but shh) travel note: finding chicken stock in Belgium is particularly challenging. Anyway we got back and started cooking up a storm. I showed Ina just how extraordinary I am at peeling potatoes. Some chopping, peeling, and stirring later, it was lunch time! It was so good having everyone there at the table :)) People went for seconds which means it wasn’t inedible yay! Then we went back to the Meir where we had some last minute obligatory waffles and did some shopping. I got my samson melk and prince mini stars - both of which are what I lived on years ago. A smidge more shopping later and we went back home for the last supper. We had stroofvlees and fritjes (meat and chips) which is just what we needed to wrap things up. We hung out with Opa Jan for a while after dinner to say goodbye for the last time before we went to England :(( way too many chocolates later and we were back home and zzzzRead more

  • Europe Trip!
    1
    Day 24

    Exploring Antwerp again!

    February 6 in Belgium ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    After a much needed rest, we decided today was another day for exploring! First stop was obviously Chocolate Nation. And a chocolate nation it was. I have never been to a place with that much chocolate and happiness ever. It was a museum which described how chocolate was made, why Belgian chocolate is superior, who the famous chocolatiers are etc... We got to try so so many chocolates which I would die to do again. it was SO GOOD and SO DELICIOUS. Afterwards, we hopped up and took a train to Groenplaats (a pretty shnazzy square) the reason we went there was to go see Brabo, a big famous statue in the middle of the square. There’s a whole bunch of history around him and why he’s throwing a dude’s hand, but that’s for your own research. After chilling with him for a bit, we couldn’t help but notice the huge cathedral there as well! Very big, very cool. We then went to a nice little Italian place for lunch, where my two uncles (Janneman and Jonathan) joined us! It was the first time seeing Janneman so that was nice! After some catching up Jonathan decided to be the most qualified tour guide ever and show us around the place. He took us to a place called Vleeshuis which directly translates to meat house. Where back in the day…they sold meat. Anyway after that thrilling experience we went to the MAS - a big museum with nice views. We went all the way to the top before heading to Janneman’s cafe! Being the nephew of the guy who owns the cafe means free drinks woo! We skipped out on dinner because we were still way too full from lunch oops. Opa Jan and Ina joined us there for a bit before we all rode the bike home. Traffic here is bonkers but we made it! ZzzzzRead more

  • Europe Trip!
    1
    Day 23

    EFTELING!

    February 5 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    EFTELING DAY WOOOOOO!! Man I cannot express how long I’ve been waiting for this day. We got up super early and I went to a bakery to get some bread rolls, then I went back home and we made some sandwiches! (Pro tip for amusement parks: sandwiches taste better than bankruptcy) we headed off to Antwerp Central Station where we caught our first train to Breda. Kachow new country unlocked! We were in the Netherlands. We waited a smidge in Breda for the next train which took us to Tilburg. This was a super pleasant place to be! We still had a while before the bus to the Efteling so we sat down at a cafe close by and had a coffee. This was such a cool cafe with super nice people :) anyway then it was time for the final bus!! Ah there’s nothing like seeing the entrance to the Efteling in person. As soon as we hopped off the bus we rushed straight in. We started off by doing the most logical thing: doing the scariest ride there. I was clearly enjoying it more than Sarah hehe, but we survived! Afterwards we basically strolled through the entire park doing basically everything. There’s way too much to say about the whole day so I’ll just go with highlights. The sprookjesboss (fairytale forest) is magical, droomvlucht (dream flight) is magical, poffertjes (baby pancakes) are magical, and the water show was magical. If you ever get the chance, please go to the Efteling, I promise you won’t regret it. Anyway a lot of trains and patience later and we were finally back home. Again way too much to say for one day, but zzzzzRead more

  • Europe Trip!
    1
    11
    Day 22

    Exploring Antwerp!

    February 4 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Exploring time! We really wanted to get to a cool church today but it was rather far away from where we were staying. But we persisted! We caught a bus that got us to Antwerp central station and then the plan WAS to catch another one that’d get us within walking distance to the church. However once we got on this bus we looked on google maps and quickly realised it was going the opposite way. Did we get on the right bus on the wrong side of the road? Absolutely. Were we annoyed and confused? Sure thing. Anyway then we waited for another bus that’d get us there as well. We had to wait quite a bit, all the while we are getting later and later for this church. So this bus finally arrives and we wave for it to stop and it. Drives. Past. Not cool. So then we persisted even more and decided to rent bikes and and just cycle the way there. Way quicker, way more fun. No idea why we didn’t just do that in the first place! Ah well church was fun! And the people were so so nice. Afterwards we decided to stick with bikes from then onwards and went to the Meir - a big shopping street where we spent a lot of our time…wait for it…shopping. We went to a whole bunch of clothes shops and recreated a photo from back in 2019! Sarah had her fist waffle from Antwerp and it did not disappoint. We went to a cool bistro place for lunch and I had fristi for the first time in so long. My inner child was again healed. It was getting pretty late so we headed back to Opa Jan’s house for dinner (via bike of course) His friend Allal was there too and he made this super yummy chicken with sauce and veggies thing mmmmm we stuck around for a bit of a chat before heading back to Ina’s for bed. ZzzzzRead more

  • Europe Trip!
    1
    Day 21

    Full Belgium day!

    February 3 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    As soon as we woke up we explored Brussels a bit. We stopped off for a croissant before going to the Grand Place! I forgot how cool this place is. We set off on an adventure to find one of Belgium’s iconic statues - Manneken Piss. Yes that is the actual name. Anyway having a waffle could NOT wait any longer so we walked to the closest waffle stand (they were everywhere) and kablam instant happiness and nostalgia. My inner child was healed. Then we made our way back to Brussels Central train station where we caught a train to Antwerp central! It was around an hour on the train, but a train to Antwerp means local Dutch speakers! It was so weird having conversations in a different language with strangers. But yeah! Then we arrived to the most stunning train station ever before making our way to Ina’s (my step grandmother) house. So so good to see her for the first time in ages! We also saw Jonathan (my uncle) and Opa Jan! (My grandpa) We caught up, did introductions, blah blah blah. Then we started doing a puzzle which was fun! We had dinner shortly after. We had rice, chicken, veggies…all the good stuff. We chatted a bit more before heading to bed. Oo! And I introduced Sarah to Money Heist (if you haven’t watched it, go do yourself a favour) zzzzzRead more

  • Europe Trip!
    Day 20

    Bye Spain :( Hello Belgium!

    February 2 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Our final day in Spain :(((( Lidia (my auntie) picked us up from the hotel for checkout and then we went to the lighthouse for a little walk! The view was absolutely stunning, as was the weather (again) We had some brekkie at the cafe close to the lighthouse before walking around to a nice park where I apparently have been 10 years ago! After a bit of walking, we headed to the family’s house where we had leftovers for lunch and played a few other board games before it was time to head off to the airport :( we exchanged some gifts before saying goodbye to Eduardo and Julio (my cousins) Jeroen and Lidia drove us to the airport and then said goodbye to us at security. Tears were shed :( a few moments later and we were on the plane to Madrid. Anddd we landed! An hour wait in Madrid means maccas comparison time. Chips: exactly the same. Nuggets: definitely have chicken salt or something on them here. Anyway much needed. Then one more flight and we were in Brussels woooo! We caught a train to Brussels central and then walked to our air bnb. ZzzzRead more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English