Happy New Year to all!

I did two short trips this festive season, first to Brighton and then to Reading. In between, I went for the New Year Eve Countdown.

Brighton was very pretty. It is in the south of England, where I got to see sea again after 3 months! It wasn't a white sandy beach though. Rather, it is filled with pebbles. Winter is a bad time for beach. Nevertheless it was a good place to chill, eat fresh seafood and visit the cultural quarters of Brighton which resembles very much like mosques...

My boyfriend and I chose a spot in between Embankment and Westminster stations, just across the river from London Eye, for our New Year Eve Countdown. This was our first countdown out of Asia and
I was quite skeptical about it at first. We braved through 4 hours of coldness sitting on the hard street floor. In the end, all was worth it! The fireworks were magnificent!



I had to hold my bladder for a total of 8 hours till I got home as the temporary toilet cubicles had no lights! I wouldn't want to be stepping and sitting on pee blindly! Going back was a nightmare. While it usually would take me 45 mins to get home from Waterloo, it took us 3hours! We went to Embankment station and we were told that it would be closed till instructions were given to open it. So we walked to Waterloo Bridge to get to Waterloo. It wasn't that easy - we had to go a roundabout to get onto it. Relieved to get onto the other side of the river, we were again disappointed to find out that the usual entrance into the station was blocked off. We went round the huge station and before we knew it, we almost walked a whole round. The crowd had already built up. We cheated a little, as we managed to find out a shorter queue into the only entrance. Soon, we realised that we had to walk almost a whole round back where we originally were at the main entrance. It was the first time that I had to stand on the rail back home. I was terribly tired and my bladder was exploding... And the train had to stop at every single stop... But, if you ask me, everything was worth it, to see the fireworks.

We went to Reading from 1-3Jan. We didn't plan anything for it, just wanted to get out of the halls. Nevertheless, it was quite an interesting and relaxing trip.

I will be off to Edinburgh on Thursday! More photos to come...