Travel Weary on a Small Island

Sitting in a hotel room in Newcastle, looking out over the Tyne River, exhausted and generally unenthusiastic. I feel like I've been gone too long.

I knew that I tend to hit the wall at two weeks of travel, but figured Jody's presence would help. And the part with him did just fly by. But because he is his company, he doesn't have the luxury I do of skipping work to traipse around England for a week, while still receiving full pay. So I knew I'd have a few days on my own while he kept up his quizzing, then could look forward to him being back with me in Newcastle on the weekend. Only he isn't. Because this weekend is also the Scottish Green Conference in Glasgow, so he's going there instead. Internally I threw a tantrum at his decision, but it's a one-time only political event that I'd hate for him to miss. Newcastle and I can be seen anytime. But that doesn't help me feel any less fed up with travel today.

Anyway. Newcastle is my last stop on the rugby tour. I was coming to see Scotland's last game in the pool tomorrow, but last week I noticed (relatively) cheap tickets were still available for the All Blacks and Tonga  tonight, so I'm going to both while I'm here.

In between RWC stops, I spent a couple of days in London. I arrived at St Pancras on Wednesday afternoon, dragged all my luggage on the Tube to the hotel, went right back out shopping, and within minutes was lying flat on the pavement. I tripped while walking too fast to stop the forward momentum and went right down. Apart from bruised and scraped knees, I walked away fine... But once a klutz, always a klutz, and it did remind me to watch where I'm going. It's shocking how many times I can fall over or crash into things without learning that lesson for good. Shrug.

The rest of the day passed without incident, and I started Thursday at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was incredible. It's massive, and there's so much to see. I spent about an hour wandering through and then, as Karl Pilkington might say, my eyes were full. I think I missed 2 full floors and most of Asia, but I couldn't take in any more. I guess I'll need to go back next time. The rest of the day was spent shopping, although sadly not buying, because I couldn't find anything I wanted.

So now another busy train ride later, I'm on my last stop of the tour, trying to muster some energy. Really hope it works, because I have two games to cheer for and won't get to do this again for another 4 years...