After our stroll at Portobello, we met up again with Nicky and his wife, Vane who had just flown in from Manila and arrived that morning. We had a hearty 20-inch pizza lunch at Westborne and visited the shops in the area. Mench has a thing for stationery, so we took a long time at the Paperchase store, where Mench bought some stationery and other assorted paper items. Nicky and Vane decided to go home at this point, and Mench and I proceeded to get lost in the streets of London.

It’s not as if we wandered aimlessly about the city – we did set some goals for the day, which were to stroll around Piccadilly Circus, see the Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and the House of Parliament, and gawk at the humongous London Eye Ferris wheel by the river Thames. We also wanted to take some pictures along the way for our pledges, to thank the people who made our trip possible.

Here’s a handy tip in getting around London: if you’re a tourist and on a do-it-yourself sightseeing trip, it’s best to buy a Day Pass at any London Underground station. The ticket not only gets you around any of the stations around Central London, but also allows you to board any of the buses in town without buying a separate ticket. At 5.30 pounds a day, it’s well worth it than buying many tickets within a day.

We went through the rest of the afternoon wandering around to reach our goals – a combination of taking the Tube, buses, a lot of walking, taking the opposite way from our intended destination, and finally finding them and taking pictures for our pledges. It involved a lot of walking and our feet already hurt at this point, but it was well worth it and we saw some sights along the way that we might have not gone to had we followed a straight path. Apart from where we wanted to go, we also saw St. James square, Covent Garden Market, the Strand theater areas, and more Underground stations than the average Londoner probably sees in a week.

At around 7pm, I was getting really tired from walking and wanted nothing more than to sit in a pub and eat fish and chips while drinking some good beer. It took us some time to find a pub with some free space, but we finally did so at the Globe pub near Covent Garden. It was great sitting down and having the traditional fish and chips experience – what’s funny was that the table opposite us were Pinoys also, discussing their present lives in London and past ones in Manila.

After our dinner, Mench and I were really starting to feel the effects of walking all day coupled with jet lag, so we decided to make it back to the hotel and call it a night. It’s good to have plenty of rest – after all, our trip had only just begun!

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As soon as we got off the station, we instantly felt the energy and vibe as throngs of people headed towards one direction, Portobello.

Since it was only open on Saturdays, the market was really a destination for many. First part of the market was a mix of antiques and other “curiosities”. By this I mean anything from thimbles, to tea cups, wine flasks, masks, silverware, vintage signages and other interesting knick knacks. Antique lovers and vintage collectors will surely go gaga over the multitude of unique things that the market has to offer. Interesting jewelries and accessories also await fashionistas in search for conversation pieces that are far from run-off-the-mill.

To take a break from the walking, we caught sight of a cute snack place called “Humble Pie”. They served…. you guessed it right, humble pies. These pies came in chicken, pork, beef and vegetarian. We had some “Innocent Drinks” (ready-to-drink) smoothies to go with our pies. Overall, it was a great and “humbling” experience.

Moving on, we walked towards the other part of Portobello, the food market. Here, the sights mingled with the smells of glorious food. Stalls sold spices, all sorts of olives, cheeses, Turkish pastries, fresh bread, plump fruits, green vegetables, pretty flowers and sumptuous chocolates. Some kiosks also sold food ready to eat like yummy crepes, paellas cooked on the spot in huge pans, churros con chocolate, hefty sandwiches and other delicious fares.

At Portobello, you will also hear live music played as you walk along. Performers just set up in random areas and just play their music. This adds to the rhythm of the place, giving it a more interesting beat. Some even sing and dance along to the music.

The sun shone as we walked on Portobello, a rare occurrence in autumn London. In the few minutes of sunshine, Gabs and I both basked in its warmth and reveled in the one-of-a-kind experience that is Portobello.

The date for our honeymoon finally arrives! After months of anticipation, we’re finally going on our Manila to Morocco honeymoon trip. And our first day, October 3, Friday was the literally the longest day we have ever experienced.

We were sleepless the night before as Mench finished packing our stuff and prepared for our 6:55AM flight. My parents picked us up and saw us off at the airport. Our flight from Manila to London was via Qatar Airways, with a one-hour stopover at Doha, Qatar. And so started our day of moving back time zones, turning back the clock for the longest Friday ever.

The Qatar Airways plane was pretty nice – but somehow, Mench managed to put us on window seats with no window, with seats that didn’t recline (since it was behind an exit), and had no working in-flight entertainment! And so we went through the 9-hour flight from Manila to Doha without much to do, eating, trying to sleep and passing the time with the books that I brought along.

We arrived at the Doha International Airport at around 3:30PM Manila time – 11:30AM Doha time. Doha is a hot, dusty city which seemed to be a hub for many travelers – as we switched planes, almost nobody got off at Doha itself and just went to one of the many connecting flights, mostly around Europe. There was nothing to see at the airport apart from the generic duty free shops, and we were glad for the quick transfer to the connecting flight that would take us to London.

At around 12:30PM Doha time, our flight from Doha to London took off. The flight from Doha to London took 7 hours, and by the time we arrived in London, it was just 5:30PM local time – but our body clocks were already starting to register the Manila time of 11:30PM. By this time, we had already experienced 23 ½ hours of Friday – and we had 6 ½ more to go!

From the London Heathrow airport, we hopped on the Heathrow Connect train to Paddington Station. Our good friend Nicky, who lives in London gave us instructions on how to reach our hotel via London’s Underground tube lines, so we were able to easily find our hotel from the Underground station.

We finally reached our hotel at around 9:30PM London time – and what interesting one! We booked at easyHotel.com in South Kensington. EasyHotel is a budget hotel concept coming from the easyJet budget airline. When we opened our hotel room, we were surprised to find a room not much bigger than a cruise ship’s stateroom! It had a bed, a bathroom – and that’s it. Oh, there’s a TV mounted high up on the wall, but you have to pay 5 quid for the remote control just to use it. So this is what 35 pounds gets you in London!

Fortunately, the hotel was clean, warm, and safe – which is all we could really ask for in our accommodations. This is a backpacking trip after all, and I think compared to most hostels backpackers stay in, we have a very nice environment already.

After dumping our gear, it was back out again to meet up with Nicky at a Filipino gathering in one of London’s pubs outside Holborn station. We had a few beers and chatted with the other friends, then went walking around the city, ending up in a Chinese restaurant, Wong Kei. The restaurant is known for having the rudest waiters in London, which is probably why Nicky kept on punctuating every request with “Cheers, buddy!” We ended up ordering a full midnight meal, although it was registering in our bodies as breakfast for Saturday already. It reminded us of the after-party meals at Hap Chang or North Park at Makati at 2AM – Yang chow fried rice, pork chop, and crispy pork. Good stuff!

Our bodies started catching up with us, and we were really feeling tired at this point. We took a bus back to South Kensington and walked back to our hotel, happy about our 30 hours of Friday. Time to get some rest and prepare for the next day!

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I can’t believe we are finally pushing through with our Manila to Morocco trip! After months of anticipation, we are finally on our way. It’s an early flight (6:55am Manila Time) so here we are at the airport, groggy but giddy with excitement.

Since I usually snooze through my alarm, frequently missing it, I sort of decided to stay awake until we had to leave for the airport (lest I find myself awake hours after our supposed departureJ). Last night till break of dawn today was spent packing our backpacks.

And what nice packs they are! We both got Eagle Creek packs. Mine is a Maiden Voyage 70 liters, especially made for women and Gabby’s is a Switch Back. Both bags have detachable day packs that we filled with all of our favorite things (Gabby filled it with books, snacks and his laptop). It is also the first time for us to use cubes for packing. Cubes are compartments in various sizes that allows you to organize your luggage. It makes packing so easy and definitely organized since all you have to do is roll your stuff and pack it in these handy cubes. It also allows for easy organization since you basically know which cubes your stuff goes to (it is made of mesh material so you can see through it. We felt so smart packing our stuff using these knick knacks. We also used some compression containers to pack away our bulky stuff (it’s autumn in Europe so we had to bring coats and jackets). Overall, I think we were able to maximize space with all the tools we had.

This has definitely made life easier for a designated packer like me. I am now a reformed packer