Family

Hello Everybody,

So I've been quiet on here the past few days, and that's because well I went back home. Yes, I went back home to the US for a bit to see family, and friends. During my time home I did get to finally see some snow which instantly made me feel at home. And the first thing that I did when I got back to the US was go to Sonic's and get a burger. I missed american hamburgers.

But I came home because in January I got some news that both my step-mother and father would be doing some traveling over the next year, and I won't see them until after they get back from their travels. So I made the decision to fly to the US after I spent some time in Dublin. I felt that I needed to see everyone before we all went our separate ways. But this trip from the beginning felt slightly bittersweet.

I was overjoyed when I landed in Boston from my flight from Dublin, and since I went through customs in Dublin and because of that I got to skip it in Boston. I found Haley and we ended up making our way up to Epping to see everyone. The week went great, I hung out with family, I got a very much needed date night in Boston with Haley, and then I got to have a huge bonfire with the whole family before we all left.

I think it was the night of the bonfire that I finally realized how much family meant to me and what they have given to get me to where I am today. I really am so proud of everyone in the family. I am so proud of the adventures that my Step-Mother, and Father are about to embark on and I wish them the safest journey possible, and the most enjoyable time where they go. I'm so proud of my little sister, and what she has accomplished this year, and what she is going to accomplish in the months to follow, and for once she got a someone by her side that I actually like. So if you're reading this treat her right. Also of Haley for sticking with me through all the BS, stress, and especially my Enactus stuff. I know you're proud but you don't wanna hear about it anymore, and I'll be taking a break from it all when I get home, but for right now you'll still be hearing about it. And finally for all of you who I didn't get a chance to see, thank you for your support over this past year and for the rest of the time that I am there in the UK.

But I know that although we're going to be spread across the globe we'll be supporting each other through it all. Like I said before I wish everyone safe travels and the enjoyment of their trips. I'm proud to be apart of this family and everything that we have accomplished, and what we are going to accomplish over the coming year. I love you guys!

                                          Photo Credit: Haley Hamerstrom (@706Hales)

So I will be off traveling again here soon. I will be filling you all in on that as soon as I can once I've got settled at my next stop. I have just a little bit more traveling before I head back to Plymouth to continue my studies. Then it's just a few more months and I will be traveling Europe and then back home. But till next time stay safe and have fun.

-Tucker

The Luck of the Irish

Hey Everyone,

So as I said on the last post that I would be traveling soon, and as some of know I’ve started to. So I this Easter break from university I ended up having quite of bit of travel plans. I have three, well actually really four legs to this trip and this one is going to be about the first leg of this trip. So with a bit of luck I’ll be able to tell a great story about my trip to Dublin.

So my way to Dublin started really early in Plymouth about a week ago when I got on a train that took me to Bristol, and a bus that took me to the Bristol airport. I had booked a flight with the budget airline Ryanair to fly from Bristol to Dublin. I had heard stories of how bad Ryanair can be sometimes, but they were cheap so I ended up booking with them just to get me to Dublin. After a 5-hour wait, and an hour delay I managed to make it onto my flight to Dublin. First time I got to walk onto a plane from the tarmac up a flight of stairs. I felt like I was the president walking up the stairs to get on my flight.

So after an hour flight, which 45 minutes of that hour I slept I landed in the Republic of Ireland. It took only a matter of minutes to get through customs and get an Irish stamp in my Passport. After a quick switch of currency, I went to find my bus to get to my Hostel. Shout out to Beth for giving me the 6 euro before I left in September, because you’ll be happy to know that I used it to by my bus ticket into Dublin.

The bus ride was nice and quick, but one of the first things that I noticed as I got into the city that all the signs in the city were in both English and Gaelic. I learned later that many in Ireland just call Gaelic Irish. An Irish man that I met at my hostel tried to teach me a bit, and although I had a hard time pronounce a few of the words, but I got it down I think.

So after getting on my bus I went on a mission to find hostel. My sense of direction was pretty good I guess due to the fact I got there in under like 15 minutes from getting off my bus. I ended up staying at the Generator Hostel, and for those of you who are planning on going to Dublin give them a look. They got me checked in, in no time and then after locking my stuff up I went and explored. After a bit of exploring I called it, went back and eat at the hostel, and then went to bed for an early day the next day.

The next day I woke up early and I refreshed with a shower, got dressed, and then went out and started to explore the city. Since it was Good Friday all the bars in the city were closed so Temple Bar was quite peaceful early in the morning, but I was on a mission to find a cup of coffee. After seeing a vlog from Ben Brown I went to find a café called Kaph. It only took me a bit to find the place from Temple bar, and I was so glad that I went there. I got a normal cappuccino and it was the best coffee I have ever had in my life. Period. 

So after getting that coffee I went on a mission to see all the traditional landmarks around the city. First was Trinity College and it was such a nice college. The campus alone made me think about transferring over to Dublin. I then I went on a journey around the city seeing everything it had to offer.

After a few photos and a healthy lunch later I ended up becoming a Leprechaun at the National Leprechaun Museum. It was something that I’ve always wanted to see as well as having several people tell me to do it. If you ever find yourself in Dublin I totally recommend that you go and become a leprechaun yourself.

Shortly after that I went back to the hostel and got ready for another day. Even though it was good Friday the bar at the hostel was still serving, and your key card to your room was your ID. I got a pint and ended up talking to one of my bunkmates, Sam, who was from Australia. We had a great chat, and I found out that Sam is starting a blog up about his travels, which I think was titled Step by Step. It hasn’t gone live yet, but once it does I totally recommend giving it a look. But after a great conversation and a few pints I called it quits, and got ready for another great day.

So the next day was filled with more exploring, but first things first there was a specific place that I had to go to. The Guinness Storehouse. I did it first thing in the morning, and it was the perfect time to do it because there were no lines. The whole place is filled with so much history, but the best part of the whole tour was the free pint at the Gravity Bar, which overlooks the whole city. In that moment it made the whole trip worth it.

After enjoying my pint I made my way back to the Temple Bar area, to The Temple Bar. I had to go and get a pint there otherwise I would have regretted it for the rest of my life. From the moment I walked in I knew I made the right choice to go. I got my pint after having a chat with to gentlemen from Manchester after seeing a Manchester, NH police patch hanging on the wall. But with all the conversations and the atmosphere of the pub I would recommend everyone go their once in your life.

After leaving the bar I saw all the festivities for the remembrance of the 1916 Easter Rebellion. I knew of Ireland's fight to gain independence from England, but I didn’t realize how much blood was shed, and how much the moment to free Northern Ireland means to the Irish. I made a point to go to the Remembrance Garden and take a moment to see what the revolution met to the people of Ireland. Being in Ireland for the build-up to the celebration made me understand so much about the Irish, and what are still relevant issues to the country.

Shortly after that I went back to my hostel to get packed for another adventure, and early the next morning I got my flight, but I will save that story for another time. But that was my time in Dublin, Ireland, and it was worth the trip. For those reading this who wants to go to Dublin I would say go you won’t regret it. I will be writing more about my travels as I go, so you all can see where I’m going. But remember to enjoy every minute you have, and make the most of it.

-Tucker       

March Madness

Hey everyone,

So it's been a little bit since I last talked to you all, but man do I have a ton to fill you all in on. It has been a crazy busy few weeks well more like month of deadlines, and events that I was involved in so as all the college basketball players geared up for March Madness I had my own version of it this month.

Well first things first schoolwork took a priority at the beginning of this and continued till the day before I wrote this post. I had three papers, a presentation, and exam, which this isn’t including the amount of posts and quizzes I needed to do for my online PSU class. So I did my best and hit the books as hard as I could, and through that I had quite a few sleepless nights, but in the end it's all worth it I guess.

But I know a lot of you don’t read this blog to see what schoolwork I’ve been up too. So on that note let me dive straight into the fun stuff that happened this month. First there has been a slight running theme of the month of whenever I would go out into town, and that was travel gear. At the end of this month I have some travel plans to see some things that I’ve always wanted to see. So I made a point to get all the necessary things a euro traveler would need. I did my best to get the best quality I could on my shoestring budget. I managed to get everything I needed in order to make sure my journey should be a fun one. I will be writing more about my little euro adventure as I go through it so keep an eye our for that.

But during the shopping for gear, and studying for all of my course work I still had one of the more important things to this month, which was to prepare for Enactus UK regionals. I was on the presentation team so it was a huge responsibility to make sure that our presentation went off without a problem and with Anthony, Laura, Keith, Lenni, and Alex on the team as well I knew that we had a great change of that happening. We meet almost everyday in the week leading up to the presentation, and although most of us were exhausted from the constant work it proved to pay off during our presentation at regionals.

We had to travel up to Bristol to compete in the South-West Regionals the team and I, including Nina our University advisor made our way there. Even after we parked the van, and were still going over our lines and we were making sure that it was near perfect. Me and Lenni almost got killed practicing our lines as we walked across streets in Bristol. When we finally got to KPMG in Bristol it was game time. It was only a short time waiting before we walked in to give our presentation. We were able to show the judges our three core projects Spark, Edify, and my project Recreo and what impact they have already created, through both our Annual Report (shout out to Tom for making it), and our presentation.

Needless to say our presentation was almost flawless, but that's just me being bias saying that. But then the pressure was on when our presentation finished and Q and A began. From the being of the questions till what seemed like forever the judges asked questions about Recreo, and I was answering every phenomenal question they had. After they were done grilling me, and moved on to the other projects it seemed like we had made it into the clear. During our feedback at the end everything seemed so positive I couldn’t help but think that we had made it through to Nationals.

After getting a quick bite to eat we all got back into the van and headed back to Plymouth. We all had the same though on our mind as to whether we had made it through or not. I ended up sleeping the whole ride back to Plymouth after regionals knowing that we had a great shot to get through to Nationals. So when the news broke later that week that Enactus Plymouth had made it through to Nationals in London I was more than happy. However I think the only reason I fell asleep on that drive back was because I was exhausted from regionals and seeing UPFC play at home park for Varsity.

First let me explain what Varsity is for those who don’t know. Varsity is when your school goes head to head with your rival school in our case Marjon Uni, in every sport both schools have. From that for every win that sports team gets the school gets points overall on the varsity leaderboard, and the school with the most points after the last event wins Varsity. For every sports team this is the most important game of the year, and for UPFC’s first team it was no different.

As they took to the pitch that Thursday night at home park they needed to win in order for Plymouth to win Varsity. Although they went down early in the first half to goal conceded due to a poor clearance, the boys fought back and made the match level half way through the second half. So being that they needed a winner, and that the match was level at the final whistle, the match went straight to pens. With all the stress of penalties UPFC slotted every single one home to win 4-1 on pen’s. I have to say that was one of the best nights of watching football I’ve had in a long time.

Then the rest of the month was filled with parties, Enactus, and studies. I continued to work hard and then I went and ran in the Plymouth Rag’s Color run, which was great fun. Wish there was more people throwing paint, however it was still great fun.

So that was my March Madness. I know this was a post that was a lot longer than usual, but with how crazy it was I really didn’t get a chance to write in this blog. But I want to thank you all who read this because never did I think I would have had 1400 views on this blog. So thank you so much for enjoying the content that I put out and I hope I can keep doing for the rest of my time in the UK. But in the coming weeks it will be a bit more a travel blog so be prepared for some really jam packed blogs with some really cool stories. But until then stay safe, and as always enjoy the ride!

-Tucker     

Work and a Festival

Hey everyone,

It’s been a busy few weeks but I just wanted to fill you all in on what I have been up to. It’s seems like it was not to long ago since I got here in September, and then at the end of next month it’s the Easter break. So time here is starting to dwindle but I am taking every opportunity to enjoy the remaining time that I have here in the UK. And yes, I do plan on doing some more traveling before I leave Europe and that’s one of things that I will be doing during Easter break, but I can talk about that later.

So over the past few weeks lectures have started, and our Enactus project Recreo has started to take off. So needless to say that things here are moving fast, and they have me working hard. I have some great lectures here, one of which is an American. I enjoy his class, because he gives that very American style of teaching that I am use to back home in the states. It makes me feel at home.

Then there is our Encatus project Recreo. I am really happy to be starting to get our project off the ground here. Although we’ve hit a few bumps in the road here and there we’ve managed to get over those and continue to steam ahead on the project. Our project looks like it will be apart of our regional presentation for the Enactus southwest Regionals. I’m also on that presentation team so I also have to work on our presentation and how we would like to present it. So like I said before I have been crazy busy.

Even though I’ve been really busy writing papers, doing course work, and anything that has to do with Enactus I have still managed to find some time to enjoy my time here. So last week my University had a Beer Festival, that they called it Beauty and the Yeast, but besides the odd name the beers were great. The section of brews ranged from the very mainstream names that most people here know, but there was also a list of local brewed cask beers.

So I took the time right after one of my lectures to drink some beer at the festival. The SU was packed already and the festival had started about an hour before, but luckily none of the cask beers were sold out yet. So I made my way over the cask brew area as Irish and German drinking songs were being blasted through speakers throughout the SU. The best beer that I tried there was Summerskills Devon Dew, but a bit of advice for all the soon to be travelers who read this if you're in England go to a local beer festival and try some of the local brews.

During the festival, the sun was making what seemed to a rare appearance that week so everyone was taking their beers outside and soaking in the sun well enjoying a great brew. I followed suit and went on top of the SU and enjoyed the weather. It wasn’t long for the sun so after trying some more local brews I called it a day and headed home.

So things here are going well busy, but well. I hope there will be some more festivals I get to experience before I head off in July. But every minute here isn’t getting wasted whether it is for course work or enjoying a local event everything is going extremely well. I hope you all are having just as good of a time in your own lives wherever you are in the world. I will be writing again soon, but until then have fun and enjoy life.

-Tucker

A Merseyside Weekend

Hey everyone,

So something I did during my last month off from Uni was do a bit of traveling. I did my first real solo trip here (as in traveling the country outside of the southwest), so the family was as bit on edge. I think the reason for that would be they just worry a bit too much about me, but that is what family is for. But I had been planning this weekend for a while, and got a great hotel so it was set, and I was off to Liverpool.

So on the 23rd of January I made my way by train up to Liverpool. I will say that if there is any PSU students looking to make this journey from Plymouth to Liverpool be ready to spend most of your day on a train. I started early in the morning, and I was one of the first people on the train up. Once we set off it wasn't until one one or two thirty in the afternoon till I got off in Birmingham. Quick side note: I did see the Cadbury factory when I was there, and it was cool. But after getting my connecting train and another hour train journey I was finally in Liverpool. It has the feeling of Boston, they were both once hardworking cities, and have made the transition to a more modern city.

It was only a short walk from the train station to the hotel which made things easy to get around. Granted it was really easy to navigate the city once you were out of the train station. Since it was the weekend the city was filled with people, and it was nice to see the atmosphere of the city. I had to walk all the way down to the area around the Albert Dock and the Echo Area to get to my Jury's Inn (Thanks for the hotel Mom!), and for someone who just got here was a stunning area. After checking-in and going around the city, and to find some food.

After a quick stop at a burrito place which wasn't even close to the mexican we are use to back home, I continued to explore the city. I managed to run into Eleanor Rigby on the street...well her statue at least. After being converted into a Beatles fan in high school Eleanor Rigby is one of my favorite Beatles songs, so it was an honor to finally meet her. But the best was still yet to come, as I found myself on Mathew Street. I was overwhelmed with the amount of beatles themed clubs there were, but I did get to see the world famous Cavern Club. On the way back to the hotel I could tell the city still relayed on the tourism from the Beatles, but I needed to get back to get some sleep so I was up early so I wouldn't miss the real reason I came here.




















The reason that I came here was to see Tim Howard and Everton take on the Swans of Swansea City. I got up to the Goodison Park early because I wanted to go to see Stanley Park. I was always told that Stanley Park separated Everton's and their crosstown, or in this case cross park rivals Liverpool. It made me realize that this city is crazy about its football (soccer for those Americans reading this).

 
After seeing the park, I got an Everton scarf and made my way around to get my tickets. Everyone that I talked to asked me where I was from and the second I said the US they asked me, "You came all the way here to see the team play?" Granted they weren't wrong I nodded and told them I did. I got a quick meal after getting the tickets and then I went into the ground.

I was one of the first if not the first to get my seat at the park, and to be honest I wanted to be. I was sitting in a cathedral of football a sport I have fallen in love with, and I was about to see the highest quality of football I had seen yet, as well as finally see Tim Howard play. Soon after the Park filled up and the players and the players came out. Ninety minutes, and three goals later it was Swansea that came away with all three points. I walked out of the park with the pissed off Everton Supporters, with a smile on my face after seeing that match, as well as seeing a young man with Cerebral palsy score at the half and seeing the whole park cheer for the young man. He eventually won goal of the month, and I'll leave a link to the article at the bottom if you want to read about it. But after getting another quick bite I went back to the hotel to get some rest before my early train home.

It was an early day the next day I checked out and I headed to the train station to catch my train. Well waiting for my train I meet a couple from from Leominster, Ma and we started chatting. My favorite part of that conversation was when the woman looked at me and said, "you're the first person we have understood all week!" They got off the train quite a few stations before me and then it was just me on a journey back home to Plymouth. It was late when I got home and right when I was home I passed out. Needless to say it was a great weekend in Liverpool.

So in the future there will be some European city posts when I travel later this year so keep an eye out for those. But I hope your enjoying your week and remember tomorrow is Friday then the weekend, so enjoy the day. Have a great one!

-Tucker

George wins goal of the Month: http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2016/02/09/george-wins-goal-of-the-month

 

Being a Tour Guide and Adventuring Around England

Hey everyone,

So it's taken me a bit longer on writing this post because I wasn't sure how I would be going around writing it, but I think I have figured out how I want to write this, well I think. But I'm still playing a bit of catch up from the holiday season for writing in the blog, but I'm back at it now.

So after Mama Liz and Ed left London on New Year's Day me and Haley were left to adventure on our own before we had to get our train down to Plymouth later that day. We made our way around the city and over to Paddington Station. After dropping some bags off at the Left Luggage booth we explored the area, which there wasn't much. We ended up seeing 221b Baker street, and great Beatles store, but the best thing we saw or I saw was a Dunkin Donuts, which I haven't seen since I left. We then made our way down to Plymouth after a bit of a wait in Paddington. After spending the money that I did it was nice to just be able to know I was headed back to Plymouth where things were a lot cheaper.

So the next morning after a bit of a pause with not having anything to do but be a tour guide for Haley, we headed out to see what Plymouth had to offer us that day. It was great to see the city through Haley's eyes because she had the same reactions to when I saw the city for the first time. One of the first things that we had to do was head to see the Mayflower steps it, Haley made sure of it. Then we made our way around the rest of the Barbican. After we headed to the Co-op to get some food for dinner and when Haley saw some the brands I think I saw her mouth the words "Why don't we have this in the States?"

 The next day we ended up taking another large walk around the city and this time it was sunny which felt like a first, due to all the cloudy weather. We took quite a bit of a walk and headed over to Royal William Yard where we got dinner and called it a day.

The next day was a rather low key day we started late and then we went to the National Aquarium. I was surprised at how large the place was, but still not as big as the Boston Aquarium in my book. But we walked around for a bit then went and got some local seafood right next to the Aquarium. I got mussels and Haley got fish tacos which she told me I need to go back and get, cause they were so good. We then made it to the hotel and called it a night in preparation for our trip to Bath the next day.      

We awoke early the next morning to catch our train to Bath, to see the Roman Baths. I had gone to Bath before the holidays, but wanted to save the Roman Baths for when Haley made it over here. So it was a nice simple train journey to Bath Spa and then we went exploring around the city. After getting some awesome bagels for Breakfast/Lunch we ended up in one of the many parks in Bath enjoying the views of the River Avon, that flows through the city. We then finally got into the Roman Baths, which really took me back thinking that there was a civilization here thousands of years before I was even born, and I think it took Haley back too, although she became a tour guide for me showing off all the Latin she learned in high school or what she remembers. After that we got dinner and we made our way back to the train station and got the train home.

The next day was the in between day where we found ourselves having a bit of R&R between all of our traveling and seeing what's going on around the city to just take a day for ourselves. It was nice we got some food and beer at a local pub and just kept it a nice low key day, for tomorrow we were going to see Stonehenge.

After getting up extremely early we caught our train to Salisbury. I booked first class tickets, (cheaper than normal tickets and we have no idea why) and we got everything complementary on all the trains to Salisbury. Once we arrived we found our bus which took us from the station around the medieval city of Salisbury, which along the way we found out the Magna Carta was in Salisbury Cathedral. After a short ride on the bus we found ourselves on a windy hilltop getting our audio tour guides, and it was off to see one of the wonders of the world. For the first 10 minutes I kept finding myself thinking that I was actually seeing something with my own two eyes, that some people only see in textbooks. But it eventually rubbed off and I enjoyed the moment that was filled with a lot of wind and large stones.
After seeing Stonehenge we then found our way back to Salisbury and then to the cathedral. The cathedral was beautiful, but it was the Magna Carta which I was most intrigued about. Being I want to go to law school after I get back to the states, it was a moment that I won't forget seeing the document that basically started my future profession. After seeing so much history for the day Myself, and Haley got a nice Italian dinner in town and got back to our train. We ended up making it back to Plymouth in one piece all nice and happy in first class.

But just as it seemed that Haley was here she was gone as we headed back to London to get her on her flight home the next day. We stayed the night before her flight in London, and although it was raining it was a nice night. We took the tubes into Heathrow and after about an hour or two wait we had to say our goodbyes, or as I like to say it see yah laters. It was a bittersweet moment as we both didn't want to leave each other, but we knew we had to. Although with her time here I will never forget some of the things I got to experience with her. Haley, I know you read every single post so thank you for coming here and being my travel buddy, my partner in crime, but most importantly my best friend, and I look forward to traveling more with you when I'm home.

So now some housekeeping. I know this post was a bit behind as well as I have been a bit behind the eight ball as it has been said recently. But I have a few more posts that I will be posting through the next week to two weeks so keep your eyes peeled for those. Other than that have fun in the snow back home in New England!

-Tucker

 

 

Happy New Years......Three Weeks Late

Hey everyone!

Well I first want to say thank you to everyone who reads this because I just recently hit over one thousand views on the blog. When I started this I never thought that I would hit this many readers so I just want to say thank you all and I hope the new years will bring more stories that you want to read about.

Now that's out of the way I need to address something else I haven't posted anything for a bit. Well more like three weeks and it's because of a massive travel spell, so now it's time to update you all. I hope to not leave so much of a gap from when I post. So thanks for not getting on my case for an update, so for now on I'll try and make then a regular thing.

So the last time I wrote to you all was christmas day, so I'll pick up from there and see what I can fill you all in on. I guess this post will start on Boxing day and again we ventured out into the city, Mama Liz, Ed, and myself. We took the tubes from Greenwich to all the way to Westminster once again, but this time we ended up getting off at a different stop. And after a short walk we ended up in front of one of the most noticed buildings in the UK as well as the World, Buckingham Palace.

It's amazing to see something that has so much history as that Palace has in the scheme of things. That building is older than my country! (I've found myself saying that time and time again since I've been over here.) But once we say that Mama Liz was on a mission to see Harrods, so we made the walk from Buckingham Palace to the famous Harrods, seeing embassy upon embassy on the way there and not to mention a Ferrari dealership. But we made your way there, but when we got there no one cared to tell us that Boxing day in the UK is like Black Friday back in the US. Needless to say it was a madhouse, but we managed to fight the crowd to get the the Tea Room that Mama Liz wanted to eat at. We had some great tea's and then we headed back to Greenwich to call it a day.

The next day we ended up seeing Trafalgar Square, and we began to go through the museums. First it was the National Gallery where we saw some Van Goghs in person, and sat in front of the same painting that Bond did in Skyfall. (For those Bond fans you know what one I'm talking about.) After that we made our way to the British Museum to see some really amazing artifacts, but before we did that we found a restaurant that I haven't seen since I left and we stopped right when I saw the words "Chipotle", on the door. Once we were filled with mexican food we made our way to the British museum and then made our way back to Greenwich, but not after having a pint or two along the way.

  The next day all three of us were up early and we made our way over to see the London Tower, and for those of you who don't know that's where the Crown Jewels are, but with the line so long we didn't get a chance to see them. But we did manage to take a boat cruise of the Thames, but not after seeing Tower Bridge and all of its glory. But after our cruise we wandered around Westminster till we got tired and then we headed back to Greenwich.

Again the next day we all got up early to get our day off on the right foot. As Mama Liz and Ed got breakfast, I went to a local barber in Greenwich and got my haircut, which was probably the best cut I've gotten so far since I've been here. But then once again after breakfast we went back into the city. This time we ended up going to see Churchill's War rooms, which was a very interesting experience to learn the history of the UK from that time period. We also saw 10 Downing street, but didn't get a chance to see the Prime Minister though. But after all the fun and games in Westminster we got back on the tubes and headed to West London to see Fulham FC take on Rotherham United in a league fixture. It was Mama Liz and Ed's first proper football match and it didn't disappoint at all. it was a five goal thriller seeing Fulham come out on top. At the end of the match we saw how close the stadium was to the Thames and it was beautiful. We hurried back because the next day I had to get up super early to pick Haley up from the airport.

So I got up at the crack of dawn and made my tube journey to Heathrow to get Haley, and once I got her we headed back to drop off her stuff to head back into the city to explore. We went back to see all the places that I had seen earlier in the week, but I didn't care because Haley loved every minute of it. But we headed back to Greenwich and called it a night. The next day was New Year's Eve Day, so we went back into london (see the theme here), and we ended up in King's Cross Station and got a little wizardly as we saw platform 9 3/4, and from there we went to Piccadilly Circus so Haley could get her Hunter boots. But we walked around the Piccadilly area for a bit, then headed back to Greenwich where we had dinner and went out to celebrate the New Year. We went to the bar called the Gypsy Moth and right before 12 we went to the Thames and saw the London sky light up with fireworks.

The next morning Mama Liz and Ed flew back to Florida and me and Haley made our way down to Plymouth. Needless to say my time in London was great, but there was still more trips to come which I will get to those in my next post. But that was the holidays here in the UK. It was a lot of fun and I hope you all had great holidays as well. I will keep you all posted on the rest of my adventures as the following weeks progress. But as always have a great day, and keep smiling!

-Tucker