Hi all...

Well, it's all over! I'm back in London and slowly getting my head around being back to reality! Since leaving St Petersburgh I have had a VERY expensive week travelling overland back to the UK.

I had great few days in St Petersburgh after saying goodbye to the Trans Mongolian group, met a good crowd in my hostel and visited some crazy Russian bars which was...interesting! Put my pool hustling skills back into action and, surprise surprise, drank a lot of vodka! When I reached the last night I had a slight freak out about being so close to getting home and had the CRAZIEST dreams about school, family and various people I'd met this year...bizarre to say the least! Anyway, I left very early the next morning on the train to....

HELSINKI: A beautiful city but I was certainly back in Europe! The prices of everything were shocking!I paid 30 euro for a dorm room...I was NOT happy! I spent the 2 days there wandering around and getting more and more frustrated with the crap weather! I visited a really cool local market and wandered aorund looking at the beautiful architecture, but couldn't afford to do much else! After 2 days here it was time to move onto....

STOCKHOLM: Which, was once again a very beautiful, if expensive city! I reached Stockholm on an overnight ferry which gave me beautiful view of all the tiny little Scandinavian islands between Finland and Sweden. Many were only big enough for one building, and, as the weather had obviously improved by the time it came for me to leave the views were breathtaking! My arrival in Stockholm was, of course, marred by yet more rain...but I spent a thoroughly enjoyable day wandering around the old town which was BEAUTIFUL! I visited the Nobel museum as my one educational hour and spent the rest of the day being VERY European, I drank coffee and people watched! After Stockholm it was another train to....

COPENHAGEN: Which was definitely the most English of all the cities I visited in Europe, in that EVERYONE was pissed!! To be fair, I arrived on a Friday night but Copenhangen is a place I need to return to with the girls and a full bank account! I spent my second day exploring the city and found it to be GORGEOUS, but, once again, AWFUL weather, a running theme of my Euro leg! I spent the majority of the time resembling a large drowned rat. I didn't visit any tourist sights really, the weather was so bad I hid in cafes, got the shakes from too much caffiene and watched the football! Loved Denmark though and I'll definitely return. After Copenhagen was the penultimate stop of my adventure....

COLOGNE: Which, to begin with I thought I was going to hate, I had a fight with a toilet attendent at the station (My backpack got stuck and she wouldn't let me through the gate...) my hostel wouldn't let me check in until 10 (I arrived at 6:30) and I was ranted at by various drunken Germans on the metro... However, after checking in, showering and getting breakfast the world was indeed a better place and to make it even better the sun was finally shining and stayed shining until I left! Cologne was (And still is I guesS) BEAUTIFUL. I visited the HUGE Cathedral in the centre of town and the chocolate museum which was YUMMY! I then spent the rest of the day wandering up and down the river and relishing the last day of my trip.

Now, the next day was D-Day but nobody knew, I wanted to surprise my family so they thought I was arriving home 2 days later! I took an early train to Brussels and from there took the Eurostar back to London! I was freaking out on the Eurostar...I was like a kid with ADHD, I couldn't sit still and was swinging between feeling really excited and feeling like I was facing a firing squad!!

Anyway, ~I made it back to St Pancreas, hopped on the Metropolitan line (£4!!!???) and then took the bus to the bottom of my road! As I walked up I was both relieved and gutted to see that nothing had changed! I rang home just before I reached the door and asked mum to put the kettle on and open the door, then hung up!!

And that's that!! She freaked out, Bruv stared at me like I was a ghost for half an hour, and Amy and dad were totally shocked too! Very funny for me and a real typical thing for my family to do which made it even better!

So, the big adventure is over.. 25 countries, overland from Singapore to London, one million local beers, copius amounts of vodka, fabulous food, some AMAZING people who I know will be friends for life (I'm allowed to get sentimental at this stage alright!?), more buses and trains than I care to remember, a few near death experiences, an ingested spider, a few of the Wonders of the world, the coldest and hottest experiences ever, and, without a doubt, the most wonderful, exciting, happiest year of my life.

And that's it, FINITO. No more blogs and no more pictures...Reality really does Bite!! So before I sign off, I'd like to say thankyou to all of you for keeping up with me and for all your lovely messages over the year. They really have made me smile and I really appreciated it. I look forward to catching up with you whenever I can, and for anyone who is free I'll be in the Spanish Arch in Belmont Circle on Friday night from 9PM!

Thanks again,

Sel

xxxx