After staying in Europe for as long as our Visa's would allow, we returned to England to slow down, visit some new places and old, and for Kayla to start work. After leaving the ferry, we headed north from Dover to Dartford, London. Having been away for so long there was quite a bit of mail that we were expecting, including the vehicle tax plate, so we jumped onto the first train and headed into central London.

We had planned on spending the afternoon exploring the National History museum but after waiting in line for 40 minutes we discovered the place was so packed it was a struggle to move. We hadn't anticipated the Easter holiday rush filling the place with families, so instead of fighting the crowds we decided to return another day. With no further plans we decided to just wander the city and as we walked through Leicester Square we were accosted by a comedy club peddler.  The next few hours we spent trying not to cry as we were laughing so hard.

Once again due to a public holiday we had to wait till the Tuesday to call the recruitment agency, so we decided we would head out to visit Cambridge and see a few sites. We spent the morning scopping out Cambridge which was nice but small and no competition to Oxford. Having come this far we decided to travel a little further and visit the Grimes  Graves. We arrived just before it closed quickly realising that daylight savings had kicked in but it was well worth the drive (partially due to it not being another castle) as it contained a prehistoric mining site. 

The following day we made our way back down to London stopping in at Languard fort, St Johns Abbey Gate and Tilbury Fort but due to the biting cold winds and lack of interest in another fort we decided to park in an ASDA carpark do some shopping and watch movies. Early Tuesday morning we rang the recruitement agency and set up the interview for the following afternoon. We spent the remainder of the week preparing and going to the interview plus sorting out stable accomodation at the Lee Valley Campsite.

Friday we found out Kayla would be starting work next Tuesday so we decided to head back to Oxford for our final weekend of freedom. We returned to our Chingford campsite on Sunday and settled in to our new routine. As  our second wedding annivsery was upon us  we decided to splurge a little booking a hotel for the weekend and tickets to the Lion King. So after checking in on friday afternoon I met Kayla in Leicester square for dinner and a little wandering before heading back for an early night. First thing Saturday morning we arrived in Covent Garden where we stumbled across a well placed bar (Punch and Judy) over looking a square filled with buskers. We spent the next couple of hours drinking beer and being entertained by the ever changing acts (that all seemed to have a desire to take their shirts off and expose their nipple twislers). We had lunch at a nice restaurant called the Blanc then headed to the Lion King, which turned out to be fantastic.

To end a great weekend we drove the van to the cinema where we unfortunately became stranded when the car wouldn't start. Thankfully the AA saved us again, fixing the immobiliser issue that had plagued us since Morocco. A week passed living and working as Londoners. On the Sunday we headed into the city early, took a stroll through Hyde park before returning to the National History museum for round two. The afternoon started with us walking along the Thames before stumbling on the King William IV for a couple of beers.

With the pay Kayla was getting being very low plus the urge to continue our journey we decided to advertise the van in anticipation of us leaving the UK. Within 24 hours of advertising it was sold with the agreement that we would deliver it to Ashford on the coming Sunday. Friday we drove to Maidstone, revisiting our old street camping ground and on Saturday we treated ourselves to the cinema we had been to 3 months ago as we left for Europe. On Sunday we finalised the sale of the van, received a lift back to London and checked into our new hostel. Thus marked the sad end to a  beautiful friendship, parting ways with Fifi the Ford.

Things started well and it was nice not having to brave the elements walking to a shower block. Things quickly turned sour though after we discovered our roommates were inconsiderate shits. Not to be discouraged we explored our new surroundings, however as the week came to a close and another poor paycheck arrived it was clear our time here was coming to an end. Checking out early Saturday morning (ensuring we made as much noise as our dear room mates would have) we headed to a hotel in ExCeL, spent the day planning and booking our upcoming journey before enjoying our first quite night in a week.