London & Milton Keynes

I've had a fabulous weekend!!!!!!
Ron drove me to Twinkle's home Wednesday evening, where Hanneke and I spent the night to be in time on Eindhoven airport. It was hard to let Ron go, I missed him already. We have been texting and calling all weekend; my mobile phone bill will be high.

Thursday morning Twinkle's brother drove us to the airport. It was going to be my first flight. I wasn't nervous, but didn't know how everything goes. My luggage was 9.4 kilo, not too much (15-20 allowed). We were flying Ryan Air, the no. 1 in flying on time on these kinds of flights. Unfortunately our pilot had to change planes because of a technical problem, so there was a delay. Ron was watching us online by webcam. I waved to him before boarding the plane. I sat at the window. I love flying! The clouds are so beautiful from above. The flight lasted about 50 minutes, so we arrived earlier than we left because of the time difference. On London Stansted we met with Mon, who travelled along with us to Euston station. She left there by train to go to Milton Keynes, where she would be staying. We walked to the Generator Hostel, where RMF (from Denmark) was already waiting for us. The hostel was situated behind Tavistock Place. We put our suitcases in a special room. We had to wait for Aims (from Stoke in England) to check in, because she booked for all of us. In the meantime we had lunch and shopped a bit. When Aims arrived we went to our room. We had a little 6-bed room in very bright colours: orange, blue and red. I took one of the lower beds. We had dinner in the hostel, but the choice was not much and neither was the taste. Later in the evening Twinkle, RMF and I went out to have a drink at a nice place just around the corner.

Friday was concert day. Twinkle and RMF left early to queue for the Golden Circle. Hanneke, Aims and I had general admission cards, so we could go later. We took the train to Milton Keynes around noon I think. On MK station we took a cab to the Bowl, just 7 pounds for the three of us. We had to walk the last part. Aims had our tickets, but Hanneke had to get hers first at the Box Office (the cards weren't ready in time to send abroad...). Fortunately the queue there was short. The queues for the entrance gates were not! We decided to go for gate 4. The weather was dry and sunny, opposite to the forecasts. In the queue we met with Bry, another forum member. Around 2.30pm the gates opened. Hanneke ran and found us a great spot on the right side of the podium, just behind the Golden Circle. And then we had to wait again, while the Bowl filled up. The support acts started at 6pm; first DJ Coco, then Basement Jaxx. The members of BJ have been very rude in the press about Robbie fans, so I didn't feel like cheering and bouncing for them and so did a lot of the others.
We saw Rob's chopper arriving and the adrenaline started flowing. And then finally... Rob!!! He was amazing, the concert was the best. He looked tired but handsome as always. He seemed to enjoy himself very much. His father was in the audience too. The new single Rudebox is great live! I know it's different from what he did before, but that's one of the things I like about Rob's music. I'm looking forward to the new album (due in October). After the encores I was exhausted and had a sore throat, but it was so worth it..! Still in a rush we left the Bowl and walked to the rail station. There were extra trains and everything went quick and organised. We were back in the hostel very late. I fell asleep instantly.

Saturday we didn't set an alarm, but Twinkle, RMF and I were awake early. They had coffee and we sat outside on the stairs chatting. Later Hanneke joined us. When Aims was awake and ready too we left. We bought a day ticket for the tube (very muggy but cheap), so we could travel easily all day. We first stopped at Green Park to have breakfast next to a nice market. After that we jumped on the tube again to London Bridge. Right next to the station is the London Dungeon, a tourist attraction that combines real history, horror and humour to bring gruesome goings-on back to life in the 21st century. Live actors, a terrifying boat ride, shows and special effects transport the visitors to London's gory past. We had bought tickets in the hostel so we didn't have to queue. I liked the Dungeon very much! Even the toilets were in style. After we had a drink across the street we decided to go to Covent Garden to shop. It was very busy, but a great place to shop. In the Disney store I bought 2 Tinkerbell mugs and a fridge magnet. When the shops had closed we had dinner outside a nice place called My Kitchen. The menu was very extensive, so it was hard to decide. I took chicken & chips, served with bread and salat. It tasted very good. Aims and Hanneke wanted to go to the hostel, so we walked (through Soho I believe) to a tube station and did so. RMF, Twinkle and I decided to have another drink around the corner. We had some serious talk, but we laughed a lot also. I had Diet Coke and they took one glass of wine. When we got back to the hostel we were giggling like teenagers, so Hanneke and Aims thought we were drunk. We weren't, but we had a lot of fun. Everyone was awake, but in bed. We talked and laughed for hours. It was around 2.30am before we went to sleep!

Sunday morning I was awake early again and joined RMF and Twinkle on the stairs outside. Hanneke and Aims came later. We had to wait until it was time to leave for the trip home. So we had coffee and chocolate at Starbucks. I had Caramel Hot Chocolate, very yummy! I bought a big black mug for Ron. We walked together to Euston Station, where we said goodbye to RMF, who was flying back to Denmark from Heathrow. Aims accompanied us to Euston Square. Her bus would leave a few hours later. We took tube & bus to be on London Stansted in time. The checks were more intensive this time. My handbag was taken apart and emptied, but there was nothing wrong. We took off around 5pm and landed in Eindhoven at 7pm (1 hour time difference). Twinkle's (other) brother picked us up and drove us to Valkenswaard. About 15 minutes later Ron was there. I was so glad to see him!!! Unfortunately we had very bad traffic on the way back, so we were home late.

My pics are here.