Blogoversary; Rachelia Guest Post
Hey Guys!
So today I have for you all the amazing and wonderful Rachelia from Bookish Comforts here for a guest post. She has written about her time in London meeting me! I really hope you like this guest post because it kind of made me tear up a little bit! I’m really happy I get to share it with all of you!
The London Experience
Hellllllooooo there! My name is Rachelia and I blog over at Bookish Comforts. I’m here today to celebrate Faye’s TWO year (!!) blogoversary by telling you just how lovely she is and my experience meeting her last year when I was studying abroad in England.
Faye was an early follower of my blog, and since we’re not too far off in blogoversary dates, it’s safe to say that we’ve almost known (virtually) our whole blogging careers. So when I announced I was studying abroad for a few months near the end of 2012 she said “ you MUST see me. :P We will make it happen. I’m thinking I should meet you in London and show you some awesome touristy sights – like the eye, dungeons, leiscter square, trafalgar square waterstones… etc“. True to her word, Faye and I made plans at the end of November to meet up in London to play tourist!
After she put graciously put up with a ridiculous amount of questions related to how to buy train tickets, and I convinced my flatmates that I wasn’t going to meet an axe murder and get killed (really!), I found myself standing amidst the hustle and bustle of Liverpool Station, trying to find Faye. Fortunately, she had worn a pink coat (to match her bright personality, of course) so it was fairly easy to find her. After exchanging hugs and giggles, we were off for our adventure. Before meeting we’d promptly decided that our initial ideas, the London Eye (eeek, heights!) and the Dungeons (eeek, scary!) wouldn’t work so we had settled on the Tower of London, which Faye herself had never been to either.
It was raining but we had a blast exploring the gruesome history of the Tower. Does that say something about our friendship? I don’t know, haha! But as a history student, I was majorly geeking out over all of it! We learned about the imprisonments and horrifying executions that occurred at the Tower of London – most famously that of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII who was beheaded on May 19, 1536. We also dashed around the grounds, visiting the Crown Jewels (and laughing over the size of the Coronation Spoon – I was expecting souvenir sized, haha). Faye also got to experience a little bit of my hysteria as she talked me down from a panic attack due to claustrophobia as we climbed what has to be THE smallest freaking staircase ever up to the Bloody Tower. Quite the bonding moment, huh?
After our time at the Tower, we stopped to have a brief lunch, where we of course chatted non-stop about books and blogging. It honestly felt like we’d known each other forever. Faye is such an easy person to talk with and actually, my meals this day, just sitting and fangirling with her over various topics, are my favourite!
From there, Faye introduced me to the intricate tube network as we dashed here and there throughout the Underground, visiting the iconic Buckingham Palace. I honestly thought it was going to be fancier — like gold everywhere, haha! – but we had a blast taking selfies in the rain with all the other tourists!
Back on the tube, Faye promptly delivered me to bookworm Heaven, aka all 3 or 4 levels of Foyles bookstore, where we also meet up with Lucy from Choose YA and we of course, fangirled haaard over all the books and debated what to purchase. They managed to convince me to get the UK edition of one of my favorite books of 2011, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson which was signed and is a lovely memory of my time with them both!
With books in hand we made our way to a restaurant for a burrito dinner where we spent about 2 hours getting to know each other more, talking about books and laughing so hard our cheeks and tummies hurt! I got to hear all about Faye’s book she has written too (so good!) and I can’t WAIT to read it (*hint hint nudge nudge* haha). I hope someday I can see it on the shelves and buy it for myself!
A girl after my own heart, to start the beginning of the end of our day of exploring London Faye took me to the HUGE M&M Chocolates World in Leicester Square. Oh what I’d give for a fistful of British chocolate right now!! She also indulged my inner tourist and took me to the “tack” tourist shops that were really cheesy to get some souvenirs. After pausing for some slushies, we ended our trip at Oxford Street, taking in the magical Christmas lights display! It was really festive and a great end to my first time in London!
After soaking in all the holiday spirit, we made our way back to Liverpool Station, where I had to leave Faye. It was pretty sad knowing that I wouldn’t have time for another visit before heading back home to Canada after my semester finished. However, I knew that I had made a lifelong friend with Faye, and I hope that someday I will get the chance to play tourist guide for her here in Ontario, Canada and also, that I get to meet her back in London for another romp around the city! Faye is such a lovely, wonderful person and if you ever get the chance to meet her, do, for your life will be little bit brighter for it!
Thank you Rachelia for such a lovely guest post! I absolutely loved meeting you as well and this is one of the best days I had in 2012 and if I’m honest, one of my best blogging experiences! Thank you for sharing it with everyone so well!
To everyone else, have you ever met up with another blogger? What was your experience like?
Clue!
