Travel day. The boys bus was due to leave our London hotel at 11am and the girls bus, fifteen minutes later (the different departure schedules were so that our concierge had enough time to transfer all of the luggage). As everyone began to meet in the hotel foyer for the next leg of our journey, I was busy helping other concierge staff load mine and Romy's gear onto their luggage trolleys, all the while making mental notes of the 'stuff' I need to start off-loading in our forthcoming ports.
Between our bus driver and the hotel staff, everything was loaded onto the bus in no time. Kyly kindly offered to carry Romy onto the bus as I had all of my pockets, arms and hands full with her baby car seat and other items. As I shuffled my way down the driveway towards the bus, you might imagine our shock as a female paparazzi jumped out directly in front of us, snapping away as though we were hot Hollywood celebrities. We'd been warned that this might happen during our time in London, but this was the first time we'd seen one and it most certainly took us by surprise.
This woman had all the gear and by no means was she trying to be discreet or hide from us - she stood directly in front of me, her long-lensed camera furiously clicking away as she followed our every move. To some this may sound somewhat glamorous, but believe me, it was an incredibly confronting situation to be thrust into, particularly as it caught us completely unaware. Had I known she was going to be there I might have done my make-up, groomed my hair and donned some oversize sunglasses to shield my heavy eyes but instead (as Murphy's Law would have it) I was looking shamefully scruffy, tired and washed-out... and carrying a freaking heavy car seat! I don't think I've ever scrambled on a bus so quickly in my life.
The bus trip itself was fairly quiet, most of the girls listening to their iPods, reading, chatting or catching up on sleep. It was also a much smaller group travelling to Brighton today as a number of the team and their partners are staying in London for a few days off. At the other end, our new concierge were also caught by surprise as they had absolutely no idea how much luggage accompanies the Australian Cricket Team. Alberto (the ONLY staff member available to help with the bags) told me "we knew we had a sports team coming in today but when I went outside and saw their bags, I froze with shock at was ahead of me!". Perhaps he misread the booking and thought we were the Australian Croquet team? To be honest, if his heavy foreign accent was anything to go by, I'm not even sure he would know what cricket is.
Between our bus driver and the hotel staff, everything was loaded onto the bus in no time. Kyly kindly offered to carry Romy onto the bus as I had all of my pockets, arms and hands full with her baby car seat and other items. As I shuffled my way down the driveway towards the bus, you might imagine our shock as a female paparazzi jumped out directly in front of us, snapping away as though we were hot Hollywood celebrities. We'd been warned that this might happen during our time in London, but this was the first time we'd seen one and it most certainly took us by surprise.
This woman had all the gear and by no means was she trying to be discreet or hide from us - she stood directly in front of me, her long-lensed camera furiously clicking away as she followed our every move. To some this may sound somewhat glamorous, but believe me, it was an incredibly confronting situation to be thrust into, particularly as it caught us completely unaware. Had I known she was going to be there I might have done my make-up, groomed my hair and donned some oversize sunglasses to shield my heavy eyes but instead (as Murphy's Law would have it) I was looking shamefully scruffy, tired and washed-out... and carrying a freaking heavy car seat! I don't think I've ever scrambled on a bus so quickly in my life.
The bus trip itself was fairly quiet, most of the girls listening to their iPods, reading, chatting or catching up on sleep. It was also a much smaller group travelling to Brighton today as a number of the team and their partners are staying in London for a few days off. At the other end, our new concierge were also caught by surprise as they had absolutely no idea how much luggage accompanies the Australian Cricket Team. Alberto (the ONLY staff member available to help with the bags) told me "we knew we had a sports team coming in today but when I went outside and saw their bags, I froze with shock at was ahead of me!". Perhaps he misread the booking and thought we were the Australian Croquet team? To be honest, if his heavy foreign accent was anything to go by, I'm not even sure he would know what cricket is.
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| The Cowan girls' luggage needs a bus of it's own! |
