I’m now a £10 Pom!!
Liam and I smiling away because we just got our tickets
Today at 8 am the doors of STA Travel opened and in we went in our droves. To sit down at a desk and hand over £10 cash in exchange for a flight to Sydney finally became a reality and although that in itself was amazing it was really the days camping out on the streets that made it such an incredible experience…
I arrived on Monday morning at around 10.30 am, almost running to the queue from Victoria station because I was so certain that it would be massive. However I was greeted with the pleasant surprise that I was lucky number 13 when I sat down. The guys in front of me, Toby and Will, informed me that they had been there since 12 the evening before and then offered me a rum and coke, that’s when I knew that the next few days would turn out to be a whole heap of fun. After sharing a few travelling stories I went and introduced myself to those in front of me. Ashleigh and Rosie had come up on Sunday morning and were number 1 and 2 in the queue, and plagued ceaselessly by the paps over the next few days because of it. I also said hi to Miranda and Adam who lived just round the corner but still stuck it out with the rest of us, Grainne who had travelled down from Oxford and a scouser called Liam.
I wandered back to my bag, set up my mat, pulled out my sleeping bag and collapsed on top of it. For the rest of the afternoon I sat chatting to Toby and Will who had some great stories to tell. Toby was seriously well travelled and had spent the last year living in Spain and we tested out some of the Spanish chat up lines he’d learnt out there on passersby, unsurprising telling strangers that “you look like a soft cheese” didn’t get us any numbers. It was a really nice change actually chatting to passersby as usually people don’t stop and ask you how you’re doing when you’re in London. Take for example travelling on the tube, when you are squashed up against someone’s armpit and you turn round and ask them how their day has been you generally just get a look of utter confusion. So it was fantastic to be able to talk to a stranger and hear their story. We even met a man who had been an original £10 Pom all those years ago, which was pretty amazing. After about 12 pm the queue really kicked off and more people started arriving in multitude. The guys behind me, Sam, George and Stefan were heaps nice and we set up a little circle of chairs and carried on chatting to strangers, ‘Ola!’ Ironically it was mainly Australians who stopped and asked us what we were waiting for, and they recommended places for us to visit when we got over there.
Our little campsite
Although I travelled down alone my boyfriend, Geoff came up to stay the night with me. He’s Australian and so he didn’t qualify for the offer and wasn’t he bitter, “how come we’ll let you Poms in for just a tenner and I have to pay £600 to get back into my own country?” Unlucky Geoff! His Mum and Dad have travelled over from Australia to watch him play cricket so they also popped up to see me. I asked the guys to look after my stuff and they were willing to so we popped over the road to the pub. It was lovely to have a nice warm meal and a couple of beers and I quizzed Mark (Geoff’s Dad) endlessly on whether the deals that STA were offering were also worth purchasing. In the end I decided to buy the Tax Pack which means that I can start working straight away. After a couple of beers we headed back to the campsite and I introduced Geoff to everyone. Whilst he sat chatting to our neighbours I wandered over to Sainsbury’s and picked up the evenings supplies. I arrived back, poured our drinks and settled down for the evening. It didn’t end up being that much of a quiet one either and we eventually collapsed into bed at about 4am.
Geoff and I awoke at 8.30 am after missing about 10 missed calls from his parents. He was supposed to be at Kings Cross St. Pancreas by 9 am to catch the Eurostar to Paris and he was struggling, after wandering around and saying goodbye he staggered off to the station, seems like the Aussies can’t handle their alcohol as well as the Poms. I wandered over to Victoria station to grab myself my morning pick-me-up, an extra hot coffee from Starbucks and then paid my 30p to get into the toilet.
I wandered back and realised my leg was really starting to hurt, I was struggling to walk and I looked like a bit of an idiot limping around so I decided I was going to take myself off to hospital. I asked Ashleigh if she knew of any hospitals in the local area and she told me that there was a doctor’s surgery in Victoria station so I popped in but they wanted £65 for an appointment. £65?!! Are you having a laugh, I’m flying to Australia for only £10! So off to hospital I went and they sent me home with some antibiotics and a dressing kit, meaning no alcohol for me, which was probably the best thing ever since we had to be up so early the next morning. When I got back one of the other guys in the queue showed us the pictures The London Paper had taken of us this morning. Thank you so much for putting a picture of me on the internet by the way when I am asleep, drooling and clearly snoring my head off (can you detect the sarcasm?)
Big thanks to the london paper for this horrendous shot
The day passed quite quickly, mainly due to the game of Shithead which I was an absolute beginner to, I’m quite proud I managed to win a game although it might have been due to the insanely good hand I had rather than my skill. The master, Miranda, generally managed to clear the deck almost instantly, I never knew there were quite so many tactics involved when playing Shithead. The hacky sack came out later and a skilful game commenced.
I was so tired I went to bed at about 12, and only had to lie there for about ½ hour before I drifted off, pretty surprising considering how bright the lights are and the noise of the cars passing is deafening. Besides I wanted to be wide awake for the morning because at 8 am we had to get our tickets!!
I woke up at 6.30 am and packed up my bag, it seemed strange to be getting ready to leave, and I was slightly sad in a strange way. Sleeping on the streets was brilliant, and I met loads of fantastic people. We all had the same goal and therefore had something in common and it was great hearing about everyone’s plans. We’re planning on meeting up when we get over there and I really hope it happens; it’ll be the invasion of the £10 Poms all over again.
I slept almost the entire way there on the flight and woke up to breakfast being served (which was in fact dinner) about an hour before we touched down. The plane lands and I almost run through customs and security, dropped my bags and gave Geoff the biggest hug I could muster. Then stood back and laughed, seems he’d decided to grow a beard whilst I’d been gone. But I was here, I’d arrived! G’day Australia!
