I went on holiday to London last weekend. I am so tired now though, that last night I had ten hours of sleep and I'm going to go to bed soon so I can get another ten hours tonight. I had forgotten how knackering holidays are.

I started off nice and gently and met a friend for lunch, wandered from Covent Garden to Tottenham Court Road and eventually checked into the hostel in the middle of the afternoon. The instructions to get there seemed simple enough - turn left out of the tube station and it's 50m away. Having tried the two left turnings I finally spotted the right road sign and found the place. Turned out it was across the road, turn left, turn right and it's 50m on the left. Which is not quite the same.

It turned out to be a lot bigger than I thought as well. The fun part was making my bed. I was on a top bunk so you have to be on the bed the whole time you're putting the sheet on the mattress. Which was a bit of a trial. As was getting up and down to the bed itself. Getting back into the centre of London I managed to catch up with a load of people coming from a Chelsea game. From which I'm guessing that their football ground is on the District line, possibly close to Earls Court, but it could be anywhere really.

I was going to go to the Natural History Museum but wasn't going to get in before they closed. So I went and visited the Australian shop on the way. Having seen a sign at Embankment tube station to say Covent Garden was walkable from there, I thought I'd do that. I didn't even get lost! I went past the Canadian pub and the Australian pub on the way as well. I loved the Australian shop though - they had so much food there! I now have some dark chocolate TimTams, which are the only ones Tescos haven't sold so far. I was hoping mum might be able to eat them but they have milk and milk chocolate in. I haven't tried them yet - I need my chocolate to be cold first.

Since pretty much the only thing left open by that time were the shops, and I'd been in that direction earlier in the day, I was fairly sure I might be able to make it to Oxford Street without getting too lost. As it turned out I went in the opposite direction. Which counts as not too lost when it comes to me and London. I ended up walking all the way up Oxford Street to Marble Arch. Which is a long way. I did get my mum and sister birthday cards - necessary to do a long time in advance otherwise the only cards you can get are Valentines day. You're obviously not supposed to have a birthday anywhere near the 14th February.

I didn't have the energy to do anything in the evening. The hostel had a DVD cinema and were on the second half of the theatrical Two Towers by the time I got there. The seats they had I can't quite explain but were really comfortable. I could have quite happily fallen asleep if it wasn't for the orcs making noise - and seeming to make the floor vibrate. I saw a bit of the Jerry Springer opera in the TV room. Every time they sung I couldn't quite make out all the words so I had no idea of the plot really. The part of the first half I saw was fine because it was a take-off of Jerry Springer. The second half got weird though, so I ended up going to bed. Which was going to be an early (or at least not too late) night but ended up being 12.30.

The annoying thing about the hostel was that they had a 10am check-out time. And nothing opened till 11! I did some more walking (ie getting lost trying to find Tescos and then finding out they didn't open till 11 either). And I walked past Harrods (they didn't open till 12). I managed to get two hours in the Natural History museum. I did all the bits I wanted to in the Life section though - although since this was Human Biology, a tiny Evolution exhibit, and similarly tiny primate one, they didn't really tell me much I didn't already know.

Then I met up with some Rotaractors at Somerset House (which I ended up walking past, then walking back past because they didn't really want you to know how to get to the rink - I only found it by accident) to go ice-skating. I did up my boots too tight - which I do every time - but once I got that sorted I enjoyed myself. The only trouble with it was that there were so many people and such a small rink that it was really hard not to crash into people, or fall over them. I only ever learnt how to skate forwards - learning to stop never seemed necessary (that's what the barriers are for). An hour was just right though, so you could skate the whole time and not hurt too much afterwards.

There are still loads of things I need to do in London, so I will have to go and do it all again. And do the same thing in other places - although for longer if they're further away. I remember losing half a stone when I went to Eastern Europe (which was significant because my jeans fell down so far I kept walking on them) because we did so much walking. Perhaps it's just as well I'm planning to get buses between cities in Australia - if I stayed in one place I wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace! I need a holiday to get over my holiday - I went to work for the rest.