time travel :: wales day one

our adventure to wales started in a less-than-ideal way. it was easter weekend, remember, and that inevitably means transport delays and engineering works on all the important lines... like ours. so, what should have been a quick jaunt to paddington, took boyfriend and i almost an hour and a half. but, we made it! having met bex and lp at the station, and with drinks and snacks in hand, we made our way on board and prepared for the ride to cardiff.

almost 3 hours later, we had arrived to a cold and windy city. we found the hotel easily from the station, and headed into the warm to tidy ourselves up for the night ahead. all the while, i was texting laura, letting her know where we were going to meet up. having found a walkabout on the way to the hotel, we just knew that that's where we would end up. cheap drinks and great tunes are the perfect combination for any night out!

with a small "where the hell are you, i can't see you!" worry out of the way, boyfriend and i met laura out the front of the hotel where we shared a dangerous hug in the middle of the road, then headed across the road to the bar to become better acquainted with my old-new-friend over some strange blue cocktail concoction...

the girls joined us soon enough, and that's when the drinks started flowing. cocktails, wine and shots conquered the next few hours, until hunger got the better of us, and the bento restaurant across the road called. we were the only people in there bar a tibetan monk in the corner, perched on a stool, listening to his ipod. yes, you read that right. we had a right old chat, and hung out long after the food was demolished (delicious!), and the staff in the restaurant honoured us with a polaroid on the wall.. laura has vowed to return one day to make sure it's still up!

around 9:30, boyfriend and i gathered our bits from the girls' room and headed down the road to newport where laura's fiance sean waited for us at their local bar, the warehouse. it was absolutely freezing so after a quick drink there we headed back to their house to continue drinking and getting to know each other better... and their beautiful labrador pup named sadie, who made a right furry mess of the warmest tights i owned - thanks sadie! after a long day, great conversation and a buuuunch of booze, we started to crash... hard. that's about the time boyfriend and i made ourselves comfy on the couches and fell into a happy and drunk - but mostly exhausted, sleep.

it was a great first day and fantastic to finally put a real-life face to the on-line name in meeting laura. she and sean were most hospitable that first night, and a ton of fun to play with. new friends are the best...