Its been a couple of days now, and I think that I may finally have recovered from my trip to the UK. The tour itself was only 5 days, but between jetlag and performance, it went by too fast – despite the extreme lack of zzz’s. The trip started in true AP fashion with way too much baggage. I traveled with Daniel and Nathaniel. Need I say traveling with the boys always ensures highjinx.

After flying for 12 hours, we get to Heathrow Airport and realize that the rental car company we’ve made a reservation with doesnt’ exist. So we spend 3 hours getting another car. We escape Heathrow aiport on a billion clockwise roundabouts on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the street. argh. Dan starts to drive, but eventually I’m at the wheel going 95 MPH so we can get there already! It took 2 large Red Bulls and 1 terrible coffee to muster that feat. After crossing over the moonscapey Moors, and a huge crater called the “Hole or Horcum” we finally get to our destination. Robin Hood’s Bay. In only 6 white knuckeled hours. Robin Hood’s Bay is a fantastic place right on the coast. The bed and breakfast we were put up in was built in 1890. The lady of the house Jane, was incredibly sweet. She made us tea as soon as we drove up. Here are some pictures of our drive, the town and our first sleepy walk through it…..

After these pictures were taken we all decided to die for an hour and wake up for a trip to the pub. 3 double Jameson’s later. I finally slept.

These were my room keys

The next day we went up to Whitby for the show. It was a gorgeous place. Here’s a shot of Whitby Abbey

The show for Whitby Gothic Weekend went well. Here’s the boys right before we went onstage

and the girls:

The one problem was that the stage was so shifty it made the cables fall out of the computer several times. Abney Park unplugged! Luckily that gave me and Nathaniel time to drink the bottle of Jameson we had brought onstage with us. Even Kristina had to partake, and she despises whisky.

(photos by sistercarrion on LJ)

We played several of our new songs, but “Sleep Isabella” got the best applause. It also happens to be one of my favorite AP songs to sing. The lights were beautiful and the tech crew were stellar. The venue overlooked the North Sea. So many people were excited to share their makery with us. I saw so many homemade gadgets and steampunk finery. I was very proud, everyone was wonderful and looked brilliant. I was so sad to leave the next day, but we had plans already to play the Slimelight club in London the following night.

Another 6 hour drive later, we arrived in London. We get to the Slimelight and have tea at a cute place next door with Joe Black, Thomas Truax and Ghostfire our opening bands. After an arduous soundcheck we get back to our apartment. While trying to leave we saw fans waiting outside the venue, One of Dr. Steel’s soldiers even made us cookies. Gluten Free Mind Control Cookies. How wonderful!

I snooze for an hour at the flat and then Kristina and I speedily readied ourselves. I freaked out when I realize in all my steampunkery that I have to drive the car in Saturday night London Traffic. Sh*t. After shoving my dress into the car and driving in circles we made it. But in the end we got a parking ticket because parking at the gig was impossible to find. Not to mention we had to be onstage in 10 minutes. ARGH! STRESS!

The show was interesting to say the least. The sound was not good. I couldn’t even hear myself very well. The crowd was fantastic though, and they were shoved in like sardines. God bless all the smooshed souls that were there. You made it worth all the travel!

People came from all over to see this show. Here’s me and Hildekitten, she’s from Belgium. She also happens to make pretty clothes, more on that later.

I saw people from the US too. Crazy. After the show we and 40 others hiked the streets of London until we got to a beautiful pub called the “Queen Bodacea” Nathaniel and I ran in the corner to enjoy our Jameson in peace. We were exhausted. We weren’t Anti Social for too long though. We did rejoin society. We just needed a minute.

Part of the entourage of lovely people included the steampunk band called ATOMSK.

They came from Paris to see the show. They were awesome. After everyone had left, Kernel the drummer from ATOMSK and I kept drinking. We found the one bar in London that was still open. It was run by French people. They loved him and I loved the PYRAT rum. Yum! By 5 am we had both gone back to our respective “homes”. I still had one day left in London to explore. The last time I was in the UK I was 12 years old, it had been awhile!

The next day I woke up feeling sleepy but ready to explore. Nathaniel, Daniel and I drove to Abney Park Cemetary to meet up with Robert and Kristina. It was really awesome to spend time in our namesake. It is in fact a cemetary, but its also a nature reserve and an overall beautiful place.

The graves are so old that they are either tipping over, or have become part of the path itself. Nathaniel couldn’t help but put goggles on one of the angels. What a little deviant. Giggle! He always makes me laugh.

Half way through the cemetary I started to not feel so well. In fact I thought I was gonna die. I’ll spare you the details but if your ever in London and your hungry at 3 am DO NOT EAT HERE. ITS EVIL!

I had to wait quite a while before I could even enjoy the rest of the day. But we walked down to the Thames, and Cleopatra’s needle, Big Ben,

Parliament and we went on the London Eye, the gigantic ferris wheel with huge glass pod room things. You can see all of London from it. Unfortunately my Iphone died right after this shot, so no aerial shots sadly.

After having a yummy dinner that evening we all said our goodbyes to Robert and Kristina and then Daniel, Nathaniel and I headed back to ready ourselves for the long flight the next morning. I was sad we couldn’t stay longer. It was a wonderful trip. I can’t wait to go back everyone was so nice and our trip was fantastic. Cheers!

- Finn