I’ve gone to an extreme length to postpone going to London. In my mind, it’s not that far, and there will be many impulsive trips my friends would make in the future. No rush.

But this time, I finally bought a ticket and set foot in London for the first time (my arrival at Heathrow wasn’t counted, I didn’t even get out of that airport). And the sole reason for this, is to meet a good friend of mine, Joydi.

Just to give an idea why I was willing to go all the way to London (it wasn’t far anyway, and who would say no to London?) and skip Winchester Bonfire, here’s some pictures of us through the years.

May 2011, Bogor. Messy faces with a trace of exhaustion, after a mad trip to Taman Safari.

October 2012, Bandung. Much more poised and sophisticated than the previous year!

November 2013, London. More mature with more money (him) and more experience (both of us).

It really was a hard work to get to London for this time. The first thing is, I didn’t get much sleep the night before. And then I missed my bus, so I rushed to the central station to get the fastest train to London because I didn’t wanna miss any more time, since Joydi was gonna be in London just for a day. Then when I wanted to pay my ticket with my card, I forgot the pin (it was a new card), and I kept trying different combinations until it was blocked. So I checked my wallet, found the EXACT same amount of the ticket, and paid it with cash, which meant only one thing: I went to London penniless. Courage and silliness are hard to be distinguished, sometimes.

I arrived at Waterloo Station at 9.20, waited anxiously for him to pick me up (because I didn’t even have money to buy a tube or bus ticket), and finally, an hour later he walked to me with an ear-to-ear grin. I hugged him really tight once I saw him, because I had missed him, and, well, I didn’t have to worry about being in London with no money anymore (although according to him, it was pretty obvious I hugged him for the latter reason, but I swear it wasn’t only because of that!). Later on Joydi and I found out that none of our texts to each other was delivered, hence the mayhem. And for this I have to thank Ocha a thousand times, who was willing to become a go-between for Joydi and me (much like an owl, actually).

Because my intention to go there was only to see him, I didn’t have anything in mind about the places I wanted to visit, so I just went along with him and his friends. We talked a lot, took pictures, and even managed to send a birthday video from Buckingham Palace to our dear friend Khemal who just celebrated his birthday recently (how grand was that?).

In the end, we sat at the busy Coach Station and talked about everything; our old days in college, what we were doing, and our plan for the future. We also talked about our conversation with some other friends years ago, when we joked how someday we would meet in another part of the world. Yesterday it happened, and we expected to meet the others in another place (be ready Ocha and Khemal!). It was really good to have a long talk with him. We spent two and a half hours talking until it was time for me to leave.

By midnight I was back in Southampton, exhausted but extremely happy. Although it began with a havoc, everything was worth it when you got to see your good friend and spent a day with him. Worth every penny, even with the additional ticket I had to buy.

Thank you Joydi, and I promise I will pay you back! Just be sure to visit me again next year. 😉