I can’t believe I only have one full day left here in Shrewsbury! I’m working today, but I should be able to go out tomorrow to do my last walking tour.

Unfortunately, I won’t get a chance to go see anything in the environs. The number one thing on my list was the Roman city of Wroxeter, but it’s only open during the weekends in winter months. 🙁

My host returns quite early on Wednesday morning. I had applied for a bunch of short-term sits that would fill a few nights of my last week and no one even bothered to get back to me to say no thank you to my services, leaving me in limbo for far too long. So I spent hours yesterday trying to decide what I was going to do next and the answer just wasn’t coming to me. I really wanted to at least step foot in Wales, but there was literally no accommodation within my price range in locations that were convenient from Shrewsbury and to London.

My host had offered to let me stay on a day or two more, but with my flight being on the 15th, it became clear that the most sensible thing to do would be to find a week’s rental near Gatwick as that would be the same price as renting for just a few nights.  But that also wasn’t coming together. And if you know me, you know I don’t like to force these things.

Well, answer came to me after a too short night’s sleep. I knew that I’d made the right decision when I found a week’s accommodation (private room with a desk) for just 250CAD AND the last half-price train fare (80 versus 160CAD!) on the 8th leaving at a convenient time for both departure from Shrewsbury and arrival in a destination that would get me to Gatwick in about 30 minutes with public transportation.

So my amazing European tour will end in the seaside holiday town of Brighton.

By the way, someone needs to remind me to write a post about travel planning with England and how sometimes just going to a location a few miles away on a bus is unfathomably difficult to organise but travelling clear across the country with several connections can be easy peasy.

This adventure is winding down and while it has sometimes felt like I was robbing Peter to pay Paul, ie. making sacrifices in Europe to fund my unexpected journey to Mexico in May, I think I’ve done very well with my travels considering I was working essentially full-time and on a tight budget. I am very happy what I have to show for the last nine months.

My hosts in Mexico have checked in, enticing me with pictures of the luxury home and adorable dog I’ll be minding, as well as firming up my arrival date of May 15th. There is so much to plan to get there and there could be so much money going out if the visa request is approved, but it will all be worth it. Frankly, I’m knackered and the thought that two months from now I’ll be able to just stay put for five months is really appealing. Like when I was RVing, moving around so much in a short period of time is really not my preferred travel style.