Kim's Birthday Scavenger Hunt

I never heard Joel leave in the morning, but when I finally woke up (with a head in pounding agony), the air mattress was rolled up and there was no sign of him.  I learned later that he got his phone stolen on the DLR, probably because he was feeling as rough as we were and wasn't paying attention.  

The Tall South African and I struggled up in the morning, as we both had promised we would go meet friends.  Anyone who worries we got up to any hanky-panky while drunk and in bed together cannot imagine the force of this hangover.  I really cannot remember ever feeling quite so wretched.  

Walk like an Egyptian by an obelisk

The Tall South African had to go and meet the friend who introduced us for coffee, and I had to go meet my old college roommate, who was in town, passing through on her way to Cairo for work.  I don't even remember much of that morning outing, other than that I went to the wrong hotel at first, and then finally found the College Roommate and an old friend of hers at the correct hotel (which had the same name and was confusingly located around the corner).  We wandered down to Covent Garden and decided to have lunch outside, and I have to admit the food helped with the absolute stomach-churning nausea.  I have no idea what I talked about though, I was probably babbling and still feeling slightly drunk.  

I walked with them down towards the Tate Modern for a while, and after agreeing to meet my College Roommate for brunch the next day, I left them to go home and shower (something I had been too sick to do in the morning).  Somehow managed to get myself changed and dressed, and then went out to re-convene with the Tall South African for a friend of mine's birthday party, which turned out to be a spectacular scavenger-hunt pub crawl.

The Tall South African and his team solving the puzzle at the first pub

At the first pub (which was actually a boat docked on the Thames, aggravating my nausea with it's rocking), they divided us up into teams by having us pick a card out of a deck of cards.  They then gave us logic puzzles to solve to figure out where the next pub was.  Once we figured it out, we went off to the next pub, but we had also been given a list of scavenger hunt challenges to complete.  Among the list of challenges:

1.  Video your team performing a conga line with five random strangers

2.  Fit your entire team into a phone box

3.  Take a picture of your team inside a bedroom of suite at the Savoy Hotel

4.  Film a video of your team performing with a busker

5.  Walk like an Egyptian by an obelisk

6.  Find a dead US president

7.  Arrive at a pub wearing your other team members' clothes

8.  Arrive at a pub wearing your clothes backwards

9.  Video your team performing the opening rap to "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" to a bartender

10. Take a photo of your team with a trophy animal

11.  Take a photo with Webb Sewer.

12.  Salute the future king

13.  Photocopy a body part

14.  Arrive at a pub wearing your underwear outside your clothes

15.  Make a "Gangnam Style" video (I had never heard of this before this event, but apparently it's a YouTube sensation!)

16.  Ride a Routemaster bus

17.  Find three squares on the Monopoly Board

18.  Bring the Stars and Stripes to the final pub

19.  Bring the birthday girl a present from a Soho sex shop

20.  High-five a stranger in uniform

21.  Have your entire team do a shot of tequila

There were more, but I can't remember them now.  All of these required photographic or video evidence, to prove that we'd done it.  Anyway, at the first pub, we solved the logic puzzle (along the lines of "Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and the birthday girl are drinking lager, ale, Guinness, and cider at the Wellington, the Cole Hole, the Walkabout, and the Carpenter's Arms.  None are having the same drink or are at the same place.  The person at the Wellington orders in German, Stalin can't stand the black stuff, Mussolini can't stand Australians..." and so forth.  When you solved the puzzle, it revealed that we all needed to go to the Cole Hole.

Riding a Routemaster bus

So we walked there, stopping along the way to take a photo walking like an Egyptian next to an obelisk, and when we saw a wedding party coming out of a hotel to get on a Routemaster bus, asking them if they minded if we took a quick photo.  We then swapped clothes to arrive at the next pub, where we wandered around a bit wondering where everyone else was, as we had been so quick in arriving we beat everyone else!  (To keep things moving along, there were also points awarded for making it to the next pub at a certain time, which kept everybody moving, normally a problem with pub crawls!)

Our team at the second pub

Squeezing into a phone box

At the second pub, at the appointed time, everyone was given the next puzzle to solve, which helped us draw a picture of a maple leaf, indicating that our next challenge would be found at the Maple Leaf pub (a relatively famous Canadian pub nearby).  On our way there however, we stopped at the Savoy Hotel, where we tried talking our way into a suite, but instead settled for taking a photo in the lobby in a suite of furniture.  We also took a photo of us high-fiving one of the chambermaids in her uniform, and then on the street stopped to cram the entire team into a phonebox (quite a tight squeeze!)

Giving the chambermaid at the Savoy a high-five

After that, we went on to the Maple Leaf, where we arrived wearing all of our clothes backwards, and once inside took a photo with a trophy animal (a black bear), and laughed as the first team attempted the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" rapping challenge.  

Arriving at the Maple Leaf with our clothes on backwards

With a trophy animal

Upon leaving the Maple Leaf, a terrible discovery was made by Sweetheart, Roofie and his brother, when for some reason somebody tickled me.  Now, the thing is, I am VERY ticklish.  Normally, nobody but my brother knows this.  (It was one of his favourite ways to torment me as a kid).  And so of course I went into my usual hysterical giggling spasms, which only encouraged the boys to do it more.  We'd already solved the puzzle of the next pub, and their team didn't have to solve it, as they absolutely tickled it out of me!  

Saluting the future king

We then continued on with our challenges, going to Covent Garden, where we found a busker who was willing to make a video singing with us (we did a video of all of us singing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girl), while continuing to wrack our brains about how to do the rest of the challenges.  The "Salute the Future King" challenge was proving to be quite difficult, as while there were many photos of William and Diana everywhere, it turns out that Charles isn't quite so photogenic.  We finally found a postcard of him however, at a place that also let us make a photocopy of all of our hands.  

We then went on to find the dead president on a car (Ford IS dead, right?), and convinced a family to do a conga line with us for that video.  We found the US flag in a shop and bought it for £2 (also surprisingly hard to find a US flag in the middle of London), and then after doing some more searching, realised we were running out of time to make it to the final pub, and so dashed off there.  

Find a dead US president

Once there, we engaged in the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" rapping challenge, and then completed our final challenge by having the entire team take a shot of tequila.  The thought of doing that on my hangover made me absolutely ill, but somehow I survived it and we completed our list!  

The entire team doing a shot of tequila, with the Tall South African in the background

At this point, we generally hung around the final pub for a bit, swapping stories and looking at other people's pictures.  I'd made sure that the Tall South African was on a different team than I was (although he was on the same team as a friend of mine who has a huge crush on him), and so I laughed as I listened to his tales of their adventures.  

With the Tall South African and the Stars and Stripes at the final pub

As we were standing around outside the final pub, Roofie called me over to him, and asked if I was drinking beer.  He asked to see my glass, and I handed it over without thinking.  Once the boys were sure that I wasn't going to spill my drink, they then suddenly attacked me in another tickle fight!  No idea why they found that so funny, but I couldn't believe I'd been so dumb as to walk straight into it!  At least once they realised I was in serious danger of falling on the ground, I was laughing so hard, they took pity on me and stopped tickling me!

My team at the final pub

Mostly though, we just stood around talking about how the whole thing was so well-planned and organised.  It all been done by the birthday girl's boyfriend as a present to her, she hadn't done any planning at all.  And I thought it was incredibly sweet, such a romantic gesture, better than any flowers or chocolates this guy could buy!  

At this point, we were all directed to leave the third pub and go to a burrito place for dinner.  The group I was with got incredibly lost getting there, but after a few phone calls we figured out where we were supposed to be.  I walked along the whole way with Roofie's brother, who I know is quite fond of me, but sometimes I wonder quite HOW fond.  He's a good-looking guy, and very funny, but I sort of assume such a guy wouldn't be into someone like me.  Something strikes me about the way he talks to me at times though which makes me wonder...

When we finally made it to the restaurant, we found that they were prepared for us, and had set aside a room in their basement for us to chat and eat.  The staff thought we were all hilarious, competing for points and arguing why we should be given credit for certain things...  And then the grand prize?  A teeny-tiny plastic trophy cup.  Ah, but I think it was more about the competition than the winning!

The entire group in the burrito restaurant

At this point, a lot of people were heading off to a nightclub bar (O'Neils in Chinatown), but the Tall South African, myself, and a few others just weren't quite up for it, but also didn't want to end the night quite yet.  So we decided to go get a quiet drink somewhere, yet finding a place for a quiet drink in Soho on a Saturday night is a nearly impossible challenge!  Yet, there was this place that I'd been to with the Young Dutchman at 3AM once that I remembered, and was quite proud of myself when I managed to lead people there, and it turned out to be exactly what we were looking for.  Nearly fell asleep on the table at the end of the evening, but we'd had such a good time...(The next morning, the Tall South African told me that I talked in my sleep quite a bit through the night, I think a side-effect of the sheer exhaustion.  It was funny, as I didn't recall any of my dreams until he told me what I'd been talking about, and then I was finally able to put it all in context for him.  How funny, I'd never known I talked in my sleep!)