Well, this is a big one! There are three parts to our latest adventure and it began with getting the 11.56 out of Kettering – destination Vancouver, Canada! Things didn’t start well! The train was late and after we got to T3 at Heathrow, checked in and boarded the plane, the pilot calmly announced that …
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Category:Holiday
Short Break: Beaulieu and Brockenhurst
We slept badly. In an effort to give us a different impression of Winchester, just before midnight, some local drunks had chosen the space under our window to exchange words of wisdom. I can’t recall the details, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a replay of the five-party political debate on TV last night! If …
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Short Break: Gin taster, Win chester!
We headed for Winchester today courtesy of Ann’s friend Nicki – and her gift of a hotel voucher. The route there just happened to take us in the direction of the Bombay Sapphire Distillery at Laverstoke Mill (with its own fascinating history). We set off around 9am and pulled into the car-park at Laverstoke Mill just …
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Foody Friday
To say that a lot of my life revolves around friends and food (sometimes both at the same time!) wouldn’t be far from the truth – and today was no exception! A cheeky ‘Chocolate Brownie’ Milkshake First, it was over to Peterborough to meet Alison W (from my days with Nokia). We visited Bill’s – …
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Four go to Iceland – Day 6: Mopping-up (Final Day)
Today is our last full day here, so it’s a bit of a ‘mopping-up’ day covering places that are popular with Tourists that we hadn’t covered on previous days-out. To start with, we’re heading down to the south-west corner of Iceland and Grindavik then maybe the Blue Lagoon (spot the Tourist!) and Viking World. After …
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Four go to Iceland – Day 5: Golden Circle Trail (Part 2)
After yesterday’s very pleasant experiences during our stalking of Tourists, sorry, Golden Circle Expedition, today, it’s more of the same, as we visit some more famous tourist sights of Iceland. We decided to head out earlier, in theory, to beat the rush. So, not much of a lie-in as it was brekky at 8.30. It …
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Four go to Iceland – Day 4: Golden Circle Trail (Part 1)
Today, we’re doing what every tourist does in Iceland – heading towards The Golden Circle. It’s the area north-east/south-east of Reykjavik and promises to take in some grand sights including: Geysers, Waterfalls and a National Park. It’s a mammoth area to cover and so we’re going to pace ourselves and split the trail into two …
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Four go to Iceland – Day 3: Go West!
After yesterday’s southern expedition, today we headed West!. It was always going to be difficult to top yesterday’s experiences where we enjoyed some stunning scenery and kind weather, but we were up for anything that the western side of Iceland had to offer. Initially, we had also planned to finish our day and try and …
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Four go to Iceland – Day 2: Heading South
The focus today is to explore more of Iceland, but further afield than Reykjavik. Obviously, the key ‘event’ whilst we’re here will be to experience The Northern Lights but according to all the checks we’ve made, tomorrow and Wednesday are the two evenings where the chance of experiencing this phenomena are the highest. I just …
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Four go to Iceland – Day 1: Exploring around Reykjavik
After a lazy breakfast including copious amounts of tea, we reviewed the weather forecast and we decided to explore the local area including a search for suitable restaurants for our evening meals. Current temperature was around 4 degrees, but as it turned out, today turned into a ‘game of two halves’ temperature-wise. This morning on …
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Four go to Iceland – Arrival
5.45am: An early start for us on a Saturday. After a quick breakfast with Ralph and Karen (once again our companions for this holiday), it was off to Bedford Station to catch the train to St Pancras International and then onwards via the Tube to Heathrow, Terminal 5. Our flight wasn’t until 2.35, so that …
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My 60th – Turkish Delight
After a short lull in proceedings, my ‘big’ Birthday celebrations have restarted! Tonight, Ann and I travelled down to London for an evening meal with my close Trainer friends from the (many) days working on the British Airways project back in 2000. The restaurant of choice was the ever-reliable EV’s – our semi-regular haunt just …
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Catch-up with Jane and Mick
Cripes, I don’t think I ever eaten out so often as we have this month – and it’s only the 6th! Strangely, this one wasn’t birthday related – just an opportunity to catch-up with our old friends, Jane and Mick, who we haven’t seen for quite a few months. The Pub/Restaurant of choice was the …
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Australian Cruise: Singapore Stopover – Day 15 and 16
Written: Sunday, 23rd October Day 15 – Saturday So it’s goodbye to Celebrity Solstice and hello to dry land in Singapore. We’re here for two days before we fly home on Sunday. It’s our fifth visit and we love the place! We first came here 30 years ago (or thereabouts) so we thought we’d revisit …
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Australian Cruise: Brisbane – Day 3
Written: Monday, 10th October. Our day began early as we still haven’t got into a regular sleep pattern just yet. This meant we were at the Gym (for the second day running) by 6am. I stuck to my standard 30 minute ‘walk’, whilst Ann did all this and more! Then it was off for a …
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Australian Cruise: Final Two Days On-Board– Day 13 and 14
Written: Friday, 21st October Day 13 –Thursday Somebody must have spiked my iced-water last night! I didn’t wake-up until 7.45! – so much for the Gym at 7 then!!! If we were to get a prime position on Deck this morning, it was a good job we’d ordered breakfast in our room, because by the …
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Australian Cruise: Arrival in Benoa, Bali – Day 12
Written: Wednesday, 19th October We slipped into Benoa, Bali at around 7.30 this morning – we watched the arrival from the treadmill in the Gym! Strangely (and unlike yesterday) the Gym was deserted and we were able to ‘do our thing’ much more easily. Then, as usual, we headed for breakfast in Blu that was …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Days 10 and 11
Written: Tuesday, 18th October Day 10 – Monday The Sea was like a mill-pond We’re now at sea for two days on our way to Benoa, Bali. We skipped the Gym today, in favour of a quick breakfast in order to gain some time and secure a suitably warm/shady spot on the Deck. Being on …
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Australian Cruise: Darwin – Day 9
Written: Sunday, 16th October Either we’d both been kidnapped and hidden in the glass-blowing ovens overnight – or we’d arrived in Darwin. The lack of glass around us proved it was the latter! Cor! What an absolute scorcher – and it’s only 7am!! So the main challenge today was about how we (or more specifically, …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Days 7 and 8
Written: Saturday, 15th October Day 7 – Friday We’ve now got two days at sea, arriving in Darwin on Sunday. We’ve got no plans for today apart from seeing the conclusion of the glass-blowing demo that started last night. After breakfast in the Blu Restaurant, it was up onto the Solstice Deck for a comfy …
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Australian Cruise: Cairns – Day 6
Written: Thursday, 13th October After a decadent lie-in until 6.30, we hit the Gym for our daily punishment around 7am. Then it was off to the Blu Restaurant for brekky. I might be tempting fate, but with last night’s steak meal and this morning’s offering, that’s two in a row where the food has been …
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Australian Cruise: Airlie Beach, Great Barrier Reef – Day 5
Written: Wednesday, 12th October The big excursion today! The Ship’s blurb said… “Climb aboard a catamaran and sail to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Your destination is a large off-shore platform offering easy-to-operate semi-subs. Choose one and enter a world teeming with colourful fish, exotic creatures and brilliant coral. Afterwards, enjoy lunch on-board and lounge on …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Day 2
Written: Sunday, 9th October We’re all at sea today! Although we slept well, we were both awake from the early hours. So what to do? Most normal couples would go back to sleep, but we headed for the Gym at 6am! Wow! It’s probably the largest Gym we’ve ever seen on a Cruise Ship with …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Day 1
Written: Saturday, 8th October After a substantial breakfast close to our Apartment, we grabbed a taxi to take us to the OPT (Overseas Passenger Terminal). Well, getting the taxi-bit sounded OK in theory, but in reality, it seemed the rest of New South Wales had the same idea, and we were diverted away from our …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Day 4
Written: Tuesday, October 11thAnother day at sea today as we head in the direction of Airlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow.A perfect opportunity to test-drive the room-service breakfast!Breakfast sorted! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love …
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Australian Cruise: Day 3 – Last Day in Sydney
We were up earlier than yesterday – not sure why – so we had breakfast in our room before taking the shortish walk down to Darling Harbour.We planned to catch the Ferry to Parramatta (as every Australian school-kid knows, is west of Sydney and one of their major business districts. It’s also one of the …
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Australian Cruise: Day 2 – Exploring Sydney
After a really good night’s sleep, today we were ready to take on the rest of what Sydney had to offer! But the first job was to seek out breakfast – and we found somewhere very near the David Jones Department Store… Suitably stuffed, and after our daily dose of retail therapy in the rather …
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Australian Cruise: Day 1 – Arrival in Sydney
After the flight out of Birmingham, courtesy of Emirates, stopping off at Dubai and Bangkok, we eventually arrived in Sydney – I think it’s been our longest flight-to-date, at around 23 hours. We’re staying at the Wyndham City Resort Hotel in the Harbour area of the City. We arrived around 11am and that was far …
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Holiday: Cruise to America – Day 11 (Final Day): Kennedy Space Center
Our last day and we’re on a full-day tour of Kennedy Space Center with the optional up close part! It was an early start so no time for the Gym today – I’m so disappointed! We disembarked to be greeted by a fleet of coaches that eventually whisked us to our destination. Over the course …
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Holiday: Cruise to America – Day 10: Port Canaveral
So, here we are in Cape Canaveral almost a day ahead of schedule due to some nifty seamanship by the Captain! In reality, we think they got the timings wrong in terms how long it would take to get us all through US Immigration (in our experience, they’re very, very, very fussy) AND fit in …
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