Greetings from Hong Kong – Saturday 27 September 2008

Greetings from Hong Kong – Saturday 27 September 2008
Well, I just received a phone call from my mother to see if everything was all right...I haven't emailed for a couple of days and everyone suspects the worst! Yes we are both fine, though I have had a ^*# cold for over a week now and my arthritis has just about crippled my right hand...but otherwise I have no complaints. We saw Joseph in London the night before we left and it was FANTASTIC! (Gary has been singing "Any dream will do" ever since which is slightly annoying...but...a small price to pay.) It was a tremendous production and we managed to find it OK and find our way home on the tube as well. I think we were both incredibly relieved to see it actually go ahead and not be cancelled as Grease was in NY! For our last day in London we spent the morning re-packing suitcases and trying to make sure we would not exceed the draconian weight limits that airlines place on us poor unsuspecting travellers - thankfully we succeeded and had no problems checking in later in the day. We decided (well Gary did really) that it was essential to see Mummy 3 so it was off to Leicester Sq to the movies where I endured THE WORST 2 hours of my life (and I'm including childbirth and visits to the dentist here). It was an incredibly BAD movie...but heh, it kept us out of the rain! We did take a walk to Trafalgar Sq afterward and wandered around a bit before it was back to the hotel, and then on the shuttle and off to Heathrow. Gary was not amused when we arrived to be presented with a letter which apologised for our delayed flight because there was a typhoon in Hong Kong which had delayed the arrival of our plane and so it would be late taking off. He managed to become philosophical (after I had given him THE look) and agreed that it was much better that the typhoon occurred in HK before we got there rather than during our stay. Anyway, we finally took off from Heathrow at about 10.45pm and, can I tell you, it was worth the wait! We were flying Air NZ and our Business Class seats were the ones that fold out into a full bed...YES! Consequently I got a good 6 hours sleep on the plane and watched 2 movies (Forgetting Sarah Marshall & Leatherheads, both good) as well as an episode of CSI - all in all a good time was had by all (well, me anyway). Gary also got some sleep and, once again, had a good flight. We arrived in HK at about 5.30pm Thur and were relayed to our hotel by private car (Gary had gone all out for our final leg) - the hotel is exceptionally posh (and expensive) but we have a FANTASTIC view of the harbour from our window - it really is unbelievable! The hotel is also surrounded by lots of restaurants and shops so there is plenty to do. The first night we wandered among the throngs and ended up in a Thai restaurant where Gary ended up drinking 2 massive beers as they had a promotion for Carlsberg - buy one, get one free - and they insisted he have the free one too. We had yummy food which included fried custard (very strange). Yesterday we had a mixture of sightseeing and veging out. The morning was spent by the pool and in the afternoon we took a tour of Hong Kong Is, visiting Victoria Peak (amazing views...and Gary was very brave going up and down the mountain), Aberdeen fishing village where we took a Sampan (local wooden boat) and checked out all the locals who live on boats in the harbour, HK Jewellery factory (very nice...but I'm totally over shopping), and the Stanley Markets (good for a few souvenirs). After we returned, we headed out and grabbed some dinner at a Chinese restaurant that seemed to have a lot of locals so we hoped it would be good. The menu was in Chinese..a bit baffling...but an English version was eventually produced. One can never be sure of the accuracy of translation in these situations, but everything seemed to be what we ordered and was very yummy. It is very hot and humid here so I was pretty happy to return to the hotel for an early night - they have an Aussie TV channel so we caught the end of the Storm thrashing the Sharks and then collapsed. I still don't get why these hotels have stupid heavy doonas - I just want a sheet!!!!!!! (as an option anyway). So after waking in a lather of sweat at 1.30am, I read my book for 2 hours and then managed to get another couple of hours sleep. This morning I think I'll veg out at the pool again - this is indeed, the last day as we head home tomorrow and I figure I need at least 1 day of holidays to recover from the previous 6 weeks of travelling! We are going out tonight on a harbour cruise and a trip to the Temple St (I think) markets so that should be a good way to wind everything up. We leave in the morning to catch our 2.10pm flight and then (for some bizarre reason) we fly home via Bangkok so we should arrive about 7am Monday in Sydney. I imagine we'll be back in Newcastle by lunchtime or soon after...and then it's back to work on Thursday (Boo Hoo). Well I have done a check, and I am down to my last two pairs of undies - beautifully timed so no more washing needs to be done (I'm sure you're all relieved) - I think I'll head off for some quiet pool time (though I just saw a very rowdy family heading suspiciously in the direction of the pool). We have had a wonderful time - Gary has surprised himself with his heroic deeds (helicopter flights, ferry trips, viewing scenery from breathtaking heights!) but does not seem to want to go anywhere else, or to any of these places again so it looks like our trips may be closer to home in the future. We would like to see a lot more of Australia so that should be on the agenda over the next few years. (I am kicking that off with a 2 week trip to Perth with my Mum just after Christmas to see the Hopman Cup - we are catching the Indian Pacific there and flying back - should be great...though a bit difficult to think about now...) Thanks to everyone for your emails - it is always nice to hear from you - and sorry I couldn't really reply much but (as Joy says) my typing skills are not great and one only has so much internet time... I hope I haven't bored you too much with my ramblings but I have treated these emails as a journal of sorts so I can look back on it all one day... Finally, I thought I'd thrill you with a preview to my new bestseller: "Penny's A-Z of Travelling". T is for Transport - plane (go business!), shuttle bus (hopeless in US, great in UK), helicopter (not as scary as I thought it would be), bus (get back on the bus, Gus - our motto on the tour), SUV (great trip to the Grand Canyon), subway (why don't we have these in Australia - so efficient!), boat (survived them all, big & small) Taxes - the IRS lurking in Vegas ready to take a large chunk of your win (didn't get to try them out though), VAT included in UK (no prob) but not in US (very annoying) Toilets - what is the go with toilets in the US? they have a really high water level - which is really weird & quite off putting! Gary claimed to have some problems in this regard with bits of his anatomy that I won't go into here... Time - jetlag and adjusting to time change - Gary says he is the MASTER! Touring - lots to see, a great way to get an overview...but...a bit tiring Telecommunications - mobile phones - I don't get it - 3 band this, 4 band that, just give me something that works!, internet...woh, where to start - it really doesn't take much time (once you've found a PC to use) and it's more interactive than writing in a journal, TV - we have become addicted to Law & Order and CSI (never really watched them before) because they are on TV constantly, wherever you are in the world! Towels - every hotel has a sign that says they want to conserve water so will only replace towels placed on floor or bathtub yet every hotel replaces them all anyway...what the? Tipping - I hate it! Just add it to the bill for goodness sake... Theatre - great way to stop walking, see a movie or a show (hopefully they won't get cancelled after you wait for hours in a line...) Tourists - people you meet - lots of Aussies, Yanks and Canadians - mostly nice people...and some we will keep in touch with Temperature - why do hot places have the air-conditioning so high you need a jacket inside and cold places have the heating so high you melt in a singlet??? One of life's little mysteries... Trivia - you do pick up a bit - 4" rain in Las Vegas per year, Annie Moore was the first person through Ellis Is in NY - she was 15 years old from Ireland, 60,000 people were hanged from a tree near our hotel in London (over a long number of years of course). Ireland used to have a population of 8m but it is now only 4m...and much more. Gotta go now - see you all soon. love P&G

Greetings from Oxford St, London

Greetings from Oxford St, London
Wow, it's great to sit down at last...my feet are really aching from all the walking! We have been really busy since my last update. On Sunday night we went to a pub near Bond St for dinner and a drink (Gary has not converted to Guinness though some other guys on the trip did) - Gary insisted on having fish & chips 'cause he thought you should do that in England, but he was a little disappointed. We then walked back to the hotel and crashed (after I did my washing, washed my hair etc etc). Gary has been refusing to do his washing (or let me do it) as he was sure there would be easy laundry facilities in London. I personally just find it easier to wash out a couple of things a night and find they are usually dry by morning. Anyway, Gary went in search of a laundrette yesterday morning and found one but it was self-service so he had to stay and do the deed himself...he was not amused! He did find it was a good pick up joint though and made friends with a number of females - he assured me they were all older than him...yeah sure!! After his laundry adventure, we set off for our real London adventure. We got a ticket on the "hop on hop off" bus and did the full loop, only stopping a couple of times. I had seen it all before, but Big Ben, St Pauls, Westminster Abbey etc never fail to impress. Gary really enjoyed it too, though it was a bit cool atop the bus! We have been blessed with wonderful weather the last few days and actually had two whole days where it didn't rain at all! There was a shower yesterday and today but nothing to really worry about - it is pretty cold outside though it is like a sauna inside - why do these people overheat their buildings???? I am sitting here in t-shirt and jeans and it's the hottest I've been since Vegas!!! In the midst of our bus tour yesterday we also stopped and went in search of the famous Abbey Rd crossing which we found (after a trip on the Underground) and then held up the traffic while we walked back & forth trying to get good photos. I thought the cars were very patient with us - Gary thought they were bloody selfish to be using Abbey Rd and should have had the decency to use a different route, knowing that tourists would need it as a photo opportunity. I must admit we weren't the only ones there - I took a photo for an aussie bloke who was there by himself and there were other groups of people who were trying to walk 4 people across a la the album cover. We also made a pilgrimage to Harrods where I hadn't been before but felt that in homage to my female genes I should visit at least once before I die. I'm not known as a shopper...and I'm afraid nothing has changed - I walked in, said "yep, this is a big shop", grabbed a couple of souvenirs, and left. Anyway, I can say I've been there... With all this running around we didn't stop for lunch until 4pm (more like dunch I called it...or linner) which we had at a pub near Green Park - I had a yummy steak & ale pie with vegies...real pub food. My chardonnay, however, was really weird - it tasted like watery cordial - it was an Aussie wine but I'm sure they must have watered it down - Gary wanted to take it back but I was too exhausted to face the hoo haa and actually thought it tasted OK. Maybe I'll start watering down my wine at home! After such a late meal, we just had some fruit in our room last night and Gary watched TV while I read a book. I'm reading a book set in Edinburgh & it is amazingly descriptive and mentions all the places we were only a week or so ago - very surreal. We headed off this morning to finish our bus tour as the tickets last for 24 hours. Included in the price is a walking tour from Trafalgar to Buckingham Palace so we took that. Unfortunately they did not do a changing of the guard today as they only do it every second day in September, but we did see the changing of the horse guard which was pretty special. Also had our photos taken with grenadier guards (as you do), walked through St James Park etc etc. We had pre-purchased tickets to go through Buckingham Palace which was just as well as there was a long line and I doubt Gary would have waited. His Irish heritage is coming out and he generally "despises the obscene excesses of the oppressive British aristocracy". Well, I liked it! The palace is only open to the public while Queen Lizzie is on holiday at Balmoral in Scotland (Aug & Sep) so I think it was worth it to take the opportunity to see how the other half live...and wow, how do they live!!!??? We saw 19 state rooms which were absolutely magnificent and the ballroom was set up for a State Banquet - an amazing sight. We finished with a stroll through the gardens and then it was back to the real world of the commoners! We are now quite accomplished tube travellers and we hot footed it to Leicester Square where we had some lunch and then bought tickets for a show tonight - Joseph & His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat - this show fights it out with Sound of Music as my all time favourite and Sound of Music is also on here...decisions, decisions...Gary was happy to make the decision - he has been dragged to Sound of Music with me on too many occasions to recall and was looking for a change! So we've got tickets for Joseph tonight and I can't wait! We jumped back on the tube and I have left Gary there to make his own way back as I got off here at Bond St to do my internet thing. I hope he makes it back OK! We are heading for Hong Kong tomorrow night and have to check out of the hotel at 12 noon so we're not sure what to do tomorrow arvo. At the moment it's a toss up between Tower of London and veging out seeing a movie in Leicester Sq - the state of our feet and the weather may be the deciding factors. Well that's about it for now - I need to go back and wash my one and only pair of jeans. I dropped some pasta on my leg at lunchtime and thought I'd get the stain out quickly before it dried so dipped the corner of a napkin in water and rubbed. Penny's Tip of the Day: "Do not use red paper napkins in this fashion as the red dye runs and creates a stain much larger and more unsightly than the one you are trying to erase." Love to everyone and thanks again for the emails. P&G

Greetings from London

Greetings from London
I have just spent an hour pounding the pavement looking for an internet cafe...but voila, finally found a really cool one on Oxford St with 110 PCs...now that is more like a conference centre than a cafe!!! Well, the last time I emailed we were still in Killarney, a really lovely area of Ireland (it had to be as it is O'Shea country). We loved Ireland as the people are really friendly - very similar to Aussies in attitude and humour - and I must admit I find their accent the easiest to understand (not sure if that feeling is reciprocated though!) The scenery is breathtaking and varies widely from rugged mountains to rolling hills but the thing that never changes is that there are so many shades of green. Apparently Johnny Cash wrote a song called "40 shades of green" and I would totally agree. We had a great last night in Killarney and went to a pub (they're all Irish Pubs there!) for a great meal - we ended up staggering home at about 9.30pm as we were totally stuffed - it is amazing how tiring touring can be, even if you spend a lot of time sitting in a bus. We set off for Waterford the next day, but stopped along the way at Blarney Castle - we had been warned that it is a 200 step climb up a narrow spiral staircase but Gary was determined to kiss the Blarney Stone so off we trooped. Thankfully there was a slow moving line up the stairs so we took it very slowly and then when you get to the top a man hangs onto your thighs while you lie down on the ground and sort of hang (while holding onto a couple of bars), lean back and kiss the Blarney Stone. Because it is so high up, and I guess they are concerned things may fall, you have to take your glasses off. Anyway, to cut a long story short Gary managed to head butt the Blarney Stone (yep, actually had a bloody mark on his head) rather than kiss it. I, on the other hand, planted a perfect smooch right in the middle of the stone. Gaz was not amused, though we were! When you kiss the stone it is supposed to give you the gift of the gab (which I'm not sure I need more of) so I convinced Gary that he will just be a better thinker now as his head made contact. Anyway, all in all a memorable experience! We then travelled on to the Waterford Crystal factory which had some really nice stuff. One of our new friends, Jan, was telling me she like a chandelier but I couldn't quite believe it when she got back on the bus and had actually bought it...to put in her bedroom! I made a much smaller purchase! We spent the night in Waterford and then had a really early start the next morning as we had to catch the early ferry over to Sth Wales. So it was a sad goodbye to Ireland (and I did ask why we needed to go to South Wales when surely New South Wales must be heaps better and we know it pretty well). The ferry crossing was very smooth and once again Gary was fine with no problems at all. It was a long crossing - about 4 hours - so it was late afternoon when we arrived at Cardiff Castle which was an amazing place. It has some really amazing rooms, decorated by the very rich and eccentric owner in the 17 & 1800's. After a quick trip to our hotel for a shower and change it was back to the castle for our Welsh Banquet dinner, our last night. It was a fantastic night with good food, lots of singing, speaking welsh (Deeolk chariad (phonetic spelling) means thank you sweetheart and I used that a few times on the sexy waiters I can tell you), dancing etc. I was picked from the audience to dress in Welsh national costume and do a welsh clog dance - a sight to behold as you can imagine! We had a great night & it was a fitting farewell for the tour group who have all got on extremely well together. Our last day saw us leaving Cardiff and heading to Bath, something I had really been looking forward to - and I was not disappointed! We toured the Roman Bath Museum which was amazing and displayed very well what the site would have looked like 2000 years ago. I was then able to step into Bath Abbey for the 11am service, though I had to sneak out at 11.20 to catch the bus but I'm glad I experienced a little bit of the service. They have an amazing choir - the best church choir I've ever heard - and the Abbey was an amazing sight as well. Unfortunately to rendezvous with the bus I had to skip the sermon...oh well. Bath also had the most amazing Georgian architecture and looked like a city you could explore for some time...but unfortunately we only had 2 hours. Maybe we'll go back someday. We made a stop at Stonehenge on the way to London - another amazing place dating back to 5000 years ago! Then it was back on the bus for the last time and we headed into London, arriving at about 3.30pm. We checked into our hotel, said our goodbyes to all our new friends...and here we are. Gary has been waiting patiently for me while I have babbled on, so I will sign off now and we'll go and look for some dinner. We have 3 nights here in London before we head off to Hong Kong so no doubt we will get a bit more sightseeing in and experience some more adventures. Hope you are all well - thanks to those who emailed. loveP&G

Greetings from Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland

Greetings from Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland
Well, well, well, Ireland is fantastic!!! Gary does truly feel that he has come home...maybe I can leave him here (only joking). we have had an awesome time - I loved Dublin though many others were disappointed with it in comparison to Edinburgh. It just seems to be a fun place. The truly incredible thing about Ireland is that it is being totally re-built - talk about a builder's dream!! as we drove into Dublin from the docks there would have been at least 20 massive cranes in the process of building high rise blocks. Apparently since Ireland joined the EEC in the 70's they have received a lot of financial support which was sorely needed as they were a very poor country indeed. They are now quite affluent (not effluent as Kath & Kim would say), and have a big IT industry as well as the tourism and agriculture. It was amazing driving through the countryside - there are no old, quaint cottages - they are all new modern nice looking 5-6 bedroom homes. We found out this is because they can get a grant of 90% (that's right - they only contribute 10% of the cost) for a new home if they have a couple of bedrooms for tourists...why wouldn't you do it? - (and they say Australia is the lucky country!). We did a city tour of Dublin and saw Dublin Castle - (Gary is extremely impressed by the castles he has seen but I don't like to put the dampener on it and tell him the ones in Europe are heaps better...). Our tour guide was a very entertaining lady who hated the bad traffic in Dublin - she explained "One yellow line means you can't park at all and two yellow lines mean you can't park at all at all!" She had us rolling in the aisles. Another classic "What shade of green would dis fella be waitin fo?" (after the lights had turned green). Anyway, a good time was had by all. Gary went with some other blokes and did a tour of the Guinness factory in the afternoon - I had a bit of a snooze, a shop, and picked up the laundry (yes, we had found a laundrette!) That night we went to an Irish Cabaret with dancing singing and an Irish comedian - very good night. Yesterday we drove from Dublin to Killarney via the Irish National Stud where Vintage Crop is living out his old age - it was a very interesting place. Gary bought a cap that says "Irish national stud" - he thinks people will think he won it as an award!! We also stopped at a lovely village called Cashel for lunch and saw some wonderful scenery on the way here. As soon as we crossed the border into county Kerry we saw lots of O'Shea signs - there are lots of us here! We saw an exceptional show here last night - more dancers and a guy called Liam O'Connor who plays the accordion - fantastic - Gary bought the CD & got it autographed! Co Kerry is in the all Ireland football final this Saturday against Co Tyrone so the place is very excited and decked out in green and gold. Unfortunately we will miss the game but...Go Kerry!!!! We travelled the Ring of Kerry today - unreal scenery...and we have had beautiful weather - no rain for TWO days now!!!! We are about to go shopping yet again - not sure how we will bring it all back. We are off to Waterford tomorrow, then Cardiff and then London - the end is nigh... Thanks again for your emails. Good luck to the boys for soccer. Go Uni for the girls. loveP&G

Greetings from Dublin

Greetings from Dublin
I have found this great internet cafe near our hotel and I'm making the most of my time while Gary waits for our bags to be offloaded from the bus before we go exploring and find some place to eat dinner. The trip continues to be everything we hoped for! The Lakes District was breathtaking - it has been preserved (apparently greatly due to Beatrix Potter's conservation push) and is just how one would imagine English countryside to be. It is very popular with British tourists as well so was pretty busy as we were there on a weekend. Nonetheless we had a great time - cruised Lake Windermere, went on a steam train, saw Wordsworth's grave and just wandered through quaint villages - I loved it there. We stayed at the Hydro Hotel overlooking Lake Windermere - it was a lovely older style hotel with the smallest bathroom you have EVER seen...which wasn't a problem until everyone tried to shower in the morning and there was NO HOT WATER. Gaz was not impressed! But just to show how much he has grown during this trip he was heard to say to a fellow traveller later in the day "if that's the worst thing we have happen to us we will be OK". (I can tell you that is NOT what he was saying when the water was cold at 6am!!!!) Anyway, we survived and headed off for a lovely sightseeing day in the Lakes District. When we arrived in Warrington (lots of Rugby League towns nearby - St Helens, Wigan, Widnes etc) we dumped our bags and went on an excursion into North Wales with our tour director whose home town was nearby - it was such a quaint place and he took us to his local pub where we all had a pint (well I had to be different and have a chardonnay...or is that a shark 8...). The pub was an old corn mill and we sat by the banks of a river watching the water gush down and spin the water wheel...fantastic. We would all have been happy to stay there all night. But it was back to the hotel for a late dinner, hair wash, clothes wash and bed. I am still struggling with the stupid quilt/duvet thingies they have here and either end up freezing or boiling to death...but in Gary's words..."if that is the worst...bla bla bla". We set off this morning and had a couple of hours in Chester, a lovely old Roman town near the Welsh border - very pretty and interesting. A couple of short stops later (one at a castle and one in the town that has the longest name...which I will not attempt to type here or I will be here all night) and we arrived at Holyhead to catch the ferry to Dublin. Gary had been really worrying about this crossing because of possible seasickness and had been popping ginger pills all day. Well, they must have worked 'cause he was fine...though he did face inwards and not look out at the water once! I went up on deck and took photos of the retreating land and approaching land and came back to show him on the camera! We passed the nearly 4 hours very pleasantly with the new friends we have made - Trish & Michael from Brisbane, Jan & Clem from Ipswich & Gail & Kevin from Canberra - all really nice people...and Jan & Clem have 23 year old triplets which make for quite a few good stories! Gary is very excited to be here in Ireland so I'd better get back so we can go and explore. We have a city tour tomorrow morning, free time in the afternoon and then an Irish Cabaret complete with dancers, comedian etc tomorrow night so it should be a big day. Thanks for your emails and news...and in case you were wondering...yes...it's raining! loveP&G

Greetings from the Lakes District

Greetings from the Lakes District
Wow! What a time we are having!!!! Edinburgh is a fantastic city (sorry Davey, but it is) and we really enjoyed our time there. The castle has to be seen to be believed and we had a fabulous tour guide who also took us around the old and new cities - the "new" city was built before Captain Cook was out of nappies... Anyway, all in all a wonderful time. Gary & I also went to a pub for dinner where we totally bamboozled the bartender with our accent - Gary ordered a chardonnay and the guy thought he asked for a "Shark 8". I insisted on pointing to the menu to order my meal - I've seen what can happen, heh Davey? He was a really nice bartender though and it turned out he was Irish and had just moved to Edinburgh and got a job that very day as a maths teacher - he may have been put out when Gary said -"you don't look like a maths teacher" - I'm sure he's still wondering what they do look like!We headed for the Scottish highlands yesterday and heard lots of history from our guide - many battles, massacres & intrigue! I was a bit crook yesterday (but I'm fine now) and so I missed the whisky distillery tour but Gary seemed to enjoy it, including the samples! We also visited Blair Castle which was spectacular and witnessed some breathtaking scenery. Our day was topped off with an excursion to a disused 1700's fort and a toast to Bonnie Prince Charlie with Drambuie (which he invented), complete with bagpipes etc. (As I was under the weather I was treated extra-specially and was given (forgive spelling) Irn-Bru which Davey had told me so much about...it was quite nice. It is a Scottish soft drink which is more popular than coke, Pepsi etc). All that was topped up by a highlight dinner with the piping in of the haggis etc last night. Gaz & I both had haggis (which was surprisingly nice) and we also kicked off the dancing (as all the other pikers were hanging back - you need aussies to get these things going!)We have had a great day again today - the scenery was spectacular, travelling south from Scotland down to the Lakes District in England. We had a cruise on Loch Lomond and Gaz asked me where Nessie was - I wondered why the Loch Ness Monster would be in Loch Lomond...but who am I to say??? With the seat rotation in the bus, we were in prime position today, the front seat! Gary lasted about an hour and we had to swap - too many hills, sheer drops from cliffs etc and he could see everything way too much! Not to worry, the views were unreal and I was blown away by this area here - it is exactly as I had imagined the English countryside to be - narrow lanes with hedges and stone fences, sheep grazing...rain falling...Actually the weather cleared up beautifully by this afternoon and we had sunshine coming through the lakes. It is amazing - all the villages around here are the names of streets in Lakelands - we are staying in Windermere and have seen Ambleside, Ulverston (our street), Grassmere, Buttermere etc - Beatrix Potter lived at Hawks Head!We are going on a steam train ride and boat cruise on Windermere tomorrow and then on to Warrington for one night and then on to Dublin - the Gaz is starting to get very excited about setting foot in Ireland. I found out a bit about the Ross clan while I was in Scotland - I really need to pay more attention to the whole family tree thing!!Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone - thanks for your emails - I do appreciate it!LoveP&G

Greetings from Edinburgh

Greetings from Edinburgh
Wow, what a busy last few days!!!! We had a very smooth flight from Washington to Heathrow and landed 45 minutes early due to the winds of Hurricane Hanna blowing us over the Atlantic (I knew she'd be good for something!). After a fantastic shuttle ride in to the hotel - great bus, very friendly driver (UK1, US0) we walked around the corner to get a bite to eat. I had vowed I was going to eat the first thing I saw and it was KFC...so that's what we had. I may have eaten a passing bobby or Big Issue seller if I hadn't eaten then and there! We staggered back to the room and Gary had a bit of a nap, I washed (again) and we decided to have an early night as we were to leave at 7.30am the next day. At this point I need to mention the idiocy of continental quilts - i.e. a fitted sheet and then a quilt on top. Frankly, it is too hot with the quilt on & too cold with it off - an alternate option is required people!!! Perhaps a sheet (as they had in the US) or light cotton blanket??? (UK1, US1). Anyway, a bit of a restless night for me with wide awake time between 1.30am and 3.30am. The time difference was 5 hours so I guess that was expected. We boarded our bus and headed off to our first stop of Stratford upon Avon - Shakespeare's birthplace - very interesting...and that's when the rain started...and it has hardly stopped since. (I know you warned me Davey!). We then moved on, stopping for lunch along the way, and arrived in York in the arvo, did a walking tour, roamed around a bit and then back to the hotel for a welcome drink and dinner with our group. Most people in the group seem very nice - 12 from US, 13 Canadians & 14 Aussies. We had dinner with 6 of the Aussies last night (3 other couples) and all got on really well. We all have kids/grandkids of a similar age. They are from Canberra, Brisbane & Ipswich. One of their daughters lives in Warners Bay! Anyway, had a good night! Back on the bus at 8am and off too Durham where we visited a beautiful cathedral and walked around the lovely market town. We went on to Jedburgh where we had lunch (and shopped) and then arrived in Edinburgh this afternoon. Did I mention that it is raining???!!! Oh well, we have got used to walking in the rain with our jackets on and heads down. I forgot to tell you the OUTSTANDING news!!!! My ghd hair straightener works again!!! (UK2,US1). Apparently even with the US adapter the voltage etc bla bla bla means it won't work in the US but it does here. Oh, glory be!!!! I look like me again and not some mad harridan with wild untamed locks! Anyway, back to the story...oh yeah - everything has been wonderful so far - the scenery, the tour director is awesome - Dillon, a Welsh dude - the food is good, the people are great - very friendly & polite, service is excellent (UK3, US1) and e continue to have great time. Gary has just done our washing - he offered & nearly died when I said yes - ha ha ha! We are here for 2 nights & do a city tour tomorrow - we have been out exploring a bit this arvo but the RAIN got a bit heavy (it's cold too!!!!). I'd better go - my time may run out soon and the in room machine I am using is akin to using an Atari in 1972!!!! (Very frustrating!!) (UK3, US2). Love & best wishes to all. Thanks for all your emails - I really love 'em. Good luck to the soccer boys for their GF on Saturday, good luck to Kyle & Kat for their wedding on Saturday and Happy Birthday to James for Saturday....just in case I don't get a chance beforehand. loveP&G