Whew, the derspatz mit LSCP (that's "Life Styles Choices Partner" for those who have come in late ... mainly used to protect my dear lady's identity; why should she potentially suffer in the offline world for her strange partner's usually offensive behaviour in the online world, eh ?) rapid tour of the Brit, Scot, and Welsh bit of the UK plus an excursion by boat n bus to the Christmas Markets in Cologne Germany and a chunnel trip to Paris France, is complete and we are back home in the sunny and warm West Oz in need of a sit around do nothing holiday to help us recover.
Isn't it always like that ? You zoom around seeing this and doing that and ticking off the itinerary entries, and get home more tired and wound up than when you left and fighting the temptation to shred or burn your passports so that you are less inclined to race off out of the country or inflict long-haul travel upon your body and sensibilities again in the short term.
Ah, it wasn't as bad as all that - in fact it was all mostly Very Good; I'm just having a moan because I've now come down with a nasty cough/cold, no doubt due to going from three weeks of temperatures that never got above around 2 - 3 degrees celsius (and usually around zero or below for most of the time we were up and about) back to temperatures that are 38 degrees C and above. Tis nice to get away with wearing minimal clothing again and not needing anything other than a sheeted mattress to sleep on, mind you.
Boring list time including a couple of pix of the order of places visited in some way between December 10, 2008 and January 06, 2009, including mode of travel or some other banality.
Perth to Dubai - Plane. Emirates. 11.5 hours. Complimentary Business Class upgrade. Yay !
Dubai to London - Plane. Emirates. 6.5 hours. Cattle Class. Felt like 24hrs. Woe.
Plane Cam
London for 3 nights - Lots of Tube Trips (Oyster Card a must !) and much walking. Loved it.
Newcastle - Early morning train from London, about 2.5 hours. Nice way to see the country side. Double-decker bused over to the DFDS port later that day after visiting the castle etc and downing a few pints in a local Irish bar. Set sail to Holland on the "Princess of Norway. Apparently it was a very rough trip (we got in three hours late) but we didn't notice thanks to illcohol mixed with qwells; we slept through the horrible stuff and had a great breakfast in a somewhat empty dining hall - everyone else too green to eat maybe ?
Cologne for 2 nights - Walking, walking. Crowded happy markets full of young and old trinken mulled wine in mugs and eating oversized sausages in tiny buns, etc. Loved it++ On the third day it was back to the Princess of Norway again and back to Newcastle.
Edinburgh for 2 nights - Trained up from Newcastle. Always pays to prebook these train trips online from the official site. We only paid a relative pittance to what the fares go for. Same goes for most accommodation using sites like "asia rooms" and "expedia" etc. Nice place Edinburgh but we also had a few things go wrong for us there such as our best credit card being swallowed by an ATM and a tour to visit the highlands cancelled. Still, we had other cards (and it only cost us about $50 extra in card fees for the whole holiday) and we did a great walking tour of the city instead, so no big deal.
Edinburgh, Hadrian's Wall, Windermere for 1 night - Hire car. I don't really want to talk about this - but of course I will. First of all, we were "talked up" for a "better grade" of hire car in Edinburgh because the one we want allegedly wasn't ready. They offered it for 4 pounds a day extra and we said no, so they offered it for 2.5pounds a day I thought "why not" as it was bigger n better even though a diesel instead of petrol. This turned out to be a Bad Thing. Getting near to Windermere in the English Lake Districts, the weather took a turn for the worse as we went over the mountain pass to the North. It was raining absolute cats and dogs, road puddles all over the place. Then, apparently a mere 3 miles shy of Windermere, we went through one puddle too many as a vehicle was coming the other way, and a huge splash of water waved upon us and our engine konked out. And stayed konked out. Bloody modern diesels ! This was about 4pm in the afternoon, or in otherwords, pitch black. The AA were called and we were told we would see help within 90 minutes. That and a bit more went by and still no sign of them - and I was now well wet through with no shoes or socks on and my jeans rolled up because the mere puddle down the road we had gone through before konking out was now a temporary lake and every half our or so someone would foolishly try to go through it and breakdown and I would trudge back down the hill again to wade in and help push them out.
Welcome to the Lake Districts, eh ? (sigh). After about 3 hours of waiting in the cold wet and dark, I trudged over to a house and borrowed their phone to have a little chat with the AA again. This time they explained that there were breakdowns happening all over the area but someone was definitely coming out for us. Blah, blah, blah. Back to the cold and damp again and a change of clothes ... oh, and with my bare feet I stepped on something squishy near the car door which turned out to be MY PASSPORT which had fallen out of my drenched through "dry as a bone" (HA !) jacket on one of my mercy missions to push someone out of the drink. Long story short, the AA arrived and towed us into Windermere by just on 10pm (yup, near 6 hours later) and the only place open to put us up at short notice was 100 pound a night ... ie, $230 Oz thanks for coming. Grumble Grrr.
We were told by the AA guy that this sort of thing happens all the time with these modern diesels and that the hire company would bring over a new car and take the old one away the next morning but nope, it didn't happen like that at all - we instead had to be towed all the way to Lancaster the next day (missing seeing the Lake Districts) to get the car swapped as well as have the hire car company try and get me to sign an ACCIDENT report (which I refused to do, but rather filled out a BREAKDOWN report by crossing out all references to "accident" and replacing with "breakdown") along with giving us the impression that we had now done our excess fee (about $900 Oz). Yup, they made my lovely and already Very Peeved and upset LSCP cry, and put me off ever hiring a car again and added a whole new stess level to our daily driving excursions. Talk about putting a damper on our holiday, eh ? Pardon the pun. BTW, Hadrian's Wall was interesting.
Wet'n'Wild
Hmmm, I better get a wriggle on here or this boring list will never get finished !
Windermere, Lancaster, Blackpool, York for 1 night - Hire car. BTW, driving is NO FUN in the UK any more. Too much traffic everywhere and next to no parking to be found in most towns, making B&Bs with reasonable parking worth the extra pounds they charge. The tides were out in Lancaster which made their beachs quite amazing, and driving up the offseason main strip in the Blackpool entertainment/amusement area was cool. York was great to walk around and as always, a visit to the "Jorvik centre" is a must.
York, Beverley, Humber Bridge, Edwinstowe, Worksop for 1 night - Hire car. Yup we went way over to the East, headed over the toll bridge then headed back West again, tried to get accommodation in Edwinstowe and ended up in Worksop of all places and not by design. And yet that gave us one of the most outrageous nights of the entire trip. A big cheers to you Mick at "The Friar Tuck" ! Dunno how much I can say without getting him in trouble but aside from a great evening meal with the room price instead of a breakfast, it took me until near 1am to empty my first glass of red wine (heh!) and for some reason he had the idea that when LSCP was asking for water to balance out her Stella trinken efforts stacking up on the table, "Mateus" was actually what she was asking for ? LOL. Anyway, the next morning when we staggered out quite ill and hung-over to continue with our travels, we discovered that the hire car had been parked in by a truck and the truck by another car. Try dealing with THAT when it hurts to try and string polite sentences together ! (heh++) Anyway, a great pity that weren't able to get back to the place on the 29th in order to jump on a bus with Mick and Mates to go to Manchester to watch a Manchester United game. Not only was time against us, but our liver and kidneys put in a protest vote too. (grin)
Worksop, Sherwood Forest, Newark-on-Trent, Grantham, Bourne for 2 nights - Hire car. Nothing like a slow gentle walk in Sherwood Forest to see the major oak tree and listen to the birds and watch the squirrels when one is feeling a bit hung over. Twas now the 22nd of December and time for LSCP and I to start catching up with various relatives and even meeting a number of them for the very first time. I must say that although initially rather nervous about some of that, it was fantastic to finally meet up and have a laugh and considerable catch up along with some great food and pints of ale. We thank you for your welcoming hospitality one and all. It was especially moving to be able to visit and spend some time alone at a particular graveside. Similar to be said for enjoying some of the local public transport. Anyway, just like I keep LSCPs identity shielded from guilt by association in these online places it is only fair that I should do the same when it comes to all our relatives too as ya never know who just might be reading ... so moving right along.
Bourne to Nottingham for 2 nights - Hire car. Visited more (identities protected) relatives in the evenings of the 24th and 25th and LSCP and I enjoying a day just to ourselves on the 25th which we spent roaming around Nottingham which had become something like out of "I am Legend" (ie, a ghost town with scary things lurking in the shadows) and swimming in the hotel's heated pool and enjoying Oz temperatures again by hanging out in a sauna. Nice to do that kind of Christmas every now and then.
Nottingham, Leigh, Chester, Stoke-on-Trent for 1 night - Hire car. Yup, once again we were all over the place. A grave site and old family residence to visit in Leigh for LSCP, then over to Chester for a Cornish pasty (nice place to visit, but yet another horrible place to try and get parking) then down to where Shakespear was born.
Stoke-on-Trent, Cotswolds, Oxford, Aylesbury, Stoke-manderville, Thame for 1 night - Hire car. Stopped at "The highest little castle in the Cotswolds" which we happened upon by accident. Uh, Broadway Castle I think it is called. Nice, but bloody windy and cold ! We didn't bother to stop in Oxford as we could see that parking was going to be an issue again and neither of us were all that keen on how busy it was, so it was on to some places from my childhood and then a stop at some Tudor Pub B&B in Thame only because it was now 4pm and getting dark and pints of Carling were calling to us.
Thame, Oxford, Gloucester, Monmouth for 1 night - Hire car. Another drive-though Oxford from a different angle and then the next stop Gloucester Docks, then over into Wales for a couple of hours spent exploring "Goodrich Castle", then a very late carvery lunch at Monmouth before meeting up with more of LSCP's relatives just out of Monmouth who generously put us up for the night in their wonderfully transformed historic home location and introduced us to the local ale-house. Oh, and for the first time since I was a child, I got to see a starry night sky in the Northern Hemisphere. I think it is pretty safe for me to post the identity of this particular relative without blowing LSCP's cover, and I only want to do so because of the amazing work and long term detailed task this man has set himself and is achieving. See:
http://www.the-tidings.com/2004/0730/bible.htm or
http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/ or
Monmouth, Cardiff, Bath for 2 nights - Hire car. After the awe inspiring tour of the aforementioned studio, it was down to Cardiff where (rather than visiting Yet Another Castle) we went straight to the lovely and very artistic docks area and visited the Dr Who exhibition, hung around where Torchwood is set, had a lovely lunch overlooking the bay before heading over to Bath via the Severn Bridge I saw being build as a child when I was living in Bristol from around mid 1969 to 1970 just prior to emmigrating to Oz. We actually scored street parking in Bath opposite where we were staying !
Touchwould ?
DervroS n friends ? Exterminate !
Bath, Stonehenge, Bath - We did what we wanted to do in Bath quicker than expected, so drove down to Stonehenge and were horrified by the number of tourists there. Didn't see anything like that kind of line-up of people anywhere else in the UK. Yuck. Happy to get back to Bath after that and later that evening I spent some time at the local internut Cafe near the railway station only to discover later on that their computer had put a virus/trojan on my thumbdrive set to execute when autorun was triggered. Grrr. Fortunately I'd not accessed anything financial or all that identifying, but I changed a whole bunch of passwords upon our return to Oz anyway. Gotta do that kind of thing at least once a year, yes ?
Bath, London - Hire car dropped off at last. Yay ! And the good news was there was no mention of lasting car damages and no excess was levied.
(EDIT: 1st Feb 2009. Boo ! Hire company HAS levied an excess near a month after the breakdown, so stay tuned as to whether this turns into something blog-worthy with the naming of names and reproduction of letters to and from them, the AA, touristy sites, ratings sites, and the like.)
So great to get back to a city with decent easy to use public transport and not have to worry about a hired vehicle again - which is saying something considering how much I loath the thought of using public transport in Oz ! Anyway, we squeezed in some more London stuff, LSCP discovered that I had lost the tickets bought weeks earlier for the wax-works so we did some retail therapy for her at Harrods instead (where she got into a verbal with one of the staff and some Eastern European BusyBody, and *I* got into trouble for not completely taking her side. Heh) before getting our glad rags on to go jump on a river cruise on the Thames which moored near Big Ben in time for the New Years Eve countdown and the fireworks show - with most of it seeming to come out sideways from "The Eye" Ferris wheel thingie. An excellent (but Very Cold) way of both finishing and starting the year.
London, Paris for 3 nights - Train. After a nice sleep-in and our last massive English Breakfast for the next few days, it was over to France by going under the channel. A much better way of travelling than flying or taking the ferry. Our cute and lovely hotel was about a 5min walk one way to the Arc thingy, and just a bit more than that the other way to the tower thingy. We did lots of walking and ticked a lot of things off on the "to do" list. Didn't bother trying to line up to get up the tower but instead used our complimentary free pass to Montpasse Tower which presented an even better view of the other tower and the general sights of Paris. How do I know this ? Because I'd done the typcial tower before back in 1990 when the queues were much less. We spent some time on the roof and then when back down to the bar where we could sit by the window sipping champagne and nibbling on chocolate cake and take as long as we like. Ah, Business Class all over again ! I don't actually want to write too much about Paris as I'd rather finish on a more positive note. Heh. Put it this way, I wasn't impressed by either its food or prices thereof and it was good to get back to London for some Real Food again. The sights were sights though, and the walking good for us, but I shouldn't have had to be reduced to visiting Macdonalds on the Champs-Elysées. Heh.
A French Mac attack with extra Freedom Fries
A view from the other tower.
Snow, of sorts ...
Moaner and Mona
Stairway to Heaven ?
Paris, London for 1 night - Ah, it was like coming home again, back to good old London. On our last evening we wandered around the corner from our hotel in Paddington to a pub called "The Pride of Paddington" where we organised for a childhood BGF of LSCPs to join us for some ales. While we waited for her to turn up we proceeded to enjoy the best meal we had had since before our Paris excursion. I had the biggest beef roast I'd seen, complete with roast spuds, brussel sprouts and all the usual trimmings INCLUDING Yorkshire pud and all the hot english mustard and horseradish I wanted, and LSCP had what looked like to be 3 BBQ roasted chooks impaled on a tree-branch. Mmmmm, food, lovely food again ! I tell you what, the Poms could teach the French a lot as to what a Real Meal should consist of !
London to Dubai - Plane. Emirates. 6.5 hrs. Not business class this time, but a newer plane in which the economy class is pretty darn good. We had a division immediately behind us (thus no chance of kids kicking the back of the seat) and plenty of leg room and the usual ICE (Information, Communication, Entertainment) system. Except mine didn't want to work properly so they reset it. Then gave it a bigger reset. Then reset the whole row. Then reset the entire economy area. I wonder if the problems were anything to do with my thumbdrive I had plugged into it to look at some photos. You know, the thumbdrive that I later discovered to have had a virus/trojan put on to it in that internut cafe in Bath ? Ooops. The last reset fixed everything and we had a pretty good flight.
Dubai to Perth - Plane. Emirates. 10.5 hrs. The Westerlies were on our side, bringing us back an hour quicker than it took to get there. Just as well as this was an older plane and the seats not as good or roomy as the last flight. Fortunately we were in a section which were just two seats to a row. Wouldn't you know it that my sound went on my ICE again - this time it was a headphone fault (one ear didn't work) so I got them replaced only to find that the replacement was similarly dodgy but this time with the other ear. Grrr. A bit of fiddling with the wire fixed it for most of the time. The treat of this flight was to do a flyby that took in Rottnest Island, then Freo back up the river to Perth.
Air Rotto
Ah dearest West Oz ... there really is no place like home. :)
regarDS
regarDS 
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