Oh joy! We’re feeling terribly proud of ourselves as we managed to find the restaurant we ate in last time we were in Bangkok with Simon & Au. OK, it probably wasn’t difficult to find as its just round the corner from the hotel, but we’re pleased as we remembered it as being so good last time - and it didn’t disappoint. Dreams of weight loss have drifted away - Andy and Claire, how did you manage it?! We did our normal - over-ordering!! There are so many delicious dishes at such reasonable prices, still around £10 for food and beer! Jane: I shall try to take a photo of the veggie choices ... you wouldn’t go hungry! So this is our first night nearly over, we’ve eaten our fill, wandered the streets, and we’re now ... read more

Well, after successfully getting to Heathrow with loads of time to spare, we had to sit on the tarmac for over an hour waiting for the plane to be ‘de-iced’. We managed to snatch some sleep (luckily the really cute 18 month twin girls sitting next to us slept well too!). The promise of a near empty flight and lots of space didn’t come to fruition, so we had to content ourselves with stretching out over our 3 seats ... well, I stretched out ... John kindly let me! Due to Heathrow delay, we arrived in Bangkok an hour later than scheduled, which meant we hit Bangkok lush hour ... and it took us nearly 1.5 hours to reach our hotel. But here we are, safe and sound, having been upgraded to a deluxe room (not ... read more

Despite Met Office warnings we made Heathrow in record time (thanks Paul) and now have over four hours to check in. We’re told the flight is fairly empty so plan to grab a row each and get some kip! Bye-bye snowy Heathrow - hello sunny Bangkok!... read more

Firstly, if we’ve not yet been in touch in 2010, we wish you a Happy New Year. Amazingly, it’s now less than ten days before we take off on our ‘Grand Tour’ and the excitement is certainly mounting! We’ve finally got the new laptop which will help us stay in touch with everyone - hence this posting a quick test of the machine and the blog. Another great leap is that we’re now on Skype too - should you ever feel like calling or messaging . John & Valerie ... read more