Mr Leeds United

Arriving back in London after our epic weekend in Copenhagen, there was no chance for a rest as I had a mere 3 and a half weeks left of my time in London! In that time I had organised plenty of catch ups with people who I might not see again for ages, and a lot of tying up loose ends. One of these was doing my final Hapkido grading up to Brown Belt, which I passed. I also managed a quick trip away with Hannah as we went up to check out Warwick Castle. We were extremely lucky as the weather was superb - crystal clear blue skies in November! We wandered around the town of Warwick first then walked around the Castle, watched a hawking show and I had more laughs at Hannah's expense ... read more

Usually with my trips overseas, I aim to get back on the Sunday night to maximise time abroad, but on this occasion, I arrived back on Friday morning. The first reason was that I moved into a new flat for my last 8 weeks in London. The second, and more important reason was that the Rugby World Cup Semi-Final was on Saturday morning. I met up with Renee, who was visiting London, and headed bright and early to the bar to witness one of the best All Black performances in my memory - and against Australia no less! A World Cup final beckons..... After a week of catching up with friends, Sunday morning arrived and I, like more than 1,000 others was at the Walkabout at 7am to get a prime spot for the World Cup ... read more

Rather than subjecting ourselves to another night train, we flew into Berlin, also partly so we could be there for a Friday night as we had heard Berlin has some of the best night life in Europe. We got in a bit late (and a bit exhausted after our last few nights), so only had a quiet drink before calling it a night. The next morning coincided with the first two of the Rugby World Cup quarter finals. Leah, who has outed herself as a true Hibernophile (a lover of all things Irish - yes, I googled that) and I got up far too early to head to the pub for the game and Leah left devastated after Wales pulled off an upset to beat Ireland. We didn’t stay for the England vs. France match but ... read more

When you last left this exciting (and seemingly never ending) adventure, Rachelle was in the enviable position of sharing a night train cabin with 5 men. Would she survive? Would she come out with a ring on her finger? In the end, she did better than Leah and I as they all disappeared in the middle of the night for various destinations, leaving her to a peaceful night’s rest while our cabin was not quite as quiet. It turned out the Asian guy was a snorer. Leah was not impressed, and in her drunk state, her tact was at a even lower level than usual and she had no hesitation in screaming out at him to shut up. He was scared enough to comply and I can see why.... Soon into our trip, we found out ... read more

By this stage, I was already counting down to seeing Leah and getting to Oktoberfest, but I still enjoyed Vienna. The buildings were pretty amazing, especially the Schonbrunn Palace where we headed the next morning. It used to be the home of the Habsburg’s when they ruled Austria, then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The interior was pretty impressive and although I usually get bored quickly with the audioguides, it was all pretty enthralling. After we wandered around there for an hour, we headed out to the garden. Wow! They would need more than a couple of gardeners to handle that! We headed up the back to a random monument and fountain thing for photos then made our Way back via a maze where Clay and I had a race against the girls. The guys won. After we ... read more