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Shelley Roy
I have been a traveller since I was 15 years old when I was an exchange student. I went to America for that exchange because I had a fascination with the country at the time. In hindsight, I probably should have gone to France because now I have a fascination with that country and everything French. I have two beautiful girls who are 1 and 3 years old and I hope get their parents travel genes. They already have more stamps in their passports than their grandparents and we have no desire to stop travelling just because we have children. I was an Olympian at the Sydney Olympic Games which was one of the greatest moments of my life. And my husband finds it hilarious that I'm always tripping over things or bumping into things, hence his nickname for me, the clumsy Olympian!The clumsy Olympian
Travel Blog Posts
Homeward bound with 14 hours of movies
Published: February 8th 2011Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai
January 25th 2011
Today we woke with a sense of sadness. Not only was our stay in Dubai at an end but our entire trip was now only 14 hours from being over! So with a heavy heart I packed all our bags whilst contemplating the last three days. Dubai is a very unusual city in that it’s trying to create an identity but it’s not really sure who it is. It seems to have taken bits and pieces of other cities and put them all in the one place. It’s kind of like a real-life Disneyland where things don’t quite seem real! I can understand the attraction for ex-pats, there’s lots of sun, some sand, lots of other foreigners and tax free income! It even had me thinking that maybe it’s somewhere we could live. But there’s also ... read more
Seeing Dubai from a London bus...but not from 160 stories!!
Published: February 8th 2011Middle East » United Arab Emirates » DubaiJanuary 24th 2011
Today we decided to be classic tourists and did a Big Bus Tour around this very unusual city. We got picked up at Atlantis as this is one of the stops on the tourist trail. Our first stop though was Dubai Mall, another of the massive shopping centres, this one with an Olympic size ice skating rink inside and the world’s tallest building outside. The Burj Khalifa is over 800 metres tall and has 160 stories. That’s twice the size of Q1! But standing at the bottom of it, it doesn’t seem any bigger than a normal skyscraper! Before you scoff at me, I have a theory on this. Besides the fact that yes, my spacial awareness maybe somewhat limited, there are no other buildings around to compare this monstrosity to. It’s only when you imagine ... read more
10000 leagues under the sea...or just our hotel!
Published: February 8th 2011Middle East » United Arab Emirates » DubaiJanuary 23rd 2011
Today we decided to stay at the Atlantis and make use of all the facilities that we were paying loads for! There is a water park at one end of the resort which we spent the morning in. Aquaventure was the main reason we stayed at The Atlantis. Among other things, it has a kid’s water playground, waterslides, river rides and a beach. The adult tube water slides send you down, even up and sometimes into pitch black tunnels before spitting you out onto the beach. The scariest one, called the Leap of Faith, catapults you down an almost vertical slide, into a transparent tunnel through a shark-filled lagoon. It’s all very exhilarating but by the time you get to the shark tank, you’re going so fast and there is so much water spray that you ... read more
Indoor ski slopes and Arabian Nights
Published: February 8th 2011Middle East » United Arab Emirates » DubaiJanuary 22nd 2011
We arrived into Dubai and I wasn’t sure if I was hung over or jetlagged! Probably a little of both; I hadn’t slept on the flight and this didn’t help me remember how many wines I’d had. So with my eyes hanging out of my head we took our place at the wrong end of the customs line. For our amusement and with nothing better to do whilst waiting, we let Mykenzie and Edyn wander around. We didn’t let them go too far but they were being very cute interacting with each other and entertaining the crowds. Having let this go on for around 15 minutes and no closer to the front of the queue, we saw a customs official out of the corner of our eye walking towards us. Having watched too many Discovery programs ... read more
London to Dubai by the skin of our teeth!
Published: February 8th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » WimbledonJanuary 21st 2011
Today we didn’t do much other than pack and wait. I did take a trip to Wimbledon to see if there was anything else I really needed but we mainly just packed and waited. I had a day to reminisce about being back in London and realised that I still love the place. The friendships I made back in the mid 2000's haven’t felt the effects of 4 years absence and I’m grateful that all my wonderful girlfriends still make me feel like one of the gang. Finally the time came for the taxi to take us to the airport, so having the whole day to prepare we were waiting outside at the designated time of 5pm. We were still waiting at 5.30pm and the likelihood of getting to Heathrow to catch an 8pm flight to ... read more
A day in Southfields
Published: February 8th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » WimbledonJanuary 20th 2011
After having the last two days out and about, without an actual sleep time for the girls, we decided to stay local today and act local. We started by going to Southfields and getting a coffee in the “kids” cafe and of course doing some final Primark shopping. We then headed to the indoor playground Gymboree where Edyn learnt some more climbing and sliding skills and Mykenzie buzzed around like a bee looking for pollen! We then had a lazy afternoon in and a great Japanese Katsu curry for dinner with Luke and Tahls! ... read more
January 19th 2011
Luke and Tahlia arrived home today, having just flown in from Australia. We chatted briefly with the promise to chin wag over a wine this evening. It was another beautiful day today which was lucky as we had committed to renting some bikes to ride around London. We were hoping to get a trailer similar to ours at home where both the girl can sit together. It’s a great trailer because they can sleep and talk and watch the world go by. Unfortunately when we arrived the trailer was actually a smaller bike hooked onto the back of the bike with a small tray behind this. It would be a great idea for someone else’s child who wasn’t three and could reach the peddles but Mykenzie wasn’t interested. And I’m not sure if we made ourselves ... read more
To be or not to be...
Published: February 8th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire » Stratford-upon-AvonJanuary 18th 2011
To be or not to be, that is the question. Or rather the question for us today was to go or not to go? Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare was our destination. We rented a car for the day and after a less than jovial car rental employee finally gave us a car, we were off. Why are car rental employees always grumpy? We didn’t even warrant a hello when we walked in! I’m not too young to remember a day that the customer was always right, well not even that but at least worth acknowledging. Anyway, after finally getting this one’s attention we realised that they had the wrong baby seat in. So another 30 minute delay and we were finally off! We fanged it up the M40 straight to Stratford-upon-Avon. It is such ... read more
Urban legends and Wicked Londoners
Published: January 20th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » HammersmithJanuary 17th 2011
There was a massive, shopping mall (as Australians and Americans know them), built in Shepherd’s Bush a few years ago so we went to check it out today. Prior to this, really the main way of shopping for Londoners was on the high streets, each high street all over London, containing the same chain stores. In fact, sometimes it’s hard to tell which suburb you’re in at all because all the high streets look the same! I love this though because it is so English and I’m sure a lot of people who feel the same way, weren’t too happy when this massive complex sprouted some years ago. But we went to have a look anyway. As it turns out, there are still all the same chain stores that you see on the high streets, just ... read more
Aussie BBQ in London weather
Published: January 19th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » WimbledonJanuary 16th 2011
Last night Cristiano, our friend from Brazil was visiting for the night (he didn’t fly from Brazil for one night; he’s currently in France so flew in for a quick visit). He and Jas had a big night out so I quietly got the girls dressed and off we went in search of an adventure while the boys slept in. We were headed for the supermarket but very surprisingly, they didn’t open until 11am! Imagine that, a London supermarket not open until the middle of the day. We ended up having a cappuccino and babyccino so the outing wasn’t a total waste. By the time we got home, the boys were awake so I went for a run, again along the banks of the Thames to Fulham Football Stadium. It was easier to run this time ... read more
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