We travelled to Paris and arrived late in the evening. Great Apartment leant to us by my long standing French pen friend - we have been corresponding since we were both 12. Bit of a problem with the parking space which was 2 floors underground and not suited to the big blue beast and its roof rack. After deliberating for some while we took the roof rack off and drove the car into the parking lot - just missing the ceiling pipes by literally inches. Then what to do with the roof rack - it was really heavy but we took [View Full Entry]

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Travelling to Amsterdam took ages, We had a good journey but it seemed to take a long time in the truck. Once we got near Amsterdam it started to go wrong. Firstly we got stuck in a housing estate - my fault entirely but the estate roads seemed to go on and on. After that we arrived at a couple of different campsites only to find that they were really crowded or completely full. We rejected the naturist option by a unanimous vote!. Having no luck with the campsites we decided that a hotel would be sensible. After travelling through Harlem [View Full Entry]

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We had a great time catching up with Stefaan and Carine in Brussels - its great to see them after such a long time and they made us so welcome. The next day, after a soggy start we set off for Luxembourg. The weather turned overnight and we had to take the tent down in the rain - not good! After a couple of hours travelling we were all quite hungry and we needed some diesel but because it was Sunday there wasnt much open. We had a couple of abortive stops at petrol stations and began to wonder if we [View Full Entry]

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We spend one night in Bruges. The truck is not really suited to these old cobbled narrow streets (or is it the other way round?) Arriving, we seemed to be approaching a near dead end before the hotel appeared in front of us on the waterside. Leaving, we had to back up a very narrow street as bikes and pedestrians took their lives in their hands on all sides. We hired bikes for an enjoyable couple of hours - this is a great way to see the city. As we are in Belgium now we have partaken on Leonidas Chocs, waffles [View Full Entry]

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The trip got off to an inauspicious start with a sandwich break on the services of the M25. However we got onto a ferry early and the weather was with us. There were surprisingly few passengers on the ferry for this time of the year and we arrived in France promptly, our first destination the oft visited Le Relais in Ardres. This restaurant with rooms has been the scene of several memorable occasions - Dad’s surprise 60th, a family revelation from the Taylors to name but two…. The food lived up to its reputation although we all had to leave the [View Full Entry]

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A shorter trip this time - a few weeks round the Low Countries in Northern Europe during the Summer of 09. The Family Five have also adopted new names for the European leg of their travels - Arty, Smarty, Farty, Party and Karate set off in the truck at the end of July 09. [View Full Entry]

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I am in shock - we are home and the whole trip now seems like a dream! Its cold here and we were low on oil when we got back so the heating wasnt working Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. The trip back was long - 3 flights, two taxis and a coach trip in one day and the last flight delayed by 5 hours so that we spent a total of 19 hours on the plane before touching down at Heathrow. In spite of the massage at Singapore airport, needless to say we are all jetlagged, sick of planes but with great memories of [View Full Entry]

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The previous blog was a bit rushed as we were in the ariport waiting for a flight. Here are some more photos of our week in Sabah. I have realised that my camera is not up to the job wrt wildlife photography - really you had to be there! [View Full Entry]

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We spent the last few days of our trip in the Sabah region of Malaysia. It is part of Borneo and renowned for its wildlife. We arrived in Sandakan unsure as to whether we would be picked up or not. We actaully had a bit of a problem at the customs (again), this time we couldnt prove how we had got into Malaysia cos the immigration computer wasnt uptodate with the train info. Anyway we were the last ones through but all ok in the end. We were picked up and taken by mini bus to a supermarket and cafe area [View Full Entry]

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Our flight from Oz was reasonably relaxed with half the seats empty on the flight. That meant that we all had a bit more room - also all the kids took the opportunity (willingly of course) to do some maths! We arrived in Singapore and Fab was given a special birthday card - she was really made up!. We got to the hotel late and wandered out to find some noodles at about 10pm - we were near to Orchard Road and walked for ages before finding a small stall selling some noodles, satay sticks and rice. The kids were whacked [View Full Entry]

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