Thursday August 19th Packing is the hard part! I did really well this time and only took 9 kilos with me! Plenty of space. Saying goodbye to the girls was the hardest part. Then we were off to the airport. Checking in was so simple, as we'd done it online this time. We got to skip the queues! Waiting aound is the hard part, especially when you're excited. The Flight. My theory is correct. It really is like childbirth. You forget how bad it is. Singapore Airlines was fine. Really..they're all much of a muchness in my opinion. It was no [View Full Entry]

---

---

Friday 20 August It felt like we were coming home! We had to wait for around an hour for or transfer. The driver was good and told us stories and pointed places out to us. We arrived at the Thistle Marble Arc and were able to check in quickly. No view this time... just a dingy courtyard instead of Oxford Street. We took off straight away to catch the Hop On, Hop Off bus. First stop was Westminster Abbey. A beautiful church! Creepy though. We were walking over dead bodies everywhere. Lots of famous people buried there as well as historical [View Full Entry]

---

---

After 2 hours of jetlagged heavy sleeping, it was mighty hard to get back out of bed, and get ready to go out. We were so not in the mood. Getting ready was just a blur. We caught the tube to the Elephant and Castle stop. It’s amazing how many people are out and about doing normal business at 10:30pm at night… children too. Jules was running late and sent us a cryptic message directing us to a pub to wait. Ah… same mistake.. no map. We were pointed in the right direction to the Weatherspoons bar for a drink. Amazed [View Full Entry]

---

---

Saturday 22 August We woke up sore and sorry today. I thought it was the dancing at first.. no.. more like all the steps we climbed yesterday. After a nice hot breaky, we took off through Hyde Park - LONG WALK. Big mistake. We should have Tubed it. The whole point of having an Oyster Card. Too much walking just makes you tired and miserable and you don’t enjoy it as much as you should. We found a cute squirrel near the lake. Very cute how they nibble. It came very close. Thankfully it didn’t jump on my face.  We [View Full Entry]

---

---

A-MAZE-ING! Sunday 23 August. I had a nice little sleep in today and then a smaller breaky.. already.. it didn’t take very long for the novelty to wear off, huh? I went for a walk by myself to Hyde Park. I came across some of the Queen’s guards ready to parade from Hyde Park Corner. I followed them up through Green’s Park (squirrels everywhere) to Buck Palace. I got there just intime for the changing of the guards. What a non event that was. I sat in James’s Park and enjoyed the peace for awhile, before walking back through Mayfair. When [View Full Entry]

---

---

I still felt awful when I got up, but not too bad. I skipped breakfast and planned on staying in bed a bit. After awhile I decided to just do it and go to Oxford. I’m so glad I did! It was between 1 ½ and 2 hours to get there on the bus and cost around 16 pound. What a gorgeous town! Stunning. Such old buildings and such regal colleges. I headed straight for Christ Church and wasn’t disappointed. It was such an easy place to see self guided. You can tell education is their field. The highlight was of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Tuesday 25 August The start of the Britain and Ireland Explorer. Wake Up 6:15am Bags out and Breakfast 6:45am Meet in the Lobby 7:30am It’s always an exciting morning starting a tour. I love looking around at breakfast and wondering who will be with you. We met John, our tour director. He seemed like a friendly Scotsman! He had a very lovely accent that was very easy to listen to. We hopped onto the bus and I met Jo, who I had already talked to through email. John met my expectations of an Insight Tour guide. His knowledge base is huge. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Wednesday 26 August No wake up call! Breaky and bags 7:15am Leave 8am We headed off toward Durham this morning. It was a wettish morning and around 14 degrees. Breakfast was nice and I had a tiney taste of black pudding. Meh.. .just tasted like salt. On the way we pasted Newcastle and John told us this is where the saying “Taking coals to Newcastle” came from… meaning.. there’s no point. Newcastle was a major coal exporter. We drove through the countryside of Wuthering Heights, where the Bronte sisters lived. We arrived at Durham at 9:30am and walked up to the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Thursday 27 August Breakfast and bags 7:45am Leave 8:45 We left on the bus with our local guide bill, for a drive through Edinburgh. He was a fantastic guide. Very informative. He asked about family names and said that the Duncan’s were “trouble makers from the highlands”. Sounds like us. We drove up a section of Arthur’s seat for a wonderful view of Edinburgh.On the way, we saw a swan with her 3 babies. We walked through the stadium at the castle where we’d be that night, for the Military tattoo. It was much smaller than I imagined. The castle was [View Full Entry]

---

---

Friday 28 August Bags and Breaky 7am Leave 8am We hopped on the bus and sadly, drove out of Edinburgh. There was lots of beautiful scenery as we headed up to the highlands. We stopped at St Andrew’s Golf course. This is one of the most famous and old golf courses around… and I couldn’t give a toss. It was great to see how excited some of the golfers were on the trip though. It was drizzling and wet, so some of us headed up to the café and had a glorious hot chocolate - filled with cream and marshmallows. We [View Full Entry]

---

---