Blogs from Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Well, in less than 5 hours I'll be on the plane and on my way!! Have now packed (phew) although now have think to think about what I've packed I'm wondering if I've packed too much!! Maybe I'm just thinking too much now. Have packed my 3rd flight bag-obsessive. Roll on 6.45 when we leave for the airport. Australia here I come....well via Hong Kong. Should arrive in Hong Kong 10.50 UK time tomorrow and around 11.30pm tomorrow night in Sydney! Lots of love xxx ... read more

Well, there's 3 sleeps to go!! Wowsers it's come around so quickly. Had a lovely dinner with the family tonight after some panic packing action today! Why is it so hard to pack to go away?! I've possibly been a little over ambitious with the weather - but hey ho I can always buy a sweatshirt or two :) I'm going to try and update here every day whilst i'm away - also to let you all know that i'm alive! Should never have watched the film 'Taken'! Lots of love Lisa xxx... read more

Recently, we were lucky enough to house-sit a converted barn which dates back to the 17th century. Ish. I dunno, it’s old. So old, in fact, that it’s sideways. I kid you not, it’s on an angle, as you’ll see in the photos. The house came with a couple of dogs, much to Mon’s delight. We were, thus, put in charge of a huge house with an equally massive garden, complete with fountains shaped as nubile ladies. Little did I know I would be cruelly pulled away from this bucolic fantasy by a recruiter. Called on Monday, started on Tuesday. Sort of a Craig David song, but not quite. It was a bit of a shame, really, as we were having some great weather which meant there was a lot of sunbathing to be done. But ... read more

May 25th 2009 A week to go This is a travel blog, but I'm still at home. This time in a week I will probably be in exactly the same place - sitting in bed contemplating the trip I am about to embark upon. Can't quite believe I am actually going away. It's been a few years since I left England for more than a couple of weeks . So what's the plan Anyone who knows me, knows there is a plan. The planning is almost as exciting as the doing! There should be a map on this page somewhere showing you where I am planning to go. I'm travelling West to East, via the North and the South. Flying into San Francisco on June 1st, New York - and the city's marathon - is my ... read more

After leaving Ptuj we decided to forego further sightseeing in Slovenia partly due to the Visa situation and partly due to the fact that we wanted to catch up with the Spreitzhofers at St Kathrein before we left. Jac programmed Dorothy once we got back to into Austria, despite the fact that we pretty much knew the way anyway, and off we went. Half and hour or so later we realized that there was actually more than one St Kathrein and we were heading to the wrong one! Luckily we were in no great hurry and arrived a little later to find them all fit and well. We sat down for a bit and enjoyed the lovely weather with a couple of drinks while we said our thanks and bid our farewells. Next stop was the ... read more

Apologies to our readers for the lack of updates to our blog. Our holiday has entered hibernation mode and not much has been happening lately worth blogging, however there are a couple of updates going back a wee while which should have been done earlier. Nevertheless here they are - B & J Oops! Got my dates mixed up again, last blog should have been Sept. 9-10! We arrived at Calais at around 6pm after initially trying to avoid the motorways but found it impossibly slow driving through the busy streets of Dunkerque. We were unsure if we needed a motorway sticker or not but decided to take our chances for the short stretch to Calais which we managed without any problems. The next ferry was due to leave at 8.10pm so we booked our passage ... read more

Oh well trust us to choose the best time to visit. Ach jo, to jsme celé my,vybrat si nejlepší čas na návštěvu. Wild China weather kills 25 Icy temperatures, snow and sleet blanketing much of central, eastern and southern China have crippled thousands of trucks and trains loaded with coal, food and passengers in the most severe winter weather seen in 50 years. Čína čelí nejhorší sněhové kalamitě za 50 let Komplikace, které způsobily v Číně přívaly sněhu a mráz, v úterý ještě vzrostly. Nejene se milióny lidí nemohou dostat domů na oslavu lunárního nového roku, nastala i energetická krize, protoe se nedaří dopravit uhlí do elektráren. Počet obětí vzrostl na padesát poté, co při úterní nehodě autobusu na namrzlé silnici zemřelo 25 cestujících. ... read more