Blogs from Kingston, Surrey, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

Today would have been Irene's birthday. In Richmond Park in south west London, at midday, Nellie and Monk joined together with 30 or so others to celebrate their love for Irene by planting a tree in her memory. Irene was the freest of free spirits and Monk felt that the final resting place for her ashes should reflect this and he chose the hawthorn as the tree that best symbolised Irene's beauty and character. Like Irene, the hawthorn is beautiful, but strong, and generous and giving. It's one of the first trees to blossom in the spring with a mass of delicate white flowers that herald the end of winter. In the autumn, it produces lovely red berries that sustain birdlife during the cold months. Its botanical name, crataegus monogyna, derives from the Greek word meaning ... read more

So, here I am, researching backpacks (how many litres, does it come in pink?) exactly one week after finding out my lovely employers have inadvertantly created another credit crunch traveller. I am very much at the start of my planning and trying to establish how far my money will take me; and how far my bravery will take me, for that matter. My initial thinking is this following itinary which, with each Google search, I am learning is pretty standard: Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, Los Angeles and New York. I plan to keep this blog to track every stage as my memory is atrocious, so, I apologise if it is frightfully dull; I just want to remember every stage of what is undoubtedly the biggest adventure of my life...so far, that is.... read more

Wow, two countries in two weeks... should probably get used to that huh? Well after using my spare time during the previous week to scheme and plan a reasonably priced, excitement filled trip within a trip, I found it was going to be harder than I thought to squeeze every ounce of quality out of my dollar...pound...euro.....thing...Everytime I found a good price on hotels or hostels they turned out to be quite a distance from the downtown and interesting areas of Barcelona. So my bravery set in and having already booked me plane ticket(whoa did a newcastle accent just come out of me? "booked ME plane ticket?" uh oh) anyways! So early morning, we set off towards London Gatwick airport. The details I forgot to mention is that me and Matt were extremely hungover from the ... read more

As that famous purple dinosaur Barney once sang "we're going on an adventure, fun for you and me, we're going on an adventure, just you wait and see", it certainly really feels like we are embarking on an adventure now we have finally made it out of the house. The last 2 weeks have had many unbelievable obstacles put in our way, so much so we really thought we would be delayed. First, Gav's nose job, then the day before we were due to fly Joe looked like he had chicken pox - spots all over his face and rash on the body, and it wasnt until the day of departure that it was confirmed it wasn't and he was clear to go - phew! They do say don't work with children, and the same view ... read more

hey anybody who whants to see what im up to to and keep in touch with me whilst im at the north pole check this blog for pictures and messages and please leave some messages for me to read also check www.polarrace.com leaving march 26th for ottawa then to resolute bay then to the north pole ... read more