http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , United Kingdom , England , Gloucestershire , Cheltenham en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:09:26 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:09:26 +0000 So I've just about finished packing and I'm actually amazed that everything fitted in especially since I am notoriously crap at packing Everything is feeling very real now and I'm feeling a weird mix of excitement and anxiety. I've said goodbye to my grandma and aunt today and it's just hit me how much I'm going to miss everyone although on the bright side everyone's been very generous with t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-455816.html Amendment It is so rare that I can get on line and I spend a good portion of all that alone walking time thinking up intro's to my next blog and talking to cows sheep horses and one llama asking unanswerable questions avoiding thinking about what my thesis is about misconstruing things investigating strange and macarbe objects at the side of the road ... but that's beside the point so I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-409810.html Monday morning finds me still lounging around at the 'hotel' King's Oasis a.k.a Adam's house with the grand total of zero miles under my belt. We did climb a hill yesterday to get a beautiful rained in view of Cheltenham and surrounds so I haven't at all been idle. Also for all those considering a stay at King's Oasis in the future dont think that it is all spa's and relaxation. There is at l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-406499.html Just about to leave but thought I'd post some of last night's photos. Amazing party at the pub Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a brilliant night. I hope I'm better at walking than I am at skittles http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-385519.html Ok one day to go. Trying to ignore the fact that my left knee has decided to flare up and is hurting quite a lot. It won't like being bent up in a plane for 8 hours tomorrow then. Almost packed just have to do things like get money clean my walking boots so they don't hate me on the plane mud take my car to garage deal with the small but insidious hangover I got by mistake last night tr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-385178.html Am getting quite excited now i've booked my flights and insurance. The more I think about it the more it seems like the right time to stay away for as long as possible and be a bit of a globe trotter rather than 1 stop and home. Soon i'll have no job no house no ties so why not Presently i'm researching Asia totally different to Africa not too expensive to get to can be fairly touristy lot http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-379891.html We cannot believe itrsquos over Less than 12 or so hours to go and we will be back in the UK and probably freezingThanks to everyone who read our blog we really appreciated your textmessages and emails. It was good to have your comments even the cheeky ones and we did not feel so far away from home.We hope that we were able to introduce Hong Kong Australia New Zealand Fiji and Singa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-345316.html Another week in London consisted of my return to work and James still being a man of leisure thus the need to escape and pretend we were still on holiday. We got some cheap bus fares and made our way north to Cheltenham to visit Jenni Mat and attend the Postslip Beer Festival. Proceeding our arrival Jen took us on a walking tour of the lovely centre of town and 15 minutes later we were at Jen' http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-306790.html Having accepted that I could not continue my journey without a flight I flew to Tunisia on the 2nd of May and spent the subsequent seven days making my way from there through France and back home to Cheltenham. I had a peculiar mix of feelings on this last leg although I felt satisfied that I had made my way to Cairo the way I had I still felt the frustration of firstly being unable to con http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-271518.html I stay awake until 4am the night before. Partly to finish a few things off and partly to ensure I am as tired as possible on the long plane ride. I figure it will pass quickly if I can sleep.Our electrician Simon came over at 9am to finish off the remaining items on the kitchen and study. Many of you will know that we have been refurbishing the kitchen bathroom and study since June last year http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-260200.html Well it is 11.30pm on 11th March 2008.Tracey and I take flight in exactly 10 days and we won't return for 11 monthsThose of you who were concerned will be glad to know that we have now finally booked the tickets although we were slightly annoyed to learn that a Round the World ticket means just that. They don't like you only going halfway round the world even though we were planning fewer http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-255251.html October 6th 2007We flew home to Annapolis for Kara and Steversquos wedding. We had such a great time and she is a beautiful bride. It was great to see all of Kararsquos family some of whom I havenrsquot seen in a long time. Both Kara and Steve have wonderful families and I am so happy for them. I canrsquot wait until the family expands. sorry KaramdashI am sure you are getting l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-211268.html Last night I was invited to Italian restaurant imagine my surprise when I found out that it's in an old church I'm not sure what the story is but someone the church organization moved out and the restaurant moved in. The kitchen is up where the altar was including a woodburning oven for the pizza... It really was a beautiful Gothic church with the stained glass windows and everything. Oh w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-174731.html On Sunday I went exploring around Cheltenham at least until it rained on me again. These are some of the things I saw. Many of the pictures are from a French market that was here this weekend. Within that block I heard more French than English. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-173354.html Just took a bubble bath with a book in the clawfooted bath tub next to my bed. Sorry no photos for this entry. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-172655.html There are entirely too many letters in that title for the uninitiated I'm in Gloucestershire pronounced Glostershur for the next four months. I plan to update this site with journals photos and videos from my ramblings. I arrived at Heathrow yesterday morning and was picked up and taken to my apartment in Cheltenham slur your syllables and say Cheltnum with me. I saw hundreds of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Cheltenham/blog-172584.html