http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , United Kingdom , England en-us Sun, 15 Nov 09 21:12:08 +0000 Sun, 15 Nov 09 21:12:08 +0000 Well we have been on the road for over a year A year since we made the change from retireesconsultantsfarmers to travellers. Comes as a bit of a shock. After all we are still getting organised and there is still much more to see and do than we had intended to have left after a year. But it is timely that we review our progress.We have visited 21 countries in the last year some more than once a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Acton/blog-453053.html Hampstead Heath Wedding PartyToday Saturday we let Leanne and Brad be our guides to North London. So we walked from home to Hampstead Heath 40 minutes in a slight drizzle. Lunch from the local Saturday morning stands at the Heath was yummie Sausage Burgers and Coke. We got a good view of London to the south from Parliament Hill and tried to spy Greenwich with Brad's binoculars and iPhone fo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Camden-Town/blog-452947.html Walking the Thames South SideWhat a beautiful day for a walk along the Thames sunny warm and lots of people to watch. Kayla was snapping pictures at every turn in the river. This route from Westminister Bridge to Tower Bridge has a wide and very popular river side walkway much more accessible than the narrow and sometime non existent walkway on North side.As we were on the south side we go http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Camden-Town/blog-452946.html Rocks Dinosaurs and AlbertToday Richard took Kayla to the Natural History Museum in Kensington so she could see the rock room for herself. She patiently wandered through the 300 cases of rock samples without a single yawn. Richard could have stayed there all day but there were still dinosaurs to see.Then a short walk over to Hyde Park a picture of the Albert Memorial glorious fall colours alon http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Camden-Town/blog-452944.html A Football Game Touring Whitehall WestminsterNothing like walking around to cure jet lag although there was only one hour's difference between Livingstone Zambia and London so there wasn't as much jet lag as there was just plain lack of sleep from the plane flight. In any case we decided that a London walkabout was the thing to do. We were spending our last week away from home with our newly http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Camden-Town/blog-452938.html Well we thought we did alot yesterday but I think today tops it Due to our stupid amount of excitement we we're up at 8am and ready for more adventures Making the most of our free breakfast of coco pops just for you Dan and toast with Ned and Rhiannon we heading back out into London. Decided it was time to go see Big Ben and London bridge. We once again made our way down Oxford and Regent http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/blog-452846.html This morning I wanted to do the rest of the War Memorial. I figured I could see everything else plus fit in some time at the Science Museum before hitting up the Royal National Hotel for the Contiki Orientation Meeting.I chose my favourite breakfast place as the McDonalds on Oxford St near Oxford Square tube. It is across the road form the internet caf I visited on my first day here so that i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-452363.html Irsquom sorry that I didnrsquot mention it in at all in yesterdayrsquos entry but yesterday was the 4th anniversary of the London bombings. Here I was riding the Tube without realising crap this is something that happened 4 years ago. The many modes of transport that I was freely exploring London on were terrorised in a cruel act that took the lives of 56 people including the 4 perpet http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-452357.html Duncan A curse on Moors and Saracens If it were not for their ungodly ways Master Robin would never have left. What manner of name is Azeem Irish CornishAzeem Moorish. Robin Hood Prince of Thieves 1991When teaching my students about England 3 things always seemed to interest them the most. They didnrsquot really care about the famous architecture and if I even dared to mention his http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Devon/Dartmoor/blog-452050.html The last few weeks have been really manic while we've prepared to put our furniture into storage and get our property ready for letting. Thankfully most of the hard work is completed and now we can concentrate on getting ready for our travels. It's difficult to believe that we leave in just under a weekWe fly into Delhi on Monday arriving very early in the morning. We still haven't finalised http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Peterborough/blog-452027.html Its the morning of departure and all the nerves from the day before have disappeared and have been replaced by excitement What shall the next 8 weeks hold for us Saying the goodbyes were very tough I did not think it would be as hard... We are flying in exactly 12 hrs and 30 mins Last few things to sort out and its full steam ahead to london and heathrow airport. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Heathrow-Airport/blog-451901.html ldquoBy seeing London I have seen as much of life as the world can showrdquo Samuel Johnson London is such an epic city that it provides an entirely different experience for each visitor. I suppose this can be said for many places but it especially seems to hold true in the English capital. Our experience was a pleasant one from the moment we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-451894.html A relatively early start saw a haircut a trip to an unhelpful bank a misplaced mobile telephone unit epic domesticity Imran and a subsequent solo visit to Scarborough castle.Piss poor planning saw my camera lose its charge half way round my exploration but in hindsight was just as well as the digital audio tour hanging round my neck was suspended on too long a thread for me to hear as it co http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/North-Yorkshire/Scarborough/blog-451754.html London is changing me.Because on a rainy Friday at 5pm I can link arms with my tall daughter whilst using one umbrella and walk freely and anonymously to a place that we just can choose at that moment. And that the choice will be amazing. Today if you make the choice to go to the National Portrait gallery with a young woman by your side these things could happenwhilst your daughter will try to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-451736.html So now Irsquove had every vaccination under the sun even a dose of swine flu and am on the brink of giving up the glamour of Mayfair I look set to take off next weekend to Nairobi for the first of three overland journeysNovember to February Nairobi Kenya to Cape Town SAFebruary to April Kathmandu Nepal to Tokyo JapanMay to Sept San Jose Costa Rica to Mexico City Barbados baby http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Ealing/blog-451467.html Masquerade Paper faces on paradeMy flatmates and I decided very last minute about a week before Halloween to throw a party. We sent out the invites on the Tuesday I bought my costume on the Thursday went shopping for the party on the Saturday afternoon and had the party Saturday nightIt was a success what's the criteria for success The people you invite showing up with candy and a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Canary-Wharf/blog-451427.html Hi thereWe have 1 day to go This time tomorrow the team will be assembling in Heathrow Airport exciting timesI thought I would share with you all a rough guide to our schedule so you know where we will be and what we have planned.We arrive in Nairobi early on Saturday morning where we will then travel to the Rift Valley Sports Club in Nakuru about a 2 hour drive. From there it is onto Ke http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/blog-450970.html 31st October I drop my car off for safe storage in Wrexham at my brother Adrians and catcha train from Chester to Londo. All goes well until I try and use the Piccadily line to get to Heathrow. London Underground apparently carry out a lot of major maintenance work over most weekends and the Piccadily line was chaos overcorwded platforms and no trains I baled out at Leicester Sq and wandered ar http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/blog-450910.html A few weeks back the topic of speed dating came up in conversation with Erin's Mum about how hilarious it was for her and of course we decided to actually do it. So last night we went to a posho wine and champagne bar called Amuse Bouche in Soho with our alias' Erin would be Betty the Butcher and I would be Fran the Fish Monger just in case we weren't feelin' it... However once we got there w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Soho/blog-450719.html entry number2THIS IS a centralised headingnow a bit of dullish content http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Manchester/blog-450659.html