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

Maidenhead is a lovely town on the River Thames in Berkshire, west of London. You pass through lovely villages and towns, as well as navigating very narrow lanes, just hoping that nought is coming the other way. On some roads, there was evidence of a horse float, but not towed by a car, rather like the size of a bus. One loves GPS Sat Navs and their short cuts (NOT). Maidenhead has a lovely walk available beside the tidal influenced River Thames. Old and new boats as well as ones being repaired, maybe restored, are dotted along the banks of the River.... read more

The time has finally come!! THE PHILLIPS SISTERS HIT SOUTH-EAST ASIA!!! In an attempt to comemorate this amazing moment in our lives as well as informing all our friends and fam of what we're doing I have decided to start up my very first travel blog. Being a blogger virgin please be patient with my waffle(s) and general IT incompetence. Alors, there are only two days to go until final departure and I find myself at good old Papi Phillips' house! A lot of tea drinking, cheese on toast eating, pipe smoking and national anthem singing (OK maybe not the last two but you get the idea!) is being done so as to fill up on all things quintessentially British before I get bombarded by strange and wonderful Chinese traditions! Scorpions and manky eels AHOY!!!... read more

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

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

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