Blogs from Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

From Interesting Facts: Travel opens our minds, exposing us to new cultures, cuisines, and breathtaking landscapes. But with countless “must-see” destinations heavily promoted in the media, it’s easy to get swept up in the hype, sometimes leading to disappointing or overpriced experiences. This list isn’t about bashing any place; it’s about encouraging a discerning mindset. Some of these destinations are beautiful, but it’s essential to manage expectations and be aware of potential pitfalls like crowds, inflated prices, or misrepresentation in that heavily filtered social media feed. Unfortunately, I have been to my share of over-hyped places. I will list just a few of theirs, along with my comments. The classic whitewashed villages, blue-domed churches, and dramatic sunsets are postcard-perfect. However, astronomical prices and battling Instagram crowds... read more

After we left Lisbon we had a 2 day voyage to London. On the Friday most of the day was taken up by rehearsals and the final choir concert. We had had an extra practice after we had left Lisbon on the Thursday, so Friday morning at 11am we did the final rehearsal. We were not sounding too bad!! We did a sound check in the Palladium, then had lunch and at 2-30 were back for the show. As before, the Ukulele band went first. I liked their name, A Band on Ship!! Then we joined them to sing We'll meet again. Then it was our turn. I sat in the second row as the weather was not good and the ship was rolling. Overall we did well. The song we were most worried about, The ... read more

Well, this is the first in what I hope will be a long line of these...Christmas has passed, and it appears that we will be going in around 6 weeks. Obviously, we have no flights booked or an actual schedule planned, but we will get there. Buenos Aires will be our first port of call, and given the time of year, we'll most likely go south to Patagonia for some animals and ice before hitting the wines in Mendoza and heading for Bolivia and Peru, where we may join a guided tour for a few weeks. The main question right now is where we'll end up in mid-June: Lima, Quito, Santiago, or back in BA...? I'm looking forward to it regardless; just need to get this place rented out now.... read more

Day 53 - Flying home - losing 9 hours Bernard left me at security, and I’m off! I wandered through duty free, I know not to buy cigarettes here for Andrea, as they are so expensive. I’ll wait I’m in Dubai. My Apple Watch died whilst I was away, I may have mentioned it yesterday’s. I’ve lost the plot! But I did buy a new one to replace it. My flight set off perfectly, and on time. My first flight, Sydney to Dubai is 12 hours long, but in transition, I lose about 6 hours. When I land in Dubai, my body will feel like it is 10:40am, but as I have dropped the 6 hrs, as I land, I go back to 4:40am. I’m not sure that my body is entirely happy about that! We ... read more

Thu: Arriving in style on Airbus A380 The highlight of the day: was the arrival of our British Airways Airbus A380 pulling into our gate. That thing is a mammoth! You couldn't have missed it slowly making its way to the gate. Of course, we booked early and paid extra to secure the upper deck window seat 💪 The anticipation is building up! The flight was delayed for a half hour and the boarding area was a mess but Y got us in the special boarding group 🙌 The boarding tunnel was split into two. We were going with everyone else to the further entrance. Upon seating, I realized it was directly connected to the upper deck entrance. No stairs, nothing, meh. The upper deck could only be felt from the increased distance to the wings ... read more