Blogs from Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 5

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight June 12th 2009

Summer is festival time in the UK. Woo hoo. This year I decided on a new festival, the Isle of Wight Festival. In an attempt to avoid the 'tent issues' previously encountered, we went with a 'posh version' of the camping. This was not the full on posh version, but one where they set up your tent for you, including pumping up an air bed. There are three main benefits to this: One: You don't have to carry a tent/airbed - it's already there!! Two: You are in a separate area, with more space around the tents, and no one's tent is right on top of yours. Three: You get separate loos in your area, so significantly cleaner. There was also a suggestion that there would be shorter shower queues, but that did not pan out.... ... read more

Biking to the Isles of Wight

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight May 4th 2009

pics 035

scubastella

A group of 4 bikes and a mini rode/drove to the Isle of Wight on Friday morning to spend the bank holiday weekend on the island. We drove all over the island, taking in the beautiful views, riding the chair lift to the beach, visiting the bike and car shows and generally having a laugh. It was tiring but great fun. Suzanne and Jan both went Pillion with Wayne and Chris all around the island. I managed to keep up with the boys most of the time, and my new bike rode really well. ... read more

Isle of Wight

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight » Shanklin March 20th 2009

The pilion passengers!

Bikerspice

Trip to Isle of Wight - Friday 1 to Monday 4 May 2009. Headed out at 9.00 am on Friday, Suzanne picked me up in her mini and went to Chris' where the other four were already there. Six of us set off with a few hick up's on the way, ie Wayne's bike cut out, Chris dropped bike whilst pulling onto gravel and Dean's bike totally breaks down and ends up being towed back home, one mile from Southampton port!!! The rest of us went over on the ferry and found our B&B in Sandown, lovely little town and had a nice Italian meal. Dean turned up before breakfast on his other bike. ... read more

Dreaming of a Warm Christmas

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight December 27th 2008

Trafalgar Square and Big Ben

laandal

Christmas in the UK is completely different to the beaches, BBQs, sunscreen and ice cream kind of Christmases that we have always known and loved. It is cold and miserable but does its best to get you in the Christmas spirit with the lights, carols, food and parties that you couldn't really avoid even if you wanted to. Christmas time over here is a lot more about Christmas than it is at home, possibly because everyone in Australia is already excited about summer holidays and the great weather and Christmas is just seen as an bonus. An Irish doctor told Lara that once the Christmas lights come down and everyone has spent all their money the weather becomes "suicidally depressing", which was something to look forward to! So we decided it was best to enjoy the ... read more

Pre-holiday warm up - Isle of Wight

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight » Newport September 12th 2008

IofW Ferry

Jetsetters

Billed with the headliners of Amy Winehouse, Gary Numan and the Human League, the Bestival on the Isle of Wight was a feast of music, fun, rain and mud! MUD - I don't think so! Phew, we missed all that lovely mud; as the family will recall - Lena does not do that! We did not attend the Bestival (far too muddy and cool for us), but we saw the remnants of the Bestival as we waited at Southampton ferry port and watched the bedraggled festival goers with muddy boots, legs, faces etc (you get the picture), trundle off the previous ferry. Needless to say, once on the ferry Alan fastidiously cleaned our seat before we sat down (too much mud) and we had an uneventful trip across to the IofW. (Note: exciting ferry picture) The ... read more

Open Evening and Travel Buddy!

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight August 23rd 2008

tvallender

I started talking to a girl - Emma - through emails, that I met through gapyear.com. She has similar plans to me and wants to travel Thailand, Oz, Fiji and New Zealand. She's wanting to go for longer than I am, and we'll have different timescales/things we want to do for some of the trip, but we started talking about flying out and doing the first bit, mainly Thailand, together. Hopefully we would've picked up confidence by Oz, so we could either travel some of it together if we have the same plans and are getting along, or go seperate ways if we want to, which we're both happy about doing which is cool There was an open evening in the Southampton STA branch on Wednesday, Emma lives in Southampton and found out about it and ... read more

Getting a Quote

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight August 10th 2008

tvallender

I've been looking at sites such as sta, travelnation and trailfinders, trying to get a rough idea on RTW ticket prices. After looking about I was hoping to probably pay between around £1,000 and £1,500 depending on the route. So I got in contact with travel nation and had a chat on the phone, they seemed really friendly and helpfull which was a good start. Although still undecided on a definate route and it may well change, I wanted a starting point so we discussed the places I'd like to see and the routes available, and so far came up with the following (// = overland): London - Bangkok - Singapore - Cairns//Sydney - Christchurch//Auckland - via Sydney - Perth - Tokyo - London , leaving between 16th Jan and 15th April 09, £1, 621 incl. ... read more

The Very Beginning!

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight August 9th 2008

tvallender

Well this is my first ever blog, hello! I thought I would create it to log my plans of travelling and the travel itself, mainly as a reminder to me and to look back on my thoughts and plans, and for those who are interested to read about while I’m away, and sometimes - especially in the planning stages - to just waffle to myself when everyone is sick of hearing about it or not really interested in the first place! I have wanted to travel for a long time, and not knowing anyone who feels the same and not having the guts to go alone, I’ve never been. But that is going to change! I am still without a travel buddy but am getting more determined as time passes…I don’t want it to just be ... read more

Cowes Sailing Regatta

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight » Cowes August 2nd 2008

Yours Truly

Chrisby

This is now becoming a bit ridiculous. Every time this summer that I have had an event planned, I wake up to lousy weather. And today, that was no mean feat. The alarm went off at 6.00, so I was at least hoping for the sun. But no, overcast and actually raining. Putting my faith in Poseidon, I donned a bathing suit, a skirt and a golf shirt for the better weather that I knew would eventually come along. Oh yeah, I put a fleece over it all. At 7.30, nine of us all met at the pub (stop it, it was just an easy place to meet) to climb on our coach for the journey down to the sea. The journey was fraught as our driver didn't have the directions, a map or SatNav, but ... read more

Creature Island and The Breakfast Nazi

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight July 19th 2008

A - Alum Bay Sands

danielmain

Wight is a middle english word meaning "creature especially human", literally translating the islands name as "Creature Island". Subsequant to Tolkein, wight also means "undead creature" meaning that many people assume that the island is named after ghosts and such, they are wrong, however there it has given rise to many ghost books and tours. There is also a special sub-set of people who think that the Isle of Wight is named after a colour. Those people cannot spell. Waking at quarter to six wasn't bad. Leaving the house at quarter to seven wasn't bad. Getting on the bus at quarter to eight wasn't bad. It wasn't even that bad to be told only five minutes into the journey that we wouldn't get a single rest stop until we were on the ferry - at 10:30 ... read more

Brief history of United Kingdom

Great Britain, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the ear...more history

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