Blogs from Merseyside, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 8

Kelley had no idea where we were taking him. All he got was a note telling him to turn up at the Euston Tap at 7pm along with two pairs of undies, photo ID, a toothbrush, and ten vomit bags. By the time I had arrived at the Euston Tap, the most of the stag crew had already shown up - Yohei the chief organiser (who you may remember from Granada), Andrew (who you may remember from Milan), blog débutante Wilson, and Kelley the stag himself (who regular readers of this blog should know by now). Our numbers were complete when we were joined by Hanson (who you may remember from the Peak District) and Francis aka Turtle (who was also with Kelley, Yohei and I in Granada) who was the last t... read more

Day 8&9; another early morning, keeping in mind this was not to be a relaxing holiday but one to see and do and that's what I'm doing. This morning we traveled north from Lancashire to the Lake District. We drove along the shores of Lake Windermere, England's largest lake. Today was the day for bus, train and boat transportation. We traveled by bus, caught an old steam engine to Haverthaite and then took a cruise along the northern coastline of Lake Windermere, the scenery was spectacular,a photographer's paradise. This is another area that inspired the Romantic poets including William Wordsworth. He is buried at St Oswald's church in Grasmere, we visited his grave and then had lunch in this cute little tourist village. After lunch we boarded the bus once more and headed for Scotland, first ... read more

Arrived here last Saturday and with great joy and open arms were met by the family. Had coffee or similar with Paul and Belinda while Erin was at LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts). Apparently Paul McCartney (ex Beatle) has something to do with it. Sunday we drove to Manchester (Sale) for our church (ecclesia) and had a nice time. It was followed by a communal lunch and during this time we chatted with some lovely folks and even scored an invite to stay with a couple the night before we head to Scotland. Some may know Tom and Judith Griffiths as they have visited Adelaide in previous years. Monday was about taking Erin to school and visiting the model train store (Hattons) and yes the bag will have some extra goodies, but also they do ... read more

Jack Frost has made an unwelcome appearance. His icy tentacles have crawled all over the car windscreens turning them from glass to thick ice. His icy fingers have spilt white confetti like ice crystals over the lawns. All shining metallic silver in the thin watery December sunlight. Snow has fallen on the ski slopes of Scotland and could be on its way down the country towards us. Christmas is just round the corner. Town streets are festooned with lights. Some garish multicoloured light bulbs strung from light post to light post . Others more simple tiny star like lights twinkling through the christmas trees like a myriad of tiny stars. Shops are full of potential presents, all the trimmings for those presents and food for the festive season. Turkeys, stuffing, sprouts and Christmas puddings,mince pies and ... read more

My mate in Australia asked me today what some good tips were for her because she was going backpacking this summer through Europe. So heres a few things i thought of and I thought Id post them for anyone else who might be interested :) If I think of anymore I will let you guys know x TIPS! Are you travelling alone? if not, you should deffinately couchsurf :) its free and you get fed and you meet amazing people who show you around countries that you would otherwise not know where to go. buy the book "Lets go europe" its a travel book written buy students form cambridge and oxford uni and its all about seriously budgetted fun travel through all the separte countries of europe - my parents used it when they were my ... read more