Backdated. Posted 7/9/2017 I was starting to get more comfortable in Belgium. It was getting easier as we realised how many people spoke English (most of them) and as I picked up a few words of French. We had worked out a few more things to do while in Brussels – and on this Saturday ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 2/9/2017) What with sleeping in after a big day, and clearing the laundry backlog that had built up since Cardiff a week before, we didn’t leave the house until after midday. So if we only did one thing today, make it something good. Given we were in Belgium, and I’m a lifelong Tintin ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 26/8/2017) Good morning! It’s 5:30am! Here’s your breakfast tray! Actually the sleeper train wake-up call was not as perky as that. And it was fine getting up, despite being early, because I’d set my phone to beep 10 minutes beforehand. I pulled up the blind and looked out the window. We were sitting ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 22/8/2017.) Unlike the budget hotel in Bath, this hotel in Penzance included a full English breakfast, of which we availed ourselves. Very tasty. We’d be spending the day in and around Penzance, but leaving in the evening, so we had to check-out. The hotel initially seemed a bit iffy about having the space ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 16/8/2017) We bade our farewells to the family and my uncle K gave us a lift to Taunton station. First step to our next destination was a train to Exeter, or to be precise, Exeter St Davids. As with Bath a few days earlier, Exeter is served by multiple railway stations, originally built ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 15/8/2017) Sunday, and today was the day we were scheduled to meet all the English relatives – aged from 2 to 92 – this was one of the primary reasons for the trip. But first – breakfast! We hit the streets of Bath in search of food, discovering yet again that before 8am, ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 10/8/2017.) The hotel, being a cheapie, didn’t offer breakfast, so we sprung out around 7:30 looking for food… and discovered that almost nowhere in Bath is open before 8am, at least not on a Saturday. Eventually (eg at 8am, or just before) we found a great cafe near Bath Abbey just opening up, ... [More]
Friday morning in Cardiff, yet another warm sunny day — I was in danger of getting sunburnt. The locals all swore it was highly unusual to have this much sun — apparently “sunburn” and “Wales” are words not often found in one sentence. Time to head elsewhere, but first, one more walk to Cardiff Bay ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 4/8/2017.) We’d be leaving Cardiff the next day, so before heading out we decided to get some laundry done. This is one of the benefits of Air B’n’B over hotels – at least if you’ve booked somewhere with a washing machine. Then, what excursion today? We’d considered trying to get to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 31/7/2017) Oh the joys of jetlag. Having gone to bed at 8pm, I woke at about 5am. But being summer, it was already light. Eventually it seemed like a half-decent time to get up and out, and we prepared for our mission. Why had we come to Cardiff in the first place? And ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 28/7/2017) Click on any photo to see it larger After a long flight from Singapore, we landed in London, and as we taxied I did my usual thing of checking out the exotic airlines you can see at airports outside Australia. I particularly liked the Brussels Airlines slogan “We fly you to the ... [More]
(I am prone to do long overly-detailed blog posts about my holidays, perhaps more for my benefit and enjoyment than yours. Here’s the first instalment. This post is backdated. Published 26/7/2017) This holiday was a long time coming. Co-ordinating with my sons (including university holidays) and work and M and relatives, let alone getting the ... [More]