The T/R, 3.5 months of adventure a lifetime of memories.
Dec 5th, 2010, 10:27 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,187
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The T/R, 3.5 months of adventure a lifetime of memories.
Well, I've talked myself out of starting this TR so many times; as I feel it may be too 'boring' or I may get bogged down and never actually finish it. But I've re-read some of my previous reports and I got so much enjoyment out of remembering wonderful trips and also all the wonderful help and advice I have received over the year, I decided I had to give it a go.
A brief setup for anyone I haven't 'annoyed' with questions over the last 12months or so. We are a 47yr old couple from Brisbane Australia. We have travelled quite a bit and this was our fourth trip to Europe. We found ourselves in the wonderful position of being able to take a year off work. (that’s a whole other story!) So with DD#1 having moved to London in June and DD#2 being in a great job, and doing really well we decided to head to Europe for 3.5months. As you will see as the 'story' unfolds we had friends and family 'visiting/travelling' with us, off and on over this time, which was lovely.
This won’t be the day by day, blow by blow, trip report I usually do as it would just be too long. But I'm going to try really hard to give details of things I know are important to fellow planners/travellers. We are not really museum/art gallery people but love seeing 'old stuff'
we do love food & wine and we mostly avoided big cities, apart from day trips.
So with our B/class flights from Brisbane to London with Emirates & a leased vehicle we purchased at a travel expo early in the year, we were ready to go. We left Brisbane July 26, which was timed so we would still be home for DD#2s b/day two days earlier. The day before we left we received an email from the lady we had booked our London apartment through to say that <i>'the boiler was broken and they had organised a replacement apartment'.</i> After a bit of stress we decided that the new apartment looked fine and just crossed our fingers. I think I was most annoyed as I had mapped out and printed maps to place from the original apartment. But as this was our 4th trip to London we weren't<b> <i> too</i></b> perturbed.
So thanks to the Emirates car service we left Brisbane at 2am (yuck I know), which was chosen by us so we would arrive into London (Gatwick) late afternoon, we've done the arriving into London at 6am, which most flights from Australia are and its awful. You feel like a zombie all day. The Emirates lounge in Brisbane is just lovely, as was the flight and all the services you receive 'up the pointy end of the plane'. We had to stop in S'pore and Dubai, which makes the trip from home to London apartment about 30 hours!!!
On arrival our cars (yes two, as we had two suitcases each, 2 of which were for our daughter) were waiting and I called the apartment as arranged, to be told the boiler was fixed and we could go to our original apartment in Earls Crt. A lovely surprise. ( I tried to include apartment info but it appears it may be on the market for sale and they are no longer renting it, it was on Longridge Rd, Earls crt)
The apartment was lovely and better still DD#1 was there to greet us.
A brief setup for anyone I haven't 'annoyed' with questions over the last 12months or so. We are a 47yr old couple from Brisbane Australia. We have travelled quite a bit and this was our fourth trip to Europe. We found ourselves in the wonderful position of being able to take a year off work. (that’s a whole other story!) So with DD#1 having moved to London in June and DD#2 being in a great job, and doing really well we decided to head to Europe for 3.5months. As you will see as the 'story' unfolds we had friends and family 'visiting/travelling' with us, off and on over this time, which was lovely.
This won’t be the day by day, blow by blow, trip report I usually do as it would just be too long. But I'm going to try really hard to give details of things I know are important to fellow planners/travellers. We are not really museum/art gallery people but love seeing 'old stuff'
we do love food & wine and we mostly avoided big cities, apart from day trips.So with our B/class flights from Brisbane to London with Emirates & a leased vehicle we purchased at a travel expo early in the year, we were ready to go. We left Brisbane July 26, which was timed so we would still be home for DD#2s b/day two days earlier. The day before we left we received an email from the lady we had booked our London apartment through to say that <i>'the boiler was broken and they had organised a replacement apartment'.</i> After a bit of stress we decided that the new apartment looked fine and just crossed our fingers. I think I was most annoyed as I had mapped out and printed maps to place from the original apartment. But as this was our 4th trip to London we weren't<b> <i> too</i></b> perturbed.
So thanks to the Emirates car service we left Brisbane at 2am (yuck I know), which was chosen by us so we would arrive into London (Gatwick) late afternoon, we've done the arriving into London at 6am, which most flights from Australia are and its awful. You feel like a zombie all day. The Emirates lounge in Brisbane is just lovely, as was the flight and all the services you receive 'up the pointy end of the plane'. We had to stop in S'pore and Dubai, which makes the trip from home to London apartment about 30 hours!!!
On arrival our cars (yes two, as we had two suitcases each, 2 of which were for our daughter) were waiting and I called the apartment as arranged, to be told the boiler was fixed and we could go to our original apartment in Earls Crt. A lovely surprise. ( I tried to include apartment info but it appears it may be on the market for sale and they are no longer renting it, it was on Longridge Rd, Earls crt)
The apartment was lovely and better still DD#1 was there to greet us.
Dec 5th, 2010, 11:37 PM
#3
Yes, aussiedreamer, don't stop there. I want to hear more!
From another Aussie traveller.
Kay
(Just a thought - if the whole 3.5 months trip report is a bit daunting, why not just give us the bare bones and we can all ask questions?)
From another Aussie traveller.
Kay
(Just a thought - if the whole 3.5 months trip report is a bit daunting, why not just give us the bare bones and we can all ask questions?)
Dec 6th, 2010, 06:32 PM
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,187
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ok, so the first night we just walked to and along Earls Crt rd. Great place to base, has everything we need and really handy for the tube.
Slept well, considering time difference. After buying our Oyster cards we headed off to Portobello Rd & Camden Markets. Anyone hesitating wether to use public transport in London, don't, we got our cards at a local news stand and we were ready to go. Its so easy and so convienent. Had a great lunch at Camden Markets. So much to chose from, we had a mixture of Indian, Italian & mexican. All enjoyed on the 'converted vespers' by the edge of the river. Such a lovely day, we just enjoyed wandering around the markets with DD#1 & her 'fella'. Dinner was take away Indian from Earls crt rd, in our little garden at the apartment.
The 'kids' went back to their apartment the next day, they have settled in beautifully in Canary Wharf. We decided we needed a walking day & as we have been to London a few times we didn't need to race around and see the usual 'stuff', plus we had a 'visitor' coming in a few days that had not been before, so we knew we would be covering some of the same ground.
We walked to Hyde Park, what fun. We spent hours just wandering in all different directions, it was a beautiful day. We saw Kensington Palace, Dianna’s memorial, Peter Pan Statue etc etc. Found ourselves at Marble Arch for lunch and enjoyed a lovely sandwich from Pret a Manger (my fav' sandwich shop in London) sitting in the park. That evening we got the Tube to Tower Hill, then the DLR to Canary Wharf. Just great to see where our daughter is living, a very cute apartment. We had a drink at the Cat & Canary & dinner at the Spanish place over there, La Tasca, a chain place but very nice. Dlr & tube' home'. Just a great day.
Next day we had to go out to Heathrow & 'pickup' Dh's auntie. She was suddenly widowed early in the year and we suggested she should come 'visit' us on our holiday. We were so excited when she said yes. She is a very fit and active 60yr old & a lovely lovely person. Keep in mind she has never left Australia before. So in the morning we headed to the Borough Markets. You will pick up in this report that we like food and one of the things I researched over and over where the Grilled cheese Sandwiches at Kappacasein. boroughmarket.org.uk/page/3031/Kappacasein/58 Woh. Everything I read about, Dh had the Swiss raclette & I had the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. Just perfect. We wandered around the fantastic market and picked up a Strudel & Portuguese tarts for desert that night.
We tubed out to Heathrow and met AuntJ, she was so excited, the photo I have of her smiling and waving as she came through customs is priceless. And the smile never left her face for the next two weeks. We made our way back to the apartment on the tube and had a wonderful dinner of Salmon, salad and chardonnay, which we purchased from our local Tesco. Love that supermarket.
Another wonderful day in London.
Slept well, considering time difference. After buying our Oyster cards we headed off to Portobello Rd & Camden Markets. Anyone hesitating wether to use public transport in London, don't, we got our cards at a local news stand and we were ready to go. Its so easy and so convienent. Had a great lunch at Camden Markets. So much to chose from, we had a mixture of Indian, Italian & mexican. All enjoyed on the 'converted vespers' by the edge of the river. Such a lovely day, we just enjoyed wandering around the markets with DD#1 & her 'fella'. Dinner was take away Indian from Earls crt rd, in our little garden at the apartment.
The 'kids' went back to their apartment the next day, they have settled in beautifully in Canary Wharf. We decided we needed a walking day & as we have been to London a few times we didn't need to race around and see the usual 'stuff', plus we had a 'visitor' coming in a few days that had not been before, so we knew we would be covering some of the same ground.
We walked to Hyde Park, what fun. We spent hours just wandering in all different directions, it was a beautiful day. We saw Kensington Palace, Dianna’s memorial, Peter Pan Statue etc etc. Found ourselves at Marble Arch for lunch and enjoyed a lovely sandwich from Pret a Manger (my fav' sandwich shop in London) sitting in the park. That evening we got the Tube to Tower Hill, then the DLR to Canary Wharf. Just great to see where our daughter is living, a very cute apartment. We had a drink at the Cat & Canary & dinner at the Spanish place over there, La Tasca, a chain place but very nice. Dlr & tube' home'. Just a great day.
Next day we had to go out to Heathrow & 'pickup' Dh's auntie. She was suddenly widowed early in the year and we suggested she should come 'visit' us on our holiday. We were so excited when she said yes. She is a very fit and active 60yr old & a lovely lovely person. Keep in mind she has never left Australia before. So in the morning we headed to the Borough Markets. You will pick up in this report that we like food
and one of the things I researched over and over where the Grilled cheese Sandwiches at Kappacasein. boroughmarket.org.uk/page/3031/Kappacasein/58 Woh. Everything I read about, Dh had the Swiss raclette & I had the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. Just perfect. We wandered around the fantastic market and picked up a Strudel & Portuguese tarts for desert that night.We tubed out to Heathrow and met AuntJ, she was so excited, the photo I have of her smiling and waving as she came through customs is priceless. And the smile never left her face for the next two weeks. We made our way back to the apartment on the tube and had a wonderful dinner of Salmon, salad and chardonnay, which we purchased from our local Tesco. Love that supermarket.
Another wonderful day in London.
Dec 6th, 2010, 06:44 PM
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,187
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This is actually fun, I hope I can keep it up ;-)
The next day we all decided that AuntJ would really benefit from the open top bus tour. We'd done it our first trip and found for us it was a perfect way to 'get our bearings'. So we walked to Gloucester Rd and off we went. It really is fun and really informative; we had no problem doing it again. We got off at Marble Arch for lunch at Pret a Manger, love their crayfish and rocket sandwich. She loved it all and as you will see gave her such a great overview that she was more than happy to go exploring on her own. This time we even used the included river cruise. Fantastic, it took us all the way to Canary Wharf and again really informative. In fact the young guy doing the commentary was hilarious. We opted for the fast boat back to Tower Hill and tubed home.
The 'kids' came for dinner and we all sat in the garden for hours catching up with auntJ and reminiscing with great family stories. DD said later she enjoyed it so much, hearing silly little stories about her Great Uncle & grandparents. I think auntJ thoroughly enjoy it............quite a bit of chardy' was consumed and much laughter ensued.
We also organised tickets that night for DD & auntJ to go and see Sister Act with Whoopie Goldberg before she went home. I would have loved it but was not going to be in London at that time. They said later it was fantastic, both of them were singing and dancing in the aisles!
The next day we all decided that AuntJ would really benefit from the open top bus tour. We'd done it our first trip and found for us it was a perfect way to 'get our bearings'. So we walked to Gloucester Rd and off we went. It really is fun and really informative; we had no problem doing it again. We got off at Marble Arch for lunch at Pret a Manger, love their crayfish and rocket sandwich. She loved it all and as you will see gave her such a great overview that she was more than happy to go exploring on her own. This time we even used the included river cruise. Fantastic, it took us all the way to Canary Wharf and again really informative. In fact the young guy doing the commentary was hilarious. We opted for the fast boat back to Tower Hill and tubed home.
The 'kids' came for dinner and we all sat in the garden for hours catching up with auntJ and reminiscing with great family stories. DD said later she enjoyed it so much, hearing silly little stories about her Great Uncle & grandparents. I think auntJ thoroughly enjoy it............quite a bit of chardy' was consumed and much laughter ensued.
We also organised tickets that night for DD & auntJ to go and see Sister Act with Whoopie Goldberg before she went home. I would have loved it but was not going to be in London at that time. They said later it was fantastic, both of them were singing and dancing in the aisles!
Dec 7th, 2010, 02:32 PM
#15
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,566
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I'm along for the ride as well, did enjoy all your pre-trip posts and am loving the report. We are off to London in May - luckily will just miss THE wedding. And I will be seeking out those cheese toasties at the markets, you can bet on that!
love_travel_Aus, wish we had some of that rain here in WA.
love_travel_Aus, wish we had some of that rain here in WA.
Dec 7th, 2010, 02:37 PM
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,187
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks one & all for the kind words, as you know it helps to keep you going on a TR. So much appreciated.
Love_travel_Aus.................also still raining in Qld, bit over it really.
rcw.....ha ha we Aussies do like Earls Crt.
AuntJ set off the next day on her own, she wanted to ride the eye, go to the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, all of which we had previously done. So happy for her, she set off with her tube map and a massive smile on her face. We’d all decided to go to the theatre and see the play Prisoner of 2nd Avenue with Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl. So DH & I headed out to get the tickets. Apparently we were not the only ones to make our way to the Old Vic to find out it was on at The Vaudville. No problem, hopped on a bus and off we went to the Strand. Got the tickets and then walked to Trafalgar Square and people watched for an hour or so. Have I mentioned how great the weather was?
Had lunch in a pub, fish, chips & mushy peas, can’t get more English than that hey? Decided to catch a bus back as we were a little tired and enjoyed the scenery and people watching from the top deck of the bus.
Had a great little dinner at Paradiso Inferno on the Strand. We all opted for the set pre theatre menu. Crayfish salad to start & they both had Chicken in Mushroom sauce, I opted for pork in Napoli sauce. Perfect and all for £61 including a bottle of wine. www.paradisoeinferno.co.uk
The play was fantastic, really good. The only complaint was the terribly uncomfortable seats, and the theatre was so hot. But we managed a champagne and later an ice-cream! AuntJ was so thrilled with the whole night, such fun.
The next day was to be a ‘girly’ day I had organized from home. But first we headed off to the Earls crt Tavern to meet the ‘kids’ & have a full English breakfast. Then Dd, AuntJ & I made our way to Oxford Street for some retail therapy. Spent a couple of hours browsing & shopping, then we hopped into a cab (we had to do this at least once & we all loved it) and made our way to the Langham for a High Tea. It was ridiculously expensive but we all agreed it would be lovely and it was. We spent a couple of hours chatting and grazing on lovely sandwiches & cakes. AuntJ had a little sad moment when the piano player played ‘their’ song, but she said it actually added to the atmosphere and made it even more special. Told you she was lovely.
Tubed to Harrods & met up with DH who had spent the day walking around, he reckons he probably walked 30kms. We all tubed to Tower Hill and got the DLR out to Canary wharf again, auntJ wanted to see where the kids were living. Had dinner again at La Tasca. (it was free this time, the waitress had spilt and broken a glass over DD last time & as they were regulars the manger saw them and said this ones on me....nice one.)
Went home exhausted but so happy with another great day.
Love_travel_Aus.................also still raining in Qld, bit over it really.
rcw.....ha ha we Aussies do like Earls Crt.
AuntJ set off the next day on her own, she wanted to ride the eye, go to the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, all of which we had previously done. So happy for her, she set off with her tube map and a massive smile on her face. We’d all decided to go to the theatre and see the play Prisoner of 2nd Avenue with Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl. So DH & I headed out to get the tickets. Apparently we were not the only ones to make our way to the Old Vic to find out it was on at The Vaudville. No problem, hopped on a bus and off we went to the Strand. Got the tickets and then walked to Trafalgar Square and people watched for an hour or so. Have I mentioned how great the weather was?
Had lunch in a pub, fish, chips & mushy peas, can’t get more English than that hey? Decided to catch a bus back as we were a little tired and enjoyed the scenery and people watching from the top deck of the bus.
Had a great little dinner at Paradiso Inferno on the Strand. We all opted for the set pre theatre menu. Crayfish salad to start & they both had Chicken in Mushroom sauce, I opted for pork in Napoli sauce. Perfect and all for £61 including a bottle of wine. www.paradisoeinferno.co.uk
The play was fantastic, really good. The only complaint was the terribly uncomfortable seats, and the theatre was so hot. But we managed a champagne and later an ice-cream! AuntJ was so thrilled with the whole night, such fun.
The next day was to be a ‘girly’ day I had organized from home. But first we headed off to the Earls crt Tavern to meet the ‘kids’ & have a full English breakfast. Then Dd, AuntJ & I made our way to Oxford Street for some retail therapy. Spent a couple of hours browsing & shopping, then we hopped into a cab (we had to do this at least once & we all loved it) and made our way to the Langham for a High Tea. It was ridiculously expensive but we all agreed it would be lovely and it was. We spent a couple of hours chatting and grazing on lovely sandwiches & cakes. AuntJ had a little sad moment when the piano player played ‘their’ song, but she said it actually added to the atmosphere and made it even more special. Told you she was lovely.
Tubed to Harrods & met up with DH who had spent the day walking around, he reckons he probably walked 30kms. We all tubed to Tower Hill and got the DLR out to Canary wharf again, auntJ wanted to see where the kids were living. Had dinner again at La Tasca. (it was free this time, the waitress had spilt and broken a glass over DD last time & as they were regulars the manger saw them and said this ones on me....nice one.)
Went home exhausted but so happy with another great day.
Dec 7th, 2010, 02:39 PM
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,187
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hey Maudie, just noticed your post. I see WA is about the only dry place to be in Aus. at the moment. Believe it or not we are going back to the UK in May! But I'll mention that more at the end........... the end seems so far off right now ;-)
Dec 7th, 2010, 03:38 PM
#18
This is great to read aussiedreamer. Australians have such a great, open and positive attitude to life and travel. I didn't notice it so much until we had lived overseas for nearly 5 years. Now we are back home we are grateful for all we have.
Kay
Kay
Dec 7th, 2010, 03:44 PM
#19
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 468
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sorry you can't get any rain Maudie - just sent my husband to Perth this morning - hope he can take some with him - we are over it as well.
Earl's Court was where we stayed for a very short 3 day London visit in September this year.
Found it to be a good location, but sadly our 'girls' day' that my daughter and I had planned (husband was away working) never happened as she became quite ill on day 3 and we missed our lunch and show.
Still she recovered in time to fly to Switzerland and all went well from then on.
We stayed at the K and K St George in Earls' Court as it was such a short stay and this turned out to be a good hotel for such a brief stay.
I have only had two short visits to London (after lots up until the late 1990's) in the last two years - went off it for a bit - but it is growing on me again - and thanks to your trip report I may well head back and renew the relationship!
Earl's Court was where we stayed for a very short 3 day London visit in September this year.
Found it to be a good location, but sadly our 'girls' day' that my daughter and I had planned (husband was away working) never happened as she became quite ill on day 3 and we missed our lunch and show.
Still she recovered in time to fly to Switzerland and all went well from then on.
We stayed at the K and K St George in Earls' Court as it was such a short stay and this turned out to be a good hotel for such a brief stay.
I have only had two short visits to London (after lots up until the late 1990's) in the last two years - went off it for a bit - but it is growing on me again - and thanks to your trip report I may well head back and renew the relationship!
Dec 7th, 2010, 08:18 PM
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,187
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
• So the next day AuntJ & Dh decided they both wanted to go to Madame Tussuards. It has never appealed to me so off they went. They used the bus ticket from earlier on to get discounted tickets & to bypass the long lines. So I had a go slow morning and then made my way to Victoria Station. Just wandered around amazed at the sites and the wonderful weather. We'd all decided to meet at the Queen Victoria fountain at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards.
Got a great spot by the fountain & DD arrived just in time; AuntJ & Dh had a ball at Madame Tussuards, and also were at the fountain. Had a great chat to a young mum from Hull, she was saying how long it had taken her to get to London. She had a little chuckle when we told her where we were from! Everyone enjoyed the 'show'.
We then ambled our way along Green Park, through Knightsbridge and onto Harrods. We had a great lunch at the Pizzeria & then spent an hour or so window shopping. Although we all bought a little something at the gift shop. So iconic.
Got the #74 back to Earls Court. Public transport is such a good way to see a place & with the Oyster cards it’s just too easy. Dinner was a simple chicken & salad, again eaten in the garden, loving this great weather.
Tomorrow we are off on a 'little' road trip.
Got a great spot by the fountain & DD arrived just in time; AuntJ & Dh had a ball at Madame Tussuards, and also were at the fountain. Had a great chat to a young mum from Hull, she was saying how long it had taken her to get to London. She had a little chuckle when we told her where we were from! Everyone enjoyed the 'show'.
We then ambled our way along Green Park, through Knightsbridge and onto Harrods. We had a great lunch at the Pizzeria & then spent an hour or so window shopping. Although we all bought a little something at the gift shop. So iconic.
Got the #74 back to Earls Court. Public transport is such a good way to see a place & with the Oyster cards it’s just too easy. Dinner was a simple chicken & salad, again eaten in the garden, loving this great weather.
Tomorrow we are off on a 'little' road trip.
