Travel Journals - The UK bits.
Here's the remainder of my UK travel journal (and I'll end up posting the Canadan bits after that)
My other journals are found below:
Manila Pt1
Manila Pt2
UK Pt1
UK Pt2
20-Jun-2008 Stockport
Had breakfast in Stockport. When they say BIG breakfast here, they really do mean big. After breakfast, we visited B's folks. They're cool. B tried to contact her mum but was unsuccessful. Seems that B's parents have a more active social life than we do. After that, we headed off for a stroll through Stockport. Saw the rather large church (seriously, its large enough to be called a cathedral in most other parts of the world). We also went & took the Air Raid Shelter tour.
I have to admit, as someone who isn't normally claustrophobic, the Air Raid Shelter is a really spooky place. It is somewhat cold and foreboding, and makes you feel totally claustrophobic. From there, we then headed back for dinner with B's uncle & aunt. Awesome meal, and quite a lot of food. Strange kinda thing they call a Yorkshire pudding though... for one it isn't flat. Its more like the outside of a tart of some sort.
21-Jun-2008 and also 22-Jun-2008 Eyam, Buxton, and back to London...
Saturday morning, we drove to Eyam via Buxton. The plague village (Eyam) is a nice place to learn stuff about life in the times & the museum there is rather interesting (for a small museum). Buxton was cool, though soggy. Gotta love the roads up there, they'd be awesome on a motorcycle, what with all the twisties!
Saturday evening was spent with B's folks again. Like any big family gathering, it was rather loud. Sometimes B's relatives remind me very much of my own.
Sunday morning we spent in Stockport, followed by lunch with B's Aunt Norma, B's Cousin Leslie & her daughters. Nice restaurant. We then headed back to London from there.
Driving most of the way was easy, (motorways are a breeze) but still encountered that strange fugue that the roads here seem to bring (what with time disappearing and the distances still being big). London driving is hectic. Reminded me of how they drive in Manila. Now we're back in Pimlico & staying at a Best Western. Its small, but hey, we both like this room.
23-Jun-2008 and 24-Jun-2008Lazy Days in London...
Lazy days in London are kinda cool. We spent most of yesterday (the 23rd) simply running around. We visited King's Cross & St Pancras (B has a photo by platform 9 & 3/4) We had planned to take the Eurostar to Paris, but it was just too expensive for a day trip. Instead, we ended up lazing away with some minor touristy things.
Today (the 24th) we're going to Ealing (to catch up with the blokes at Schola Gladiatoria) Tomorrow, we're off on the next stage of our adventure... Canadia!
Evening We went to visit the folk from Schola. Matt Easton was pretty cool. Found a cool bar in Ealing and had dinner there. Ended up going to the training hall and visiting the folk training there. I was rather interested in some of the stuff they do (mostly the methods behind it all, rather than techniques) Didn't really get to do any bouting (or see any bouting) as we had to hop on the last tube back to our hotel.
We decided to get off the tube at South Kensington and catch a double decker the rest of the way.
Strangely, no busses going to Victoria Station seemed to be Double Deckers, so we took one for some of the way instead, then hopped on another one to Victoria.
25-Jun-2008 Canadia here we come! (to eat your maple syrup and steal your beavers)
I can totally understand people's reluctance in going to Heathrow. Its a kind of nightmare airport to be in. The staff are friendly enough, but the layout is a maze & a not very well thought out maze at that. Too many congestion points & far too many opportunities for those inclined to cause mischief.
Go Karts to get from the security checkpoint to your boarding gate is a rather nifty idea, though the thoroughfares aren't really wide enough... as I said, not really well thought out.
Oh, and right now, it seems that we're on aisle seats no where near each other. I suspect this is cause they're trying to herd vegetarians into a specific area.
later... Canadia at last! The flight over was pleasant enough. I managed to sleep most of the way over. The seats we had on the flight were roomier than I expected, even with our cabin bags under the seats in front of us.
Arrived in Toronto (after a pretty eventless flight). It is an ok airport, but the customs guys seemed to be awfully bored. And we ended up getting tagged by immigration so that whole affair took longer than we expected.
Finally got to meet Axel and Siobahn (sp?) & their pet snake (Lola) their house is very cool (3 storeys) and Axel is a gamer (yaay we're everywhere!)
Managed to contact Max, we should meet up tomorrow at the CN tower. For now its off to bed, its been a big day.
I'll post the Torontonian bits then the Vancouver bits later on. B, if you read this, can you post some pics?
My other journals are found below:
Manila Pt1
Manila Pt2
UK Pt1
UK Pt2
20-Jun-2008 Stockport
Had breakfast in Stockport. When they say BIG breakfast here, they really do mean big. After breakfast, we visited B's folks. They're cool. B tried to contact her mum but was unsuccessful. Seems that B's parents have a more active social life than we do. After that, we headed off for a stroll through Stockport. Saw the rather large church (seriously, its large enough to be called a cathedral in most other parts of the world). We also went & took the Air Raid Shelter tour.
I have to admit, as someone who isn't normally claustrophobic, the Air Raid Shelter is a really spooky place. It is somewhat cold and foreboding, and makes you feel totally claustrophobic. From there, we then headed back for dinner with B's uncle & aunt. Awesome meal, and quite a lot of food. Strange kinda thing they call a Yorkshire pudding though... for one it isn't flat. Its more like the outside of a tart of some sort.
21-Jun-2008 and also 22-Jun-2008 Eyam, Buxton, and back to London...
Saturday morning, we drove to Eyam via Buxton. The plague village (Eyam) is a nice place to learn stuff about life in the times & the museum there is rather interesting (for a small museum). Buxton was cool, though soggy. Gotta love the roads up there, they'd be awesome on a motorcycle, what with all the twisties!
Saturday evening was spent with B's folks again. Like any big family gathering, it was rather loud. Sometimes B's relatives remind me very much of my own.
Sunday morning we spent in Stockport, followed by lunch with B's Aunt Norma, B's Cousin Leslie & her daughters. Nice restaurant. We then headed back to London from there.
Driving most of the way was easy, (motorways are a breeze) but still encountered that strange fugue that the roads here seem to bring (what with time disappearing and the distances still being big). London driving is hectic. Reminded me of how they drive in Manila. Now we're back in Pimlico & staying at a Best Western. Its small, but hey, we both like this room.
23-Jun-2008 and 24-Jun-2008Lazy Days in London...
Lazy days in London are kinda cool. We spent most of yesterday (the 23rd) simply running around. We visited King's Cross & St Pancras (B has a photo by platform 9 & 3/4) We had planned to take the Eurostar to Paris, but it was just too expensive for a day trip. Instead, we ended up lazing away with some minor touristy things.
Today (the 24th) we're going to Ealing (to catch up with the blokes at Schola Gladiatoria) Tomorrow, we're off on the next stage of our adventure... Canadia!
Evening We went to visit the folk from Schola. Matt Easton was pretty cool. Found a cool bar in Ealing and had dinner there. Ended up going to the training hall and visiting the folk training there. I was rather interested in some of the stuff they do (mostly the methods behind it all, rather than techniques) Didn't really get to do any bouting (or see any bouting) as we had to hop on the last tube back to our hotel.
We decided to get off the tube at South Kensington and catch a double decker the rest of the way.
Strangely, no busses going to Victoria Station seemed to be Double Deckers, so we took one for some of the way instead, then hopped on another one to Victoria.
25-Jun-2008 Canadia here we come! (to eat your maple syrup and steal your beavers)
I can totally understand people's reluctance in going to Heathrow. Its a kind of nightmare airport to be in. The staff are friendly enough, but the layout is a maze & a not very well thought out maze at that. Too many congestion points & far too many opportunities for those inclined to cause mischief.
Go Karts to get from the security checkpoint to your boarding gate is a rather nifty idea, though the thoroughfares aren't really wide enough... as I said, not really well thought out.
Oh, and right now, it seems that we're on aisle seats no where near each other. I suspect this is cause they're trying to herd vegetarians into a specific area.
later... Canadia at last! The flight over was pleasant enough. I managed to sleep most of the way over. The seats we had on the flight were roomier than I expected, even with our cabin bags under the seats in front of us.
Arrived in Toronto (after a pretty eventless flight). It is an ok airport, but the customs guys seemed to be awfully bored. And we ended up getting tagged by immigration so that whole affair took longer than we expected.
Finally got to meet Axel and Siobahn (sp?) & their pet snake (Lola) their house is very cool (3 storeys) and Axel is a gamer (yaay we're everywhere!)
Managed to contact Max, we should meet up tomorrow at the CN tower. For now its off to bed, its been a big day.
I'll post the Torontonian bits then the Vancouver bits later on. B, if you read this, can you post some pics?