WORLD TRIP - Part 2

STAGE 2

We arrive in England on Monday 12^th November. This will probably be a bit of a shock to Julie as she is a true Aussie and thinks any temperature below 15 degrees Celsius is ‘freezing’, and that there is no temperature below zero. Truth be told she is of the opinion that there is no such thing as ‘below freezing’ away from Antarctica and domestic food freezers. Oh boy is she in for a surprise!

Our time in England, or more accurately in the UK/GB, is to be a mix of family visits and touring. We will spend a total of 52 days with trips to Scotland and Ireland. We even plan to take my grand-daughter, Xanthi to France for the day shortly after our arrival in Eastbourne.

This whole trip started out originally with the notion of taking Julie to England for a ‘traditional’ Pommie Christmas and even hoping for a white Christmas. We hope to spend Christmas with my sister whom I have not seen for 18 years and Julie has never met. As mentioned earlier, we may even get a bit of snow but with the way the climate is stuffing around at the moment, anything can transpire. Anyway, after few days in Eastbourne with Xanthi we drive to Liverpool for 4 nights. Why? I have no idea, it just seems like a good idea and being kids of the 50s we can catch a Ferry across the Mersey and visit The Cavern Night Club.

Our next stop will be Loch Lomond in Scotland, staying at a place called Knockderry Country Hotel. This is within easy striking distance of a distillery but don’t let on to Julie because I haven’t told her yet! (It’s called cowardice)! The next stop is North Wales where we have booked a cottage for a week and this will be our base for touring. It will also be a break from hotels and hotel food, with us being able to cater for ourselves and not be bound by schedules. I know, all of you who are reading this really feel sorry for us and our ‘hectic’ lifestyle. We also feel sorry for us!!!!!!!!!

After our well earned rest we are then off to Ireland for a few days and then back to the UK to spend a few days in ancient Bath. Surprisingly for me but I have never been there despite being a Pommie! I don’t care how damn cold it is we have every intention of bathing in these ancient waters. Next stop Looe in Cornwall. We again have a self catering cottage and will be using it as a base to venture out and explore the Cornish coastline and Portsmouth. I spent many a happy holiday there as a child and teenager. Hopefully I’ll be able to find some of the old places I used to know and recapture some of my memories and show them to Julie. Then again, it may turn out to be ‘false memories’ after all. It could be interesting to see what posts are made on this blog as we visit the places and see if they actually do match up to my distant memories.

Southampton next to stay with Shane and Anna. This will be our base to visit Salisbury and Stonehenge amongst other things. Despite it being winter then a trip to the New Forest is planned, this area being one of my favourite camping spots during my miss-spent youth. It’s hoped that Shane and Anna can get a couple of days off work and spend the time with us on our day trips. However, we do realise that some poor beggars do actually have to work for a living and by this time we’re hoping to have forgotten what the word ‘work’ means!

On December 21^st we return to Eastbourne and pick-up my grand-daughter from school. This is totally unknown to her and will be a Christmas surprise. We take her by train to London for two nights to see the lights. On Saturday we will take her out to buy her a ‘special’ outfit and take her to see the Lion King stage show in the West End. Sunday we take her to Madam Tussauds where there is an effigy of Justin Beeber. For those who do not know, Xanthi is 9 years old and in love with Justin. She informs us that she is going to marry him! Anyway, before our return train to Eastbourne we have booked High Tea at a hotel for the three of us, our intention being to return one very happy, spoiled and worn out darling to her mother and nanna on Sunday evening. She will most likely be full of sugar and hyper-manic but hey, we’re leaving her there and retiring to our hotel for the night!

JACQUELINE – IF YOU READ THIS DO NOT TELL XANTHI – AND SORRY ABOUT THE SUGAR.

On Monday morning we drive to Grimsby for a long anticipated reunion with my sister Susan. This will be one of my highlights of this trip, the initial reason for making the trip to England at this time of year. Unfortunately our visit here is only for a few days as we drop off the car at Grimsby on the 28^th and take our final train journey to London for 5 nights. We plan to spend New Year’s Eve on the Thames to watch the fireworks and see in the New Year before the next stage of our trip to America on January 2^nd 2013.