by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 08
Florida – September 2008 Day 6 – Orlando – arrival Saturday 27th September Sandy had arranged for us to visit Reyna this morning with the kids. Neither she nor Gerald has changed a bit – except for the cast on her leg from tripping out of her...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 08
Florida – September 2008 Day 5 – Jax – taking care of the kids on my own Friday 26th September Floridians might call the weather we’ve had since we arrived ‘bad’. By this I suppose they would be referring to the absence of the penetrating sunshine...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 08
Florida – September 2008 Day 4 – Jax – a day at the zoo Thursday 25th September The kids were up at a more reasonable six a.m. this morning. Sandy was up with them, as usual, but I followed shortly thereafter. Our bed has to be the most comfortable...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 08
Florida – September 2008 Day 3 – Jax – a day at the park Wednesday 24th September Once again, the kids were up very early this morning. Sandy was up with them before six but I was able to relieve her for at least a little bit since I was up not long...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 08
Florida – September 2008 Day 1 – Jax – shopping at Walmart Tuesday 23rd September Joey was awake very early this morning – 03:00! Fortunately, Sandy was able to get him off to sleep again so we managed to catch a bit more sleep. All things...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 08
Florida – September 2008 Day 1 – London to Jax – getting there (part 2) Monday 22nd September Well, the first flight turned out to be quite a bit easier than expected overall. The second, however, was a completely different story altogether. Although...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Cape Otway Dec 10
Cape Otway – December 2010 Day 7 – last day – reflecting on the holiday Monday 3rd January OK, so we arrived home a few short hours ago and we’ve been unpacking, cleaning, washing and generally unwinding from the trip ever since. Between us, we’ve...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Cape Otway Dec 10
Cape Otway – December 2010 Day 6 – Great Ocean Road Sunday 2nd January This morning’s method of awakening was via a near world-war-three breakout that erupted between Joey & Jennifer – and far too early at that. From start to ‘everyone within a...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Cape Otway Dec 10
Cape Otway – December 2010 Day 5 – horse riding Saturday 1st January (New Year’s Day) As last night was the last of 2010, there were New Year’s Eve celebrations going on over at the cinema, which is really little more than a make-shift screen in...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Cape Otway Dec 10
Cape Otway – December 2010 Day 4 – a hot day at the beach Friday 31st December Just exactly why I was surprised that Jennifer was the first person on the entire camp-site to wake up this morning remains a mystery to me. As it was only six-thirty this time,...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Cape Otway Dec 10
Cape Otway – December 2010 Day 3 – walking through the treetops Thursday 30th December We had another lovely breakfast at the kitchen area this morning. Ordinarily, we wouldn’t sit down together as a family for breakfast so it’s been nice to do so here on...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Cape Otway Dec 10
Cape Otway – December 2010 Day 2 – time to do nothing Wednesday 29th December As is often the case when we’re on holiday or travelling around, we lose track of time. As such it was a surprisingly late finish to the day yesterday and so this morning should...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Cape Otway Dec 10
Cape Otway – December 2010 Day 1 – the journey Tuesday 28th December The car strained under the weight of all the ‘stuff’ we loaded upon it this morning and we made it all of five minutes down the road before having to turn around to retrieve the...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 19 – departure Friday 7th October Ok, it’s finally here – our day of departure. Well, what a whirlwind holiday this has been. We’ve had so many experiences here that it’s hard to take it all in or even know where to begin...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 18 – EPCOT (again) Thursday 6th October Our morning routine was somewhat adjusted this morning to accommodate for the fact that we would be meeting up with Louise & Chris for breakfast. Our usual Waffle House is a very...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 17 – Blizzard Beach Wednesday 5th October Ok, so for the second time on this holiday, I sit at the laptop on the day after to write up the events of the day. I think the problem yesterday was that the park was open a couple of...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 16 – Islands of Adventure Tuesday 4th October Ok, so for the second time on this holiday, I sit at the laptop on the day after to write up the events of the day. I think the problem yesterday was that the park was open a couple...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 15 – rest day Monday 3rd October Today was all about catching up with friends and family. With no theme parks scheduled for today, we anticipated a slow start to the day but for whatever reason, my body clock roused me into...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 14 – Downtown Disney Sunday 2nd October Today was always going to be a rest day with no plans on the schedule to visit a theme park. As such, I never bothered to try to wake up or get up and about very early (not that I do...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 13 – Seaworld Saturday 1st October Yesterday evening, just before we went to bed, finished with a bit of ambiguity as to what we were going to do today. I was all prepared for a nice, relaxing, rest day but Sandy was keen to...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 12 – Universal Studios Friday 30th September Patti had already left for home by late yesterday evening and so the house was back to its normal routine this morning. To all intents and purposes, we were on full auto-pilot as we...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 11 – Animal Kingdom Thursday 29th September By 8:30 this morning, pretty much everyone had stirred and we were all busy getting organised for the day. The last remaining major Disney theme park that we would knock off today...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 10 – Typhoon Lagoon Wednesday 28th September Today is one of our rest days and we’re taking advantage of the good weather by visiting one of Disney’s main water theme parks. Typhoon Lagoon, we think, will be a big thrill for...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 9 – Kennedy Space Center Tuesday 27th September By the time we got up this morning, Patti had already left the house but Ben was still around along with Nikki & the baby. Sandy got up just shortly after me but suffered from...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 8 – rest day – Jacksonville Monday 26th September As is fairly typical at Patti’s house, there were various people around when we got up this morning. I love staying at Patti’s house, as there’s always a buzz of activity...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 7 – rest day – Jacksonville Sunday 25th September A relatively slow start to the day was afforded us this morning owing to the fact that we had no hard and fast deadline to meet. Having reached the one-week milestone, we...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 6 – Epcot Saturday 24th September With a full day at EPCOT planned for today, I wanted to make sure we were at the turnstiles by around 10:00. This slipped by only about 45 minutes in the end and so that wasn’t too bad. Over...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 5 – rest day Friday 23rd September We spent our first day today since arriving here in Orlando NOT traipsing around a major theme park. As such, there really should be very little for me to write about. We’ll see. Although we...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Gold Coast Sep 13
Gold Coast – September 2013 Day 4 – Seaworld Tuesday 17th September Today was a good day overall, which was fitting given that today is also our 25th wedding anniversary – this time in celebration of the day that we got married in the church, as...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 4 – Islands of Adventure Thursday 22nd September We’re slowly kicking the jet-lag and last night was better but still saw several of us up and about in the middle of the night at various times. This time, however, the restless...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 3 – Disney Hollywood Studios Wednesday 21st September We’re slowly kicking the jet-lag and last night was better but still saw several of us up and about in the middle of the night at various times. This time, however, the...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 Day 2 – Magic Kingdom Tuesday 20th September Day 2 was a long day and tiredness must have caught up with us finally, as we all ran out of energy and were asleep by early evening last night and I find myself writing this blog entry...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 08
Florida – September 2008 Day 1 – London to Jax – getting there (part 1) Sunday 21st September Well, today marks not only the first day of this holiday but also the first day of freedom from work. It was always an inevitability that my contract was...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 T-1 – getting there (part 2) Sunday 18th September Ok, so we finally arrived here at the villa and for the first time since setting off nearly 24 hours ago, I feel like I can now relax just a little. I think the transition from...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Florida Sep 11
Florida – September 2011 T-2 – getting there (part 1) Saturday 17th September Ideally, I would have liked to have started a 24-hour journey to the other side of the planet having been fully rested and with batteries already fully charged. Alas, it was not...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 Day 8 – Isa Lei Fiji, it’s been fantastic Sunday 7th October Despite the exertions of yesterday, we were all up together fairly swiftly and fairly early this morning. I did my packing and Sandy was stuffing the last bits and...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 Day 7 – river cruise to meet local Fijians Saturday 6th October Even though we all started to rouse at around the same time this morning, it was a slow start to the day. The rainfall over the past 24 hours had made for a rather sticky...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 Day 6 – more spa treatments Friday 5th October It was by and large a restful start to the morning on this the penultimate full day of our Fiji holiday. Although the kids were out of bed before us, they were content to follow Sandy’s...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 Day 5 – more diving and relaxing by the pool Thursday 4th October With another morning’s worth of diving on the agenda for me today, it was going to be another gruelling early start to my day. Once again, I somehow managed to be awake...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 Day 4 -relaxing by the pool Wednesday 3rd October We’ve kind of settled into something of a routine now and I think we’re now all getting a decent night’s sleep again. Sandy and Jennifer were the early birds this morning and elected to get...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 Day 3 – diving, massage, fire walking & anniversary celebrations Tuesday 2nd October I was up and able to disarm the 07:00 alarm shortly before it sounded this morning. Having laid out all my gear and provisions for my morning’s...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 Day 2 – exploring the resort Monday 1st October Curiously, I was actually already awake by the time the alarm clock sounded at 03:30 this morning. Not entirely sure why it’s necessary to be at the airport a full 3 hours prior to...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 Day 1 (part 2) – first impressions of Fiji and the resort Sunday 30th September Curiously, I was actually already awake by the time the alarm clock sounded at 03:30 this morning. Not entirely sure why it’s necessary to be at the...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 Day 1 (part 1) – the trip there Sunday 30th September Curiously, I was actually already awake by the time the alarm clock sounded at 03:30 this morning. Not entirely sure why it’s necessary to be at the airport a full 3 hours prior to...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 T-1 – last-minute preparations Saturday 29th September Sandy and I continue to make preparations for the holiday. For the most part, we sort of get on with doing things we each need to and without distractions from the other. Sandy,...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 T-3 – diving preparations Thursday 27th September Sandy and I continue to make preparations for the holiday. For the most part, we sort of get on with doing things we each need to and without distractions from the other. Sandy, for...
by | Mar 13, 2017 | Fiji Sep 12
Fiji – September 2012 T-5 – Preparations Tuesday 25th September 7 years ago, when we were travelling around the world, we got as far as Australia and then conceived Joey. To say the least, this had quite an impact on our travel plans at the time. One...
by | Mar 12, 2017 | Gold Coast Sep 13
Gold Coast – September 2013 Day 8 – Heading home and final reflections Friday 21st September Today being the day that we finally leave the heat of the Gold Coast and head back to more familiar climes, I thought I’d spend a few minutes reflecting on the...
by | Mar 12, 2017 | Gold Coast Sep 13
Gold Coast – September 2013 Day 7 – Seaworld and the dolphin encounter Friday 20th September With this our last full day of the holiday, we had decided to go back to Seaworld again but specifically for the purpose of doing the dolphin feeding for children...
by | Mar 12, 2017 | Gold Coast Sep 13
Gold Coast – September 2013 Day 6 – White Water & Dreamworld Thursday 19th September I got up this morning and had the extreme pleasure of welcoming another child to another year older. My little girl is steadily becoming less little and has now...
