Day 3 – Thursday 13th June – Hangzhou to Shanghai

FYI Hangzhou means sailing boat. Hangzhou has about 13 million people, just a village really.
Breakfast at 6.30, a quick walk along the river through a beautiful park, manicured lawns, mondo grass of different lengths, like we heard yesterday man made but made to look natural. We hear some music playing and investigation finds a man playing a saxophone by himself, no busking, not hit up for money, just playing for pleasure.
We slowly amble back to the hotel and we’re off into the traffic heading for North Lake.
The things that surprise me about China so far;

• there are so many trees and it’s much greener than I thought
• The roads are so good and the signs mostly have an English version on them
• There are not as many people on the streets as I thought there would be
• The people are so friendly, and many want to have their photo taken with you, apparently a lot of Chinese have seen very few round eyes and it’s a badge of honour for them to show their friends that they have an “ English/Australian friend”
• Chinese history is long and complex with provinces, dynasties, invaders, war, wealth, poverty…..

Some facts I heard from John – our guide;

• The Quiantang River runs to Hangzhou Bay – about 50 kms away
• It’s a tidal river that about 2 days after a full moon, every month, the river will get 10-12 meter tides.
• It was settled about 500bc, and 800 years ago had a population of 1 million people
• This was renowned as a trading city
• Hangzhou hosted the 2016 G 20 meeting
• In 2022 they will be hosting the 2022 Asian Games

The North Lake area is a paradise, fantastic gardens or forest that looks well organised, the lake is beautiful and looks clean. We hear that nobody can use a boat with and engine ( only electric boats), no toilets onto the river, no swimming in the river. We take a boat out on to the lake, it’s calm, flat, a slight drizzle of rain, thee is a contradiction, we can see a modern big city skyline with ancient temples around the hills.
A Very pleasant and relaxing hour on the lake.

NXT stop we head into the hills, and beautiful green sub tropical jungle, through tunnels into the Plum Valley where the famous Dragons Well green tea is grown and made. The rows of tea, terraced into the mountain side is spectacular. Mei is our educator/ salesperson, she is very knowledgeable about tea, and we succumb to her magic spell and after drinking 2 cups of green Dragons Well tea we are convinced green tea can cure anything, and in the right hands could bring about world peace. On that basis I buy a little tin of Dragons Well green tea. The Navigator goes deeper and her and The Mechanic share some tea “ supplements” , even after both struggled to get through the tea they were given. The score – 30 Love to Dragons Well Green Tea for selling this to The Navigator.
It’s a few hours drive back to Shanghai, a metropolis of sky scrappers ( or as John says – skyscrapes), the rain gets heavier and doesn’t stop .
Shanghai is busy busy busy, roads wind there way like spaghetti through the sky scrappers. The Holiday Inn Zhabei is not bad, good room and we check in for a rest before heading to an acrobatics show downtown at 6.30 pm. I’m exhausted thinking about the schedule.

The show is spectacular and we get back to the hotel at about 9.30pm, just in time to go shopping and we both buy prescription glasses for about 20% of the cost in Australia, $347 gets me reading glasses and Genelle multi focal glasses with transition lenses, they’ll be ready by tomorrow lunchtime!
I’m knackered, time for bed.
Arrividerci from Shanghai
Paul

Sent from my iPad

Day 2 – Suzhou, China to Hangzhou, China.

A little perspective, China is a bit larger in area than Australia, but we have about 25 million people and China has 1.39 billion people. Suzhou, which most people have never heard of, is 13 million people, and Shanghai has about 26 million people. Suzhou was settled about 500 ad, so it’s a very ancient area. It was the capital of the Wu kingdom. A lot of information spews out of our guides mouth, statistics, history, political, economic, you name it an he has been to Australia many times so he seems to have a need on Aussies.

The Electrician and I decide to go for a walk before the bus leaves, a wide pedestrian crossing, green light so I wade out into the traffic, using the lessons learned in India and dodge the silent electric bikes and cars and make to the other side.The Electrician hesitates, misses the groove in the traffic and has to wait for a light change, but he gets it sorted and we wander down the street but nothing is open really. We meet a young bloke, maybe 14, who wants to talk, I reckon practicing his English, he’s off to school with a kilometre still to walk.

The bus loaded and at 8am sharp we’re off to the Lingering Gardens, the former home of a wealthy Suzhou family that had pavilions for every different season, with magnificent gardens, water areas, and a fantastic bonsai area, some plants we are told are over 250 years old. It’s very peaceful area, at least it would be if it wasn’t for all the tourists! We corner the fridge magnet market and run a little late for the bus but no rebukes from our fellow travellers – yet.

Next is Suzhou Silk Expo Museum, really a front a silk sales factory outlet, we’re given a run down on silk production by Tim (clearly not his Chinese name). We learn about how this area is the best climate for mulberry trees and as such 13 % of China’s silk is produced in this area. Now Tim is as smooth as silk, no pun intended, he can sell, he works the crowd over expounding the benefits of silk dooners, silk underpants, silk pillows, and I’m almost converted, but not the Navigator, she holds firm saying what we have at home on the bed is perfectly ok. We find out Tim has been to Australia and loves Penfolds wine, especially 389 and 407. A lovely mans scarf is sold to The Mechanic, he’s up and running in the shopping stakes, has even beaten his mother out of the barriers, but the race has a fair way to go yet. Lots of the group bought gear and I think it’s very high quality stuff that looks nice but apparently we didn’t need any of it, I’m in disbelief that The Navigator abstained.

We move on to a canal cruise, Suzhou is known as the Venice of the East, it’s much older than Venice but more crumbling and in need of a little scrub up, but lots of the tourists in the area are Chinese and not many Europeans. The Electrician and I miss an opportunity to eat wantons and dumplings for lunch, our fault because we hesitated, so we find another place and have a pretty authentic Chinese meal of shark, chicken, noodles with green stuff and chillies – with a green tea for cooling down the chilli hit.

Then the bus ride through a rural area, heading the Hangzhou, intensive market gardens, hothouses, paddy fields, ponds that looked Iike aquaculture setups, with high rise apartments in groups in amongst the agricultural. The roads are fantastic and the traffic moves pretty well.

Hangzhou is the home of Chiang Ki Shek, the bloke who was leader of the Chinese Republic from 1911 to 1949 when Mao’s revolution rested power in China away from him.

Our Hotel is the Pujing Gardens Hotel, beautiful foyer, but we’re on the 8th floor, the wallpaper is falling off I places, the rooms seem ok but the wifi doesn’t work. So maybe this blog won’t post until tomorrow when we’re in Shanghai.

Dinner for me was 9 courses with most of the group at a local restaurant, beautiful food for 55 yuan ($12) and a 500 ml beer with a green label and Chinese writing of some description was 15 yuan ($3)

The 28 people in our group seem a pretty good bunch, no real pains stood out so far.

Cheers from Hangzhou, tomorrow we’re off to Shanghai.

Paul

Our Tour Group

From the Lingering Garden in Suzhou

Suzhou canals – the Venice of the East

Clipping you toe nails for all to see, a bucket?

Day 0-1 to Day 0+1 Dubbo-Sydney-Shanghai
Day 0-1 is a quiet day, tidying up the odd jobs, repacking the repack and seeing how much we can cull from what is too much “stuff” to travel with. Mark ends up with about 9kg, Genelle and I with 12.7 kgs each, all good but we’ve still got too much stuff.
Day 0 The trip to Sydney via a Blackheath Brunch , bypass The M4 at Norther Road to avoid the RMS blowing a bridge up, back on the M4, then the M7, then the M5 and into Mascot about 3. Short rest for the Navigator who watches The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond, atrocious acting but good songs. A train ride to the Quay for Vivid, ferry to Barrangaroo (Club Jamie), a quick train ride home to the Holiday Inn at Mascot. Day 1
The Navigator is up early, 5 f….ing am, it’s dark, f….g dark but the lights go on and she says “ can’t sleep”, well now neither can I, but in a manner that doesn’t bring on “the look”. She’s ready and I nearly am so we meet the fellow travellers in the lobby, they’ve been ready for ages so I figure I’ll say nothing. I guess I’m with a bunch of early starters, so I’ll have to conform by getting up a bit earlier or they might just have to get used to me. Guess I’ll lose that one.
The shuttle bus arrives and the Navigator (politely) but loudly suggests to a couple of impatient fellow customers that they should wait for the driver – a hand waiving slightly balding officious chap with a slightly Italian accent gets them sorted. He gets the rest sorted as well and we’re off into black pre sunup morning into bumper to bumper traffic, but the Driver weaves his way through the mess and gets us to the International Terminal close to on time.
First time we’ve seen the self check in at International today, god I hate those f….g things. Off course there is a stuff up, the Nvigator and The Nurse goto sort it out, and around the back back of a wall that separates the machines from sanity are some humans that quickly sort out the problem, unlike the plastic and metal inanimate machines that gave us the problem in the first place.
We saunter through the “gates of no return”, thankfully no cavity searches are lined up for us by the machine we upset, but my new knees set the bells ringing and I get a little lecture from a head shaking Indian chap, while he frisks me, suggesting that “ next time sir, please go straight to the x ray machine, it vill be quicker for you”.
Coffee is great, especially after the early start, a little food before we board QF129 to Shanghai at 9.30am
The plane is pretty full, no particular passengers catch my eye to write about – what a boring lot! But I reckon a Heineken and a Gin and Tonic might help me see some humour but I must be too tired. The 11 hours is taken up with movies, nodding quasi sleep, and reading.
So what am I reading you might ask – too bad if you didn’t. I’m reading Katherine Swynford by Alison Weir. This is the story of my about 20 something times grandmother who ended up married to John of Gaunt ( The Black Prince) son of Edward the III. The relationship between John and Katherine was scandalous as she was his mistress, and had 3 children with him ( bastards) but later this was lifted when they marry after Johns wife died. Katherine was mother of the Beauforts and the ancestors of the Yorkist Kings, the Tudors, The Stuart’s and every British sovereign since. A formidable woman, but she should meet the Navigator, a matching of wills would be interesting. We land in Shanghai early at about 6.05pm (8.05pm EST).
We get finger printed, Mark has a bung finger from a work accident so gets a special card, but not so special when I see a bloke with the same card and he’s missing a whole finger.
We find the tour group and we’re off for a 2 hour bus ride to Suzhou, west of Shanghai. John or Wu ( pronounced Hoo) is our guide, seems a fun bloke.
In Suzhou we unpack at the Snowy Seas Hotel and crash. Tomorrow we’re off at 8, World Heritage gardens, lots of stuff. Breakfast at 6.30 , geez that’s early! Cheers from Suzhou, China.

Well folks, 1 week to go before we leave for China. We’re still waiting for the passports and visa to come back from Sydney – not much panic, well maybe a little bit from certain travellers. This email is another small “communications” exercise, apparently we can’t use Gmail or Facebook in China unless I set up a VPN, whatever a bloody VPN is, so I’m trying via a Yahoo email address I’ve just set up, I’ll email a short story to WordPress, WordPress will publish and post in Facebook – this is the plan anyway.
I’m under instructions not to write or publish anything inflammatory about the PRC ( People’s Republic Of China) so I won’t, but that doesn’t mean that the travelling companions are exempt from commentary.
We’ve got some Chinese money sorted, some of my little currency conversion charts for everyone are ready to go, a Chinese basic word and phrase cheat sheet as well, bought some new bamboo grundies at Aldi today – if they don’t fit I can feed them to the pandas in Beijing. Cheers
Paul

This is a test of my tech capabilities really, however I’ll give you a quick idea of our itinerary so at least there is something interesting to read, that’s if this email going Email to– WordPress to- Facebook post actually works.

The Itinerary;

Day 1 Fly from Sydney to Shanghai then out to Suzhou

Day 2 Suzhou to Hangzhou

Day 3 Hangzhou to Shanghai

Day 4 Shanghai

Day 5 Shanghai to Zhengshou (Bullet Train)

Day 6 Zhengshou

Day 7 Zhenshhou to Xian (Terracotta Warriors) (Bullet Train)

Day 8 Xian to Beijing (Bullet Train)

Day 9 Beijing ( Tianamen Square, Forbidden City etc tc)

Day 10 Great Wall of China

Day11 Beijing Zoo and late pm plane from Beijing to Sydney

Cheers

Paul

A heads up for everyone, we’ll be travelling to China soon, and I’m not sure how I’ll work the Blog. Apparently Facebook and WordPress don’t work in China so I’m going to experiment with emailing my blog post to WordPress, which should then automatically post it to Facebook – if you are following WordPress or FB you’ll be able to see the blog, but we won’t be able to – because we’ll be in China.

I’ve been advised by G – she who must be obeyed – that I can’t make any disparaging remarks about China, the soldiers, Tiananmen Square, Communism etc etc, otherwise I could possibly find out what  the inside of a gaol looks like in the Peoples Republic of China. I wouldn’t do this sort of thing anyway, but I definitely won’t mainly to keep G happy, her punishment is far worse than anything a Chinese gaol could dish up!

I’ll update details close to the time we leave
再见      (Zàijiàn)

This means "Goodbye" in Chinese (I think)?

Where did we go and what did we do?

1. Ireland – Dublin
2. Ireland – The North and a wedding just out of Belfast
3. Ireland – finishing a lap of Ireland via Galway, Dingle, Kilkenny and finally back to Dublin
4. Berlin in Germany.
5. A train to Amsterdam in the Netherlands (Holland)
6. Brugge in Belgium including a Flanders Battlefield trip wih Quasimodo Travel
7. A train to Paris – The city of light
8. A train and the final wind down to London and our home in Chelsea/Kensington for 4 days

A follow up of things we liked, disliked, and could maybe improve on next time.

What we liked;

• Amsterdam, really liked it but not immediately. Like the Jordaan area to stay in rather than the red light or tourist area.
• The Flanders Fields WW1 battlefields – sobering and such a small area and so close to the Somme area in France. Would like to go to the Somme area and check out Villers Brettoneaux and the Sir John Monash Museum at the memorial.
• Ireland – good fun and easy to travel around
• The gardens of Versailles, spectacular. Get there early and go to the gardens first before the Palace.
• The Kathmandu backpack/trolley 70 ltr bags – such versatile bags to travel with
• Lyca SIM cards bought in Dublin – €20 for calls and 35 big of data worked a treat all over Europe. I researched that one. Only used about 5 gig. Phones worked everywhere in Europe. Data is king. BUT do the research before you go and most likely buy the SIM card in the first city you land in
• Google Maps – with data while you’re away from wifi – this is a godsend for walking and public transport options in places like Berlin, Paris and London with good metro systems.
• GPS for driving in a car – won’t leave home without one now
• Ride the local public transport Berlin = U Bahn and S Bahn free when you buy a Berlin Card, Paris Metro = buy cannet of 10 tickets E1.49 each v E1.90 each f you buy individually, London get an Oyster Card & put money on it and tap on and tap off

Some things we didn’t like;

• Rude ignorant pricks who push into lines, you find them everywhere
• Trying to find out where train carriages were going to stop on the platform – the Navigator has a small issue with this and may need counselling. Some platforms show you bit some don’t, and even when you ask train officials quite often you’ll get a bum steer.
• Bicycles in Holland and Belgium – watch out for them they are killers, much more dangerous than cars, step in front of one and you’ll get the stink eye and the venomous spitting insult.
• This is just me – but the Irish just like drinkin’ and dancin’ at weddings way to much
• We were good packers we thought, but there are still about 6-8 pieces of clothing maybe more that didn’t see daylight. Pack less, keep it simple. Jocks, socks 3 shirts, 2 t shirts, 2 long sleeve ts, 1 rain / wind jacket, 1 pair of good walking shoes, iPad, camera, phone to plug overseas sim into, little charger unit, a few toiletries, gps with international maps if your driving anywhere ( we like Tom Tom), 1 book to read on planes and trains ( when read discard and buy a new one), a light easily packable hat of some sort. * take less gear, less= more space to bring home shopping.
• The amount of tourists and school kids in the main cities, it really slowed after 31 st of August when their summer holidays finished, but I did notice a few Italian accents on kids in London so maybe they have a bit longer. I reckon best time to travel in Europe is October.

Some things we could have improved on;

• Trains in Europe that link to smaller lines – if the price isn’t too big a difference go First Class as the smaller link train should have a First Class section and you will get a seat, second class you risk not getting a seat if it’s busy line eg Brussels to Brugge.
• Taxi in Paris from Gare de Lyon, find the official taxi line, otherwise risk finding a rip off driver that will cost you €15-20 extra than what you should pay.
• A bit more language training eg French & German, Mark was starting to get into the groove, Genelle not really interested at all in anything other than English.
• More common food decisions, two of the traveller’s have very limited food ranges, and as such they have to decide where to eat, conversely I’ll eat anything so I’m easy to please.
• A bit more time in some places, perhaps to be able to do the travel a little slower, we travel hard and fast and there isn’t much down time to just chill.
• Pack less, as per above comment

What are the plans for travel in the future;

• Genelle – maybe Italy with a group of women next year doing a cooking trip, some interest in Sri Lanka, interested in Thailand for a short break
• Me a) Thailand Chang Mai and Mekong trip to Laos. b) Southern India -maybe an Intrepid trip. c) Eastern Europe Poland, Russia, d) Iran  e) Australia where I haven’t been eg the Kimberly, SE WA
• Mark – Eastern Europe – Russia & Poland

Update Monday 17th September

Its been 1 week now, the parallel universe is releasing its grip on me, and I’m starting to feel a bit normal again, however I’m still waking up at about 3 in the morning but now I go back to sleep and don’t stay awake. The swelling is gone from my ankles and feet and I’m not up 5 times a night to go to the loo, I’m even starting to think that I could actually handle another long trip.

Today the parcel of expensive china turned up from Belleek, the pottery town in Northern Ireland, a few bits of nice stuff to go in the “special” shelf with with our travel memorabilia. The Navigator will be eagerly waiting to open up her parcel when I get home tonight.

I see the Cowley’s Facebook posts from Italy and it brings back memories of what I like about Italy and the places we still haven’t been and seen there.

Ciao for the last time on this trip

Paul

I’ve been home for a bit over 24 hours now, its Monday night and we arrived home in Dubbo on Sunday afternoon. so we’re still in the that parallel universe or zombie land that jet lag brings on. Although this morning I sort of felt ok, in Europe it is late in the evening, the problem time is from about midday here when we would normally be sound asleep over there. It’s a 1st world problem I know, but I did go back to work this morning, sat at my desk, tried to remember my access code etc to get to work emails I haven’t looked at for 4 weeks (800 emails are line up), I turned the work mobile on that’s been off for 4 weeks ( I try to catch up on work changes, politics and the general mood of everything, a few disasters, a few resignations, the usual stuff)

So, where did I last finish in the last post, I think it was as we were leaving Doha terminal to get on the plane. The plane is pretty full, not many seats empty up the back of the plane so no real opportunity to spread out as we have been able to on other trips. The food timing seems a bit weird, and not at all matching with the timing in Australia where we are heading and we aren’t really that hungry, I don’t even feel like a beer or a g&t, nurse check my pulse and blood pressure please! I doze occassionally but mostly we are watching movies or listening to music. Another Plus for long haul flights is Noise Cancelling Headphones, Mark and I have expensive Bose ones and Genelle some Aldi headphones, this changes to feel of the aircraft, hardly any jet engine roar coming through and blocks out a lot of other noises, but not crying babies, maybe thats the next technological challenge for electronic engineers to development baby crying cancelling headphones.

Finally the sun comes up and we see the blue mountains and Sydney ahead, a feeling of relief comes in a rush that the torture of the 14 hours being held captive in a metal cylinder hurtling along at just under the speed of sound is nearly over.

At about 6.45 we land and stumble out into Sydney airport, there is a huge crowd of people trying to get through the Borderforce checks and then through the customs, the lineup is long and slow. I slow the process down by stopping to buy a bottle of Jameson’s in Duty Free, but it takes over an hour to get out and get to the train to get over to the domestic terminal, the $4.50 charge on the Opal Card to get a quick train is cheap. We then sit in the Rex waiting room until 11.45 when our flight home leaves. Mark and I have a McDonalds, the first one in a month and I have a coffee, heaven, as its still hard to find coffee as good anywhere as what we get in Australia. The country doesn’t look as good as I thogu it might as we fly into Dubbo, just a green tinge, no bulk and its obvious that I haven’t read the rainfall reports on the internet correctly, I thought the season would look a lot better.

The Murphy’s pick us up and drop us at home, we drearily unpack, sort gear for washing, then have a shower, do a bit of basic shopping, eat dinner and Genelle hits the sack at about 9pm and I hit it at about 10.30pm.

A final sum up will follow in the next week or so when the jet lag wears off I can write with a clear head.

It was a great trip, busy, non stop for my travelling partners and busy enough for me, we covered old ground, new ground, and some that we saw just fleetingly in trips before, but more about that later.

What is the next trip we’re planning????

Cheers

Paul

We leave London on time, it’s still late and while they bring us food we don’t really feel like eating much, even the g&t feels a little late. A couple of movies and then then that restless, fidgeting long haul plane type sleep which isn’t really sleep at all in economy class. I guess a few people can get a good sleep but it could only be because they’ve been in a combat zone or get some help from narcotics.

We land at Doha at 6.25am, this is 4.25am London time so as I’m not the best early in the morning I feel positively crap now.

We wander out into the massive terminal, muffins and tea/ coffee to kill a bit of time and put a bit of food in the belly. Our gate finally comes up, D2 which is a short train ride from where we were, then another security check. Amazingly my new knees don’t set the detector off, but Mark gets the full search because something has come up ” suspect” in his backpack, they send his gear through the x ray machine about 3 times, do the explosives scans a couple of times and finally work out its some crystal that Genelle packed in his bag, by the time he’s given the ok nearly everyone is through the last check and he’s fuming. Nothing like a bit of stress in an Arab country a long way from home.

We due to board shortly and then the long haul to Sydney, landing Sunday morning and then back to Dubbo at lunch time, work for me on Monday, that feels like it’s going to be fun.

It doesn’t seem like a month ago that we left Dubbo, but the start of the trip and landing in Dublin and then the wedding in Northern Ireland seems like such a long time ago now. How does that work?

Cheers from Doha in Qatar, next post won’t happen until we’re back in Dubbo.

Paul

So, last night we were discussing the trip out to Terminal 4 at Heathrow, the Navigator has a different opinion to Mark and I, but we let it rest and decide to take the gutless track and let somebody like the reception guy clear it up, maybe she’s right, but I think she’s wrong, let’s see. No point poking the tiger so late in the trip.

We’re at Heathrow Terminal 4 now and I’ve got a bit of time to recount the day’s activities. We don’t find out the answer to the above question because we later decide to get a car and not the tube to Heathrow because of Friday peak hour. My goodness aren’t airport terminals exciting places!

This morning we take it a little easy, Mark is going to a haircut at 9.30 but we plan to head up to Kensington Palace when he’s done. A phone call from Mark tells us he’s lost, he missed the barbers and then did a look through the streets and ended up at the totally opposite side of our flat to the barbers, so I go for a walk and find him near Brompton Hospital down in South Kensington and we find another funky looking barber shop South Ken Barber Shop, they do the funky curly wurly moes, all the groovy undercut hair does, beard shaping, just name they do it, two men and two women cutting. Mark gets a good short scissor cut then the cut throat razor shave, and it was cheaper than the other place and they did a great job, so it all worked out well.

We walk back to find the Navigator and then walk up Gloucester Road to Kensington Park and the Serpentine and the Diana Memorial, then the Palace. It’s a nice stroll, the lovely old buildings, the old pubs with flowers hanging outside, the op shops, a sort of village atmosphere in the middle of London. We hit Kensington High Street and cross the road to the gardens, they are green and colourful with all sorts of flowers, quite beautiful and calming to walk through there slowly. We leave some of Tim’s ashes in the beautiful gardens.

A sprinkle of Tim’s ashes going into the Kensington Palace Gardens.

It was a bit of walking and the jumpers were off, the Navigator was huffing and puffing a bit, so we slow down a little before she gets too whingey. When I ask if she’s Ok she says she has a bit of the sniffles. She can’t find what she wants at Kensington Palace shop so her and Mark get the tube into Victoria Station and Buckingham Palace, and are back at the flat in no time, but I’m quicker after a stop in at a little Marks and Spencer food shop in Earls Court.

We have a relaxing late lunch, watch a couple of soppy romantic movies on tv, and chill before the final pack. We decide to book a car to the airport as it’s bedlam on Friday afternoon on the tube, and no seat for the hour trip to Heathrow might bring one of the fellow travellers undone, it’s £60 but it’s 45-60 minutes drive and in the Friday traffic it will be a challenge.

A pile of 44 gallon drums on the Serpentine, art I guess?

Our driver is right on time, a black Mercedes wagon, and we head into the London traffic with Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s, Marc’s, Beamers, super bikes lane splitting their way through the traffic, and all sorts of exotic vehicles and drivers.

The checkin goes smoothly, then through the “gates of no return” where my knees set all the bells off, the full search and x ray machine sort it out, but Genelle gets checked after setting the bells off as well, must have been the steely resolution that set it off!

We wait for our gate to come up on the board and finally it’s Gate 11 so we amble down to wait.

As we wait I’ll do a summary of what things we liked, disliked, and could maybe improve on next time.

Some things we liked;

• Amsterdam, really liked it but not immediately.
• The Flanders Fields WW1 battlefields – sobering and such a small area and so close to the Somme area in France
• Ireland – good fun and easy to travel around
• The gardens of Versailles
• The Kathmandu backpack/trolley 70 ltr bags – such versatile bags to travel with
• Lyca SIM cards bought in Dublin – €20 for calls and 35 big of data worked a treat all over Europe. I researched that one. Only used about 5 gig. Phones worked everywhere in Europe. Data is king.
• Google Maps – with data away from wifi this is a godsend

Some things we didn’t like;

• Rude ignorant pricks who push into lines, you find them everywhere
• Trying to find out where train carriages were going to stop on the platform – the Navigator has a small issue with this and may need counselling
• Bicycles in Holland and Belgium – watch out for them they are killers, much more dangerous than cars, step in front of one and you’ll get the stink eye and the venomous spitting insult.
• This is just me – but the Irish just like drinkin’ and dancin’ at weddings way to much
• We were good packers we thought, but there are still about 6-8 pieces of clothing maybe more that didn’t see daylight. Pack less, keep it simple. Jocks, socks 3 shirts, 2 t shirts, 2 long sleeve ts, 1 rain / wind jacket, 1 pair of good walking shoes, iPad, camera, phone to plug overseas sim into, little charger unit, a few toiletries, gps with international maps if your driving anywhere ( we like Tom Tom), 1 book to read on planes and trains ( when read discard and buy a new one), a light easily packable hat of some sort.
• The amount of tourists and school kids in the main cities, it really slowed after 31 st of August when their summer holidays finished, but I did notice a few Italian accents on kids in London so maybe they have a bit longer. I reckon best time to travel in Europe is October.

Some things we could have improved on;

• Trains in Europe that link to smaller lines – if the price isn’t too big a difference go First Class as the smaller link train should have a First Class section and you will get a seat, second class you risk not getting a seat if it’s busy line eg Brussels to Brugge.
• Taxi in Paris from Gare de Lyon, find the official taxi line, otherwise risk finding a rip off driver that will cost you €15-20
• A bit more language training eg French & German, Mark was starting to get into the groove, Genelle not really interested at all in anything other than English.
• More common food decisions, two of the travellers have very limited food ranges, and as such they have to decide where to eat as I’ll eat anything.
• A bit more time in some places, perhaps to be able to do the travel a little slower, we travel hard and fast and there isn’t much down time to just chill.

I’ll add to this when I have a bit more time.

Cheers for the last day of London, the rest will be if anything weird or wonderful happens on the plane trip and I can’t imagine that’s going to happen.

Paul

A f….g swan in the Serpentine! They aren’t only in Brugge?