The Potteries

Today is my Mum's birthday and we are off to Stoke-on-Trent at her request, and my joy.

It has been sometime since we have been to the potteries, I think it was 1992 we last visited.

The drive today is a 1 hour 40 minutes and back on the M5, here's hoping the traffic is better.  We will be traveling through Birmingham to Stone, to start with.

The drive through Birmingham on the motorway was really interesting, the city is huge and the motorway is basically just flyovers to get you through the city quicker I guess.

The first store we are heading for is Dunoon in Stone.  There is parking off the main high street where the store is, I have to say the parking charges aren't too bad, 60p for an hour, better than that of NZ.

From there we headed into Stoke proper.  There are not as many potteries as I remember, but I really do enjoy the smaller places, they have the best bargins and really the nicer stuff.

The biggest tourist attraction of course is the Wedgewood and Royal Doulton outlet stores.  We didn't find much of interest here, most of it seemed to be the same price as in the stores, but I did get a couple of nic-nacs for Christmas presents. 

The drive back wasn't too bad to the cottage, all in all we had a great day.

A day in Bath

Off to one of my most favourite cities in the UK, if not the world, it's Bath for us today. Parking is always fun here, but Mike managed to do some research for us while we slept so I was all prepared today. The drive is only around 1 hour 20 minutes from the cottage. We arrived in Bath by 11.30. Although the Southgate parking building was easily found, getting into it was a bit of fun, nothing a U-turn and going around the block again didn't fix.

The first point of call was the Hop-on Hop-off bus. Mum is finding all the walking a bit much so the best way to see the city to start with is the tourist bus. We decided to do the Skyline tour first that takes you out of the city a little and give you a good view of the city from the hills. I managed to take a bit of video on this trip.

Once we arrived back into the city we decided to find a bite to eat. I have always wanted to go to the Sally Lunn shop. The Chocolate butter Sally Lunn was my favourite. They are not like we get at home, but very nice.

From the Sally Lunn shop we were off to look at the central sights of Bath, mainly the Pump Rooms area.  There are a few tourists around today, and you can tell there are bus loads of people that get let off not far, the come quickly, take photos of the square and Pump Rooms and then they are off again. 

We then found the bus again for the city tour.  Now this was fun, there were issues with the microphone on this tour and there was one specific American who was being a little difficult, needless to say we were parked up for a good 15 minutes in the end while they tried to sort her headphones and the microphone out. Once we got going all was good, the streets weren't too busy and I managed to get a good seat up front again.

One of my favourite places to visit is the The Circus and the Royal Crescent, the buses can't go along Royal Crescent but they do take us around The Circus.

Once off the bus tour I left Mum for a bit in the main square by the Pump Rooms and headed off up the hill to my favourite boots store and a wonder around the shops.  While I was up the top of Bath's shopping area there happened to be a mishap with a sightseeing bus and a very new looking Mercedes.  The driver of the Merc was not impressed.

After 5 hours in Bath and with the shops closing we decided it was time to head back to our cottage. For the trip back I decided to take the motorway as it knocks about 20 minutes off our trip back, except, well there were roadworks along most of the M5. Most of the time we only managed 20mph, so the trip home was over 2 hours, not the best option.  

Driving to Bicester Village through the Cotswolds

While we drove to Bicester on Saturday I mounted my new video camera to the car windscreen.  The video I have put together is a little long sorry, however there are some lovely shots of some of the wee town we drove through.

A day shopping at Bicester Village

So we have a few things on the to-do list while in the area, and for me going to Bicester Village is one of them.  Se we decided a day of shopping would be fun.  It is only an hours drive from where we are staying, most of which is driving through the Cotswolds.

We managed to have a good sleep in after yesterday so it was a late start for us today.

We were on the road just before 11am, which meant we arrived just after 12pm.  The car parks were full, even the overflow, but with me and my "parking gene" we managed to get a park within a few minutes and it wasn't that far to walk, nice to know the gene travels.

Now this place is out of this world, it is pretty much all designer stuff girls, from Dior to Cath Kidston, and of course Gucci.

A lot of the main stores like Polo Ralph Lauren had queue outside, but it didn't take long to get in.  I managed to purchase nothing until I went into the last store.  I was so proud of myself until I saw these lovely Gucci Ballerina flats, I figured they wouldn't have my size, but well they did, and they fitted perfectly so well I purchased.  I keep telling myself that it helps to get the VAT back when leaving the UK.

We left the shops around 4pm, found a Marks & Spencer's on the way back to get dinner supplies and were back at the cottage around 5.30pm.

We are off to Bath tomorrow.

A Long Drive to the Cotswolds

We had a long day of traveling today, a 4 hour drive with a bit of shopping at CostCo on the way. We pretty much drove from one side of England to the other at it's widest part.

The mornings fun started before we even left the house, with trying to get mum's two cats in their cage, they were not impressed with the bags at the door, so they decided something was up and went into hiding. Once we got them in the cage and everything in the car we were off around 8.00am.  The traffic is a bit much, so luckily with the help of the GPS we change route and we are moving again. We found the cattery after a few U turns. The cats were not impressed with being in a cattery and decided they were not getting out of the cage, funning how things change so quickly.  With cats taken car of we left Norwich around 9.15am.

The first leg of the trip is around 2.5 hours, the traffic wasn't too bad, but we did hit a bit of road works, and in a couple of case the road layout changed to what the GPS had, this is always fun.  And I have to say we did have to go around in circles more than once, but we did make it to CostCo by 1pm. The car I have is a little different to my normal car, one it's a lot less powerful, and is a manual, so with all the queuing at road works and traffic, my legs were very tired by the time we got to CostCo.  I was happy to be out of the car for a while.

Mum doesn't have a CostCo near her, and luckily I had renewed my membership while I was in Sydney earlier this year, so Mum was able to get a few bulk items for the house, and a few yummies for the week away.

By 2pm we were on the road again, legs stretched and well feed and watered.

We are staying in this lovely cottage in the town of Bretforton.  The cottage is called Rosemary Cottage. The drive from Milton Keynes to Bretforton was lovely, once getting into the Cotswold area the scenery is just so beautiful.

We were pretty much right on time for our checking, arriving at 3.30pm.  Mum and I started with a good look around the cottage.  Then I had the lovely task of emptying the car and taking everything upstairs.  By the time that was done it was time for a sit down and rest.

Mum and I decided it would be best to pop down to the local for dinner. So around 6.30 we headed down to the Old Fleece, the pub has a lot of history to it, the building is over 600 years old, it has been a pub since 1848, and is owned by the National Trust.

The pub was pretty full but the time we got down there, but a local gave us a table, we decided fish and chips were for us, and I thought a nice English cider would top that off nicely.

Holt

Today we headed for Holt. Just out of the town is a steam railway that goes along the coast line that I had read up on before coming over. Our first stop for the day is the stream train, the train leaves at 11.15, to make it in time we leave Norwich around 10am.

The trip to Holt is very interesting.  In Norfolk they don't have any motorways only A and B roads, this means things can get a little slow with farmers tractors each using the same road.  The amount of trucks on the road is also interesting, you would think with the UK having such a great rail network that most of the goods would be taken by rail, but no, it would seem trucks are the answer.  The wee car I have is a little under powered for overtaking, definitely no BMW 5 series that is for sure.

We find the turn off for the North Norfolk Railway, find a park and walk to the railway station.  The train is at the station.

We purchase our tickets and walk through to the platform.  It would seem there is a school group on the platform reenacting children being sent to the country by rail during World War II, over the weekend the railway did a 1940's weekend.

We found a seat on the train, and it wasn't long before we started to move.

The view from the train towards the coast is spectacular, this little town, with its windmill is just beautiful.

Off in the far distance you can make out a wind farm in the haze, and yes it is at sea.

Our first stop is Weybourne, a lovely little old railway station.  From there we are onto Sheringham. Sheringham is a little English seaside country town. Mum is still a little tired from Sunday's outing so we decided not to get off the train and return back to Holt.

We have a bit of a wait at Weybourne this time so it gives me sometime to take a few photos while waiting for the other train to pass.

When we returned to Holt we made our way back to the car and drove into town, it is about a mile and half into the town.  It is full of great little shops, I could spend the day here looking in every shop.

From Holt, Mum and I drove back along the coast to Sheringham, where we drove around the town, down to the water front, it was a very busy place and no parking to be found.  From there we decided to head back to Norwich. Sheringham will have to be for another day.

An Afternoon at Sandringham

We decided to spend the morning at home, we had a rather full on day yesterday and needed some recuperation time.

I have been wanting to see Sandringham for sometime now, it is the last royal residence for me to visit, and it seems funny doing Buckingham House one day and Sandringham the next.

Mum and I head off around 1.30, Google says its 1 hour 15 minutes drive.  There are no motorways in Norfolk only A and B roads, which for a New Zealander is the same as home.  The drive is very pleasant and seems weird to be driving close up to 120km on the dual carriageways.  The country side is very pretty and all the little villages on the say are so cute.

The area around Sandringham and the estate itself is out of this world.  Nearly every group of people visiting seem to have dogs, they are all so well behaved, I so want one.

We have a wee look around the visitors centre and shop before we head off to the house.

We purchase our ticket at the gate house.

Mum is a little worn out from yesterday so we take the little cart up to the house.  It’s a funny wee thing.

The house is amazing, and I love the architecture.

We aren’t allowed to take photos inside, but it feels like a home, they tell us that when the royals are in residence the core family consists of 24, plus the dogs and it gets rather loud, there are 3 main sitting rooms joined together and they are all full when the family are at home.

After we walked around I decided to walk back to the visitors centre while mum waited for the cart.  I managed to get some great shots of the house on my wonder back.

The trip back to mum’s took a little longer, we came across a few tractors and other large slow trucks, but we made it back home by 5.30.

It was great to get out and see the country side, not sure what we have planned for tomorrow, but it will be a quiet night at home tonight.

A day in London

Mum and I are up early.  We have a big day ahead and need to get to the train station early.  There is only limited parking at the station.  We leave the house at 6.10, we have a 7am train to London.  Luckily there are only 4 other cars, so plenty of parks to chose from.  By 7am we are on our way to London.  We have a great trip down.  I have the day pretty much planned as follows, lets see how we hold up time wise.

• 7.00am - Leave Norwich train station for London
• 9.05am - Arrive Liverpool station London
• 9.15am - Make way to Victoria station on Circle Line
• 9.50am - Arrive Victoria Station
• 9.55am  - Walk to Buckingham Palace State Room Tour Entrance
• 10.15am - Arrive @ Buckingham Palace Tour entrance
• 10.30am - Tour starts
• 12.45pm - Finish Buckingham Palace tour on Grosvenor Place
• 12.45pm - Walk to Victoria Station/Victoria Place for lunch - perhaps Frankie & Bennies
• 2.00pm - Make way to London Eye on either bus 148 or 211
• 2.30pm - Arrive London Eye, purchase ticket and get in queue
• 3.45pm - Make way to London Eye Pier
• 3.48pm - Take Thames Clipper to North Greenwich
• 4.33pm - Arrive North Greenwich Pier
• 4.45pm - Walk to Emirates Greenwich Peninsula 
• 4.55pm - Take Emirates Air Line over thames
• 5.20pm - Make way on foot to DLR Station
• 5.25pm - Take DLR to Limehouse station
• 5.36pm - Walk from Limehouse station to The Narrow 
• 7.10pm - Walk from the Narrow to Lowell Street (E14) Stop LJ
• 7.21pm - Take bus to Liverpool street staton 
• 7.37pm - Arrive at Liverpool Street Station
• 8.30pm - Take train to Norwich

On our arrival at Liverpool Street Station we make our way to the underground, we need the circle line to Victoria Station.  We have some fun with Mum using her pensioner card on the tube, but we make it to Victoria in plenty of time. We are heading for Buckingham Palace, is the last week it is open to the public.  It’s a short walk from the station to the gates to pick up our tickets, we are about 45 minutes ahead of time, so we find a seat and wait.  Mum gets talking to some American ladies, who also got their times wrong, they didn’t know how long it would take to get across London so they had arrived with an hour and half to spare.  But you can never tell in London.  

At 10.20am we walk up to the entrance and make our way in to the Palace.  They have airport like security measures in place. There is no taking of pictures or use of cellphones on the tour.  Mum decides she really must find a toilet, so we are told to make our way to the Grand Staircase and ask there.  We make our way quickly along, a lady makes a call to her team leader and someone comes a long to take us to the toilet.  It felt all very official.  There is a huge, fancy toilet area, which I guess foreign dignitaries and head of states use when in the state rooms, under the grand stair case.  We along with another lady are escorted through to this area.  Pretty nice, once finished we are then escorted back to where we started.  The state room tour is well worth it, and I would recommend it to anyone who is in London when Buckingham Palace is open, its a must.

We are finished at the Palace around 11.45am, the walk through the ground to leave is beautiful, Mum and I stop along the way to take in the sites, who would guess you are in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world, it is so quiet and peaceful here.

A spot of lunch and then we are off to the London Eye.  The queues at the London Eye are pretty good today.  I have been on this before, but the sites are amazing.  We are so lucky that the weather has been on our side today.  Its sunny but with a bit of cloud and not to hot.

From the London Eye we take a Thames Clipper boat to North Greenwich, this is the O2 stop and the end of the line for the boat.  It is a great afternoon on the Thames, Mum and I enjoy the sites, I guess most tourists don’t make it up this fare on the Thames too often.

From the Pier to the gondola is only a couple of minutes along the riverside.  The queue isn’t too long to get on the gondola, we can use out oyster cards so we don’t need to buy a ticket.  The gondola can take up to 10 people, however today they seem to only be putting 6-8 peopler per gondola which is nice.  The trip across takes 10 minutes, and is very impressive, you end up going up a long way.

From the gondola we are a short walk to the DLR station.  We head towards Limehouse station, this is were we get off for dinner, we are booked in for 6pm dinner and it is 5.15.  We are pretty much on time.  We take a short stroll to The Narrow, it is a great location on the Thames, on a Sunday they do the Sunday Roast thing.  We arrive early and take a seat in the bar area.  The building is beautiful and the decor is very relaxing.  The sun is going down, and around 6pm they take us to our table.  The view is amazing, and we spend the rest of our evening watching the sun go down over the Shard and the boats go by while we have our dinner.  When I did the booking I noted that it was my Mum’s birthday, they made a real fuss at dessert by bringing out a lovely dessert for Mum, complements of the chef, she just loved it.

As it is getting late by the time we finish dinner and cooling down, we get the restaurant to order us a car at 7.30, by 8pm we are at Liverpool station, only a few minutes waiting and we are back on the train heading home.  We arrive back at the house by 11.10pm.

We have had a great day, Mum love it, we walked 9kms today, says my little gadget, I think I will sleep well tonight!!!

Norwich City

My first day in Norwich.  It has been a rather early start to the day for me, I wasn’t able to sleep past 3am.  Jet lag is always fun on these long trips.  

At 9am Mum and I head into town by bus.  We have a few things to do in town before picking up the car before 1pm.  We head off to HSBC first, so I can check my cards are working ok.  Then we wander the streets taking in the sites, it is a beautiful city.  I wanted to head to the Apple store, the new iPhone was released yesterday, and I want to take a look at it in the flesh.  The mall is called Chapelfield, a really nice mall, the store was very busy, people queueing for their phones.  I managed to walk in and have a good play with both the standard iPhone 6 and the Plus.  I will pass on the Plus but I am ordering the iPhone 6 to be delivered to NZ.  Not worth getting it here in the UK.  Now we are off to the cellphone shops, mum is in need of a new cellphone, as her last one has just died.  After looking at smartphones vers a standard flip, she decides on the flip phone, not a bad price for Vodafone at £30.  From there we head to the O2 store for me, I pickup a monthly pre-paid pack so I have some data on me for the reset of the trip.  Its so cheap £15 gets you 1Gb, 200 minutes, and 2000 txts.    From there we head to Marks & Spencer's, Mum finds a couple of jackets on the sales rack.  

Next stop is a bus to the car rental yard.  We arrive to find they supposedly have given my car to someone else, long story but we are given another car, for the same price I had from my booking and we are off.  I tell you these guys should go into selling used cars.

First stop before home is Sainsbury’s to do a spot of grocery shopping.  The store down the hill from Mum’s is really large.  We have a great time looking around and finding different things.

Off home for a hour or so.  This gives me some time to play with my new camera before we head to London tomorrow.  Mum and I managed to pick up a laser pointer at the shops so this will be something to video, the cats.

We then drive over to Mum’s friends for afternoon tea and a chat.  We had a lovely afternoon.

For dinner, Mum and I decide to head down to the “Local” for a roast.  I ended up having scampi, and mum the roast.  I thought I would try a nice cider, only to find that when I got it it's a New Zealand Old Mout Cider!...so much for trying something local.

We head home, and I'm off to bed early, I am totally out of sync time wise at this point, but we are getting up early for a trip to London tomorrow so that will help extend my day tomorrow.

London, I have made it to the UK.

I have arrived in London. Great flight. It's late morning and I have a bit of a walk from the aircraft. Air New Zealand parked up in terminal 2 but we have to walk to terminal 1 for our bags and customs. It only takes me 20 mins to clear customs, my bag is waiting for me and I'm off to find the underground, which by the way is by terminal 3. At this rate I have walked 3 out of the 5 terminals!!

I decide to take the underground to Kings Cross, saves a bit of money and is easier with change overs to the Circle Line. I'm heading for London Liverpool Street Station, where the trains to Norwich leave from. I have a 3pm train, and I am well ahead of time. I arrive at the station at 12.30pm, have to say I am beginning to feel a little worn out at this point, after not getting any sleep on the flight.

After a bit of a rest and a nice cold drink, the boarding call for "the Norwich 3pm on plate form 9 is ready for boarding". So off with my cases through the gate, looking for carriage J. The carriage has an area at the end for suitcases, I find my seat, and get my phone connected to the free wifi. Time to check my mail and let the family know I've arrived and heading to norwich

The train trip takes 1 hour 50 minutes. It's a nice trip but to be honest there was a lot of dozing and I missed most of the scenery. But finally I arrive in Norwich. Mum is very excited to see me.  The trip to the house takes about 40 minutes in peak hour traffic. It's nice to be at Mum's, first point of order is a shower.

Off to London...or am I???

I manage to sleep as long a possible today, it is going to be a long night flying through to London.  I head down to breakfast around 11am.  I have packed everything, and I am pretty much ready to go.  After a meal I think I'll try for a bit more of a lie down, I don’t need to be at the airport until 2pm.  By 1.30pm I am leaving my room and checking out.  The shuttle back to the airport only take a few minutes and I am checking into the flight around 2pm.  The question is will I get on.  This time not so lucky as to get a boarding pass straight away.  I am told to come back around 3.30pm and they will tell me if I am on or not.  I decided to just take a seat by checkin, not much point in going too far with all my bags.  There are a few other people also hanging around, this is not a good sign.  After a few minutes I get talking to some of them to find there are 15 staff on standby for this flight.  Oh man this is not good!!!

It turns out that most of the people on standby got bumped from yesterdays flight.  Air Canada had put 20 of their passengers on the AirNZ flight and used up all the seats, so they were all left behind.  I am the newbie to this party of staff flyers.  I got to hear all their stories from the past 24 hours, and who worked at Air NZ who didn’t, what their connections where, and we where having a lot of fun telling travel stories, it really did make the time pass.  One of the ladies, phoned back to the office in NZ to find out what the story was, it turns out there are only 14 seats and 15 people. We start to wish for people getting stuck in traffic at this point.  By 3:40pm people are beginning to stress, “this isn’t a good sign”, I’m going on about the power of positive thinking, saying they are just taking their time getting out seats in order and so on.  By 3:45pm we are all called to the counters, we are all on, there where a lot of very happy faces, that is for sure.  

London here we come!!! 

Wednesday 17th of Sept....Take Two

It really does play with ones mind to arrive in a country before you left the last one.  

The flight through to LAX was really good.  I managed to get some sleep, and I kid you not, this is a first for me.  I have never slept on a plane before, but this time I have managed it and I am feeling pretty good.  

The flight arrives in just before 1pm.  It only takes 45 mins to clear customs and get my bags.  I’m at the Hotel by 2.15.  I am staying at the Hilton LAX this time, it isn't a hotel I have stayed in before, but I have to say, I will be back, here are some quick photos I took on my phone.

I decided to hit the shopping mall first.  There is this service that runs with a few of the hotels at LAX where every 30 mins a trolley, the Ocean Express, come and picks you up and takes you to Manhattan Beach, Manhattan Village Mall, and Plaza El Segundo.  For me I always start at Manhattan Village, they have a Apple store to start with and then Macy’s.  This time when I arrived at the Mall I found a new Apple store.

It's still two days till the new iPhone 6 is out.  The new store is pretty nice and twice the size of the old one.  I have a good look around at all the accessories, very tempting but I am pretty full already baggage wise so I refrain.  I think a spot of lunch might be in order so head off to Islands for a Taco and Strawberry Lemonade, how American does that sound.

Now it's time to get back on the Trolley bus and head for Best Buy, I have an order to pick up. Amazingly enough pretty much everything has arrived in at store, except the two main things I need, the Camera and the memory cards, and they aren't going to arrive until Friday!!!  Luckily enough I have a very helpful lady helping me out, and we find a camera on the shelf and some memory that comes close.  She talks to her manager and we agree on a better price for what they have in stock.  Cancel the existing order and I walk out with everything I need for the holiday.

Ok so it's nearly 6pm now LA time, I think it's time to head back to the hotel.  I have decided I need to keep awake a bit longer to get into the correct time zone, so lets see what I got today.  Yeah there are a few GoPro things here and my new Kindle.

Holiday Time Has Arrived.

It is Wednesday the 17th of Sept, and I am going on holiday today.  My airline ticket has "Waitlisted" for every sector, all the way to the UK, not a good sign when travelling, no guarantees one will get there :o( but my fingers crossed, and I am thinking loads of positive thoughts.

Dad picks me up from work, and we head straight for the airport. Thanks Dad, just a shame you aren’t joining me on this trip.

Ok so lets see if I can get to Auckland.  I walk up to the counter to check in and they give me my boarding pass straight away, that's a good start, almost too easy, but only as far as Auckland, but hay I’m happy, I’m on my way.

The flight to Los Angeles is due to leave at 7.40pm, so I have a bit of time.  I decided take a stroll from Domestic to International.  It's a nice afternoon in Auckland and I do like the walk, it reminds me of the days when Dad worked out here at the airport.  I arrived at check-in in Auckland, fingers crossed.  And yet again, they check me in straight away.  I’m off to Los Angeles…..yeah baby I’m on holiday for sure now.  Off to Koru for me.  Wow what a relief things are going to plan.

Two Weeks and Counting

It is that time of the year again.  I can't believe this time last year I was on the Cruise, what an amazing experience that was.  I have two weeks before I leave and I am counting down the days.

This year I am leaving Mike behind and I am heading off to the UK.  For the most part I will be based in Norwich, the "City of Stories" or newly titled 

by UNESCO as the City of Literature where my Mother lives.  It will be my first time to Norfolk so I am very much looking forward to the Norfolk Broads, and the sights of the coastline of East Anglia.

The trip is a surprise for Mum, although I have now told her I am coming.  It was to have been a family trip, but Dad has been "grounded" due to health issues so it is a solo trip across the world for me.

Some of the highlights planned are, a day in London with Mum at Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Emirates Air Line and dinner at Gordon Ramsey's The Narrow.  Then we have a week in the Cotswolds for Mum's birthday.  Visit family and friends on the way back to Norwich.  A week for me in London where I am planning a few days at the Knitting and Stitching show, a show or two in the evenings, and plenty of shopping.