Travel
From TheGredil
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Budapest
December 2008
 The setting |
 The local area |
 Our hotel courtyard |
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These photographs are also on Picasaweb here
European Adventure 2008
As a farewell to Europe we did a three week driving tour of nine countries throughout the continent. All the details of our journey can be found here...
Sucata Run 2008
August 2008
I decided a few months ago to volunteer for the Sucata Run, a charity event run by Gemin-i.org (previously called Africa Bookcase - see www.africabookcase.org). It is a banger rally from Rouen in France to the most westerly point in Europe - Cabo da Roca over four days. Cars that participate are all worth less than £250. This year was the biggest one yet with over 60 cars taking part. I was in the staff car which wasn't a banger but we still had a great time. Along the way we stopped in La Rochelle (France), San Sebastian (Spain) and Salamanca (Spain). The stops were all fantastic and altough there wasn't much time to thoroughly explore each town I attempted to see as much as possible. Each night all the teams got together at a local bar (or spread across lots of local bars as there were very few that could fit us all) to talk about the days events and have a drink or two (or 10 in most cases). It was a fantastic experience and gave me a chance to see some areas of Europe that I would most likely have never made it to.
Click here for the photos...
Wimbledon and the London Zoo
July 2008
It was the second Thursday of The Championships. The start of the finals zone. We were unsuccessful in getting any tickets in the mysterious and highly irregular ballot, for the second year running, so we decided to make our way down to London and give this queuing system a go. The English love a good queue and there's almost a sense of pride about the one they produce this time of year at the All England Lawn Tennis Club...
Read more on the Wimbledon page...
It was a spare of the moment decision to head to zoo and we had a great day.
Check out the photos here...
Egypt
June 2008
Click here for the photos...
Dubai
April 2008
Click here for the photos...
Prague
January 2008
Click here for the photos...
We planned on a nice, relaxing time in Prague to unwind from the hectic start to the year and prepare for the busy period ahead. We got our wish in that our travel to and welcome in Prague was wonderful. Probably, the least stressful travel we've done in a long time. Although a very simple airline and and rather dated aircraft the Czech Airlines flight was very comfortable, helped by the only two hours flight time to get to Prague from Manchester.
Our hotel, the Aria is a musically themed hotel with each room dedicated to a musical personality, in our case, George Gershwim. It was a very nice room and one of the best equipped rooms we've ever stayed in including an iPod to use during the stay, dedicated Sun computer, two TV's and a very nice stereo to go with it (it is a "musical" hotel after all). Due to our late night arrival from the UK we grabbed a snack in the restaurant downstairs and got some sleep ready for a big day of sightseeing the next morning.
Russia (Moscow & St Petersburg)
December 2007
We were up early on Boxing Day and at the airport by around 8.30am. Once we finally got checked in, we headed up the lounge to grab some breaky and relax before our next adventure begun. The flight was uneventful and we got through Russian Customs and Immigration with no problems at all. Once we walked out the gate we were approached by numerous taxi drivers offering us a ride to our hotel. On advice from various websites and the signs all over the airport we ignored them all and headed to the taxi desk. It was a very long drive into Moscow (about 1.5 hours) and the roads were a little scary, cars were going everywhere and no one had any regard for what a lane was. If traffic gets heavy in Moscow, Russians simply create a new lane...
Click here to read more about our trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg
New York City
November 2007
We flew to New York via American Airlines. The flight was almost empty which meant we could really stretch out and relax for the eight hours we were in the air. We touched down at JFK airport and easily found our way out, into a yellow cab (after a few hard sells from the dodgy "unlicensed" versions in their black SUV's) and off to Manhattan. It was only about a half hour drive and we were glued to the windows in anticipation of our first glimpse of The Big Apple. We arrived at our hotel, The Ramada Plaza New Yorker, checked in and hit the town. The most significant thing about our hotel was the building across the road...
Click here to read about our New York trip
Robin Hood Bay
November 2007
Click here for the photos...
Cheltenham
October 2007
Click here for the photos...
Lake District
September 2007
Click here for the photos...
We had a very pleasant trip the Lake District, staying in the little town of Windermere next to Lake Windermere. The weather held off for the duration of the long weekend, allowing us to get out on the lake, do some nice walks and wander around the local towns. There is some very nice scenery out there and as you can see from the photos much of it looks "very English". It would have to be one of the most quiet and peaceful places we've seen in England so far. Anyway, check out the photos and we'll be back soon with more travels.
Ireland
3 - 6 August 2007
Click here for the photos...
After a whopping 35 min flight from Manchester we landed in Dublin, ready to explore all that Ireland had to offer. We spent our first day in Dublin, exploring Dublin Castle, the Guinness Storehouse and the Old Jameson Distillery. After all the Irish are known for their drinking! The tour of the Guinness Storehouse taught us all about how Guinness is made and included a free pint which we all enjoyed over a very yummy lunch in one of the restaurants. Guinness definitely tastes different in Ireland and it was really quite enjoyable. They also had a fantastic souvenir shop where we spent up big. From there we decided to head to the Old Jameson Distillery for some more taste testing. We went on the tour, learning about how Jameson's was distilled in old days. The distillery has since moved to somewhere in Southern Ireland. At the end of the tour we were all given a glass of Jameson's to taste. We then spent a bit of time wandering around central Dublin, checking out various stores. It was then a bus ride back to our hotel where we decided to have dinner and an early night as we had a couple of big days ahead of us.
We rose early on our second morning and caught the courtesy bus to the airport to pick up our hire car. We then started to make our way towards Cork. We decided to take the long way, exploring the region on our way down. After about half an hour in the car we were all sick of the radio as there was no music being played so we decided to try and find a CD shop. We saw a sign pointing towards a designer outlet and thought they may have something for us so we headed down the road. It very quickly turned into narrow country road and figuring we took the wrong turn, we made our way back to the main road. About ten minutes further down that road we saw another sign pointing to the elusive outlet so again we turned off. After about half an hour and some really bad signage we found the outlet. It had about four shops and was almost completely deserted. Considering by this stage it was 11am on a Saturday we expected Saturday crowds but there was almost no one to be seen.
After our little detour we headed to Kilkenny for some lunch. There was a massive queue for parking but we eventually got in and found a pub to grab some food. After lunch we went for a wander around Kilkenny and headed up towards the Castle. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the Castle gardens which were absolutely huge. I would love to have a backyard that big (with a gardener of course!) From there we made our way to Cork, checked into the hotel and set out to find somewhere for dinner. After wandering for what felt like forever we found an Italian restaurant which looked very appealing. After dinner it was up the road to an Irish pub for a beer. After all, when in Ireland......
It was another early rise on Sunday, ready for our final day of exploring. With our rental car we were given a map which had scenic drives on it. The first one was nothing to write home about but the second took us around one of the southern peninsulas. We soon found ourselves stopping to take pics and enjoyed some absolutely beautiful scenery. The roads were all very narrow and at times it was difficult to fit cars travelling in opposite directions. Luckily we never had tor reverse up a road but we spent a lot of time pulling over as far as we could to let cars coming the other way past. It was all worth it though. Unfortunately it took us so long to explore one peninsula that we didn't make it to the other one as we were staying in Dublin and had a four hour drive back. We ended up getting back to Dublin around 9.30pm. By the time we checked into our hotel we were all exhausted and went to bed.
On our final morning in Ireland we had a bit of a sleep in before heading back to the airport ready to fly home. We were all lined up at the gate ready to board when it was announced that our flight was delayed for at least half an hour. We decided to stay in line as there wasn't really anywhere else to go. We finally boarded the plane only to be told that we had to wait another 50 minutes as there were issues with the air traffic controllers. We sat on the plane for what felt like forever before finally taking off. By this stage we were about an hour and a half late. We made it to Manchester and caught the bus to our car which we had parked in a 'secure' car park. We felt our car would be safe there as they advertise that they take timed digital photographs of your car. When we returned to our car we found a large crack in our windscreen which we promptly reported. The supervisor came out, had a look at it and gave us some contact details to make a claim. We sent an email off as soon as we got home and followed it up with a phone call the next day. We needed to get it fixed quickly as we had sold our car. We were then told that they take no responsibility for the damage and that we have to claim it on our insurance. What is the point of the digital photos then???? I will never ever park with Airparks again!
Apart from the car issues on our return, it was a fantastic weekend.
Royal Garden Party
19 July 2007
Brad, Leisa & Jade's excellent European adventure
July 2007 - Paris, Munich, Venice & Zurich
For all the gory details and some photos go to Europe_Jul07
Trooping The Colour
16 June 2007
Photos can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/the.gredil/Trooping_The_Colour_Jun07
Oxford
30 - 31 March 2007
  
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Lincoln
7 - 9 March 2007
We headed to Lincoln on Wednesday night for the annual recall day. After a relatively easy 2 hour drive we found our hotel, grabbed some dinner at the restaurant and settled in to our room for the night.
We were up and about early Thursday morning, grabbed breakfast in the restaurant and got ready for the days activities. I headed into town for a day of sightseeing and sampling the local food with the girls while the others headed on to base for a day of presentations. We started off with morning tea at the White Hart Hotel where we rearranged their lounge room to suit ourselves. We suddenly realised that it was 11.30am and lunch was only 45 minutes away and all we had done was sit around and chat so we left the White Hart and did a little shopping before heading into the Wig and Mitre for lunch. Before we knew it, it was 1.30pm and we were due for our tour of Lincoln Cathedral. The cathedral stands at the top of Steep Hill and the name is no exaggeration! We set off up to the roof, stopping in various rooms along the way learning all about the history. We climbed some very narrow stair cases which were a bit of a struggle at times. We popped out near the top where we looked down over the Cathedral. There was only a flimsy fence holding us back from dropping a very long way to the bottom. While standing looking down at all the small people in the Cathedral we learnt about The Da Vinci Code filming and the changes they had made to make it look like Westminster Abbey. It seems that it was worth it for the Cathedral, they had their lights all repaired and rewired at a cost of £70 000 to the studio. With the cathedral costing £50 000 per week to maintain you can see why they would be happy to have someone pay to film there, let alone the extra exposure they have gained. We then headed further up to the bell ringing room where we learnt all about ringing a bell. There is much more to it that I ever thought. After a brief time locked in the bell room due to a malfunctioning lock we headed outside where we were told on a clear day you could see for 30 miles. It wasn't a clear day for us (this is England, what do you expect) but we could still see quite a way.
After the Cathedral tour we headed down for some afternoon tea, after all it had been at least two hours since we last had something to eat and drink. After rearranging the lounge in the White Hart again, I'm sure the staff were cursing at "those bloody Aussies" but we had a great time anyway. We then decided to head back to base to meet up with the others and then head to dinner. Dinner was at the Thailand Number One restaurant. There was plenty of yummy food and wine was flowing freely. Yet again time got away from us and the taxis were there to pick us up. Some decided to head to the pub but we decided that we had had plenty to drink so headed back to the hotel. Judging by the look of some of the gang the next morning I think we made the right decision.
After a few hours sleep we were up again and grabbing a quick breakfast before heading onto base. I spent the day with the girls again and had lunch at a little cafe called Tootsies which is right on the water. After lunch we headed back to base and all met in one of the married quarters there. It is a fairly old base and I am thankful now for the flat that we have and for the married quarters back home. There are families with 4 kids living in 3 bedroom 'houses' which to me is just madness.
The others finally finished up for the day so we said our goodbyes to everyone and hit the road again. The drive out of Lincoln was much busier than the drive in and it took us over half an hour to do what should have been about a 10 minute drive. Once we go out of Lincoln it was a pretty good drive and we were able to get some great pictures going over the Humber Bridge. They were doing road work so we had to cross the bridge at 30 miles an hour. I managed to take 55 photos from one end to the other - it is a really long bridge, it must be one of the longest in England.
Overall, it was a great couple of days. It was so good to catch up with other Aussies and talk about the issues we were all having. It seems like we have had it pretty easy compared to others and I am so thankful that I haven't been sick enough to need a doctor over here. Some of the experiences people have had with the NHS is just horrific. Here's hoping for a healthy time in the UK!
  
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Rome & Florence
11-14Nov2006 - We went to Italy for Leisa's birthday this year. We were flying out of Stansted airport so stayed in Essex overnight. We arrived at Stansted with plenty of time to spare and caught the bus from the carpark to the terminal. We flew Ryanair (never again!) into Rome where we stayed overnight. While in Rome we saw all the usual monuments including the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum and the Pantheon. We didn't have time to make it to the Vatican but maybe next time. We also enjoyed many fantastic meals and had some gelati at every opportunity. After a few months of British food it was great to have to some authentic Italian fresh food and wine.
On Sunday afternoon we caught the Eurostar from Rome to Florence. It was a very comfortable trip and gave us a chance to see some Italian countryside. Florence was lovely, although the markets do seem a little dodgy. We stayed by the Duomo which is the centre of Florence so we were close to plenty of restaurants and gelati stands. We spent all day Monday wondering around Florence, doing a bit of shopping and eating plenty.
Before we knew it, it was time to leave so we packed up, jumped on the Eurostar back to Rome, caught a bus to the airport and flew to Stansted then drove back to Scarborough. It was a very long day! When we were leaving Ciampino Airport (Rome) we purchased a drink once we had gone through security. When we went to board the plane the drink was taken off us even though the latest restrictions clearly said that anything purchased after security can be taken on board. It was just another way for Ryanair to make more money by making everyone buy a £4 drink on board. When we landed at Stansted we got our luggage only to discover that they had broken into Jade's suitcase and stolen some belongings including his Swiss Army Knife. We immediately lodged a complaint with Ryanair who gave us a form and a fax number. We sent off the form straight away and got a response basically saying too bad, we don't know which airport it happened in so we won't cover it. Needless to say, we won't be flying with them ever again!
Apart from the dramas with the luggage, Italy was a fantastic country and we both can't wait to get back at some point, even if it’s just for the food.
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Wales
4-5Nov2006 - We set off for Wales about 05:30 in the morning. We found the drive down much easier than previously. Maybe we're just adapting to it? It took about 5 hours to get there and we arrived in the town of Barry about 10:30am. Some of the Welsh countryside appeared quite nice and there seemed to be a number of significant tourist sites around but the towns and the capital Cardiff were nothing special. We caught the train from Barry to Cardiff (about 30mins) and pulled in right next to Millennium Stadium. There was a sea of red tops around as we headed off to find lunch. It seemed the whole of Wales had turned out for the match. We put a kebab away, downed some beers in a pub and headed off to the stadium.
The match was fantastic. The atmosphere in Millennium Stadium, the close score-line and the ready flow of beer made for a fantastic match. Both teams had their moments of brilliance and were in front at various stages but it ended in a draw. A firstin 98 matches for those two teams.
We then headed into Cardiff city for some drinks in the pub. The local rugby crowd was fantastic and very welcoming. We never felt uncomfortable. We then went off for some late night crime-fighting before bed, ready for the drive home the next morning.
Track of trip to Wales - Requires Google Earth
Edinburgh
14-15Oct2006 -
Edinburgh, UK - Google Earth Placemark file
Track of walk along St. Abbs Head - Requires Google Earth
Leeds
07Oct2006 - Visited the city of Leeds today. We caught the train which was very pleasant, took us right to the middle of the city and we saw some typical English countryside along the way. It took about one and a half hours and one of the things that struck me was just how "developed" England is. In the whole trip we saw no land in its natural form, man seams to dominate every square inch of this country. Leeds was a welcomed relief from the "small town" of Scarborough and we spent the whole day shopping interrupted only by a pub lunch, a nice Italian dinner and a few coffee stops. The city has a endless supply of good pubs, coffee shops and restaurants. A large portion of our shopping time was spent in the little boutique and designer shops of Victoria Quarter which strongly resembled QVB in Sydney. We will definitely be heading back to Leeds for some more shopping expeditions.
Leeds, UK - Google Earth Placemark file
Leeds_city_map.pdf
Whitby
01Oct2006 - Went out to Whitby today, the home of “Heartbeat”... apparently? It took a reasonably pleasant 45 minute drive north of Scarborough, along which I spotted some good mountain biking and hiking spots. It was a very nice, quaint, presumably typically English, countryside/fishing town. We wandered along narrow cobbled streets, had lunch in a small, very old, sunken below street level English pub accessed through a dauntingly narrow alley. We stopped off at many of the street-side shops not big enough to swing a cat and managed to find a few gems. We then took the big climb up the steps to the old church, past the cemetery to the cliff face for the view. The rain suddenly hit on the way back to the car which cleared out most of the tourists and it was back in the car and home again that afternoon.
Whitby, UK - Google Earth Placemark file
London
21Aug06
Our day began with an early rise, at Canberra Airport at 08:00 and checked in for our flights. We were much relieved to find out that there were no extra restrictions on hand luggage for flights into the UK, only a little extra screening of electrical devices at Singapore. So the MP3 player and laptop could accompany us. A quick flight to Sydney and then the big wait for out flight to the UK. We were flying British Airways so we stopped by the international desk to see if we could change our seats (assigned in Canberra) to the upper deck of the Boeing 747-400. Success! The last two UD seats available and right behind the emergency exit (halfway down the upper deck lounge). The “sky beds” in the business class (Club World) lounge were everything we expected although a little short, a full stretch was a struggle. The neighbouring seats were opposite directions so Leisa and I were facing each other for the flight (Leisa flew backwards) which seams like a good idea at first but turned out to be really quite annoying. There was no snuggling for the newly-weds on the flight and sharing the laptop to watch a DVD or some TV shows was out. We left Sydney around 16:00 so most of the flight was at night. We decided to try to stay awake for the duration of the Sydney – Singapore leg and the first portion of the London leg. Singapore airport was a good opportunity to stretch the legs although we were restricted to the terminal. It takes the prize for the best Qantas lounge I have seen so far. We had to go through a detailed demonstration of all our electrical devices functioning to get back on the plane, heavily armed men close by, and then we were off again. The watch was set to London time at the start of the flight so we could adapt to the time difference as soon as possible. This seamed to work reasonably well and we woke at about 04:00 for an English breakfast before landing during the sunrise at 05:30 London time. Heathrow airport was a breeze. Just an explanation of the reason for our visit and then through the “nothing to declare” line which much to my surprise required no further questioning or screening. It seems it's dead easy to get whatever you like into the UK at the moment if you're prepared to bluff, it's just the taking it out that's difficult.
The first thing that stuck me as our driver led us to the car was the amount of Mercedes' around. Two out of every 3 cars in the chauffeured car park was a Mercedes. I was to find later that they are everywhere in London. Londoners love Mercedes'.
22Aug06
Today we decided to be tourists. We decided to try the Underground railway for the first time and it was surprisingly painless. It quickly become obvious that this is what Sydney's train system is modelled on. A few stops later we were right in the middle of London. Coming out of the station you can see the Thames, the London Eye and smorgasbord or grand castle-like building. We went for a quick walk up the road to Australia House. Then we went for a wander along the Thames for a look. Due to the Summer holidays it was extremely busy so we decided to see the sights and save the participation for a quieter time. We saw Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Palace of Westminster, Big Ben etc.
23Aug06
We took a London cab for the first time. It was the most exceptional cab ride I've ever taken. We named the building and after he briefly beat himself up over not knowing the exact point on the street we were off and he was even more chatty than we expected. In the short trip from the hotel to the commission we discussed everything from sport, accents, immigration and employment.
We then stopped off for a pub lunch in the middle of London and then back to the hotel to get the hire car for the drive north. Trying to get out of London to the ring road was an absolute nightmare. Street parking, roadworks, heavy traffic and a severe lack of street signs all contributing to a difficult time. We finally got to the M1 and on our way but the very heavy traffic remained and it was stop-start for the next 2 hours (a quarter of our trip!). The heavy traffic only lightened after that and we realised that you simply couldn't drive in England without there being plenty of other cars around. Something we would need to adapt to over the next couple of years. A few hours out of Scarborough, as the sun went down, we started to hit some bad weather. A thunderstorm rolled in which made our final navigation a little more tricky. The lightning through the thick fog made for some blinding spectacles.
