Clarendon Hotel Chale

Booked flight today - Guatemala on Feb 22nd 2010. So to mark the occasion I thought I'd start my travel diary today as well.

Two months to go - and a lot of list-making, planning, shopping, getting vaccinated, freaking out, and bouncing with excitement to do!

... to our other blog please let me know or alternatively you can search for shunny81 and this is the name of it. There are a few to read but it will take away the boredom on a Friday afternoon.

Hope your all well and the weather is not to bad. Just think of us when its raining having to take shelter of the 35 degree heat.

All the best

Nigel

Sophia>>>>>
Right it is Wednesday the 11th November we'll be departing in a few days!!!! Realy getting excited and a bit nervous now just thinking this time next week i will be on the other side of the world!!! Busy time now though ahead last jabs tomoz as well as seeing katie and lexie for the last time till i get back!! Then the evening ...

... along the east coast from Brisbane to Melbourne. From there I'll be getting active in Tasmania, with visits to mountains, forests, beaches and cultural sites. Along the way I hope to write and document my experiences, so I hope you'll drop in from time to time and see how I'm getting on?!

At around 06:00 Arcadia slowly approached the Ocean Terminal berth and our Cruise was nearly over. We enjoyed one last breakfast in the Belevedere and waited for our disembarkation at 09:15. We sat and reflected about where we had been and all the facilities that the ship offered. My favourites where the Crows nest which is a bit like "Ten Forward" on the Enterprise "D", the Palladium ...

Bournemouth has a very funny layout.. the two main streets of the town go up both sides of the hills that lead down to the park and eventually to the famous Pier.

I was a bit down in the dumps this day.. I think because I was watching all the families and couples having some fun. It was mid term break so there were heaps of kids around and the entrance to the Pier was packed with amusements and ...

... it was a lovely evening, more cider if I remember rightly. I found out about what my brother Phil got up to while he was staying with them back in 1987!!! Apparently spunky is a rude word for something else in England!! And he frightened poor Frank one night by sliding his car across the gravel out the front of one of the pubs!!!
I definitely have to go back to the New Forest.. if not for the great people but the great outdoor life you can live there.

We had breakfast at the IBIS Hotel in Southampton and then went for a walk around the West Quay Shopping Centre and discovered the biggest IKEA we have ever seen. We went back to the hotel for about 11:30 and checked out. The taxi got us to the Mayflower terminal at about 12:30 and by 13:15 we were in the Belvedere restaurant on board Arcadia having Lunch. We set sail at 16:30 on our way to Madeira

... instead.. lol. I still can't get over that they don't have huge shopping centres, everyone still has to walk between shops in the wet!

While I was there I had to work out how I was going to get from the railway to the catch the bus to the New Forest. My next port of call!

Southampton is also famous, well in the olden days ...

... it - and made a quick visit to a supermarket, then sat outside in the light of the setting sun eating sausages and drinking a bottle of Corbieres. The next day was also warm and sunny so we walked into Bladon village to see Churchill's grave in the pretty little churchyard, before packing up and setting off again. We arrived in West Moors in the early afternoon and decided ...