Etap Hotel Southampton Centre

... Michael's Church to help us sort and pack the boxes. You are all stars...

We can't wait to start seeing the smiling faces of people receiving your shoeboxes and we promise to keep you up to date with where we are, who we meet and the reaction your gifts receive.

Check back on Monday when the Trussell team will reach Bulgaria and start distributing your shoeboxes to men, women and children living in poverty...

Hello,

Basically just testing to see if this works, and also cos Rhys told me to do this now. Also, I wanted Alton to appear as a little dot on our map thing. Anyways, we're off on sunday, looking forward to it, and I'm sure we'll miss you all! Bye for now!

Dave

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!

... interesting experience to be able to compare, and I think some aspects of that system are more favourable than our own, but then, some are also not. I was able to see quite a lot in 6 days - I accompanied people to criminal and civil courts the equivalent of both magistrates and supreme state courts at home. I also went to both an employment and work court, and a commercial court, sat in on interviews with clients and then the hearings for the mental health tribunal, went to the youth ...

... 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

... and lots of families.

I did some shopping, always a good pick me up!! And took a long walk along the boardwalk.. all the beaches are quite nice around this area, they actually have sand BUT the water is freezing and no waves!!

The pier was interesting.. its quite an old structure and the pictures from the last century were amazing, everyone walking along in their suits and long ...

... or Bruins fans. After the game ended, we hoped there would be some live music, but there was no Irish music. I found myself listening and singing to a Lionel Ritchie song playing on the radio. We left the pub to head back to our hotel, as we had an early morning and long flight home the next morning. Sunday morning was gray, raw, and drizzling. We packed our bags. I was happy to be heading home. A shuttle ...

... nachmittag richtung mittelme**..... 10 tage durch das schoene mittelme** vorbei an Vigo, Barcelona, Civitavecchia, Neapel, Gibraltar und Lissabon.... kanns kaum mehr **warten! danach geht es dann noch einmal ueb** den teich und dann nochmal fu** 5 tage hoch nach boston und kanada und dann wied** ueb** den teich und dann bin ich auch schon daheim!!!! Ich wollte ich nur mal kurz melden, damit ihr mich nicht ganz v**gesst... hoffe ...

... Am naechsten Morgen ging es dann in aller frueh Richtung Southampton. Dort im Hafen lag sie dann nun endlich... die "kleine" Queen Mary 2!!!! Es war schon ein unglaublicher Anblick. Wobei ich ehrlich sagen muss, aus den Erzaehlungen hatte ich es mir fast noch maechtiger vorgestellt. Das liegt aber vermutlich daran, dass ich keinerlei Vergleichsmoeglichkeiten habe ;-)... Ab da war nun alles sehr aufregend und total neu! Seither erscheint mir ...

... greatest ever Rickshaws!!!!! MEGA TEAM GSR RICKSHAWS! We even managed a little attention gathering done whilst bumping around a carpark in Southampton. We posed happily for the Press and Chatted away for the Beeb, and other film crews. Though nothing is as good at publicising our team as trying to adhere as many stickers saying TEAM GSR as you can to everything in site. Whether people knew they were ...