Ivanhoe Suites London

... and go see it, along with Windsor Castle and Oxford in the loop.

I’ve been fumbling with my passport bag the whole trip, the one I selected to replace the one stolen in South Africa, along with my dignity and a large wad of cash. The problem is that the original straps were too short, so I’ve extended them by tying on a longer one, but that has been slipping loose, frequently, despite my extensive knowledge of Boy Scout ‘ ...

Hi All,

The time has arrived. Having successfully navigated my way around Jury Service, 14 injections, packing and re-packing I am almost ready to start my adventure. Thanks Annette for the assistance in getting my rucksack weight down to 18 Kg.

I have organised for all my personal items to be stored so it will be just me and my rucksack for the next 8 months. - scary or what!

My friends, Marie and ...

Another sweltering day and it is still early. Brilliant, I thought that England was meant to be cold!!! It is going to reach 32 degrees today, now most foreigners will be suggesting that that is not hot, merely warm, but when you add no air conditioning and the humidity of a tropical rain forest then it becomes almost unbearable.

Still got a while to go and, apologies to people reading this thinking that it will be about ...

... 9 3/4. We tried to get to the Hogwarts Express, but no luck... Our trolly got stuck! Dad and I walked home, because I was tired and wanted a nap, while Mom, Merina, and Devon went on the "Westminster at War" walking tour. Then all of use went on the "London that Inspired Harry Potter" walking tour. It was so cool. Our guide, Alan, did magic tricks throughout the walk. Then we took the tube and walked home.  We walked more than 15km today !!                -Rigel

... The plane was boarded; everything seemed fine (except for the typical crying babies - always my favorite). Just as we should be about to take off, we get an announcement from the captain. They are investigating a problem with one of the engines and will get back to us very shortly. Many minutes later: apparently the engineers have found a "minor" valve leak in one of the engines. It should be a simple fix so they are going to keep us on ...

... want it to end! I watched a great film about Joy Division as well midway through the flight, and also a couple of Alan Partridge episodes. It really was an exceptional flight, but I fear that it could be something of a one-off as this kind of upgrade usually costs thousands. I suppose that I could always pretend to be on my honeymoon again, although I'm not sure that this would work if I happened to be travelling alone! I'll give it some thought...

... Adele & Ken in Hampstead on Saturday night, and then we're due to meet both sets of parents in Cambridge for lunch on Sunday, before flying out of Gatwick again on Sunday night. So it's a whistle-stop long weekend in London, a nice comma to punctuate our travels in Asia, and a good point of contrast to the last 4 weeks of oriental vacationing. It's very weird to be in London without being able to go to our flat (we're renting it out ...

... streets as do thousands of others. Quite a sight actually. We took a Double decker bus to our hotel which is called the London Elizabeth and this is a 5 storey apartment converted into a hotel. It was built in 1857 and has been owned by quite a few British personalities including important politicians. We are 35 meters from Hyde Park and in an expensive part of town. Its not quite as nice as most of our recent accommodation - mainly because it is old but ...

... the station to find a pretty cheap place to stay (15 GBP) Popped onto net to drop and email to Nathan about what happened. Mae and Adam were online so I spent the whole hour I"d purchases chatting. Hit bed around midnight. Thursday, June 30th. Woke up late this morning. Turned off alarm at 8 am and proceded to fall back asleep till 9:15 and ran down for breakfast. Headed out on the tube to Westminster Abbey. It wasn't as large inside as I'd imagined. I'll blame that on the Divinci ...

... walked around the theatre district and China Town. We met a group from school at 7:45 and took a guided walking tour of the Thames River and surrounding area. It was awesome! The guide was extremely knowledgeable and I LOVED every minute of it...we had a few pints at three pubs which had historical significance (really - i swear). Cari got pretty toasted and had me ROLLING all the way home on the tube. The three muskateers (us) came up with nicknames while we were in the tube ...