Quality Hotel Bournemouth

... 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...

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 ...

... we watched a show every night except one and an English pub called the rising Sun where a pint of Boddingtons cost £2.60. Very reasonable I thought. Anyway for the first time in eleven days we were looking at rain and gloom, but by the time we got to the Railway Station is was brightening up a bit. the trip back to Scarborough and then on to Whitby was uneventful. We were home for 19:00.

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 ...

... south is also lovely with a huge Priory, which unfortunately was closed but we wondered down to the habour and saw all the yacht moored for the winter. OOh and the nasty swans.. I didn't know they hissed!! lol

Did I mention that I stayed in cowplains in Portsmouth and cowpitt lane in the New Forest.. mmmm whats this theme with all the cows??
Frank and Robert, Deidre's son's and their partners took me out to the Queens arms in the Forest ...

Visited this town while I was visiting my Uncle in Portsmouth. Its a lovely little place, well not little but seems about the size of Newcastle. Not that I have seen its outskirts etc.

When I arrived I went to have a look at the old wall and the old castles etc set up by Henry the VI I think. But it started to pour down so I went ...

... a main road the students have to sign in and show their ID to use the resource center and the open access computer labs. The top of the building has a tall clock tower. Roy told us the history of the tower. Across the main road from the library building is a Kentucky Fried Chicken (how sad) that use to be the Metropol Hotel. This hotel was one of the few buildings in Bournemouth that was bombed during the war (he did not say if this was the Great War and the Second World War ...

... unusual and prehistoric looking). Strangely enough, even the litter was interesting! The discarded cigarette packs caught my eye; the labels are not too subtle about the health warnings are they?! As we headed back, we stopped at Thornton's chocolates (quite a famous chocolatier in the UK), then to lunch at the "Slug and Lettuce Café" (love the title!). And, after purchasing a bit of candy at Thornton's, I noticed that on the back of the package, there are ...