The Brighton Beach Hotel

How does Jade feel? "Like we're going on holiday for a year", "This tea is really nice" "Hoping to see a naked man running through the airport with a banana"<br><br>How does Alice feel? "Gotta make the most of everything whilst we are away", "Can't wait for the sweating", "I ...

Two days left - still can't really believe we're going. Excited and also a bit nervous - how will we get from place to place especially around Cambodia and China?<br><br>Working our way through our final to-do list and just hoping not to have any last minute panics!!<br><br>Suppose it won't sink in until we're on the plane:)<br><br>Viv xx

Camping in Barnes Green was good fun. We set out for the night to test the new tent, awning and cooking gear. It was very cold and we eneded up caught in a thunder storm, but I'm glad to report the tent was suberb. It was dry inside and our sleeping bags also did the job. We were nice and snug inside and we had a big fry up for breakfast, so all in all a success! <br><br>We got our carnet yesterday, so we're pretty much ready to go! Roll on December 24th!

Well, what can we say! What a send off from the villagefolk at Lindfield. It was coincidentally Guy Fawkes night which is also a pretty big deal in England.<br>A grand parade of burning torches and witches led up to a bonfire and fireworks extrordinaire.<br>To top it off, a display of Morris dancing by the local chaps outside the White Lion. Wow, the locals really love us. Tomorrow we depart for Queensland.

... shrub. Before long a line of people began trudging into the field, launching their burning torches onto the fire as they went past. The bonfire was soon a raging inferno. <br><br>Then came the fireworks. My God they were spectacular. There were three men, all costumed, standing on a platform controlling the display - like crazy conductors; masters of the fire. A constant stream of fireworks hurtled towards them from zealous spectators. Most public firework displays are impressive ...

... zillion s*us*ge rolls for the d*y *fter picnic. Pl*yed indoor golf *nd bowls with Oliver *nd Tom..... me coming in * dist*nt l*st. Then before we knew it Thursd*y h*d *rrived *nd we were *t the church doing the rehe*rs*l whilst pr*ying for * bre*k in the we*ther. Throughout the week people h*d been *rriving from f*r *nd wide so h*d * lovely dinner c*tching up with everyone. Then it w*s Frid*y *nd we were *ll rushing *round decor*ting the ...

... ss ch*nges from lush green to w*vy gold dotted with p*tches of yellow *nd purple wildflowers *nd lined different types of trees *long the border. I w*lked for three hours before fin*lly stumbling onto * ro*d which took me to St*nmer Vill*ge. After th*t, I w*s just one hill from home. Combined with the pictures I took of the hills behind Sussex on Tuesd*y, you c*n kind of get *n ide* for the l*ndsc*pe surrounding me here. L*ter Thursd*y I g*thered with other students ...

... We got soaked heading walking up towards the shopping areas so we sat in starbucks and had a coffee before wandering the mall. Overall it was a good experience checking out Brighton, and if the weather is better on another day I will spend a full day or most of one down at the waterfront and around about taking a lot more pictures. Brighton is probably the nearest place if you want to hit the clubs, so I may be down there in weeks to come if I am not in London :P

... last 200km to Calais. Despite being French, the locals are wonderful drivers - the best in Europe when it comes to making room for bikes and maintaining a safe distance from us. Reaching Calais and my last ferry for the trip, having been on 10 in the past 2 months. On board I hear an American couple with 2 kids in tow, desperately flicking through a brochure and phoning local hotels in vain search of 2 spare rooms. Poor guys. They probably think Dover is some quaint seaside ...

... stone window sill to the next. I wish I could have climbed the back steps to walk through those. At the time it was built (1872-1872) it was very important to the people of Brighton because the nearby St. Peter's church was exclusive to wealthy. I read that there was services held every hour from 5am until 10am and about two thousand people attended each service! Lucky me, I was there all alone in my peace and quiet when I went in the afternoon.