After my last blog, Memories,Sydney 1990, I was very pleased to learn that we were expected to travel in mid 1991 to England to attend the wedding of Dis brother Tim, to Lucy. I certainly wanted to experience more overseas travel so what an excuse. Plans were made. Extra holidays arranged so we could be away for 6 weeks. Plans on how Chris and Amy were to handle 6 weeks with out parents. Then the conversations with other family members re flights, how to get around England etc. Then discussions about all the various places we would like to include in our tour. Exciting times. As Diane acts as my travel agent on most of these trips I can just agree or discuss the wishes of what we both would like to do. So on my part I just sit back and let the anticipation kick in.
Anticipation!! One of my favourite things about holidays and travel. And I was full of it. Im sure my work colleagues got sick of hearing about our intended trip. I couldnt that I would be sitting on a plane for 8 hours, and then disembarking at Singapore,
for a one night then take our seats again to continue to wing our way to England for another 12 hours. Wow!!
Finally on the 7th July 1991 Diane and I, along with Annemarie and Corrado and our friend Renee, departed NZ, landed in Singapore late morning, crammed as much of the tourist thing in as possible during the rest of the day, had a great nights rest and before departing on our next leg rushed around ticking off the to do box. Really enjoyed the hustle and bustle of Singapore and the sights. I have passed through Singapore many times since but have not stayed to do the tourist thing. Once we boarded the plane late afternoon, we flew via Bangkok then Copenhagen, and since we had crossed the international date line, arrived at Heathrow, London on July 9th to be meet by Dis brother John, to be taken by tube into London so we could make his house in Bromley our base for a few days, until all heading down south to celebrate the wedding. Our friend Renee left us at Heathrow to fly down to her home town, Newquay, in Cornwall where we were to
So here I am in London. Amazing. I couldnt believe that I was nearly 19000 km from home and experiencing so many firsts in my life, all within 3 days. Long haul Flight, Singapore, Long haul flight, Heathrow, London Underground and finally the first sights of London. Absolutely magic.
While in London we spent every minute we could touring around catching the sights. So much to see. So little time to see it all. What, where and how do we manage to fit everything in? Impossible, in just a few days, but excitement kept us going so we achieved most of the main attractions including the must dos. Walking along the Thames, a walk across Tower Bridge, which {as if by arrangement} opened for a ship to pass, onward to the Tower of London, where Diane, while standing at Traitors Gate had tears rolling down her face. We all came to the conclusion that in a past life she must have been tied to the gate when the tide came in. Onward to the most famous of them all, Buckingham Palace. The guards strutting about, the multitudes of tourists. {Oh,
Di, Charlie, Corrado, Annemaire and Vivienne enjoying afternoon tea. We also discovered their magic Death by Chocolate dessert.
thats right, were them} the changing of the guards, police on horses, just the sheer wonder of being there, at a place that you have been told about, a place you have read about, a place that holds so much history and mystery. Every where we went was met with open mouthed awe and I knew that in the years I would have to spend more time in this amazing city. Riding the tube and quickly working out how easy it was to access this wonderful city made me realise how we could get to see the Palace, then move onto Hyde Park, then onto the world famous Harrods Dept Store and onward. I found it so easy to be a tourist using the public transport and enjoyed our time so much.
