Day 3 - ENG

Cookie says...
This morning we tubed it to Heathrow where we picked up our car. Originally I had booked a Ford Focus but instead they gave us a VW Golf. It's a pleasant surprise as it would normally cost 4 quid a day more and being a turbo diesel, it has good torque yet it's fuel efficient.

Oxford was our first target but in the interest in saving time (and because Oxford dislikes parking visitors), we decided to keep it as a drive through. Back home our cities have a campus or two per uni however here, the town is the campus with faculty departments all over the place. The town is a bit of a maze but we manage to exit and made our way south in search of some ancient stones.

I was aware that Stonehenge can be an under-whelming experience or isn't what people expect so we went elsewhere. When compared to Stonehenge the Lonely Planet book says '...Avebury is arguably a much more rewarding place to visit.' Even after reading this, I was still wondering what to expect but I have to say though (and I don't mean any disrespect) but think I did a bit of a Mim. After paying 5 quid for parking and then walking to the site, the experience was quite under-whelming. In fact, as we walked past each stone, I could hear the under-whelment oozing from Julie. How's this for odd, the town is situated in the middle of these stones.

Avebury in all it's glory, well, half its glory.
The other half are on the other side of the town.

We walked around a little, bailed and resumed our course. About an hour later we were checking into our B&B and shortly after that, eating Moroccan food at the local pub.

They are a patriotic if a little unrealistic bunch

Mikey, we found you a dining suite

Tomorrow we'll step out and explore Bath.


Julie says...
As navigator of our little driving tour of England, I feel it is my duty to ensure that we visit interesting places, and point out the highlights along the road. However, as navigator, I must also submit to the will of the driver, and navigate a path to whatever town/monument/experience he desires. Such was the case with Avebury. Cookie's description of my under-whelment above does not do it justice. We travelled off the beaten track and added at least 1hr to our driving journey to look at a bunch on rocks in a field behind a pub.

I will not be submitting my navigating skills to the driver again, or we may very well end up driving 6hrs to look at a clump of dirt.

Day 2 - ENG

Cookie says...
After waking I told Julie I had booked us in for an event. It didn't take her long to work out it was a concert playing at the O2. She sounded okay with seeing this and as you'll expect, I'm looking forward to it.

What's more Londonish than seeing a band like this?

But it was breakfast time and it was the first full day so I figured I'd start with my first full buffet breakfast whilst Julz had cereal. I'd better be careful though as I have recently put on one wedding band and wouldn't want to put on another!

As both of us have been to London before, there wasn't a big 'to do list' so we decided to head in and check out a few odds and ends. Julz discovered that during my previous two visits I had missed the London Eye (remember, this is the guy who didn't see the Mona Lisa while in the Lourve) so we went there first. It was certainly worth the visit.

Third time lucky

For lunch we grabbed some sandwiches from Waterloo Station. Over here there are several places like Marks and Spencer, Costa and Pret a Manger which sell sandwiches but they are all really good. We headed back into the Strand and walked for a bit looking for the Twinings store and museum as Julie loves her tea.

Julie had found heaven on earth

Last trip I found the Temple Church but it was closed however this time it was open so we had a look through it. We returned to the hotel where Julz had a snooze and I did some nerd stuff while I watched France play South Africa. France didn't deserve to be there as they cheated their way in, ask any Irishmen, but poor South Africa became the first host nation to not qualify for the elimination stage.

Once rested and showered we headed into Westminster and then Trafalgur Square for dinner (more sandwiches) and then onto the O2. It's an impressive venue. It's an indoor arena with cafe's and bars also inside the structure. Kid Rock was the supporting act. I call it an act because he's not very good and pretends to be something worth watching. Fortunately he wasn't on for very long and the real band arrived on stage.

I saw Bon Jovi at the start of 2008 in Melbourne and while the play list was better then, the show they put on this time was alot better. I think Julie quite enjoyed the concert even though she was a little tired. The screens they used throughout the show were incredibly good quality to look at and moved around in different configurations across the night.

They might have started out in the 80's but these
guys still know how to rock

Once the encore ended (which featured Always, Wanted Dead or Alive and Livin' on a Prayer) we bailed and headed home.


Julie says...
Bon Jovi. He has brought me all the way to England to watch Bon Jovi. This will definately put me up there in the 'my wife is fantastic and willing to watch my favourite band on our honeymoon' stakes.

Today I just loved walking around and reaquainting myself with my old life over here. The Eye is always a nice view and Twinings should definately export more of their tea to Australia (I have never seen so many varities!). Sarah was definately jealous when I sent her photos of us eating a Ben's Cookie and cupcakes at the Hummingbird Bakery (a 'must eat' experience for anyone visiting South Kensington).

Inside the Hummingbird Bakery

Sarah started the first Ben's Annonymous
for those who miss Ben's Cookies

And then there was the concert. I must admit, it was quite an amazing concert - Cookie is not joking about the screens (they were the only thing I saw all night due to us having seats on the floor and my lack of height). Although I would never admit it to him, I did enjoy myself, and would even consider going to see them again when they come to Brisbane in Dec this year...

Day 1 - ENG

Cookie says...
When Julie said that she wanted me to organise our honeymoon and it was to be a surprise for her, I was confident that I could come up with something that she'd like. However, once I had started booking stuff, I was unsure that she would be thrilled with a few things. Firstly, she had wanted to go somewhere she hadn't been before and secondly, I didn't know how she'd like the initial commuting stage.

So, for me today started with some trepidation as we had three back to back flights heading to somewhere she'd already spent 11 months. Both of us had flown with Emirates previously and apart from feeling as though we were in the fridge compartment, this experience was another good one. We ended up sitting in the last row on the plane (courtesy of some bargain basement Flight Centre prices) and had a couple next to us from Burpengary (named after my uncle Gary who used to burp alot) who were also off to our destination.

Over the last few years, Julie has discovered that my superpower is that I will meet people I know wherever I go and this flight was no different. When we were boarding in Singapore after a 30 min stopover, I noticed that we had queued behind Michael Stepenyazi and Sophie. I knew him from soccer and it turned out that they had been married on the same day as us and were travelling to Italy for their honeymoon.

We made it to Dubai and changed planes. This time we noticed that our boarding passes had us in row 79 which if it was on another Boeing 777, we'd have been perched up on the tail wings. It turns out we were at the back of the second last section on an A380. These planes are truely huge and I ended up sitting next to a guy who worked for Emirates who had apparently put alot of money down on another 24 of this birds. He was heading to London to hang out with his mates at the Glastonbury Festival.

Once we landed we had a bit of a delay due to the airbridges not functioning. Border control was easy and the old habits of getting to the tube kicked in. We checked into a place in Kensington and had dinner there too. Being summer it was incredibly bright at 8.30 in the evening but we were so tired it didn't matter so headed straight to bed.


Julie says...
This is the first time I have ever caught a plane at 2:30am, and I must admit when Cookie told me the time we were flying out, I doubted his planning. However, my caution was unneccessary, as leaving at ridiculous-o'clock in the morning worked well for the 3 flights we had to take. On both the Singapore and Dubai legs of the flight, Emirates decided that all passengers should experience an Artic winter, and so even with multiple layers of clothing, I stole Cookie's blanket (having a husband now certainly comes in handy). Otherwise, the trip over was quite uneventful and I was happy to see merry old England again.