Seeing London

Well we bought a camper on Saturday morning we are both really pleased with it and are looking forward to being able to unpack all our clothes and make it our home for the next few months!! Our trip out to look at the camper was a place called Cranham, they kindly offered to pick us up from the station so we were rapt when we got off the train and someone pointed to us in a nice silver mercedes, we hopped in the car as we were doing our introductions etc the guy had started driving we were a few minutes down the road when he said to us - 'you are here to purchase the car' to which we replied 'no a campervan' after a few laughs he drove us back to the station where the correct car was waiting for us..

We were a couple of hours up at Cranham and when we left to come back to London we got on train with thousands and thousands of West Ham FC supporters heading to a match against Chelsea - the way to get on the train when you think it is full is to just stand at the doors and push and push until you squeeze in and then the person behind you does the same.

With the purchase of the campervan complete we have now been concentrating on being real tourists.

We went up to Soho for a meal on Saturday night - Piccadilly Circus, incredible at night, people and neons in abundance.

We have been to Harrods where we had to buy something just to get the bag - guess what we brought? A bottle of wine and a bottle of beer and some lunch which we ate at Hyde Park. Hyde Park had the Princess Diana memorials and Kensington Palace, we have also been to Regent Park - both parks are beautiful and hard to believe you are right in the centre of London.

We have been rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous at Madame Tassauds, at the other end of the scale we have been to an old Eastenders type pub - great to sit and listen to the locals chat about 'er indoors and saying 'whats up m'lad' the men all dressed in their best suits which must have been bought for their wedding day about 50 years ago.

Saturday afternoon went to Southbank where all the street shows were with break dancers, mime artists and all sorts of performers plying their trades for a few pounds.

Also went to the Horse Guards where Raewyn had her photo taken with a guard, he wouldn't bat an eyelid.

Raining today but still managed to get on the London Eye, a huge engineering marvel with spectacular views over London. We have also been on the London Dungeon Tour which takes you back in time to the days of the Plague, great London fires and Jack the Ripper.

Got the tube into Leicester Square and managed to get discounted tickets for the musical Grease on tonight at the Piccadilly Theatre so looking forward to that.

Great to see people following our blog - great photo Paul and Shona!!

London Safe 'n Sound

We think we are in London - after hearing stories about the weather ( we had a beautiful sunny first day), had the tube to ourselves yesterday morning at 8.30am and we were out of the airport within 30 minutes of landing so yes we are very surprised. We did find all the people last night when we returned on the tube at 5.00pm. You have heard about sardines in a can well these two Fishers were canned, crammed and jammed! Absolutely incredible the volume of people.
Yesterday we caught the tube and the National Rail out of London to Peterborough where there was a huge motorhome show whilst we didn't manage to purchase a camper we are heading today to Upminster to view one and if this doesn't suit then we will be off to Manchester tomorrow. I am sure everyone has heard that London is expensive - oh yes!!! We had purchased our train tickets to Peterborough and bought off peak tickets which meant we had to be back on the train before 4.00pm imagine this - two kiwis with matching back packs sprinting from the Black London Cab into the train station down the platform and the doors of the train literally closing behind us. Roll on the Amazing Race for us!
We have managed to negotiate the tube and the overground rail but really haven't seen London yet and will not do so yet as our priority is finding a suitable camper. We have seen the London Eye from the hotel room and the photo is of us at Piccadilly Circus yesterday morning waiting for the bank to open. We also had a walk around Soho and are planning on going back there tonight for a meal.
We have joked about being on a monopoly board when we have seen Piccadilly, Waterloo Station, Regent St etc.
As it is now 5.50am Saturday 25th we may as well get on the tube and find a camper.

Europe bound on 22nd April

Well everyone, we have been extremely busy with getting married, selling the house, moving, organising our trip etc.

We leave for our Europe trip on 22nd April 2009 with return approx Nov/Dec. This is after many years of working & planning towards this goal of ours.

What is our goal? Well we want to see, taste, hear & experience the whole culture that the many countries in Europe can offer. Where do we start other than than eating, drinking & more drinking around Europe? We don't have an itinerary as such other than the first 3 days in London to hopefully collect a motorhome if we can pre-buy or if not we will spend those 3 days searching for one.

After that off to see Ken & Jan in Scotland. We met this great couple in Whites Bay in February as they travelled around NZ. Ken has been wonderful with travel advice and has spent lots of time helping us in the search for a motorhome, thanks Ken & Jan.

Once we have caught up with Ken & Jan we plan on backtracking quickly through UK and ferrying across to France so will enjoy Paris in the spring. After that definitely down to warmer climates in the south of France, Spain & Portugal. After that who knows but on our list is the Tomato Festival 26/8, running of the Bulls 6/7 & Oktoberfest 19/9. In between all those we will go where our eyes and the road take us.

We hope you enjoy our travels with us through this blog and we will update as we can along the way.

Brent & Raewyn