Can't wait for tomorrow:

This time tomorrow, we should be in Business Class of a Singapore Airlines plane, just leaving Adelaide. Please let there be no last minute hitch that prevents us finally getting away on our UK and France adventure.

Getting excited # 2!

Now I'm getting excited again! All flights to Europe have been re-instated and we are due to fly from Adelaide to Singapore in 4 days, connecting through to London, with an overnight stay there before we catch a train to Edinburgh. We have added a week on at the end of our planned adventure but won't backtrack into Scotland - instead of making up the Glasgow and Skye bit of the original trip, we will go into Wales instead, and maybe visit Liverpool as well. This itinerary will bring us into Sydney on June 26th and we will probably spend the weekend with Josh and Jen before returning home on June 28th.

We've just had a great little holiday there - Josh enjoyed his birthday even tho' he was a wee bit hungover from celebrating with some friends the night before. Eion and I had a few "firsts" this time - our first visit to the Archibald Prize exhibition, our first tour of the Old Mint and the Hyde Park Barracks museums, our first walk along Manly beach, our first visit to Joshua's office tower - brilliant views from the 40th floor. And of course, we ate and drank too much - really loved lunch at Wagamama, and dinner at Cafe Sel et Poivre. The dogs were pleased to greet us when we arrived home - imagine what they'll be like when we come in the front door after 8 weeks in the UK and France!!

I hate volcanoes # 2

We have cancelled the first 10 days of our planned trip to the UK, because there is no likelihood of flights to London for the next few days. We will still go to Sydney tomorrow, not to connect through Singapore to London, but for a week's "holiday" with Josh and Jen. He turns 38 on Anzac Day.

We have rebooked to the UK on April 30th and if this flight actually occurs, we can start our tour from Edinburgh ( but will miss Glasgow and the drive through western Scotland to Skye). If this plan fails we will try to rebook for May 10th and pick up our trip from Dublin ( now missing all of Scotland and the driving through southwestern Ireland!!). But we do go on to Paris from Dublin, with the tour of the Somme battlefields and would still have our 3 weeks in London with day trips to Portsmouth, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge and York. So it could be quite an exciting holiday just not as comprehensive as we had hoped for.

However, if May 10th doesn't eventuate either, we will cancel the whole thing! We are quite miserable about all of this - who would have thought 18 months planning could be brought undone by a bloody volcano? And of course, we have already lost money - train fares, deposits on hire cars and accommodation etc - and as more bits of the trip are cancelled so we lose more money.

At least we have been waiting it out in our own home - not camped on the floor of an airport somewhere, but even so, it is very disappointing. A friend is stranded in Spain and although he has a bed, it is in a flea infested hostel, and it's raining so he's not really enjoying himself.

If we do ever get to Europe, our "animal sitters" are happy to extend their stay in our house, so that we can add on Scotland and Ireland to the end of the planned stay in London. We could theoretically continue the trip into July. But this is getting into high season and costs will rise. so we're not sure whether we will extend or not. C'est la vie!

I hate volcanoes!

I am getting so depressed about the prospect of having to cancel or seriously rearrange our holiday because of this bloody volcanic eruption in Iceland. Eion tried to rebook for 10 days time (which means missing the Glasgow and Skye portions of our itinerary) but the airlines won't accept any bookings for the next 2 weeks, and if we try to rearrange things for later than that, we miss all of Scotland and Ireland! So we're just going to sit tight till Monday and hope that the ash and pumice clouds disperse over the next 3 days. But I have a bad feeling that our holiday is stuffed!!! If we can at least get to Europe for the France and London sections of the trip, I suppose that's better than nothing, but it will be such a let down after all the planning that's gone into what should have been a 9 week tour. Eion says it will be hard to add the Scotland and Ireland "legs" after London because it will be high season and transport and accomodation will already be heavily booked, and costs will be much more than what we have budgeted for. Plus we will lose the money we have already committed to train travel, flights and accomodation for Scotland, Ireland and getting to Paris from Dublin. I am seriously miserable!

More chit chat:

The work with the Medical Board didn't eventuate - the doctor concerned failed to give a timetable that would allow me to conduct the review before we leave for overseas next week. But would you believe that a volcano has erupted in Iceland and all air traffic across Europe has been cancelled?? If we can't connect to London next Thursday all our plans for the first part of the trip (to Scotland) will be in a mess - volcanoes can continue to spit and spurt for days!!

Last night I tried Japanese drumming - good fun, but I'm afraid that my sense of beat has gone the same way as my eyesight - deterioration of old age! So I won't be signing up for proper lessons. And I managed to break a bit off one of the big drums ( it was ornamental only, thank goodness!)

Nepal # 4

Anne and I have been communicating via Facebook, and the other day went on line to chat together - after I had mastered the technique: boy, am I dumb sometimes when it comes to technology! She is very much in love with the country and the man who was instrumental in her decision to go there for a year. They have spent some time togther recently while school is on holidays but once she starts teaching it may be months before they can see each other again, as his home is quite a distance from her village. Although I am happy that she has found a spiritual home and a relationship which brings her much joy, I am also a bit sad, as I fear it is doomed in the long term - his family will expect him to marry a Nepalese woman before he is much older and I simply do not know if he can resist that social norm, or even if he truly wants to be with Anne over time.

She has set up her new accomodation and sent photos - she should be very comfortable by Nepalese standards. And school resumes in two days - I'm interested to hear how this goes, but knowing Anne she will be an amazingly good teacher and an asset to the school more generally with her organisational and human resource management skills.

Getting excited!

Only 7 days to go and Eion and I leave on our grand adventure. We fly (cheaply with Virgin) to Sydney first but then we travel Business Class in an A380 to Singapore, and on to London. We're away for 9 weeks altogether - trains and some driving rental cars, visiting Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, France and finishing up with 3 weeks in London which we will use as a base for some day trips or short overnight tours. Of course, Eion has a detailed itinerary for every step of the way, but he has included some "free" days when I can just "veg out". I know from previous overseas trips that I need to do nothing every now and again - I can't be a tourist every day and I do get "museumed out" or "templed out", or in Europe, probably "castled out"! As I've only had a 6 day visit to London mainly for business a few years ago, and Eion has never been there at all, we are both excited at the thought of all the history, culture and modern lifestyle we'll encounter.

We've had a busy last couple of weeks catching up with friends and family for a last social contact with them before we leave. We will keep in touch while we're away - I love writing and sending postcards and Eion has an iphone which will also allow us to email or use my Facebook wall to let folk know what we're up to.

Nepal # 3

Anne has moved into her own little apartment now. She has two main rooms, with a little kitchen and a western style toilet (very important!!) and an outside deck - she calls it a penthouse because it is on the third floor. She has decorated it herself, having bought fabrics for the bedspread, drapes etc. She has already christened the "beer swilling" deck. I hope she sends some photos of the place.