LONDON AND BRIGHTON, DECEMBER 28th 2017 – 8th JANUARY 2018

It doesn’t matter how quick your flight is it still takes all day to travel and getting to our accommodation in London from Munich was no different.

It was a hard day for me as I had unfortunately succumbed to the coughing cold that had spread through our coach tour. So it was with great relief to knock on the door of our Airbnb in Sidney Square and be welcomed in to a warm home.

Our room is spacious and comfortable with a large bathroom attached. The only thing missing is a bath which would be just lovely.

We have use of the kitchen which has been helpful with not spending too much money on eating out.

Although not feeling awesome still want to make the most of our time so on our first full day ventured off on foot to Brick Lane and enjoyed a coffee and look at the vintage markets and generally had a good look see.

We then caught the bus into the Saint Paul’s area and strolled around taking in the Millennium bridge which was blowing a gale so fairly unpleasant. Had a meal of fish n chips as you do when in the UK.

We headed back home and opened a bottle of red and made chilli con crane and rice and thought about our next days adventures.

Although we’re starting off late morning we’re spending as much time out as we feel up to.

The Saturday ended up being a fairly long day as we started off at Trafalgar Square and ended up walking down The Mall past the Palace and finally ended up at The Victoria and Albert museum which is BRILLIANT and we highly recommend a visit there. We definitely need more time there.

Before you know it the end of the year approaches and it was Sunday the 31st December and nothing planned for New Year’s Eve. Having to have tickets to get into London for the fireworks and not feeling that being out in the cold night air is a great idea with my cold and now James starting to cough too. We decided just to go into the city for the early afternoon and be home warm and dry before it got too dark.

We headed to Coventry, Leicester Square, and surrounds and were delighted with all we saw. Unfortunately it started to rain quite heavily and we came home a little earlier than planned but with full intentions of returning another day.

we could hear the fireworks quite clearly from our home in East London but couldn’t see them at all except great coverage on the telly.

New Year’s Day and we decided to walk to Poplar where the tv series “call the midwife”is based on. Actually I don’t think any of the show is shot there but it was an interesting walk anyway. Then we hoped on the train and went to the Tate Modern for a looksie, but not before going to The Anchor pub for a humongous nosh of roast beef with all the trimmings. Best meal we’ve had for a while.

There’s great views from the top of the Tate, but the apartment blocks next door seem almost like another exhibition with their floor to ceiling glass.

Second of January and we headed to Notting Hill Gate and walked Portobello road and then walked over to Kensington gardens. Took a look at The Princess Diana memorial fountain which to be honest was quite underwhelming and resembles a giant street curb.

The gardens are quite lovely though and although the whole day has been drizzling we didn’t let it stop us enjoying the fresh air.

Tonight we’re having a home cooked curry by our Airbnb hosts Jon and Ella. Jon it turns out is quite the cook and has made scones twice and a banana bread as well as home baked bread every day. We’ve supplied the wine and wouldn’t you know our luck at the local shop they stocked the same red we drink at home.

we had a lovely evening and went to bed full of good food and slept in a little the next day, before getting ready to go into the city to catch the matinee of Kinky Boots the stage show which we had booked for knowing that we were going to go on to Notting Hill again to the Churchill arms pub to catch up with a work colleague of James, whom had also left just before James did to travel. He and his wife have been lucky enough to be able to get English passports so can work in the U K no problem. The pub had a great Thai restaurant attached so by the time we got back to our accommodation we had had a brilliant day out. The show was fantastic and such good prices to catch shows in London you would go regularly if you lived here.

Thursday the 4 th January and we hit the trains to Windsor and visited Queenies Castle. What a great day out the town is gorgeous and the castle was superb, we even caught the changing of the guard.

Thoroughly recommend a Day there if you have time.

Friday the 5 th an we were originally going to be starting our second wold cruise from Tilbury, London today except visas got in the way and we cancelled the first 7 weeks and will pick up the ship in Sydney now on the 24 th February.

So with seven weeks till then we booked flights onward but not till the 8 th January so we took the bus to Brighton for the next three nights and couldn’t be happier with our hotel. It has all the comforts we want and in a great size room and James is thrilled to have a bath oh and a tv.

We’re in a fantastic location and straight after checking in we went off walking the streets stopping for a bit of late lunch and walked for several hours. We’ve been here before but only for a day visit so looking forward to exploring a bit more. Hotel includes breakfast so at $105 Aus a night great value for the quality we have.

there’s a great breakfast room at our hotel and it’s included in the price so made good use of the lovely food on offer including cooked breakfast if wanted before we head out for each day.

After our first night sleep and breakfast we took the bus to Eastbourne another seaside town further around the coast towards Hastings. The drive through the countryside is a big factor on going there and scoring front row upstairs gave us a great view.

After a good look around and a great meal at a French patisserie that made beautiful quiche and salads we weren’t hungry for dinner back in Brighton and made do with tea and biscuits and a bag of crisps while watching Midsommer murders on the telly in bed.

Sunday we decided to do the coastal walk which was brilliant and we ended up 5 kms down the road at Rottingdean. This town turned out to be a real find, full of period places and was once the hometown of Rudyard Kipling and some fine little cafe and restaurants and village green and gardens.

We had a traditional Sunday roast beef and Yorkshire pudding at the cutest cottage and really felt like we had enjoyed a great day out.

Took the bus back into Brighton to the shops to grab a few things before heading home for the evening and repacking our bags before we start the trip South towards home the next evening with a plane to Bangkok for five nights and some much warmer weather.

Another chapter in our travels nears its end and we will leave the UK with great memories and be excited to hit the shores of Tilbury in May when our ship docks there and we catch the train to Cornwall and our three weeks in Mousehole.

In the meantime we have plenty to look forward to so keep watching this space.