Back to Reality

Well finally after all these weeks, I’m back home.  Thanks to Emma next door, we came back to a very warm, clean home, with milk for a nice English cup of tea and some fresh bread for toast.  Actually, big thanks to Emma (and Jason) because we couldn’t have done this house swap without them.  Emma has brilliantly project managed our house, not just cleaning but sorting and collecting post, paying bills, paying fines and keeping everything generally in order.  So thanks Emma, we owe you big time!!!

Phil managed to slob out on the reclining sofa when we arrived home without any problems but jet lagged as I was, I decided on keeping going.   Not sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing but I over-rode the tiredness and nauseous and kept on going.  So much so, that come night time I was running on overtime.  Just wish I had some of Lynn Ling’s magic valium 5mg pills because cum evening I would have swallowed them. 

The night after landing, I woke up at 8.15am because I had to take my car into the garage.   Phil was still dopey from sleep but I needed him to pick me up and then take me to Tesco’s for some supplies so he had no choice.  I went over for a cup of tea to Emma’s to catch up with cul-de-sac stuff and before I knew it, time had passed and it was nearly lunchtime.  Phil cooked steak and kidney pie with veggies and some mash potatoes and boy, how lovely it was.

I can’t quite remember the afternoon; washing, ironing, paperwork, phone calls and general catching up stuff.  After being away for nearly 4 months, we (or I) are just touching the surface.  There is much more serious stuff to sort, like end of year accounts (times 4) and loads, load more.

My car failed its MOT big time. In fact, so big time, that the guy at the garage suggested that I actually scrap it and buy into the government scrap age scheme and trade for a new one. Unfortunately this is not an option. A) I can’t afford 5 grand to buy a new car, even bearing in mind the scrappage discount and B) Phil wants to teach Georgina in the Ford KA because it’s a great car to learn to drive in and it won’t matter if she crashes it.  And lastly, which I guess is Option C) that even if I could afford a new car then I’d go for an automatic which wouldn’t help Georgina learn to drive.   Luckily the MOT doesn’t run out until the 15^th April which gives me time to find a garage which does body work and welding and pay the 500 quid that it will cost to put it through the MOT and make it road worthy.

As you can tell, it all hasn’t gone smoothly since arriving home yesterday. While Phil slept almost continuously, I got to work on the many jobs to do.   Emma (and I can’t thank you enough Emma) had opened and sorted all of our mail so bar the action stuff, all I had to do, was file the ‘nothing to do’ stuff.   In order to do this, meant I had to lift down the big filing cabinet front the spare room, which I did with caution, but unfortunately I hurt my back.   Do not feel sorry for me though, because I do not deserve any sympathy; when we flew out way back in November I hurt my back in the same place lifting the same cabinet up on top of the cabinet and my back hurt for weeks after.  When will I ever learn that I am not as young or as strong as I used to be????  Boy, it hurts like crazy, but I can’t afford the Chiropractioner and if I don’t do anything stupid, it will heal in time.

This will probably be the last posting from me on this particular blog, which has actually really been Phils' blog and not mine.  Phil, no doubt, will want to do a closure blog on down under giving a summary of our long trip so I will leave the last words to him.  It is his due; god only knows he has spent at least 2 hours a day downloading photo’s and drafting some kind of posting and we have been away for 110 days, so that’s a load of hours,  Well done my boy, you have more perseverance (or is that patience) than me! I think it’s been worth it, but not so sure about our followers?  For us, our blog is a personal journey and something to reflect back on in many years to come and something to show the grand kids (if we have any that is).

And so to the big trip and my final sum up.  Was it worth it? Yeah.  Would I do another house-swap?  Yes, definitely.  Although I say this with some trepidation.  The first house swap in Victoria wasn’t entirely successful.  I didn’t like Berwick particularly and it was too far from Melbourne; also, a 6 week stay was way too long and well, as charming as Jeremy the dreadlock drummer boy was (aka the lodger) I felt that we were intruding on his space and we indeed, felt like the lodgers. Or is that intruders?  There’s loads of other stuff and I don’t think it worked out with Arlene in our house, our first house swapper.  I say that because I don’t want to give a one sided version but I will leave it to Phil to expand on this.

As for our second house swap in Townsville.  Well, yes, for us this worked like magic.  The white house was luxurious, Phil had a great car to drive and we particularly enjoyed the company of Jean and Graham.  Okay, the cyclone happened, the pool overflowed and in general, the weather didn’t work with us but all in all, we had a great stay.  We will definitely stay in touch J&G and the Jordans and if they ever come back to the UK, then they will have a base to stay. Mental note to oneself when (and if) I ever get over this jetlag, I must send some information to Jean about Paris, which I promised I would do. And I will do guys, maybe not this week but soon!

And so, am I glad I’ve done this trip I hear you ask??? Well, the answer to that is both YES and a bit NO.  I’ve learnt with Phil over the years, it’s best not to raise objections when he first has an idea.  I said nothing when he first talked about house swapping across laptops in the NH house and before I knew it, he’d made contact with Arlene and Geoff and had booked fairly cheapish, all-around-the-world tickets.  I wasn’t too worried about the house-swap deal because, after all, over the years, living with Phil, we have house flipped so often, we don’t have anything of value and a home is just a place to lay your hat.  My main concerns with the house-swap, was that our house wouldn’t be good enough for our Australian guests.  It didn’t matter so much with Arlene & co (the first house swap guests) because they only stayed 2 nights but G&D’s house was so luxurious and spacious, I am not so sure that they got the best deal.   Phil did all the negotiations and didn’t lie, but even so, I’m not so sure they were comfortable even though Geoff said they were.

We had some great times.  I particularly enjoyed Byron Bay and meeting back up with Lynn and Mick, Fraser Island was fab as was the Whitsunday’s and I loved Queensland.  Las Vegas took a bit to get used to but three visits and I just about got it, just wished I had a shed load of money to gamble because by the time I left, I was well and truly into it.  It was good seeing Jane & Ian in Melbourne and I personally thought Sydney was spectacular.  If I had one regret it would be that we didn’t do USA at the beginning of trip instead of the last leg and left Bali until the end so we could top up our tans and relax for a week in the sun.  Hey ho.  From talking to the neighbours, the UK winter has been severe and we have got off very lightly.

I felt guilty about leaving the kids and the parents (even they are all grown up) and lots of friends are struggling in the recession that it felt a bit indulgent to go away for so long.  As all my closest girlfriends know, I was anxious about this trip before I went and wasn’t really looking forward to it.  It really wasn’t so bad, and all in all it was a great experience.  As my good friend Lynn Ling said, you only live once and you must enjoy what you’re doing because you never know when your time is up.  And she is so right. 

So what now?  I will let Phil have the last word, because after all this is his blog.  When and IF, I ever recover from this jet leg I suppose I will create a new blog detailing the day to day life of a weary middle aged woman getting to grips with reality, sorting her life out and trying to find someone to employ her and getting back into the grips of a 9-5 routine.  It will, of course, be a private blog and not open to the public, don’t want any future employer to Google me and put them off!  So, I shall email an invitation to my usual followers, but if I don’t include you (apologies for any exclusion) then please email me for access.

My last word: thanks to Emma for all your help; thanks to everyone (especially Geoff) for all your comments. And thanks to everyone that followed us, not just to friends and family in the UK but also to all the new friends in Australia that we have met.  We’ll do our best to keep in touch.  For now, I must go to bed, it’s nearly quarter to 6 and I’ve been up all night.  So goodnight and all quiet from me until my new blog next time next week.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

Home Sweet (small) Home

Well we finally made it back home after our last flight from LA to Heathrow with everything on time. We seemed to be at the airport for about 4 hours too long; I don’t like them getting you there so early for international flights. You seem to be hanging around endlessly, hour after hour so that you can sit on a plane waiting endlessly for hour after hour. Maybe the journey home is always much worse than the original journey to go on holiday. Having hardly slept all the way back we were shattered when we arrived at Heathrow at around 10am as to us it was 4am, probably your lowest point of the day.

LAX airport has most of the shops and restaurants at the front end and only a snack bar at extortionate prices once you have gone through security so it’s best to prolong security as long as you can. We arrived before check in had started so had to queue for about 30 minutes; you can see Claire in the queue with her green coat on if you look carefully. I sneaked off to have a look what was around. About half of the food hall area is under renovation so our choice was limited to Mc Donald’s, Mexican, Sushi, Chinese buffet that looked like it had been there all night without a sign of staff and a proper Diner. We chose Mc Donald’s for some bizarre reason, maybe we weren’t hungry or just wanted one last all American meal. We only had a chicken burger without fries or drink but it was cheap at about $3. They seem to charge a lot for the fries and drink, more than the main burger I think. Anyway, it was just as awful as the normal burgers, if not worse so we won’t be eating there again for several years I hope.

No sooner on the plane and in the air when the hostesses served drinks and food anyway. Have you noticed lately that they will only normally serve you one drink at a time each when they are free? By the time they have got half way down the isle you are ready for another one and can’t attract anyone’s attention until after drinks and the food has been served. Anyway, BA gave everyone two drinks to start with which seems to make much more since. It still wasn’t enough for us but much better than if we had only had one each. I managed to watch “Gran Torino” with Clint Eastwood on this journey; I have wanted to see it for ages. He might be getting old but he hasn’t lost it, good old Clint. The only trouble when watching films on planes is the sound system, I can hardly hear anything they say as its poor quality and maybe my ears have deteriated a little over the years. It was all that loud music as a teenager that did it, and in those days there was no upper decibel limit. I remember after watching Black Sabbath my ears were ringing for two days. They used to have more than one group on at a venue in those days which they should bring back really; we haven’t a lack of groups around. On that occasion, we had Quintessence, Curved Air (Sonia Christina and Darryl Way) and then Black Sabbath with Ozzy. The air was so thick with Joss sticks you could hardly breathe. They also used to have at least two films on at the cinema and maybe news and a cartoon thrown in; you seemed to get more for your sixpence in those days.

We arrived at Heathrow as scheduled and were picked up by our taxi service perfectly. He had Claire’s name on a card but had already sent a text in case we missed it. It is an excellent service and so much more convenient than getting the coach which stops at all the airports in the country on your way back. From Milton Keynes to Heathrow they charge £60 which I think is a real bargain. They charge £65 for a pickup as they have to pay for parking and waiting, and again, I wouldn’t want to do it for that price. The company is at www. airportconnectmk.co.uk . I see that they have been adding more tax to petrol prices while we have been away; no change there then, I suppose its easy money and it has to come from somewhere.

We arrived home and were almost surprised to see the cars still sitting there. The first room I went in was the kitchen and couldn’t believe how small it looked. I carried the bags upstairs and our bedroom was even smaller; the bed didn’t even look big enough for one. I think spending so much time around Australia, where the houses are officially, the biggest in the world and spending time around the USA in hotels and motels has effected our expectations. We decided on an easy day for our first day home but Claire still managed to unpack and wash, file all the post except for the stuff that needed some action. I wonder what she will be doing when not on an easy day.

Our body clocks were low all day and we both nodded off here and there but by the time the evening set in where we should have been going to bed, we woke up and wanted food. We didn’t go to bed until about 2am and still couldn’t sleep for a couple of hours. Anyway, we snatched a few hours and were up by 8.30am to take Claire’s car into the garage for her MOT. A quick trip around Tosco’s to get more supplies to return to find that Claire’s car would cost more than its worth to get through the MOT. Even if we spent money on it this time, it would need even more next year and their advice was to get the £2000 government scrap for it and buy a new car.

Still not quite with it today I’m afraid so will sign off now and have a go to sum up our holiday another day when we are back to normal. Anyway, it’s nice to be home, I think.

Show me the way to go home.....

Not very much action and not a lot to write home about I’m afraid. After all the excitement of Sin City, Hollywood and the Oscars, today has been very quiet, which is just as well I guess because we have a long flight ahead of us tomorrow. The helicopters woke me up very early this morning and I left Phil to sleep and went down to spend some time on the lobby floor. The free tea and coffee was open and I hung around waiting on the washing and drying. Luckily the internet café was open at 7am so I spent some time in there surfing everything and nothing while I was waiting on the laundry. This is the first time we’ve stayed in a Big 6 motel and it has been an experience. Our particular motel just off Hollywood Boulevard is great for the location but it is not the most luxurious, far from it.

Sure the rooms are big (no vomit stains on the carpet which is always a plus) and the sheets are clean and we have hot water. And that’s about it. The front reception staff spend almost all their time kicking out the undesirables (not me) from the lobby who try their luck on the free coffee, internet and I guess, at other times, if they make it into the lift (that is if it’s working of course) to a free bed. I saw all of these things with my very own eyes this very morning as Phil lay in bed sleeping. I will not be sad to leave this particular motel.

When Phil was in the wide awake club I packed up our staff and we both loaded up the car, both not too sorry to be leaving Motel 6. As usual, the LA traffic was horrendous and it took us an hour to travel to the airport hotel that we had booked, even though it was only 25 miles away. Phil is a very experienced driver but I could tell he was anxious winding his way over 6 or 7 and sometimes 8 lanes of the freeway, and boy, so was I. To be honest we could have seen a lot more of LA but the traffic congestion was crap and at the last leg we are a little jaded. It would have been better to do LA at the start of our journey and do Bali at end as a little relaxing treat. Never mind, we live and LEARN. It was a huge relief to reach La Quinta Inns & Suites just a stones throw away from Los Angeles airport. I wasn’t worried because I’d chosen this hotel and had done my research. Trip Advisor reports were excellent and they weren’t wrong. The rooms aren’t huge but they are modern and well equipped and well, although we’ve yet to sleep in the big king bed, so far, all is so good.

We left the luggage locked up with security and drove a couple of miles to the car rental place to drop off the car. The sat nav directed us but I’m sure we would have made our way without it. The return procedure was very easy and we were done and dusted in a few minutes. So very different of our experiences of car rentals back home in the UK. We could have got a courtesy bus back to the hotel but the sun was shining and we decided to walk. Unfortunately it was further on foot than it seemed in the car and took us nearly an hour. Never mind, at least it gave us some exercise for the day. Breakfast-cum-lunch was a one dollar double cheeseburger from Burger King. Not good for the cholesterol but easy on the wallet but no worries; we were desperate and starving. I seem to have lived on cheeseburgers for these past 3 weeks and it wouldn’t bother me in the least if I never eat one ever again. In fact, when I get home, which won’t be a moment too soon, I’m giving up red meat for at least a month!


Check in at La Quinta was friendly, easy and quick; in fact I’d go as far to say, that it was the best customer service we’ve had in LA. We were way too early for check in but we had the room keys and were already unpacked by midday. When I say unpack, that’s really an exaggeration; we don’t really unpack, it’s more a case of getting out the toilet bags and the laptop. When you’re in and out as much as we are, unpacking is just a waste of time.


As I said earlier, I was pleased with my choice of hotel and so was Phil. Only 85 dollars a night which includes free internet, breakfast, a good choice of movie channels and we also have an ice machine and laundry just outside our room. What more could a girl want? The big plus for Phil is the fridge and for me the coffee machine which means I can make a cup of tea as soon as I open my eyes. If you come to LA and have an early morning flight this is definitely the place to stay. We are right next door to a Ramada and a Hilton but these are twice the price.

Phil, quite quickly, got stuck into a movie but I managed to persuade him to take the shuttle bus down to Manhattan Beach. He was reluctant, but eventually agreed and we caught the 1.38pm red bus down to the beach. It only cost 3 dollars a piece (return) and took about 20 minutes. The Manhattan Beach Boulevard was interesting and we ventured down to the pier but it was blowing a gale so I let Phil get a couple of photo’s then we quickly scampered back up the hill to the main strip. Some how and I don’t remember quite how it happened; we ended up in a real local spit and sawdust bar which was pretty awesome. One beer turned into 2 and a complimentary bowl of peanuts and a pleasant way to spend an hour or so. The plan was to eat, but once again, we couldn’t find a restaurant to tempt us so we hopped back on the red shuttle bus which took us in a roundabout way back to La Quinta. And, yes I am plugging it, because it’s a real find. And no I’m not on a commission!

And so, here we are, on the eve of the last day on our around the world trip. As the title of this blog suggests, I am tired and I am ready to go home, and so I think, is Phil. It’s been a truly great ride but we are weary from being on the road. How is that, I’ve been on vacation for almost 4months and I’m more knackered than I was before I set off? How does that work? I have already got my book out and am writing ‘to do’ lists although I think by the time we hit home, the jet lag will have set in and there won’t be much ‘doing’ on Thursday. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, catching up with friends and family, eating home made food and getting back into a routine. Maybe it will only take a few days and I will be fed up of the weather and the rut and will be wishing I’m back travelling (grass is greener and all that). Who knows? Forgive us if we are quiet for a few days, we fly tomorrow and it may well be that the next posting from us will be on Friday (UK time).


We’ve survived this long, so lets just hope we get home safely. As the song goes, “ Show me the way to go home!”............

Universal Studio’s

Once we had got the satnav going we set off for Universal Studio’s which was only a couple of miles away but with plenty of turns to make. The choice of parking is $20 for Premium parking where you are closer and easier to the attractions or $14 for standard parking. Take the standard because everyone parks in the same car park. Before you even get into the studios there are plenty of shops, restaurants and other things to do like a cinema. They even have a Flip Flip shop and a Hard Rock Café; I particularly liked the “Bubber and Gump” shrimp Co as they played Forest Gump all night every night on one channel while we were in Vegas.

We arrived at the Studio gates and the standard price is $69 each but we had an $8 off ticket so we queued up for a while but it didn’t move so we opted for the self service ticket machine but couldn’t use the discount voucher. Our first stop was The House of Horrors but you have to walk through which is worse than a ride because it’s very dark and you don’t know which way to go. We were frightened as things kept touching you and making loud noises and sometimes jumping out in front of you. I won’t be going on that again!

Claire looked good on the Terminator bike and the Simpson’s grabbed me before we went on the Simpson’s ride. They shuffle you from room to room for a while with mild entertainment and then the ride proper starts. It’s one of those where they move your seats around violently whilst showing a big screen where you keep falling and crashing into everything. I must say that they have improved since the first time I went on one of those and I had my eyes shut most of the time at the beginning. Claire loved it but I won’t be going on that again!

They still had the Jaws shark hanging up which they had when I was here last time 30 years ago. They also had a Jaws ride where he keeps attacking the boat but that has finally disappeared. You have to go down plenty of escalators to get to the lower level where all the scary rides are. On the way they had an Apollo 13 set which I liked. The Jurassic Park ride looked the scariest where you go on a boat and get soaked with an 84 foot vertical drop at the end to escape the raptors which have escaped. Most of the Dinosaurs seemed to squirt water all over me; somehow Claire escaped most of them. Luckily our boat wasn’t full so we could sit in the middle so at least we weren’t sitting on a wet seat but every water jet seemed to be aimed directly at me. For me this was the best ride except for the end where you drop down. To make things worse, just before the waterfall drop a T Rex is trying to bite you from above so you are ducking underneath him and are taken by surprise when you fall. They have the customary photo when you are at your worst, screaming with your eyes closed so we didn’t buy it even though we had a laugh looking at it. Thinking about it afterwards, I should have taken a picture of the photo so I could post it.

We also went on the Backdraft feature which was good but you had to stand the whole time but at least there was lots of fire to warm us up as it was a cold day with winds from snowy mountains. We went back up the escalators to the top level and Claire couldn’t walk past the Irish pub but they charged $10 a pint. Naughty Claire stole the pint glasses that they were served in because she thought that the price must have included them. We relaxed and killed 30 minutes before going in the Terminator II 3D show which was excellent. They show it every hour and have actors mixed with 3 large 3D screens and your seats move, you get sprayed with water and spiders run up your legs. Lots of explosions and ducking going on but they have done a very good job of it with Arne riding around the stage on his bike at the beginning and actually drives through the screen where you are transported into the action. Oh, we also went on the Shrek ride earlier where the seats also move around and you have water jets and things tickling your legs. All the rides here are very good and we had an excellent day in the cold.

By this time we were starving and went for lunch at Tony Roma’s which was good value for money and we ate it all. We then had the long walk back to go on the tram which drives you around the Studio’s showing you the sets. Unfortunately they had a fire a while back and lots of it was being rebuilt so it should be even better in a few months time when it’s finished because they have incorporated lots of new technology. There were some good bits like the Mummies Tomb where you appear to turn around inside the cave. Also they have a flash flood and water comes cascading down the hill and I got soaked again. I particularly liked the crashed plane set where they had used a genuine aeroplane and stripped it down to look like a crash and they still had burning parts and lots of detail.

We were worn out at the end of the day because you are walking around all day in the very fresh air and then we had to wait for about 15 minutes while the satnav played up again before finding our way home. Before we left this morning there had been a problem next door with the water and electric supply and workman had been working on it all day. It had been caused by a large tree at the side of the road that had overgrown roots that had broken some main supplies over time. Our elevators are not working so; being n the fourth floor had a lot of climbing up and down to do. We went back to our favourite bar called Little Devils for a couple before retiring to our room for the evening. They have an incredible choice of beer to try and I found one called Bear Republic racer 5 which is an American IPA which is 7% ABV and not bad for $4 a pint. I would come back here again!

Caught up in the Oscars

Luckily we arrived in LA quite early because we were so close, but not without its problems again. The traffic started when the satnav said that we still had 67 miles to go which was the beginning of LA. It was slow going all the way in so we had no problem with speeding fines here. Our friend eventually got us to our Motel 6, which is one of the cheapest that you can get and started out with that name because it was only $6 a night to stay there. That was many years ago and now they cast a little more, especially near to Hollywood Boulevard where we are. Once we arrived, Claire didn’t like this one so we reset the satnav and headed towards her next best choice the Best Western which was only about 2 blocks away but with the traffic took about 30 minutes. They were full up so we drove across the road to a Comfort inn and they only had one room left but it was $151 a night. We looked at the room and didn’t like it even though it was quirky with a spiral staircase and lounge downstairs so we hit the road again for our first choice of the Motel 6. We were nearly wiped out trying to get into the car park but somehow managed it without a scratch.

Once checked in we walked for 30 seconds and we were on Hollywood Boulevard but it was closed with police everywhere and roadblocks on every road onto it; that’s why it took us so long to drive anywhere. We asked a policeman why it was all closed off and he said because the Oscars were on tonight. We asked how to get across the road and he said that we had to walk about 2 miles around a block just to get to the other side of the road; bizarre, that’s why we just winged it and ran across the road. Once there they don’t make you go back but they are just very cross with you, but we are used to that. We noticed all the helicopters hovering above the street and all the strange people everywhere. I’m sure I spotted Elvis down the street and Claire thought she saw Tom Cruise coming out of the Scientology test centre. He must have failed!

All those star things were on the ground that we walked on with famous names and I saw Douglas Fairbanks Junior who I used to like when I was a child along with Tyron Power who used to play Zorro. All the girls used to love them and them and there has only ever been one Zorro. Just like the only Tarzan that counted was Johnny Weisemuller. My Dad always used to call me “Boy” just like Tarzan did to kids so I always felt a connection. I guess that in Germany the word for boy is “Junge” which means boy and that’s why he used it. I saw one homeless guy wipe his feet on one stars name so I guess he didn’t like him.

We stopped for lunch at “The Pig and Whistle” where we had traditional pub fair and both enjoyed it; a great change from the normal burger and fries. It was great to watch all the strange people walk by and all the cars that were allowed down the street; I guess that they were the project managers and organisers because they were all in DJ’s and dresses and we didn’t recognise them. The drinks are expensive on the main strip like you would imagine so we walked back and found a bottle shop and headed back to our Motel. Straight out again on the strip and we stayed for the evening in the “Lucky Devil” where they had an amazing assortment of different beers; I chose an IPA which was 7% and only $5 a pint and we could watch all the cars go by with the extras in; by this time the real stars were in a traffic jam. Maybe they we the producers, all the technical staff and all the tagger’s on but it was a traffic jam again. I was hopping to see Ricky Gervais but we had to settle for snoopy and friends. We also had a mad religious man with a sign that he waved in front of everyone and made them feel uncomfortable and when anyone said anything to him he was very aggressive. We saw the whole world go past us in that bar, even what looked like a very old Marilyn Monroe stroking somebody’s dogs. Speaking of dogs, everyone has a small dog on a lead around here; I have never seen so many.

We had a great night just watching everyone go by and then headed home to watch the stars and results on our TV just a stones throw away while we sampled our bottle shop wines. Lets hope “Avatar” wins through; the best film of the century!