I ❤ NY

so yes .. we arrived in new york.
braved the 45 minute bus ride from JFK into the heart of manhattan.

we had 5 days to cram in as much as possible (including a bit of shopping for things that nell might need on a day to day basis).

day one
first order of business was a drink - even before we showered after our flight across the Atlantic! our first night we mucked around our neighbourhood - pretty much Times Square. went to the Havana Club for mohitos and then back later for dinner.

day two
found the olympic cafe for cheap breakfasts.
as it was threatening to rain, we went to the Museum of Natural History. loved it! kept hoping something would come to life like in ben stillers film. i really wanted to see the egyptian exhibits but was content with stuffed animals, the american indian hall and the dinosaurs. and TRex is not in the grand lobby either!
even though it was raining, we had our umbrellas so we took a stroll through central park - found some lunch and ended up near the salon where nell was going to have her hair permanently straightened. we went in to enquire and ended up with both of us having colours done. i hated mine by the way - it was far too dark.
that night we went to a $9 comedy show at Ha!

day three
back to the olympic for breakfast. had pancakes and syrup. and discovered i have a thing for grape jelly.
went into the gray line office and bought 48 hours of tour tickets and entry into some of the sights. jumped on the downtown bus and went past things like madison square gardens, empire state, flatiron building, through greenwich village on the way to battery park where the ferry to Liberty island and the statue of Liberty leaves from. i expected her to be larger!
had hotdogs and pretzels on the island.
on the way back, a lovely man called Alfred from Santa Lucia told us all about Ellis Island and his experiences of 9/11. we completed our loop and went home to the Belvedere.
got a message from the salon - they could fix my hair that night - so i took off for a couple of hours to become me again.
went to Lindys on 53rd for steak and cheesecake. YUM!
a real american food day but i couldnt do it every day.

day four
a lovely day.
the weather channel has become a bit of a fixture for us. did you know that you can have many forms of drought. extreme and then 1% higher is exceptional?!
back to the olympic for breakfast.
went and watched the first hour of nells japanese treatment for her hair. then i jumped on the subway and went to south street station to catch the bus to brooklyn. going over the manhattan bridge on the top of a double decker open topped bus freaked me out!
we tried to go to chinatown for dinner but ended up in little italy.

day five
best looking day in new york so far.
back to the olympic for breakfast.
we went off to the Bronx zoo for the day. getting outside and walking around was lovely. warm and sunny - not unbearable at all. the zoo was awesome - especially the polar beer and the gorillas. you can even choose which animal charity to donate your entry fee to.
after the zoo, we caught the subway back to Times Square to try once more for cheap show tickets - and we got them! Monty Python Spamalot for about $60 each (the hotel quoted us $170 each).
we bought a 6 pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager and went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and then hit the show. it was very very good. quote true to the film the Holy Grail as well.

day six
last minute shopping for souvenirs and then back to the hotel for a pre train beer.
okay it was rather early but we had to finish the sam adams and we had a 4 hour train ride ahead so we couldnt get in much trouble.

so we're off to boston.
we have photos and will post them soon in another blog.

British Airways SUCKS!!!

Just thought we would let you all know that we are in New York.
I am Luggage-less.
After all the stories about Heathrow and lost luggage, here I sit in Tara's clothes, and shoes....

British Airways is being particularly retarded about my luggage and it's whereabouts, they keep threatening to send it back to New Zealand. I think I will be lucky to ever get it back.

Oh well, off to buy some deoderant and underwear.

our BOB

our rental car was a Vauxhall Corsa.

we called him BOB. he was a Bit of a Bubble.

bob wasnt the speediest - 0 -70 mph in about 4 minutes - but he didnt break down.

bob took us around the United Kingdom - 1085.4 miles to be exact.

And back again

Having had more than our fair share of alcohol in good old Edinburgh, we decided to leave what was left to the Scots, and headed for the Lake District. Getting out of Edinburgh was a lot easier than getting in, Tara was navigating this time, so maybe that was it.

Tara was happy to let me decide where in The Lakes we would spend that night and I immediately said Lake Buttermere. I had spent a night there many years ago and remember it being the quintessential Lake District lake. We found the guesthouse I had previously camped in front of and booked a room there, at £30 per person per night - not bad for that area. We unloaded our gear and then headed to Buttermere town for some food...

and beer.

An early night for us, and me finally starting Harry Potter, had me up at 6am to take a walk around Lake Buttermere, it is about 5 miles all the way around and took me 1.5 hours. It was as beautiful as I remembered it.

The Lake district is, so far, my favourite place in the whole world, scenery wise. It literally take my breath away every time, and I have been there about 5 times now. I don't think any trip to England will be complete for me without a visit to The Lakes.

After breakfast we went to Lake Windermere, booked into a guest house there - at £26 per person - and then went exploring. We ate at a restaurant called Sutherlands, because it would be rude not to.

We took the ferry boat to Riverside to go to the fresh water Aquarium. This is the only good photo I have from the boat, perhaps Tara could post one with some scenery in it.

Once we got back to Windermere it was beer and food,

before buying some refreshments to drink while we watched TV,

and after a few drinks... PARTY IN ROOM FOUR!!!

The next day, our mission was to get as close to London as possible, via Wales. It was a long drive, about 8 hours, and we felt as if we just dipped into Wales for lunch, even though we were driving through it for about 4 hours.

Our final destination was decided as Oxford, and we got there at about 7pm. We unloaded, freshened up a bit and then went to find a quiet supper somewhere.

We ended up in a latin american restaurant called Las Iguanas. We did eat, but we also had a bit to drink.

A pitcher of beerand 3 pitchers of cocktails.

Luckily neither one of us suffered a hangover this morning and our drive back to London was quick and rather uneventful. We said goodbye to Bob, more about him later, and made our way back to Acton. The UK leg of the trip is pretty much over now, just a few more catchups with friends here in London and then we're off the the US.

Och Aye

nell tried to tell me that i would need my passport to get into scotland.

shes not very good with the pratical jokes but i have nearly 6 months to train her up.

we did the essential stop for photos at the border and were greeted with bagpipes.

i am very very very very very excited about going to scotland.

got in to Edinburgh about half past one and finally parked the car around half two. damn one way streets! dropped our bags at our serviced apartment (very flashpacker) and went up Rose Street for a beer.
we were told that the Fringe Festival would have finished by the time we arrived - but haha! no! we bought tickets for PamAnn - the bitchy airline hostess - who was quite hilarious and whilst sitting outside we met a very talkative man from BBC Radio 2 who gave us free tickets to a free show by Alan Carr and Friends.

The next day we bought tickets for the vintage tour bus (Mac Tours) and we rode around Edinburgh. We jumped off at the Castle and went in for a couple of hours. Its very majestic set into the volcanic rock of the hillside.

Went into the Scottish War Memorial in Crown Square. Quite awesome .. got a bit teary in front of the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders section.

We waited for the one o'clock gun and i'm sure i squealed.

Went through the Whiskey Tour after we left the Castle - 8 different types to test - YUMM!

Went down to the Fringe Office and bought tickets for the Sound of Music in Drag and then got back on the bus and finished the tour and then to avoid the rain we went to the pub.

We hung around town for the show to start so we got back on the bus and went up to near where the show was and went to the pub.

Whilst we were waiting, we got to making shit up. We created the four rules of Mayhem now appearing in a sidebar near you.

the show was pretty funny - but we think it could have been a little better. there is a lot more in the Sound of Music that can be made into a gay joke.

we bought kebabs on the way home and scored a beer from the bar across the road.

the next morning we punished ourselves with a walk up to Nelsons Monument and the unfinished Parthenon (Scotlands disgrace).

and we're off ......... down to The SOUTH.

To ... The NORTH

after a great time in Leeds and York and catching up with friends, we started to make our way north. originally we werent going to Edinburgh but we were told on no uncertain times by Sarah (Piki) that we had to visit. so being the good girls that we are .. we're doing what we are told.

we drove to Edinburgh over 2 days.

we meandered through the Yorkshire Dales up to Malham. we went and checked out the Gordale Scar and walked up to the waterfall that we had seen on the map. had a close encounter with a Yorkshire farmer in his 4x4 (mmmmm). the countryside is gorgeous. love the hills and the way the heather makes them purple. love the little towns and the old buildings too. a bit like New Zealand .. but not.

had dinner about 4:30pm - the Wensleydale Heifer in West Witton makes the best fish and chips and pureered peas.

nell really really really wanted to spend the night above a pub. in Richmond we found the Black Lion. so we stopped there. had a wander .. and went for a pint. we bought pints in the pub and took them upstairs (to bed!) and watched the Mask of Zorro.

after running away from the breakfast guy at the Black Lion, we jumped in Bob and headed for Edinburgh via some smaller and very very tight roads. The Golf would have eaten them up!!

Took photos underneath the Cockfields and West Auckland town signs ... very mature!

sidebar updates

please be advised that the sidebar is being updated up this time.

the international women of mayhem have decided upon the following :

there are 4 corners of the rules
1. Calories
2. Alcohol
3. Men
4. Other

ye olde trip to York

MORE BEER !! ??

oh my god we are drinking alot.

sam and martin took us to york for the day - with her sister Our Rachel and her partner Steve. we caught the train from Leeds. I have to say that i am loving the public transport in England !

York is gorgeous.
Tiny cobbled streets, the river, lovely bridges, bowed buildings, all very close together (we walked around The Shambles) - loads of flowers and churches and .... pubs.

5 - 10 minutes of sightseeing. 11 hours of drinking.

we did the Cellars, Slug and Lettuces, Kings Arms, Golden Lion .. oh my god i cant remember all the places we went to.

we were joined later in the evening by Dermot and Little Pete. i'm just going to add the photos and let them speak for themselves.

but we missed the train home ....

White Van Man day

So nine in the morning was a little optomistic for the car pickup. But we got it in the end and headed out of London in our Vauxhall Corsa at a quarter to twelve.

The motorway was rather boring, so I decided to spice things up a little by flirting with the drivers of the other vehicles. I "clicked" a White Van Man and regretted it a few moments later when he pulled up next to us again asking for my phone number.
Hint for motorway flirting: Pick a car that is slower than you.

There were several other incidents involving White Van Men thorughout the day, turns out they get bored too.

We were making our way towards Leeds to visit with Sam and Martin, a couple we let in Fiji in October. A stop in Nottingham was required, however, in order to drink a pint in the oldest pub in the country.


I found a notice that explained where the name of the pub came from.

So basically, they made it out of the gate and around the first corner before they had to stop for a pint.

And they were all short...


After the pint, we made our way through typical English traffic to Leeds - it took us 2 hours to make a 45 minute journey.
Sam and Martin made it all worthwhile though with their smiles and hospitality and a crate of beer, which we promptly emptied.

Catching up is dangerous

I spent the few days that Tara was away in Paris catching up with some of my friends in London.

Bradley and I went to the Natural History Museum on the Tuesday and then ended up back in the pubs with his friend Matt till closing time. I just made it on to the tube back to Acton Town an actually had a kebab when I got out of the station. How London can you get?





Then Bradley and I had a bit of a day off, what with the hangover and all, but I met up with Angiolo that evening. I went to Chiswick with him and we dined next to the river - how very civilised - at a pub - keep to what you know. After learning how well he was doing for himself, I insisted he pay for dinner. Bloody ridiculous London salaries, almost makes you want to go back. Almost.


Bradley and I met up again the following morning for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We managed to see the Guard and the Marching Band getting ready and walk towards the Palace, but by the time we got close to the palace we ralised we had come a little late and there was no way we could get a view of what was going on in there. So we went to Green Park instead and sat around chatting in the glorious English sun for a few hours.




That evening, after Tara's long awaited return from Paris, we caught up with some more friends in London, all of these were people we knew from Vodafone in New Zealand. Mike and Pia, Nicholas, Dan and of course Bradley. We met at the Puzzle Pub on Acton High Street and after quite a few pints, we moved on to the Redback where we met Ewi and his flatmates David and Cormia. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the guys, we were all to busy talking and getting up to speed, but I have some photo's of the end result of the evening...





Tara and I were supposed to fetch our hire car at nine the next morning.
I'll save that story for the next blog.