Days 37-40: Last Days | Around the World in 40 Days

As I write this we are already safely back at home, still can't believe our big trip is now over (a depressing thought!). Our last stop was Vancouver BC, which made my country No.26, or No.23 if you count Scotland/N.Ireland/Wales all as U.K. but I'm sure there are plenty of people who will disagree!

Vancouver was an interesting place, crossing the border on land certainly gave it a different perspective. In many way it is similar to the U.S. and yet different, more relaxed perhaps, certainly when compared to their southerly neighbour Seattle. Again our stay was short so we only saw a glimpse of it.

Caplipano Suspension Bridge is a must see in Vancouver. "Originally built in 1889, Capilano Suspension Bridge stretches 450 feet (137m) across and 230 feet (70m) above Capilano River." There are definitely far superior pictures on the official website, my iPhone camera could not compete, particularly on a overcast day.  I'm sure you can still get a taste of what it is like even from these amateur photos, although if you're scared of heights perhaps this is not for you. But I would still encourage you to give it a try... I'm not a fan of great heights, just walk in the middle of the bridge, hang on to the rails, and don't look down!

If the suspension bridge is too much of an excitement you might prefer the gentle shores of English Bay and Stanley Park.

The totem poles in Stanley Park are amazing, each depicts a story. Creatures often found on totem poles are: raven, sea turtle, thunderbird, eagle, wolf, bear, frog, otter, and killer whale. In the historical Gastown there is a steam clock that whistles the "Westminster Chime" every half hour. We were lucky to be accompanied by our friend Elaine and family, they drove up with us, they even lent us one of their cars so we could save some money. Such is the generosity we found throughout our trip from our family and our friends, without these lovely people our trip would not have been possible, and certainly wouldn't be as much fun.

So that's it, that was the end of our epic tour of the world in 40 days. The return journey was equally epic, the flight from Vancouver to Sydney was 15.5 hours then another short journey of just over an hour from Sydney to Melbourne. Technically we lost one day when we crossed the International Date Line in the middle of the Pacific, but as we were continually going west we only lost what we gained along the way.

The whole trip has been a blast, I doubt we could top that anytime soon. Oh well, maybe when I'm 50 we can do it all over again! But for now, life must get back to normal, reluctantly.

Days 26-28: New York City | Around the World in 40 Days

I still can't believe we are actually in New York, the Big Apple. It's a place one dreams about coming, but being here just makes me speechless. The city is very much full of life, everywhere you turn you sense the energy that make up "The Empire State of Mind", it's everything I'd imaged it to be.

Our stay is very short, only three full days so we had to make the most of it.

Day 1: We went to the Statue of Liberty, unfortunately there was a burst pipe the day before due to the deep freeze so we could only walk around the grounds, but it was still amazing and you get a fantastic view of Lower Manhattan across the water. Then we went to the 9/11 memorial and Empire State Building, we even climbed from floor 80 to 86 because there was such a long queue for the lift/elevator.

Day 2: We walked through Central Park which is only three blocks away from our hotel (Wellington) on 7th Avenue. We found the Strawberry Fields that commemorated John Lennon's life (middle right in the collage above), it's a mosaic arrangement with the word "IMAGINE" at the centre. Then we went to American Museum of Natural History that was featured in the "Night at the Museum". The museum is 10 times better than the movie, we could've easily spent a whole day there. But we wanted to watch a Broadway show so we left early to have dinner underneath the Grand Central Station. OK, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to trudge through the Grand Central during rush hour on a weekday, but we did get a glimpse of what is like in it's true grandeur. Then we made our way to Time's Square and managed to secure four seats for "Matilda the Musical" even though we had to be split up. The show was fantastic, I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in theatre both young and old and anywhere in between. It's based on the same book by Roald Dahl but with a modern flavour, great music, great choreographic, gripping storyline and a brilliant cast. I guarantee you will have a fabulous time... can you tell I love it? ;)

Day 3: Our last day in this fascinating city. The boys were feeling a little worse for ware - J with his deprived sleeps and Elli feeling his sore feet (he's a little flat-footed), so that just left P and myself wanting to fit in more. We went to the Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street and the Vietnam War Veteran's Memorial. There was a consistent drizzle so we didn't linger too much, also we needed to pack our bags again as tomorrow we fly to San Francisco to continue our journey there.

So tara for now, see you in SF :)

Days 20 - 25: Last Days in England | Around the World in 40 Days

Our last days in England was spent with family and friends whom we will miss very much when we leave, we also managed to sneak in a couple of day trips to Cambridge and London.
Cambridge is one of my favourite cities. The architecture is fantastic, the whole city oozes history and culture and yet it is also modern in the sense that it is kept abreast with the latest technology. It also has a vast array of shops ranging from souvenir to designer labels, and of course book shops and markets. Unfortunately we are only halfway through our trip we dared not to indulge in too much shopping, but we enjoyed taking in the sights by meandering through little alleys and along cobbled streets. This visit was intended to inspire them, not that I'm putting pressure on them or anything but it would be a dream come true if one of them could get into a college here.

We met with some very special friends, friends I met during my first pregnancy whom we kept in touch despite our moving away from England. We all had our first child within days of each other, even the subsequent children were born around similar times. One of my friends put this wonderful collage together, it was great to catch up with everyone after many years!

London was our last day trip in England, luckily the weather held while we were up there. When we got to Trafalgar Square I pointed out the Nelson's Column (shown top left in the collage below) to the boys and Jelly replied "Nelson Mandala?" No my dear boy, it was Admiral Nelson. Clearly we need to brush up on some English history. The Buckingham Palace was flying the Union Jack instead of the Royal Standard, which signaled the Queen was not home. So we didn't pop in for tea, maybe next time. We did climb the 311 steps to the top of The Monument (bottom middle in the collage below) that commemorates the Great Fire of London in 1666 that burned for three days and destroyed most of the London that was.

Well, this is the end of visit to England. Last night and this morning we said farewells to family which was the hardest part, hopefully we won't have to wait another seven years to visit again.

Today we leave for New York via Zurich, thankfully the weather that caused severe travel delays to the northeastern states seemed to have subsided somewhat, although more bad weather is being expect in Northern America. But at least for now, we can continue our journey.

Cheerio England, until next time... logging off from Heathrow Airport.

Days 11 - 19: Merry Christmas & Happy New Year | Around the World in 40 Days

Wow I don't know where the days went but suddenly we are in 2014! The last week or so has been such a whirlwind, I can't believe we will be leaving England in 5 days' time.

Our Christmas day was spent with DH's brother and family, they'd put on such a feast - it was a traditional English Christmas dinner of roast turkey with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding and brandy butter (you can't get this easily in Oz!). We all had too much to eat, drank a lot (adults only), and enjoyed playing games which ranged from board games, quizzes to Heads Up.

After Christmas we travelled up to my FIL's house in Beccles, which is a small town in Suffolk county in the East of England, in the area that is known as East Anglia. My in-laws fell in love with Beccles many years ago and they bought a holiday home here and later moved into a larger house that can accommodate all the family. When we lived in England we used to come up for weekends and summer holidays, it has a very relaxed atmosphere compared to all the hustle and bustle of London. The top half of the collage below shows the Beccles town sign, some frosty leaves by the roadside when we took the dog for a walk, and a couple of photos of Great Yarmouth - a seaside tourist destination since the 18th century and one shows the signs that has seen better days.

Of course no visit to Beccles is complete without a trip to Southwold, a seaside town on the coast of the North Sea. Southwold is particularly special to us because it was my mother-in-law's favourite, sadly she passed away fourteen years ago just before her 60th birthday. The family put a plaque in her honour on the Southwold Pier where it faced her favourite spot. In the photo above you can see J polishing his grandma's plaque. The day of our visit was a typical wintry day with chilling wind and rain, but I can assure you on a sunny day the scenery really is quite stunning. 

All the family congregated in Beccles to see the New Year, there were 21 of us all together. It was an evening filled with laughter, food, games, and more food (and plenty of drinks too of course) - occasions like this really make us homesick for England, we miss the family the most.

Today is the New Year's Day, in a few days time we shall continue our journey to America. Next stop: New York City. I've always wanted to visit NYC, still can't believe we are actually going to be there!

In the meantime, Happy New Year!

Days 8 - 10: Meeting Family and Friends, and The Shard | Around the World in 40 Days

Day 8: Meeting with friends and family day

We went to see J's childhood buddy Jordan in the morning.  J met Jordan (who suffers from muscular dystrophy) when they were just five years old at year 1 in primary school. At that time Jordan could still walk but with difficulty, J was his little buddy and they'd been friends since. Jordan's mum warned me that he's quite different from our last visit seven years ago, but she needn't have worried, the two buddies picked it up right where they'd left off as if they'd never been apart.

In the evening there was a family get together, they surprised DH with cards and presents - DH turns 50 in January but his birthday is after we leave England, so he had a surprise party early!

Day 9: Rest day - we did go to see DH's aunt and had tea there, DH picked up some old photos to add to the family tree he's making.

Day 10: The Shard

DH's brothers and sister-in-laws booked the The Shard as a birthday present, so we all went today. The Shard is boasting to be the tallest building in Western Europe, standing at 310m (1016 ft). It's on the south bank of the Thames between the Tower Bridge and London Bridge, it's not far from where I used to work on Union Street. 

The view from the bottom.

The View at the top!

Please excuse the photos, the view was spectacular, only it would've been better if it was a better day. The weather bureau issued a severe warning for after the midday, so we didn't linger. As soon as we came down from The Shard we took the earliest possible train back, which was just as well, as most trains were cancelled in the late afternoon and evening due to storms and strong wind. It wouldn't be fun to be stranded in London just before Christmas!

Oh yes, before I sign off today I have to share this with you - the loo with a view, from the top of The Shard:

-- you can close the blind with the flick of a button, in case you don't want to share the view from the inside :P

Days 5-7: Back in England | Around the World in 40 Days

Day 5: We arrived in London in the morning of 18th December, after a 13.5 hours flight from Singapore to Zurich and another 2 hours flight from Zurich to London - it was a loooong day. But the welcome party meeting us at the airport really lifted our spirits, it's been seven years since our last visit, it's good to be back.

Day 6: Warner Brother's Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter

We really wanted to do this but didn't realise that you had to pre-book the time-slotted tour online. When my SIL pointed it out and we checked the online booking, we found that the earliest available time was 8th January which is the day after we leave England. On an off chance I called the studio in the morning and pleaded our misfortune, the lady answered the phone took my number and said if something came up she'd call me back. I never thought she would but she did, two hours later! She said she'd managed to find some tickets from their corporate partners and could we make it to the studio by 2pm? Oh yes please! So off we went...

"Hogwart" was everything we'd imagined and more, not only we get to see the Great Hall, we also saw thousands of props, costumes and scenes, all were "the real thing" that appeared in the movies. Elli got a special passport to collect special stamps at each location and he had to find snitches hidden at various places.  There were interactive displays showing different types of snow they used, how they made the special creatures like Hippogriff and Dobby the house elf and the Goblins, there's also a display of how they made the footprints in the snow when Harry was wearing the Invisibility Cloak.

Dining table in The Great Hall

The Diary from The Chamber of Secrets

Elli and I dueling - clearly he's faster than I am

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Yummy butterbeer!

We spent four hours in the studio and could have easily stayed for longer if it hadn't been for the closing time. I would definitely recommend this to all Potterites - 10 out of 10!

Day 7: Bricksmas at Legoland Windsor

J had been to Legoland Windsor half a dozen times when he was younger, but he doesn't really remember, Elli has never been. Unfortunately many of the attractions weren't open at this time of the year due to the cold weather. There is a Christmas Special but really it's geared towards a much younger audience than my 16 and 10 year old. Nevertheless Elli did enjoy the visit, especially the laser rides and the Star Wars adventure.

Elli and his Santa creation

Someone was very tired!

It's been a jampacked first week, with Christmas and New Year almost upon us, the next week or so will no doubt be just as busy.

If I don't get chance to update the blog, may I wish everyone a very festive holiday.

Merry Christmas!

Day 4: Farewell Singapore | Around the World in 40 Days

Yesterday we went to the Adventure Cove Water Park on Sentosa Island, it was a fun packed visit. I thought we would only be there for 4/5 hours but we stayed for the whole day, and still someone (i.e. Jelly) was not happy when we had to leave at closing time, because he didn't get around to do the Splash Works and snorkeling at Rainbow Reef.

We don't have a waterproof camera so I didn't take any photos, but we do have some bird's eye view photos from the day before when we took the cable car.

Whirlpool Washout & Spiral Washout

The water park was a big hit, we all had a lot of fun. The only problem we found was at the end, if you decide to stay till the closing time you risk of having to queue up for a very long time to get showered and changed. I queued for 30 minutes for the shower and during that time only 2 people came out, can't understand why someone would take so long to take a shower. In the end I gave up and just went to a toilet cubicle to get changed without a shower.

In the evening we went back to the Marina Bay Front to watch the laser light show, we read some rave reviews on Tripadvisor that it was really worth seeing. It was alright but nothing special, I certainly wouldn't call it spectacular. But the setting was nice, the bay front was a beautiful place and the ambiance quite amiable.

laser show at Marina Bay Front

Singapore is a lovely place, it certainly has made an impression, even though we're only here for a very short time. This is a city that never sleeps, it is clean, efficient, very well organised and with extreme commercialism at it's highest status.

So that was Singapore, today we pack our bags and fly to London via Zurich.

Day 1: Departure | Around the World in 40 Days

After years of saving, months of planning, it is finally here. Today is the day.

This is our route map. First stop: Singapore.

We will be in Singapore for three days, the weather does not look good. Let's hope there are gaps in between thunderstorms so we get to do some of the touristy things!

This is us all set to go!