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Uganda

This was a trip we had booked in 2019, to run in the 2020 Uganda Marathon. We were supposed to fly out in May, but in March, were obviously told it was postponed due to Covid.

Two years later than planned, here we go! We had quite a few hoops to jump through before leaving. Yellow Fever vaccine for all, rabies, typhoid, anything that can kill you really! We had to get PCR done for the kids. Vaccinated travellers were fine, but our flight was going via Kigali, Rwanda, and they wanted us to have a Lat Flow! Me and Char had one done. Also had to get anti malarials. They’re quite expensive, but better than getting the malaria!

Flew with Brussels Airline. Meh. Only good thing (for us) was that the plane broke about two hours from Rwanda, and they said we had to go straight to Entebbe, Uganda! Result!

Entebbe

We had booked a place called Gorilla Africa Guesthouse, as recommended by the company we are doing the marathon with. Very basic room, but friendly and accommodating staff. Kids loved it there, especially Stan, who made friends with everyone, guests, and workers, and left them with a smile on their faces.

Over the three days here, we did a couple of days out. First one was to Nakiwogo Ferry crossing port. Not to see that really, more to see Lake Victoria, but also to see the sights on the way. It was awesome. Totally different way of life. Chickens and goats roaming around, motorbikes carrying three people at a time, shops selling shoes and bananas, or chickens and bread. Everyone waved and said hello, no one was harassing us to buy from them, it was a lovely experience.

And then it rained. And rained. It is coming to the end of the rainy season, where it heavily rains for a bit, and then gets sunny again. But not today. We found an empty shop to hide in, under the corrugated roof. Half hour later, the guy in the shop next door saw us and invited us in. His shop sold drinks and potatoes. We bought a drink.

After this, we continued, as the rain had slowed. Finding somewhere to eat was difficult as it wasn’t always obvious if they sold food or were just having their packed lunch! We looked at a couple but didn’t know what they sold. It was like rows and rows of dilapidated beach huts, where they had things out the front, and inside was a table or two.

We ended up joining a family for lunch and ordered some rice and beef stew. Me and Stan had the beef and rice, Char and Amelia stuck with plain rice. Stan loved it! Ripping meat off a bone. Then the lady picked his meat out of the bowl, and pulled off some fatty bit, and then gave him back the beef. Imagine that in Pizza Express or summat!

Entebbe Zoo

The next day, we went to the Zoo. Or the Ugandan Wildlife and Education Centre. We wanted to do a ‘behind the scenes’ experience, but when we got there, the Visa machine was broken, and didn’t have enough schillings to pay. So, I asked the bloke if someone could take me to the ATM, and a dude turned up on a motorbike to take me. No helmets or anything, and off we went.

The zoo was ace. We had a guide called Geofrey, who took us round all the animals, into the animal enclosures, feeding them and that. The lions were ace. I felt his breath on my arm through the fence. Fed a rhino, giraffe, chimps, monkeys, and the highlight for ne was to stroke a shoebill stork! Man, they are ace!!

Then popped to the beach there, on Lake Victoria. We have seagulls who are shits and steal chips and that, but they have Maribou Storks! They are massive and well ugly. Funny though.

Masaka

Next day, we took a three-hour minibus ride to Masaka. The ‘marathon experience’ was now beginning. All organised and planned by them, so it was nice to be told where to be and when, even if it was on Ugandan time, meaning 12ish, instead of 12 on the dot.

Stopped at the equator for a bit, had some nice pics, and did some haggling in the shops. Dude wanted 30,000 schillings for a football top, we said 25,000, he said no, we said ok bye, he said ok 25,000. Weird that we were arguing over £1.20 or whatever!

Arrived at the hotel, which was luxury compared the lodge we had been staying in! Met a load of other people on the same adventure as us. Norwegian, German, USA, Spain, Hungarian, and a load of Brits. Everyone seemed nice, apart from a few who were a bit grumpy and not in the same spirit as everyone else! Weird.

Stan loved being around all these new people. He would just run off and chat to whoever, and they all loved him! Amelia was a bit shyer, but still enjoyed getting involved in things. All our meals were there, like a hot plate situation and you would go up and get what you need. Every day, there was always matoke. Matoke for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Matoke is banana, but a cooking type. Imagine a cooking apple, that you’d never eat off the tree – it was like that but didn’t taste of apple. Or banana really. It was more like a mash potato that was just a bit blander. They absolutely love it out there though! A staple food, national dish type stuff.

Over the next few days, we went out on various trips in smaller groups. We had picked who we wanted to assist and went to different places around Entebbe. The first we went to was a school/orphanage. It was a lovely day for us, but it seemed like a massive day for them! We were greeted by about fifty kids, and they put on a show, and did some singing, and spent time eating with them, and so so much playing. We then obviously waited for the hottest part of the day to start digging holes and moving earth, to get a slide and a roundabout put into holes, and then made-up cement to set it in. Lots of breaks to play throughout though. Stan and Amelia played along, and Amelia got to hold the babies that were there. Really lovely day.

Another visit was to one of the main sites that the charity has assisted – plastic recycling warehouse. This was a newish site, where they were still building parts of it. We did a round robin to help do different things, but my favourite bit was digging out a garden, and making a sustainable place to grow crops. It was bloody knackering, breaking rocks in the hot sun. I found a goat, which I picked up and had a pic with. He was cool.

The next day, we did an amazing parade through Masaka. It was part promotion for the marathon, and part litter pick through the roads. There was a vehicle with music and a microphone, which Stan kept jumping in and chatting to people on! It was a lovely atmosphere, with plenty of smiles. We did a few early morning runs around the area too, so was nice to be able to slow down and see things, rather than just panting through.

We visited the main recycling centre for plastics – Ecobrix. This place was amazing. It employed people, it took plastic off the street and from Lake Victoria, processed them, and made things using little pellets which were then moulded into things. Everything from plant pots, to earrings, to paving stones and even park benches! We helped make a path using the bricks, and also made some benches, which were like level 10 Ikea flat pack stuff! Amazing though, seeing ‘single-use plastic’ being turned into something that can be used again and again.

The marathon itself was horrendous! So hot, so tiring. The worst bit was it was two loops of 13.1 miles. The first half marathon I did a decent time, of 2 hours, which wasn’t bad! The second half took me 4 hours though, which is fairly long! The hills were horrid, with one being called ‘the beast’. The pictures do not do it justice. There were loads of locals doing it too, including a Prince of some sort. I think he beat me by a fair bit. There were people running in jeans, flip flops, and one guy in football boots! The ground was solid, so God knows how he got around. A lot of them did the 10km, which was wise. Charlotte and the kids did the 10km, which is bloody ace.

It was such a great day, and such a good end to 10 days of loveliness. The people we met along the way, the volunteers, the people who took care of everything, were all such great people. The kids saw a part of the world that not many kids would see, saw cultures and ways of life that would not be seen, and immersed themselves in it. They tried foods that you can’t get from KFC or McDonalds, played with kids from a deaf school, danced with people shaking their booties, and ran away from cows walking down the road.

My daughter Amelia holding a smaller child

It’s a lovely country, but one that has a different mindset to the LGBTQ+ community, that does not align with my views. A year after coming back, they passed a law that made it illegal, and persecuted many who can not now be themselves. I am grateful for the time I spent there with my family, but we will not be returning anytime soon. The work the charity does is amazing, and they have helped so many people in poverty, who have very little, and have improved the local area, and I’m happy that we left a tiny mark on that little part of a lovely country.

Red brick building, with a hole, and a child peering through, smiling.

Seville

A bloody early start this one. With a 0720 flight, that means we had to leave home at 0230 as it was from bloody Luton. My least favourite airport. Last time we went, they were doing it up and there were road works galore. I managed to get three hours sleep before bundling the kids in the car, hoping they would sleep till we arrived at the car park. They almost did.

Luton Airport

The airport inside is actually decent. Nice shops and not too busy today. Had a Starbucks. Got called to gate, queued, got on plane. Nice and easy. Staff on the plane were a bit rude, which was weird. Bonus was, I had two spare seats next to me!

Landed at Seville. Not a massive airport. Got out after a bit of a queue. Jumped on an EA bus, costing €4 to the city centre. Taxi would have been about €25. Bus was full, but it was fine.

Our AirBnB wouldn’t let us do an early check in, from the 1400 they wanted. They asked for €20 to check in before this time, which was a no from us. We wheeled our carry on suitcases to a cafe/restaurant thing, had some toasted sandwiches and drink, and then walked through the city to get to our apartment.

Alameda de Hercules

Had a bit of a chill before heading out. Didn’t want to do a full on day out as we’d been up for ages. Walked to Alameda de Hercules, a big public square with a couple of Roman columns at either end. It’s alright, nothing too special. Apparently it’s the oldest public square/garden in Europe, at nearly 600 years old or something.

Kids played in a tiny park, where we saw one Dad reward his angry hair-pulling son with some banana each time he ran back with a clump of someone’s hair in his hand. Awesome.

Little fountain thing next to it. Kids ran in it, got soaked. Awesome.

Independent Shops

We then had a walk to find ice cream. That’s the great thing about Seville-everything is in walking distance. There are touristy horse and carts around, and a tram, and scooters to rent. Fair few folks ride a bike around, lots of mopeds zooming down narrow streets. I also like all the shops, well, not all the shops. That’s impossible to like them all. What I find nice is that they are all independent. No Greggs or Costa, or Top Man and Primark. Not even a WH Smiths equivalent!

Wooden Mushroom

Continued on to see the wooden mushroom as it’s called here. I don’t know what it’s actually called, hang on. Oh it’s Las Setas de Sevilla, which means Mushroom of Seville or something. It’s a weird wooden sculpture that you pay €5 to go up and have a nice view of the city. It’s actually nicer from street level to look at. There were some dudes skateboarding underneath, and some kids sliding down it’s white curved wall. It was ok.

Popped to a supermarket on way home, to get our usual staples of pasta, fruit, biscuits and cereal! It’s the way we keep costs down on these types of holidays. Came home, had pasta and sauce and salami and peas, bathed the kids, and off to bed. Bit cold in here, but have put the heating on!

City Sights

Late start to the first morning here. Mixture of early yesterday and late night. Nice to have a relax though! Left the apartment, and found some lunch. On the way, we went through a square called Plaza del Salvador which was well busy. Locals just having a catch up at the terrace. Me and Meelie saw 4 dancer types, and had a picture with them. They were just sat on the steps of the church, like models waiting for pictures.

Women in the background proper ruined this pic. They wouldn’t move.

Carried on down the street to Banco de Espana, with its two massive square trees outside. This is next to Avenue de la Constitution, which is a lovely wide street covered in sunlight. Saw a street band at El Arenal. It’s a spot where flamenco, buskers and performers stop off to earn some cash money.

I love this pic, just forgot to make it a bit lighter.

Next it was on to the Golden Tower, alongside the river Guadalquivir. Nice little spot. We crossed the bridge into Triana, which was historically the poorer side. Architecture is noticeably different, as was the lack of tourists on that side! Bit of a waste of 10 mins, but was different!

Plaza de Espana

Crossed a different bridge back into normality to find Plaza de Espana, after walking through a bit of María Luisa’s Park. Bloody lovely. Best bit of Seville for me. Firstly, the park is really nice. Loads of different bits of gardens here and there, weird trees with mega roots, benches and ponds and tiles. There’s horse and carts knocking about, folks in peddle buggy things. Then, you see the Plaza thing and it’s magnificent.

A big curved building, with bridges over a moat type thing, massive fountain in the middle. Boats on the moat! Row boats. We thought it looked fun, and at €6 for 35 mins, we thought we’d have a go! I now know that the row can be said both ways! Ha, we would row and then row a bit! And then row some more. We weren’t very good at making it go straight, well, I wasn’t. Speaking of straight, we kept seeing men dressed in leathers, with the ‘police’ uniform on. Then some more with ‘Mr Leather Italy’ or Austria on a sash. There were about 100 men in leather, like a convention for leather-clad men! Just added to the awesomeness of the place.

We spent about an hour and a half just walking round this bit. Would defo recommend you go here. We tried getting a horse and cart back to the centre but, but was well expensive. Wanted €45 to take us round a bit. It’s a 10 min walk really. Another guy then said ‘what about €20?’ We tried for 15 but we were both too stubborn to budge. So we walked.

Headed back home in the dark. Saw Jesus carrying a cross. One of those ‘static model’ people. Put some change in his pot hoping he’d save me or something, but no luck. He was good mind! Didn’t see him move once.

He wasn’t cross that Stan was making fun of him

Charlotte’s Birthday

New day, new dawn. I say dawn, we didn’t leave the house till midday. Nice having not much to do or planned! It was a Sunday after all. It was also Charlotte’s birthday, and she does like a sleep! Gave her some presents. Forgot to get her a card, so bought a post card the day before. Nice reminder though right!? *Edit – turns out it wasn’t! She went on for weeks after this!*

Went out and found some food. Opted for pizza. I love pizza. Got three between us. I ate one to myself, and the other three could have shared one as didn’t eat much!

At first, we sat down in a restaurant. It had a menu which catered to all languages. I normally find these suspicious, and my suspicions which were aroused were right to be suspicious. A quick trip advisor look found them to be restaurant number 2,300 out of 2,500 in Seville! No thanks! We moved on. Ate in Piano Piano just down the road instead.

Picked an orange off a tree. Not sure if it’s allowed, but we did. So lovely seeing oranges on trees everywhere! Seville oranges! Stan peeled one, juice everywhere, smelt so good, but he wouldn’t eat it as his hands were well minging from the juice!

Walked around the wall of the Alcázar, looking for a way in. Found the exit, then the entrance. Stared queueing but then saw it was free on a Monday, so went to the Cathedral instead. There are also free tickets here on a Monday too, but thought meh.

Cathedral

Quite nice this Cathedral! It dominates a lot of the streets, and quite rightly as it’s the biggest gothic cathedral in the world!! Huge. Inside is nice. Very cathedralesque. We went up the Giralda, which I think used to be part of the mosque. Was quite an Islamic place here back in the day. The cathedral used to be a mosque, but it converted a while back. I knew people could convert, but didn’t know buildings could! We walked up the tower, to the bells bit. Fair old walk too! No steps, just a ramp that goes all the way up. We arrived at 1550, and waited the ten mins hoping to be deafened by the 4 chimes. We weren’t. It was quite an anti-climax.

Chris Columbus

Oh, the other cool thing about the cathedral is, it houses Christopher Columbus!! Obvs he’s dead, but his tomb is there. We saw his statue in Barcelona, pointing the wrong way. In New York the other week he has a place on a roundabout, pointing the wrong way. And he somehow ends up in Seville!? Apparently he sailed from Seville to find the New World, which is why he is ‘buried’ here. Not actually buried though as he’s being held aloft by four blokes!

Went for a walk, saw some shops. I know I’ve already said it, but it’s one of the cool things about Seville-everything is in walking distance. And you get to work out your bearings pretty quickly too, despite the windy narrow paths, and places looking the same. Went home, had a play on the terrace. It’s cool-fake grass, a view across the roof tops, and the cathedral. Nice when the sun is going down.

Final day today. AirBnB hosts are being a bit unkind and not letting us store bags anywhere so we are leaving them in a place in the centre. €5 to look after a bag seems fair. Booked tickets to go to the Alcázar, and that’s where we are heading first.

Alcazar

After getting up and ready, and the cleaners coming in bang on 1100, we walked to bag drop and then to the Alcazar. It’s sort of like a palace from back in the day. Nice gardens and rooms and tiling and that. They are really good at tiling. As we had booked tickets online, we could ‘skip the line’ which was nice. I saw pics of the queue being well big! Maximum of 750 people in at a time. It also has the oldest tennis court in Spain there too, even though it’s not there anymore. Weird claim that. Like me claiming to have the worlds oldest unicycle, but not having it on me.

Had some lunch after this. Now, I know it’s not very Sevillian but, we had our first ever Taco Bell. It was nice too! Would 10/10 have another one.

Walk down to the river, bit of a chill watching the boats. Kids had a run around by the Golden Tower and then headed back. Picked bags up, waited for the EA bus. Bloody woman charged us for the kids too! Guy on the way on didn’t. What a swizz.

Sat in airport for a bit, got on flight. Used the ‘fast-track’ as Stan is 5 so still gets into the bracket! Bit of a queue behind us. As we started boarding, a woman who had been sat down while we were stood in the queue tried pushing in front of us, then let another woman push in front of her! Char gave her side eyes, then told her to get back. Had a bit of assistance from people behind us too. Bloody cheek!

Plane was fine for EasyJet. Nicer staff on way back. I finished the 2nd Adam Kay book, ‘Twas the night shift before Xmas’. Great books he has. My favourite bit was the Power Rangers bit. I cried laughing last night at that bit!

Really nice trip

All in all, great little trip. It could be done in 2 days truth be told. We had lazy mornings, and a chilled outlook about it all. Not too much to do and see, especially for kids. Buildings are lovely, people are friendly, food is nice. City is lovely and much nicer than Barcelona, even though I’d happily go back to Barca over Seville I think. Yeah I would. Not that it’s a competition or anything. Mucho gracias etc.

New York

This has always been on my ‘to visit’ list. It’s just a magical place where dreams are made etc. As always, Charlotte was the driver behind this one. ‘I’ve found cheap flights’ and ‘can I book this’ are her two favourite phrases. I’m glad she booked this one though.

A lot of this trip was in the planning. New York is massive, with so many things to see and do. We had a ‘must see’ list, and then I found a load of things which I knew we’d all want to see. About 80% of people who I told about this trip asked if we were taking the kids with us. Yes, is the answer. Of course, it would have been a completely different itinerary if we didn’t, but we can always come back another time!

Flights

We had booked flights with British Airways, and I was excited. I put BA up there with maybe one of the best airlines in the world-prestige, quality, great service. Oh no, not this time though because we actually flew with airline giants, Evelop! Yeah, I hadn’t heard of them either. BA had given this flight to them until January while they serviced their planes or something. What a swizz.

It was like flying with EasyJet for 8 hours. Had one cup of coffee. Food was weird. Amelia’s TV broke, so they turned mine off, and the woman’s behind me, who wasn’t happy about it. Film selection was weak. Just general rubbish flight!! I would say ‘never again’ but we have to fly back with them.

Landed at JFK, and the queue for immigration was MASSIVE!! Took a bloody age. We then got a taxi to our hotel in Brooklyn and we were tired. Landed at 2000 US time, which is 5 hours behind UK. We would have got a train to keep costs down, but as it was late, and we didn’t fancy trying to find which way to go, we got a taxi.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn was the choice for a couple of reasons. Main one was cost. Manhattan over New Year’s Eve wasn’t cheap. Initially, we booked an AirBnB, which was lovely, but we then changed to a hotel as we got a free breakfast with it! Another reason was it was only 20 mins to Manhattan on the subway, plus we got to see a bit more of New York that we wouldn’t normally see. It fitted in with our other travels of not staying in the dead centre, and seeing how locals live. Times Square definitively isn’t normal living!!

First morning, early wake up. Time difference probably made this easier as getting up at 0700 was 1200 in UK. Nice. Lovely breakfast at hotel, waffles and syrup and eggs and sausage and coffee.

For the trip planning, we had picked what we wanted to see, and then I clumped the nearby activities together. Today was DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and South Manhattan. We took a subway to just near Manhattan Bridge to get the iconic picture. Stan was also wearing the t-shirt with the pic on, so that was cool.

Brooklyn Bridge

Had a walk around and then headed to Brooklyn Bridge to walk into Manhattan. This was ace. The views were amazing, you could see the whole skyline. The people were busy. It’s weird being a tourist in a city, and all you can hear is other tourists. It’s the same for every ‘tourist’ part though.

Some parts of the bridge are narrower than others. There is a left and right side, but people don’t follow rules like we do. Cycle lane is used every now and then by cyclists who either took a wrong turn, or didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for. Ding ding ding on the bell as they tried to weave past people in the cycle lane.

There are also cops on the bridge in glorified golf buggies! They were pretty ace.

The cop inside didn’t mind having his pic taken!

Over the other side, we found a street show. Some break dancers doing some spinning on the floor. Then demanding people give them money to watch. It was a pretty slick routine, but a massive anti-climax.

Headed down towards Wall Street. Stopped at a McDonald’s and had some food. It’s not as cheap as our stuff, which was a shame, but if I worked on Wall St, I probs wouldn’t worry about the price of a happy meal ($4.99).

Fearless Girl

Continued down the road to see the Fearless Girl statue. I knew where she was, but Google maps hadn’t moved her from her original place. She used to live by the Charging Bull, which is pretty much like the one in Brum I think. I say I think, it was that crowded I couldn’t see it! Literally a queue to take a picture of it!

Asked a hot dog seller where the Stock Exchange was, and that’s where the Fearless Girl now lives. No where near as busy as the bull, but more impressive. She’s a boss.

Statue of Liberty

Walked down Broad Street, which is a bit different to the one in Brum. This one was the first to be paved in New York. Went to Battery Park to recharge (haha sorry) and found the queue for the Statue of Liberty. Initially we were just going to get the free Staten Island ferry across to go past her, but the kids wanted to visit, so we did. Fairly long queue to get the ticket, then you have to queue to go through an airport style security check. Then wait for the boat in a queue.

Battery park is just to the left. Loads of these quite cool blocks for security reasons.

Ride across isn’t too bad. Ferry needs more chairs if anything. As we got off I heard a dude say ‘yeah 240’, which I guessed meant passenger numbers. I asked what the most is and he said 800, which would be horrible going across with!!

Had a walk around the statue. Loads of people seeing her, taking pics and that. Nice little Liberty Island. Whilst here, we went to the museum but didn’t learn much. Went back across on the ferry. You can go up to the crown, but you need to book a couple of months in advance. We didn’t do that.

You pay extra to go on the plinth behind, and more for the crown.

Ground Zero

We had a walk to Ground Zero to see the 9/11 memorial. It’s a really nice, lovely park that they have made. The two sites are immaculate and well kept, and is a fitting tribute to what happened. Some folk were taking selfies there and smiling, and I thought that was a bit crass.

They put a flower next to the persons name on their birthday.

Went back to the hotel after this, having done a shed load of steps and had a really good day.

The Ride

Day two started in Times Square. The plan changed slightly as I decided to book The Ride. This is an entertainment bus, where there are three rows of seats facing out to the left hand side of the bus, which has glass front , or side. There are two people who are the comperes and they give you a tour of a bit of New York. As you’re driving around, they make jokes and laugh at people for wearing ponchos, or carrying dogs and that, but then there are people on the streets who are part of the show. Another was, restaurants in Times Square are legally allowed to add 30% to food bills as tax, because of the high rental prices.

A cleaner will start tap dancing, or a bloke in a top hat raps at you, or a couple do ballet. It’s a bit of fun, but not worth $69 each! We bought an Explorer Pass, so it wasn’t that much for us. There are a few types of passes-City Pass being the main one. If you are doing a few big activities, it does save you time and money. Don’t spend $69 on the ride though. I did learn some cool stuff though, like one of the buildings was moved down the road on rollers, as it was a listed building and they wanted space for another building. Literally picked it up and rolled it down the street and plumbed it all back in!

New York Public Library

Next in the list was New York Public Library. Two reasons to see this. 1, lovely architecture and that. 2, it is home of the original Winnie the Pooh and friends!! Lovely story. A.A.Milne would travel to London, and bring his son, Christopher Robin a teddy back. Him and his mate decided to write a story about the ‘adventures’ they got up to, and it ended up in a newspaper and then everything else. Original Winnie looked a bit sad though, so they drew him a bit more fun. He had Tigger and Eyeore and Kanga (Roo was lost in the 1930s) and piglet, really nice to see.

Winnie has defo had a make over in the films!

Whispering Arches

Little walk down the road to see Grand Central station. Another iconic building with amazing architecture. Including, the whispering arches. You can stand across the hallway, and talking into an alcove, and the person on the other side can hear because the sound travels up and around the domed ceiling! Amazing. Bit of a queue to do this too. Queuing is quite a big thing in NY.

Today was the only day it rained, but by gosh did it rain. Just a constant drizzle of really wet annoying rain. We ploughed through with just our coats, it’s only a bit of rain innit. My coat was not quite a coat, and more like a flannel so I was soaked through. Was nice getting to places to take them off and put in the cloak room, or coat check as Americans call it!

MoMa

We did this in the Museum of Modern Art. This was a busy museum. Main draws in here are Van Gogh’s ‘Stary Night’ and Monet’s ‘Waterlillies’. There are some Picasso’s and Magritte’s and that too. There was a queue for Stary Night. Never seen anything like it! Char waited in line while Amelia and I walked around for a bit. After we had done a loop, we had somehow ended up in the Stary Night room and Char was like ‘are you serious’!? It was much easier to go in the back way and just not queue! Weird.

We somehow missed some of the paintings I wanted to see, like Andy Warhol’s ‘Campbell Soup’, and Rousseau’s ‘The Dream’. I had asked someone where Monet was, and she told me the wrong room, like she didn’t even care. This will be a common theme throughout New York.

We had a quick walk round Times Square after this. Today was 30th Dec so they were getting ready for the little party the next day. It was so busy and not great. Went home.

I had to say ‘big fat butt head’ or something to make them smile for the camera.

I loved seeing the steam from underground!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

New Years Eve started off great! We went to Tribeca, so called from the words ‘Triangle Below Canal street’. Clever. Here though is Hook and Ladder 8, a fire station which is instantly recognizable as the one from Ghostbusters! Their HQ was this building, which has painted the logo outside for extra photo ops. We looked in the letterbox, but couldn’t see much, but then the bloody fire engine came back from a call! It had the logo on the front, and the firefighter’s uniform had the Ghostbusters stuff on. Amazing. They kept the big doors open when they were in, and they had a little shop selling FDNY T-shirt they wore! So we got Stan one. He went in and had a good look around. A defo must for anyone who likes Ghostbusters!

Color Factory

After this, we walked to the Color Factory. I’m not quite sure how to describe this place. It’s like, a colour experience? There are loads of different rooms with different things to do in each. Like a sensory overload thing, but with macrons and sweets and ice cream included! The best bit is defo the massive ball pit. Amazing. Staff were lovely. It’s an Instagramers dream! There’s a couple of these in America, but they move round every now and then. I think New York is moving soon.

Oh we nearly had trouble getting in here. You can only get tickets online, so pre-book is the only way of getting in. We had the Explorer Pass to use for here. When we arrived it said ‘sold out’. They wouldn’t let us in first of all as ‘third party purchases’ were not allowed today. I said a one sentence argument, and they let us in.

After an hour and half in there, we walked outside to a building which loads of people know. The Friends Apartment block! Char was not impressed! Not sure what she was expecting mind. From here we were walking to the Sex and the City apartment. Well, Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment. The houses were bloody lovely along here. Even the doors and stairs to them were awesome.

Bit of Sick

Before we got there, fancied a quick bite to eat, so went to a Dunkin Donuts. It was hard work as the cashier couldn’t really understand us and she was more concerned about the wrong change she had given to the bloke before us. Partly my fault. She had change for a $5, but then she asked if it was a $20 he had given her. I said twenty, thinking she wouldn’t believe me, but did! I didn’t see what he gave her so he may be up!

Half way through the bargain priced croissants which Stan wouldn’t eat, he decided to go sick. First of all a little bit, which Char caught in a paper bag. Then a bit more. Then the bag ripped from having a load of sick in. And then more sick. It was blue from the ice cream in the colour factory! Quite fitting. Took a while to get someone’s attention to start a clean up. I used about a hundred napkins. Then they gave me a bit of blue tissue. Weren’t bothered at all! People were stepping over it. One couple sat next to us left. After I cleaned it up, I asked to use a sink to wash my hands, and he just invited me behind the counter, with all the food. Nice.

This was just next to Dunkin Donuts. Thought it was cool!

Saw Carrie Bradshaw’s house, and instantly jumped into a waiting taxi to go to the next place. I had booked free tickets to go up the Vessel. This is a weird art installation step statue building thing. Look at the picture to understand. In the taxi I realised we were a bit early, so got out at the start of the High Line.

The High Line

This is an old railway track that’s been lovingly converted into an urban garden walkway. Really nicely done. It’s up on a bridge type thing so you walk over part of the city, looking down, whilst seeing bits of art work and birds. Quite busy place, but also very relaxing and rewarding.

The Vessel

At the end of the high line is where the vessel is. Char saw it and said ‘nopes’! Her and Stan went into the shopping centre for a Shake Shack, and me and Meelie went up. Really cool thing. Loads of steps, nice views. Saw a rooftop spa on a nearby building. Came down, found Char and Stan, and sat in the shopping centre for a bit while the kids played with a sequinned filled wall.

Walked back towards Times Square and found Macy’s. Amelia has wanted to go in here, so we did. It’s quite big. Like a big Debenhams. It was New Years Eve, so everywhere seemed well busy outside. Street sellers popped up selling light up glasses with ‘2020’ on them. Kids got a pair to wear for our party in our hotel room tonight.

New Years Eve

We didn’t really want to stay outside till midnight. Times Square is a definite no-no. You have to get penned in at 1200, with no toilets or anything whilst in. Another place which is supposed to be good is Prospect Park in Brooklyn. We ordered pizza and were asleep by 2100! First time i hadn’t stayed up to see the bongs! We did call Char’s mum and dad at their midnight though, so it’s like the same.

Central Park

New Year’s Day is here. A new year in New York. It was a bucket list thing for Char. Tick. We went out to Central Park. Got subway up to Columbus whatever and walked through the south west corner. Went for a little walk and saw that it was such a stark contrast to the rest of the city. Lovely serene feeling.

Walked through Strawberry Fields and saw the ‘Imagine’ mural on the floor. Quite a few folk here taking pictures of it. There was a guy playing one Beatle’s song, despite a sign which says ‘no playing music’.

He wanted to so a Spiderman pose. She didn’t know what to do.

Day at the Museum

Carried on up to get to our 2nd destination, which was the American Museum of Natural History. This is made famous by Night at the Museum, which is a great film! There are a couple of ways of getting in. One is to have a city pass like we did. Two is queuing up and paying the $18 or whatever the entrance fee is. Three is, queue up and pay whatever you want! The $18 is a ‘suggested’ fee, so you can pay 25 cents if you want, and they will let you in. Boom. Above all, the City Pass queue is a lot shorter.

Spent ages in here. 4 floors, with different parts of the world and animals and space in different rooms. From the film, T-Rex is the big prize. The main dinosaur is now in a special exhibition where you have to pay more. We didn’t, as we saw one in another room. Another cool thing is the Easter Island head. ‘Hey dum dum’. That one.

It’s a really nice museum. Certainly on par with the British one, but probs bigger. One place I would swerve is the cafe there. Bit of a rip off! There was a butterfly exhibition too, but we had to get a special ticket to see it, which we didn’t know about. Was a bit expensive for a tiny walk through thing.

Dead Pet Tree

We left the museum and headed over the road back to Central Park. I had seen a tweet the day before from Jane Fallon, talented wife of Ricky Gervais. She said that there is a tree in Central Park where people hang pictures of their dead pets. I was in! Mission was to find it. She said it was in The Ramble, near the Bird Feed area. I saw both of these on the map, and it happened to be en-route to my next stop, so perfect.

Finally found it, after asking a couple of walkers who didn’t know what it was, but too look over there’, which is just where it was. Bit weird to be honest. One of the pictures looked like a dinosaur. Headed on from here. We had passed a lake which was nice, and then the Boathouse, and carried on to the Alice in Wonderland statue. It’s one of my favourite books, and the statue is quite nice! Quite big, with all the characters there. Nice.

Walked back south towards the city after this, got a hotdog on the way. Passed The Plaza hotel, famous for Home Alone 2. Saw the worlds biggest menorah too! Passed Trump Tower, and ended up in American Girl shop. It’s like Barbie, but bigger. The shop is pretty cool to be fair. Had a go at basket ball, and Amelia spent some Xmas money on an outfit for her doll back home.

Plan was to go to Ellen’s Stardust Diner. First of all, we had about 5 recommendations from people to go there, more than anything else! Secondly though, we saw the queue, asked people at front how long they had queued, and it was like an hour wait. Char was getting hangry, kids were tired. Went here and there to get food, and finally ended up waiting 25 mins for a table in Juniors. Times Square is busy for food!

They went for carrot cake. Well expensive for a pudding!

Was an ok dinner. Spent a fair bit in there, service was decent from the manager, and had some lovely cheese cake too. Went to bed quite tired, and this was to be our last night at the hotel. Packed our bag, and slept well.

Last Day

Final breakfast, filled up. Dropped our bags at reception and headed out for an almost full day. We had booked to go Top of the Rock observation deck at 1245, which gave us enough time to go ice skating at Bryant Park, or so we thought. Used our city pass to get tickets, but after 5 mins on the ice, we had to get off so they could clean the ice!

Kept getting told off for having phone out on ice. Asked an old lady sat around the outside to take a pic, and begged her not to run away with my phone as I didn’t fancy chasing her on my skates.

It had taken us about half out to get our skates on, and find a padlock to lock our stuff away in the locker. Was a weird system. You had to keep your shoes and put them in a locker, but locks weren’t provided!? They would sell you a combination lock for $12! No ta. Char managed to find one with the number on, so we used that.

Anyway, we were kicked off the ice, which would have taken 20 mins to clean. We had a bit of an argument with a worker and she finally gave us return tickets for later as our tickets for Top of the Rock were due soon.

Top of the Rock

Went to the Rockerfeller Centre, and got in line. We were shouted at a bit more about getting in this line and that line, then shouted at through security, then shouted at to get into another line, then shouted at to get our picture taken, then shouted at to get in an elevator. Char was dreading this bit. Not a fan of lifts, and also high buildings, but she did really well!

Quite nice views from up there. It’s quite busy, but not too bad. You can go a bit higher, and a bit more higher when on the deck, which we did. Getting down to ground level is a bit of a queue, but it went down fairly fast. We were shouted at to get as close to the people in front of us for some reason. It didn’t make the queue go any faster as only a certain amount of people can go in the lift. ‘Stand shoulder to shoulder’, they didn’t appreciate us taking the piss when we crouched down to get shoulder to shoulder with the kids.

After the Rock, we went to the Lego shop. Had to queue to get in, obviously. Bought some lego, then went back to the ice skating. Enjoyed in here, and it was getting dark by this time, so the tree was lit up and nice. There was a big winter market around the ice rink. It’s only here for the Xmas period-it’s normally a green park when not ice rinked up!

Meelie told her off for ‘being too tense’.

Finally got tired of ice skating, in which Stan had mastered by the end. Meelie was still rail holding, but enjoyed none the less. Subway back to hotel. Picked up bags. Ordered an Uber. We could have public transported it to the airport, which took a bit longer, and a few changes, but for ease, we therefore took a taxi.

Same plane on way back. Kids slept most the way. I slept a lot. We all slept. Landed back in UK at 0900, and drove home.

In Conclusion…

We absolutely loved this trip. Was another ‘big trip’, like the Dubai one. So much to do, and so much to do for kids. I would defo go back there, but not at Xmas/New Year time. It’s so busy! It would be nice to see in the summer, and experience a different weather extreme.

One tip I’d give is plan plan plan ahead. Ask people who have been before and get as many tips as you can. We did, and they defo came in useful. Things like using the subway, or getting tickets for places. It’s defo not somewhere you can turn up and wander round. It’s bloody huge!

We would defo stay in a different suburb next time. Queens, or The Bronx. Would loved to have seen more of Brooklyn, but Manhattan is the big draw.

Lovely holiday. There’s a load of pictures below! I took nearly a thousand whilst there! Enjoy!

Dubai

Day 1

We are going to Dubai! Char booked this a while ago. It’s longer and more expensive than all our other holidays. It’s not in Europe, which is a first for the kids. Plus, it’s gonna be bloody boiling!

It’s also the first time not flying with EasyJet or Ryanair, which is nice. We flew with Emirates from Birmingham, on the biggest plane in the world, probably. It’s got two levels man! We went up top, which meant we had to board last.

On the flight, which took about 7 hours, we had all the entertainment we needed in the form of a touch screen tv, and a little remote thing, which was also touch screen. We packed our carry on bag with iPads and books, snacks and crayons and stuff for the kids. They didn’t use one of them. Well, Amelia got a magazine out for 10 mins.

I watched two films (Stockholm and Wonder). Oh, they also gave the kids some ace activity packs and a bag filled with more things, including a pair of socks! Well nice. Food was good. I’d defo fly with them again! Oh, we are, on the way back.

Landed at ridiculous o’ clock, because of a bit of a delay. Some numpty lost their passport between boarding and getting on the plane! They finally kicked them off, after finding their bags in the hold. They had to search the area they had been sitting, to make sure they hadn’t left a suspicious package. The numpty then found his passport, so was allowed back on again!

Got a taxi to our hotel. I had looked at ways of getting around, and taxi was the easiest at this time of the night. It was gone midnight.

We stayed in Le Meridien, which is just under the Palm. In the plant pot, if it had one. Turns out, this is a bit out of town, but there are easy options to get in and back.

Day 2

Woke up ‘late’ and missed breakfast. By the time we were asleep, it was about 0330. We woke at 1200. To be fair, this is only 0900 back home, so didn’t do too bad.

Today was a pool and relax day. Get acclimatised to the 40+ degree heat! It was cloudy so probs a good start to the weather.

Kids had a nice play in the pools. We got a sun lounger right next to the pool, they give you beach towels, and everything is happy.

These arm bands cost about a tenner each in the shop here! We couldn’t find ours.

We had some lunch. A mate said ‘make sure you take a loan out’, which we should have listened to! £5 for a can of Pepsi! Bonkers. Hotel prices, so expect this to be a lot cheaper in the ‘real world’.

We did have food as well, not just the Pepsi!

Back in the room, we ordered a Deliveroo! Never done it before, but saw one come in, so did the same. McDonald’s of course!! Meal for all four of us was the same price as my pizza I ate in the hotel earlier!

Day 3

We left the hotel today! Had breakfast, and went for a walk to Dubai Marina, just around the corner from the hotel. It was scorchio! Got over one bridge, had a stop at a shop to get more drinks and sweets (bribes). Also saw a load of ‘booby tickets’ – cards advertising massages and that. Like the ones in phone boxes in London, but on the floor.

Walked under the next bridge, had a play on the park in the shade. Went up on top of bridge and recreated a pic I saw in another blog. Wasn’t as sunny though! Maybe it was filtered.

Got to a Metro station and bought a NOL card, basically an Oyster card. Taxis are easy, but would work out expensive compared to Metro and Bus, which are really good anyway.

Went to Emirates Mall. This is massive, but not as big as Dubai Mall. There’s a Ski place here, and you can play with Penguins! We couldn’t justify the cost, but wish we had now!

Got the kids some toys, had a traditional coffee (Starbucks) and ice cream (Hagen Dazs).

These toys cost more than having actual kids!

Left here after a couple of hours and got a bus to Burj al Arab. This is probs the most famous building in Dubai. Like a a Big Ben or Eiffel Tower. Got to the main gate, and turns out you can’t just go in! Ended up having a walk round the road to Jumeirah Beach.

This is a nice beach! Views of the Burj al Arab are good, and it was full of locals and tourists, but not too busy. A bloke took a pic for us, then gave the kids a star fish.

Kids had a bit of a litter pick on the beach. This is quite important isn’t it. If you can, do take rubbish off the beach.

Kids love to pick up rubbish! True story.

Bus back to the hotel, and we jumped in the sea! Was so so warm! Almost bath temperature. I would happily go in every sea if it was that warm!!

Got out and then went into the pool until it was dark. Kids really enjoyed and topped off a lovely day. Apart from Stan’s legs hurting after 4 minutes walk.

Deliveroo brought us Pizza. Mmmm.

Day 4

Started the morning with breakfast, and then a trip to the beach. Sea was just as warm! Saw a couple of jelly fish! Blue Blubber apparently. Didn’t fancy getting stung, so caught it in a bucket and released it when we left.

These were little buggers! Made me nervous to swim in the sea!

Back to the room, showered off and headed off into town, after a snacky lunch. Dubai Museum and fort first stop, well, after the tram, and metro.

Stopped off for a (disappointing) KFC after getting near the Museum. I didn’t mind it, but kids and Char weren’t fans. Oh, I asked this guy at the metro for some directions, as Google maps said to walk 190 metres, but he said to get on a different metro and do one stop. He was a bit camp and said ‘oh, but it’s so far and hot’. I showed him the map and said it’s a 2 minute walk. He threw his head back in disdain and sassily said ‘it’s much further than that’. It took 4 minutes.

Arrived at the Dubai Museum and at first glance, it’s quite a small, old fort thing, but turns out it’s much bigger inside! Saw some old boats and rooms and weapons and things. Was a really good museum. Only cost 10 Dirahms too, which is about £2.50. That’s for all of us!

They didn’t even notice we were there. Proper dedicated to the job they were.

Left there and walked round the corner to the water taxi, or Abra. These have been going for years across the creek. 1 Dirahm a pop. It’s a boat with no sides, and you sit in the middle, facing out. Good fun.

Lovely colours on this mosque. iPhone 6S didnt do it justice!

Over the other side is where the markets are – Gold, Spice, and Utensils! Amazing. Some of the pots were massive! Usual mix of ‘come look in my shop, best price’ and ‘mister where you from’. I said Brazil a lot for some reason.

Stan bought some deodorant rock because it looked cool, and Amelia bought some dried flowers for her dolls. I bought one of those plants that dry up when not in water, and then bloom again when in water. Pretty cool. The bloke said I can make tea with it too, which I didn’t quite understand.

See how Stan has blue on his arm, after being told not to touch stuff!?

Nice guy in one of the jewellers gave us all some water because Stan looked hot. He did mind!

Back over the water, back to the metro, and tram, into Carrefour for dinner, and then bed.

Day 5

Pool day. Well, mostly. Plan was to spend a few hours in the pool, then get changed and go out for the evening, and that’s just what we did.

Our hotel shares stuff with the hotel next door – Westin it’s called, which is strange. We can use their pools and restaurants and vice versa. We went over there first and some geezer gave us a lift in his golf cart thing. Wasn’t even that far.

They have better pools there. Better kids pool, bigger adults pool. Had a good old swim and that. Ordered the kids some chicken nuggets and chips because they wanted some. They came and they were strippers, not nuggets.

Meelie played with the lifeguards, while Stan cried about water going in his eye. We had to get an ice cube and put inside a towel to rub on it to make it better.

After this, we went to Dubai Mall. This place is huge. So big, they have these dudes in golf carts that look like cars, to carry rich folk around in them. Wonderment on every level, and shops galore. Even has a Dyson shop!

Women and Children only in this part of he metro.

First port of call was the Apple shop, because my mate said it was a god view of the Burj Khalifa, and he wasn’t wrong! There’s a balcony, that has security guards on the door to limit amount of people going out. It overlooks the fountain place too, which does a show on the hour. I thought it started doing them at 2000, but turns out there was one at 1800, and we were there at 1745, so waited for it! Place downstairs gets packed, and we had good views, so all good.

I didn’t know I was still in the picture. Can anyone photoshop it??

Burj. Amelia was asked in school if anyone knows where the tallest building in the world is!? Tick.

Went inside the mall, downstairs to the food court. We were enticed into a restaurant called Tinuaka or summat, by a Japanese Robot. Had some food, which was nice. Learnt about the specials and things as one of the workers was a newbie and was getting trained up. Not sure how she passed the interview as she was useless! Char knew more than she did by the end of the two hours!

Went back outside to see the fountains from street level. Was well busy. Heat was lovely, perfect temperature. Everyone seemed happy around us, a sense of excitement. Was a nice atmosphere. Probably wouldn’t have felt like that in a big crowd in the Bullring or Merry Hill!

Went home. Oh I forgot to mention-when you get off the Metro at Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall, you are no where near Burj Khalifa/Dubai!! You have to walk about 3km! It’s inside, and there’s floor escalator things, but my goodness!

We also saw the aquarium wall, and some storm troopers and that. Quite cool!

This was a fluke of a find! Ha, Fluke Skywalker.

Day 6

Decided to spend a bit of money on a treat day out today. We went to the Green Planet, an indoor rainforest biodiversity place. Normal price to get in (or 20% off with an Emirates boarding pass), but they also do animal experiences, where you can feed them and stuff. We chose sloth. A blinking sloth! Amazing.

Ha, I forgot that Stan got bat poo on his face!

Bit of a whinge. The premise of the sloth encounter was that there was a maximum of 10 people could book, maximising time with the bear thing. Actually, what family is it from? I didn’t learn that. They let 12 in. Plus a dad who came in to take pics.

One of the guys was a bit weird and didn’t want to feed it as ‘he had done it a couple of months ago’. The keeper was a bit weird too.

I had a little complain to the cashier after, but to no avail. I have sent a strongly worded email too. 13, is more than 10. They replied and kindly offered a return trip, but I didn’t want to go back when we had things planned. I asked for a bit of a refund, but they then stopped emailing back, which was really great of them! Not.

Had a walk around city walk. It was weirdly quiet. I know it was their Sunday, but it was dead! There’s a load of street art there, some of it’s ace! Blek Le Rat, Someone else, and Slinkachu, whose book I bought years ago! Little people. Really cool.

Stan loves art. He does love this guy’s book though!

Ended up getting a taxi to the mall for food. We had sat in a pizza place in city walk, but was well expensive! Went to 5 Guys instead. Authentic!

Saw a dinosaur. Had an ice cream. Went home. Good day!

Her’s was supposed to be Hello kitty I think.

Day 7

Up early to get breakfast before heading to a mosque! There are only two in Dubai that allow non-Muslims in. We walked past one near the Marina, and there’s Jumeriah Grand Mosque. They do a talk and demonstration every day at 1000, with registration at 0930. They give you some tea, coffee and dates, take you into the mosque, do a talk about Islam, and answer any questions.

She wanted a green headscarf because they ‘looked prettier’.

Our guide was called Tracy. Classic Arab name yeah!? She was from London. Converted to Islam 27 years ago. Her other name is Latiffa.

She spoke about 5 pillars and that. A guy called Mohammed did a prayer, which was ace. Had a walk round and took pics and that.

Back to the hotel, had a chillax. Went to Westin Pool. Kids learnt to swim with no armbands. Win.

Had a Subway Deliveroo. Ate so badly on this trip, apart from breakfast. We added it in with the room. Gets us up and out! Really nice buffet with all sorts of nice stuff! I picked up a fruit I’d never seen before. Cut into it, ate half the flesh. I then asked a waiter what it was and he said ‘er, I’ll go and check’. Mangostin, apparently. Lovely!

Day 8

Started the day with a swim. Hot today. Well, it’s hot every day. Loads of sun cream used, and plenty left. We ran out in Portugal, and had to pay tourist prices for more! Not this time!

Went back to the room to get lunch before our day trip – desert safari and entertainment and that. Picked up from hotel in Toyota Land Cruiser. Drove an hour east, into the desert.

Started with us waiting around for half an hour while a few people did Quad biking. It was a shared trip with an agency, Ocean Air. We had an Italian couple in the back of our car, and there were 5 cars altogether.

Did wadi bashing, which was quite scary! Char hated it, kids loved it! I thought they would have been the more scared! Stopped for some pics, then back to the bashing.

Stopped to see Camel Rock. Looked a bit like a camel I suppose. More bashing, then stopped to do sandboarding! That was pretty cool. Kids weren’t so keen, but had a go. Me and Char did it too. More bash, then stopped at the campsite.

Really good set up they had! Did a camel ride. Bit scary the way they stand up and sit down! In the camp were given coffee and dates, which were lovely, tried on some Arab dress, had henna tattoo, held a falcon, had a bbq buffet, saw fire show, a man spinning for 15 mins, and a belly dancer. Oh and some pudding. Everyone had such a good time, and well worth the relatively cheap price of £35.

This guy spun around about a million times. Bonkers.

Drove home, still full of sand.

Day 9

Had breakfast, and then went into town. We had lunch booked in Dubai Mall, in the rainforest cafe. We know there are a few around the world, including London, so thought we’d give it a go.

The decoration and that inside was really good. Elephants and snakes and that, and a rainforest. Pretty sure elephants only live in Africa and India, so not really sure what they were doing in the rainforest. Oh, turns out there is a rainforest in Africa. My bad.

Kids meal was fairly cheap, but adult meals were bonkers. Char and I decided not to get food, but did spend £6 on a coffee, and £9 on a mocktail.

Food wasn’t great. Like a chicken nugget meal you’d get at your local soft play. Wouldn’t go back. Also, very dark in there. Like Holister, but a cafe.

Next we went to do mini golf on an ice rink. Obviously. There’s an ice rink in the mall, and a third of it has been changed into a mini golf course. Bit of fun. Stan is shocking at golf.

Had a frozen yoghurt which we made ourselves, then a walk outside to see some statues and that. We’d seen them whilst walking through the 8km tunnel thing for the Metro, and decided to get a closer look. Also had a good view of Burj Khalifa too.

Hot out here! Took a while o get this pic.

Char found 50 Dirham on the floor when home. Add this to the NOL card that Stan found with 35 Dirham on, which made the trip slightly cheaper!

Day 10

Had our last proper breakfast at the hotel. Such a good spread they put on every day! Cooked, cereal, omelette to order, fresh pancakes, fruit, juices, yoghurts, pastries. You know, breakfast stuff.

Decided to have a final lazy pool day. I say lazy, it started off with a Pedalo ride in the sea. Kids found this quite boring though! Genuinely had more fun playing with seaweed when we got off for a swim in the sea later!

Me and Stan got in the sea. Took me a while to get back in the pedalo!

Had a quick dip in the baby pool then back in for some lunch. Couple of hour respite before going back out again to the main pool. Met a couple of families who come back here every year! Megabucks.

Packed bags. Booked taxi for 0445 (bleurgh) and had a Pizza Express. Thanks Deliveroo! 35% off too, bargain.

Genuinely had the best of holidays here, and would highly recommend not only Dubai, but also this hotel. I know it’s their job to be hospitable and that, but everyone was so kind and friendly. The only thing I didn’t like was the price of food and drinks at the hotel, which is why we ordered in when we were here. £5 for a coke is ridiculous. There’s a Carrefour over the road, we got a lot of stuff from there!

There is so much to do in Dubai. Yes, it is expensive and we could have spent twice as much as we did if we had bought drinks and that it went to the hotel bar, or got taxis every where. It was a much more expensive holiday that our other ones, but I definitely feel we had value for money. It was nice to go away for a bit longer, and relax, whilst doing things we hadn’t done before. I also watched Laurence of Arabia on the way back. That’s well long!!

I don’t feel the need to come back (mainly due to cost) but if someone gave us a free holiday here, I would jump at the chance! I felt safe everywhere I went, as if there is no crime here. Weather was boiling, and felt welcome everywhere. Thanks Dubai. Shukran.

Oslo

We have booked flights to Norway twice before, and not made it out here! This time however, nothing could stop us! The first time, I was stuck in Minneapolis on a work thing and didn’t get back in time. Second time, Char booked wrong airport, and it was a two hour train ride away, and we would have landed at 2330, so it was a no from me.

Set off at 0430 to Stanstead Airport. Most our flights are from there. Maple Parking this time. Normally use the Stanstead one, but we always shop around via Martin Lewis’ site. If you do book airport parking, best advice is book early.

Ryanair. Standard. We did the usual thing of booking one priority seat, and 3 non-priority. That way, can take a suitcase on, and get on quicker. This time we were told off though, and we that we all should have gone non-priority. First time anyone has whinged. We will not be heeding her advice.

Gardermoen

Got to Oslo Gardermoen. Even though it is Oslo Airport, it’s still a fair bit out of the city. Express train gets you in quite quickly though. Cost about £20. I got on as a student so saved a tenner. No one checked our tickets though, so could have done it for free! Train was nice. Felt like First Class. Not that I know what First Class feels like!

They had a ‘living wall’ in the airport. Meelie pretended to fall from a plane onto a canopy of trees. Stan tried breaking some off the wall.

Got to our AirBnB which was about 15 mins from centre on train, but much cheaper and better value and that. People say Norway is expensive, and they are not wrong!

Our apartment was actually below this, in the basement. This looked a nicer pic though!

We had planned to go to the Natural History Museum, as it’s free on a Thursday; except for school holidays. Googled it and turns out their summer hols start on 24 June! What a swizz. We arrived on the 27th.

Vigeland Park

Put sun cream on, and we went out. We put the sun cream on because it was proper hot, not because you have to wear it in Oslo. Got a tram to Skoyenparken, which then leads on to The Vigeland Park. He was a sculpture dude who did a bloody load of sculptures of people! They are really good mind. Lovely park, loads of folk in there, and a massive monolith made up of about 127 people. I didn’t count them.

Not sure if we were allowed to climb this thing.

Then, we had a walk through it all, stopped at a cafe in the park and had the best ice cream on a stick I’d ever had! Imagine a Magnum, but make it 4 times nicer. It was called a Royal. £3.50. We had one each.

This was funny. Loads of cool statues in this park.

Royal Palace

Still time in the day to do something else, so got on a tram and went to the Royal Palace. Was ok. Didn’t go in or anything. A Japanese man stopped to chat with us. Stan had said something, and Char had said ‘why’ and then the Japanese dude said ‘you said Why’? Then stared a bit. Had a chat about Wales, and I blasted him with a Konichiwa and that. He said Elizabeth the Second was alright, and off he went. We then tried palming Stan off to a group of French Octogenarians, but he wouldn’t go with them.

Back to the apartment, which was in the basement of the AirBnB woman’s house. Stopped at a shop and spent a bit for breakfasts and dinners, as usual. Pasta and bread and fruit and drinks.

Today was Jessica’s birthday. She would have been 8, which is bonkers. We got a cake, sang happy birthday and ate half of it.

Bathed kids, put them to bed, and then watched the Norway v England game in the Women’s World Cup. Norway lost. I didn’t hear any groans or anything. We were in Copenhagen for the Men’s World Cup, and you could hear people cheering for Iceland! None of that here.

Oslo Card

Next day, decided on a whim to buy an Oslo card. We bought one for Copenhagen and used it loads. It does all your travel and entry into museums and that. We had planned to go to a few, and it worked out slightly cheaper to get the card. Then, we decided to get a 48 hour one instead, to carry on the fun! They can seem like an expensive outlay, but it helps see and do more when in a city. What I don’t like about them is they say ‘free public transport’ or ‘free entry’, as it’s defo not free because you have paid for it effectively! Still very handy, especially on public transport.

First on the list was Norwegian Folk Museum. One of those open air ones where they have buildings from all of time in a little village. It was ok. 3/5 stars. A lot of buildings were locked, some were unlocked but had barriers on so you couldn’t go in, and some you could go in. The best bit was the Stave Church though. Really nice, black, wooden thing. Nice.

Had some lunch in the cafe. £10 for a sandwich. Bargain. Not even joking.

Viking Ship Museum

Had a walk down the road to the Viking Ship Museum. This was really good. 3 actual Viking ships. Loads of treasure and artefacts, and a really arty video which is played on about 10 projectors so you can ‘get in to’ the film.

Fram Museum

Next was Fram Museum. This was Amundsen’s Polar explorer ship, the ‘strongest wooden ship ever built’. This was amazing. You could see all his clothes and stuff he used, go into an ‘ice tunnel’ which the kids refused to go in. Then, you could get onto the boat. Or ship. Really well done to the dudes who got it all sorted. There was also a bit about Scott there, and it slagged off his sledging dogs.

This was ace. Building a new one next door too.

Over the road was the Kon Tiki Museum. Easter Island and that. Where the Tiki Tiki bar comes from! This was the original balsa wood ship and looked ace.

Lighthouse made out of junk they found washed up on the beach.

Nobel Peace Centre

After this, we got the boat over to the centre bit. Nice little journey. Got off and it felt like a city centre. Street food, busker, Art sellers. Sea gulls. Went into the Nobel Peace Centre. This was lovely. Had a climate change exhibition downstairs, and the new that day Field of Nobel Laureate winners or summat. Stan saw Barack Obama and thought he was a man who had his leg bitten off by a shark. There was a protest bit by Greta Thunberg which was cool.

An Australian woman too this. They were building so it messed the picture up a bit.

Went out, had some spring rolls and sat in the park next to city hall. So nice there loads of people having a sit down in the sun and that.

National Opera House

From here we went to the National Opera House. This building is amazing! It’s an angular thing, which is designed so that you can walk outside it, and up onto the roof. Really nice stuff. Proper windy though. This was probably my favourite thing to see in Oslo. Home after this. Pasta and bed.

Like little penguins sliding off an iceberg.

Escape to the Country

Final day we started off with a trip to Sognsvann lake. This is slightly north of Oslo. Got there about 1130 and it was a nice busy. Loads of families enjoying the outdoors. It was a lovely lake with paths around it in the forest. Felt so nice there. Kids had a paddle, then an ice cream. Both had to lose their pants as they were soaking from the lake.

Munch

Back into the metro to the centre to see Munch Museum. The Scream is such an iconic painting, up there with Mona Lisa and The Sunflowers. Wasn’t as busy as the Louvre or Van Gogh museum. Could have a gentle walk around. I think it took us 10 mins to go through it. Saw The Scream. Saw Madonna (the painting, not the one with the weird bra from the 80’s). Good.

This looks like I need a new phone. Camera on the way out!

Got out and it was lunch time. We decided on a McDonalds, which is a bit of a tradition! Cheap, friendly food! I say cheap… Best thing they have is a cheese dip! Like a bbq sauce or whatever, but cheese.

Back on the metro. We used the public transport more here than most places. It is a big city which you can’t really do by foot, like you good with Helsinki. Oslo is the third biggest Scandinavia city, behind Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Children’s Art Museum

Another Oslo card find was the Children’s Art Museum. This was a bit out of the way, but was a nice trip. We got there about 40 mins before closing, which was more than enough time. Loads of kids artwork from around the world. Some of it was ace, quite political, and from their eyes. War, famine, education etc. One of the hits was a Blue Peter style model of the Twin Towers attack, which was quite accurate! Scary, but accurate. Left there, found a massive tiger outside the central station, and then sat in a church field for a bit.

Went back to our AirBnB to pick up bags, and got to the station. The Oslo card gives you Zone 1 and 2 travel, so airport isn’t included. On the fast train, it’s about £20. A slower train (5 mins slower), is about half the price. I bought a ticket for zone three and four, as I already had Oslo Pass, and made it even cheaper! Win.

In the airport about 2030. Nice airport, but everything blinking closes at about 2000hrs! Bonkers. Still a fair few flights, but all food stuff was closed, apart from a shop that sold baguettes, and another coffee shop. Bought a couple of baguettes, which were £8 each.

They can’t fly this. They had been drinking.

Found an unattended bag. Told security who sent someone ten mins later. He swabbed it, went off for 5 mins to test, came back and picked it up and walked off.

Oslo was great

Oslo was great. I enjoyed it. We could have easily spent two more days there, and still not got round everything we wanted to see! Some cities you can do in a couple of days, Oslo is not one of them. We would like to come back, but do a Finland style trip, with a weeks drive round the other bits of Norway. Would love to visit every country like that, but school/jobs don’t make it possible! Will defo come back to Norway mine.

It is expensive, but you almost have to ignore the cost when deciding what to order! We did it cheaply, by not going out for big meals and alcohol etc. We could have made it cheaper by making a packed lunch each day, but we didn’t. It is the happiest country in the world. I’d be happy to live there.

Finland Road Trip

This was an 8-day trip to Finland. Road trip innit. We stuck to the South West of the country, as wanted to do as much as possible, whilst not doing too much driving, which sort of contradicts a road trip doesn’t it? You know what I mean.

Left the house at 0300. Eurgh. Kids didn’t sleep in the car. Eurgh. Went to Heathrow. Used Happy Days parking. Eurgh. Nothing happy apart from the price! Had to call 30 mins before arriving, to make sure they were out of bed probs. Guy drove like a maniac. Dropped his mate at T5 before dropping us to T3.

Finnair

Flew with Finnair, and they were lovely!! Never heard of them before but would defo fly with them again. And not just for the return flight. Every single stage was a 10 out of 10. We were taking car seats for the first time, as getting a hire car. I knew Ryanair and that check them in for free. I asked Finnair on Twitter and said it was fine.

I asked a crew member where to take them, and she said to pop to the business class desk. She checked passports, and that. She asked if we were checking any bags in, which we weren’t. We each had a carry-on suitcase, and a small bag. This is a lot to be carrying round, but manageable. We asked if could check any on for free, and she said, ‘yeah sure, it’s a full flight so why not’. Put on all our suitcases, and a back pack. Result! Oh, and another woman took our car seats off in a plastic bag. Made it a lot easier going through security and that!

Got on flight. Comfy seats. Nice. Slept for a bit, as did Stan. Char was sat behind us, which was a result for her!

Landed in Helsinki. We had booked a hire car, and the form said to call when we arrived and meet in P3B, a car park in airport. I rang him and he told me to check my paperwork. He said I should have been there at 0900. It was 1300. He sounded quite smug about it. Turns out, the guy had been given an incorrect time. Paperwork/I was right. 1300. Had to wait 30 mins for him to arrive. We had a sandwich in a car park.

Got a white Renault Clio Estate. It worked and that. Took a while getting used to left hand drive, I even did an extra lap around the car park. This was with FinnRent, who were the cheapest we found. I don’t trust car hire companies, but these were alright. Even took the wrong amount as deposit, which suited us fine!

There was a sat nav in the car. I would have used my google maps, but there was nowhere nice to put it, using one of those air vent magnet things. The car sat nav was good though, and even plugged my music in from the phone and that.

Tampere

Went to our first destination on the road trip. A city called Tampere. This is the biggest inland city in Finland. It’s split by a lake and there’s quite a lot to do there. We got to our hotel, Scandic Rosendahl, which is the Scandinavian equivalent of Travelodge. Char wanted a more expensive one, which was defo nicer, but this one came with free breakfast.

We knew food would be more expensive here, so I chose this! It was also next to one of the things I wanted to see. Pyynikki Tower. It’s an observation tower which has a bit of history I won’t bore you with. We went to the top, which is only 26 metres, however it’s on a 150m hill thing. I say hill, it’s actually the highest esker in the world! Amazing right!? Yeah, me neither. An esker is a ridge of stratified sand or gravel. Yeah me neither. It’s the highest in the world though, so ticked that off my list.

Another thing about this tower is the restaurant at the bottom. Well, cafe. They sell doughnuts which are famous in Finland. Recipe hasn’t changed for 80 years, but then again there isn’t much you can put in a normal ring doughnut. There is an ingredient in which makes it taste nice mind.

After the tower, we walked to the lake, to find the beach! Ha a beach on a lake. It was amazing mind. Lovely sand, and a frozen lake. It defo would have held my weight, but Char was not available for me to have a go. Kids threw stones and sticks on to break it, but it didn’t. Kids found a tennis ball and gave it to a dog.

Went back to hotel and checked out the restaurant. It was a no from us. Club sandwich was €18.50. I normally base prices on a margarita pizza, but this sandwich showed me we weren’t going to eat in there tonight! Went to McDonald’s instead.

Had breakfast in the hotel. Buffet. Really nice. Loads of choice, perfect croissants, hot food, cold food, cereals, meats, juice. You know how buffets work. Meelie and Stan helped themselves to a plate of wiener sausages, even though he didn’t like them.

Next, we headed into Tampere centre. First stop was a car park. It was free till 1400 on a Sunday. Put €2 in cover is for after 1400, and it gave us 38 mins. It was €6.70 for two hours. We used the free mins.

First on the list was a waterfall thing. It was some rapids, which acted like a lock between two levels of the lake. It was connected to a power station or something. Nice though. Love lock bridge over it. Played poo sticks, but kids threw them too far into the lake, so they just sat there.

Over the road was an amazing kids park! Best one we’d been to I reckon. Kids loved it. Weird thing we noticed was all the kids were in ski suit things. Like full on trouser and top combo things. It wasn’t that cold. We were in normal clothes, no hat scarf gloves and that. It was about 7 degrees, but warm in the sun.

After this we went to Tampere Cathedral. It’s not as nice as Lichfield Cathedral, more like a lovely church. Inside was nice mind. I wanted to go here to see the frescoes by Hugo Simberg. The paintings are proper dark, and not the usual religious types you’d get. There’s one called The Wounded Angel, which was voted Finland’s national painting.

Next on the list was 3D Crush Cafe. Weird name, right? Well it has a 3D printer. Duh. That’s not why we went though. We went because it’s also a rabbit cafe!! Like a cat cafe, but rabbits! Had a drink and then went into bunny room. They wouldn’t play with us at first, but after watching a woman pay €2.50 for some salad and treats, we soon had them all around us!

Back to the park for 5 mins, before having to get into the car and head to the next destination, in between Tampere and Rauma.

Countryside

This was Char’s choice of AirBnB and what a choice it was! It was in the middle of nowhere, next to a lake. Perfect. It really was idyllic. Lake was mostly frozen.

The bit by our place had been defrosted by a pump under the water. This was for the Finnish sauna experience!

The guy met us and showed us around. The path was all full of snow, but luckily the hire car had snow tyres on. Loads of metal studs embedded in the tyre. Like tap dancing shoes or summat.

Had a walk round to see his pet deer (plural)! That was pretty cool. They had a lovely dog too, which I think was called Menth, or Menthol. Never really knew. Had a drive to the shop to get food for the couple of days. Nice supermarket. Had them trolleys attached to a car so the kids can sit in, but it took an age to turn as they were well heavy.

There were no footprints before we got there.

Got back. I had 6 episodes of diarrhoea. Went to bed.

Yyteri Beach

Next day we drove to Yyteri beach. This was paradise. It’s the longest beach in Finland, and one of their favourites. There were about 8 other people there altogether. Had a lovely play and that. Kids played with some Finns, we talked to their Mam. She said she was proud of her area, which is nice, and surprised that we had come to visit it.

Needed some food so I googled where to go. The lady recommended somewhere, but it wasn’t open till midday tomorrow. I found a nice beach hut cafe on an island near us. Got there, and it was closed! Had a sign on the door which probs said ‘gone fishing’ or summat.

Looked at map and I had circled something nearby, so we went there. It was a couple of islands away, a place called Reposaari. This place was lovely. All wooden houses; yellow, blue, red. We stopped at a road side diner thing. Was busy, and nice! Proper greasy spoon place, but part of the community.

Hotdogs, burgers and a kebab!! Winner. And an ice cream. Drove to a church, which is not only lovely, but the place the Finnish Prime Minister got married in secret in 2009! It was locked. Then, we found an old fort! It was ace. The locals had built it in 1936 in case of an attack from the west. Proper little village who all got together to protect what was theirs. Nice beach with pebbles and a great day out altogether.

No signposts for this place, just this one.

This was a lookout they built. Faced out to sea.

Think it was rebuilt in 1994, or this weather vane was.

Got back to the lake house, and the kids had a dip in the ice-cold water! They wanted to dip their toes in, but we stripped them off before their bath, and they got in. Amelia was a bit braver than Stan, but they both loved it!

I had a go later on too! Finnish style. I had made the sauna and got it nice and warm before having a go. Bloody freezing!! Char wasn’t as ready to have a go. Put one toe in, and that was that.

A bit cold. I did get my shoulders in too!

Old Rauma

New house day!! We had planned a trip to Old Rauma, which is in Rauma, which isn’t called New Rauma weirdly. It’s one of these old villages that kept its old way charm, and brings loads of visitors in. It’s a proper village, with plenty of normal businesses there. We had a mooch, went to a bakery and had lovely cakes and coffee.

We were walking down a road when a massive lorry was trying to reverse park or something. As we waited, and waited, they finally did it, got out and opened the side door. It was a florist lorry from the Netherlands. Looked in and it was ace, with all flowers stacked up. Stan said hello to the guy, and then he gave him a bunch of flowers! Stan then began giving them out to people, which was really sweet.

Went into Old Rauma church, which was nice. Woman spoke to us for a bit, telling us about the paintings. Stan gave her a flower. We then went to a charity shop, or a bric and brac shop. Kids got a tiny toy each, and it took 3 workers 4 minutes how much to charge us. 90 cents was the answer. I gave a Euro. I’m good like that.

Went to go for some lunch and chose Hesburger. We’d seen loads around. It’s like a McDonald. Or a quick burger. Nice mind!

Quite a lot of fruit machines in supermarkets.

Turku

Drove to Turku, where our next AirBnB was. Turku was the Capital city before Helsinki. When the Swedes were running Finland, it was top city, but the pesky Russians took over, and they made Helsinki capital. Probs because it’s closer to St Petersburg.

Turku has loads of history. It’s the oldest city in Finland. It’s got Turku Archipelago, with 20,000 islands. First night there, we stayed in and watched Benji on Netflix. Shocking film. 2 stars out of 10.

In the morning, we made a picnic, and set off to Kurjenrahken National Park. Finland has quite a few national parks, which is weird as most of the place looks like a national park! Seriously, you can just be driving down a normal road, and the lakes and trees look so beautiful.

Took 40 mins to get there. Parked up and set of around the lake. This day could probs be a whole blog post on its own, so I’ll just summarise main points!

The lake was a 6km route. We walked on normal paths, and a wooden railway track like balance beam path, which was cool. We walked through snow and ice and then found a spot for the picnic-a small jetty on a frozen bit of the lake. Amazing! Tried to get a nice picture of us all but failed. Too many shadows, kids not smiling, me closing my eyes, the usual.

Such a cool track to walk on and follow. Good over the boggy bits!

Propped up on my bag, couldn’t see all the shadows and that!

Carried on walking and found a little museum thing. Oh, I forgot to mention, we found an ace abandoned house! Lovely building, but weirdly empty. There was stuff in there, but no one had lived there for a while. Was like a Chernobyl thing!

Still not sure if someone lived here or not!

Carried on, and that’s when the bad thing happened. We got lost. I say lost, we weren’t ‘lost’, we had just lost the path. I tried going cross country to save some time, and ended up wasting an hour walking around the same spot! Main problem was, a swampy river, and no way of crossing it. Ended up swallowing our (my) pride, and headed to the last place we were, and found a car park.

Another lake, another jetty. Better light.

I ended up running all the way back and getting the car and driving to meet them. It was a 3km Run, which I went the wrong way first of all. Because of roads and that, it was a 20 min drive back to them! All fine in the end!

Drove home but we decided to see some of the islands in the archipelago. I tried finding ferry times and boat crossings but struggled. So, we just hopped over a bridge. Ended up at a beach in Saro, past a nice place called Ruissalo, which looked like a perfect camping place. Looked out and saw some other islands and wish we could have got a boat to go to more!

He was picking up stones to throw. One of his favourite things.

Came home, did a bit of packing as needed to get out early next day to see as much of Turku as we could before driving to Helsinki.

Went to Turku centre. Parked by the river Aura and had a wander down it. There’s a saying, which is like a joke, as to what the sides of the river are called. In Budapest, one side is Buda, one is Pest. In Turku it’s ‘this side of the river’ and ‘the other side of the river’. It’s funny.

We stopped at a boat restaurant and had an ice cream and coffee. It was right next to the ferry I had planned to catch. It’s a free ferry, or Fori, which takes you from one side of the river to the other. Now, it’s quicker to walk over the bridge which is a few minutes’ walk away. The crossing takes about 2 mins. It’s ridiculous! And that’s why I loved it.

This is what 5 Euros gets you in Ice Cream.

Walked back along the river to the Library. I think these are underused in the UK. We have internet and that. Who needs books!? Well, this library is ace. It was well busy! Folk just having a chill, catching up, using the toilet. There was a really good children’s section with a play room and that. Spent about half hour there.

Next, we had a traditional Subway lunch. Expensive, like €28. Woman wouldn’t even give Amelia tuna in her kids sub because ‘rules are rules’.

Walked over the river, went to Turku cathedral. This was nice, but not as good as Tampere’s. Ooh bet that will get the rivalry going! Funny fact about these two cities. Turku burnt down in the 1800’s. 26 people died and about 80% of the city was destroyed. This isn’t the funny bit. The comical bit is, everyone from Turku was in Tampere, at a big market thing! This meant that less people died, but also more of it burnt down because there was no one there to put the fire out!

Loads of these statues along the riverside

Went to the museum. Not to look around, but to see the shop and use the toilet. Looked good though. Back to the car and set off for Helsinki.

Helsinki

Found the AirBnB after an age. Directions weren’t great. She wasn’t in to meet us, like most do, as she had to look after her neighbours’ hairless dog. True story. Had to buzz a load of numbers to get in to the apartment block. Came back to the car to see Char and the kids arguing with a funny, angry man about the parking space I had plonked the car in.

Unpacked car. Drove to supermarket, which would have been quicker to walk to. Got stuff for next three days. Drove back, which would have been quicker to walk to. Then I had to take the hire car back. I had rung up to change drop off point. They wanted €30 to change it to one-way trip, rather than round trip back to airport, which I had booked. After booking AirBnB, found it easier to take back to city centre. I then told the dude that I wanted to make a complaint about the pick-up time mix up. He got back to me and said the €30 is waivered. Win.

Got car washed and vacuumed and that. €20 to use a garage car wash!! What a swizz. That was the cheapest. Took car to Crowne Plaza. Got a tram home. Phone died before getting off so had to guess where I lived and where to get off. I lost. Then won again.

First day in Helsinki proper. Got metro to centre, well, University, and walked to Cathedral and that. Library was closed because of Jesus dying and that. (Oh, it was Easter. This made sense when I wrote it, not so much 2 weeks later). Shame as it looked good! Cathedral was good though. That defo wasn’t closed. Char made me laugh and I missed an opportunity which I was upset about for the rest of the day. A woman who worked in cathedral was taking down the numbers they put up to tell you what hymns to sing. I said something about countdown, and Char said ‘I’ll have 2 from the top and 4 small ones’. I wanted to video the lady whilst saying that as it would have made a great video, but was too slow. Bah.

Quite a lot of nice street art. Electric boxes done to look pretty.

Left there, had a wander round Senate Square, then ended up by the harbour and into a market. Looked for a fridge magnet. Found one. Stan had picked a daffodil from a basket display thing at Senate Square and had carried it around. He then turned around and gave it to a market seller man. The guy was like ‘mamma Mia’ if he was Italian, and was so moved by it, he gave Stan a thing from his stall! He only sold one thing. Furry soap. Not even joking. It was worth €6 so well-done Stan!! Went to next stall and I said ‘Amelia, give her a flower’! She didn’t.

That;s the flower he picked. Not a clue what she is doing.

Stan then said hello to a blacksmith, which was actually a silversmith, and he let Stan hammer a fish or something. It was made of metal, not a real one.

There was a London Eye thing, or Sky Wheel as the call it. Amelia wanted to go in, so we did. €38 for a family ticket. Was good though. Went around three times. Waved at the operator woman each time. She wasn’t impressed any of the times. Waved back out of pressured waving from us. Finished that.

Went over a bridge to an orthodox looking church. Bells were ringing at 10 to the hour, which I thought was weird. We walked in, but I noticed folk were wearing suits and that. As we got into the main bit, there was a sign saying ‘Divine Service. No Sight Seeing’. We turned around and left before we burst into flames.

Decided to go to the Cat Cafe, so jumped on to a tram. We had bought a 2-day travel pass at the metro. €9 for one day, €13.50 for 2. It cost me €2.50 for one tram ride the day before, so thought this worked out well. Got off at a main shopping bit and googled the cat cafe. Said it cost €5 each to get in!!? Bore off. We had McDonalds instead.

Next on the list was Torni Hotel. This used to be Finland’s tallest building when it was built, but now it’s number 9. Or is it Helsinki’s tallest, well, 9th now? Whatever. It does have the best views of the city. It’s up in the top floor, obviously, where there is a little bar and that. Good views.

Saw this place on Travel Man with Richard Ayoade.

Went down and walked to Esplandi Park. Not much of a park, more a sliver of not city. Like a Central Park, but more concrete. Nice fountain at the end, called Havis Amanda. I know nothing of it, except she liked seals apparently. There’s a fair bit on Wikipedia if you fancy reading it. Looks like she was a French prostitute. That’s the gist.

Like Birmingham’s ‘Floozie in the Jacuzzi’.

We had time on our side, so jumped on a ferry to Suomenlinna. This is covered in the travel pass, which is nice. Otherwise it’s a fiver to cross. 15-minute ferry trip to an old fort island. Loads of history here. Owned by the Finns during a war. Taken over by the Russians for a hundred years. Given back and that. There’s a few museums and cafes. Quite cool! It’s also a UNESCO Heritage site. As was Old Rauma. So, we ticked off 2! There was one we missed out though – an old burial site. Didn’t look cool.

Got back and headed home. Back to metro, stopped at the supermarket, which we did on the way there too! Three visits in 24 hours!

Saturday. Normal day pretty much with Jesus having his little lay down before the big show tomorrow! Got on a tram and went 3 stops to the Rock Church. Not a cool music place, but a cool religious place. It’s literally made out of rocks. Carved into a cave, and then built around it with rocks and that. Pretty good place. Cost €3 to get in, which is a bit bonkers to pay to get into a church. Not like there’s loads of upkeep. Yeah, go and get another stone lads, this one looks weird.

Would be a great place for a ‘rock’ concert.

Next, we walked to the Natural History museum. This was pretty good!! Not as big as London’s, but the displays were amazing and looked well nice. Stan absolutely loved it. Racing ahead to see the next thing, and the next. Good stuff.

Over the road was Helsinki Art Museum, or HAM. This was on my list as I saw a free art workshop was going on today. Stopped for a traditional Hesburger first of all though. It’s a big complex, with a cinema in it and food places. Pic and mix was massive.

As we went into the HAM, there were loads of people putting on those forensic suits, or painting suits, whichever way you think. We were about to get stuck in, but then the woman told us we had to go to the next room.

Really helpful chap showed us all the bits and bobs we could use, and the glue gun and things. Kids and us enjoyed making a load of stuff which broke later on, but was really nice. Some people were in there on their own making stuff, others were with kids. Nice little space for some art therapy. Oh, there’s a massive seagull there too. Obviously.

Next, and my thing I was most looking forward to today was the Museum of Contemporary Art. Kiasma. I had looked at the exhibitions and a couple tickled my fancy, especially the ‘The Stage is Yours’ one. 5 artists with different things where the viewer gets involved to make the art happen.

The first floor was a great woman called Liu Susiraja, from Finland. She just looks like a fun person, who pokes fun at herself. Candid pictures are amazing. Then there was someone who made microbe art.

Stage is yours was the best floor. First one wasn’t great. Some bloke videoing folk doing weird stuff to microphones.

Second was a tin can phone thing, but you didn’t know who was on the other end, or if there was anyone there at all.

Third was the best. A stage, and some headphones. You could get up, wearing the headphones, where a bloke was telling you to do weird stuff. Like run around, or shout ‘the government are using seagulls as spies’ or just roll on the floor. Great bit of fun. If no one joins in, there is no ‘art’. Stan proper got into it! Sign said it wasn’t suitable for kids, but he did it so well!!

Proper enjoyed this. That’s Stan on the floor.

Fourth was a life model drawing, but it was a three-metre doll thing. Amelia’s pic is hilarious.

Fifth was where people sew stuff, fix clothes whilst having a chat with you. We had a nice Spanish woman who used to live in Leamington Spa.

Upstairs was a massive hair thing. Bit weird. It was called ‘Shop Lifter’. Didn’t get it.

Went home after this. Stopped off at a sweet shop in the main train station. Metro home. 2 stops. It’s such a small city really, but doesn’t feel it. Easy to get from one side to the other. Can walk it in an hour I reckon! Like the whole of the bottom bit of the city, east to west. Have a look at the map, it’ll make sense.

This was a metro ‘cave’, with paintings. Great.

Char packed. I put kids to bed. We had a sauna. There’s one in the bathroom. There’s one in most houses. We had one in the last two houses too! 5 million people live in Finland, and there are 3.3 million saunas. Great day today.

Lazy morning. I say lazy, I went for a bit of a run. London Marathon is next week, and I haven’t done enough training. It was only a bit of a run. I kept stopping to look at things, like the hundred people fishing in the sea! Seriously, all of them just bringing up 4 sardines at a time, or whatever they were.

There were 10x this amount along the bridge and dock.

Came home and after getting all packed up and dressed and that, took kids and Char to go see them. Stan now wants to go on a fishing holiday.

Oh, got told off by one of the neighbours because the kids ran down the corridor. Apparently, it’s ‘in the rules that you can’t make noise’.

Went to the shopping centre, had a Subway. Had a walk home and left for the airport. Walk, metro, train, plane.

Finnair great again. Let us put our bags on for free. She had to make a call this time though. I had a spare seat next to me on the plane. Felt smug. Until the kid behind decided today was the time he wanted to learn to play drums on my chair.

Finland was amazing. Genuinely felt like such a lovely country. People were amazing. There’s this thing where they don’t like talking to people, hate small talk, and that suits me fine!

If I was to do it again, I’d do Helsinki first, and then the road trip. I enjoyed the countryside and open air more than Helsinki, I think. I loved the capital, and would go back, but in hindsight, I would have preferred it the other way around.

Defo needed to hire a car. Public transport is probably ok but wouldn’t have wanted to rely on it to do the trip we did. Was nice to have the freedom to go where we want and when and that. Defo don’t need a car in Helsinki. Metro, tram and feet are all you need. Lovely compact city. I was going to finish but didn’t want ‘lovely compact city’ to be the final words. So, the final word will be Kiitos which is thank you in Finnish. It’s nicer than ‘lovely compact city’.

Kyiv

This was a relaxed set off for a change as it was an afternoon flight. No rushing round at 0315 in the morning. Drove to Stanstead. Had a McDonald’s. Got to the airport. Went to three WH Smith’s because ‘they’ll have better magazines for the kids in the next one’ Went back to the first WH Smith’s we saw. We then ended up right at front of priority queue. Little hack for families – just buy one priority ticket and the rest normal, and they let you all go through priority on that booking! Just make sure it’s the first ticket you show. Can take a bigger bag on too. This is with Ryanair. Not sure what a proper airline does.

Got to Kyiv. Oh, that’s the correct spelling of it by the way. There was a bloke with sign with our name on, who struggled to walk. Nightmare getting out of car park as there’s no proper queuing or anything. It was cold too at -2 degrees. Drove through the city and there were loads of tower blocks on the way in which reminded me of The Streets (best) album, Original Pirate Material. Saw some of the famous domes and Motherland monument.

We got to the AirBnB which we never would have found in the dark! Right next to Independence Square but then down a weird alley. In the dark. Tidy. Paid driver in Euros. Accepted US Dollar too. Or Ukrainian Hryvnia. Which we had none of. Closed currency apparently. Will get some tomorrow.

Exploring

Next day, we got out about 11. Walked around the corner to a St Michael’s cathedral, with the domes. Then to a park, with a nice view over the Dnieper. This was on Volodymyrska Hill. There was snow/ice on all the sides of paths where it had been cleared, and then been too cold to defrost. Skies were beautiful blue, not a cloud to be seen, but still so chilly. Just scarfs at this point though, no hat or gloves.

Left there and ended up at St Andrew’s church. Another dome. This one you could pay to go in, but we still didn’t have any cash money, so carried on. We then got to Andriivsky Descent, a hill with loads of street traders on. Market stalls and that. First one we saw had loads of war memorabilia, including a pilot’s helmet from a MiG 23, and some Luftwaffe stuff. He also had stacking dolls, which the kids loved. Russian dolls. They’re called stacking dolls because of YouTube probs. Stan saw a nice authentic Star Wars one. Asked the bloke where a cash machine was and got some cash out. Trying to choose the right amount was hard. Ended up with 2500 Ukrainian Hryvnia! It’s only about 80 quid. The Star Wars Russian dolls were something like 2400!! He said, ‘best price 1000’. Yeah, I’d love to pay £30 for some stacking dolls. We left, much to Stan’s protestations. Next stall we found some cheaper, a tenner.

St Andrew’s. An English woman offered to take this. Or a Ukrainian with a wicked good accent.

Weeing Statues

Next on the list to see was a statue of four boys having a wee. I take my family to all the best things! Had to walk through a ‘sculpture park’ with loads of cool statues and that. A nice Alice in Wonderland slide thing too. Alice was a bit weird though. Found the boys doing a wee, then found a cafe because Stan was dying of starvation.

It was called ‘City Zen’ and was nice you know! Looked like a posher cafe. Woman showed us to our table, and it was nice watching her build up to speaking to us in English. She did 99% better than I did in Ukrainian but was lovely to see her do it and do it well enough that we could understand, which is the whole point of a language.

If you have to make up a word, or do a silly action, or find other words to use, that’s part of communication. I think people, especially British people, get really embarrassed or nervous when trying to either learn a language, or speak to a native in their language. The whole point of speaking to someone, is to get whatever point you want to make across to them. If it’s broken Spanish or half Russian half Ukrainian, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re understood.

We asked for a cappuccino, and three hot chocolates. She then asked if we wanted anything else. We said we’d look at menu. We then ordered 3 croissants and a ciabatta. She then asked if we wanted more. We didn’t. After we finished, she brought over 2 Apple Cheese Cakes for us, as a gift, which was really sweet. Genuinely think this was because we were either British, and they don’t see too many there, or, well, there’s no other explanation. Was a nice touch.

Getting Fleeced

Next, we went to St Sophia’s Cathedral. Before we went in, we were pounced on by a woman with 2 pigeons, and a man with a sword. I knew it was one of these street people who charge you as much as they can for a photo. Thing is, Amelia had weirdly said that morning that she wanted to hold one (I had caught one previously in Krakow), so we said ok.

Woman did the patter. ‘How much?’ She said nothing, don’t worry. Yeah right. Then put the birds on the kids and then on Char. I was gonna give her 50 hryvnia to say thanks. She said, ‘ok that’s 800 please’. Ha, no chance. Argued that she said it was free, she then said 600. Ended up giving her 200, which is about £6 more than she should have got, but there was a man with a sword. Can’t put a price on our kids’ heads!

Went into the cathedral. 200 hryvnia. This one got us inside and that. Loads of women working inside, telling us not to touch things, or take pictures, or breath too hard. One was asleep. Had a nice look round and left.

Walked out and found a hedgehog made out of wood and screws. Another bucket list tick for me. Walked to the Golden Gate, which is famous for some reason. I think this one was rebuilt as last one was destroyed.

Char found a cat statue.

Oh, walked past the German Embassy, and they had a massive chunk of the Berlin Wall there, so another tick for the kids!

Got to St Volodymyr’s cathedral. Went in, spent 9 hryvnia on some candles. This place smelled lovely, incense and that. Stan has a fascination with fire. He lit his candle, to blow it out, and light it again. He always tries to blow out all the other candles, even though we have told him that they are part or people’s prayers! Matters not to him. Always seems more religious in these churches. Folk coming in, doing the touch head shoulders and belly button thing, lean head against icons to pray.

Art Exhibition

Walked around the corner to Pinchuk Art Center. Not sure why this was on my list but must have seen summat about it somewhere. Got there and there was a massive queue! Joined it obviously, we are British! There was an exhibition on called ‘Future Generation Art Prize 2019’. 21 artists from around the world showing stuff off. A lot of it was sculptures, quite a few film stuff. One was a woman putting clay on a chair. She’ll probs win. Another was a song on a 5 second loop. Char spent about 15 mins listening to it! Another was a film about them Thai lads that got stuck in a cave. The floor was full of sea shells, probs to make it more realistic.

Weird statue near the art centre. It’s probably really significant.

Left there, found a supermarket, got some supplies and walked home. Went through Independence Square. It was 5 years to the day that there were massive demonstrations here. 113 people died, and the president was ousted. Over a thousand were injured, and some people are still missing from arrests and that. There were a few Armed Forces blokes on the streets. Not sure if that’s a common thing, or just in case anything happened to mark the occasion.

Next day, had a bit of a lazy morning. Finally got out and got an Uber to The Motherland monument. It’s not the normal thing for us as we like public transport and muddling through buying tickets and that, but this was the easiest. Uber is well cheap here, and for that reason, I splashed out the extra 30p on a deluxe Uber. In the UK, this would be a BMW 5 series, or a nice Mercedes. Guess what they sent? A bloody VW Polo!! Not even joking. And he was grumpy.

My Favourite Ukrainian Statue

Motherland statue. It’s a soviet thing, but they kept it because it’s pretty cool. This is the 12 tallest statue in the world!! In comparison, the Statue of Liberty is only 42. Three tanks are outside it, and then a nice big park with loads of statues, and memorials for the wars.

After this, we walked along the road and passed some of the things that were on my list, to get some lunch. Char was hangry, so everything stops! Found a little coffee shop cafe thing called Wake Cup. Nice. Had some sandwiches and hot dog and that. Then got an Uber back to where we had come from. It cost £1.15. It was a Nissan Tilda, so another tick for me. Never heard of it. He was grumpy too.

Went into Pechersk Lavra. This is an old monastery with a cave/catacomb system. Inside these caves are loads of mummified monks or priests or whatever they are. Was a bit morbid, and also a bit creepy as you could see their withered hands. We had to walk around with a candle and passed loads of folk praying to pictures on the wall.

It was a massive hill down, and a bigger hill up! Loads of pensioners were making the trip, so couldn’t complain. Next was a museum which was the number two thing to do in Kiev. But we couldn’t find it! The museum is the microminiatures thing. Some guy has spent a couple of minutes making a camel which sits in the eye of a needle or made some shoes for a flea! Gutted we didn’t get to go. So, got an Uber to Mariinsky Park

Mariinsky Park and Palace

Ok park with an old kids play ground. Full of ice and snow. Got a coffee from one of the kiosks that they have everywhere. Got Stan a T. Rex lolly, which he immediately dropped. We asked for another, but the silly sausage worker thought we were trying to swap the smashed-up lolly for a new one! We just wanted to buy another. Finally worked out what was going on. Had a wander round and ended up by Mariinsky Palace. Looked alright. It’s the President’s house. Or the President’s Residence, which I just thought of and sounded funny. It’s way better than 10 Downing St.

Next door is the parliament of Ukraine. You could just walk up to it. There were a few soldiers and police knocking around, but they probably wouldn’t have shot you.

Down the road was the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. It’s always different to UK as a lot of countries have a Prime Minister and a President. I never know who does what. This was probably one of my favourite buildings. Curved, looked solid and massive.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about Arsenalna Metro Station! We didn’t go down but had planned to get a metro and get off there. It is the deepest underground station in the world! What a title. Forget Hampstead on the Northern Line, the deepest station in London. 58.5 metres underground. New York’s 191st Street is only 55 metres below. Arsenalna is 105.5 metres underground!! Wow right!?

Walked home. Found a shop for some more toilet roll. I had to use baby wipes this morning. Handy to have in the bag! Messy kids and running out of loo roll.

Had a jacuzzi. Hot water ran out so took about an hour and half to fill as waiting for more hot!! Put bubbles in. Big mistake.

Checking out today. Flight is at 2100 so almost a full day. Had to leave keys under the mat, which is always the best thing to do. No one looks there. As we got out though, the cleaner was on her way in. Or it was a really lucky robber.

We were going to take our bags to the dude’s office to keep for us while we had our last day, but it was sort of in the wrong direction, so didn’t.

Went for some lunch at Mr Grills. This was the Number 1 restaurant in Kiev on Trip Advisor!! Number 1! It was a burger place. And hotdogs. Like a 5 Guys, but not as many chips. It got a bit weird though. Stan and Char had a burger. Plain, classic burger. It came with a fried egg in the middle of it. Also, meals came with a pair of black latex gloves rolled up with a Mr Grills sticker on them!? Like to wear so you don’t get your hands dirty!? Weird.

I hope this is what the gloves were for anyway!

I asked the waiter which museum was best to visit out of two different ones. The Museum of Water, or the Chernobyl Museum. I know, how to treat the family right!? He said, ‘one moment’. A waitress came over, with a phone, spoke to us in Russian for 8 minutes, and then said, ‘you don’t understand, do you?’ Nopes. She showed us where the water museum was on her phone. We already knew but didn’t know how to tell her in Russian. So, we went to the Museum of Water. The taxi driver yesterday said I t was good, so had a word of mouth review too.

Museum of Water

You know what, it was good. We went in, was told to wait by the receptionist. It was a guided tour thing, so a group of Ukrainians went with the guide. What happened next was lovely. They called us forward, and a woman called Ala, early twenties, introduced herself and said she’d be our guide. Perfect English, good with the kids, and just a nice person! The other group was about 10 people, but she took us round just as a family, and did the whole tour in English.

There wasn’t that much English spoken in Kyiv. Most waiters/waitresses did speak it, but it’s a third language if that. It was really nice of her to do it. I’m not one to patronise, but at the end I said it was really kind of her, and that I understood 99% of what she said! There was one word I struggled with. The fact she was telling us about sewerage systems and water treatment facilities, and there was only one word I couldn’t understand, was a me problem, not hers!! She was genuinely relieved and happy when I said how great she had done. Oh, the place was good too! Some experiments for kids, interactive stuff, koi carp touching, standing inside bubbles and that.

After this place, we walked past the Puppet museum or something. It was a bit closed so couldn’t see anything. Walked down to Frankie’s, an American type cafe where we sat for two hours, waiting for a decent time to leave to get our flight. Coffee and American pie cake and got chocolate. Kids sat and played, we sat and chilled.

Got an Uber, as it was half the price of the transfer in by the AirBnB bloke. First one turned up, and it was a VW Caddy. A white van with seats. Got in and there were no seatbelts in the back. Wife told him and he was like ‘meh’ and started to drive! We said we wanted to get out, and did. Went to book another one, and the cheese pilot hadn’t cancelled his trip! I could ‘see’ us driving down the road. I had to edit the end point, from the airport to just by the location the taxi was. He was trying to get as much cash as he could. Finally booked another. A Nissan Leaf. Electric vehicle. He was on 64% charge, but then started driving slow on the motorway. Ended up on 32% when we arrived, so hope he made it back!

Had dinner in airport. Trying to use last of our currency. Ended up going 13 UAH over what we had, which was about 37 pence. Had to spend a Euro to pay for a drink to make the bill up! Guy was well miserable.

Got flight. Got home. Was a lovely few days. Weather was good, but cold. Not too cold though. Loads to see and do. Could go for another trip and see completely different things and still have enough to do another trip! The people were friendly enough, but not on a day to day basis. Like, if someone crosses over a zebra crossing, they don’t acknowledge the driver, or give them a thumbs up like we do.

Other difficult thing is the language. It’s not a ‘normal’ alphabet, so unlike in Spain or Italy, you can’t guess what things are! There’s the letter 3 for example, or ф and д. English isn’t widely spoken, so you do need an app or some language to go. Other bad thing is it’s not in the EU, so expensive roaming charges. Not that that will matter in about 2 weeks’ time (shakes fist)! I used it for one of the days, at 150mb for £6! Otherwise, Wi-Fi is decent in most restaurants and that if you need it. Nice city, nice atmosphere, loads of history and lovely buildings and that, and would defo recommend a visit.

Disneyland Paris (again)

Char joked about going back here. So we did. There were some changes this time, like we drove instead of flew, different hotel, not Christmas. Still just as magical though.

The Journey

We filled the car up. Suitcase each. Bag of food. Snacks for journey. Everything. We took much more than could have on a flight, especially food wise. One of the things with Disneyland is the food is well expensive! This is where savings can be made, and by shopping here before going over, can plan meals and snacks to take during the day.

Drove to Dover, P&O to Calais. Char got a bit sick, and blamed it on P&O, as the same thing happened last time on one! DFDS is ok, totally different motion. Drove down the motorway or whatever its called, and got to Disneyland. Cost about £20 in tolls. You can do it without tolls, but adds on about an hour and half. We were staying in Cheyenne Hotel this time. It’s one of the park’s hotels that are a short transfer bus away, or a walk. Bit cold for walking while we were there though!

Looked like a ghost town when we arrived!

We arrived on Thursday, and it was fairly quiet. It was term time, and the Christmas season had just finished, so we thought the park would be really quiet. It wasn’t. Not as busy as last time, but still quite full. Queues were no where near as long though, and most rides were a 10 to 30 minute wait.

This is on Char’s birthday. You can tell because she demanded to wear a birthday badge from reception!

The only difference to this was Saturday, as it got absolutely rammed!! We used an app to tell us how long queues were for rides and that. Saturday came and things were going up to 200 minutes queue time! We were so lucky having the two days of relative quietness, and we defo maximised all the things we wanted to do before the weekend.

A lot of it was seeing characters. These really do make the kids (and Char) happy, and really add to the excitement. In the hotel, each morning you’ll have Mickey, Goofy or Pluto, and then in the park they will have set times for all the characters. You’ll also just see them knocking around sometime, and these are normally the best times to catch them.

This happened with Jack Sparrow, who asked us if we wanted a picture with him, and not the other way round!

Star Wars

Another reason Saturday was so busy was that Disneyland were launching their Star Wars theme. Saturday was their grand opening, so more people were around. We got over there early, mainly to queue up to see Chewbaca! Stan loves Chewie, and Star Wars for some reason. We dressed him in a Chewbaca onesie to walk round in, which he loved. The queue took the mick, but, we did see a Stormtrooper March, and a show on a stage too, so wasn’t all bad.

His face! He kept trying to do a Chewie face. This was the most ‘normal’ looking one.

We also took a Goofy onesie. The day he wore it, to get a really good picture with Goofy, he wasn’t at the hotel. When we did see him in the park, he was wearing a blinking golf outfit! What a swizz!

Lineby App

Another thing we did this time was use the Lineby app. This is a queue position app, where you book a time slot to see a character. These were Mickey, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Spiderman. I didn’t like the idea of it last time, but it actually worked really well! No standing in a queue for an hour. You get notified that your time is coming up, and then you just turn up and see the dude. Much easier.

Something I would defo recommend is Stitch Live show. I hate Lilo and Stitch, but this was really good. It’s like a live action cartoon, which is interactive. An actor runs it, and there’s loads of audience participation. Stan got involved and it was proper funny.

We did more rides and more seeing characters. It was quieter, queues were shorter. I’d defo go out of season again, rather than half terms and holiday times! If you can. Obviously, don’t take your kids out of school etc (or do). We asked for permission to take kids out of school, but was turned down. The letter also said ‘even though you can be fined, the school doesn’t let this happen’, which is nice. If it was exam times, or important bits etc, obvs we wouldn’t. This saved us a shed load, and was quieter, so everyone’s happy.

Amelia was big enough to do some of the bigger rides this time, like Tower of Terror. This was my favourite ride I think! I won’t spoil it, but you fall through a building. I was surprised she loved it so much! The staff running it was cool too. The staff are, without exception, the best thing about Disneyland. How they can motivate and ensure they all have a smile on their face 100% of the time is beyond me. Genuinely go out of their way to help you, and improve the whole experience.

Some of the workers took a selfie when we asked for a photo.

I even sent an email thanking the lady on the Tower of Terror. The second time we went on, it broke a bit, and Amelia got scared. Lady helped her off and was kind about it all, and even gave us a fast pass to come back on, beating the queues.

Fast Pass is pretty cool. You can use your normal ticket to bypass the queues once a day. Sometimes the fast pass has a queue, but much smaller than the regular queue. We did it on two of the days, on the Toy Story shooter ride, which is also very good.

Char’s genuine face when she wasn’t winning the shooting!

Don’t even think she knew I was taking pics!

Another part Stan loved was the Star Tours ride. I think I did it three times with him. Speaking of Star Wars, we stayed late one night to see the opening show for the season thing. It was alright. Not amazing. Mainly it was a lights and projection onto a building thing. There was a bit of character play, and then at the end, all of the characters came out, just to wave at the crowd pretty much! Would have been much better if it was more live action. Also saw what I assume to be France’s Big Brother winner doing some interviews for TV. Not a clue who it was.

Hotel

Accommodation was good. Cheyenne isn’t too far from the park. It’s a Western themed place, with Toy Story stuff in the room. It’s like a Travelodge room. The kids had a roll out sofa bed this time, which was decent. There was a weird smell outside though, like drains.

Food

Food wise we did buy a lot before going over for breakfasts and evening meals. Pasta pots and things, which some were quite nutritious! I know it isn’t ideal, but its only for a few days. We did take fruit and that too. A load of snacks. Lunch times we did the cheaper option of McDonalds and 5 Guys. They are just outside the park. It’s weird because we keep costs down, but then spend a fortune getting a character lunch! This was the Inventions lunch in the main hotel in the park.

Character Lunch

It’s good because you get to have some food while characters come to your table. Like reverse queuing. It’s normally a lucky dip, however, we had looked at Twitter and Instagram at the breakfast ones, and they were the same characters we had the year before! We got to see Minnie, which doesn’t happen too often apparently, so that was nice. Food wasn’t great, but I did have an endless supply of macarons, which is always a good thing.

Kids had saved up money from their Nan to spend in the shops. There was also a sale on, so win win! Got some teddies and that. Stan wanted to buy everything in the first shop we saw, and the next, and next.

Happy with his purchases. Frozzo and Bullseye.

One thing that I did miss from the Christmas visit was the lack of shows. These were the highlight for me last time, but there were none this time, apart from the Star Wars. The other negative thing was there was still some Christmas decorations up around the place. Every day more would come down, but was still a bit weird seeing them in mid January.

Another thing we didn’t take full advantage of, because sleep, is the extra park time in the morning. If you stay in the hotels, you get to go in at 0830, rather than the opening time of 1000. So if you want to get on a ride really quickly, or in a queue, it’s ideal. We did it once.

On the last day, we had sort of planned to go to the park for a couple of hours, leave early, and pop to Paris for a few hours on the way home. The kids were having that much fun we decided not to. Having the car was good, as I filled it up before leaving the room, then when we left the park, just headed back and drove off. Otherwise, you have to leave it all in the baggage storage facility, and that can get busy.

All in all was a great trip. The driving wasn’t too bad, apart from Stan downing a bottle of juice in the back of the car and needing to stop 4 times in an hour for wee breaks. Awesome.

There’ll probs be loads of photos under here. Oh look, there is.

Albufeira

We went on a holiday that we haven’t really done before –hotel, with a pool, and a beach. It was a new feeling! Normally, it’s a citytour, or a drive here and there, but this was for one thing – relaxation. I wasgoing away with work for a few months, and we thought we should have a nice familyholiday.

We had looked for a beach holiday and chose Portugal. It wasanother tick, which is one of the first things we look for, and it was a niceprice and that. We went to the Algarve, to Albufeira, well, a beach down theroad from it – Praia da Falesia. It was a hotel called Victoria Sport and Beachhotel. It had a couple of pools, a little park, a kid’s club, and it was nearthe beach. The ‘sport’ bit was it had a full-size running track, and folk gothere to do warm weather training and that. I say full size, it had 4 lanes,but it was defo 400m.

Praia de Falesia

Went to the beach, which was about a 15 min walk away. Hadto go down a load of steps to get to it, but it was quite a big beach, withdeck chairs and parasols in lines, and a nice stretch to the sea. Hired acouple of lounger things, with a parasol. This was a no brainer. It was bloodyboiling, and would only have lasted about 10 mins in the heat!

Kids absolutely loved it. Took some toys down, bucket andspade and that. I took a book, but there was no chance of reading. Can’t relaxand take your eyes off the kids, especially when it comes to our two!! Favouritebit was burying the kids in the sand, and then making Stan laugh so much he wee’dhimself! Can’t even remember what made him laugh!

Kids Pool

Headed back to hotel and had a splash in the kid’s pool. Itwas awesome as it was so quiet! Had it all to ourselves most the time. Just oneother family would come with a baby, otherwise it was all ours! There was thiselephant slide, which I moved so it ended up in the water. Otherwise, it was aweird drop on to a really shallow pool. Next day, another family had moved itback. I moved it when they left!

Big Pool

Round to the big pool, which the kids loved even more. We hadn’t really taken them swimming much this last year, but they were still really confident in the pool, with armbands. Stan asked to have them taken off, and then just sunk! He then asked for them back on, realising what they do! Oh I forgot to mention, this was the first outing for Peppa Pig! Did feel a bit odd getting into a kids pool with a Peppa Pig tattoo.

Kids made friends with other kids which was nice. Wasn’tever overly busy, could always get a lounger and parasol without putting our towelsdown at 0530 or whatever some folk do.

Zoo Marine

One of the days we went to Zoo Marine. A water park/aquariumplace. Some of it was busy, some of it was ok. Went on a few rides, saw somefish and that, saw a pirate show. Kids had a good day.

Had another day at the beach. Went to the same parasol man.Everyone had a lovely day. We did a self-cateringthing, which kept costs down. Had a walk to the shop to buy pasta and fruit andbreakfast stuff. Me and the kids did go down for the breakfast a couple ofdays, which they liked.

Went for pizza down the road one of the days. Was quitecheap. Nice pizza. There wasn’t much to do in the area, but that suited us asall we wanted was a ‘relax’ and a pool and a beach, and that’s what we got.

It was another tick, kids probably enjoyed this more thanother holidays, and we went home happy with a bit of son on our face and asmile too. Will defo go back to Portugal, but probably Porto or Lisbon nexttime.

Tallinn and Riga

This was a good one. It was our first ‘dual-airport’ trip. If that’s a word? I put them apostrophes around it just to show I have no idea what I’m talking about. We flew from Stanstead to Tallinn, had a couple of days there, got a bus to Riga, couple of days there, and then flew back to Stanstead. Here’s what occurred.

Tallinn

We got off the plane at Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Went to a little shop near the exit and bought a Smartcard, one of the travel cards that are really useful. €2 deposit, and then a few euros for 3 days travel. Simples. Got on a tram, and off we went. We rely on Google Maps for most of our travel. Not only does it give you the routes, it also tells you what number bus to get, and where to change and that. Genuinely a gamechanger for foreign travel.

Waiting for the tramp, as Stan calls them.

Got to our AirBnB, a converted barn thing, which was ace, and then walked to the Town Centre. I say town, because it is the old town. Walled, towers, old churches, cobbles, classic old town. Been to a few of these, and this was not a let-down.

Town Hall

First building we went in was the Town Hall. Paid a woman outside a bit of cash. She may or may not have worked there, and walked up a well steep spire. Proper work out, not the safest of trips, but had an ok view at the top. Had a good old walk round, had some lunch, then retired to our barn thing. It wasn’t a barn but could have been.

Cool Buildings

Next day, walked to a different part of town. There are a few hills around the city, and they have these viewing platforms around the place. Went up Kohtuotsa viewing platform, which was quite busy. Weather was lovely, so kept on walking. Came to my favourite building in Tallinn, well, until later. This was Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. One of these orthodox churches, with loads of spires and domes. Russian influence everywhere here, as it was Russian not too long ago. Just opposite it is the Prime Ministers building, I think. Oh, turns out it’s the Estonian Parliament. Knew it was summat to do with her. Quite a few European cities were like this – Parliament just in the middle of a road, with an open car park. Not like our one in London!

Kiek in de Kok

Bit of a walk through a park, and I found my actual favourite building. Not because it was pretty or anything, but because it was called Kiek in de Kok. Amazing. It’s a cannon tower, where I imagined they tortured folk by giving them a kiek in de kok, but it sadly wasn’t true. Turns out it means Peep into the Kitchen, in an old German language. Because they were high towers, built in the city, you could peep into folks’ kitchens. Bah.

Ended up in a Russian café, bought some nice cakes, and some not so nice cakes. Amazing how a bit of lingo and pointing can get you a full meal, whether you wanted it or not. Oh, Stan smashed a glass. We left. Back into the Old Town and had a mooch.

St John’s Church there. We had a cafe just to the left.

Walked past a florist, she wanted a flower. Tried to get a nice pic, failed!

Bye Tallinn

Next day, we went to a massive park, with a massive kid’s park. Spent a bit of time here, had an ice cream. We had all our bags with us, as we were off to catch a coach to go to Riga! The company is called Lux Express, and the coaches were amazing! They were better equipped than our airplane. TV on each head rest, which was touch screen, with films and games. Wi-Fi on board. Free tea and coffee. It was a 4-hour journey, and the kids were well behaved, because of the TV! Would highly recommend. They do connections all over Eastern Europe and would defo get on one again.

Hello Riga

Got to Riga, and it felt different to Tallinn. Obvs, Riga is the capital of Latvia, and a different country. With a different language. This was tricky for me, trying to learn two languages to use in 5 days! I didn’t.

Riga felt bigger and more modern. This was apparent in our choice of AirBnB. 12^th floor in a tower block, with floor to ceiling windows and modern everything. Nice, but not great for Char, who hates lifts! Also, the fire escape was non-existent, so that wasn’t much of a worry to someone who suffers from anxiety!

This was one of the non-floor-to-ceiling windows. They were ‘cheersing’ a yoghurt drink.

Buildings

Had a snooze, ready for the next day. Which was met with a walk to town! Passed and went in some lovely churches. They really are amazing buildings. I don’t get on board with praising a God, but these places make it easier to do so I reckon! Walked through a busy city, saw some museums. Chatted to an old couple who had come in on a ferry. Saw the Freedom monument, which was quite cool. Independence and that innit.

Laima Clock

One of my favourite pics from the 5 days was taken in front of the Laima Clock. This has been here since the 20s, Laima (a chocolate company) started advertising on it in the 30s. It was used by people as a meeting point before going off on dates and that, which is quite romantic. The Russians knocked it down for a bit, and it was rebuilt in 1999. Well Stan took a pic of Char and I standing in front of this clock tower. He managed to get in a pic of a one-legged woman in a wheelchair too. Amazing.

Three Brothers

Loads of historical buildings in Riga but had a modern feel about it too. There were buildings that were well old, and some that hadn’t even been finished, which made it a tourist place! Found the ‘three brothers’ just about. Three buildings, that were next to each other, all built in different centuries. Meh. Could easily have walked passed and missed them, plus, there isn’t really a good vantage point to take a selfie in front of them. Planners didn’t really think that through, did they?

Three Brothers. There are a three sisters too, I think.

Phone was dying but forgot the lead for the portable charger. This is another ‘must have’ that we take with us. I have just had a new battery fitted on my iPhone 6S mind, and it lasts much longer! Had to buy a lead from a newsagent, and all was good again. Mainly for using Google Maps and that. I’m not Crushing Candies on my way round or anything.

More Buildings

Walked past the Parliament building. Went through main square and saw some nice buildings. Saw St Peter’s church, which was nice. Saw the House of the Blackheads, which we managed to squeeze into the trip. Ha, get it? This was built in 1334 or something, bombed by the Germans in 1941, and the ruins were demolished by the Russians in 1948. Some dudes rebuilt it in the 1990’s, which was nice of them.

Found the ‘Narrowest Street in Riga’, or the world. Called Rozena Street, it wasn’t even that narrow! I mean, you couldn’t fit a bus down, but defo a small car, a little bit of the way anyway.

Latvian Ethnographic Museum

Next day was our last. We decided to go to one of those open-air museum things. Like a St Fagan’s in Wales if you know it? Has an old village, with buildings of different times. You can go in and see what it was like in the 12^th Century or stuff. It was a good place. Spread out a fair amount. Cool thing was the windmill at the end, which you can get inside and climb up to the top. Nice little churches there, which would have been the focal point of these villages back in the day. The only bad bit was, mosquitos! Everywhere. Not sure if it was breeding season, or they had all come for a cultural day out too, but they were annoying.

Got an Uber or Taxify or whatever it was there to the airport. All easy when you have an app and that. Really nice few days all in all. IF I had to choose a favourite, I’d probably say Riga just about edged it. I would defo take a Lux Coach trip again. Big fan of the double country trip too! We still wanted to do a longer road trip, hitting Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Minsk and Kiev, but that would be a lot of work, especially with Belarus being a bit difficult with hire cars and that. We’ll probs go to the other ones one day anyway!