City breaks and a 'real' holiday

Lisbon, Portugal (3 nights)
Will remember it for: Trams, hills and a bridge like San Fran; blooming jacarandas; retro labels and packaging.
Developed a habit for: a daily cocktail at the terrace bar overlooking the bay
Highlight: stumbling across a mountain bike race winding and jumping its way through the narrow alleys of the old city
Wasn't keen on: the very industrial strip right near the river
Would go back to: do day trips to the mountains and beaches; do the museums and more cocktail-o'clock!

Porto, Portugal (2 nights)
Will remember it for: My first sight of the bridge; learning the difference between all the different types of port; art deco buildings and signs.
Developed a habit for: free port samples
Highlight: The Porto football team had won a game the afternoon that we arrived, which pretty much guaranteed they would win the Championship. That night, everyone was on the streets celebrating with a ticker tape parade. Whole families were out - our Brazilian roommate was scared by the crowds and when he saw police, went back to the hostel!
Wasn't keen on: the food (not sure if it was just our choices, but it was disappointing).
Would go back to: sample/buy more port

Copenhagen, Denmark (2 nights)
Will remember it for: Inspirational design; being a pretty city with a whimsical feel; young mums pushing strollers; street music wherever we went.
Developed a habit for: Cake in the afternoon tea (particularly at the cafe next to Royal Copenhagen)
Highlight: riding around pretending we were locals
Wasn't keen on: having to actually wait for the green man before crossing the road
Would go back to: buy Danish design furniture and antiques; find out the name of an artist whose name I foolishly didn't write down.

Paris, France (3 nights)
Will remember it for: being the trip where we actually started to like the food
Developed a habit for: Coincidences
Highlight: A crazy last night in the Bastille. We went to a bar that a friend recommended in the Bastille and meet a punk rocker from a 70s band called the Tubes. He introduced us to 'the most famous woman in Paris', Charlotte Gainsbourg who just happened to be passing with her son. At the same bar we ran into some fashion designer friends of one of our London friends (had never met them before, just recognised them from facebook photos), then three cool kids that I had photographed on a bridge earlier that day (so I took another photo).
Wasn't keen on: Catching the Eurostar back on Monday morning for work, after 3 hours sleep.
Would go back to: do a day trip to Versailles; actually climb the Effiel tower (three times and we only ever seem to toast it); see what the night brings!

Zurich, Switzerland (2 nights)
Will remember it for: Colourful umbrellas (in London they're mostly black); fresh mountain air, cow-bells and bugs that sound like sprinklers; village church bells in the morning and all things cherry flavoured.
Developed a habit for: meat, cheese and boiled eggs for breakfast
Highlight: We were there for the National Day celebrations so went down to the lakeside and watched all the unofficial and official fireworks being set off - definitely a more spontaneous and jubilant feel than Australia's 'legal', organised, fireworks displays.
Wasn't keen on: tension between the Swiss and German
Would go back to: see it with Trent; spend more time in actual Zurich

New York, USA (5 nights)
Will remember it for: Actually scoring finals and semi-final tickets for the tennis but not getting to see any; seeing more of Brooklyn/Willamsburg; exploring the weekend markets
Developed a habit for: Brunch in a new place every day
Highlight: working our way through about 5 different lists of recommendations, catching up with both Oz and London friends in one amazing city, the new 'Highline' from the Meatpacking district
Wasn't keen on: missing both the tennis and Meredith; the Metro - no signs to tell you how long til the next train and lousy signage when stations/lines are closed. If only NY could have London's Tube at Russian Metro prices...
Would go back to: shop, live, explore all the different areas to my heart's content

Dalmatia Coast, Croatia (8 days, island hopping from Split down to Dubrovinik)
Will remember it for: being our first relaxing holiday since moving away from Australia; pomegranate, fig and olive trees growing everywhere; black squid risotto; completely slowing down and not worrying about we hadn't got to see; super saltly sea water and pebbly beaches which make graceful exits impossible.
Developed a habit for: sun and sea; gauging how tanned my arm is against my tummy
Highlight: Courgette flower papardelle that Trent cooked one night, using fresh flowers from the market in Dubrovnik; 'discovering' our own private cove when scootering around Korcula Island.
Wasn't keen on: the spikey black sea urchin that I stepped on, on Hvar Island; house wine most of the times we ordered it.
Would go back to: enjoy the food; remember what it is to really relax; see Zagreb and explore northern Croatia.

Since Russia...

Well, its 2009 and we've switched travel strategies. We've already used up a good chunk of precious leave on a well-overdue trip back to Australia. So this year, we've been doing the typical Australians-on-a-work-holiday-visa thing, and cramming in the weekend trips. So far we've hit Lisbon, Porto, Copenhagen and popped back to Paris. But before I get onto that, here's a gap-filler since our last blog:

In October, Mike, my former boss from the Christmas Island project, came over to do the Europe thing. His son had recently left London for a Hong Kong post, which fortunately for us meant we got a longer stint playing tour guides. We elbowed our way through crowded markets (Columbia Rd flower markets on the left), trudged up different lookouts, showed off our favourite hangouts and tried some new ones. For my birthday, we splashed out and did the degustation menu at La Gavroche.

In November, we celebrated a friend's birthday in Barcelona with a group of twenty. We had a great night out at Razzamatazz (a giant warehouse club with live bands and different types of music on each level that even impressed relauctant clubbers like us) and got to fit a bit of sightseeing on either side. In Barcelona I discovered 'Le Cool' guides, a Spanish set of jumbled travel guides that skip the practicalities of a city to fit in more wierd and juicy bits. My favourite find was a bar called La Primitiva - a members club with caged birds along one wall and filled with smoky old men.

In December, we spent our first vegetarian Christmas (tasty!) with Dave and Alex, who were over to do a spot of travel with Dave's sister. It was a brief stop, but at least we knew we were going to catch up again in Adelaide in March.

In January we were up for a real treat with the heaviest snow London had seen in at least 10 years. Transport, including buses, ground to a halt, so many Londoners got to enjoy a day off work to make snowmen and wander the snowy streets. On the visitor front, Brooke and Trevor made the first of a number of stops as they passed through London (bringing snow each time).

In March, we finally got back to Oz for three weeks. We'd missed two births and two weddings (thankfully no funerals) since our last visit so we had four new additions to the family to meet/spend time with.

Our first night was in Adelaide at Dave and Alex's new place. It was great to see that they have settled back into Adelaide life, with a cruisy walk to work each day. We briefly caught up with my Uncle, Auntie, cousins and their tribes in the Adelaide Hills, before driving down to Mt Gambier to see my grandparents. Twenty minutes out of Adelaide and Trent announced that driving was boring and questioned why all cars didn't have cruise control.

We arrived in Mt Gambier well-past Nanna and Gramps' bedtime and spent the next few days chaffeuring doctor, podiatrist and hospital visits. We inspected the vegetable patch, heard about Gramps' rabbit-skinning record, and giggled at Nanna and Mum bickering while smiling for a photo. After two nights it was time to head to Canberra with a quick stop off in Melbourne on the way. We headed straight to Stuart's new place in north Melbourne before meeting up with Kareen at Chantelle's birthday dinner in Fitzroy. We got Stuart to stay out late on a school night (hehe), convinced him to actually apply for a passport by tempting him with plans to catch the tennis in New York, then headed straight back to the airport for our morning flight.

In Canberra, we caught up with old workmates, including one of the last former Finance graduates that have stuck around, shopped for belated birthday presents, and had cheap Australian dollar haircuts. We also got to spend some time with family, meeting our niece Grace before heading onto Parkes to meet our nephew Spencer too. We temporarily left Trent's family, after eating more meat than we had had in the last six months in London, and headed up to Brisbane.

We arrived in time for a deluge, which was a good excuse to revisit GOMA. We met my brother Mike's new wife Carol and hung out with some of their Malaysian friends who were in town (we learnt 'RMIT' is how you say cheers in Malaysian). We stopped at Nick and Heather's for a scrummy weekend brunch and got to hear about their year volunteering in Tanzania. Also popped out for dinner with Anna (who is spending a year back in Brissie on secondment) and later Sarah (got her on board for a trip to New York for the tennis!).

After a few days, it was down to the Gold Coast for a 10-day stretch with both of our families over Easter. Trent and the boys zoomed around on scooters, we sat around peeling prawns and fit in plenty of trips to the beach. It was great to catch up with Crystal, Renee, Candice and the Grays too, but it was all over too soon! Since then we already have another nephew (Welcome Eli!) and another one due in November, so in no time at all we'll need to do it all again.

Russia via Tel Aviv

This year, we haven't crammed in as many European breaks. Instead, we've tried to do a few longer trips to longer-haul destinations to take advantage of tax-only fares while we can get 'em. So next plan was to spend about 10 days in Russia, meeting up with Codie (aka Mr Pink) in St Petersberg. We rocked up at the airport for our standby flight, as normal, but got all the way to the gate before being told that the flight was full. Gutted.

The Sunday flight was also full so we faced having to head home for the rest of the weekend (precious leave AND visa days wasted!) and then coming back to try again on Monday or Tuesday. Luckily, Codie was at Heathrow on his way out for a flight and suggested that we join him in Tel Aviv for the weekend before coming back to London to reattempt the Moscow leg. After some frantic calls to try and catch someone at a computer who could find out if we would need visas (thanks Ian!), we agreed. Less than an hour later, Codie had managed to get us upgraded so we sat sipping champagne and contemplating all that we didn't know about Tel Aviv. Quite a turn around from what had started as a crap day!

It turns out that Tel Aviv is quite the party town and some what of a Gay Mecca so on the first night we were introduced to the life of a flight crew on stop over. You guessed it, plenty of drinking and plenty of dancing in gay bars where tops are optional. The night spiralled into a blur and ended with a refreshing dip in the Mediterranean - thankfully there aren't any rips to worry about in Israel so we all made it through ok.

Our one and only day in Israel was started with a delightful Israeli breakfast made up of fried eggs, tomato salsa, cucumber and some kind of tsaziki type thing. After stuffing ourselves with the over sized breakfast and a seriously strong coffee we were off to explore the city. The main highlights were the old port of Jaffa, another dip in the Med and a converted waterfront area kind of similar to Darling Habour where we finished off with a delicious tapas style meal.

All-in-all Israel was a great experience. The people were warm and welcoming, the weather and beach was great and definitely a place we'd be keen to get back to at some stage. At the very least, it would be worthwhile to go back for Jerusalem and potentially Bethlehem.

Then it was back to London, to try and get on the next flight to Moscow and start making up for lost time....

We're Mortgagees!

Before we had left for Glastonbury we had put an offer in on an one bedroom apartment near Kings Cross station. The postcode is officially 'Bloomsbury' (impresses literary types) and its in Zone 1, so right in the heart of London. Although we were keen to hear back from the vendor, with all the distractions of the festival we didn't give it much thought over the weekend.

When we arrived back in London, we were told our offer had been rejected. Nevertheless, we went and had another look at the place (it was my first viewing) then put in another offer after the next weekend. Low and behold, it was accepted. The vendor had had the place on the market for over six months and was moving to New Zealand, so was very keen to settle quickly. That was fine by us, and we managed it in about 5 weeks (normally settlement takes about 3 months here). It still seemed to take forever and not knowing the process certainly made things a wee bit frustrating.

We had hoped to have everything sorted before the end of July and the trip we had planned to Russia at the beginning of August. Turns out that at least our mortgage approval came through before we left but with plenty still to sort out, we had some interesting calls from Russia. We exchanged contracts on the Monday that we were supposed to arrive back in London (that's a whole other blog), then picked up the keys on Tuesday (Yippee!).

Rather than do things the normal way, we had also decided to buy an apartment in an old red brick school that is being converted into apartments in Kilburn, just a few streets over from the place we were renting. The school conversion won't be ready until Summer 2009, which gave us time to buy something else in the meantime. We were able to negotiate a 'half now, half in six months' deposit, so are aiming to rent out the Kings Cross place and move back to Kilburn once its completed. A bit of stretch, but we figured if we stretch ourselves in the short term, it'll pay off in the longer term.

Fast forward a few weeks and we're all unpacked, settled and don't know why we hadn't moved much sooner. It feels like we're in another city, and with such a concentration of markets, restaurants, bars etc in our new area we are wondering if we'll wanna move back to Kilburn next year. It's also a novelty having a place to ourselves again! We had reverted to sharing when we first got to London, which definitely helped us save a house deposit but took getting used to after having had a place to ourselves.

At only 32 sq metres, its a shoebox but at least its ours! The last owners had refurbished it and most of the furniture was included so we didn't have to buy much when we moved in. Just a few slicks of colour (left: pic of kitchen red 'trials') and I think we'll be done. Even better, the facade of the building is due for an update in 2008/2009 which should help spruce things up. Our first visitor is set to arrive in two weeks, so Hotel Littlewood will officially be opening its doors - when are you coming?

Back from Glasto

This year, thanks to some hip hop-headline controversy and a very wet recent history, the Glastonbury festival did not sell out straight away. In fact the tickets sales were so poor that the overly thorough pre-registration process (including photo IDs, closing months before tickets go on sale) was reopened to try and boost sales, and help Michael Eavis (farm owner/organiser) sleep at night. This is how we came to attend Glastonbury 2008.

We managed to borrow all our camping gear from various friends then headed up to Glastonbury to set up camp on Thursday. Two hours on a train to Bristol, another 2 on a crawling bus then a march across the site and we had arrived. We camped with Caz (one of the friends that we spent Christmas with) and some of her pals, high on a hill and safe from potential washouts. Later we found out that Ian Ross had been camping on the same hill, nearby (how did we manage to miss that?).It wasn't long after we'd set up our tents, when the rain began. We still trudged around exploring the various entertainment areas for a while, but abandoned a scary Melissa George movie to head back to the campsite, wet and muddy on the first night. We woke up on Friday, with water in our tent, surrounded by wet and muddy clothes that we'd hung up the night before, wondering if we were going to be in for just another rained out Glastonbury (how long would we last?). Trent - "Well, we're not doing this again!" - then the bands began...

I had thought that three days of bands might get a bit overwhelming, but with such a variety of bands and plenty of breaks in between, we had a blast! We probably saw more bands, than we have in the two years that we've been in London. The big names that we set out to see had definitely earned their place on the bigger stages - a surprise appearance by Franz Ferdinand, the Raconteurs, Kings of Leon, Goldfrapp and The Verve. We saw a few duds, but didn't stick around long with so many other alternatives.

Our pick of the festival was Räfven, a band of eight Swedish street performers (http://www.myspace.com/rafven). They were on a smaller stage and we hadn't heard of them so figured we would stay for a few songs, then head on to see something else. It didn't take them long to attract a crowd and get everyone up and dancing, with their humour, vigour, fox mascot, hula hooping saxophonist and high-kicking violinist. We felt lucky to have caught their performance and joined the mob that swarmed afterwards to get a copy of their cd.

Unfortunately we hadn't realised how long it would take to get back from Glastonbury, so hadn't taken leave on Monday. Fortunately one of the guys in our group (apparently Reuters employees' "most fanciable man' for 3 years running), was driving back to London straight after the last band so were able to hitch a ride. Unfortunately this still meant we arrived back in London at 5am. Fortunately we had plenty of time for long overdue showers (funny that we didn't feel that stinky until we were back on the tube in London) before heading back to work for a very long day, but still buzzing. Unfortunately the buzz didn't get us through the Lou Reed concert that we had on that night (Trent napped).