London,

So.... the London attack commences!
I'd downloaded some walking tour ideas from The London Toolkit website and armed with these... We hit the town. We hopped off the Tube, emerged to a gorgeous day and first spied the London Eye and Spire of St. Stepehns housing Big Ben. What. Great way to kick off the day!
Then to discover St. Margarets church and the exterior of Westminster Abbey. Being a Sunday, it was dedicated to worship and not tourists so we continued on our way. Next major stop for us was the Churchill War Rooms and we all enjoyed these. What an amazing piece of history preserved for all to see - and very well presented and taken care of. Winston's War: Churchill, 1940-1945 (Vintage)

Travel day!

Well, next day was head to Uk and a very long day it was ..... Ended by being up well over 24 hours and were shattered. After 14 hours in a tincan we were treated to the most appalling Customs entry to any nation I've ever entered.
Trains from the terminal were overcrowded and poor and 3 staff were assigned to process close on 300 people... With 3 women directing traffic! It was truly farcical! Third world countries treat their visitors better and dont make something so easy take 2 hours! It then took us over an hour to get to town with a cranky bus driver and then a short cab ride to our serviced apartment in Battersea. On arrival I wondered what I'd booked but once we were safely installed... Crashed!

Foodie Tour - KL

So, Terrence came and picked us up at the Caves and gave us a locals tour of the food places he'd grown up with... Trust me - you'd never find these places on your own!
Which of course, is the whole reason for doing the tour...
Our first stop was in a neighbouhood completely devoid of any other Westerners and comprised of the best Char Siew I've ever had in my life. This was bbq pork and home made lemonade to take the breath away! Amazing food... And just the beginning!
Our next stop was a roadside food vendor for burgers. We'd told Terrence we were travelling with our children and this was a special stop for them.
These people are licensed and had set up a stall outside the family home years ago. They've now moved to another area but the stand remains. People come from far and wide for their burgers and they do very well! They work from 11-3 and sell between 250-350 buns per period. This provides an income for the family of around RM 3000 per week - around $1000 US or AUD. This is 3 times what a post grad student earns when working in Malaysia. And was enough to put their son their son through University overseas. And the burgers were good - the kids loved them!
Next up was an Indian banana leaf meal. All food and sauces are served on a cut banana leaf plate and locals eat with their fingers (of their right hand to be precise - left is for the toilet!) The flaours here were spicy and overwhelming - this gave new meaning to 'bursting with flavour!'
Next was a drive by to try the local stinky fruit Durian - Terrence's personal favourite! But not with our kids. The small turned them off! It's a very creamy flesh in a spiky shell - not my favourite either, but had to be tried!
Lastly, wew were up for dessert... If you can believe it... And from another street vendor. Hot bananas in batter and sweet potato and glutinous rice in batter and deep fried! OMG! Needless to say, we rolled home... via a stop in Chinatown and took some pics at the Skybar at the top of Traders Hotel. No meal necessary that night.
If you're heading to KL and want to try these guys look up Trip Advisor and hunt down Food ToUrs Malaysia. Definitely recommended!

2 Days Left!

Well the house sitter is now organised, most of the tours booked and hotels confirmed - hard to believe that this has been a year in the making and it's finally here.
So I ducked out for lunch with my son on the weekend and the car was rear ended - the light ahead went green, so the guy behind me decided to go!  What the?  Just what I need with days to spare!  Anyway, Allianz has been great and Miami Smash Repairs have it all under control for me!  Thank goodness the claim is going smoothly!
Work has now let me know I'll be included in a panel discussion during the AFS Conference in Estonia in early May - Young Guns vs the Rugged & Buggered.  Hope they've included me in Young Guns - or I'll be pretty miffed!  I'll probably post updates on my Twitter site as I go - check out WealthPP for news!
So, I've now prepaid our trip up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, booked a 'factory and museum tour' of the Lamborghini Factory in Bologna, Italy and entry to The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg - no waiting in lines for this family!
The family in Malta have been in touch to arrange our pick up at the airport and we're all looking forward to putting faces to the names at long last!
I think it's all come together nicely!

9 Sleeps & Counting...

So, it's closer than ever. The Roma Passes are arranged, the car hire sorted from Venice to Florence, accommodation confirmed and tickets prepaid for the Eiffel Tower.
Work is still incredibly busy and we're madly saving every last penny.
It's really starting to hit home now and I'm having trouble sleeping... Between sorting out what needs to be done for work, house tidying and packing plus last minute prep for the kids.
I've found heaps of helpful apps and have been trawling through Instagram photos of all the places we're going too. How did we ever travel before the net??
It's made life soooo much easier.
Anyway, I'm off to brekky at Versace tomorrow for work and best turn in early! Will try and put a few pics up of that too... It's a great hotel! More soon!

Hinterland Visit

So seeing there's still a bit of time to go and we had a lazy Sunday - we decided to head up to Mount Tamborine for the day.  It's only a half hour trip from where we live on the Gold Coast and there's heaps to do on a day out.
Our first stop was the Polish Place and we enjoyed strong Polish coffee and hot chocolates there.
A rather large goanna wandered through - startling some of the guests, but was very tame.
It was shedding too so parts of its skin were brown and hanging off showing the lovely black with yellow spots underneath.
It was also perfect weather for hang-gliding and the hilltop next door was covered in gliders all waiting to take off.  We stated for around 20 minutes watching them take off and soar over to valley with great views to the West and the Great Dividing Range.
We also stopped at a couple of wineries, did some sampling, visited the glow-worm caves, tried some local cheeses and wandered through Gallery Walk.  What a great way to spend a Sunday.

1 month remaining!

The London Passes have now arrived and all are stashed in preparation for the trip.
I've looked into it and there's apparently Rome Passes too - not quite as comprehensive but if used properly seem to give some good discounts.  Can use for 2 of the dearest entries and then get discounts on the remainder.  http://goitaly.about.com/od/romeitaly/qt/rome_pass.htm
As usual, the Trip Advisor crew have plenty of insights and it'll probably be next on my hit list.
Now that it's less than a month to go, it's finally starting to feel like it's happening!
We also realised that we're in Rome for the entire Easter weekend, so I guess it'll be packed - might just have to avoid the Vatican those days - hope the day trips to Pompeii via Naples will still be running!
Have also been trawling through the pics on Instagram (App for iphone) from everyone who's been where we're headed - there's some great captures there - really inspiring stuff.  It makes it soooo much more real!

5 weeks and counting!

So it's 5 weeks to go on Thursday - and work is crazier than ever!
Oh well - I'm thinking of the spending money!

Our Paris Passes have arrived and I've ordered our London passes now.

Seems like everything we want to do in Paris is covered - except the Eiffel Tower.  According to all research, it's probably best to book that before we go too - the lines look crazy!  Otherwise, I'm sure we'll be satisfied with the view of it from most of the City too.  But it'd be a pity not to head up - at least part of the way whilst we're there!  Who knows when we'll get back!?

The Louvre, Orsay, Napoleon's Tomb, a cruise on the Seine and Versailles are on the hit list for Paris - and we've booked a photography tour of the City also. Anything else is a bonus.  Sounds very touristy - but still excited about it!

Researched up on the London Pass and it also seems to cover off most of what we want.  Hampton Court is a definite as is the Tower.  We'll be there twice and a day trip to Bath is a must for me.  Would love to fit in a trip to the Cotswolds and take in a play also - possibly the Lion King seeing we're taking the kids.

It's all coming together nicely!

Finishing Touches

So we're in countdown mode now - the itinerary is finalised and we're just arranging the bits and pieces and tours we really want to include.
We're heading to KL first for a couple of nights and have decided to see the Batu Caves in the morning.
A bit of R&R for the afternoon to help kill the jetlag and then a foodie tour of the capital of Malaysia to top it off.
It's a 4 hour food tour through KL with pick up and drop off!  Sure to leave us groaning!
The next day we're off to London, UK, followed by Paris, Nice, Venice, Florence, Rome, Malta, Tallinn, Helsinki, St Petersburg, then London, KL and home again to the gorgeous Gold Coast.
Happy for anyone to provide MUST SEE suggestions in the meantime.
We're planning to include Bath and Versailles in the tour but also consider any great ideas.
Can't hardly wait!

Preparations for the European Adventures

Well, the family and I are off on our first big trip in April.
We've done little trips to Asia and the South Pacific, but never a 5 week tour of Europe and beyond.
Thanks to the internet, I've managed to do all the research and booking ourselves and come up with some great deals.  Australia is just so far from the rest of the World, and once we're in Europe, we really want to make the most of it.
We're certainly not extravagant travellers, but hoping to do tonnes of sight seeing and visit places I've dreamed about seeing and read about all my life!
High on the priority list are visits to Bath and Versailles from our bases in London and Paris.
My son is desperate to see the Lambourghini Factory outside Bologna, Italy and my daughter has put her order in for the Place de la Concorde, Paris, after seeing if featured on an NCIS episode - to which she's currently addicted.  Hubby is happy to come along for the ride.  Having said that, he's of Maltese descent and looking forward to meeting family in Malta and seeing the bakery where his grand-father worked before emigrating to Oz in the 1950's.
Trip Advisor and all it's contributors have been of great help, along with sites like Expedia and Booking.com.
All our flights are paid and a couple of tours arranged.  We're hoping to travel like the locals on public transport instead of spending a fortune on pre-arranged coach tours.
Can't hardly wait!