Our next big adventure.... Two years off work and backpacking the world!!!

Sunday after a slow morning from the cocktail party the previous night we made our way to Dover. When we picked up the hire car, we have always paid for the extra insurance to cover damage to the vehicle. They also have another insurance that covers you for tyre, windscreen, loss of keys & breakdown service. It is another $11 a day. I have never worried about it before. We were told if we damage a windscreen it would cost us $1900 to replace. Which is 3x the price in Australia. I decided to take out the extra cover. 30mins into our trip there is a loud bang as a stone bounces of the windscreen and leaves a nice divot on the drivers side. We arrived in Dover about four hours after leaving Bournemouth. Not an exciting drive it was all on motorways. We parked out the front of the hotel which is right on Dover's main beach. Went inside to see if they had any free parking available which they did out the back and over the road behind buildings. We were given a parking permit for o...

Our first day in London was cold and clear. I spent the morning plotting all the places to see on my offline maps for the next 8 days,  thanks to Jason's long list of things to see. Most of the places to visit don't open until 10.00am which gives us plenty of time just to lounge around in the warm hotel room. Before heading into a 2 degree morning. It is about a 10min walk to our closest tube station Kilburn on the Jubilee Line. You can use your credit card on the entrance gates to the trains so no travel card or tickets need to be purchased. We also could of payed with C/C on the buses in Thornhill, Scotland. I was thinking how far more technologically advanced the UK is compared to the US. You may have read from my previous blogs on how outdated payment options were in the US compared to other countries. I have also watched plenty of people paying for purchases and train fares on their phone by tapping. The US was fascinated when we showed them you can tap a card for purch...

We arrived at Cardigan early afternoon. Another wet day. There had been conflicting emails about our check in times at the Llety Teifi Guest House. One email said 12.00pm another was 3.00pm. The contact number had far to many digits so ringing wasn't an option. We decided to go there and find out. The closest we could park to the accommodation was 700m away. If any of you have lived or holidayed in the UK you will know parking is a premium where ever you go. Villages were built way before the concept of motor vehicles. When we finally found the Guest House no one was in attendance. We found a sign that told you how much you would be fined if you parked in there car park and you were not a guest. In small print was a web address, typed that in and found a correct telephone number and contacted them. Book in time was 3.00pm and someone will be on site. We had two hours to fill in. We went for a drive to the mouth of the Afon (river) Teifi and had lunch, while watching all the rain ...

Saturday 3rd November and time to say goodbye to Bruce. Stan was kind to us and drove us to the Enterprise Car Hire in Dumfries. It was a very wet day and Sharon & I appreciated the lift. Our car this time was a Nissan Duke. We had choices of cars again and I knew Sharon would choose the Duke. She just loves the funky shape of them. Now that we have been driving one I don't think she would buy one. They look reasonably large on the outside but far less room than the mini we drove. At least it is higher off the ground and we can drive over cow pats instead of through them like the mini. Being wet we just drove to our accommodation for the night near Cockermouth just on the outside of the Lakes District. Before we arrived at the Guest House for the night we stopped at Sainsbury in Cockermouth for food. I quickly remembered we were now in England and everywhere you go you have to pay for parking. Even at some supermarkets. They had one ticket machine. Rain was pouring down and...