No one was in hurry to get up this morning and by the time everyone was awake, fed and watered it was about 11am. We decided to go to the beach and Marina. We parked at the Praia da Marina which loosely translated means Beach at Marina. We went down onto the beach and paddled in the water and then walked across the beach and onto the breakwater and then around the whole Marina. The Marina...
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Today was our first full day in Vilamoura. Given how late we were up last night, nobody made much of a move to get up early. Helen and I eventually had breakfast at about 9:30am and then we decided to try and find the better supermarket to get some real food. We had coordinates from Google Maps but even with those it wasn't easy to find but we did eventually find it. Shopping at the supposedly...
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We watched the football last night and fortunately in the dying seconds (literally) Ronaldo showed a little magic and kept Portugal in the World Cup. While it may be short lived as the mathematical chances of them making it through to the next round are slim, at least we are now in a country that is still in the World Cup even though it might not be for long. We did start the day in London...
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Helen and Chloe arrived safely in London. Took them some time to clear passport control and Heathrow and they arrived at just after 8am at the flat. They were followed shortly after by our other SA friends (for those of you have read previous blogs - they are the Whiters). They were also on the same flight last night from Cape Town. They just dropped off their luggage for storage purposes and they headed out for...
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We're back on holiday. In fact Stephen, Michael and I left last Sunday already for London. While S&M were on holiday, I have been working and with a packed schedule so no time until now to blog. We traveled over last Sunday night along with friends (Stephen's girlfriend and her parents - that's them in the BA lounge at CT airport sipping champagne - photo used without their permission!). We arrived Monday morning and after dropping...
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Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day. We spent the day in London. I worked while the rest of the family slept (trying to catch up on the short night the previous night). Helen went out and did some shopping (she couldn't let an opportunity go begging). It was half-term in the UK and while that results in long queues at tourist attractions (such as Natural History Museum), it generally means a lot less traffic on the...
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Yesterday was our last day in the USA and New York. Helen went to meet an old school friend who she hadn't seen in 25 years. The friend lives in the Upper East side and has a view of Central Park #highrent #doingwellforherself The rest of us went in search of some breakfast at Grand Central station (again) and then Michael and I went to a golf store to browse around. I cannot believe how much...
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The walls at this hotel are paper thin and unfortunately we have a family with a baby staying next door to us. Fortunately they eventually went out or managed to quieten the child this morning and we could get back to sleep. We went for breakfast at Grand Central Station. Grand Central Station is the 24th most visited tourist attraction in NY (according to TripAdvisor). There are numerous shops but also a lot of eating places...
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After all the travel issues yesterday it was decided we would get up late today. We had breakfast at a local deli which cost us a fraction of what it would have cost us for one breakfast in the hotel (breakfast in the hotel costs $42). Semi-final T20 World Cup today and Michael headed off to watch the Indian innings with Daniel (cousin). We came back to the hotel and I watched it streaming from the...
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Last day of conference. Trying to put that out of my mind. Seriously not a good conference at all. Either I am getting old or seriously was the worst conference I have ever attended. Might be both. Glad that is behind me. Unfortunately not a successful travel day though for us. Helen and Chloe had no trouble though. Flight left late but still arrived 20 minutes early. All the US airlines build in massive margins into...
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