Finchley > Barnet

After a great day at the Bar Mitzvah we headed to our old stomping ground of Barnet and showed the boys where we used to hang out, go to school, drink and actually met for the first time. Barnet isn't what it used to be, but certainly better vibe to it than the last time I was there a few years back.

Old School Girls

Where it began

We then met up with Debbie, Peter, Noel and the kids in Wings for a chinese - as if we hadn't eaten or drunk enough! But it was great to see everyone and catch up breifly. Long over due, and great to think we'll be seeing Kevin in a few months in Thailand.

Cousins

Freddies Bar Mitzvah

Lazy morning, wondered around borough before heading back to the room to get suited and then got the tube over to Finchley for freddies Bar Mitzvah. Amazing occasion, and first Bar Mitzvah I'd been too. Then went for lunch with everyone, near my old school - and proceeded to drink and eat too much. But really fun catching up with Helen and Lester and everyone.

The boys

Flight Four - NTE > LON

After a fun time in France, we headed back to the London for a few nights. Got the train into london, and stayed in our usual serviced apartment in london bridge. Had a average curry on Friday night, which was a let down, as we'd been looking forward to a good ruby.

Il Da Rey

After the disapointment of the England Game, we now headed off on the 28th for the 3rd flight of the trip from Nice > Nantes. At Nantes we picked up another car and drove a couple of hours to Il Da Rey. Sarah had always talked about it as a place she wanted to visit and had booked a little AB&B near the village of La Flotte. Really beautiful spot, and exactly what you imagine a quiant French seaside town to be. Famous for it's sea salt, mussels and oysters - so lot to see and eat. Did quite a bit of site seeing and a good bit of cycling on the 30th - about 25km!, so everyone had sore butts the next day. But the boys where great, hardly complained and we had a fab time. Not the hottest time of year, but we'd certainly go back.

Toulouse > Nice

Up at a responable hour from our central, quite modern hotel to go pick up the hire car from the station. Gotta love Hertz - they are everywhere. So off we go for what should be a 5 hour drive to Nice. Think we left about 12ish, for the game which started at 9.00pm. Stopped at a cute little town for a spot of lunch enroute.

  Then we ended up getting caught up in some horrible traffic outside Nice. The car had Sat Nav - and was telling us it was going to take 3-4 hours to do the last hour. At this point a bit of panic set in as we'd end up missing the game. So we turned off the motorway, Sarah started to drive and I started using Google maps. Luckily for us it cut the time right town going through the back roads into Nice and so we changed the original plan of dropping the car off and headed staright to the hotel. Well I think it was a hotel - but could be confused with a Hostel. The good thing was it was right next to the stadium, so we dumped our bags and walked through the pissed up English fans to the game. Missed the anthems, but got there just in time for the kick off.

We thought after the first goal England would walk it - but then in true English style we handed them a goal, then another and then we didn't bother showing up for the rest of the match. Has to be the worse 2nd half of Football I've watched and a reall shame the boys had this as their first England match. At least it's good prep for them - althougn Sidney now says he supports Ireland. Can't blame him after wittnessing that game and the foul abuse some of English fans where shouting at the team. 

Flight Two - LON > TLS

Never been to Toulouse before and plesently surprised. Obvioulsy there's a lot going on with the Euro's - with a lot more Belguim fans outnumbering the Hungray supporters. First job is to find the adidas shop and meet our contact to pick up our hospitality tickets, followed by a bit of dinner and then the game.

 Back to the hotel, next stop Nice and England v Iceland.

Before the match we decided to support the Belgiums seeing as we'd seen one of their matches in the worldcup in Brazil - so the boys new quite a few of the players. Sid was also made up being a VIP at the game and enjoying the corporate hospitality. I quite enjoyed the free beer and the comfy seats too - so thanks Nico and adidas.

The game was a good one, 4-0 to Belguim.

Flight one - NYC > LON

Great to spend the day with the Shanleys - snuck in a quick game of golf with my partner in crime Stew. Then a really early start and we're off to London and then a quick drive down to Worthing to see the Sales for the night before heading off to France and the Euro's...

House is in storage and we're off...

After a very hectic few weeks at work and packing the contents of our home into a storage unit we're finally off. First to drop Merry (the dog) with Tanya for 6 months (which we're all quite ssad about) and then to Stewie and Rach's for the night before flying to the UK. See you in 6 months Brooklyn.

Back up and Running

So it's taken an age to remember the user name and log in and to get our old blog back up. But here it is. We've had a lot of vacations and adventures since our little RV trip back in 2011. We've been to Brazil for the world cup, spent Xmas in India with Paul and Sally and the girls. Sailed around the BVIs and had the odd trip to the Caribean, Europe and Central/South America.

At some stage perhaps I'll go back and upload a few pictures - altough the medium/long term memory isn't what it used to be (can't think why), so not sure how much commentory there will be.

It's funny looking back at our 2 little boys from 2011. They seem so small then and much, much bigger now. Anyway, we're about to start the biggest family adventure yet - 6 months on the road and a trip around the world.