Contiki

Mel and I did a 16 day trip around Europe with Contiki - European Adventure. We visited France (Paris to Nice), Italy (Florence, Rome & Venice), Austria (quick stopover), Germany (Munich Oktoberfest!!!) and finally Holland (Amsterdam & Edam).

South France

After Contiki Mel and I met Shalan, Teneale and Travis in Lyon for 7 days in the South of France in a campervan. It was an awesome experience and I would definitely love to go back to St Raphael.

Middlesbrough

For Christmas Teneale, Mel and I went to Middlesbrough to visit our Nan’s sister and her husband. I had a fantastic long weekend with the family and it was great to finally meet some of our English relatives.

Iceland

Mel and I traveled to Iceland for a long weekend with 6 of her friends. We saw the Blue Lagoon, the Northern Lights and the Geysers. Not a “must-see” on most people’s itinerary but it was really cheap and I would recommend everyone to go. Beautiful country.

Well that’s it for now…of to Wales in a couple of weeks but I will be back on soon to expand on my travels

Done and done. Au revoir!

I will gradually add the details shortly, once I remember everything that happened.

4 freshmen

Since we had no luck in getting transport to Stonehenge that was affordable from Reading we headed to the smartest place in England instead, Oxford. The train ride there was awesome, lush English countryside all the way. We arrived at Oxford around lunch time, as we Skype’d the parents in the morning (it’s a regular Sunday thing). Our first stop was for food and we found this nice little pub for a cheap feed. JP and I both ordered the ultimate beef burger. It was a £7 monster. I couldn’t fit my mouth around it as it was “that big”. Mel and Teneale were a bit more conservative and just got the regular burger. After we consumed our burgers, and JP and I played some trivia (we lost £2!) we headed off to view the colleges.

More stairs?!?!

Well Oxford is amazing, the buildings, the colleges all of it is absolutely breathtaking. I don’t know what all the buildings are called, or what colleges were what but it was such a great day. The only place I can remember is St Mary’s church. JP said that this church has the best views of Oxford. He was right! and only for £3. The staircase was even narrower than the Bath Abbey and the Monument. The views from the top were stunning. The church is pretty much right in the middle of Oxford, which allows for a 360 degree view of all of Oxford.

Towards the end of the day we ventured into the Oxford shops. I was tempted to buy an Oxford polo, yet is was £75. JP had a funny idea of buying a picture frame and putting our Degrees in it. Maybe not. That UC logo kind of gives it away.

The day ended with a quick visit to the Oxford Castle before heading back to Pangbourne. Teneale had to leave that afternoon as she had to work the next day, while Mel and I stayed an extra night.

Drop ‘em!

The next day JP came back to London with us as he had an interview the next day with a recruitment agency. We took him down Oxford street (must be something with us and Oxford) to buy some black shoes. We stopped past Primark where I bought a pair of shorts and a singlet. I still can’t get over Primark. No matter what time of the day it is, it is always packed. I needed to try my shorts on to make sure they fitted, however the line to change rooms was longer than the check out line. After some deliberation, and seeing other shoppers trying on clothes then and there, I dropped my pants and tried on the shorts. I’m glad I did because they were way to small.

After shopping JP came back to ours for some frozen Indian courtesy of Iceland.