We set the alarm for 03:15 and made it on time to the airport. What a lovely airport – so much nicer than Las Vegas, which was a dump. Another great flight – defying flying on Friday 13th, and sitting on row 13! 2 firsts: our plane was sprayed with de-icer before we took off, […]
Holidays
Stage 1 – safe arrival in Helsinki
After a perfect flight we arrived safely in Helsinki. Weather fantastic – not as cold as expected either. No thermals yet! We caught a bus into the city centre and had a wander around. It’s got some lovely buildings and it’s so clean – absolutely no rubbish on the streets. Puts the UK to shame! […]
It’s going to be freezing . . .
. . . but I’ve bought a bobble hat! We are off, just the two of us, to 250km into the Arctic circle, hopefully to see The Northern lights. I know we are more likely to not see them but that won’t stop us trying and having a good time. And yes I do know […]
Finally . . . Viva Vegas!
Our senses have been acclimatised and we have been Vegased! We saw a show “O” at the Bellagio on Saturday night – absolutely amazing. I have little idea what the story was but the show was fantastic. How they did all that, with the stage and the water- breathtaking. Even more so as we were […]
Sensory assault
So we left the beauty and peaceful surroundings of the Grand Canyon yesterday and set off for Las Vegas. It was just over a 4 hour journey through the desert. As we passed the Hoover Dam on the way we stopped off. We had a tour of the power plant. It’s so vast it is […]
Planes, rafts and Automobiles
So we rose ridiculously early and left the California behind and on Monday flew to Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a great flight and lasted all of 45 mins. No sooner had we landed than we left and drove into Arizona and to the Grand Canyon. The high temperatures of Vegas soon dropped as we […]
A day at the beach
After doing the decent thing and speaking to the boys first thing in the morning (for us) and mid afternoon (for them) we had to spend the day recovering and relaxing from the fact that David was last dressed on Wednesday, allegedly, and Jonathan has mowed the lawn, watered the flowers and done a Sainsburys […]
Celebs or not, as the case may be
Yesterday we arrived in Santa Monica and after checking in walked down to the beach. We resisted the urge to demonstrate our prowess on “muscle beach” but watched the locals on the rings. Was impressed by the “shortie” that made a sand mountain to climb on so she could reach- that would have been me! […]
Fuschia envy . . . . and a touch of money
An early start and we set off down route 1, the pacific highway. It was so early it was still misty and reached the giddy heights of an English summer day! It’s a beautiful drive – we passed schools of elephant seals basking on a beach by the side of the road. Whilst the scenery […]
The “Fruit and Nut” State
So we left Yosemite and marvelled at its tranquility. We drove southwest through California and saw vast groves of trees – growing almonds and pistachio. We’ve never seen those before. I was reminded of the Mediterranean and Israel as there were stalls by the side of the road selling these nuts and cherries, strawberries, oranges, […]