Day 21 (Wednesday)
At breakfast today Gav decided to have smoked kippers for breakfast. Thanks to my super pregnancy smelling senses I was put off my breakfast almost immediately. I almost considered taking my breakfast in our room.
After breakfast we walked up to the castle and had a look around. Pretty standard castle stuff; towers, dungeons, etc. Gav was happy as this castle had been attacked several times in its life.
After a day of walking around the castle we headed back to the hotel, had some dinner and went to bed and waited to be woken by the canons again.
Tomorrow we keep heading south, back to Manchester. Lets hope Gav doesn’t fall down the stairs again!!!
Day 22 (Thursday)
Drove to Manchester today via Hadrians Wall. Weather was a little aweful though, if it was not raining it was blowing a gale. It took me forever to brush all the knots out of my hair, lucky I cut it short before we left.
The rest of the drive was pretty good, no real traffic issues (very unlike Britain!!)
That night we had dinner with Gav’s Aunty Ann, Uncle John, Cousin Chris and his 2 children Charlotte and Emily.
Day 23 (Friday)
We leave Manchester and head back to Wadhurst today to catch up with my cousin Robert before flying to NYC.
The drive was a nightmare, it should have taken 3 ½ hours, having experienced UK traffic we thought it would probably be more like 4 hours. We left Manchester at 11am after meeting Chris’ partner Sarah.
45 minutes into the drive we hit traffic, there was a music festival in Wales. It took us 3 hours to get what should have taken about an hour. Luckily we stops off at a Marks & Spencers and picked up sandwiches, so we had lunch whilst in traffic.
Once we got past the turn off to North Wales the traffic was clear. Our new ETA in Wadhurst was 6:00 and not 3:30. However, I was now a little concerned as the plan would be we would be on the London motorways before people would be finished work.
Once we hit the M25, one of the only roads to Wadhurst we were again stuck in traffic, due to road works North of London, which hade also been complicated with a few accidents.
Once we got past that it was smooth sailing for about 30 minutes we hit traffic again which was another 1 ½ hour wait!!
We finally made it to Wadhurst 3 hours later than our anticipated arrival time…bloody UK traffic. Gav was lucky I did all 7 ½ hours of driving, as he gets so frustrated in the stop start traffic.
Day 24 (Saturday)
Leaving UK to go to NYC today. After the traffic yesterday I was keen to make sure we got to the airport in time; as we had to take the M25 again!! We made with heaps of time to spare, however traffic was staring to build!!
We got to the airport after dropping the car off with 1 ½ hour before check in opened. So we got some coffee and cake and relaxed for a little while. We checked in to the flight and dropped the luggage, the assistant had personality plus.
We headed around to lounge to grab some lunch and a shower, Sue’s house was packed and I thought it would be easier to wait!! At the lounge reception I was told that we have been upgraded to Premium Economy, yippee extra leg room.
After a bit of waiting we headed to the gate not realizing it was so far away. After a short run, we made it to the gate with 2 minutes to spare!! We were then told at the gate that we had been upgraded again. When we got on the plane we realized that it was Business Class.
We rule!!!!
However after a lovely salmon starter and a confit duck for mains the baby was not too happy. I ended up sick for the rest of the trip and only felt better about 1 hour before landing.
As I was so sleepy, we had a late night the day before and we now had a new time difference I had to make a deal with Gav that I would just smile and nod and not talk when coming through immigration and customs.
We safely made it to our hotel and went straight to bed. Looking forward to having a look around and getting home!!
Day 25 (Sunday)
Today was our first full day in New York; the weather was hot and humid. So we decided to go for a walk around, but first breakfast. We headed into the city to find something to eat and came across a small diner where we had French toast and pancakes.
We then headed into Times Square, as it was still early it was nowhere near as busy as it was later on. After a bit of a wonder around we headed down to Central Park and had a walk around.
After raining on and off for a little the humidity went through the roof so we decided to go and grab some lunch.
After lunch we had a snooze as I was exhausted!!
By the time I was awake it was almost dinner time, so we decided to head out to find some dinner. We walked back down to Time Square and had dinner at Planet Hollywood before heading in for the night.
Day 26 (Monday)
The weather fined up today, in fact we got sun burnt!! We got a 3 day bus tour ticket today which will take us around to all the main sights.
Today we opted to go over to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We headed down early to hopefully miss all the lines! We did, we were through security on the ferry in 20 minutes.
After about an hour around the Statue of Liberty we headed over to Ellis Island. They only let a certain number of people up each day and we were not quick enough!! Oh well, the lift was out so you would have had to climb all the stairs. I am a little averse to stairs these days.
Ellis Island was where all US immigrants were process prior to being allowed entry. They were a little nicer than the Australians, when they can to the Quarantine Station in Manly.
After a very big day we headed back to the hotel for the evening. We picked up a pizza from a deli we ate at the day before. Gav went for one that had 7 toppings, including broccoli.
Day 27 (Tuesday)
We jumped back on the bus this morning and decided to head up the Empire State Building. Again I insisted on going up early and we managed to get straight up. After a spin around the viewing platform we headed to ground zero.
We then headed to Pier 17 for lunch and picked up some discount theatre tickets. We had lunch in a nice restaurant that overlooked the Brooklyn Bridge.
After a slow bus ride back to the hotel we had a rest and had a quick shower before heading off to see Phantom of the Opera. We had a fancy meal at McDonalds before heading to the theatre.
Our seats were not the best but at 40% off they were OK. After the theatre we headed back to the hotel however stopped at the dinner next door to the hotel. It is know for the best cheesecake in New York, so we had too. It was good!!
Day 28 (Wednesday)
Today we headed to the American Museum of Natural History, it was good to be in air conditioning. My goodness they have so much stuff on all 5 floors.
After seeing the Dinasours we had a quick 2 hour spin through the rest of the exhibits. We jumped back on the bus after lunch and headed down through Harlem. On the way back downtown and got off a Central Park; Gav wanted to go to the Apple Centre.
After refusing to give me his wallet I had to chaperone the visit!!
That evening we headed up 30 Rock (the GE building) and watched the sun set over NYC. After having a bit of a wander around we headed to the entrance on 50th.
As we came around the corner there were 2 guys telling us to cross the road as they we filming a movie, however, as we were going up we were able to keep going down.
When we got down to the entrance we could see they were filming a scene for ’30 Rock’ the TV series (Gav and I are fans). We are now looking forward to catching the new series and pointing out to everyone the scene that we saw being made!!! Hopefully it is not cut out…
On the way back we got more cheesecake, we are going to make the most of our gym memberships when we get back!!!
Tomorrow is the last day of our trip, I am feeling both sad but glad to be going home!!
Day 29 (Thursday)
Today we will walk to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Meuseum.
As our flight does not leave until 7:30, and we have been told it will take about an hour to get to the airport and then 2 more to clear security!! We need to be leaving the city at about 2ish to be sure, plus to give Qantas plenty of time to upgrade us!!
We are thinking we will take a town car, cost only slightly more than a cab but is a million time cleaner.