Wow! What an amazing last full day in the UK for us!

It started off with some last minute organising: printing confirmations, ringing credit card companies to tell them we are leaving the country TOMORROW for a year, sorting out hand luggage (and for Dave - catching up with Coronation Street that we'd missed on Monday night!).

Then we went to our local The Stap for dinner one last time before heading up the A19 to Sunderland to see Take That!!

We drove up in convoy with me, Dave, Kelly and Lynne in Kelly's car (me driving) and Ste and Emma following behind. The journey was uneventful and we managed to find somewhere to park near the ground, thanks to a hand drawn map from Michael! A short walk and we were at the Stadium of Light (boooo!!!). We eventually found our entrance and walked up about a million stairs then nearly fainted at the sight of how much a pint was (£4.20!), never mind it's a special occasion!! We decided we'd just get a diet coke to start with (2 bottles = £5.40!). We were expecting things to be expensive - good practice for the first 8 months of our trip!

Anyway, we found our seats and waited an hour or two until the Pet Shop Boys came on for their half hour set. Was very nice, but not who we came to see! But then, half an hour later.....the little funny man pressed some buttons on his giant keyboard and a countdown came on the screen....AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!! Excitement took over! When the TT boys walked onto the stage the whole place went crazy, Gary was laughing and trying to get the crowd to 'shhhhh' as he needed to hear his cue..............'You light...the skies....up above me...'. Well that was it for me, tears in my eyes as the opening lines to Dawn & Steve's wedding song came on (quite an emotional occasion!). But I soon composed myself and managed to take a little video of the second half of the song!

The whole show was just amazing. The 4 TT boys on their own and then Robbie literally flew onto the stage and did his own little set, followed by the 5 of them for the majority of the show. Highlights included the original dance routine to 'Pray', Jason and Howards dance off and loads and loads of sing-a-longs to songs old and new. The only thing that annoyed me throughout the whole thing was this drunk woman behind shouting as soon as any of the boys came on the big screen 'GAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!'.... 'MMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRKKKKK!!' - they can't hear you love! Was quite funny when Jason appeared on the screen and she shouted 'HOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRD!!'. Oh yes, and during Angels Robbie sang '...I'm loving Mackems instead'....erm excuse me, just because we've come to Sunderland to see you doesn't mean we're all Mackems! It's just that this was the nearest place! I'll let him off for that one though...

So all in all, an absolutely fantastic last day for us. Ever since we booked the tickets I've thought of Sunderland as the first stop on our trip! As soon as it was finished, Dave and me both felt like that was all the events of the past week over with and we can go on our trip now! Quite a strange feeling!

Next update will be from New York!!