Vikings, Roman Legions and Richard III all came to mind as we neared the walled city of York. It was late in the day, but the sun was still out and I was itching to get exploring. I suspect that Dale, tired from driving, was probably more interested in a nap. However, a quick glance at our tiny b & b room and he was ready to join me on a walk. The nearest gate to the city was only a 5 minute walk away. The tower above the gate once contained a small pris...

The sun was shining, the tubes were not crammed with commuters, and the train to Cambridge was on time. It felt like London was giving us a farewell hug - I love this city!! But it was time to move on and Cambridge was where we had chosen to collect our latest rental car (a Vauxhall Corsa) for our grand tour of Britain. As the countryside whipped by the window of our high speed train, I was surprised by how quickly the uniform brick housing of London had gi...

In the grips of Olympic hype, London had been transformed since our last visit 3 months earlier. Brightly dressed volunteers stand on hand at the airports, tube stations, Tourist attractions and, of course, Olympic venues - smiling and ready to help confused tourists. Signage has been added about the city, on public transport, and to tube maps, pointing out the way to Olympic sites. Temporary bars and restaurants have popped up in the parts of the city most vi...

Wide awake at 3am, our day got off to an early start. By 8am we had checked our emails, read the paper, consumed a full English breakfast plus two cups of coffee, and set off in search of a laundrette so that when we depart for Morocco tomorrow we have a suitcase of clean clothes. The laundrette was a 10 minute walk away, but there was plenty of interesting things to see en route (the hard-sell from the day before continues...) including the house where Mozart...

Dale and I touched down at London Heathrow at 12:52pm on Thursday 17 May 2012. To get there, we had travelled from Auckland to Sydney (around 3 hours), Sydney to Abu Dhabi (15 hours), and Abu Dhabi to London (7 hours). Despite stopovers in Sydney (5 days so that Dale could attend an orthodontics course) and Abu Dhabi (2 days), we were red-eyed and weary when we ambled off the plain towards customs. By the time we were seated on the tube and rocketing along the...