Budapest, Hungary!

We hit the road around lunch time to drive to Bristol to catch our flight. Bristol is a three hour drive and this gave us plenty of time to stop at a pub for food and check in early enough for our flight that left at 6pm.

We had purchased parking online (as this is the thing to do here and it's cheaper that way) so we drove to the parking area and they shuttled us to the airport (15 min drive). This was very convenient as we didn't have to deal with airport traffic.

Once checked in and through security I realized I left my coat and phone at the security desk - I'm bound to lose this jacket and phone at this rate! By the time I made it back to get my things and returned to Keith, he realized his boarding card was missing! Oh dear, what a start we're having to our vacation. We never did find his card but it wasn't a problem once we boarded. Bristol airport has an interesting setup. When you go through the boarding line up you're put on a bus and driven to the airplane! There isn't enough space at the airport itself, so the planes are at a different location on the property. Interesting! We flew with Ryanair which is the low cost airline here. That being said, it's a charter flight which is very cozy with limited leg room and no free munchies. Not a big deal, it's only a 2 hour flight and a return ticket for the 2 of us was $160. I wasn't complaining. I met a wonderful Welsh lady on the plane and she gave me lots of pointers for our visit to Budapest.

We arrived in Budapest at 9:30pm. From here we caught the airport shuttle and they took us directly to our hostel. I don't normally stay in hostels as they scare me a little but this was a double room with our own bathroom so it was perfect and of course cheap! I tried to make this trip as cheap as possible as we're both traveling home to Canada this year and that's not cheap. Once we were here we didn't worry about cost it was just the main items we wanted to save money on (flights, parking, shuttle and accommodation).

I was so excited to be in a new country I was checking out all the sights on our drive. We arrived at our hostel and I was scared! Oh my God I think we're in the hood! We got out of the shuttle and I said to Keith holy shit where the hell are we? I had booked this hostel also because it had hundreds of rave reviews - now I'm thinking those people were drunk!

There was no sign, barely any lighting and graffiti all over the building. As we approached the door a dark figure came out of the small park behind us finishing his cigarette. He asked if I was Amanda and helped us in to the hostel. He was one of the managers and once we were inside it was a completely different place. Thank God! It turned out to be a very cozy home, and our room was great. Nothing fancy, but clean and comfortable - what more could you ask for? And the manager was wonderful. Very friendly and welcoming. He spoke decent English but it was a bit broken with his Hungarian accent.

Not ready for sleep yet and anxious to see what's around us, Keith and I took an hour walk along the Danube River which was on the backside of the hostel. It ended up being a great location as well. I would stay again! It was a beautiful evening and Budapest looks amazing at night all lit up with the city lights. We crashed hard when we got back after our travels and fresh air.

Hiking the Helford River

What an amazing day! The weather the past few days has been less than spectacular so we've kinda been stuck not doing anything outdoorsy.

Since the sun is finally shining we decided to go for a hike around the Helford River which is a 20 minute drive from here. The hike turned out to be part of the South West Coast path which is a trail that covers just over a 1,000km of the South West peninsula coastline. We've done bits and pieces of the trail since we've arrived and Keith's goal is to do a huge chunk of it before we leave. We were planning to hike a few days of it during leave but the weather hasn't cooperated. We could only hike for about 2 hours or so as it was late afternoon and we were having a few people over for a BBQ.

Unfortunately the heavens decided to open just before everyone arrived and Keith was left to BBQ in the rain. It eventually cleared up but such typical English weather! Holly, Andy, Bungy and Mitch came over and we enjoyed lots of food and spent the evening watching TV, having a few drinks and chatting.

Everyone left just before midnight and I was on a mission to get packed. We leave tomorrow for Budapest!!

Link to pictures (not sure why it doesn't show these as a hyperlink - just copy and paste into your browser):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105960&l=dd09d&id=732460083

Dinner & Pub

Welcome to the world Ryan George Spearin! Kyle and Paulette had a beautiful baby boy today! Congratulations! Can't wait to meet him.

I can't really remember what we did today! In the evening we went for dinner at Giuseppe's - an Italian restaurant here in Helston - and had a nice meal. Afterwards we met up with the crew at 'The Angel' pub/club for drinks. We didn't stick around for long as they were going dancing and Keith wanted nothing to do with it. Mr Dancing queen he is not. So we came home and watched a movie.

Back to Penryn

A year today since I've seen my family and friends at home (Ingonish).

As we didn't finish our errands yesterday we headed back into Penryn. We dropped by the dive shop as Keith's regulator has to be inspected. Then we went to a shop called the Boathouse where I finally found a new jacket! Yay! It's taken me 2 months to find a replacement for my Jacques Whitford jacket that was stolen. I bought a black Columbia Titanium which is very similar and I love it. And I didn't have to pay too much of a fortune for it.

Spent the rest of the day getting things done and watched movies in the evening.

Keith Home

I enjoyed a few days to myself while Keith enjoyed spending time with his bro and family. I started my vacation today and am off until April 7. Yeehaw!

Keith caught a train this morning from Exeter so I picked him up in Truro early afternoon. On the drive back we ran some errands in Penryn then came home as Keith was anxious to be home.

Easter Monday - Back Home

Keith has decided to stick around for a few days and go into work with dale this morning to see what he does. I have to work the next two days so I'm heading back home.

Dale went to work early this morning and I dropped Keith off at lunch time. I decided to spend a few hours in Exeter shopping and using our Debenham's gift card Chris and Vern gave us for Xmas. Once shopped out and fed I hit the road for home. Back to the grind tomorrow.

Happy Easter!

I can't believe this is our second Easter here! Wow!

Lauren and Dale are hosting Easter dinner this evening so Lauren and I were kept busy for the day preparing the veggies, fixings and appetizers. Keith and Dale are in charge of the turkey and making lemon meringue pie for dessert.

Lauren's parents and Sam arrived around supper time and we enjoyed lots of appetizers and drinks. After some relaxation and chatting we gathered for dinner. It was excellent.

Once dinner was finished, Dale played Easter bunny and hid the eggs. Olivia and Jack had a great time finding them. I think Olivia was amazed and a bit confused by it all at first. It was so much fun to watch her giggle as she found the eggs and even funnier to watch Jack crawl around eying the ones laying close to the floor. Kids definitely make the holidays.

Throughout the day I talked to all my family at home which tops off my holiday!

Link to our pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100731&l=f3010&id=732460083

Good Friday - To Chulmleigh

As it's Good Friday and the start of Easter weekend, we're heading to Dale & Lauren's to spend the holiday with family. I think this is the first time we've been at their place since Xmas and the wedding.

It was so nice to see everyone especially Olivia and Jack. They continue to amaze me. Olivia is such a smart little girl and Jack is now crawling everywhere at the speed of light - he loves having someone chase him. Who needs to have kids when you have a great niece and nephew?

Easter Leave Starts

Keith's Easter leave started today. He's now off until April 6. He's quite happy to have a break from work as the course is driving him and the other guys insane. The RN works a lot different from the Canadian Air Force and they seem to have a very backwards approach to training and instruction. It seems to be quite painful for the guys on course.

Went to Rach & Speedy's for pizza and to watch a flick as the boys needed a few beer and to get work out of their system.

Poker Night

For some reason the guys have a slack day tomorrow so they decided to have Poker Night. Speedy and Rach are hosting so I'm going over to entertain Rach and harass the boys with her. Haha.

It was a good turn out. Rach had made lots of munchies and her and I sat in the livingroom eating and watching a flick. We actually put on Brokeback Mountain as we thought it would be quite funny to distress the boys with such a movie. They have an open plan kitchen/livingroom so they could see and hear it all. They weren't very amused as we figured. But we were! I didn't stay late as I'm trying to get lots of sleep to get rid of this damn cold before going away in a week or so.

Keith and Jono (Aussie) eventually made it back to our place and Jono crashed here as they both had a few drinks.

St Paddy's Day & News at Work

Happy St Paddy's Day!

So I arrived at work today to find out some interesting news. My boss called me into the meeting room to tell me they were giving me a month's notice to finish work as they just aren't busy enough to keep me on until my original contract end date - May 8. Wow, it came as quite a surprise. They felt really bad and ensured me it was nothing to do with me. They had been hoping that things would pick up and they'd be able to create a position for me. I don't mind leaving and finding other work as it gives me a variety of experiences while I'm here.

I knew work was slowing down as several of our large projects were coming to an end all at the same time and I could feel things starting to slow drastically. However, I was still a a bit shocked. Not a big ordeal as it's exactly 3 weeks earlier than the original date, so it wasn't going to affect me much. Now I have a full month off before I go home!

I wish I had of known this earlier as I had planned my trip home around work, so here I am off work weeks early and I can't change my flight to go home earlier. Oh well. I have a list of to dos that will keep me busy enough.

Dinner & Hockey!

Speedy has been recording some hockey for us as he has satellite. Keith and I are too cheap to spend money on one. Haha. Means we'd probably sit in front of it more and we don't want that so we're determined not to spend money on channels - we get 30-40 as it is, just not the hockey which we both miss.

Speedy, Rach, Keith & I went into Falmouth to Pizza Express for dinner. We finally found some good pizza! This is a task in this county - maybe even country. Had a really nice dinner then we went back to Speedy and Rach's and watched the hockey game. I can't even remember who was playing except for Buffalo and another American team I wasn't really interested in. But I was happy just to watch a game!

Can't Remember!

To be honest I have no idea what we did this week and barely remember what we did over the weekend. It's so hard to remember when I'm behind a month and a half on updating!

Wednesday I woke up with a cold! I cannot believe how many colds I have gotten since I arrived in the UK. Not sure when my body is going to get used to life here, but I hope soon!

My work week was a bit busy with our English Heritage project coming to a close. Friday I did some catch up on admin stuff at home - paying road tax and our TV license (what a crazy set up). That night Keith met up with some of the guys in Helston to celebrate St Paddy's Day. I decided to stay home and nurse my cold so I just relaxed at home.

Tregragon Farm Day 2

Happy Birthday Shannon!

It was a bit of an odd day for weather. One moment it was sunny and the next raining. After breakfast Dale, Lauren, the kiddies, Keith & I decided to go for a walk to the beach as the farm has a beautiful backdrop of the ocean. As we approached the cliff edge we noticed a thick cloud of rain just ahead of us heading our way. We quickly took off back to the farm.

Keith, Dale, Olivia and I went to the hay barn and played in the hay stacks for awhile. Well, they played and I took pictures of the calves on the other side of the barn. They're so cute! They're curious but such scaredy cats at the same time.

Hester prepared a wonderful Sunday roast dinner for us with all the fixings and dessert. Once we were all stuffed and had our belongings together it was time to hit the road as it was mid afternoon.

We arrived home at supper time and after that dinner there was no need to cook. Yay! We had a great weekend.

Tregragon Farm

Keith & I headed out around 10:30am and arrived at lunch time just a few minutes before Dale & Lauren - good timing. We spent the afternoon relaxing enjoying Hester and watching her cook (she wouldn't let us help). After lunch we bundled up in our finest attire and rubber boots and went to visit the cows. Mike & Andrew gave us the tour. We really enjoyed it. Before we knew it, it was milking time. Keith, Dale, Olivia and I headed to the milking parlour to find Andrew. He had already started the process and Keith, Dale and I were keen to jump right in.

Before long the 3 of us were into all of it - preparing the cows for the milking machine, putting on the machine and applying the moisturizer to them when finished. We stuck around for awhile and had fun. By the time we were finished my coat looked like I had wiped a cow's behind! It wasn't very pretty and it didn't smell any better. Haha. They are so full of mud and everything else that's it's difficult to stay clean. I didn't care, I had fun.

We spent the evening enjoying a fantastic supper Hester prepared, drinking wine and chatting. We all hit the hay early after our day of fresh air.

I was able to get one photo uploaded:



To see all the photos follow the links to my Facebook albums:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=96801&l=7d423&id=732460083

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=96806&l=7d120&id=732460083

Ah Friday

Woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning. What a great sleep. I feel refreshed. Spent the morning catching up on some 'to-dos'. Keith figures he's at work for a full day which is odd for Friday. I don't really have any plans for the day. It's a nice sunny day so I should be out enjoying it, even though it is a bit cool.

Tomorrow we are off to Delabole, Cornwall to visit Lauren's cousins (I think that's the relation), Hester, Mike and their son Andrew. We're meeting Dale, Lauren and the kiddies there. Hester and Mike own a dairy farm and we've been dying to visit. We'll be staying tomorrow night and getting a taste of farm life. My relatives back home used to own a dairy farm around Pictou and Nan and Gamp took me there often as a kid. I loved it. We're all excited to be around the animals and spend time with Lauren's family. It should be a great 2 days.

Late at Work

This week at work hasn't been bad at all, but a typical Thursday is everything hits the fan at 4pm and I'm there late. It's like they don't realize until then that I'm not in tomorrow. This week we started working on an identity branding tender and it's been quite a bit of work, as tenders normally are. Some last minutes things came up end of day today so I ended up being at work until 7pm. How fantastic! When I got home Keith had supper ready which was wonderful. I ended up crawling in bed at 9:30pm because I was bagged. I think it's because I didn't get enough sleep last weekend so I'm a bit tired this week. at least I'm hoping that's all it is. One of the guys at work has been out with the flu for 2 days. I better not be getting sick! Time to pop some vitamin C and echinasea. Ah, sleep.....

Climbing for Keith

Keith headed off at 6am this morning to drive to South Molton, Devon to indoor climb for the day. It was arranged by the Royal Navy and a few of the guys he's on course with decided to go. From what I gathered, they had a good day. I wonder how us civilian folk can arrange such things with our work?

Online Surfing/Shopping

Happy Birthday Dale & Kyle!

Keith is on duty tonight so he's working until 9:30pm or so. I'm playing around on the computer trying to figure out how to back-up this iMac - I'm so confused with Macs. They're great because they're simple, but in some sense too simple! Also doing a bit of online shopping - browsing really. Realized the luggage I have won't hold what I'll be taking home for a month so checking out eBay for a good deal on a very large suitcase. Also looking into an external hard drive to store all my pictures on to take home to show my family. This is an expensive trip home! But well worth it. Can't wait to see everyone. I had a little bit of homesickness the past 2 weeks. I don't know if you'd really call it homesick, but definitely missing my family. It's time to see my parents, my brothers, and my grandparents.

While adding this post I also added a few more 'British Oddities' and 'Things we can't get here' to my lists on the right hand side. It's funny trying to think of some of these things and I'm now forgetting what's normal and what's backwards British. Haha. Our Aussie friend Jono was saying on the weekend he believes the Brits try to do everything the longest or most difficult way possible - just because. I would say this probably goes for government. Sorry Lauren, I don't think you're backwards! :-)

Sleet/Hail

I think I opened my mouth too early a few blogs back when I said we didn't see a flake of snow yet. Twice today the sky got black, the heaven's opened and sleet/hail just poured down. It was bizarre. There was even a little left behind on the ground but melted within a few minutes. The weather is saying England could get up to 10cm of snow tonight! I didn't catch what part of England but hopefully not the South West! Maybe it'll favor London along with the little Earthquake last week!

Absolutely Nothing

It was a day for sleeping. Not getting to bed until stupid o'clock in the morning, I needed my sleep. I got up for an hour or so in the morning then had a 2 hour nap over lunch. How nice! I never nap.

I spent the afternoon being lazy but unfortunately I'm a woman and with that comes the need to get stuff done. So even though I plan to do nothing, I usually am unable to do that because there's always something that needs to be done - laundry, supper, etc. I cooked another chicken for supper and we had a great roast dinner. I even made apple crisp for dessert. Eventually I relaxed on the couch and did my favorite Sunday thing - watch CSI - 2 episodes!

Course Social

It's March! Yeehaw! We've been here 11 months today! I'm always so happy when January and February are over. Although I was very happy to not see a flake of snow this winter. Maybe next year I'll miss the cold and snow...not likely! It's still 8-12 degrees here during the day which suits me just fine. They did report it was going to be very cold a few nights with the temperature dipping down to -6C. Haha. I thought it was quite funny they considered that very cold. These people would die in Canada.

So tired and lazy this morning we ended up sleeping in until 10:30am. Not hard to tell we don't have kids! After running some errands and grocery shopping Jono dropped into meet Keith as they have their course social today. After a 1/2 hour visit the boys walked into town to meet the rest of the crew. As it's only 3pm I have no interest to go with them now and be out for the night. I've decided to stay home until supper time or early evening then I may walk in and meet them. We'll see.

Just as I was hanging up with Mom to go get ready to go out, Rach called and said she was on her way home from work (early) and she was up for going out too. Yay! She picked me up at 8:30pm and we went out and met up with the boys. There were only 10 of them out and a few snuck off early, but it turned out to be an alright night. We went to the Blue Anchor first, then off to one of the Crewman instructor's parties then ended at Big T's. I left the guys an hour before they headed home because I had enough. So I came home and made Kraft Dinner! Any of my girlfriends know this is my drinking go-to food. Keith and Jono arrived back at about 3:30am and Jono crashed here. Not a bad night.

Pictures from the evening:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=95062&l=f4fd7&id=732460083