As the cousins had a few days in London before we met up, they have achieved more sightseeing than the rest of us, so this morning we split up to see different sites.

Isaac is better than yesterday after sleeping from about 4.30pm right through the night, but we left him at the hotel for the morning to sleep in. We weren’t aware when we booked this hotel that they provided a complimentary breakfast, but today we made the most of it. Zac didn’t feel like eating any more than a few bites of an apple, so I encouraged him to go back to bed and Uber to Westminster to meet us at 12.45pm.

The cousins spent the morning touring the Natural History Museum (which Ollie now says is his favourite thing he has done on holidays – even more than the Harry Potter experience they did last week), while the rest of us toured Westminster Abbey. This was on Jarrod’s list to do because he has been to London several times and not been able to get in (I know, I know, it’s a first world problem he has there….).

The Abbey provided an audio guide and headphones, which was helpful but not comprehensive. There were many people there at the same time as us, which meant sections took a while to see due to the queues, such as the tombs of Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth 1. It struck me that the sisters, one a staunch Catholic and the other the head of the Church of England, were interred next to each other, to show that at their core they had a common cause and similar goals.

It was also interesting to see how many famous people are buried there or have monuments/plaques erected to them, and the coronation chair (now that we have been alive for a coronation!).

We finished our individual tours at exactly 12.45pm and found Zac looking brighter and waiting for us at the exit.

We caught a tube out to Stratford then to have some lunch and meet the cousins, ready to attend an EPL (English Premier League) game. Sam tells me there are five EPL teams in London, and West Ham has the largest stadium (it seats more than 60,000). We chose this game to watch, not for any scientific reason or because of their standing on the table but because we could get 14 seats together!

There is a Westfields near the entrance, so we stopped for some lunch there and met the others at the stadium, where Uncle Luke had already had a beer and they were patiently waiting for us in our seats.

West Ham v Brighton seemed to be a slightly friendlier game than the one we watched last week, perhaps because both teams are close to relegation or because it wasn’t a local derby? The excitement was too much for the fan sitting next to Jarrod – he couldn’t stay awake! It ended in a 1 – 1 draw, which was great because we got to see how the fans behaved when each team scored.

After the game we walked back through the Westfields to the tube station and caught the underground back to Pimlico where we are staying. There are quite a few restaurants near our hotel, and we found a little Thai restaurant willing to take 14 of us to eat in with no prior booking. After a delicious meal, we walked back down the street to our hotel, making plans for tomorrow as we walked.

Ross woke at 3.30am because he heard a mouse rustling through our pantry supplies in the kitchen near our bedroom. Jess woke at 4am because a different mouse was rustling through the food she had in her room upstairs. Our plan was to be at the bus with bags packed by 7.20am, which was quite achievable given our lack of sleep and keenness to not share our accommodation and food with rodents any longer!

Luke had to return the 17 seater bus by 12pm, but wanted to drop us and our luggage to the hotel in Victoria, London first. We had chosen the bus based on pictures showing a decent-sized boot, but the reality was a little different. The people had to be packed into the bus first so the luggage could be placed around us, and we had to stop it rolling around for the three hour trip from West Ashton to London.

Traffic, roads and Google maps worked in our favour for a change, and we made it to the new location in plenty of time for Ross and Luke to return the bus as required.

Once we had checked in, we walked up to Buckingham Palace and Green Park. Zac didn’t feel well so Ross took him back to the hotel by taxi so he could lie down. The rest of us wandered down to Trafalgar Square and the Westminster area, before trekking it back to the hotel once our rooms were ready and we could unpack.

Zac is quite crook, so I spent the afternoon in our room with him while Ross and Sam took all our washing to a laundromat. It took poor Ross hours to do! He needed change for the machines so bought Sam fish and chips for dinner to get some change, and once they checked on Zac recovering in our room, they went and joined the rest of the boys at a local pub near our hotel for dinner, so Sam had two dinners!

Meanwhile, Jarrod went to meet Liam and another friend from school, Ben, at Covent Garden for dinner, while the girls had a night out at dinner and the theatre! I booked tickets before we left Sydney to The Devil Wears Prada, a new musical premiering on the West End at the Dominion Theatre with music by Elton John.

Beck meanwhile booked us a table for dinner at a restaurant in Leicester Square, Steak and Co, which had a two course set theatre menu. She also worked out which bus to catch at the hotel front door to get us there in time for our 5.30pm dinner, to ensure we were in our seats for the 7.30pm show. It was a lovely night out for us, and the show was great.

By the time we got home everyone was in bed. It is the latest night we’ve had here! Because the sun goes down by 4.30pm each day, we have found it easy to go to sleep much earlier than we do at home. Ross is hoping I keep that up when we return home!

After agreeing to meet at our bus to leave at 8.30am, we drove out at 8.44am and were in Bath 40 minutes later. After grabbing a coffee and souvenirs, we toured the Roman Baths, which date back to AD and sit in the middle of the shopping centre in the Abbey churchyard. The tour included individual audio devices to listen to as you moved through the Baths on a self-guided tour.

After finishing our tours, we roamed the shops and found Cornish pastries (first one we’ve tried – except Luke who now regrets not getting one) and sausage rolls for lunch. Jarrod was hoping to explore the Bath Cathedral, because it’s the third time he has been to Bath and has never had time to, but at 7.5 pounds per adult to enter, we weren’t keen to pay for everyone.

We drove around to the Circus and The Royal Crescent, and Jarrod was able to recreate some of the photos we took nine years ago when last here. We then filled up the bus and headed for the Cotswolds, all agreeing that Bath is one of our favourite places we’ve seen.

The Cotswolds being such a large area, and not having time to explore it in detail, we headed for the most famous part: Arlington Row in Bibury. They have rubber duck races there on Boxing Day each year. It is one of the most photographed streets in England, and dates back to the 14th century. Here is one more photo given its claim to fame!

We grabbed coffees at the trout farm cafe opposite the street, and Ross and Luke decided to hightail it back to Stonehenge, hoping to get there before darkness fell. It was an hour and twenty minutes away, but they knew of a side street where you can park and walk a track through rolling hills to reach Stonehenge without paying the entry fee.

Well the sun was setting as we arrived at the track entrance, so they RAN it to reach Stonehenge before it became dark. Even Ross ran 🤦‍♀️. Beck and I being the sensible ones walked to the halfway mark, zoomed our phones in to get some photos of Stonehenge in the distance, and walked back to the car in darkness, where we waited for the others to return.

The last two photos were not mine and show the runners did make it there in time for some memorable pictures.

On the way back to the castle, we stopped at Trowbridge again for dinner. A restaurant called Toby Carvery was willing to take 14 of us for dinner with no notice, and it was a buffet style all-you-can-eat of meat and vegetables. The baked dinner was delicious, and we returned to our accommodation feeling quite full.

Indulge me while I detour to record the origin story of our trip……

During the lockdowns of 2020, we had quite a few family movie nights. We watched an action film that was SO bad we have blocked almost all of the details from memory, and we also watched The Old Guard starring Charlize Theron.

Jarrod and Ross’ memories verge at this point, but The Old Guard’s final scene was in a pub on the River Thames called the Prospect of Whitby. Either we googled that and came across other historic English pubs, or our lunch venue for today was featured in the bad movie, but either way, our research after family movie night found a pub in Exeter called the Samuel Jones.

In 2020 with flights grounded and us all being told to stay at home, we started to hatch a plan to one day post-pandemic travel to the UK to visit the Samuel Jones pub, and thought it would be cute to be there for Sam’s 18th birthday in 2024 to celebrate with his first beer.

Well the timing didn’t work to the day, but we came close! We talked about it for long enough that everyone was keen to join a family holiday to Europe, with even extended family tagging along. It was a two hour drive from our castle to Exeter, but we made it in time for the 12.30pm lunch booking I made months ago.

After celebrating Sam’s birthday lunch there (he turned 18 as he got on the flight to Prague so there were no birthday celebrations until today), we wandered around the foreshore and up the hill to explore Exeter Cathedral.

We then returned home via Trowbridge to pick up dinner supplies. A shopping area with a Marks & Spencer Food Hall as well as several takeaway options (Greggs, Subway etc) meant everyone could choose their own adventure, which we then took home to eat together.

We did find a mouse getting into our supplies, meaning Aunty Beck would like to burn the place down and sleep in the bus or the nearest Premier Inn motel, but we will be brave and soldier on!

We met in the atrium at 8am (and amazingly, everyone made it on time!) and walked our suitcases the 15 minute walk to Manchester Piccadilly train station. The first train was a 3 hour trip to Bristol where we stopped for lunch.

The length of the trip was long enough to rest after a very bad night’s sleep. I had people messaging me at 3.30am because Millie had escaped from home again! Our poor, stressed dog sitter followed our instructions and locked her inside while she went shopping for groceries, and came home to find Millie had bashed her locked dog door off its hinges! 😬

Our security camera footage showed us that Millie went and sat on the front doormat for an hour watching the street waiting for us to appear before she went further afield and another neighbour picked her up. We are very thankful for the firies on Ross’ crew who came to shore up the potential escape routes, and friends like Caroline who took the dog to her secure location overnight to give the dog sitter a rest 😂

Ross and I minded everyone’s luggage at a Wetherspoons pub near the station and sent the kids off exploring Bristol. They found a shopping centre across the bridge over the lock, and ate lunch and explored the area before meeting up with us again.

We then returned to the station for our next, 40 minute, train trip to Trowbridge, where Ross and Jarrod bought us coffee and we waited for the others to arrive. Luke’s family picked up a minivan and then picked up Tim and Zac from Heathrow Airport before gathering us from Trowbridge. Our group of 7 has now become a group of 14!

From Trowbridge it was a 10 minute drive to West Ashton where we are staying in an historic castle called Longs Park Castle.

After exploring our accommodation, Ross and Luke went in search of a supermarket and pizza for dinner while the rest of us settled in. We then sat up to await HSC results! Cooper did exceptionally well as we expected, and Sam has either done exactly enough or will just fall achingly short of his first preference – we will have to wait until next Monday when the first round uni offers come out to know!

While Ross was up early to return the minivan by 9am, the kids slept in while I did some washing. Ross returned with great coffee and pastries from the cafe in the atrium downstairs.

We had originally booked an Old Trafford tour for this morning, but the club cancelled all tours today in early December as they needed the stadium for a private event (Leo told us yesterday it was for one of the players to film some marketing material!). So as we didn’t have anywhere to be at a certain time, and given Jarrod was in this city in July 2023, he looked up some of the city walking tours on offer and created his own for us.

We started in a park near our hotel, where there was a statue of Alan Turing, the father of computer science (did Jarrod design this tour for us or for him?)

From there we went to the Central Library which included an extensive music library (where we lost Abi and Jarrod for a little while!).

We passed many worker bees along the way. Manchester was my city to research (clearly I didn’t research the traffic or roads very well!), and worker bees are representative of the workers in the burgeoning cotton and textiles industry during the Industrial Revolution. The bees are on public monuments, buildings, in advertising and souvenirs.

Around the corner from a souvenir shop we found a chain restaurant/bar in the UK is the “Slug & Lettuce”. We discovered they had an 8 pound lunch deal so stopped there to feed the troops before we continued exploring.

We joined a free tour at Manchester Cathedral which lasted 20 minutes and was very informative. There is a memorial outside the cathedral for the 22 people who died as a result of the terrorist attack at the Ariana Grande concert in 2017.

We then walked around to the National Football Museum. We had hoped to visit the Chetham School of Music and Library on the way as it was on the corner opposite, but it was closed.

The man at the counter told us we could save money by booking online, so we stood in the foyer while Jarrod did that. Then the woman at the counter asked for proof from those who had booked in as students. Tom and Abi had concession cards ready, Belle could get up her student email address, but Sam had nothing with him. So the lady asked me to provide proof (by which point I was wishing we had just paid the extra 2 pound for adult price!). As I went to log in to the school portal to find something, anything, so we could enter the museum, this picture was on the landing page, and was enough proof for the employee to let us in 😂

After a couple of hours in the museum, we went in search of an English pub for dinner. We chose the Sawyers Arms, but half the menu items (the ones we wanted to eat) were sold out, so we moved two doors down to the House of Dene for a pub meal and then headed back to the hotel for an early night as we are catching a train early in the morning.

Note: Tim and Zac flew out today and will meet us tomorrow. They sent me pictures from the airport so I wouldn’t panic about them missing their flight 😊

Postscript: So much for our early night! The kids picked up something for dessert at Tesco Express on the way back to the hotel and came back to our room for supper and a chat. I checked Facebook at some point and discovered this post!

The boys only left home 12 hours ago, and the dog sitter was inside the house, but Mille found a way to escape and tried to go looking for us! 😩 Luckily I have wonderful friends and neighbours who have not only saved Millie and got her off the road and returned her home, but have also done an extensive review of potential escape points around our property 🤦‍♀️

The minivan we hired for our Newcastle touring day couldn’t be returned on a Sunday, so I had the bright idea of keeping it for an extra day and returning it in Manchester on Monday morning – the cost of the extra day was not much more than the train tickets from Newcastle to Manchester, and those train tickets were one of the few things we hadn’t pre booked before we left home.

So it seemed providential! Google maps told me the trip to Manchester was 2.5 hours on a Sunday morning (instead of 3 hours by train). It also meant we could pick up Jarrod from the Smees rather than asking them to get Jarrod to us, and I didn’t have to walk my suitcase up hundreds of stairs to the train station as originally planned.

Giddy with such a successful decision, we said goodbye to the Smees and Liam once more as we picked up Jarrod at 8am, and started down the highway to Manchester, our next destination. Also high on our perfect planning, Jarrod and I booked an 11.20am tour of Old Trafford (which was a bucket list item for Sam and me) because arriving in Manchester at 10.30am would give us time for coffee before the tour began, and then we could continue on with the other surprise we had planned for the day.

Well…….something road paved something good intentions……pride goes before a fall…..

Two collisions on the highway in front of us slowed traffic down considerably. Jarrod was watching the traffic ahead, thankfully, and was able to advise us from the back seat to detour along local roads, which saved us some time, but also had its own traffic issues as other cars had the same idea and advice. As the morning and the trip wore on, I watched our time buffer not only disappear, but so did our tour time – we didn’t arrive at Old Trafford until 12pm!! A 2.5 hour trip that became a 4 hour trip!!

We decided to have a quick look there mainly so Sam could see it, while we spoke to someone about a possible refund in person. Instead, the staff were so lovely, and allocated a tour guide called Leo to give us our own private tour! Tours usually have 40-50 in a group, but Leo showed the 7 of us around in a condensed tour. He apologised for having to leave out aspects like letting us walk through the tunnel and not being able to show us the press rooms, but he took us everywhere else the tour goes like the change rooms, Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and gave us plenty of photo opportunities.

I had to cut poor Leo short though, because we had booked tickets to the local derby before we left home and hadn’t yet told the kids. They became suspicious about what was happening next when we were in such a hurry to move on and nothing else had been mentioned as being booked for the day. Leo apologised that we didn’t have time to explore the museum (which was included in our ticket price) but we told him we will be back! Sam and I would still like to see a Man U game there one day (the older boys and Ross did so on our last family Europe trip).

We did not plan to be in Manchester at the same time as the local derby (in fact, we couldn’t plan around any games because the EPL schedule wasn’t released until after we booked our trip), but we realised in early December that Man City was playing Man United today at Etihad Stadium, and with Tom being a Man City supporter and the Joneses all Man U supporters we thought we should make it a priority while here! It was impossible to get tickets though so we booked the cheapest hospitality package available, and had to be at a local restaurant offsite for lunch at 1.30pm before the 4.30pm kick-off.

We returned to the minivan hurriedly and then told the kids what we had planned. They were very excited to attend the local derby! Tom had even been looking at the resale sites to see if we could snag last minute tickets on the long drive, and Belle’s friends had been talking about the game extensively at home.

Manchester is just not a drivable city though (apparently it is very walkable) and we had trouble finding our way on their ring roads and then finding somewhere to park the bus to go to the game. We left it and all our luggage in a shopping centre at Lime Park, and Jarrod and Tom ordered two Ubers to get us to the Vermillion restaurant for lunch.

Lunch was an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet (but only one drink voucher each) with a magician wandering table to table. Once everyone was full we walked up to the stadium to find our seats. Jarrod was hoping to head to a Starbucks across the road for coffee first, as we hadn’t had a coffee all day, but it was just a little out of reach time-wise. So the kids bought a match day scarf (Sam had been disappointed at Old Trafford when he asked could he buy one and didn’t understand why we said a sharp no, but it was because we knew he could get one at the game site), and we headed to our seats.

Man City were ahead 1 – 0 until the 88th minute when Man U equalised, and then scored again a minute later. Sad for Tom, but great to witness a Man United 2 – 1 win for the rest of us! While it was a great experience, it was also a bit disappointing. Fans were leaving as soon as the equaliser was scored, there was a lot of booing of the opposition, and when the final whistle was blown, NO-ONE clapped except us! Everyone just started streaming out of the stadium, whinging about the result and decisions made on their way. The Man U supporters had to wait 30 mins before they could leave, which is apparently common at EPL games. I feel the behaviour of fans was the antithesis to several parenting lessons I have tried to impart over the years!

Jarrod and Ross started the 40 minute walk to pick up the car (because Ubers were expensive and the traffic jam caused by everyone leaving meant walking was quicker). Sam asked if we could go around to where the players exit, but we didn’t see anyone, so we headed across the road to the McDonalds which was our pick up spot. Police were there breaking up a fight so we quickly moved on to the Starbucks to wait, and Ross and Jarrod pulled up minutes later.

We then went to check in to our accommodation. It is a beautiful place made up of three old historic buildings surrounding an atrium. Our room is in a separate building to the kids’ room so I am unable to nag about shower times or getting enough sleep! How will they cope?! After the day we’ve had, neither Ross nor I have the energy to nag anyway – we went to our room and had to lie down with our feet elevated as we both have a damaged swollen ankle each from all the walking we’ve been doing 🤭

Note: today’s diary entry is long and late. I was too exhausted last night to write, and this morning it has been a cathartic trauma dump of a stressful day! 😂

Ross walked up to Newcastle train station to pick up a minivan at 9am we booked yesterday, so John could take us on a tour further afield than the city.

We followed John and Judy in their Toyota Yaris up to Warkworth Castle, and wandered down to the shops before we then drove on to Alnwick.

There was an historic single lane arch to get into Alnwick village, where some carollers from the local church were singing and Christmas markets were trading. We walked over to Greggs for lunch of sausage rolls and pasties, coffee and “yum yums” (cylindrical-shaped Krispy Kreme tasting donuts). From there we looked at Alnwick Castle – closed until Spring unfortunately, but it is where scenes from the first two Harry Potter movies were filmed.

We then ventured further up the coast to Bamburgh Castle, walking along the beach to the castle entrance. Judy had offered to pack a towel in case Sam decided to go swimming, but thankfully forgot to bring one because Sam would have definitely dived into the North Sea if he was sure of being able to dry off afterwards!

John then led us around Bamburgh and treated us to dinner at Lewis’ fish and chips shop. We all enjoyed our fish and chips (except Sam who broke with tradition to have a chicken burger and chips). It was officially the earliest we have ever eaten dinner though as we ordered at 3.33pm! And when we left the restaurant an hour later, night had fallen and the Christmas lights lit up the shops.

The drive down to the Smees’ home was about 1.5 hours, where we stopped for a cup of tea and supper, and sang songs around their piano (played by Jarrod).

Tears were shed as we said our goodbyes to John, Judy and Liam. We have had a beautiful two days reconnecting with them. I always say it takes a village to raise children, and a board of advisers to raise me, and we are very grateful for the support they gave us through some trying times many years ago and the fact we can catch up years later and just enjoy the hospitality and making travel memories together.

Jarrod was first out this morning, and returned with his school friend Liam who is living in Clapham and caught a train to Newcastle to spend the weekend with us.

We then added to our number again, meeting our family friends and Newcastle locals, John and Judy Smee across the road from our apartment at the Copthorne Hotel for coffee.

John then led us on a walking tour around the city, stopping to show us the important and historical sites along the way, like the Castle Keep, Newcastle Cathedral, Christmas Village Markets, Newcastle University, Hancock Museum and other sites.

We stopped for a quick lunch at Five Guys at 2pm, but told the kids not to eat too much as John had booked a restaurant for dinner, but we could only get in at 4.30pm. Apparently something like 54,000 people descend on the city this weekend each year for Christmas parties at the 250 different venues around the city. There is also a Newcastle United home game tomorrow.

John is a volunteer with the Street Pastors UK organisation and is rostered on each month to deal with situations that arise in the city centre – for example, last weekend he was quayside at 4am dealing with a domestic violence victim who had escaped and needed assistance. One of his fellow Street Pastor team leaders called Simon owns an Italian restaurant called Lui’s down by the water, and he was happy to host the ten of us for dinner at 4.30pm – and it was genuinely one of the best Italian meals we’ve ever had!

Jarrod and Liam then headed back to stay with the Smees, while Abi and Tom wandered down to Tesco and Ross and I did another load of washing and were in bed asleep by 9pm!

Note: I was introduced to packing cubes before our last trip to Europe nine years ago, and it was life-changing. Earlier this year I discovered Lucent Globe environmentally friendly laundry detergent sheets. LIFE-changing. So easy to take overseas, clothes smell good and clean…I wonder if they need an influencer? 😉

Our Emirates flight left Hong Kong at 12.35am for Dubai, a 9 hour flight. Abi and I determined to sleep as much as possible and didn’t turn on the technology or open our books. Belle wasn’t quite as disciplined and didn’t get as much sleep as us.

Our 1.5 hour layover in Dubai ended up adding another hour sitting on the tarmac in the plane as our departure was delayed “due to paperwork”. It meant more time for in-flight movies, and was better being on the air-conditioned plane than in the warmer terminal. As we descended into Newcastle 7.5 hours later though and found it was 4 degrees, we almost missed the heat of Dubai! Almost….

Our accommodation check-in was scheduled for 4pm but we arrived in Newcastle at 1pm so requested earlier access, and sat at Starbucks at Newcastle airport while waiting for confirmation. While it’s only 13 hours’ difference on the clock between our HK departure and arrival here, we have actually been travelling 21 hours.

A 25 minute taxi ride later we found ourselves Quayside in the centre of Newcastle. The girls and I were able to shower, do some washing and then we headed out to explore the waterfront. The pubs look very English and inviting, but all had only male patrons, so we dined at the Hard Rock Cafe. We were there during happy hour so thought we should get our first wine of the trip – although we don’t intend to try to match the boys on their beer tour at all!

So many people were out and about, it was interesting grabbing snippets of their conversations – I feel like I’m in a Ted Lasso episode!

We then went to Tesco for some groceries and back to the apartment to await the boys’ arrival. Our meals had been so big we had boxed up the fries, and the boys tucked into them as they caught us up on their trip so far. Luke and Cooper have met the rest of their family in London, and we will see them next week.