May 08

We woke up at 4:30am - though we hardly slept due to thinking we would miss the alarm. We showered & put our suitcases out to be collected. Then we had breakfast at 5:30am, meeting in the foyer at 6am to board the bus to begin our tour.
We headed for Dover which was 2hrs while hearing from Tania (our Tour Director) "things we need to know". Arriving at Dover port we were let through without having to do a passport check which is apparently very rare! at 9:30am we boarded the ferry (to Calais) on the bus, unloading & exploring the upper decks, and having lunch at the buffet - which at that time was full cooked breakfast! At 12:30pm we loaded back into the bus and synchronised our watches to Europe time (GMT+1).
Much more driving through France, Belgium (having a dream run on the Antwerp ring road) then finally to the Ibis Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport). 2hrs to freshen up (we got some laundry done) then a different bus & driver in to town. We were taken through the canals in a glass roofed cruise boat, going under bridges, seeing the different architecture styles of the common / warehouse areas as compared to the 'Gentlemans Canal' which had much more decorative arches & ornate statues on the roofs. Finally stopping at the 'Sea Palace' - a floating Chinese / Indonesian restaurant that is a smaller replica of one in Hong Kong. A mixed banquet style of food was served (which Will enjoyed but Meredith ... not so much) and we got to meet some of our fellow travellers (there are 22 all up, nice and small).
An early night was in store - as we got on the bus a spaced-out guy picked a verbal with the bus driver - he was older but held his own quite well, eventually jumping back on the bus & shutting the doors while the looney was trying to kick them in! Most of the ladies wanted the guys to jump to the rescue, but none of the guys were too keen!

We woke up from probably the best night's sleep so far, even though it was only 6 hours. Breakfast was a continental buffet, very ordinary, definately nothing special. Afterwards we made tracks to the Earl's Court Underground station (aka the Tube) where we caught the District line to Victoria & swapped to the National Rail lines where we met some of the London saints on platform. Will met Darren Seeto for the first time, and we both met Matt and Nicki and daughter Sam, Louise & her husband (sorry forgot names!), and Rita & Wayne. Once we arrived at Beckenham Junction we walked together to the meeting which was 1.5 blocks. There we met Pr Bill & his wife, their grandson Nathan, Mick, Maria & also Avril who some of you would know. Pr Chris Young & his wife Heather were away visiting Greece, along with Julian Henwood who was "probably at work" according to Seeto!
The meeting was very enjoyable - choruses were a little different & we both were able to give our testimonies & we had to sign the famous visitors book!

Then before we knew it we were dashing back to the train station to head back to Victoria. On the way back Rita was telling us about her brother (Peter) they have been praying for, which gave us both a little chuckle (some names always seem to get paired)!
We had some lunch at the station as we said goodbye to the London saints & went on our way with pamphlets they had given about what to see & what not to see. We ended up taking the tube to Marylebone where we walked up to Madame Tussauds (Baker St is closer we found out) which is the Waxworks museum - hundreds of artworks made to look like particular celebrities including movie stars, cowboys, heroes, sports people, royalty, world leaders & music stars. Then taking us through the Age of Terror / Horror and events which occurred such as murders. We found the place to be OVERcrowded making it almost impossible to take photos. Here we purchased a souvenir - a photo in crystal of ourselves.
We headed back to the Underground and travelled back to Embankment swapping there to go to Earl's Court. We walked back to the Ibis where we had a rest then went down to the restaurant for dinner. Then to bed as Trafalgar had informed us we would be woken at 4:30am!!!

We slept in until 11:30am ... it was lovely since we had a late night & Meredith couldn't sleep. We went down to the hotel bar for an OJ and toasted sandwich. Then we purchased 3hrs of internel time at the hotel since the price was reasonable - checked email, updated our blog, and tried to upload photos but we ran out of time!
At 4ish we left the hotel going to the Metro & we waited for the 4:30pm train to the airport.
We checked in & went through the airport looking at shops then grabbing a quick bite to eat at Maccas - watching planes land and take off. Afterwards we headed to passport control & security - Will getting frisked again. Then into our gate where we lounged for approx 90mins as our flight was delayed. While waiting we were entertained by a very energetic tubby little toddler who had everyone's attention. We boarded at 7:15pm - taking off at 8ish (the flight had 35-40ppl max) we landed at 9:20 with the 2 hour backwards time difference.
Once we landed we went through passport control again where they asked lots of questions - Will got chastised for letting Meredith go to a different counter, while she was chastised for not keeping an eye on her man! We got on the Underground which brought us into Earl's Court & we walked a few blocks to the Ibis. Once settling into the room we went & found dinner - though proved difficult being 11:45pm - though we came past a KFC which was open. We had dinner (no chicken salt on the chips! and they have baked beans instead of pototo & gravy) then passed a shop buying chocolate then headed back to the Ibis where we jumped on the net for 20 minutes(1 pound each). Then off to bed which was nice & soft compared to the night before.

Photos from our trip so far can be found here:

United Kingdom

Greek Isles Cruise / Athens

Early Start! Up at 6am to shower as we had to be out of our cabins by 7am. Made the deadline easily, then up to buffet breakfast in the restaurant. Breaky again not too crash hot! Disembarked ~7:30, found our bags then a taxi back to Syntagma Square. The Taxi driver tried to rip us off - said 25 Euro fixed fare - but we knew better! A board inside the port said fare should be 8 - 12 Euro, hence we insisted he use the meter! Final fare was 18 Euro - taxi driver was quite nice, talkative, but hard to understand!
Went to the hotel expecting to leave our bags - but our room was ready (8am)! The hotel was fully booked, so we were upgraded from a standard room to a suite (king bed, separate lounge, balcony, spa bath) - puts all the other rooms to shame! Napped till noon as very little sleep on the final cruise night.
Lunch at Maccas! Meredith had a cheeseburger and nuggets, Will had a 'Chicken Mythic McMenu' then caught the metro to Akropoli station for some sightseeing. First to Hadrian's Arch, then 12 Euro each to see Temple of Olympian Zeus. Large monument but now falling apart. Then across to Panathinaikon Stadium - massive 70000 seat stadium open at one end. Walked back through the National Garden where we spotted some turtles in a pond. Then to the Acropolis & Theatre of Dionyses. Both very large, but due to restoration work mostly covered in scaffolding which ruined it a little! Enjoyed the excellent panoramic views of Athens - then back down to the Metro and to our hotel.
We attempted to go to a restaurant for dinner, but 40 minutes of walking yielded no results - only a few cafes which had small menus! Ended up eating toasted sandwhiches from a place called 'Everest' - very crazy & they stuffed up both our orders!
Overall our opinion of Athens is low! Language barrier is high, the city is dirty, everyone smokes (yes, indoors - and yes, in enclosed food areas!) and people try and take advantage of us foreigners!