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Week One

THURSDAY

Surprisingly, Will and I woke early on our first day in the country. Those who know us, know that we are NOT early risers! We spent the morning waking up and doing a small shop at Tesco. In the afternoon went over to meet Steve's son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Erin, for their youngest, Ronnie's, second birthday. He was unsure of Will and myself to begin with, by the end of our visit he was giving Uncle Will cuddles and was playing with me on the carpet with his emergency cars. After school-time, Luc and Lana came home and it was great to meet them! They already knew Will from before he moved to Australia. We had bought little presents for the kids from Australia, they appeared to enjoy them. 

                        I was completely exhausted by the end of the day, I fell asleep in the armchair after a nice meal of pizza and chips (yummy!)

FRIDAY

It was early to rise again, waking before the alarm, Marlene had agreed that we could head out to Reading on the train and do a bit of Christmas shopping at The Oracle.

                      We headed to the Vodaphone shop to get Will and I sim cards for our phones. It took forever to get customer service and when we did Will's phone connected almost straight away but my iPhone wouldn't. I'm just lucky that my boyfriend is talented, he was able to unlock my phone and get the sim to work when we returned home, otherwise it would have been another trip to Reading the following day! 

The remainder of the trip was great though, we spent approximately six hours walking through each shop inside The Oracle looking for a winter coat for Will, myself and a gold jacket for Marlene's outfit for her sister's wedding. By the end of the day we were a coat up for Will, a few presents heavier for AJ and no sign of jackets for either myself or Marlene. I couldn't get past how different the shopping experience at Christmas is like over here to back at home. I was rugged up and shivering in Reading, where I know I'd be in a skirt and tank top back home sweltering in the summer heat. I fell asleep on the couch again!

SATURDAY

I honestly do not know what is wrong with Will and myself, we were up early again today, I feel it's probably because I was so nervous about meeting his Auntie and Uncle that I was up early and getting ready. We had my first roast meal today, it was fantastic! Steve really does make great gravy :-) It turns out that I didn't have anything to be worried about, his Aunt and Uncle were fantastic! They turned up around 1.30-2pm and I spent a good deal of the time before the meal talking with his Uncle John, then after dinner I spent the time talking with his Auntie Linda in the lounge.

SUNDAY

I went shopping with Marlene this morning at the Newbury retail park while Will went to watch Luc play football (read soccer). I was extremely anxious about this as it would be the first time Marlene and I would be alone for an extended amount of time. We had fun though, we found a gorgeous purple winter coat for me (pics to come) and a pretty tunic at Evans (so glad I can order them online from Australia!) then we went across to Matalan where Marlene was able to find a jacket for her outfit, plus we got a few more bibs and bobs before heading around a few other shops before stopping for a Costa coffee and heading home. In the afternoon Manchester United were playing against Manchester City in the Premier League Manchester Derby. I settled myself into the corner armchair with Vimto and chips while Steve's son and daughter (a surprise), Chris and Tanya, came around to watch the match on Sky with Steve. I wish I had recorded some of their reactions! I've never watched two people so passionate about their team, I swear there were a few times I thought Steve might try jumping through the television! Thankfully Manchester United won the match 3-2, though there were a few arrests of ManCity supporters over a thrown coin and charging the pitch.

MONDAY

We finally updated the blog, sorry about that, we've been non-stop. The rest of the day was spent playing trivia games and charades with Steve and Marlene, it was bloody hilarious! We should have gotten some footage of the afternoon, seeing us trying to attempt some of the charades...something I hope we do again and often! We were both early to bed, the time change and early mornings finally catching up to us.

TUESDAY

Will and I went into Newbury with Steve to do some more Christmas shopping, I probably looked like a kid in a candy shop. I've always wanted to experience the cold English Christmas, and the main shopping street in Newbury looks like a slightly more modern town village, I was astounded and awed. I fear I annoyed the boys a bit by constantly stopping and taking in the atmosphere. I've uploaded a few pictures via Instagram, so be sure to check them out.

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One Week in UK!

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Landing in Hong Kong

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Arrived Safely

This post was written by Will & Simone, so there maybe two different styles of writing Our trip began with a text around 3pm on December 4th stating:

CX178/5 Dec from MEL will depart at 2:20(1h 30m late). We are sorry for the inconvenience. Cathay Pacific

That was fine, we were still getting a few last minute things ready so we pushed back our time leaving from Bendigo. It was a great drive, we took the scenic route through Heathcote and Lancefield. We were going through Lancefield when we got another text message:

CX178/5 Dec from MEL will depart at 3:15(2h 25m late). We are sorry for the inconvenience. Cathay Pacific

It's safe to say we were NOT happy!

Arriving at Tullamarine was uneventful, we had Maccas with Mum, Dad and AJ. AJ was such a cutie eating her dinner, had Sim a little teary.

While we were waiting for the check in gates to open we met this lovely old lady, she was from Hong Kong but had lived in Australia for 50 years as a teacher of English and Humanities and was going home for a family reunion. She checked in with us again as we got off the plane at Hong Kong. When we checked our bags the nice woman at the desk (Anna) informed us that we had been put onto the afternoon flight from HKG->LHR, and that the seats we pre-booked on the earlier flight wern't available (two together), which we were slightly pissed off about, until she had an idea! We booked an aisle and window seat, and hopefully no-one would book the middle seat, and it paid off!

Flying with Cathay Pacific was alright on the first leg of our journey, the food was so-so and Sim found it a little cramped, but the service was good and we slept most of the way. Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) is HUGE though, we had a hard time finding our way around and finding food. There were minimal maps around the place and the HKIA website is NOT iPhone friendly. We eventually found food, having a great lunch at Pizza Express, followed by Ben and Jerry's. HKIA also had a Disneyland store (not so surprising since HK has a Disneyland) but Sim went nuts! I followed quietly behind the girlfriend as she checked everything out, wide-eyed and excited. 

The second leg of the journey was a lot better than the first, especially since no-one booked the middle seat so we could stretch out across the 3 seats.

I have to say that the flight was just too long, 13 hours! Simone pretty much slept for the first 8 hours of the flight, and then watched movies until we landed...

I on the other hand, was so bored for the first 8 hours, vaguely trying to watch stuff I have already seen before, not getting any sleep and getting increasingly pissed off, until I finally slept the last 4 hours before they served dinner.

As we came into England, over London and banked over Reading for landing at Heathrow, the views were fantastic, we could easily see the London Eye, The o2 Arena, Tower Bridge and the Olympic Stadium.

   That's about it for now, we will be posting about the first 5 days in England, and a couple of videos :) keep your eyes peeled!

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Not long now...

...till we're checking in our bags and wandering the crowded areas of Melbourne's international airport, Tullamarine. I have to admit that while I'm excited and over-the-moon about the trip, I'm apprehensive being away from my family over the Christmas period. This will be my first time without them at Christmas and I've spent a good few hours crying with Will over the past couple of days relieving the stress and anxiety I've been feeling.

Will and I have been looking forward to this trip since before we even had the funds to make the journey. I've missed his family and have been looking forward to getting the chance to get to know them all a little better. (Will just walked into the room and jumped up and down on the balls of his feet in excitement! He's so adorable!) I've only really met his parents and their respective partners, so I'm uber-nervous about meeting the remainder of his family, though I'm sure it won't be as bad as meeting over 100 of mine in one go like Will did. He was such a trooper that day!

Anyway, I'm babbling when I should be reorganising the last few things that need to go into my luggage. As Will's probably said, we'll be updating for you all as regularly as we can, the most regular updates will be our "last known location" and instagram. I'm pretty sure we're leaving the actually blogging for the evenings unless something really awesome happens through the day.

Talk more later :-)

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The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

Saint Augustine

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The Barron Knights - Heaving on a Jet Plane

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11hrs 30mins till takeoff!

Well, this is it. In 12hours time we will be up in the air, flapping our way towards Hong Kong, and then onwards to Blighty (Britain/UK/England/Heathrow, Whatever!)

Spent the morning repacking my checked luggage and carry on, got a bit worried when my luggage reached 19.5kg (limit of 20kg), but its now down to 17.5kg, so I don't think they're going to say I am over the limit!

Simone's is around the same weight, and after we unload the prezzies for family, we should have a bit of room/weight for stuff we buy over there :)

I don't think anything beats being sat on the tarmac, with the pilot on the brakes, and hearing the engines gather speed before he releases and you hurtle down the runway, ever since my first flight when I was 8 in 1995 to Lanzarote, I have loved flying.

Anyways, I better double check I havn't forgotten anything, I will see if I can get Simone post before we leave.

We will be checking in with foursquare regularly during the trip, at-least in MEL, HKG and LHR.

Until Next Time!

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Only 6 more sleep!

I'm really getting nervous now, only 6 more sleeps and we're off on our first BIG adventure together! People say you can tell how a relationship is going to go after you've traveled together, so here's hoping we travel well. 

This week I've been spending my time getting all our clothes washed (even the newly bought clothes) and dried (which hasn't been that hard with the temperature) and straightening up our room so we can come home from our trip with nothing to do but relax. I know Will appreciates the work I've done, mainly because now he can find clean socks! Though I haven't done much today, I've spent the day getting myself ready beauty-wise. I've had a waxing appointment this morning, followed by a haircut and treatment (which was fantastic!) and ending this afternoon with a deluxe manicure that Will requested and of course I agreed to! What girl wouldn't?

So I'm going to spend the remainder of the day hiding out from the heat outside (currently @ 33c) and trying to figure out how to beat tomorrows expected heat of 39/40c! PHEW! I can not wait to be out of this heat :-)

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7 Days, Apps Galore

Well we only have 7 days to go, this time next week we will be waiting at Hong Kong airport for our connecting flight to Heathrow! :) In the mean time, I have added a few things to the blog, on the right hand side you will see mine and Simone's Instagram's, where we will be uploading any interesting things that catches our eye during the trip. I will also be uploading photos taken with my DSLR most evenings, although I have yet to find a decent sharing site that is 'social network' friendly.

Also I have added a 'Last Known Location' powered by FourSquare, we will be checking into places as often as possible so you always know where we are on our travels. And when we get back, we can generate an interactive map of our trip using Tripline complete with photos.

Got a busy few days until we leave, I am working until Friday, got a motorcycle Toy Run on Saturday, possibly visiting Simone's brother in Swan Hill on Sunday and then Packing on Monday, sorting out any last technology things, ie: iPad, iPhones, Kindle, etc... 

We'll get there!

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A Few Changes

Well, if we do have any readers (we're not sure), you may have noticed a few changes.

We have now changed from Wordpress to tumblr, mainly because of how easy it is to use tumblr and its integration with other social networks, it makes more sense during our trip to England.

We now have 10 days to go! It has come round extremely fast but now its slowing down :(. Last week I picked up Simone's engagement ring (she knows), and I will be proposing to her when the opportunity arrives during our trip (she knows this too). Her family have seen it, and I asked her father's permission ('take her!'), but no-one outside of the family knows what it looks like :D

Will post more as our departure date gets closer, now I am off to bed, work tomorrow afternoon (Sunday, but more money!). 

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Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.

Bruce Lee

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I Wanna Grow Old With You - Westlife

This is Will and my song, the words mean so much to us, especially in the first couple years of our relationship.

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Tickets!

Today we picked up the tickets from Flight Centre! I know we paid for them ages ago but we didn't want to pick them up too soon in case there were plane changes or time changes. I can not begin to explain how great it felt to be handed those tickets today! It was a very trying day for myself personally and just to have them in my hot little hands was beyond words.

We also put away two pairs of shoes at Evans shoes, mine are converse and Will's are a nice pair of shoes. We've also put a layby on for some new clothes, a tunic, pair of jeans, a tee and a jacket.

The countdown is continuing...

5 weeks, 1 day, 3 hours and 7 minutes until our expected take off!

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58 Days till England

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Tattoo and Keyboard Distruction

Yay! So, I'm finally able to put up pictures of my tattoo I had done last week. I apologise for any spelling errors, my niece tore up my keyboard so I'm having troubles. (Will's ordered me a new keyboard)

It took a week of itchy dryness but it's come good in the end. I'm really happy that I got the tattoo I chose, it's unique for me (Tarryn combined two pics to get to mine) and I'm so relieved that I got Tarryn. She was so sweet and gentle! Will held my hand for most of it, telling me how proud he was and surprised I got such a big tattoo for my first. Definitely will not be my last, though I'm a firm believer of choosing tattoos for personal reasons, not just because it looks cool right now. Needs a deeper meaning, like my pheonix; always rises from the ashes.