******* Lisa on Tour *******

Thursday, 09 October 2008

Location: London, England

******Weekends away, Oktoberfest catch ups and needing sleep******

Hi Everyone

Just a quick note to say I am putting up some photos from our impromptu Oktoberfest catch up which we had last night at the Walkabout Bar in Temple. It was great to catch up with those we were away with, bad for a 'school' night drinking session though. Somehow a few of us all managed to win t-shirts from various competitions throughout the night... can't quite remember what for...

Tomorrow Troy and I are heading off with Fleur and Carlo to Harrogate in North Yorkshire.. http://www.macdonald-hotels.co.uk/oldswan/ . It's a total country manor type hotel and we are getting hotel rooms with breakfast each morning a bargain travel agents deal of 1st night free, second night £25. We are going to have a weekend out of London and there is a theme park nearby that we will probably spend most of Saturday at!. Sweet.

Nat & Dave come back on Sunday night so a last chance to catch up with them, and maybe a dinner or drinks on Monday night before they fly out on Tuesday. Boo hoo.

The following weekend it's Spain time - with a quick weekend in Madrid for Troy, Keryn and I.

Lots of Love
Lisa :-)

Thursday, 02 October 2008

Location: Munich/ Austria - Kirchberg, Germany

******Canyoning, Mountainbiking, Chalets and Otoberfest******

Hi Everyone

******HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAM*******
******HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM******
******HAPPY BIRTHDAY THELMA*****
******HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASEY*******

What an eventful 5 days!!! Even the second time around - Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany remains one of the best events I have ever been to in my life. I mean - Beer, drinking songs, fairground rides, good friends, new friends, and the most amazing atmosphere amongst the 5,000 - 10,000 people in your chose Beer Hall that you can ever imagine.

So.. it all started on Wednesday night when Troy, Nat, Bevan, Dave and myself got a taxi to Stansted airport - which is about the furtherest of 5 London airports to our house. It really started at 4.30am when they tried to pick us, instead of 4.30pm and over 2 hours in a cab later we ran for our flight and met Goose on the way - making it with about 10 mins to spare... *Phew*

On arrival into Munich we were met by Leon who was from the Tour company Alpenrider who we were staying with and who was doing the transport. We actually stayed in their Ski Chalet in Austria which was about 2 hours from Munich so it was still convenient but stunningly beautiful and enabled us to do some other activities while we were there.

On Thursday morning the 6 of us headed to the Mountain for 'Canyoning' (Keryn wasn't arriving in until the afternoon on her flight) which was pretty hardcore I must admit. The description of this activing on their website is:
Extreme thrills for anyone prepared to abseil down waterfalls and jump great heights into whirling pools! All in the most stunning of settings.
Once the tears were over from the first abseil.. and i had jumped into the freezing water... it was quite exhilerating..

Thursday night was a big night in the Chalet Bar and then on Friday most of the boys and some of the keener girls went Mountain Biking.. canyoning was enough for me so me, Nat and Keryn explored the town and saw their 'Lake' which everyone told us about and turned out to be a man-made fenced pond!!! We also nursed Troy when he arrived back early having gone over the handlebar on the mountain bike and landing on his back on a rock.. right in the kidneys.. ouch. The rest of the boys came back later battered, bloody and bruised. Another big night in the bar followed... but with everyone knowing it was Beerfest time the next day...

We started bright and early on the bus the next morning.. 6.30am on the bus and I had a beer in my hand!!! We spent the day in a more local German tent of Spaten... good times and lots of drinking, eating, singing and talking. We went out early afternoon and couldnt' get back in.. lost a few people and then found them again.. and then managed to make our way into the garden of the Lowenbrau tent (which was one of my favourites in 2006) and stayed there for the afternoon. We also spent time walking around, drinking apple sours at the liquer tent and Champagne/Red Bulls at another.. yum.

More drinks back at the Chalet on Saturday night before heading into Munich again on Sunday - this time to the Lowenbrau Tent where we stayed for most of the day before getting out in the grounds again and trying out some of the rides and the rollercoaster (what was I thinking? - thats what 5 steins of beers does to you!).

Monday morning at stupid o'clock we got up and headed back to Munich, the airport and back to London for Troy, Keryn, Goose and I... Croatia for Nat and Dave, and somewhere in Europe for Bevan!

Hope all is well with everyone

Lots of Love
Lisa ;-)

Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Location: London, UK

******Rugby, Londons West End, Nickelback & arrivals from NZ******

Hi Everyone

I shouldn't have left this entry so long - lots to write about!!.

Since I wrote last we've had a couple of great day/nights watching the Rugby - first NZ absolutely walking over Samoa and then the absolutely fantastic All Blacks vs OZ Tri Nations/Bledisloe Cup Final - what a game!!! We had about 11 of us in our lounge crowded around the big screen and the drinking continued through the afternoon...

Troy and I went to see Grease in the West End last week for our 1 year anniversary of getting engaged.. plus had a nice dinner out. Good times.

The Sunday before last Keryn, Troy and I headed into London for the Thames Festival - a big festival along the Thames River front - lots of stalls, shows and a nice wander along the river with a beer or two.

The weekend just gone was huge... I won a ticket in a work competition to go and see the band Nickelback in concert at the O2 which is a huge arena in Greenwhich (it used to be the Millennium Dome), and in one of the Corporate VIP boxes no less!!!. We had food and drinks all night and in Fleurs words - I was on Top Form!! hahaha... a lot of dancing afterwards and I am not even sure how I managed to get home.. but it was a fantastic night and it was all free - sweet.

On Saturday we headed to the airport to meet Natalie, Troy and Bevan and start the good times!!! Although it was a nice early night for all those from NZ!!!

On Sunday, Bevan, Troy, Nat, Dave, Keryn and I headed to Camden Markets for a look around and then back to home for drinks, poker and guitar hero. Then it was off to the pub quiz where we met up with Karen, Matt, Ange, Jen and Justine for dinner and the quiz.

Last night we went and saw 'Wicked' at the West End which is currently the No1 show in London. It's based on the Witches story from the Wizard of Oz - sound bizzare but was quite good.

Tomorrow it's off to our chalet in Austria for some Canyoning and mountain bike riding before heading to Oktoberfest for some good drinking on the weekend.

Lots of Love
Lisa :-)

Tuesday, 02 September 2008

Location: Hallaton, UK

****** Will and Harriets Wedding ******

Hi Everyone

This weekend just past, Scotty, Troy and I headed to Hallaton in Leicestershire for Will and Harriets Wedding.

Troy was an Usher so he headed up on the Friday to do a bit of advanced stuff and we joined him on the Saturday morning. They got really great weather, good since it packed in on the Sunday!

The ceremony was at a Church in Harriets home town and the reception at a Marquee in her parents back garden around the corner. It was a great day and night and the Bride and Groom headed away from the night in the back of a Ute with an Aussie flag and a can of Fosters - getting ready for their new life in Australia. (they were leaving for OZ via Thailand 2 days after the wedding)

On Sunday we had a BBQ and a bit of a farewell for the Bride and Groom before they headed off.

This week and the coming should be fairly quiet just watching the Rugby and saving money before Nat, Dave and Bevan arrive in a few weeks and we head off to Oktoberfest - i can't wait!!!!!

Troy and I will probably have a little dinner celebration - hard to believe but it's a year this week since we got Engaged.

Lots of Love
Lisa :-)

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

Location: New York New York, USA

******NEW YORK, NEW YORK - I wanna be a part of it!!******

Hi Everyone

********HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENI*****************

On Friday afternoon my workmates Tim, Anusha, Oli and I headed to Heathrow aiprort and met our Hosts Linda and Celia from the airline and the hotel chain.

We headed to the Galleries Lounge which is the flash Business Class lounge for snacks and drinks and relaxation before heading to the plane. We found our seats in the Upper Deck of the aircraft (I have ALWAYS wanted to fly in the Upper Deck of the 747!) and were served with champagne and nuts and then proceeded to eat, drink and enjoy the hospitality of the inflight service.

Until you experience long haul business class it really is hard to believe how the 'other half' live. We feasted on seared scallops with pesto and fennel, and had 4 choices for dinner, Beef, Salmon, 4 cheese ravioli or chicken.. decisions decisions... all followed by desert, cheese and biscuits and fruit. There was also a 'kitchen' which you could help yourself to drinks and snacks all through the flight.

Plus of course the flat-bed converting seats and leg room (with my legs stretched out in front of me there was at least another metre between my feet and the next next).

Of course it wasn't all fun and games - there were thunderstorms in New York and such a backlog of flights circling for arrival into JFK that we were minutes away from diverting to Boston! eek. Luckily we were one of the lucky flights that got through (one of the hotel reps told us she was expecting friends and they were diverted to Philadelphia!).

On arrival we headed to the Alex Hotel - our hosts for the weekend. As a lovely surprise they had allocated all 6 of us a 1 bedroom suite each. We all had a full kitchen, bathroom, dining area and lounge, plus bedroom. I counted 5 phones, 3 TV's (including in the bathroom), 2 DVD's, 2 Stereos, it was bigger than my flat!! Plus I was on the 20th floor so had a lovely view!.

That evening we were all exhausted to had an early night. Saturday morning we had a breakfast meeting and site inspection with the hotel rep before heading to Times Square to see another hotel and start our New York sightseeing. We managed to get some shopping in, visit the sights including Ground Zero and Central Park.

On Saturday evening we met for drinks at the Helmsley Park Lane hotel - overlooking Central Park... we drank cocktails (Celia and I had Cosmopolitans - after all 'while in New york'!) and ate coconut Prawns and other hor derves. Then we headed to the Hudson hotel - a very trendy hotel and New York night spot for dinner at their award winning restaurant - "Cafeteria". More cocktails, lots of dinner and then it was back to the hotel for a night cap before bed.

Sunday morning found us with hangovers but we headed to the Kimberley Hotel for a site inspection followed by a 3 hour cruise around Manhattan - they gave us a buffet lunch and an open bar - but unfortunately most of us were too hungover to take advantage!.

We had another couple of hours walking around the city before heading back to JFK airport where Celia, Anusha and I had facials and massages in the Business Class Elemis spa and had dinner... before getting tucked up into our beds and flying overnight back to London. Now thats the way to travel!.

Well thats enough rambling from me.. photos to follow. And a very quiet week ahead for me.. maybe including detox as most of this weekend was about eating and drinking!.

Lots of Love
Lisa :-)

Friday, 15 August 2008

Location: London on route to New York, UK

******Birthdays, Guitar Hero, and heading off again******

Hi Everyone

I thought I better write about the stuff that has happened in the past 10 days or so before I head off on a plane for another adventure in about 2 hours time!.

Troys Birthday weekend was great fun. I took him into London to stay in a Hotel in London Bridge. We headed off from there to Leicester Square for dinner at a nice restaurant called Sugar Reef before heading to a comedy pub for a Stand Up show. We capped the night off with a drink at Waxy O'Connors - another very cool bar before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday morning we had our cooked breakfast before heading home. By about 4pm the same afternoon we had Scotty, Keryn and Ryan over cracking open a beer and trying out 'Guitar Hero' on the Playstation - one of the gifts I gave Troy for his birthday. It's quite addictive!.

We then headed to the Puzzle bar in Earlsfield for a drink or 3 before dinner. Dinner was at Buffet Brazil - which is a Brazilian Buffet funnily enough! It was all you can eat meat that comes around on skewers and is given to you by the chefs, plus salads and hot dishes. There was 15 of us in total so it was a great chance to see everyone in the one place again. From there we headed back to the bar for drinking and dancing until closing.. Nice!.

Sunday - was a stay on the couch day. Bliss.

This week has been quiet, I went to the moves and saw the Dark Knight. While I'm not into Batman at all - this was a very good movie!.

So today 4 of us from my team at work are off to New York. We fly out Business Class with British Airways this evening and stay in a luxury hotel in Manhattan called The Alex - http://www.thealexhotel.com. We have a few site visits of hotels, but all attached to breakfast or dinners, and one even with a 3 hour brunch cruise on Sunday. We fly back overnight on Sunday - so we will be making the most of the flat beds in flight as we will go straight to work on Monday morning. All entirely worth it of course :-)

So I'm leaving the boys at home to make dents in the couch watching the All Blacks triumph again, and I am sure mastering Guitar Hero!.

Keep in touch!.

Lots of Love
Lisa :-)

Monday, 04 August 2008

Location: Isle of Wight, UK

******Sun, Sand, Rugby, and Birthdays******

Hi Everyone

*****HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTTY (02 August) ***
*****HAPPY BIRTHDAY FIONA (08 August)******
*****HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE (08 August) ****
*****HAPPY BIRTHDAY TROY (09 August)******
***HAPPY 'BIRTH' DAY - Piper Charlotte - Congrats Simone & Lee****
***HAPPY 'BIRTH' DAY - Anka Elizabeth - Congrats Paula & Denis****

And of course most of my update is going to be about peoples birthdays and the fun that goes along with it.

Last weekend a group of 6 of us headed to Ventnor Beach in the Isle of Wight - a little Island of the South Coast of England - about an 18min ferry ride from Portsmouth. We caught the train down on Friday night and stayed in a little cottage which worked perfectly for us.

The first thing we did on Saturday morning was to head down the road to the only pub nearby with Sky sports to watch the All Blacks Vs Aussies. I don't really want to talk much about that game.

We spent most of the days we had there on the beach as the weather had shocked us all and turned out nice, of course after we had lugged down lots of games etc to keep us occupied!. It was a lovely weekend.. good times had by all!

On Monday night I had a dinner at the Langham Hotel in London - it was a 5 course taster menu from top chefs, finished off with a drink at the pub with Troy, Will and Dave.

Friday night I had a team dinner at a Spanish Tapas restaurant, it was a good turnout and also to farewell a team member that was leaving. I got home and had a couple more drinks with Will and Troy to continue a big weekend.

Saturday morning bright and early we got up and got ready for the 'rematch'. The All Blacks Vs Aussie game to redeem ourselves from the previous weekend. 7 of us sat around having beer/juice/coffee and eating bacon butties and watching the All Blacks trounce all over Australia (sorry Troy!) Beautiful.

From there Troy and I continued on to Fleur and Carlo's place for Fleurs Birthday Beach BBQ Bonanza. Of course England being England there was a lot of rain but in between we got some time outside to enjoy the games and decorations Fleur had done so well (photos coming soon). Then it was Fashion parade for the costumes, followed by Singstar Marathon.

On Sunday we relaxed and headed to the pub quiz on Sunday evening, no need to mention the result - it was the participation that matters!

So hopefully a quieter week this week - maybe a movie and a dinner, but saving ourselves for Troys Birthday on Saturday. We are staying at a hotel on Friday night and going on a night out. Then on Saturday night we will have dinner with all the friends - including Scotty who is back from 4 months of travelling.

Lots of Love
Lisa :-)