r ellenberger

Jack only had a half WFH day and I finished at midday so we made it to Gatwick by 3. Flight arrived half an hour early at 5.30 so we grabbed our rental car and were into our bed and breakfast by 6. On first impressions it wasn't amazing behind hey it was cheap. After checking in we headed off for dinner, ending up at The Castle Tavern . The restaurant wasn't open yet but we grabbed a drink downstairs and were then escorted up. Had a very nice meal of Scottish salmon for me and Scottish lamb for Jack overlooking River ness. Even had banoffee pie for dessert! After that off to the airport again to meet edds whose flight was delayed. We drove straight back into town and had a few drinks at Encore . After a quick maccas run we were home by midnight. Pity the shower didn't work properly - either hot or cold, there was no soap, and we could hear two TVs from the room above us... We fell asleep eventually. The next day up around 7.30 with a cooked breakfast, then set off to se...

Not a crazy early morning start (5.45am) but because Jackie was out on the town the night before downing the vino and so she and so we didn't sleep that well. After catching the bus to Euston we grabbed some breakfast and snacks and then boarded the train. We realised our seats were not together, but luckily that train was quite empty, so ended up together anyway. Uneventful journey but stunning rolling misty countryside all the way to Glasgow. The train drivers changed midway there and by the time we were further north we couldn't understand what was being said over the speaker because the accent was so thick. We arrived just after midday and then wandered up to our hotel, but we were too early for checking in so dropped our bags and went for a wander. We hit up the Mitchell Library then kept walking down Argyle St until we hit Mother India's Cafe which was a recommendation from Jackie work colleague. Really really good Indian food. We then walked over to Kelvin...

Been a while since our last blog, lots has been happening. I quit my job at Nero because they wouldn’t let me take any more leave. Was a joyous day as I was getting frustrated with the boss and stupid policies – but I really enjoyed the experience and got to meet some cool European kids. It also gave me a lot of perspective on what a job should be like in terms of enjoyment levels, and the fact that we don’t need loads of money to be happy (I say this with Jackie being the major breadwinner haha). Not having lots of stress in a job, or rather, not stressing about a job also seems like the right move. Jackie also got a new job at a food box delivery company called Gousto. She did an amazing presentation to them which she stressed about crazily, but she got the job in the end after the company had been looking for someone for a good few months. The job is a permanent gig which means less travel for us, but they said they would be open to sponsoring her so let’s see where that goes. ...

An afternoon flight meant we have a rather relaxed start to the day compared to our usual trips. Caught the bus from Stratford and then boarded the flight without any dramas. Ryan airs new policy of deliberately separating people on the same booking even if there is an empty seat next to each other. The flight left at around 2 and we arrived in Majorca at 5 p.m., where we took a shuttle to pick up our rental car, a Kia picanto (quite ugly). We drove for about an hour to our accommodation, or where we thought out accommodation was, unfortunately the description that airbnb and the owner had sent to us was a somewhat mangled translation of German instructions. We eventually, after driving around for about 20 minutes, managed to find the place. The owner is a lovely German lady who speak Spanish and German and probably a number of other languages, but she doesn't really speak English. She tried to convey to us in German what she wanted us to do because the house has solar power and it...

On Friday we woke up ready for more hiking, so we hit the closest walk to us, the levada-dos-marocos. It was a very easy but nonetheless very enjoyable, hiking along a levada down into a valley. We made the end of the main leg, and started on the second leg that climbs out of the valley, but after a few hundred meteres of vertical gain we gave up. Too hot and humid to be climbing stairs! After that it was back home to try and finish off some of the beers that Yanan had decided we needed (30 beers...). We tried to grab some lunch from the local snack bar but all they were doing was coffee, beer and crisps, so we headed back up the hill to our place, grabbed the car, and drove off to a nearby Churrascaria. We had an awesome meal of grilled meats and drinks for something like 20 euros! We were still keen to see some more sights so we visited the local fruit market (which was not for locals at all), then drove up a winding mountain road to the top of the Pico Ruivo, the tallest ...