We woke up to a typical cloudy London day and had our first decent shower since we left home (great water pressure for weary travellers). A continental breakfast was first up on Wednesday at the Pizzeria across the road from our room. It is part of the great deal we found for our stay here. The Mermaid Suites are small but comfortable however the best part is the location!!

Having no refrigerator means that we have had to get creative with our morning coffee – the duty free Biscotti Baileys has come in very handy as a milk substitute ( well it is evening in Coffs after all!)

Time to explore London – 4 hours of walking meant visits to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the Thames. The architecture is breath taking and so intricate that is hard to believe that they were constructed so long ago. Of course, this part of London has a plethora of tourists (bloody foreigners…..;p) and eventually it was time to escape the crowds.

We then hopped on the Tube for an adventure and found that we were on the line to Bermondsey where Scott used to live. After a walk through a park where a couple of squirrels were frolicking in the trees much to our delight, we found a lovely little pub (the Angel) on the Thames overlooking the Tower Bridge, the Gherkin and the Shard. A well deserved Cider was consumed before tackling the Tube again and braving the crowds on Oxford street during peak hour! Everyone is very polite, including the seagulls who have a soft ‘peep’ sound compared to the squawk of Aussie seagulls!

Dinner was at a small pub around the corner from our accommodation called Bonds Mayfair where there was a 2 for £11 meal special. The Cajun Chicken Salad and Chile Sav Blanc wine went down well after all the tourism partaken on the day!

After a long flight we finally touched down at Heathrow. We tried to go to the something to declare line but the office was empty and we found ourselves joining the nothing to declare line. We were then quickly reunited with Scott. We took a train on the Tube to Piccadilly Circus and then we enjoyed the walk to the hotel (about 15 mins). This was a fantastic idea as we experienced the nightlife occurring in the heart of London. On the walk to our hotel we walked past all of the big names including Prada, Chanel, Mulberry, Ralph Lauren and Sotheby’s, to name a few, and nestled in amongst this enormous display of wealth was the lane way to our little hotel. Lucky Scott was with us to act as our bellboy because our cosy little room was up about 4 flights of stairs. We enjoyed a lovely family dinner at the Italian restaurant downstairs before parting ways to sleep off our exhaustion.

Flying out of Korea we noticed that there are a lot of lovely islands and noted the stark contrast between the infrastructure of South and North Korea as we were afforded views of both places during our flight.

China was quite an experience as there was not a cloud in the sky. Instead we were treated with an unadulterated bird’s eye view of the country for as far as the eye can see. We also noticed enormous wind farms throughout the country.
For lunch on the plane we requested the traditional Korean meal and had some dishes consisting of rice, fermented vegetables, beef and spicy sauce which you mix together yourself. After we ate we were instructed, much to our dismay, to close our window blinds, thus ending our admiration of the world below. It was a timely occurrence however, as the clouds set in just as we approached the Russian border. We were also lucky enough to be able to keep a track of where we were via cameras situated on both the front and the undercarriage of the plane, which were live-streamed through our personal monitors. On occasion when we opened the blind we were able to view the icy lands of Russia as we flew overhead.

The night markets were fascinating and also a great opportunity to stretch our legs after 12 hours of sitting down. The photos really do not reflect the colour and vibrance of the bustling streets. We kind of regretted our hotel westernised dinner as we walked past the many street vendors selling delicious food.

Back in our hotel room, we needed a drivers license just to work the toilet!

But the beds were comfy and the city was surprisingly quiet outside our window. The next morning we woke up the coldest morning Seoul has seen this year (9 degrees) and went down to breakfast expecting another mediocre westernised meal, but instead were pleasantly surprised by a buffet full of Asian delights! There were cooked and pickled vegetables, fish and lots of fresh fruit. Teresa fell in love with the salted plums. What a great way to start the day!

Some more photos of the streets of Seoul.

The Hair Lounge…. or is it?

We giggled at the slogan for this icecream shop

We were also able to see the Seoul in daylight on the way to the airport. We were blessed with stunning weather.

Next stop Heathrow airport, see you soon Scotty!!

It was a long plane ride but current technology makes it a lot more bearable (we got to watch “How To Train Your Dragon II). Teresa spent a large amount of time on the trip-tracking channel or looking out the window. Flying into Korea was actuallyan amazing experience, oh the humanity! And the infrastructure! Thousands of perfectly aligned high-rise buildings and incredibly long bridges peppered the landscape, it was actually quite breathtaking.

Once we touched down at Incheon airport we managed to dodge the paparazzi (who possibly were there to welcome a bigger celebrity but we would prefer to think it was for us).

After an incredibly long bus ride from the airport into Seoul we finally arrived at our first foreign accommodation. While looking for something to mix with our duty free vodka we opened a bottle that we thought was soda water and stumbled upon Soju, which is pretty much alcohol and water in a bottle… Heaven!

Just had a lovely dinner in our hotel in Seoul, now off to explore the night markets!

After waking up at the crack of dawn and getting chauffeured to the airport by the wonderful Irene (thank you thank you thank you!), our journey has finally begun. We stopped to check out the duty free shop and were targeted by a lady to sample Grey Goose VX.
Okay if you insist! We purchased our alcohol to pick up on the way back (and a little something for the plane). Sailed through customs (although Teresa had to get bomb tested). Now we play the waiting game!

Continue reading →

In true Rennebergski fashion, we had our first..ahem.. challenge. Note to self, do not do internet banking with large sums of money when tired. Luckily, after a full day of panic and stress we were able to retrieve the $2000 before it hit someone else’s bank account. Once this had been rectified we were able to sit back and relish the fact that we don’t have to work for a whole month!
The bags have been packed, culled, re-packed, re-culled and then packed again. Last drinks have been had. Bring on Europe!

Having a Bloody Mary at Old John’s Coffs Harbour and finalising our travel plans, it’s all getting very real! So excited!