Welcome home and congrats on the Gran in Waiting.

Congratulations on being a Grandma Wendy, that's lovely news.

I'm back finally, and have had a bit of a nap this afternoon. It's a long way to the UK isn't it. Don't know how you lot that go all the time do it. I think I've had my fill of planes and travel for a good 10 years after that

No problems at all from Manchester. Only problems were with the flights to UK and some European countries.

I don't care. Post coming in a day or so when I can think straight
I've got a cardie on

Baby is due beginning of June.

Yes, he was. Said it was nice that I popped in there for a day or 20 as well
I actually love knitting baby clothes. But no thanks
Depends who you ask I guess (and whether they've seen me or not )
Just take the knitting bit out, and that's me
It is, but I would have preferred it if they'd have had a job or even somewhere to live first

Great stuff Wendy, glad to hear you are back.

Not as glad as I am!

Now do some nominating on the Rolls of Honour threads plse.

Oh Muuuummmmm, boringggggg!

Weren't a-ha awesome though?! We ended up missing the first Oslo gig thanks to the STUPID snow and even STUPIDER South Eastern trains but made the other two. I cried like a baby when the final show ended, it was so fab and so sad at the same time. We got to meet Mags too and he signed our tickets Only 25 years waiting for that haha!

Glad you got back ok

Tx

Yes, there were just fantastic and I got some fabulous pics too

My flights:

I flew with Etihad Airways the flights were from Adelaide to Melbourne (qantas) to Abu Dhabi to Manchester. Then return from Manchester to Abu Dhabi to Sydney to Adelaide (Qantas again).

The outward journey was pretty pain free, the first leg from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi (14 hours) was on a A340-600 and the second leg to Manchester was on a 777-300

I managed to get a row of 2 seats to myself on the first plane, and there were only 2 of us on a row of 3 seats on the second, so plenty of room to spread out. The food was pretty good and there was plenty of it. The came around with drinks pretty often too - although I thought they could have offered tea/coffee a bit more regular (but then I do drink a lot of it so that could just be me! )

Return journey was pretty much the same as the first only I didn't get the extra room unfortunately as the flights were pretty full!

Staff were really lovely and very helpful. Couldn't fault them at all and I would recommend this airline to anyone.

Car Hire

I rented a car for 2 of the 3 weeks that I was there. I would have done the whole 3 weeks but I reckoned that the first 3 days I would be tired so not going out so much (I actually picked it up a day earlier though), and by the time came the last 4 days were too icy to warrant too much driving so the car went back - I'd already got stuck in the snow once by then!

I rented through Enterprise and that car cost me 501 GBP for 15 days. I was happy with that price.

My car was an immaculate, and almost brand new 5 door Astra with leather heated seats I loved this car, and it drove perfectly.



The hire company was based just 3 miles from where I was staying, the staff were really lovely and when I took the car back, I had my 100 pound deposit returned to me immediately - took them about 3 minutes to inspect the car.

My thoughts and feelings about the parts of the UK where I stayed were pretty much the same as they were when I left to be honest. I was very underwhelmed with it all.

Bradford city centre was still the same derelict place it was when I left. Although since then they have knocked down the police station and are now constructing a park.

It felt very surreal walking around there, the places I used to go where still there and had the same people working in them as when I left. So basically nothing had changed, except me. I could never live there again, the place is a dump (but then most of you knew that anyway I bet )

I didn't really explore Sheffield as it was too cold on the day I went, day time temp was something like 2 degrees. Looking back, that was actually warm

I stayed in an ETAP hotel there. I do NOT recommend them, they were really crap. Didn't even have a kettle in the room, you had to buy tea/coffee at 1.40 per cup. Needless to say, I drank wine all day They didn't have a bar, so I had to go out and buy some from the shops.

The room was cheap at 21 pound per night though. It looked like something out of an IKEA catalogue and the bed was really hard.

With this hotel, you definitely get what you paid for.


Manchester was a more pleasant experience. I stayed in the Stay Inn The room cost me 69 pounds (sat night). It had a kettle hairdryer, tv etc and more importantly, there was a bar which stayed open until 1am.

For those of you that don't know, my main purpose of the trip was to see A-ha's farewell tour. This was the best thing about my whole holiday, they were awesome I was sat right near the front in Sheffield as well (pic below)

Whilst I was in Manchester, I met up with my half brother and sister, their mum and grandma, and my sister's kids...including her brand new baby who was just adorable. (pic below)

I haven't seen any of them since my Dad's funeral in 1999, so it was really lovely to be able to meet up with them and catch up.

Of course when you move to another country there's things from your 'old life' that you miss isn't there. Well my list wasn't that long, and mainly involved food () but I did the whole go buy some of that thing. I think I actually preferred the memory of them though as I was a little disappointed with the taste. My list was:

Bacon - I love a bacon buttie, so this was at the top of my list. I had a danish bacon sandwich, the bacon tasted of nothing to be honest. A little salty, but mostly tasted of water.

Fish & Chips - another of my favourite foods. It was actually the first thing I had when I got back. It was OK, but the fish batter was soggy. The chips were pretty nice though, so the next time I went I had a chip buttie I do prefer the chips here though, mostly because of the addition of chicken salt

Pork Pies - The one I had was alright and better still was free as my MIL had one in her fridge. It was OK, but didn't really taste any different to the ones I buy here from Woolworths except the pastry was a little bit crispier. I didn't go out and buy any more.

Crisps - I love seabrooks crisps, especially beefy flavour. I had a few packets of these and brought some back with me. Also some prawn cocktail and canadian ham ones for the kids. My daughter was really looking forward to hers but when she'd had some last night she said that they tasted weird. She wasn't too impressed bless her and has asked if I can go and buy her some tomato sauce ones from the shops today

Pubs and beer - Most of the pubs I used to go in before I left have now shut down. They're either boarded up or have changed into a shop of some description. The ones that were left were not that cheap or were soulless - ie Witherspoons and the likes. I only drank budweisser and smirnoff ice, both were priced between 2.50 - 3.20 depending on where I drank (yes, even in witherspoons they were that much!)

I did have two really good nights out though, one with my family and one with my old friends. Both were fantastic nights out, but for the company and not the pubs

A couple of comparisons from my point of view

Driving - I was a little nervous about driving in the UK as I passed my test in Australia, but it was actually alright. I did find the roads very narrow though - I think mostly because I was driving into small country towns as that's where my son and his girlfriend lives with my MIL. I didn't find much difference in the speeds of driving, 30 mph on built up areas (48kph), 40 mph on less built up areas (64 kph). I did enjoy driving on the motorway though

I didn't find much difference in the driving mentality which was a shock to be honest as I expected it to be very different. I still had idiots driving too close, lots of people cutting me up and don't even get me started on 4x4 drivers!!! I also found it very weird, and strangely annoying that people park on the wrong side of the road (must be the ocd in me )

Parking was pretty expensive and there wasn't many free car parks.

Shopping I didn't do much of it to be honest. I did go in the supermarket twice, but not for very much. I only went in Morissons and Asda. I found it hard to find what I was looking for in both of them, mainly because I am used to the layout here I guess. The items I needed were readily available and comparable priced to here though. I didn't like that you have to pack your own bags, I have definitely got used to them doing it for me

I didn't really get the 'there's more choice' thing that I see on here all the time - with the exception of alcohol, CD's etc being sold in them over there and not over here. For me that's not an issue though as I find the shopping centre's I go in here have these shops in them instead, something you don't get over there. Swings and roundabouts in my eyes.

I did go to Argos whilst I was in Bradford to buy my brother a new kettle. It wasn't too busy, but I waited almost half an hour to collect my kettle. There were 3 girls on the till, one disappeared right as my item came off the belt and the other two were dealing with the same customer - one of them was on the phone and the other was watching I guess

A young lad came out from the back, and managed to serve one person in the 5 minutes he was there it took him ages to put her item in a bag

Another guy came out and started giving out the stuff, but there was quite a few stuff by then and it took him a while to get to me (even though I kept waving my ticket around to get his attention! - my kettle was right there..so frustrating when that happens )

I had a walk around the Trafford Centre whilst I was in Manchester as well. It was massive! but I enjoyed having a look around. I bought four jumpers (2 for me, 2 for my OH), two DVD's, a book and some makeup. I spent just under 150 pound in there. I was pretty shocked at the prices to be honest, hence me not buying much more. I saw one really nice jumper but it was 45 quid!! I am not a shopaholic and that price was was over my limit (well I am from Yorkshire! )

Weather Well that's a no-brainer for me. I hate the cold, and I detest the snow. I couldn't believe it when it snowed http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/we...s-predict.html

One of the days didn't get about -5 degrees all day and I got snowed in at my Aunts house so ended up staying over there with her. The snow pretty much spoiled my whole holiday as things I had planned on doing, just weren't possible as I couldn't get there


All in all, I had a great time with my family and friends. A-ha were, as ever, awesome but I wish I had only gone for 10 days (preferably the 10 before the snow ) and I doubt I will go back again.

Australia is definitely home for me

Sounds fair enough and I'd agree with your points about driving and shopping. I know the vast majority of people on here reckon both are far worse than the UK but not in my experience they're not so it's nice to have someone agreeing for a change. You missed out the bit about the bub but not to worry, obviously slipped your mind.

Oh yeah, I was trying not to think about it to be honest!

My son's girlfriend told me whilst I was in the pub having a family night out with my aunts and cousins Good job I guess, cos at least I was near alcohol at the time

I would be really, really pleased for them if they were settled down somewhere. But they're not. They are currently living with my Mother In Law, in a one bedroom bungalow - so they're sleeping on the living room floor! Neither of them can get a job, despite him having a degree in Computer Science (the only reason he stayed in the UK!)

We will be looking to get them a sponsor so they can come over here. So if anyone knows of anyone please let me know!

It's really the only thing they can do at the minute. They have nowhere to go over there and they can't stay with my MIL with a baby, there's not enough room as it is!

I would say silly kids, but he's 23 ffs you think he'd know better.