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I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 12:46 am
by Gob
Booked our flights back to Blighty yesterday. Came across a bargain on one of the search engines we've been using daily to find the best deal, and couldn’t resist, threw my credit card at it. We've saved ourselves over $2000 in fares (for the three of us.) We get to spend time in Hong Kong and Moscow too!
The only thing "set", as of yet, is a week over Xmas itself in South Wales with me mam and family. May look into getting the flat overlooking Llanelli beach that we stayed in the last time. Other than that we're speculating. Though Hen did see a cottage on Dartmoor which she fancied, so we may have a week or more on the wild moors in the middle of winter, huddled around a log fire.
Will update on our travel plans/preparations/cock ups on the website for anyone interested in watching a major disaster unfold!
I’m going to apply for my Aussie passport now, will use whichever one gets me through customs the quickest.
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 12:58 am
by Timster
Kick ass mate! Keep us updated and take lots of pics.

Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:46 am
by Gob
Will do my friend, will do!!
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:17 pm
by Gob
Gob wrote: Came across a bargain on one of the search engines we've been using daily to find the best deal, and couldn’t resist, threw my credit card at it. We've saved ourselves over $2000 in fares (for the three of us.)
Yes!! Brutal!!!
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 2:17 am
by oldr_n_wsr
How much vacation time (holiday?) do you get? Do you ever go to work?
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:30 am
by loCAtek
Don't want him much...
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:43 am
by Gob
oldr_n_wsr wrote:How much vacation time (holiday?) do you get? Do you ever go to work?
I get seven weeks per year, but I've carried over two weeks form last year, so I've a bit to use. My 2 1/2 months off after my accident was covered by "personal leave." I still have four weeks worth of that to use this year. I also get a day's flex leave for every fortnight I work, which can be added into any holiday time.
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:55 am
by BoSoxGal
Damn! Could you & Hen work on setting me up with an Aussie? I'd like to live somewhere where work/life balance is sane like that!

Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:07 am
by BoSoxGal
Speaking of visiting Oz; it's a small fortune to fly there from here, so to save money I am planning to make my trip at an off-time rather than any holidays. I am just wondering; how late into autumn is it still tolerable to swim in the ocean in your neck of the woods? March? April?
Bear in mind that as a New England girl, I am used to a fairly chill ocean at the height of summer.
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:39 am
by Gob
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 2:56 pm
by BoSoxGal
OMGawd! You can swim ALL YEAR!
Rotten bastards!

Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:59 pm
by Gob
Yeah, but we sometimes have to move a few miles south or north for tolerable water temperatures.
(BTW we're a hundred miles from the sea here in Canberra. )
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:43 pm
by BoSoxGal
Gob wrote:(BTW we're a hundred miles from the sea here in Canberra. )
I figured you'd want to be rid of me for a least some of my visit, so I'd go sleep on the beach.

Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:55 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
If I go and swim in Aus, I want to snorkel (scuba) on the great barrier reef. Sharks, I ain't afraid of no sharks.
And I would like to snowmobile there. Do you guys get snow?
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:06 pm
by Gob
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:12 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
I didn't see any snowmobile renting. Skiing is fun but I prefer motors sports.

Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:59 am
by Gob
Yummy!!
Restaurant Vylet
Phone: (+7 495) 578-56-17
Average bill: 1315 rub.
If you have long to wait for a flight, visit the restaurant Vylet. The chef will surprise you with a variety of dishes, as here you can taste goose liver rolls fois gras, Athol Islands salad, the
mysterious dish Ortolana, Helix snails, Catalonian harslet and to order as a hot dish Karelian trout or Saint Germaine salmon.
Café and bar Kino
Phone: (+7 495) 578-56-17
Average bill: 370 rub.
The café menu includes cold and hot dishes including beef medallions with countryside potatoes and
other ordinary and unordinary meals.
Café Kroshka-kartoshka
Average bill: 155 rub.
Whole big potatoes baked in foil; the internal part is mashed and mixed with cheese and butter and added filling (salads) selected by the customer.
We also offer hot sandwiches with cheese, mushrooms and ham, soups, cheese fritters, desserts and a lot of drinks.
Shokoladnitsa Cafeteria
Phone: (+7 495) 229-34-89
Average bill: 590 rub.
Rich variegated menu, high quality of dishes and drinks and a huge selection of desserts specially invented by our confectioners using exclusively natural products. The menu includes a wide selection of coffee and chocolate drinks, fruit and milk cocktails and elite tea brands, freshly squeezed juice,
pancakes with various fillings (the most popular fillings are chocolate with nuts and meat), salads, soups, sandwiches (hot and cold), hot pirogi, original recipes of desserts (strawberry and raspberry with cream, fruit jelly), original pies and pastries, cakes.
Café Bread & Salt
Phone: (+7 495) 578-56-17
Average bill: 370 rub.
The Bread & Salt café with a Russian tea bar may serve as a presentation of our country to foreign guests. The hospitable Russian table accommodates
side by side Nizhny Novgorod skoblyanka, Samarkand pilaff, Italian pasta and rainbow trout. Any dish here will satisfy the most exquisite taste, while the size of the helping will feed even the hungriest of travelers. The cooks’ miraculous fusion of professionalism, imagination of love of their job turns even the traditional Russian dishes into magnificent delicacies. The pride of the Bread & Salt restaurant is the Russian tea bar. The wide selection of tea drinks will please any tea fan; the culture of tea drinking is not restricted to China.
Restaurant T. G. I. FRIDAY’S
Phone: (+7 495) 730-68-11
When customers read the T.G.I. Friday’s menu, they often have the problem what to prefer? The choice is difficult indeed. Judge for yourself, Friday’s mushrooms bread-crumbed and fried to crisp; Friday’s quesadilla, tortilla cake with chicken fillet; Alfredo fettuccino, pasta with thick parmesan cream sauce; Jack Daniels soft pork ribs in glaze; these are just a few of the most popular dishes. There are also salads, sandwiches, Friday’s hamburgers, juicy steaks and recipes from South-West America. Not to mention desserts and drinks.
However, T.G.I. Friday’s will help you resolve the problem; waiters will readily tell you about various dishes and you will only have to make the order.
http://svo.aero/en/restaurants/1/
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:25 am
by Gob
Updated the website with the plans.
As you can imagine the planning was not done in a smooth and timely manner.
There's also some dancing lights, some rocks, and birds, Hatch's award, and other farcical and slightly lunatic stuff which is the ongoing saga of my life.
Read and enjoy. Or just read.
This looks
....fun....
Britain is just weeks away from being in the grip of temperatures as low as -20C, forecasters have predicted.
Parts of Britain already saw snow this week, with two inches falling in the Cairngorms in Scotland.
The rest of Britain is being warned to brace itself for wintry conditions and falling snow from the beginning of November.
And it looks like the colder weather is already on its way - as temperatures today plunged in certain areas to just 8C - a staggering 21.5C below last weekend's record highs - with the wind chill making it feel decidedly colder
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1aEvBRv2R
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 3:47 am
by The Hen
Yay. A potential 'White Christmas' for me.
Re: I'm dreaming of a white Xmas.....
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:45 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
And here in NY on the 9th and 10th days of october it was 85°F. Never should have closed the pool. The wife was threatening to turn on hte AC until I told her I put the cover on it already.
Go figure