Family Time

Despite all the travelling I do for work and the many many miles I traipse during the week, I do still enjoy driving around the country with my family when I have chance. This weekend was our annual trip to see as many relatives as we can before Christmas, managed six this time, not bad at all!!

Fridays journey was through the wind and rain across the bottom of the Dales to the southern Lake District. Wet and wild as winter journeys should be, we got to see the bottom of Windermere just before we arrived at our destination and for some odd reason that brief glimpse always symbolises the start of the holiday season to me, An evening with the in-laws followed and a good nights sleep.

 

In the morning their was a break in the storms and we headed off to Grange over Sands for a walk (or a scoot for the smallest member of the family) along the prom. Peaceful despite the breeze and pleasant to observe the horticultural diversity planted by local residents. Switch-off territory if ever their was one.

 

After a break sojourn for a bacon sandwich (how vegetarians cope without them I don't know) we returned to the car and headed off for the second stage of our family weekend.

 

North and East we went across the Dales past the Castles of Barnard Castle, Raby and Durham (I always like to spot castles as I drive) and finally arrived in Chester-Le-Street for another night away.

 

Seven of us in the house for the Saturday evening but luckily enough space to hold us all in comfort. Good food and good company just helped with that relaxed feeling and I awoke the following morning contemplating the possibility of the idea of that Christmas feeling.

 

Heading south for home, later in the day, that Christmas feeling evaporated swiftly when a bump in the road triggered a puncture and then a complete blow-out of the rear left tyre. An hour waiting by the side of a windswept motorway for a recovery vehicle is no ones idea of fun, but at least the rain waited until we were safely in the van and the tyre replacement was prompt once we arrived. Two hours later than originally planned we finally arrived home.

Final one of the year

Today and tomorrow are the final customer trip of the year. Unsurprisingly I am down in Wales for the night and also unsurprisingly I am staying in my usual Holiday Inn in Newport. I got welcomed by name on arrival which is always good and a decent room along with a free swim in the pool. Makes an awkward trip away that little bit little easier when their is familiarity to go with it. A morning meeting and then back home tomorrow afternoon. After that I only have an office trip and the usual family Christmas trips to do before the year is over. Might actually start to relax soon?

Slow journey but a good end

East Anglia today and 280 miles takes about 7 hours to drive. York to Lowestoft via some exceedingly dull roads and then another 70 miles to the hotel in Colchester for the night. I do like the Five Lakes Crown Plaza near Colchester, I think its a golf resort hotel of some sort but I only end up here occasionally and find it a peaceful hotel that always makes me feel a bit more privileged than I probably am. Free mince pies in reception were very much appreciated as well.

Scenic Journeys

Today was an odd one. Started off at an airport but didn't fly anywhere despite ending up in a different country. Also did a site visit that I have been dreading for a while. Despite all that I had a good day.

It began at the Holiday Inn at Manchester Airport. A handy airport to sleep at and get me the other side of Manchester traffic ahead of a long morning drive but other than that it didn't really have anything going for it. Served its purpose though which is always good. After that I drove 200 miles from North East Wales to South West Wales and finished up with some customers in the tiny city of St Davids. Listened to some Americana all the way and the combination of sweeping roads, great scenery and awesome music meant the 5 hours of driving flew by. A handy side effect was I was in a good mood when i arrived and could cope much better with the frustrating of the afternoon. 

This evening I am in the Holiday Inn Express at Swansea. Unfortunately this is another one who's best feature is its location, but sometimes that is as good as it gets. Its been a good day though, better than i expected and tomorrow is Friday which (subject to not getting stuck in traffic) means the working week is nearly over.

How far is too far

The world is busy as it often is and as a result I forget to post in here. But that is rude and I should put more effort in.

 

Today I have a question, how far is too far to drive in one day? The furthest I have ever driven was around 480 miles and at mile 400 I started to get a head ache. Today I did around 330 miles which seemed OK ignoring the fact that I was tired to start with and had a cold which is just annoying under any circumstances, but I do sometimes wonder how safe I am when I have driven that far. Do the miles add knowledge and experience or do the miles lead to arrogance and complacency? I suspect I know the answer to that one and odds are I wont like that answer!

 

Started the day in Taunton, drove to Exeter for a meeting (I do like the South West folk, very cheery accents) and then back home to York. It was nice to get home, nice to chill and relax for the evening without relying on a hotel bar. As many have said before, there's no place like home. 

More reservoirs

I seem to be having a run on visiting scenic reservoirs at the moment. On Monday just gone I drove up to Northumberland and spent a couple of hours testing equipment at the Whittle Dene reservoirs that form part of the water supply for Newcastle. As seems to be the case this summer, the weather stayed good and as the five reservoirs were all close together then I had a valid excuse to traipse between them. I am not sure what it is but when I am by water the world seems calmer. Doesn't matter if that is an ocean, a lake, a reservoir or a decent cup of tea, as long as liquid is nearby, I'm good. 

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

45 miles up the road from me is the seaside town of Scarborough. It's a nice enough town but for some reason if I want seaside I also go to Filey instead which is about 5 miles further south. Not entirely sure why I do this, habit I suppose but a habit I think I will have to break.

Yesterday evening I had reason to go to Scarborough in that myself and my better half were going to see Amy Macdonald in concert. We like Amy Macdonald. She does a damn good live performance and last night was as awesome as the three previous occasions We have seen her. What made it even better was the location; beautiful summers evening along with the elegant location at The Scarborough Spa and it made me think I might have to come and visit again. Just need to find somewhere useful to put all the damn tourists. 

Pointless but good

Some of the customer visits I do rely entirely on me to sort and arrange whatever is required, however on some I need a bit of cooperation from the client and this especially applies when I am installing equipment on a customer site. For Thursdays customer I was eager to get it sorted this time as a previous visit back in May had been aborted as the customer had not fitted his equipment correctly for me to attach to. During that last visit I took some photos and marked up exactly where everything needed to go. After a pain in the neck (traffic wise) journey from York to Barrow In Furness I was hoping to get to a successful conclusion, but after less than a minute on site I had to abort again. The

customer had installed the equipment this time. but in an entirely inappropriate spot that only would class as a health and safety risk but was also no where near where I had marked on the previous photos. More photos taken to prove the point and I guess I will be going back again, again. Grrrr!!

The good side of the journey was where I ended up. A quick salad purchase at a local supermarket and I decided to take the scenic route back home along a coast road with a stop to eat as well. The Lake District is mainly famous for the actual lakes but too many people forget it has a beautiful coastline as well and that definitely improved my day.

It's good when it's not just for work

This weeks working week started on Sunday evening. This was not because I was getting paid to be working on a Sunday but simply because the first meeting of the week was at 9.30 on Monday morning in Reading and there was no way I could get to Reading on time and awake enough to work if I left from home at the required 5am. Instead I drove a couple of hours on Sunday evening and stayed at East Midlands Airport Holiday Inn Express. If all you need is somewhere to sleep, it ticks the boxes nicely but just remember that it is an airport hotel and people may be awake and banging about at all sorts of daft times. Also when I went down for breakfast at 6:30am no one else was there, very spooky!! Two and half hours more driving and I was in my all day meeting, awake and on time!

I don't like days like Monday as I woke up in a hotel and went to bed in a hotel as well. That's nice when on holiday but not so nice when working as it means I don't get to see my family. This Monday was different though as I got invited for tea by some friends I had not seen in about 6 years. That made the day significantly better though talking far too much and not managing to leave them till half 11 at night may have been an error as I was knackered the following day.

The Monday night was spent in the Reading South Holiday Inn It's a very very convenient location and has a decent restaurant but the rooms are only OK and the pool really needs a refit. Pity really, letting themselves down on that point. Finally got home at about 6pm on the Tuesday, glad to be home but could do with a kip.

Sunday traffic is so much easier.

I will admit that I am not happy to be away for work on a Sunday night but as the alternative would be getting up at 4am on the Monday morning, then I think it is the better option. I need to be in Reading by half nine tomorrow morning so I ahve driven as far as East Midland Airport tonight and that should (traffic permitting) leave me with 2 and half hours of driving to do tomorrow. The other good point of driving down tonight is that the traffic is wonderful. Average speed is just short of 70 miles an hour and not a single delay. Why can't all journeys be like that?

That's better!

Another day, another road but this time the A66 from Scotch Corner over to Penrith. It also is a long A-road with a lot of heavy traffic but road building folk realised this and made a lot of it a dual-carriageway. I wish their was a way that the A14 could meet the A66, it would feel so inferior. Bit of decent music helped. Blue skies, 20+ degrees C and The Beach Boys on the stereo. Perfect recipe to put a smile on my face.

I still don't like that road

Yesterday and today was another round trip to Norwich. Pleasant people and a nice Holiday Inn But I had to go on THAT road again. I may have mentioned before how much I don't like the A17 from Newark to Kings Lynn, but it's worth mentioning again. I really REALLY do not like that road. It is just so dull its daft.

Did spot something odd this time. Their is a truck stop half way along with a tank and an old military airplane in the car park. not what you expect to see in a car park. Next time I really should stop and have a proper look.

Lots and lots of little people

We went to LEGOLAND :) Obviously we went just for my young daughter and in no way was I wishing to revisit my childhood.

The hotel and breakfast started well and the journey from LEGOLAND to Windsor was all going well until we found the traffic. Turns out that it was the weekend of Royal Ascot and Royal Ascot and LEGOLAND just happen to be on the same road off the M4. that might have been an error in judgement and added a rather frustrating hour to the journey.


LEGOLAND was good but not at all what I expected. Over the years I am guessing the powers that be have realised the best way to make money is to attract children of all ages (or mainly parents of children of all ages). The best way to do that seems not to educate and play but instead to provided thrills and spills with as many rides as possible. to that end it appears to concentrating more on being a Theme park and less on being LEGO-land. Pity really, if I had wanted another Alton Towers I could have done a lot less driving to get there. Still, their was a Lego mini-land with plenty of cityscapes and a special Star Wars Lego mini-land with scenes from the film re-enacted in plastic. their was also the best Lego shop I have ever seen and I am fairly sure that I could have spent the entire cost of my house without any effort. Again I would like to say that this would have all been for my daughter and not at all for me ;-)
Easy drive back up the road and two hours later we were in the hotel again and here I feel I have to say my piece. I have previously said I dislike Holiday Inns near Northampton but this time I found a good one in Crick. Good rooms, free chocolate and juice when we got back from the day, extremely courteous staff and a decent swimming pool as well. the only downside was the price of the meals which was a tad excessive, but I suppose you can't have everything.

The following morning was a brief drive back up North. Found out that the roadwork's on the A46 have now finished and the new dual carriageway from Leicester to Newark makes for a speedy and easy journey. It was a good weekend away, pity I had to go back to work but I can always check my lottery ticket just in case.

Nothing to write about

Nearly two weeks have gone by and still not a lot of excitement to think off and comment on. A few bits have stayed in my mind but for oddity rather than greatness.

I drove to Reading and back again but the highlight of that journey was a night in Leicester with a bedroom view of the local football stadium.

I spent two days on a sales training course in Sheffield. The best parts of that were: 1. No role play of any kind. 2.  Free lunch. 3. We got to finish earlier on the second day. 4. Watching many of my work colleagues look very very hung over on day two.

I also did a brief visit to a chicken factory in Chester with a new coworker who is vegetarian. To be honest that was a tad mean, considering what they do to the chickens there I suppose their is no wonder he went as green as what he eats. 

This evening though, could be start of a great weekend. Left home with the family in tow at 5pm and currently in a hotel near Northampton for the night. Tomorrow should be fun, full of many many small things.

Better on two wheels

I do like to drive. I like to see the world rush past and also get to where I am going at maximum feasible speed. But I also like to cycle, to trundle along the quiet lanes, especially with my family and even more especially round my home city of York. Sunday was one of those cycling days, 12 miles in a circle down the old railway line across town, past the university, along by the river and then home, with two compulsory play park stops along the way. Took about 90 minutes at a sedate pace, but that's part of it, to go at the speed that the mood and path dictates. The bit by the university was a bit odd though. It has doubled in size since I was there and to find the name of my old college on some shiny new posh building was just weird. Students these days, they get it far too good!!

Yes, I know. It's been a while!

For a lot of different reasons it has been a while since I last put a post on here. Too many things going on in my world has meant that the time and willpower to write has just not been there. However I had a nice journey today and figured its about time I caught up again.

A brief summary of what you missed!!

April 30th I went to Cardiff and stayed in the Holiday Inn right in the city centre. Cardiff appears to be a pretty decent city and the view out of the top floor room was great, out over the castle and surrounding lands. Just round the corner from the Millennium Stadium as well which I will have to remember for the future.

May the 9th turned out to be one of those very very long days in the office. Whenever I am in the office it's a 12 hour day including travelling time and I do admit to trying to find logical and sensible reasons to leave early and do something else in the afternoon. Occasionally those very very long days are made just that little bit worse by a pile up in rush hour traffic and the subsequent diversion or delay that means another half hour getting home. Did see a nice rainbow though. :-)

On the 13th I had one of the nicest and easiest days I can get in my current job when I did the 30 mile round trip to the small market town of Stamford Bridge to help a chap install some equipment. It rained a bit and was sunny a bit, but I don't care as I was home in time for lunch. Also had the amusement of watching two ducks try and eat my car. Not sure why as the ducks looked relatively well fed and my car is probably not the tastiest of things but they had a good nibble. Very odd!!




On the 16th I went back to the Lake District to a little reservoir on a hill outside a village called High Ireby. The views from here are always good and with the sun coming out I just had to take the photos up into the hills and out across the Solway Firth. Breath-taking.

May the 22nd was the day I went to the historic city of Bath. I think the last time I went to Bath I was about 8 so my memories are a little dated. Turns out that Bath is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, so many old sandstone buildings, quaint streets and surrounded by rolling hills. Even the office I went to visit had been built into the hillside and included a small stream around the site to help recycle the water. I do wish I had thought to take some decent photos but for some mad reason I decided that instead of staying a hotel for the night I would turn around after my meeting and drive straight home. It's 240 miles from York to Bath which means its a 480 mile round trip. I helpfully found out that at about 400 miles I get a really bad headache and that the following day I am absolutely knackered. Not convinced that driving 480 miles in one day is a wise idea. Next time I think I will just stick with the hotel.

And that takes me up to today, May the 29th and my trip to  Barrow in Furness in the southern Lake District. I do love the Lake District, the rolling hills and the sweeping lakes. One day I will get around to actually going on holiday there but for the time being I will have to satisfy myself with these brief jaunts. The work itself today was a complete waste of time. Should have been a site visit that took about an hour. Turned out the customer was in no way ready for the work and we aborted after ten minutes. But it was a nice drive and the weather stayed good in the most part. Took a brief diversion on the way back to a little village by the sea called Grange over Sands. Didn't have enough time to get onto the beach but found this nice river with cliffs on one side and fields on the other. Pity it went cloudy at exactly the wrong moment but you cant have everything in life ;-)

The dullest road in Britain

This week I think I may have driven along the dullest road in Britain. York to Norwich and back is not the easiest of journeys as there are no motorways going in the right direction. This is made worse by the A17 which is just so dull. Sixty miles of single carriageway through bland flat fields and more often than not following slow tractors or trucks full of farm produce. Too much traffic to overtake and no interesting surroundings to take your mind off it. Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. I did end up at a pleasant office just outside Great Yarmouth to catch up with a customer though. Not bad looking for a Water Treatment Works.

The perfect lunch for an imperfect day

About three miles from the main office I travel too once a week is a truckers cafe. It's on the A5012, Via Gellia Rd if you ever want to find it. It's called the Woodside Cafe and as well as being in a fairly decent location within the Peak District it serves the best value fry-up I have found. Bacon, egg, sausage, beans, fried tomato, fried bread, two slices of a bread and butter along with a cup of tea, all for £4.30. On a busy day with plenty of frustration, the oppurtunity to sit down for half an hour and eat something that is pure indulgence is just wonderful. It also has very poor mobile phone signal, which on some days is a definite bonus.

One of those weeks

Normally I try and post in here on the same day as a journey, or at least the morning after. This week has been one of those weeks where tiredness, lack of sufficient internet signal or lack of willpower have all come together and so you get a summary post instead.

Monday was a trip from York to Burnley and back again. Not a bad journey up and across the hills and only a 120 miles. However I expected to back by 2 and instead the meeting took a lot longer and I got back at 5.30. Kind of annoying.

Tuesday was a trip to the office and back. 175 miles in total, but feels longer as I know the journey too well and it always top and tails a long day, leave at 7am and return at 7pm.

Wednesday was the interesting one as that involved a journey 220 miles down to Essex to see a new customer. Stopped and ate my lunch in a Sainsbury's car park as could not for the life of me locate the services I was after. Turns out that were directly behind the car park I was in, oops!! Once the meeting was done I went 120 miles cross-country from Chelmsford to Northampton for my hotel for the night. Sat-Nav thought I should go via the M25 at the top of London, I thought I should go cross country again. turns out the Sat-Nav was most definitely correct. Damn it hurts to say that. My hotel for the night was the Northampton West Holiday Inn. I think that hotel will go down as the worst Holiday Inn I have ever stayed in. The description on the website suggests features such as 'Spacious guest rooms' (Nope), 'high speed internet' (worked only briefly and was definitely not high speed), 'power showers' (rusty), 'fitness suite' (one rowing machine plus one jogging machine). The place is in dire of a re-furb and some more attentive staff.

Thursday involved a short journey to the NEC in Birmingham to attend Sustainability Live 2013 and then back up the road to home. I believe the highlight of the day was amusement at my own stupidity for walking straight into the wrong exhibition hall simply because that was where we were last year, maybe next time I should read the signs? I did get a free laser pointer but other than that exhibitions freebies were very disappointing.

On thing I did notice on the week is how many wind farms are popping up by the side of the main roads. Lets just hope they are  making enough to compensate for the build cost.

Today I am working from home. I like working form home, I always get more done than in the office or anywhere else. No interruptions and less distractions, playing catch-up on the week and just about there.

Slow and steady

Todays journey was a grand total of 4.64 miles. Not far I admit but I was on the bike rather than in the car and the aim was a Sunday morning cycle for some fresh air rather than  actually needing to get somewhere. Down to the river, along one side into the city centre, over the bridge, down the other side and back home. All details calculated and recorded on the MapMyRide app on the iPhone. Got to love a bit of technology that does nothing but provide statistics you really don't need, but are fun to have. Saw the Mayor of York plus wife and dog whilst cycling along the river. I always expect a mayor to look pompous and austere, not a random windswept bloke in jeans and a jumper just enjoying the fresh air as much as me.

New York to Old York

The good news is that I made it home safe and sound. The bad news is I am no longer on holiday. Pity really, I liked being on holiday. So, we changed the original plans for the last night and moved to a hotel in New York city, just off Times Square. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express - Times Square and though the rooms were small and simple the locations was great and the staff were most attentive I have ever known. Simple things like moving our room to be on the same floor as some friends and having fresh lemonade available in reception after spending far too much time traipsing around the hot city. Wonderful people.



On the final morning we walked the High Line and then booked out of the hotel. A bit of brief mall shopping got us those last few mementos of the trip and then off to JFK for a flight home. Nice airport is JFK, but the food is ridiculously expensive and the gates get far too hot when the sun is on them. Flight home was uneventful and thankfully I managed to sleep about 4 hours meaning I was at least part human by the time we landed at 7am. A four hour drive home was not nice and involved two stops and two changes of driver but we made it home in time for lunch. New York to Old York in about 13 hours, not bad!!

New York, New York

So good they named it twice? I am not to sure about that, but certainly a lot better than previous experiences, though the main reason might have been because it was sunny? Have I mentioned the weather on this holiday, the weather was awesome!! I know that myself and other English folk have a preoccupation with the weather but England so far in 2013 has been cold, a fair amount of snow has fallen and though the sun has turned up on occasion it has been a cold and fairly useless sun. The American sun appears (unsurprisingly) to be much bigger and warmer. Our day in New York (Monday 8th) was the warmest of the holiday and topped out at a mighty 25 degrees Celsius, that's a full 20 degrees more than anything at home. Anyway, I digress somewhat...

The New York day started with a surprisingly easy journey in from Cos Cob until we got to about 500 yards from the hotel (more about that separately) and then traffic hell ensued for the next 40 minutes. After dropping off our bags and having the required recovering cup of tea, we went to explore, Times Square, Grand Central Station and the UN building were all good in their own way but the highlight of NYC has to be Central Park. Estimates of the value of the land alone is closing on a trillion dollars but it is worth it. Such a wonderful oasis of calm amongst the bustling chaos around makes it feel like it is in a separate world. I have to admit though I would consider selling a tiny bit of the park if someone would invest that in some cleaners for the subway. It is possible that NYC subway is the grimiest in the world?

For a change we went out for tea, though only a few doors down to the Tir Na Nog Irish restaurant and bar. Good food, very friendly waitress staff and a great atmosphere. Makes for a pretty damn good New York day.

A busy few days part 2

Saturday felt manic, Sunday was totally different. A lazy start, breakfast at 9 instead of 8 and didn't leave the house till 11. Went with our friends to the Stamford Museum and Nature Reserve in Stamford, CT. Considering a large amount of time was spent in a very good playground and observing some 'Notters' then I think I can safely see that this is very good for children. The only downside was the exotic animal building. Interesting creatures but in enclosures that really are far too small :(. Lunch was had at a genuine American diner. Cant recall the name but the club sandwich was very filling and great tasting. 

A busy few days

It's been a busy few days but finally I have a cup of tea to hand, free Wi-fi to use and time to put my thoughts on screen.

Saturday was a hectic drive from Harrisburg. PA via New Jersey and New York and on into Cos Cob, CT where we were staying with some friends for a couple of nights. The journey had a couple of highlights, the first being the Delaware Water Gap, seeing the break in the mountains where the river had broken through, beautiful scenery considering it was just of the interstate. The second notable bit of the journey was as a result of having got stuck in delays on the I95 after the George Washington Bridge (by the way, awesome bridge with great views). We decided in our infinite wisdom to divert through the Bronx. Next time I do that I need a much better map. The Bronx is a very unnerving place and anyone driving around their needs nerves of steal and a willingness to push the car into gaps that may not entirely exist.

Finally and only an hour late we arrive with our friends in Connecticut. Their is one thing I will say about Americans is the ones I have met are friendly and trusting once they get to know you. I am not sure how willing I would be to have people I have only met once before stay at my house, but our friends were and to be honest their is much that most Englishmen should learn from that. 

An inferior York

Todays trip began in Hagerstown, MD and finished in Harrisburg, PA via Gettysburg, York and Lancaster County. An informative trip that taught me many things:
1. York, PA is not as nice as York, England. To be honest it is one of the grottiest US towns I have driven through.
2. Gettysburg is a nice place to wonder round even if you don't know what the Gettysburg address is or who lived at that address. :)
3. The Kettle Village in Lancaster County is a great place to spend a few hours looking at the shops and having a drink and cake.
4. A village called Intercourse is amusing. I don't care how childish that seems, it is still amusing.
5. Having now stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn, a Hilton Homewood and a Holiday Inn Staybridge in three consecutive nights (three chains catering for an identical market with almost identical facilities), I prefer the Marriott.

Odd things in the road

The journey continued yesterday up into the Appalachians.  120 miles driving along the Shenandoah trail where it varies between 2000 and 4000ft above sea level and the scenery was breath-taking again. Owls flying in the tress, deer by the side of the road, sweeping valleys, majestic mountains an somewhat scary tunnels. Significant temperature change up on the tops made for impressive ice waterfalls and stalactites in many locations.

It's nice when the world puts some effort in.

Most of the people who know me, know that I like America. I like the people, I like most of the cities, the national pride and the big open spaces.

Of all the bits if the USA I have seen, Washington is my favourite for many reasons and this morning I found a new reason having been to the great falls national park around half an hours drive north and west on the Potomac from the centre of DC. I think the view from there is truly one of the most breathtaking sites I have ever seen. The expanse of water rushing past such a serene environment was just wonderful and something to refresh the most tormented mind.

After that the journey along the interstates down to  the hotel in Waynesboro, VA seemed a bit dull. Tonight's hotel is a Marriott Residence Inn and better than expected. Never stayed in a Marriott before, might just have to do it again.

Almost my favourite city

I like Washington, D.C., I mean really like the place. It shows what can happen if you plan the city in advance instead of just letting it evolve from whatever was there before. Wide open spaces, elegant buildings, logical and clean underground system. It's like sim city after you have spent a couple if weeks optimising the game to make it 

 just right. I have been to a fair few cities over the years and I think Washington is the only one I would like to move too one day. It's not home so it's not perfect, but it takes a dam good second place.

Customs, cars and timezones

First up I have to say that I love holidays, I like the exploring, I like to see all the new places, the different people and here the different voices. However their are a few things I don't like.

1. I don't like flying. my stomach dances, my head hurts and it means far too much sitting around in cramped conditions. Great views out of the window through of the ice flows many thousands of feet below.
2. I hate travel based disorganisation and yesterday was terrible for that. 2 hours at US customs in a very short but very slow moving queue, followed by nearly an hour waiting for a rental car to be ready.
3. I am not fond of changing time zones. Both myself and the little un woke up at 4.30am local time. going to regret that later today I expect!

On the plus side, I am on holiday, sitting in the reception of a nice Holiday Inn Express in Pennsylvania with free breakfast when I get that far and free Wi-Fi to write this on. Today will be a better day, but I think I might have to schedule in a nap or two.

Airports, so very very dull

There has to be a better system than airports. So much time is spent sitting and waiting or standing and queuing. I wonder how much time is wasted in the year by people at airports? If only someone could finish off a teleportation device then this would be a lot easier. On the plus side Heathrow has been remarkably efficient so far, long may it continue throughout the journey.

Holiday time

That time of the year is upon us. It is Easter and every Easter for the last 7 years myself, my wife and more recently my daughter leave England and depart for the mighty U. S. of A. Doesn't matter where we go, we just find the cheapest easiest flights to wherever we can, and see what we see. This Easter is no different and so we packed up the car with enough belongings to last us at least a month, and enough electronic gadgets to arrange a planetary takeover, and began our journey.

Usually we fly direct out of Manchester airport but this time the second cheapest flights were from Heathrow so we headed south (the actual cheapest flights were from Manchester to Heathrow and then onwards to the US but that is just silly). Setting of at the intended 9,30 (actually 9,50 but that error was factored in already) we arrived down in Derbyshire for lunch at 11. York to Heathrow all in one go is a bit much for a little person so a stopover at grandparents seemed the ideal way to break it up. Leaving there just before 2 we arrived at the Heathrow Crown Plaza just after 4. A nice hotel (by the standard of the usually terrible airport hotels), the room is great, but the pool was full (they have a different definition of full to me) and the car park is what I traditionally know as a field. On the plus side it has a free club lounge with free drinks and free munchies and I will always be swayed by free food. Tomorrow is a bigger journey, but that's another story.

A cow or not a cow?

Not a lot of excitement on the journey home, all but the last 15 minutes were simple motorway driving. The music was on loud and the car seemed quite happy to eat up the miles with minimum input from myself. One slight curiosity occured before I left when I found in the hotel grounds a life size model cow. No idea why, I suppose it must have some sort of artistic merit, but my overriding thought was simply, odd!

An improving day

Back down to Wales again today for a meeting in Cardiff. Still snowing for most of the journey but just warm enough to ensure the snow doesn't settle and instead just adds a bit of fuzz to the air. Quiet enough journey as half of the schools are off this week and that always makes the roads a little easier to traverse. After the meeting the final stage of the days journey was over the Severn Bridge and down the side of Bristol to my hotel for the night. The hotel was a new one for me, the Bristol Hilton Doubletree about 6 miles from Clevedon. Never been here before but will endevour to come again as it one of the nicest looking hotels I have been too in years. Part of it is an old country house that gets used for weddings and events and the rest is brand new and beautifully finished. A Marco Pierre White restaurant makes some great food and a standalone gym and swimming pool complex is as good as you would ever see. To cap it all you get a freshly cooked Chocolate Chip cookie on arrival, what more could you want?

Entertainment on the Journey

Journeys to the office are invariably dull. It's 65 miles of motorway driving followed by 20 miles of twisty back lanes as you bury yourself in the Peak District. That might be nice if I hadn't done the same journey closing on a thousand times since I started working there. Today however was a little bit different as today I had my three year old daughter with me. She was visiting her Nanna for the day having been refused entry to nursery on account of a mild case of what she reliably informs me is Chicken Spots. My daughter is a wonderful person but 2 and a half hours of undistracted conversation with her would probably drive anyone completely mad so we usually provide entertainment in the form of a film on an iPad stuck to the back of the car headrest. I already think my iPad is a wonderful thing but its use as a boredom alleviation tool is a spectacular achievement and though I can now recite the majority of Shrek the Third, it meant that she was happy and that means I am happy. Some entertaining snow drifts also helped.

Driving without seeing

Yesterday should have been a good day, I started off at one of my favourite hotels, The Newport Holiday Inn  and got home before 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The hotel is always nice, decent food, friendly staff and (important for me) a quiet pool to have a swim in on the evening you arrive. I left the hotel at 8 o'clock, drove up into the hills near Merthyr to see a customer and about 90 mins later set off home. This should have been a good day but unfortunately I knew what I was coming home to. My cat, my friend, my rock, had a brain haemmorage on Tuesday night and thirty minutes after I got back home, he died.

I did around 290 miles yesterday and though I know the route I must have travelled, I would struggle to tell you a thing about it. I know I must have gone over the Severn Bridge and admired the view. I suspect I drove along the motorway past Gloucester and whinged about the roadworks. Its fairly likely I stopped at services near Birmingham for a sandwich and then carried on through the Midlands and into Yorkshire and home. I must have done all these things, but my mind was elsewhere and instinct was doing it's job. Its frightening that you can drive so far and see so little, that your hands, feet and eyes can do their job independant of your conscious thought. that you can rely so much on luck and routine to get you through, but it happens and it happened. My cat died yesterday and all that matters is that I got home and was there at the end.

Castles and Hills

Today I drove around 350 miles from York to Swansea and then back up the road to Newport for the night. Though its always a long day when I go to Wales it's generally enjoyable. Once you have got around the dullness of Birmingham, the scenary cheers up and the hills start to grow.

Two choices in getting into South Wales, either along the M50 towards Ross-on-Wye or down to Bristol and accross the Severn Bridge. Today I chose the former and that turned out to be an error in judgement. I can only presume that the M50 is a training ground for setting out cones, it's only 15 miles long but is forever being dug up, re-laid or simply coned off for sheer amusement value. Good job it's a quiet patch of road otherwise the constant roadworks could get very frustrating. After the motorway I would normally take the A40 down past Symonds Yat (a gorgeous village either side of the River Wye if you ever get chance to visit) but a detour around some blockages took me up and into the hills before dropping me off at Raglan. Raglan Castle looks brilliant to my eye and great fun to climb around. I always think I should stop and have a decent look but it's just too far from home. One day, maybe, when I have more time...... After Raglan its up and on to the Heads-of-the-Valleys road and some brilliant views accros the edge of the Brecon Beacons before joining the motorway again for the last few miles into Swansea. The journey back from Swansea to Newport for the night is all Motorway and nothing exciting but I end up in a decent hotel so that's a bonus.

Not all days are a fun drive

Some days the road is peaceful and no matter the miles it is a pleasure to drive on. Today was not one of thse days, today the roads were busy and full of Monday morning traffic and sleepy, tetchy people.

Even when the roads are busy, if the weather is nice then that can make up for it with some glorious sunshine to lighten the mood. Today was not one of those days either, it started of with slushy rain, improved slightly to a heavy drizzle, tried a couple of hours of fog and eventually settled on light rain with gusty winds.

Taking those factors into account the only potential redeeming point is if the destination is pleasent, but my destination was Walsall and though the people in Walsall can be very nice and I am sure it has some lovely aspects, to me it is a grey, dull and in dire need of a facelift. A 260 mile round trip leaving me in a throughly narked mood.

Sometimes it's just good to drive

There are days when driving is simply not enjoyable. Days when the traffic is bad, the weather is grey and the mood suits the weather a little too well. Today was not one of those days.

On this gloriously sunny day I drove from home, accross Yorkshire to Cumbria and on into the Lake District National Park to install some equipment at a reservoir in a tiny village called High Ireby. 250 miles, perfect weather and scenary that reminds me why I keep doing the job. Some people travel the world to see a beautiful view and simply forget what they have around them. Why spend hours at an airport, even more on the flight and extra at the end just for something different. You should never forget what your own country has to offer and though it's nice to see the world, just look round the corner occasionally while you are at it.

Peculiar weather

Todays jouney went from my home city of York, accross the top of the Peak District, around Manchester and finally dropping into Warrington. There and back came to a grand total of 190 miles. Curious weather throughout the day, at some points it was glorious sunshine and on other occasions heavy snow blizzards. I guess that is just typical British weather, it simply cannot make its mind up on what to do, so it tries to do everything. A nice start to the week though, none to stressful and some glorious scenery accoss Saddleworth Moor.

A simple start

As the name suggests I like to travel. I do a lot of travelling around the UK as part of my job and a fair bit more around the world when on holiday. At the time of writing I have been to 19 countries, 36 airports and a fair few seaports. Today however is a Sunday and on a Sunday I like to do as little as possible and not go anywhere if I have a choice. Travelling is good but their truly is no place like home.