Tag: UK

LEGOLAND Windsor, UK – 03 Oct 2013

Reading Time: 5 minutes

As part of the boys’ birthday this year we treated them with a trip to LEGOLAND, in Windsor. The boys and Elle hadn’t visited the UK before, and with the short time frames we had of just the weekend, this was not the trip for much of a visit. This trip was all about the boys having LEGO-themed fun.

We flew into Heathrow, on a sadly (or for a passenger, happily) half-full Emirates flight. With so many free seats, we could split up and spread out our stuff over a few taken-over rows. Our latest addition, six month old Owen was wonderful, sleeping for ages. And the other two were good like usual. Before takeoff they had already got the headphones on and switched on their favourite in-flight channel, sadly it’s The Family Guy at the moment.

We had a few walks of the awesome A380 plane, and had a nap here and there, and got a baby photo of Owen wearing the female cabin crew’s distinctive hat (she thought Owen was a girl). Then before we knew it, we were approaching London. As we were going thru customs, the official was a little suspicious of us flying in to the country for just two days. Tho his concerns seemed to vanish when he learned we were off to LEGOLAND.

We had a Windsor Car waiting for us, which we booked via email which made life easy, and was quite a lot chearper than a London taxi.

We knew it was a reasonably short drive. And we knew when we were getting close by spotting the magnificent sight of the Windsor Castle looking quite stoic, lit up on a hill in the distance.

From there we tracked the signs to LEGOLAND. And, OH! MY! GOD! As soon as we were a turn or two away I felt like the trip was all about my own childhood dreams. There were single LEGO blocks the size of cars, telling us where we were. The roundabouts were a natural habitat of life-sized LEGO animals. And the entrance had a LEGO dragon. The same dragon happened to scare a certain smoker when she unsuspectingly smoked beneath it, and the dragon hissed and spewed its own smoke.

We entered the Resort lobby, and Lewis immediately asked if he could buy some LEGO. The place wasn’t a hotel it was the kind of toy store I thought you only see in movies. It was awesome, literally.

Our room was on the Adventurers floor, we decided against the Pirates floor. The elevator had LEGO characters talking to us “Adventurers”.

In keeping with the theme, the room was even more amazing. The boys were welcomed by an adventure. They had to count the number of green lizards the fun carpet design had, and other challenges. Once they had the four answers, it turned out to be the secret code for the treasure chest where they got their welcome present of, you guessed it, LEGO!

The boys wanted to stay awake all night. They only agreed to go to bed after we mentioned the theme park was tomorrow.

We had buffet breakfast at the aptly named BRICKS restaurant. Not only was there an impressive assortment of food, there were life-sized LEGO waiters and the largest LEGO ice cream sundae you’ll ever see.

Once b’fast was done, the boys had some play time in the indoor castle of X-Boxes. Such great product placement.

The park itself seemed to be all ours, because it practically was. Resort guests can access the park 30 mins before official opening. In that time we figured out the lay of the land, and enjoyed the serenity; or was it the calm before the storm?

The rides were awesome. We had two days to make the most of it. And on Thursday, day one, we managed probably 97% of all the rides. The boy’s favourite was the park’s scariest roller coaster, the Dragon. I was surprised that Lewis braved with hardly any prompting. The Atlantis submarine was nice. The Laser Tag was especially good. For it, you seem to have a kilometre or two to walk, then you’re put into these cars which take you around different LEGO exhibits, not too dissimilar to the ‘It’s a small world afterall’ you get at Disney Land, except for one key difference. At this one, you have laser guns, which you use to shoot the various targets you spot on the way through. This ride was particularly fun for the photos they take of the participants in mid-action.

Owen was only allowed to go on a few rides. For the others, Elle and I took turns going with the bigger boys. And since we had a couple of days, the boys would go on the good ones again, where we’d switch the parent. It worked out well.

One thing I’d say which seemed unique to LEGOLAND compared to other parks I’ve visited, is the great majority of staff really seemed to love what they were doing. It didn’t just seem like a job to them. They were genuinely keen to ensure the boys were enjoying the place to the maximum. I got talking to a few of them while waiting, and on learning that we were from Dubai, one girl complimented me on speaking English so well for an Arab.

Our day two coincided with the public changing of the guards ceremony at Windsor Castle. It seemed to make sense that the sky would open up and rain while we were standing outside the castle without shelter. It was only a drizzle, and this was England afterall. After determining that the castle tour of 1.5 hours was too long for the kids’ patience, we had a short wait on the roadside opposite the castle, then we heard the marching band. They got closer, and once I caught a glimpse I couldn’t help but admire this old institution. The bands and guards marched like they had for nearly 1000 years. The huge semi-automatic rifles they now hold, showed the weaponry has certainly evolved a lot in that time.

We missed the LEGOLAND shuttle bus, so we took a London Taxi back, before having a few final hours in the park. The boys did what they missed on day one, such as the Digger Challenge. And they managed quite a few turns of the good stuff they already knew.

Like clockwork the Windsor Car was waiting to take us back to the airport. Then we checked in at a very busy Heathrow airport, and caught our flight home.

On the way back, Owen had a bit of a tanty before takeoff. We finally managed to settle him down, then he was fine for the rest of the flight. We were split up between a couple of rows, though we had the bassinet. So it was easily manageable.

We landed in Dubai and drove home in a cab. Once home, Lewis just had to ask if we could go to LEGOLAND again tomorrow.

I thoroughly recommend LEGOLAND for anyone with kids, even for just a short stay. It’s very achievable to get a lot done. It’s thoroughly worth it for the attention to detail, the passion of the staff, and the variety of rides and attractions. 😀

Old London Town

Reading Time: 2 minutes

London, what a magical city.

It’s almost indescribable, but there is a buzz to this place which I’ve not really experienced elsewhere.

Monday evening I woke up at 3:30am to Skype my family back in Dubai. Quite unexpectedly, when I came down to the ground floor wifi at this ungodly hour, there were a dozen glamorous people partying in the hotel bar near reception. And the party-goers were not stopping any time soon.

We first arrived Sunday afternoon by train, then caught a couple different tubes in the underground to get close to our Hotel Russell accommodation. Actually, calling it an underground is a bit of an understatement. More like middle earth. Where we got off at Russell Square, there was a 175 stair climb back to the surface. It was no surprise everyone took the lift.

My free time around the conference was limited. I was able to maximize this though, through going for a morning run. Running through a large unfamiliar city I focus almost extreme levels of attention taking mental notes of my surroundings. It worked, I didn’t get lost. I was so happy to run along the Thames and see the Millennium Dome, Big Ben, Old Parliament House. In fact everywhere you look there’s historical things of interest. My boss, and tour guide, was describing a building as being “not that old”, it was built in 1901 – 110 years ago.

After my run I had time to check out a local newspaper. Well two local papers actually. The Times so I could read the local news, and The Sun so I could see some boobs. To be honest I felt like a bit of a prude seeing journalism mixed with nudity. Having said that, I probably couldn’t write on here the name of some of the adult magazines which the news stand stocked on the shelf above.

To be honest I was a bit disappointed by the quality of journalism overall. On the TV news the first story was about impending political elections, followed by an interview by a hopeful participant of the X-factor.

The news coverage of football went beyond impressive. I now believe people when they say that the UK sees football like religion, only more important.

Once again I was spoilt by fantastic weather, OR people lie about the UK raining 90% of the time and it’s bloody awful the rest of the time. The chirpy weather girl shared that it’s been London’s warmest end to September since 1985. Quite likely some Dubai weather went across with me. You’re welcome, my British friends.

Quick UK trip September 2011

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I’ve had the opportunity to attend a two day conference in London. But I figured making the most of my trip, and using the Friday & Saturday of my Dubai weekend to also see Cardiff, Wales.

My flight to Birmingham was extremely busy – just like all our flights to the UK. I saw the passenger numbers, and there was only one free seat in the entire plane.

The flight route took us over Bahrain, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, before Europe. I managed to get a window seat, and enjoyed watching a lot of the country side. Afghanistan especially, looked incredible. It seemed to have an amazing variety of scenery. I particularly loved the harsh and mountainous terrain.

A sure sign of a good flight is when it seems to take no time at all – which this flight did. A good movie helps for at least part of the way.

Once I got through Customs at Birmingham, I somehow sparked the attention of a security guard. He asked many questions about my reason for the visit, my line of work, UK itinerary, and how often I visit Australia. He seemed happy enough with my answers to let me through after only a couple of minutes – no rubber gloves needed. I must have an untrustworthy face. When I was leaving Brisbane International Airport last time out of the 8 of us family and friends, I was the only one to get special attention from security, which involved a pat down. The guy was impressed with the Liverpool stickers adorning Myles’s suitcase – so perhaps he did spared me further attention. (And I suppose he did have soft hands so it wasn’t a total loss – joking).

I pre-booked my train tickets to get to Bristol Parkway on the way to Cardiff on the web. Everything was incredibly simple to get me there. One slight glitch occurred when I overlooked the fact that I was getting on the train an hour earlier than planned. I blame jet lag, or being stupid. When the ticket collector explained my mistake he was kind enough to lend me his phone to call my boss who would pick me up at the other end. Talk about English courtesy.

In just two days traveling from Birmingham into, and around Cardiff, I’ve already marked off quite a few of the items in my game of British Bingo:

  • “innit”
  • egg butty
  • “one should”
  • fancy a pint.

I’m still waiting to hear mentions of:

  • core blimey
  • pukka
  • “guvnor”.

So far I’ve visited the National History Museum, St Fagans; the absolutely awe-inspiring Wales Millennium Centre to see Welsh National Opera perform Don Giovanni; Millennium Stadium (which I can prove with an “I entered the dragon’s lair” lanyard). One disappointment of this fine tour was the stadium’s hallowed grass was completely gone. The pitch was well into the process of being removed by an industrious team of four diggers. Well I originally thought it was a downer, until our tour guide proudly announced the slurry of mud we were seeing was such a rare opportunity. 😉

I also had a good look around the city centre. Sadly I missed visiting Cardiff Castle, due to the very popular “Cheese Fest” being held inside the castle walls this weekend. This (National) festival had so much interest the queue going inside began a few hundred metres down the street. It would have been nice to see, but perhaps I may come back some day with the rest of the family.

Wales has a rich and proud mining heritage. The mines produce coal and, judging by signage in the Welsh language, an excess of consonants.

The weather has been a real treat. Apparently I brought the weather with me. The week, and several weeks before I came there were many consecutive days of rain. I’m glad I could bring this for the people of Cardiff. Take it as part-payment for allowing me to have an enjoyable visit to the city.

Tomorrow we hit Old London Town, so I’ll be sure to have more updates then.