This is an extremely brief tour diary I made while on tour with some maps preceding each half of the tour.
Below is a map of the first leg of my trip in the United Kingdom with the route we took from London to Edinburgh marked in blue.
05/12/2000 - Sydney, Australia
Leave Sydney Airport at 3:45pm on a 9 hour plane trip bound for Hong Kong. After a one hour changeover between flights at Hong Kong, I was on a plane for another 12 hours bound for London.
06/12/2000 - London, England
Arrive London Heathrow Airport at 5:05am. Jumped on the tube and headed out to Kings Cross to meet Jess' brother (Chris). Headed back out to Victoria to get on a red double-decker bus where I met my London tour buddy, Teresa. Went to Madame Tassaud's Wax Museum and London Planetarium.
07/12/2000 - London, England
Visited the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels, plenty of armour and weaponary among a variety of other historic displays. Then headed over to Tower Bridge to see the Tower Bridge Experience which basically involved lots of steps, some historic animatronics and a weird video which was meant to send you back in time.
08/12/2000 - London, England
Went to the british museum which was free and is huge! They have only just finished a major re-work of the whole place (supposedly we were there on the official opening day). We were there the whole day but at about 6pm we heard a soft "ding dong" sound over the pa system. I was waiting for a message like "Mr Walker, you have a telephone call" but it kept going "ding dong" over and over again. About 10 minutes later, a member of staff walks in and says to us in a panicked voice "What are you guys doing here?!? Thats a fire alarm you know!" so we head outside where everyone else, however we had left our coats in the cloak room so we were freezing outside! Luckily about 5 minutes later they gave the "False Alarm" call and we could head back in. Had a big night at the Backpacker and sampled the shot chair on several occasions.
09/12/2000 - London, England
Slept in a bit today and then headed over to the theatre to see the show "Whistle Down the Wind" which was really good. They had a good stage and effects and the theatre is really not that expensive because you can buy cheap tickets on the day of the show.
10/12/2000 - London, England
Worked at Church - a special kind of church. Picture a huge warehouse, two thousand aussies/kiwis/south-africans/pomms, thousands of cans of VB and fosters, strippers/comedians/dj's, heaps of drunk chicks taking their tops off, a lot of others in special church t-shirts, and it only happens every sunday between about 12:30pm-3:30pm. It is run by the Backpacker pub, so need less to say - heaps of fun. After a HUGE sat night, i worked behind the bar which i've always wanted to do, but that didn't stop me from drinking again! A very unique experience.
11/12/2000 - London, England
Visited the London Dungeon which was pretty interesting if you like stuff about mediaval london, tortures, murders, etc. The Shakespeare Globe Theatre is a recreation of the original globe theatre and it is actually quite an interesting tour about Shakespeare and 17th century London. The London Eye is like a giant ferris wheel which takes half an hour to do one loop, but its right on the Thames River and you can get some great shots of London.
12/12/2000 - London, England
The Millenium Dome is one of the "Millenium Experiences" the British Government built specifically to celebrate the Year 2000. It is a HUGE dome shaped building and inside it reminded me very much of Expo '88 in Brisbane, as it was a kind of exhibition/museum/theme park. The dome was so huge it had inside about 12 different zones, and we spent the whole day in there (about 10 hours) and only got thru about 9. There is even an ice rink, 2 McDonald's and a massive centre stage - all under this one big dome. Londoners all seem to hate it though.
13/12/2000 - London, England
Actually had a pretty quiet day and caught up on a lot of things: sleep, washing and eating. After a big sleep in, had a really huge and nice lunch at a restaurant in Holborn with Chris, Carrie and one of Carrie's work friends. Headed back to the pub to do my washing.
14/12/2000 - London, England
Did the Beatles walk, and saw the shop where John Lennon met Yoko, Abbey Road, Apple Recording Studios, Paul McCartney's London office and other various Beatles sites. Then made our way Madame Tassaud's Rock Circus which is a pop music museum with more beatles paraphernalia and more wax statues!
15/12/2000 - London, England
Friday was the nicest day (as far as weather was concerned) since I have been in Europe. It was a clear, sunny day in London - VERY RARE! We went through Green Park to Buckingham Palace, and arrived just as the cavalry came marching through - perfect timing! Walked around the surrounding parks and fed some cute squirrels and patted a pelican! Never expected to do that in London. Then headed to Trafalgar Square where I was completely swamped by all the pigeons! It was like Currumbin Sactuary on the Gold Coast except with more birds and all pigeons!
16/12/2000 - London, England
Camden Lock Markets are the most famous markets in London - it is a huge bunch of streets and alleys filled with markets. I've never seen anything like it. Being close to Christmas, the markets were totally packed. Saturday is also the busiest day there. A huge variety of clothes and everything else you could imagine, good for shopping if you dont have enough clothes.
17/12/2000 - London, England
Worked church again - this time there were heaps more people there and it was packed. Non-stop serving of drinks for the whole afternoon, and after a big saturday night it was very tiring indeed.
18/12/2000 - London, England
St Paul's Cathedral was surprisingly big, and also surprisingly tall! After wandering around in the church, we were just leaving when we discovered that you could go up to the very top of the cathedral for one of the best views of London (its a tough call between this and the London Eye). There were hundreds and hundreds of stairs, but the view is worth it. Hardly any buildings are more than about 4 or 5 storeys high... I havent seen a skyscraper since I've been in Britain which came as a bit of a surprise to me.
19/12/2000 - London, England
Oxford Street and Regent Street are really busy streets in London - heaps of shops, heaps of people. Too many last minute christmas shoppers! Supposedly, they are going to install a 2-lane system on Oxford Street - a fast lane and a slow lane with speed cameras and all. If you do less than 3mph in the fast lane you get a fine! Only in London. Partied hard with the Backpacker/Church workers after their xmas party at the Roadhouse.
20/12/2000 - London, England
Spent the day sleeping (see above).
21/12/2000 - London, England
Teresa hired a car and we made our way up to Stonehenge. It was absolutely freezing so we couldnt stay outside for very long because it was so cold. Later that night I found out that we had visited Stonehenge on the day of the Winter Solstice - which is a significant day for Stonehenge - and there had been thousands of people performing all kinds of rituals and chants at sunrise... we had no idea!! Then made our way over to Bath for a quick look at the town - probably the prettiest town I have seen so far.
22/12/2000 - Oxford, England
Met up with my 3 friends from Oz (Groot, Wal, Smith) in the morning before heading up to Oxford with the hire car with just Wal and Smith. Stayed at the Oxford YHA for the night after seeing the sights of Oxford in the afternoon. Saw Oxford University, the main street and had nice Indian take-away.
23/12/2000 - Hope, England
This morning made our way up to the Edale YHA in the Peak District Highlands. It was fully booked. As were all the other hostels within a few hundred miles. So we backtracked to the town of Hope, were we stayed in a luxury B&B above a country pub. It wasn't too expensive and we had dinner there and breakfast as well! It was freezing cold, foggy, raining, damp and miserable outside, so it was good to stay in the same place for the afternoon/night/morning.
24/12/2000 - York, England
Made our way up to York. Accomodation was pre-booked and paid for before we left Oz and it was good having somewhere to stay over Christmas. Walked around the city for a bit and around the old city wall.
25/12/2000 - York, England
First thing in the morning we walked around the perimeter of the York city wall before heading back to York for a real English Christmas lunch - with turkey and pudding and all! They even decorated the hostel with Christmas decorations and gave us crackers too! After lunch we headed over to the Yorkminster (between services) and on our way back to the hostel it started snowing! It was good to have a white Christmas!
26/12/2000 - Ambleside, England
Headed up to Ambleside in the Lakes District and on the way stopped off at some abbeys and castles. Ambleside YHA is huge and is located right on one of the Lakes with great views. After wandering around town for a little bit and getting some drinks, we had a nice dinner at the hostel and then a few drinks in the room.
27/12/2000 - Jedburgh, Scotland
Spent the morning walking one of the trails around Ambleside and then met up with Groot in Ambleside for a bit of lunch. We then jumped back in the car and headed towards Scotland stopping off for a look at Hadrian's Wall along the way. We found a pretty cheap B&B in Jedburgh run by a friendly lady. We had a HUGE feed of fish and chips at a local restaurant and supposedly it got down to about -10 degrees celsius overnight. The breakfast we had in Jedburgh was amazing - the best I had in Europe: fried eggs, heaps of bacon, warm bread rolls, toast with smiley faces on them, home-made jams, fried tomatoes/mushrooms... superb.
28/12/2000 - Edinburgh, Scotland
Finally we make it to Edinburgh! Wandered around the city to familiarise ourselves with the sites and find out where it was good to eat and drink. Found a nice Scottish pub which was reasonably priced so we had dinner and a few drinks there and then headed back to the Fleshmarket Lodge.
29/12/2000 - Edinburgh, Scotland
Started the day with an open-top double-decker bus tour of Edinburgh. We then went up the Scott Monument on Princes Street which gives you a good view of the castle, the main street and the city. Groot then finally made it to Edinburgh after being snowed in at the Lakes District.
30/12/2000 - Edinburgh, Scotland
Went up to Edinburgh Castle where there was a great view of Edinburgh. Saw the dungeons, the prisons, the great hall, and all the other areas of the castle.
31/12/2000 - Edinburgh, Scotland
Spent the morning climbing the treacherous Arthur's Seat which was cold and covered in snow, Wal didnt make it to the top. I had extreme difficulty getting back down the mountain as well and got lost in the process. Decked out for the night in thermals, we headed out and started the new year's eve festivities where we ended up between the "Pillars of Strength" on Princes Street and discussed the adverntures of "Andrew's Chair".
01/01/2001 - Edinburgh, Scotland
Recovery day was spent sleeping in and upon waking up I discovered that I had lost my jacket, my gloves and my beanie. After an extensive search we headed over to the Easy Everything internet cafe where they had a new years day special of �1 for 12 hours net time. That night we went on a "Ghosts and Gouls" walking tour where we were told ghost stories and taken to the underground vaults again. The candle the tour guide was holding mysteriously blew out in the vault...
02/01/2001 - London, England
Caught the train back to London where I shopped for a new jacket, beanie and gloves to replace the ones lost on new years eve. Met up with Gillian and Lauren and went drinking at an English pub in Leicester Square.
03/01/2001 - London, England
04/01/2001 - London, England
05/01/2001 - London, England
Below is a map of the second leg of my tour on Contiki!
06/01/2001 - Paris, France
07/01/2001 - Paris, France
08/01/2001 - Lyon, France
09/01/2001 - Barcelona, Spain
10/01/2001 - Barcelona, Spain
11/01/2001 - Nice, France
12/01/2001 - Nice, France
13/01/2001 - Florence, Italy
14/01/2001 - Rome, Italy
15/01/2001 - Rome, Italy
16/01/2001 - Venice, Italy
17/01/2001 - Venice, Italy
18/01/2001 - Vienna, Austria
19/01/2001 - Vienna, Austria
20/01/2001 - Munich, Germany
21/01/2001 - Lucerne, Switzerland
22/01/2001 - Lucerne, Switzerland
23/01/2001 - St Goar, Germany
24/01/2001 - Berlin, Germany
25/01/2001 - Berlin, Germany
26/01/2001 - Hamburg, Germany
27/01/2001 - Amsterdam, Nederlands
28/01/2001 - Amsterdam, Nederlands
29/01/2001 - London, England
30/01/2001 - London, England
31/01/2001 - London, England
01/02/2001 - Hong Kong, China
02/02/2001 - Sydney, Australia
Created by Ross Mackenzie