Cat sitting, but that doesn't mean we'll be sitting still!

We did the last bit of our drive from the Dairy Farm to Preston yesterday. 

Arrived in Preston around 3:00pm, and stopped in at a Lidl grocery store to pick up a few things we knew we would use, of course not knowing what our host Jane might have in the fridge that might need using up. 

We sure put on the steps!

The step counter on the phone read 24,365 by the end of the day.

We had checked out of our room but left our bags in the storage area so that we could make our way to pick up our car rental on the other side of Birmingham. Then, I found a little breakfast and lunch restaurant in a nearby industrial area. That turned out to be a great choice!

On the road again!

We had an enjoyable couple of weeks with Helen and Tony. Thank you both for having us. Always lots of laughs when we get together, and we look forward to the next time. Hopefully this coming November in Mexico!

We got packed up and our ride arrived at just after 6:00pm. Tony's Uncle John had come down for the wedding, and they live north of Birmingham so were able to drop us here on their way home. 

And then the skies opened up...

Other than feeling a little tired this morning, we all survived wedding day. We had arrived at the venue yesterday around noon, and had an hour and a half or so to get ourselves cleaned up and into our fancy dress clothes.

Obviously Ruth and I don't carry around fancy dress clothes! However, when we went to the wedding in Ireland last year,  we had Max the motorhome with us and we were able to transport our clothes to Helen and Tony's where they were stored until we needed them yesterday.

Steaks on the grill

So, we've decided to keep the rental car as we had it arranged with pickup in Birmingham on Monday. We probably would have saved a few dollars by taking our house sitting host up on her offer of letting us use her car for next week, however the logistics became difficult. 

Anyway, we decided that the extra cost was worth the extra convenience. 

Getting ready for the wedding

We have a car rental booked for this coming Monday in Birmingham, but yesterday evening I received a note from our house sitting host that she has an older car we can use if we want to. Which is very nice of her!

And I can cancel our car rental at no charge, but before I do that I need to check out just how much we'll save to see if it's worthwhile. 

Nice day trip down to Wareham, Dorset

We packed a lunch and set off for an hour drive towards the riverside town of Wareham, Dorset. But along the way we stopped in at the village of Moreton. Helen and Tony knew of an interesting little church in the village.

Moreton is also the resting place of  Lawrence of Arabia!

House sitting booked, and a preview of next month's adventure!

I mentioned the other day that we had applied for a house sit up in Preston, England and we found out that we were accepted. So we'll be looking after Stripey the cat for 8 days from May 21st to the 29th.

We're also renting a car, but we don't pick it up until we get to Birmingham on the 20th. It looks like we may be getting a ride up there from one of the other wedding guests. With a car rental, we'll be able to do lots of day trips from Preston, including some time in Lake District National Park which is about an hour north of Preston.

Off to the doctor... again!

Boy, it seems like we've been in a lot of doctors offices the last while! 

I wasn't even going to tell this story because it may be nothing... but as travelers, it's always interesting to hear how the medical system works in other countries. So, here it is...

Day trip down to the Jurassic Coast

We were all up at 6:00am Sunday morning. We had made a plan that we would drive down to England's southern Jurassic Coast and arrive there before the crowds. It was supposed to be a beautiful day, and based on the weather forecast it might be the last one for quite some time!

Our thinking was that we would then be able to head back later that morning while most of the traffic would be in the opposite direction.

I told her she would never be bored.

Saturday afternoon we took a trip over to a nature reserve just west of Glastonbury. It's run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and sure enough there were a lot of birding people there with the big zoom lenses and birding scopes.

It's times like this that I miss having the big camera with the fantastic zoom lens, but to be honest, I don't miss it enough to go back to carrying something like that around. Totally happy with the camera on my smartphone.

What's on the agenda for the rest of the month?

We've been really lucky with the weather this week, but it looks like we're in for some more typical "British" weather next week. Overcast with rain and a high of between 15c to 18c (60f to 65f). Oh well, it is only May after all, so we've had it pretty good.

Yesterday morning, we took Lindsey and Sadie over to the Castle Cary train station for their ride back to London's Gatwick airport.

Last day with Lindsey and Sadie

Yesterday morning, I received a notification from our Wise currency account that £880 ($1,103 USD, $1,509 CAD) had been deposited by easyJet. If you missed it, this is related to the compensation for the late arrival of our flight from Paris to Bristol. 

They said it would show up within 7 days, and it did! Did I mention we love easyJet?

Out for a hike above Cheddar Gorge!

We've done a lot of walking in the past couple of months, but it's been mostly flat city walking, not an actual trail hike that includes some climbing. And with our big ten day Albania hike coming up in just over a month, we need to get our legs in better shape.

So yesterday we went up to Cheddar Gorge to do their 5 km (3 mile) Gorge Top Walk.

The smallest city in England

We never did get any rain, but it was after lunch by the time some blue sky arrived. It turned out to be a nice afternoon, with high around 20C (68F).

Tony drove us over to the city of Wells... the smallest city in England based on the fact that it has both a cathedral and only 12,000 residents. We had gone through on the bus the other day and Lindsey had said she would like to go back and wander around. Helen stayed home... she has a bad foot and is trying to give it some rest.

Made it back to Helen and Tony's

On Monday, we walked almost 2 kms to the Bristol Bus Station and took the 10:55am bus from Bristol to Glastonbury. 

The bus was right on time, and it cost an amazingly cheap £2 ($2.50 USD, $3.40 CAD) per adult, and half that for Sadie.

April Expenses

We've been busy since the end of April, and just haven't had time to post our monthly expense report!

We started the month of April by arriving in Kuwait City on April 1st and had two flights throughout the month as we made our way to Istanbul and Antalya, Turkiye. 

Our budget called for $3,115 CAD ($2,300 USD) for the month, but we knew we had some medical things to get looked at, and ended up spending $3,512 CAD ($2,566 USD) in total.

Fantastic news!

Well, the "maybe some good news" from yesterday unexpectedly turned into fantastic news today!

I had mentioned yesterday that because our easyJet flight from Paris to Bristol was late arriving that we may be entitled to compensation. The European Union (EU) has some strict regulations governing the airlines and their commitments to their passengers, and if your arriving flight is more than three hours late, you can submit a claim to the airline.

Arrived in Bristol, England... and maybe some good news!

Yesterday's blog was posted late, so if you missed The view from the Eiffel Tower you might want to go back.

We were up at 5:45am to catch the bus to Paris airport for our 9:00am easyJet flight to Bristol, England. The bus outside the hotel arrived right on time, but we didn't have any small bills to pay for the bus. Only a €20 note. It was supposed to cost €2.50 each for the adults, but when I went to pay, the driver just waived us on through! So the ten minute bus ride to the terminal was totally free.

View from the Eiffel Tower

Friday was a bit of a hectic day! We had to be out of our apartment by 11:00am, but had arranged to be able to leave our bags behind, provided we were back to pick them up by 1:00pm.

So we headed out to return to the Eiffel Tower in the hopes of getting up there to match up another photo or two.

Busy day touring Paris matching my father's photos

For whatever reason, Paris has never been on our "to do" list. I guess that's why it took 62 years for us to get here!

We've only got a day and a half to explore the city, so we were pretty much planning on sticking to the highlights. But with lots of walking, we would see other stuff along the way.

Welcome to Paris!

France is not a new country for us. However we have never been to the actual city of Paris, despite having flown in and out of Paris airport a couple of times.

So when our granddaughter Sadie said that she wanted to see Paris as part of her trip across the pond, we decided that now is a good time!

Next blog post coming to you from Paris, France!

Our daughter Lindsey and granddaughter Sadie arrived in London, England yesterday morning after doing the overnight flight from Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

They spent the day exploring London, and then the evening and overnight at Ruth's aunt who lives in the city.  Today, they plan to go to a theater show, among other things. Then tomorrow afternoon they will take the chunnel train from London to Paris.

Road Trip Savings: 5 Top Tips for Economical Car Hire Deals

No one can deny that cars are among the technological advances that have made everyday life much easier. An additional and extremely important benefit is that travelling has become much less tiring and much more fun. Brits know how great road trips are, as they’re their favourite getaway holiday plan. In doing so, they not only experience something out of the ordinary but also get to know their own country better. However, not all of them know how to save money when looking for a car. You can avoid pitfalls by following our top tips for economical car hire deals in the UK.

Liverpool’s Concealed Delights: A Day to Discover the City’s Hidden Charms

London is the top destination in the South of England, but in the North, the elegant Liverpool is a city that takes everyone’s breath away. Its musical legacy, its maritime heritage, and the urban beauty make it stand out. You may have read articles about the special character of this English city before. However, this one can be the first to reveal Liverpool’s concealed delights. Spend one day of your holidays going to the underrated attractions mentioned below, and you’ll get to know Liverpool in more depth.

Exploring the Unforgettable Journey of Kevin and Ruth: A Tale of Wanderlust and Adventure

So I was wasting time on the internet, and playing with the free ChatGTP Artificial Intelligence program.

Just for fun, I asked it to come up with a blog post about the history of Kevin and Ruth from Travel with Kevin and Ruth. And literally less than two seconds later, it came up with the text. It's quite amazing... and almost a little spooky! Here it is...

More photo matching coming up!

Saturday afternoon, we walked down to the beach. 

Even though the property where we are staying is billed as being a beach stay, it's still a 2 km (1.3 mile) walk to actually get to the beach. There is a big open "forest" area between us and the beach with a lot of walking tracks, but none of them appear to actually lead to the beach. So we had to go along the road.