Overseas trip, July - August 2009

On 6 July 2009 we flew off on our eight week fun filled European adventure. We’d saved for two years and spent a lot of time planning and preparing for the trip of a lifetime. Mike and I enjoyed it immensely.

Where we went:

- Singapore

- UK - London, Bath, Marloes Sands, Hartington, Ambleside, Chillingham, Edinburgh, Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Glasgow

- Belgium - Brugge

- Netherlands - Rotterdam, Dan Haag, Amsterdam, Arnhem

- Germany - Essen, Berlin, Munich

- Czech Republic - Prague

- Switzerland - Zurich

- France - Avignon, Bordeaux, Paris

How much it cost:
Total cost $33,668.54

- Flights, insurance, hire car and Eu-Rail pass = $10,930.95

- Tours etc = $968.40

- Singapore and London accommodation = $1,403.50

- Other accommodation = approx. $7,800

- Meals, shopping, bus/metro and activities = approx. $12,565

What we ate:
In my travel diary I kept a list of what we ate for dinner each night. Below is how it reads, notes in italics added June 2011:

6 July - German Pizza - Our first night in Singapore and we ended up at a German bar.
7 July - Room service - toasted sandwich - My toasted sandwich was good. Mike had some chicken dish and ended up with food poisoning - not cool.
8 July - (nothing - slept!) - We arrived in London late and tired. We didn’t care about food - we just wanted to sleep.
9 July - Cheese sandwich at movies - We were well out of our routine. I think we may have had a big lunch and ended up smuggling a cheese sandwich into the movies. We watched Transformers (I think).
10 July - Garfunkles - Roast pork - I don’t remember what we’d been doing, but somehow ended up in the middle of London looking for somewhere to eat. It was a pretty plain meal and it didn’t excite me.
11 July - (slept?) - I have no idea what happened here.
12 July - Pizza with Chris - We met our friend, Chris, for dinner. He had an idea of where to go but we couldn't find it, so ended up having pizza.
13 July - Thai - This was in Bath. It was pretty late by the time we got out to eat and there didn’t seem to be much open. We ended up having Thai and I think it was quite good.
14 July - Microwaved Chinese - From Bath we drove to a tiny place in Wales called Marloes Sands. We’d heard there wasn’t much there so stopped in at a supermarket on the way and grabbed some heat and eat meals - so glad we did - the YHA was truly in the middle on nowhere and there were no shops.

15 July - YHA meal (chicken) - Hartington. I remember sitting in the YHA dining room but not what was on my plate.
16 July - Burgers at Churchills - Ambleside, in the Lakes district. I think it was ok except for some slightly dodgy processed cheese.
17 July - Italian - When all else fails, have Italian.
18 July - Pub meal (chicken mornay) - Chillingham. We stayed a night at Chillingham Castle and went to a pub nearby for dinner. It was awesome.
19 July - Maxies? enchiladas - Edinburgh. A little restaurant down some stairs and below the road. I remember enjoying this meal.
20 July - Pizza - never fails, but don’t remember this meal.
21 July - Funny little pub - burgers - Loch Ness. There’s not much in Loch Ness. We found this little place that was kinda like an addition to someones house with a bar, tv, pool table and some tables and chairs. Stink burger.
22 July - YHA - good meal - chicken - Loch Lomond. We decided to eat in, as we didn’t really know where the closest eatery was and the price was good. We missed decent food while away and this meal made up for so much. Plus cheesecake for dessert!

23 July - Tattie Macs - sausages - Glasgow. This place was recommended to us and was pretty good.
24 July - Fish & chips (expensive) - Brugge. There are so many restaurants around Grote Markt that it was hard to choose. I ended up with some fish smothered in a creamy, cheesy sauce with peppercorns and a bowl of fries on the side. The fish was pretty tasteless.

25 July - Fish & chips (Irish) - An Irish pub that is... I think it came with coleslaw that was old.
26 July - Burgers and chips - At a place called ‘Quick’ I think - it was like McDonalds or Burger King.
27 July - Moroccan - Yum! - Rotterdam. This place was recommended to us by the YHA and was fricken’ awesome. Best meal ever.

28 July - McDonalds - Den Haag
29 July - Room service - Pizza and satay chicken - I don’t remember this meal. I remember the hotel was really nice though and we had a good time in Den Haag.
30 July - Spag bol. - Amsterdam. I don’t remember this meal.
31 July - Italian - pasta and pizza - I don’t remember this meal.
1 Aug - Hotel - chicken - I don’t remember this meal. Was I stoned the entire time I was in Amsterdam?
2 Aug - YHA - chicken, salad, chips, cauliflower - Arnhem. The YHA was miles away from anything so we stayed in for dinner. The meal was pretty basic. We went for a walk in the nearby cemetery afterwards.
3 Aug - Pasta and salad (Jules) - Essen. We went to our friends for dinner. Jules made awesome pasta and salad. Awesome. Totally awesome.

4 Aug - Homemade pizza and fruit salad - Again, we had dinner with Noosh and Jules. Noosh made the pizza base and we had a quarter each to pile with toppings. Again, awesome. I made fruit salad for dessert.
5 Aug - Burger King - It was late. We were tired.
6 Aug - Hotel - Chicken, ham and cheese on toast - Berlin. Arse.
7 Aug - Asian - chop suey - Not bad.
8 Aug - Pizza at Checkpoint Charlie - Even though it was a nice summer evening we sat inside because everyone outside smokes, which is not cool when eating.
9 Aug - Czech - duck - Prague. Awesome meal. Duck, potatoes, red cabbage and dumplings.

10 Aug - Pizza (up the road from hotel) - When all else fails...
11 Aug - Mixed grill with potatoes - I don’t remember this.
12 Aug - Burgers and chips - Munich. Some weird little bar. Friendly staff. I think the food was ok.
13 Aug - Fish, potatoes and salad - Super-busy and large restaurant. I think the food was ok.
14 Aug - McDonalds - Zurich. Switzerland was expensive.
15 Aug - Doner kebab - Best value meal in town.
16 Aug - Pizza - When all else fails...
17 Aug - Cod with sundried tomatoes and parmesan - Avignon. OMG. Awesome.
18 Aug - Chicken, salad, quiche - I thought this was good but Mike didn’t really rate it.
19 Aug - Crazy French sausage - Bordeaux - Another restaurant that was recommended to us. Not good though. My ‘crazy french sausage’ was filled with bits of animal I don’t usually eat.
20 Aug - Indian - It had been a while since we’d had Indian. I remember the scenery more than the food, but I think the food was good.
21 Aug - Chicken, chips and salad - Paris - ok meal.
22 Aug - Lebanese - Flash restaurant where we didn’t quite know what to expect, we didn’t know what to order and got no help from the waiter. I had some chicken and flat bread, that was tasty, but not what I expected and too expensive.
23 Aug - Pasta - When all else fails...
24 Aug - McDonalds - Easy
25 Aug - Asian - Rafkins - London. Good meal but don’t stay at the hotel! There was a fault with the fire alarm which ruined our sleep before our very last day in London. Long story...
26 Aug - Pasta - I don’t remember this, but I thought we had dinner with Chris and Gemma before we went back? And I don’t remember that being pasta...?

On the 27th August we flew to Singapore and I haven’t noted what we ate.

Postscript:

I do now remember having the pizza and pasta in Amsterdam on 31 July.  We'd spent the day at the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum and went to a little Italian restaurant nearby.  I was really hungry but ended up ordering too much and we took some of the pizza away with us to eat later.