Wallsall

We stayed in London the first night then picked up a car and headed north west. We didnt get as far as we thought we might and decided to pull off the road and find some to stay which ended up being Wallsall. Warren found a great place for £50 and then we got a discount of £5.

 A kissing gate that we found the next morning on a walk that we did.

 This was the hotel with red carpet, a king sized bed and a massive bathroom.

Warren crossing a stile on the walk.

Money, money money.

The root of all evil they say.
When embarking on a trip, its always a worry of how much money to take, usuallt its not as easy as just going to the atm and withdrawing some or ratting around in the cupboards and making a scratch meal if one is a bit short.

Warren has his own bank account and each fortnight a little bit of money dribbles in there for whatever he wants to spend it on. He discovered that it can be changed into different currencies. I transferred an amount to that account for use overseas. I also got some pounds in cash.

We had National Australia bank travel cards which we have used before but they had expired. I had to request new ones. Once they came I put some money in there and requested pounds. We had three different lots of money. As the new cards had their own pins, we took each others in case we forgot the numbers.

Once we arrived in London, Warren told me that he thought he didnt bring the pin number for my card. I did think that I had memoried it. Then I got to thinking that because the English pounds are much bigger, I had changed wallets and of course my travel card was in the other wallet, at home.

Thank goodness for internet banking so I can move some other money into Warrens account.

The other hassle we had was people changing £50, nobody is willing to do it. We were advised to go to a bank. Found a bank, that was no trouble, finding a place to park was the difficulty, went in but no, they could not change it for us, it was against bank policy. If we had an account with the bank they could put it into the account and then give us smaller notes.

We bought an iced coffee at Maccas and changed a note there.

Beijing airport

Arriving at 5am not much was open and as we were transit we had to go to a different area. People who were staying there had to do a fingerprint into a machine. We just had to go thru another security check. I was getting my stuff out of my bag and into a tray. Tge security guade asked the guy in front of me if he gad a power bank, she spoke in English and he looked Chinese to me. He didnt understand her so I told him it was a battery pack and showed him mine. Oh, yes he had one, slowed the line a bit.

My priorty was to find the hourly hotel and arrange a sleep and a shower. E10 the sign said, off we went! Noone there but there were prices 188y per hour for a single person, 288 for a double, mim was two hours, did a quick calculation. Bloody hell almost $400 and we had seven hours but not spending that much. It was a quiet area though in noise and people so we stayed in the lounge area and were abke to get some sleep on tge couches.

Had a few walks around, drinks at KFC, we had no rmb but were able to use our travel card which had pounds sterling in it.

Rock on to 1330, only ten minutes til boarding then we see our plane outside with the nose cone off.

Opps that did not look good.

Our spot for most of the day, we finally got going two hours later for another ten hour flight. It had been eleven and a half hours from Brisbane.

Flight to Beijing

We got to the airport early even before the check out lines opened. I Saw there was a cache nearby that was still green so I wondered over to get it. Following the gps on the phone, I ended up crossing a ditch, looked for a solid patch to put one foot on it. Fail! Down went one foot into the mud up to my ankle. The sneakers had been washed onky the day before, now I had one wet and soggy shoe and the bottom oh my pants leg wet as well.

I ventured on, no point going back. Passed the memorial  and just a bit beyond. Walking up and down a couple of times before using the brain matter. Ha! A smilie and two trackables to move. Funny that I found a neat concrete path to go back.

Check in was happening when I returned so we joined the queue, it seemed to take forever, one guy had a problem and was at counter for 20 minutes or more, meaning that only one was handling the masses.

Our seats were two over to the side of the plane and I did have a reasonable sleep, I think it was because we took our travel pillows.

Inflight entertainment left a lot to be desired, ten channels all in Chinese. Woken up at 3.30 am to have breakfast as we were due in at 5 am. We werent due to fly out again until 2 pm so my main priorit was to find the hourly hotel and grab some sleep and a shower before the next leg.

Wants v Needs

This is always hard one and it took me a long time to work out the difference.
I like to think that I am better than I used be but there are still times that I buy things just because I want it not that I need it. I certainly dont need any more dishes or house hold things as I am decluttering excess things.

Mothers Day is hovering in the near future (next Sunday) and I walked passed a chemist shop a couple of weeks ago and of course they had a large display of possible gifts for mothers day. I stopped and looked and even spoke to the saleswoman, saying something along the lines of i like them but I dont need one and then walked away.

Last week I needed to go to the Post Office and as I had parcels to carry, I asked Warren to park in the nearest carpark which meant we walked past the display again. Hum, I pointed ut out to Warren. He liked them too. It was definately a want not a need, luckily not too many dollars changed hands. Now I have to find the green tea that is hiding in the pantry somewhere.

There are dragons around the cups and pot, Warren pointed out that dragons are my sign so of course I should buy it.

Packing

Packing in this household is usually done the night or morning before we leave. Over the years people have asked "Have you packed yet?" The answer has always been  a no. I usually have an jdea of what I want to take then its thrown together a few hours beforehand.

This trip however is a little different, made different by the fact that when we got the details of our walking tour, it stated that yes, they will move our luggage BUT only one piece each and no more than 15 kilos. Oh boy, planes allow 23 kilos and some airlines are at 30 kilos which was great when we were tracking back and forth to China for five month at a time and across two seasons.

Last week I was having some trouble sleeping and realised that I was worried about what to take to make me comfortable and would fit in with their regulations. They would of course take more luggage but that was at a cost of £8 a day, £80 for the trip, adding roughly $150. That was not going to happen  so I packed early and my bag was 9.6 kgs. Yay.

There were a few more things that I needed but I could cope with that. Final pack was this morning. Hum, more to go in than I thought, a beanie to ward of the winds and chills around the ears. Another pair of jeans, just in case. My walking pole, which jt turns out I have Warrens and he has mine as they fit better that way, his doesnt break down as much as mine. A small first aid kit that we have in the caravan, a pair of sandals and my back pack. Last but definately not least was my geo caching bag with the track ables that we are taking to continue travelling and path tags.

I had stickers in my stuff so added them, the front and sides have motor stickers, makes it easier to identify my bag coming off the plane. It now weighs 12 kgs and Warrens is about 10.5. He will be taking a backpack on the plane but I am just going to take a tote bag which will hold phone, battery charger, wallet, tablet and medication, spare t shirt. Must remember to take travel pillow too, it will clip on to the side. Now what to do for the next five days?

Tax time!

No, we are not early but late. One of those things that that you know has to be done but theres plenty of time, then its gets to the stage that there is no longer plenty of time.

Our accountant usually comes to us but as he is a bit busy just now, he gave us a time provided we went out to his place. He told us when we left to take the milage so we can claim it next year.

Had a nice visit, checked out the house and his latest "toys" hes very keen on railway and in his shed he had two trolleys that he had bought.

After leaving and getting a nice result from tax, we visited a small national park just down the way.

Massive trees, I made Warren stand by this one to show the size.

We could also see right across to the ocean, also we were about two hours away from it.