The Keeler's

With respect to my previous Disney post. I could have just gone with the popular narrative and told you that it is – ‘The happiest place on Earth’. It’s not. Well, not for me. But I admit that I had fun there. Besides, there’s not much point in getting too deeply analytical, I mean, it’s Disneyland.

Disneyland and the world has changed a lot since my first visit back in 1986. Some say (including me) that it has strayed too far from Walt’s original vision.

They’ve brought a lot in to the fold over the past 30 odd years. Pixar was a bona fide moneymaker, purchasing it was a no-brainer. Marvel, was on life-support, and was a bountiful repository of over 50 years of comic book mythology. Add Lucasfilm, bringing cinemas most popular movie franchise, and all of its merchandising into the fold, gives us Darth Vader, Spiderman and Buzz Lightyear standing side by side with Mickey, Minnie, Donald & Goofy. Somehow it works, and whilst change and progress is inevitable, we were all disappointed that Bugs Life had been replaced by The Avengers.

Today, Disneyland is one of the world’s largest companies as well as being one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. It’s all about the shareholders and the money. I’ve visited the original park here in California many times. Maybe too many? But there were still moments when I got caught up in the Disney magic. Only the most jaded and cynical person would be able to withstand Tinker Bell’s pixie dust. I’ve also been to Tokyo Disney, and we stayed at the Aulani, Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii. Louise has also been to Disney World in Florida. Lou, Bailey & Josh absolutely love Disneyland. Travers really enjoyed the rides, but Blake & I could only handle about 2 hours during the day, then we needed a break. We’d go back to the park later, during the cool of the night.

That’s an advantage of staying at one of the 3 Disney hotels, we chose to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. It’s easy to leave the park, chill at the pool, grab a cocktail from ‘Trader Sams’, have nap in the cool comfort of your hotel room, then wander back to the park(s) via ‘Downtown Disney’. There are actually 2 parks.

The original Disneyland to the left as you pass through security and California Adventure to the right. With our park hopper passes, we could move from park to park, and with ‘fast-pass’ pre-book rides and minimise wait times.

California Adventure is open until 10pm and Disneyland closes at midnight. Bailey was escorted off the premises by Mickey & Minnie one night, protesting that there was still a minute left until the gates shut.

Being here in the California summer was testing. The crowds were big and the heat was brutal. The popular attractions have wait times of up to an hour during peak times. Of all the Keeler’s, I declare Josh the winner as far as most rides. I think he did 27. As for most photogenic, Bailey wins in a landslide. She had a different outfit every day, with mouse ears to match. She received lots of compliments every day from Disney cast members and even other park goers with regular shout outs: “Love your outfit”!

Yes, Disneyland is expensive, and personally, I’ve had my fill of Disneyland. For me, it’s a long way from Sunday nights watching Walt’s ‘Wonderful World of Disney’. I have no intention of ever walking through the turnstiles again, but the joy on my family’s little faces was worth every cent. For them it will always be – ‘The happiest place on Earth’ and that to me is priceless.

Disneyland. The people here are too happy. Why does everything have to be so much fun? I find the ambiance to be too magical. It’s unnatural. I thought Lord Farquad decreed that all fairytale creatures be banished from the kingdom and that all fruitcakes and freaks were hereby evicted?!

The princesses are not convincing. Their dresses seemed unsuitable for the occasion. Let alone the ridiculously hot California summer heat! It’s as if they’re overcompensating. I don’t mean any disrespect if they are genuine royalty, but they were taking selfies with commoners, just like Meghan Markle and the Kardashians.

Peter Pan gave me no peanut butter. Captain Jack shared no rum. And Elsa made me no ice. I did eat a crab meat sandwich at ‘Earl of Sandwich’. Sorry kids, I think it was Sebastian.  

The induced laughter & smiles made the corners of my mouth numb & my belly feeling uncomfortably of butterflies. The security guards would not permit me to abide in the sleeping quarters of the castle. My Mickey Mouse ears fooled no one. Worst of all, I had to explain to my 16 year old son Blake why there were 5 Goofy’s in the park, on the same day, and why they were all wearing different outfits?! It was worse than last Christmas, when I had to explain to him why there were so many Santa’s at Westfield West Lakes.   

Ask yourself. Do you enjoy hot, sweaty, overcrowded places? Long lines, terrible rides, annoying kids, stupid mascots, dumb music, unreasonably over-priced tickets, and nasty, expensive food? If you answered yes to any or all of the above, then you’re gonna’ love Disneyland.

In the better late than never section of our world travel blog, here’s Bailey’s Barcelona story.

Hello, Bailey here! I decided last minute before leaving England to book a lil 3 day side quest to Barcelona. It was just what my soul needed! Thank you Trav for the recommendation. I instantly fell in love with this city, its architecture, art, people, tapas + sangria, shopping and the general vibe. It truly is a beautiful place. I booked my stay at a hostel, The Central House Barcelona Garcia. From the front it didn’t look like a hostel and more like my last seen location. My first thought was that Kevy Metall was going to be the next Liam Neeson in the Aussie version of taken. Inside the place was beautiful, clean and the people were lovely! There is so much to see in Barcelona and I made it my mission to see as much as possible. I visited La Pedrera Casa Milà, Picasso’s School, tour of the Gothic District, El Barrío Gotíco, Roman Wall Ruins, La Rambla, Food Market, Erotic Museum, Park Güell, Palau de la Música, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Cathedral, Hard Rock Cafe, Art Museum, The Dow Jones (stock market bar).

In an effort to save some coin I decided to train it to the airport for my departure because it was cheap and easy. Or at least it would have been if I hopped on the right one. It would have taken 2 trains & €5 to deliver me straight into the terminal. So confidently I hopped on the wrong train to the wrong terminal. It took me a few attempts but finally I was on the right track to miss check in by 5mins. So due to my poor time management and map reading it was another night in Barcelona & $800 for another flight + accommodation + a taxi to the airport. Follow me for more money saving travel tips!

The only affordable flight to get me back to London at a reasonable time was a red eye flight via Frankfurt, Germany. I arrive with 30mins to make my connecting flight. Let me paint a picture for you, I rock up to passport check with the hot combo of no sleep & no make up.

Looking good, feeling good. My passport photo is from 7.5 years ago when I had bleach blonde hair and was a spring chicken. The customs officer looks at my passport and shakes his head “Is this you?! Noooo.

Wow this does not look like you. I don’t know if it’s because you have make up on or what? But your eyes just look really squinty in person” as he pulls at his eyes to make them squinty. I look around for the cameras & Ashton Kutcher. Am I being “punk’d”?

It was a great place to spend my birthday. The morning started in Disneyland. Then we retreated from the heat to Huntington Beach. The cocktails were flowing at Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Bar. We met up with another of my WPA ‘Los Hombres’ legends. Mike & his family for drinks at ‘Baja Sharkeez’ followed by dinner at ‘Dukes’. Trav & I ended up at Johnny’s Saloon. This is a great little Dive bar. It’s a hidden gem in Huntington Beach. On Beach and Slater, behind the gas station. If you want great customer service, huge whiskey selection, craft beers and cocktails, this is your place! Trav chose the ‘Jamaican Mule’ for us. It was sweet and it kicked like a mule too! Good times, and a (barely) memorable birthday.

New York was awesome! Our next stop was Los Angeles. The possibility of a flight cancellation or re-routing was a high possibility. We landed in the tail of Hurricane Hilary. The final hour of our flight all passengers and crew had to remain seated with seat belts fastened due to extreme turbulence. Hilary was down graded to a category 1 tropical storm and projected to dump a “potentially historic” amount of rain that was to cause “life-threatening” and “catastrophic” flooding in the Southwest. When we landed the arm on the tug towing our plane to the gate, snapped. By the time we eventually disembarked in the terminal at LAX, and rushed into the bathroom, the Earthquake alarm went off advising that a 5.1 quake had just rocked Southern California. You can always depend on ‘The Keelers’ to bring the good vibes and weather events. We arrived safely in Disneyland and everyone was very excited and happy and a little bit relieved.

The Holloway’s kindly welcomed The Keeler’s to their beautiful home over on Long Island. We had a great day, with awesome food and fantastic hospitality. It was great to catch up with Kev & Nancy and the Holloway  family. When I go to Bangkok for the annual WPA Conference, Kevin Holloway is one of the cool guys that I always look forward to seeing and spending time with. Aside from the fact he’s a great bloke, Kev was instrumental in assisting us (NOW GLOBAL LOGISTICS) to obtain our FMC license. Kev is a foundation and life member of the ‘Los Hombres’.

The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. One of the most iconic scenes in movie history is the conclusion of “King Kong.” The massive ape rampages his way through Gotham and climbs to the top of the skyscraper with Fay Wray in hand. Kong is the star of the 2^nd floor. It’s an unforgettable experience when the doors of the elevator open up on the 86th floor and you can admire the maze of skyscrapers at a vantage point of 1,250 feet. But, you can take the option to go higher. The question is? – Is it  worth paying the extra dollars to go to the 102nd floor. The answer is 100% YES!!!

The buildings on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti album are two apartment buildings that were built side by side at 96 and 98 St. Mark’s Place in New York City. The St. Mark’s Place buildings play a role in the musical history of another famous band, The Rolling Stones. In the Stones’ 1981 “Waiting On A Friend” music video, Mick Jagger is filmed waiting for Keith Richards on the stoop of the famous buildings.

 The morning of 11^th of September 2001, for many of us, will be one of those, “I remember exactly where I was” moments in our lives. The 9/11 Memorial is a place of remembrance and contemplation within the bustle of lower Manhattan. The focal points of the Memorial are two pools, each nearly an acre in size, that sit in the footprints of the former North and South Towers. Out of respect, our photos of the memorial are limited and there were some areas where photos & videos were not permitted. It’s very difficult to summarise how moving, emotional, respectful, or as Josh said, ‘educational’, the museum is. The words of Romes greatest poet, Virgil – “No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory of Time.” – encapsulate the spirit of the memorial perfectly.

The Circle Line Cruise is an excellent 2 and a half hour cruise that took us along all three NYC rivers, and gave us a fantastic view of the city’s most iconic landmarks. The Manhattan skyline,  Little Island, Hudson Yards, One World Trade Center, Brooklyn Bridge and downtown Brooklyn, Yankee Stadium, the George Washington Bridge, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Highly recommend the Circle Line Cruise as a great way to see a large chunk of the iconic New York sites.

Quintessentially New York, Ellen Hart-Sturm’s Stardust Diner is a retro 1950s theme restaurant located at 1650 Broadway on the southeast corner of 51st Street in Theater District, Manhattan, New York City. The diner is regarded as one of the best theme restaurants in New York. Ellen’s Stardust Diner is considered a breeding ground for singers. Our waiter, mid song, casually handed us the dessert menu. Former Ellen’s staff members have been known to star in almost every Broadway and major off-Broadway musical such as South Pacific, Avenue Q, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, In The Heights, On The Town, Wicked, and Godspell. The food was over priced and ordinary, the cocktails were good, but the entertainment was amazing! Worth a visit next time you’re in New York City.

The sights, sounds & smells of New York City are overwhelming. There is so much to see, and there’s a million ways to destroy your credit card. Tiffany’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, FAO Schwarz, it’s a shopaholic dream or nightmare, depending on your point of view. Here’s a small sample of our first day.

The incredible apartment we’re staying during our week in New York City, was once ‘8BC’ – a nightclub, performance space, and art gallery located at 337 East 8th Street in the East Village. Notable performers included: Steve Buscemi, They Might Be Giants, and k.d. lang. 8BC is referenced in the song “La Vie Bohème” in the Broadway musical RENT.

Our first morning in New York, we had breakfast at the world famous, Katz Deli. It’s a no-frills New York deli with theatrically cranky service, serving mile-high sandwiches since 1888. The restaurant has been frequented by scores of celebrities and politicians over the years and was even featured in the classic 1989 romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally…” — Katz’s is where the iconic “I’ll have what she’s having” scene took place. I had the Reuben sandwich. It’s a grilled sandwich composed of corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island dressing or Russian dressing, grilled between slices of rye bread. I washed it down with a New York ‘Egg Cream’. An egg cream is a cold drink consisting of milk, carbonated water, and flavored syrup (typically chocolate or vanilla), as a substitute for an ice cream float. Despite the name, the drink contains neither eggs nor cream. The Reuben tasted awesome, but could have easily fed the entire Keeler family.

This was our first time flying business class with United and we were not disappointed. Service was great, food was great and the icing on the cake was the realization that this was also the first time, that Lou Lou and I had ever been on the same plane/flight, together, out of London.

New York, here we come!

They’ll always be the one source of love we’ll never have to earn; the place we run to for help and comfort; and the ever-steady constant in the inevitable tides of change. The love of our families sustains us and keeps us going when we need it most. Family is everything.

The chairs at Runnymede are 12 intricately worked bronze chairs standing together on the ancient meadow at Runnymede, created by artist Hew Locke to examine the changing and ongoing significance of Magna Carta. The Jurors is not a memorial, but an invitation to sit down and reflect upon the histories depicted in the artwork. Magna Carta Libertatum (Medieval Latin for “Great Charter of Freedoms”), commonly called Magna Carta (also Magna Charta; “Great Charter”), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15^th June 1215. Magna Carta was written by a group of 13th-century barons to protect their rights and property against a tyrannical king. The chairs memorial were placed in the meadow at Runnymede in 2015, to commemorate the 800^th Anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. Why does Magna Carta matter 800 years after it was first sealed? Magna Carta is a cornerstone of the individual liberties that we enjoy, and it presents an ongoing challenge to arbitrary rule. But over time, while not envisaged at the time of its drafting, Magna Carta has for many been seen not only as a foundation of liberty, but also one of democracy. And this broader notion of the wider significance of Magna Carta makes it especially relevant today. Sadly, the concept of democracy was lost on Blake & Josh, who opted for a more feudal approach. They were still ‘jousting’ when we left and as far as we know are still fighting in a field somewhere near Windsor.

Back in the early 90’s, when we lived in London, we lived at 3 different addresses. Our first being 24 Avenue Road, Brentford. This is where I was living when I first met Lou Lou, where Brian & Fiona met, and the place where many friends & family visited us from Australia, Canada, USA, New Zealand, South Africa, it was the united nations, party central. Our 2^nd address was 74 Adelaide Road, London W13. The lady who lives there now kindly invited Louise & I inside to look around. It’s changed a lot. Finally, our 3^rd and arguably most important address, we ‘lived’, was the ‘Lord Nelson’ pub. Brian worked (mainly drank) here, and it was the epicentre of our social life. The ‘Nels or Else’ has been totally renovated inside, and the updated beer garden is stunning, but the old piano remains, and is still out of tune.

After our day in Lewisham, we needed to decompress, so we stopped off in Laleham on our way back home to Emsworth. Laleham is a picturesque village on the River Thames, in the Borough of Spelthorne, about 17 miles west of central London. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames, where our Lou Lou is from. Louise spent a lot of time in Laleham, when she was growing up. The poet Matthew Arnold (Louise’s school was named after him) lived here. The Church of England parish church of All Saints dates from the 12th century. The ‘Turks Head’ pub is where Louise celebrated her 18^th Birthday…3 years in a row! The ‘Turks Head’ recommended that we have dinner at the ‘Three Horseshoes’ pub around the corner. An excellent, much needed and appreciated recommendation.  

Things were running too smoothly. It simply would not be a Keeler family holiday without something going wrong. We had a car hire booked for pick up in the ‘scenic’ London borough of Lewisham. I’ve never had any desire to visit Lewisham. Not because of the reputation it has associated with its gang-youth violence problem, nor the fact that its infamous Millwall FC supporters were one of the most notorious hooligan gangs in England. Or even the fact that Mummy Margaret had repeatedly warned us to stay away from East London. No, it’s simply the fact that Lewisham, is a shit hole. We departed Mayfair and after a £60 taxi ride we arrived at around 1pm at ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR, Lewisham to be advised by the assistant manager that he had no vehicle for us. His name was Rokas Balcius and he’d clearly attended the Basil Fawlty school of customer care. He shrugged his shoulders, made no effort whatsoever to offer any alternate solution, and informed me that we should have booked earlier. The fact that I had a confirmed booking number was irrelevant as he claims he’d made attempts to contact us. The fact that I had no missed calls on my phone, and that he finally admitted that he didn’t actually have either my phone number or email would imply that his initial statement may have been bullshit? Keeping calm in a crisis is important. We considered all possible scenarios, including spending a night in Lewisham on the off chance of a suitable vehicle being available. As old mate Rokas said: “perhaps tomorrow”. After a Keeler family conference, the decision was made to get to Heathrow. To Rokas credit and given the very real threat from me that the Keeler’s would be spending the night on the floor of ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR, Lewisham or at his apartment, he arranged an Uber to Woolwich tube station. Of course the Uber XL was too small for all 6 of us and our luggage, so we were forced to order a 2^nd Uber & split in to 2 groups. Uber #1 got dropped at the car park of the ‘Royal Arsenal Hotel’. Uber #2 at least got dropped at an underground station. The wrong one. Anyhow, we sorted it out and had a wonderful family reunion at the Woolwich underground and without any problems whatsoever (other than Blake & his oyster card) we took the 40 minute ride via the new & I must say very clean – Queen Elizabeth Line to Heathrow. It was good to get the smell of Lewisham out of our nostrils. We arrived at Heathrow. Rode the lifts up and down until we found the right floor. Finally, at SIXT-Rent a car, we had no choice but to take what we could get, so grabbed 2 vehicles (no people carriers anywhere). Louise got the Audi. I got the SKODA. Just a final note regarding Lewisham. On our way out, we drove around an abandoned crashed vehicle in the middle of the road and further along, a taped off police crime scene. Our research late last night revealed that a murder investigation has been launched after a 20-year-old man was found with knife injuries, on the street in Lewisham, and sadly passed away. Keep it real Lewisham. Still a shit hole

It’s ok to be an annoying tourist for 30 minutes. Blake (Yoko) broke up the band by refusing to participate in the photo, Bailey was shopping in Covent Garden and was unable to play her role as Jimmie Nicol. Meanwhile, Lou Lou played her Linda McCartney (official photographer) role to perfection. Abbey Road is in northwest London. It is the location of one of the world’s most famous recording studios, and the world’s most famous zebra crossing. Tourists from around the world flock here to recreate the famous Beatles album cover shot. It is in the beautiful, leafy St John’s Wood, the area includes plenty of cafes, restaurants, and Lords Cricket Ground. We jumped on the 139 bus from Trafalgar Square, took our mandatory crossing photos, then had a great dinner at ‘Fora Restaurant’, before heading back to central London via Lords, where the very friendly security guards kindly let us in to the historic ground and were even kind enough to offer to take some photos for us.

Heddon Street is a small, side-street and alleyway off Regent Street located in the heart of London, close to Piccadilly Circus. If there is any London location which can be justifiably described as THE Ziggy Stardust “shrine” it would have to be Heddon Street where Bowie posed outside #23 for the front cover of the ‘Ziggy’ album.  Full title: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. This street has for Bowie fans the same significance that the Abbey Road zebra-crossing has for Beatles fans. You can grab a pint at the ‘Starman’ pub located at the end of the lane. It has a magnificent painting of the Ziggy album cover hanging next to the main bar. The first photo is what the street looked like back in the 70’s when Bowie did the album cover with the 2nd picture (featuring Blake, Josh & Trav) showing Heddon Street in 2023.

London’s Tin Pan Alley – Denmark Street is Europe’s greatest music street. Filled with specialist music shops buzzing with people passionate about music. Everyone from The Beatles to The Stones, to Jimi Hendrix have visited here at some stage. Many of those guys recorded or jammed here in the basements. Situated on the cusp of London’s West End running off Charing Cross Road. It was once the home to music publishers, all of the major UK music magazine offices, recording & rehearsal studios and guitar shops on both sides of the street. Bernie Taupin and Elton John wrote “Your Song”, Elton’s first hit single, at No. 20 Denmark Street. Taupin wrote the lyrics while sitting on the roof (“I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss”) while waiting for Elton one morning. Every British band you can think of have bought and sold guitars here. The National steel acoustic resonator Travers is pictured playing was priced at £2,999 (A$5,800). A bargain compared to the price tags on the pre-owned by Iron Maiden, Joe Satriani & Stevie Ray Vaughan guitars downstairs in the cabinets. But their price tags were not even close to the Jimmy Page pre-owned Gibson Les Paul with the £60,000 (A$116,000) price tag. The answer is no. We didn’t buy any guitars.

Admission to the Natural History Museum Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London is FREE. The recommended visiting time is around 3 to 4 hours, but according to the tourist brochures, you could easily spend the entire day wandering around all 4 of the museum’s coloured zones. However, as I have the attention span of a small child, and just wanted to see the dinosaurs, I went to the Blue Zone as fast as my little legs would carry me, saw the dinosaurs and then me and the boys went to the pub. Louise & Bailey went shopping at some little shop called Harrods.

During our week in London, we stayed at ‘The Leonard Hotel’. It’s a boutique hotel located in Marble Arch, near major department stores and restaurants, within easy walking distance to Oxford Street, Mayfair and Park Lane. It was the perfect location for our time in the awesome city that is London and we made full use of the bar for a nightcap after our night out in the West End seeing the sensational ‘Jersey Boys’ at the Trafalgar Theatre.

Hamley’s is the world’s biggest and oldest toy store. Set over 7 floors, with more than 50,000 lines of toys on sale. It receives around five million visitors each year. Founded in 1760, it moved to its current site on Regent Street in London’s West End in 1881. There are no photos of Louise at Hamley’s because she was too busy chasing her excited children around the 7 floors.

Our first night in London, we had dinner at the original (and the best) Hard Rock Café. It’s  located on Old Park Lane and is the site where it all started back in 1971. Two American guys, Peter Morton and Isaac Tigret, who lived in London decided to open an authentic USA style burger restaurant. It became popular with musicians as a hang out and the occasional live performance. In 1979, Eric Clapton donated one of his guitars, so it could be hung over his favourite seating spot within the restaurant. The story goes that Pete Townsend (The WHO) was incensed that Clapton had a guitar hanging up, so he went home and came back with one of his guitars, demanding it be hung over the bar also. According to Townsend he was so drunk that he accidentally donated his most treasured and favourite guitar, his black Les Paul. Next thing, Debbie Harry donated her signed sweatshirt and this is how the Hard Rock Café music memorabilia collection started. It wasn’t until 1982 that the first Hard Rock opened in the USA, in Los Angeles. The Hard Rock Café chain now houses the greatest collection of Rock Music Memorabilia with more than 82,000 pieces across the globe. A trip to the Hard Rock Café is a trip to a museum with food and the original one at Old Park Lane also has ‘The Vaults’ across the road. This is the only Hard Rock Café Museum in the world with extra hidden treasures from Aerosmith, KISS, Madonna, Lennon, Elton, Bowie and many others.

We’ve just returned from an amazing week up in London. We love London. It is without doubt one of the greatest cities in the world. It is simply impossible to see and do everything in a week. The iconic sights, the shopping, the Rock n’ Roll landmarks, it’s overwhelming – in a good way. I hope that we managed to at least give the kids an introduction to this magnificent city. I’m way behind on the Blogs, so please standby over the next day or 2 as I play catch up.

Sally & Adam welcomed everyone to their home for the official come and meet baby Alfie party. It was a fantastic day and so great to catch up with family.

Thanks to Sally, we had the opportunity to experience 1,000 years of history at this incredible castle, situated in magnificent grounds overlooking the River Arun in West Sussex. Built at the end of the 11th century by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel. Our timing was perfect (once again thanks to Sal) to be here for the International Medieval Jousting Tournament. I’m struggling to express in words just how awesome this experience was!

As we were planning our trek back ‘home’ from Liverpool to Emsworth, Travers mentioned that Wrexham was on the way home. Albeit via a slight deviation through Wales. Our question was: “Why”? Those who are familiar with the sports documentary series Welcome to Wrexham  will of course know the answer. Wrexham is a Welsh professional association football club based in the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, North East Wales. The documentary series is based on Hollywood actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds attempts to revive the third-oldest professional association football team in the world. Founded in 1864, the club had been mismanaged to the point of near collapse. McElhenney & Reynolds had no known experience in managing a sports team, but with Hollywood money, a love of sport and a desire to bring positive change to the local Wrexham community, the pair purchased Wrexham AFC via a £2 million takeover. The local pub ‘The Turf’ is the spiritual home and gathering place for Wrexham’s long suffering, die-hard supporters. The 2021 buyout catapulted the club to global attention, and Wrexham’s fairytale story reached a crucial step in the final weeks of the 2022/23 season as they sealed promotion back into the English Football League (EFL). Promotion to the English Football League will unlock millions of dollars in funding, as well as higher TV revenues. The fairytale continues…

Josh was very interested in visiting a major stadium on our global trek. He didn’t mind when or where, but when I mentioned that we were heading to Liverpool, his eyes lit up:”Anfield”. As Port supporters, I feel that we do have a ‘spiritual’ connection to Anfield. Since 2014, and our move back to Adelaide Oval, Port Adelaide has used the INXS song “Never Tear Us Apart” as our unofficial anthem. The song is a reference to the various and unique difficulties our club faced when trying to enter the AFL, primarily in regard to the forced separation by the spiteful and malicious SANFL from our AFL operations. Port Adelaide’s use of the song stemmed from a trip the club took to Anfield in November 2012 while in England to play an AFL exhibition match. Seeing the Anfield crowd’s rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, the idea of an anthem for Port games at Adelaide Oval was raised; various songs were suggested, but “Never Tear Us Apart” was ‘organically’ accepted by the supporters, as it resonated with the Power’s history. Both Port Adelaide and Liverpool are blue collar, working class, port cities. The clubs share a similar ethos in terms of success, and a philosophy built on existing to win. Anfield stadium is incredible and located in a residential area, surrounded by beautiful parklands. Please enjoy these photos of our visit to Anfield and also interesting to note that every Liverpudlian I met, agreed with me on the matter of the SANFL being a shit outfit.

It’s hard to comprehend just how omnipotent the Beatles are in Liverpool, until you are here. The Beatles presence within their hometown, with tours, statues, bars, restaurants and museums catering to the thousands of fans who visit the city from all over the world is simply overwhelming. However, it wasn’t until the death of John Lennon in December 1980 that any semblance of Beatles tourism began to take root in Liverpool. Beatles tourism is now the key component of the new Liverpool economy, but that has not always been the case. During the 1960s and 70s, many residents and community leaders felt that the Beatles had abandoned the city after they conquered England, America and the rest of the world, and were thus not worthy of remembrance or accolades. The city even demolished the original Cavern Club! An injustice to the boys, when we consider how they  connected themselves to Liverpool and were arguably the first rock band to make their local origins a part of their commercial success. They wrote nostalgic songs about their city, and emphasized their Liverpool origins and identity in media interviews, and their local ‘Liverpudlian’ dialect was a feature of their singing style as well as their speech. We did the ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, we spent 2 nights in the Cavern Club, we did the ‘Beatles Story’. The Beatles relationship with Liverpool and the importance of Liverpool’s Beatles heritage for the city, simply can’t be understated and the real fifth Beatle is the city of Liverpool. Bailey summed it up perfectly as we were departing: “I feel like I’ve just spent 48 hours in an alternate Beatles Universe”. She was not wrong, but oh what a magical musical universe to be immersed in.

World travel is not just about visiting Queens, Castles, historic pubs & tourist monuments. There is a practical side as well. Particularly when you are living in one place for a length of time. The weekly shop becomes a necessary part of the experience. Tesco Extra shops are large hypermarkets that stock all of Tesco’s grocery products, but also offer an in-store travel money bureau, you can refuel your car, pick up your prescription from the pharmacy, buy clothes, and most importantly, you can stock up on the essentials – Fosters and ice cream. This is our local one in Havant. From the look on Blake’s face, I doubt this will continue to be a shared family experience when we return to Adelaide.

Salisbury Cathedral was built between 1220 and 1258, in a style now called ‘Early English Gothic’. The spire, the tallest in Britain at 404ft (123 metres) was one of the last parts of the cathedral to be completed, in about 1330. It has undergone repair several times during the following centuries, the most famous occasion being when Sir Christopher Wren (regarded as the greatest British architect of all time) was commissioned to undertake an architectural survey. Wren surveyed its “wonkiness” in 1668 and determined that the spire was leaning off plumb by 30 inches, so he had iron rods inserted, to strengthen the structure. Centuries later Wren’s work was checked, and modern measurements revealed that the tower had not moved so much as an inch. Other interesting facts: The cathedral houses, the oldest working clock in Europe (1326), one of only 4 original copies of the Magna Carta and the cathedral itself is 473ft (144 metres) long. Blake tried to sell ice cream, then when that venture failed, he built his own version of the spire out of orange traffic cones. Bailey liked the ‘bug cathedral’.

Stonehenge was produced by a culture that left no written records. Many aspects of Stonehenge, such as how it was built and for what purposes it was used, remain subject to debate. A number of myths surround the stones. Proposed functions for the site include usage as an astronomical observatory or as a religious site. Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been legally protected since 1882, and the site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Whatever its original purpose, it is one of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, but of all the quotes on the wall in the information centre, the one I like best is: “No one knows who they were, or what they were doing…” – Nigel Tufnel (Spinal Tap)

Wed 19^th July 2023 – Trav phoned last night to advise that he’d booked a flight and would be arriving today at 5pm. Havant is a beautiful town, located in the south-east corner of Hampshire, between Portsmouth and Chichester. It’s only 10 minutes from where we’re staying in Emsworth. Due to Travers arriving from Brussels in the evening, we decided to spend a chilled day doing some grocery shopping followed by lunch at the oldest pub in town. Havant was destroyed by fire in 1760. The only buildings left standing were the church and adjacent cottages which are now known as ‘The Old House At Home’. After lunch we worked off the bangers & mash in the local park kicking the footy around. Then ‘Nanny’ (with Lou) made her 4^th trip to Heathrow in as many weeks to collect Trav.  

The oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world. Built by William I in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. For nearly a thousand years it has been a symbol of monarchy. It houses one of the world’s greatest collections of paintings, furniture and other treasures. It is also home to St Georges Chapel, the final resting place of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It was special to be able to pay our respect to a much beloved Queen. Windsor Castle was one of her 3 official residences, and was her favourite place to spend her private weekends. Windsor, was also a favourite weekend place for our own little princess, ‘Lou Lou’ to hang out, in her teens, at the local McDonalds.

After 32 hours in transit, we arrived for a beautiful & very emotional family reunion (minus Trav, who is apparently somewhere in Berlin). We were very impressed that the Brits named – Heathrow T2 – after a great English Rock Band!

I’m a little bit of an aeroplane geek. One of my bucket list items was to experience business class, upstairs in the upper deck ‘bubble’ of the ‘Queen’ before she disappears from service forever. There are only 44 passenger versions of the 747 still in service in the world. Lufthansa remains the largest operator of the passenger version of the B747-8, with 19 in its current fleet. What an amazing experience! It was everything I hoped it would be and the service from Lufthansa was excellent. With Lou Lou already in England, and Trav in Berlin, it was special to be able to share the experience with Bailey, Blake & Josh.  

We spent a few hours in Singapore. We had a cocktail at ‘The Warehouse’ in Clarke Quay, then took a walk along the river to Merlion Park, before heading back to Changi T2 to catch our midnight flight to Frankfurt. Bailey & Josh had a lovely nap on the floor of the Silver Kris Lounge. Oh the glamour of travel.

That one last shot’s permanent vacation
And how high can you fly with broken wings?
Life’s a journey, not a destination
And I just can’t tell just what tomorrow brings
– Steven Tyler ‘Aerosmith’ –