Jennifer boarded her plane to Atlanta, Georgia, USA.  It tooks 10 hours to arrive.  Jennifer had to move her luggage for the next flight.  Good thing it was all in the same room!  She had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta.  Most of that time was going through customs.  She got on a plane headed to Vegas which took 3 1/2 hours.

So, that’s the end of our trip.  Thanks for reading about our adventures!

We got a train into the city.  We went to watch the show Change.  It features an Italian man named Arturo Brachetti.  He quick changes into different outfits.  It’s really amazing to see!  He’s pretty fast at it!  The stage had a big box and it turned and opened into a different rooms.  It’s a fun show.

We stopped by The Comedy Store to pick up tickets and reserve our seats for the show.  We walked to Busabi Thai for dinner.  There was a short line.  I had the banana curry.  Ivan got the Geng Gari Gari while Jennifer got the green chicken curry.  The food comes out fast and is always amazing!

We walked back to see The Comedy Store Players at The Comedy Store.  Ivan loves contributing to the show providing things like when the players ask for a job or a type of theatre show.  The show is always really fun and keeps you cracking up.

Ivan, Jennifer and I chilled in the room on November 2, 2009.  Ivan wanted to take us to Loughton where he grew up.  But, we didn’t get a chance to.  I’m sure we will see it next time! 

We walked to the Gourmet Pizza Company. 

Jennifer got a chicken and vegetable one and I got a banana one.  I can’t recall what Ivan had.  The pizza was very tasty here.

We walked back to the hotel and relaxed more.

We took a train into London.  We went to St. Mortiz for dinner. 

Ivan ordered us fondue with bananas, potatoes and bread.  We dipped the food into the tasty cheese.  It was really yummy!  Ivan and Jen were so stuffed afterwards.

Next, we went to see the musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert.  This musical has lots of great songs like I’ve Never Been to Me, Pop Musik, Always on My Mind and I Love the Nightlife. Jason Donovan plays Tick/Mitzi.  His performance isn’t anything special though.  Jennifer really thought Oliver Thornton was fantastic in his role as Adam/Felicia.  The costumes are so bright and colorful.  Wow, this is a fun musical!  I recommend it if you want to have a fun time watching a good story and hearing some great tunes.

We checked in to the Marriot West India Quay.  It’s a great hotel in the Docklands.  We got a nice room overlooking the docks.

We took a train into the city.  We met up with Ivan’s brother Neal for drinks. 

We walked to Satsuma for dinner.  I had some banana sushi rolls and yaki soba with bananas.  Ivan and Jen shared some spicy tuna rolls and marinated tofu steak.  Ivan got the yaki soba with chicken. 

Jennifer got the yaki soba with Japanese fish cakes and prawns. 

Afterwards, we walked to the Avenue Q theatre.  We saw Avenue Q.  It’s a really funny show with puppets!

Ivan and Jennifer went to see Saw VI on October 31, 2009.  They thought it was good movie  I stayed in the room to work on the blog, jump on the bed and watch monkeys on the tv. 

We took the train into the city.  We were going on the Blood and Tears Tour.  It was a special one for Halloween.  A lot of people in the group were dressed up.  We walked through the streets of London.  Our guide told us about murders and spooky things that have happened in London.  We did hear about Jack the Ripper as well. Our guide is writing a book about who he thinks was the real Jack the Ripper.  It seems everybody has a theory!  It was a good tour.  The guide walks really fast though.

We got a taxi to Kenza.  It’s a restaurant serving Lebanese and Moroccan cuisine.

Ivan and Jen shared the hummus, a pastry with chicken, falafel with prawns, a salmon dish and a chicken kebab.  I had a good chicken and banana kebab.  The food was pretty good! 

We went to dinner at Chowki.  Dave had a banana curry.  Ivan had a fish curry while Jennifer got a chicken madras curry. 

Ivan thought it tasted better the last time we came.

We went to see the movie Couples Retreat.  The movie was only okay.  Ivan and Jen thought it would have been a lot funnier.

It was time to head to Southend.  We hopped on a train to Ivan’s parents house.  It was great to see my dad again!  We were all so tired and we went to bed shortly after.

I worked on the blog on October 29, 2009.  Ivan and Jennifer chilled and used the internet.

We went to dinner with my dad and Ivan’s parents.  It was good, but not as tasty as last time.

Ivan and Jennifer started off with the popcorn chickpeas.  It was boring and didn’t have much flavor.

I had an okay fettuccine alfredo with bananas.  Ivan and Jennifer shared the prawn linguine and the pumpkin ravioli.  They couldn’t really taste the prawns.  The meal was only average.  We thought it would be better since his Fifteen restaurant in Melbourne was really good.

We went to visit Ivan’s friend Jo.  We chatted for a while at his apartment.

He served us tea and biscuits.  Jo is a friendly guy.

We got the train to Harrod’s. 

It’s a huge department store.  It has really great decorations. 

There’s tons of expensive products to buy at the store like clothes, toys, dog items, perfume and food.

We got a bus to Fortnum and Mason.  We walked around checking out the chocolate, teas, biscuits, jams and cookies.

We walked to Chowki for dinner.  It’s an Indian restaurant.  I had a spicy banana curry with rice. 

Ivan got the mumbai fish.  Jennifer ordered the chicken madras.  It was really good food!

We went to see Ross Noble.  He’s an English comedian who lives in Australia.  He was very surreal.  He was funny though.  But, he was saying lots of English references so Jennifer and I didn’t understand a lot of things.

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of the Brittania International Hotel on September 30, 2009.  We stored our luggage with the bell desk.

We got a train to Buckingham Palace.  It’s only open to the public July through September.  We went to see the State Rooms.  It was really interesting.  The rooms are quite impressive.  We saw different rooms like dining rooms and sitting rooms with great art.  There’s a big room filled with gifts the Queen has received from her world travels.  It also showed some of the dresses she’s worn on those visits. We couldn’t take any pictures inside.

We picked up sandwiches at Mark & Spencers.  They didn’t really have much flavor. 

We grabbed our bags from the Brittania Hotel.

We took a train to Stratford.  Then, we got a bus to Stanstead Airport.  We met Ivan’s parents at the airport. 

We flew to Alicante, Spain.  It took 2 hours.

We met Ivan’s brother Neal at the airport.  He had taken the earlier flight into Alicante.  We drove to the villa in Rojales.  We unpacked our backpacks.

Ivan’s parents drove to their house nearby.  Ivan, Jen, Neal and I went to Happy Garden for dinner.  It’s a Chinese restaurant.  Ivan got a Tom Yum Soup.  I had noodles with bananas.  Jennifer had noodles with chicken.  Ivan and Jen also drank some average sangria.

We walked around a bit.  There’s rides and different booths.  We came upon a fashion show.  We watched for awhile. 

The models walked down in clothes from different companies like Nike, Primark and Gap.

I was happy to find some Happy Monkey smoothies. 

They tasted really good, but they were too small.  They’re made for children or small monkeys.

There was a booth with activities for kids.  It was time for hitting the pinata.  The host asked for fathers.  Ivan said he was a dad but his child was at home.  He’s never struck a pinata before and he wanted a go. 

He managed to knock off part of the pinata.

We had fun at the festival.  We walked so much though.

Ivan and Jen wanted a break.  We stopped at MOMO for tea.  Ivan and Jennifer also ordered hummus.

We walked to get tickets for the Comedy Store tonight.  We saved  some seats for us for the show later on, and then went to get some dinner.

We went to C&R for dinner.  I ordered the Nasi Goreng with bananas.

Ivan got the Mee Siam.  Jennifer got the Mee Goreng.  The food was alright.

We walked back to The Comedy Store.  The comedy is all improv.  It turned out to be a really funny show!

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of Novotel on September 28, 2009.  We took a train to Canary Wharf.

We checked in to the Brittania International Hotel.  The rooms are much better than Novotel.  We also had a great view of the docks.

We took a train to Westminster.  Jennifer wanted to go inside Westminster Abbey. 

We got our tickets to go inside.  Audio guides are provided for free.  It was interesting to hear about British royalty of the past.  The coronation of Kings and Queens take place at this church.  We saw many rooms filled with Kings and Queens who are buried here.  It was really nice inside.  Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the church.

Ivan wanted to get some wine.  We walked to the Wine Cellar.  It’s an amazing underground bunker.  The tables are in a dark room that’s only lit by candles on each table. 

Ivan and Jen each had a glass of chianti.  I had a banana juice. 

For dinner, we walked to Busaba Thai.  We met Ivan’s brother Neal there.  Ivan really loves this restaurant.  I can understand since the food is delicious here.  I had a spicy banana curry.  Ivan, Jen and Neal shared some fish cakes and roti for a starter. 

Ivan got the Geng Gari Gari while Jennifer got the green chicken curry.

Ivan, Jennifer, Neal and I went to the King Gong show at The Comedy Store.  It’s similar to the Gong Show.  The host picks three judges in the audience.  A person goes up to do his comedy act.  If the person is bad, the judge can hold up their card.  If all three judges hold up their card, the host will hit a gong and the person must step down.  If the person is actually good for 5 minutes, he’ll go to the next round.  Most of the people were really bad.  Some were actually good.  It does take guts to go on stage and perform comedy.  The people who managed to do their act without getting gonged off, came back for the final on the stage.  The audience claps for who they like.  It came down to two guys.  There was an English guy and a black guy.  The black guy was naturally funny.  But, the other guy won for some reason. 

We had a good day.  We headed back to the hotel for some rest.

We checked in to Novotel in the Docklands.  The room was alright, but nothing that great.

We went into the city.  Ivan and Jennifer had chocolate chip cookies from Marks & Spencers.  I had banana cookies.  The cookies were delicious!

We went shopping for awhile.  Ivan and Jennifer bought some clothes.

We met up with Ivan’s friend Andy and his girlfriend Elena.  We wanted to eat at C&R Cafe but there was a long wait.  Ivan knew of a place nearby. So, went to Soho Thai.  Ivan and Jennifer shared the fish cakes.  I had a mild banana curry with rice. 

Ivan had the jungle curry.  Jennifer ordered pad sieyu.  The food was quite tasty.  We all chatted in the noisy restaurant. 

We went back to the hotel to get some rest.

Ivan, Jennifer and I had the buffet breakfast in the hotel on September 26, 2009. 

We took the tube to the city.  We walked around a bit.

We went to Pret La Manger for lunch.  They make great sandwiches there.  Ivan and Jen each had a chicken and avocado sandwich.  I had a banana and chicken one, which was pretty tasty but a bit expensive (it cost 3 bananas to buy!).

It was time to see some theatre.  We went to see Sister Act. 

The musical turned out to be good.  The main lady was great to watch, and it had some really catchy songs in it.

We met up with Ivan’s brother Neal for dinner.  We went to La Tasca.  It was a busy night in the restaurant, and we had to wait a little while to get a table.  We enjoyed the tasty tapas.  Ivan, Jen and Neal had some sangria.