Things are hotting up...

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Shame its not the weather...that is as cold as ever...

No, what is happening is that SJ and I are moving to New Zealand! SJ accepted a role within her current company that is based out of Auckland and so we're off!

This has been in the planning for some months so its not like this came as a complete shock, but now we've made the decision, there's just so much you have to do and think of. We have lists about lists about lists...we have the dogs to move (injections / blood tests / quarantine / kennelling, etc) as well as selling two vintage cars, a house and sorting out rental for the other house. Thats's besides the Residence Visa, police checks, medicals, removals, etc, etc, etc...!

SJ will likely move out at the end of June to start her position end of July - I will not leave until the end of August as the dogs have to wait six months from when they had their rabies shot and have proven they are producing antibodies...this means the earliest they can enter NZ is about 12th September, so I'm going to wait until then before coming out. Fingers crossed, they have their blood test next week.

Once this is sorted, I can get them booked into the (limited) list of approved kennels in NZ. Luckily they only have 10 days quarantine apparently. There's a myriad of different shots / test they need before then but the Rabies one is the main one and takes the longest.

Tomorrow I'm off to have my Chest X Ray and Medical...amazing what you have to go through despite SJ being an NZ Citizen (as well as UK and Australian).

Having told anyone at work yet...need to choose when to do this carefully...my plans on arrival are to do up a house that is owned by SJ's family so I'm looking forward to getting out of the Rat Race for a while.

Travels

Just waiting for SJ at Heathrow and was looking at the Arrivals board. Out of the 48 cities listed, I've been to 26...some notable omissions:

Berlin
Copenhagen
Madrid
Barcelona
Milan
Zurich
Stockholm
Rome
Venice

Need to do some European travelling!

The ride...take 2

I'm at Calgary airport, early as usual. Just waiting for the flight to board. This is the plane I'm travelling on...full flight apparently...maybe an upgrade?

Last night in Stampede

We drove down from Edmonton to Calgary on Tuesday. It's about a 3 hour drive and pretty boring.

The temperature dropped significantly though - when we left Edmonton it was around zero but by the time we reached Calgary, it had fallen to about -10. The other noticeable thing is that Canada is incredibly dry so you constantly had this powder snow blowing across the carriageway...seemed dangerous, but they're all equipped for it with snow tyres, 4WD etc.

Calgary was the home to the 1988? Winter Olympics and is a strange mixture of cowboys and snow. Whilst we were there it actually snowed significantly ...I guess not unusual for this time of year.

Block Heater

I've been wondering what the Block Heater is in the boot of the rental. Well, I think I've figured it out...at each of the parking bay's at the hotel, there is a stanchion with 2 electrical sockets - I initially thought this was for electric vehicles, but now I've realised it must be to plug the Block Heater in...I note the weather forecast has it down to something like -15 later this week...might need it!

Ship in a bottle

As part of the WEM, there is a Pirate Ship parked at one end of the Mall. Quite amazing actually, it moves along rails at certain times of the day.

The ride

Picked up a Volvo XC 30 as a rental. It's actually quite nice. Good interior but a bit small - fast though!

West Edmonton Mall

Spent the day at West Edmonton Mall or WEM for short. It's apparently the largest shopping mall in North America and I can certainly confirm this is one big place! Over 60 fast food outlets!

(Canadian) Outback

Have arrived in Edmonton, Canada. Somewhere I've been looking forward to coming to...Canada is not somewhere I've been before but it's always been a place I wanted to visit.
So far it's lived up to its reputation...cold and snowy!

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New Zealand, Bali, Oz, Singapore

New Zealand and Australia 2012 / 2013

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One night in Bangkok

Well, almost. We've started our journey to NZ. We left Sunday night on a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok. Flight was alright actually, although Bangkok airport is a pretty confusing place.

We're now en route to Auckland with about another 9 hours to go.

Red wine in hand, movie on, meal about to arrive...what's not to like?

 

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In Eindhoven

Arrived yesterday. Took a while to get here as there was so much fog in the area. We were circling for an hour and a half before the pilot said we would "give it a try". Now, maybe it's just me but I prefer my pilots to be a little more positive than "trying" a landing...

Anyway, we made it...

Craving Kraze Burger!

I like Asian food but sometimes you can't beat a Burger!

Leaving Korea

Just on the bus to Incheon airport. It's actually called a limousine bus and its not bad. Wide, comfy leather seats...plenty of space...very nice.

My flight isn't for a few hours so I should have plenty of time to do the obligatory present buying!

Flight arrives back into uk around teatime although no doubt there will be some delays going into Heathrow.

Last business trip bar one this year. I've been to quite a few places though. Here's the ones I can think of...

Netherlands
Monaco
Belgium
Norway
France
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
China
Germany
Austria
Czech Republic
South Korea

And I've still yet to go to the Netherlands again, plus the holiday to New Zealand, Bali and Oz....clocking up some mileage!

Korea - Part 4

The hotel was the Renaissance Seoul and very comfortable. Of course, as it was near Xmas, there was a huge tree in the reception area. It seems that I travel a lot around Xmas time as I remember hotels in brazil and china having trees in their reception too..

 

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South Korea - Part 3

There is a man made stream that runs through Seoul, which is pretty peaceful. When I went it was the light festival so at night it was full of lit paper lanterns.

 

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South Korea - Part 2

From the tower I went round a couple of the palaces, however gave up on the Tourist bus as the traffic is so heavy, it's easier and faster to use the subway.

As it was autumn, I have to say that the colours in the trees were absolutely spectacular, truly magnificent.

 

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South Korea - Part 1

One of the advantages of my job is that I do get to travel to quite a few varied locations around the world...it's not always pleasant but when you're able to spend an extra day or so visiting a country you've never been to, it definitely has an advantage. This year I had the opportunity to visit Seoul in South Korea.

I planned what I wanted to go see using the new Tripadvisor city guides - they're actually pretty useful. I took the (very) clean and efficient subway into town to pick up the Tourist bus. The first station made me laugh though...Gangnam...an area of the city famous for its socialites and now forever immortalised due to Sy's song. The subway itself is easy to use having signage in Korean, Chinese, Japanese and English.

I took the tourist bus up to the Seoul tower, and I have to say the weather was glorious...cold but sunny.

 

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Green Grass hotel

Been for an Italian tonight at the green grass hotel ... Strange name? Maybe it's reticent of the green green grass of home? Anyway, 'twas an Italian and the waiter painstakingly explained to me that penne pasta was not noodles....yes I know this!

Gangnam style

Well, here I am in Korea...South that is...another work trip. I haven't updated this in such a long time...I'm going to see if I can add the missing posts (18 months or so ) retrospectively. Of course, that means if you're reading this chronologically in a few months time, this really wont make sense...still can't help that.