We did make it home!

For regular followers of the blog you might of been wondering what happened after Day 5 in Cornwall! Well have no fear we did make it home, we had to go via Exter to see the new Apple store that opened on that day, just by luck we happened to be passing!

Keep your eyes out, we are off on our travel again in the New Year, and we are back off down to Cornwall, so keep on popping back!

Day 5 - A day out

We decided to take a trip out today, one of the reasons was to build up an appetite as we would be visiting Jamie Oliver's 'gaff' in the evening, 'Fifteen Cornwall' for a meal.

We headed to the south coast and after a forced stop at 'M & S' (yes they do have them down this way), we arrived at the Minack Theatre. We had all visited before but it is just one of the best locations down here. For those of you now aware of the location, it is a outdoor theatre that is built in to the cliff edge. It is an incredible bit of building made even more amazing that it was achieved by a single woman with shear determination. I am sure that the story can be told much better by having a look at there website and if you get the chance, visiting the theatre (don't worry you don't have to see a play!)

www.minack.com/

We had lunch at the theatre and then headed back to get ready for our evening out.

Fifteen lived up to its expectations. It was not cheap, but you did not really expected it to be. The atmosphere was good, it was not packed but there was enough people there so you did not feel self conscious that all the staff were watching you eat!

Its a fixed menu with a few choices on two of the courses, in all there was 6 courses! (including the coffee and fudge!).

Our only minor criticism was that there was approx 30 mins wait between the pasta course and the main course which as just a bit too long, but that aside it was an incredible evening, and one that you would want to repeat again.

Newquay - Day 4 - Rain!

Rain sums up today, it started overcast, but as soon as we stepped outside the cottage it started raining and that seemed to be the theme of the day, every time we stepped outside it started to rain!

It was a fairly lazy day. We went from the cottage to the hotel for a coffee, then from the hotel to the cafe (see the breakfast blog!) for breakfast, then in and out of shops before we had to shelter from a big downpour in the Sailors Arms.

It's funny how it happens, there is always a pub at hand when you need to seek shelter!

After walking back in the rain we have spent a lazy afternoon in the cottage and are now just about to go over to the hotel for dinner! Posh eh! Ok, so its a free meal!!

Just for Nik & Caoimhe

Just for Nik & Caoimhe
Originally uploaded by Slinkey Si

Now it's not often that I take a pic in a toilet. In fact never! But,
this I just had to take!

If you have not heard of Kenny, then go see it, get it on DVD, its
well worth a watch.

Sent from my iPhone

Pensioner reaches Newquay!

The 14:03 from Reading arrived just after 14:05hrs and another pensioner joined the rest of them, that seem to flock to the south west in the winter months!

We are currently sitting in the Red Lion sampling a Guinness and the pensioner is sampling a white wine!

Apparently pensioners don't get a discount on spirits?? How's that, eh? They must have a use, we must be able to get a discount somewhere with a pensioner in tow! (We tried tokens as well, but apparently you can't get a guinness with them either!!!!)

Sharksfin, Mevagissey, Cornwall

Day 3 of our trip to Cornwall, yes day 3 already!

We are doing some on the road blogging today as we are currently sitting in a pub in Mevagissey, which just happens to have a wi-fi connection that is free! Who said that they were behind the times in the south west!

We are in a pub called 'Sharksfin' where we have just had a very nice meal. I had white bait, which did not agree with Jo, mainly because the heads and tails were still on the little fishes!!! But it was very nice. Jo had a steak chibatta which looked very nice and did not last long on the plate.

We called at Truro this morning, where we were planning to park up and have a wander around, but by the time we had driven around looking for a decent car park we realised that we had actually seen the town and we were not that impressed, so we decided to head for the sea and ended up in Mevagissey.

We have a mission to pick up a package this afternoon from St Austell train station at 14:03hrs, a pensioner is on board and heading for the south west!!!

Fort Inn, Newquay

Fort Inn, Newquay
Originally uploaded by Slinkey Si

Sunday roast and a Guinness, the new cooked breakfast, who knows??

This is the way to spend a cold and wet Sunday, now just need a decent
Sunday afternoon film!

Sent from my iPhone

Day 2 - Newquay 2007 - Sunday

Well, Sunday greeted us with rain, dark clouds and windy weather, but who cares, we are on holiday and its Sunday which means a big Sunday lunch, a few guinness and a read of the Sunday papers, so who cares what the weather is like!

Newquay - 2007

Well we are on the road again!

This time it's our winter pilgrimage to Cornwall.

We set of a little later than tradition allows but this was due to being unable to drop the cats off to there holiday home until 8am!

So, we hit the road, and after a small divert to an Apple store, we headed for Cornwall. The mandatory stop for breakfast was achieved in Devon (check out the Breakfast Blog for details!).

We hit Cornwall just after 1pm and were in Newquay in time for a lunchtime pint!

We have two bedroom cottage this time and the view from the cottage is excellent, a full sea view. The cottage itself is excellent and we are already relaxed (that could be do to with the Guinness!).

As ever, we will blog as much as possible and post photos on the website via FlickR.

We hunted, and we found!?!

This entry is a little late, in that we have been back from London for a week, but i know you are dying to know how the gadget trip went! Well ok, maybe you haven't, but tough, i am blogging it anyhow!!!

So after the search for Leopard was successful and we rested, our next mission was to visit Olympia for the Mac Live Expo. Not forgetting our hotel breakfast, yes rush over to the Breakfast Blog page now, to read all about the high scoring breakfast!

I have to report that the Mac Live Expo was a let down compared to last year. Less exhibitors, and not such a buzz. Having said that, it was interesting and we kept ourselves busy for a few hours!

So after that, it was out of London and back to Berkshire for a spot of dinner and to give my heart a work out by watching Southampton play Sky! We won! But it was hard work and not so good for the heart!!!

Ok, so that was it!

But!

The next big gadget day is coming ... 9th November .... the iPhone reaches the UK !!

Leopard Hunting!

We are back out on the road this weekend and as promised we are keeping you fully updated!! Well, having a blog as and when we can.

Yes, its a Leopard hunting weekend! Ok ok, please excuse me for a minute, i have to switch on the 'gadget geek' section to explain! Apple have launched there new update to their operating system, they have named the last few launches after big cats, so we have had Panther, Tiger and now we have Leopard!

So after work yesterday we headed for London and after checking into our hotel we headed for Regent Street, the home of Apple in the UK. We arrived at just after seven. Leopard was launched at 6pm, with the Apple stores closing two hours before to prepare. So we were expecting it to be busy, but wow! We had to queue to get into the store, and the queue to buy our copy of Leopard. So after a twenty minute queue we had our copy! Jo did not get why it was such a big thing, and why so many people were there, when they could just buy it tomorrow or the next day .. but Apple has this draw!

With Leopard in hand we headed back to our hotel and stopped off for a Pizza on the way.

We are staying overnight so that we can go to Olympia in the morning. There happens to be a Mac show there this weekend!

Our Apple weekend continues ......... !

Mr & Mrs Butler

Well believe it or not its been a month since we got married! Time flies!

Sorry for the lack of updates but as this is suppose to be our 'Travel' blog we have not done much traveling since coming back from Vegas. Having said that i am currently on a train to London, Jo is beside the seaside at Hove today and we visited Swindon on Sunday, so who says we haven't been traveling!!

Keep your eyes on the blog and the website as we will keep it updated as much as possible. We have a trip to London next weekend - an important date in the life of a Mac Gadget Fan! Its Mac Expo Live at Olympia, it is also the launch of the next operating system for the Mac, called Leopard!

Ok ok .. this is travel blog, not a gadget blog!

We also have a trip to Cornwall in November and we will be 'blogging' as much as possible. Sadly last year when we went the only place that had an internet connection was the Red Lion Pub so i am going to have to force myself to visit the pub each day, just in the interests of keeping you all up to date on our travels!!

Back at home

Well we made it! Flight delayed by 4hrs but we have made it back to the UK! The M25 then decided to delay us a little more but we arrived back at Westview just after 3pm, so thank-you to our taxi driver!

We thought we had escaped the balloons etc on the car, which is traditional, but we forgot that we had left the keys with Mum and Nik!! So the last leg of our trip was spent with a back seat of balloons!

The weather also welcomed us home, with rain all the way to the south coast!

Anyhow, we are back! Thank-you so much for all our cards and messages, its been really great.

We have not finished! - keep watching the website and we will add some more pictures over the next few days and i will change the website around a bit so you can view the pictures in a number of ways, which might help with you that have slower internet connections!

In the meantime you can visit our full FlickR website at:

www.flickr.com/photos/slinkey/

Just click on the above link. When you get to the FlickR website you can view the different 'sets' of photos such as the wedding pictures by clicking on the links on the right of the page. If you need a hand then let me know.

Mr and Mrs Butler have left the building

Well we are trying too!

We are currently sat in McCarrans International Airport, but nowhere to go! Our flight has been delayed, so instead of leaving at 16:06hrs Las Vegas time we are now due to depart around 19:00hrs Las Vegas time. Not sure why, but its probably the plane that we flew out on!!!!

We have both been very unimpressed with Virgin. More because a lot of people have said that they are very good, rather than anything else. Delays happens and that is part of travel, but they have been very average all around!

Oh well, the wireless internet is free, we have plenty of reading material and nowhere else to go!!

Day 7 - Last Day

Well our last full day in Las Vegas has come an end and we have continued to cram as much as possible in and knacker ourselves out - we should sleep well on the plane back!

Our agenda for the last day included a trip to see the Hoover Dam. Jerry, our tour guide for the trip was a local to Las Vegas so we learnt lots about the area and what you don't get in the guide books!

The Hoover Dam was good, an incredible bit of engineering, and breath taking when you see it for the first time. We did the lightning tour, so spent about half an hour on the tour inside the dam and then about twenty minutes looking around outside and of course taking just a few pics!

To round off our day we did a helicopter ride down the strip at night. It was an incredible but short trip, what made it more interesting was a thunder storm coming in from the surrounding mountains. We had flashes of lighting all the time but the ride was smooth and really good. After we landed the heavens opened and Vegas had a few more drops of rain to help out their 6 year drought!

Day 6 - Thank-you

Just a quick note this evening (your morning in the UK !). Thank-you for all the messages whether via text or e-mail or via the comments, we have got them all and have been reading them. The wife is a little slow at replying to her e-mails at the moment but i will have words. I don't know, she is slow at replying to her e-mails now, what will it be like when she has to cook my dinner as well !!!!

We have had a great day. Helicopter ride over the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon this afternoon and then this evening we went to see 'The Beatles - Cirque De Soleil' which was amazing, hard to explain in writing but amazing!

And its started raining!!!!

Well its just gone 1am for us, and i need just a little beauty sleep as we have an early start tomorrow we are off to see the Hoover Dam up close!

Photos, of course, to follow!

Day 6 - The Day After ....

Ok, first off, the photos are there now, so go have a look! The photo that i have picked to accompany this entry is not Jo's choice, in fact we did not ask for it to be taken but Sammy Davis Jnr said that if Elvis was in the house, then we may as well!! It also made me think that if Elvis was there, then Dad was certainly there in spirit.

Elvis also told us that amongst other's Frank Sinatra and Joan Collins also got married at the 'Little White Wedding Chapel' (not to each other!) so i am sure Dad would approve as well !!

Our wedding evening did not go as planned, but that actually made it even better. We decided to change out of our wedding clothes as it was so hot and Jo decided to wear her Southampton top, and no, i did not force her, i know she has to obey everything i say now (!!!!!) but she did choose to wear it. We headed for the Irish Pub in the hotel and after getting a Guinness we went outside. 30 seconds after sitting down we found we were sitting opposite a couple from Portsmouth who had got married this week as well and the groom was a life long Pompey supporter! For those unaware, Southampton and Portsmouth footfall fans are not renowned to get along! Well we proved them wrong! He did have to go and put on his Pompey top so we ended up sitting in an Irish Pub, with a Saints and Pompey supporter sitting opposite each other in Las Vegas !!! We even had people walking past the pub shouting comments to us.

We had to stay for a few pints, rude not too!! and then we went for dinner and a wander - we decided not to go to the show, we have another show to go and see this evening.

On our agenda for today is the Grand Canyon!

We also opened all our cards this morning, thank-you all for the cards, and the maid also says thanks for all the confetti that is now on the floor!

New Signing to the Butler Family

I am pleased to report that the Butler family have a new signing as of today!!

Mrs Butler joined the Butler clan at just after 14:45hrs Las Vegas time, today, 19th September 2007!

We had a fantastic time, Jo looked really stunning, everybody was really nice to us and the minister who married us was fantastic and made it feel very special.

For those of you wanting to see the dress pictures - they are coming! Sammy Davis Jnr took our photos - yes our photographer looked like Sammy Davis Jnr, it was not intentional, he just looks like him! They are being developed at the moment and we hope to have them back in about an hour.

Thank-you so much to everybody who has sent us messages via the website, e-mail and text - we have got them all, and we will try and reply over the next few days.

And a special thank-you to Mum and Nik for the champagne, balloons, card and strawberries (covered in chocolate!)

We are now going to go and have a drink, before going out for a meal and to watch Cirque Du Soleil.

The Saints top is Jo's new top, and the 9 is for her birth date - and yes we do know that they drew this evening :-(

Day 5 - The Big Day!

Day 5 - Wednesday 19th September 2007, and our big day has arrived.

Its just gone 7am and we are both up, i have just done the coffee run and Jo is in the shower. Mental note - its the wife's job to get the coffee from now on!

We are just off to get some breakfast (all you can eat pancakes is on the menu this morning!!!) and then i am off to the shopping mall to get my suit, only joking! Just looking for some cufflinks that play 'Elvis' when you press them .. well that's what i have told Jo!

Jo is off the Spa/Salon for a touch up! of the makeup and hair variety - apparently the touch up of the other variety comes after the wedding!!! (sorry mother!)

We had a good evening last night, Mamma Mia was good, although it could not match the West End. Jo enjoyed her frozen margarita although she might be feeling it a little this morning!

Photos will follow later ...

Day 4 - Who told the press?!

Ok come on, own up, who was it!?

We went to the county court this morning to get our wedding license for tomorrow. Tommy our taxi driver took us from the hotel to the court. We turned the corner to find all the press camped out, outside the courthouse. Now who told them that we were getting married tomorrow!!!

Well ok, it might not of been us, it could be the fact that OJ Simpson was due in court to see if he could get bail! Not sure if it has made much of the headlines in the UK, but over here its big news that OJ has been arrested again!

After dining half way up the Eifel Tower at lunchtime we are off to see a show this evening - Mama Mia!

Las Vegas @ Night

A short clip of the strip just outside our hotel at night

Day 4 - Don't be worried!

Now, i know a few of you maybe worried that i was having withdrawals - for those of you unaware, i have a slight addiction to 'Apple' not the fruit variety, but the electronic gadget variety. Which Jo is very understanding about (although i am sure that is a wifely duty ??!).

Well stop worrying, we found the Apple Store yesterday. Ok, so we might have had to walk 3 miles along the strip, and we might be aching a lot this morning, but we found it. And i was very good, i did not spend any money - not for wanting too, but the new iPod Touch was not in stock .. but hey, we have a few more days to revisit!

So Day 4 for us, one more day until the big day and we have decided not to walk so far today! In fact first job of the day is to get our wedding license or we won't be doing anything tomorrow - but its ok, the wedding bureau is open 24hrs a day - only in Vegas!

Bellagio Fountains

Our video of the Bellagio Fountains - no doubt it will look even more spectacular in the dark - watch this space!

Day 3 - Tired feet, we've walked the strip!

Well its Monday evening here, so i guess most of you are tucked up in your beds in the UK. We have had a great day exploring the strip but we are feeling it a little now. Jo vanished about an hour ago and has just turned up again - she found the spa and had to have a manacure and massage just to check the facilities out !!!

Highlights of the day so far have to be Caesars Palace and the Bellagio Fountains. I was expecting to find that Caesars Palace to be a bit tired as it's the only name that i really know as a casino but we were amazed. It is massive and very impressive.

We are now taking it easy in the hotel room (well i am) Jo is trying to get an outside line to phone the wedding chapel, which is proving a little more difficult than you would expect!

Thank you to you all for your messages - keep them coming! We will keep you updated and post as many photos as possible. There are a few more on the site now and if your having problems viewing them you can also look at them from FlickR direct by going to this address:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/slinkey/

Day 3 - Starbucks 24hrs!

Refreshed and ready for our first fully day in Sin City!

Both had a good night's sleep (apart from the roller coaster, that was suppose to stop at 11pm, but i am sure i heard it at 4am - or its the drains (or Jo!!!)).

No coffee making facilities in the room, but no worries - Starbucks is 24hrs on the casino floor and believe it or not there were still people playing the slots!!

Take a look on our FlickR page as we have uploaded a few pics that we took yesterday evening, more to follow later today.

Plan is to take it easy and just find our bearings today - so a little wander, a little gamble, and maybe a little shop with some liquid refreshment!

Thanks for the e-mail Nan - we will keep an eye out for the Marina Hotel on our wanders today.

Day 2 - Las Vegas!

We are here!!

Not the best of journeys. Firstly we taxied out to the runway and then the captain told us we had a valve that was closed which should be open!!! So back we went - it was fixed quickly but we were delayed by about an hour and a half. In that time we used a ton and a half of fuel going from the terminal to the runway and back!!!

Once we were on our way it took them half the flight to get the in seat entertainment system working, not that it worried us too much as i was watching my iPod and Jo was finishing off Harry!!

We can't says that Virgin lived up to our expectations - the flight was ok, but not great, certainly not better that First Choice, and no where near the standards of Emirates. Possibly because it was a charter flight and not a scheduled one, but not what we were expecting - although it was ok.



I next have to report that Jo is no longer a virgin on Virgin Atlantic!!! Now what do i mean - no, i don't mean the mile high club - i mean that that the landing at Las Vegas, or the approach was really bumpy and it upset Jo's stomach and for the first time on a flight she had to use the emergency bag!!! Once she was off the plan apart from feeling a little giddy and a headache she is ok - just not the welcome to Vegas we were expecting.

Anyhow, we are now at our hotel, and New York, New York has so far lived up to expectation. The lobby, casino floor is unbelievable. The room is good although its going to take some getting use too, a roller coaster flying past your window every so often!!

Both tired now, so going to chill, have a little bit of food and rest .and then .. watch out Vegas, here we come!!

PS - Nice to see O J Simpson is still in Vegas with us !!!!

Day 2 - Gatwick

So we are through the security and now sitting in the departure lounge and through the wonders on modern technology i can sit here and 'blog' away while Jo keeps up to date on her 'Harry' adventures !!

The hotel was really good and we slept well. It was a good feeling this morning just being able to walk through the terminal with no cases and go straight to the departure lounge. Its very busy here this morning (Gatwick South Terminal) and from what we saw last night a number of flights have been delayed.

I have indulged in the gadget duty free purchases, Jo has so far resisted!

Our flight has just appeared on the screens - VS043 is getting ready to go ... wait for us!

Day 1

Well our trip has started!

Stage one was the trip from Southampton to Wargrave and then Wargrave to Gatwick. Not forgetting the drop off of the other two members of the family (Gadget and Gizmo!) with 'Auntie Pat' for there 2nd holiday of the year ... spoilt cats or what !!!

Trip to Gatwick was good (thanks Nik for the taxi service).

We are now checked in, fed and watered and our bags are with Virgin! Not much more to do now apart from taking it easy and get in the holiday mood.

As we already have our boarding cards we dont have to be at the gate until 9am tomorrow morning, although we enjoy that part of the journey, milling around the departure lounge, so no doubt we will go through security early and have a wander around the shops and get some breakfast in the terminal.

South Coast

Another trip out today, again not too far, but nice to get a bit of 'sea' air!

We traveled to Dorset today, to be exact Bournemouth. After a quick stop at CastlePoint we headed for the centre and our intention was to walk along the beach until we found a pub. Mmmmm well that was the plan, it just so happens that a pub found us before we found the beach!

Anyhow, a nice lunch and then a walk to burn those lunch calories, well, that was the plan, but again, we found the car before the beach!!

So we went to the coast, and did not even see the sea! Oh well there is always a next time. Maybe we are getting in practice, seeing as we will be in the desert in a few weeks time and won't be anywhere near the sea?!

Sunday Service at the 'Chapel Apple'

We are on a trip to London today. The main reason is to find 'the dress' ready for our forthcoming trip!

However, seeing as it is a Sunday it would be rude not to pay our respects to the chapel Apple in Regent Street!

St Marys

St Marys
Originally uploaded by Slinkey Si

Not really that far, as St Mary's is just down the road, but never the less, if Saints win, it's worth shouting about!

Saints 3 - Stoke 2.

Time for a holiday?!

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Welcome to our Travel Blog!

This is the first entry in our Travel Blog!

Not gone very far yet as this is being written in a wet Southampton, in the middle of summer!!!

But! ... Watch this space and as we travel we will update this page.