Travel Books - Volume 1
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October 1995
The VISIT Recruitment fair at Olympia, London ...then straight on a plane to…

Tel Aviv, Israel. Stayed at a lovely hotel on the sea front at Herzaliya (about 5 miles from Tel Aviv). Went round Jerusalem on a day trip and that was pretty neat. No pictures of me there though. Also went to Bethlehem on the same day and did the full tourist thing.

November 1995
Paris, France. Out there to help interview people to work in the new office we were setting up

August 1996
Oulton Broad, Suffolk, England. Stayed in the family caravan and had day trips out to Great Yarmouth, and went round the town centre, sunbathed on the beach for a while, then went to the funfair, and had a ride on the wooden rollercoaster and the Caterpillar.

February 1997
Calcutta, India. Flew from Heathrow airport to Delhi airport for a short stop-over (only a few hours), where I got my diary stamped by the customs man

Stayed at the Oberoi Grand Hotel, which was really nice, then returned via Bombay. On the way home, the plane lost power in one of its engines, so we were diverted to Frankfurt, Germany, where we changed planes and then flew home

Me, sitting by the pool at the Oberoi. This was Friday morning, when I had a couple of the local beers and a slightly dodgy tummy - but I was better by mid-day

August 1997
Oulton Broad, Suffolk, England. Stayed in the caravan again for a holiday and had trips out to Lowestoft, and Great Yarmouth again, and also went for a day trip to Norwich. Went to watch Norwich City Football Club on the Saturday, when they played against Crewe, but unfortunately they lost 2-0. Went to Pleasurewood Hills theme park near Great Yarmouth

Me, sitting on the dashboard of our Renault 21 on the way to Pleasurewood Hills

Lister Hospital, Stevenage My friend Leigh had his tonsils taken out. I was a bit nervous, but Leigh let me stay with him and I went into theatre with him. Leigh was asleep but I sat and watched it all, and gave the doctors some advice when I thought they needed a hand. They stuck one of the identity labels on my backpack, which I have still got in my travel book.

September 1997
Meridian School, Royston Went to school with Kerri, but was a bit tired and found the lessons a bit hard, so I spent most of the day having a quiet snooze in her locker

Went to the Sema Group "It's a Knockout" fun-day, in Wimbledon, South London. I went dressed as Sheik Travelling Ted in support of the Saudi Arabia project team, but we didn't win though

October 1997
Blackpool, England Stayed in a very nice bed and breakfast hotel, and went on a tram ride through all the Blackpool Illuminations. Walked on the beach and met the donkeys. Went to the Pleasure Beach and had a ride on the Wild Mouse (scary), The Pepsi Max "Big One" (highest rollercoaster in Europe - very fast and scary), the Playstation shooting up in the air and dropping like a stone thing, an few old wooden rollercoatsers (dating back to about 1925), Revolution, the Steeplechase, the Big Dipper and the River Caves (also known as the Tunnel of Love)

February 1998
Bucharest, Romania Flew to Otopeni airport in Romania, and then caught a taxi to the Hilton Hotel in Bucharest. Stayed in 2 different rooms while I was there, and they had just opened the fitness centre on the ground floor at the back of the hotel. Still lots of snow and ice on the ground. I was going to be living here for four months

Leigh came over for a week to visit me

March 1998
Sinia, Romania (about 40 miles north of Bucharest) Took a train from Bucharest station to Sinia and travelled first class

In this picture, you can just see my ears at the bottom of the window

When we got to Sinia, it was snowing hard so they had stopped the cable car from going to the top of the local mountain, so that meant no skiing! Walked up to Peles Castle, home of King Carol I, the first king of Romania. Went in through the Foreign visitor entrance. Walked through the snow to the Palace Hotel for coffee. Then visited the monastery and got a candle for Great Nanny. When we went back to the station, we had to wait ages for the train. Finally got back to Bucharest and went for a curry in the Sahib Restaurant, one of our regular haunts.

Me sitting on the wall with Peles Castle (pronounced Pelesh) in the background. Even though I have a nice fur covering, my bottom was getting jolly cold..…

April 1998
Open Air Concert, Bucharest The mobile phone company Connex GSM were celebrating their first year of operation so they had an open air pop concert in the big square outside the House of the People. Saw the French singing star, Patricia Kaas, which was followed by the biggest ever firework display in Romania. Loads of people there and it was a real squash, but we went into the employees compound so we had a good view

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