Christmas Is Un-Cancelled!

In our last post we indicated that the outcome of The Waiting Game would hopefully be exciting. Well, the UK Border Agency must be reading our blog, because they made the whole process extremely exciting. Possibly taking years off our lives in the process...

On Monday, Bec began a systematic campaign of enquiring/nagging/begging/pleading by both fax and telephone, but was met with the same familiar stonewalling as before: "We can only tell you if your documents have been sent back to you". By Wednesday night, we had all but given up hope, but Bec gave it one last shot on Thursday, and was overjoyed to hear "the application is complete and your documents will be dispatched today".

Royal Mail is usually pretty efficient and guarantees that a Special Delivery, Signed-For package like this will be delivered next-day. But that wasn't going to be enough - we had to be at Heathrow Airport by 11.30am. So Bec got pro-active and contacted our local post office, arranging to intercept the delivery there rather than face an agonising wait for the postman at home.

And so, at 9.00am today, Bec arrived home with our passports, with a whole 2 hours to spare before we needed them to leave the country. Now that is cutting it fine!

Before we head off for Canada, we just wanted to wish all our friends and family a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

The Waiting Game

"Ah, the waiting game sucks - let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos!"

Homer Simpson

He's got a point. For seven weeks now, we've been waiting - at first patiently - for Bec's UK Working Visa extension to be processed. UK Immigration helpfully provides the following statistics: "70% of applications will be processed within 4 weeks, and 90% within 14 weeks". Awesome guys, thanks for that. So that's been seven weeks sans passports for BOTH of us (because Bec's visa depends on Johnny's UK nationality, so both passports had to be sent off).

So our wings have been clipped for a while. And it hasn't really been too much of a hardship. However, a very large problem looms - at the end of this week.

You see, many months ago we were invited to a December wedding - in Canada - and we accepted. Neither of us have ever been before and it seemed like a great place in which to spend the Christmas-New Year period. So we assembled a plan: Mike and Krista's wedding in Toronto, Niagara Falls, then New York for Christmas with Brandy, the Adirondack train up to Montreal, then skiing and New Year's up in the alpine village of Mont Tremblant. Thoughts of this trip have been keeping us going through our travel drought.

But now time is running out. Will our elaborate Christmas travel plans be once again foiled by elements outside our control? Will we once again turn up at Granny's with our tails between our legs? Why does it take soooo long to rubber stamp an application for someone as lovely as Bec? Only the immigration department knows. And they're not telling - it's official policy.

Stay tuned for the (hopefully) exciting outcome of The Waiting Game!

Fantastic Plastic

Ever since John was a small boy (insert joke here), he has loved LEGO^® - the king of toys. And for as long as he has known of the existence of LEGOLAND^® he has wanted to go. For many years, this would have meant getting to Billund in Denmark, surely an adventure in its own right, but hardly accessible. But since 1996 there's been an easier option for British LEGO^® fans - LEGOLAND^® Windsor. Yes, right next to one of the Queen's official residences at Windsor Castle. Unfortunately the admission price is such that even the Her Royal Highness would wince should she ever decide to pop in. Luckily we'd done some homework prior to our visit back in September, and had secured a 40p packet of crisps that gave us 2-for-1 entry to the park - saving some £32 (AUD$70 - $90 depending on the crunchiness of the day's credit) - winner!

Our impressions at first were underwhelming. It was a sunny Sunday in the middle of summer, so the park was heaving with kids, prams, strollers and other "family stuff". Johnny inwardly fumed at the slow-moving crowds but kept quiet - you can't really have a whinge about all the kids when you're visiting what is clearly a children's theme park! The rides were very tame, even the ones with the most potential dangers listed (always the ones to ride first!), and the queues were horrific. Johnny's childhood dreams were crumbling before Bec's eyes! But it turned out that the park's planners had saved the best for last. Miniland is the true jewel in the crown - where the park shows that it's more than just a collection of kiddie rides and overpriced food stands. More than 40 million LEGO^® bricks have been used to create 1/20th scale recreations of some of the world's most recognisable landmarks, plus a stunning compressed version of London. The whole thing is finished off with immaculate landscaping including in-scale bonsai trees, waterways with moving boats, and (Johnny's favourite) working trains. We both absolutely loved it!

Here's Leuven Town Hall in Belgium, and a canal scene in Amsterdam:

Big Ben, Edinburgh Castle and the Sacré Coeur in Paris:


Johnny towers over Central London, and the Royal Coach exits Buckingham Palace Gate: