Tag: drive

Oslo

Place 93 – May 21 2022 & May 22 2022: Oslo 🇳🇴 – New Favourite City?

Kim & Curtis Hale

Day 1

We woke up for our last day at the farm and we were made some waffles for breakfast!

We went to see one of the kids’ gymnastics performance nearby. This was great to see all of the kids having fun.

Unfortunately we had to leave before it was done and drive to Oslo! We had never been so we wanted to see what it was like so we drove there to stay for our final night in Norway. We stopped in Kongsberg for snack and coffee, of course!

We got rid of the car, which wasn’t super easy to find and it was actually in a parking structure but maps took us to a different location! Once we did that we got ourselves checked in to our hotel which was right on one of the main streets.
We had a shower and freshened up before walking for some dinner.

We walked fairly far to get a burger for dinner but it was great as we got to see a lot of the city.

Once dinner was done, we continued our long walk around Oslo and all of the different areas! We also went to the cool looking opera house that they have in Oslo.

For the evening we had a nice relaxing time with snacks in bed and watched some TV.

Day 2

We had free breakfast at the hotel but it was a nightmare! Far too busy for such a small spot.

We walked to the King’s castle and we walked around the park that is attached to the castle. It was such a peaceful place to walk around and the architecture, as is Europe, was beautiful.

We went to ‘Frognerparken’ which is the famous park with a lot of nude sculptures in it, which is one part of it but also it’s a nice park and the sculptures look cool!


We walked to find ourselves a coffee and then walked to Askerhus festing, which is an old castle/military fort.


We walked quite far from here to ‘Gamle Oslo’ which is the old part of town which also has a very new part just around it. We wanted to check this out and we loved it.


We went back to the hotel to get ourselves sorted and then headed to catch the train to the airport.

We flew back to the UK to spend a couple more days there.

Kim’s dad, Tom, picked us up from the airport and we had a McDonald’s for dinner on the way home, of course! It was time to sleep once we got back.

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United Kingdom

Place 92 – May 10 2022 to May 13 2022: United Kingdom – A Visit Home (Part 2)

Kim & Curtis Hale

Day 8 – Wales & Plymouth, UK

We started day 8 with going to get a car rental! We picked up a small Toyota Aygo and set off for breakfast at the McDonald’s that Curtis used to work at when he was younger.

After breakfast, we set off on a drive to Wales! We aren’t sure where in Wales it was, but we were visiting a friend there!

We got to her house after a few hours of driving and we sat and chatted for a while before we went out for lunch at a nice local cafe.

Post lunch, we jumped back in the car and drove off to Plymouth! We have a few friends that live there, so we drove down to see them, have some dinner and drinks and just chat a bit.

When we arrived, though, we had to drive around Plymouth which is just hills! A bit crazy and not super fun to drive or park on. We got parked up and luckily we had a friend that was letting us stay with them overnight, which was nice.

We had a curry for dinner at an Indian restaurant with a bunch of people and by the time we ate and left it was already bed time! We headed back to the apartment and went to sleep. We had another drive the day after so a good sleep was required.

Day 9 – Bournemouth, UK

We were up early and we drove out to Bournemouth!

We had a concert to see so we thought it made sense to keep the car for the extra day and drive to Bournemouth from Plymouth.

We were staying at a Premier Inn again because it’s practical and we know it’s nice!

We got ourselves settled and then we went out to a Sigrid concert. This concert was a small intimate concert and was very short but was amazing!

We left the concert and had a bit of a walk around Bournemouth and then grabbed some KFC for dinner.

Day 10 – Andover & Basingstoke, UK

Once we headed to a nice cafe for breakfast, we had a bit of a walk at the beach in Bournemouth, which we both used to go to with our families when we were younger.

We drove back to Andover and then off to Basingstoke for a bit of shopping with Kim’s family.

We took the car back after we were done in Basingstoke and then we had to pack to go to Norway!

We went to have pizza with Curtis’ dad and it was really nice to see him, too.

We stayed overnight at Curtis’ family’s house and then off to Norway we go!

The next blog will be about some time in Norway, which was an awesome time with celebrations and lots of hanging out with friends.

Victoria,BC

Place 70 – Day 36: Victoria, BC – Afternoon Tea & Goodbyes!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Packing Up

We got ourselves ready in the morning, had some breakfast, and got packed up and ready to go.

We changed the bed sheets and tidied up, as well as packed all of our stuff away.

Afternoon Tea

We took Linda for afternoon tea at 11:45.

The place seemed alright, but everything was just okay, which was pretty disappointing.

We headed back to Linda’s and hung out with her for a bit more before we had to leave and say goodbye until next time!

Leaving Victoria

We drove up to get our car cleaned at the car wash that we had bought a ticket for before but didn’t get to use on Wednesday.

We were waiting and a woman managed to make her car battery die right at the entrance to the car wash, so it took quite a while to actually get our car washed, so it was good that we left at such a good time!

We left the car wash after it was done and went to the supermarket and picked up a salad to eat on the boat.

We got onto the boat and got a pretty good spot! Masks are now mandatory again indoors, which includes the ferry, which is great!

We ate our salad and then we just relaxed. We were told there were whales, but we didn’t see them when we looked!

We got back to Vancouver and drove home, which took less time than expected.

We got back home and just did very little. Kim had a nice bath with bath salts she bought at her massage and we just relaxed.

Back to work tomorrow!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Victoria,BC

Place 70 – Day 32: Victoria, BC – Airport Pickup & Finally Seeing Linda!

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up at a good time, though Kim woke up early as a dog was barking constantly in the hotel and she heard that so she couldn’t get back to sleep.

We got up and ready around 10:00 and packed up the last few things, showered and then took our stuff down to the car.

After checking out, we went to grab some breakfast. We found a cafe and Curtis got a breakfast muffin and Kim got a pesto and brie toasted sandwich, along with a coffee each.

We ate our food whilst sat in the sun and then we got the car and drove to a car wash. We vacuumed the car and then tried to go to a car wash, but it was too busy so we had to head to the airport.

Somehow, Curtis managed to lose his mask during this time, so had to use a disposable one for the time being.

We met Linda in the airport as she was returning from Kelowna on a flight and we were very happy to see Linda again after what must be at least 2 years!

We had a great chat on the way home and once we got back to Linda’s place, we had more of a chat with her and then we went out to the mall to see if we could get Curtis a new mask.

We found a mask, but it wasn’t actually that great. Linda then remembered she had a perfect one lying around, so Curtis has that now instead!

We went out for dinner with Linda to a place down the road called the steamship grill, which is somewhere we had been a few times with Linda.

Curtis had a salmon burger and Kim had a Nashville chicken caesar salad. Unfortunately, Kim’s food tasted a little fishy, so she didn’t really eat much, but we did have a lot of bread and chips so she ate those!

We walked back to Linda’s and spent the remainder of the evening having a great conversation, as always with Linda!

We have some fun times planned, and lots of dinners, over the next few days.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Sidney, BC

Place 90 – Day 1: Sidney, BC 🇨🇦 – Animal Sanctuary, Malahat Skywalk & Italian Dinner

Kim & Curtis Hale

Breakfast

We woke up and had to check out at 09:00. We got ourselves ready, checked out and hit the road.

We drove until we got to Qualicum Beach, which had French Press Coffee Roasters where we had breakfast! Kim had bruschetta with mushrooms and arugula. It was very nice, though a little small. She had that with a pretty tasty mocha and a chocolate chip cookie.

Curtis had a sandwich with egg, tomato and some really nice bacon in and a cappuccino which had some very nice coffee in, that was roasted in house!

We had this and then got back on the road and drove onward.

Animal Sanctuary

We drove to the animal sanctuary called North Island Animal Sanctuary which was a really nice animal rehabilitation center which also had animals that could not be released into the wild, mostly due to injury.

Before we got there, though, we stumbled across a small old looking town that had, for some reason, some goats on the roof! We had to stop and check them out

We then started driving again, only to find an antiques store just down the road!

We went in there and Curtis managed to talk Kim out of buying an old sabre, though there were some cool items there.

We drove onward to the sanctuary and once we got there, we wandered around to take a look at all the animals. We took no photos here as it didn’t feel appropriate but the animals seemed well looked after and we got to see some awesome animals there, such as eagles and hawks. There was apparently a bear there but it must have been hiding as we didn’t get to see it, but it was actually a really nice stop along the way.

Little Mountain Lookout

Kim had noticed a place on the map called little mountain lookout which was meant to have some great views and it didn’t disappoint!

We drove up to this which was a VERY steep hill and once we got to the top, it didn’t look like anything. However, a short wander through the trees took us to a sheer cliff edge but with stunning views!

We left here and drove to get another coffee. We got this in a cafe in a small town.

Whilst there, we decided to check our reservation only to find out we had only booked one night and it was tomorrow, not today!

Luckily, we contacted them and were able to sort that out, though we did panic for a second.

Malahat Skywalk

We drove to a place that was suggested to us by Linda which is a new attraction.

This is a skywalk, a wooden walkway through the trees, and then a large spiral structure which gives amazing views and there was also a slide to go down from near the top!

We wanted to do the slide, so we queued for about an hour for that. Unfortunately, we got near to the top where the slide was and Curtis really needed to pee, so just had to hope that didn’t happen on the slide!

It was quite a large and fast slide, but it wasn’t bad at all, other than the bumps for Curtis! Luckily, he didn’t have an accident, which is a positive outcome.

We did the slide and then walked back all the way to the top of the structure which had a see through netting floor which could be walked on.

Kim decided this would be fun to roll on instead, so she did that, but did regret it a little after, due to the sheer height of the tower.

We took a look at the beautiful scenery, technically this area has a fjord, and it really was beautiful.

Nice Hotel & Italian Dinner

We drove onward from here to Sidney, where we will be for 2 night purely to relax and sleep! We have had a busy few days and a busy few weeks before now, so we wanted some time to just…chill.

We got to our hotel and it was around 19:00. We checked in and got to our room which is beautiful.

We were very hungry, so we went to a restaurant super close, which is an Italian restaurant.

We had to sit outside, which is good for COVID, but we were a little chilly. We could forgive that though, as the view was stunning.

We had to wait a while for our food but once it came, it was delicious!

We were pretty hungry by the time it arrived, so we ate it quickly and then decided it was relax time, so we went to the shop to get snacks and then went back to the hotel to chill out for the evening.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Tofino, BC

Place 88 – Day 1: Tofino, BC🇨🇦 – Exploring, Beer & A Lighthouse

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up pretty early and got ourselves ready to head out to Tofino!

Tofino is a very popular destination for tourists, so we were glad to finally be able to go.

We drove out there, on an estimated 2.5 hour drive. There were some road works and construction happening on the route, so we had to stop a few times, one of which was for 30 minutes, but we eventually made it to Tofino in around 3 hours.

We parked up and went right on the hunt for coffee. We found a place and walked there and had some pretty good coffee from Tofino Coffee Roasting Co.

We had the coffee and then walked around Tofino, just to see what it’s all about.

The actual town wasn’t all that interesting, but there was a little boat dock area which had some really fresh air and some really cool looking buildings.

After we went here, we actually ended up bumping into people that Kim knew from work and they gave a couple of really great suggestions!

The first suggestion was to go to chesterman beach which was a slightly less populated beach but really, really nice.

We stopped at the Tofino brewing company on the way and got there right as they opened! We had a beer and just relaxed outside for a bit which was really nice and the beer was good too! It was then time to get going again.

We drove down to the beach and got parked up and then had a nice, long, walk along the beach. There weren’t many people there and the sand was SO SOFT!

We decided to see how cold the water was, which was VERY COLD though kinda nice on our heavily trodden feet.

We left this beach and drove back up to Tofino and parked back up, being smart and using our ticket we still had time on!

The second thing that Kim’s friend suggested was to get a key lime pie slice from a restaurant nearby, so we got that and it was very, very delicious!

We left here after walking to a hotel that Kim remembered staying at as a child and then we drove out to Ucluelet. This super small town doesn’t have much, but it did have a lighthouse!

The lighthouse had a very large whistle buoy near it which warns boats where to go, so that was VERY loud.

We then decided that it was home time! We were pretty tired but had an incredible day and such a nice break!

We didn’t have too much trouble driving back to the hotel, which by the way, is basically a pub with rooms on, which isn’t as bad as it seemed.

We got back to the hotel and Kim ready that it was possible to see bears nearby, so we went to look for them but saw none, so headed to the local brewery!

Curtis got a beer and Kim got a cider and then we realised we were hungry and no other food place was open, so we had some pizza and a pretzel from the brewery.

We got a half and half pizza. One side was a veggie pizza and the other was lemon and herb chicken with tomatoes and tatziki.

We ate our food and had another drink and then eventually headed back to the hotel, which was just across the road.

We got back around 22:00 and chilled out until sleeping, which we are excited to do!

Likely another early morning tomorrow, and a long day, but it should be a fun one!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 979: Vancouver, BC – Planned For A Half Day…But No!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis slept a little bit this morning which was really nice. He woke up with quite a bit of pain but that subsided once he took some pills.

Curtis played games all day whilst Kim worked.

We were going to hang out for half of the day, but unfortunately Kim had to work and have meetings all day.

Kim’s Day

Kim had a super busy and interesting day! She started with a mini team meeting with her managers to discuss plans for the next couple of weeks. They all then joined a meeting to start discussions about some really important and interesting things.

Kim then hosted a meeting, while setting up a laptop, to brainstorm how a team will work and build up. They then went into a meeting about the responsibilities within the team. Kim continued to set up the laptop and take stock of incoming laptops.

After the meetings Kim then also set up meetings for the new starter finished their laptop and sent it out. She also managed to get through other pop up admin while waiting for the laptop to update. She the. Had to call Lenovo to ask for support, so she did that while getting ready.

Once Kim was at the restaurant she said hello and had a wonderful couple of hours in two places for a couple of drinks with old colleagues.

Evening

When Kim finished with working, she went to meet some friends downtown at a bar/restaurant. Curtis drove her down and she had a really good time! Some people left shortly after she got there as they needed to head out, but some people stayed and Kim really enjoyed that.

Kim got home and we watched some TV and relaxed for the evening and then headed to bed.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 967: Vancouver, BC – Mini Golf in Abbotsford

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up and had showers and then Curtis went to get croissants and coffee for breakfast.

We ate our breakfast and then we chatted with Kim’s sister for an hour and a bit. It was really nice to chat with her and catch up!

We then left to drive out to Abbotsford to go and play mini golf. We had been told that there was a really good place out there, so why not explore a little!

There were a few accidents on the way, so it took us about 1 hour 40 minutes to get out there, but we did get to drive through some nice rural areas.

We got there and it was GROSS inside! Very few masks and a lot of people. We decided to do the outdoor mini golf, as we didn’t have to worry about other people.

We did the 18 hole mini golf, but it took quite a while as we had to wait for people in front of us to finished each hole before starting and they took a while!

We finished that up, with Kim narrowly winning, and then we got hungry and thirsty, so we went across to McDonald’s to get some food. It was a pretty gross McDonald’s store, so we ate some of our food in the car and then drove back towards home. The way back was much faster, though we did have some congestion in a few spots, but that was to be expected.

We drove to the supermarket on the way back as that made the most sense and we did our weekly shop. We bought a lot of soup, as Curtis has his surgery this week and cannot have anything other than soup and soft food, Kim so managed to find some really nice soft foods and liquids for him.

We got back home and Curtis had the remaining leftover curry with some rice and Kim had some homemade egg fried rice with vegetables which was really good!

We watched a bit of TV and then Kim looked up some exciting things online!

Curtis has to be up earlier for a meeting tomorrow, so we shall sleep at a good time tonight!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 966: Vancouver, BC – White Rock!

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up lazily and had some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast whilst we watched some of the F1.

We got ourselves ready, slowly, and then drove out to White Rock, only about an hour away from us and on the US border!

We got there and parked up, with the first mission to find coffee and snacks, which we did. We got ourselves coffee and Kim has an Oreo cheesecake and then we went for a walk.

White Rock is a small seaside city with Canada’s longest pier, which is where we went!

We had to cross some railway tracks to get there, which are in use, but we took a quick cool photo!

We walked onto the pier and saw the US opposite us! We looked down into the water and saw a lot of purple starfish, which were cool, and then Curtis looked up and noticed an eagle sat above us!

We walked back along the pier and down to the water, where Kim dipped her feet a little to cool off.

We walked back up to the car, up the large tiring hills, and then drove back home. It was a wonderful day out and much nicer than we expected! We definitely want to do a night or two here soon and just relax.

After getting back home, we had leftovers from yesterday and then went out for a nice evening walk.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 866: Vancouver, BC – Starting The Packing Process

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had some tickets to get done in the morning and then he jumped into a team meeting which went really well.

He then spent some time sorting out some licenses that people shouldn’t have had, which actually took much longer than expected.

After that, he had another meeting in which we discussed how some software works and what needs to be done to get something working as it should. Curtis learned some new things which was great, and his colleague was also able to learn things.

The afternoon was a lot of tickets and admin. He had a discussion about a potential new tools and helped people out with some tickets.

Kim’s Day

Kim spent a lot of her day in meetings and interviews. She had one interview in the morning followed by a recruitment meeting. Then for the rest of the morning she was able to complete a few admin tasks and plan some projects.

In the afternoon Kim joined another recruitment meeting and then had a 5 Min surprise meeting with a colleague to catch them up to date on the meeting. The wellness break for the week was at lunchtime and a few people say down and took some time to hang out and do colouring in online. It was so enjoyable and Kim cannot wait to do it again!

Kim then joined a meeting about an IT project that will be starting soon. She will be helping out with the logistics of it and it will be really interesting! From there Kim went in to host another interview and then had a quick review of the meeting with her colleague.

There was some paperwork that needed to be completed so Kim jumped on a call with a colleague to work through it. Then Kim had a call with another teammate to just have a check in and a chat.

Starting The Packing Process

We got done with work and then Kim went to take back some items she didn’t want from Homesense and then we went down to our storage locker and took out some things from there and took them over to the new apartment.

When we got there, we took the items in but Kim also got the sofa finished and we sat on that for a bit, just relaxing. It was super comfortable and a great purchase!

There were a lot of boxes from the sofa, so we took those down to the bin and then we drove back home and brought up some more items from the storage locker, ready to pack clothes and a few other things. We’re actually getting some things ready for the move, now!

We made sausages, peas and mash for dinner and watched some TV whilst relaxing for the remainder of the evening.

We’re glad we got some stuff done for the move, though most of it will get done at the weekend.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale