Conference Trips, Short UK trips, Sat, 22 Jun 19
Jemma and Simon
with Eva, Kay, Lef, Lu, Magda, Stachu
at a City, UNESCO site
in Europe, UK
17 December 2005 19-20 April 06 8-11 February 2007, meeting Kay and Stachu 6 April 2007
Tropical Winter, Sat, 19 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
I keep learning more about Australian pests. The biggest pests – white people – brought with them a while host of other creatures that soon became a massive problem, for the land, but for humans as well. The story of …
Tropical Winter, Fri, 18 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a Jungle, Sea, Waterfall
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
Last night I slept well! Finally! The earplugs I bought yesterday really helped. Got up at a crazy 8:30am and had a wonderfully relaxing morning, not rushing anywhere, eating a glorious tropical fruit breakfast. Charlie and Dee got up after …
Tropical Winter, Thu, 17 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a Sea, UNESCO site
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
What a noisy night! We have room on the back of the building yet I can hear all of the street noise! Are walls made of paper here? Every truck passing by made the air conditioner vibrate, and then a …
Tropical Winter, Wed, 16 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a Jungle, Mountain, Museum
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
Last night was colder than I expected, and definitely more noisy. But the warm day is making up for it! We had some fruit for breakfast and went out pretty early to catch a scenic train to Kuranda, a mountain …
Tropical Winter, Wed, 16 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a City
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
Today I woke up to a lazy morning. Charlie and Dee went for a run, Eva went to see the opera house and parks, and I just stayed home pretending this whole city episode isn’t happening. I spent the morning …
Tropical Winter, Tue, 15 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a City, Transit
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
Today was a travel day. We had a relatively lazy morning, Eva and I went to see the sunrise over the canyon, we had breakfast outside watching birds and people on the campsite, dingos running about… Really need to come …
Tropical Winter, Mon, 14 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a Desert, Mountain
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
Today we got up very early to go and see the sunrise. However, we were once again almost late due to needless faff. This time driving was even more stressful – tour guides can wait, sunrises generally don’t. We barely …
Tropical Winter, Sun, 13 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a Desert, Mountain, UNESCO site
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
Today we wanted to start the day by taking the Mala walk – the free one the Anangu people want you to take. Dee was slow to get up and we were almost late, which was quite stressful for me …
Tropical Winter, Fri, 11 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a Desert, Mountain, UNESCO site
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
Today we got up early to be at the airport for our 9am flight to Uluru. Oh. My. Gods. On the plane, I had an aisle seat, but then spotted an empty window seat and just clawed my way to …
Tropical Winter, Thu, 10 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a City, Museum
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
The last two days, both spent in the city, were hard. It was everything I don’t want from holidays now – having plans, busy streets, cold and wind, people wanting me to go to places, huge crowds… I’m tired. It’s …
Tropical Winter, Tue, 08 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a City, Museum
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
Today we got up early to go visit the settlement in Swan Hill. Dee couldn’t sleep last night and got up late, and Charlie, whose snores might have been related, did go for a morning run. I’ve seen the settlement …
Tropical Winter, Tue, 08 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a City, Forest, River
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
Today we got up around 9, after yet another night of sleep-not-sleep. Morning at the Farley Estate was rather pleasant – after some playing with the dog I sat on the verandah, under a blanket, enjoying the sun. Perfect state …
Tropical Winter, Sun, 06 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a City
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
This morning I couldn’t sleep past 7am. I tried, but soon I joined Eva, who got up even earlier, for a literary morning. Around 9 Charlie and Dee got up, abandoned their ambitious plan to go running, and we went …
Tropical Winter, Sat, 05 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a City
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
They were waiting on the other side! We did eventually come out of the mammoth queue – turned out that Dee, who was landing half an hour later but has a UK passport which can be used in the automatic …
Tropical Winter, Fri, 04 Aug 17
Simon
with Charlie, Dee, Eva
at a Transit
in Australia, Australia & Oceania
I am not looking forward to this. 27 hours between three planes. First leg, Edinburgh to Amsterdam, was very stuffy and sleepy – I was pretty much passed out. I think I dreamt that Eva kept offering me some of …
Heat, Seafood, and Narrow Streets, Fri, 24 Apr 15
Simon
with Charlie, Eva
at a City, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Spain
Heat, Seafood, and Narrow Streets, Thu, 23 Apr 15
Simon
with Charlie, Eva
at a City, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Spain
The Mosque
Heat, Seafood, and Narrow Streets, Mon, 20 Apr 15
Simon
with Charlie, Eva
at a Castle, City, Sauna/Baths, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Spain
Alhambra
Heat, Seafood, and Narrow Streets, Sun, 19 Apr 15
Simon
with Charlie, Eva
at a Castle
in Europe, Spain
And then there was the castle. From the road, I saw an amazing structure atop a lone steep hill with a sheer drop on one side. The castle turned out to be an old Arabic structure surrounded by a town …
Heat, Seafood, and Narrow Streets, Sun, 19 Apr 15
Simon
with Charlie, Eva
at a City, Sea
in Europe, Spain
We took the scenic seaside route to Granada, going through all the small towns and villages, winding between hills and over cliffs. We stopped on a couple beaches and some random fun looking places, visited Nerja, a small sea town, …
Heat, Seafood, and Narrow Streets, Sun, 19 Apr 15
Simon
with Charlie, Eva
at a Sea
in Europe, Spain
We took the scenic seaside route to Granada, going through all the small towns and villages, winding between hills and over cliffs. We stopped on a couple beaches and some random fun looking places, visited Nerja, a small sea town, …
Heat, Seafood, and Narrow Streets, Sat, 18 Apr 15
Simon
with Charlie, Eva
at a City
in Europe, Spain
The time has come – the Cosy Labirynth goes on holidays! We set off to Malaga on Saturday afternoon. A surprisingly long and slightly delayed flight took us to a place which was more a car rental market than an …
Memoirs from the Land of Suits and Ramen, Fri, 08 Nov 13
Simon
with Eva
at a Transit
in Asia, Japan
Today it all ends. We thanked Toshiko and went to the airport quite early. Thanks to that Eva is less stressed about the flight. I could do with more sleep. Our flight is delayed by 1.5h, so more waiting. I …
Memoirs from the Land of Suits and Ramen, Fri, 08 Nov 13
Simon
with Eva
at a City, Temple, UNESCO site
in Asia, Japan
Today we decided to see Buddha again. A big one. We took a train to Nara, another ancient temple town and a former capital (7-9th Century), like Kamakura. Instead of temple complexes lost in mountain valleys, here they were mostly …
Memoirs from the Land of Suits and Ramen, Fri, 08 Nov 13
Simon
with Eva
at a Castle, City
in Asia, Japan
Osaka turns out to be only marginally less culturally boring than Sapporo. The history museum was closed, so we were left with Osaka Castle and… Osaka Castle. We went there in the morning and it was definitely time well spent. …
Memoirs from the Land of Suits and Ramen, Fri, 08 Nov 13
Simon
with Eva
at a Castle, City, Temple, UNESCO site
in Asia, Japan
Last night we arrived to Osaka very tired, went right to the hostel (couldn’t find any couchsurfers for the first couple nights) and collapsed. Despite the tiredness, I couldn’t fall asleep. Well, the guy on the next bed snoring might …
Conference Trips, Memoirs from the Land of Suits and Ramen, Tue, 05 Nov 13
Simon
with Eva
at a City
in Asia, Japan
This was the first conference I’ve been to where everything started and ended on time. Every single talk. Wow. There were a few interesting talks, a few that would be interesting if they weren’t delivered in the most sleep-inducing manner, …
Memoirs from the Land of Suits and Ramen, Tue, 05 Nov 13
Simon
with Eva
at a City, Park
in Asia, Japan
A bit disappointing. There is hardly anything here. Sapporo is a rather boring city of wide streets, high buildings, more wide streets, perfect 180x480m grid and little spirit. All built after 1850. It feels boring, and as it turns out, …
Memoirs from the Land of Suits and Ramen, Tue, 05 Nov 13
Simon
with Eva
at a City, Park
in Asia, Japan
Trees and skyscrapers, my favourite combination Today morning we packed, left Guillaume’s keys in his mailbox and, having several hours left until our flight to Sapporo, we went to the imperial gardens. This time – success, it’s open! Nice park, …
Memoirs from the Land of Suits and Ramen, Sat, 02 Nov 13
Simon
with Eva
at a City, Park, Temple
in Asia, Japan
Look what we found! Our plan for today has been carried out despite the weather’s insistence to prove to us that Scotland isn’t as bad as we thought. We went to Shinjuku and Shibuya – the alternative districts. And guess …
