Royal Weddings and Bad Teeth (UK Adventure) - Andrew´s Commentry

Well, the UK has been a mixed bag of experiences, some positive and some negative.  The nature of our travel though is to focus on the positives and look to the future for even better things to come.  We have just completed nearly 2 weeks in England visiting Didi's family and friends in the various parts of the country.  As luck would have it, the weather has been very kind, providing us with nothing but sunshine and the odd really cold day.
When we first started planning to include England in our travels I started taking mental notes of all the aspects of english life that were being touted as "far superior" to that found in Australia.  WELL, haven't I been paying attention to these little points and making my own comparisons :)  Lets visit a list shall we:

Touted Better
1) Beer
2) Pubs
3) Traffic signs
4) News
5) Supermarkets
6) Chocolate
7) Culture

Well, I disagree with the beer being better in the UK.  Warm beer, minus points.  I have tried a number of beers here and the conclusion is......I prefer Australian beer.  Firstly, in Australia we buy by the carton, not in packs of 4, 6, 10 or 12 as they have here.  Frankly it just makes it harder to carry.  Then they throw in the buy 2 of this style for X amount of 3 of this kind for Y amount and the sheer maths and logistics of it all sends you into a spin!  Just give me a carton of 24!  Also, Australia has a greater variety of beers to choose from in the shops.

I do agree with the pubs being better in England however.  They are far more local and have a real character to them (be it mostly the same) than in Australia and the bar staff still fill your beers with a pump style keg tap which is cool.  Beers are slightly cheaper and served by the pint (cold) which I like.

Traffic signs, well, my first experience was signs that were so faded you couldn't read them, signs pasted on a building corners so that you could only read them from one direction and a million signs for stuff you really don´t need to know.  I´m sure I saw signs telling you not to look at the signs but the road!  The best example of UK signage was a motorway sign heading north from London which showed one branching motorway splitting off the one we were on and then crossing back over a few times until you were confused!  You had to turn left to go right, awesome!  Even the natives were confused....

As for the news, well I wouldn´t know cause all there was to hear about was the royal wedding!  So this comparison could not be made.  Although I did get to hear from every person ever so slightly involved in Kate Middleton´s life from her conception, truly informative!

As for the supermarkets, well simply, if I want food, I go to a supermarket.  I don´t want TV´s, bikes, outdoor furniture etc.  Get my point.  Chocolate, well not being a connoisseur, I say it tastes the same. And as for culture, well since oz has nothing but a beer, meat and hunting culture I´m pretty sure one of the oldest civilizations still to exist on earth beat us there.

But my final comment is that it is cold in the UK, the sun is a girly little version of the Australian one and they don´t barbeque anywhere near enough.  The beaches don´t compare but the hospitality and pubs are good.  Make your own conclusions on where the comparisons land.

So, less comparing and more travel writing.....On to the topic everyone wants to still hear about......THE ROYAL WEDDING!  Yes, we were there for it.  We did not however brave the crowds during the ceremony, we only ventured out after they had kissed (if that is what you call it.  Your first potential king who can be an absolute dude and all he does is peck his new wife......poor form).  See some of the photos of the sights below.

Now we are off to the Netherlands to visit my family and pick up a car for our around Europe odyssey.  I must say that the UK is not all that bad at all and I did enjoy meeting Did´s friends and family.  2 months and we will be back to get another week or so in before we fly out to South America.