TLDR – October break for the kids is a week long. We’re spending it in Brighton, UK exploring some parks and playing coindozer.
Travel day
Back in, June we booked a trip to Brighton to cover the kids week off school end of October. At the time I was planning to work at the Oracle office in Brighton and hang out with the networking team. Between then and now the office has been closed and the networking engineers moved to Manchester. Oh well, less work more time to hang out with the fam. Plus a second chance to Explore Brighton – Link to Last time
Before bed, I asked the kids how they wanted to be woken up. Mila said she’d been looking forward to a fancy wakeup all week; 0330 wake up. Mila asked me to get right in her face and shake her while saying “bugga bugga bugga“. She screamed a bit when I woke her then giggled. Roxi did not want to wake up; took two tries. Maddex met me in Milas room already awake, drat. Khaleesi startled a bit when I yelled at her then got all cute and smiley. Rainy 2k walk to the Clayton to catch the 0415 aircoach and away we go; NO PUKING!! NO TUMMY ACHES!!
Oh boy howdy did we have an insane landing? First, we circled the airport a few times before landing waiting for our slot and burning off fuel I am sure. About 1km up on approach we hit some hard turbulence. Shaking both vertically, and horizontally off-center. Michelle was getting nervous, and it showed. I put my arms up in the air and said WEEEE like a roller coaster. The closer to the ground we got the rougher the ride. We landing under thrust. I figured we’d hit pretty hard based on our speed, but the pilot pulled out some skills and soft-landed us sideways. I could be mistaken but I think I heard the reverse thrust before we hit the ground – either way we were full power reverse and max braking and we still almost ran out of runway stopping – What a tremendous landing!!
After the killer landing, we deplaned on the tarmac, collected our buggy and headed for the train station. Which is in the airport; how civilized. We had a bit of a train mess at LGW airport train terminal. The queues to buy tickets were massive, long, spooky things that freaked us out. Doing everything we can to avoid lines, and living in the future – Michelle busted out her phone and bought some tickets online. She had some troubles doing this for one reason or another then it finally went through. After buying the tickets she had to collect them from a machine, a machine at the end of a line; EWWWW!! . Sad face, the machine spit out 16 tickets. Double the 8 we needed; four one way to Brighton and four one way back from Brighton to LGW is all we required.
After counting out the tickets Michelle went to another line to inquire about a refund in exchange for the pile of extra tickets we bought. The guy at the counter did not want to deal with her and said she bought them online he could do nothing for her. He then suggested she mail the unused tickets in and ask for a refund. – sigh; I call Bull shit but not worth the argument. Poor Michelle such a stressful mess. The kids and I waited patiently the whole time hanging out in the station watching the waxing and waning of the ticket lines.
Made it to Brighton
Leaving the train station we were blasted by the wind. Guess this explains the turbulent landing. Walking down the street in a slow-moving gaggle of poeple who also just got off a train we saw a Belgium chip shop. We pulled out of the crowd and into the chip shop for a large cone of chips for 4,95€. While waiting we watched them soak, clean, and chop chips. They had a big chip cutter thing Maddex was fascinated with. The chips were delicious. Hit the spot for a quick snack.
At the bottom of the hill, we crossed the road onto the beach boardwalk and took in the waves. Huge violent waves crashing onto the pebble beach. Love the sounds of waves. It was about a kilometer walk along the beach before we turned right up the hill again to our hotel, the Brunswick square hotel. The kids and I wait outside to not overwhelm hotel staff when we show up. After Michelle checked in we tackled the three flights of stairs to room 203 our home for the rest of the week. Nice room. Big tv, double bed, and a bunk bed. Plenty of room for the MillFam.
Rain time
We made it an hour in-room resting before heading back out to a park and shop. We forgot the mini display to HDMI converter we use to plug the surface into a TV. Stopped at a PC repair shop, and a curries world. Ended up finding one at the Apple store for 29€ ouch. After Waitrose for snacks, we walked to a play park. About 5 minutes in Maddex desperately needed a toilet. He and I walked to a pub nearby then it started to rain. We texted the girls, they started walking towards us met, us then we walked home – it went from drizzle to dumping. We were drenched by the time we arrived back to our room.
On the way back we Spyed a Taco Bell. It’s been since we lived in the states that we had Taco Bell. Dinner had been chosen. We watched a movie and rested trying to wait out the rain. It never let up. Eventually, we gave up and walked out in the rain for some Taco Bell. It’s only 700 meters away
NSFW — I had to go poo when we left the house to walk to Taco Bell. First Taco Bell I’ve had in about 3 years since leaving the states. Then after eating Taco Bell I had to go with urgency. We ate on the second floor. The bathroom was in the basement at the end of a long hall. I almost did not make it. Luckily it was an empty bathroom. It was also a super nice clean modern looking bathroom. I sat down and exploded. Then I went to wipe and no toilet paper. Fuck!! No cell reception; I cannot ask for help. Looked out in the bathroom sink area. No paper to dry hands. Plus side, still the place is empty. I waddled out, turned on a faucet and cleaned off barehanded. Then used my do-rag to dry and get anything I missed. Washed my hands twice and went back to finish my taco.
Sunday fun day in the cold
Thanks, daylight saving or whatever you call this asinine hour forward and backward process we do a few times a year. We were all awake and making noise by 0530. Michelle took the larger kids to the beach to watch the sunrise while the smaller two and I laid in bed and watched Sofia the first. Around 0700 the girls and I got dressed and went to meet Michelle, Maddex and Mila at the beach. They were cold and wanting to warm up. We walked to the Churchill mall to mall walk and warm-up.
Nope closed, not open till 11. Have about Krispy Kream near the mall. Nope not open until 10. We stoped at star bucks to warm up then went to the park we got rained out of yesterday. Mom did her phone lead seven-minute work out while the kids played. I skinned Mila’s knee tossing her into a swing. She cried in the stroller for 15 minutes recovering; bad dad, stop being so rough.
Poof, we’re back in our room having cereal and an episode of the worst witch on Netflix. Naps and colouring then we’re back outside. On the train down yesterday one of the stops was Preston park. Maddex follows a YouTube gamer named Preston, the name caught his interest. Maddex asked if we can go to Preston park. It looks like a great park on the map about 40 minutes’ walk away.
We stopped at Waitrose on the way for lunch. Sushi, grapes, Pringle’s, sausage pie and some brownie bites. Not a bad lunch. The park has a great play area with some slides going down a big hill and a picnic table for our lunch. Sadly it’s in the shade and still wet. Sacrifice some gloves and the table was dry for lunch. Maddex picked a big ten piece sushi tray for 8£ and ate all of it. Was not sure he’d make it but he did. Michell picked out spicy California roll and suffered through the spice. They had chili powder on top making them more painful hot then taste hot
The girls ate random bits. The grapes were black seedless which tasted like red wine. Great grapes. I think we had about 10 buckets of them while we were in Brighton. Across the street from the main park zone of Preston park is a Preston park Rock garden. We walked around there for a bit exploring. Some of the steps and rocks were a bit of a challenge with the stroller, but nothing that prevented us from our adventure. On the walk home from Preston park, we hit two more parks.
Hove Garden park, and St Ann’s Well Garden park. Both with great play areas. At the Wall Garden park Khaleesi was walking up a hill and somehow fell over backward and rolled down the hill in the mud. While we were cleaning her off and ending her crying from the hurt Roxi did the same thing and fell down the hill in the mud. Hurt muddy tired kids – time to head back to the hotel and take a break. After the break, we went for a walk along the water to take in the sunset then hit Taco Bell on the way home. Thankfully the bathroom worked much better tonight.
Bonus pictures
