Joe and Lou's Travel Blog

Beastie Boys at Wembley Arena

We saw them last night. They are promoting their latest album, "To the 5 boroughs". It is their first album for six years so we were lucky to see them.

Over their more than 20 year career the Beasties have spanned many genres including punk, hip hop, funk and even some country. They touched on all of these (except country) last night. They are very energetic and provided a great stage show along with their tight rhyming. Wembley Arena was packed, the audience loved it and we had a good old boogie.

The opening act, Talib Kwali, was not so well received. I feel he was let down by a bad sound mix that meant the music sounded muddy and distorted with far too much bass.

Stolen bank card

On Monday I got a call from HSBC. They informed me that they believed someone else had used my debt card (like EFTPOS). Debt card theft is a growing problem in the UK. Most cards are not physically stolen. Either the details are copied when the card is handed over at a restaurant or bar or they are copied at an ATM using a hidden camera or card reader. The problem is that they are only now bringing in PIN numbers. There are still many stores where you can pay by your card and sign for it (the signature is not usually scrutinised closely). Someone had gone to Tescos (a supermarket) in Basildon (a town where mum lived as a child!) and purchased some goods then got cash out at the till. When they tried it a second time the same day it either was suspected by the bank or the person at the till noticed something wrong.

Luckily the card was cancelled quickly so they could not run up a bigger amount.

I had to go to the bank and the police to report it stolen. Hopefully the bank will reimburse me the money and it will simply be an annoyance.

I am unsure where my number was stolen as I used my card quite often at stores and cash machines the previous weekend. I will have to be more vigilant in future. Let this be a warning to you all!

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Three friends have gone back to NZ in the past fortnight. One for a holiday and two for good. Your mind does wander to thoughts of home at this time of year. A lovely big family Christmas in the warm sunshine certainly does sound good at the moment as the cold weather is slowly starting to make itself known. On the other hand we welcome the cold as it means good snow on the mountains. When shopping this weekend I got frustrated as I wrapped up too much to go outside and then found myself way too hot when I got into the warm tubes and stores.

Talking about shopping. We went a bit crazy this weekend stocking up on gear for our snow trip. We went to a big warehouse sale of snow gear and I got socks, sunglasses, a jacket and gloves all at good discounted prices. We then went into Covent Garden, where all the flash outdoor stores are and nearly choked when we compared the prices. Let's just say it was a wise choice to go to the warehouse sale. There was also a big sale on at Lilywhites, the famous big sports store at Piccadilly Circus. Joseph picked up a couple of extra things on sale there. So, we spent a bit of money, but on things that were on sale that we'll be able to use at home as well. My one luxury item was a Camelbak pack. This fits close to the body so you can carry your bits and pieces whilst still being able to move freely. It also contains a bladder for liquid with a tube that you drink out of. Pretty cool. It's my Christmas pressy from Joseph.

I've also been furiously shopping online for Christmas presents. Hopefully little parcels will be winging their way over to family members shortly. I hope you enjoy what I've ordered for you (o:

On the travel front, I recently booked a trip to Bruges in Belgium for Joseph and myself at the end of January. It's supposed to be a very pretty medieval town. In the New Year I'll have to start booking the rest of our trips for the year. We plan to go to at least Venice, Switzerland and Berlin as well as Argentina and Brazil on the way home. Hopefully we'll be able to fit one or two other little trips in there as well. That's if we don't run out of money. Joseph's bank account is looking much healthier than mine as I went on the big trip to China this year and took a month off work. It was all worth it though and my current boss is going to start putting the wheels in motion to hopefully extend my contract which would guarantee an income for the next few months at least. After the silly season I can start to save money. That's the theory anyway. Well, making the most of all London and Europe has to offer means that you have to spend the money. At least I'll leave with no regrets (o:

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