Hi all,

Linda, the kids, and I will be in London in mid-May for a couple of days. I've exchanged e-mails with Sarah Frame, and she's all set with hooking up to do a BT Mini-Meet in London (or at her place in Surrey - which I hope is very close to London) the evening of May 13th.

Are there any other BTers living in the UK or BTer planning on being in the vicinity of London on May 13th who would be interested in hooking up that night with us, Sarah, and her hubby Hugh?

Jake

Wow what a coincidence, I'm in UK from 7th to 14th
and in Birmingham on 12th & 13th, so will try my best to see if I can arrange to pop down to London on that evening. It would be a privilege to meet you & your family

Although being a Bonaire virgin and non-diver I hope you don't mind chatting about the webcams and windsurfing

I can't contribute much about windsurfing, but as far as the WebCams go... ;-)

Looking forward to meeting you!

Jake

I'm in London (all the time), but kind of tied up on the 13th, lovely daughter has play practice in Kingston and I will be tied up in that. I am for the most part free, just not that day

Bummer

We could look at the 12th, if that works out better. It would be great to meet more Bonaire Talkers! Happy to host at our house in Surrey (about 30 mins by train from either London Waterloo or London Victoria). Keep me posted?

Sarah Frame

Jake, do you still do the "Travel Blog"? That is so fascinating to read, and very educational. I'd like to catch up on that if you are still doing it...I wish I could teach my kids some of the things yours are learning...Your trips are like the greatest "field trips" ever!!

Hi Pegi Sue,

The Traveling Richters site is still there but out of date and incomplete (www.TheTravelingRichters.com). I still have hopes of updating it more regularly. I will post the itinerary for our next trip on there before we embark on it in a couple of weeks.

I just hope my kids are actually learning something from all their travels ;-)

Jake

Sarah,

We couldn't do the 12th. We could do the 14th, but it would have to be in London itself as we can't miss our train the next morning...

Jake

Let's stick with Tuesday 13th, as Hugh and I couldn't do the 14th either!

Bye for now....

Sounds good to me Sarah YGM
looking forward to meeting you and Hugh and any other BTers that can join in

I've only had a 5 minute Micro-Mini meet with Freddie at Hannover Airport so far.

Moron alert-I thought this was for this weekend.

I should be able to have my schedule cleared by May 13. Hope to see everyone then.

Excellent!

Brian & Sue? I'm guessing this is a bit far away for you guys...

Is Annette B. still on BT?

Have we decided yet if we're doing this in London or at Sarah & Hugh's in Surrey?

Jake

Jake,

Discovered you through this thread (we are headed to Bonaire for the first time in August).

We have kids ages 12 and 7 and have thought about taking a year off to do the ultimate field trip experiment.

Would you be willing to converse (perhaps outside this format) re your experiences, concerns, plans, etc.?

Thanks, Amy

Sure, Amy, drop me an e-mail. Can't promise a timely response, but I'll try - jake@nettech.an will get to me.

Jake

Jake

London would be difficult for us with the hounds without putting them in kennels. But thanks for your thoughts, would have been nice to meet up again. I think I met you last in Island Fashions a couple of years back.

Roy, I live and work around the Midlands and Birmingham, so if you fancy a beer sometime that week that would be great.

Yeah - I kind of figured it might be an issue. Next time we're BOTH on Bonaire, let's have dinner. I think I still owe you at least one meal!

Roy - take Brian up on his offer. He and Sue were great hosts to us for a day some years back. And I still have the pictures from that time. Brian in a medieval helmet, for example ;-)

Jake

OK, so far we have Roy, Dean, Jake & Linda?

Roy and Dean: feel free to e-mail me: sbryett@ntlworld.com with any further details you may need. Are we meeting in London, or am I hosting at the house?

So looking forward to meeting you!
Sarah

And don't forget Sebastian (age 11) and Krystyana (age 12), who are accompanying myself and Linda.

Krystyana is a foodie, Bas is not, but can be easily accommodated.

I think location needs to be decided by those traveling the furthest... :-)

Jake

My only concern is the 13th being a week night. If Hugh goes into work, he may not get out until late - but if we are hosting here, he will work from home that day - LOL

It's all good, just let me know ;-)

xx

Hi All I've been away from home the last 24hrs, so just catching up here

Brian I'm at the Birmingham NEC visiting IFSEC on Mon & Tues so could meet up Mon evening, I'm most likely to be staying with my sister in Coventry that night, so won't have far to drive

Sarah I e-mailed you on monday!! did you not receive? hope you don't mind but I think your house will be easier to get to my experiences of driving in London are not very good !!

Hi Roy,
No, afraid not! Try again on: sbryett@ntlworld.com

No problem hosting at my house. I will send you details... So, are we fixed on Tuesday, May 13th c.7pm at the house?

Annie B mailed me - not sure they can make it, as it's a week night..

Sarah

I've resent the e-mail Sarah, also PM'd you via BT

Grusse von Germany

Sounds like wonderful fun... can't wait to hear the tales and see the pics

Roy...
I have it! Will e-mail you details a little later - I'm heading out for a drink in a dark bar.. it's been one of those days.. LOL

Brian YGM Mods any chance of moving this to the top? only 12 days to go

Roy, I've moved it a bit up... You guys enjoy the mini meet!

wow that was quick Thanks Martin

Roy

Monday is our dog training night but I will PM you with my mobile number.

Roy, please make sure to post pictures from this event...

Hello All,

Well, we are getting closer to the date now! I have just returned from my parents. It was my Mother's 65th Birthday - she now has a computer (was interesting teaching her the basic skills - LOL)

Should there be anybody else that wishes to join us on Tuesday 13th May c.7pm, please let me know ASAP sbryett@ntlworld.com

Bye for now!

Martin, I have no doubt there will be lots of pics!!! I do hope all is well with you and yours?

Sarah
xx

Sarah, I hope they will get posted...

We are A-oke, almost time for a short vacation...

Camera batteries are fully charged Martin

Sarah YGM with my UK mobile number

Brian no PM arrived yet so I have PM'd you my UK mobile number

I'm heading off for UK at 5pm Wed (tomorrow)evening so will have to try out my uncanny super skill of sniffing out internet access on my travels to keep up over the next few days

Hi Brian,

Still no PM here, but my sister discovered Stoney Cove last Sunday whilst on a drive around, so maybe we can arrange to meet there next time I'm in the area

See you Tomorrow Jake, Sarah & Co

Hi Martin,

Would be nice if you could have both hopped over to see us too!

Glad to read all is well.. when is your next Bonaire trip?

Sarah

Hi Sarah, It would have, but in 4 weeks Spain for me, Miami for Angela, Paris and Bonaire is enough traveling... Leaving next weekend for Bonaire....

You're a wimp Martin... We've done Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Spain again, France, now the U.K. and Thursday France again, all since we last saw you three weeks ago. You need to catch up on your world travels ;-) (see you Saturday!)

Roy & Sarah - we're in town and ready to see y'all tomorrow evening with vintage Port and truffles hand carried from Porto, Portugal.

Jake

See you on island, Martin! We'll keep an eye out for any clawed, furry friends near benches while you are there! LOL. cb

Have fun at the dinner, everyone! cb

Ah, to be in London in May with good company!!! And in Sussex and Devon by the sea, Kipling country.

Jake, have a couple of good curries while you are there!

And have a good 'BT dinner', all.

CB, what time frame will you be there???

Hi, Martini....we arrive May 25 and depart (sniffle) June 8. Will you be around to hook up with the gang? cb

It was a wonderful evening. Going to try and post some pics!

Well, a bit bigger than I had hoped.. LOL

xx

Hehe a couple of BIG thorns between Two Roses

well you just beat me to it Sarah, I've just got back home in Germany and have resized my 4 best pics (don't forget to mouse over)









Thanks again for hosting the Mini-meet Sarah the food was lovely, I hope you have recovered from the MOOSE Hugs It was really great to meet you all ....HUGS XXX

I hope Linda has a speedy recovery from her ear infection Jake!





(Message edited by modfreddie on May 15, 2008)

Wonderful Pictures -- All of them

I was a little worried about Bas up until that last one - he seemed a bit too still
That second to the last one looks like Jake, Yvette and Steve are all having a sing-along!

Great job Sarah - thank you for including us all.

Wonderful pictures! I can't believe how grown up Yana is! And Sarah, you are as beautiful as ever. I like the pics of roy with the women and Jake with the women

OMG Sarah you are beautiful!!!! Hi Hugh!!!!
Jake watch your hand..LOL
Roy loosen up man..!!
Yvette and BOB, Glad to meet you!!
OMG Bas is getting too big!! and Yana is stunning..
So glad you had a great time!!


(Message edited by modfreddie on May 15, 2008)

That cannot be Yana! When I started lurking, she was just a little girl. She is turning into quite the beauty!

Really fun to see you all. Thanks for including us.

OOps I got a name wrong, SORRY BOB !! comes from having two nights of being up till 2am!

Freddie, could you change the 'Steve' to Bob (how can I not remember a name like that!!!) , by "loosen up" did you mean I should have had my arms around the ladies

Freddie - Laughing out loud here!

Thank you all for your kind comments - it was truly a fun evening and a pleasure to host.

Hugs to all...

Sarah
xx

Looks like a good time, extremely sorry to have had to miss it. Thanks for setting it all up.

We had a very nice time - Sarah and Hugh were great hosts!

Linda's right ear has gotten better, but this morning her left ear is hurting more :-(

Jake

Sorry to hear about Linda's ears Jake, I hope that she gets relief before you have to fly again {come to think of it it is probably from all the world traveling that you four are experiencing.. a Trip of a life time for all concerned..Safe journeys}
Roy Yes that is exactly what I meant.. I know you give great hugs!!!

Nice to see everyone. Yes those Richter kids are growing like weeds. I've been following their travels on their blog, quite the trip, not enough diving though.

Oh Jake, you never did fill in the details on the Pacific trip, you left out chunks of the south pacific and us pitiful people with no life need all the escapes we can get.

The pressure changes as we went through the various tunnels on the train from London to Paris earlier today were interesting, but Linda survived them, so the plane flight home next week should be fine (fingers crossed).

Cecil - I'm not sure when I will get a chance to fill in the days for our Pacific trip on our Traveling Richters site. Linda had just finished the draft album of that trip before we left on this trip - it's weighing in at 300 pages, and still needs to be reviewed and edited before we upload it all to Lulu.com so we can have hard copy visuals of our trip. Next time we see you we can show it to you :-)

Jake (now in Paris!)

Wonderful pictures, wish I could have been there!

What a good time!!!
I'm so glad this "meet" worked out and it's good to see everyone!!!

Cecil, it's ok, I keep up with "The Traveling Richter's" too