travel overload...

The girls did really well this week in Denmark - one winner in singles, two winners in doubles!! Have had a bit of a nightmare trying to change flights though and ended up on a flight early tomorrow morning - via Norway to Aberdeen, then getting a lift down to Edinburgh, probably back around 3pm. Will be a quick turn-around to get stuff washed/packed and ready for being at the airport again at 4am Mon morning. Was also hoping to get a few other things tidied up at work before I left but doubt that'll happen, oh well :)

Have been loving the free wireless over here, my addiction to facebook has become even more apparent this week...

In about 28 hours I'm going to realise that I'M ON HOLIDAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Denmark

In Denmark for another ETA tennis event...despite some things being fairly expensive I'm finding it an extremely user-friendly country. FREE wireless internet connections at any hotspots, FREE bicycles to get around Copenhagen, which even have smiley faces on the wheels (£2 deposit which you get back), automated taxi services which send a taxi within 5 minutes to where you placed the call from, and a very efficient (and fairly cheap) public transport system. All the locals speak incredible English, and overall seem friendly and helpful, although we did encounter quite a few drunks at Copenhagen train station, along with a man making an extremely poor effort to dress as a woman. Each to their own....

Back on Friday or Saturday depending on how the girls get on, then off to the States ridiculously early Monday morning (counting the hours :))... bring on the kiltlifters!!

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touring Europe

Just back from Norway & Poland with some kids for European U/14 tournaments...had some interesting challenges with travel, acommodation & money, but overall everything went pretty well. We ended up staying with the tournament director's ex-wife in Sczcecin, who insisted on refilling my wine glass after every 2nd sip...I felt it would be rude to refuse her kind hospitality, so just politely kept sipping. They had a cherry tree in the garden, with the sweetest cherries I've ever tasted, and a really cute German Shephard dog who kept eating them, including the stone!




The journey to Sczcecin in Poland took nearly 15 hours - we flew to Berlin and then took 6 trains (3 wrong ones) to get to the club. The kids got out their rackets and had some rallies on the platform to pass the time... loads of parks & open spaces in Sczcecin which was nice to see - plenty of places to run (especially to recover after watching 2 hours of U/14 girls doubles, not amusing). Had fun playing 'scatch' and going on the see-saws :) Emma got to the 1/4-finals in singles at both tournaments, and the semi-finals of doubles in Poland with Morven.

Back to the normal coaching programme for a week now and then off to Denmark for another ETA event, with Emma & Morven again, plus Joanna Henderson. Then I've booked flights to Seattle to meet up with Tien, Derek, Jason, Sarah & Ian in July - really looking forward to it, I'm in need of a holiday!!!!!!!!

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