TMTW: April-September 2024

What happened:
Lots to catch up on! In April we spent Easter at home and hosted a family lunch at ours, plus had a day in Brighton to support Olly's brother running the marathon. But really it was all about Japan that month (and into May).

We headed to Japan for 19 days, though we lost the first one and last with travelling - it's a 15-hour flight with an 8-hour time difference (ouch; thank goodness for BA companion vouchers allowing us to fly business both ways). Blog posts coming soon, but we flew into Tokyo, spent a few days there, then took the bullet train to Okayama. That's a great base to do Hiroshima and Naoshima, plus see a bit of Okayama itself. Really loved Naoshima. 

We then based ourselves in Osaka to do there, Kyoto and Kobe (purely for the A5 12 Kobe beef at a rather decadent birthday dinner for me!). Originally we were going to stay in Kyoto but ended up doing a day trip because we'd read about severe tourist overcrowding a few weeks before our trip. 

Next stop to relax after all those 30,000 step days was Miyako Island - a Japanese island that's closer to Taiwan than Japan, and where we snorkelled with a sea turtle. Then it was back to Tokyo to spend the last part of the trip there. All-in-all, an absolutely amazing adventure! 

Notable things for May include visiting Painshill, which has a rather fabulous crystal grotto, and hosting a family bank holiday BBQ at ours. Then in June we had a quick trip to Cardiff to see Weezer and The Smashing Pumpkins play at Cardiff Castle. 

On the way back from there we stopped off in the Cotswolds at Castle Combe (so pretty) and Stonehenge (I was underwhelmed). Other than that, June and July were pretty quiet. Family visits and more hosting at ours. We also went to the Horizon of Khufu VR thing, which made me very queasy. Plus saw Romeo and Juliet with Tom Holland on the West End (I remembered during it that I don't really like Shakespeare, ha). 

August saw us head off to Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna. We were supposed to see Taylor Swift in Vienna, which was cancelled because of a terrorism threat - so gutted - and we didn't want to pay extortionate money to see her at Wembley so that's that. Budapest was my fave out of the three - best food scene, as well - but Vienna has ridiculously ornate architecture that's simply staggering. Again, blog posts... at some point! (But I have been to Budapest before in 2010 - posts here.) 

We then headed off at the end of August to Baku. We couldn't fly direct to Georgia - we were heading there for a wedding - so decided Azerbaijan might be quite exciting to tick off on the way. Again, blog posts soon! It was cool to see them setting up the Formula 1 in Baku and to mooch around Tbilisi before the wedding. Rest of September was pretty quiet. 

What I ate:
Great tapas at Rocksalt (Hove), nice Middle Eastern food from Lavash (Brighton), yum Mexican at Azteca (Battersea), dim sum at Shanghai Modern (Chinatown), decent breakfast bagels at Lilo's Pasta (Cardiff), a fab tasting menu at Senor Ceviche with cocktail pairing (Kingly Court), yum Singaporean at Singapulah (Soho), dinner at Botanica Hall (Clapham), tepinyaki at Benihana (Covent Garden), pub grub at East Putney Tavern and a katsu from Coco Ichibanya (West End).

Roasts at The Cricketers (Cobham), The Antelope (Surbiton), Red Barn (Blindley Heath) and The Grove (Surbiton). And there are too many places to shout out for Japan, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Baku and Tbilisi so I'll share the best places in the blog posts later on. However, I will shout out the beef we had in Kobe for my birthday dinner (a bite pictured above). Funnily enough, the best beef we've ever eaten given it was the best beef in the world!

What I watched:
TV shows: 3 Body Problem, season 7 of Somebody Feed Phil, season 3 of Clarkson's Farm, Fallout, season 2 of Loot, season 1 of Toast of London, season 2 of House of the Dragon, The Acolyte, season 3 of The Bear, Baby Reindeer and season 1 of Industry. We also rewatched season 5 and 6 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And started watching Bad Monkey and Kaos. 

Films watched: Oppenheimer, Mean Girls (2024), Wonka, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Beetlejuice, Cat Person, Get Out, Disenchanted, BlackBerry, Leave the World Behind, Lift (stopped watching 30 mins in), Ricky Stanicky, Dune: Part One, Dune: Part Two and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Plus Deadpool & Wolverine at the cinema.

What I read: 
In April I read 8 books. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins got 5 stars from me, and I gave four stars to When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. In May I read 7 books and gave four stars to Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo. In June I read 13 books. I gave a 5 star rating to Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad, and 4 stars to The Family Experiment by John Marrs.

In July I read 4 books. Nothing of note that month. 14 books in August, with All In by Jennifer Lynn Barnes getting 4 stars from me.  And, finally, in September, 11 books. I also gave The Winners by Fredrik Backman 4 stars. 

How have you been? x