Dritvik Beach

Day 2 of our journey involved travelling from our hostel in Borgarnes to our next hostel in Grundarfjörður. The purpose of this journey was primarily travelling, but we did get to do two things:

Firstly, we drove from our hostel with Dritvik as our first target. We did stop along the way a few times to see random waterfalls and landscapes, but I don’t really need to go into that as if you visit Iceland you will probably end up doing the same thing! Dritvik is a volcanic beach that is just stunning. As you enter the road to get to the beach from the main road, the landscape just becomes utterly fascinating. You end up twisting and turning around boulders and volcanic rubble, it feels as though you are driving into the gates of hell! Then you come to the car park, walk a very short distance an end up getting to a fascinating and beautiful beach. The pictures below speak for themselves; well worth the trip!

Dritvik

Dritvik

Dritvik

Snæfellsjökull Glacier

Secondly, we attempted to get to the Snæfellsjökull glacier. When we got to the road that leads up to it, we took one look at the road and decided that the car was not going to make it; there were a lot of us in the car (so it was quite heavy) plus the incline was extremely steep. We tried to walk it, but believe me it is a long way, very steep and after walking for what seemed like an eternity we still got nowhere near to seeing it! We did see one little car going up the hill as we were walking, but I think it is unlikely that they made it as they seemed to come back rather quickly! I think if you are going to try to see the glacier, you really do need a 4×4 to be able to make it. Looking at the satellite images on Google now, there is no way that we were ever going to make it without an all-terrain vehicle! Still, the walk was quite enjoyable and we got to see some amazing views down to the coast.

Glacier Trek

Glacier Trek

Coming down though we encountered some of the strongest winds I have ever felt. To say that we almost got blown down the hill is an understatement! Iceland’s weather can be quite unpredictable!

Grundarfjörður Hostel

We were then on to our hostel for the night in Grundarfjörður. I must admit that this was one of my favourite hostels, as it had such a lovely character. I can’t really explain it, but the place just seemed really homely and welcoming.

Plus, as we were there off-peak we had a whole floor to ourselves! Our floor had its own kitchen and bathroom, plus 2/3 rooms, which allowed us to spread out a bit. The local town is also beautiful, especially the church which becomes pink at night!

Grundarfjörður Hostel

Grundarfjörður Church

Our first full day on our Iceland tour involved travelling to our second hostel in Borgames from Reykjavik City hostel.

Or first target was the town of Reykholt, which is a tiny historical town that has some very interesting architecture. There isn’t a great deal there, but we did had lunch at the hotel, which was really reasonable and all you can eat! I can’t remember how much it was, but it turned out to be one of the most reasonable/cheapest meals we had. The manager was also very helpful in giving us directions on the local area, as well as giving us some tourist maps that could help us out.

Reykholt

Reykholt

Next on our list was a trip to see the Hraunfossar Waterfalls. These are just amazing. The water seems to ooze from the rocks into the river below, and with the colours of autumn, it was very beautiful. Its funny, they reminded me of the fake rocks and waterfalls you see at theme parks; I always thought the texture of the rocks they have there were so obviously fake, but after seeing the real thing I can tell you that they are very well done! Anyway, it was definitely worth a trip, and I recommend you see them if you are in the area.

Hraunfossar Waterfalls

Hraunfossar Waterfalls

Afterwards we drove the short distance to the Deildartunguhver Hot Springs. This is the first time I have ever seen hot springs, and they are very strange! You see the water bubbling out of the rock, and the water in the lake with steam coming off of it it just doesn’t seem real (But they sure are; I was stupid enough to stick my finger in the water!).

Deildartunguhver Hot Spring

Deildartunguhver Hot Spring

We also visited a dormant volcanic crater called “Grabrok” on the way to our hostel which was quite fun as you can hike a short distance to the top of it and get some really good views.

View from the top of Grabrok Crater

We were then off to our hostel for the night in Borgarnes. The hostel was very clean, the rooms were well-kept and the owner was also really helpful.

Borgarnes Hostel

A very good start to our adventure!

Here are some pictures with descriptions during the refit of my bathroom; the slideshow runs from the beginning of the process, through to the finished product.

Enjoy!

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The first part of our trip obviously involved getting to Iceland, which involved a short flight with Iceland Air.

The moment you first get to see Iceland, you realize how alien the landscape is; it really feels as though you have landed on a different planet! I must say that the airport is really nice; very clean and modern, it really shows how dated London Gatwick really is!

After we had picked up the rental car (after having to walk the whole car park since the guy didn’t meet us like he should have done!), and experiencing the first of the sulphuric smelling air, we were on our way to exploring Iceland!

Our first port of call was checking in at our first hostel; Reykjavik City Hostel. I must confess, I was a little anxious as I had never been in a hostel before, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The rooms were very clean, the communal area and kitchens were well equipped, it was a very pleasant place to spend our first night.

Reykjavik City hostel

Our first room

Kitchen

As we didn’t have much time the first night, all we did was do a bit of driving around to see Reykjavik, and then stumbled upon the “Perlan“. This is an amazing building, which serves as a geothermal plant, restaurant (which was very classy, and probably way out of my price range for a meal!) and viewing platform. You can freely walk in and go to the viewing platform (which we did!) and see some amazing sights.

The Pearl	Inside the Pearl
Inside the Pearl	View from the Pearl

After this we went for a quick drink in Reykjavik at a local pub. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was very pleasant, and allowed some of the guys a chance to have their first taste of Iceland’s local brew; Viking beer!

Iceland Pub

BHL Customer Service Review

As part of my recovery from the acoustic neuroma saga, I thought I would be a good time to challenge myself by updating my bathroom. I say this as though it was a choice, but in reality the thing was slowly falling apart as it was 30 years old; I didn’t think it would last much longer.

As my Dad is a DIY expert, we did most of the work (excluding the plumbing part) ourselves. This involved taking down the original tiles from the walls, prepping the walls for the news tiles by removing the original tile plaster (which was a nightmare on the plaster board walls as it involved scrapping off about a couple of centimetres at a time), filling holes, painting the ceiling, putting up the new tiles, installing the new shelves and cabinets and other various things.

Now, when it came for me to order the goods I came to the decision that I would buy everything on-line from two websites that appeared to have good reviews and was also reasonably priced; these were BHL and Plumbworld. I had to order the items to be ready for when the plumber started work, I believe the items came around mid November, and my plumber started late November. Now, both websites stated that I had to report damages within 7 days, so me being me, and doing things to the letter I opened all the packages to give a visual inspection to make sure everything was OK. Everything (or so I thought), from what I could see was ok.

So, I was ready to go, but me being also quite paranoid, I decided to check the bath stuff about a week before it was t0 be installed, just to make sure. The majority of this stuff came from bhl, and lets just say there was a little problem (I will continue with the story, but I go into more detail about the BHL customer service and the problem in a moment). The problem got resolved and so the plumber got to work and was finished in about a week.

We then started tiling early December and now in mid January it is all finished. It took quite a while because of the holidays, we can only work at the weekends, and I am still trying to make sure I get plenty of rest.

So, now this is where the fun began as it was time to install all the other things like the cabinet, the towel rail, toilet roll holder, etc. This is where I ran into problem number two and is outlined in more detail with my review on Plumbworld.

In short: Excellent

So, with BHL I had a problem that when I was checking the bath I found I was missing quite a few parts. I thought; “great, just my luck”! So, first thing the following morning I phoned them up and said I was missing some parts. The guy on the phone said he didn’t know much about the bath I had ordered, so he would get one of the more technical guys to ring me back. 15 minutes later the guy phoned me back and I explained the missing parts. He was a little unsure what the parts were, so he gave me the number for Ideal Standard (the maker of the bath) customer service and told me to ring him back if I had any problems. I phoned Ideal Standard and the customer service guy there was really helpful; he knew exactly what I was talking about, and sent the parts through to me first class, with no payment or anything needed. So the problem was resolved and I had the parts the following day.

Plumbworld Customer Service Review

In short: the worst web purchase experience I have had in the 14 or so years I have been buying things off of the web.

With Plumbworld, I found that when I came to install the towel rail, the cable that supplies the power was severely damaged (see picture below).  As you can see, the item is dangerous as the wires are exposed.

Cable Damage

When I did my original visual inspection, I checked the product for signs that the item had been damaged in delivery i.e. holes in the box that would indicate an impact, or any scratches. It never occurred to me that I should check the physical connections. Even so, if you look at the picture of the item in the box, it is not immediately obvious something is wrong (In the picture you can see a bit of the blue cable, as I have untwisted the cable slightly, when I originally opened it there was no blue showing, only white).

Towel Rail In Box

So, as I saw this as a faulty product I contacted plumbworld via email (these jokers have no phone contact system, only email) to outline the problem and ask for a replacement. The reply, and I quote was:

“Good Afternoon Steve Winslade, Thank you for your email.

I’m afraid you are outside of the terms and conditions that you agree to when placing an order through the website. You agree to check all goods and notify us of any damages within 7 days. As your goods were delivered on the 18/11/11 I would be unable to offer a replacement.

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused and if I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.”

WHAT!!!!??? No offer to help getting a replacement part sent, no information on contacting the manufacturer, essentially you are screwed and the £150 item you have bought is now worthless.  So, I sent an email back to say this is unacceptable and can’t you at least get in touch with the manufacturer to see if the part can be replaced.

This is where my Dad took over, he is good at dealing with these kind of people and knew more about this kind of stuff so he decided to help out. The first reply he got back was essentially an email that said along the lines “we aren’t electricians, I don’t know what you expect us to do about it”. So, he asked to get the manufacturer’s contact details to try to get some ideas from them on how to replace the part. The guy he spoke to there was very helpful, and said that they had experienced a lot of problems with the batch I had as the packaging was not done properly, so it caused the cable to be damaged. He stated that it was covered under the terms of the warranty, and should be replaced by Plumbworld. So an email back to them, now that they don’t have a leg to stand on, and they then agreed to replace the item. (In my mind that equates to “Suck on that Plumbworld!”).

What a stupid waste of time by a company that obviously doesn’t care about their customers, and even though the item was defective, it took my Dad the effort of getting in touch with the actual manufacture before they would do anything about it. Plus, all through email so it was even more annoying.

Of all the years I have been using the internet, I have never experienced such bad customer service, stupid terms and conditions and a blatant attempt at screwing over a customer.

Conclusion

From my experiences, you can see that Plumbworld is a website to give a wide berth. DO NOT use them as they are extremely dodgy, not to mention the delivery which took ages to arrive. You can see the difference with BHL who strove to help me resolve my issue quickly and efficiently.

However, the next time I buy a bathroom I will not be using the Internet at all, except for small items. Even though BHL resolved my issue, they still have the stupid 7 day damages clause. Why do I think this is stupid? Well, because although major damage can be spotted immediately, like holes in the boxes, or opening it and looking for scratches, subtle damage like I had is harder to spot and will not become apparent until install time. Even the most speedy bathroom renovation will take longer than 7 days (if you want a decent job done), so if you find damage later than that you are almost certainly screwed. In this case with Plumbworld I was lucky in the fact that the manufacturer stepped in and admitted problems, plus I could have potentially replaced the part myself for about £30. Otherwise, I would have been out-of-pocket by £150.

Another example I have thought of; what are you supposed to do with items that are flat-packed? Open up the box and inspect each individual element? Not only would it be extremely difficult to put it all back again, but if you have to leave the parts lying around whilst you are doing the install, there is even more of a chance for something to be damaged.

So, in short, my advice is to pay the bit extra and get your goods from people who have showrooms, people you can speak to, who also have a proven track record of customer service and willing to solve problems. I have no experience first hand but I am guessing The Bathstore, Homebase, B&Q will be quite good.

After all, would you want to spend £100 less at Plumbworld, BHL, or some other online company, and find yourself 2 months later with something in your order worth 2 or 3 times more than that which is worthless, and you are going to have to pay for again? I certainly won’t be taking that risk again.

Boy, it has been a long time since I last gave an update which is pretty bad of me! Since I have started working again I have found that I don’t really want to sit at a computer after spending a whole day in front of  the computer screen already! I also decided to treat myself and remodel my bathroom, so this has taken up a lot of my time! I will try to be better with blogging during 2012 since I dropped off the radar at the end of last year!

The only thing to really note is that I recently had a nerve scan done, to try to assess how the recovery of my nerves were doing.  I have seen improvement in the tone of my face (not as much drooping), but not really much improvement in movement.

I was told (in probably what is extremely dumbed down language for the non medical types) that there are 5 major nerves that control the face. So a scan was done whilst I try to move the various muscles, which would indicate whether or not the nerves we rejoining, and recovering.

Of the two nerves that control my eyebrow/upper side of my face, they were pretty much flat-line on the graph (meaning no activity), but there was the tiniest spark of activity. So there is a very small chance that the nerves are connected and maybe will get better, but it is too early to tell yet.

The other three nerves that control the bottom side of my face, they are showing very promising signs. One nerve is at 60% efficiency, compared to the left side nerve, and the other two are showing a lot of activity as well. I am hopeful that I may be able to smile again properly at some point which is what I would prefer if I had to be able to choose between moving my eyebrow, or smiling.

I am now approaching the 6 month mark since my operation in about 3 weeks. That is when I have been told that most activity starts to begin. So cross your fingers that in the next month or so, I am going to see rapid improvements, and I will be able to regain movement!

So, its been a while! I am now fully back at work, and being a software engineer, when you come home the last thing that you want to do is stare at a computer screen! Hence why it has been quite a while since my last post, plus I have been waiting for my 3 month review.

So, before I get onto what happened, a quick update on what has been going on since my last post. Concerning the dizziness, that is essentially gone, its only really when I think about it I feel a slight bit of dizzy. My eye still doesn’t close properly, so I still have to tape it at night, but I have been told that it appears to close fully when I don’t think about it. I still can’t move my eyebrow, and smile with the right side of my mouth. The improvement I have seen is that if my face is at  a neutral position, it looks just the same as it did before the operation. Plus, my mouth seems to be responding better; my pucker exercises seem easier and the slurring that happens when I talk seems to be reducing.

Now, on to my 3 month review…

Prior to my 3 month review I was sent to see a plastic surgeon to have a consultation, to discuss my options should I not fully recover by the end of next year. During this meeting I was told that there was only a slim chance that my face would recover and basically I would not be able to move the right side of my face again. Not the kind of news that you want to hear. Essentially this is because the tumor was situated in a place that is extremely difficult to get to, and so some sort of damage was more than likely. Obviously I left this meeting not too happy, feeling that “The year from hell” had struck again.

Today I had my 3 month check up with Professor Gleeson, who said he was pleased with my progress. He noted that my mouth seems to be improving, and also my eye. He reckons that I am on the cusp of my recovery as most patients see progress 4-6 months after the operation. He said that the recovery in my mouth and eye was a good sign, but again it was still too early to say how good my recovery will be.

So, I am still in wait and see mode! I will be having another MRI and follow-up in March 2012, when I hope that I will have recovered further, and that the MRI will show no signs of the tumor, with everything in its rightful place! Stay tuned!

Iceland Flag

In October 2010 I went on an epic 2 week road-trip around Iceland with 3 good friends. There were amazing sights, good fun, encounters with interesting people, dramas; everything you need in great holiday! As it was such an epic adventure I am going to try to document each leg of the tour. This is probably going to take me quite a while, but I think it will be worth it as anyone who is planning on a trip to Iceland can  use the information to plan their own adventure! Plus I can go into more detail about the amazing things I saw!

First, some basic information about Iceland:

• Most things are quite expensive; notably meals, souvenirs and especially alcohol!
• Except for obvious things like the Blue Lagoon, to see the sights of Iceland is absolutely free! This is because the things you are going to see are natural wonders and the other brilliant thing is that the parking is 99% of the time absolutely free (except in the city)!
• Most people do speak English, I think we only encountered 2 people who didn’t speak it.
• When we went we were warned that there was going to be lots of rain and miserable weather. That was not the case for us; some days we were in T-Shirts! Iceland’s weather is supposedly quite unpredictable; raining one second, sunny the next. We never really experienced this, but we could have been lucky.
• If you are going to rent a car and travel outside of Reykjavík, MAKE SURE IT IS A 4×4! You will see my reason for this is a future post!
• Sadly, there are no McDonald’s in Iceland (as of the time of writing)!

Just thought I would give a little update as it has been a while.

The rash from hell has now gone, I would say it finally went as of last week. It was a vicious bugger though! It just wouldn’t seem to go, even though the itchiness went many weeks ago! Just so people don’t think that I was exaggerating on how bad it was, below are two pictures I took when it was almost at its worse! Very disgusting aren’t they!?

I am now back driving, and I am getting better as the days go by. I am doing short journeys to and from work, which is helping me to reduce the “swimmy” feeling that I get when I turn my head quickly. With every passing day it gets better and the swimming feeling is only a fraction of where I was at the start.

I am now going back into the office, but building it up gently. I am basically doing 2/3 days at the office and then the rest I am working from home. I then spend the weekends recovering!

I also had a rehab session last week and got a new “Top Gear” report! I am now at 22/100, which is slightly better than the 12/100 I was at! It doesn’t sound a lot of improvement, but I am happy with it. People have been telling me that I have been looking better, which has given me some confidence. I hope that I can start moving my eyebrow soon, as this is the thing that is really starting to wind me up!

Also, I have finally got my appointment with a specialist that I will be able to discuss my options should my face not improve to a point where my eye functions like before. It has taken months to get hold of this guy, so I am glad this is finally moving forward!

I am hoping (with the exception of my facial recovery), that within the next month or two I will be able to function like I did before; living at my flat, socializing more, etc. It is what I am aiming towards, and I think that from the progress I have made so far, this is hopefully a reality.

What an amazing city, that’s how I have to start this post! I visited San Francisco for 5 days at the beginning of July 2011 as part of a trip visiting Florida and Yosemite National Park as well. It was well worth the trip as I hope to show in this post!

Again, to save a bit of cash we stayed outside of San Francisco in a place called San Bruno at a cheap and cheerful motel which is part of the Super 8 chain. The motel was only 20 mins away from San Francisco, and for the price, the rooms and service were really good. Although you get a free complimentary breakfast (the standard kind you get at motels that aren’t spectacular), we had doughnuts at a place called “Royal Donuts” most mornings which was just 5 minutes down the road. They are the probably the best doughnuts I have ever had; baked freshly each night and an amazing amount to choose from. If you are in San Bruno, visit this place!

The Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge

What I didn’t realize when I booked my trip to San Francisco is that July and August are the months when the fog that rolls across the bad is at its greatest! So, sadly I never got a decent picture of the whole of the bridge without it being obstructed by fog; the picture above is the closest I got!

The golden gate bridge is a wonder of engineering, and it most certainly is spectacular. Funnily enough though, one of the first things both myself and my brother said when viewing it for the first time was “I thought it would be bigger”!  We say this even though it took us about 15/20 minutes to walk across it! Walking across the bridge is a must as you can appreciate the scale of the bridge better, you get some great exercise, and the views are brilliant!

Parking Tip: There is a car park near the bridge , although the chances of getting a space are rather slim. Rather, if you go into the car park, next to it is a road that goes under the bridge; if you follow this you can find a few small car parks that you can park in for free. You can then walk for about 5 minutes back to the bridge.

Other Tip: There is only a small coffee shop at the car park next to the bridge. It sells sandwiches and drinks, but be warned; you will need to take out a mortgage to buy any food/drink there. They know they are the only food place for miles and flipping heck do they charge you for it! There is also a good-sized gift shop there for all the knickknacks you may want to buy.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz

I have always wanted to visit Alcatraz from the moment I first heard about it as a kid. I can honestly say that Alcatraz did not disappoint as it was one of the most interesting tours I have ever been on. At no point was I bored, or looking at my watch to see when it was time to go home. In fact, I wish we had more time there but we had to get the last boat back to the mainland. We went on the night tour which was really cool; you got the eerie feeling of the prison and could imagine what it must have been like to have been locked up there at night. If you want more time to wander round the prison on your own, I would go on the day tour as opposed to the night tour as once you have done the audio tour and seen the timed exhibits, you have to get the last boat back to the mainland.

My brother and I were luckily enough to have been interviewed about our experience for Associated Press (article link)! Sadly they cut out my brother’s comments (probably because Americans don’t seem to understand his name “Ian” for some reason!?), they spelt my name wrong, and they got my age wrong! But it is nice to sort of have your name in print!

Segway Tour

Segway Tour

I must admit, when my brother first suggested a Segway tour I was apprehensive; my hand-eye coordination is not very good, and I didn’t want to look like an idiot! However, I relented and agreed to go on a tour. I’m glad I did! It was so much fun and we learned lots of interesting facts about San Francisco. Even someone like myself who sucks at sports and anything that involves physical coordination was able to pick it up quite quickly in the training course that is given before each tour. At first having people stare at you as you ride past is a little unnerving, but after a while you get used to the people laughing and taking pictures of YOU! It was so much fun I am going to look for other Segway tours in the other places I visit around the world. We used the “Electric Tour Company“, and went on the “Wharf and Waterfront” tour. I highly recommend them as the tour was great, there was plenty of practising before the tour and you even got a free pin badge at the end!

Sausalito

Sausalito

If you have time, make sure you go over the golden gate bridge and visit a place called “Sausalito”. The place is absolutely beautiful, with plenty of trendy cafés to have lunch in and a long promenade to walk along. There are also lots of great view points, the picture above really doesn’t do the place justice, it is really lovely. Make sure you leave half a day to visit this great sea-side town!

Other Things To Do Around San Francisco

San Fransisco Trams

Driving Down Lombard Street

Coit Tower

San Francisco Exploratorium

Golden Gate Park

There are so many things to do in San Francisco, I really could go on forever! The pictures above show some of the other places I would not miss on a trip to San Francisco!

1. San Fransisco Trams: It is quite cheap to go on a quick ride on the famous San Francisco trams! It can take ages to get on one though, so it is worth doing it first thing in the day to avoid the queues.
2. Driving down Lombard street (the famous winding street): A must! It doesn’t take long to queue to get on the street, and it is even more fun having someone run along side you taking pictures!
3. Coit Tower: Parking is a bit of a pain, but the views from the top of the whole of San Francisco makes it worth the effort!
4. San Francisco Exploratorium: The place is beautiful and it is nice leisurely walking around the lake. There is also a museum there which looked quite good, but we didn’t have the time to visit it.
5. Golden Gate Park: It is a beautiful park, and absolutely vast, the problem with it is that if you want to see things like the botanical garden, or the Japanese garden, then you have to pay to get in. We never bothered as we are not massive horticulture fans!

Driving Around San Francisco

Driving in the US can sometimes be a piece of cake, other times it can be a nightmare! I would say that San Francisco is a mix between the two. Driving into the city is quite easy; the highways and interstates all have many lanes, you have plenty of time to get into the lane you want and if you have a sat-nav (like we did) it is easy to get to the place you want to. When you actually get into the city is when the trouble starts! Being a grid based system, there are loads of 4 way stops, plus the junctions where you have priority and can go straight across. The problem is that a lot of these junctions aren’t signposted very well, if at all, so you have to “use the force” in deciding what do! Suffice to say I almost had quite a few accidents!