Hi Guys
Sorry I haven't been in touch, Lorraine, Tracy and myself went out for dinner on Tuesday night and we were talking about your photos and looking forward to seeing you soon. We will book a table at ask when you get back and we will have chocolate cake.
Your photos look amazing. See you in a few weeks time.

Love
Helene

Guys - we're just back from Poland and as busy as usual. Can't believe you've only got a few weeks left, the time has flown by since you've been gone. Aren't you Miss Popular Maria - people queueing up to employ you when you get back! I think you need a raise!!

Weather here is cold and wet at the moment but spring is just round the corner! Our blackbirds will soon have nestlings, and the bulbs are all coming up.

Lookin gforward to seeing you both as soon as my exams are over, you'll have plenty of mountains to climb here and maybe we can manage a BBQ on the beach and a spring dip in the ocean!!! Its got to be done.

No problem , but just think of the reduced rate staff flight tickets / holidays !!! Seriously , if you did change your mind at anytime , the job here is really interesting and there is huge scope for promotion. But I do understand the travelling issue. Hope you are still having a magical time and looking forward to seeing the photos of the Far East.

Hi Everyone,

We hope that all is well back home, its been great receiving your emails & messages and we look forward to catching up with you all in a few weeks time. Just a quick update to let you know what we have been up to...

Thailand was great, we saw so much in month so its hard to sum up in a few words what we experienced. The temples were spectacular, the beaches were beautiful and we made lots of new friends.
On 01 April we flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Cambodia is like no other place we have ever visited. The Cambodian people are amazing, they are so happy yet they have such poverty in their lives and so many people have been affected by the wars and landmines. Cambodia is one place we will never forget. We have learnt so much from our visit to Cambodia and it made us realise how lucky we are.
We're now in Vietnam and still having a fantastic time. We've had so much fun learning to speak Vietnamese and have spent lots of time teaching the locals English.

We're both looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks time, until then
Tam Biet (goodbye in Vietnamese)

Lots of love
Maria & Gary
xx

Hi Sue,

Thank you for talking to Lesley about the job at Potters Bar. Its very kind of Lesley to say that she would be willing to keep the position for me. Before you left the message on the website, Constanze contacted me to see if I would be interested in working for her again but she would need me to start in May. I emailed her back to advise that I wouldn't be able to start work until June as we haven't yet booked our return flight home. I didn't hear back from Constanze so I thougt that she would need to fill the position before June so I replied to your kind job offer.
I've now heard back from Constanze and she is willing to keep the job for me until I return.

Both jobs sound great and I feel very lucky that I have a job to come home to. To be honest, its hard to think about work at the moment as we're having such an amazing time. Although the position at Potters Bar sounds very interesting I have replied to Constanze and accepted her kind offer. Again I really appreciate you and Lesley thinking of me and I am sorry that I have not replied sooner to your email. We have been in Cambodia and Vietnam so at times its been hard to access the internet. Please say a really big thankyou to Lesley and that I really appreciate you both thinking of me.

I hope that we can meet up when I return home to catch up.
Take care, Maria

Hi Maria. Lesley willing to wait. We will need to advertise the job internally , but if we know you are interested, it's yours. It is a really nice team of people and being Help Desk , you really learn a lot about all sorts of things. A good way to learn IT skills, too ! Be great if you were interested , just let me and Lesley know. Thailand is an eye opener , isn't it? Beautiful in a raw sort of way. Enjoy Vietnam (more mozzie bites) and keep in touch re the job. Take care and 'speak' soon.

Hi Annette, Pete and Luke,

Thankyou for your lovely message, we both miss the 3 of you very much and look forward to seeing you very soon. We're glad to hear that Luke hasn't changed and is still a cheeky monkey.
Thailand has been a very different experience to Australia and New Zealand and has made us really appreciate what we both have at home. We haven't had a hot shower for weeks and we both have a hundred and one mosquito bites but the experience has been unforgetable and we have met some amazing people.
Our trip is now coming towards its end as we now only have about 6 weeks left so before you know it we're be around your house all of the time and your be wishing we had stayed away longer!

Take care, give Luke a BIG hug from us both,
Lots of love Maria & Gary
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Sue,

Its great to hear from you. We're both having an amazing time in Thailand, so far we have visited Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Sukothai, Phi Phi Don, Ko Lanta, Ko Hae and we're now in Krabi. We're be leaving Thailand within the next week to travel to Angkor Wat which is very exciting.
Thank you for talking to Lesley about the job at Potters Bar, the position sounds great but I won't be able to start until June, is this ok with Lesley? We're coming home in May but I would like to spend some time visiting friends and family before I start work. Also we need to sort out where we're going to be living as our tenants don't move out until December.
Hope to hear from you again soon, say Hi to everyone I know at Potters Bar.

Love Maria & Gary

Hi both - thought I would drop you a quick note while I got the chance - Luke & I have just got back from Scotland from visiting the Family - glad to be home - I am just sorting out all the washing while luke is like a mini tornado pulling everything out!!! he has just discovered an Easter Egg and the little monkey has unwrapped it and chomping in to it like he has never seen chocolate before!!! oh the joys!!
Sounds like you have been busy - your photo's are really great I look forward to seeing where you are and all you are up to- we are all missing you like mad and although we don't want to wish your time away we can't wait to see you both!!! take good care lots of love Annette,Peter & Luke xxxxxxx

Hi Maria. I know you really don't want to think about this , but how do you fancy working on the Help Desk at Potters Bar when you get back ? You would enjoy it ! (honest). We have a position coming up and I thought (and Lesley agrees) , you would be perfect ! Think about it and drop me a line. Hope you are loving Thailand as much as I do . Looking forward to the photos

Hi Debs,

We travelled by bus yesterday from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai which took 5 hours. The bus was jam packed like you mentioned plus we had to listen to Thai Karoke for over 2 hours!
Sukhothai is fantastic, today we hired bikes and cycled around the old city. It was hard work as the tempreture was nearly 40 degrees. Tonight we are staying in a bamboo bungalow with a/c for less than GBP5 so I'm sure we're survive.

Take care, lots of love
Maria & Gary
xx

Hi intrepid travellers - photo's of NZ are cool, made me want to go back!! If you decide you are missing the mountains when you get back you'll have to come and try out our welsh ones!! Although not as impressive as those in NZ you still get some amazing views...and not many people either!! Thailand will be such a contrast, but you can have just as many wonderful experiences, just need to hone your haggling skills and get used to buses carrying 50 people more than they were designed for. I remember the banana pancakes were fantastic!