ivc blog

A week ago, Dan Thomas, Marianne, and myself, traveled to Newcastle, UK, for the weekend 18-20th January. The main attraction was the Ultimate Fighting Championship 80: “Rapid Fire” show in the Metro Radio Arena.

The transit flight to Schiphol was delayed 3 hours and we spent the night at the airport. Arriving in Newcastle the next morning, around 10 am, we unloaded at the hotel and figured we’ll make the most of the day. We started by visiting Forbidden Planet (awesome!) and Games Workshop before heading to the shopping area. Later Dan Thomas went off to attended a fighting gym east of the city center. Marianne was in shopping nirvana while I captured some pictures of Newcastle’s more interesting bits, like Chinatown, the city wall, Central Station, St. Nicholas Church, Castle Keep, Side Street, and the Tyne Bridge.

Later in the evening Dan Thomas and I headed for the UFC show at 6 pm and it was a blast! Gradually the fights got fiercer and the crowd wilder. The main event was the BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson, both from USA. I’ve never been to Las Vegas but I can imagine the excitement is similar.

The last day we packed and put the baggage in the hotels luggage room before heading out to see the attractions on Quayside. The view from Castle Keep was astonishing, as was the close-up view of the Tyne- and Millennium Bridge. The musical arena, Sage Gateshead, was a cool architectural feat. Oh, and we managed to squeeze in a short visit to one of Europe’s biggest shopping venues outside the city center, the MetroCentre (360 different stores).

At the airport, after boarding the plane the captain announced that something was not working correctly and we waited almost an hour before departing. That meant we could miss our transfer at Schiphol. Fortunately, KLM is flexible and delayed the connecting flight. We got through the security check quick and ran to the gate, although it turned out the flight was not departing in another 45 minutes. The flight was pleasant and seemingly quick as I was reading a book about NLP that Dan Thomas bought at Newcastle airport. Arriving at Torp airport a little delayed, we drove off to Arendal, finally at home at around 1.40 am.

To summarize; a great trip with some minor hurdles.

• Newcastle picture gallery