It's been a great start to the tour for us.  First up was Oxford and we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which was right next door to the Oxford football stadium - luckily Oxford were playing away from home so we didn't get held up in traffic.  We decided that our room there would be the one by which all others would be judged - very clean, and the layout was perfect for the two of us. 

Parking in Oxford can be a bit of a problem, so we decided to head off in to the city at about 5.30 to give us plenty of time to find somewhere to park.  Luckily we found a car park close to the New Theatre straightaway and a homeless man who was standing near the pay machine told us that if we waited until 6pm to put our money in, we would get parking until 8 the following morning for £5 rather than about £15!

Expectations were high for this concert and we weren't disappointed.  This concert tour is going to be one of the best ever - the addition of the 5 young stars has added a whole new dimension to the shows - more about them in a later blog.

The hotel we stayed in at Bristol was walking distance to the newly refurbished Colston Hall so we had a nice relaxing stroll to the theatre that night.  We spoke to a couple of people who had been to the VIP experience and they said they had thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our day off was spent at the Shooting Star Children's Hospice - and we will do a separate blog about our time there - we can only say it was an amazing place and made us more determined than ever to help them with their fundraising.

Last night at Bournemouth was again amazing, and so far we've seen loads of fan club members who have been enjoying the shows.  We are about to check out of the Royal Exeter Hotel and head for Portsmouth, so there'll be more in the next blog.