Charlie Stag Weekend - April 2018

We had planned a weekend for Keith's parents to visit us in mid-April, but the announcement of Charlie's stag weekend was intriguing enough for us to push the parent visit and have Keith hoof it to Oxford for a weekend.

Keith and Charlie at Charlie's Childhood Home

With a short week at work Keith had a lot to wrap up by Thursday afternoon.  The BA flight was at 7:45pm.  Keith had booked 3 hours to get to the airport so he could have a shot at getting an upgrade - sadly a couple of meetings were added to the calendar so he was a bit more "just in time" for the flight, so no upgrade  First world problem.  Keith said goodnight to Shawna as he took off, got about 6 hours of sleep on the 10 hour flight, and landed as Shawna woke up the next morning - though it was 2pm in London.  While Keith was prepared to take the bus to Oxford, Charlie sent Keith a message that he'd be picked up by the groom himself!  So with only a short wait, Keith and Charlie were in the car on the way to Oxford.  On the way to the hotel it was a quick stop at Charlie's childhood house - which his parents had only sold 6 years before.  It's for sale again.  We arrived at the Hotel De Vere Oxford Thames for an evening just the two boys.  The first activity was 45 minutes at the hotel gym followed by a swim in the indoor pool and 10 minutes in the sauna.  After showers the evening began, with stops at the Bear Inn (where Shawna and Keith had been a year earlier), Browns Restaurant for dinner, followed by the Turf Tavern and the Kings Arms after last call at the Turf.

Keith and Charlie at The Bear

Saturday morning we slept in, had breakfast in the hotel, and went for a walk to the Sandford Lock and then along the Thames.  It was then back to the hotel to meet the rest of the crew as they arrived.  Lunch was at the hotel - we had all pre-ordered our courses so it was quite efficient.  After lunch we all changed and drove 30 minutes to XX to do some 4 wheeling.  The first event was ATVs, which because of the rains we were ensured to be covered in mud. The next event was driving a 4 wheel drive blindfolded, with the steering wheel made to go backward (so a left turn made the car go right).  The drive was through different pylons, each crew getting a point for every pylon knocked over.  The final even was Charlie going in a rally car with an instructor driving.  We got back to the hotel at about 6pm, which gave us enough time for a beer outside (the weather was incredible), some people had a swim, then we all met at 7:45pm to leave for the evening.

The Gang at Dinner

The evening's events were all at the Varsity Club.  The 15 of us started with a plated diner, then had a few drinks, and then a few more drinks.  We danced until 4am - which was fine for Keith as he was focused on staying on Phoenix time zone the whole trip.  The night wrapped up with Bamboleo by the Gypsy Kings - Charlie's memory of Keith's bachelor party in South Beach.

A Few Drinks After

Sunday morning we all slept in, had a quick breakfast, and then Keith took a cab to Heathrow for his long flight home!