After 6.5 months, 28 weeks, 196 days, 5 continents, 14 countries, 7 time zones, 27 flights (and only 3 delays), 27 airports, 2 overnight trains, 1 overnight boat, 2 day time boat rides, 2 hired cars, 10 bus journeys, 1 … Continue reading
Beijing
Friday From Hong Kong to our final destination. China! The main purpose of our visit to Beijing was to visit the Great Wall of China, one of my life TO DOs! We caught a cab to our hotel from Beijing … Continue reading
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Hong Kong
Tuesday We arrived at the airport early afternoon and met a lovey tourist information lady who pretty much helped plan our 3 days in Hong Kong! After catching the airport bus right to our hotel we sorted our stuff out … Continue reading
Posted in Hong Kong
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Bangkok – The End of the Tour
Sunday We arrived in Bangkok after a long bus journey and a very warm border crossing including a walk across no mans land late afternoon. Having already seen the Bangkok sights we decided to stay at the hotel in the … Continue reading
Posted in Thailand
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Siem Reap and Angkor Wat
Thursday Another morning bus journey, this time to Siem Reap, its prime attraction? The Angkor Wat temples. The countryside here in Cambodia is stunning. On the way we stopped at a Silk makers farm. It was set up by a … Continue reading
Posted in Cambodia
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tuesday It’s a bit of a gruesome blog post today, not only because we ate a tarantula, but there are some awful stories from Cambodia’s history. Anyway, we left Saigon in the morning for our 6 hour trip across the … Continue reading
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Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Saturday We arrived at Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) after our comfortable flight on Vietnam Airlines. As the flight was slightly delayed we didn’t have much free time so we went straight out to eat. Sunday Today we would learn … Continue reading
Posted in Vietnam
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Hoi An
Wednesday The bus ride to Hoi An was beautiful passing through the Vietnamese countryside and coastline. We passed China Beach, a gorgeous beach stretching into the distance. We also made a stop at another bunker used during the war. Passing … Continue reading
Posted in Vietnam
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Hue
Tuesday Our train arrived at Hue about 8ish in the morning. We were transferred to our very nice hotel in this unexpectedly beautiful town. Morning! Waking up on the sleeper train. Nice welcome at our hotel. The afternoon provided us … Continue reading
Posted in Vietnam
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Ha Long Bay
Sunday With our new group we departed early Sunday on a 4 hour bus journey to Ha Long Bay where we boarded our beautiful Junk boat, which would be our accomodation for the night. Ha Long Bay is a beautiful … Continue reading
Posted in Vietnam
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Hanoi
Friday From one capital city to another. We arrived into the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi. Our mini bus picked us up from the airport and took us to our hotel. Driving through the streets one thing became immediately clear…motorbikes and … Continue reading
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Vientianne – Last Day in Laos
Thursday A 4 hour drive and we were in the capital city Vientianne. Feeling a little worse for wear due to the onset of a funny tummy, we rested in our hotel room after our routine orientation walk around the … Continue reading
Vang Vieng
Tuesday We set off from Luang Prebang on our 6 hour mini bus journey. It was a really really bumpy road full of bends that would make anyone car sick. Luckily our trusty armbands and travell sickness pills meant we … Continue reading
Posted in Laos
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Luang Prabang
Saturday Evening We had arrived in Luang Prabang after our 2 day Mekong River cruise from Thailand into Laos. Our guide Mark who had managed to pull a muscle in his leg and was hobbling along, gave us the usual … Continue reading
Posted in Laos
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Into Laos On The Mekong River
Thursday We had a free morning so we visited another of the temples in Chiang Mai before having a delicious brunch in a nice cafe. At midday we departed on a 5 hour drive to Chiang Khong travelling in a … Continue reading
Posted in Laos
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Bangkok to Chiang Mai
Sunday and Monday On Sunday we left Koh Phi Phi on our merry way to Thailand’s capital, Bangkok. The morning trip started with a short long boat ride across the bay trying not get our luggage wet. We then boarded … Continue reading
Posted in Thailand
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Koh Phi Phi, Thailand
Monday After a hearty breakfast we caught the bus to the airport to catch the flight that would take us to our next continent, Asia. Our flight on Malaysian Airlines to Kualar Lumpur left at 2pm, was 11 hours long … Continue reading
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Cape Town
Friday On Friday we left Livingstone. The airport was tiny and quite chaotic but we got the short flight to Jo’burg without any problems. Once again at Johannesburg airport, we waited this time for 6 hours before our flight to … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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Victoria Falls, Zambia
Monday On Monday morning we woke up to a really rainy morning. Thea was very kind and took us to the airport except for some reason (probably the rain), the whole of Johannesburg was grid locked today so it took … Continue reading
Posted in Zambia
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TLC Week 10 – The Final (Jam Packed) Week!
It’s an absolutely jam packed blog post this week. It was our last week at TLC and we managed to really make the most of it. Also, just in case you haven’t seen it, the blog post before this contains … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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TLC’s Children
As a special feature as part of our last week at TLC, we thought we’d bust out the Canon 450D and take some nice portraits of the children. So far on the blog we’ve shown mainly the Tigers and younger … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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TLC Week 9 – Moyo, Rugby & Tangled
Saturday We begin as ever with this week’s round up of our day off activity. We travelled down to Zoo Lake again to do some well deserved relaxing and sunbathing. Before our bronzing in the park we ate lunch at … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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TLC Week 8 – Pilanesberg
First off, a BIG congratulations to Heidi’s brother Luke and his wife Becca who have just become a Mum n Dad to their baby boy William! He was born in the early hours of Friday. This means Heidi and I … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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TLC Week 7 – Johannesburg Zoo
Saturday We had a nice relaxing day off on Saturday and did a bit of much needed clothes shopping. In the afternoon we worked out we could get the sports channels in our room so we managed to watch the … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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TLC Week 6 – SOWETO!
Saturday On our day off last Saturday we organised a trip to hostorical Soweto, a district of Johannesburg famous for being the place where some of the events in the struggle for apartheid took place and also where Nelson Mandela … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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TLC Week 5 – Kaiser Chiefs!
This week marks the half way stage of our 6 months travelling! I hope the second half doesn’t go as quick as the first otherwise it will be over in no time! Saturday We had a great day off today! … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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TLC Week 4 – Nursery, Sci Bono and Moyo
Firstly, thank you for all the comments and birthday wishes I received last week! We really appreciate them!! x x x Saturday & Sunday Last weekend the nursery was short of staff so we were drafted in to help instead … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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TLC Week 3 – Homework!!!
Saturday Last Saturday we had a nice day off going to The Glen shopping mall. We watched Tron at the cinema and had some tasty seafood at a restaurant called Ocean Basket. Sunday On Sunday I turned into technical support … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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TLC Week 2 – Homework, Sunshine and Snakes
Last Sunday morning some of the older girls, Dominique and Amy had their hair done. They are so patient. They sat their for hours whilst their hair was braded. Dominique with her afro just before it was braided After finishing … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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South Africa Week 1
Well we are finally online and able to edit the blog! We were hoping to use the internet at our guest house but unfortunately it is not working so instead we bought a sim card which can be inserted into … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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Happy New Year From Jo’burg!
Happy New Year everyone!! Just a quick post to say that we have arrived safely at our guest house in Johannesburg. We are currently trying to sort out a reliable internet connection as we are using the manager’s at the … Continue reading
Posted in South Africa
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Our Last Day in America! 17/12/10
Our last day in New York boohoo!!! The first thing we did was go down to Times Sq where we had 5 minutes of fame. We appeared on the huge screen in the middle of Times of Square!! Here’s proof: … Continue reading
Posted in New York
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Down Town, Statten Island & Brooklyn – 16/12/10
Today was a sight seeing day. So obviously I forgot to take my camera with me which meant all photos were taken with my rubbishy phone camera…oh well, I can’t be perfect all the time We caught the subway down … Continue reading
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Central Park and New York Knicks! 15/12/10
Wrapping up warm we headed down 5th Avenue again this time passing the Apple store, FAO Schwartz (better know to Heidi as Duncan’s Toy Chest in Home Alone) and the Plaza Hotel (very posh!) and ended up in Central Park. … Continue reading
Shopping on 5th Avenue! 14/12/10
Today was shopping day!! We headed for the famous 5th Avenue, which I suppose is similar to Oxford Street. We visited lots of shops including Macy’s, Abercrombie and Fitch, Tommy Hilfiger and even Nintendo World and M&Ms world. Macy’s was … Continue reading
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New York, New York. It’s A Wonderful Town!
New York baby! Last night we arrived at La Guardia and the cab ride in to Manhattan was amazing. We are staying near Times Sq and seeing it all lit up was beautiful. This morning we explored the area and … Continue reading
Posted in New York
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Spirit Air
Today we are enjoying the incredible city of New York but just a quick update on yesterday… We woke early and headed for Lima airport where we took a budget airline called Spirit Air to Fort Laurderdale airport in Florida. … Continue reading
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Miraflores, Lima – 11/12/10
We arrived yesterday from Cusco into Lima. This was the first time one of our flights has been delayed. Originally the flight was on time but then we sat on the plane for an hour waiting for something or other. … Continue reading
Final Day in Cusco – 09/12/10
We had an amazing sleep and felt much much better today!! We headed into the centre of town to visit the impressive Cathedral but apart from that we rested and generally took it easy to make sure we recovered completely. … Continue reading
Inca Trail Day 4 – 8/12/10
Our final day on the trail! With hardly any sleep and still feeling worse for wear, we were woken at 3:30am, had breakfast, got dressed and were ready to go by 4:20. The short 5 minute walk brought us to … Continue reading
Inca Trail Day 3 – 7/12/10
Our final day of hiking but with the hardest day out of the way, this mere 4 hour hike was easy. At the summit of one of the mountains we stopped for a snack and whilst waiting we were caught … Continue reading
Inca Trail Day 2 – 6/12/10
We were woken early at 5.30am by a porter knocking on our tent asking what type of tea we wanted; normal, camomille or coca. Of course I went for Coca since today we were going to be at the highest … Continue reading
Posted in Peru
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Inca Trail Day 1 – 5/12/10
We woke early…very early! At 4am we went to the pick up point where the coach would take us to the start of the Inca Trail. Heidi and I were the first ones there from our group who we’d met … Continue reading
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Cusco Ruins – 04/12/10
Having seen the Inca ruins in the Sacred Valley, yesterday we were off to see some in Cusco itself, which is the historical capital of the Inca Empire. First stop was Coricancha in the town centre itself. This ‘Temple of … Continue reading
The Sacred Valley – 03/12/10
Today we hopped on a bus ready for a tour of the Sacred Valley, home to the Incas! The Sacred Valley is indeed a huge long valley flanked by enormous mountains. In the valley are small towns and fields growing … Continue reading
Posted in Peru
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Cusco 02/12/10
Our second day in Cusco and although we were feeling fine and we slept well, we still took it easy as it takes a few days to fully acclimatise. We ventured into the town centre to the Plaza De Armas, … Continue reading
Posted in Peru
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Ushuaia to Cusco – 29/11/10 and 30/11/10
Today we left Ushuaia for our next destination Cusco. The flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires was quite funny. There were a large group of older ladies and gentleman on the flight and they were really excited about flying. The … Continue reading
Posted in Argentina, Peru
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Ushuaia Maritime Museum and Prison
Today we visited the Ushuaia Maritime and Jail Museums both housed within the old prison of Ushuaia. It was really interesting and you got your money’s worth since it was about five or six museums in one. Each floor of … Continue reading
Ushuaia – The End of The World – 27/11/10
After the coach journey back from Chile we spent the evening in El Calafate (where we ate a yummy crepe) before heading off the following morning to Ushuaia. Delicious Banana, Cream and DulceDe Leche crepes in Casa La Pepa in … Continue reading
Posted in Argentina
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W-Trek – Day 3: Las Torres – 24/11/10
The final day of the W Trek and today’s 8 and a half hour hike would lead us to the Mirador Las Torres or the Towers Lookout. The scenery was spectacular and we were all in good spirits, particularly as … Continue reading
W-Trek – Leg 2: Grey Glacier – 23/11/10
Our clothes were quite dry by morning except for the odd sock or shoe that wasn’t close enough to the fire. Poor Bill put his socks a bit too close to the fire and managed to singe them. Bev and … Continue reading
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W-Trek – Leg 1 – 22/11/10
After breakfast and after we made our packed lunch for the day we headed out on the mini bus to start the first leg of the W-Trek. The W Trek is a famous hike made up of three legs which … Continue reading
Posted in Chile
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Eco Camp
The place we stayed at in Torres Del Paine was called Eco Camp. We were glamping (glamorous camping). This amazing camp site sits in the shadow of the towers of the mountain range. Where ever you look you can see … Continue reading
Posted in Chile
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From Argentina to Chile – 21/11/10
We were picked up early morning and taken to the bus terminal in El Calafate. From here the long 10 hour journey to our campsite in Chile began. The coach was extremely comfortable so it didn’t really feel that long … Continue reading
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El Calafate – Laguna Nimez – 20/11/10
A bit of catching up to do on the blog… Last Saturday we had a free day in El Calafate. We were staying near the lake and so we walked down to Laguna Nimez, a nature reserve where you can … Continue reading
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Its Chilly in Chile
Hi blog fans We are currently in Chile in the Torres Del Paine national park doing the W trek. We will be able to write about our adventures on Friday when we next have time and internet access. We are … Continue reading
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Perito Moreno Glacier – 19/11/10
After our visit to El Chalten we drove to Los Glaciares National Park to visit the spectacular glacier Perito Moreno. The reason this glacier is so famous is that it flows down the mountain and reaches the mainland on the … Continue reading
Posted in Argentina
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El Chalten – 18/11/10 and 19/11/10
Today we picked up our little hire car and drove two and a half hours to El Chalten. Our Volkswagen Gol, it did the job although we nearly got blown away with such strong winds. The journey was amazing, miles … Continue reading
In Patagonia – 17/11/10
Today we got an early morning flight down from Buenos Aires to El Calafate in Patagonia. Once again we flew with LAN and this time they let us take our bags as hand luggage! Hooray! 3-2! But incosistentcy! Tut tut … Continue reading
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El Superclasico – River Plate vs Boca Juniors
Yesterday was the day of El Superclasico, the football game that the whole of Argentina talks about. One of if not THE fiercest rivalry in world football. The derby between River Plate and Boca Juniors, both of Buenos Aires, is … Continue reading
Buenos Aires Day 3 – 15/11/10
Today we said goodbye to Lydia and Ana, the lovely hotel owners and sisters who made us feel so welcome and showed us and told us everything we needed to know about visiting Buenos Aires. We asked them lots of … Continue reading
Buenos Aires – San Telmo y La Boca
The day began with yet another delicious breakfast. with a full day of sightseeing ahead we set off once again. First stop Plaza de Mayo. This famous square is sorrounded by famous palaces and cathedrals including the governemnt house; La … Continue reading
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Buenos Aires Day 1 – 14/11/2010
After a nice lay in we headed down to breakfast. It is here where we met Anna and Lydia, the owners of the guest house and the reason why Lola House is so amazing. Their customer service is incredible and … Continue reading
Adios Iguazu…Hola Buenos Aires! – Fri 12th Nov
Bye Bye beautiful jungle swimming pool Yesterday we left Puerto Iguazu and the tranquil jungle life. Our flight on LAN Airlines was again on time and very efficient. It was also extremely comfortable with the most leg room I’ve had … Continue reading
Posted in Argentina
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Iguazu Falls – The Brazilian Side – Thu 11th Nov
Today we got some more stamps in our passports and crossed the border once more to visit the Brazilian side of the falls. Everyone we had met so far had said we must do both sides since they each offer … Continue reading
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Iguazu Falls: The Most Beautiful Place Ever! – Wed 10th Nov
After brekkie we went to the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls. These incredible waterfalls are the one main reason that people come here. The whole of the region’s tourist industry from the many hotels to the two airports (one in … Continue reading
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Arriving at Iguazu
On Tuesday morning we left Rio, sniff sniff We hopped on to our flight with TAM airlines, once again with all our bags as hand luggage! After a very quick and efficient (although at one point heart stoppingly bumpy) two … Continue reading
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Currently in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
We are currently having a great time in Puerto Iguazu. Our internet connection is a bit slow so we’ll try and update the blog in a few days time when we get to Buenos Aires. H n C x x … Continue reading
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Rio Day 2 – Statues, Sugar Loafs and Ronnie Bigs
After another mammoth breakfast we set off on a mini bus full of tourists to visit the sights of Rio. Our tourist group was a mixed bunch of lovely people from all around the world. We had Dutch, Argentinians, Canadians, … Continue reading
Posted in Brazil
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Ipanema Beach! 7/11/10
After an amazing night’s sleep (we were pretty tired the day before) we woke up refreshed and took a look out the window! WOW! What a beautiful sunny blue sky day! Such a difference from the night before. We ate … Continue reading
Posted in Brazil
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Initial Impressions of Rio – 6/11/2010
Arriving in Rio de Janeiro was really interesting… My initial thought is how small the statue of Christ the Redeemer is. I was expecting a huge thing overlooking the city but I first mistook it for an antenna on top … Continue reading
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Happy Birthday Heidi!!
Today it’s Heidi’s Birthday so: Happy Birthday Heidi!!!! Thanks for everyone’s messages on Facebook and email, they mean a lot!!!
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Orlando to Panama to Rio
We left Orlando airport in the blazing sunshine. It was sad saying goodbye to Florida, we had such a great time. Our next flight was to Rio via Panama. I have to admit, before the flight I wasn’t really sure … Continue reading
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On our way to Rio
We are on our way to Rio! Shuttle launch delayed til end of Nov. See you soon
Kennedy Space Centre – Thursday 4th November
We woke up early to hear the news on the shuttle launch…it had been delayed til Friday woop woop! The good news is we got to go and do the tour. The bad news was that we probably would’t be … Continue reading
Disney’s Magic Kingdom – Wednesday 4th November
It was a beautiful day and we arrived at Disney having collected our cheap tickets. Heidi and I smiled like little children as we approached the Disney castle. It’s quite an impressive sight! We watched the opening show as Mickey … Continue reading
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How We Got Cheap Disney Tickets
Originally I hadn’t bought tickets for Disney as they were quite pricey, I had already been and I wasn’t sure Heidi wanted to go…She did. I can understand why, you’ve got to go and see Mickey Mouse if you’ve come … Continue reading
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Islands of Adventure – Tuesday 2nd October
Sorry for the slow blog updates we’ve been having way too much fun On Tuesday, feeling fresh and healthy again we took the free shuttle bus to Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure. We found out later that it was election … Continue reading
Ill
So yesterday (Monday), we were meant to go to the Kennedy Space Centre, which would have been amazing since the shuttle Discovery is due to take off on Wednesday on its final flight. We would have seen the shuttle on … Continue reading
Posted in Florida
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Thumbs Up for Seaworld – Sunday 31st October
Yesterday we took the free hotel shuttle bus to Seaworld. Neither of us were expecting anything amazing but it turned out to be the best park we’ve been to so far!! Since I had been before I was expecting killer … Continue reading
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Swimming With Dolphins – Saturday 30th
Today we visited one of the newer attractions, Discovery Cove. Part of the Seaworld group, Discovery Cove transports you to a tropical paradise complete with fine white sands, crystal clear waters and exotic wildlife. The main attraction of the park … Continue reading
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Universal Studios and Piiarrrrrrrates Dinner
Our first day yesterday was meant to be a quiet settling down overcoming jet lag kind of day…so we had the busiest day we’ll probably have all week! We decided on going to Universal Studios for the day. We used … Continue reading
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Surprise Surprise!!
After some stressy manicky panicky last minute packing we arrived at Gatwick Airport this morning with Heidi thinking we were travelling to Rio De Janeiro via a stop over in Madrid. We arrived at the EasyJet check in desk when … Continue reading
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Bye Everyone!!
Well the time has come and we are about to set off to Gatwick for the start of our trip. Heidi got some early Birthday fireworks last night hence the photo of the crazy fire whip she is wielding (just … Continue reading
Posted in Before The Trip
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Leaving Video
Hat tip to Naomi for creating this vid from footage taken at various events and holidays. Thanks Nay!! x Shame about the starting image!
Posted in Before The Trip
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Hello, Olá, Hola, Bonjour, Helo, Salam, Hej
Welcome to Christian’s and Heidi’s travel blog – providing updates for friends and family on our 6 month round the world (RTW) trip Please leave comments and stay in touch!! Lots of love, H n C x P.S – A … Continue reading
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