June 14 2009 June 20 2009This week I decided to be adventurous and try my hand at the Valencia tram system. Using my tram map I hopped from line to line and figured out my way to the History of Valencia museum. Okay I make that sound simple but there were a few times that I got confused. Once I got to the benimaclet stop I had to take the underground tram. When I came back up I was b

Polling day for everyone back in the UK wersquore looking forward to hearing the results as it sounds like itrsquos going to be an interesting election Today was another quiet laidback day for us but oh such a perfect day We went into Invercargill to have a look at its architecture which we were told was wonderful I suppose it wasnrsquot bad but someone had chosen to paint it in the

Hola friends and family. The easy living continues. Still doing a good amount of lounging at Nick and Dawn's and getting prepared for a couple trips around Costa Rica. Visited Volcano Irazu 11500 feet above sea level and walked in the crater. The volcano is no longer active so you can go into the area where lava used to spew. We could see above the clouds at the top of the volcano like

June 7 2009 June 13 2009I have quite a few photos that I never put up from Spain. These are from my third week in Spain and I didn't get out much apparently. I walked out a bit and took these photos from the area around the school. I wasn't ready to explore too much at this point so there's not a whole lot here.

Day 1 Big Black IslandThe plane landed in Kona Big Island at 10am. Warm and sunnyyy mid70s I was definitely overdressed coming from San Jo. The airport looked really cute no oppressivelooking concrete boxes but rather series of singlestory islandstyle bldgs . Yeah I'm in Hawaii yoohoo 2min later a PA announcement in Japanese...yeah I'm definitely in Hawaii... Bertrand was

I hear there are some of you out there who are very eager for an updateThis one probably won't be too long as it's late at night and I have to be up bright and early to catch a bus tomorrow Tony and I yes you read that right He's here are taking a bus tour like genuine tourists to go see the Cliffs of Moher and a bunch of other stuff which I will blog about when he is gone and I am sad

So looks like the blog will have to finish while I'm in the States. Leave for the airport in about 10 minutes and in 4 hours plane takes off to San Francisco then Chicago then RochesterA few pics to hold you over. Thank you all for your love and support these many monthsxoAmanda

Friday was sunny and gorgeous. Perfect weather for checking out Spain's Costa Brava the wild coast. After our delicious breakfast in a cozy setting at our hotel we drove down to Sa Tuna and parked. We tried to walk to Aiguafrada. I'm not sure if we got there or not. But every beach is gorgeous and there is walkway built between them. Around noon we went back to our hotel and up to the ca

Today we spent our first full day in Lima and got a chance to see a very different part of the city. Whereas yesterday we toured the more modern neighborhood of Miraflores today we went to El Centro to see Plaza San Martin Plaza de Armas San Francisco and several other notable landmarks like the weirdest Chinatown EVER...seriously. The Plaza San Martin had an incredible statue of you guessed

Some of us were up at 545 this morning showered packed up and car loaded others eventually surfaced at 7am By 745 we were saying our farewells to Keith and Sylvia and on our way to our next state. We had to stop down the road to collect the tubing pictures and then start our 6 hour journey. We left with the roof down thinking we would probably have to put it up at some point.2 hours in we s

I got up in the morning ate a breakfast of cheese and fruit then decided to look for a place to rent kayaks at my friend also met through LOTRO Matt's recommendation. Headed down to cannery row and found a place right by the breakwater Adventures By the Sea 30 all day deal I went out for a few hours and pretty much decided I wanted to go as far as I was allowed which was to the big point on

Yes Sapa was everything I wanted it to be. Rolling hills relaxed small time streets colourful women wearing traditional clothes and clean fresh mountain air I caught the night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai last Monday night. It wasn't so bad but I was glad that I had nearly a week before I had to do it again as it takes alot out of you. You are constantly waking up as things lurch and bang and

My last couple blogs have been long so Im going to try to keep this brief.We arrived finally in San Gil on Friday night. IWe checked in a hostel called Hostel Santander Aleman. Its very nice we have a private room and shared bath and the owner is super nice and helpful. It was late when we got there so we didnt do anything except grab dinner in an Italian restaurant. The next day y

The hunt begins...Missing out on the first week of a 7 month rtw trip in reality isn't that bad in the long run. But what made it worse for us was the fact that we had prepaid for a 17 day tour through central america which started while we were stranded in London. Therefore every day we remained in London waiting for the infamous ash cloud to surrender the skies we were missing out on a holid