85 what a great age especially arriving at that age with very good health. Well done Dad and Grandad you are an inspiration to all the family.You have been very moderate in the way you have lived your life what you have eaten and the fact that you have not been one to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes.As you say you have also been blessed with great genes.The flip side to all of the above is th

Brekkie was at 715 and we left Monkey Island at 815. Small boat to Cat Ba then bus to docks then another small boat back to our cruise boat. Weather was dry so we stood on the deck for a couple of hours chatting to the London lads and getting in our last views of the islands. We then got on the bus back to Hanoi via a restaurant for lunch and another bloomin handicraft centre. Tour guide tried t

What a wonderful weekend we had celebrating Bill's 85th birthday.Chelle Joel Tayla and Jamie flew down from Auckland for the weekend. The family stayed over at Ohope Beach at a wonderful Motel called Jodies on the Beach.We all went out on the Saturday night to the Fig Restaurant in Whakatane. We had a great evening and the food was lovely.Aunty Bubbles joined us for the evening.The girls enjoye

Dear Jean and CopehellipQ1 Whatrsquos the name of your ship so we can follow it on the internet A Cruise1 is the Crown Princess out of Ft. Lauderdale Florida May 1 arriving Civitavecchia Italy Rome on May 15.Cruise 2 the Crown Princess out of Civitavecchia Italy Rome on May 15th arriving in Venice May 27.Q2 One of my friends loves to travel and wants to follow your blog c

After checking out of the comfortable Traveller's Lodge in Melaka on Saturday we had an early breakfast before heading to the Express bus station in town. It was a simple task to find a cheap ride to Malaysia's Capital Kuala Lumpur.Day 6 KL. A fairly short ride of two hours saw us arriving in KL around 1pm. Following the guidebook for South East Asia we had expected to arrive in the Central B

So it's Tuesday and I have completed my second day of TEFL courses. It's pretty fun so far and I love the class. I moved from my host family to the school campus because I was the only one living away. However half of the class moved out and into an apartment because they didn't like it here and wanted air conditioning. The rest of us are roughing it. My dad would be proud. In order to take a sho

We were on the road by 9am this morning for our 2 hour journey to LA. We stopped about half way at a place called Laguna beach and got a drink then headed straight for the Hollywood sign Nige had looked up a way of getting as close as possible so we thought we would take our chances and follow the directions. It was through really narrow twisting streets and as we approached Liz even got out h

i lasted 5 minutes on the stair master this morning. it was grueling. also i forgot to bring new underwear to the gym so i couldn't change into a new pair before work. but no one knew.no one.

Holajetzt endlich habe ich wider Zeit gefunden zu schreiben. Schliesslich bin ich jezt zurueck von Manuel Antonio. Und ich hatte dort ne wahnsinns Zeit. Wir sind Freitag frueh schliesslich habe ich nur bis Donnerstag Schule mit dem Bus 4 Stunden an die Pacific Coast gefahren. Um 10Uhr vormittags waren wir endlich da und uns hat gleich zu beginn ein reiner weisser Sandstrand erwartet. Alles war

I rose at 615am packed my bag and took a taxi to the bus station about 630am. After arriving I spotted Mandy the Dutch girl I'd chatted to at the hostel waiting for the same bus to San Pedro De Atacama. We boarded the bus which was quite empty and sat in our respective seats. I was sat in what was supposed to be the best seat on the bus although all I could smell was pss which wasn't wha

DAY 55 MAY 8I finally am able to get to a computer to add to the travel blog and catch up with emails. We left Golden British Columbia and had the most magnificient drive to Banff. We drove through Kicking Horse Pass and into Yoho National Park and our first stop took us to Emerald Lake. In the summer this lake is the most wonderful shade of emerald green hence it's name. But in early May it is

It's been a wateryold week one way and another. After leaving Victoria I headed slightly north to the Goldstream Provincial Park for my first night of real camping. None of this electricity and water connected directly to the van. No this was real outside living. Well apart from the flush toilets and the hot showers in the washroom.It was a bit of a wet old day when I arrived in Goldstrea

Dearest friends and familyI hope that I have included everyone that wants to be included in following me along my journey if I forgot someone please forward on. This is the last time for 2.5 months that I will be writing you from my parents house in Boulder Colorado. Tomorrow morning I am off to the airpot where I fly Denver gt DC gt Johannesburg South Africa with a short refueling pi

On Friday morning as I returned to my room from my free breakfast I was beconed by a friendly face. Sylvia from Holland had just arrived on the night train and wanted to know whether the guesthouse was any good. We started to chat and after she learnt that I was off at 9.30 that morning on a one night two day homestay she decided she wanted to come as well. We made the arrangements and then we we

Sunday is market day and I had read wonderful things about the Bac Ha Markets where eight different minority tribes gather in traditional dress to sell their wares. We had to leave at 7.30am and the three hour drive caused me considerable discomfort as it wound its way up down around and through many mountains. Luckily I wasn't bus sick but when we arrived we plunged straight into market busines

We have booked our hotels for a week in Bangkok a week in Chiang Mai which will give us time to look around for a condo to rent for 2 months longer in Chiang mai. Can't wait

WOW I have done so much since I last wrote on my blogThe day after the glacier hike 4 of us got picked up from the hostel early and went to another glacier just down the road called fox glacier. There lauren 2 instructors and I got into a very small plane and made our way up. We flew right past Mount Cook and Mount Tasman which are the first and second highest mountains in New Zealand t

Backing up a bit for a second. I shared my train compartment with three Vietnamese men. I arrived soaked to the bone and of course I was a sight for sore eyes. I took their laughter and staring with good humour. The only advice Dad gave me before I left was to use and trust my instinct. I have tried to do this every day but I have often been wrong. My instinct told me that I didn't want them to cl

Today we left Port Douglas and drove to Cpae Tribulation. On the way we stopped at Mossman Gorge I had read it was a good place for a swim and it really was beautiflul the problem was neither of us had our swim stuff with us so we just rested on the rocks for a while and watched everyone else enjoying the fresh cold water.Cape Tribulation is in the Daintree National Park which is one of the olde

Kia OraWell today is the exact 6 month mark of landing in Aotearoa and what a ride it's been but now it appears to be winding down.I distinctly remember at Christmas my rather drunken friend Andrew going on some big ramble about life the universe and everything but there was one bit that stuck out and moved me. For all his Yankee idiocy he managed to rather profoundly state that we are all h