Travel to Spain, La Rioja, Logroño.

Empowered to Receive Love - Abba means much the same as daddy. Thus the word Abba expresses trust, safely, confidence, belonging, and most of all intimacy. Abba implies an embracing and nurturing love which transcends all love that may come from elsewhere. Complements of Henri Nowen as translated by ME!

I have been walking with Abba father - my daddy - quite a bit. Today I walked 18 miles almost non-stop, except to watch a herd of sheep grazing with its shepard (yes a real shephard - complete with staff and dog!) watching over them. And yes I recited the 23rd Pslam to myself. Anyway I walked that 18 miles for the most part alone. Many of my friends left ahead of me and then stopped in Viana. I chose to keep going as I was in Viana by 10 or so. These times I have walking alone give me a chance to talk to myself, or Abba or the world around me. Sometimes I answer myself - a bit scary.

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Travel to France, Brittany, Brest.

We left Falmouth and a Pigeon adopted us for the crossing, obviously too much effort to fly. Sam looked after it and fed and watered it, eventually when we were approaching Brittany and about 300 metres from land it flew off. It showed us its gratitude by leaving deposits everywhere that we are still cleaning up ! - Andy.

Sam – My addition to the blog can be summed up in one word Bleeuurraaagh! I am the she beast from Alien, even when there is nothing left to throw up I manage to produce gallons of hot stomach acidy bile ------Whhhyyyy?? Nothing can prepare you for seasickness even though I have a boat stocked with remedies. The 3 things that make me feel even more sick are cigarette smoke, diesel fumes and black coffee all of which were thick in the air on this trip. Andy was sailing pretty much nonstop due to his wife losing the use of all 4 limbs he needed flasks of black coffee, since we had no wind we had to motor.

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Travel to China, Xinjiang, Kashgar.

Kashgar can be seen as several distinct areas, there is some of the Old Town left, There's the New Old Town, then the larger high rise city and the New City of Kashgar under construction. Several years ago the Government started making a concerted effort to knock down the Old Town, as unsafe buildings and where high rise apartments would be a much more efficient use of city space, which brought some strong resistance into the streets. A compromise of sorts was reached and a New Old Town area was designated, two and three story buildings leaving areas for street markets etc and leaving a small area of the Old Town standing. The pace of change did not stop just became refocused on the New City. China is committed to bringing millions of its citizens into the middle classes every year, a program that will continue for the very success of Chinas Rebuilding, they have let the Uyghur people move along at a slower pace.

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Travel to Spain, La Rioja, Azofra.

On our way to Azofra which is 23.3km down the road, well path actually. Fiona headed off this morning with a vengeance arriving in Ventosa for morning tea ahead of me. Fiona leaves in the morning while I pack and pay the bill. She likes to see how long it takes for me to catch up while I try to catch her as soon as possible - yip the sun has got to us.

We generally only spend about half the day if that walking together, the rest is wandering along chatting to others or walking alone. Both are great, it's nice to have time on you own as well as meeting new walkers to chat to and learn about their lives. Everyone is so open as we all have the Camino in common.

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Travel to Macedonia, Ohrid.

Around 9am, I woke up from a nice sleep. It's my last day in Ohrid and I had to check out of the guesthouse by 11am (Valentin Apartments, around $7 for a single room/shared bath). I am already feeling a bit saddened since I really enjoyed my stay in Macedonia and I greatly appreciated all the the hospitality I encountered, not to mention the country as a whole, including Ohrid, is relatively inexpensive.

My bus to Budva, Montenegro does not leave until 10:40pm (around 1400 denars one way) so I have another full day to enjoy the town one more time for the road.

I packed all of my bags and kept them in a friend's room and returned to the home of the family I had met the night before! While waiting for one of the guys to come out, I had apple juice with his father while exchanging gestures and broken English/Macedonian phrases.

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Travel to India, West Bengal, Darjeeling.

My first trip to Darjeeling was way back in the year 1975, possibly leaving my younger bro just born that year with granny. my only recollections of that trip were possibly a ride on a horse and a train line. Later on I heard stories of my antics as a three year old and saw photographs of the horse rides. we had stayed at the planters club i was told and mum dad would hold me from both sides and swing me as they trooped about.

the second time was with the folks and my bro, we were returning from Guwahati in Assam and I remember the train journey in a first class compartment. i also recall a restaurant where we had lunch. this was in the year 1979 a year before my second and final brother would be born.

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Travel to Indonesia, Sumatra, Bukit Lawang.

Having enjoyed the cool mountain air of the highlands for over a week now, starting from Bukittingi to Toba and Berastagi, it was time to finally head back down to the reality of the infernal heat of the Sumatran lowlands. And so from Berastagi it was a 5h journey to Bukit Lawang, a small village tucked away from the bustle of the provincial capital of Medan, and which has been receiving tourists to its the nearby Leuser National Park and orang-utan rehabilitation centre for the past several decades.

What's that, another orang-utan rehab centre, you say? Didn't I already visit one just last month in Sepilok, Sabah, East Malaysia? Indeed I did. But I'd come to Bukit Lawang for the trekking, much vaunted by LP, and also the hopes of catching a sight of the red-haired creatures in the wild, and not just semi-wild.

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Travel to France, Burgundy.

Well here we are in the middle of France and chugging along on our boat, down some beautiful canals. BUT. I have to write about England first. Warwick is more than interested in wine of course seeing he was involved in this industry all his working life. Over the last few years he has watched the progress of a young winery just outside of Eastbourne in the south of England. The young man who is heading this project is from NZ. Cameron used to be in the industry in Hawkes Bay but has been in England for this project for nearly 3 years. The winery is near a very historic village and they are pouring a lot of money into it as the tourist trade around here is fantastic. They hope for their first vintage this year, although small, so it was interesting to see. I think warwick would love to be involved, if not here, then some where in Briton. Beautiful country side and in a couple of years it will be a great spot to visit with its tasting rooms and restaurants

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Travel to Hungary, Northern Great Plain, Hajduszoboszlo.

We would now actually like to wake one morning and find it is raining to cool the atmosphere down as the heat at 35C+ is sapping the energy a bit.However,the forecast suggests that is not going to happen today or the next couple of days if the forecast for the places we have booked to go to are correct.

We had worked out the road we would take to the border with Hungary but all that got blown apart when we discovered that the town we thought we were heading for wasn't the actual town where the apartment was that we had reserved.It was all very easy to make the mistake though when you see just how unpronounceable and yet similar the names of the towns were.And one just north of Debrecan and the other just south.Never mind ,at least we saw the error before we tried to programme it into the GPS.So we are off to Hajduszoboszlo instead of Hajduhadhaz!

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Travel to Romania, Transilvania, Cluj.

The heat of the last couple of days has not waned overnight and it looked like we were in for a hot drive as we head northwards.So we would be thankful for an efficient a/c in the Citroen.

We have had a very good stay in the pension in Sibiu and great value for all that was provided by way of the large room and use of full kitchen facilities.We have met all the family from the woman who runs the place to her parents and her daughters over the past two days and not one of them could speak English but we still managed to communicate and practically understand almost everything !

Being on the northern side of Sibiu we were very quickly out of the city and on our way on R1 driving through rolling rural countryside on a relatively quiet road.With no attractions to stop for we made quick progress to the sizeable town of Sebes where the road turned in a more northerly direction and into a flatter,wider valley with all the crops we have been seeing as we have driven in Romania, being grown.

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Travel to Greece, Lesbos, Mytilene.

Anchored off Mytilene, Lesbos (3rd largest Greek Island) - 1st port we have had to use tenders to get us ashore but run very efficiently. Very pretty island, quite hilly with lots of white and blue houses up the hillsides of the villages and loads of olive groves. This island is very famous for Ouzo and olives. Lost our group for lunch so after going for a 2 hour walk around town and up on the large hill in town to the castle ruins decided to rent a small car and take in a lot more of the island. This was a fantastic way to go - though right hand side drive - windy roads - John driving like a bat out of hell sometimes it was a bit hairy! Up and down mountains and overlooking the bright deep blue sea with lots of little beaches (pebbles though, no sand) along the way it was so pretty - stopped in a little village about 20klms outside Mytilene and had another yummy Greek lunch and a couple of ice cold beers, right on the waterside in a little cove...

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Travel to Turkey, Marmara, Istanbul.

Entered the Dardanelles around 11.30 last night and then into the Sea of Marmara early this morning and after daylight (we were up to see sunrise over the Sea of Marmara) into the Straits of Bosphorus - our Turkish pilot boarded around 7.30 and guided us into the port, bit of ducking and diving as its a very busy area with loads of ferries going in all directions from one side of Turkey to the other. Having being to Istanbul (5 days in 2009) before, we decided to just walk and soak up the atmosphere of this city, we love Istanbul, its quite mystical and a shopping mecca. Walked 12kms today around town, went to the Galatas Tower which we had not been to before and had a great view over the city and the Bosphorus. Then to the Spice Bazaar to buy up on BBQ spices etc and then to the Grand Bazaar to buy some leather bags, wallet and leather jacket. Very good quality and good prices - could have bought a Birkin Bag for $450 but decided to buy two others for the price of that

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Travel to Argentina, Córdoba, Mina Clavero.

A waterfall that gives continual birth to a river, the playground of the local people; a condor in flight, floating beside the mountain chain; a Sunday artisan festival of hippies, complete with tasty beer (a rarity in South America): It was, without doubt, an exceptional and memorable long weekend.

The village of Mina Clavero is situated in the province of Cordoba, Argentina. Caroline and I were looking for some mountains or countryside, ideally suitable for day treks during the final long weekend of our stint working as teachers in Buenos Aires. I had originally cast my gaze towards Paraguay; however, Caroline hit upon a place neither of us had ever heard of, yet when we mentioned it to Argentinians, we always heard the same response, “Qué lindo!” As a result, we had been literally counting down the days until our departure.

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Travel to China, Hunan, Shaoshan.

We've been trying to get to Shaoshan for quite a while. I would really like to see all the home towns of the old communist leaders around Changsha. That was going to be our plan but, as is usual in China, we underestimated just how long it would take us to get there. We left Shaoyang at around 9 am and arrived in Xiangtan at lunchtime. After a spot of lunch we then travelled onto Shaoshan, we took a taxi 200 rmb but there is a bus from the west bus station we found out later which cost 15rmb, which took another hour. So it was around 2 o'clock when we finally got there. We had about 45 minutes in the square and visited Mao's home and then we had to go back to Xiangtan for the long bus ride home. With hindsight it would probably have been better to stay in Xiangtan or Changsha. Never mind.

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Travel to France, Upper Normandy, Dieppe.

Starting with a quick heads up before getting into everything. While I love that people are reading what I have to say, I’m actually more so writing everything as a way to retain the wonderful memories I’m living. So if it ever seems as if I’m ranting on about things that are either uninteresting, strange, unrelated, please just bare with me or skip a bit (it won’t hurt my feelings (unless you’re related to me!) In other words, this post is long. Enjoy!

The last time I wrote something I was being rapidly propelled across the French countryside in a T.G.V (Train à grand vitesse (a.k.a really fast train (the French are known for acronyms, not creativity))) on my way back to Dieppe from a weekend in Paris. Well I’m still traveling, though this time by a slower and somewhat less conventional method, a ferry. And I’m delighted to inform you that I’m NOT one of those people who get seasick. But before I get into why I’m on a ferry, let me catch you up to what’s been going on the last couple of weeks.

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Travel to Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Lapa.

Oi e Bem-vindos a Brasil!!! With a population of almost 200 million people, Brazil would far and away be the busiest country that I will have visited throughout the Americas on this trip. South America's biggest country at 8.45 million square kilometers (about the size of the United States) is home to roughly 90% of the Portuguese population in the world. The Portuguese first arrived in Brazil early in the 1500's, expressing interest in the red dye from Brazil wood (origin of the country's name) that grew plentiful along the coast. They exported this highly valued dye back to Europe to be used in the clothing industry. Later on though, the Portuguese discovered sugar cane deeper within the country & enslaved the indigenous tribes that originally resided in the area to help harvest the sugar cane for export. These natives were primarily nomadic hunter gatherers and agricultural farmers who tried to fight back but in the end was too overwhelmed by the foreigners. To help with the increased world demand of Brazilian sugar, the Portuguese imported a lot of enslaved Africans from Angola and Mozambique to work on the sugar cane farms.

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Travel to Romania, Muntenia, Bucharest.

Today was always going to be one of the bigger challenges for the BBA V2 if only for what we have read about Bucharest and the perils tourists can face when visiting the city with scams,gypsies and roaming dogs.!

The weather promises to be fine and the temperature projected to hit 30C+ but has dawned cloudy which might actually be better especially if we clock up a few kilometres touring the city.

The hotel served up an expresso coffee with a croissant and we substituted that for the instant Nescafe as we felt it would give us a buzz enough to keep us going all day.

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Travel to Cambodia, South, Kampot.

I spent a week in Siem Reap, half with the girls and the rest on my own, also catching up with a friend from my Africa trip on my birthday. On the second day there, the girls and I spent a full day exploring the Angkor temples, including Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm (an amazing site, with the ruins gradually eaten over by the jungle) and another large temple, with some stopovers at smaller ones inbetween. I’d thought about getting a two-day pass but to be honest, after all the temples in Thailand, I was feeling well and truly templed out.

On my birthday I went to a spa for massage and manicure, then had a short-lived night out at Angkor What bar, after which I didn't feel too good. I was meant to go on a bicycle tour the next morning, but ended up cancelling it because I still wasn’t 100% the next morning. Instead I stayed in bed most of the day, slept and watched some television. I had bought a bus ticket for that night to head to Kep, on the coast, so I wanted to be as healthy as possible for the bus journey that was going to take 10 hours.

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Travel to Bolivia, La Paz Department, Copacabana.

Sore and tired after cycling down the WMDR (yes we are feeling our age), we sensibly had an early Saturday night in preparation for a 7.45am bus ride to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We thought La Paz was chilly, but Copacabana takes the mickey, at just over 3800m the air is thin and cold, and when in the shade with a breeze blowing, positively freezing.

Copacabana is only 100km or so from La Paz, but it takes almost 4hrs to get there. Firstly, it is just over an hour to get out of El Alto, the ever increasing suburb in the outskirts of La Paz. It is the fastest growing area of Bolivia as all of the people from the Altiplano move in from the country in search of a 'better' life in the city. El Alto sores up above 4150m, some 500+ metres above La Paz central. At the time of morning that we were passing through, any shallow pools of water were frozen solid, and it took us well over an hour to navigate through the crazy market-laden streets.

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Travel to Cambodia, North, Angkor.

Early doors, alarm set for 5.45am to be packed up and at the bus station for 6am blimey we hadn't been up this early in a long time!! But it was for a good reason, we were crossing the border into Cambodia, very exciting. We had been told countless horror stories of the border crossing, it can be dangerous, be careful, you could be there for ages, corrupt officers, fake visas etc so we were both very sceptical about it all. Managed to fall straight back asleep on the first part of the journey up untill we got to the border, the bus operator guy asked for all our passports and $25 for the visa, I was adamant that I was not paying it or giving him my passport as it should only be $20 and you can do it yourself. However after some deliberation over it all I gave in and paid the guy and off he went with our passports, theres us hoping and praying this is all above board and luckily it was. In the end the extra $5 was fine as if I had done it myself I may have missed the bus as we got pushed Indigo on Otres The lovely beach huts we stayed inthrough pretty quickly. Border crossing are always bit of a nightmare as you never really know what is going on, you have to take all your luggage with you but this was absolutely fine.

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Travel to France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Èze.

So a quick story first. While walking thru Place de Massena, I hear police sirens coming up behind me. First a police officer on a motorcycle. Then another behind him, go whizzing by. Then a police car speeds past,and just when you think the police parade is over, a van drives by, the sliding door open and there sits a police officer,facing outside, hard look on his face, bullet proof vest and an automatic rifle gripped in his hands. What is going down in Nice france to get the swat team out? Interesting

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Travel to Mexico, Sonora, Puerto Peñasco.

It's Sunday, June 16, 2013 - Church in Mexico. We worshipped at Mark and Karen's church "La Samaritana Buena" the Good Samaritan. We met Pastor Edgar and his wife, Alma, and their kids. We also met Eneida, who works at the Center, and her kids - Alexia, Rodrigo, y Zabie. Pearl and Zabie were fast friends - both 2 and 3 years old. Pastor Edgar preached about Joseph, Mary's husband, being a good father who loved God and obeyed him. It was really great to be worshipping all together on Father's Day, but what's even extra cool is that Geoff and Kai and I had just learned about Mary's husband last week in Youth Group. Our summer 5th/6th Grade Youth Group series is "Unsung Heroes from the Bible". Last week I chose Joseph, Mary's husband, to teach the kids about how Joseph believed God, listened to God and obeyed God.

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Travel to Germany, Hesse, Marburg.

In that order! From Melbourne, 9 1/2 hours to HK then 12 hours had us arriving in Frankfurt (Main) at around 6 am. Shuttle to terminal 2, easily achieved, found the Reisezentrum (travel centre), purchased tickets for Marburg which is a 1 1/2 hour trip by regional train from Frankfurt Hautbahnhof (main station). So train from Airport station then change to regional train for Marburg. Then a leisurely train ride passing green fields and red poppies and other pretty wild flowers lining the train tracks. We prefer the regional trains, because although slower, they stop at more stations and therefore we see more of the countryside and more locals. Also much cheaper!

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Travel to China, Gansu, Mati Si.

In my second day at Ma Ti Si I rode to another grotto, 13km away. The Tibetan guesthouse owners had told me there was a road to go to Guan Yin Dong. What they didn’t tell me (or did I miss it?) was that the road was unpaved and VERY bumpy! It took me 90 minutes to cover the 13km. The scenery was splendid though! I took (too) many pictures and I imagined building a little summer mud house for the future…

Fields were covered in blue-purple flowers (I don’t know what they’re called, but I’ll find out) and I only ran into a couple of tractors and local farmers on their motorbikes. The only noise was that of cuckoo birds and bees: soooo relaxing!

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Travel to China, Guangxi.

Boat racing always the event on the Duanwu festival day, but here in Longhe, a small township northeast from Napo in Guangxi, the Zhuang people celebrate it in their own way on the Lunar 5th day of May, for the last 230 years or so they shot canon up to the sky that carry a small matel ring, it was an act to praised the almighty their Lord. People would fought their way to catch the ring when it falling back down from the sky that'd been carry the blessing from above. Everywhere in China Duanwujie is dedicated to the patriotic poet Quyuan, but in Longhe only the patriotism is related, they dedicated the day to a Shima King and a temple had been built over 200 years ago, for his effort to defended the country's border. and every year on the 5th of Lunar May people would honor him by shooting 5 canons up to the sky. prize would be reward to those who'd caught the ring, and the first canon gave the biggest prize(this year the prize for the 1st canon is 380 yuan).

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Travel to Vietnam, Mekong River Delta, Vinh Long.

Okay so as we last left off, I was hoping they might let us on a bus with Ikelos if we paid for extra seats but no such luck. My friend told me that they said they were scared he might bite somebody. So we had to take a private van to her hometown of Sa Det. It was more expensive then I would have liked but at least it was a really nice ride. We each had our own seat to just lay across, even Ikelos.

As usual Mom's hospitality was great. When we arrived she went to get food for us to have lunch at her house. Then she went to find a dog friendly hotel in town for Ikelos and I. And once again she paid for it. She also took me out to dinner that night. It is hard to pay when you don't speak the language and you can't even notice when they ask how much.

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Travel to Ireland, County Galway, Galway.

We had another early start for sight-seeing today. We went to see some Abbeys, Castles and the city of Galeway. The main issue is getting anywhere. Judy tells Kirsten what she wants to see and then Kirsten has to try and figure out how to get there and if we have the time to fit everything in. It gets interesting. First stop was Quinn Abbey, a century or two old Abbey with a cemetery inside and outside the Abbey. We toured the grounds and it had very scenic surroundings. Judy was climbing all over and into it. There was no one there to tell you couldn’t so she did. Including hopping a fence.

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Travel to North America, Bermuda.

I finally remembered to set my clock an hour forward last night. Usually I forget or movie it the wrong way! I was looking forward to golf today at Riddles bay because when I got to the office I saw that the weather was beautiful out. I checked the weather and it said they got some rain yesterday morning so the humidity was down and the golf courses would really benefit from the rain.

The desk was relatively busy and like every week at 10:30am when it closes so the shore ex team can go to the theatre and start dispatch, people come pouring down to the desk with all sorts of questions and requests that could have been easily done during the 12 hours the desk was open yesterday. My golf guests were meeting at the desk at 11:15am so that left me to try and muddle through the silly questions for 45 minutes, always a good time.

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Travel to Bolivia, La Paz Department, Copacabana.

We arrived in La Paz in the dark. Unsure of what to expect from the highest capital city in the world, as the dawn appeared, we were not disappointed. The city's buildings literally cling to the sides of the canyons and spill downwards. Surrounded by mountains and snow capped peaks La Paz is dizzying not only because of the altitude but also it's impressiveness. Unfortunately our hostel only remains in our minds because of the dinginess of the room, the intense cold, the noise and the treacherous dash to the bathroom that was a considerable distance outside. Having had such a fantastic time on the salt flat tour the rain and cold in La Paz tried to dampen our spirits but we sucked it up and decided to get to grips with the city.

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Travel to South-West Thailand, Ko Samui.

Sadly we have now had 4 sleeps at this amazing place in Koh Samui ... which means there are only another 4 left before we continue on our Thailand adventure. Since my last post we have been doing lots of relaxing ... let me share a bit of that with you now ...

On Saturday afternoon we headed down to the north coast of Koh Samui to Mae Nam beach again ... we have found this to be our favourtie area so far on this trip. We had read about a little local bar that was worth a visit so we set out to find it. Thankfully with our car we can take lots of wrong turns and eventually find our way. The boys just don't understand why we keep getting lost! It is funny how they think we should just know where everything is, how long it will take to get there and what will be there when we arrive!!! We keep reminding them that we have NEVER been here before so how could we possibly know the answer to that...

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Travel to Costa Rica, Heredia.

Coffee beans, ground coffee, chocolate covered coffee beans, iced coffee drinks, coffee liquors, coffee candies . . . coffee everything! Today was our day to visit Café Britt and learn about the production of coffee, from the first step of planting to the final step of roasting and packaging. The Café Britt Coffee Tour is not just another tour. Yes, it is full of information about coffee production and its importance in Costa Rica, but it is also funny and full of surprises. We walked down a path totally surrounded by coffee plants and tropical trees, where the Britt guides explained the planting, growing, and hand-picking processes. Then we were led to the roasting area, where large roasters are used for varying amounts of time to create light roasts, dark roasts and espresso roasts. The next stop was a small auditorium where we were shown how to prepare coffee in both the traditional and the modern ways, and Natalie was chosen as a volunteer for the "cupping" demonstration. Her job was to smell and taste the coffee as the professional taste-testers really do here in Costa Rica...

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Travel to South America, Argentina, Salta.

For some of you this is the first time you have been fortunate enough to read my words of blog wisdom (in my defence, most of you asked to receive this). Consider yourself luckily, my UK family and friends have been bored by this for years. For those that have travelled south America I expect you will not be reading anything new, but its my adventure so humour me here. Also, as my grandmothers, colleagues and dearest Ma and Pa are reading this you will have to wait for me to get back/ email me to hear about near death experiences involving guns or juicy gossip. No major ones to report yet (all is well Dad, no guns in sight). Will stop talking about guns.

So, it was a quick departure from Perth as I left work on Friday and headed to Sydney on Saturday for a weekend of buying last minute travel gear, i.e. all the clothes I have worn every day for the last two weeks and having a giggle with my old housemate Matt who was under strict instructions to keep me calm. Job well done mate (Jesus and I love you buddy).

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Travel to United States, Nevada, Las Vegas.

The first day with no driving as we have 2 nights in Vegas so we didn’t get up until 9am. We decided that the best time to visit the pool, which we could see from our window was rapidly filling with eager sun-worshippers, was now so went straight down there. Very few loungers left but we managed to find a couple and spent a surprisingly pleasant hour or so reading by the pool and messing about in the water. I say surprisingly as it seemed a different place from yesterday. Music was good and enough space in the pool to swim a little. We concluded it was because it was Sunday that it was so busy yesterday and there were certainly a few less people about today.

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Travel to France, Île-de-France, Paris.

I don't know how we will go past L'Orangerie as our favourite so far - this gallery is such a gem, and perfect with kids as it is so small and peaceful. We hopped on our trusty velibs and rodein the sunshine through the Tuileries gardens this morning on our way there. The avenues of trees are truly beautiful. I ignored the fact that the restaurant in the gardens is a tourist trap, and took my time enjoying a cafe-au-lait and watching the people go past.

With our Paris passes we skipped the queue at L'Orangerie and were admitted very quickly to the gallery, which only allows a small number of people to enter at a time. I had no idea that L'Orangerie had been built expressly to house Monet's paintings. The beautiful colours of the artwork and unique white curved walls, combined with magnificent natural light, captured everyone's imaginations, and we spent quite a long time just wandering, or sitting and admiring. The children were quite awed to be seeing Monet's paintings "In the flesh" rather than on notecards or coasters!

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Travel to Germany, Dusseldorf.

Just before leaving Germany to go back to California, I got to spend an afternoon and an evening in Dusseldorf. My flight would leave from Dusseldorf the next day. Dusseldorf is a very modern city, which in many way reminded me of a large American city. One way in which it definitely does not recall American cities, however, and in which it is distinctly German, is due to its cleanliness.

As you can see from the pictures, some buildings are quite innovative in design, and there were quite a few unexpected large-size urban art installations. We did not have all that much time in Dusseldorf, but we did take a nice walk and stop for a beer. It is very nice to travel throughout German towns, as each, it seems, has its own beer.

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Travel to Germany, Cologne.

I got to visit the Cologne cathedral. Sonja and I weren't in Cologne for very long, as we had only the few hours gap between two trains. Still, we toured the inside, went up the belfry to see the bells, and then, from the top, to enjoy the view of the city. Sadly, my camera batteries had died just before I reached the belfry, and so... there are no pictures. I would believe that the Cologne cathedral is my favourite, behind Orléans'. It is a thing of beauty, also made impressive by its sheer size. Inside the cathedral, look at the floor. It's got some beautiful mosaics.

The cathedral, sadly, got damaged during the second world war. Some portions of the cathedral was repaired in such a manner as to recreate the medieval artwork, but other sections break from the ancient tradition. Some of the gigantic windows have been given a stained-glass mosaic of tiny brightly-coloured squares, each placed in such a way as to differ from the colours of its neighbours, giving the impression of a 'noise' of pixelated colours.

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Travel to Argentina, Buenos Aires.

I originally planned to take the bus over the Andes from Chile to Argentina and stop in Mendoza for a few days on the way to break up the journey. However, roadworks meant that the crossing was only open at night, and so I would see nothing of the scenery, so I settled on the slightly pricier but faster option of flying direct to Buenos Aires. On arrival at the hostel, I met up with Alice, a lifelong friend from back home who was undertaking her own round the world trip in the opposite direction. It was great to see Alice and an ideal opportunity to exchange notes - she had just completed an excursion in South America, taking in attractions such as Machu Picchu and the Salt Flats of Uyuni and was heading to New Zealand next.

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Travel to Colombia, Cali.

Before arriving in Colombia I had heard nothing but positive reports from other travellers that had recently visited, with many saying with a knowing look that I would end up spending a lot longer here than I expected! I hate to pander to the stereotypes but they were exactly right, as I've already been here 6 weeks and this may be the first country where I have to do a nifty quickstep across the nearest border to renew a visa, as the three months I was given doesn't look like its going to be enough!

The trip didn't start too auspiciously with a looooong bus (close to 24 hours instead of the expected 14-15) from Ecuador, which reached the southern town of Popoyan so late in the day that all the buses to my intended destination of Tierradentro had already upped and left!! Anyway, for a town I only visited by accident it turned out to be very pleasant, with its nickname of the “white city” earned through its well preserved historic centre which was great to wander around. It was also very close to Volcan Purace, a 4,750 metre peak supposedly offering superb views.

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Travel to Greece, Attica, Piraeus.

The hire car has clearly had enough of us and on the steep climb out of Porto Germeno it refused to get out of second gear. This, along with the fact that I seemed to have accidentally ticked the "use narrow potholed roads where often bits are missing" button on the sat nav made for an interesting first half hour. The roads were pretty much deserted until suddenly, just a few miles from Athens the traffic built to terrifying proportions again. We managed to return our hire car (why do these things take so long?) Piraeus was as chaotic as last Thursday.

We had about 4 hours before our ferry sailed and so killed time in the shelters on the port. These are used by vagrants to sleep, drink, shout and fall over. What with this and the constant hawkers it was not that relaxing.

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Travel to France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Villefranche-sur-Mer.

The Voyager was scheduled to dock in Monte Carlo but due to the Grand Prix race the port was full. So instead we anchored off Villefranche-sur-Mer. This was a stroke of luck for us. While we really enjoy Monaco, Villefranche is a very special place on the French Riviera. My sister Judy’s favorite movie was filmed here. "An Affair to Remember" is a beautiful romance story and continues to lure fans to this lovely town. A prominent citadel covers one side of town and an ancient Cathedral towers over the rest of the village. Villefranche was home port for the U.S. Navy 6th Fleet for years after the end of WWII. Navy ships still call here as the bay has the deepest natural harbor in the Mediterranean. We came here in 2008 with our retired commander friend John. He took us to his favorite restaurant La Mere Germaine. It was fabulous as only French restaurants can be. This time we stumbled upon a tiny Vietnamese restaurant called Le Mekong and had a great bowl of Pho. It was a picture perfect day here on Villefranche Bay.

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Travel to Nepal, Kathmandu, Thamel.

As you read the blogs from Nepal, it will become readily apparent that I loved the country. There hasn’t been a place before or after that I’ve enjoyed that much yet, and I promised myself that I’d not only return, but I’d return knowing the language.

My love of Nepal is twofold: the Himalayas and the people. There are no better mountains and there are no nicer people. I felt accepted – I was called “Nepali” by a couple individuals, including a Sherpa - and I could do nothing but accept (except for a couple instances, one of which being the food, which was more of the same). I also liked that it is the only country in the world whose flag is not a rectangle.

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Travel to Japan, Tokyo, Shibuya.

I'm back in Tokyo. This is my third time here; so, I thought I'd blog about it. I seem to have a knack for having horrible, but retrospectively amusing, experiences when I land in Tokyo. In 2011, I was suffering from the cheese pizza I'd had on the plane. I also had to go to Shinjuku to get the key to my apartment -- during rush hour. Shinjuku Station is confusing in any event, but during rush hour, it's madness. Eventually, I found my way to the station where I lived, but spent another four hours trying to find the apartment, in the rain, with a huge suitcase.

That was two years ago. This time was actually worse. My flight out of Dallas was delayed, causing me to miss the connection in Atlanta. There was another flight to Narita that day, which I ran to try to catch. But it was too late...or so I thought. Just as I was resigned to stay in Atlanta for the night, the plane began deplaning due to a water leak. I was thus able to board the plane, albeit a few hours late, for Narita on the same day. This meant, however, that I wouldn't get to Narita until about 8:30pm, which made it impossible to check into my apartment. After I left Narita was when the real fun began.

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Travel to Bulgaria, Varna Province, Varna.

When I came to Varna Bulgaria to see the Black Sea, I planned on renting a car and heading south to see some of the other beach towns and some Greek ruins. But when I saw that I could work at the beach while chilling to some great food and music, I decided not to go anywhere. A week sure goes by fast at the beach, huh? The typical day was getting up at 7 am, working in my apartment until about noon, then walking down to the beach for lunch. Then I would just stay and work on the sand until 5 or 6pm. It was a nice routine.
I also wandered about Varna and took in the sights and did plenty of people watching at night. There was all sorts of music and food from all over the world, even some live jazz music right on the beach along with a few piano bars.

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Travel to Ecuador, North, Quito.

Today we woke feeling lazy and decided to have a catch up day which probably was needed! We woke up at about 6.30 which was actually good cos the tennis semi - rafa/djokovic had started at 6am. So instead of dozing back to sleep which I would usually do at 6am, we switched the tennis on and proceeded to water an epic 4.5 hour match in bed! We did get up at one point and go down and have our breakie which was included. Simple but delicious. Fresh, warm bread, granola, fruit, yoghurt, juice and coffee. They did have a coffee machine so we asked for a latte. She said ok then went on to spend the next 15 mins attempting to our together a latte but it just wasnt working so we kindly put her out of her misery and said not to worry! All full up, satisfied and back to the tennis in bed! Well actually Ben was showered, dressed and on the bed. I was not! Anyway 4.5 hours later and victory was rafa's!! Wahhoooo he's back! I thought then and got told firmly it was now time to get up and shower!

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Travel to Ecuador, Centre, Baños.

We got up and thankfully it was the last time I had to hear “I'm in love with this beautiful shower”...Rach's new shower singing tune in tribute to the epic pressure and hot water that our hotel bathroom generates.. Well, that's what I thought however she's still blasting it out right now at the top of her lovely singing voice as I'm sitting here writing this blog in our Banos hostel (now, where is my iPod).

We organised a cab to take us to the South Terminal bus station. As with anything in Quito, it wasn't as close as we had expected and about an hour later we arrived. It seems that whenever they decide to build a new piece of infrastructure, be it an airport or bus station, they must build it in the most inaccessible of areas. Anyway, we arrived at wondered around, looking at the many booths looking for one that looked like it would sell us tickets to Banos.

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Travel to Japan, Nagano, Kamikochi.

Turning down the opportunity of the 04:30 train, our bodies now more adjusted to this time zone, we caught a more civilised 06:00 service towards Kamikochi. The journey consists of thirty minutes on a train followed by an hour on a coach. Neither of these were covered by our JR Passes and it was necessary to buy complete open return tickets for 4400 yen per person. From reading guide books I was prepared to find hoards of tourist marching in slow lines around the picturesque, but well visited Kamikochi. As we dismounted the coach at Taisho pond, I was pleasantly surprised to see only a few people around. The majority of these were elderly tourists who had come equipped with painting paraphernalia or SLRs with a bag full of lenses and clearly planned to settle in one spot for some time, and use the coach as a link between locations.

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Travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mostar.

I know it’s wonderful to keep in touch and let you know how I am. I love to do it too. But sometimes, just sometimes, it borders on hard work and not much like a holiday. Typing is typing no matter that it’s project related or personal – it takes time and effort and well, sometimes gets in the way of fun. Or rather, sleep. I’d like to sleep just now but here goes…

I’ve made it to Mostar and along the way have had some interesting adventures and seen amazing sights. The bike chugs along. She’s a little petulant (it’s not me it’s her!). She doesn’t always listen to what I tell her and she is never, ever quiet. She makes noises when she ought not to and at times disagrees totally with what I tell her. Her name is Dragana. I really hope she’ll make the distance.

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Travel to France, Lower Normandy, Cherbourg.

There is no way to describe today as a fun day but it was a wonderful day nonetheless. We started our day with a visit to Mer St Englis where the 82nd airborne parachuted into town. Unfortunately there was a fire in a house next to the church and all the civilians were manning the bucket brigade. That meant that the Germans were out in force monitoring the crowd. Two unfortunate men landed on the steeple. One played dead for four hours and though wounded he survived. The other poor soul died. Today, hanging from the steeple is a parachute and soldier to simulate that horrific experience.

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Travel to Panama, Bocas Del Toro, Isla Colon.

After a couple of days break in the jungle it was time to head back to the Caribbean Ocean and make our way to Bocas del Toro up along the Panamá/Costa Rica border. Oskar, Matt and I headed off early-ish and caught a local bus to the port town alongside the islands and then a boat to Coloń Island the main island of Bocas del Toro.

Upon checking in the boys and I managed to gain the luxury of not only having an 8 bed air-conditioned dorm to ourselves almost the whole time we stayed there (2 nights quickly turned into 6), but also our own kitchen/dining area that was kind of an annex to the main hostel that we quickly took over and hosted our own shindigs in (power in numbers).

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Travel to Bulgaria, Plovdiv Province, Plovdiv.

As we had hoped the weather had cleared away from yesterday,well at least it was that way at dawn.Within an hour fog had enveloped the valley we looked out on and the mountains in the distance and we had to wait until the rising sun burnt the fog off to get the views we had hoped for of the fresh snow on the mountains.

In the meantime we went down for breakfast and attentive as ever 'Boris' took our order for omelettes and coffee.The omelettes were a bit different than what we were used to and had crispy edges as if they had been fried.All the same they were tasty and very filling.

Back up on our balcony we watched the village come to life with locals with their horse and carts passing by either with their children on board or their implements they needed for work in the fields near the entry to the village.In between locals in their BMW's and Mercedes also drove by showing just how diverse their modes of transport were.

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