Hello again from the South Island….. We’ve decided that scones are woefully underrated!!! New Zealand offers wonderful scones in most towns. We’ve decided that America needs more scones. It makes us long for our next door neighbor in Tampa-- Mildred always made the best scones!!! We also wanted to mention that it is a different experience being south of the equator. It is quite strange when we drive south and it gets colder—because we are going further away from that invisible meridian called the equator. This makes the north island of this nation the warmer of the two…..very strange for us folks used to living in the northern hemisphere. And yes, the drains circle in the opposite direction south of the equator. This has been repeatedly tested. We are currently at about the 45 parallel, which ... read more

Greetings from New Zealand’s North Island……..we’ve had a wonderful time exploring the north part of this island nation. New Zealand is much cooler and less humid than Asia and we are seriously enjoying the change in the weather. It is not quite summer here and we actually have worn shoes and sweaters for the first time since……Seattle! Some of these clothes we’ve been shlepping around are now coming in handy. We flew from Bali to Kuala Lumpur to Auckland. The flight from KL to Auckland was 9 hours and 45 minutes. We are now 18 hours ahead of Ohio and 15 hours ahead of Seattle. If you are afraid that the world may end tomorrow…. we can assure you that it does not as it is already tomorrow here. Auckland is quite nice. It is a ... read more

Ubud, Bali After 5 great days in Lovina Beach, we traveled a little over 2 hours to reach the town of Ubud. The drive takes 2 hours, but the actual distance is only about 40 or 50 km. The roads wind through the volcanic hills of Bali and through many villages along the way. Bali is a very green island thanks to the rich soil and abundance of precipitation. We are here during the rainy season, but it has been unusually dry according to the residents. The land still appears quite green and lush, despite the fact that the rains have not started yet. During our stay, we did witness the start of some prodigious rainstorms, which are about 6 weeks late. They usually happen in the afternoon. Ubud is the cultural center of Bali and ... read more

Sun, sand, beaches, beaches and beaches. Hello to everyone and we hope that the holiday was kind to you all and you got your fill. It is hard to believe sometimes that we have been delightfully unemployed for over 4 months and have spent the last 2+ months in Asia. At this point, we decided it was time to take a brief respite from all this fun! Believe it or not, all this traveling is a bit tiring and we needed to kick back for a little while. Now when you stop laughing, remember that this should never be construed as a complaint. For those of you that know us well, you know where we would head for some rest and relaxation……..the beach! And since we were in the neighborhood, Thailand seemed like a fine choice. ... read more

We sent this blog out on Veterans Day and have recently learned that the travel blog server went down so we are republishing. Sorry for the delay. Vietnam’s Vitality First off, it’s really great hearing from everyone! Thank you for your e-mails. We are a long way from home and it is great hearing from you and keeping in touch. If you are one of those people who haven’t replied to the blog, it’s easy….at the bottom of the page is a spot to write a quick note. We would love to hear from you! We’ve been in Vietnam for the past two weeks; we have spent our time in Hanoi, Hue, north of Nha Trang, and Ho Chi Minh City. After our wonderful time in Laos, it was time to head to a new country ... read more