BenandAlexa

After a very pleasant flight from Australia in which Alexa watched a world record four films (without some would say a good one among them), we touched down in Thailand, the final country on our travels and immediately found ourselves thrust into the hustle and bustle of a Bangkok rush hour. For those of you who have been to Thailand before you will probably agree that Bangkok is a necessary evil that has to be endured in order to travel on to either the spectacular jungles in the north of the country or the beautiful beaches in the south. The most common form of transport in Bangkok is the tuk tuk which is a sort of motor bike with a little open air carriage on the back. This open air feature ensures that it is possible ... read more

'Fresh' from a 15 hour delayed flight from Buenos Aires, we touched down into a very plush, award-winning Auckland airport and breathed a sigh of relief at returning to the developed world. Best of all, we would be spending the next week with my parents who were at the airport waiting to pick us up. In the car on the way back from the airport to my cousin Claire's house, where we would be spending the first and last nights of our New Zealand adventure, Dad took us through his meticulously prepared, extremely organised itinerary and we immediately knew that we were in for an action-packed week! Having spent our first day in charming Auckland, the first stop on our New Zealand road trip was Paihia, a quaint little seaside town which was the perfect base ... read more

When I was a small child growing up there were many places I dreamed of spending Christmas ranging from Lapland to Legoland! Alas, La Paz in Bolivia, as interesting a place as it is, was not one of them. Nevertheless this is precisely where Alexa and I found ourselves spending the 2010 festive period and we were determined to make the most of it. La Paz sits in a "bowl" surrounded by the high mountains of the altiplano and is located at an elevation of 3,660 meters above sea level, making it the world's highest "de facto" capital city. This means that walking upstairs leaves you panting (let alone going for a run), whilst one beer has the effect of about three. With Bolivia also being one of the poorest countries in South America, this meant ... read more

So we arrived in Orlando and our first park was Universal Studios Island of Adventure as we were keen to experience the new Harry Potter extravaganza prior to the Thanksgiving crowds descending on the place. We duly arrived at the park at 9am sharp and immediately raced to Hogsmeade. We were instantly awestruck! It felt like we had indeed somehow been magically transported into the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter. Hogwarts Castle had been completely reproduced and cut a dominating sight at the top of the mountain. Hogsmeade Village was as quaint as in the films and establishments included the Three Broomsticks Inn, Zonko's Joke Shop, Ollivanders Wand Shop and my personal favourite Honeydukes Sweet Shop. The rides too were spectacular. On one of them we actually joined Harry, Hermione and Ron on their broomsticks ... read more

For a period of time, Philadelphia was the second largest city in the British Empire (after London). It was also the US' capital at the start of the Revolutionary War and again after the war until 1790, when Washington DC took over. Of course, Alexa and I were blissfully unaware of all of this. Indeed, the only thing we knew about Philly prior to our visit was that it was the home of one of my all time heroes...the undefeated heavy weight champion of the world, the Italian Stallion, Rocky Balboa. Sure enough, one of our first tasks on arriving in Philly was to find Rocky's statue, which was located just at the bottom of the steps to the stunning Philadelphia Museum of Art, incidentally the very same steps Rocky ran up to complete his training ... read more