http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Born-to-Explore/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Born to Explore en-us Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:31:49 +0000 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:31:49 +0000 Final installment so you won't be getting anymore email reminders out there. We will be quiet for another year LOL.I donrsquot think any of us were completely prepared for what greeted us at the Rome train station. Walking down the platform the immensity of Roma Termini is incredible taking on much more of an airport feeling than a train station. To be completely accurate it is more like http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-435578.html This is a late entry that is meant to capture our time in Florence. We had to cut our Florence and Rome entries in half as they were too long together so be forewarned. Complaints can be forwarded to the to the owners of this website not us.Mikayla from Ca Venier got up early to get us breakie so that we could catch the vaporetto at 745am she was awesome. A quick trip back to Venice from http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-433443.html Another 6am wakeup as we left our time on Veli Losinj. We needed to catch a 900am ferry to the mainland and had a windy 1 hour drive back up the island of Cres. Encountered a long line up at the ferry terminal but did manage to make it on. We resisted driving back up the coast to see the views as our minds have been filled with a couple of things how much is it going to cost for the car d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-430457.html Our spontaneous decision to head into Zagreb was fueled by the chance to experience U2 in this unique setting as well as an interest of seeing more of this incredible country that really is catching us a bit by surprise. We had thought most of our enjoyment would be along the coast but this venture inland has been wonderful. The country or at least the city of Zagreb has truly been captured http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Central-Croatia/Zagreb/blog-428466.html After 5 days of rest and relaxation on Hvar it was time to get back on the road. Up at 6am we were in the ferry line by 645am. We ended up being one of last 20 cars on the 745am ferry. The 2 hour ferry ride was spent playing backgammon snoozing and sunbathing. Matt and Syd had their eyes on some marble bowls back in Diocletianrsquos palace in Split so as we drove back through they ve http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Central-Croatia/Plitvice-Lakes-National-Park/blog-427441.html We left early in order to make the hour drive back to Spilt and catch the ferry to Hvar. We had prebought our ferry tickets but on close scrutiny realized that they were not for any particular boat so we wanted to make sure we would get our car on. The lineups reminded us of the pandemonium on the docks of Athens but to a much lesser degree. After a couple of uturns in the middle of traffic http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Hvar/blog-427394.html We don't have regular internet so are relying on Internet Cafes every couple of days to keep our updates. CheersOur final morning in Dubrovnik we walked the walls of the old town something that canrsquot be missed for the views and historical perspective do it early in the morning or in the evening light. We then set out for Split but we were not sure if we would make it there today. Som http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Primosten/blog-425938.html The flight across Europe gave wonderful views of the fields of France and the majestic Alps followed by the beautiful shoreline of the Adriatic. As we descended towards Croatia the turquoise ocean water outlining the rugged coast gave us a taste of what we were going to experience for the next 3 weeks. Dubrovnik is pretty amazing to fly into at sunset with the scattered village lights dotting http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Dubrovnik/blog-424746.html As the title suggests we didnrsquot spend a lot of time in London. In fact the only reason we ventured into this world renowned city was because the prospect of a 9 hour layover spent entirely in Gatwick airport was not particularly appealing.The 9hour flight over was relatively easy if you polled the travel group. Even though it was a ldquobudgetrdquo airline the food was good and the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-423923.html The following entries Mexico and the summer are backdated entries capturing some great memories from the past year. We have found this is a great way to journal and capture these experiences so if you choose to join us enjoy.Landing in Puerto Vallarta we were extremely excited to be spending the next week in a little bit of Paradise. Our trip started out with a great night at the Fairmont http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Jalisco/Puerto-Vallarta/blog-345460.html Heading out from Leavenworth we took the scenic route that took us past the spectacular Mt Ranier and through central Washington. The drive was much longer than we anticipated but most agreed at least Dad did that it was well worth it. Soon we were on familiar roads along the Oregon Coast and like usual the beautiful beaches drew us in. Parking our trailer everyone was quick to want to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Cannon-Beach/blog-345714.html Thank you again for all the messages. Although we are having a blast we still long for all of our friends at home. Well at least for a minute. Back to the adventure.Naxos was an enjoyable place to put up our feet but there was much anticipation of spectacular beauty as we headed to Santorini and we were not disappointed. There were many conversations about living on the edge of a volcano and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Santorini/blog-192514.html Apologies before you start reading We get very verbose wordy not that we werenrsquot before as this is the last kick at the can. Sorry.The Turkish bus network continued to do itself proud as we had an ldquoairlinelikerdquo ride from Selcuk to Istanbul leaving at 930pm and arriving in Istanbul at 8am. The massive bus station in Istanbul set us on the right course by getting us a f http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-191346.html The Travelblog site has been down the last week so not sure if this will ever see screen time. Important to us however is the recording of our adventures so we will continue. We did a whirlwind tour of Pamukkale. Getting off the overnight bus from Cappadocia at 7am we considered it a victory just to have made it given the current state of the trooprsquos intestinal tracts. Not being able http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Sel-uk/blog-190074.html We left off last time in Cirali pronounced Chiralee at the Canada hotel where Carrie and her husband Saban were great to us. Our last evening was spent doing a 1 km steep climb up the backside of Chimaera to see their eternal flames try googling that one. There is an area in some exposed rock that has natural gas mostly methane leaking from the ground creating these spontaneous and continu http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-188574.html It is hard to put into words what we have just experienced in the last six days in Turkey. We took the fast ferry supposed to be 45 minutes and turned into almost 2 hours from Rhodes to Marmaris but that is Turkey time. Trevor has extremely fond memories of Turkey and from minute one it lived up to its billing after conferring with Marla that should be reputation not billing. Well almos http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Fethiye/blog-186344.html ldquoIt is only 41 degrees The real heat wonrsquot start for a few days.rdquo No wonder we can only be up for 2 hours and then have to have a siesta. We had an amazing travel agent and she has planned things so that each of our experiences has been incredibly different and special Thanks Marla I know itrsquos a bit sucky but it is true. As we mentioned our nice little 16 passenger http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Rhodes/blog-184314.html The journey continued as we left the luxury of Paros for the unknown on Naxos. The ferry terminals and rides are certainly something that can only be described as controlled chaos. If we thought the situation in Athens was just because of the big city we were wrong as each port has its own sense of pandemonium a stampeding cattle herd is an apt analogy. The kids continue to be amazing as the l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Naxos/blog-181811.html Greetings from Paros everyone. We left behind the big city feeling of Athens we enjoyed our time but we were ready to move on for the ldquoreal Greekrdquo feeling of the islands. ldquoThis is what I thought Greece was going to be likerdquo to quote more than one Connor child. Up at 5am walking 5 blocks heavy laden with packs one on front and one on the back the kids received more http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Paros/blog-180139.html This is a test of the emergency Blog System. Please check your response to receiving the email for this blog. IF there was a sense of annoyance or ldquooh nordquo press delete and get on with your day. Otherwise welcome to our Adventure. The Connor clan left Vancouver with relatively little fanfare. The only glitch was the jackknife that had been left in on of the day packs. With the thou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-178793.html