Brian Clements

We arrived Monday in the late afternoon to Sorrento via train from Firenze. Our hotel room has a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean, Mount Vesuvius and Napoli. I stayed up into the wee hours watching fireworks across the bay. Add this place to your bucket list, it is unbelievable. Tuesday we took a white-knuckle bus ride down the Amalfi Coast to Positano and Amalfi. We took the ferry back so that we could see the view from the Meditteranean. Today, London and I went scuba diving. It was very exciting after finally getting the hang of the controls and relaxing while breathing underwater. We went about thirty feet down and saw starfish, and other really cool marine life. Tomorrow we are going to Capri and Thursday headed back to Rome for our return flight home on Friday. ... read more

When we planned our vacation many moons ago we didn't realize we would be arriving in London at the very hour the Queen's Jubilee would be ending. When we exited our train at Waterloo station we were met by a million people trying to get into the station and it was raining. Welcome to England. :D Monday night we went to see Coldplay in Arsenal's football stadium. They were fantastic. As we entered they gave everyone a wristband. Throughout the show the wristbands lit up. It was pretty spectacular. I would share a photo but my IPhone was stolen in Rome. Tuesday night we saw Wicked, the story of the wicked witch of the west in Wizard of Oz. Ran into Dave Ramsey in the bathroom. Friday, my mom, aunt and cousin left for home while ... read more

Note to self... Self, Never plan a full day of sight-seeing culminating in a four-hour, wrong-side of the road drive when you have a ten-hour international flight, having only slept three to four hours in the last twenty-four. Sincerely, Self If you think driving on the left side of the road isn't that difficult try this little exercise. Close your eyes and envision pulling out of a parking space or driving through a round about. It was a great idea in theory. Liverpool, home of the Beatles, was only "30 minutes" drive from Manchester, England. We could just "swing" over for a quick look. The tour was great but the drive to our accommodations in Northern England was one of the most perilous four hours of my life. We had to stop twice for caffeine injections ... read more

While having breakfast Tuesday morning I met Malcolm, a 38 year old father of two from Vancouver. I invited him to join our group that day for a hike down into the valley. Little did I know that the first two hours would be spent descending a very muddy trail. It was a very slow descent even with my hiking shoes and I fell on numerous occasions. By the time we reached the bottom my shoes, pants, and backside were covered in mud. We stopped at the "drive-in" market at the bottom of valley and bought water and snacks. After a brief break we began a long muddy climb on the other side of the river passing more villages and schools. At the beginning of our hike a number of local Hmong women attached themselves to ... read more

Yesterday, a few of us in the group went on a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, hundreds of miles of underground tunnels, dug by the Viet Cong to first evade the French invaders and later the U.S. forces. I had no plans of going into the tunnels but wanted to shoot some guns. The Belmont group left this morning for the U.S. and I am about to fly to Hanoi to explore the north for a week. I'll spend tonight and all day tomorrow exploring Hanoi. Sunday night I'll board an overnight train for Lao Cai, on the Chinese border, where I'll be met by a driver from my hotel in Sa Pa, a small town in the mountains. There should be breath taking scenery everywhere. Can't wait to take pictures there. The tragedy in ... read more