After New York, we travelled North to visit a friend who used to live in Lismore - Jill. The bus from New York took us to Boston where we caught a tram to the North Station to cach a train up to Portland. Unfortunately when we got there we found the train was full, so we had to catch the tram back again to the bus station and get a bus to Portland instead. Always fun bouncing around public transport with huge backpacks on. Jill's mum Kate picked us up from the bus station and we spent the night in Scarborough at their beautiful house. The next day Kate took us for a power walk along the coastline which was pretty beautiful. After that she dropped us in to the bus station and we travelled up ... read more

After our first train had no aircon or working toilets, we were feeling pretty unpleasant. Things improved along the way though, and the views over the lakes in the Alps were stunning. We were pleasantly surprised to have our host (Erika) meet us on the platform in Lugano. She drove us up the hill back to her house where we met another surfer who was staying there at the same time (Shawn from Singapore). After our experience in Costa Brava, we were a bit worried when Erika apologised that the room we would be in was a bit crowded with her son's stuff. Not to worry though - the room was large and had plenty of space. After the much needed shower, we came out for some dinner. And OH what a dinner! Erika is a ... read more

Thankfully the train to Venice had Internet access as we still didn't have any accomodation sorted. After much searching, we finally found a bed and breakfast that was actually pretty cheap (given it's location in Venice). The guide book warned us that due to Italian laws we shouldn't expect much for breakfast - maybe a packed croissant and a coffee. On arrival we grabbed a three day pass for the boats around the island (they are very expensive otherwise), and then jumped on a boat to the stop near our accommodation. without a decent map and given the random nature of Venice streets we then wandered around in circles for a while before finally doing what everyone does and ask someone. Venetians are completely used to this and happy to point you in the right direction. ... read more

Ahh Italy where the coffee cart on the train actually has a mini espresso machine on it (none of this rubbish drip filter stuff). We had some issues finding a host in Florence, so had requested a couple of nights in a BnB. At least we thought we had! When we got to Florence we found a cafe with net access and checked and had no response (and then realised that the request had never been sent). So, we quickly sent another request to a different place and then went for a walk to find a park to chill out in. Thankfully the owner was fast at getting back to us and was able to confirm availability right away. We went and dropped our bags in the apartment (while he cleaned up after the last guests) ... read more

Our visit to Costa Brava didn't start all that well. We got off the bus, grabbed some items from the supermarket and waited for our host to pick us up. After a few minutes we saw an older lady riding towards us on a bike. Nena joked "hah - here she is". Turns out it was her and she then rode next to us back to her house. When we got there we were shown our room which was in the attic, and was full of stuff. The bed was one single fold out bed with another base kinda sitting on it but slightly across so that it was wider. The second base had no legs and if you lay on one side the whole thing flipped up and dumped the sleeper onto the floor. Also ... read more