Well this is it, the last and final blog… although we have been back for over a week now, busy catching up with everyone, we have finally got round to saying our final good byes. We would like to thank all of the 12,000+ viewers to our blog for the past 5 months. For all of the lovely messages and kind words we have received, via the blog, or emails or just being up at weird hours to speak to us on messenger! To our parents to have worried, stressed and followed our every steps - often through gritted teeth! [View Full Entry]

---

---

So after our adventures in Brasil we flew overnight from Recife to Sao Paolo and then back north up to Miami. Thankfully although we were in cattle class the 767 from Sao Paolo to Miami - a near 9 hour flight - was virtually empty so we both got a reasonably decent few hours sleep across the 4 seats forming the middle rows of the aircraft. Landing in Miami just before breakfast we had the usual praying session held at the baggage carousel - American Airlines are notorious for losing luggage - followed by a similarly arduous session at the [View Full Entry]

---

---

OH MY GOD WE´RE HERE!!!!!! This is nearly the last leg of the trip and one I have waited for since I was small! We are in Recife in east Brazil (look on the map) where my uncle Albert and his family have lived for nearly 15 years. It was a nightmare journey from Miami- first there were some amusing security issues leaving the USA where Dan and I had a special search!, then we had to change in Sao Paolo making it a 17 hour journey overnight. The chaos and disorganised SP airport was horrible, but we and our bags [View Full Entry]

---

---

So we are now in Miami - having taken a 4 hour flight from Las Vegas over to South Florida. Although we had to be at the airport for just after 5am, our flight was great, and I got a window seat and was able to see all of the Strip, Mojave Desert and the Grand Canyon as we headed east. The sun came up over the Grand Canyon as we flew, and it was a really fitting end to our trip to the region. Coming into Florida I could see the expanse of the Everglades below us - the few [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Vegas late on 5th March and managed to fluke one nights stay at The Luxor- the big black pyramid on The Strip. It was amazing, the place is enormous, holding more then 2,200 rooms in the pyramid, let alone the other 1,700 in the extension out the back! We spent the evening exploring our massive Egypt themed hotel and casino before checking out our neighbouring hotels/ casinos, the Excalibur (a fairytale castle) and Mandalay Bay (tropical setting of flowing water, lush foliage, and exotic architecture). Tues 6th March we spent walking- we had previously been told that the [View Full Entry]

---

---

After Yosemite we set about a road trip through California bringing us down the Interstates parallel to the Sierra Nevada´s and Pacific Ocean we got to the state of Arizona. Our trip was a frustrating one - whilst America is supposedly one of the most developed nations on the planet - mobile phones don´t seem to work, there is no internet access anywhere unless you now have your own laptop with you constantly and are prepared to pay a fortune for wifi access, no one knows where anything is if you ask them a question in the street - and hardly [View Full Entry]

---

---

This morning when we woke up and opened the curtains we were quite taken aback as to what had happened over night... SNOW, 2-3 inches of the stuff, everywhere! Slightly panicked as to what would happen to our plans for the dayand tickets already purchased, so we went to check out the situation. All traffic was still heading into Yosemite National Park, but all vehicles had to have snow chains - good job we weren't driving, neither of us had used them before or even knew how to fit them, let alone the risk of damaging our hire car. So the [View Full Entry]

---

---

After meeting my cousin Paul in Sydney, we set about meeting the only remaining member of the family I hadn´t yet met. Paul´s son Jason is an ex Olympic 100m runner, and lives in San Jose working as a sports and fitness training professional. Sadly we didn´t have any contact with Paul or Jason over the last few years - these were the times that Jason was actually in the UK and Europe running for Australia and it would have been great to have met him back then. Jason´s career was cut short by injury, and he now lives with his [View Full Entry]

---

---

After a tiring day yesterday and with tired feet today, we started off procedings a little easier today! We rented some bikes and decided to cycle the Golden Gate Bridge. Being cold again today, we wrapped up nice and warm and headed off, past the piers, boats moured in the marina, the many runners, dog walkers and other cyclists... not exactly solitude! As we approached the bridge there were a group of surfers in the water... I know - surfers... they must have been freezing - we're used to 30 degrees c water temperature now, the idea alone made us feel [View Full Entry]

---

---

Let me start by saying, after spending several months in perminant summer time, arriving in San Francisco was a HUGE shock to the system. We arrived on the evening of 22nd and had to put on every piece of clothing we had! It was 8 degrees but the wind chill made it feel like minus 10! We are now all cosy in hats, gloves and thermals! Today we started with a good hearty breakfast in the trendy North Beach area of the city, near to the place where Joe Di Maggio married Marilyn Monroe called Washington Square. We filled up on [View Full Entry]

---

---