Dan and Trish

Well here we are on our last stop of our big trip - Dubai. We’ve been enjoying the heat (not) and the hospitality of Brad, Suzie, Riley, Kelsey and their friends. We were taken to the Friday Brunch that has become somewhat of a tradition among the ex-pat community over here and enjoyed an all you can eat and drink fest for four hours before retiring by the pool and finishing off the beers. We (naturally) had a sleep in on Saturday before our local guide (aka Brad) took us to a few of the sights and returned us back to the apartment in time to be picked up by our Desert Safari tour. This tour was awesome. They picked us up from the apartment and drove us out to the desert (which wasn’t that far ... read more

We arrived utterly exhausted from our tour of Egypt utterly desperate for a Laundromat to wash our clothes at. We’d gone for wayyyy to long without a machine wash and the old handwash in the basin was losing its effect. The family was there to meet us at the hotel and it was lovely to see them again and we couldn’t believe how much Kaylah had grown up since we’ve been gone. We had a day in Istanbul before our tour began and took the time to catch up on some sleep and visit the Bazaar. After that though, we were flung into the frantic itinerary that comes with guided tours. You see so much but it is tiring. We had another day with the family before they headed back home and we changed hotels and ... read more

When you’re about to land in Morocco and you’re still not sure if you need a visa to get in ... ”always look on the bright side of life...do do ... da da da da da da”. When you’re luggage still hasn’t arrived an hour after your flight has landed ... ”always look on the bright side of life...do do ... da da da da da da”. When your arranged transfer isn’t waiting for you after you finally get your luggage ... ”always look on the bright side of life...do do ... da da da da da da”. When you realise your sim card doesn’t work so you can’t call the hotel about the missing transfer and you have no idea where you are ... ”always look on the bright side of life...do do ... da ... read more

So here we are, home of the Renaissance - Firenze, Italia. We made our way from Sorrento to Naples, leaving our ability to buy tickets and board the train we intended on catching on time in the hands of the travel gods. They were kind and we made it with moments to spare. Damn, we’re getting good at this travelling thing (touch wood!). So anyway, art lovers will know all about Florentine art and the Renaissance but as we had no idea about any of it before we started this trip here is the low down. The “Renaissance” means re-birth. Rome had fallen and Europe had been in a kind of Dark Ages for almost a thousand years. Even throughout this period however, Florence still thrived as a trade centre along the Arno River. This meant ... read more

Ciao Ciao Well here we find ourselves in the centre of the ancient world - Roma! To be honest, while we were looking forward to seeing the sights and ticking the big box that is Rome, we were expecting to not enjoy Rome. We were expecting pickpockets galore, bad food, crazy Italians, everything so expensive we can’t eat, 2 hour waits for all the sights and a typical “big city” feel. Upon landing at Rome’s Leondardo Da Vinci airport and effortlessly catching the “Leonardo Express” train right into the main train station which happened to be 200 metres from our apartment we were pleasantly surprised. The central station was a hub of activity (and no doubt pickpockets with very nice Italian leather shoes!) but it had a certain energy to it that other big European cities ... read more