http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/DebzandSam/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from DebzandSam en-us Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:22:37 +0000 Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:22:37 +0000 After a ten hour flight we arrived back at London Heathrow my lovely Dad picked us up and we arrived at my mums for a delicious home cooked mealhellip..London was a struggle as we only had 2 weeks and lots of people to say bye to. We had our leaving drinks at a great old pub in Belsize Park It was great to see everyone at our leaving drinks we started at about 2pm and continued to drink throu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-400454.html We arrived in Vancouver on the Thursday before Easter. The first night we arrived Sarah and Kyle took us to a fab Veggie restaurant in Vancouver with their good friends Jen and Erin... Jen is a shopaholic who works for a Media Co and Erin is a huge half Chineseyou will see relevance of that later on mountain biking freak I say freak because he jumps off things on his bike that are not humanl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-400443.html As ever driving into places with the Tomtom is about as easy as it gets. We came into Gigs harbour across the famous Tacoma Narrows site of the Galloping Gertie or first bridge to self destruct due to resonance see httpwww.youtube.comwatchvjzczJXSxnw. As we arrived into Gigs Harbour we were taken aback by it's beauty. Gigs Harbour is a gorgeous little town about 1 hour outside downtown http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Gig-Harbor/blog-391300.html Just a short blog so these photo's have a space. After leaving San Francisco we had 3 days to get to Seattle where we were staying with Denise our friend from India. We drove out of San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge of course And continued up the US 101 coastal highway all the way to Portland before taking the I5 from Portland through Vancouver Washington to Gigs Harbour Seattle.The d http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Gold-Beach/blog-389129.html After Yosemite we drove straight to San Fran arriving Tuesday around 1pm we checked into our hotel in the china town area and headed straight out into town as we wanted to make the most of our 3 days thereWith Sam in tow I made a beeline straight to Wholefoods which is now officially my most favourite store in the world and after getting some energy we bought ourselves a 3 day pass for the Mun http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-389120.html What can you say about Yosemite or Yosemite. This truly is one of the most beautiful spots I have ever seen. And I have been blessed with seeing some of the worlds most beautiful places in the last year. If you come to America and do not see this valley you really are missing something. Spring is apparently not even the best time as a reasonable amount of the park is still snowed in and clos http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Yosemite-National-Park/Yosemite-Valley/blog-389118.html So much is said about this place but the reality is in the name.. there is not much there as everything there is dead.. We drove through Death Valley in a Day and marvelled at the barrenness of the landscape. It really is what you might imagine Mars to be like.. The best way to describe it is in photo's so this writing will be minimal. The highlight was my deepest decent below sea level with or http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Death-Valley-National-Park/blog-387953.html Las Vegas is the city of hedonism In my travels I have not encountered such a city. It reminds me of Costa del Sol Falaraki and Blackpool.. full of complete tat and the worst possible excesses of humanity. But it is strangely compelling. Everything in Vegas is bigger better and completely over the top. When we arrived we went to the MGM grand and saw KA a Cirque du Soleil production that blew http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Las-Vegas/blog-386004.html Road Trip So the drive from Vancouver to Moab took 21hours in the end we had a great drive but it was quite longhellip Once we headed out of Seattle we had views of beautiful snow topped mountain ranges. Then we got to Idaho the roads looked similar to that which I have seen in films Thelma and Louise springs to mind long straight roads dry flat lands and lots of diners Salt Lake City look http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Moab/blog-383754.html So we finally left Fernie kicking and screaming our final 3 weeks were totally awesome we finally got some lsquolegendary Fernie powrsquo lots of champagne snow. We had lots of fresh dumps and found some wicked runs through trees and also some good onpiste skiing. We also got lucky as rat ate through one of the grid lines for the whitepass chair which is half way up and a few of the run http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Fernie/blog-382063.html Boulder Hut Boulder hut is a small hut in the Purcell Mountains near Kimberly. Details can be found at www.ptarmigantours.com . Departure time was 12pm on Wednesday for a Heli pick up at 2pm. I arrived at 1130 at the Red Tree Lodge and found out that Marion one of the ladies who was supposed to be going had pulled her calf muscle and there was a free space going. So a quic http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Fernie/blog-378232.html Well we have been in Fernie for 6 weeks now and we are loving it. The snow still hasn't arrived and we have kinda given up on that one. It's always coming next week. It may happen but I fear not until before we depart. We are well into planning the next stage of our trip and have a departure date for Fernie which is 12th March. We fly to Vancouver and then drive down to Moab with Kyle for 5 days http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Fernie/blog-373122.html We arrived in Fernie nearly 3 weeks ago to heavy snow that turned into rain on our arrival and has been absent since. Our journey was pretty stress free other than the fact that our snowboard bag weighed 37kgs so we had to take some stuff out and put it with our other hold luggage and pay 44 extra Our place here is pretty sweet. We have our own ensuite and very comfy double bedalbeit it cou http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Fernie/blog-368262.html This blog is a bit late but it took a little while to get over India or rather get used to being back in the west again. India is pretty fantastic.. and at the same time pretty eye opening. The place definitely has a mysticism about it but anywhere with 510000 years of history is bound to be pretty fascinating. We arrived in Mumbai to the eye opening part. We left the airport to a cacophony http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Nashik/blog-359924.html Hey All A quick blog to let you know how we are getting on in the Ashram. Well we have completed the first 6 days and passed the first exam on Asana's and survived.. The food is very tasty although somewhat similar.. very nice rice wheat cracked wheat and balti dishes which are so delicately flavoured and really really tasty.. but breakfast lunch and dinner is hard work as I'm just crav http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Nashik/blog-345839.html London Well we have spent the last 6 weeks convalescing in London at Mick and Dena's. And what a fantastic time it was.. I arrived weighing 73kg and will leave close to 80kg not quite back up to the 85 I was before leaving but in need of some exercise and a diet. That's all I need to say about the hospitality. We have just had a tea party to celebrate Debbies birthday and are off http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-342018.html So after 3 weeks sailing it was great to finally have unlimited water and lots more teaAs we arrived a day early due to weather we popped into Athens for the day and saw the Acropolis with the week 3 sailing gang. It was pretty amazing to see especially as it was built 2500 years ago. We also saw the first of the modern Olympic stadiums it is a shame they donrsquot build them like that anym http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-333266.html The Cyclades Ke clad iesWeek 1Crew Sam Debbie Shirin Yiannis Costantinos KojoWe started our Epic adventure round the Cyclades in Athens. We arrived to pick up the boat on Sat we were stunned by the number of luxury boats in the Marina they would give Warren Buffet a run for his moneyAfter provisioning the boat and getting our crap in order we left early Sunday and headed for Cape Souni http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Milos/blog-331096.html Hey all in Greece sailing and loving it.. Don't have time to write a long blog as we have limited internet. Here are some photo's to look at in the meantime. It is 35 degrees most days and we are having an amazing time in the second week with Ollie Miriam and Chris at the moment. Had a great time in the first week with Kojo Shrin Yiannis and Costantinos and looking forward to the third week w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Milos/blog-321672.html Well we are back in North London. It is amazing how fast 3 months has gone by. Well 11.5 weeks anyway. It seems like only yesterday we were sitting in North London desperately running around trying to get away and now it is over. Bettie performed like a charm and made us fall in love with old campers such a great vibe and perfect way to travel. Apart from a few minor issues she came through for u http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-314354.html