Deirdre Keys (nee Fleming)
Hi from Dee. I’ve taken a year’s leave from my job of more than 25 year’s teaching and am preparing to set off on my “Big OE”; better late than never! This is a practise, with instructions from son Dan who is an experienced traveller/blogger, to make sure I can work the “Travel Blog” OK before I leave New Zealand on 26th Feb 2006. The photo is me with Dan and Emma yesterday at "Groove in the Park" in Auckland Domain. I hope to visit internet cafes and update weekly but will have to work that one out when I’m on the road. Dee_2006_OE
I’ll be travelling to Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Austria between now and mid May. Then it’s on to work in St Petersburg in Russia for 6 months with the “Neva News”, an English newspaper. After that I’ll be making my way home through Thailand to arrive back in NZ for Mum’s 80th birthday in early December.
I’m looking forward to an adventure this year and invite you to join me in this Travel Blog! Take care everyone. Love Dee.
Travel Blog Posts
July 30th 2006
Ahoj (Hello) from my brief visit to Slovakia where I spent a lovely day (8th May) in Bratislava with Mitchell Nganeko from Waiuku, hometown for both of us in NZ. Mitchell is a past-pupil of mine and this year he has been an AFS exchange student in Slovakia. His words in a later email summed it up: "It was so cool to meet someone from your country, your own town, on the other side of the world." It was very special to visit Mitchell's host family in their home and get a glimpse of his life in Bratislava. His Mum Martina, Dad Jozef and brother Filip made me very welcome. After a chat over coffee and the delicious cake his Mum had made, Mitchell and his German AFS friend Tobias took me to a Slovak restaurant ... read more
July 18th 2006
Ciao again family and friends This is the continuation of 'The Italian Blog' dating back to early May 2006. After farewelling Dawn, Allan and Kim on the western side of Italy (Mediterranean Sea) it was back onto the train for a journey across the country to the north-eastern coast (Adriatic Sea). My destination this time: Venice! (I'm actually writing this from St. Petersburg or "Venice of the North" in Russia and it's now July, better late than never!). Unfortunately I had started to come down with a virus about now (within a few days I was to completely lose my voice) so I decided to treat myself to a hotel (instead of the usual hostel) and found one very close to the railway station in Mestre so I could walk there easily and have my own ... read more
July 2nd 2006
Ciao family and friends It's now the beginning of July and I'm still in Russia enjoying the white nights of midsummer in temperatures around 30deg. Getting up to date with these blogs is a slow process but it's still happening so I'm backtracking here..... ......at the end of April I farewelled Turkey and flew from Istanbul to Rome to begin my week in Italy. I could only fit two destinations into my schedule here, both of which I'd not seen on my previous visit but had heard lots about. Although it was sad to leave Turkey I was excited about the next stage of my journey as I travelled north on a full train up the western side of Italy to La Spezia on the Ligurian coast (very close to the French Riviera). I'd inadvertantly arrived ... read more
June 2nd 2006
Hi again for the next chapter of my blog, Turkey Part Two, although it's now over a month later and I'm actually in Russia. I guess it's better late than never! Thanks again to everyone for comments and emails. I really enjoy hearing from you. The last blog ended at Ephesus so I'll carry on from there as we travel up towards Gallipoli. We visit some more famous historical sites along the way and then cross the Dardanelles by ferry from the continent of Asia to the continent of Europe. The purpose of this "Brigadier" tour comes next as we visit the WW1 battlefields of Gallipoli, spending the night under the stars before attending the ANZAC Dawn Service and the Australian and New Zealand Services on 25th April. This was a highlight and made me very ... read more
May 14th 2006
Merhaba (hello) family and friends and welcome to Part One of Turkiye. I'm actually now in Russia and have spent much of my first weekend here doing this blog. Hopefully next weekend will produce Part Two! I start my new job here tomorrow so will fit in the catching up of several more blogs around adjusting to another culture and learning a new job. I hope you are inspired to go to Turkey when you look at my photos which are only a sample of what Turkiye has to offer. This country of 70 million people, predominantly Muslim, bridges two continents; 3% lying in Europe and 97% in Asia. It has Europe and the Aegean Sea to the west, Caucasus Mountains to the east, Black Sea to the north and Mediterranean Sea to the south with ... read more
April 27th 2006
Hello agaın I'm actually now just fınıshed Turkey and fly to Italy tomorrow, so now have two countrıes to get on the blog! Fındıng tıme ıs a mıssıon because İ don't want to lose a mınute ın any place. I have to say İ am lovıng thıs lıfe! My days are chocka wıth so many new, wonderful experıences crammed ın that ıt's gettıng hard to remember what İ even dıd two days ago! The dıary ıs barely keepıng up! İ am meetıng and makıng new frıends constantly and the travellıng communıty are super people to be wıth. All the locals İ meet are also wonderful people and İ've had some specıal tımes wıth them. İ hope one day they can all get to my country so İ can repay theır kındness. Thanks all. I had a ... read more
April 4th 2006
Hi everyone I'm actually now in Athens and about to set off for six days in the Greek Islands so thought I'd throw together a quick blog to complete Egypt before I leave in the morning. Finding time to do the blog is actually quite hard because my days are so full! Anyway, the last blog ended with the overnight in the desert. This one continues from there and takes you on to the second half of my tour which included a Nile cruise. I then had another week on my own after that but I'll let the photos tell the story. What I put here is only a taste of what I've seen and done. There are many more photos saved on CD. I've loved every minute of Egypt and recommend you all to visit ... read more
March 18th 2006
Hi everyone from Luxor where I've got a bit of spare time half way through my tour of Egypt so I'll do a bit of a blog before catching a train later this afternoon to start the Nile Cruise. Egypt has blown me away. The history here is mind boggling. I'm looking at stuff made by people 4-5000 years ago. What is amazing is that things like rope and cloth and paper look just like what we use today. Also their beautiful art and objects are still beautiful today. The scale of things here is huge as well and it's just hard to imagine how they managed to build pyramids and tombs and temples. I'm in information overload as our tour guide has taught us so much and I'm hoping that later on my photos will ... read more
March 9th 2006
Hi again after a short time.....there was a hitch getting photos on the blog but that is fixed now. I'm back at Cate's, after my trip to Doha, with the use of her computer so I'll throw a few more photos on. Then I can clear my camera before heading off to Egypt tomorrow for the start of the next chapter. You might not hear from me for three weeks or so while "I'm on the road again....." (my theme song)! To all the people who have sent messages...it is so cool to get them. Please don't think I'm ignoring you if I don't send a reply and keep them coming. Lots of love Dee ... read more
March 8th 2006
Hi again family and friends! I flew (just under an hour) from Abu Dhabi to Qatar, a tiny Arab country half the size of Wales on a peninsular of the Persian (Arabian) Gulf with a population of about 800 000 people, of which only about 200 000 are local Qataris and the rest expats. Martin met me at the airport. He is a kiwi cousin who has been working here 3 months and will be joined by his wife Mary this week. It's a shame I missed you Mary. Earlier last century Qatar had widespread poverty but has undergone a rags to riches transformation since the discovery of huge quantities of natural gas and oil. It is now a major global supplier of energy and in just decades has one of the fastest growing economies in ... read more
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