7th-9th November We touched down in Peru and collected our bags, now to tackle South America where we’d been made aware of possible scams and annoyances. We fought our way through the airport and after asking a police man for a taxi service we were pointed to a taxi man who took us to our hotel in the Miraflores region of Lima where later that night we would meet our group accompanying us on the Inca trek. The taxi was cheap and took us straight to our hotel. With bags dropped off and an hour to kill we went for a [View Full Entry]

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We would just like to thank all the people who made our trip to the States thoroughly enjoyable and to all you friendly crew back home who have been sending us messages and comments. They are really nice to receive and please keep them coming. Now onwards with the journey to South America! Love Doddy and Bowks [View Full Entry]

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Escondido 5 - 7th November We had a relaxing morning catching up with the blog and chilling out in the hammock in Simon and Nicki´s back yard. After lunch we took a visit to some beautiful meditation gardens with an exotic array of plants and flowers and a stunning view point over looking the sea. Emma wasn’t feeling too well so we headed back to their house stopping off at the supermarket so Doddy could get some ingredients to cook us all spaghetti carbonara for tea. After dinner we watched Simon do some glass blowing with him making us each a [View Full Entry]

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Santa Barbara to Los Angeles - 2nd - 5th November The morning was spent relaxing in the pool and hot tubs before heading to Santa Barbara to soak up the sun whilst lying on its white sandy beaches and playing backgammon, which Bowks won, grr! Santa Barbara was again a very pretty coastal town and actually had some form a of a high street which was nice as we’d noticed that many towns we had visited had no form of high street at all. After a walk down the marina looking at a variety of boats we would buy if rich, [View Full Entry]

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Death Valley to San Francisco - 28th to 30th October With our final farewells to Nicole and Las Vegas and armed with our third and final hire car we set off towards Death Valley. We arrived shortly after nightfall and instead of driving around looking for camping we decided we would bunk it in the car in a hotel car park that we´d found (always popular for us!) An unsettled night sleep in the car was had but its only advantage was that we were able to get to Badwater, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere (282ft. below sea level) [View Full Entry]

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Santa Cruz - 31st October In the morning we went to a farmers market and tried some great local produce and stopped off to buy a pumpkin pie seeing as it was Halloween. We then walked along the coast of Santa Cruz, dipped our toes in the sea and walked up the pier where we saw some sea lions, there must have been at least 20 of them lying on the jetty underneath the pier and they were making a right racket! It was funny to watch them slide in and out of the water and they seemed to be having [View Full Entry]

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24th - 27th October We awoke slightly bleary eyed and packed up things in order to be out of the hotel by 11am. We met Rory and Morg who were looking in a similar state to the day before and off Doddy and Rory went to pick up the hire car. Turns out that the advertised deal was not quite as good as it first appeared so we hired one online instead. We picked it up from Las Vegas Airport and set off to Hoover Dam which is only about 20 miles from Vegas. This time we had a bit more [View Full Entry]

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Las Vegas for the big 3 0! Thursday 22nd October We met my friends Rory and Morgan at Circus Circus Hotel bar with bottles of Heineken in hand, not that impressed that they'd had to pay for beers each time, even when gambling. We reassured them that free beer was available especially with Nicole around to point us in the right direction. It was lunchtime and it was about time I begin ticking the list of things I wanted to do for birthday celbrations. The first on the list: go and shoot some guns. Bowks and Nicole dropped myself, Rory and [View Full Entry]

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Viva Las Vegas! October 20th Once again we awoke early after a rustling, crinkling nights sleep wrapped in silver survival blankets. I pottered about outside sorting out bits in the car until 8.30am to which I knew the shop was open on the campsite. So wandered over to get some milk for breakfast. I arrived at the shop door at 8.32am pushed it and it was locked although could see the KOA lady wandering about inside so I patiently waited. Three minutes later, still no unlocking of the door. What is this woman doing? Does she not realise the time? Two [View Full Entry]

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Painted Desert and Petrified Forest - October 18th As we left the Rockies, dropping down from the mountains, the landscape changed around us quickly. We were now in a vast desert area with deep red mountains as a back drop and giant boulders that looked like they'd just been placed there. As we crossed int the border into Arizona we stopped for fuel and were given an alternative route suggested by a nice Mexican which he said was very scenic. I was also amused by the writing on the toilet wall... Person 1: "Hey Gringo, leave my wife alone!" Person 2: [View Full Entry]

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