Day 1 : Friday 6 September : Rome We arrive in Rome around 2pm at our first AirBNB and was very nervous. Cute street, Via Guilia, but the taxi driver (€46) says ‘it can’t be here’. Rest assured, the caretaker called out to us ? yay!! Poor Graham is in agony with a bad tooth. The kind hostess took us in search of a dentist. Our first real view of beautiful Rome was the bridge to the tiny Tiber Island in Rome (Isosla Tiberina), where the hospital is. There are no dentists open on a Friday afternoon as we trek through the gorgeous Trastavere but the Chemist gave Graham some antibiotics to get him through the weekend. It was nice exploring Trastavere, a nice treed suburb. Search for a SIM Card (€30) and then off for ... read more

Geo: -33.8671, 151.207Headed off on the Ferry to Manly. Walked the beach, was very lovely, albeit windy. Very busy, but it is a Sunday and they offer $2.50 all day public transport, so good value.From Manly, we ferried back to Circular Quay and onto Luna Park. Pretty cool, but very hot and quite tacky. Walked back over the Sydney Harbour bridge but honeslty, it has prison fences and Brooklyn was much nicer.Headed back to the room for an hour's rest and then down into Darling Harbour for a few drinks a some farewell dinner. Our hotel actually links to the Darling Harbour via a walkway which is wonderfully handy.Sydney was a beautiful place and we'd come back here. Well that's end of our adventure as we leave tomorrow.What a trip. Ella's ready for home but mum's ... read more

Geo: 28.5377, -81.3774Thursday sees an early start. Alarm's off at 5.30am.Out the door by 6.15am.Flight departs on time at 9.30 (we thought it was a 2 hour flight but its 3 hours but we lose an hour). Arrive at Dallas to find our plan has been delayed nearly 3 hours!!!They were kind enough to feed us.Next leg is 16 and a half hours.!Oh no, delayed again, and now cancelled. Time to collect the luggage and head down and rebook a flight. Decide Graham will collect luggage and Jodie will head down to rebook as we guess there won't be many seats left on the next flight, at least not enough to accommodate a whole other flight.WOW.......very badly handled. We've waited an hour and Jodie was 5th in queue. Only 2-3 people serving and its taking 30-60 ... read more

Geo: 28.5377, -81.3774Universal....where do I start?It was awesome and the rides are the most amazing.We head in and go straight to Hogsmeade, Harry Potter World as that is our mission today. Through the wonderful land of Dr Seuss and after the wow factor has worn off, we head to the Flight of the Hippogriff which was a family friendly roller coaster which didn't last long enough in Ella's opinion. But with no queue, we were keen to go again, but discover The Forbidden Journey. Now we think the ride is too extreme for us, but have been told its worth the walk through.25 minute wait, so we're off but the lady on the gate clarifies that its not a roller coaster, its a 3D simulated ride. Ok, why not. WOW the queue went too quick as ... read more

Geo: 28.5377, -81.3774This is the one we've all been waiting for!Crowds are much bigger than Thursday's.Main Street was themed with pumpkins and orange orange, red foliage, and yes, the castle, magnificent First up we did the Pirates of the Carribean ride which was really awesome. Its themed all the way through, nothing scary.Did the Haunted Mansion ride - without Kirsten. Excellent again and quite funny in parts.Its a Small World ride - very cute :)Buzz Lightyear - great fun, but the Toy Story shooting one was better. Graham won the challenge for this one.Splash Mountain is out of action for maybe half a day :( but we have a fast pass for tomorrow)Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade - just gorgeous. Glad we set up early for a good spot.During lunch we managed to see part of ... read more