http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Edam/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Edam en-us Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:09:48 BST Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:09:48 BST Five day working weeks are tough. Very tough. We considered lobbying the government to reduce the working week but decided alot less effort was required in taking a day off and heading for the hills. So with a three day weekend we picked one of the furthest points from the capital. West Cork is my favourite place in Ireland amazingly it still holds its magic for me despite being dragged around i http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Cork/Beara-Pen/blog-179318.html So 4 months to the day we arrived back in Ireland and we were off to Oslo on a mini adventure. Its tough enough to pick countries in Europe that neither of us have been to but the whole of Scandinavia was unchartered territory for both of us...hooray The reason it is unchartered however is the expense. A little advice...never under estimate the cost of travelling in Scandinavia Thursday nigh http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Norway/Ostlandet/Oslo/blog-163602.html Easter weekend and four blissful work free days Blogging is addictive and we were finding the withdrawal difficult to take so here we are back again. While travelling in Asia and particularly in the Philippines we found the Filipinos were very good at blogging and promoting their own country. I think we can try a little of that. As we are skint it's not likely we'll be getting much further tha http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Wicklow/Wicklow/blog-146348.html Boys will be boysnbspEurope raquonbspPoland raquonbspKrakow By EdamMarch 28th 2007Edward Carroll Amy FordeSome not so cultural wanderings in Poland. For Mr Niall Monks' stag. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-142853.html Ok so we said the last entry was our last but we couldn't resist one final one. Especially as we are now trying to open our eyes a little more to our own country and see it with a new light.It's great to be home catching up with everyone has kept us busy along with our job searchs. Our rambling life has not come to an end yet as we are homeless and so wandering from home to home until each tire http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Cork/Ballinadee/blog-124909.html This may well be our last blog boo hoo that is of course if we don't get withdrawal symptoms and start writing about the monotony of our day to day job seach back in good old Dubland. Strangely I am well and truly ready to return home and I am looking forward to getting stuck back into some routine. Ed would happily keep the wanderlust going for another six months. So our flying Australian v http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-121382.html We haven't updated the blog thanks for the prompting JFK for a while since Murwillumbah but have travelled quite extensively since then. After much chopping and changing of our plans we decided our first stop was Brisbane. We intended to go to the Water Park wet and Wild but decided it was too much hassle. Our accommodation was fantastic and has been since escaping Sydney located in New F http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Magnetic-Island/blog-120250.html On our final night in Sydney our cell companion was a friendly local lad called Jason. That was friendly until he went to sleep at which point he started to burp fart and sleep talk a little too aggressively for our liking. This prompted us to ditch the dorms and their unknown quantities for our newly acquired tent or travelling tent as it says on the cover at our next stop Port Macquari http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Murwillumbah/blog-117554.html We arrived in Melbourne after a weary flight from Singapore with Austrian Airways. Before we alighted from the plane we were treated to a delousing spray. It was offputting and not a particularly welcoming experience. Being honest we declared at customs that we brought nuts dingdong from the Philippines who kindly ushered us through with no hassle maybe getting a whiff off our rucksacks an http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-116025.html We hope you all survived the Christmas season without too much weight gain.Christmas in Manila was different to say the least. Sunshine made a dramatic change from the Irish rain and fish replaced the traditional gobblegobble for dinner. Other than that the booze mass and tv were very similar...even a great seasonal showing of The Polar Express to see in Christmas day. By St Stephens day ou http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Singapore/blog-114447.html ...This was the comment Ed received from a security guard at Kalibo airport when he noticed the surname on his passport. It finally helped us get into the Christmas vibe. It's pretty hard when it's sunny and you have been lying on the beach for a week We have now adopted a policy of wishing everyone we meet Merry Christmas and after visiting a mall earlier today jam packed with frantic shoppe http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Manila/blog-113028.html If we have learnt one thing about travelling in the Philippines it has been to be flexible and allow yourself plenty of time. Our original plan for here was to hit as many islands as possible. After experiencing supertyphoon Durian on Mindoro and the rocky outrigger ride back to Luzon this all went out the window. I point blank refused to get back on another outrigger and I wasn't hearing a http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Boracay/blog-112064.html On our journey to reach Vigan we travelled via Baguio. We interrupted our journey by purchasing a Buko pie from one of the many bus vendors that hop on and off continously. Buko pie turned out to be similar to an appletart. I was a little bit disappointed but surprisingly Amy with the lesser sweeter tooth enjoyed the pie. Our stopover was brief but Baguio left an impression. The town reminded m http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Ilocos/Vigan/blog-110860.html We are very happy to announce we now have the full complement of babies due during our time away from home. Jenny Ed's sister and Dave produced a little sister for Rebecca on Tuesday. Baby Lauren Sarah Powell you are formally welcomed to our blog. Hopefully we can post some pictures on here when we get some. We got this exciting news while on route from Manila to Banaue it brightened up our http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Mountain-Province/Banaue/blog-109053.html After our very scary trip across the ocean we decided to stay put in Batangas at the nearest available accommodation Travellers Inn. The accommodation worked out fine even though it had a very strange policy where you were charged your room price for 16 hours on the first night and anything over that was extra. We didn't complain thankful to have a room with electricity our first proper wash http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Lake-Taal/blog-108250.html Hello from stormy Mindoro.We left our hostel in Manila on Tuesday morning with only the vaguest idea of how to get to our next destination Mindoro island. After a brief conversation with the guy on reception we discovered our vague plan was wrong or just impractical not sure which and headed for the metrorail which we were to catch two stations to a bus stop. Stupid us it hadn't dawned on us http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Mindoro/Small-LaLaguna/blog-107116.html Hello folks from Manila. Before we begin we would like to welcome two new additions to our readership is that a word Amy's sister Andrea and her husband Steve had a baby girl Cora Margaret Harrington at lunch time GMT yesterday. We also need to belatedly welcome baby Michael Ferris first child to Mick and Barbara. Big kisses to Mick Barbara Andrea Steve Mikey and of course the two l http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Manila/blog-106046.html Another short and sweet entry today. If we don't write regularly we tend to forget to tell you about large chunks of our travels. We are off to The Philippines early tomorrow and will be far too busy soaking up a new country to write for a few days.We initially planned on only spending a quick overnight in Singapore due to the expense and as this is to be our first well Ed's second of three st http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Singapore/blog-105313.html We've moved a little further south approximately a 2 hour bus drive from Kuala Lumpur. The journey from KL was fascinating as we we were located directly behind the coach driver. We heard stories that the Malaysians were wild when it coms to driving and the journey proved just that theory. We witnessed 3 cars badly battered lying in the ditch off the main road. Our fears were compounded by the http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Malaysia/Malacca/Malacca-Town/blog-104775.html So we decided big city life was not for us and left KL in search of some relaxation. In fact Ed has very profoundly announced you should not judge a country by its capital city. hmmm think he may have forgotten he himself is a capital boyWe braved Puduraya bus station in central KL and searched among the many ticket offices for a bus to Ipoh the capital of Perak state. Amazingly out of the http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Malaysia/Perak/blog-104352.html