Ev and Jo Leave Trax
Evan and I are off on our first round the world trip. This is something we have been planning for ages, but it still took a few twists and turns towards the end as we researched and came across other places to see and things to do. Like the inclusion of the trans-mongolian trip. Who would have thought?Ev n Jo
We are starting in Africa on 1 July and plan to go from there to Eastern Europe and the UK to see family and then on to Central and South America.
Only 4 days till we take off.
PS. The strange name of our blog relates to our cat - Trax - whom we are leaaving with nanna for a year. Hopefully he will be around to welcome us home again, and any tracks we leave on our travels will be good ones.
Travel Blog Posts
April 19th 2008
You've seen the doco's, read the stories and seen the pictures - but nothing really prepares you for seeing the real thing on Easter Island (Isla de Pascua in Spanish, or Rapa Nui in the local tongue). We hope you enjoy this - our last blog for our round the world trip. We arrived on Easter Island about 8pm local time on 13 April - on time and in good shape for our last world travel adventure (for this trip anyway!). We were met by Paul, the owner of our self contained cottage. God - what a luxury after so many months - our own little house! It was wonderful to have almost a whole week in one place (no packing up), which was cleaned regularly (by someone else!), breakfast was delivered in style, and town ... read more
April 10th 2008
Our next adventure. We took ANOTHER overnight bus (god how we hate them) to Uyuni from La Paz. It was the bus ride from hell. The first three or four hours were on bitumen but then we hit a gravel road - full of corrugations! The whole bus rattled and every tiny crack seeped dust into the interior of the bus choking us. By the time we finally arrived at 7:30am in the morning (surprisingly having slept some - thank you nurofen), with a new fine layer of dust, we were rattled to the bones and couldn´t wait to get off. We really pitied the poor tourists who were planning to return on that bus to La Paz. On arrival in Uyuni we were hit by tour operators from all sides trying to sell their tour ... read more
La Paz and Extreme Mountain Biking!
Published: April 10th 2008South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz
April 6th 2008
La Paz - the highest capital city in the world - stuck in a deep crater like valley surrounded by mountains. There is a beautiful view when you finally get to the lip of the valley. You also get a glimpse of snow capped mountains in the distance when you are looking down a few streets. The city itself is pretty crazy - loads of traffic (mostly taxis and public mini vans with bus boys shouting out destinations) and loads of people. The sidewalks are a bit rough for walking, but you don´t really get to walk on them anyway because they are full of stalls and people trying to sell things. Bolivians don´t seem to believe too much in buying things from shops - you pretty much don´t need to go to a supermarket as ... read more
March 31st 2008
Obviously 3 days is long enough to forget the pain of doing the Inca Trail, as on arrival in Arequipa we quickly booked ourselves onto another trek! Man, were we kicking ourselves (or would have been if we had the energy) - but it was absolutely beautiful and we guess no pain no gain! We arrived in Arequipa on the overnight bus from Cusco and were lucky enough to be able to get straight into a room and sleep (still not much good at sleeping on buses). When we finally woke up we asked about heading out to Colca Canyon (the second deepest canyon in the world - the deepest being just around the corner from it!) to see the condors - next thing you know we had booked a three day tour of the canyon ... read more
March 27th 2008
We arrived in Lima on 17 March just in time to start our one week tour. Our first morning we caught up with Aleisha and Dan, Aussie friends we met in Africa on our very first tour way back at the beginning of our world tour. Then we met some of the rest of our tour group and headed out for lunch and a city tour. Not much to see in Lima - and most of what you do see is covered in a thick layer of smog. We walked around a bit and then did a super quick tour through the monastery where we had a guide who didn´t seem to like having us around. We moved closer to hear what he was saying and he kept moving away! Next day was a 3am start ... read more
March 11th 2008
The amazing Galapagos Islands... There are not really words to describe how absolutely awesome an experience it is being on the islands surrounded by (and so close to) its special wildlife. We arrived in Quito late afternoon and headed straight out to investigate last minute Galapagos deals - and we were lucky! We scored a room on a first class boat (the Sea Man II - no jokes about the name people) leaving the next day. Even better, we got about 35% off the normal price. The trip didn´t start off fantastically - our flight from Quito was delayed and shortly after we arrived in the islands it started to rain. But it definitely didn´t spoil it. That first day we were on Santa Cruz island where we went inland to the highlands to see the ... read more
Torres Del Paine - how to really know if you´re as unfit as you think!
Published: March 17th 2008South America » Chile » Magallanes
February 29th 2008
After the easy Moreno Glacier tour, it was time to really get into it. So we packed our gear up again and headed off on the bus to Puerto Natales, Chile. Another long bus journey - about 6 hours, and a painful border crossing into Chile. Somewhat like home, they have strict policies on agricultural products - basically you can´t bring them into the country, so they have a luggage search at the border. Time consuming but you can´t really complain. Finally we arrived in Puero Natales. A very bustling town on another beautiful lake, but we presume it gets pretty quiet in wintertime. At this time of year it is normal to see tourists everywhere, most carrying backpacks of some kind or another, and many looking pretty worn around the edges after trekking through the ... read more
February 23rd 2008
Hi everyone. This entry is totally out of sequence, but it is current! Thought you all might like to know where Evan and I are actually are now and what we are up to. I am going to post the other entries soon - just have to find an internet cafe where I can upload some photos. Finally we have arrived in South America! We have wanted to visit here for so long and we are finally here. Unfortunately it also means we are on the last leg of our round the world trip. Two months here and then it is back to the real world. But we are very much looking forward to seeing our friends and family again. We arrived into Buenos Aires, Argentina on 15 February. It should have been 14th, but we ... read more
February 13th 2008
After the cold of Europe and New York, we finally arrived back in the sun - god it was good!! We arrived at Cancun airport and needed to start stripping off our clothes - it was so nice and warm. We got a bus to downtown and found our hostel and made arrangements to visit the famous ruins at Chichen Itza (or chicken pizza as our tour guide joked) the following day. The ruins really are amazing. Although the tour was a bit of a pain - the required stops at sheds full of souvenirs and the guide deciding that part of his job was to sell us special souvenirs, and the massive delay in organising people into groups - it was worth having the information provided by the guide when walking around the site. The ... read more
February 4th 2008
What can you say? We were never too fussed on visiting the States, but New York was fun! We ended up extending our stay by a couple of days making it a full week. There is just way too much to do! A big highlight for me was going to the shows. We saw Stomp one night - getting half price tickets from the ticket booths is a definite plus - and then we saw Avenue Q another night. That was a real bonus as we got lottery tickets. You arrive at the venue about an hour before the show and put your name in a hat. If its drawn you get front row seats and only pay about $20! As usual, Evan was the lucky one out of our team and we scored tickets! For ... read more
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