TravelBlog » Franny and Gillian

Franny and Gillian - Frances Naik and Gillian Shiells

The time has come at last, after many years of plotting and planning, scrimping and saving (and some borrowing - thanks to Parents Naik and Parents Shiells!), for us to say goodbye to the sunny shores of Glasgow and head off on our World Tour. What follows will hopefully be an exciting and inciteful look at our backpacking journey. We hope this blog will keep you sufficiently up to date and entertained with all our adventures and travels. It should be a good record to keep for posterity and to show the grandkids, but mostly to make you all wildly jealous! So, with rucksacks packed full of imodium, bug spray and hair straighteners, we now venture into the wildernesses of deepest, darkest South East Asia, Australasia and North America. Wish us luck. We're sure to need it! So long, Franny and Gillian xx

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Joined on: November 27th 2006
Last Login: January 21st 2009

Blog Entries: 16
Photos: 291

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Franny and Gillian, order by Date newest first.

By Franny and Gillian
December 1st 2007

New York from the Sky, the Sea and the Inside of a few Pubs. North America » United States » New York » New York

Franny in Times Square

Recovering from the all-but theft of my Mexican gin and tequila by Las Vegas customs, we arrived safely in New York. Finally getting used to the travelling thing, we had pre-booked an airport shuttle to take us to our pre-booked hostel. However, upon arrival at the hostel we decided that someone should fire the hostel reviewer because the place was a dump. There were no rooms: just a warehouse divided by curtains. Even though they had a record of our booking, there were no available beds and we had to sleep in the back with the staff. There were only two [View Full Entry]

By Franny and Gillian
November 23rd 2007

Bright Lights and Large Holes in the Ground North America » United States » Nevada » Las Vegas

In Yosemite
Yes, that's pronounced yo-sem-it-ay dummy!!

Following the mammoth 15-hour journey from San Francisco to Las Vegas via Yosemite, I believe Franny and I should perhaps look at a map before setting off on these wild adventures. We had wanted to see as much of the country as possible, so we thought it would be a good idea to experience the famous landscape of Yosemite National Park (incidentally, just in case you have an insensitive best friend who almost wees herself laughing at your mistakes: it is pronounced Yo-sem-it-ay, not Yos-eh-mite like I thought). Our GPS did get slightly confused at the National Park system, but we [View Full Entry]

By Franny and Gillian
November 17th 2007

San Francisco: The Rock, Cycling Large Hills and Overly-large Hair North America » United States » California » San Francisco

On Venice Beach

For the second time in a month, we landed in LAX and enjoyed the spirited company of the US customs agents. This time though, instead of taking a shuttle bus, we had arranged to pick up a rental car so that we could start our road trip. Having booked the cheapest economy option, we were told to go to the garage and choose anything from row 1. However, the only vehicles in row 1 were three minivans and a PT Cruiser that was just being driven away. There must be some mistake. We are in our mid-twenties. We like hip hop [View Full Entry]

By Franny and Gillian
November 13th 2007

The Rest of Mexico: Guanajuato, Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta North America » Mexico » Jalisco

Tequila and Cocktails in Guanajuato

I think perhaps I watch too much television that encourages stereotypes. Prior to arriving in the country I had been dubious about bus travel within Mexico, and thought that it may have involved sitting in the back of hay trucks with the chickens. In fact, I could not have been more wrong. Getting on the bus in Mexico City, we found that we each had a seat the size of an arm chair that had full foot rests and reclined horizontally. We were given a snack of a sandwich and a soda, and there were two toilets and a kitchen with [View Full Entry]

The Bandstand in Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara

Beside the Government Palace, Guadalajara

By Franny and Gillian
November 2nd 2007

Mexico City: Naked Protests, Pyramids and Dia de Muertos North America » Mexico » Distrito Federal » Mexico City

Fine Arts Museum

Arriving in Mexico City, we were ever so slightly alarmed. Mexico had not been part of our original round the world agenda, but we had decided to go there after reviewing our dreadful finances in an Auckland McDonalds. When we were first making plans, we were going to spend the last four weeks of our trip driving from the west coast of the States to the east, before flying home from New York. However, due to our meagre monetary state, we realised we would probably not make it further than Utah on our grand road trip, before having to sell our [View Full Entry]

By Franny and Gillian
October 30th 2007

Hollywood, LA: Movies, Movies Movies in La-la Land North America » United States » California » Los Angeles

I Love 50's Diners: at Mel's Drive-In

In true Doctor Who fashion, we managed break through the laws of space and time travel: we went back in time. Without the aid of a DeLorean or a Tardis, we arrived in LAX nine hours before we left Fiji. Amateurs. All we needed was a jumbo jet. After waiting in the longest queue in US immigrations history, we picked up our luggage and took the shuttle bus to our hostel. We were immensely excited to see we were staying just off Hollywood Boulevard, alternatively christened by Greenday as the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. We took a stroll and could not [View Full Entry]

By Franny and Gillian
October 27th 2007

Fiji: Rafting, Sand boarding, Rainforest trekking and the end of our Trainers... Oceania » Fiji » Viti Levu

Arriving in Nadi and sweating already

With an apparent incapability for packing all that I own in to one backpack, I arrived in Fiji wearing most of my clothes, and immediately started sweating in the humid climate. Franny fared somewhat better and was gleeful at the musical reception we received from the colorfully dressed guitar players when we stepped off the plane. As with most tourists to the Fijian islands, we landed in Nadi (pronounced nan-dee, for all those of you who are uneducated in these matters!) and had the shuttle waiting for us to whisk us away to our resort. I realise I may have made [View Full Entry]

By Franny and Gillian
October 20th 2007

New Zealand: Outdoor Adventures on the Stray Bus Oceania » New Zealand » South Island

We travel light...

After some teary goodbyes in Sydney, we left the 25 degree loveliness and were plunged into the cold that is New Zealand's springtime. Landing in Christchurch was similar to landing in Glasgow, and after falling asleep on the plane I awoke panicking that I had been the target of some horrible conspiracy to take me home early. As we drove through the leafy suburbs on the airport shuttle, it was obvious that Christchurch had been built to look like a typical English town. We had chosen a hostel which had looked fairly close to the bus stop, but as we lugged [View Full Entry]

By Franny and Gillian
October 10th 2007

The Last Leg of Australia: Bowen to Cape Trib, and back down to Sydney Oceania » Australia » New South Wales

Out in Cairns
Franny, me and Maria the German

So it was, with tears in our eyes we left the Childers Massive in Bowen, to carry on our own again. Not since travelling in South-East Asia at the beginning of our trip had it been just the two of us, but with Bob groaning, we set off up the backpacker coast. We had originally planned to drive to Cairns in one day, however, after not leaving until after lunchtime, we realised we would not manage the 700km trip before sundown. Back at home, I would not think twice about driving in the dark, but on the unlit, windy roads of [View Full Entry]

Somewhere up north - it's a Mountain that looked pretty

Magnetic Island, out the back of the hostel

By Franny and Gillian
August 13th 2007

Bowen: Fruit Picking, Rain and the Loss of Some Teeth Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Bowen

Franny, Jelmer, Wander and me at the Grandview

Bowen. I believe the best thing I can say about Bowen is that it is not Childers. We arrived with the boys in Hicksville at the end of May and set up camp at a small caravan park in Horseshoe bay. The campsite was perfect: sauna, hot tub, swimming pool, nice kitchen facilities, and only a 30 second stroll from a gorgeous, secluded beach. But before I start sounding like an over-zealous campsite critic, I will say that there were some bad bits too. Namely, the owners kicked us out after a week. The large population of Snowbirds living at the [View Full Entry]

Franny and her boys on a Night Out in Airlie

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