TravelBlog » Gerry and Denise

Gerry and Denise - Gerry and Denise Aitken

We are a young couple (well, in our 40's) from London. Gerry is a Team Manager in Social Services, working with children in care. Denise is deputy manager of a Children's Centre. From 1st October 2004 we started travelling around the world for a year, first stop India, then SE Asia and on into Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Back to London after a stop in Los Angeles and then off to Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala and up to Cuba. In November 2005 Gerry went to Uganda in East Africa for 6 months to work with some old friends who run a project called 'Uganda Family Resource Link' working with children at-risk (mainly orphans). Since then our blogs have been from various locations on holiday.

If you wish to purchase any of Gerry's photos please visit www.photoboxgallery.com/gerry

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Joined on: August 5th 2004
Last Login: May 5th 2008

Blog Entries: 61
Photos: 1074

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Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by Gerry-and-Denise, order by Date newest first.

By Gerry and Denise
February 14th 2008

Sick and Sherry in Jerez

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » El Puerto de Santa María

Drummers at Carnaval 2008
In Cadiz

Our annual winter trip (Joe Hellawell, Andrew Whyte and Gerry last year and Joe, Andrew, Gerry and Mike Maybury this year) headed for the Sherry Triangle of Southern Spain. A cheap Ryanair flight to Jerez (last year we went to Lamezia in Southern Italy) and 4 days in nearby El Puerto de Santa Maria on the coast. We stayed in a restored 1700's aparthotel called Casa de Los Leones. A good choice as it was very clean, well kitted out, beautifully restored, and central to everything we needed. The trip started at Joe's house in London and we made the mistake [View Full Entry]

By Gerry and Denise
October 15th 2007

Fancy Florence

Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

Houses by the River Arno

This was a free holiday courtesy of Opodo (website for British Airways, Lufthansa and seven other airlines) whose photo competition Gerry won! We stayed in the Villa Gabriele d'Annunzio Hotel, a former monastery a fair bit out of town in an area called Fiesole. The village of Fiesole is worth a visit as it is high up on a hill overlooking Florence and is a pretty place with some old Roman ruins. Florence itself is stunning, packed as it is with statues, art, and ancient buildings. [View Full Entry]

By Gerry and Denise
August 23rd 2007

New Haven, Mystic and Boston

North America » United States » Massachusetts

Fountain
Boston

Our two week holiday in August started off in New York for 3 days, then we hired a car and set off up the coast to New Haven, the home of the prestigious Yale University. We stayed there for two nights with a friend, Lumor, who attends the University. We met Lumor while we were volunteering in Peru in 2005. From there we headed for Boston via a cool little place called Mystic. In Boston we stayed with Dennis, an old family friend of Gerry's family from Scotland. He married Karen, an American, and emigrated out there and now has three [View Full Entry]

By Gerry and Denise
August 22nd 2007

Aliens in New York

North America » United States » New York

Celebrating India's Independence

Loved New York, even though the weather was rotten. Manhattan with its awesome art deco skyscrapers is out of this world. We only had 3 days in New York, arriving at JFK airport on the 18th August, we hopped on one of those classic yellow cabs to our hotel (Deauville), which was small, quaint and reasonably priced. Things we did in 3 days: Visited the UN building and took a guided tour round it; shopped in Macy's (the world's largest store) but didn't buy anything (I love doing that!); went inside the Chrsyler building (beautiful art deco building) and the Empire [View Full Entry]

By Gerry and Denise
April 9th 2007

Escape from Auchlochan!

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Lesmahagow

Flowers in Station Park, Moffat

It was Easter and stupidly I (Gerry) decided to drive up to Scotland. I left work in London at 2.45pm and didn't get to my mum and dad's until 1.45am, an 11 hour drive on my own (Denise couldn't make it)! The worst bit was about half a mile from my destination, when I hit some road works (not literally) and was stuck in a non-moving traffic jam for an hour and a half! Not what you need after a long journey. I survived by consuming vast quantities of Red Bull energy drink and umpteen bars of Twirl chocolate! This is [View Full Entry]

By Gerry and Denise
March 7th 2007

Journey to Fire Mountain

Europe » Spain » Canary Islands » Fuerteventura

Fuertesol apartments, Costa Caleta, Fuerteventura
This is the apartment we stayed in.

Denise had a 3 week break between leaving her old job and starting her new one, so we took the opportunity to head for the sun for a week. We found a cheap holiday in a self catering apartment in Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, just off the coast of Morocco in Africa. The Canary Islands are actually Spanish, and made from volcanoes. The volcanoes came first and then, in the 1400's, the Spanish. As is the custom, the natives, called 'Guanches' were wiped out. Very little evidence is left of their existence. It is thought they came from North [View Full Entry]

Kitesurfing near Costa Calma, Fuerteventura

By Gerry and Denise
January 27th 2007

The Calabrian Mafia meets the Headless Horseman

Europe » Italy » Calabria » Acquappesa

Andrew reflecting

The anticipation started weeks ago, encouraged by planning meetings at our local pub. Now we (Joe, Andrew and Gerry) were in Aquapessa, Calabria, Southern Italy for a long weekend. Fantastic value at £99 each for 4 days (including return flight, 3 star hotel, and hire car). Gerry remarked that when he first flew to Italy 23 years ago the flight cost £150! Who would have believed it would have gone down so much? The flight went very well until we started to make our descent through the clouds into Lamezia. With a sudden wrench the plane jolted and Andrew nearly jumped [View Full Entry]

By Gerry and Denise
September 25th 2006

The Tropical Isle of Wight

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Isle of Wight » Shanklin

Feeding bird
At Amazonworld

Haven't done a travelblog for ages so a weekend down to the Isle of Wight will do for my next entry! The day we were due to leave started off a bit ominously. Mark, our friend we were travelling with, had arranged the caravan and ferry for the weekend. After Denise had gone off to pick up Mark I suddenly remembered I had forgotten to double check with the travel agent if we needed separate tickets for the ferry (all we had was confirmation in a letter). With some trepidation I phoned the agent who, to my horror, confirmed we did [View Full Entry]

By Gerry and Denise
May 3rd 2006

Columbus discovers the Pineapple!

Africa » Uganda » Eastern Region » Iganga

Little boy
One of the children now being looked after by Viviane in her mud hut.

My (Gerry's) last week in Uganda was a bit frantic as the lawyer informed me that 'Uganda Food Company' had been incorporated as a limited company and the documents could be picked up the next day, which gave me one day (Friday) to open a business account at the bank. I'd found another very good candidate for being a manager of the company and I introduced him to the manager I've already employed, and I'm hoping they will work well together! I've been given 7 acres of land to lease for 10 years, which we will plant with pineapples. Three men [View Full Entry]

Children at the newly opened school, Bushfire

By Gerry and Denise
March 14th 2006

The Great White Missionary turns Businessman!

Africa » Uganda » Eastern Region » Iganga

Isaac and pineapple
Isaac is Sam and Eva's son

Livingstone, my (Gerry's) boyhood Scottish hero, would have been ashamed of me. There I was sitting in the Source (of the Nile) Cafe tucking into a long-awaited and much-appreciated meal of sausage, eggs and chips, while this poor man endured 22 bouts of malaria as he spent his whole life in search of the elusive source of the Nile and never did find the place. No such problems today as this place is now a muzungu (white person) magnet. (We won't mention the fact that recent explorers think the source of the Nile is actually in Rwanda, as my friend Jean [View Full Entry]

TravelBlog » Gerry and Denise

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Gerry and Denise - Gerry and Denise Aitken

Blogs & Travel Journals

Sick and Sherry in Jerez

Fancy Florence

New Haven, Mystic and Boston

Aliens in New York

Escape from Auchlochan!

Journey to Fire Mountain

The Calabrian Mafia meets the Headless Horseman

The Tropical Isle of Wight

Columbus discovers the Pineapple!

The Great White Missionary turns Businessman!