Oktoberfest: A weekend of German beer, German food, and more German beer! It’s my third year running, and it’s still not lost its appeal Billie, Brent & I flew into Salzburg in Austria to meet up with Tracie, Ellen & Co for a little sightseeing before Munich. Salzburg is such a beautiful city, both day and night, I think it looks like somewhere out of a fairytale. We had a wander around the old town and found an authentic Austrian pub to try some local beers - a bit of a warm up for the days ahead :) We had just [View Full Entry]

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This is the third and last addition of the Italian Adventures of Jamesone and Hannahlina. We might be near the end of this adventure, but there is certainly a lot left to see: namely Pompeii, Naples and Rome: all in two days! We started at the ruins of Pompeii, and knowing we were about to be overwhelmed with information, James and I decided to get a guided tour of the highlights before embanking on our own explorations. I didn’t realise not only the size of the place, but also how much of it is still standing. I could really imagine what [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to the second instalment of the Italian Adventures of Hannahina & Jamesone, as they make their way from Sicily, north through Italy. They’ve made it to Naples and are now spending a few days along the magical Amalfi Coast: swimming, wining and dinning their away into a bit of mid holiday luxury. The adventure continues following their early arrival into Naples from the night train, where Hannahlina & Jamesone decided they had just enough time to check out the Greek temples at Paestum…. The train dropped us off in the middle of nowheresville, with only a poxy map nea [View Full Entry]

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Roaming along the various beaches and coastline of Sicily and southern Italy, sampling the local cuisine all made with the freshest produce and offering endless gelato ice-cream flavours, stopping only to take a swim or take shelter under a tree from the hot sun whilst looking through ancient ruins which have captivated mankind for hundreds of years. Thinking you could get used to this? Well this was our life for 10 days as James and I travelled through Sicily and up through the southern Italian towns until we reached the mecca of Rome. So come and join me for the first [View Full Entry]

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What a holiday! Coming within a hair-width of our lives, Leo and I needed the rest of the holiday just to recover from the flight there. Meanwhile if I was going to be in recovery mode anywhere, what better than your own apartment within a minutes walk of the beach under the warm Spanish sun? The flight started well, and Leo and I were doing our usual banter about flying in cheap plastic planes, no doubt putting off most of the other patrons, rather than ourselves. Which was all very funny until about an hour into the flight when we hit [View Full Entry]

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Well I’ve had my five days of work, its time to head over to Europe again to catch up with Leah & the gang - this time in the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic. Transport from the airport was interesting, since the only directions that the hostel gave was for a bus that finished running at 9.30pm - even on a Friday night!?! I got dumped right in the middle of the old city - Stare Mestro -, full of beautiful buildings and cobblestoned paths. However, I must say I was quite happy to see Leah & Co, [View Full Entry]

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Although you haven’t read about it yet, this is my second time in Holland, and indeed Amsterdam. I had so much fun first time around, there were high expectations this time. And while we had a lot of fun, there were definitely a few happenings that none of us saw coming! Clay, Ange and I booked some last minute flights to Holland to catch up with Leah who had just started her big bus tour around this section of Europe. When we arrived Leah had already started on her pub crawl, so we had to play catch up… in hind sight, [View Full Entry]

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Denmark, the first of many weekend breaks over this summer, this time with Leo who I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t seen since before Christmas. It was little surprise to us that our no-frills flight was running a little behind schedule; however it was a bit of a shock when we arrived at our hotel to find the reception closed! and no sign of life anywhere! No one answered the door bell or phone that we could hear ringing on the other side… Realising that we were not going to get into this hotel any time soon, we started scouring the [View Full Entry]

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Another two months in London has flown by, but not without its trail of destruction. I’ve been fortunate to keep up with a few games of rugby, including the privilege of going to Twickenham for the first time and in a Corporate Box to see the England vs Barbarian game. Which was a far cry from the more recent early Saturday morning awakenings to head to the Walkie to see the games in NZ (some of which we’ve been wondering why we got out of bed!). James took me to see Wicked, the musical, as he had only seen it four [View Full Entry]

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Today was the big day when I finally got to go to Vatican City! Not only because its another country to add to my list, but even this small place has so many ‘must see’ things on the To Do List. And besides any place called the Holy See must be worth a look, right? My first sight was two Swiss Guards standing at one of the entrances.. and I just burst out laughing! I knew they had their own special uniform - but to me they looked like jesters! However, after walking into the magnificent Saint Peter’s Square, and the [View Full Entry]

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