Wow! I finally get to go to Rome!! I had heard so much about Rome from so many sources that it’s probably the one place in Europe that I wasn’t physically allowed to leave without seeing. I was especially lucky to have my very own Italian guide, Carlo, plus his girl friend, Francesca who actually lives in Rome and was our chauffeur for the weekend. After checking into our B&B we went straight into Rome’s city centre for some dinner. By the end of the evening I left like I had already seen half of Rome! We wandered through numerous narrow [View Full Entry]

---

---

Another long weekend, another holiday. You don’t have to think too hard for excuses to get away over here, and this time we’re off to Wales, and more specifically horse riding in the Brecon Beacons National Park. We started the trip with a whistle stop tour of a collection of the best sights to see between London and Wales, starting at the infamous Stonehenge. We were up and on the road so early, Stonehenge hadn’t actually opened! However, there is not much that you can’t see from the outside, and somehow Rick convinced the security guard to take photos for us [View Full Entry]

---

---

I didn’t have to wait long for my next holiday in Europe - this time we were off to the sunny Spanish Island of Menorca. Not to be confused with its big sister, Mallorca. And by we, I mean a whole sports team worth of 14 of us. Our only goal on this trip was to do nothing on as many beaches as possible :) Katie had organised two Spanish villas on the north coast through a work colleague. However the first mission was actually getting there. Being one of the oldies, and therefore a pre-nominated driver, I had to drive [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello there! No, you haven’t been caught in a time warp - I’m actually writing to you now about what I’m doing now... not six months ago! Crazy I know! But with a bit of luck a few things will change around here, and I might even keep this up to date, and fill in the gap between my last blog and now. Hey, miracles can happen! Anyway, what you really want to hear about is what I’ve been doing lately in London. I was fortunate enough to have James come and meet me at Heathrow to help me carry all [View Full Entry]

---

---

We had all been hanging out for a holiday that didn’t involve walking through the concrete jungle of another European city, so we all jumped at the chance of going mountain biking in the New Forest, on England’s South Coast. However, our first mission was getting there... I don’t think even one car load managed to get there without getting lost… and then we had to pitch our tents in the dark. To be honest, I kinda enjoyed it. I hadn’t been camping in ages, so revelled in the night time challenge. However, the next morning we were a lot more [View Full Entry]

---

---

After two weeks in Spain and Portugal, it was time to spend some time in London and earn some money again! We only had a few days left to complete the construction of our departments raft for the annual WaterAid raft race on the River Thames. The theme this year was ‘007’ … and someone decided we were going to make the gondola out of Moonraker - I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time! The event was hilarious, there were six of us, including two guys dressed up as bond-girls complete with lipstick and ball dresses, trying [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well here we are at the end of our two week trip across Spain and Portugal. We had an awesome time and certainly our fair share of travelling owes… which, lets be honest, makes a trip more memorable! There are only a few things left to do: see Seville and Cadiz; say goodbye to Leah and Dan who are about to head off for another two weeks across Morocco; go home to my own bed! Ohh, and get to eat some pasta!! Anyways back to Seville, we had a long bus ride from Lagos to Seville - 7 whole hours - [View Full Entry]

---

---

We were very excited to be going to the beach town of Lagos today, after the weather was against us at San Sebastian. Our one and only aim: sit on the beach, swim and generally do nothing. However, not everything turned out quite as we had planned… On the way there, we had a quick exit off the train at Tunes, to transfer onto the train to Lagos, and just as the train doors were closing I realised my day-pack was still on the train! Oh no!!! Us, along with everyone else on the platform panicked and we tried to run [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 12 and here we are at the Portugal capital: Lisbon! We arrived here on a high speed train travelling at a whopping 221km/hr! Our funky hostel was located right into the centre of town, over looking the Rossio Plaza, I think our corner room had the best view in the whole hostel! Our first stop was climbing up the tallest hill in Lisbon to the Castle of Sāo Jorge. We had a look around the old castle walls and up the towers to get sweeping views across another red-roofed city, then made our decent down the cobblestoned road to Lisbon’s [View Full Entry]

---

---

We were not in Porto for long before we fell in love with it. Not only did we score a cheap room in a nice hotel - a huge step up from camping in army rows - but there were hills! Not something we get to see much of in London or Europe, but very much apart of our daily live back in NZ. We headed down to the Ribeira district on the edge of the River Douro. The area was so beautiful, full of old colourful building with bright paint and tiles along both sides of the river. We grabbed [View Full Entry]

---

---