We had nine days to spend in the islands. Not enough time for too much hopping around, so we chose Paros and Santorini--supposedly the most beautiful island. Three days in Paros and 5 in Santorini, but the long ferry rides to get around. I thought I would get sea sick, but I took my ginger tablets and and boats are so big that the only thing you could really get sick from is all the cigarette smoke! Greek people are lovely, but not when they smoke EVERYWHERE without any regard for others :) We didn't book our hotels ahead, rather, we [View Full Entry]

---

---

A hot and sweaty arrival into Athens after standing with our packs on a crowded bus for the 1 1/2 ride into the city from the airport. However, we had a nice surprise at our hostel, Hotel Lozanni, with spacious rooms and extra friendly staff. We found a local giro place for dinner and enjoyed our free shots of Ouzo (a licorice-flavored Greek liquor) at the hostel bar. We had a little old woman who smelled like bananas and barely spoke a word of English in our room. She hoarded all kinds of things in her little bags, and later we [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sept 8th, we headed back to warm weather and sunshine in Barcelona. Four days of perfect weather, back in our flip-flops and bathing suits. We stayed iin the Albergue pALAU Hostel in the Gothic Quarter, very quaint with its narrow cobblestone streets angling off in every direction, old worn buildings, and a funky restaurant and bar scene. Laundry hanging on clotheslines above , and all the locals out on their little balconies. The only bad thing was all the tourists! We spent our days walking everywhere, from musems and the markets, to the harbor and beach, to the top of a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi! We are finally getting some photos from Europe on the blog! Helsinki, Finland August 30th--Our flight left Thailand at 12:30am and 10 1/2 hours later we arrived in Helsinki @ 6:330am. It was COLD!!! We had to change into our warmest clothes (which still were not very warm), then bussed into the city to explore. Fall was already here with all the leaves beginning to change colors. The city was smaller than we expected so we walked everywhere, and the mix of old buildings with modern ones along with some cobblestone streets made it quite charming. And we were definately [View Full Entry]

---

---

Obviously, backtracking again... We have had little access to a computer over the last few weeks, but finally we are able to write about Laos. We caught a bus from Luang Prabang and 4hrs later after a very bumpy trip we arrived in Vang Vieng. A small dust bowl of a town with not much to offer, but the surrounding activities and landscape were breathtaking. We stayed in a cheap room in the middle of town for four nights. Our days consisted of watching 'Friends' reruns at nearly every restuarant in town, drinking, and our favorite...tubing down the river. A great [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Luang Prabang from Chaing Mai on the 30th of July, Mum and Dad stayed two nights, Heidi and I stayed eight! We loved the town and plus it was a great place for me to recover from the OP! We have published a few backdated blogs , so be sure to check them out. [View Full Entry]

---

---

We know, it's been WAY too long since our last blog. Our main excuse is that we had trouble downloading photos so we kept putting off sending one...anyhow, we are back, and you will hopefully see many photos in the next several days So, where have we been in the past few weeks? We left Cambodia on 12th July and flew back to Bangkok, Thailand. We spent a couple days out in Kanchanaburi, home of the "Bridge over the River Kwai" and the "Death Railway". Then back to Bangkok to fly to Phuket on the 16th to meet the Wigley clan. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ten days at Le Meridian just outside of Patong Beach... Carol and NIck (Dan's parent's); Amanda (Dan's sister) and Race (her husband) and Ollie and T.T. (two of their boys); Tom and Gus (Dan's brothers) and Bi (Gus's girlfriend), and Dan and I. Our resort was beautiful, the weather was stunning, and we had a fabulous time. Lounging poolside, getting a tuk-tuk into Patong Beach, the main town down the road where the nightlife was full-on, shopping at the markets (bargaining, bargaining, bargaining!), and enjoying family meals out every night. Of course, there was Dan's appendix situation on the 2nd day [View Full Entry]

---

---

Backtracking...currently we're in Vientianne, Laos, heading south to Pakse. We have a 10 hour overnight bus tonight. We're just hoping the "V.I.P. bus" is as good as it claims to be! Kanchanaburi We flew from Phnom Penh to Bangkok on the 11th July and headed west to Kanchanaburi on the 12th. Only a 2 hour bus ride that took us into the the green hills. A small city, Kanchanaburi is home to the "Bridge over the River Kwai" and the infamous Death Railway. During WWII, the Japanese set up POW workcamps to build a railway line to get goods through Thailand [View Full Entry]

---

---

Again, a bit of backtracking... Kratie We took a bus from Phnom Penh north to Kratie (pronounced Kra-chae), about halfway towards the Laos border. The six hour drive was pretty uneventful other than the stops in the local towns where we enjoyed watching the locals eat funny foods and climb off the tops of the local buses (we were on a "VIP" bus). Kratie itself is just a small town that sits on the Mekong River. Its' usually just a stopping point on the backpacker track up to Laos, but we went there to get out of the city. The 5 [View Full Entry]

---

---