Ish Jak
Ish & Jax Joined: October 27th 2006
Logged in: June 23rd 2011
Logged in: June 23rd 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Rainbow at the falls
Hello, After a very late, slow and delicate start (a result of the lads late night out in Toronto the previous night), we all drove down to Niagra (the two lads half asleep, groaning and feeling rough for the entire hour and a half journey)…. We first headed for Niagra on the Lake which is about half an hour from the famous falls themselves - a very quaint town with some old shops and nice restaurants. As the name suggests it sits right on the lake and we could just see the CN Tower of Toronto across the lake as it was so clear (not that far but a long drive around the lake to get there). We had lunch in an ‘English pub’ which, rather unsurprisingly, was very much like an English pub except with ... read more
Toronto skyline from the 'islands'
Thursday saw the last real leg of our ‘wider’ travelling here in Canada and proved to be a very busy day…....to give you an idea, we had an early breakfast in Montreal, lunch in Ottawa, and dinner (albeit at nearly midnight) in Toronto! We dropped the hire car back in Ottawa and managed to get a last couple of hours sightseeing in the capital before heading to the station. We took the train from Ottawa to Toronto which was the boy’s first ever train journey (see photo). We’re staying with friends here (our old neighbours) who have a pretty impressive apartment right in downtown Toronto. We’re on the 40 something’th floor and have great views of the CN tower and Lake Ontario. We’ve quickly got used to the city living and love the way we’ve been ... read more
Meeting Jackie (the horse that is!)
Hello Jax drove us from Quebec City down to Montreal on Monday, and as usual, James slept all the way with no problem. We’ve been really impressed with Montreal; in fact it’s probably our favourite city so far. We’re staying in a wonderful hotel right in the heart of the old town. As we arrived and checked in, James struck up an instant rapport with the woman on the desk who couldn’t stop saying how lovely he was. Fortunately for all of us, this promptly led to an upgrade to the best suite so that James could have his own room……so now the lucky little eight month old has his own bedroom, walk in wardrobe and bathroom! (who said travelling with a baby was tough?) Our hotel lays on a cheese and wine reception each night ... read more
Huge mound of snow in front of the falls
Hello once again, We left Tremblant National Park a few days ago and drove about five hours to Quebec City. The drive was fairly easy, despite all the road signs being in French - pretty much one long straight road for most of it. We have struggled a little bit with the language here, its much more French than we expected and many people we have needed to speak to only speak very limited English. Just to complicate things further, Jax speaks a bit of French and they don’t seem to understand her either - must be someting to do with our accents! We are staying in a great place a short way from the city centre itself with something for each of us in the room: plenty of electrical gadgets for Chris, lots of buttons ... read more
C & J after a day skiing
Greetings all, Since our last entry we've picked up a hire car (a big jeep which is just what we've needed here) and driven about two and a half hours to Tremblant Natonal Park - the ski area. We're staying in a fantastic chalet right in the village with friends. We've been wanting to 'do' the chalet thing for years and it really has proved as much fun as we'd hoped. Our chalet is perfect; it looks out over a huge lake and backs straight onto a forest with deer roaming round and frequentely coming to visit us at the back door! It has a HUGE fireplace which is perfect for relaxing after a hard day of skiing and beers. The ski resort itself is much better than we had hoped with VERY GOOD apres ski ... read more
Frozen canal
Hello all, We’ve been in Ottawa a few days now and are having a fantastic time. The flight over with James was surprisingly painless - part due to the excellent staff on Canadian Airways, and part due to James being generally very well behaved. Contrary to our expectations, he didn’t make a sound on the take off and found the whole flight quite an adventure. This was all helped by one of the air stewards who took a shine to James and rewarded his good behaviour by taking him on regular walks and feeding him strawberry ice cream (this was a first for the boy!). Although we’ve had bright blue skies and sun everyday, it is very cold - probably the coldest place we’ve ever been in fact. On our first day here we went for ... read more
Jax with new friend
Hello all OK so we're not exactly travelling through South East Asia this time but thought we'd drop you a few lines to say hello as the blog was welcomed before (and of course we can't be bothered to write any postcards while we're taking it easy!) So, we've been in Jamaica for a few days now and it's absolutely fab - just what we both hoped for...... rum, reggae and relax (they call it the 3 R's here). The weather is perfect, blazing hot sun everyday, with clear blue sea and long beaches. The hotel is fantastic, with a dozen or so bars and restaurants to choose from, an army of staff who seem to want to do anything to make you smile, and as much food and drink as you can possibly enjoy. ... read more
The beach from our resort at night
Hello all, On Monday morning we took a short taxi ride to Bo Phut Beach at the north of the island. It was nice to have a short transfer for a change although we seem to be quite used to the whole airport routine now (we're up to ten flights in four weeks now!) We had already visited the north coast to check out the beaches and arrange the hotel a couple of days before, so we knew what to expect. (if any other bloggers reading are intending to take a couple of days out in a good hotel, for the sake of a few hundred baht in a taxi, we would recommend this to you - some of the ‘top’ hotels are not quite as great when you see them in the flesh!, also makes ... read more
Chaweng Beach
From the moment you arrive on the plane, Koh Samui feels like a tropical island. After another short flight, we arrived at the airport, which is effectively a runway next to a scattering of beach huts. The island is small, with the most famous beach being Chaweng - have to admit, we were a little bit put off this when we read that it had a McDonalds and a Starbucks, but wanted to try it, as it's where all the night life is. We decided to stay for 2 nights to soak up the atmosphere before we move on. Chaweng is a long perfect sandy beach (the powder fine sand that everyone craves!) with a road running behind it full of hotels, bars (including go go bars!) touristy shops selling what we have learned Thailand is ... read more
Clinging on for dear life!
Hello all, just a quick one We've just finished a rather unique experience........ Annie the elephant took us on her back, for an afternoon's stroll around the jungle. Neither of us had ever been on an elephant before, so we were quite keen to have a go. We had no idea what a scary experience this would be....to start with at least. You have no idea how high up it feels to be on an elephant (the fact that you have to climb on a ten foot tower to board the elephant should have given it away I guess!) We were a tad worried about the weight distribution and the seat falling off (picture Jackie sitting next to Chris on a seat held on by some loose ropes!) Add some very steep terrain through close jungle ... read more
