James and Kim's Travel Map
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Places we Have Been
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Place still left to conquer!!
Well the countdown has finally reached its final stages and what seems to have taken a life time to come around is finally upon us and in a few days we embark on the greatest adventure of our lives travelling around the globe.
On the 30th June 2008 we flew out to the city that never sleeps and will continue on to the following route or until our money runs out:
UK - New York - San Fransisco - LA - Fiji - New Zealand - Australia - Indonesia - South East Asia - China
We wont lie and say that we haven't been nervous, because we have. To give up all our home comforts (Ben & Jerrys, Sky TV and Wilson the fish) has been very very hard. But once we have said our final goodbyes and are on-board the plane with a cold beer and a bottle of WKD blue we will be fine.
We will be swapping our decent jobs and our city center apartment on the river in Leeds, for lazy days on a beach, flip flops and 20 man dormitories.
Below is a list of all the fears that we both plan to face and hopefully conquer......!
Kim
* Flying.
* Sleeping in the same bedroom with strangers.
* Eating strange and wonderful delights in Asia (Bugs, Rats, Dog, worms etc).
* Swimming in the sea and getting eaten by a shark.
* Running out of sun cream and burning to a crisp.
* Getting caught in a Typhoon, Hurricane, Flash Flood.
* Terrorist attacks.
* Being sold into slavery by James.
* Going without makeup, cleanser, toner, hair straighteners, skinny jeans, Iron etc...
* Coming to terms with 'Travelling light'.
* Turning into a Hippy. Ha
James
* Missing the start on the Premiership
* Ipod stops working
So from little old England it's off to the city that is so good, they named it twice (quote SW & AA).
We expect you all to keep in contact and if possible come out and join us along the way.
We would like to say a big thank you to everyone for making this dream possible;
Our employers for funding the trip,
Our friends for providing us with 3 great weekends of goodbye parties, raves, BBQ's and overall madness,
and our family for their support, guidance, love and being there for when we needed them the most.
We love you all!!!
See you in a year or two.
We thought that we would give you a brief overview of the country's we have visited:[b/]
USA[b/]
We both had a great time in America and are glad that we listened to friends and family and came here first. Our favourite city must be New York as it has so much to offer, but we also really loved San Francisco for its chilled out atmosphere. We didn’t really like LA and wasn’t sure what all the hype was about….do the celebrities know something we don’t?
Even though we didn’t have much rest due to all the sight seeing and over spent on our budget we would defiantly come back and James has promised Kim a shopping trip one Christmas.
We have taken lots of cool photos and have many great memories. The people are so so friendly and really do their country proud. Even though their patriotism is a little cheesy we found it nice and wish the UK was more proud of its traditions. We were also expecting it to be very expensive however; we found most things relatively cheap compared to back home. One thing that we didn’t care too much for was how everyone expected a tip for the smallest thing.
Below is a list of our highlights:
• Strolling through Central Park without a care in the world.
• Bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge.
• Eating large tubs of ice cream on the Greyhound bus.
• Breakfast in New York.
• Drinking over priced cocktails at Shadow Bar in Caesars Palace.
• Playing Roulette (and winning) in Las Vegas.
• Shopping in Macys.
• San Diego Zoo.
• 4th July Celebrations.
• Getting a photo with ‘Dum Dum’
• Playing the giant piano from the movie BIG.
• Getting numerous tattoos branded on our bodies.
• Visiting Alcatraz.
Throughout our travels we thought we would keep a count of the following occurrences:
No. of Injuries/bites/stings: 2 (Wasp sting, Athletes foot)
No. of emotional breakdowns: 3 (all Kim)
No. of arguments: 1
No. of Tubs of Ice cream consumed: 9
No. of Books read: 3
No. of insect encounters: 1
Fiji.[b/]
What a difference it was to go from the hustle and bustle of America to the peaceful and tranquil beaches of Fiji and its many islands. We weren’t sure what to expect when we landed and as our first hotel was very nice it kind of set a false benchmark for us. We over heard a girl say that the mainland was luxurious compared to what the island resorts had to offer so we were automatically suspicious.
James really enjoyed himself and felt like a castaway a million miles away from civilization, but even though it was a paradise Kim found it hard to relax for the constant fear of attack from the creepy crawlies that lay in the bures (Our accommodation) each night.
Fiji taught us to appreciate the smaller things in life such as running water, electricity and sleeping without the fear of being eaten alive. We have both become a lot ‘closer’ now and hope the next time that one of us has to hold a lantern while the other one poo’s in complete darkness won’t be too soon.
All we can say is that it was a big learning curve and the island hopping really allowed us to get back to nature and see what it is like to ‘rough it’ on a tropical beach. We look back and laugh but Kim has made James promise that he wont bring her here on our honeymoon!!
• Watching Scrubs on the laptop under the security of our mosquito net.
• Attending the village fundraising evening and drinking lots of Cava.
• Swimming with Reef and White Tip sharks.
• Watching the beautiful sun sets on our own island.
• Snorkelling in the Blue Lagoon.
• Chilling all day in the hammocks and drinking cocktails.
No. of Injuries/bites/stings: 3 (The flu, The shits, A dodgy knee)
No. of emotional breakdowns: 2 (all Kim)
No. of arguments: 0
No. of Tubs of Ice cream consumed: 0 :O(
No. of Books read: 4
No. of insect encounters: Too many to mention. It brings back bad memories!!
Bon Voyage!!
James and Kimberley
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