http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jeff-and-Nina/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jeff and Nina en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:56:39 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:56:39 +0000 NiederMoosI was so excited to head to Germany because my dear friend Jessica is spending 6 weeks in Weimar and after a quick chat we realized that it would be easy enough for her to take the train to NiederMoos and come stay with us for the 2 days we were there. We arrived in Frankfurt to no luggage. Not bad considering we've been on the road since the beginning of May and it's the first http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Hessen/Fulda/blog-306541.html England take twoSo back to England we go. This time itrsquos to Durham England. We arrive around midnight in Newcastle northern England and drive to our hotel about 20 minutes away. We enjoy a nice nightrsquos sleep and awake to meet everyone for breakfast a 930 am. I went with Jeroen Gene Joe Julie and Tony who had met back up with us for a walk after breakfast. We ventured to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Durham-County/blog-303229.html Luxembourghellip.And the 4 hour train rideWellhellipwe all had separate cars on the train to Luxembourg. Jeff Chuck MB Willis and I all shared a car. The boys watched a movie while MB and I both listened to music and enjoyed the scenery. After the movie was done Willis was getting a bit antsy so I gave him Jeffrsquos camera and told him to have fun He got some incredible pictures o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Luxembourg/blog-301026.html BelgiumhellipagainSo back to Belgium we headed Somehowhellipwe ended up in a town on the border of Holland and Belgium where we couldnrsquot get another train to Tongerenhellipso we called the Belgian Brass guys and they brought a couple of cars to pick us up. It was a gorgeous dayhellipso we all sat down at an outdoor caf and enjoyed some coffee. Yeshellipthere is a trend. Ca http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/blog-301023.html Dordrecht and Einhoven Holland July 9 10We left at 11am on a train for Dordrecht Holland. It was about a 3hour train ride and we had to transfer in Antwerp. Tony came with ushellipand of course we had too much fun on our train ride It consisted of listening to music transferring files from one computer to another and the obligatory dancing on the train In Antwerp we stopped for wa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/South-Holland/Dordrecht/blog-301012.html Tongeren Belgium July 7 8Leaving Corfu was sad. We had such a wonderful time in the warm weather by the ocean. We were a bit surprised to land in Amsterdam where it was over 20 degrees Celsius cooler We were picked up by Alexanderhellipa great guy who is studying piano and percussion and whose father was the head of one of the two festivals hosting us and the organist for Jeffrsquos co http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/blog-301006.html Corfu Well...not quite. Jeff and I went to the airport after spending our 2nd day in Athens. We arrived expecting to leave at 7pm on a 1 hour flight. Little did we know that Olympic Airlines had changed our flight and never told us. They randomly changed it to 1145pm. And then on top of that it was delayed until 1245. We found out later that this is typical. Armed with our 6 euro meal http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Ionian-Islands/Corfu/blog-297382.html ATHENSWe arrived at the airport in Athens around 945pm. We hailed a bright yellow Mercedes cab that brought us to our hotel located at the base of the Acropolis. It is fittingly called the Hotel Parthenon Jeff and I ventured out to have a bite to eat around 11pm. It always amazes me how many people are out to eat at that hour in Europe. But the warm summer nights make it a perfect time http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-294791.html Hi everyoneWell Nina and I have had a very busy week and we were mostly away from an internet signalhellipbut wersquore catching up on blogs now YayWARNINGTons and TONS of family pictures to followWhen last we blogged we were in Toronto with my mom and dad. My sister Suzanne was on her way. She arrived We gave her some little trinkets from Thailand and a birthday gift June 23 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Leicestershire/blog-294778.html So....I think the last time we wrote we had just arrived in Santa Barbara Long time no writeJeff and I enjoyed 4 wonderful days at home in Santa Barbara with my mom. We were able to see our good friends Laura and Peter and my dear friend from kindergarten Cuca and even catch a movie Indiana Jones We picked blackberries with my mom who then made a home made blackberry pie walked thro http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/blog-290595.html June 1015 Chillin in Santa BarbaraJune 15 Canadian Brass concert in LAJune 1625 Hanging in TorontoJune 25 Canadian Brass concert in SaintePetronille QCJune 26 July 1 Spending time with Lisa Alex and Tilly in EnglandJuly 13 Sight Seeing in Athens GreeceJuly 3 7 With Canadian Brass in Corfu GreeceJuly 8 Jeff's horn and organ recital in Tongeren Belgium 1st International Brass FestivalJul http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-286807.html After just about 24 hours of travel we're home At least home in Santa Barbara. It's strange to be back among the reality of computers although we had ours with us cell phones driving on the right side of the road and our instruments.... although I had mine with me all along it wasn't used AT ALL. So here we are amongst realityThe time difference between Thailand and California i http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Santa-Barbara/blog-286023.html Hi allWe just stopped in Tokyo on our way home Nina's heritage is half Japanese and she's never been here We were only here for 3 hours so she did all she could while in one of her motherlands. We'll put some pictures up now if we don't get pushed onto our TokyoLA flight. Nina is bursting to see so much of Japan right now. The Duty Free. The amazing sushi restaurant. The ummmm...oth http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-285734.html What can I say but WOW We've just had 3 days of SCUBA diving. We did a total of 7 dives. 4 of the dives were for Open Water Certification and 3 were Adventure Dives. We had one fellow student in our class named Veronika from Germany. Our supervising instructor was Stiofan born in Derry City Ireland our dive instructor was Claire from London England and our dive master in training http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-284923.html Hi everyoneWell we're going to sleep now after two days of SCUBA training here in Koh Tao It's amazing...yes I need to find some new superlative words...now more than ever cause this place is monolithically incredibly awesome...you will see from the pics Sorry we've been away from email for a few days. Here's what we didWe left you at Koh Phi Phi. Here are some more pics of our time t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-284284.html I donrsquot know what to say about the past 3 days except BEACHWersquove finally arrived to the completely relaxing part of our trip. Day 9 started with a 11am pick up from our hotel in Chiang Mai. We woke up pretty early because we had to meet with our tailor Nick one last time to get Jeffrsquos last few shirts and to give him our address so he could send my dresses. We enjoyed our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Phi-Phi/blog-282758.html Day 7 and 8 ThailandWe got to sleep in todayyyyy YayyyyhellipThis would have worked better if we werenrsquot out with our Zip Lining partners from California thanks Matt and Leslie Too fun.We still woke up very rested and ready to trek We were loaded into our truck and taken to a meeting placemarket where we grabbed the usual water and I thought I should grab a white hat in case we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-282775.html So we've switched it up a bit and I Nina am going to write about Day 6 too. We're a couple of days behind in our blogging as we've been away from our computer for a few days more to come in the next blog and I've got some extra time on my hands so I thought I'd give it a goI really don't know what to say about Day 6 Thailand except for ZIP LININGIt was QUITE the event Jeff and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-281858.html Thailand Day 5So Day 5helliphere we are in Chiang Mai and we have a 7 am pickup to take us to the ldquoGolden Triangle.rdquo What is the Golden Triangle you ask Where Thailand Burma and Laos all meet Itrsquos a tourist attractionhellipbut we thought it was not something to pass up. Sohellipwe hopped on a bus with 7 other people and started our drive. We really had no idea wha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-281756.html Thailand Day 4Good day and welcome to day 4 Day 4 actually starts on day 3 which if wersquore keeping track is day 2 because we lost a day on our way here. Anywayhellip.We left the internet caf and went across the street for highly recommended ldquostreet dessertsrdquohellip.of which we got 5hellipof which we liked 5 We went to the train station an hour early and dared each ot http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-281261.html