Jonathon Lees
Jonny Lees
And it begins.....
Hey all! I will be departing my humble abode in Wilmslow and exploring the world. I will be setting off on a 6 month trip visiting China, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and America.
....But dont worry you can keep in touch via the blog and follow me on my travels!!!
The route is:
Manchester to London - London to Beijing - Beijing overland to Hong Kong - Hong Kong to Bangkok - Bangkok overland to Singapore - Singapore to Cairns - Cairns overland to Sydney - Sydney to Christchurch - Christchurch overland to Auckland - Auckland to Nadi - Nadi to Los Angeles - Los Angeles overland to San Francisco...
The Guys that feel they want to follow me and share my experiences are my great mates..
Twin Bro Nicholas Lees Nicholas' blog
Richard Huntington Richards blog
Ross Macfarlane
James Caroll
The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes "sight-seeing.
and just for all those who know about me and my poor direction skills...
Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness
Visited Countries Map
Travel Blog Posts
The end to an amazing adventure!
Published: August 18th 2008Europe » United Kingdom » England » Cheshire » Wilmslow
August 18th 2008
So after visiting 3 continents, 10 countries, taking 16 flights, sleeping in 78 different beds over a period of 177 days 5 members of the GYC walked through arrivals in Manchester airport.. Thoughts of the last 6 months ran frantically through my mind¡K The 200+ fellow travellers we had met, countless new friends and how each individual had impacted upon our experiences. The Animals: viewing endangered animals such as pandas, riding elephants, playing with tigers, stroking sharks and chasing dolphins. The Cities: whether it be our first destination Beijing where we climbed the snow covered ¡¥Great Wall¡¦ receiving fascinated stares from the Chinese citizens at us 5 young westerners. Or 6 months later, our last destination San Francisco where we drove over the Golden Gate bridge in sweltering heat. The Views we have seen: whether it ... read more
Our final destination San Francisco
Published: August 18th 2008North America » United States » California » San Francisco
August 18th 2008
San Francisco We said some sad goodbyes to Paul, Coren, Nick and Katey who we had had such great fun with over the last week. However it was time for our final destination San Francisco! After a long drive we crossed the Golden Gate bridge listening to “because we are going to San Francisco” ..made sense. The cities roads were rather confusing and this was proven when Rick accidently went up a one way road the wrong way. We continued our sight seeing and visited Lombard Street, a beautiful wiggly street through a botanic garden. For dinner we feasted on what could arguable be the best pizza in the world at Uncle Vetoes. Our hostel was rather interesting as it was a small building located next to the homeless shelter. As we walked down our hostels ... read more
Independence day on the Lakes
Published: August 18th 2008North America » United States » Nevada » Lake Tahoe
August 5th 2008
Lake Tahoe After leaving San Diego we headed across to a new state Nevada! James who has done this journey before directed us through the dessert. It was a long 10 hour journey but the views were interesting; barron lands, mountains and mirages being created by the heat. I had a bit of an error when I stuck my head out the window at 80 mph and forgot I had my seeing glasses on...I no longer have them. We stopped at one point in the dessert which had been recorded as the hottest temperature reached in the world. We met James' other cousins Nick and Katie and aunty and uncle Paul and Coren. The family were going to look after us for the next few days. We decided to drive to Lake Tahoe to soak up ... read more
July 29th 2008
San Diego New hire car , ipod, sunshine, GYC could only mean one thing ...roadtrip!A 5 hour trip where we passed through some famous sights such as Laguna Beach, OC and Disneyland. Some great tunes where being blasted out and our singing to add to the racket made the journey a very enjoyable one. We were actually on our way to spend a few days in Escondido with James relatives. We were treated very well by the family and our first meal was a big juicy steak ( the first in a long time). The house was massive and came with a snooker table, plasma TV and a washing machine. 3 things that we missed very much so in Fiji. Our first afternoon consisted of visiting the local American football pitch where Brooks(James cousin) taught us ... read more
America -Lifestyles of the rich and famous!
Published: August 5th 2008North America » United States » California » Los Angeles
July 29th 2008
LA Nearly didn't succeed in getting into "the land of the brave" had a few issues at the airport. Firstly leaving Fiji I wondered why my tickets claimed Hon Jonath Lees. Several checkout ladies asked my what royalty do you know thinking Hon stood for Honourable. I asked the Fijian checkout man why I was honourable and then he changed his tone as he doubted it was my passport. 10 quick fire questions later I was allowed to leave Fiji phew. On arrival in USA immigration didnt go too well either. "Sir are you wasting my time" I had forgotten to fill out all the paperwork. Quite a few heads turned to hear his raised voice. I quickly filled it in then accidently put my wrong finger in the scanner. " Sir! YOU are wasting my ... read more
July 29th 2008
After a week on beaches we were looking forward to a cruise around the Yasawa Islands. The cruise was called the Wanna Taki Cruise and was renown for being a party boat. We were greeted by song, dance and a refreshing cocktails. The boat was impressive; top deck was for sunbathing, diving off,drinking and eating whilst the bottom deck had TV facilities and our beds for the next 2 nights. We met up with some English guys and American girls from previous Islands and decided to take a trip snorkelling around the nearby reef. There was supposed to be giant manta rays around however we only managed to view the normal clown and nemo fish. I was tying to improve my swimming technique with my flippers on, however this resulted in my receiving outrageous cramp so ... read more
July 15th 2008
Fiji Our plan for Fiji was to Island jump for 13 days around the Yasawas. We arrived at our first Island on Friday 13th, ironic as it was pouring with rain! We jumped of the passenger ferry onto a small canoe which was to take us to the Island of Quata. We looked like refugees cowering under blankets to take cover from the rain that was torrential. Our accommodation was set in the Fijian’s village with a beautiful sea view. We met some of the village people who taught us to weave bracelets out of bamboo. They also treated us to a traditional Fijian dance, which basically involved us strutting our stuff YMCA style. My highlight of Quata Island however has to be the shark diving! We took a very bumpy journey on the jet boat ... read more
Watching the 'All Blacks' in Wellington
Published: June 10th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington
June 10th 2008
We flew in on saturday 7th June to Wellington. It was quite a scary flight especially when we were landing and the plane kept shifting left and right due to the wind. The pilot added to the tension when he said on the tanoid check your nearest emergency exit! Anyway all was well and we soon checked in to our hostel very early and fell asleep because we were shattered. In the afternoon we decided to visit the museum where we lucky enough to catch a music artist playing an acoustic live set...for free. He was amazing and enlightened our mood as we were all feeling quite down as we missed Queenstown and the friends we made there. We then saw some interesting exhibitions on wingless parrots and partcipitated in an earthquake. In the evening we ... read more
June 3rd 2008
We have been looking forward for Queenstown for quite a while because we are here for a week and can have lie ins and take it easy. My first impression was that it reminded me of a french skiing resort. Ski season starts on the 7th of June so lots of preparation is going on around the town. We hadn't been out in a major town for a while so all 50 of us on the bus had arranged for a great night in the clubs of Queenstown. It was probably one of the best nights out this gap year as everyone gets on so well and are up for a great laugh. We finished the night by having a fergburger, these burgers worldwide famous and are meant to be the biggest burgers in the world..they ... read more
Climbing Franz Joseph glacier and Wanaka
Published: May 31st 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef
May 31st 2008
So we had just skydived and our next exciting task was to climb Franz Joseph Glacier! We were all geared up with Ice pics, hats, gloves, spikes on our shoes and coats. We first of all treked it through woods climbing some pretty steep ladders but this was nothing to what we would be climbing later. We were split into two groups we all ended the harcore group 1. We put our spikes on and headed up the glacier itself. We formed a line after our guide who took us through some amazing creeks and crevaces. We went through ice tunnels, extremely tight cracks and over small pools of water. We had to tie ropes on to the rocks then pull ourselves up. Our guide told us it had been the best day for hiking in ... read more
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