Our entry into Bosnia from Croatia was unusual to say the least. We had a road map of the general area and we were happily heading to Metrovic to cross the border. We reached an isolated little check point (just 2 guys in uniform waving through a steady line of traffic on a dusty disused road) and asked where the Bosnian border was - the guy just pointed and grumbled “Bosnia.” So we drove off, expecting to find border control shortly. As it happened we ended up driving about 15 minutes on tiny country roads (gravel and dirt) before we emerged to some sort of civilization. We started seeing road signs etc that were very different to those we had seen in Croatia... after much consultation of the map, we realized to our chagrin that we ... read more

We were definitely excited to be leaving behind the London “summer” and get a real summer abroad in Europe! First stop was Ljubljana in Slovenia, where we landed mid morning. We had a few hours to kill before our train departed to Lake Bled so we put our bags in storage at Ljubljana train station (2 Euros for a HUGE locker - bargain!) and headed into the capital city. We were instantly impressed with Ljubljana as a place and were glad we had a few hours to spend exploring the streets! When we first landed in Slovenia, unfortunately it was raining but this soon cleared up to make way for some great sunshine and we never saw the rain again until we returned to London a few weeks later! Ljubljana is a pint sized capital by ... read more

We touched down in Bucharest and immediately noticed the heat! It was lovely, a dry 27degrees and not a cloud in the sky :) Once we cleared customs we found the bus we needed to the city and hopped on, some random guy who spoke no English helped us with our tickets and stowing our packs - we assumed he worked for the bus people... until we got to our stop and he helped us off again and then wanted to walk us to our hotel. Needless to say, having experienced this sort of thing before, we pessimistically assumed he was dodgy and made it clear we were fine and needed no more help - he was very keen to help and this further confirmed our suspicions. But then, to our mortification we realized he was ... read more

Hi all! Time for a long overdue blog!! As most of you know, we left Asia to arrive in London in mid January - greeted by ridiculously grim weather! Although on the plus side, not long after arriving we did get to enjoy a ‘Snow Day’ - London’s heaviest snowfall in something like 20 years. The city pretty much shut down - schools were closed (Martin was stoked!) and transport came to a standstill meaning barely anyone went to work and most companies had to stay closed (so Kristi got the day off too!). But it was really fun! We were staying at Pants and Robbie’s house at the time and we spent some good times making a very classy snowman that literally had cars (the odd ones still on the road, out to explore in ... read more

Vang Vieng is not big enough for an airport so the only way to get there is by bus, we chose the most expensive option (ha ha expensive being about $30NZD) to get there hoping it would be the most comfortable. The “VIP” bus was not the most comfortable way we’ve ever travelled though, with seats with no leg room and so forth…. And the road was incredibly windy. Don’t know how we missed that important piece of info before leaving Luang Prabang! The bus wound up and down huge mountains for several hours and there were quite a few queasy looking people on the bus! We managed to see 3 accidents with trucks having slammed into cliff faces, and one truck having somehow wound up on its side and right across both road lanes spilling ... read more