http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/LFrisard/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from LFrisard en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:01:18 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:01:18 +0000 My first night in Dresden was spent in New town Neustadt. It is a small section of downtown Dresden with multiple bars and restaurants to appeal to your more eclectic side. There is also a fair contingent of alternative types who are a flashback of the 80s with their leather wild hair and fairly rough demeanor. We roamed the streets with me trying to translate German into English fairly w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Saxony/Dresden/blog-202774.html Broome to DarwinnbspAustralasia raquonbspAustralia raquonbspWestern Australia By LFrisardJune 9th 2007Lori FrisardWhat a great trip Australia is my favorite country by far. I will definitely go back and visit it again http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/blog-168920.html Exmouth to BroomenbspAustralasia By LFrisardJune 1st 2007Lori FrisardFrank and I did a six day tour with Western Xposure from Exmouth to Broome where we visited the Karinjini National Park. We met some wonderful people saw amazing gorges pools and jumped into every body of water that was there 7 meters being the most impressive. The following photos highlight the tour that we had http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/blog-164515.html After my last blog of how to enjoy a country when you are only a tourist I decided to take a 21 day tour up the west coast of Australia through the company Western Xposure My only other option was to rent a car sleep in it and shower at rest stops...needless to say I decided not to. Frank and I are doing the tour together with 14 other people in a 4WD vehicle with a trailer on the back. Our firs http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/blog-160625.html I am sitting in an internet cafe in the Bangkok airport as I just arrived from Tokyo and my next flight is early in the morning. Supposedly there is a place that I can sleep upstairs so I am taking that chance because by the time I take a taxi to the city I will not have that much time to sleep. I decided that this would be a good time to write some travelling observations that I have had in the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-158390.html Kyoko's mom Fumiko lives in the city of Fukuoka which is in the southwestern part of Japan. It was my first time there and what a beautiful area. Her mom lives in a 2story home in a traditional Japanese neighborhood that is unlike Tokyo. Tokyo has been very commercialized and most people live in multistory apartment buildings. Even though Fukuoka has kept up with the times there is still a fee http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Fukuoka/blog-157967.html Sumo 1Sumo 2 My friends the Isatsu family met me at the airport with open arms after not seeing each for four years since their move back to Japan. Kyoko and Katsu have two children Asumi and Hiroto who are 5 years old and 20 months respectively. This was my first time meeting Hiroto and he is full of energy. Asumi is bilingual and extremely precocious for her age. I enjoyed the everyday famil http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-157740.html It is said that arriving in Bangkok is a culture shock but because of all of the hype I was prepared for it. On the plane from Sydney to Bangkok I met a woman named Karen who had been to Thailand before and we agreed to take a taxi into the city together to Khao San Road. I had not booked a hostel because it was impossible on the internet but after meeting Karen I decided I would try to get a r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-155774.html GBR fish Cairns Cairns is an interesting town that most people call too touristy but after being in the red center for so long I was refreshed to arrive at a beach town. Cairns is located in the northeastern part of Australia where the Great Barrier Reef GBR is found. The town does cater to tourists but it was a great chance to stock up on things that I had been missing during my travels. Stu http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-155688.html What a start to the tour I had not really slept and had to switch buses in order to be with Esther Hilary and Rosie. Our bus had a contingent of Germans that were foreign exchange high school students and were only 16 or 17 years old. They were good though and made the long drives more fun with their singing of Justin Timberlake... We drove to the Kanyaka Homestead of the Flinders Ranges and h http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Uluru/blog-155402.html The Great Ocean Road While in Sydney I had set up this tour through the YHA travel agent with Great Adventure Tours This company was really great and I continued to travel with them. I was picked up at my hostel with two German women named Elena and Sara who I befriended on the tour. Immediately I also met three other women named Esther Hilary and Rosie who were to become an inseparable group w http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Great-Ocean-Road/blog-155043.html North Melbourne Kangaroos Melbourne Melbourne is a big city of buildings and taxi drivers that have no idea where they are going. Holly and I navigated our way to our YHA hostel and settled in for the night. We polished off her Goon bag in a box wine that is really cheap in Australia and I called in vain for my WWOOFing place. WWOOF stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms. I had arranged to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-155019.html The Three SistersKangaroos While flying to Sydney I started to realize how truly excited I was to be visiting Australia. I had wanted to go for many years and my dream was finally realized. I started to become giddy in the airplane and kept looking out the window. Once we hit land I was thinking how beautiful it looked. The land was open plains and then sparse trees that eventually became multiple http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-150148.html Esther and I arrived at Franz Josef only to discover that it was a town of two streets with 11 restaurants and other tourist shops. BUT when you look up one side of the town you are able to see Franz Josef Glacier and Mt Cook. It is very quaint and incredibly relaxing to be there. So much so that I decided to stay an extra day. The night we arrived we walked around the town which took us all of http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Franz-Josef/blog-142678.html We arrived to Wellington and the city was beautiful It had a different feeling than Auckland but it is hard to describe what it was. I liked it more and it seemed less touristy. Richard Vicky Kate and I walked around the city and arrived at the cable car that takes you up to the Botanical Gardens. The cable car ride was completely uphill and the view was pretty amazing. It was possible to see http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Abel-Tasman-National-Park/blog-141677.html White Water Rafting Rotorua is a small New Zealand town. It has white water rafting geothermal pools and a cute little downtown. We were set to go white water rafting. There was a big group of us that had met on the Magic Bus and we all went together in a bus that was driven by this crazy guy. It seemed that most of the Maori drivers that we had met were born entertainers and this one was the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-141640.html My jump LAX to NZ Leaving Los Angeles was an adventure in itself. I am currently looking for someone to teach me how to read military time because I obviously have seriously problems...I missed my flight to New Zealand I thought that 2045 meant 1145pm and not 845pm so Taya and I made our way back to her house and I settled in for another day in LA. However that was not the only holdup that I http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-140133.html What a great trip so far thing. Tonight I leave for New Zealand for 11 days and to be honest I am seriously flying by the seat of my pants. I have a hostel booked for the first night and...that's pretty much it. I have tons of stuff I want to do and I will just let the days guide me.As to Los Angeles wow Taya planned such a great time for me. The first night was spent with some great frie http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-137612.html General Suggestions 1. Start a travel blog before you go and send the link to your friends It has been a great way to communicate2. Bring comfortable shoes3. Prepare for rain everyday with an umbrella or jacket4. Bring a digital camera the computers have the capability to use all kinds of cards from digital cameras5. Try all the different kinds of food gallo pinto pollo a la lea cevi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/blog-111176.html On Friday I went to Arenal for the weekend. I wanted to experience the joy of riding in a public bus for 5 hours and wow what a joy Sarcasm intended of course. I left from San Jose in a public bus to the city of La Fortuna. The Arenal Volcano is located there which is the most popular attraction. I secured my seat next to 3 other extranjeros people from other countries. They have been i http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/Arenal/blog-108674.html