23rd October - 11th November Ho Chi Min City aka Saigon Our Vietnam experience began dramatically as our plane came in to land in a thunderstorm. All we could see through the windows was the white light of lightning reflected against the surrounding cloud. Our hearts started beating considerably faster as the plane touched down for a second before taking off again. We were left in the dark, or rather flashing light, as to why for the proceeding twenty minutes or so. Dad later explained that this is the pilots ‘code’ as it were; ‘aviate, naviga [View Full Entry]

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Bali 1st October - 23rd October We only had 23 days to see this immense country, inconveniently divided up by huge expanses of water which seriously disturbs travel plans. Still, it makes for a good deal of beauty and diversity. Our first stop was Legian in Bali which was admittedly my second trip in as many years. We were kindly put up by Anna, Chiara’s mum and this time, due to the addition of boyfriend, I had the honour of sleeping in Chiara’s room. We were very grateful to finally arrive at midnight (Anna had planned to meet us at the [View Full Entry]

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1st Septembet - 1st October The first leg: Sydney to Airlie Beach Australia, the expansive country that surpassed all expectations with its diversity and natural beauty, enthralled us. The adventure started in Sydney on a double decker train which took us from the airport to our delightful hostel-come-student accommodation in a pleasant leafy suburb. We spent three days sightseeing Sydney on travel cards that enabled us to travel by double decker train, bus and ferry. As well as the Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach (in the rain) we also took [View Full Entry]

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Nueva Zealanda, as we couldn’t help thinking of it on arrival, took a while to adjust to. It was good week until we managed to shrug off the automatic ‘Hola,’ and relax into the ease of thinking in our own native tongue. Now, I fear, much of our Spanish is already lost. The North Island The flight was long, uncomfortable and predominantly sleepless and on arrival at the hostel (5am) we could not get in. There was no door bell. A trip down to the internet cafe and a skype call later, we were admitted into a dingy hostel and an [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Santiago around 8am and took the metro to Republica where our guide book suggested some cheaper hostels. These were not to be found, either having closed down or apparently never having existed. After about half an hour of walking with heavy bags we gave up at a ‘residencial’ in the style of a typical English old fashioned B+B. This cost us about $45 a night and didn’t even come with the latter ‘b’. We spent the remainder of the day scouting out ways to get to El Colorado, a nearby ski resort where we would spend my birthday. [View Full Entry]

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As I mentioned, the start of our journey into Argentina was something of a nightmare. A taxi took the two Irish guys, James and I to the bus terminal. It was there we incurred our first proper theft; a small invaluable bag to any thief but very valuable to us. It contained my mate gourd (an early birthday present) and 8 months of knitting work. Typical, 9 months travelling in impoverished and developing countries and we have no problems, we set foot in the relatively prosperous and developed Argentina and incur our first proper theft. The walls inside and surrounding the [View Full Entry]

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Copacabana y Isla del Sol We arrived in pleasant but touristy Copacabana in the early afternoon and found a great hostel with a beautiful lake facing room for under $10 before treating ourselves to a decent meal and a delicious glass of vino tinto to celebrate our arrival into wine country at long last. We were awoken with a knock at the door the following day and it wasn’t until we’d leisurely got ourselves up and ready for breakfast that we discovered that Bolivia is an hour ahead of Peru and thus we were about to miss our boat to Isla [View Full Entry]

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Peru 19th May We arrived in the Lima smog and spent a few rather uneventful days in preparation for our 20 hour bus ride to Cusco. The bus was great on first appearance but as the journey went on we discovered the air conditioning didn’t work and we were sitting on top of the bus’ radiator or engine. Suffice to say it was sweltering. I could hardly breathe and James got really sick and spent half the time in the corridor. To top it all off, the bus company had failed to inform the bus that I was a vegetarian and [View Full Entry]

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Quito The journey to Quito was rather amusing. At the airports all the staff and most of the passengers were wearing masks to save themselves from the dreaded ‘swine flu’. We had already read that these do little to prevent the virus and opted to risk it. Landing in Quito felt much like landing in Heathrow, bar the mountains, grey and drizzly with patchwork fields. From the airport we took a bus and then a tram to the area where our hostel was supposed to be and then spent a good while looking for it. Once found, we were rewarded with [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Bocas del Torro (a Caribbean island off Panama) after a painless journey around lunchtime. Once we had settled ourselves into our hostel and reacquainted ourselves with the German couple whom we had befriended in El Castillo we headed to Wizard Beach. Like Cahuita, the Caribbean culture dictates that most things are in English as well as or sometimes instead of Spanish. The local Caribbeans here speak a dialect akin to Patwa although it often seems to be injected with some Spanish as well. We were a little surprised to find that Wizard beach (the nearest beach) was nearly [View Full Entry]

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