http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Mercurycatcher/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Mercurycatcher en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:59:32 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:59:32 +0000 Manoevering their colourful logo covered planes through the tough river Danube course demands exceptional skillexperience and almost superhuman like aviation knowledge. Only the world's very best pilots compete in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. The race pilot's know exactly which speed is right for each sector. Flying too slow means losing the race so does flying too fast over the 370 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-430841.html I had been to Latvia before some years back on my friend's obligatory stag do to mourn the passing of his final days of batchelordom and to celebrate his impending marriage. I'm making him sound like a condemned man honest she's lovelyI really liked the country and the people so I was determined to come back to Eastern Europe again and see a bit more for a bit longer and a bit less drunk this t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Riga-Region/Riga/blog-406848.html There is a beautiful place on this planet with the power to take your breath away hidden away from mainstream tourism's eyes.I'd heard such amazing stories from the very few people that I had met that had visited some of the remote areas of Namibia that it fired my imagination and I made a mental note to put it into my own personal bucket list things to do before I kick it as one of the to http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Etosha-National-Park/blog-272685.html The Sultanate of Omanis in my opinionthe jewel of Arabia and a perfect tonic to escape the cold wet European winter for a while. I found this beautiful country to be a fivestar experience in a region sadly dominated for so long by violence and intolerance. It has been ruled by the same family for over 250 years and is a glimpse into an old kingdom as it once was before the wider region discover http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-243641.html After flying down from Aberdeen I had an overnight stay at one of the many hotels dotted around Heathrow Airport I flew out early next morning on the Virgin Atlantic flight bound for Miami for my connecting American Airlines flight to Mexico. The trans atlantic journey was good with the usual high standards I have come to expect from Virgin. I can never get any shut eye when I travel in cattlec http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Cancun/blog-222225.html Scotland is the big and the small the vast open spaces and thin cracks the wind and the rain the sun and the clouds. No matter where you are taken you find depth whether in the textures of clouds or faces of people and mountains. Scotland is wide for all to see and experience. Nature is busy up there wearing down mountainswhipping them with wind and rain. Ancient forests are gone greenery http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Braemar/blog-218181.html The land of the long white cloud or Aotearoa as the early Polynesian settlers called it on sighting it's beaches after their sea crossingis an incredibly diverse and beautiful place simple words cannot do it justice. It had always been one of my life long ambitions to someday visit Lord of the rings country and I was fortunate to have recently achieved this by spending an unforgetable thr http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-211827.html