The second break of the year took us to France to celebrate Lisa and Peter's wedding in Provence. We flew on Friday morning from a sunny Stanstead with the exceptional Ryan Air to Marseille and surprisingly arrived in glorious sunshine - it wasn't to last. Hiring a car along with Betty we drove to Lorgues along typically dangerous French Auto Routes and once off the main road through picturesque villages surrounded by vineyards to our hotel in Lorgues. Parking outside we were a bit dubious as to what Sally had booked - it looked like a typical French town house in [View Full Entry]

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After a quick flight across the channel we were met in Geneva by a very tanned Paul (Nick's cousin) - obviously he had been hard at work being a ski bum. We got to Argentiere, 15 mins beyond Chamonix, and made ourselves feel very welcome in Paul's new apartment by delving into the sauscisson, I resisted the chocolate cookies even though secretly I wanted one but I thought it polite and girly not to scoff all of Paul's food on the first day. We had a couple of beers and then rested our weary heads on the newly washed sheets - [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick weekend break a couple of months ago in an attempt to get some sun over the summer! Great little location in the south of France and very little done apart from eating, drinking and spending time at the beach! If only every weekend could be the same. Thanks L,, J, L and D for putting us up hopefully we can do it again soon. St Tropez - lovely little town ruined by a load of big boats! [View Full Entry]

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Having been back at home for all of 5 weeks it was certainly time for another holiday. We had the perfect excuse, tagging on to Gillie and Gary's wedding in Troon - a week in Scotland. An easyjet flight and rental car got us to our holiday cabin which would be home for the week along with Debbie, Amanda, Dave, Mish, Josh, Jimma, Claire and Huxley. It could have been plucked out of Scandanavia and put down in Ayrshire - complete with sauna too! The setting was perfect and the weather stunning (on arrival) and the holiday spirit easy to get [View Full Entry]

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Our final blog - phew I can hear you all say! This encompasses our last week of freedom which we managed to make as busy as ever! After enjoying a few days in Kathmandu, Nepal, we flew back to Varanasi - the holy Mecca of India. VARANASSI We had forgotten how hot, busy and manic India was. In the evening we took a cycle rickshaw in the 96 percent humidity down to the Ghats. Ghats are the sacred temples on the river banks that have steps leading down to the water, there are some 60 Ghats lining the Ganges River, [View Full Entry]

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After much persuasion I finally convinced Nick that is was a much better decision to hike for 16 days through the Himalayas, experience altitude sickness and trek to the Everest Base Camp rather than going for the easy trekking option of flying to Jomsom, trekking 5 days downhill and having no problems of getting back to Kathmandu! We joined a group of 5 other trekkers and our Everest Base Camp trek started in a very civilised manner with a traditional Nepalese meal and dancing which included a Nepali version of Emu, a dressed up Peacock, and some mad dancer dressed [View Full Entry]

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India and Nepal Sally Evers & Nick Griffith The lure of spotting tigers in the wild was the draw to Ranthambore National Park, just a few hours from Jaipur by train. Ranthambore is supposed to be one of the best places in India to see Tigers in the wild and we were not disappointed! Our arrival meant we could do a safari that same afternoon, despite the truck arriving a little late we got to the park and started the search. Ranthambore is an old Maharajas hunting area and is overlooked by another amazing fort and has various l [View Full Entry]

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We stepped off the plane in Udaipur, Rajastan and into what seemed like an oven. With the daily average temperature around 43 degrees this is the hottest place I had ever been to. We were tempted with the aircon in the taxi but as it was going to cost us 2 quid we wound down our windows and enjoyed the boiling breeze. We checked into Dream Heaven hotel and got an air con room that overlooked the infamous lake. Udaipur (known as the City of the Lakes) was breathtaking and sums up what India is all about: beautiful palaces, windy old [View Full Entry]

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Bangalore - Mumbai Sally Evers & Nick Griffith Our friend Amanda was arriving in Bangalore at the sociable hour of 4.30am so we went to go and meet her at the airport. We did not give Amanda much time to catch up on her jet lag as took a train to Mysore in the afternoon. As it was Amanda's first night we opted for the semi-deluxe room for 3 quid extra. We spent our first day in Mysore visiting the beautiful palace that was designed by an Englishman. Amanda being quite white and very blonde was intriguing to locals and [View Full Entry]

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After the peace and quiet of the backwaters it was straight back into the thick of things with a relatively short bus journey North to Cochin. The buses were strangely not on time and we had to wait a while in the intense heat - then 3 came at once and typically everyone tried to get on the first one - there are just too many people in India! We made it to Fort Cochin via a brief rickshaw ride and then our cheapest trip to date - 5 rupees for a ferry across to the peninsula. Fort Cochin is a [View Full Entry]

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