Neil and Vik

We reached Venezuela safely! It gave us a lot of worry due to so many horror stories. We opted for the Cucuta to San Cristobal crossing and we can see why it is easy to miss your Colombia exit stamp. Unlike most places where everything is organised to stamp you in and out at the point of exit and entry, Colombia and Venezuela like to move the office away a bit so that you have to find it and in some cases miss it all together. If you dont get your exit stamp, the Venezuelans will try and "fine" you even though you can just walk back and get it. We did get searched, but it was such a pathetic attempt that it seemed only that the soldier was bored and wanted to be nosy and ... read more

We had another incredibly awful flight! Akin to our other one to Jakarta. Bumpy as hell and fearing for our lives. There must be somthing about flying over jungle! We arrived at Bogota in the evening. The airport is very small (considering it is the capital). There was barely a shop to buy a bottle of water. There was complete chaos outside the airport. It was gridlocked with traffic. We got a taxi and once we did get out of the traffic, it was like being in that movie "Taxi" with Queen Latifah, where the car turns into a sporty racing mobile. This guy was nuts! He was all over the road and going at high speed. It was terrifying. Police cars dont even go this fast in a high speed chase. He even locked the ... read more

The flight to Argentina from Sydney was a surprise. When we got our seats, they seemed to be not in first class and not in economy class but something in between. We noticed that the seats were bigger and instead of the usual 3, 4, 3 seat lay out, it was 2, 3, 2. We were offered champagne or orange juice before we even started moving. The flight was great. We got better food than normal too. We dont know why this happened, but what a difference it made to our flight. We arrived in Buenos Aires half an hour after we took off from Sydney (so what happened to that day????) and immediately had issues getting money at the airport. Eventually the travellers cheques have come in handy! We got into town and noticed how ... read more

Our first stop in eastern Australia, Sydney started before we even stepped off the plane with fantastic views across the harbour. Once there our search for accomodation wasn´t going well but we eventually found something near Chinatown before heading off for a nightcap. The next morning we headed off for (where else) the harbour bridge and opera house, two of the most famous Australian icons followed by Sydney zoo. Whilst walking round the zoo we saw some of interesting animals and in particular our interest was taken by the native birds (the kind with wings). As we were to find out Australia has incredible birdlife, a twitchers paradise (if thats your thing). Having seen the city from ground level we decided to get a different view of the city. After getting all the formalities out of ... read more

We managed to make it to Bali alive after our Indonesian ferry crossing. My goodness Indonesia must be the most disaster prone and unsafe travel destination ever. The stats are pretty frightening and we still intended to take a 5 hour ferry journey to Lombok after Bali. We arived in the hell hole that is Kuta. It was like leaving Indonesia. Although nice on the drive there, Kuta is a bit of a dive and very westernised with hundreds of designer shops, cheap eats and shawdy hostels and hotels. We got a room in another prison like hole and realised that we hated Kuta immediately. It was ok for cheap eats and cheap beer but even the beach is pretty ugly. Kuta is only ok for surfing and nightclubbing (are we sounding old here?) and as ... read more