Nikki
I'm taking a year out to enjoy some travelling,experiencing new things and generally living it up. Initially, I'll be working in Pakistan for a bit. Other than that, a visit to the US, hiking in Nepal, Patagonia and the Camino de Santiago are the only plans so far.Nikki SA
Travel Blog Posts
Boston and New York
Published: November 16th 2011North America » United States » Massachusetts » Boston
September 23rd 2011
So, my trip into the US started in Boston in fall. How great! I got to start out visiting old friends (incl my godson). We headed out almost immediately on a roadtrip to New York for a wedding. This included an evening in Times Square, taking the kids to Central Park Zoo, seeing Ground Zero (having a moment there to reflect), hotdogs in the village, the Natural History Museum ... generally a fantastic city. Wish I had booked the tour to the Ground Zero memorial before getting there. Boston itself is a charming city. I walked part of the Freedom Trail, spent a day wandering Harvard and had dinner with a friend in a Cheers-like bar. Unexpected highlight: the library! It has some incredible art, plus a great coffee-shop.... read more
September 22nd 2011
Wow, I only spent a week in Iceland but it really has been the most special place I've visited on this trip. The landscape is so unique, changing rapidly and ALIVE. After our near-death experience on the hike, things calmed down and Melissa and I had the chance to relax in the Blue Lagoon - an innovative idea to use the warmed water filled with natural silica as outdoor baths (plus they make very nice beauty products). Then we had dinner out where I tried Minke whale - a strangely beef-like meat. The next day, I had the chance to see my first real Minke whale in the bay. It was more whalespotting than watching, but it was a calm, gorgeous day on the boat and the dolphins and Minkes just rolled up and over in ... read more
September 20th 2011
Please note: all the photos and titles have been mixed up during the upload by travelblog. So sorry, try to imagine how they should be! Iceland is just gorgeous. I arrived to near-zero visibility, driving rain and icy temperatures, but still I was instantly in love. The landscape is magnificent and the postcard pictures finally do a place justice. The ground is black larval rock that rises in mounds like giant chocolate muffin tops, breaking through. There is soft, luxurious. luminous green moss covering most of it, with sprinkles of red, orange and yellow flowers. Yummy! Melissa took me on a drive on the first day to see the geothermal areas. Here, the ground is literally broken open by hot steam and water. They bore holes into the ground to capture the steam in pipelines that ... read more
Camino de Santiago - our way
Published: September 20th 2011Europe » Spain » Galicia » Santiago de Compostela
September 15th 2011
Well, it was a two part journey for me. Part one was the first 220km from St Jean to Santa Domingo. This I walked with mom and Beulah, a good friend who inspired the pilgrimmage. It was tough - I was out of shape from not doing anything in Pakistan, tortorous blisters defined my day, and Spain hit temperature highs not seen in 20 years. One day, we reached 42 degrees! Part 2 took Beulah and I on the last 150km of the French Camino route. I missed out on seeing Paris with mom - visa issues. But we all met up for an awesome, packed day in Paris - Notre Dame, bus tour, Sacre Coeur etc. Then we flew up to Biarritz and began with our first night in the quaint village of St Jean ... read more
May 5th 2011
Well, Nepal is amazing. Kathmandu is a crowded, noisy, colourful, random city filled with friendly, welcoming people. I started the trip in an awesome hotel with a swimming pool (which I made use of!) and spent a morning doing the touristy spots. I met Anders, a Swedish guy who was joining my "tour" for the first while and would then split up to go on to Everest Base Camp. Bikram, our guide from Hi on Life was awesome. He was also heading to the Everest region for the first time so we were meeting two experienced porter/guides in Luhkla to take us for the hike, Harry and Om. Hi on Life provided us with -40 sleeping bags, cleeping bag liners and serious down jackets (all were well used en route). Our first trek day was spent ... read more
April 14th 2011
Hi all Yes, it's a 10 hour stay in Doha airport. Aargh! I'm heading now to find the quiet room, unroll my little sleeping bag inner and hope for some sleep. Brussels was great but I really one-of-those-days yesterday. I literally had only that day to get my visa for Pakistan so I prepped my bag the night before, headed out for some sightseeing (more on that later), met up with the boys from the training course for dinner at one of the girls' places and crawled into bed pretty late for the early start I had planned. Btw I found a great Boschendal wine at the local supermarche for the dinner!! So, up early, first train, at the office 30 min early, go in, can't find passport, panic, run for train back to hotel, punch ... read more
April 3rd 2011
Finally, I've arrived at the start of my trip. My description of Norway would be ... WHITE. I didn;t see the runway through the fog, then gradually, my first views were white, white snow. The cold is breathtaking, literally and I suffered while walking around yesterday. Today, I'll be wearing nearly all my clothes. It's only around 4 degrees but there's an icy breeze. I don't know how people cope in -22 degrees in Russia and Canada. Crazy!!! Oslo is a beautiful, friendly place. I'm headed to some of the favourite tourist spots today - walk on the Opera house, the National Gallery to see Edvard Munch's "Scream" and obviously the Nobel Centre. I'm not sure if I'll fit in a Norwegian boat or Kon-Tiki museum. I've got to leave for the main meeting at 4ish. ... read more
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