RibenaCactusTravels

SEVILLE --> LISBON (new years eve) Today, we started off with a very very long bus ride across the border of Spain to Portugal. The scenery was much the same - the expansive Spanish country side seemelssly merging into the green sloping hills of Portugal. Though I must say the trees were not arranged in the perfect straight lines like the olive trees around Spain. There was no border security - as per the agreement of the EU nations. But there was a whole expanse of no man's land - complete limbo between Spain and Portugal and just countryside. Probably helps keep a civil and peaceful relationship along the border. In fact, in this limbo was a service station which was still considered Spanish and thus with cheaper fuel prices than Portugal - a station that ... read more

SEVILLE AT LEISURE Today was a complete free day to explore Seville. There was an optional excursion to Cordoba to see the Moorish castles. However, instead of joining them on what was apparently a great excursion, to do some shopping along our street at the local chain stores. There was plenty to see and some nice sales as well. This was first of many visits to stores like lefties, el cortes ingles, zara and other European stores. Then we went to Maccas - for market research of course to see how the Spaniards like their burgers and all. And man was the place packed - very very popular. Waited about half an hour just to get to the front of the line. And of course, the free WiFi may have been a contributing factor to the ... read more

GRANADA --> SEVILLE We were staying at the Saray Hotel Granada - one of the highlight hotels of the trip due to the access to free WiFi. That night we Skyped home and got to see Louis! - albeit very jumpy and temperamental. The television was not nearly as good as our hotel in Madrid - with no options to change the programs into Spanish. Nevertheless the hotel was very spcious with truly comfortable beds - and truthfully we weren't there very long till we were woken up very early again to continue on our way. As the sun rose, we drove to the Alhmabra Palace. It was up upon the high mountains - in which gypsies live in caes quite literally nestled into the mountain sides. The time and altitude of Alhambra combined created a ... read more

MADRID --> TOLEDO --> GRANADA First early morning of the nine-day Insight Tour. The buffet breakfast was glorious with so much variety. The typical hot food and fruit and then we had churros, various pastries ike danishes and croissants and even mini small baguettes. We went straight onto the bus to start our ride to Granada, with the first stop at Toledo. Toledo was the previous capital of Spain before madrid. It was a rather ancient town but very well-preserved. We first stopped just out of the city centre for a beautiful photo opportunity. We had gotten up so early in the morning, it had still been dark. And so, as the sun rose over the ancient city of Toledo, we were able to take beautiful panoramic shots of the town. A staple in any Spanish ... read more

At a minute before Dec 27th, we boarded our first flight to Madrid. It was about a 12 hour flight with a crying/screaming baby through the entire time. Luckily the red-eye flight meant we were able to stay asleep for most of the trip. The food, I must say was really quite good as well. (thanks Swiss Air) Then we had one hour stop over in Zurich. It was quite early in the morning (perhaps around 9...i'm not quite sure) and still there was hardly anyone around. Going through some security checks, customs and merely walking to what seemed like the opposite side of the airport killed that hour and not before long we were on our second flight to Madrid. We were delayed for a few minutes here because the wing was too icy to ... read more

So, this is all a bit belated but here's a quick run down on our Christmas festivities in Hong Kong. To tell the truth it really wasn't much. Christmas isn't much of a big deal in Hong Kong. There is a tradition to countdown to midnight with friends on Christmas Eve. In fact, out in Causeway Bay and Central there were plenty of people flocking to the clubs and other such gathering spots to celebrate and ring in Christmas day. I too went to Causeway Bay that night but relatively early - apparently missing the biggest crowds. However, already with so "little" people I felt flooded on all sides with people absolutely everywhere. The MTR train was packed, the streets were packed. Everywhere you looked there were just more people. I have no clue how there ... read more

So we have rather limited time in Hong Kong this trip...which is rather a shame as I am just coming to realise just how awesome shopping in Hong Kong really is. Perhaps its the freedom of not being dragged around only to the places our mother enjoys, or just that Australian retail has seemed lacking in the past few months and this is satiating the pent up desire to spend or the fact that - thank goodness - the AUD is comparatively strong and everything seems cheap; but all in all it is fantastic. We spent a few hours in Longham Place - the hugest shopping centre I have ever seen I swear! We hardly scratched the surface of the shops. I guess one of the major pull-backs from us spending all our money in these ... read more

And so the journey begins. A month or so of sibling fun and festivities has finally commenced after about a year of dreaming, planning and stress, I sit here in my hotel bed in Hong Kong with my sister. It has been an extremely long day of travelling. First leaving behind the gloomy weather plaguing Sydney at this "summer" time, we boarded a nine hour flight on a cramped, economy flight (with more babies then I have seen in all my past flights combined) with scarcely many asians - surprising as it was a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. Then it was a rather scenic but long bus ride to the Hong Kong Island. As much as I enjoy the fast pace of the double decker buses, every single turn seemed to be way too ... read more