Rob Wends
Robert & Wendy Golliker Joined: November 18th 2006
Logged in: May 21st 2011
Logged in: May 21st 2011
The main purpose for this Blog is to keep in touch with our family, friends, and fellow travellers as we embark on our adventure of a lifetime for around 12 months...
The grand plan(well for now at least):
South America in April’07 for 3 months - Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru(including Machu Picchu) and Ecuador(including Galapagos and Amazon Jungle). Then back to London for a week to equip ourselves with a campervan for Europe. Starting in Scandinavia for around two months and then who knows from there? Hopefully enough desire and of course cash(and possibly permission from our bank manager) to hit the ski slopes in Jan/Feb 2008. No need for Satnav as we have no idea were we are heading!
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
Carpe diem!
“Explore, Dream, Discover!”
Travel Blog Posts
Check Me.... I’m sooo big!
Yes it is true, we have completed our journey and unfortunately our beloved campervan is for sale. Actually if anybody is interested check out: http://www.robert.golliker.com/vanforsale/ So after more then thirteen months, thousands of kilometres, twenty countries and around fourteen languages its home time! Having been back in the UK for a few weeks it has taken a while to adjust back into society as we know it. However not sure if it is good news as Rob now has a job and some other news Wendy has not been too well lately since we have returned. Nope, she certainly has not! She has been suffering from morning sickness...... Thanks Jane & Chris and Steve & Lee - the baby thing is contagious. So from one adventure to the next - parenthood. Looking back we have accomplished ... read more
April 15th 2008
Just a small one for me!
Hia All, Well allot has happened since the last blog including babies & engagements!!! Hey before you get too excited, not us! Our beautiful niece, Hannah Rose Golliker was born on 24 March, weighing in at 8lbs14oz (4.040kg). Congratulations Steve and Lee. Thanks guys, more pressure on us now! Also breaking news: Cape Town comes to a standstill as thousands of single women congregate in the city for a mass protest as South Africa’s ultimate bachelor succumbs to the pressure and gets engaged. Yes Wendy’s brother, Kevin, is engaged!!! Hey Anja well done, what’s the secret? Nice one guys. Gee, the things one misses whilst away. So, time to catch up with our blog again. Having left Holland the plan was to see Berlin, Munich and then head into Switzerland and France for that last bit ... read more
Best foot forward!
Having spent so long in France it was time to move on and our next destination was to be Holland. Our plans had changed again somewhat because we had to make a little pit stop in Dover, UK, to renew the MOT on our van (an equivalent of a road worthy test completed annually). So we ended up literally spending one day in Dover, thank goodness we passed our MOT. We entered Holland from the south and slowly made our way north visiting Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Hoorn, Berkhout, Volendam and lastly the farming community of Wervershoof. We also wanted to see the small northern islands of Texel and Terschelling, however the weather was not playing its part so we had to give them a miss, this time anyway. It was surprising to see how flat Holland is, ... read more
March 4th 2008
Polar bears everywhere!
Hia all We trust that everyone is well. Can you believe we are deep into March already, how the time flies when you are having fun? Well since our last blog we have spent over 6 weeks in one destination...yes six weeks. No, we will not be making this place home! We intended to only ski here for a few days and incidentally, a few days turned into over six weeks. The ski area of Les Arcs is situated in the French Alps and our majestic little campsite positioned in the Peisey-Nancroix village, the pistes accessible by a free ten-minute bus ride. Camping Les Lanchettes is placed in a stunning valley and is next door to a cross country centre with plenty of walking and cross country tracks. We had an awesome 6 weeks in all ... read more
Schnitzel anyone?
This blog is dedicated to Lilly Golliker (Granny) - 6 March 1914 to 23 December 2007: In memory of life! Servus(hello) We entered into Austria from Italy via the impressive Brenner Pass. There was a drastic change in scenery with snow everywhere which excited us to no end as it would soon be time to don the skis. Innsbruck was our home for around 11 days (again the longest time in one destination since April 2007) and as Rob’s mom was only with us for a short time we spent the first two days visiting some of the local attractions, including Maximilian’s golden roof in the old town and it seemed mandatory to check out all of the Christmas markets. There were around four or five of them and of course we had to sample all ... read more
Merry Christmas
Hia All Here's wishing you all a Joyous Christmas and an even better New Year - hope all your dreams come true! We have made it into Austria from Italy(more on that on a later blog). We are here for that elusive White Christmas and will be spending Christmas morning on the ski slopes so we are guaranteed one! See you all next year. All the best. Rob and Wends ... read more
The Albenga coast!
Buongiorna(hello) The previous blog sent before this one was to wish you all a Merry and a Jolly. This blog carries on where we left off last year and again attempts to get us up to date (should have been one of the New Year resolutions). Well anyway welcome to the land of Italy. We ended up spending over 6 weeks here in total, the longest in any country so far. We entered into Italy from Nice, France, and slowly ventured southwards into the boot, and onto Sicily. Then it was back north into Venice and lastly Lake Garda. As you probably know the Italians are a little mad, love their food and are very passionate people. They only do thinks at 2 paces - Extremely fast or extremely slow. This made for interesting driving especially ... read more
October 31st 2007
Magic Spring!
Bonjour (hello) And over the hill we came, from Andorra and into France. Famous for: Paris, croissants, wine and cheese. Oh and the current hosts of the rugby world cup. So we have been to Paris before so no need on this trip, croissants now mandatory for breakfast, good wine and cheese is ALWAYS part of our staple diet and well in terms of the rugby it is probably sacrilege to be here and do no live games however it was still a great place to catch all the action. Yes welcome to France! Our first stop was a little gem of a town that is well known for its natural hot thermal springs so we of course thought…..pamper all the way. Unfortunately the main spas are all for medicinal purposes only. So after unsuccessfully trying ... read more
October 11th 2007
Where did that come from?
So having breezed through a delightful Portugal we exited back into Espania. Our plan was to head east to Barcelona and what ever we discovered enroute then good luck. Our first stop was Salamanca and as it was raining we only stopped one night. The next morning another English couple, now living in France, were stuck in the mud so Rob assisted them to get out. As they were stuck good n proper we eventually towed them out. Good deed done for the day we headed off. Next stop worth mentioning was Logrono and although it was a quaint town with some good wine shops we bought some rolls for lunch from a bakery and they were Euro 1.40 each, which is very expensive for a roll, although they did feel very heavy. Good thing we ... read more
Something Fishy!
Bom Dia(hello) Well we said you would be bombarded with blogs so here goes again, two in one week! So having headed up the Spanish west coast we decided to do a quick jaunt through the southern part of Portugal. Our first port of call was Quateria along the majestic Algarve coast. We did not realise that Portugal is an hour behind Spain, so of course we were an hour early for everything, which made a change. The town itself was pretty and we enjoyed a good stroll along the beachfront. It was a change from the Spanish-English coast and not so busy. We stumbled upon a fish market so we bought 1kg of large prawns, mmmm. That evening they were de-shelled and cooked in some lemon butter and of course some fine red to wash ... read more
