The bus left on time. We were going to have a 3 hours stop-over in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, in the middle of the night but we should be in Montreal by the morning. When we got to Ottawa I asked the bus driver where we would catch the Montreal connection. “That’s it over there.” he said pointing to the bus next to us. I went over and the new driver confirmed it. But what about the 3 hour stop-over? I have no idea because we got straight on it. “So what time do we get to Montreal?” I asked. “2:30am” came the answer. So instead of a three hour wait in Ottawa we now had a six and half hour wait in Montreal as we could hardly check into our hotel at 3am. Montreal bus ... read more

We arrived in Calgary with a bit of a problem. We didn’t actually know where our B&B was. Our map was just too big a scale to show the road so we go into a shopping mall to find a book shop. Apparently people in Calgary don’t read because there are no book stores. We find a pay phone and call the B&B - thankfully they are in and it appears we are just around the corner. The B&B is nice but the owners are having their dinner so we slip out and take advantage of still having the car by driving downtown. Downtown Calgary is pretty dead at night. Our hosts later explained that the town is so spread out and the shopping malls so big there really isn’t any need to go downtown. Calgary ... read more

“So we are staying at a B&B called ‘If-n-When’” Lins said. “No, ‘Ifanwen’ It’s a Welsh name you muppet!” I replied. Having given up on getting accommodation in Seattle we had booked a B&B in Victoria, the Provincial capital of British Columbia and were waiting for the bus to take us to the ferry. Victoria is on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, an island about the size of the UK just off the coast of BC. It is also the only Canadian city below the 49th parallel, so right across the water from the US. The ferry ride is a 90 minute jaunt through the maze of the Southern Gulf Islands which offers spectacular views of the islands as you pass. Unfortunately Lins had decided that ships aren’t her thing so remained indoors and concentrated ... read more

We took off from Raratonga at about 11pm and had a short flight across the pacific to Tahiti. Although we weren’t going to leave the airport we still had to get out and wait for a plane (the same plane we came in on) which was due to leave in about two hours. As we arrived at the airport we were met by yet more music and dancing - mostly on ukuleles and drums and were handed a flower by a Tahitian woman before we had even crossed the tarmac. My first surprise as we entered the building was that there were two aisles for passport holders - one for European passports and the other for non-Europeans. Of course as this is French Polynesia it is part of the EU so we were effectively residents! We ... read more

As we got off the plane in Fiji the warm air wafted over us. “Bula!” smiled an airport official as we walked through to the arrivals lounge. We went through the usual procedures and came out to pick up our ride to the resort. Everyone smiled as we came through the gates and asked where we were staying. Being a hardened traveller I was used to being jumped on by unhelpful taxi drivers and tried my best to ignore them but actually they were genuinely trying to help as they pointed Lins in the right direction to catch our ride. The minibus took us out of the airport and into the town of Nadi (pronounced Nandi) where the streets were dusty and very busy. We carried on to the outskirts of the town until the road ... read more