Sabrina and Chris
Sabrina and Chris Lunn Joined: September 30th 2007
Logged in: August 27th 2010
Logged in: August 27th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
I know this final trip entry is late in coming but we've been a bit busy, as you might imagine, what with trying to create a new life and all. Anyway, as promised, the end of our trip. And if you are interested I might continue this blog as a "life in a new country" sort of thing. LEt me know. When we last left our heroes they were headed back to Bangkok from Ko Lanta, refreshed from a week of little more than lying on the beach. Arriving at the airport was so much different the second time. Just like arriving in Egypt the second time we felt wiser and much more prepared for the onslaught of people trying to get us to do this or that, take their taxi, etc. We knew how much ... read more
Safety First
Ok, most of you know we are actually back in Australia now, but we aren't done with Thailand stories, so let's pretend... When we last chatted we were in Phuket, looking forward to getting the hell out. It was nice to be at the beach and all, but everyone else was there, too, from tourists to hawkers, and we didn't have much peaceful-beach-time. We did, however, have some nice parasailing-time and viewing-of-transvestites-time, so it wasn't a complete waste. Parasailing was fun. It was a running start from the beach, and you trailed around the boat in the bay for a few minutes before coming gently to rest in the water and climbing back onto the boat. Some people wanted to do it without getting wet (they had come in from the cruise ship and didn't have ... read more
On the Boat
It was actually three nights but that doesn't make a good title. And we are going back for more, out of necessity for the most part (we'll get to that) but also to do some shopping. Here is the story: On our arrival in Bangkok airport (it seemed like an eternity since we left Cape Town!) we were surprised at how nice the airport was... clean, modern, easy to navigate, friendly and so on. After clearing customs, finding a bathroom, and pulling some Baht out of an ATM we were ready to negotiate a taxi fare to the hostel we had booked. Well, there wasn't much negotiation. Unlike in the US where the passenger stands in line for the taxi, at the Bangkok airport the taxi drivers stand in a line for you. You go to ... read more
I am re-publishing this post without the map for those of you who had computer problems when trying to open it last week! Tomorrow morning, at the ridiculous time of 3:00 am, we leave Sasha's house to begin a long journey to Thailand. It is crazy to think we are leaving tomorrow after an amazing 3 weeks in South Africa, and I think we are a bit shell-shocked by the idea, but excited all the same to go to another very different country. Here's how we spent the last week or so of our lives... On arriving in Cape Town we took some interesting highways to get to our friend Sasha's house (Sasha from the Y for those of you who know her). In and around major cities in South Africa are these informal settlements that ... read more
Blue Waters
*I don't think the map feature is working since it kept crashing Firefox... be warned! Tomorrow morning, at the rediculous time of 3:00 am, we leave Sasha's house to begin a long journey to Thailand. It is crazy to think we are leaving tomorrow after an amazing 3 weeks in South Africa, and I think we are a bit shell-shocked by the idea, but excited all the same to go to another very differnt country. Here's how we spent the last week or so of our lives... On arriving in Cape Town we took some interesting highways to get to our friend Sasha's house (Sasha from the Y for those of you who know her). In and around major cities in South Africa are these informal settlements that are literally just shacks stacked so closely together ... read more
On the Road Again
It's been a long time comin', and no thanks to slow internet connections and flooding internet shops (see below) we can finally tell you about South Africa… what can we say? Well, a lot, so let’s get started. We arrived in South Africa at Johannesburg airport early in the morning. After getting our rental car we headed straight out of town. No one wants to spend too much time in Johannesburg, what with the highest crime rate in the WORLD, even though the travel guides swear you should give it a try. While Chris remembered how to drive on the left side of the road and I figured out where we were going (not being on insurance and having no left-hand-driving experience means I am master navigator) we realized it was awfully hot for 8 am. ... read more
Cool Columns
I am going heavy on the pictures, light on the content this time, folks. Here is the Reader's Digest update: Spent a few days in Santorini, Greece, rented a 4-wheeler and didn't kill ourselves even with Chris at the wheel (or handlebars). It was only a 50 cc and I'm pretty sure my parent's neighbor's 6 year old son has one that powerful. We were CRUSIN' uphill. Came to Naxos and almost didn't get off the ferry. We are talking a BIG ferry and they almost couldn't put the ramp down on the pier due to winds and turbulent seas... Seriously almost didn't let us off. Once they did I think my 40 ound bag was the only thing that kept me from flying off into the harbor. The next day was nice and we sat ... read more
Sunrise in Cairo
As we sat by the Red Sea last night eating dinner we decided that Egypt is definitely on our short list of must-come-back-to-this-place places. How did this leg of our journey begin? Well, with complete and utter chaos as mentioned in a previous posting. It ends as we sit here trying to stay awake after packing so much into such a short time. Our flight to Greece leaves at 3:45 am (again, you get what you pay for, right?), which is a fitting end to a week that has included hot desert sun, nice and not-so-nice trains, 19 hours on a Greyhoud-type bus, a three hour hike at 3 am, and more than 10 total hours in packed mini busses. The day we arrived in Egypt we met with "Metallica," the guest service guy at our ... read more
Forget everything you learn in America.. the whole "pedestrians have the right of way" thing is not going to keep you alive. One of the first things we have to do in any new city is to figure out on which level the pedestrians fall on the person-bike-scooter-car chain of command. In some places, like Brussels, we were pretty confident crossing the street. In Paris we just had to watch the crosswalk signs. In Prague we only occasionally feared for our life at the start, but got good at knowing when you could cross even if there was no little green man. Cairo crosswalks scare the crap out of us. Remember Frogger? Yeah, it's like that. Seriously, the best method we have found to keep as far from death as possible is to find a local ... read more
Just a quick note because I don't know when we will be connected again... We arrived in Austria today. The train ride was lovely (even though we went second class... we are getting spoiled with our first class tickets!). Vienna is a nice city, even though it is cold and windy and a bit rainy. No pictures right now (though I have a few) but a few thoughts and one request... *it's really cool that there are so many dogs in Europe, and that thez can pretty much go anywhere. It is really not cool that there is a lot of poop on the sidewalks. *Packing and re-packing is becoming a real pain. And it's weird - I do it differently everytime, the result of which is that I really don't know where anything is. *You ... read more
