Sarah and Xavier

My trip through America consisted of four days in New York, flying to Denver, then catching the California Zephr train to San Francisco, where I had a couple of days before flying home to Auckland. New York was choice! Much grittier and grungier than I had imagined it. It all seemed so familiar yet so, well, cool. I've never seen such tall buildings and long streets. It definitely worked it's charm on me. I ate bagels and coffee (regular please!) with gusto for most of my time there, and between bagels I managed to catch two gigs - The Clean and Andrew Bird, which were both brilliant. Ordering food in America is hell. There are so many options! So much choice! Would you like ____ with that, what size _____ would you like mam, what KIND ... read more

Ireland. Who isn't part Irish? No-one that's who. In Italy, being of fairly dark complexion, I had to get used to people assuming I was Italian and hurling a barrage of indecipherable language at me, and having to shrug and say, "Me non parlo Italiano!" In Ireland, it was Sarah's turn to be mistaken as a local, and have people hurl indecipherable language at her. From our arrival at the non-existant town of Shannon on the Western coast of the Island, we hopped into a rental car and tuned the radio to a Gaelic station and had Irish jigs as road music. The pocket of Ireland we chose to visit for this Autumnal October weekend was the Dingle Peninsula - the most Mountainous part of Ireland, jutting out like a pointing finger into the Northern Atlantic. ... read more

Our "last hoorah" of proper travel before we get to Londo has been a trip, mostly on trains, through Eastern and Central Europe. Enough countries that we have to take a second's pause to search our mind before we can say which country we are in. Our last blog was in Northern Romania. As our hostel owner explained, Sighetu Marmatieu's main industry was smuggling. Many people- often old ladies- cross the bridge into Ukraine, buy cartons of cigarettes, return and sell them at a profit. Since the Ukraine cigarette prices were so much cheaper, those old ladies could make a pretty decent living, even if they smuggled cigarettes one carton a time. We visited Transylvania. the pretty town of Cluj-Napoca seemed to be less about vampires and more about quasi Austro-Hungarian Bennetton wearing University types. Budapest. ... read more

Hello! Xavier and I have spent most of the last month wwoofing on two vineyards in Tuscany - just what we needed after being in those big crazy european cities. 'Wwoofing' is 'willing workers on organic farms', which means you work on farms in return for food and board, a really great way to travel and experience life in the country. For us it turned out to be perfect and a lovely way to slow down and feel at home. Our first farm was near a charming little hilltop village Riparbella in central Tuscany - owned by Ursula and Sigusmund Hadelich - Germans who have been living in Italy for 26 years. Our time there was absolutely idyllic - we only had to work a very respectable four hours a day and weren't allowed to lift ... read more

After a funny little 12 hour interlude in Frankfurt airport where we enjoyed our first meal in Germany of luncheon sausage and cheese slices bathed in extra mayo we landed in Berlin. A very very cool city. We stayed at "John and David's Cozy Little Backbacker Hostel". The young man who checked us in was an indication that things were going to be a little different in the continent of Europe. Asia - or at least where we've been in it - is in many ways extremely conservative. After 4 months we had almost forgotten what alternative culture looked like, but Steve in Berlin was an excellent reminder: platinum blond mohawk, perfect uber punk outfit and he thought New Zealand was part of Europe... alright! As soon as we arrived we discovered Berlin is absolutely filled ... read more