Shaz Guy

We left Dubai about 8.30 in the evening and flew to Hong Kong, arriving around 6am the next morning. We had a three hour stopover so we spent the time in the Qantas Club and read our first Australian newspapers for nearly 9 months. We then flew to Singapore where we spent a night at Changi Village (which is not far from the airport) as we couldn't get a flight to Phuket until the next day. On Wednesday we flew Thai Air Asia to Phuket. We spent three nights in Patong Beach before heading a couple of kilometres out of town to the Le Meridian Resort for a couple of weeks of R&R. I mean after being on holidays for 8 and a half months it was just we needed. This resort is definitely the place ... read more

Foe the last 5 months, as we have been travelling around Europe, we have been lucky enough to have a base at Guy's brother's flat in Northampton. In all we have spent 34 days there over 5 different visits, washing, planning the next leg of the trip, booking flights and accomodation, and generally enjoying being away from hotels for a short period (in other words we have taken over Mark's computer, kitchen and TV - we're not sure what we would have done if we didn't have this base). In that time we have come to know Northampton reasonably well, although haven't really seen a lot of England. We visited Oxford in June for a day (it rained - not really surprising) and spent a couple of days in London in August where we went to ... read more

From Madrid we flew to Lisbon where we spent a very pleasant few days. We didn't really know what to expect of Lisbon, but it turned out to be a lovely city. It was picturesque, had enough attractions to keep us busy for a couple of days (and we could have done with more time there), and after the hussle and bussle of Madrid the slower, more relaxed pace was a welcome change. The weather was also very good while we there, with bright sunny days and maximum temperatures of around 23 or 24 degrees, although it did get quite cool at night. To top it all off there was the bluest sky we had seen for quite a while, which contrasted nicely with the many coloured buildings in the city. Our hotel was well located ... read more

From Marbella we caught a bus to Seville, about 220 kms north-west, stopping on the way at a small town called Ronda which looked interesting and where it would have been nice to spend a couple of hours looking around. After a 4-hour bus journey we arrived in Seville where we had struggled to find accommodation. We ended up booking a studio apartment right in the centre of the city which was quite noisy at night. What we weren't told was that the studio apartment didn't even have a proper bed, only a very small fold-up couch/sofa bed that was about 40 years old with springs that you could feel in every part of your body every time you moved. Still, it was a good location with all the shops and restaurants right at your doorstep, ... read more

On Saturday 29th September we flew to Gerona airport in Spain, and then caught a bus to Barcelona, where we spent a very enjoyable 6 nights. The apartment that we had booked was located in the Barri Gotic quarter, just off The Ramblas, the famous pedestrian boulevard that cuts through the heart of the city. The Ramblas, and the streets that run off from it, are full of shops, restaurants, tapas bars, Irish & Australian pubs. They are also jam packed with people, a combination of tourists and locals. There was plenty to see and do in Barcelona. We went to see La Sagrada Familia, a huge cathederal designed by Antoni Gaudi that has been under construction since 1882. It is not expected to be completed for another 30 years or so, well over budget and ... read more