Steve n CathyRTW3

Hi All, Well, here we are in the last lounge waiting for the last flight - flight 9 of our RTW3 trip. As we blogged last time, the weather in Rio has been a bit wet and we have been dodging the rain the fair bit. But when the sun comes out, and it has done, it has been fabulous. Saturday involved travelling into Centro which is actually a decent 15 minutes ride on the Metro. Half an hour by the time you have got down to the platforms and back, but it is an effective way to get around this very large city. We took the famous vintage tram ride up he hill to Santa Teresa. It is a fantastic ride and passes over a very high viaduct (64m high, as I recall) before flogging ... read more

Hello All, Sorry if we have been quiet for afew days . We have been up country in Iguazu... but first let´s just record the fact that the best meal we had in BA and probably the whole trip was in El Establo - a brilliant little Parilla (Grill) restaurant that was recommeneded by Steve´s friend Shirley - thanks Shirely - it were great! We left BA as planned on Monday early but then ran into our second problem of the trip. On arrival at Iguazu - on the Agentinian side - there was no sign of anyone to meet us. This was pre booked and paid for so you can image how we felt. Half an hour alone in a deserted airport is enough to convince you to jump in the nearest willing taxi whatever ... read more

C writes ... Yesterday we spent about 6 hours footslogging round BA, following various walking tours which happened to take in Florida - a pedestrianised street that is famous for its leather shops, other nice shops, and an astonishng amount of tourist tat. However, all to good effect - Steve finally found the perfect pair of "dress boots" (as he calls them (for wearing under jeans(, and the inevitable CDs. I was awfuly good and bought nothing. We finished off in the hotel's sauna - actually a steam room. Dear gods, I've never been so hot in my life! but felt so good afterwards - could actually stand up without creaking despite all the walking. I really, really do miss yoga ... Last night we went out in search of a restaurant specialising in a traditional ... read more

All, An attempt ot catch up with some photos... it has been a real struggle to get these uploaded.. May have mastered it now... but that's it for now. Steve ´n´Cathy ... read more

So, why "Eureka"? because it as so flippin' tortuous to get here, that's why! (writes Cathy, still on this same obstreperous keyboard, where what is shown on the keys bears no relation to what happens when you hit it). So we expected to fly out of Santiago at 9.15am, and ordered an alarm call at 5.30 to enable us to pack. The call - of course - came at 4.30am, so that really got us excited. The transport was early, adding to the hassle factor, and when we finally got to the airport there was no sign of our flight. Turned out it had been cancelled a month earlier!!!! How would our pre-arranged transfer ever find us? how would we get into BA? We eventually got on a flight at 1pm (and bear in mind that ... read more

Hello All, A quick update from Santigo. Day 1 we took stock of the city. It's vast but one of those places that does not seem to register on on consciousness in the UK. I knew next to nothing about it... We decided that, as we only had a couple of jet lagged days, we'd better get out and do a proverbial sight seing tour on an open topped bus. This actually worked out quite well but just going around the circuit of sights took well over two hours so it was a case of deciding what we wanted to explore more on foot. While there are lots of points of interest, lets be honest, Santiago is not Paris although parts of it could pass for Paris - i.e. the Metro. Built in the 70's, and ... read more

Hi All, Well we´re safe and sound in South America. The flight from Oz was long but as yuo saw from the last blog at least we got to get off in Aukland and make use for the facilities there. Then it was a 10 hour haul and bodies that really did not want to sleep so by the time we got here we were zonked. We had arranged to get picked up at the airport and this all worked out very well. We were met by a driver and a guide who then gave us a running commentary as we drove into town as well as a security brieifing that would rival anything I had while working at BG Group. Anyway we have been warned and plan on being careful. After a couple of hours ... read more

Hi y'all, (C writes) Well, Sydney was great - much more my thing than Perth, I think. Call me a city gal, but I like the lights and restaurants and shops and things. And, although the exchange rate is still high (S: a 24 year year high I think), of course, we found that - in terms of meals an ddrinks, at least - we had a much wider choice of better quality food at slightly lower prices. Burger in Perth buys steak in Sydney sort of thing - all down to increased competition, I guess. And I just know you're dying to hear about the Sydney souvenir! It's a sheepskin gilet - Steve is buying it for me for my next Christmas present. Lovely and snuggly. (Incidentally, here's a factoid you may not know - ... read more