Travel Blog Posts
January 28th 2011
28th January 2011 Day 1: Setting sail for Antarctica! This is the day that we set sail for Antarctica- and we are all very excited! The boat leaves at 4pm and we had a few jobs to do before then. First stop, get the laundry back and repack the rucksacks. There is no laundry service on board and it was imperative that the penguins see us in clean clothes that smell delicious ☺ We put our luggage in storage and headed over to the office to pick up our Antarctic jackets and ski pants…… the rubber boots we will get on board. Next stop, to the shops to buy proper gloves for Sid and I, and finally to the supermarket to stock up on cheap wine and chocolate to bring on board. At 3.30pm we walked ... read more
Stockholm - last stop before Ireland!
Published: November 16th 2010Europe » Sweden » Stockholm County » Stockholm
September 3rd 2010
3rd September 2010 Stockholm! We got off the boat and then straight onto the metro. I love how organised European countries are! We bought a Stockholm card for 52 euros each which will last for 48 hours- we can use any bus, tram, metro, ferry boat and entrance to museums! After we checked into our hotel we dumped our bags and headed straight into town to make use of our cards! We got a ferry boat over to the Vasa Museum which houses an amazing warship that sank 335years ago. It had sunk a half an hour after setting sail and had been preserved in the freezing waters of Stockholm. It was a huge wooden boat, decorated to the hilt - an amazing museum, well worth a visit. After that we hopped back onto the ferry ... read more
August 30th 2010
30th August 2010 Boat arrives in Helsinki, Finland The boat docked at 8.30am but we didn’t have to disembark till 10am, so at 9.30 we jumped on a tram and 5 minutes later we were in the tourist info. centre in the train station. We bought a 72 hour bus / tram / subway ticket for 24 euros each, but Sid was free. All the hostels in Helsinki were booked out for the next few months, so the only place I could get was an old lodge. We got the bus out to ‘the lodge’ which was 30 mins outside the city, but absolutely fabulous with gardens full of giant oak trees and lots of games dotted around like darts, croquet, boules and an indoor swimming pool and sauna. Our room had a balcony onto a ... read more
August 26th 2010
26th August 2010 St. Petersburg We arrived in St. Petersburg at 9am and the metro is attached to the train station so we hopped on. The metro is so much smaller than Moscow and easy to navigate. Thanks to Nigel’s sweet-talking the older ladies, we got a family room upgrade in the hostel for free. We were knackered from our midnight train and early morning, so we chilled out in our room. We pulled ourselves together at lunch time (or was it the hunger?) and we went for a walk. Our hostel was very central and 10 mins walk away from cathedrals, canals, spires- and it was all stunning. Along the main river we stopped to watch the many weddings and stretch hummers that pulled up to take pictures at statues and famous buildings. We walked ... read more
August 23rd 2010
23rd August 2010 Moscow Our train arrived at 10.30am and the metro was connected to the train station, perfect! It was easy to figure out the metro system and we didn’t have to go far to go to the hostel. The hostel was an old apartment converted into rooms and a small kitchen and shower rooms- our room was huge with a massive window and balcony. We dropped off our bags, had some breakfast and then wandered down to the Kremlin and Red Square that was 15 mins walk (with 10 extra minutes for ducking out of a huge rain downpour). Red square has some pretty impressive buildings, but St. Basil’s Cathedral is the most spectacular, even with a grey sky in the background! Unfortunately they had started erecting huge scaffolding in the middle of the ... read more
Yekaterinburg and the Ural Mountains
Published: August 28th 2010Europe » Russia » Urals » Yekaterinburg
August 18th 2010
18th August 2010 Yekaterinburg- city tour We woke up in the Dacha in the middle of the countryside just outside Yekaterinburg where little wooden houses are all lined up with little gardens full of fruit and veg. Constantine was supposed to have cooked us dinner last night, but since it was midnight by the time we got there, we told him there was no need- so, instead, he served us our dinner for breakfast! At first my stomach balked at the idea of Chicken and Salad for breakfast, but once I’d had a few bites it was actually quite tasty….. the tomatoes were so juicy and the chicken was minced with cheese and it was light and fluffy- so we all cleaned our plates. In the garden Sid got busy picking raspberries and apples. It was ... read more
August 14th 2010
14th August 2010 Krasnoyarsk The train got into Krasnoyarsk at 11.30am. We jumped on a public bus which brought us into town. We popped into a posh hotel and used their WIFI to find a hostel for the night. Unfortunately there are no hostels in Krasnoyarsk (I don’t think it’s on the tourist trail yet) so we ended up renting a ‘luxury’ apartment for $60 a night. The office to pick up the keys was only round the corner from where we were and the apartment was in the centre of town. The entrances to Russian apartments are appalling, akin to Ballymun flats. The stairs and landings stink- this one smelt like cat pee and all the doors look like fort knocks, but once you are inside, they are basic, functional and clean. We had a ... read more
August 9th 2010
9th August 2010 Lake Baikal in the sun Will (NZ) and Fiona (UK) arrived in the morning off the overnight train that we were originally supposed to be on, just in time for pancakes, sour cream and jam for brekkie! We are staying in a lovely homestay- an old wooden Siberian house, having an authentic ‘Russian’ experience. This experience includes a long drop toilet at the end of the garden and no running water indoors, which technically means no showers. We were booked to stay 3 nights here, so this information quickly registered in my brain as “oh dear, I’m going to be smelly because there isn’t a hope in hell I’m going into that freezing lake for a wash”. However, over breakfast Lena explained that the other wooden shed in the side garden is a ... read more
August 6th 2010
6th August 2010 Russia- 1st Stop; Ulan Ude The train stopped at the Mongolian / Russian boarder at 7.45am and again we were asked to fill out copious amounts of paperwork. Our lovely Russian lady attendant gestured that the train would be at the station for the next 4 hours- so we got off for another adventure walk. We walked along the road for a while and checked out the supermarket. All of the buildings around were old Siberian wooden structures and were quaint in a run down sort of way. The supermarket had a long counter spanning the whole shop and everything was on the shelves behind, so you had to ask / point at what you needed. We stocked up on some interesting looking sausage meat and cheese for sandwiches….. and there is always ... read more
August 3rd 2010
3rd August 2010 Freedom camping in Terijl National Park We caught the ‘mad’ bus to the National Park and went further into the park this time and got off at the village. We had rented tents, roll mats and sleeping bags but we didn’t have any cooking facilities so needed to be near restaurants. The river was right beside the bus stop and we took our shoes off and waded across to the other side to look for a camping spot. The river wasn’t deep where we crossed, but it was ice cold. We didn’t have to walk far before we found the perfect spot with logs spanning the river making a natural playground. We made a great fire and had toasted Tuna sandwiches. Some locals turned up in the afternoon with 4 kids and the ... read more
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