Wanderly Wagon
Wanderly Wagon Joined: February 27th 2008
Logged in: January 12th 2012
Logged in: January 12th 2012
“ Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the things that you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
Wanderly Wagon was an Irish children's television series which aired on RTÉ from Saturday 30 September 1967 until 1982. Wanderly Wagon followed human and puppet characters as they travelled around Ireland visiting interesting locations, rescuing Princesses and generally doing good. The original premise of the show expanded to follow the characters to magical lands of Irish mythology, and even into outer space.
Taking inspiration from a childhood show, I've set my sights on seeing the world. I have some of the most amazing memories people could think of and hopefully there is more to come. Here's some of my favorites!
Travel Blog Posts
Our Pool
As a “compromise” , we decided to spend the second week of our holidays relaxing by a pool, eating good food and making DIY mojito’s. Our first week was fairly adventurous so a balance was required before we returned home to work. When I say “compromise” I mean, Michelle suggested it, I disagreed, thought about it rationally and how relaxing for a week might be beneficial and then said a hesitant “Ok” as a compromise. I was secretly looking forward to it though. A long process then ensued, to find a villa with a private pool and a nice balcony to enjoy early breakfasts and evening meals. After a lot of searching we came up with Hill View Gardens in Yalikavak, located on the north western tip of the Bodrum peninsula. The complex was located high ... read more
Ephesus
As we pulled into the petrol station just outside Yalikavak, the attendants went crazy to get us to their pumps. It was obviously a slow morning. It was after all still 7am. With their confusion, 6 pumps, 6 guys, all empty and waiting, I ended up parking at the one and only diesel pump. A quick reverse and I was in place. “Good Morning, Sir”. I always cringe when I’m called Sir. He filled the tank for us. We had a 3hr journey ahead of us to Ephesus, apparently the best preserved city in the Eastern Mediterranean. I tipped the guy for his troubles, but more out of feeling pressurised that he had filled the tank for me. He was delighted but then decided to go and show me up. As I went to close the ... read more
Goreme Hot Air Balloon
Video Footage from our Hot Air Balloon Ride - Click Here To Watch As first light made an appearance, brightening up the Cappadocian landscape, our alarm’s rang clear through our cave dwelling. It was 4.30am and we had to leave at 5am to reach the office of the company running our hot air balloon ride. A man, no taller than 5ft 2in, who worked in our guest house, would bring us to the office. This man, who’s name I was told but had found hard to pronounce and hence forgotten, was so kind and helpful during our stay, that Michelle wanted to bring him home. If there was ever a chance of her running away with another man, this was it. He had stolen her heart. He was however in his late 50’s early 60’s ... read more
Panoramic View of Goreme
Many moons ago, I once saw a BBC programme presented by Michael Palin, about this wonderful landscape somewhere in the middle of Turkey. A place where humans and fairies once lived together in peace. A landscape dominated by cone shaped rock formations, straight out of a Disney movie. Fairy chimneys and cave dwellings, scattered across the Cappadocian landscape as far as the eye could see. A wonderland like nowhere else on earth. I have kept this place in the back of my mind for a long time. It is somewhere I had wanted to go, even before I even dreamt of our round the world trip in 2009. Palin’s description of this magical, mystical place, had stuck with me for some time. Although the fairies had now moved on (due to inter marriage problems apparently) a ... read more
Dolmabache Palace
As a fan of open top city sightseeing tours we decided to check out what the Istanbul version had in store. The one’s we have taken in Edinburgh, London and Singapore have provided a quick and interesting tour to what each respective city holds. You can hop on and hop off at certain points to break the journey or if anything takes your fancy. After another rooftop breakfast we made our way to the starting point in Sultanahmet sq. The queue’s for the tickets were short but slow, so instead of getting the 11am bus, which we arrived in plenty of time for, we had to get the 12am. The tour took us around many of the sights we had already seen and written about in my previous blog. We debated what to see and when ... read more
Europe to Asia Bridge
Have you ever had an image or vision of a city in your head, only to get there and have it completely turned upside down? I had a picture of Istanbul as this crazy, confused, manic city, where you’re constantly on the look out. A place where crossing the road was a nightmare, where traders hassled you for sales or where pick pockets lurked on every street corner. I don’t know why this image was in my head, but it was. I had no basis for it. Instead we found a cosmopolitan European city with an Asian twist. The streets were narrow and lined with trees, chic café’s and upmarket restaurants were accompanied by kebab houses and carpet shops along colourful pathways. There was no noise and confusion, just a relaxed vibe as life went by. ... read more
Blue Mosque
Normally the country you are travelling to for your holidays will be at the front of your mind for the week before you go. Instead all we could think about was Iceland. A country in the opposite direction to Turkey. Another unpronounceable volcano had erupted and there was literally a cloud hanging over our heads. An ash cloud. Luckily some south westerly (or was it north easterly) winds came and moved it along. It wasn’t until our plane had lifted off that we would believe it wasn’t going to play havoc with our journey. Speaking of journey’s, who was it that said “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey?! As most will admit, the worst part of travelling is the travel itself, which makes the above quote a bit redundant. I hate the journey. ... read more
Rock Formations
A belated entry but here it goes…. After singing the theme tune to Indiana Jones for the last two days it was now time to turn our attentions to Lawrence of Arabia (or as Michelle likes to call it Lawrence of Saudi Arabia!). We were heading to the scene of one of the all time great movies, a place where T.E. Lawrence described as echoing, spacious and godlike, Wadi Rum. It has to be said that most boy’s at some stage of their childhood will dream of an adventure through the desert and sleeping under the stars around a camp fire. I can imagine it was probably not Michelle’s, but true to form she knew it would be something I really wanted to do. Our guide picked us up off our bus at the tourist centre ... read more
First glimpse of the Treasury
Petra, the jewel in the crown of Jordan’s tourism. A monumental piece of architecture from over 2000 years ago and the highlight of many a persons trip to Jordan. We were no different. I had read some interesting quotes on Petra, but the one that amused me the most was about the Monastery…. As impressive as the entrance was, it was still a cave. Yes, it has good “Kerb Appeal”, but once I stuck my head inside, there really was nothing to it. If you add that to the fact that it was out of the way and you had to climb over 800 steps to get to it, it’s fair to say that if it was on Location, Location, Location, it wouldn’t be on my shortlist. - Karl Pilkington. This comment was of course was ... read more
Wadi Mujib
If there’s one thing in this world that Michelle like’s its pancakes. If there’s another it would be pancake Tuesday. Luckily pancakes were on the breakfast menu at the Mariam hotel and I wasn’t going to be in trouble for dragging her to Jordan, for what she considers should be a national holiday. Although they were American style mini pancakes, we played our part in eating as many as we could. After breakfast we checked out and left in a taxi for Petra. The new world wonder would be for the next day. Today we would visit Wadi Mujib canyon, Karak Castle and Little Petra. The taxi from Madaba to Wadi Musa (Petra) cost €54 and would take 6 hours, including stops at the sights. We got to Wadi Mujib canyon about an hour after we ... read more
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