Warning: This is our most ridiculously long entry ever. We arrived in Faro after dark but when we found a map Dan navigated us to our hostel with ease even though Ashley looked at the map and could only see a jumble of windey crazy streets. Our first experience talking with a local was delightful. The receptionist at the hostel was one of the friendliest, most helpful people we've encountered (family members not included) so far; it was hard to get out of the conversation so that we could get settled. Once we were settled in our room she directed us to a lovely family run restaurant not far from the hostel. Dinner was amazing. We had appetizers, 2 main dishes, a ‘jug’ (not a pitcher or a bottle) of wine, 2 espressos and dessert for ... read more

As one can imagine, Scotland was getting a little grey and cold in the winter months. So, in December we decided that our next trip had to be someplace warm. Gran Canaria, just off the coast of Morocco, was the winner with the cheapest flight. On January 10th we packed our bags and headed for Glasgow where our flight took off from. Our trip began with a problem though. Our flight was at 6am so we figured we'd stay up as late as possible, then head to the airport and sleep there until check-in. We ate dinner at the Aussie pub Walk About and then found live music at The Box just down the road (only about a half hour walk), where we chatted with some colourful uni students. Then we went to the bus station ... read more

On October 10 we realized that we both had the next 2 days off. So, it was time to do something about it; get out of Inverness and explore Scotland. After all, that's what we're here for. Ashley had been to the Isle of Skye on her previous visit and decided it was a must-see for Dan. The next day we rented a car and headed for Skye. After a couple hours it occurred to us that we were pretty hungry and needed lunch, pronto. We pulled off the road into a restaurant parking lot only to find the restaurant was closed indefinitely. There were signs pointing to other small towns off the main road where we thought there may be a local watering hole with some grub. Unfortunately for us we missed the turnoff for ... read more

Wow, I'm sure word of mouth moves faster than we do. Lots to catch up on, but since we've settled it feels like week after week is same ol' same ol'. Well, here goes. We arrived into London at St. Pancras station around noon on August 31st. After checking out a map and figuring out where the hostel we booked was we decided to huff it. Unfortunately our time in London was very 'work' oriented. Since it was the end of our planned two month vacation we spent the next couple days looking at where we'd like to spend our time in the UK and working on our CVs. We were there on a day between orientations so we decided that our first day we could find SWAPs sister company. We worked on CVs, had a ... read more

We made it to Brussels, by the skin of our teeth might I add. We arrived at the Luxemburg train station with 20 minutes to spare before our train to Brussels was scheduled to leave. However, we still needed food for our journey and Dan volunteered to go find some for us. The train to Brussels came in 10 minutes early and everyone else piled onto the train. So there was Ashley all alone waiting on the platform with all the luggage (2 big backpacks and 2 small daypacks) wondering if Dan was going to make it back on time. Then Ashley spotted Dan running down the platform, his hands full of food, with only a minute to spare. On shear will alone, Ashley grabbed all 4 bags (she’s still not sure how she did it) ... read more