Dear All Greetings on this my second and final blog entry on my lovely little mini-trip to Cologne and around during the summer half-term. This will relate my last two days on the trip, starting from a really wonderful second full day – while my first full day I devoted to Cologne, my second was to Bonn. After all, the airport I flew into was called Cologne-Bonn Airport, so I thought, why not do them both! In actual fact the city of Bonn always intrigued me as a child, as I'd always learned in the eighties that Berlin was the capital of East Germany, and Bonn was the capital of West Germany. I'd already been to Berlin on my 1999 Interrailing trip, and although it didn't feel it at the time, it was really not comparatively ... read more

Dear All Greetings from back in London! On a Sunday morning I arrived back at Heathrow Airport after what turned out to be an incredible two-week journey around the US state of Florida. I enjoyed it immensely, and arrived back with the darkest tan I think I’ve ever had – they don’t call it the sunshine state for nothing! I spent my last two nights on this journey in the amazing city of Miami, and will relate my time there in this final blog entry of my trip. I believe last time I wrote, I had just dropped off my rental car at Fort Lauderdale Airport, and was actually sad to see it go. Out of three car hires I’ve done in my travels, it certainly was the swishest and the coolest! As I took my ... read more

Dear All Greetings once more from my Floridian travels. This one relates my adventures on the intriguing chain of islands dripping off the end of the Florida peninsula, known collectively and very famously as the Florida Keys. I had an amazing time island-hopping down there, using the interconnecting and quite spectacular Overseas Highway, and driving the coolest rental car possible for such an adventure. This was a beautiful white Ford Mustang Cabrio convertible! I’ve only ever hired a car on two previous occasions, and I couldn’t quite believe my luck not only when I booked this car months ago as it was the cheapest deal available, but also on this day when I picked it up, as it was indeed true to its picture on my rental agreement – a Ford Mustang Cabrio convertible, and a ... read more

Dear All Greetings on this travel blog entry that will relate my time in Orlando, Florida’s holiday capital! While hitting the tourist scene isn’t usually my thing when I travel, preferring to see more everyday and local places where you learn about the country, culture and history, it is also something that just has to be done. And I have to be honest, I have had a small dream about visiting Disney World for quite some time now. It was tricky to narrow my time down in Orlando to just two nights and one full day, as I would have preferred three nights and two full days, to be able to take in two theme parks rather than just one. However, with a California trip already booked for next year, I thought I’d do Disney World ... read more

Dear All Yay! I'm on the eve of another (fairly) big trip again, having all packed for a two-week visit to the United States of America tomorrow! I'm very excited to be heading to the States again, it is certainly one of my favourite countries, and there is just so much of it to explore. I was telling someone about my trip the other day, and they asked me how many US states I had been to. This is something I didn't actually know the answer to. I knew I had been to 87 countries, but I guess now that I plan to visit a different part of the States every Easter until at least my current tourist visa runs out seven years from now (and probably more after I renew it!), I think it's probably ... read more