jenandtane

UAE - Dubai Dubai is an interesting city. There is so much money here it seems they have to find ways to spend it. The society is split into around 3 levels. The locals earn the most money and are gifted a lot (including their first house) from the government. Westerners come in second earning very good money but nowhere near what the locals do. As a westerner though you do not really have any good less than management status. Indians and Pakistanis etc come in third in line earning substantially less than anyone else. There is no tax, however on the flip side everything is very expensive (aside from petrol of course which is dirt cheap). We stayed here for a week which was too long as it would have cost a fortune to do ... read more

We started our European journey in Madrid, Spain. It is a beautiful old city with lots of old architecture and narrow streets sporting little bars and restaurants. We stayed in a little hostel off Plaza del Sol which was the perfect spot to explore the city from. We spent a lot of time walking the streets, looking at the churches and old buildings that are dotted around the city. It is an easy city to walk around, relatively flat and most of the Hop On Hop Off bus route was easily walked in a day. The city sports quite a few big parks where you can wander for a couple of hours or just sit and people watch. We loved the cheap food - an expresso was €0.50, a glass of wine €1 and you could ... read more

New York This city is exactly like it is depicted on tv. When in your hotel room you can hear the noise of the traffic and the continual beeping of horns. They really love their car horns! We stayed in Chinatown for the 4 days we were there and walked or caught the subway everywhere. Luckily New York is relatively flat and laid out in a block formation which makes navigation pretty easy. Our first day was spent getting our bearings and visiting a travel agent to sort out our South America part of the trip. The second day, we caught the subway uptown and wandered around Central Park. This is such a big green area in the middle of Manhattan, it was hard to appreciate the size until we started to wander around it. There ... read more

We are in love with Newfoundland. It is wild and rugged and offers stunning views around every corner of its coastline. It is the most at home we have felt since leaving New Zealand. Newfoundland did not become a province of Canada until 1949, until then it was its own little country. Its main industry until recent years was fishing – almost everything you could imagine but lobster and cod where pretty big players. The lobster industry is still fairly large, however the cod industry is now very small due to overfishing and new regulations. Now a good majority of people who live here go to work in Alberta (province next to British Columbia) in the oil fields. The oil fields are so desperate for workers they pay to fly people out from and back to ... read more

We have made good time since the last blog. We drove from our last stop through to Montreal just stopping overnight in some places that don't really warrant a mention. When we got to Montreal it was a bit of a culture shock. Quebec province is French and French only. While the surrounding provinces often list things in English and French there is no such luxury here. Every road sign, business name and all the roadwork signs and instructions where all in French. A GSP unit was essential to find your way around. Luckily most people spoke reasonable English so communication wasn't too much of an issue. Along with the language the people are very much French - they are rather an arrogant type - yes this is a broad generalisation but true none the less. ... read more