http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/johnandpudd/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from johnandpudd en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:30:05 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:30:05 +0000 All good things must come to an end as the saying goes. And our time overseas was definitely good absolutely and yes it has ended but apart from the initial shock of arriving back in Melbourne there doesn't seem to be any reason why the good must now end and the bad must begin. We had such a fantastic time and instead of rueing the fact that we are back it seems more sensible to reflect on how http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-84445.html Hello everyone quite a bit has happened since we both made our last entries. For starters we are now both in the same country again and that country is quite different to the one where we met up again. For both of us is was quite difficult for a few reasons to leave our adopted countries of residence Germany and Canada. The thought of travelling to Sweden and Thailand did take the edge off a bit http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-81413.html Well im very sad to say that I am no longer in Canada instead im back in Germany in the city of Frankfurt killing time till 320 pm when I go to meet up with John at the airport. This blog wont be accompanied by any photos or anything exciting since the last entry its more of a massive thankyou to all the very cool people I met and spent time with in Canada. It was a hard choice deciding whether http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Hessen/Frankfurt/blog-79356.html Its strange to think that after 3 months in Germany I have now spent just over 1 of my life here. Granted that perhaps seems not so much however it differs slightly from the 4 days that our original plans had us staying. So today is the last day so much has happened since we arrived in May. The World Cup a month long festival in every village city and town in the country. Trips to Medieval Ca http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-79247.html Hello allAs you may have read in one of John's earlier blogs my travel plans have again changed. An opportunity arose to go with Chelsea and some of her family and friends to the Yukon Territory of Canada for a wedding and later to Alaska for a bit of a vacation. After looking at flights to Whitehorse and finding them to be very expensive 1000 dollars for a return domestic flight I decided http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Yukon/Whitehorse/blog-77848.html A few weeks ago I got email from an Australian girl I met in Vienna about her travels in Spain and it was entitled Spain Oh Boy. I think that pretty much somes it up. Spain is the place and the place is Spain. I stayed in Barcelona and that place is hot. When people talk about the Sun beating down that saying is definitely true in Barcelona the Sun and the heat is unrelenting. No cool chang http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-76963.html Its funny the people you meet. While waiting with great anticipation and apprehension for the commencement of the Australia vs. Japan match all those weeks ago we were approached by a man wearing an official Australian Soccer shirt and carrying a handsewn Australian flag. Are you Australian he asked in English with a German accent. Yes we answered. True Blue he enquired. Most defini http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-74967.html What do you do when the country you are staying is knocked out of the world cup Well if you are in Europe you can always just go to another country that is still involved so off we went to France. We had since the beginning of the World Cup been saying that if Germany was in the final we would go to Berlin but not really in a serious way. And we always joked that if France got in but not Germany http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-73073.html Hello all. The weekend just past on Saturday July 1st was Canada's 139th Birthday. So in celebration of this 3 day weekend Chelsea a bunch of her friends and I went to spend it at a lodge on a lake in the middle of no where. After packing the truck and cars we headed off for the 4 hr drive to 'Long Lake' in Nopiming Provincial Park. The last hour of the drive was along dirt roads and we made the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Winnipeg/blog-71647.html The past few days in Tbingen have been relatively quiet for one reason in particular No Football. Its been so strange I feel like I have lost a shoe. The world cup started with 3 games every single day what bliss and then went down to 2 per day still very tidy. But in between the round of 16 of the Quarter Finals there are two whole days where neither a football is kicked nor a shin is grabb http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-70449.html Hello everyone. Let me just say that the whether this time in Canada is much much better. As you all know I left Germany on the 19th of this month for a little solo adventure and things are going swimmingly. I spent 3 nights in Montreal the bilingral FrenchEnglish speaking part of Canada in the province of Quebec and had a very different experience to that John and I had 3 months ago. Its a sh http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Winnipeg/blog-69865.html Berlin Berlin. We're going to BerlinThats what the Germans chant after each victory and with each victory they seem to believe it more and more. And so they should they are playing fantastic football with the likes of Klose and Podoloski lighting up the nation. Each time I walked admidst the jubilant German fans I thought well perhaps Australia is also bound for Berlin. Not something you http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-69559.html I have named this entry Stuttgart as it is where we will be heading tomorrow for the Australia vs Croatia game. As mentioned by Kristian in his last entry he is now again admidst the beautiful surrounds of Montreal and will soon be catching up with Chelsea in Winnipeg Manitoba. Hopefully he will post some photo's from his adventures up here although he may not because of an incident the other n http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-68107.html Hello all. I have not written in a while but furtunatly John has so at least you all know where we are at. Life in Tbingen is good. We spend alot of our time over here watching the soccer i refuse to call it football from the beer garden. John and I orderd an AFL footy off ebay the other week and it got delivered a few days ago. So in between soccer matchs we usually have a kick good times. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-67246.html Well the World Cup is well and truly underway. Kristian Anja and myself travelled to Munich for the opening match and apart from being one of Germany's major cities anyway was absolutely packed full of German football fans. The game was against Costa Rica and for every 10000 German we saw 1 or 2 Costa Ricians. The weather up until that exact day had been less than perfect infact in was downri http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-66694.html Well yesterday we had the great pleasure of seeing the mighty Socceroos...sorry QANTAS Socceroos play against the might of Liechtenstein. Althought the score was 31 Australia scored all 4 goals. There must have been atleast 1000 Aussies there which was kinda weird because Ulm is such a small town. Of the ones we talked to there seemed to be a fairly even mix of those who live in Germany those http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-65199.html Hello allAt the moment we are tstaying with Anja's parents in Heidenheim a village about 2 hours drive from Tbingen. Yesterday we got our first real taste of the World Cup and in particular Australia's involvement in it when The Socceroos played Holland. As many of you may have heard the Dutch accused us of being a bit too rough and actually the commentator mentioned something about Aussie http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-64357.html Well life in Tbingen has definatly slowed down a bit which is good. We set a fairly decent pace from the outset of the trip and was going to be hard to continue that all the way through. So yeah i am actually having days in a row where we are not having a massive night. That being said 2 nights ago we went out for a big night to a place John and Anja went to while I was in Mnich with Chelsea. O http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-62171.html Hello all our new address isJohn Sweeney and Kristian PayneRheinlandstrae 20Tbingen 72071GermanyWe have both settled into the apartment and have bought a couple of things to make it a bit more comfortable. Since I last wrote and since Kristian returned from Munich we have been keeping ourselves busy by after 3 and a half months of travel relaxing and recovering. Its quite hard to describe ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-61908.html Hello everyone. Well as John mentioned we have spent the last week or so apart. On Sat the 14th i took off via the train back to Mnich to meet up with Chelsea. You can definalty tell its becoming soccer season with the energy that is filling the air of late. I exited the train to be met by a small army of drunk fans singing and playing the drums. Exited the Train station to meet the oposing team http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/T-bingen/blog-60608.html