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laandal - Lara and Al

La & Al's adventures

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Places we've visited since leaving Australia on 21 October 2007

We left Australia in October 2007 and spent 9 months travelling through Central and South America before running out of cash and settling (for the time being) in London. The plan is to work and travel on weekends and for short breaks through as much of Europe as possible, before travelling around Africa and heading home. But plans can always change - so who knows?

We have a few upcoming trips through Europe and home to Australia including plenty of weddings to get to (thankfully in exciting destinations)! And if we're not travelling we're probably sitting at our desks in London dreaming of far-off destinations....

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”- Jack Kerouac

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain

Central and North America
October 21st 2007 -» March 10th 2008 South America
March 11th 2008 -» June 28th 2008 Living in Europe
June 29th 2008 -» ongoing

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Joined on: November 4th 2007
Last Login: November 5th 2009

Blog Entries: 31
Photos: 1215
Recommended by 7, Recommends 11

TB Code: [blogger=51853]
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by laandal, order by Date newest first.

By laandal
October 4th 2009

What's next? Europe » United Kingdom » England

Which way?
Brockwell Park

With our upcoming trip home later this month we have spent a long time discussing our future...and we're not talking about marriage and babies. What we mean is - where should we live? Where should we travel? Should we move home, save money and then go travelling again? Should we stick it out and travel when we get the opportunities? Should we 'grow-up' and stop these travelling shenanigans, buy a house and live proper lives? These questions have been going around and around in circles as we come up with endless possibilities involving living in different locations, working all kinds of [View Full Entry]

By laandal
September 6th 2009

Unbelizeable: An Italian Wedding Europe » Italy » Campania » Amalfi

The Amalfi Coast

Avid blog readers may recall that in a previous blog we met a couple on a boat in Belize and happened to be staying in the same hotel with them on the beach in Caye Caulker, We met a really lovely Australian/South African couple who told us we should go cenote diving in Mexico.... After having spent the day snorkelling with them and an afternoon chatting we headed out to dinner with Alex, as Bekkie was exhausted and couldn't keep her eyes open. We went to a great little place called Wish Willie's made famous (or infamous) in the book The [View Full Entry]

By laandal
July 11th 2009

Family Fun in the Capital Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London

Kew Gardens

The flat was clean, the linen was all washed and ready for the onslaught of Lara's family. As Australians in London it is almost a requirement to have family and friends staying on a permanent basis and we have been letting down the stereotype for the last few months. So Al headed to Tesco and bought out their supply of inflatable mattresses, thinking; if nothing else the house would be safer should anyone fall over. The first to arrive were Lara's Mum and Grandma; and after the compulsory tears at Heathrow and the rather amusing tube ride (it took them a [View Full Entry]

By laandal
June 21st 2009

A Shropshire Wedding Europe » United Kingdom » England » Shropshire

Overgrown but still working!

We were exhausted, we'd had a huge week having arrived back from Grenoble on Monday, been out to dinner every night but come Friday off we went again. We picked up our hire car from Victoria, made a few wrong turns while we got the GPS up and running but eventually found our way to Church Stretton in Shropshire. We put our things in our amazingly quiet B&B (well, compared to Brixton anyway) and headed to Little Stretton to have dinner with Lara's Aunt Jill. Jill had come over from the US to attend Rhian and Alex's wedding, and it was [View Full Entry]

By laandal
June 15th 2009

Wining, walking & weariness in the French Alps Europe » France » Rhône-Alpes » Grenoble

Bastille

The two of us don't really need much of an excuse for a weekend away, so when Matt and Janelle, our friends from Australia moved to Grenoble in the French Alps how could we resist? We took a day off work, and one of those horrible early morning flights and off we went for a long weekend. We flew into Lyon and took the bus to Grenoble where we were joined by JB another friend from uni who had travelled down by train from Switzerland. We marvelled at the fact that the five of us (four of us had gone to [View Full Entry]

By laandal
May 30th 2009

Walking the White Cliffs Europe » United Kingdom » England » Kent » Dover

White Cliffs
Dover

We've been trying to get out of London when we can, so when the weather report said we were going to have a sunny weekend we thought we would take a day-trip out to Dover and walk along the White Cliffs. Most people don't actually take a trip to Dover they pass through the ferry terminal and get a glimpse of the white cliffs in passing. But we thought they would be worth a look as a beautiful sight and an important symbol for war-time Britain. The cliffs were impressive and we enjoyed the walk, however it would have been a [View Full Entry]

By laandal
May 4th 2009

101 Dalmatian Islands Europe » Croatia » Dalmatia

Yacht in Split Harbour
Early in the morning

Booking cheap flights that leave ridiculously early in the morning can seem appealing, but when you're alarm goes off at 2am and you then have to take a bus and train to the airport you start to wonder whether it could possibly be worth it - and thankfully it was! Our weekend on the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia definitely left us wanting more. We arrived in Split, Croatia's second largest city at 10am and after checking ferry timetables to Hvar Island spent the morning sitting on the Riva in the sunshine people-watching. After an early lunch and a quick look at [View Full Entry]

By laandal
April 10th 2009

Taking the 'car' out of car-a-'vanning' Europe » United Kingdom

Tintern Abbey
Wye River Valley

"I want to be having lunch in the Wye Valley in Wales tomorrow" were Al's last words before going to sleep the night before our planned road trip. Everything was organised, our hire car booking was checked and all that we needed to do was go and pick it up, stick the bags in the back and get going... in theory. The reality turned out to be extremely different. We arrived at the car company to pick up our rented car only to find that the company had gone into administration a month earlier and had failed to tell us or [View Full Entry]

By laandal
March 30th 2009

Speaking Spanish in Slovakia Europe » Slovakia » Bratislava Region » Bratislava

Devin Castle

Slovakians don't speak Spanish....Now this won't really surprise many of you, and yet the number of times we started conversations with an Hola or threw a por favor on the end of a sentence surprised even us. After so many months of speaking Spanish it is still our first resort when faced with uncomprehending locals. Thankfully English tended to be widely spoken and we stuck to that after mumbling a few words in Slovak that we weren't really sure how to pronounce. We flew from London Stansted directly to Bratislava airport and had organised to be picked up by the owner [View Full Entry]

By laandal
March 15th 2009

A Sunday on the South Coast Europe » United Kingdom » England » East Sussex » Brighton

Seagull

The sun was shining, it was the warmest day in a long time, what choice did we have but to go to the seaside? And where else but Brighton? Renowned for its pebble beach, Pier and Pavillion as well as a vibrant pub scene and some fantastic places to eat, its a perfect place to spend a lazy, warm Sunday. Although Lara had been to Brighton a few weeks ago she didn't get to see anything as she was on an outing with friends and Al hadn't been to Brighton for almost 10 years so it was a perfect excuse to [View Full Entry]

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La & Al's adventures

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