After dropping off my colleagues, I made my way to Avebury. One of my biggest gripes about driving in England are the roads themselves. They make just enough roads to accommodate traffic, which in theory is fine; however, when construction is necessary, you're basically screwed. So I got completely turned around in Marlborough and I was frustrated further when my GPS crapped out again. I was able to see my location, but no further directions, so I had to use a map - normally I like, but the tiny country roads with fast moving cars added to the stressful experience. One of the saving graces was that due to the change in approach to town, I was able to see the Alton House White Horse on the side of the hill as I made my way ... read more

The next part of my trip was a quick visit to see family. The last year and a half has been amazing as I've been able to spend time with them three times now! So, after I visited Lincoln Castle, I drove towards Nottingham. My gps directions crapped out, so I had to use a map. My cousins and I were laughing - I'm young enough to rely on my phone gps to go places, but old enough to know how to use a real foldout map, which I already had with me (I always do when I drive). So, it was a bit confusing within the city itself, but other than that it was super easy. I parked at the Mount Castle parking structure and easily found my way to our meeting point. I met ... read more

A couple of friends I made on the Africa trip and I decided to do a nice weekend trip. This was coming soon after my trip to the US, but it was Islamic New Year and expected to be a three day weekend - for most, it turned out that they did not get the day off, but two of us did. We won't go into too much detail about me joining a friend for drinks before my flight.... almost missing said flight and losing my camera enroute. I'm still devastated about the camera. Friday Anyway, I made the 10:45pm flight, slept fairly well and felt ok when we arrived early in the morning at the Bishkek airport. Anita and Rej and I were joined by three others and our extremely adorable guide, Merriam, along with ... read more

My hotel set me up with a driver for the day, Soso, and he was perfect! He had worked in Ireland for a few years, so his English was pretty good. (Otherwise, the only people who spoke English in this area appeared to be young women). Soso took me to three nice wineries in the Khaketi area and we stopped at a few other places along the way. Our first stop of the day was the Alaverdi Monastery, a Georgian Eastern Orthodox community. It is currently undergoing restoration with the help of the local Badagoni Wine Company. It is free to visit, though if you are visiting the church itself, you should probably leave a donation (and women cover their heads). The monks also make their own wine and you can see the vines within the ... read more

Our last morning in Africa, we packed up our stuff, had breakfast, put together a tip for our guides and I went in search of souvenirs, but I really could not find any. Partly because it was so early, so many of the shops were closed. We all boarded our van bus for the last spot of the day, which is the Big Tree, a baobab tree approximately up to 1,500 years old. It was pretty impressive and we stayed for a few. The best part was actually when we left seeing multiple elephants on the side of the road, our last goodbye. We made our way to the airport and said good bye to our fantastic guides at Wanderlust Travels who I thought were great the whole time- I think they put up with a ... read more