Left our apartment on schedule at 8am walked with all our luggage for 30 minutes to the Los Heroes bus station. It was an easy walk, all flat, so was worth the effort as the bus fare for both of us was about $7 compared to about $63 for a direct transfer. There were people lining up for the bus when we arrived but not many of them had luggage so this was used by people working at the airport as well as travelers. Bus ride was about 35 minutes and we arrived at the airport around 9:20. We mis-read the boarding pass in Spanish and went to Gate 35, but luckily the correct gate 27 wasn’t far away, but there was a long line of passengers waiting to get on. The flight was amazing. I ... read more

Pakita and Emanuel picked us up at 10:45 for our day trip to the port city of Valparaiso. Traffic was quite good and we got there around noon. As we got closer to our destination we saw a large market where locals buy and sell everyday items, a bit like Paddy’s but not touristy at all. Our first glimpse was of a typical port with container ships and cranes for off-loading containers. However as we drove up a very steep road we started seeing a lot of graffiti and then some fantastic street art. We parked the car and then walked to the Palacio Baburizza (Municipal Museum of Fine Arts), but it took longer than it should have because we continually stopped to take photos. The Palace was a very interesting and beautiful building . It ... read more

Left home 8:30am. Krissy kindly drove us to the airport. Heavy traffic and got to the airport around 9:15am. Had checked-in the night before so just had to drop-off the bags. Everything gets more automated as time moves on. Self-serve to get your luggage tags then check in the bags yourself. Problem is the machine kept saying we had straps on our bags and we ended up having to put them in tubs before they went through. At 19.4kgs and 18.5 kgs we don't have much room for any extras. We tried reducing our luggage but it's hard when you have to pack for cold and warm weather. As usual the automatic passport check didn't believe it was me and I had to be checked through manually. Then I was asked to go through the full ... read more

Had my first sleep-in on this trip and woke up at 8am thanks to our comfortable accommodation at the Bostock house. Had some of John’s muesli for breakfast which was great as it’s my usual type of breakfast. John then drove us to the old port of Jaffa which we had only briefly visited the day before. This time we had a leisurely walk through the whole area which was great. Very interesting walking through the Ottoman era alleys and admiring the views of Tel Aviv. We then drove to the Neve Zedek area which was the first area of Jewish settlement when Jaffa became too crowded. There are many original houses, some needing a lot of restoration work. It was very interesting walking through and seeing all the families out and about as well. It’s ... read more

Started today at 8am, first destination being Akko (Acre), site of a Crusader castle occupied by the Knights of St John (Knights Hospitaller). Much of this castle is still intact and houses a museum about the Crusaders. We had a good amount of time looking through the castle and then stopped for a coffee break. Before we went through a tunnel which connected originally to the castle of the Knights Templar. Mahdi had said in the bus earlier that he understood how all the middle eastern food like shawarma, falafel and hummus was exotic and different when you first arrive but after 2-3 weeks you’ve had enough and he promised to take us somewhere for lunch that didn’t have falafel and he kept his word and took us to a café in a shopping centre where ... read more