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Published: September 19th 2009
And It Starts!
And so the trip has FINALLY begun!!! We are on the road since Wednesday, 9th September.
August was brilliant, we spent the month enjoying rainy Ireland catching up with all those who would make us a cuppa and listen to us bore them with plans for the next year... I swear we haven't been talking about our upcoming trip at all. Otherwise, Niall spent the majority of his time on the golf course trying to beat his father-in-law. Beyond that we had an absolute ball at the weddings of the year - Andrew & Kate, Louisa & Rhodri - thanks all for too much fun all in the one weekend.
As for where we have been over the last 10 days, well first off we went on a week long holiday... Yes, that's right we went on holiday for a week in Spain - having just had a 5 week holiday in Ireland before we head off for our year long holiday meandering around the world - I know, I know but we couldn't resist. Ourselves and two friends, Richie and Paula, spent our time in Altafulla about an hour south
Louisa and Rhodri
The lovely coupleof Barcelona where two other friends, Mylo and Steph are running a pizza & tapas restaurant called Polini since last April. Altafulla itself is really beautiful and is where all the locals holiday when in need of a break from Barcelona so it was a really authentic Spanish break.. although not fully sure as to whether we deserved it, in any case we had a brilliant week of sun, fun and tapas times!
Then after a quick stop over in London to raid Boots for malaria tablets and first aid goodies including (following some helpful advice from Arum) a few sterile needles. The pharmacist bizarrely signed us up for London's free needle exchange scheme and we set off for Istanbul with a beginners heroin pack, minus the heroin of course but including several enlightening information leaflets. For any interested parties please drop us an email....
So Istanbul then. We arrived here yesterday and already love the place. It's Ramadan here at the moment which ends on Sunday, so during the day all the locals are fasting. However, at night all the families come together in the local squares and eat together. Last night we happened upon the main
Barman of Polini
The host with the most!! square where there were hundreds of families enjoying picnics, drinking cay (local turkish tea) and dancing to lots of live bands. And not a drop of alcohol in sight. Great fun.
We are here until Monday and then head south to the Med, Ephesus and Olympus. We'll make sure to let you all know how it goes.
Right we're off to find out what the locals put in this cay and figure out how backgammon works - seems to be all the rage over here!
Please drop us an email or leave a message here - always good to hear from everyone.
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Ed & Charli
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Amazing Adventure
Hi Niall and Dee, glad that you've started with the 1st steps of your adventure. Hope that it is mind blowingly amazing (in a not too messy way!). Have a wonderful wonderful time and we look forward to hearing more updates. We'll give you a wave as we fly past on the way to Nepal - Everest base camp trek starts on Thursday! God Bless, Ed and Charli