We are two 50 something females who are travelling for 6 months. Starting point is Beijing and then it's on Trans Mongolian express through Mongolia and Russia to Estonia then wending our way down through Eastern Europe to Turkey. From Turkey it's on to Egypt then Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, France, Canada, USA then home.
This is one of a number of epi(b)logues which I plan to add to my blog to give some feedback on the hostels we stayed in along the way. So, let's start at the very beginning - Beijing, China. We stayed at the Haina Hostel which gave very clear instructions of how to reach it on the Hostel World site. From memory we found it without too many problems and it was very nice. Situated on a street full of restaurants there was also a nice little 7/11 at the end of the street where we bought our breakfast. This usually consisted of a croissant and a fruit juice which kept us going until lunchtime. The Hostel itself was more like a hotel and we had a twin room with our own bathroom. The girls on ... read more
This is gonna be weird cos I'm writing it from home sweet home - dear old Adelaide. Couldn't let the blog go without giving a review of Hawaii but we have been back home since Sunday - landed at 10.30am in Adelaide to 36 degrees and looks like those temperatures are going to continue for a while. We decided that as Hawaii was our last spot, we would upgrade from a hostel to a hotel. We stayed in Waikiki at the Aqua Waves hotel - very nice big room with two lovely soft queen sized beds plus our own bathroom and a balcony where you looked to the left and saw the sea in the distance, then looked to the right and there were the mountains. We had a fridge (luxury) microwave (luxury) and tea/coffee making ... read more
Halloween is big in the US but particularly in San Francicso. A few days before there were queues at the costume shops because in San Fran, Halloween is for the big kids not the little trick or treaters. The Castro area is famous for having the most outrageous costumes and used to host a huge party where all the streets were closed down. However, something big went down there a few years ago so now although the party goers still turn out, the streets are left open and the police presence is ramped up. Lyn and I went out to Castro once it got dark - caught the bus up there and had a drink in Twin Peaks - one of the famous pubs in the area. Did I mention that the Castro area is a ... read more
New York was cold and wet and guess what? Vancouver was pretty much the same. Perhaps not as cold and not as wet but we didn't get to see much sun New York was freezing cold and we got quite a lot of rain and guess what? Same story in Vancouver. I think the weather in a country you are travelling too has a lot to do with your enjoyment of the place itself. I am sure if we had visited Vancouver in bright sunshine we would have a different perception of it. Anyway, thankfully I bought myself a cheap coat in NY as I really needed it in Vancouver. Our first foray was a visit to Granville Island on a walking tour guided by a volunteer and run by the hostel. We caught a little ... read more
Or is it? Not for me I'm afraid. Everyone had said to me how I would love New York - maybe they don't know me as well as they think they do. We arrived late afternoon after an uneventful flight and caught a bus then metro to the centre. Our hostel, the Big Apple was easy to find as it was only minutes away from Times Square. Once again, we dumped the bags and headed out. It was just as cold as Toronto and I was really starting to feel it. Already I didn't like the feeling of being hemmed in by all the skyscrapers and when we hit Times Square it was worse, Huge big glaring billboards the size of the skyscrapers all screaming out buy, buy, buy. Well, I'm probably the world's worst shopper ... read more
Au Revoir Paris and hello Toronto. Bit of a shock to arrive there as it was freezing cold - we had some cold and rain in Paris but this was bone chilling cold. First impresions were that it was very like Australia - streets set out in grid patterns, big wide roads but there were a lot more skyscrapers that what we had been used to. We were only in Toronto for two days. On our arrival day we did the usual thing of dropping our bags off at the hostel then heading out with map in hand to discover what was out there. We had booked a 2 night special package which included a brewery tour and a day at Niagara Falls. We decided to head off to the brewery tour as there was free ... read more
We arrived in Luxembourg late afternoon - got off the train then onto a bus to the hostel which we knew was sistuated near the casemates. We got off the bus and had to a long walk down a steep hill to the hostel. Long walk down meant long walk back up when we left and lots more times in between!! The hostel was really nice and very new. There was a bar and a restaurant so we had ourselves a beer - they had a fruity one which was almost like Kriek but it wasnt Kriek - and they also did Croque Monsieurs. For those of you who are not acquanted with Croque Monsiers they are the french toasted sarnies with cheese, has and bechamal sauce - yum, yum. Next morning we got up to ... read more
Beige Belgium Or perhaps I should say, grey Belgium. We flew out of Pisa airport on a cheap Ryan air flight - had to make sure the baggage was under 15kg - mine was 14.7kg - phew!! We flew into Charlesroi in Brussels, caught the bus into Brussels then the train straight to Bruges. We had tried to get accommodation in Brussels and Ghent for 3 nights - they had availability for 1st and 3rd night but not the second so we ended up at an HI hostel in Bruges. The hostel was about 15 minute walk from the city centre but was nice enough. Bruges itself was beautiful - it got tagged in Lonely Planet as a tad fake and very touristy which I guess they were correct on both points but it is still ... read more
Finally, we reach Cinque Terre We had been going to Cinque Terre in August but were unable to book any accommodation so we decided to do Spain and Portugal and tag CT onto the end of the trip. Had to return to Barcelona to pick up our flight to Pisa. Was raining cats and dogs in Pisa but we still got off the bus to take the obligatory photos - not that flash but at least we got them. Headed to Manorola where we were booked into the Cinque Terre Hostel - we had heard reports that it had lots of rules and regulations like a midnight curfew (like that was really going to bother Lyn and I - not!!) It turned out to be a really nice place though it was right at the top ... read more
Which country are we in? It must be Portugal. Ginja is the cherry liqueur that everyone has to try - there is a shop near one of the squares in Lisbon where they serve it up in disposable plastic cups - always lottsa people hanging around there and it is not a bad drop. Pastis de Nata are the famous custard tarts which we tried in a few places in Portugal but the best ones were purported to be in Belem - we tried them and to me they were just the same as the others we had tried but that is just moi. Saudade is what every Portuguese is born with - its a kind of sadness for times past and comes out in the famous Fado music. Lyn and I went scouring the Lisbon ... read more
