Well hello! It seems a long time since I have been able to write my blog and tell you all about an exciting trip I am on or am having. Finally tomorrow I am off to India on a Northern highlights tour. After a week in Benidorm and Cornwall last year I am super excited about a trip further afield. This time I am going on my own but as it is an organised trip will meet other people when I am there. The highlights of the trip will include: * The Taj Mahal at Agra * Game drives in search of the elusive tiger at Ranthambore National Park * The spectacular Pink City of Jaipur * The Ganges at Varanasi. There is lots of travel invovled including two overnight sleeper trains but I can't wait ... read more

Hello all. Well I am on my travels again but this time with a bit of a difference. I have come to Corisca for four weeks as part of a European exchange programme between Universities and trainee/qualified teachers. I will be observing and teaching in a school in Bastia over the next four weeks as well as participating in a programme of cultural awareness organised by the UFM in Corsica. There are five of us from Derby University and we are staying in two apartments in Bastia in the north of the island. We are about a 30 minute walk from the school. So far everyone we have met is really nice and very proud of their Coriscan culture. They have there own language which they use amongst each other and also teach in school. I ... read more

Since my last blog we have sailed across the equator a few times visiting some more of the islands. Genovesa was an island teeming with birdlife. After a dinghy ride around the cliffs we headed to the Prince Phillips steps (so named after his visit in the 1960's when he slipped and they decided to build the steps in his honour). After a short climb up the steps we were face to face with Nazca boobies, frigate birds, swallow-tailed gulls, mockingbirds and my favourite the red footed boobies. These were gorgeous birds with their bright red feet, blue "eye make-up" and shimmering bluey/purpley beaks. The birds definitely rule this island with no introduced species and very few reptiles. We were very lucky to see not one but two short-eared owls. Although we didn't witness the kill, ... read more

Well, I have now had four nights at sea. It isn't getting any easier but I am still here and still alive! One kind lady on our trip took pity on me and I am now sleeping in a cabin on the upper deck which I think is definitely helping. Anyway, enough of sailing, let me tell you about the islands.... We have visited Santa Fe and marvelled at the land iguana's, cacti and Galapagos Mocking Birds; been snorkelling and seen sea turtles and lots of colourful fishes. We had a short trip to Santa Plaza and then sailed onto Santa Cruz. It was amazing to visit the Charles Darwin Research Centre and marvel at teh successful tortoise breeding programme varying in age from babies to over 100 years old. In the male encloser it was ... read more

Said goodbye to our tour guide Rodrigo and our driver Washington and caught a flight from Guayaquil to San Cristobel in the Galapagos. I was expecting a tiny plane but we were on a Boeing 737 and Aerogal was a very nice airline to fly with, we even had a sandwich and a drink! It took us only an hour and a half to travel the 600 miles from the Ecuadorian mainland to the islands. Once we arrived we paid the $100 entry fee and showed our $10 visas and met up with our new guide Rafael or Rafa to his friends and headed off to meet up with the Monserat, our home for the next 7 nights. The cabins were much larger than I expected - twin beds rather than bunkbeds with its own bathroom. ... read more