Dean Gardiner

DeanandDi

Dean Gardiner

A dream about to come true.



Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Naxos December 17th 2014

Dean writes......It was a cold and stormy night - only jokeing ..... that was last blog. This time it was a sunny day when we left Turkey from the town of Mamaris. We had an early taxi booked for 7.00 am for the short trip to the port where we boarded a big car and passenger ferry for the island of Rhodes. Again we are so glad that we were not travelling in the busy summer months, as we have heard time and time again about how it is sometimes quite often a nightmare boarding these ferry's with lots of people pushing and shoving to get through what was a very small entry door before going up an escalator to the upper decks, unfortunately no order what so ever! After a pleasant two hour ferry ride, ... read more
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Middle East » Turkey » Aegean November 12th 2014

Where to start, at the beginning is always a good place, don't you think? We didn't really know what to expect in Turkey, our only reason for going there really was that we had seen different photos that various friends had taken over the years, and everyone had told us that it was a place that we really should visit, so off we went. Our flight to Istanbul left from Stansted, and during check in we were asked " do you have your Turkish Visa"? OMG, I thought, my biggest fear was about to come true. We were not going to be allowed to fly. I always hold my breath until we have the boarding passes in our hands at check in, as I have a fear that one day we will we boldly turn up ... read more
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Central America Caribbean » Cuba September 28th 2014

Dean writes....It was a fearsomely dark and stormy night , lightening was illuminating the dark distant waters far below!......No just kidding, we had an easy and uneventful three and a half hour flight from Toronto to Varedero (Cuba). This is our story about travelling Cuba, I hope you enjoy! Back in Canada....On arriving back in Toronto from Niagara Falls (we had two very nice relaxing nights staying in a beautiful B and B there) we decided that we would travel light in Cuba, we pulled everything from our back packs and put what we didn't need into one pack, plus left other things as well in a hotel we had booked across from the air port for when we returned after our three week stay in Cuba. It was a long slow process clearing immigration at ... read more
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North America » Canada » British Columbia September 8th 2014

Well our visit to Canada has come & gone and I must say apart from 12 weeks of sleeping on an air mattress on some very hard ground we really have enjoyed our time here. The Canadian leg of our trip has been really easy, being back in an English speaking country that functions very much like home, makes for some really easy travelling. Having said that, there has been some Canadian English that we have had to learn like, Loonies and Toonies ( $1, & $2 coins ) and who would ever guess that a weener is a Frankfurt sausage that not only tastes good, but proved it self to be pretty good fish bait! The hardest thing has been to remember to drive on the right, and now after three months even that wasn't ... read more
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Asia » Japan August 10th 2014

Sorry folks , I told Di I would write the Japanese blog seeing I have had spent some time on different occasions in the country and have a fascination with the people and it's culture. It is in fact the first blog I have written, and it has taken so long due to the lack of internet while camping in Canada and also there has been so many things to do here while we have been here. I hope you enjoy the read! Our trip to Japan started with a two night ferry which crossed over the east China sea from Shanghai. Leaving Shanghai in the morning it was amazing how long it took us just to exit this massive port! (over three hours!) We have since discovered that it is the worlds largest port. There ... read more
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Asia June 3rd 2014

Firstly I must apolise for this blog being so late. We have been so busy lately covering the miles that we rarely have had a spare few hours. Also we must of brought a very dodgey computer battery in China, as after only a couple of weeks it won't hold its charge, so without a power connection, we have no computer. Anyway now that my excuses are out of the way, here goes.... China, as many of you will know, was a country that we visited on our last big trip away but, due to its size we ran out of time to see all that we wanted. So this time not only did we revisit some spots that we really enjoyed last time, but also we managed to see quite a few new places on ... read more
This guy wanted to draw Dean, I think to attract the crowd, it worked.
Just a random guy and his little dog
Tea anyone?

Asia » Nepal April 27th 2014

Our last day in India, saw us travelling along a very rough road, on a bus which should have seen it's last days long, long ago. But the thought that we were nearly into Nepal, a place that both of us had wanted to visit for so long, took our minds off of what the brakes and tyres on that very old bus may, or may not look like. Our arrival into Nepal, could be likened to someone turning off a light. The noise, rubbish, chaos, and confusion of India, all seemed to fade. As we approached the border, the air began to clear, and the mountains became visible, it really was like a curtain had been lifted. Banbassa the last town we visited in India before crossing the border, is a busy little market town, ... read more
Welcome to Nepal
Bardia
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Asia » India » Rajasthan April 2nd 2014

Usually when I sit down to write these blogs I am never stuck for words, but this time is different. I really have spent a lot of time thinking about what I would write about our experiences in Incredible India. What could I possibly say that could describe what we have seen while there. I personally have experienced some very strong emotions during this part of our trip , some happy times and unfortunately, some very sad times. We had been told that we would say 'wow' when we turned one corner and, 'yuck' when we turned the next, and I think that pretty much describes it all for us. We have certainly seen some of India's beauty and, I think also some of it's ugliness. The contrasts are unbelievable, from the splendor of the Taj, ... read more
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Asia » Sri Lanka February 9th 2014

Why Sri Lanka? Well, it's all Deans fault really, (I'm only joking) he met a couple in Vietnam during a recent bike trip, who had had just finished traveling through Sri Lanka and really enjoyed it, and as neither of us had been ourselves, and we had a few weeks to kill before our motorbike tour through India, we decided we would have a look see. Well not totally true really, I had stopped here a long time ago as a child on our way to Australia and I remember being quite scared by what, to me, was something so very different, and a very long way from my countryside upbringing in England. I'm pleased to say that after being here for several weeks it really is not that scary! The flight into Colombo is really ... read more
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Europe January 2nd 2011

The next leg of our journey has seen us making our way to all sorts of out of the way places, towns and cities that were not on our list of places to see, but we survived and, have come out the other end. After a really nice 5 night stay in Zdiar Slovakia we said our goodbyes and, on another very cold & snowy day, it was back on the train, this time heading for Budapest. Ian at the Ginger Monkey Hostel in Zdair had written very precise instructions, on how we could manage the train connections and where to find our next bed, and at 9.30pm on a very cold Sunday night, it was nice to know where we were going and, I must say we were very grateful to him. I think at ... read more
This church was really something
Just a typical Budapest street, beautiful.
Castle Hill Budapest




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