I almost decided not to write about what was a mostly uneventful day in Oxford. It was, as the title suggests, oh so quiet. But I guess if you are one of the 18,000 Oxford University student intelligentsia in pursuit of academic excellence, then that is probably how you like it. But nevertheless, Oxford is probably the most famous university town in the world, with lots of magnificent architecture and pristine lawns to gawk at, so I shall briefly regale you with my short visit to the hallowed town. After almost five years living in England, a two-day work team-building exercise had finally drawn me down Oxford way. As we would be based on the outskirts of the town, I decided to come a day early to have a look around before the "team-building" commenced. Along ... read more

The idea of an 'hermit holiday' is for a group of friends to meet at an airport on a Friday evening, knowing that they will be flying somewhere for the weekend without knowing where exactly they are flying to. Another friend not travelling that weekend would have bought flights for each person, with each flight going to a different destination. The participants only find out where they are going, once they get to the airport. Everyone flying is then required take a video camera with them to record their experience. As regular readers of this blog will know, I have lied about my next blog being from Norway not just once, but twice. Sag and I were meant to travel to Bergen all the way back in March, but was post... read more

Surprisingly, I was the first to arrive at the gate at Stansted Airport out of everyone. This like, never happens. Especially at 6:45 in the morning! But here I was at the gate, sleepy and bleary-eyed as Davies, Claire, Sag and Sarah came strolling in. Our flight was bound for Belfast, for a long weekend gallivanting around Northern Ireland - or as the locals call it "Norn Iron". We were driving this trip and after we touched down at Belfast International Airport, we got a pleasant surprise as we picked up the keys to our rental Volkswagen Passat. "We've got a Mercedes available if you want to upgrade?" said the man at the counter. "How much more?" asked Davies. "£6 a day extra," replied the man. Hmmm...I don't know - £1.20 each per day extra is ... read more

Everything I had read and heard said that our overnight bus would drop us off in Nevsehir, from where we would be ferried by a shuttle bus to where we were staying in Goreme. Much to our sleepy surprise, the bus dropped us off directly in Goreme. Win. Speaking of sleepy surprises, it was still around 6am by the time we had managed to sleepwalk our way up a hill and arrived at our hotel. We hear a soft, throbbing bass coming out of the hotel's front office so we knock on the door. After a couple of minutes, a bearded Turkish man with bruised eye and a bandage across his nose sleepily answers the door. "Kelley?", croaks the man groggily. I suppose he was expecting us. It was also a rather amusing start to our ... read more

An essential part of any New Zealander's Turkish itinerary is a visit to the Gallipoli peninsula. Growing up in New Zealand you are constantly reminded of the New Zealand soldiers who gave their lives fighting in Gallipoli during World War I - New Zealand is a peaceful, isolated country you see, so it doesn't tend to get involved in any international skirmishes, nor is there any civil unrest, so the losses suffered in Gallipoli are the biggest the country have ever suffered due to war. Our time had now come to pay our respects in person. We had managed to get onto a convenient all-day tour that was picking us up in Istanbul, guiding us around all the important sites in Gallipoli and putting us up in a hostel in Eceabat for the night. This meant ... read more