Mat: After Krakow Trace took over planning, and we therefore headed towards horses. The Spanish Riding School in Vienna is a Mecca for horsey girls the world over. The elegance, skill, and silly hats of the riders is apparently the ultimate in horsey perfection. The Spanish Riding School has its roots in the military horsemanship of the post-medieval ages when knights attempted to retain their battlefield pre-eminence by shedding their heavy armour and learning to manoeuvre quickly and with great complexity on a firearms-dominated battlefield. The training of the horses at the school also prepared the horses physically and mentally for the rigors of battle. In 1729 Emperor Charles VI had the architect Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach build the incredible white riding hall you can see in the photos. For a time, the riding hall ... read more

Mat: Dave my little brother (well no so little, medium maybe, and quite hairy) was travelling to Germany at the start of June to play music at a festival in Braunschweig. Braunschweig is about two hours west of Berlin, so Trace and I organised to meet him in Berlin, and then go for a wander through Poland, Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary. Good times. For today's instalment however, it is all about Berlin. Berlin is cool. We arrived to a sun-drenched city that was topping 30 degrees. Considering we had been excited by a 20 degree day in Scotland before we left, this did our heads in a little. It was pretty much like this for most of our three week trip, and even hit 33 degrees in Slovenia. Suncream, swimming, sunglasses, singlets, shorts, jandals, sweat, cool ... read more

Mat: Cousin Lara, Trace and I flew into Prague on a starry skied Thursday evening, and emerged from the underground into a very crisp but beautiful city. The sub zero temperature was fantastic though because there were mulled wine street stalls dotted about the place and the temperature added to the magic of the place. We stayed in a hostel that was formally a grand apartment, with a huge room to ourselves, and a shared kitchen and bathroom. After the incredibly polite and friendly owner of the place had sorted us out and given us a map of Prague we headed out to sample our first Czech beer. They do beer right in the Czech Republic. Although the bigger brands are starting to produce blander quaffers just like the rest of the world, it is still ... read more

After our day trip mission on the Bajas, Jeremy and I were very keen to do some harder-core riding and Trace wanted to do a rock climbing course in Vang Vieng, so we split along gender lines (ie left Trace by herself) and went on a week mission into some very remote areas in southern Laos. I know our blog has consisted mainly of motorbike stories lately, but this Man Mission is the last one, and by far the best. From Vang Vieng I could not hire a Baja, so I hopped on the back of Jeremy’s bike and we headed to the capital Vientiane and I paid in advance for a Baja for 4 days. Then Jeremy went to the guy he had hired his bike from so that his clutch cable and a couple ... read more