My day ended rather well with a toffee vodka, which is more than I think I can say for Ricardo, my guide, who by the end of the afternoon wouldn't even look at me.... It all started sunny, as I had a good long chat with one of the hotel cats whilst waiting for the tour bus to Gibraltar. And then the cat slapped me but I think it was all a misunderstanding, my Spanish isn't all that good. Once again we were being guided by 'Rushing' Ricardo, and a new bus driver but still named Pedro like yesterday. We met some older ladies who were on the Morocco trip yesterday whose sole reason for visiting Gibraltar was to get cheap fags. They had smoked their way around Tangier and they are now known as the ... read more

Glyn woke with a scream this morning. I meant to wake him gently with a hug but accidentally pulled the covers off him instead. It's easy to get those two confused. Anyway, as a result, we got up at 7am as planned. It wasn't raining at this point, but there was a lot of evidence to prove it hadn't long stopped. Our first stop of the day was the caves at Nerja. These caves do have paintings that are thought be be 20,000 years old, but those parts probably will never be open to tourists. We were given handsets with monotone commentary on the caves, highlighting everything that is boring about them; I did want to know about the caves but didn't want to risk slipping into a coma as I walked around the dark cathedral ... read more

On the minibus taking us to the airport, Glyn and I were sitting next to a Brummie couple who asked if we had seen the lights last night. Sadly, no. They were rather surprised as they had had an excellent show, it was amazing apparently! It turned out that their trip ran a lot later than ours and that the lights had put in an appearance some time after 11pm. This is gutting - I can handle missing them if they didn't happen, but knowing that we were a mere hour or two too early, and that we had been taken back to Rekjavík (with lots of apologies) when the lights were just getting ready, well that is just frustrating! The only way to do the lights for an inexperienced tourist is with a tour. There ... read more

Have you ever worried that you might accidentally sleep with your cousin? No? Nor me, but then, I'm not Icelandic. But on a rather isolated island where the population is just 330,000, everyone is related by 6-7 degrees at least, more likely 3-4. So the probability that the guy/gal you have just met at the bar being a relative is of a concern high enough that an app has been developed where two people can download it to their phones and 'bump' phones before they 'bump' each other. However, this hasn't really caught on despite the dangers: Icelanders preferring to use an online genealogical database, 'The Book of Icelanders' instead. Apparently it gets most of its hits on Sunday mornings. This is one of many useful facts of Iceland that I have learned today. The day ... read more

The language barrier can cause such great comedy moments when using public transport abroad. And so, Glyn, Helen, Andy and i certainly proved this when we found ourselves leaving town and possibly on the way to the airport rather than heading to the Grand Palace! Glyn had shown our taxi driver a picture of it in his guidebook, saying Grand Palace and its name in Thai: Wat Phra Kaew. We'd left soon after breakfast, having waited for Jeff who didn't turn up as promised. Steve and Yiyi were due to leave for a flight to Shanghai and when they left after breakfast, I realised I had missed the chance to say goodbye, so if you're reading this Steve and Yiyi, goodbye, was nice to meet you and I hope you enjoy your time in China! If ... read more