I've finally seen the Northern Lights! Right on the doorstep of my accommodation too, impressive but they did keep me up bloody late! The trip to Tromsø was via Oslo and the airport must be the most expensive airport I've ever passed through. It's around 10 Norwegian Krona to the pound, so working out that the advertised fish and chips cost over £16 was quick. A smoothie bowl was almost £13 and the prices on the ski gear and jewellery were out of this world! I didn't do any shopping whilst we waited for our transfer to Tromsø. As you would expect, it's a fairly large airport - with staff zooming around on scooters, some pushing carts on the scooters, I wasn't expecting that. Weaving in and out of the tight throngs of people, it was ... read more

Yesterday's rain came a day late, which is today. So when we left our accommodation on Campo San Margherita at 7am, it was a lovely combination of dark, cold and wet. I'd gotten us up just after 6am in another futile attempt to get moody and misty photographs over the canals in the early morning light. But by the time we finished getting lost, the wind was up, the rain was down and we were not feel inspired to be creative at all. However we did manage to get rainy shots of a fairly empty Piazza San Marco, which is great because most people get really boring photos with lots of sunshine and blue skies. Or so I keep telling myself. We walked up to Fondamente Nuove via Calle Varisco to get photos of it (the ... read more

My mum told me that the best way to arrive at Venice is via water, so I did that; not because I listen to my Mum (lol at the thought!) but because it turned out to be the cheapest route. Glyn bought advance return tickets for the water shuttle service with Alilaguna for €25 each and the boats were moored outside Marco Polo Airport just like a bus station. Lucky for us, our boat was just about to leave and so we stepped down inside the bowels of the packed passenger area where we all sat beneath window level and had to risk standing if we wanted to look outside. The boat was small, holding around 20 passengers all facing inwards and twisting uncomfortably to try and get a first peek of Venice. Crossing the lagoon ... read more

Both ends of the platform at Ella rail station have signs warning that it's a criminal offence to walk on the tracks. We ignored this yesterday, however as we approached the station this morning, we found ourselves walking alongside a policeman and another guy in military uniform. I was concerned about getting onto the tracks in front of them as it is actually illegal, no matter how many other people do it too. Glyn was fearless and strode on without looking back and I followed, waiting to hear a shout that never came. Phew! Once past the warning sign, we came upon a second sign in English only, warning us that should we 'happen' to find ourselves on the tracks, beware of thieves. So basically the authorities are taking it as given that the first sign ... read more

Given that we were chased by an elephant back in Kaudulla, I was a bit dubious at first when I realised we were surrounded by a small herd of them in Uda Walawe. But our latest jeep man seem unconcerned as did the elephants. Udawalawe National Park is one of the main parks in Sri Lanka and around 10kms from where we were staying. Today's jeep is the best one yet giving Glyn leg room for once, a roof and my feet didn't touch the floor. As always we had the back of the vehicle to ourselves.The early morning drive took us past the reservoir with the sunrise reflecting nicely upon it. Wire fences run along the edge of the road to apparently stop the elephants wandering into traffic, but they still come right up to ... read more