Yes, we're still in Colombia. And yes, we are alive. Our noses are still clean, even though we did not give any signs of life in the last 3-4 weeks. There is a good explanation though... Cartagena de Indias We spent a bit more time in Cartagena than we planned. The initial idea was one week: Chris attending an intensive Spanish course, me playing the beach bunny. Well, at the end, Chris went for 2 weeks Spanish, and I spent the same time with learning Spanish from a study book, made for Swedish people... interesting self-study. Must admit, our Spanish improved significantly, but after 2 weeks - 4 hours a day we had enough. We made some time to visit Cartagena itself, as it´s a really really pretty town with dozens of colonial buildings in perfect ... read more

Ok, we went to the US. Why the hell did we go to the US, as this does not fit our principles of this trip. Indeed, would not say it´s a tricky or "difficult to reach" country, but to get ourselves from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to South America, we needed a cost-efficient route and voila: Los Angeles. And if we were already there, why not to spend some days and money in Western luxury. And well, what can you do normally in a standard stop-over??? Maybe you can do a quick city tour or a museum or two, but that ain't so much fun. So therefore we ended up in Long Beach and later on drove too much in Nevada and Arizona. We made the best of it, only in ten days. Linda, ... read more

Welcome to Paradise! After dreaming about Paradise for quite some time and how it would be, now we actually went there, after approx 240 days of traveling. To be honest: never heard about Vanuatu before until the planning started on how to cross the Pacific, but that's how paradises are discovered, I guess (or does it have to do with the fact that I failed miserably a 'world topography' test at high school at the tender age of 16? I didn't even know how to spell 'Washington'...) A wonderful place with breathtaking nature and the friendliest people in the world. This is not exaggeration, the ni-Van people offer such hospitality that we have not experienced anywhere else. Genuine smiles and they greet not only the tourist at every encounter but also each other on the street. ... read more

After our adrenaline pump at Lake Taupo we headed to the Tongariro National Park next morning to attempt the best one-day walking track of New Zealand. This walk brings you through the landscape you might have seen in the Lord of the Rings movies, some scenes actually were shot here. However, reaching the park more and more clouds gathered above us and by the time we arrived to the visitor centre to check for the weather conditions up on the hills it was too bad. Due to heavy wind and rain on the track, no shuttles worked and we were strongly recommended not to attempt the track this time... Caving in Waitomo To use our time as best as possible we decided to drive up to Waitomo and do some caving. Waitomo is the "caving paradise" ... read more

Yes, as you see guys our trip has been shaping a bit differently as originally imagined... After 7 months in Asia we decided to move to the next continent: Oceania, more specifically New Zealand! We only had 2 weeks here which is really not much, does not let you explore half of the country. We decided to hire a station wagon, just to combine value with practicality so our new mean of transport could also serve as a cozy bedroom! Knowing the little time we left for ourselves, we decided to visit only the North Island. Yes, we know that all the best things to see and do are on the South Island, but believe us, we had succchhh a great time! Yes, we know, we will come back to the Kiwis in a few years, ... read more