“All good for our pick up from the airport, at this stage” read my reply email. Emphasis on ‘at this stage’. Looking at the email to the ground transport company in Costa Rica, second day in, it read relevantly of what was an exhausting 48 hour period beforehand. On the day of departure, arranged many months in advance, we got a text one liner. ‘Flight cancelled’. Into a spin it threw us. No reasons given. As well as trying to fit work in myself that day, P2 kicked off the alternative planning involving lengthy calls to the insurer, travel agent and AirNZ, plus emails to ground transport Desafio and our first hotel night. Several hours and dollars later, with a fortunate late check out from our Airbnb, meant we’d got it at least half sorted. The ... read more

I blame the Air NZ specials. With affordable return fares from NZ to Japan, we set about on my 8th and P2’s 3rdtrip here, but this time, in late spring. Narita as our favourite overnight stop upon flying in won again in convenience. A delayed arrival was met with a speedy transition through the customs area, and new high tech automated finger and passport scanning equipment being installed. Olympic 2020 developments perhaps? Seasoned locals now, we had ample time to meet the #16 bus stop shuttle and engaged with the enthusiastic driver whom slung our super light 8.9kg and 12kg bags into his compartment. Half an hour later, rain falling, and well behaved local rush hour traffic, we met Kamikura san, the same guy, one year later, of the Radisson staff. In perfect English if we ... read more

There is something about having an arduous but scenic bike trip followed by a night of relative luxury comfort wise to make everything feel that much better. The thighs knew what had gone before and our heads were aware of the quality yet modestly priced wine, for our celebratory meal. Sardinero beach continued to roar with dangerously large surf. Come 9am when I ventured out to Marisma aquatic centre for a brief swim, the rain began but the joggers were not curtailed. Either the Spaniards were seemingly fitness lovers, or the reverse, sipping wine from about 11am onwards in the combined cafes/ bars, and approaching what, according to the newspapers, is an obesity problem much like other Westernised countries. We packed up the Jeep renegade, drove out via the elevator access point with great care in ... read more

Being at the bottom of a valley, our exit from the ‘French Village’ had to be climbing somewhere. Nestled alongside a river, with a cathedral, castle (that a Spanish composer resides in part of) and both San Francisco and Santiago’s Iglesias above the quaint town square, the market was in full swing on Tuesday morning. Cool air at 5C, low but bright sunlight, and grapevines dripping over stone walls made for a pretty picture. After having a brief look at town and a rather rapid check out, we bid adios to Louis and set out around midday towards our next town, Rabanal. The cycling ahead was flat and began curving through endless vines and fig trees. A distant smoke smog hung over the area, a feature of the fires that had been recently occurring, and gradually ... read more

Where were all my Spanish learning efforts and Patricia’s night classes moving towards? Thinking of options to develop this beautiful language, we chose Spain, the (apparently) third most visited country in the World and distinct to last year’s Central and South America effort. Nine months since booking comes around so quick (that then became 3 months, then one week and then one day). We had reached a state of slightly frazzled unprepared preparedness for our UK whistle stop tour (for family), and the logistics of a self-guided and self-sufficient cycle tour across the Northern provinces. Flying for nearly 30 hours never is complimentary to the appearance! Nor one’s ability to lock their seatbelt into the adjustable lie flat seat correctly that they needed help for a jammed buckle, just as we were about to hit the ... read more