Testimonials and Tales from the OE Travel Co's travellers

Blog It - The AKOLOB crew currently in London

Got to you in the end!
hi b, have travelled around via this stray tour thing - fantastic make sure you get everyone to use stray - just bril. then joined up with a macbackpackers tour of scotland (with friends made from stray) and am currently doing scotland - tell people to use macbackpackers rather than haggis heaps cheaper cause they own their own hostels to and there is free hot chocolate everwhere you go - yay am having ball and going to ripo next week have loved london and other stuff now that i have a better email address i will email again soon
cheerio ta ra luv b

Ye gads

well we are in barcelona now - ish. we came across what was apparently a camping ground and what was apparently the only one close to the city. it turns out that stagnant canals really do attract mosquitoes, and the barcelona international airport has planes taking off every 2 minutes - yep we are right next to the planes - we are so close we can see them and whether they are british airways, virgin or espanan planes, we can hear them start their engines and the bloke in the control tower was wearing a blue shirt yesterday!!!
also we seem to be in a soweto township type place (but with more people) we have lost count of the cats and dogs scrapping and the homes (tin huts - but some with paving stones) are very close together.
we are still rather unsure of the elderly lady driving the little fiat with ride like hell on the sides along with skull and cross bone pictures!!! and we are not even discussing why we have seen a freezer truck cruising the tent sites!!!!
in other news an unnamed member of our party was scared to go to the little italian man down the road (last week) for a haircut because "he looked mean" so i was instructed to use available resources namely scissors and shavers and he is now completely bald, smoother that a babys bum, somewhere between an egg and a bowling ball. i am not allowed to point and laugh anymore!!!off to look at gaudis cathedral now - apparently still unfinished 260 years on. tomorrow we hit the beaches - at last, surfing here we come. hi to all
love and hugs
belinda xxxx

Egyptian Madness
Hi everyone!. This is just a quick note as time management on these things has never been my forte. Anyways, we are in Egypt now, have been for over a week and have seen enough sights, museums, pyramids and monuments to keep us happy for the next thousnad years or so. We spent four days in Cairo, saw the pyramids at Giza, did the museum, then hiked it down to Luxor and had a couple of good days there seeing the valley of the kings, temples and that. We were lucky enough to be invited to the home of our felucca captain...we met his family and ate with them and then went off to a party ...muslim style...all good...Cush and I felt right at home sticking out like sore thumbs in the male’s domain. Anyways, after Luxor, we headed south to Aswan, met a couple of Canadian kids on the train and organised a felucca (sailboat) trip for 2 days and 2 nights down the Nile. It was an awesome experience...but next time I’ll take my sleeping bag...this is Egypt I thought...whatdya mean it gets cold at night?...bloody near froze to death. We did a shite 16 hour bus trip to Shiram el sheikh...we are here now...nursing our sunburnt butts...silly silly girls. Anyways, looking forward to getting back to Lagos on Monday...lets here it gor Lagos and lazy days. To all you Lagosians....Cush and I will be back in the bar on the 4th April...I miss you madly, so you other ex pats get back home. To my kiwi friends...miss all you guys too...will write proper e mails as soon as I get back to the land of the living.
Myriam

Travels past and present
howdy folks - one and all, well so far since you have heard from me i have settled in nicely to my new job - which is actually been extended but still due to finish in about 3 weeks - initially i felt i was drowning out of my depths but then a week later i was treading water and now basically i am simply swimming - yay for intelligence.
whenever ago it was easter marc and i left early (4am) good friday to begin our travels of south west england - yay for herman, who is great under pressure (car) and hums along beautifully. we drove all down the coast ending up mid morning at lyme regis - the bestest little town for walking around - right on the coast - and ha ha aunty fi we had sunshine everywhere. except it rained only time enough when we were transferring our bags from car to b&b. relaxed with a pint on the pier and then fish & chips by the sea. Saturday was another driving day going along the coast then back up thru dartmoor national park - to us normal people basically it looked like a sheep station with no grass - cool as views thou. then into dorcester where belinda after reading her guide book decided to see some castle thing - some moron had turned the tourist sign towards tesco’s and we were sure as eggs that wasn’t an ancient castle - when we found it after walking 3 billion miles up mountainous ranges found out that it was built in the iron ages and the hills we were climbing were the fort and there was in fact nothing else to see - imagine the mileage marc got to use on that one. then thru the tiny hills and dales of st just we arrive at st ives - i loved seeing the sea again hearing the gulls and smelling the air - a little confusing seeing all this concrete everywhere as i am not used to concrete and beaches being together. that night marcs newly acquired bbq (apparently essential in all manly trips - and to make up for the tissues in the glove box - apparently no self respecting man has tissues in the car glove box...) we had yummy yummy bbq at on the beach - sunday our day of rest - wandering aimlessly thru the town relaxing on the beach blah blah and then monday time to rid ourselves of the gorgeous english brekkies they had been forcing on us and time to catch the traffic - by gooly we did - talk about other people having the same idea as us - i have never seen so many traffic jams so like any good person and my mothers daughter i got out and surveyed the seen and took photos. then no longer we were back from cornwall (all in all a brilliant trip - 746 miles travelled in all) we were then off to amsterdam - yes after raving about wanting to see the tulips for the last 5 months i managed to get there. we are having so many long weekends here at the mo (bank holidays etc) its great. amsterdam however was not at all how i remembered it with the ozzie guys i went with last time - no siree. we left on friday night ½ an hour late at 8pm incl on our travels were 7 young liverpool louts that were not only going for a stag weekend but also were from the army and proceeded to drink and partake in drugs for the next 10 hours - unfortunately for them my humour on holiday lasts for so long - then there was the different looking indian chap who decided he wanted to be a rastafarian and had lond dredlocks and told everyone he was going to kill us and later changed his continuing chant to stupid ... (bad word) and such like. then there were the 5 brazilian girls who decided they wanted to drink and sing at the top of their lungs to 2.30am and then they ran out of steam so started throwing up their alcohol, and then there was the young girl in front that decided upon meeting the boy next to her for the first time they quite like each other - and thats all i’ll say about that. so for a couple of old people like ourselves that obviously just don’t get it by the time we got into amsterdam at 8.30am saturday morning our frame of mind was jaded to say the least. finding accommodation was interesting as it turns out it was queens day which is apparently the biggest day / party of the entire history of amsterdam so we paid double what we should have but ended up right in the centre of town. went out to discover loads of people in orange (the colour of the day) drinking etc for the next 24 hours - nothing like a little rain to excite people and their heineken factory drug ridden brothel town. i have never walked in so much rubbish in all of my days - it was literally - no exaggs up to our calf muscles and the smell of urine and other stuff was unbearable - not just in places but everywhere and then you sit by the canal and have a quiet pint and then all sorts of things happen around you that maybe you had seen before but not like this and basically that you really didn’t need to see and maybe even undignified thoughts entered you mind. this carried on into the night. marc who hadn’t been to amsterdam was disgusted with the whole thing but we still had to walk around the red lights for about 2 hours - he couldn’t quite get to grips (literally and mentally) with the whole woman in window theory - apparently the word is ‘fascinating’. but the poor kiwi lad just couldn’t fathom waking up and going out side at 9amn ish and before breakfast seeing any shape, colour and size flaunting all sorts out windows. so amusing. so after saturday - which nothing could compete with. we went on the train to the countryside to keukenhof - the tulips were everything i thought they would be - such perfect flowers and the posters you see of them in millions of rows but different colours is all trueit was just gobsmacking - got one film developed to day so should see the photos on the net soon - but the colours were just so brilliant i am glad i have a great camera.then back on the (uneventful bus journey) at 7.30 sunday night. JASON, KYM ETC - i went to our restaurant where they do those yummy hot chocolates! got back in at 5.30am monday morning to have an early breakfast and started talking to this guy who heard our accents and get this he was from matamata - small small town london. so back at work tuesday - and my project is going great guns - my boss last week even gave me an easter egg - which i thought was rather great as i had only been there 2 weeks - how would someone know i enjoy chocolate.raymond buddy please bring caramello chocolate for me - ..... pleeeassse...this weekend i think is going to be a relaxing one
anyway it is 10.30pm and i still have to do laundry (ironing even) so will sign off here and hope all is well - it seems that all i hear of later is people are either getting married or having babies - what is with you people.
ok bye for now hello to one and all
see you all in a bit or two
love and hugs
belinda xxxxxxx

oh dear me.... UK pub crawl.
well people, yep sunday (the day after) yesterday was a whole big kiwi thing, the new zealand embassy emailed and printed in their weekly paper that there was going to be a monopoly game except there were no dice and the board was the streets of london - have you seen how spread out the streets of london on the monopoly board are?
oh what a pub crawl - first we had to get to liverpool street station by 10.30am to get t’shirts (very cool t’shirts with all our stops etc) i think it was so we at the end of day find our way home as we were wearing a map!! and we got ticket each for a draw at the end for a trip to spain for 2 on a four day cruise how cool would that be.
so we get there (amazing what gets us all out of bed that early on a weekend) the first pub stop they lost the keys to the pub (conveniently) and we couldn’t getin so armed with our maps we hit the streets (it was a planned route with particular pubs)i walked so far yesterday but at the begining when we were further out we had to take the tubes and the rules are no holding on - argggh what a dumb rule, and we got to angel/islington and its the deepest tunnel in london undergroud and me and sarah and yvonne ran all the wayup the stairs - wow it was unbelivable every minute we would look up and we still couldn’t seee the top by the last 50 odd steps i had to slow to a walk - all the guys are shouting from escalators but no we slowed- but made it - which was a dumb idea because that just made us thirsty - see all in all we had 26 pubs to get to in 12 hours and we had to get to trafalgar by 8.30pm for the prize draw.
what a day - we sort of drifted in about 3-4 groups which spread the 400 odd people out - including a few ozzies that came too - we caught a bus once and it happened to be the wrong one so got off and managed to convince some poor guy to open his doors at the traffic lights with the right bus the boys were to slow so they were left behind - as you can imagine people were getting separated all the time (thats where the t’shirts come in handy)- i lost our lot about 5 times - i was with these other 3 girls who had an actual monopoly board and were getting it signed every where they went and it just so happened at oxford street there were 2 policeman (mr plod himself) that we got to sign the jail part - soo funny and we had photos taken at each stop and these 2 police people were really good - drunk 20 something chicks all over them wanting signatures and photos - very amusing - you can only but imagine the state/condition of people by 5 ish that night after staring rather early - we managed to get to trafalgar with out losing anyone and somehow everyone turned into mountain goats trying to get to the highest point and the singing started (we are now officially a tourist attraction in our own right) and its amazing how many maori songs from primary school everyone knows. - (i didn’t win the spain trip) and then we had the haka - all the guys on top of nelson monument standing between the lions with their shirts off (even the maori boys were pretty white as not much sun has been found yet) they were really good and the guy that lead it was excellent ( we had 5 troop leaders) and then the national anthem - very load and patriotic we were - i’ll send the newspaper clippings (look at the pictures on this website, currently at item 12 - Monopoly Pub Crawl ) so about 10 ish we moved on to the next set and arrived home very weary after 11 ish - a very long disorderly day. but every ones sprits were in it and a load of laughs were had by all we even managed to fit in the england / south africa rugby game and funnily enough we met this bunch of 7 saffas guys in a pub line up and they said hi something and we go "come on england" (england won you see) they go "oh no" and we go "open your wallets boys - didn’t you have enough cash for the ref this time... "they took it all very well and then they said bloody aussies and we said nooo kiwis and they go yeah you guys are ok - and i said yeah you just try to poison us and they groan and start saying hold me back with the arms up, very amusing. a good day had by all but at breakfast this morning we didn’t see our australian friends and i took photos of the morning after - not good.
and today is going to be a relaxing day and next weekend were are going to richmond and hiring boats for the day (rowing ones) take picnics etc and also madame tussads on the Sunday. well the weather is very muggy here and the tan seems a long way off. the holiday though is only 6 weeks away - my how time has flown - raymond is on his way home already it seems like he only just got here (he is in canada walking in the rockies at the mo) but we managed to catch up a bit which was great. ok bye for now - hi to all
Belinda

Hi from Hungary
Hi Everyone How are you all? We’re in Hungary at the mo in Budapest. We arrived yesterday afternoon after doing a wine trail in a little place called Eger. needless to say we are now missing three of the vans and people had van hopped during the day so we have people from other vans and they have some from ours. There are some smelly people around here! The wine trail was great and we tasted lots - me, far too many. Oops - oh well. There are lots of other kiwi vans in the camping ground where we are so its great to catch up with them. Crossing the Romanian border into Hungary was easy and we had no problems whatso ever. Sad to leave Romania as we had all loved it so much. Hungary is very civilised and a complete change from Romania and Bulgaria. Can’t believe that a couple of hours south of here life is so completely different. We are going out tonight for a traditional Hungarian meal with no utensils so that should be interesting. About 30 of us. After doing this we are going to go do a bus tour around the city and have a look then go back to the campsite where hopefully the others would have turned up. Tomorrow we head for Lake Belatone which is apparently absolutely beautiful. Looking forward to having a swim, if it is warm enough as the last few days have been rather chilly right down to 11 and 15 degrees at one point. Today though we are back in the 30’s so it is a welcome relief. Tans are fading fast which is a shame. Only two weeks till Beerfest so we are going to have to motor through Slovakia, Poland and Berlin and then Czech Rep to make it back into Munich by the 13th. Manda is leaving us in Berlin to head up to Holland to stay with a friend so we will pick up someone else from one of the other vans to jump into ours for the last couple of weeks. Everyone thanks for the e-mails. Hope you are all fine. Well that is about all. Love to all
Kirst :-)

London Town
London has nothing on New York dude... I must admit it’s only been a day or two but Brooklyn was da bomb... Am off to find someone to fix my computer and get my bank account set up... then I think it’ll be about time to go to the pub... $60NZ dollars+ for a round of 4 vodkas!!! feeeeek, I’ll be back in no time at this rate.... Am off to sunny spain on friday which I’m looking way forward to... at least here in Docklands London I have my own internet setup and sky telly downstairs with all day footballl on it so I shouldn’t have to worry about having a few no spend days... will start going to see folk and give it another couple of weeks when I get back from Spain but I’ll be heading off to Ireland pretty soon I reckon... before the weather packs a big long sad... the weather here is wicked, flip flops and shorts for me maytee.... Anywho, later fella. R.

Hi from Munich
Hi Everyone In Munich at the mo and things are hotting up ready for beerfest. We werent allowed into Thalkirchen after last years mob had been there so we are all parked up in a car park which is a little closer to the main action in the city anyway.
My tummy is feeling alot better and have managed to consume some alcohol last night although not that much. Having loads of fun and looking forward to the opening ceremony on Saturday.
Hundred club later on this week but the judges are very very ferel. So a lot of the boys are opting not to bother. I don’t blame them as yesterday these dickhead lads were caning each other while playing drinking games. Gits! - anyway everyone just stays away from them and creates their own fun. Very expensive in this cafe so wont stay on here long. Thanks for all the emails people and hope it rains soon in Hawkes Bay. Love to all
Kirst xxxxxxx

Italia September
hi to one and all, I am in venice / venezia and have decided that i am in love and italy is my new master! my new goal in life is to be a gondola driver person.
From what i can see the only qualifications you need is a stripey shirt , funny accent, and a sleazy / greasy man, obviously there will be some fine tuning involved but i reckon i could do it. others have said "you’d fall in all the time". so we shall see.
venice is great - exactly what you see in the books movies etc but more tourists. the little windy tiny streets really do have washing hanging out of the windows! italia has great temperatures to we are now in firenze (florence, tuscany) and its about 29 degrees.
ciao belinda xxx

notes from deep in the east end....
Bryceeeeee.... hey there geezer... I’m currently living the life of a holiday-time alccy , quite nice really.... and for a bit of R’n’R I’m flying across to Amsterdam on Tuesday (32 quid), just been looking at the eurail site to check whether I want one of those passes or just wing it when I get there, ‘cos I’m wanting to get to Brussels beer central and shoot thru to frankfurt, Prague, Ber-fuckin-lin and up to check me cobber in Copenhagen..... Other than that i’m basically getting jolly and heading off to see music, haven’t exactly done too much sightseeing or looking for work but am catching up with some rekkid muso company geezers on monday whom seem likely.... they’ve been sending me along to all these free pissup and food events, I reckon I could get into a bit of this... just like home ‘cept you have to queue for everything and it’s raining.... speak of the devil, here we go again, best feck off and get me clothes off the line... Hope all is well down your way...
Later champ, R

Hi from Krakow (Poland)
Hi there people Here we are in Poland and what a beautiful place it is. Visited the famous salt mines just out of Krakow as we drove in, they were pretty cool and worth a look. 130m down and all the carvings totally of salt were great. A whole chapel with even the chandeliers made entirely of salt.
Yesterday went to Aucshwitz and Birkenau - wow! Worth visiting Poland just to see those two amazing and heart wrenching places. Had a brilliant guide who took us around for a good four hours and told us so much about the people and the place. The hair, the shoes, the toothbrushes all piled so high. Little childrens clothing, the wall of death, the cells they were kept in and the gas chambers. A very sombre day for us all. No silly business from the boys yesterday thats for sure. Took some photos not that many as it didn’t seem the time or the place for that. Birkenau is 25 times the size of Auschwitz so it was just amazing even the scale of the Nazi operation. To think so many 1.3 million people are thought to have died in the three main camps in the area. Unreal. The piles of hair were about two metres high and the shoes there were 23,000 pairs on display! We are staying in a great little camp ground with the other vans, NZL 60 got themselves fixed and have gone off to Czech as they had no Polish Visas, we will meet them later. So it’s back to the four vans, Tussock, Lemon and Bumfluff. We leave Krakow tomorrow and head for Germany, that will probably take us a day or two to get to Berlin which is our next port of call. Van is going well and we are all fine and dandy with no illnesses or ailments to complain of.
Kirst xx

Bon Gourno! Greetings with Italian style.

I hope evryone is doing well and feeling fine with the change of seasons, wherever you all are. Well I touched down from my two week Italian excursion last night. Arrived at Stansted into 9 degree weather, with pissing rain. Welcome back to Lovely London Dan! Take me back to my Tuscan Villa! The last two weeks have been absolutely amazing. Had a fabulous time with Mum and Dad, Monique and her boyfriend Jason. We flew into Rome and met Ma and Pa in Siena. We spent the first week in a Tuscan Villa we had rented, about 30min from Siena. The first week was spent lazing around our pool, gazing out to the fields and visiting the many local villages in the area. We visited all the usual villages in Tuscany, plus a day at the Italian beach! It was so nice to have a day chilling in sand and salt! We also visited Siena and Florence. The villa was amazing. Exactly as I had imagined it to be. Similar to the villa out of Stealing beauty - for those movie buffs. We left Mon and Jas at the end of the week. Mum, Dad and I carried onto Venice. A crazy city on the canals. Very cool place to visit because of the water novelty, but really not a terribly exciting city. Well worth the visit though. Next two days we hired another car and stayed at Lake Garda, one of the northern lakes. Fab lake surrounded by mountains. It a bustling summer resort, but was quieter while we were there. Its a castled peninsula, and the town is set within the walls of the old city. Very cool. Next day was in Pisa - the leaning tower of course - a not to be missed attraction in Italy. Yip, it leans. Unfortunately that last week we were beaten with rain and overcast weather, but it didn't wreck the site seeing that was happening. One day at Casteloigne del Lago, another lake and onto Rome for the finale. So no disappointment there at all. A few grey hairs due to the hectic auto strada journeys. So expensive to travel on the main autostrada. The equivalent of £6 for driving 100km. Those Italian drivers woof along the Motorway. Most travel at about 180-200km. Needless to say I was happy doing my fast 140km in the slow lane! Now its back to reality. Oooh. Gimme your news.! Love D xxx

bulk bin emails going cheap....
Yes, it’s one of those letters that gets sent to a heap of folk therefore enabling you to look like you’re still thinking of them and also to get out of the internet place without having spent all your pub money... Not that this internet cafe is like any other - no I’m writing from spliff central Amsterdam, my trusty (rusty) steed parked up outside, something in the ashtray and a beer (Heineken or nothing in this place) by my side….Have gotten my sheeet outta London, half it is currently sitting in my locker at some dodgy 8 beds in one room hostel. Am going to stay for another week, quite like it here, have even got inspired to start writing again and my first instalment of ‘Terry Trouble’s Travelling Travesties’ should be online next week (that’s assuming the editor of the FiX thinks it’s good enough)I’ve had the full compliment of droogen on offer, "Owen the Irishman" helped complete the list last night so it might now be time to check some culture or something ... I hear there’s a couple of Galleries around here somewhere... I went to the Torture Gallery but it’s been levelled, I also went to this houseboat that is a cat sanctuary, there’s all these ex-strays hanging about and for a few hours a day you can go and get some cat love for a donation to their dining requirements. You can probably guess what a good buzz that is whilst the sky is changing colours and your bicycle has just grown an extra wheel.... went to the cafe that Cypress Hill hang in whilst in town, had some herring at the markets, and some cheese of course... Saw this fellow with all these freaky glittering piercings morph into a pinball machine (no, really), plenty of junkies walking into lamposts and am living on frites and shoama... and that, as the bishop said to the choirboy is pretty much it. Heading off to get Ballistic in Berlin end of next week and then off for some Scandinavian Schmoozemonstering in Copenhagen with Jeff...... but right now I’ve got a date with something else and a clunky old bicycle, followed by investigation into the red light..... Hope you’re all well and I’ll be sure to keep off ferries heading to Greece.
Later, R.

GOOD TIMES HAWAII
HAY EVERYONE! IF YOU DIDNT GUESS THIS IS A BLOCK SEND E-MAIL SO THAT I DONT HAVE TO SPEND TOO MANY US PINGEERS IN THIS CAFE. ME & NED’S ARE HAVING A GREAT TIME ON OAHU IN HAWAII SPENT OUR 2ND NEW YEARS IN CUSTOMS OH WELL, BUT THEN OFF TO WAIKIKI. STAYED IN A FLASH HIGH RISE MOTEL FOR THE FIRST THREE NIGHTS DOING TOURISTY THINGS RENTED A CAR WENT TO NICE BEACHES DRANK PINACOLA'S, ETC WEVE BEEN ON THE NORTH SHORE OF OAHU FOR THE LAST 5 DAYS STAYING IN BACKPACKERS. ITS HEAPS BETTER THAN THE SOUTH SHORE CAUSE THE WAVES ARE PERFECT! FOR YOU SURFERS OUT THERE I BROUGHT A 6’9"ALOHA HAWAIIAN STYLE BOARD FOR $240 US AND THE GUY SAID HE’L BUY IT BACK IN 3 WEEKS TIME BEFORE WE GO TO CANADA FOR $140 AS LONG AS I DONT THRASH IT! THE SURF HAS BEEN BIG!! MY FIRST SURF WAS AT 12FT SUNSET BEACH ONLY GOT A FEW WAVES, HEAPS OF PROS OVER HEAR AT THE MOMENT. THE SURF HASENT DROPED BELOW 5FT EARLY MORNING OFF SHORES, TURTLES IN THE WATER, STUFF LIKE THAT! WE ARE OFF TO THE ISLAND OF KAUI TOMORROW FOR 5 DAYS, GOING TO RENT A CAR AND EXPLORE. ITS SPOSED TO BE VERY LUSH AND ALOT MORE LAID BACK, I DONT KNOW IF THEY WILL HAVE INTERNET ACCESS OVER THERE SO I’LL TALK TO YOU ALL REAL SOON. LOVE TO EVERYONE, CHEERS FOR YOUR E-MAILS, NEDS SAYS HI!
CHRIS.

Namaste................
Hi guys, forgive me for sending this impersonal excuse for mail but if you could see how slow this computer is at doing anything you’d be nearly losing your mind too. I am in India now, in Delhi, which has been a stress mission. This city is great, but so overpopulated and polluted and poverty is screaming at us from every corner. It is hard here after our cushy life in Portugal. We want to get out of the city as soon as possible, but the Indians are scammers and are making it hard for us to leave. We ask a rickshaw driver to take us to the bus station and he takes us to his brother’s tourist office across town, tried to charge us the earth and gave me a lecture on why i should marry a nice indian. We eventually get to the station to find that no one wants to sell us bus tickets because they think it is too dangerous for girls to travel on public transport for 10 hours and they bump up the fares 200%.Tonight we are going to do a mercy dash to Rajasthan..a night bus with all the chickens and cows they can cram on... to a town called Bikaner. I really want to go there because they worship holy rats and I can’t miss out on seeing some holy rodents. Apparently we have to go into the temple barefoot and if we eat food that the rats have salivated on it brings luck...more likely to bring on Typhoid but hey. The food is pretty good here, it certainly clears out the sinuses and makes you drink more water. I can’t wait to go down south, it is more relaxed and the people are nicer and there are beaches to chill on. We will be in Goa for Xmas and new years, Goa being the Lagos of India..he he he. To all those ex lagos kids, you know what I mean. We have 2 months in India and after seeing the Taj Mahal I want to go to Varanasi to the holy Ganges and then to Kerala. I will be home in NZ on Jan 5th to find a job for 6 weeks before we head off to Canada. Take care all of you, Miriam.

Oh Dear
yip flights sound perfect!!! thanks for that!!! we are now in Swakopmund, Namibia - very cool place!!! am about to go quadbiking and sandboarding on the dunes - got myself into a bit of a pickle though - had a few too many in the pub last night and somehow have ended up agreeing to a dare with one of the other girls - we said we would go quadbiking in our underwear if one of the guys got up and danced on the bar. …Well he did, so looks like i have to go dig out some clean knickers!!!!!!on that note better go get organised. Will email you my credit card details tomorrow for the next leg Thanks again for all your great help
Kirst x

Checking In.
hello just a quick line because this is expensive - 1 pound for minutes. arrived safely but very tired in cold wet miserable london yesterday. preceded to walk around the streets of london with a bag of dirty laundry to do my washing. please note that the royal national (Contiki Hotel before tours) has no laundry facilities. Nicole, make everyone at work jealous because it is 5.30 in the morning at the moment and by this evening I will be in Paris. Yah! I feel a lot better than I did yesterday. I have found that i can sleep on a plane, no matter how uncomfortable i am and no matter how many babies are screaming. another note- if you can fly virgin because they rock! (told her so!) bryce, thanks for everything, i thought i better let you know i am okay!
missing nz, cheers, Julie

Crispy noodles, tom yum and chillies.
Hi guys, Hope you guys are all well, sorry about the impersonal travel update, but you'll probably skim read it quickly anyways, get jealous and then forget about it in ten minutes! After doing our 5 day trek/ rafting/ elephant trekking thing in the Um Phang area, we spent a few days travelling further North by bus and Songtheaw...and regreted not packing any travel motion sickness pills. We got a few buckets of water thrown at us as we drove into Chinag Mai as the Thai New Year Songkran Festival begins this week...basically a week long water fight (tourists are the main target)...we are waiting in fear... We have just finished a 3 day Thai cookery course, it was brilliant...I am now at least 5 kilos heavier and can make a kick ass red curry. We are leaving Thailand in a couple of days and will head to Laos for a month where we'll no doubt run into more water/ ink throwing madness. Short and sweet, hope you are having fun wherever you are, keep in touch.
Miriam.

Lima at last

I had a long day Thursday, getting up at 4am to make it to the airport in time. It was 7 hours to Dallas Fort Worth (everyone has swimming pools there), stopover of 3 hours then another 7 hours to Lima. I arrived after midnight local time (2 hours later than Vancouver) and was in bed by 1:30am. It's been a breeze so far. Most people I've encountered speak at least passable English or have the time and patience to listen to me bumble through whatever I attempt in my Spanish.
The hostel I stayed at in Lima was nice - a big old mansion, with high ceilings and wooden floors. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly, though it was fairly pricey at US$10 a night. I didn't see a whole lot in Lima - just stuck to the suburbs of Barranco and Miroflores, where there were some amazing houses and the beach. There were a few surfers out there, and a snorkler, along with some large seabirds. I wasn't really in the mood to head into the city centre to mingle with the 10 million people who live there as I've heard that it's not the most interesting area to visit. The hostel manager booked me on a flight to Cusco, so I had another early morning (5:45am) to catch that. Here I am now, at 3000 metres above sea level, and aside from feeling a little breathless when climbing steps around here, I haven't felt the effects of the altitude yet (maybe the Coca leaf tea the hostel owner gave me sorted me out). I found a central hostal with some cheaper rooms (US$5 a night), and will spend a few days here acclimatising before setting out on the Inca Trail. Cusco is a very touristy town, but seems very pleasant so far.
Well, I should write a quick note to some other people. Love you all! Ciao, Cush xxx

ANZAC

Hi Bryce, well, I arrived back from Turkey yesterday. What an AMAZING experience... shall I give you a run down...??
Around 11pm on the 24th April we dressed up in almost every single bit of clothing that we had taken with us before heading for Anzac Cove in Gallipoli. Thinking that we would be the early ones (and therefore manage to get 'rock star' seating near the front) we were soon mistaken.... What should have been a 45 minute drive took us over 2 hours because a number of the other 400 bus loads of Kiwis and Aussies had the same idea! Stepping off the bus was like stepping into one of the Walkabout pubs in London - loud Kiwi/Oz music was blearing from a loud speaker and the attendees at the front (who must have arrived EARLY) were jumping up and down dancing in their sleeping bags (good way to keep warm I thought because it was FREEZING). Up on the grass bank near the back we cuddled up together under our blankets and tried to get a few hours sleep before the 6.30am Dawn Service (yeah..., didn't happen). Thankfully for us it didn't rain - hate to think what it would have been like if it had.

The sunrise was beautiful and the Dawn Service went well. The Last Post sounded incredible echoing against the cliff behind us. I managed to hold back the tears by thinking good thoughts, but there was a HUGE lump in the back of my throat the entire time. Some of the stories that were told were so heart wrenching. Then it was another few hours on a mission back to our bus (ol number '39') and then when we realised how long it would take us to actually start moving on the bus. Fortunately we managed to get the Aussies to their Memorial Service before it started at noon. The NZ service at Chunuk Bair started around 1.45pm and was very well done. After Sandra Lee's speech she started singing Whakaria mai - (how great thou art) before a couple of NZers from the crowd and others joined in with her - they sounded amazing. Later towards the end of the service some of the guys from the crowd performed the Haka before the Turks did an incredible overhead display with their jets. The atmosphere was amazing and the day could not have been better.

Definitely a ONCE in a life time experience and although I LOVED it, I won't ever do it again....

Have a good week!Rachel

Incatime!
I had a rather big night last night, didn't get home until after 3am. Oops! So much for the staying away from the alcohol at high altitudes! I met an Austrian girl, Steph, at lunch yesterday, so we hung out all day, checked out the Inca wall that is still there and did some browsing in the many stores. We ran into an Aussie guy, Andy, so the three of us booked our Inca Trail tour - we leave tomorrow for 5 days. After dinner, we were all feeling rather sleepy and contemplating heading home for an early night. On the way, however, we were handed out numerous coupons for free drinks in bars all over the city, so thought we'd try out a couple of them. Cheap night, that's for sure. I don't know how any of the bars make any money! We paid for 2 drinks the entire night, one of them being agua! We had a bit of a boogie in a few of the places before finally heading to our respective hostals and waking up our poor nightmen. I feel surprisingly well this morning, despite the 4 ! hours of sleep I managed to get. Might be keen for a siesta this afternoon after we check out the nearby ruins.

I'm looking forward to the trek, but have a feeling it's going to be a challenge. It's getting easier to breathe now and I can walk a little faster. We have 4 days to walk 33km, which doesn't sound too bad until you throw the altitude into it. Still, we're all in the same boat, so I guess we'll just take it slowly. Steph and I are going to stay a day or two in Aguas Calientes after we finish, then I'll be back here and be in touch again. Seeya, Cush
South America

Hey! Well, I've been a little ways off the internet trail of late, so I guess I have a bit of catch up to do...where was I last? Don't think I mentioned Arequipa. Andy and I headed down after doing the Inca Trail, to check out the Colca Canyon. Very impressively deep. Next was Lake Titicaca. We spent a couple of days in Copacabana, did a day trip and hike on Isla del Sol, which was very pleasant. Our trip to Sorata was a bit of an adventure, we caught a bus to La Paz and got off in the middle of nowhere - a little 2-store town called Huarina, then flagged down a mini-van to Sorata, piling in with a couple of families and their mattresses, etc. The road turned very rough and windy, but there were great views of the 6000m + peaks.

Our Mapiri trek was pretty intense. We actually did it in 5 days (most people take 6 or 7), thanks to lack of water sources. The first couple of days were up and down a ridge at 4000m, with fantastic views of snow-capped peaks. It was rather chilly in the evenings, so we'd be in bed by dark (7pm). Fortunately we were pretty knackered by the days' activity, so slept right away. On the second day, I had to make the split-second decision whether to put both boots firmly into the mud, or to put my entire body and backpack in. I went with the boots and they just haven't been the same since. I very quickly discovered that the easier way down the muddy slopes is to slide on your butt (and sometimes even did it on purpose.) Yip, it was all fun and games. We were into the jungle on the 3rd morning and slogging through mud up to the mid-calves. Andy was making quite an effort to keep his boots dry, but I'd already given up on that and was taking the direct route. Our guide, Vincent had his machete out and was making good use of it. On the 4th day we reached our campsite by 12:30pm and decided to go on for a couple of hours, after Vincent assured us there was a permanent water source 2 hours on. We came out onto dry grasslands and an aptly named Bitterness Ridge, which was scorching hot and our water was running low when we finally made it to camp. Unfortunately, the water source was no more than a stagnant puddle of mud, so we had to pull ourselves together and walk another 2 1/2 hours through more exposed grasslandsto the next camp. I was absolutely exhausted and dehydrated when we finally arrived and after purifying the water, promptly drank 2 litres of the sweetest stuff I've ever tasted (it didn't taste so good the following morning). The last day was no easier than the rest, though only a 4 hour slog through various landscapes before coming out at a lovely river with beautiful multi-coloured butterflies sunning themselves. We spent the night in Mapiri, a vegetarian's nightmare of a town. Every single restaurant in town had only one thing on the menu: chicken. You could get it roasted, deep fried, with a wine sauce, etc, etc, as long as it was chicken. Some places were even giving it away. So I was on cheese sandwiches, french fries and fried bananas. Mmm mmm. Still, it was nice to have a cool shower (damn hot in Mapiri) and clean the absolutely filthy clothes.

We caught a boat down to Guanay the following morning, which was pretty exciting. Cheapest white water trip you're likely to take! Quite a thrill, really, at least until the bum went numb on the wooden seats. We started off with some squealing pigs in the back of the boat, and once we got rid of them, picked up a man with his fridge which needed repairs. Interesting to say the least. I said ciao to Andy (he's off to La Paz) and caught a mini-van to Caranavi, then a bus to Rurrenabaque. 21 hours of travelling later, I get to relax in my hammock and rest my poor swollen ankle. It's sooooo hot here. I'm sweating all over,but it makes a nice change. I'm going to chill out here (or fry) for a couple of days, then do a pampas trip. The national park here (Madidi) is meant to be great for wildlife viewing. Then I think I may fly to La Paz (1 hour) rather than take the 18 hour bus trip.

Thanks for writing, everyone who did. It's great to hear from you. Thanks for banking my cheque, Grant. That will be my emergency fund. Ann-Mari, are you heading to Bolivia anytime soon? What about you, Lance? What are your plans? Hey, what's happened to Nicky-luv's address? Well, that's me for now. Keep writing - it's good to hear from you. Take care all, Cush

Caulker

Hi Bryce,

Thanks for the newsletter. At the moment I am in Belize and enjoying the fact that English is the language here. It is so much easier to travel.
Just came back to the mainland after a few days at Caye Caulker where I enjoyed a snorkelling tour on the reef just off the caye. Saw lots of stingrays, colourful fish and nice coral. The tour was NZ$30 and you can get accommodation on the island for about NZ$15 single (Tina's Backpackers) and NZ$10 each in a double (Sandy Lane Cabanas) so I think it is quite an affordable place for Belize (which is generally regarded as more expensive than other Central American locations).
The other good thing about Belize is the Belize dollar is similar strength to Kiwi dollar (about half a greenback) so budgeting is easier too.

Buena suerte para 2003,
Paul

Hi yas :)

Thanks for all the emails!! If these computers weren't sooooo SLLOOOOWWWW... I'd be emailing you all properly - you'd all hear the same things anyhow.
So far we've had 3 weeks of hot, humid and beautiful days in Malaysia and yesterday crossed over into Thailand. This place is wicked. The touts and squat toilets (with no toilet paper, only a bucket of water.... say no more) I can definitely do without, but they're all part of the experience hey. The food and people in general are another story - amazing place I say.
Yesterday we arrived in Satun from Langawi and were ushered into the back of a sawngthaew (basically a ute with two rows of bench seats down the sides - a Thailand taxi) with about 8 other people and were taken into the town. These drivers always drop you outside their own agencies or travel places so with the good old Lonely Planet we navigated our way to a bus stop and jumped on a local bus. Far better way of travelling too - instead of some air-con bus that you see back home we had the best party bus you could have - open windows and fans and a HUGE stereo system blasting some Thailand music all the way. Love it!!
Right now we're in Krabi and intending on taking a ferry out to one of the islands tomorrow and then on to Phi Phi and Phuket. Looking into doing a few dives while we're here before heading over to Ko Samui and Ko Tao. I think we're just missing the full moon party this month but if we don't make it in time, there's apparently quarter moon, half moon, 3/4 moon and every other excuse party you can have anyway so we're bound to get to a few.
We're feeling hot and sticky but can still enjoy the feeling knowing how cold some mates back in London must be.... sorry guys but we often think of you when we're sipping on our fresh watermelon or pineapple juices in the shade....

Take care guys and keep in touch!!
Love, Rach

Hello!

We've been on Ko Pha Ngan (in the Gulf of Thailand) for the past 5 days and are tomorrow heading over to Ko Tao (about 1 1/2 hours by boat) to do some more diving. Unfortunately our Thailand visa runs out on the 20th and the next full moon party is on the 17th so we're going to miss it and move on to make it into Cambodia before the 20th.
Our bungalow here is on the top of the hillside literally at the end of the party beach. Music to suit everyone pumping into the early hours and our bungalow is pumping with the bass until after 3am on the weeknights. Its quite something sitting out on the beach in front of the bars having a few drinks and watching the guys with the firesticks.
I'm still sticking with my fried rice and vegetables and have yet (touch wood) to have the dodgy stomach that everyone seems to get... The squat toilets are beginning to grow on me and shock horror they're even starting to make more sense than a 'western' toilet.
Right now I'm covered in sea lice bites but still thankful its not me that the mozies like. The temperatures at night are still up around 30 something degrees - HOT and theres about a hundred stairs up the cliff side (no kidding!) to reach our bungalow - good exercise after all this good Thailand food.

Hope you're all in for a good week!
Rach

BIT OF A NOVEL ... he..he.. THE TRIP

NYC - absolutely loved it - highly recommend the topless bus tour, learnt so much about the city and could get a real feel for the place - helicopter tour over the city blew me away especially flying over ground zero and out to the statue of liberty! Best show i've ever seen was 'Rent' we saw that on Broadway, amazing talent!
LONDON - oh the sales! Had to start leaving the clothes i had bought with me on the trip in hotel rooms because my suitcase was getting so full! Loved London, Covent Garden was such a cool place to wine and dine - so much happening there, really entertaining - took the tube everywhere and loved it - bought day passes and saved heaps that way - London Eye was so cool and Tower of London was definitely worth seeing out of all the passes we had - Madame Tussauds was still amazing second time around!
PARIS - oh so many beautiful things to see - again the topless bus was so good because we did the entire trip around and then stopped off at different places second time around like the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysee, what a place to shop! We did the dinner cruise and then the Moulin Rouge show which was wicked but if i did it again i would have not had such a full on day beforehand because the show finished after 1am and we were all knackered by then!
VENICE/FLORENCE - oh we fell in love with Venice, what a romantic place and so unique - make sure you have your shoulders covered when visiting the sacred places - rach and i had to race off and buy a shawl! Went out on the short boat trip to Murano to watch some glass blowing - bought a beautiful sculpture there from a gorgeous gallery - Florence was soooo good for shopping, shopped up a storm there and bought a beautiful leather bag for my mum that she loves and gets comments on daily! The weather was beautiful mid July, swimming and sunbathing by the hotel pool!
GREEK ISLANDS - Mykonos was the first stop and we had run out of superlatives by now but WOW! Beautiful weather and gorgeous hotel 'Pelican Bay' - and just down at the end of the street was the most beautiful beach and cool restaurants - i'd love to go back there for a week but we had 2 glorious days there, superb! Ios was not my cup of tea really, really young and wild and really full on nite life and you could hear it goin all nite long - went into town one nite and couldn't get into it, loads of really young people around 14/15 partying the nite away- we just chilled by the pool at the hotel and soaked up the sun! - Santorini - wow this place is so yummy! The views from the cliff where all the restaurants are is fantastic and the sunset will blow you away, a must see! Fashion, views, weather, friendly people - this place has everything!
BANGKOK - on the way home we stayed in Bangkok for a nite on my birthday - nite markets were SO MUCH FUN! Have to do the nite markets no questions - bargains galore! Dined at the highest building in Thailand - great food and amazing views!

ALL IN ALL THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME!
Sarah

June 5th - Made Thailand...

Hi My lovelys!
I'm on Koh Phanang at the moment, went to the full moon party last night. Man it was crazy! I have never seen so many people that messed up on drugs in my life! It was the best people watching. We met up with some friends at about 8oclock and had some dinner then bought a couple of buckets (I'm sure you know what they are but just in case, hip flask of bicardi, redbull and lemonade served in a bucket,Cost of the buckets depends on your spirit of choice. Bicardi and Vodka $250 - $300 baht the local whiskey $150 ...I heard a whisper that it contained amphet) Very cheap night out indeed... and went back to our bungalow for drinks, at about midnight we ventured down to the beach and it was just carnage! I would say 6000 people in bars and on the beach. Lots of people with fire pois and lots of people freaking out on Magic mushrooms. We found ourselves a nice bit of sand for the night and drank and laughed till the sun came up. I'm feeling a little jaded today but not as bad as some people I have bumped into.
Before Koh Phanang we were in Ko Samui. It is beautiful! I'm sure that is what paradise looks like. The whitest sand you can imagine and the clearest sea water I have ever seen. We splashed out and stayed at a resort right on the beach. Its a pretty expensive place compared to everywhere else in Thailand but worth every penny. And the night life is pretty good too. We are heading to Ko Tao tomorrow to do some snorkling, I can't wait! Koh Phangan is filled with supa young teenagers getting smashed till they throw up! Yuck! (Am I get old????) We have spent our last few days lazing on the beach or by the pool and eating great food.
Enough from me I don't want to make you too jelous!
Hope all is good in NZ.

Hey Bman! London
Sorry no email for a while.
We are loving London! This place rocks!
Basically in a nutshell our time here has consisted of.... Sightseeing (No tour groups!) We have been to Buckingham Palace (laughed at the men is fuzzy hats), National Gallery, London Dungeons. We have mastered the tubes and trains. I spent the weekend in Manchester, saw James Brown and boogied my butt off! J is off to Wales this weekend for the cricket.
We have had a couple of massive nights on the town. Not really a good idea when you are a little homesick! Saw Salmonella Dub play at Neighbourhood last week. Already craving kiwi anything!
I accepted a job yesterday with an Ad Agency. It's a great opportunity for me! I'm really excited.J is still on the look out for the perfect role but will be doing some promotional work for Lindamans (SP) wine. We have been looking for a flat together, at the moment I think we are going to have to share a room. Not ideal but it will cut down the rent. The world is our oyster at the moment! Don't let the shit weather get you down! You have the 2 weeks of sunshine to look forward to at Christmas. he he he
Take care
Rae