The train from Rome to Florence was a joy; it’s great not to have to bother with airport security and we were door to door within a couple of hours, we (again) seemed to score the best room at our hotel, probably down to the bump, and we were given advice from the bubbly receptionist about what to do in Florence.

Depending on what your interests are, you could probably spend a couple of weeks in Florence alone. It’s the home of Michaelangelo, Rafael and probably some other turtles; some naked bloke called David lives here; there are day trips to many surrounding areas such as Pisa to be had and it is the place where esteemed artist (and our next door neighbour) Harold Riley spent some time studying.

We’ve tried culture, honestly, however standing in a queue for a couple of hours just to see a statue isn’t something that appeals. It’s the sort of thing we’d do just to be able to say we had done it, and that’s when you start to become a bit of a twat. That being said, if the works of Michaelangelo (etc) appeal to you then Florence is somewhere you should definitely go and soak it all up.

So, for us, a couple of days was enough. Florence is simply a gorgeous city ideally suited to taking a deep breath after being in the capital and the first thing we did was to take the bus up to Piazzia Michaelangelo for a breathtaking panoramic view of the city at sunset. This Piazzia is adjacent to the artist’s house and attracts hundreds of visitors for the setting of the sun every day. Look one way and you have a five-star view, look the the and the greasy Italians selling all kinds of tat are apparent to cater for the masses.

Our only full day was spent taking in the major attractions of the city, many of which are visible from the picture. You can find relative solitude in Florence in cafes just off the beaten track, however around the highlights you are generally tripping over middle aged Americans who think they’re Italian and have bought the atrocious tracksuit to prove it. It’s like Goodfellas at times.

Food is going to play a major role in many of these blog posts. Tuscan cuisine was something I was looking forward to about this trip and was a factor in deciding whether to come to Florence. It didn’t disappoint, the highlight was a family run restaurant where we got three courses, Chianti & espresso for €16 a head. They don’t bother with menus and by the time we left there was a sizeable queue of locals waiting to get in.

There might be a lot of stuff here I don’t appreciate, but there’s plenty for oafs like me to get along with very well.

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We immediately remembered why we went down the hostel route instead hotels. When you arrive the staff are ridiculously welcoming and sat down with us taking us through the sights of Rome, suggested itineraries, transport links and local restaurants – all this whilst offering us a free coffee. Anyone who thinks staying in hotels on trips like this is the way to go is mistaken.

We’d had a really heavy weekend thanks to the Fodens throwing a great party on Friday which spilled into an all day session on the Saturday. A nap was in order. This nap turned into the best sleep I’d had in days and we rose four hours later to explore Rome.

In total, we were in Rome for three nights and took in the major highlights, sometimes with the aid of a guide which can really enhance a trip. Without it you find yourself staring at walls and statues without ever knowing what they represent. Spending €4 on a guide is also a great way to jump the massive queues at the major attractions.

Rome is unashamedly historic, narrow cobbled streets and a third rate metro system are the prices they willingly pay to keep these monuments in place and the constant attention needed to keep buildings such as the Colosseum standing is astonishing (built 1,932 years ago).

One thing worthy of note is that we appear to be on a VIP tour of Rome; pregnant women are treated like royalty. We have had examples of people falling over each other to give up seats on a bus, we seem to have no trouble getting the best room in our accommodation, special seats are reserved in the Sixteen Chapel and, you know the rule about covering shoulders highly religious places? It doesn’t seem to apply to pregnant women. There was one couple on our tour of The Vatican who managed to trump us by bringing a four month old. Bastards.

Finally for this post, the food. I’m a huge fan of Italian cooking and have been sampling the local stuff with scant regard for my health. A decent meal for two consisting of two courses and a bottle of red sets us back approximately €40, you can find decent stuff much cheaper if needed.

It was very hot and busy in Rome, we managed our way through it and saw everything we planned so we found accommodation in Florence and boarded a train Tuscany bound. I’ll have more for you in a day or so.

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It’s now time to get back on the road, albeit quite briefly. We fly to Rome on 12 September. From there we don’t really have a plan, we hope to head north to Venice and eventually end up on the French coast. We’ll probably be away for about three weeks – not the longest of trips but an adventure nonetheless. It’s going to be a fairly relaxed tour, due on no small part to the increasing size of Pezza’s belly and the hoopla of moving house that will follow shortly thereafter.

We’ve done little research but anticipate working our way up to Venice from Rome and making use of budget accommodation, perhaps with a splurge option being thrown in there at some point.

Finally, from a Tech point of view, I’ll be leaving the laptop at home and making do with my shiny new toy, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Should I have posted more over the last year? Probably, we’ve had a few very memorable trips worthy of note and I hope to be able to document the craziness of St Anton, the fastest roller coaster in the world & the sharp side of Dubai Marina, flyng First class with BA and the best group holiday possible in Las Vegas.

See you in Italy.

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Not my fault. I was lying in bed one night, possibly drunk, and I received an email informing me of a British Airways sale. It was always our intention to go over and see Stuart & Cazzie more than once and we decided instead of meeting them in Whistler again we’d go to Vegas instead and they would get the relatively short flight down from Vancouver.

Pezza & I decided to take this opportunity to pay a visit to an American city that’s been in my mind for a while. There’s so much about Seattle that’s great and we loved wandering around the city taking in the famous Pike Market, the needle and coffee – essentially a dream for any Frasier fan.

Stereotypical Seattle Space Needle Picture...

My highlight was a trip to the Experience Music Project, a shrine to Seattle music. So many of my favourite bands hail from this city and I was like a kid seeing the displays dedicated to Hendrix, Pearl Jam and Nirvana etc.

Guitar tower, Experience Music Project

After a couple of days soaking in Seattle Grunge, drinking coffee, drinking Seattle dry, touring the sports stadia and adjusting to the time difference; it was time to go to Vegas.

We stayed in the Wynn as they had a monster sale on when we booked it and as we were there for my birthday we took in one of the Vegas clubs. There’s not too much I can add other than the fact we had a brilliant time and managed to catch up with an old mate who is now a flair barman in Kahunaville, Treasure Island. We also saw the Cirque du Soleil show, Love (highly recommended).

It was a horrendously alcoholic five days and we were delighted to be able to upgrade our flights on the way home using air miles. The seven hours sleep I got on the flight home was comfortably the best night’s sleep of the trip!

You can see our pictures here.

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My older, wiser, greyer brother and Caroline spent the autumn touring North America in a RV before settling down for the winter season in Whistler.

We were weighing up New Year but, frankly, it’s not worth it when you can go a few weeks later for half the price. We therefore decided to make it for Australia Day. It may seem bizarre going to Canada for Aussie Day but Whistler is full of them, indeed there are probably more Australians living in Whistler during the winter than Canadians. This makes for an unbeleivable Australia Day party, one which we first experienced here in 2006.

We had an interesting journey which included a five-hour layover in Heathrow. Many people choose to get the Heathrow Express into London and enjoy a bit of lunch in the city, we chose the sit in the airport bar and get trashed; I barely remember getting on the plane.

The unrivaled highlight of the trip was Cat Skiing where we go to a neighbouring mountain that gets more snow than Whistler and is populated by no more than 11 people on any given day. If you love riding powder then there is simply no substitute for this experience.

We were a sixsome for our ten days in Canada as we flew out with Paulie & Karen. I’ve been to Whistler twice before and know the resort and the mountain reasonably well but it was really good to have Stuoobs & Cazzie as our guides to the mountain and the nightlife.

Having spent a week in the snow we opted to get the bus to Vancouver for three more days. Vancouver is consistently up there when the list of the best cities in the world to live in is published and it’s hard to argue; the Canadians are a great race of people and Vancouver has the feeling of a big city without the attitude problems so many face. On top of that, you have Whistler just an hour and a half away by car. Saying all that, it’s not the best in terms of a tourist destination and probably wouldn’t be worth a visit unless you were in the area.

We did have a good few nights here including a great steak, a very drunken night out with a Vancouver based friend of ours and, to top it all off, a trip to the Garage to see the mighty Canucks.

To see Stuoobs’ and Cazzie’s blog on their trip, check out Stuart’s Blog.

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This used to be a miserable view. The top left of the picture is the MediaCity:UK site which will be home to, among other things, the BBC’s new Salford Quays home next year. Before we went to Tignes this was a horrible looking building site and one of the reasons we got away for so long.

It has snowed all day and now the skies have cleared leaving a wonderful view from our apartment balcony.

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The snow has begun to fall in the Alps and we’ve booked our first winter trip of the season returning to Tignes in March.

This photo is of the Aiguille Percée which loosly translates as ‘The Eye of the Needle’. It is a beautiful rock formation caused by wind erosion. The locals believe in ten years it will have completely eroded away.

After a good snowfall there’s a hairy hike up through the Eye that leads to stunning views and a brilliant off-piste run on the other side.

Winter: God’s season.

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26,883 Miles by plane
777 Miles by bus/coach (we avoided overnighters)
693 Miles by train (average 1 cockroach per 48 miles)
183 Miles by car
192 Miles by ferry
100 Miles by sailboat
0.5 Miles by motorbike (before we crashed in Hoi An)
28,828 Miles in total (1.16 times around the world)

19 Airports
9 Airlines
8 Different currencies (US$ widely accepted in Cambodia as well as the Riel)
2 Equatorial crossings
6 World Heritage Sites
Approximately 47 toilets in Hanoi for Pezza

140 Hours traveling (5 days 20 hours)
3 Nights spent on planes
4 Nights on a boat
1 Night on a train
1 Night in Ha Long Bay

48 nights in Asian hostels (average £24.21/night)
10 nights in Aussie hostels (average £45.22/night)
4 Nights in posh hotels (average £250.25/night)

£1,614.18 total spent on hostels (58 nights. Average £27.83/night)
£2,816.18 total spent on all accommodation (62 nights. Average £45.42/night)

2 Items lost (camera and flip flops)
2 Items broken (padlock and laptop power cable)

0.6 Kilograms my luggage gained
3.4 Kilograms I gained (Pezza doesn’t wish to discuss any weight she may have gained/lost)

0 Major arguments
0 Times I was right
100 Times Pezza was right

977 Pictures uploaded to Flickr
23 Blog posts on the road

38 Degrees – highest temperature (MySon ruins, Vietnam)
21 Degrees – lowest temperature (Sydney, Australia)

All the accommodation costs are based on two people sharing a double room. Further details on all our accommodation can be found on the dedicated Southeast Asia Page.

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There’s not a lot we wanted to do in Sydney, we knew it was the last stop and fully intended to spend a day or two on one of the beaches. When we first came in 2006 we tried to go up Centrepoint Tower but were informed it was an hour wait (it was new year’s day) so we pulled the cord and had a day on Bondi. This time we made it up there for unrivalled views of the city from the Harbour (above), the beaches, suburbs and stadia. The tower is less than a tenth of the price of the bridge climb, offers a higher view and you can also take your camera up (banned from the bridge climb); for us this is a much better option than the two hour walk over the bridge.

With me getting pictures of the Olympic Stadium and Pezza using the free telescopes to spy on a wedding we worked up a thirst and headed to my favourite restaurant in the world, Sydney Oyster Cove on Circular Quay – sun, oysters, wine and a view of the Harbour Bridge.

Another reason for visiting Sydney is that we know a few people here. The first visit we made was to my old work buddy, Dom, who took us out for a Vietnamese meal and then to some of the more ‘interesting’ pubs in seedy Surrey Hills. He invited us to a house party the next day which was full of people I used to work with, it’s as if the boat to Sydney now picks up from Michael Page’s Manchester office.

We didn’t want a late one as we were on the 9.30am train to Richmond to see Pezza’s family. Pezza’s cousin, Stephen, bought ten acres of land in rural Richmond and intends to build a great house in the middle of nature, in the mean time he lives on a bus parked in the middle of the land with his wife.

We had a great afternoon of beer-cricket and a meal overlooking the bushland of New South Wales. It was great to see everyone but by the time we got back to Sydney in the evening we were tired and just about had the energy to get the obligatory Opera House Shot…

Our last day was now upon us and we could think of nothing better to do than spend the entire day horizontal on Bondi Beach and the night on George Street.

The final reason for coming to Sydney was to experience the A380 once again. It’s an epic journey from Australia to Manchester and we were fortunate to be able to do it with just the one stop in Singapore, the only downer was that the A380 was our vessel for the first part of the journey; the Singaore to Manchester leg was on an old 777-200.

We’re now back in rainy Manchester. When we arrived at the airport and waited for a taxi it was tempting just to turn around back to the departures area and head off somewhere.

So, that was that.

The sydney photos are now on my photo page

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Approaching Byron was a warm feeling.  With the exception of Bangkok, Byron Bay is the only other place we’ve been to before; Bangkok is brilliant but we were there more out of necessity whereas Byron Bay is a place we’ve really taken to.  We arrived bright and early so there was no need for the customary nap, we packed our bags and headed for the beach.  The wind was up and aside from a few brave kite surfers, the beach was a no-go for the first day but as we were new in Byron a walk around town is great way to spend a day.  There are strict controls here as to what buildings can look like and they are not allowed to be more than three stories high.  You’re left with a gorgeous looking town with a relaxed atmosphere like no other we’ve experienced and it’s quite hard to put into words.  The only picture I can paint is one of people sat by the beach playing their guitars, not for money but just because they want to.  There’s also the ‘body and soul’ side to Byron; the concept of smoothies and organic food that the world has cottoned onto over the last five or six years has been part of Byron for so much longer.  That being said, a huge burger and a dirty pint are just as accessible as elsewhere.

It took us a day or two to catch up on the sleep from the sailing trip and once recovered we decided to take the lighthouse walk.  Pezza had been promised it was ‘about a 20 minute walk’.  After nine weeks away where the most active thing we’ve done so far has been the jungle trek near Chiang Mai, we were not really ready for this activity.  The ‘20 minute walk’ turned out to be two hours and most of it was uphill.  Our reward at the top was a stunning panoramic view of Byron Bay.

Hostels and travellers in Australia tend to be different than in Southeast Asia (there’ll be a whole post on this in due course, probably in a week or two when we’re home) but one thing that stands out is the communal nature of the hostels here in Australia.  They make the effort to get guests together in activities and nights out and negotiate deals with the local pubs and clubs so it wasn’t long before we were sat in a group of total strangers playing a series of drinking games and drinking bags of cheap goon

There’s not much to write about Byron, I suppose if there was then you’ve missed the point of it, it’s a place to kick back in the day and either take in some acoustic music at night or get thoroughly trashed at one of the rowdy clubs.

When I think of my favourite destinations it’s hard to order them as there’s many different categories.  For example it’s hard to compare Tignes, Las Vegas, Barcelona and Byron Bay as they all offer something completely different.  Suffice to say, Byron is very near the top.  We’ll be back.

Byron Bay Photos

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