it's a long way from whitley bay...

Hi everyone and welcome to our journal where you can see and read what we've been up to and where we're going next. We hope you enjoy it, and would love you to keep in touch with your news, and send us your comments! Lots of love, Sarah and Phil x ;)

Final round up

UNITED KINGDOM | Tuesday, 2 Sep 2008 | Views [211]

It's Whitley Bay!! Well, we don't know if anyone's still reading this - seeing as we're back in the real world now! But seeing as we promised a final round up, and seeing as Sarah is now unemployed and needs diversions to keep her from Jeremy Kyle-... Read more >


Big Sur, Boston & back home!

USA | Friday, 22 Aug 2008 | Views [367] | Comments [1]

Hi everyone, That's it! After 9 months, 16 countries, 17 flights, 12 train journeys, umpteen bumpy bus rides and nearly 12,000 miles by car and van, we've made it round the world and back. And after all that, the weather in Britain is still rubbish.... Read more >


Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Vancouver, Seattle & San Francisco

USA | Tuesday, 12 Aug 2008 | Views [1076] | Comments [5]

Hi everyone, Sorry it's been a while - we've been making the most of our last couple of weeks of freedom (arrrgh - mild panic!!) and packing it all in as usual, so there's lots to tell you about again. After leaving you in Utah last week, we decided ... Read more >


Route 66 (part 2), Grand Canyon, Vegas & Utah

USA | Saturday, 2 Aug 2008 | Views [522] | Comments [7]

Hi everyone, We're still on the road and zooming our way through the US with the distance to Los Angeles shrinking faster than Gordon Brown's approval ratings. We're now in Idaho and not far off the top of our big western loop. In fact we've managed ... Read more >


Toronto, Chicago and Route 66 (part 1)

USA | Tuesday, 29 Jul 2008 | Views [529] | Comments [4]

Hi everyone, We've clocked up 3000 miles now on our road trip across the states, and have just seen a sign for Miami out of the window... hang on a minute, didn't we tell everyone we were following the pioneers and heading out west? Actually ... Read more >


Montreal, Ottawa & Niagara Falls

CANADA | Wednesday, 23 Jul 2008 | Views [823]

Hi everyone, Since picking up our car on Friday we've managed to cover about 1,000 miles and spent 18 hours on the road buzzing around Canada's big cities and Niagara. We picked up the car on Friday night and had planned to head north through New ... Read more >


New York, New York

USA | Sunday, 20 Jul 2008 | Views [237] | Comments [1]

"Ba ba dah da da da ba ba dah da da da da... start spreading the news...." Yes, we arrived in NY early Tuesday morning and, fuelled up with all that steak and south american coffee, were ready to hit the ground running. Well, walking faster ... Read more >


The Plan for the USA

USA | Wednesday, 16 Jul 2008 | Views [186] | Comments [3]

Hi everyone, We've made it to our 15th and penultimate country of the trip and are currently zooming round New York and trying to see everything in 3 and a half days before we pick up the car on Friday. We thought that before we hit the road, we'd ... Read more >


Buenos Aires - The Sequel

ARGENTINA | Sunday, 13 Jul 2008 | Views [296] | Comments [4]

Hi everyone, This week we're bringing you a tale of tango in San Telmo, partying in a Paddy bar, bling at breakfast and pants in Palermo. Stay with us.... We're also saying goodbye: to Louise and Vanessa and also to South America where we've had 7 ... Read more >


The Iguazu falls

ARGENTINA | Monday, 7 Jul 2008 | Views [454] | Comments [4]

Hi everyone, We have spent the past three days travelling to, and exploring the Iguazu falls - the spectacular waterfalls that form the triple border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay (see map below). We reconvened with Louise and Vanessa in Foz ... Read more >


Rio de Janeiro

BRAZIL | Wednesday, 2 Jul 2008 | Views [588] | Comments [2]

Hi everyone, You remember that last time we wrote, we were telling you how brilliant the weather had been in Salvador and how we'd spent every day basking in sunshine on the beach? So, can you guess what happened next....? That's right, it tipped it ... Read more >


Salvador

BRAZIL | Tuesday, 24 Jun 2008 | Views [775]

Bonjourno everyone from Salvador, Sorry it has been a while. We haven´t been doing much! Since we arrived in Salvador last Tuesday we have fallen into a very comfortable, if predictable, pattern of spending the day on the beach, the late afternoon ... Read more >


Cordoba, Santiago & Rio de Janeiro

BRAZIL | Tuesday, 17 Jun 2008 | Views [433] | Comments [3]

Hi everyone, Our whistle stop tour of South America continues, with 3 days in Montevideo followed by 2 in Cordoba, 1 in Santiago, 2 in Rio and finally a planned 10 day stop in Salvador. We took yet another South American bus from Montevideo on Wednesday ... Read more >


Trip Stats - 2/3 of the way!

BRAZIL | Monday, 16 Jun 2008 | Views [226] | Comments [1]

Can we have a drum roll to begin this entry please? Thank you... Yes, it´s what you´ve all been waiting for for these past three months - a second round of Sarah and Phil´s trip stats!  Stay with us readers*, this one has pie charts and everything..... Read more >


Montevideo

URUGUAY | Thursday, 12 Jun 2008 | Views [324] | Comments [3]

Hi everyone, Just a quick Hola from Uruguay before we get on yet another overnight bus - to Cordoba this time. Firstly we must tell you about the first bad meal experience we´ve had for ages, which we had on our last night in B.A., after writing the ... Read more >


Mendoza and Buenos Aires

ARGENTINA | Monday, 9 Jun 2008 | Views [768] | Comments [2]

Hi everyone, Well, we have made it to the other side of South America! We first caught a bus across the Andes to Mendoza, where we spent a couple of nights before carrying on to Buenos Aires, where we´ve been for the past five days. After spending ... Read more >


San Pedro de Atacama

CHILE | Sunday, 1 Jun 2008 | Views [644] | Comments [4]

Hi everyone, We got back on our first long distance bus since China on Monday to head up to San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile on the edge of the Atacama desert. Fortunately the journey was in complete contrast to the last one in China when we ... Read more >


Santiago

CHILE | Sunday, 25 May 2008 | Views [253] | Comments [1]

Hi everyone, Well after an 11 hour flight on Thursday we arrived in Chile five hours before we had left New Zealand. Yes, we know we keep going on about it but we are confused, and so are our bodies! Going back in time by 16 hours will be the greatest ... Read more >


Auckland and Bay of Islands

NEW ZEALAND | Wednesday, 21 May 2008 | Views [333] | Comments [1]

Hi everyone, After five fantastic weeks it's finally time to say bye bye to New Zealand, the van and Phil's beard! We headed up to the small town of Russell in the Bay of the Islands on Saturday and had a nice relaxing day of mooching around in the ... Read more >


Tongariro, Rotorua & Auckland

NEW ZEALAND | Saturday, 17 May 2008 | Views [441] | Comments [2]

Hi everyone, This week we've been climbing Mount Doom, holding our noses in Rotorua and collecting a certain ring in Auckland.... On Tuesday we did the Tongariro Crossing, which is a 7 hour walk (yes, another 7 hour walk! how did this happen?!) through ... Read more >


Golden Bay, Picton and Wellington

NEW ZEALAND | Monday, 12 May 2008 | Views [359] | Comments [4]

Hi everyone, We finally made it to the North Island! After the Mediterranean-like Abel Tasman National park, we made it up as far as Golden Bay on the far Northern shores of the South Island, where we stayed in a nice little hippyish town called Takaka, ... Read more >


Newsflash!

NEW ZEALAND | Wednesday, 7 May 2008 | Views [289] | Comments [4]

Hi everyone, Just to let you all know that we're engaged! Phil proposed on Tuesday and luckily the beard and two weeks holed up in a campervan hadn't put Sarah off and she said yes! Guess we should fill you in on the details.....like was it romantic ... Read more >


Queenstown, Wanaka and the Glaciers

NEW ZEALAND | Sunday, 4 May 2008 | Views [342] | Comments [2]

Hi everyone, Hope you're enjoying decent Bank Holiday weather... we've been battling through the rain and snow in New Zealand in the past few days. We arrived in Queenstown on Wednesday night, with the thermometer in our van reading about 2 degrees ... Read more >


Otago peninsular, the Catlins, Fjordland and Milford Sound

NEW ZEALAND | Wednesday, 30 Apr 2008 | Views [439] | Comments [4]

'Kia Ora' (hello, wassup in Kiwi) from week 2 on the road in New Zealand. We're half-way around the South Island now - and still absolutely loving it. Having extended our time in NZ yet again (we're now staying 5 weeks) we've just over 1000 miles ... Read more >


Akaroa, Lake Tekapo, Mount Cook, Oamaru and Dunedin

NEW ZEALAND | Thursday, 24 Apr 2008 | Views [841] | Comments [3]

Hi everyone, We've been in New Zealand for a week now and have decided the locals are really rude. They've got all this fantastic scenery and yet they keep it all to themselves! Outrageous. They could at least donate a few mountain ranges and ... Read more >


Christchurch

NEW ZEALAND | Saturday, 19 Apr 2008 | Views [274] | Comments [1]

Hi everyone, We arrived in Christchurch on Thursday after 3 great weeks in Oz. The Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa which means 'Land of the Long White Cloud' and we could see why as we flew over the island..... We spent our first ... Read more >


Melbourne

AUSTRALIA | Monday, 14 Apr 2008 | Views [448] | Comments [3]

Hi everyone, We’ve had a great week in mellow Melbourne, home of Australian cricket, tennis, trams and of course, Madge and wobbly Harold W. Bishop* from neighbours. *** Special bonus fact #1 – Harold Bishop’s middle name was Wayne ... Read more >


Brisbane and Fraser Island

AUSTRALIA | Monday, 7 Apr 2008 | Views [1641] | Comments [2]

Hi everyone, Having spent 28 hours on trains and 10 hours in a 4x4 on our 4 day trip to Brisbane and Fraser Island, we can confirm that Australia is definitely a big place! Our journey from Sydney to Brisbane was probably only about ... Read more >


Sydney

AUSTRALIA | Tuesday, 1 Apr 2008 | Views [370] | Comments [6]

Hi from Sydney! We’ve been having flaming good time in Oz so far! Having met up with Sarah’s Mum and Dad on Thursday we’ve been ‘knocking ourselves out’ with loads of sightseeing in and around Sydney (guess who’s been setting the ... Read more >


Beijing and The Great Wall

CHINA | Thursday, 27 Mar 2008 | Views [364] | Comments [3]

Hi everyone, Well, Peking (as most people who live here still seem to call it) has been awesome. The weather started off dismally on Friday - no sign of the Mongolian dust storms we'd been warned of - but we couldn't be certain if that was because ... Read more >


Shanghai

CHINA | Friday, 21 Mar 2008 | Views [405] | Comments [5]

Hi everyone, We arrived early this morning in Beijing after catching the night train from Shanghai. The train was very comfy indeed - with cosy sleeper beds and lots of nice extra touches including a flask of hot water, slippers and little toothbrush ... Read more >


Yangtze river cruise

CHINA | Monday, 17 Mar 2008 | Views [1046] | Comments [2]

Hi everyone,   We're back from our four day trip down the Yangtze and had a fantastic time.  The scenery was incredible, the weather was (eventually) sunny and the boat was great.  We really couldn't have asked for any more!   We left an overcast Chengdu ... Read more >


Leshan and Chongqing

CHINA | Wednesday, 12 Mar 2008 | Views [605] | Comments [5]

Hi everyone, Just a quick update before we get on our boat and sail down the Yangtze.  Well at least we've been told it's the Yangtze lurking out their beneath the grey skies... to be honest it could be the Amazon jungle for all we can see outside! ... Read more >


Kunming and Chengdu

CHINA | Saturday, 8 Mar 2008 | Views [1031] | Comments [6]

Hi everyone, Well we've arrived in China safe and sound. But not before we collected some more ‘travel experiences’ to tell you about… After our 7 hour wait at the border on Tuesday, we finally boarded the 6pm sleeper bus to Kunming and ... Read more >

Tags: on the road


Trip Stats - 1/3 of the way!

VIETNAM | Tuesday, 4 Mar 2008 | Views [378] | Comments [3]

Seeing as we're now four months into our trip we thought we'd do a bit of quantitative analysis on our experiences So far and have spent our spare afternoon at the Chinese border putting together a few trip stats... Countries we've been to = 7 Flights ... Read more >

Tags: On the Road


Sapa

VIETNAM | Tuesday, 4 Mar 2008 | Views [387] | Comments [4]

Hi everyone, We've made it to China! Well across the border anyway. We're now sat in an internet cafe with 8 hours to kill before our bus journey to Kunming because our travel agent messed up the bus booking! Grrr. He told us he'd arrange tickets for ... Read more >

Tags: on the road


Halong Bay

VIETNAM | Friday, 29 Feb 2008 | Views [437] | Comments [3]

Hi everyone, Just a quick update as we unexpectedly found an internet connection at the hotel we're staying in tonight! We're now on Day 2 of our tour of Halong bay, having spent last night in a cozy cabin on a Chinese Junk (the boats with the big ... Read more >

Tags: on the road


Hanoi

VIETNAM | Wednesday, 27 Feb 2008 | Views [400] | Comments [2]

Hi everyone, Hope you've all recovered from the earthquake!  Things have been a bit less dramatic round here as we've spent 4 days relaxing in Hanoi before we head to Halong Bay to soak up some...er...cloud. Yes that's right, for the first time in ... Read more >

Tags: On the Road


Vang Vieng and Vientiane

LAOS | Friday, 22 Feb 2008 | Views [904] | Comments [2]

Hi everyone, Since leaving Luang Prabang, we’ve mainly spent our time floating down a river in tractor inner tubes drinking beer. Perhaps that needs some explanation… We left Luang Prabang on Tuesday morning and spent ... Read more >

Tags: on the road


Luang Prabang

LAOS | Monday, 18 Feb 2008 | Views [668] | Comments [5]

Hi everyone, We finally arrived in Luang Prabang in Laos on Thursday last week after our two-day slow boat trip down the Mekong river. It was a really atmospheric journey meandering our way down from northern Thailand through the misty ... Read more >

Tags: on the road


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