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-induced madness... (did we say American TV was bad?!) here is a compilation of some of our favourite, and a few not-so-favourite (!)things from around the world that we wrote up on the plane home.
We hope you find them interesting, and maybe even find some inspiration in there! We also really hope you've enjoyed hearing about our travellers tales, traumas and general tittle tattle over the past ten months, and would like to thank everyone once again for reading, and especially for all of the messages we've received which kept us smiling, even when our chips (or, more typically, the Internet connection!) were down.
So, with lots of love, and wishing you many happy adventures of your own, it's bye bye from us (for now!)
Phil’s answers | Sarah’s answers |
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Countries | |
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| - Joint #1 New Zealand / USA / Thailand / Japan
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Cities | |
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- #2 Luang Prabang, Laos - the whole city is UNESCO listed and we can see why
| - #2 Buenos Aires - shopping, tango and eating 'til the early hours - all at bargain prices - heaven!
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- #3 Buenos Aires / New York
| - #3 Sydney - it's pretty hard to beat this setting - just avoid the cockatoos!
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- and the booby prize goes to… Delhi / Moscow
| - and the booby prize goes to… Wuhan, China - they're throwing concrete around at scary rates here. Get some trees!
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Sights | |
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- Joint #1 the Iguazu falls / all of New Zealand
| - Joint #1 Pushkar camel fair / the Iguazu falls
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| - #2 Lake Tekapo, NZ - the most amazing blue I've ever seen, and incredibly silent
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- #3 the Atacama desert, around San Pedro
| - #3 monks collecting their alms at sunrise, Luang Prabang
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Animals | |
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- #1 Cheeky thieving monkeys, Delhi
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- #2 Tahi the one-legged Kiwi, Wellington
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and the booby prize goes to… pesky mosquitos, especially the one that bit Sarah on the eye |
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| birds |
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| - #1 Tahi the one-legged Kiwi
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| - #2 Black cockatoo that liked talking to me, Australia
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Meals | |
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- #1 Steak / Chicken / Chorizo brochettes, Santiago
| - #1 Doyles fish restaurant with Mum and Dad B, Sydney
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- #2 Steak, with red wine, Buenos Aires
| - #2 Camarou Muqueque, Salvador
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| - #3 Churrascaria buffet with dancing, Foz de Iguacu
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- and the booby prize goes to… a pot of Pea Yoghurt, Beijing
| - and the booby prize goes to… chips with mash, Buenos Aires
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Food discoveries | |
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| - #1 chocolate brownies – a lifesaver in China, and a treat pretty much anywhere and everywhere!
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- #2 Bundabergs drinks, New Zealand
| - #2 Sticky rice – with anything – sushi in Japan, mangos in Thailand, hot curry in Laos…
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(aren’t these all drinks Phil? – Ed) | - and the booby prize goes to… fried pork fat, Chengdu
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- and the booby prize goes to… live, shell-less turtles in Chinese supermarkets
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Journeys | |
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| - #1 Any of our long, lazy Southeast Asian boat adventures – down the Yangtze or Mekong rivers, or sailing around Halong Bay on a junk in Vietnam
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- #2 Elephant trekking, Chiang Mai
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- #3 Yangtze river cruise, China
| - #3 Tongariro crossing, NZ
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- and the booby prize goes to… sharing the Moscow – St. Petersburg sleeper train with a Class A psycho Uzbekistani
| - and the booby prize goes to… our mad dash to, and around, the train station, Mumbai
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Sports events | |
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| - #1 Musical chairs at Pushkar
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| - #2 Baseball, San Francisco
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- #3 Aussie rules, Melbourne
| - #3 Aussie rules, Melbourne
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- and the booby prize goes to… competitive car horn beeping in India
| - and the booby prize goes to… kayaking in Thailand – hopefully we’ll get our timing more together in time for the first dance at our wedding, otherwise there could well be early marital dischord, if not injuries!
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Nights out | |
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- #1 Baked potato, baked beans and champagne in our camper van in NZ, after we got engaged
| - #1 San Pedro de Atacama – around the fire looking at the stars…
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| - #3 Las Vegas / Shanghai acrobats
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- and the booby prize goes to… driving round LAX for two hours looking for a motel
| - and the booby prize goes to… the boneshaker Chinese night bus on which I got 1 hour sleep, during which my camera and i-pod were stolen L
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Essential things to pack | |
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| - #2 silk sleeping bag liner
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Things we missed (other than friends and family, who of course were always number 1!) | |
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| - #1 Having a proper Sunday
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- #2 Breakfast on Stoke Newington Church St
| - #2 Cooking (NB: I might retract this at a later stage)
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- and the booby prize goes to… work!
| - and the booby prize goes to… cigarettes (very proud to be a non-smoker since Jan 1st though!)
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Books read | |
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- #1 Wild Swans, Jung Chang
| - #1 Zorro, Isabelle Allende
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- #2 The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bilgakov
| - #2 The Corrections, Jonathon Franzen
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- #3 The Damage Done, Warren Fellows
| - #3 The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson
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- and the booby prize goes to… How the Mind Works = How the Mind Hurts!
| - and the booby prize goes to… Touching the Void, Joe Simpson (just a bit on the scary side when about to go up a mountain!)
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Cities to live in | |
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- and the booby prize goes to… Mumbai - we'd last 5 minutes!
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Hotels | |
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- #1 Ryokan Kangetsu, Tokyo
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- #2 Barra Guesthouse, Salvador
| - #2 Ryokan Kangetsu, Tokyo
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- #3 Hostel Tanguera, San Telmo, Buenos Aires
| - #3 Hostel Tanguera, San Telmo, Buenos Aires
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Bargains | |
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- #1 £3 /night hotel, Khao San Road, Bangkok
| - #1 Parks – always a nice, free way to chill out in a city. And often come with ice creams, animals or some kind, audience participation opportunities…
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| - #2 Buenos Aires (steak, wine, shoes the zoo, and underwear particularly!)
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| - #3 Chanel eyeliner – one pencil got me all the way around the world without fading into the background in all our photos– thanks Orange folks!)
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- #4 1st class cabin, Yangtze cruise - well worth it to escape the kara-jokey
| - #4 free refills in the USA
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Experiences | |
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| - #1 Tubing, Vang Vieng, Laos
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- #2 Walking (some of!) the Great Wall
| - #2 Elephant trek, Thailand
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- #3 Driving across the USA
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| - #4 Getting into the whole spa and massage thing – in Budapest, Japan and SE Asia...
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- and the booby prize goes to… being Mad Freddy’s assistants in Santiago. Still makes us blush!
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Museums | |
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- #1 Hermitage, St. Petersburg
| - #1 Hermitage, St. Petersburg
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| - #3 Monterey Bay Aquarium, California
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| - #4 Pre-Columbian Art, Santiago
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| - #5 Lincoln Experience, Illinois
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