R&TAdventures

Meeting new people through CouchSurfing

woof — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:22:00 GMT

We have been meeting many new people through CouchSurfing. We have had a BBQ and invited people from Melbourne and surrounding areas and travellers. Here are a few photos with the people we've met.

I think we are the oldest people in the network, but the surfers don't seem to care. Ron, one of them actually said he enjoyed being with older Couch Surfers. I think it's because they get a good bed and usually get fed. What we get from them is knowledge about their country, stimulating conversation and amazing cultural exchange.

We have approval

woof — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 19:15:00 GMT

Approval has now been had for our trip. I have six months leave without pay and Tony has 110 days holiday and LSL.

The next stage is to write emails to all the contacts and give them an idea of when we might visit their countries and see if it is still ok to stay with them.

We then need to refine our research and look at towns and villages of where we might like to stay. This has been the case in italy with Cinqe Terre and the toe of italy.

Second entry

woof — Mon, 8 Jan 2007 21:36:00 GMT

This journal will document our planning and our trip to Europe that we have been waiting for - for many years. We will go for six months and travel through many countries. There will be a certain amount of planned activites but lots of room will be left for spontinaity.

Planning the trip

woof — Tue, 2 Jan 2007 21:29:00 GMT

The planning of our trip has been a lengthy one. Tony has six months long service leave and I have to ask for time off without pay. I hope they let me have it!

We have research many European countries and Tony has asked the passengers on his bus if he should go to varuos countries such as - Albania, Monetinagro, croatia and he gets a good critique of the countries. I must mention at this stage that Tony has many tourists on his bus that visit the Healesville Santuary and the Yarra Valley.

We have borrowed all the Lonely Planet books from the Library and a European road map book and spoken to my daughter Alex as she has been to most of these places.

One of the major things that we have established is a network of people around the world of other likeminded travellers. This has been through CouchSurfers.com and Homelink International. I have sent many emails to people all over Europe and we have about 24 contacts of people of whom we can stay.

Gallery: The planning stage

woof — Tue, 2 Jan 2007 21:22:00 GMT

Planning