Is this our stop??
In and around World
So, here we are 1 day before we head off on the longest trip of our lives. for me it beats the 'epic' 3 weeks spend in Europe, although Ciara is more the seasoned traveller with a whole 3 months in Greece.
The past few weeks have been spent doing things more boring than you can imagine (apart from the nights out), so I'll spare you all the details.
Our aims for this trip, I think, are to get lost in as many places as possible. its quite strange thinking about another 365 days, at least, which are ahead of us, without any plans barring 2 nights in boston and 6 flights.
We'll keep this as updated as we can with entries and photos, so we invite you to join us (although not literally) and follow us around the world making yourself cry with envy!!
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Mark & Ciara
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Beantown..
Boston has been really great. Neither of us knew what to expect coming here, so we didnt really expect too much. Thankfully, we have been more than... Continue reading »
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What a difference 90 minutes makes
We took an early afternoon ferry from Boston to Provincetown, on the tip of Cape Cod. To say that P-town (as the locals like to call it) was a chan... Continue reading »
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New York, New York
We arrived in New York on the afternoon of the 2nd, after our first taste of Amtrak traIns, which turned out to be very comfy. Having never been to... Continue reading »
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The city of brotherly love...
Stayed in a lovely B&B with big porch & really nice, friendly & chatty lady who gave us some great tips & also tickets to a to... Continue reading »
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Dubya's house..
We arrived following another comfortable amtrak journey, to the capital of the US, Washington DC. Neither of us knew what to expect from DC, apart... Continue reading »
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Fried Green tomatoes..
We have loved Charleston. The train journey was a bit rough though. After our nine hour journey was delayed on track by another 2 and an half hours... Continue reading »
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Voodoo Country..
Savannah is right in the heart of the South, and also, apparantly, where the Voodoo religion is alive and well.
We arrived here after a nice... Continue reading »
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Beats Bray...
We arrived into Miami after a mammoth train journey - about 13 hours i think. The trains are actually really comfy, and its not a bad way to travel... Continue reading »
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Sin City
The thing about vegas, is that you can hear so many stories and experiences, be given so many reccommendations and told how utterly surreal it all... Continue reading »
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Magic..
We hired a car/jeep thing & hit the open road through the desert, over the Hoover Dam, to the Grand Canyon from Vegas. It wasn't... Continue reading »
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The home of General Sherman
Sequoia National Park, as we found out, is a LONG way from Grand Canyon. After a full days driving we wound up in the closest town / city to the pa... Continue reading »
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An incredible place
Yosemite valley appears in front of you as you exit a tunnel through one of the many huge mountains that surround it. Its no more than a few miles... Continue reading »
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Sittin' on the dock of the bay..
Our plans were thrown a bit off course after Yosemite, as we had planned to head north to Lake Tahoe for a bit. Unfortunately,The forests around Lake... Continue reading » -
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Santa Cruz..not that far.
We loved Santa Cruz - it was really laid back and had a really good atmosphere. It was the stereotypical Calafornian beach town you'd imagine, with th... Continue reading » -
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Highway 1..Monterey Bay
We began our roadtrip proper on highway 1 after we left Santa Cruz. highway 1 really is the only road to take if you are thinking of heading down to t... Continue reading » -
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Beautiful Carmel
We arrived in Carmel thinking that we would only stop for lunch in it, but liked it so much we decided to stay the night. It’s a small sea-side to... Continue reading » -
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Wine Country
After the upper class leanings we developed in Carmel, we felt the only thing we could do next was to go do some wine testing. we headed inland toward... Continue reading » -
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Independance day on the central coast
Here's a tip - Don't ever go to Morro Bay, it's a dump! there's a really really big rock there - right out in the bay. it's huge.....although we didnt... Continue reading » -
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Back on the beach..
Santa Barbara - we realised quickly that we really should have come here for independence day. Oh well. Thats the thing about America - you keep findi... Continue reading » -
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Hanging out in venice beach
With the exception of one person, we were told by anyone who had been to L.A. that it was rubbish & not to bother. As we were flying out of L.A. we di... Continue reading » -
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Pacific Paradise
Sitting here in Auckland writing this, The Cook Islands seems like so long ago, although we're only one full week back in the big smoke. It's hard... Continue reading »
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A day lost!
We left the Cook Islands with a pretty heavy heart as we loved it so much. None the less, it was off to Nadi to check out another pacific paradise in... Continue reading » -
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Castaway!
Beachcomber Island is best known as the Party Island of Fiji. You'll see from the photos that its about the size of a Tesco warehouse, so its pretty e... Continue reading » -
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Auckland - Back to winter!
We had both been really really looking forward to getting to New Zealand. Meeting people along the way who had been there really whetted our appetite.... Continue reading » -
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Waiheke island
Arriving on Waiheke Island felt a a bit like arriving in Provincetown after Boston,in the early days of our trip.The contrast between big city and sma... Continue reading » -
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We nearly feel like Jaffa's now!
This was really just a one night stopover so we could catch the Kiwi bus the next morning, at some ungodly hour. All the same, we headed back to city... Continue reading » -
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It's a bay...with Islands!
Our first day on the Kiwi Experience bus saw us up at crazy o clock to catch the bus North, to the Bay Of Islands. The region is one of the most tradi... Continue reading » -
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Cape Reinga and a night in the bay
We had loads of fun up in Cape Reinga. Its a really lovely place, but the biggest reason was our driver. His name was 'Auto' - as in a car. Crazy man... Continue reading » -
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A day out with the dolphins
Although we stayed in Auckland on this night, all the action happened back up in the Bay of Islands. After our day trip to Cape Reinga, w had arranged... Continue reading » -
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Mercury Bay is easier to pronounce...
After our last night in Auckland (finally!) we boarded the kiwi bus next morning with our new driver, Dan. We got to know Dan pretty well over the... Continue reading »
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The smelliest place on earth
The delightful eggy, vomit inducing smell of Rotorua greeted us about 5 minutes before we saw the town. Dan told us that you get used to it after a... Continue reading »
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Blackwater Rafting in the Waitomo Caves..
Waitomo was a funny little place. We stayed in a great hostel, more like a small hotel really. The place itself was a bit of a one horse town,... Continue reading »
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A nice day to jump from a plane
Apologies, I realise there has been something of a short ice age between this post and our last outing in Waitomo. So - Lake Taupo. After our adve... Continue reading » -
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A night in the middle of nowhere
After the exertions of Lake Taupo, we were promised a nice relaxing chilled out couple of days. From Taupo, heading south, we passed through Tongar... Continue reading »
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Not that Windy Welly
Wellington was the first big city we had hit since Auckland - it was quite strange being back - but fun all the same. We arrived mid afternoon, and th... Continue reading » -
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South Island = Cold!!
Well our first taste of the South Island was a bit rubbish really. Nelson is the gateway to the Abel Tasman national park, and is apparantly packed d... Continue reading » -
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Not like Mayo
To be truthful, I think the best thing about Westport for was that we got to know the guys on our new Kiwi bus a little better. There wasn't much else... Continue reading » -
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The Poo pub!
I know the photos of the poo pub have been up here for quite a while, so you probably have a fair idea of how we filled our time - long w... Continue reading »
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A couple of days in Iceland
The reason Franz Josef 'town' (it consists of two short streets) exists is because of the glacier, so there was little to do there but the glacier... Continue reading »
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Dodgy name, great place
The only problem with Wanaka was that we didnt get to spend enough time there. All we had was one day and night there, which really wasnt enough fo... Continue reading »
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Finally, we've arrived!
First off, I’ll get that bad news out of the way – we had to leave Queenstown because I couldn't get a job. I had begun to feel sorry for Ciara, worki... Continue reading » -
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A little bit of Scotland..down under.
We decided to see as much of the area around Queenstown as we could before leaving, so once we decided that Christchurch was off the list (didnt get t... Continue reading » -
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A day in majestic Milford
We kept putting off visiting Milford Sound, partly because it was on our Kiwi Bus ticket which allowed us to do it any time we wanted, but mainly beca... Continue reading » -
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Farewell to Queenstown..for now.
Coming back to Queenstown from our night in Dunedin...it actually felt like coming home. That's the best compliment I can give the place i think. A... Continue reading »
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A postcard from Sydney
Given its distance from Europe, you aren't quite prepared for the familiarity Sydney imposes on you from the moment you get there. It's so different b... Continue reading » -
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A home away from home in Melbourne
Almost 8 months is a long time. More than enough to get to know the ins and outs of a city, and nearly long enough to qualify as a local. No mean feat... Continue reading » -
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Bicheno actually....
Bicheno is so small and insignificant, it doesn't even have a listing on the map on here. We soon found out why. Continue reading » -
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