The Ashbo World Tour
In and around World
Welcome to the Ashbo World Tour. You are a member of a very exclusive club that has access to our travel plans over the next nine months.
You can come back as often as you like and keep up to date with our travels between London and New Zealand. Hopefully we will keep you entertained and amused while we are on our journey.
Enjoy
Tracey and Simon
xxx
Route taken and entries written by Trace & Simon
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1
Last day in London
So this is our first blog before we head off on our travels. Today has been lazy and relaxing complete with bacon sarnies being eaten to try and... Continue reading »
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2
Geneva and Zurich
After a bleary eyed and early start the taxi (small luxury allowed by the Team Ashbo committee) whizzed us from Chez Derek in Putney to Waterloo for t... Continue reading »
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3
The land of the Truffle
We arrived in Turin via train from Zurich late in the afternoon, decided (stupidly?) to walk to Hertz from the train stations which turned out to be a... Continue reading »
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4
Thighs and Buns of Steel
We decided over breakfast on our last day in Piedmont to drive the tin can down the motorway to our next stop rather than catch trains (so much more c... Continue reading »
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5
Ahh Venice!
Apparently I have the job of describing Venice as i have more ways of saying things like "wow thats amazing" or "my God how beautiful is that". Well h... Continue reading »
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6
The rollıng hılls of Tuscany
Tuscany was a hit. Not only for the obvıous reasons you`d immediately think of (great wine, great food, beautiful scenery) but because two frıen... Continue reading »
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7
La Dolce Vıta (there's no place like Rome)
So after languishıng ın Tuscany for a week ıt was tıme to get back on the tourıst traıl and head to the eternal cıty for some serıous sıte-seeıng. Aft... Continue reading »
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8
Well we dıdn't get very far....
Sımon's resıdency vısa for NZ was approved! Hooray!We had 2 optıons - get to NZ by May 6th 2008 (too early!), or get back to London fo... Continue reading »
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9
A fleetıng vısıt to Istanbul
We arrıved at the 'alternatıve aırport' ın Istanbul (don't you just love budget aırlınes?) whıch ıs somewhere out East ın the Asıan sıde of the city.&... Continue reading »
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10
Gallipoli and Troy
Being ın this part of the world we had to visıt the war memorials at Gallipoli and the ancient site at Troy.Firstly however we had to get there and if... Continue reading »
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11
Ayvalik and Bergama ruins
Ayvalik is an old Greek Ottoman village set around a small sheltered bay looking toward the Greek island of Lesvos. The guidebook sold it as 'cr... Continue reading »
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12
Ephesus and around
Our first hour in Selcuk was not great as the hotel we decided to stay at was a dissapointment and we decided to walk out. We agreed to pay a lttle mo... Continue reading »
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13
Faded glory of Pamukkale
We pulled off a 'I can't believe that all worked' feat on our visit to Pamukkale, with a little help from Adem of Jimmy's Place in Selcuk.First we jum... Continue reading »
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14
Cappadocia - highlight of Turkey
We arrived in Cappadocia bleary eyed after a 10 hour overnight bus trip. Before I move on, we can't finish our Turkey blog without mentioning Tur... Continue reading »
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15
Istanbul - take two
We finally came full circle and arrived back in Istanbul early one morning by plane from Cappadocia.We threw ourselves headfirst into the standard tou... Continue reading »
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16
Cochin - first taste of India
We flew into Cochin from Istanbul via Doha. Only 8 hours flying in total, but somewhere in there we managed to fit in our first 2 curries. ... Continue reading »
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17
Coonoor - tea country
We arrived bright and early to the train station in Cochin, raring to catch our first Indian train of this journey. Not surprisingly, the train... Continue reading »
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18
New Year - Kerala style
The journey from Coonoor back down to Cochin will remain one of the most memorable of my life. Whilst the scenery as you start high up in the mountain... Continue reading »
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19
Just one night in Colombo
We arrived at Colombo airport bright and early after our very early flight from India. Having been warned of the driving in Colombo by a number... Continue reading »
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20
Luxury in Galle
So....it was my birthday :) More pressies sent all the way from NZ made the perfect start to a couple of days that just got better and bett... Continue reading »
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21
Unawatuna - where did the beach go?
So after the luxury of the Galle Fort Hotel it was back to reality and back into a tuk tuk heading to the "backpackers paradise" that is Unawatuna. Vo... Continue reading »
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22
Mirissa - a perfect beach at last
When we were at the Galle Fort Hotel the owner had warned us that Unawatuna would be a disappointment, and he was right. However, he also told u... Continue reading »
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23
Tangalle - the cave temples of Mulgirigalla
The bus driver from Mirissa to Tangalle was particularly demonic and on this trip we had the distinction of running over our first dog. The poor thing... Continue reading »
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24
Tissa - temples & safari
Another crazy bus trip and we were in the small town of Tissamaharama (or Tissa for the locals & tongue-tied tourists).With a bit of careful negot... Continue reading »
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25
Ella - a cool mountain retreat
After travelling along the south coast for a couple of weeks it was time to head inland to the "hill country". The little town of Ella sit... Continue reading »
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26
Kandy and the "cultural triangle"
After skirting far too close to danger on the buses we decided that we would travel from Ella to Kandy by train. Of course, with the escalating fighti... Continue reading »
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27
Negombo - cricket and buffets
Negombo exists for two reasons. It has a stunning beach of perfect golden sand that goes on and on for about three or four kilometers. And it is about... Continue reading »
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28
Diving in the Maldives
During an innocent chat with the owner of the Galle Fort Hotel way back in early February, we asked him for his recommendations where he thought we sh... Continue reading »
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29
Trichy...
We flew in to Tiruchipally (Trichy for short) as it seemed to be the best place to fly from Sri Lanka to get to the famous temples in nearby Madurai.&... Continue reading »
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30
The incredible temples of Madurai
We jumped on a local bus nice and early from Trichy (escape!) for the 4 hour bus trip to Madurai. The bus trip was the usual hilarious escapade o... Continue reading »
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31
Budget, what budget? - Bombay in style
We couldn't come to India without going to Bombay (or Mumbai as the local government has renamed it). One of the great cities of the world and many co... Continue reading »
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32
Ridiculously romantic Udaipur
Udaipur airport was just the size I like...kind of like Blenheim airport - tiny terminal building, 2 departure gates...but flasher as they have a lugg... Continue reading »
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33
Valentine's Day in Jodphur
The flight from Udaipur to Jodphur was short and took us west further into the Thar desert. The landscape became flat, brown and dry as far as the eye... Continue reading »
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34
The desert fortress of Jaisalmer
We reached the desert city of Jaisalmer after a 6 hour train trip through the desert. One of our more unusual train trips - we shared a compart... Continue reading »
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35
Bright lights, big city - Delhi
Thanks to the airline timetable, the journey from Jaisalmer to Delhi, which is actually two hours flight time, ended up taking pretty much a full da... Continue reading »
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36
Incredible Varanasi
Varanasi is a firm favourite on the tourist circuit and deservedly so. It is concentrated India, in all of its colour and chaos. Even in our we... Continue reading »
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37
Truly amazing Bhutan
When we started planning our world tour, Bhutan was pretty much the first place on the list of countries we wanted to make sure we visited. Having se... Continue reading »
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38
Hanging out in Kathmandu
Our trip took us next to Kathmandu where we were going to hang out for a few days while our tour organisers sorted out our visas for Tibet/China. W... Continue reading »
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39
Tibet..China...kind of (the sh** hits the fan)
After the delay getting our visa for Tibet due to the Chinese Embassy closure we were delighted when Prachanda came back with our passports and the vi... Continue reading »
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40
Kathmandu...again...
Not much to say really....except that we decided 'let's stuff the budget once and for all' and booked ourselves business class flights from Kathmandu... Continue reading »
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41
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